sure wish you'd take a swing

Even more news about the exploits of Her Wheelerness: "Just a quick note to let you all know that Cindy will be performing with Look It on Friday, December 2nd at Pianos. Show your support and come on out for a great night of music!"

Pianos' calendar says the Looky-Loos play at 10:30. Blythe Hollow, Sing Sing and Haley Bonar play earlier if you wanna make an evening of it. Come along and bring your jukebox money, or at least the $10 cover.

the sting will never last

If wishes were horses, or cliches were original, we'd all be galloping to buy Caulfield Sisters CD's right now. But today we have the next best thing, the first electronic missive in months from As Irmãs:

Hello Dear Friends

We sure have missed you!!! Just wanted to let you know that the Caulfield Sisters
cover of the Smiths song "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want"
will be appearing on the upcoming compilation HIGH SCHOOL REUNION a tribute to those
great movies from the 80's (Breakfast Club, Repo Man, Fast Times etc..). We'll be
a appearing with the likes of Frank Black, Kristen Hersh and Matthew Sweet just
to name a few. The record is available for pre-order at the link below:

http://www.americanlaundromatrecords.com/highschoolreunion.html

On a personal note, Caulfield bass player extraordinaire Mary and her husband,
welcomed the arrival of daughter Eleanor Louise in late July. The Caulfield Sisters
will be back in action this winter. We are currently writing new songs and rehearsing
those old ones..... We miss you all.

Best,
Cindy, Mary and Kristin

The Sisters also got yet another plug today in Billboard, which might as well rename itself The Caulfield Weekly the way it's been going on and on about them:

Originally planned for a September release, the compilation "High School Reunion: A Tribute to Those Great 80s Films" will now arrive Dec. 1 via American Laundromat and Face Down Records. ... Beyond previously announced contributors Kristin Hersh, Lori McKenna, John Strohm and the Caulfield Sisters, the compilation also features songs from Frank Black (Iggy Pop's "Repo Man," from "Repo Man"), Matthew Sweet (Tom Petty's "American Girl" from "Fast Times") and Dresden Dolls (Psychedelic Furs' "Pretty in Pink").

The Billboard story also includes the usual drollery from Frank Black:

"I think it came out good except for one line," Black tells Billboard.com of his contribution. "I couldn't find an actual copy, so in the middle of a [Pixies] tour I got the lyrics on the Internet, which I in turn was correcting from memory [laughs]. There's one line where I couldn't remember how Iggy did the timing. It's like an extra line, so I just inserted it my own way, so it might sound dumb."

Dumb? Nah.

The Sisters also get a passing mention on Spin.com, which apparently hasn't had time to get that cover story finished yet.

Anyway, congratulations to all involved, as well as Eleanor Louise. Looks like Christmas will be coming in, uh, December this year.

and i say dance motherfuckers

Don't you hate it when blogs go silent all of a sudden? When the news and commentary just stop without even a fare-thee-well, leaving that big ol' stale August 21 date staring you in the face like a blinking 0:00 clock on the over-the-range microwave?

OK, not all blogs surely -- I mean if a certain self-styled muckraker or a particular apologist for racist internment camps were to go into an extended, Salinger-esque state of seclusion, society as a whole might be the better. But it's been my misfortune to allow this shrine to musical wonderment to sit on this compost pile and sprout weeds, what with the three hurricanes, the week-long power outage, the family insanity and whatnot.

But I'm back, because the Sisters are -- at least on vinyl, or whatever it is they make CD's out of. ("On plastic-coated aluminum" doesn't have the same ring, unfortunately.)

The occasion: American Laundromat's long-awaited High School Reunion CD is finally coming out in December, apparently, and the label is taking preorders from newsletter subscribers and past customers. Here's the final track listing:

John P. Strohm -- 'Somebody's Baby' (Fast Times at Ridgemont High)
Dipsomaniacs -- 'A Million Miles Away' (Valley Girl)
Matthew Sweet -- 'American Girl' (Fast Times at Ridgemont High)
Blank Pages -- 'Turning Japanese' (Sixteen Candles)
The Bennies -- 'Weird Science' (Weird Science)
AM -- 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' (The Breakfast Club)
Lori McKenna -- 'In Your Eyes' (Say Anything)
Kitty Hawk -- 'If You Were Here' (Sixteen Candles)
Nova Social -- 'Little Bitch' (Sixteen Candles)
The Modifiers -- 'Love My Way' (Valley Girl)
The Atomic Hep Cats -- 'Bring On The Dancing Horses' (Pretty In Pink)
The Commons -- 'Moving In Stereo' (Fast Times at Ridgemont High)
The Dresden Dolls -- 'Pretty In Pink' (Pretty In Pink)
Kristin Hersh -- 'Wave Of Mutilation' (Pump Up The Volume)
The Caulfield Sisters -- 'Please Please Please Let Me...' (Pretty In Pink)
Underdog -- 'I Melt With You' (Valley Girl)
The Wading Girl -- 'Danke Schoen' (Ferris Bueller's Day Off)
Frank Black -- 'Repo Man' (Repo Man)
PC Muñoz -- 'I Go Crazy' (Some Kind Of Wonderful)
Bastards Of Melody -- 'Within Your Reach' (Say Anything)

Saving the best for last, the label also has a clip of the Sisters doing that Smiths cover. As far as I can tell they do Morrissey and company justice, in that classically melancholy Caulfields-ish fashion of theirs. Can't wait to hear the whole thing.

So what ever happened to Look It, the Caulfield Child and the rest of the bunch? Have the Sisters returned from their hiatus yet? Any word on that seven-inch?

Now dance!