Rourke 'n' roll

Here's another segue from The Shins ... James Mercer is good friends with Isaac Brock of Modest Mouse. Guitarist Johnny Marr was a temporary Mouse ... but, of course, he's better known for his work with The Smiths ... which also featured bassist Andy Rourke, who now works as a DJ for Xfm in Manchester, England.

He'll be spinning tonight at Brixx Bar & Grill, 10030 102nd Street. Doors open at 8 p.m. Upstairs, Champion will be performing in The Starlite Room.

One of my fave Rourke bassline (and Smiths song):

Song of the day: Australia

This isn't a new track, but thanks to a recent Twitterlogue with Jason Konoza, I was reminded of this song by The Shins. (Long story short ... you can download it from the Rock Band Network Music Store.) It's one of my faves from 2007's Wincing The Night Away, but I haven't listened to the song (or the album) in awhile ... so I found the track on YouTube ... and realized I had never seen the official video. I still haven't seen most of it ... my mind tends to wander when I listen to Australia ... and frankly, I can't resist the urge to snap my fingers or do jazz hands. Yup, still a fabulous track.

This all segues nicely into my next subject ... Broken Bells, which features James Mercer of The Shins and producer Danger Mouse. Their first collaboration is in stores on Tuesday, March 9. You can listen to a stream of it on Spinner ... one of the best sites ever! ... and here's a cute-as-a-button clip of the Bells testing their tunes on a panel of children: