Yesterday I watched as two completely disparate things I like a lot for very different reasons collided and were completely satisfying in the process. (This is like getting your chocolate in my peanut butter, and my peanut butter in your chocolate, only the result is one of those still-pretty-good off-brand peanut-butter cups since the result was titled "DRUNK KARAOKE" and not "Beautiful studio version you will love forever.")
Surfer Blood, whose Voyager Reprise is as close as 2011 gets to an Adventures of Pete & Pete soundtrack song, performed a karaoke cover of that show's theme song, "Hey Sandy," for as-yet-undetermined corporate-Facebook-outreach reasons. Pull your best Artie, the Strongest Man in the World face and watch the video here.
I don't think Surfer Blood spends a lot of time thinking about its demographic, but if the band was looking to consolidate its position among twentysomething males who like nineties bands who liked the Pixies and I am any indication, they couldn't have chosen a better song to cover. With that in mind--and please, don't stop making the Artie face--some baseless speculation on other musicians and other covers.
Musicians: The Hold Steady Theme: Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Tops on the all-time list of somehow fitting too many words into not enough sentence: Craig Finn and any Aaron Sorkin character. Tonally--well, any police procedural with sweatpants-wearing drug dealers and Christ-complex co-eds (which might be the title of the next album.)
Musician: Jay-Z Theme: Peter Gunn
I've been of the opinion for some time now that Jay-Z's secret wish, in his multi-billionaire dotage, is to be the brand of paternalistic, hipster, nattily dressed cool that only Craig Stevens and Henry Mancini can provide. Private Eye Jay-Z won't judge you, beatnik caught in a web of murder and deceit--he just wants to beat up some toughs, dress very well, and make sweet love to his singer girlfriend.
Musicians: Vampire Weekend Theme: Thirtysomething
Go ahead: Try to convince me any of the people in this video didn't own Graceland.
