speed of dark

We've had several nice comments on our new banner picture, so here is a little something about its significance to us. The silhouettes of palm trees and the outlines of those mountains are a familiar site in Palm Desert, California, near where I lived for over 20 years and where Indie Mom grew up. While southern California is often represented by palm trees, the two near the center of the picture are date palms, which the area is famous for. This picture holds a lot of memories for us and feels representative of who we are. I'm really proud of the work Indie Mom did on the redesign of our page.

Palm Desert is also the home of Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and where he formed his first band, Kyuss. Not like we lived next door to him or anything; I just need to make a musical connection here. We did see him playing a Desert Session at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival (website) in 2004. Below are two tracks from the Queens' 2003 album, Songs for the Deaf, and the news is that a new CD called Era Vulgaris will be released in June.

Queens of the Stone Age: No One Knows
Queens of the Stone Age: First It Giveth

QOTSA website | myspace | Buy

Homme lives in Palm Desert with his wife, Brody Dalle who founded the Aussie punk band the Distillers, and their little girl. The Distillers have broken up, and Dalle now heads Spinnerette, based in California, with several members of the Distillers. No songs have yet been released, but you can stream some very nice samples at Spinnerette's website.

The Distillers: The Hunger from Coral Fang (2003)

More recently, Homme contributed guitar to this interesting cover of Marvin Gaye's "Mercy Mercy Me" by the Strokes, which was the B-side of the 2006 single, "You Only Live Once."

The Strokes: Mercy Mercy Me

Also in 2006, the Strokes were included on the soundtrack of the Sofia Coppola movie Marie Antoinette (website) with this re-release from 2003's Room On Fire.

The Strokes: What Ever Happened?

The Strokes' myspace | website