Liam Hurley: Web Log

this bbc article talks about how a particular type of hummingbird actually makes chirping noises with its tail feathers, not its vocal chords, as previously thought.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7216230.stm

check this website for some time-wasting goodness:

http://www.therightfoot.net/mystuff/whatever/swf/bubblewrap.swf
i would suggest putting it in "manic mode."

(thnx mom!)

here's a news story about a classified satellite that will fall abck to earth in late february-early march. with the earth being 70% water, the best bet is it will fall harlmlessly, but i would feel a lot better if the tracking agencies involved were any good at precise predictions.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/01/26/dead.satellite.ap/index.html

Obama just won S.C., and i'm really psyched.

check this out! this is the story of Victor Lussig, the famous con artist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Lustig

here's a link to the last night's josh ritter letterman performance!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rcUsFatXw4
enjoy!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Patriots

ok so i'm sad obama lost NV, but here's to hoping for SC!

i found this historical gem (featuring Michael Cera) on http://www.bobanddavid.com
http://youtube.com/watch?v=6V_DsL1x1uY

Crazymonk.org pointed me toward Michel Gondry curating the Youtube Homepage (http://www.youtube.com), which was awesome. but it reminded me of the impending date of "Be Kind, Rewind," gondry's newest film starring jack black and mos def. it comes out feb. 22nd, and it looks like magic!

here's the trailer:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2IugKepxOyY

will ferrell and adam mckay make me guffaw,

http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/04/14/will-ferrells-landlord-problems/

hey folks!

i just got the word that josh ritter & co. will be performing on the David Letterman Show this tuesday, jan. 22. 11:30 on CBS! be there or be dodecahedronical!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7188849.stm

man. i have been music'ed out for a second. the past two nights i've been to see four bands.

friday night was the Eric Biondo Quintet at Small's (http://www.ericbiondo.com/home.html), and then it was over to Pete's Candy Store to see Royal Pine (http://royalpinemusic.com/home.html).

saturday night was all horns and percussion, first with The Hot 8 Brass Band (http://www.hot8brassband.com/), and then on the always-classy Joe's Pub to see my dear friends in the Brooklyn Qawwali Party (http://www.bqpmusic.com/live/).

i'm lucky to live in a city where hearing all this music is possible....

The FBI has had several wiretaps closed down on them due to unpaid bills. my question: is there a wiretap pricing plan that can fit my lifestyle? i do the majority of my eavesdropping during work hours, with only an occasional long-distance wire-tap.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=2008-01-10_D8U35C500&show_article=1&cat=breaking

radiohead's new album, in rainbows, is amazing. like their other records, it took me a few listens to really dig on it. now i am hooked.

and i appreciate them shaking up the current reccord distribution system!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080109/ap_en_mu/music_radiohead

so i took a long holiday break. so sue me.

i am going to try to post a lot in the next few weeks; let's see how i fare.

cool new thing:

http://www.marvel.com
i've been reading a LOT of comics recently, much to my accountant's chagrin.

the new batman trailer is up:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WaIR9dAZRR0
i'm really looking forward to this. i thought batman begins was exactly where the movies needed to go stylistically, and this continuation (with the same production team) looks like i'm gonna dig it.

hello!

we just conquered tullamore rugby club: it was tight and sweaty and a whole lot of fun.

then we went back to the hotel in a hurry to catch Later... with Jools Holland. it was amazing!

here's the link to the entire show. we play two songs interlaced with others: don't forget to check out the Who!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/series30/episode05/
enjoy responsibly!

hello!

we've just finished to 2 nights at the amazing Everyman Theatre, and it was nice to get a shot at redemption. Our first night, expectations were very high, and the delivery was a bit off. whenever we play a seated show, it takes some adjustment to the band/audience dynamic, and we were glad to get a second shot at it, because our second night was brilliant. much more relaxed and successful (musically). our irish label, Independent Records (http://independentrecords.ie/index.shtml), has been very kind to us, and it is great to be staying in one city for such a stretch (4 whole days!). a small return to normalcy has been greatly appreciated by all. i even had a hot towel shave!

also, we have been preparing for a special solo show in boston (http://tinyurl.com/2jl64h) to help raise money for our friend's battle with cancer. check out joshritter.com for more details.

it's nearly xmas!

we have finished our UK leg, and it was really great. i saw so much of england, and for that i will be eternally grateful to my band mates and the entire JR crew. yesterday in bristol, i wandered past this pic, only to realize i was in Banksy's hometown!
http://tinyurl.com/3dhhul
last night we said goodbye to our amazing crew, because ireland provides for all its children...

i'm very excited to be here in Cork, because this is where the Hurley family originated. years ago, i doscovered the 700 yr old Hurley farm in Clonakilty, about 20km from where i am currently sitting (which is on a hilltop overlooking the River Lee!).

in a totally unrelated note, i've brought some juggling bags out with me on this trip, just to give myself something to do, and my friend leo hipped me to this incredible video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=wEKDFtDAxyU
enjoy!

Hello!

Last night played on Later...with Jools Holland, an amazing music show that has no parallel in the US (htpp://www.joolsholland.com). it was an amazing experience, and we were on the same show as The Who! they played My Generation, Baba O'Reilly, and The Seeker. Townshend did the windmill, and we all went crackers!

but an even bigger celebrity moment occurred the day prior: Mos Def!

we were staying at a hipster hotel in London called the K West. cruising through the lobby, i'd seen The Hives, Timbaland, and whole host of other fashion celebs. but this time around, The Mighty Mos was just hanging out at the bar. i don't normally get so giddy, but i have been a huge Mos Def (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mos_def) fan since i discovered Black Star, which is amazing, but his first solo effort, Black on Both Sides, is a truly spectacular album.

even though he thinks the moon landing is a hoax, i still love him.

hello!

paris was very exciting! we arrived after a red-eye to find the city on transit strike. a normally half hour cab ride from Charles de Gaulle airport to the hotel took an hour and a half, and was VERY expensive. our show was great, and i had french onion soup and escargot across fromt he moulin rouge. not bad!

one thing that i noticed was very cool was Velib, the parisian public bicycle system.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velib
maybe it was the strike, but the ubiquity of these strange looking bikes was striking.

also striking was what we dubbed the shame shower, or shath. it was a bathtub and handheld shower attachment, with no shower curtain! it's a queer system. you try several positions, but basically you just sit in the tub and try to soap up with one hand.

our public bike system may not be up and running, but our shower curtain technology is light years beyond theirs.

hey everybody!

my body has crashed following an incredible final US show at Webster Hall. so here's a funny, lazy blog:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Gaines

ok. best halloween ever.

we played in Birmingham, AL at the Workplay Theater. Josh dressed as a Roman statesman, Zack was a mummy (he's so mummy and he doesn't even know it), austin and sam had wigs, and i had a vampirish pleather thing going on. the show was awesome, and then we saw josh play an in-store. and then, i kid you not......


foxy-boxing.

real life, drunk ladies wailing on each other.

we went to a bar called bell bottoms, where they have amateur boxing. the guys' fights were really fun to watch, but man. does it get much better?

happy halloween!

we're shooting through the south now, making incredible time. we've driven from L.A. to LA in 4 days. we stopped in Tucson, where Zack donned a pink jumpsuit for the encore, and then in Austin, a liberal oasis in the middle of Texas. Sam introduced me to Jim Eno, the drummer for Spoon and producer extrordinaire, and we retired to his house/studio (http://www.public-hifi.com/) to geek out on Stevie Wonder, Queen, and Fleetwood Mac. some of those recordings are completely amazing on a really nice speaker system; you end up hearing all sorts of new info.

then it was on to a day off in New Orleans. i have only been to N.O. once before, a while ago, so it was hard to compare pre- and post-Katrina, but it definitely gave one a battle-torn impression. we stayed in Lee Circle, where a giant statue of MR. Robert E. resides on a tall pillar:

"Since it was built in 1884, the most prominent monument in New Orleans has been a 60 foot (18 m)-tall monument to General Lee. A sixteen and a half foot statue of Lee stands tall upon a towering column of white marble in the middle of Lee Circle. The statue of Lee, which weighs more than 7,000 pounds, faces the North (because he believed that you should never turn your back on your enemy). Lee Circle is situated along New Orleans' famous St. Charles Avenue. The New Orleans streetcars roll past Lee Circle and New Orleans' best Mardi Gras parades go around Lee Circle (the spot is so popular that bleachers are set up annually around the perimeter for Mardi Gras). Around the corner from Lee Circle is New Orleans' Confederate Museum, which contains the second largest collection of Confederate memorabilia in the world."

after beignets at Cafe Du Monde, we are now on our merry way towards Birmingham, AL.

non-sequitir: "to ruminate" means "to think," right. cud-chewing animals are called ruminators. cogitate that.

hey y'all!

we have arrived in Tuscon, AZ, after spending 4 crazy days in California. I got a tatto in SF, played at a place called Bimbo's, drove to LA, and played at the Museum of Natural History.

it was amazing!

but i'm glad to be headed east...

pix soon...