Well, my biggest fan called again. She was as feisty as ever, and was babysitting. Really! Listen to the call:

Stalker Babysitting Call

Activision announced the final track-listing for the next installment of Guitar Hero. It features 86 songs, has full instumentation, and comes out on October 26th. Here’s a list of the tracks we play on X92.9 that made the cut:

311 — “Beautiful Disaster”
30 Seconds To Mars - “The Kill”
At The Drive-In - “One Armed Scissor”
Beastie Boys - “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”
Billy Idol - “Rebel Yell”
Blink-182 - “Dammit”
Coldplay - “Shiver”
The Cult - “Love Removal Machine”
Dinosaur Jr. - “Feel The Pain”
Filter - “Hey Man, Nice Shot”
Foo Fighters - “Everlong”
Interpol - “Obstacle 1″
Jane’s Addiction - “Mountain Song”
Jimmy Eat World - “The Middle”
Korn - “Freak On A Leash”
Linkin Park - “What I’ve Done”
Modest Mouse - “Float On”
Muse - “Assassin”
Nirvana - “About a Girl (Unplugged)”
Oasis - “Some Might Say”
R.E.M. - “The One I Love”
Rise Against - “Re-Education Through Labor”
Sex Pistols - “Pretty Vacant”
Silversun Pickups - “Lazy Eye”
Smashing Pumpkins - “Today”
The Stone Roses - “Love Spreads”
Sublime - “Santeria”
System of a Down - “B.Y.O.B.”
Tool - “Parabola”
Tool - “Schism”
Tool - “Vicarious”

Greg (evening/weekend guy on X92.9) is an odd guy. He is obsessed with finding a girl. It often interferes with him acting in a regular manner. He was put in the friend zone several months ago by a girl he likes, and she seems to enjoy the attention he gives her, and at the same time he thinks he might escape the friend zone. To that end, he makes himself constantly available (night or day) to chat with her on the phone, at the expense of common manners. They’ve never met. My thought on the cell phone is that we’ve become too obsessed and too available. My thought on girls is that the more available you are, the less attractive. If you are hanging out with a friend, and your phone rings, let it go to the machine. You can check the message, and if it’s an emergency, call back. If not, call later when you’re home. If you really need to answer it, quickly say “I’m busy now” or whatever, and ask if you can call later. Pretty simple! But not for Greg. Listen:

Greg can’t hang up 

On Tuesday, Bad Religion are coming through town for a sold-out show at Flames Central. Jay Bentley from the band checked in from the road, somewhere between Oregon and Washington. Here’s the interview:

Bad Religion Interview

Bloc Party were in Calgary for a show this week. Bassist Gordon Moakes called in from Mac Hall for a chat. Here’s the interview:

Bloc Party Interview

Montreal’s Creature stopped by the studio for a chat about their recent exploits, including a showcase in New York where Blondie showed up. Here’s the interview:

Creature Interview

Against Me! are coming through Calgary this weekend. Last time they were through town, it was for an exclusive One Night Only show for X listeners only at the Republik nightclub. This time around, it’s wide open at Mac Hall. Tom Gabel checked in on the phone from Thunder Bay, where the band has a night off. We talked about all sorts of stuff, including a solo album from Tom which shouldmhit in October. Here’s the interview in three parts:

Against Me! Part 1

Against Me! Part 2

Against Me! Part 3

The National Post’s Rebecca Tucker recently presented a few trends that need to go:

A fashion-forward friend once quipped, “When I see someone wearing Crocs, I immediately know we have nothing in common,” so it comes as no surprise that news of Toronto’s first-ever Crocs emporium, set to open up on Toronto’s über-trendy Queen West stretch, doesn’t exactly have local fashionistas over the moon with excitement. But style snobs, take heed: This won’t be the first time a not-so-attractive piece of apparel has risen to inexplicably ubiquitous popularity, but has failed to withstand the test of time (as Crocs presumably — or hopefully — will). Here then is a roundup of recent, terrible trends that have since faded into oblivion — or your local Value Village.

Cargo pants
Thanks largely to baggy-clothing champions Limp Bizkit, Korn and their fellow rap-rockers, cargo pants were de rigeur in the late ’90s and early part of this decade. Characterized by pockets aplenty and enough slack in each pant leg to accommodate a second wearer, cargo pants remain practical for military personnel and those on safari, but since the advent of the skinny jean, they are no longer acceptable in the mainstream.

Modrobes
Toronto-based clothier Modrobes, with their rainbow-hued, wide-legged, raver-friendly polyester pants, rose to popularity around the same time as cargo pants. Like Crocs, their foray into fashion fame facilitated the opening of a Modrobes boutique on — you guessed it — Queen West. The store closed in 2006, and after a decade-long run, the Modrobes brand no longer exists anywhere but thrift-store clothing racks.

Frosted Tips
The popularity of this hair-colouring trend coincided with the rise and fall of studio-manufactured boy bands such as N*Sync and the Backstreet Boys. Sported largely by men, this hairstyle involved the meticulous spiking of one’s hair, either preceded by a bleach-blond dye-job mimicking overgrown roots, or the application of specialized, coloured “spiking gel” to the hair’s outermost inch.

Trucker Hats
Many thanks to Ashton Kutcher for this one. The trucker hat was popular for such a brief time — between 2001 and 2003 — that the sheer volume and variety available was nothing short of astounding. The mesh-backed, stiff-brimmed caps were most often worn by men, most often adorned with beer logos and were most often spotted at gatherings wherein other men were addressed as “guy.”

Fans of heavy metal music are gentle, creative people who are at ease with themselves, which makes them very similar to fans of classical music.

That’s the finding of a new study at Scotland’s Heriot-Watt University of the link between peoples’ personalities and their choice of music.

Adrian North, the professor behind the study, said he was surprised at the similarities between fans of classical music and heavy metal, especially their creativity and generally shy natures.

“The general public has held a stereotype of heavy metal fans being suicidally depressed and of being a danger to themselves and society in general. But they are quite delicate things,” he said in an interview with the BBC.

North suggests that music lovers tend to identify with the characteristics of the music itself.

“We think, what we think the answer is, that both types of music, classical and heavy metal, both have something of the spiritual about them — they’re very dramatic — a lot happens.”

The study of more than 36,000 people from six different countries found that people had more in common with fans of their favourite music in other countries than they had with fellow citizens who preferred different styles of music.

North describes it as a new kind of tribalism, based on musical taste.

“We have always suspected a link between music taste and personality,” North said.

“This is the first time that we’ve been able to look at it in real detail. No one has ever done this on this scale before.”

Jazz fans tend to be creative and outgoing, with high self-esteem, in keeping with the innovative and sociable nature of the music.

Country western fans were found to be hard-working, but introverted, fitting with the blue-collar image of country music.

The research concluded soul music lovers are a well-rounded bunch — creative, outgoing, gentle, at ease with themselves and with high self-esteem.

Rap fans are outgoing and far from gentle, while indie music lovers lack both self-esteem and the work ethic.

“Researchers have been showing for decades that fans of rock and rap are rebellious, and that fans of opera are wealthy and well-educated,” North said.

He also made a link between income bracket and musical tastes, with more affluent consumers liking more exciting, punchy music while those lower down the pay scale preferring more relaxing sounds.

North said his research might have applications in commercial marketing of music.

It’s been a few months since I’ve heard from my biggest fan. After her last call, she just kind of disappeared. Well, yesterday she called out of the blue, and explained where she’d been. It was a long call, so I’ve broken it into two parts. Listen:

Stalker September 5th #1

Stalker September 5th #2