----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Popdude@aol.com>
> Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday" is one killer diller of a pop single. 
> Period,
> paragraph, as my friend Kerry Kompost would say.
>
> Hey, if Stewart Mason can throw some mad Beantown love to the  Spice 
> Girls, I
> can give it up for the Duff, right?

In fact, if there are archives to the summer of 2003, you would 
undoubtedly see at least a couple of posts where I said exactly the 
same thing.  "So Yesterday" was a friggin' GREAT single. 
Unfortunately, the next thing I heard by the Duffster was that 
godawful cover of "Our Lips Are Sealed" that she did with her sister, 
so I have few hopes of hearing much more greatness from those 
quarters.

On the other hand, Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone"?  Awesome.

Speaking of great radio singles, Boston's own radio powerhouse WFNX 
has resumed its online streaming, for those who take note of such 
things: www.wfnx.com.  About two years ago, FNX was one of the first 
commercial alternative stations to publicly make the format change 
away from goateed mooks in backwards baseball caps and back to stuff 
that might reasonably be considered "alternative," and today, they're 
by far the most entertaining station in town.  Some of my faves in 
heavy rotation at the moment: the latest singles by Hot Hot Heat 
("Goodnight Goodnight" -- never understood the hype before, but this 
song is a flat-out winner), Dogs Die In Hot Cars ("I Love You 'Cause I 
Have To"), the Dresden Dolls ("Girl Anachronism"), the Killers ("Smile 
Like You Mean It," which I don't like as much as the truly great "Mr. 
Brightside," but which has a killer keyboard hook in the chorus), the 
Kaiser Chiefs ("I Predict A Riot" -- imagine WHITE MUSIC/GO 2-era Andy 
Partridge fronting Blur...I repeat, this is the most Audities-friendly 
single on the air right now), Franz Ferdinand ("The Dark of the 
Matinee" -- although they're still playing "Take Me Out" endlessly and 
I'm still not sick of it), the Decemberists ("16 Military Wives," 
which surprises me because I was sure the hugely Smiths-like "The 
Sporting Life" would be the first single), Beck ("E-Pro"), the 
Futureheads ("Decent Days and Nights"), Interpol ("Evil"), the Arcade 
Fire ("Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)"), M.I.A. ("Bucky Done Gun"), etc. 
Plus for some reason, they've been playing the nearly five-years-old 
"New Slang" by the Shins like every 20 minutes.  I think Sub Pop must 
have reissued OH INVERTED WORLD after the success of the GARDEN STATE 
soundtrack or something.  Not that I'm complaining, since that's one 
of my favorite songs of all time.  Plus, about 10% of the playlist is 
what they term "classic alternative," which means that I'll be driving 
along Comm Ave and suddenly it's "Holiday In Cambodia" or "Academy 
Fight Song."

Best of all, FNX is that rarity: a completely local station, owned and 
operated by the Boston Phoenix, the local alt-weekly, instead of Clear 
Channel or Infinity.  Indie 103 might get all the national press, but 
I think FNX is at least their equal.

S