Things We Learned from Twitter Today- Black Lips Recording New LP

The Atlanta flower-punk rock band The Black Lips is recording a new album according to a tweet by Paste Magazine.

In an article originally published in Spin, the band said their yet-to-be-named record will be out in early 2011. The Lips' lead singer Cole Alexander said the album would be the band's most commercial one yet.

Alexander added that the lp will include one country song called "Dumpster Diving," and that the Lips are experimenting with new instruments including a human skull?!

Interesting things about the band include the fact that they supposedly recorded one of their records at a bar in Tijuana, Mexico, and they are known for lavish stage shows which include nudity and flaming guitars.

We will now take a moment to dedicate this entry to students at Arcadia High School in Phoenix, Ariz., home of the Phoenix Suns, which is yet another 'High School of the Week.' The school principal is Dr. Anne Marie Woolsey. They are called The Titans, and they will play Paradise Valley High School in a home game on Sept. 10.

It is also 88 degrees in Phoenix today. I hope that made your day!

Know Your Mayors (20 of 21) Kevin Johnson of Sacramento, Calif.

We continue our long-running series with one of two big city mayors who once played pro hoops in the NBA. Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento, Calif., played for the Phoenix Suns in the late '80s and '90s. The Suns were one of several teams who won the Western Conference only to lose to Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls in the NBA finals. Dave Bing, a former Detroit Pistons star and current Detroit mayor, is the other former NBA player in charge of city government.

Johnson, who turned 44 on March 4 (I turned 40 on the same day), has become a high profile mayor because Sacramento is California's capital and because he was a star player in the NBA. He has appeared on Fox, CNN and MSNBC as well as "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central.

The Sacramento mayor, a Democrat who was sworn into office in 2008, regularly consults with his counterparts, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg (New York), Adrien Fenty (Washington, DC) and Cory Booker (Newark, NJ). Both Fenty and Booker were profiled earlier in this series.

Johnson has also met with President Barack Obama three times since becoming mayor to disccuss regional issues.

Sacramento is the seventh largest city in California. It is also home to Sacramento State University and the NBA's Sacremento Kings.

Major NBA Games Friday Night

As many who follow this and my other blog The Daily Vampire regularly (all three of you) might know, I have REALLY gotten into sports a lot within the last three or four months.

I am really following the NBA like a hoops fanatic, even to the point where I stay up late to check the score of a meaningless L.A. Clippers game on the West coast.

On Friday night, there will be 13 games, which means all but four NBA teams will be in action.

ESPN will televise the game between the L.A. Lakers and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden starting at 8 p.m. The late game will be between the visiting Chicago Bulls and the Phoenix Suns. The Lakers should win even they're on the road since they have a better team than the Knicks, even though the New Yorkers have improved this year.

I think the Suns will probably beat the Bulls though they had an awful East coast road trip, and the Bulls are better this year though they have a long way to go before replicating the glory years.

Other games will include a talented young Sacramento Kings squad visiting Florida for a game with the Orlando Magic. The Milwaukee Bucks go to Canada to face the Toronto Raptors, which features Turkish player Hedo Turkoglu, one of my favorite players in the NBA (alas Toronto is not scheduled to be on national tv in the United States this year). The Bucks have a great rookie player named Brandon Jennings, whom I'm told is a delight to watch (the Bucks aren't on tv much either).

The struggling Miami Heat head to DC to play the Washington Wizards, who are also having hard times since star player Gilbert Arenas is indefinitely suspended for a gun-in-the-locker-room fiasco. The Portland Trail Blazers play the Boston Celtics in bean town. Both teams are playing well right now.


A hot Charlotte Bobcats team travels to Georgia to play an exceptional Atlanta Hawks team. And, the game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Memphis Grizzlies in Elvis country should be a dandy as the Thunder has a terrific second-year player named Kevin Durant (who you can follow on Twitter) and the Grizzlies have an exceptional young player out of USC named O.J. Mayo.

Here are my picks for Friday night's games. The star denotes an upset pick:

Orlando Magic over Sacramento Kings
Dallas Mavericks over Philly '76ers
Toronto Raptors over Milwaukee Bucks
Miami Heat over Washington Wizards
Charlotte Bobcats over Atlanta Hawks*
Boston Celtics over Portland Trail Blazers
Detroit Pistons over Indy Pacers
Ok City Thunder over Memphis Grizzlies
New Orleans Hornets over Minnesota Timberwolves
New York Knicks over L.A. Lakers*
Houston Rockets over San Antonio Spurs*
Phoenix Suns over Chicago Bulls
Golden State Warriors over New Jersey Nets

UPDATE_ I went 7-6 with these picks, which is pretty bad but not as futile as the New Jersey Nets' record which is like 3-40 (not kidding!).

The Friday night winners were Orlando, Philly, Toronto, Miami, Atlanta, Boston (in OT), Indy, Memphis, New Orleans, LA Lakers, Houston, Chicago and (of course!) Golden State.

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