I remember exactly where I was, who I was with, what I was doing 25 years ago tonight around 11:00 when I heard. I never had any illusions that Lennon's music and Lennon the man matched: he was as big a bastard as we are all capable of being. I like to think that all his exhortations for peace and generosity and "Instant Karma" (on the radio right now on KEXP) were personal exhortations aimed at his own propensity for violence and greed and depression, and that's what gives the songs their emotional oomph in me. "Imagine" is a terrible song if he is hectoring me. It's plaintive if he's hectoring himself.

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A few blinks ago I posted about Eno/Gabriel and the World Cup Does Broadway as a bridge to begin discussing the boundary that's not a boundary between acceptable commercialism and unacceptable commercialism. Today's Washington Post has a front page article on some of the same issues I raised about the trend of today's indies to not view having their songs used in commercials as "selling out." Bob Mould is quoted. S'funny: Husker Du is always mentioned in a paragraphical biography of Mould - as it should be - but never Sugar, an outstanding band whose *Copper Blue* is one of my favorite albums.

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Hey! how about some music:

Deerhoof - Wrong Time Capsule

Portastatic - I Want to Know Girls

The Portastatic was on the weekly picks a few ago. Deerhoof I'll be writing about soon.