TOMORROW ON OUTQ: CHRISTMAS SONGS AND LAST MINUTE GIFTS

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning I go on the SiriusXM channel OutQ as a guest on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick (and co-host comedian Keith Price) and talk about music. Well, today was Wednesday and I spent my time on the show talking about the 2011 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Tomorrow I will be making a rare Thursday morning appearance to talk about some important stuff. Namely, some new rocking holiday jams!  And speaking of jams, some last minute gifts that may get you out of a jam if you've been procrastinating on your shopping!

First off, and most importantly to me, The Cocktail Slippers. They have a new digital single, "It's Christmas," which is a tribute to the great Wall of Sound Christmas songs (and holds it own next to those classics).  No Expiration readers know that I love this band, their last album, St. Valentine's Day Massacre, was one of my two favorite albums of 2009. They've gone through some lineup changes, but I think this single features the same people who were on St. Valentine's Day Massacre.  Changing members is scary, but I definitely look forward to hearing their new music, it will be one of the albums I most eagerly anticipate in 2011, along with Social D's new one.

It turns out that David Bowie and Bing Crosby's incredibly uncomfortable looking "Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy" made a big impact on comedians. I have a new version of it by Jack Black and Jason Segel. See a cartoon video here. Meanwhile, Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly did a new version for Funny Or Die.

Annie Lennox has a new album called A Christmas Cornucopia. For some reason I can accept this kind of thing more from her than I could from Sting. It's like, she's hard to criticize, and she does a great job on the songs I've heard so far.

I've been a fan of The Indigo Girls forever, but I was surprised for some reason to find out about their new album Happy Holly Days. It's cool.

Shelby Lynne is a great singer, despite winning a weird Grammy a few years ago (Best New Artist, although she'd released a number of albums by then) not a lot of people know about her. Or not enough people. I like her song "Ain't Nothin' Like Christmas" from her new album Merry Christmas (most of the  album is covers, but "Ain't Nothin'" is an original).

Paul Simon just released a new single, "Getting Ready For Christmas Day." It's actually a great song, it reminds me of his upbeat but still very lyrical '70s stuff. It's modern sounding, because it features samples of a gospel preacher recorded decades ago.  It's a great song, and I haven't enjoyed much of his recent material.

If you're a scroogy type, you may love Corey Taylor's single "X-M@$." He's the guy from Slipknot and Stone Sour, but this song sounds more like The Reverend Horton Heat. Watch the video here.

But let's end this on more of a positive note, kind of.  You know I love me some Ms. Sharon Jones. She has a new single, "Ain't No Chimneys In The Projects."  She's just great, and this is a really fun song. Check it out!

Even though Hanukkah is over, I have to give it up to Matisyahu, whose music I don't generally enjoy.  But his Hanukkah single, "Miracle," is fantastic, and so is the video.

RUSH - BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE... AMAZING

I really enjoy watching documentaries about music, but if there's one band who really needed to have a documentary, it's Rush. Their story is rarely told, because the gatekeepers of music media hate them.

Also, you rarely hear big name musicians talking about how awesome Rush is, and here you get Trent Reznor, Jack Black of Tenacious D, Billy Corgan, Kirk Hammett, Gene Simmons, Tim Commerford of Rage Against The Machine, Les Claypool, Danny Carey of Tool, Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters and Zakk Wylde among others, talking about how great they are. Even a guy from Death Cab For Cutie!

And I don't think I've ever seen an interview with Neal Peart. Ever!

On the other hand, other than the unimaginable tragedy that Peart endured some years back (documented in his book Ghostrider), the band hasn't had too much controversy or drama, so I was kind of wondering if their story would really make a great documentary.  Yes it does.

Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage came out on DVD this week, and I watched it tonight.

It does a great job of telling their story - how children of immigrants Geddy Lee (son of concentration camp survivors) and Alex Lifeson came together in school and formed a lifelong friendship and this awesome band. And how they had the confidence to do what they wanted to do, and not let the record label or trends or even fans dictate their direction. There's lots of amazing footage: a young Alex Lifeson at the dinner table telling his parents he wants to drop out of school and become a musician and early footage of the performing with original drummer John Rutsey.  There's also interviews with Geddy's mom, Alex's mom, and Neal's parents, plus lots of other people around the band and interviews with all three guys that are actually revealing. Absolute essential viewing for any Rush fan, but I've heard that even non-fans enjoy the doc.

A friend and former boss of mine who does a blog on rock docs wrote about it here: he mentions that he used to like the band and then moved on because of punk. I never did that, even as I got into punk and what was known as "alternative," and neither did many of the artists interviewed for this film. One of the creators of South Park was interviewed, and comments that even rock critics who hated them for years have to give the band their props these days.  And if they don't, "then they're just being old dicks." Amen brother.

My only gripe: there were great extras, but I would have loved to see the full interviews with Reznor, Claypool, et all. The interviews with other artists was the best part of the recent Stones In Exile doc.  Maybe on the deluxe edition!

THE WHO GET SOME "SWEET-ASS RECOGNISH" FROM THE KENNEDY CENTER!

At this year's Kennedy Center Honors, The Who were one of the artists who were, well, honored. George Jones, Twyla Tharp, Morgan Freeman and Barbra Streisand were also honored. (I would have loved to have seen Babs being congratulated by Bush; I heard she said that it would have been nice to get the honor next year).

The Who were paid tribute with a lineup worthy of this summer's VH1 Rock Honors: Chris Cornell sang "Won't Get Fooled Again," Bettye LaVette did "Love Reign O'er Me," Joss Stone did "My Generation" and Dave Grohl sang many "fucks" in "Who Are You." Plus Jack Black did the speech about the group, saying that "It's about time they get some sweet-ass recognish." Apparently, some folks were offended by the whole thing. That's fine: I'm glad The Who and thier followers can still stir up "the man."

ANOTHER MUSICAL TRIUMPH FOR JABLES

I don't know if this will compare with Jack Black's duet with Cee-Lo Green (from Gnarls Barkley) on "Kung Fu Fighting." But it's funny. Jables, along with Ben "Mr. Furious" Stiller and Robert "Iron Man" Downey Jr. last night collaborate with a holographic Gladys Knight (from like 30 years ago, by the looks of it) on American Idol, on, of course, "Midnight Train To Georgia." You can buy it on iTunes, or see it probably all over YouTube. The three of them are co-starring in a movie directed by Stiller, Tropic Thunder, which looks hilarious.

I think that this movie thing is cute, but I'm glad to also report that Jack's day job - TENACIOUS D - is playing a few festival gigs in Europe this summer. Hopefully they'll be doing some stateside shows at some point too.

By the way, the Gladys thing was a bit weird. I've seen the holographic thing done with Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, who are no longer with us. But Gladys is still alive. So that was kind of weird. But still funny.

A FLAW IN AN OTHERWISE NEARLY FLAWLESS MOVIE

School of Rock is one of my favorite movies ever. Is it the most sophisticated film ever? Maybe not. Is it realistic? Um... maybe not? But all I know is that I smile throughout the entire thing every time I see it.

I think it captures the love for music that lots of us have. I don't play an instrument, and I've never been in a band, but I relate to the love. And there's something weirdly moving about watching the kids form the band and then play really well.

One of my favorite parts is actually during the credits, where Jack Black and the kids are rocking out to AC/DC's "It's A Long Way To The Top If You Want To Rock And Roll." I've read that the scene was mainly freestyled, and it shows. It's a lot of fun.

One problem. Jack Black gives a solo and a shoutout to every member of the band except for the bass player, Katie. Jack? Cello! You wouldn't have forgotten John Entwistle, would you? Would you diss Paul McCartney like that? So, here's a shout out to Katie, played by real life musician Rebecca Brown. I'm not hating on my man Jables, though. I've already predicted that he will own not just the movie charts, but the pop charts this summer. But when Ms. Brown releases her debut, you owe her one: write her bio, or better yet, have Tenacious D open for her!

THIS SUMMER'S BANGER

I was wondering if the summer of 2008 would produce a classic hit on the level of "Spider-Pig," from last year's Simpsons movie.

I think I have the answer: School of Rock prof/frontman and one half of Tenacious D, Jack Black is teaming up with Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo Green (aka "The Love Machine") for a version Carl Thomas' classic "Kung Fu Fighting."

Just thought I'd let everyone know. I think the Black and Green team will dominate the pop charts this summer.