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!