Late Night Findings - Liam Finn

I've been obsessing over Liam Finn's song "Second Chance" since I heard it two weeks ago, and I want to share it with you guys in my new segment. It is a late night finding because I found an amazing live version of the song on David Letterman where Liam concedes the mic to friend EJ Barnes to play drums.

At first listen, Finn may sound like your usual acoustic singer. But the New Zealander has some amazing pipes, as is evident by the end of the studio version of the song. Much of this may be attributed to his musical royalty genes, as his family is one of the most prominant musical families in New Zealand. His father Neil and uncle Tim were both standout musicians in the 70's and 80's and still sell out shows. Neil can count Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway of Radiohead, Johnny Marr of the Smiths, and Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam among friends and musical collaborators. Oh, and Neil appeared on a little show called "Flight of the Conchords". Liam has also earned the seal of approval from Vedder, touring with him this spring. Liam was thrust into the musical spotlight of New Zealand with the grundgy band Betchadupa in 2000, at the age of only 17.

Liam plays every instrument himself live, with a few minor exceptions when EJ is accompanying him. He does it with the help of a looping system. This causes his songs to have a slightly predictable build sometimes because he is constantly adding parts, but what do you want? He's a one-man band for God's sake. And he's a great musician at everything he does. Here's a better example of his looping. The Letterman video is great purely because the song is amazing.

Liam Finn's "Second Chance" on Letterman on YouTube

To be honest...

Semi-pro doesn't look like a very good movie. Sorry, Will Ferrell.

Only in Madison...

I'm starting a segment called "Only in Madison...". It's pretty self-explanatory.

So I'm walking down State Street yesterday. If you don't know about State Street, it's basically the place to go for shopping and food on campus, as well as where the big Halloween festivities take place. Anyway, we come to Park St. and right before the court, we can hear music being played from a boombox. It was Incubus. Can't remember the song. Anyway, we're like, what's going on.

All of a sudden I realize, there is a girl in a bikini holding a sign. Mind you, it is negative 5 degrees outside. I was like, wow, there must be some huge message on the sign for her to be outside in a bikini in negative 5 degree weather with a negative 30 degree wind chill in a bikini. Something she's really passionate about. Something really important that society needs to know...

"Jebus loves sluts".

Yeah. That's what it says. The "b" is not a misspelling either. Now at first I laughed. Really hard. That is the most random thing I've ever seen. Then I stopped and thought about it. Who decides, I'm going to go out today, on the coldest day of the year, one with 40 mph winds, and stand in a bikini with a sign saying "Jebus loves sluts." What exactly was she trying to accomplish? Was it an anti-religion sign? Was it a lost bet? I don't know. I was just confused... but amused. Only in Madison...