A good pop song makes you feel like you’re 17 years old again. We could cast about for other impressionistic and arbitrary definitions of what a good pop song is (or, more easily, does), but today, with summer fading fast, this’ll do: Seventeen again. Even if on the whole 17 wasn’t so great the first time around for you, a good pop song makes you think it was. Updating the iPod prior to this long Labor Day weekend, we came across a peach we’d downloaded months ago. We thought it was pretty neat at the time, especially considering the source, but we got distracted and it went hiding in our ten-billion-song shuffle of a hard drive.

One reason it makes us feel like we’re 17 again is that it’s about being 17 (or 16, or 15). The references and images tick off like a list of stuff we did in those teenage summers, not counting all the bits about sexual confusion. The song is “Driver Education,” and it’s by Amy Ray. Yes, one of the Indigo Girls. No, we can’t believe we’re writing about one of the Indigo Girls here on the Playboy Blog either, but just listen to the song -- she’s different on her own. It’s electric and has a get-out-on-the-highway beat, another good trait for a Labor Day song.

Did we mention it’s free and downloadable now? It’s free and downloadable now. And so is everything else on the playlist below, which we, being in a high-school state of mind, might call something like “Awesome Labor Day Road Trip Mix 2007, Dude.” All go well with sunshine and highway, and they will almost all fit on one disc. All but one of the links go directly to mp3 files.

You didn’t really think you were going to do any work today, did you?

 

Amy Ray, “Driver Education” 

Harlem Shakes, “Carpetbaggers” 

New Young Pony Club, “Ice Cream” 

Old 97’s, “Doreen” 

Cassettes Won’t Listen, “Fuck and Run” 

Josh Rouse, “Directions” (Epitonic – download link is on right-hand side of page) 

The Long Blondes, “Once and Never Again” 

The Noisettes, “Scratch Your Name” 

Stephen Malkmus, “Jenny and the Ess-Dog” 

All-Girl Summer Fun Band, “Dear Mr. & Mrs. Troublemaker” 

Okkerville River, “Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe” 

Belle & Sebastian, “Another Sunny Day” 

Los Campesinos, “We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives” 

The Mooney Suzuki, “99%” 

The Shins, “Kissing the Lipless” 

Locksley, “Why Not Me” 

The Weakerthans, “Aside” 

The Fauves, “The Dirt Bike Option” 

Hot Hot Heat, “Bandages” 

The Apples in Stereo, “Energy” 

Cold War Kids, “Hang Me Up To Dry” 

The New Pornographers, “Mass Romantic” 

The Boggs, “Little Windows” 

The Postal Service, “Such Great Heights” 

Mink, “Talk to Me” 

Spoon, “The Underdog” 

 

Credit where due – thanks to these sites for giving the people a little taste for free:

http://www.spinner.com
http://www.theweakerthans.org
http://www.epitonic.com
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com
http://www.thefauves.com
http://www.newwestrecords.com
http://www.subpop.com
http://www.matadorrecords.com
http://www.krecs.com
http://www.daemonrecords.com
http://www.playboy.com/magazine/cds
 

 

Looking to trick-out your cookout? Chef Bobby Flay, unlikely emperor of haute Southwestern cooking (he grew up in New York) is now offering a line of Mesa Grill and Bobby Flay branded sauces, spices and rubs from $6 to $10. They’re available at any of his restaurants throughout the country and at BobbyFlay.com.

Most of you know Sheri Moon Zombie as director/musician Rob Zombie’s wife and muse. She started her career in 1995 playing a cat-suited go-go dancer in a White Zombie video before jumping to the big screen. The actress then made an impression as the sexy-yet-scary Baby Firefly with that laugh in her husband’s film House of 1,000 Corpses and its superior sequel, The Devil’s Rejects.

She’s onboard for Rob’s reboot of Halloween, opening in theaters everywhere today, in which she plays Deborah Myers—the struggling stripper mother of young psychopath Michael Myers (pictured). We sat down with Sheri and asked her to tell us about life in Zombieland.

PLAYBOY: You must have experienced some classic rock ‘n’ roll moments on the road when Rob toured. Care to share any?

SHERI: Rob was never involved with groupies or any of that, but I’ve sure seen strange happenings with girls on the road. Whatever you think happens—as farfetched in your mind and as crazy as it could be—it actually does happen. I’ve seen girls standing in rooms with sandwich meat getting thrown at them while they’re naked. We would walk around into other bands’ dressing rooms with this kind of stuff going on: guys and girls dancing naked on tables, blow jobs in lounges. Nothing is soft and pretty and nice—it’s total debauchery. You’d think that all rocker guys love the chicks, but they pretty much treat them like crap on the road. It’s all pretty vulgar and women-hating in a strange way.

PLAYBOY: Halloween is the third time your husband has directed you in a feature. Does he treat you like any other actor?

SHERI: Rob really knows how to work with me because we’ve lived together for 14 years and he knows me inside and out. Actors like working with him because he has a way of making everyone feel like they’re doing exactly what they want to do and they’re utilizing their ideas, yet he’s making it happen. That’s what directors do. It makes it look like the actors are getting what they want, but it’s really what he wants.

PLAYBOY: You were unforgettable as the psycho-Barbie serial killer Baby in both House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects. How much of you is in that character?

SHERI: [Laughs like Baby] I hope none! But I’m no Meryl Streep, so I’m sure there’s a little bit of me in there. Baby is a pretty maniacal yet angelic creature who was born into this bad blood. She just goes along with it. I think she has aspirations of Hollywood and things better to get her out of the country bumfuck place where she lives, but she just flies along with the family—and I think she has fun doing it.

PLAYBOY: Do you even like horror movies?

SHERI: I grew up watching teen horror movies like Halloween and Friday the 13th. I liked them, but I can’t watch them by myself. I’m really freaked out if there is a demonic house possession like The Amityville Horror or The Omen. But the slasher movies are totally fun. Everyone loves to jump and be scared—it’s like a rollercoaster ride.

PLAYBOY: What was your life like before you became Zombified?

SHERI: I grew up in Connecticut, so I had the boring life of working as an insurance underwriter for a year. That was terrible. I worked as a waitress, bartender and in a bakery for a couple of days. I worked in a Fotomat for a couple of days and quit that, too. I’m like, “Fuck this! I’m not going to work these stupid jobs.”

PLAYBOY: Tell us something people assume about you and Rob that they should not.

SHERI: Oh my God. A big assumption is that we’re vampires because of our last name. We don’t live in a black house or anything like that. It drives me crazy. We don’t live like Goth-y vampires. Do I look like I’m into that? I’m a blonde, tall, tan chick. We’re totally not scary or freaky.

Beloved horror queen Adrienne Barbeau is having a homecoming of sorts. Not only will she be making a cameo appearance in Rob Zombie’s Halloween due out in theaters this week (coincidentally, she was once married to original Halloween director John Carpenter), but she will also be starring in another return-to-roots feature titled Unholy.

This shocker finds Barbeau playing a mother who discovers that her daughter’s grisly suicide may be linked to a Nazi occult experiment. She soon finds herself caught in the middle of a government conspiracy surrounded by bizarre crimes and supernatural phenomenon. You can pick up Unholy when it hits stores on September 4. Also check out Barbeau skinny dipping in Swamp Thing in this month’s Tease Frame in the September issue of Playboy's DVD section, or read her new-to-paperback autobiography called There Are Worse Things I Could Do, both in stores now.

I’m not saying any of them could hold a candle to Jackie O, but there are attractive candidates to become first lady in 2009.

CNN introduced me to Elizabeth Harper Kucinich when they reported on Dennis Kucinich’s recent appearance on Hardball. He was discussing his health with Chris Matthews when Matthews brought up his wedding a younger wife. "Kucinich joked, 'And I did. And my—hello. I mean, I'm 60 years old, I have a—my wife's 29. You draw your own conclusions. Diet helps.'"

There also has been much chatter about Mrs. Fred Thompson and Rudi’s Judi. But while I can’t stomach Kucinich’s vegan palate, if I'm looking for presidential arm candy, I much prefer Kucinich’s taste.

Would you let your four-year-old watch a show that had musical guests like The Shins, The Aggrolites, Rahzel, and The Aquabats? If your answer was “Fuck yes,” then park the little guy or girl in front of Yo Gabba Gabba!

The show is Gen-X’s (namely Christian Jacobs’s answer to Mr. Rogers. In the two episodes I caught—and I don’t even have kids—they taught children to eat their vegetables and take turns.

I almost wish I had a little mind to mold right now with the help of Uncle Biz Markie’s Beat of the Day.

Playboy is unique in many ways, one of which is that it has an online fan club with nearly 4,000 members. We spoke with its moderator, Peggy Wilkins.

Playboy: How did the group get started?
Wilkins: It was founded as an email exchange by Michael Todd Glazier on February 14, 1994, which is by coincidence the same day Playboy registered the Playboy.com domain. I was one of the first 10 members. The archives were hosted on a server at the University of Michigan until administrators booted us off. In the beginning we had a lot of hardcore collectors, so many discussions were about the first issue they had purchased, which ones they needed for a complete set, what Playmates they had met, that sort of thing.

Playboy: What fuels your personal interest?
Wilkins: As a teenager I was really into Marilyn Monroe, and I found out Playboy’s 25th anniversary issue (January 1979) included a full-page reproduction of her legendary calendar pose, Golden Dreams. I loved that issue, although I didn’t happen to mention my new interest to my parents. I began to obtain other issues and now have a complete collection. Playboy is unique because a person can be interested in it for so many reasons. Many people believe incorrectly that it’s one-dimensional.

Playboy: Do you have a favorite cover?
Wilkins: Probably December 1961 (pictured here). I prefer the covers from the early- to mid-1960s. The covers today are covered with text, which I know is designed to attract the attention of newsstand buyers, but many members of the list would love to have subscribers get issues with just a beautiful image, and no teasers.
 
Playboy: What are your duties as moderator?
Wilkins: I approve all messages before they are posted so the discussions don’t get too far off topic or devolve into personal disputes. There is a core group of about 25 people who post at least once each day; most members are “lurkers” who are content to just read. We always welcome new members, including Playmates. Cynthia Myers (December 1968) joined the list more than 10 years ago and still posts. Christina Smith (March 1978) has been a regular, as well, and many other Playmates say hello.

Playboy: Have there been controversies that forced you to cut off debate?
Wilkins: One issue that has become a dead horse is the quality of the Centerfold since the magazine stopped using the 8x10 camera and went digital. Some people see no difference and others complain about a loss of resolution, although most agree the designs are as great as ever. Variety is always an issue. For example, if you compare the head shots on the datasheets of Miss February and Miss May, they could be sisters. Many members also say they want more Playmates shot outdoors, rather than in studio light.

Playboy: After reading a number of posts about the lighting of the Playmate’s left ear or something of that nature, the word “obsessive” comes to mind.
Wilkins [laughs]: At times it can go a little too far. Focusing on the details can make one miss the larger picture.

I’ve worked a stone’s throw from Editorial Director Chris Napolitano for three years, and never have I learned so much about Playboy—the magazine, the company, its place in the universe—as I have from the Q&A with the New York Times which has just been posted on the paper’s website. The interview was conducted by Stephen J. Dubner of Freakonomics fame, who says that it "may be the longest Q&A in the history of the printed word." Clearly he needs to reacquaint himself with our interviews, but no matter. Long or short, Chris does a great job of explaining why Playboy is great, huge, relevant, a pleasure to read and to help create.

While answering the 500 or so letters that come into the column each month, the Advisor often must dig into medical journals. That’s how we stumbled across this amazing case study from a recent issue of The Lancet. The story of the scans shown here is this: A 44-year-old civil servant and father of two in France felt weakness in his left leg, and as part of the work-up, he had an MRI done on his brain. It turns out that as an infant, the man had had a shunt placed to treat hydrocephalus, which is a build-up of cerebrospinal fluid in the skull commonly referred to as “water on the brain.” The black void in the middle of the man’s skull is cerebrospinal fluid, and the gray part pushed to all the edges is his brain. Although hydrocephalus sometimes leads to retardation, even in this extreme condition the man has an IQ of 75, or just slightly below average.

We also are impressed by a report in the August issue of Popular Science that notes the Human Salivary Proteome Project at UCLA and USC has identified 1,166 proteins in saliva, including five indicators of oral cancer and markers unique to people with breast cancer. They’re currently working to find a saliva marker for ovarian cancer. What this means is that in the near future, you may be able to spit into a cup and be told that you have cancer early enough to beat it.

I bow to no man in my admiration for political chicanery, and Republican operatives in California have come up with a beaut.

An election lawyer named Thomas Hiltachk is trying to get a proposition placed on the ballot of the state’s primary election to be held next June. The proposition, on which voters would vote yes or no, means to change the way California awards its presidential electoral votes. Right now, California, like all the states, awards its 55 votes on a winner-take-all basis. The proposition would change that, and would award the statewide winner 2 votes, and would then allocate the others based on who wins each of the state’s congressional districts.

In practical terms, this would take the 55 electoral votes that have reliably landed in the Democratic column since 1992 and which will no doubt land there again in 2008, and (if the next election is like recent elections) give 20 or 25 of them to the Republican candidate.

Now, Thomas Hiltachk isn’t the only clever fellow out there. Some Democrats in North Carolina are trying to pull the same trick, although with considerably smaller stakes involved. And there is some apparently obvious appeal to their cause: with a winner-take-all system, you can have very close races, like Florida in 2000, where virtually half the votes cast end up not counting for anything. You end up with elections where candidates end up ignoring a large number of states because the contests there are decided weeks before the election, leaving the candidates to spend all their time in the toss-up states.

But what makes the current system fair is that it’s the system everywhere. There’s something inherently wrong when votes are counted one way in one or some states, and counted differently in the others. Besides, Hiltachk isn’t really proposing a fundamental reform: he just wants to take one winner-take-all election, and turn it into 53 winner-take all elections. It’s hard to see how that’s really more democratic.

The real reform, of course, is to dump the Electoral College entirely. There’s really no reason, in this day and age, why the will of the people needs to be filtered through an ill-understood 18th century invention.

Currently one person has the power to put an end to this sneaky maneuver. If Gov. Schwarzenegger comes ut against it, the effort will wither on the vine. Come on, Arnie. You’ve been getting lots of props for being above the partisan fray. Pull the plug on ths stunt.

Fans of the addictive-as-crack show Heroes have to wait for the new season to find out what happened after that explosion high above New York in the finale. But you only have to wait until August 28 to buy the Heroes: Season 1 DVD set from Universal Studios Home Entertainment and get your fix until the season two begins. The impressive six-disc mutant-manna package is loaded with extras, including an extended, unaired pilot, a gazillion deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Recently NBC held a junket where Heroes favorites Masi “Hiro” Oka and Hayden “Claire the cheerleader” Panettiere (pictured) discussed their roles and what is to come. Following are some of the highlights from that conference.

When you saw the character Hiro Nakamura, what did you think of him?
MASI OKA: “I thought it was phenomenal because it wasn’t one noted. Hiro embodied the sense of the everyman in many ways, and how we all dreamed as a kid of wanting to be a superhero. He believed in it, believed in it, believed in it—and finally his dreams came true. To be able to live that—live vicariously through his dreams of my dream of becoming a superhero—is just fantastic.”

Is there a superpower that you think will benefit young Hollywood stars the most?
HAYDEN PANETTIERE: “The ability to be invisible. You’ve got cameras in your face all the time, so it leaves you no room to mess up even slightly. If I could walk out my door or drive my car and not be followed by paparazzi, I’d be a very happy person.”

When season two picks up, where is Claire in her life?
HAYDEN PANETTIERE: “Well, it’s four months from where we left off. Claire is trying to get in touch with her inner teen self once again. She hasn’t given that up, and I think it’d be a sad thing if she did. The funny thing about Claire is that as much as she has that beautiful naiveté about her and as sweet as she is, she does have that spitfire. She has that sass about her.”

What about playing a villain would you appreciate the most?
HAYDEN PANETTIERE: “It would just be exciting for me. I’ve always been very categorized and sometimes typecast because of the fact that I’m blonde. People look at me as very sweet. I would never in a million years describe myself as sweet.”

You play an indestructible cheerleader. Do you recall a time when you felt kind of indestructible?
HAYDEN PANETTIERE: “Yeah, when I was younger I always had that thought in my head for some reason. I could never imagine dying. When you’re younger, death is not something that clicks in your head. Now it is; now it does. Now I don’t feel so indestructible.”

Do you feel like you’re giving geeks out there some street cred for the masses?
MASI OKA: “Oh yeah. If I can represent the geeks, I’m very fortunate to be able to do that. For me, the notion of a geek has always been someone who’s passionate about something—whether it’s computers, ant farms, musicals, storytelling or paperweights. Whatever it is. Anytime you are passionate about something—that is what makes us human. It defines us as individuals. It’s more commendable to be a geek—and be passionate about something—that be apathetic about everything.”

The second season of Heroes premieres on Monday, September 24 on NBC.

If we were to hand out some kind of "blog reader of the month" award (perhaps "year" would be more apt), it would undoubtedly go to Super Amanda, a pneumatic (says here 40E) Tura Satana doppelganger and YouTube star based in San Francisco. You can get a sense for some of her talents here.

Alas we do not hand out such an award. Sorry, Amanda. This post is not actually about you. It’s about a tip you gave us recently on something Nick Lowe said about his classic What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love and Understanding. Most listeners know the version recorded by Elvis Costello—a driving, big-voiced rant against ‘70s nihilism and off-key singing. (Where indeed was sweet harmony?) It has a remarkably different feel from Lowe’s original, with his pub-rock band Brinsley Schwarz, which is a tearful farewell to ‘60s idealism. Lowe’s legacy is that of producer (Graham Parker’s Howlin’ Wind, The Pretenders’ self-titled debut, The Damned’s Damned Damned Damned and Elvis Costello’s first four or five albums); as a songwriter and performer he is and shall forever be underappreciated. Fine as his new album At My Age may be, it’s not going to win him new or younger fans. Things might have been different if he could have recorded a handful more like Cruel to be Kind, for our money his best song.

Yes, but what did Nick Lowe say about “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace Love and Understanding”? Buried in the press release from ShoreFire Media:

Another Lowe classic has been recently covered by the Holmes Brothers. “What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love & Understanding?” has been turned into a relentless statement of belief and faith by the Brothers, a fact not lost on Lowe. “When I heard that recently,” he says, “I just stood straight up and thought, ‘My goodness, they’ve really outdone everyone.’”

To Elvis Costello fans, it’s outright blasphemy. But is it truth? Have the Holmes Brothers topped Elvis Costello? Listen and decide for yourself.

Our call: It is not truth. The Holmes Brothers’ version is interesting, and very good, but not better than Elvis Costello’s. Not even close. Here’s the video of Mr. Buddy Holly on Acid Himself.

Thanks anyway, Amanda, and keep the tits coming. Sorry, “tips.” We meant to say “tips.”

In September, the Advisor quotes a "Presbyterian minister we know" who offers his thoughts on the best church for a reader to join should he want to meet women. This is an unorthodox question to ask of a clergyman, which is why it's so great that the Advisor roomed during his freshman year of college with a future seminarian. We withheld his name because he ministers to a flock in a relatively small town in Wisconsin, and there is no sense in rocking the ark. He seemed disappointed to discover he had not been identified, but it was for his own good—during a visit to our New York offices, he had confided his plans to share this particular question and response with other members of his Rotary Club and also to pin it to the church bulletin board. The reverend later wrote to say that as he rode the elevator to the street, he informed the other man aboard, "That was the Playboy Advisor and I'm a Presbyterian minister." To which the guy replied, after a beat, "They're both good reads."

Later, as he sat on a bench in Greenwich Village engrossed in the latest issue, our friend was approached by a "big-haired gum chewer” (and child of God) who asked if she could see the Centerfold. He replied, "Sure—I just hadn't gotten to it yet because I'm reading." To which she countered that she had noticed this and been impressed. And from that exchange we add another strategy to our growing list of ways to meet women.