Just placed online, an interview with Pretty Girls Make Graves drummer Nick DeWitt. Nick talks about Seattle, working with Colin Stewart instead of Phil Ek on their new record, and dangerous lighting equipment (read it here). Among the stuff that didn't make the cut was talk about Nick's "project studio" out on Bainbridge Island. "I don't like that term -- project studio. It sounds like it's a side project. I make stuff out there." His "stuff" is another music project called Dutch Dub, which he does with friend Amy (no last name given). They're putting the finishing touches on a new full-length called Night Canopy that'll be released on Sound Virus Records some time in the near future. The Dutch Dub self-titled debut LP came out in '05 on Record Collection. And then, somehow, he'll tour, presumably around Pretty Girls' touring schedule, that is if he can get a band together. "Maybe it'll be a one-man-band kind of thing. I'll tie a tambourine to my foot. Hopefully, down the road, I'll be able to find a few people to play with me."

The other part of Nick's comments that weren't in this article surface in tomorrow's column, focused around the concept of "getting Omaha'd." Tune back then.

Apologies for not updating yesterday -- I've had a killer schedule. I intended to put something online last night about Spoon's recent foray into television commercials. So I'm watching the NBA playoffs this weekend and what should come up during a time-out but a nice, long commercial for the new Jaguar XKE. The music, Spoon's "I Turn My Camera On." And it wasn't just incidental background music -- it was produced like a rock video prominently featuring the song and tight, quick cuts of a shiny new Jag. The commercial was replayed again about five minutes later, and I immediately thought, 'Well, there goes that song."

Look, I think it's great if Britt Daniel can earn a little extra scratch from Madison Avenue -- no problem there. We all got bills to pay. Hey, didn't Broken Spindles sell a song to use in a recent Lexus ad? The difference, of course, is that the Broken Spindles tune is somewhat obscure, and he could use the exposure -- and it just sounds like piano tinkling anyway. The Spoon track was a "single" from Gimme Fiction, is impossible to miss during the ad, and if the commercial gets a lot of airtime (and it probably will) will now forever be identified with that car. I cannot hear Bob Seger's "Like a Rock" and not think "Chevy Trucks" or Sheryl Crow's "Every Day is a Winding Road" without thinking "cheesy car commercial." U2's "Vertigo" -- iPods. And so on. In those cases it doesn't really matter because I didn't like the song to begin with. But this winter Ford began using the Peanuts theme for a sales promotion -- I had to turn the TV off every time it came on because I grew up loving that little piano tune as a kid and couldn't stand the idea of it being bastardized (the family of Vince Guaraldi must be mortified). And I liked "I Turn My Camera On." Not anymore, not if it becomes the official Jaguar theme. Britt, what were you thinking?

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