the story of the PUNCHLINE holiday classic "ALL HOPPED UP ON JINGLE BELLS" from Redeye 2008 Holiday Sampler (Modern Short Stories)

Last year, we spoke with Pittsburgh Pop-punk band Punchline about one of our personal favorite tracks from 2003's A Santa Cause: It's A Punk Rock Christmas, "Icicles." It's easily one of the shining moments on the back half of said CD comp. leading into Nerf Herder's special hidden track, "Santa's Got A Mullet." Lo and behold, this is just one of Punchline's lesser-known Christmas classics; actually, there seem to be four total (one, we just discovered this monring while writing this!) including "All Hopped Up On Jingle Bells" from Redeye 2008 Holiday Sampler, "I Always See You In December" from Happy Holidays, I Miss You, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" from Punk Rock Christmas 2, and, of course, "Icicles" from A Santa Cause. Following the widespread success of last year's the story of the PUNCHLINE holiday classic "ICICLES" from A Santa Cause: It's A Punk Rock Christmas, we decided to reach out to Punchline frontman Steve Soboslai, via email, for yet another festive feature.

We spoke with Steve and quickly decided this year's feature would be centered around "All Hopped Up On Jingle Bells" from Redeye 2008 Holiday Sampler. It was included on a 2007-08 comp. released by Modern Short Stories, a Pittsburgh-based "media label" founded by Punchline's own Steve Soboslai & Chris Fafalios and a friend, Amanda Yu. Rather than type out a lengthy backstory on "All Hopped Up On Jingle Bells," Steve Soboslai sent us a podcast-style audio file, which we uploaded to our Soundcloud page, and, then, embedded within this very post. So, if you enjoyed last year's the story of the PUNCHLINE holiday classic "ICICLES" from A Santa Cause: It's A Punk Rock Christmas, we would strongly recommend checking out this year's installment! Both "All Hopped Up On Jingle Bells" & "Icicles" have been effectively re-released on Punchline's Night Lights comp. being billed as "a collection of B-sides and previously unreleased songs released in 2009."

Earlier this year, Punchline released two stand-alone digital singles, "Just Stay Home" & "Be Right There," as well as a special strings version of their song "Universe" from 2012's So Nice to Meet You EP. Additionally, Punchline have released their own musical special fittingly titled It's The Punchline Music Special available exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Amazon's on-site description describes it like this: "The Punchline Music Special is a glimpse into the minds of a band that has carved their own path over the course of the past two decades. Under brilliant lights and surrounded by friends, join Punchline for an intimate and visually stunning time capsule that captures the essence of Punchline, a Pittsburgh band that has stood the test of time thanks to a passionate fanbase and a true love for music." Thanks again to Steve Soboslai and the Punchline fellas for agreeing to do this! Here's to a safe, happy, and slightly different holiday season to all!

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra

Liberty Bell Cracked In 1/2: Ween - "Freedom of '76" (Gene Ween's Final Send-Off)

Chocolate & Cheese (1994) was one of the first albums I bought with my own money. I was in some sort of BMG Music Club , where you'd buy 5 CD's and then get 10 for "FREE." It was all sent through mail order and you picked the titles from some special booklet. I'm almost positive that Chocolate & Cheese's side boob-baring album cover was what initially drew me in... mind you, I was 12-15 and the zany Ween logo/middle finger CD graphic really didn't hurt either. Honestly, I forget how I really felt about it @ the time, but a few years later, my older cousin Josh told me that Ween were this BIG college "jam band." CKY did some sort pf 93.3 radio takeover to promote their new album and played "Freedom of '76" late that night on air. Needless to say, I re-visited Chocolate & Cheese @ about 20-something this go 'round and I fucking loved it! Ween were really weird, yet talented... almost too talented. I can vaguel

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