Check out this commercial starring Brad Pitt and a sumo wrestler. It's for Soft Bank and it features the Department of Eagles song "In Ear Park." -IL

Yep, summer is in full-swing, and at D+T that means it's motorcycle time. Some of us already had our licenses and some of us wanted to get them. Harley-Davidson was nice enough to send photo director Ray Lego through riding school. They have their own program called Rider's Edge, where they not only teach you how to rider properly, but give you a certification to get your license, so that when you finish the course you can march right into the DMV and pick up your license without screwing around with the road test or any of that standard DMV misery.

Also on the course was Brooklyn-based artist Tara McPherson. Click through the jump to read about her experience on the course. Also, since yours truly is already licensed, I borrowed a beautiful new Harley Iron 883 to ride around NYC for a week, and I'm blogging about my bike week on Harley's Dark Custom site, which you can check out here.

Summer is going to go by fast -- grab it by the balls. And if you want to get on a bike, check out Harley's Rider's Edge course.-AM


Tara McPherson on Rider's Edge

What made you want to start riding a motorcycle?
I actually used to ride around with my dad when I was a kid. I even wanted to get a motorcycle instead of a car when I was a teenager, but that didn’t end up happening. So it's been this unfulfilled dream of mine for a long time. So when Harley offered me a training course, I jumped on the offer!

Where do you plan to ride?
I think I'll ride around my neighborhood in Brooklyn, and try to go on day trips with friends.

Tell me about Rider's Edge - was it challenging?
Yeah it was a bit daunting at first because it had been so long since I had even been on a bike, and I had never ridden one on my own before. But it was that exciting type of nervousness. Even with it raining all day the first day, we were swerving around cones and shifting and doing so much more that I thought I would be doing. The second day was a breeze! No rain! And I felt like I really had a handle on the bike.

What did you learn in Rider's Edge that you wouldn't have learned on your own?
It would have taken me so much longer to try to learn all that on my own. I think even with a friend showing me I would not have absorbed as much as I did. I kind of equate it to art school: yes you can learn on your own, but going to school gives you so much more of an advantage, and you will learn things you might never get exposed to otherwise.

What kind of bike are you going to get - new? Vintage?
Probably a vintage looking new bike!

Are you going to travel anywhere cool on your bike this summer?
I'll be back from my art tour in the fall and I heard going upstate NY is gorgeous that time of year!

What's that -- you've got a TATTOO from Where The Wild Things Are? Then D+T wants YOU for our next issue!

Death+Taxes is looking for people with tattoos from Where The Wild Things Are for a photo portfolio in our September/ October issue. This is your chance to flaunt your art in a national magazine, and you'll end up with a beautiful photo of yourself by a world-class photographer to keep for posterity.

Please drop us a line HERE, and spread the word! -AM

We were so distracted yesterday by the passing of MJ that it took us a second to notice the appearance of Spike Jonze and Kanye West at the Los Angeles Film Festival, to premiere their film collaboration, We Were Once A Fairytale.

The premise sounds absolutely nuts (check out the synopsis courtesy of Nah Right after the jump), but if there are any two dudes who know how to partner up in successful collaborations, these are the dudes.

What's more, the project seems to have spawned from a video that Jonze's talented brother Squeak E. Clean of N.A.S.A. was working on, ostensibly for a song of off 808s & Heartbreak. The film isn't available online, but check out the details after the jump.-AM

In the film, Kanye plays himself drunk at a club acting belligerent and boastful, telling starstruck club-goers that the song playing in the club is his. He wanders into a side room where he encounters a beautiful woman. They start having sex and then he passes out on her leopard print dress. When he comes to, he finds himself in the VIP room with his pants down – he was hallucinating and fucking the pillow. The realization startles him and he rushes to the bathroom where he vomits what look like rose petals.

Then it gets weird.

Kanye finds a bowie knife in the bathroom and cuts into his stomach, spilling a torrent of more petals. He digs in the knife deeper and then with his hand rips out a small furry rodent, like a demon, only it's quite cute. When Kanye realizes it's connected to him with an umbilical cord, he pulls it hard, ripping it out of him for good. He then puts the demon on the sink and hands him a tiny bowie knife to fit the critter's scale who then uses it to commit hari kari.

We told you it was out there!

Thursday, June 25, 2009 -- a day that will live in infamy. A sad day for pop culture. Looks like we have lost not one, but two of our most beloved aging sex symbols in one day. First we were shocked to learn earlier today that Farah Fawcett had passed, and now we are speechless over the loss of the King Of Pop. We're signing off to take a moment of silence. Rest in peace, Farah and Michael.-AM

Husks And Shells
Seeplymouth
Island, IS
Dote
And Gather
Mbira In The Morass
Cool Knowledge
Still
Youlogy

What happened to Wires On Fire?

Nothing really happened to Wires On Fire… we are still band, we just don't operate the way most bands do. We haven't played together in almost a year. Geographic locations and all of our involvement in other projects have put the band on hold. We still love each other, and if it feels like a good time to actively be Wires On Fire again, we will.

How'd you get the name Slang Chickens?

When I was growing up the term "slang" was slang for selling "stuff." A friend of mine's father works in the poultry business. One day about a year and a half ago, another friend of mine said, "Hey man, what does your dad do again? Slang Chickens?" It had a ring to it and right away I knew that would be the name of the band...

Was there a specific approach you had when forming the new band?

With the Chickens our approach is to have fun, not over think things, and write crazy pop songs. Something happened in my brain around the time we started playing together where I stopped thinking about music in terms of riffs and sonic intensity and began to think in terms of melodic hooks, however maniacal they may be, and simplicity.

How'd the band come together?

Dash, Zach, and I have been friends for years and years. Dash was the first person I played these songs with. We had played and toured together in the past, and have a serious musical and personal connection. I knew I needed him to be in the band. Zach is someone who I had only played with briefly before the band, but when he came into the picture everything sank into place. My brother played guitar for the first few shows, we had a lapsteel player for the first two, but we came into our current lineup when we met Travis. I had seen Travis around LA for years, but never knew him. My brother introduced us at a Tom Waits show in Phoenix last July. I ran into him a couple weeks later back in town and told him I heard he was a badass guitar player, and asked if he wanted to come play with a band some friends and I had recently started. It was clear after the first time we played together that we had completed the puzzle.

What did you do in between bands?

There was not really any time between bands. There was a point where both were active.

What genre would you say applies to Slang Chickens? How do you feel about rockabilly?

I hope this doesn't come off as a cop out, but I'm not really interested in genres, my brain doesn't work that way. Like, I love The Everly Brothers and I love the Circle Jerks. They both make me feel good and I don't really see much of a difference. We keep that idea in our head as Slang Chickens, we try not to put up any borders. I am not very familiar with rockabilly... I like Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, is that rockabilly? I don't have much knowledge about what rockabilly is.

How'd you come up with the term "Let's microwave" and is it an actual dance? Or a euphemism for sex? Or getting stoned? Tell me!

The "Let's Microwave" dance is in the works. Yes, Let's Microwave comes off very sexual, and I will not deny that. I think for me the song is just about people coming together, and doing whatever it is you need to do to enjoy yourself. That could be sex. It could be getting high, throwing a vegan potluck, or getting a library card with your nephew. They are all valid to me.

On "Badland Blues" you sing "1985 and all I want to do is get stoned." I hope the song is about someone other than yourself--because that would mean you wanted to get stoned as, what, a three year old? That's fucked up.

That part of the song is borrowed from a Spacemen 3 song in which the lyrics are "1987 all I wanna do is get stoned." I was born in 1985, so I changed it. The 3 borrowed the melody from "In My Time Of Dying" which is an old American traditional song. I think Dylan really popularized it. One thing I love about American roots music is the passing of songs not just between people in a given time period, but from generation to generation. It's about reinterpretation and ultimately about communication. I think for us it's a way to join the line of that continuum.

"I Want To Score," "Wild Winds" and "Young Money" are my personal highlights. Do you have a particular favorite song or moment on the record?

I love them all.

Coldplay is not the only band stealing melodies these days ...peep the latest video from Green Day and tell me the verse's melody isn't extremely reminiscent of Neil Young's "Heart Of Gold." I'm not trying to start some shit, just calling it as I see it. -IL

Here's the music video for the song "Headdress" by Amazing Baby. It's off the record Rewild, which was released yesterday. The band is currently on tour with Phoenix. Check the dates here. -IL