"The main problem is that generally when you make an album, you record it first and then (afterwards) you tour. So by the end of the tour the songs are incredible because they are so practiced," said Brandi Shearer, pictured left earlier this week onstage in New York.

"I wanted to do this the right way; to tour first and record the album after....This tour is basically the pre- production."  The Amoeba Records recording artist was speaking two nights ago in New York City, moments after getting off stage to rousing applause at Manhattan's Mercury Lounge where along with current two-piece band -- drummer Ramy Antoun and guitarist Chris Bruce (the musicians on her soon to be recorded next album, and who just got off tour with Seal) -- sounded like they've already honed their sound on all the new tracks enough to go into the studio and record that next album right away.

The studio recording dates won't be for several more weeks, sometime this summer when Craig Street (Cassandra Wilson, Norah Jones,Me'Shell NdegéOcello, John Legend, k.d. lang, Manhattan Transfer etc.) produces the anticipated new album -- the follow up to last year's Close to Dark.  Currently Shearer & band are still in the midst of their hectic cross-country tour with another busy week of shows to go, all part of a coast-to-coast Amoeba Music Presents tour that also features Quincy Coleman and Kate Walsh.

Since the new over-hyped celebreality TV show Living Lohan (starring Lindsay's mom Dina Lohan and the family) premieres tonight,  I thought it a good time to re-watch or check out for the first time, if you haven't seen them already, some of the recent clips of Tracey Ullman lampooning the celebrity's mom/manager.

Taken from Ullman's current American television program Tracey Ullman's State of the Union on  Showtime are three clips below of Ullman as Dina. In the first she is captured on camera out at a nightclub -- a place for the "stay at club moms" -- liberally offering advice on rehab for her celebrity kids.  "You gotta get em in early......You can't O.D. your way in anymore."

In the second, even funnier scene, Ullman again channels Dina Lohan out in da club on a night when the young Ali Lohan falls down from partying too hard.  "Give her some red bull and vodka" is the caring mother's advice too late. Ali drops dead in this no-holds-barred comedy sketch. In the third clip, Ullman as the mommy Lohan is (again) out clubbing with her pals in a scenario where she confronts Britney's mom Lynne Spears who she feels is patronizing her.

The fourth and final clip below is a promo for the original Dina Lohan in the new reality show Living Lohan that premieres tonight on E!, apparently as a vehicle to launch the career of her next in line celebrity child, 14 year old Ali. I predict tonight's ratings for E!, which strategically also is launching another hot celebrity reality show today -- Denise Richards: It's Complicated -- will have the highest ratings of the cable network's history.

Paul Weller, accomplished solo artist and former leader and founder of both The Jam and The Style Council, turns 50 today. Weller, who has been dubbed "the Modfather" because of his being the key figure in the UK mod revivalist movement of the seventies, was born John William Weller on May 25th, 1958. He began making music in his early teens and in fact was still only a teenager when The Jam scored their first UK hit ("In The City") in '77.  The Jam, whose mod revivalist sound lay somewhere in between punk and new wave and were huge in Britain but never equally so Stateside, scored eighteen British Top 40 singles (four of them number one pop hits). After The Jam disbanded in 1982, Weller formed Style Council in 1983 and experienced continued major success. In the nineties he went solo, at first calling himself and his backing band the Paul Weller Movement -- later dropping the "Movement" part and just going by his own name.

In celebration of his birthday, below are a selection of videos from the artist's illustrious career that has spanned 30 + years. I've Included a few from from way back in the day with The Jam (how young he looks then!), such as a 1977 live version of their first hit single "In The City," and a TV studio (lip synched) version of "Down In The Tube Station" on UK TV circa 1978, and also "This Is The Modern World" live in concert. There are three songs/two video clips of the Style Council: the video of "Speak Like A Child" off their first album, 1983's Introducing and a live concert excerpt from two years later of them performing 'Internationalist' and 'Walls Come Tumbling" in 1985 to a huge audience at Wembley Stadium and on TV around the world as part of  Live Aid.  Then there is a video of "From the Floorboards Up" being performed live on Jools Holland's TV show in 2005, as well as a live acoustic guitar/vocal duo with Noel Gallagher doing a great rendition of The Jam's "That's Entertainment." Happy birthday Paul Weller!

Memorial Day Weekend already? Almost June!  Damn, this year is really flying along. But already there are tons of great new hip-hop albums, including several that will no doubt be making this Amoeblogger's 2008 Best Of list: some of which are included in the three new Amoeba Music Hip-Hop Top Five Charts kindly submitted this week by Tunde (Amoeba Berkeley), Luis (Amoeba SF), and Kate Shantar (Amoeba Hollywood). 

Still holding strong, several weeks after its release, is The Roots' ninth album Rising Down which continues to sell briskly in both Berkeley and Los Angeles. Also still popular with fans is the Bay Area's Lyrics Born's latest Quannum joint Everywhere At Once as well as The Coup's older Wild Pitch albums being reissued by Universal (Genocide and Juice + Kill My Landlord).

A new entry on the Berkeley Top Five chart this week comes from Naledge and Double O who make up The Kidz In The Hall.  The duo have certainly stepped to the plate with this, their second album The In Crowd, which is all that and more and features appearances from such talents as Guilty Simpson, Buckshot, The Cool Kids, Phonte, Sean Price, Pusha T, Black Milk, and Bun B. Speaking of Bun B, this half of the former group UGK (spill a lil on the curb for his late partner in rhyme Pimp C) just dropped his new album this week II Trill on Rap-A-Lot.

BERKELEY AMOEBA MUSIC HIP-HOP TOP FIVE

I hadn't seen the movie The Big Lebowski since it came out in theaters ten years ago and hence only vaguely recalled how the "F" word and other cuss words were uttered so very liberally throughout the comedy.  But upon recently watching the short but entertaining The Big Lebowski -- The Fucking Short Version clip above by YouTuber BunnieLebowski I realized just how frequently the F word was actually worked into the 1998 Coen Brothers film script.  A lot!  Count them if you can manage to keep up with such characters as Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (played by Jeff Bridges) dropping the "F" word..  And look for the DVD of this great movie at Amoeba Music.

 And speaking of the "F" word, check out the short English lesson on the word in the clip below.