89 COINKY-DINKS? I DON'T THINK SO!

Recently I got an email from someone in a band thanking me for the band name he found on my list of Unused Band Names, "Death By Papercut". I Googled it to see if I could find a website or a Myspace page for them, and to my dismay, I found another band using the name. I then realized I needed to Google all 560 band names on my Unused list to see how many others were being used without my knowledge. It's taken me about a week, and I ended up moving a whopping 89 band names from the Unused to the Used list. Yikes.

The majority of them had Myspace Music pages (which is the one thing Myspace is actually good for [and I know that's bad grammar right there, but screw it]), which makes it extremely hard for me to believe that they all got their names independent of my list!

I've never expected any compensation or credit for the names, but the least these folks could have done is let me know they were being used! All I've ever really wanted is for the names to be put to use, and to hear what the bands who end up using them sound like. So as soon as I gather all the links to these newly-discovered Used band names, I'll have them all posted over on unusedbandnames.blogspot.com.

The latest two additions came just this morning, when I got emails from band members wanting to use "The Little Red Wagon Repairmen" and "Samurai Sausage". So the Unused count is down to 471, and here's hoping they all eventually end up being used. (Heck, if Perry Farrell finds the list, they'll all be gone in no time...that guy goes through band names like Shake-N-Bake bags!)

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In other news, Elliott Smith's creepy mug continues to stare at me from several of the Urge music channels. (I had previously wondered if he owned or was screwing whomever owned it, but apparently he's dead, so never mind.) It's going to give me nightmares at some point. I haven't been this creeped out by something staring at me since the VAB Building!*

*Note: The reference to the VAB Building is an inside joke. The tallest building in South Bend, Indiana used to be called the Valley American Bank Building, and it had "VAB" in large, friendly red letters at the top. (It has since changed hands once or twice and is now called the Chase Tower.) And whenever I visited my friend Willie over there, the VAB Building, which is said to be visible from everywhere in the city, was also visible from just about every window in Willie's house. Or at least every window I sat by. Every time I glanced out a window, there was "VAB" staring down at me, which started to really freak me out. Then after I'd come back home, and I'd talk to Willie on the phone, he'd easily scare the shit out of me by telling me the VAB Building was coming to get me. Yes, I was a grown man, scared of a building. I'm telling you, it was that creepy. (Good thing I haven't seen it lately, or I'd worry that, with "Chase" in large, friendly blue letters on top, that it's going to "Chase" me!)