June 24, 2005 – Dave Grohl misses caring for his own lawn. The Foo Fighters' singer/guitarist left his home in Virginia for California two years ago, where the "landscaping's a little too complicated for me to fuck up." Ensconced in the band's "multimedia facility" (i.e., recording studio) in the San Fernando Valley, which he describes as his hometown relocated to the middle of Mexico, Grohl drops the f-bomb more times than Ozzy Osbourne programming his TiVo and talks about the Foos' new double album, In Your Honor. SPIN: Do you ever feel like the luckiest man alive? Oh, every fucking day. Honestly. I think about that all the time. Do you think you're luckier than Ringo Starr? Well, no, that guy won the lottery. But I've been able to do what I love to do for the last 18 years. So you're not lying awake at night filled with existential dread. No, not at all.

December 7, 2004 – Frank Black Francis Frank Black Francis spinArt This double CD's first volume is easy enough to understand. It's a collection of demos by Charles Thompson, who later became Black Francis and later became Frank Black. It was recorded in 1987, the day before his band the Pixies went into the studio to make their first record, Come on Pilgrim. And for the type of fan who names his dog Crackity Jones, that will be recommendation enough.

October 17, 2004 – InterpolAnticsMatador You know what the '80s sounded like? Journey, Men at Work,and Lionel freakin' Richie, that's what. So can we all please stopsquealing "It's so '80s!" whenever we hear a campy new song that evenslightly evokes the Human League, Depeche Mode, or the Cure? Because,let's face it-thanks to a host of revivalist new acts, the cramped,synth-soaked sound that those bands specialized in is retro-hip today,but it hardly represented the status quo back in the Reagan era. Whatthat much-misremembered decade did offer, in spades, was Big,Inspirational Rock Music. Simple Minds up on the catwalk. Bono lettingloose a yelp of unity while humping a flagpole at Red Rocks. BigCountry in a big country. Songs that evoked wide-open spaces, notdrippy Paris Métro tunnels. Songs that aimed for the stratosphereinstead of wallowing in atmosphere.

April 29, 2004 – RCKTWN Music VenueNashville, TNFebruary 27, 2004 Youcan tell a lot about a band by the way its frontman dives into theaudience. Thursday's Geoff Rickly takes a sloppy belly flop, thencrawls back over fans' heads like a man crossing the Sahara. AFI'sDavey Havok neatly somersaults into the fray, then mysteriouslyreappears onstage, as if by teleportation. But then, Havokalways works clean, whether he's standing aloft on the crowd's handsduring the set-closing "Totalimmortal," or looming over the audienceduring, well, pretty much every other song. He's a vision in pristineblack, down to his hair, which is a darker-than-dark marvel of cosmeticscience.

April 21, 2004 – Inthe early 1980s, far from the world of Clash stadium gigs and new wave,a nation of dozens rewrote the punk rule book while no one was watchingand created a loud-fast life force that's proved more durable thananyone could've ever imagined. Hardcore was serious like a heart attackand revelatory like a bloody nose-and in the time it'll take to readthis article, a new band will have joined its undying justice leagues BAD BRAINS BLACK DOTS (Caroline, 1996) It's neither as rangy as their self-titled 1982 ROIR cassette nor as polished as 1983's Ric Ocasek-produced Rock for Light.But these 1979 recordings document the never-explained moment when fourblack reggae-loving D.C. military brats dope-slapped English punk sosoundly that only teenage skate rats could keep up.

March 25, 2004 – A tour of Fisher Meehan's Asheville, North Carolina, wouldnot be complete without a visit to the local coffee shop/bar wherehe has vomited more than once onstage. "You get relaxedplaying your hometown," the DrugMoney singer/songwriterexplains. "But puking is nothing. One time, this girl dancedout her tampon. That was pretty heavy." Heavyis a good word for the stories that drop out of Meehan after a couplePBRs. Like how he uses open guitar tunings so that he can play all hissongs "completely shit-faced." Or the way he got cut off by a Brooklyndrug-delivery service while recording his debut, Mtn Cty Jnk. "The dealer was like, 'I'm not coming back.

January 26, 2004 – Fairburn, Georgia, which lies off a dingy spur 20 miles southwestof downtown Atlanta, is home to one of the biggest groups ofbitches and dawgs in hip-hop. No, Ruff Ryders haven't movedSouth -- it's Pitfall Kennels, where the American pit bullterriers, rottweilers, and English bulldogs owned byOutKast's Antwan "Big Boi" Patton reside. JamesPatton, Big Boi's 26-year-old brother, lives on the property andmanages the 150-foot-long cinderblock kennel, keeping an eye on the 50or so dogs. On mornings when he's not in school, their other brother,Marcus, 21, drives in from Atlanta to help clean the cages and feed andexercise the dogs. Today, there are three groups of puppies on thepremises, including one of the rare "blue" pits for which the kennelhas become known. "We were one of the first breeders to have a bluedog," James says. "It really took off for us.

January 12, 2004 – In a decision that had nothing to do with one half of the bandbeing dead, the Beatles recently rereleased their swan song, LetIt Be, as Let It Be...Naked, with the sessions the wayPaul McCartney originally envisioned them: without producer PhilSpector's added orchestral flourishes. This is not a newidea. Pop has been eating itself and reheating its leftovers sinceChubby Checker twisted again and again in the early '60s.

January 5, 2004 – You know your boyfriend's love is for real when he takes timeto put electrical tape on your nipples. It's a couple ofhours before Portia Surreal's set at the New Orleans House ofBlues, and her significant other, Darius Acosta, is assisting theself-proclaimed "World's Premiere Topless DJ" outof her black jeans and bra. He then lovingly tapes an X over eachareola. Out of her bag come a whip and a fuzzy riding crop. Sheselects a 12-inch single from her shiny silver record box.Showtime. Portiamet Darius last Memorial Day at a show in Las Vegas. She was walkingaround the club, topless as usual, looking for volunteers for herfetish act. A few months later, Portia moved from Houston to New YorkCity to be closer to Darius, a personal trainer. "It takes me beingsecure with myself," he says of his girlfriend's occupation. Portia is about 5'8" and slim.