Eric Diedrichs

Hot
Cari Clara lives

Eric Diedrichs (pictured), the former frontman for Cincy Pop/Rock faves The Simpletons, decided to go the pseudonym route when he recorded his new, less linear songs for a debut CD in order to help eliminate preconceptions and connections to his earlier work. But one visit to a Cari Clara full-band live show should do the trick. Diedrichs has assembled a strong back-up crew (Goose/Throneberry frontguy Jason Arbenz, Saving Ray's rhythm section, additional drummer/percussionist Greg Tudor, stunning guest vocalist Shawna Snyder and string players) that make his soaringly hypnotic new songs even more transcendent and alive. The band has just begun playing the local/regional circuit. See them now!

'Well Hung' studs

Lacerating zingers and name-drops of some of the greatest bands you've never heard of are what's in store when you dial up the rollingstone.com column "Well Hung at Dawn." Writers Jason Cohen and Michael Krugman leave no sacred cow un-impaled, most specifically Radiohead (which induces mounds of whiny, poorly written Web-nerd letters). Their Pop/Political culture commentary is also always spot-on (sample: "This just in! The Marines have found 'white powder' in Baghdad, thus proving that the Iraqis have chemical weapons. Either that, or Altoids"). Their music world discourse is the best on the Web (which isn't saying much) and also better than anything in print (which says only slightly more). Golden.

Warm
Baby, you're a Richman

We all know television is a cultural wasteland and watching it only rots your brain. Every once in a while, though, a transcendent moment appears that makes everything right with the world. That moment right now is the new Kohl's commercial set to the old Jonathan Richman song, "Ice Cream Man," in which a demented ice cream truck driver leads a suburban neighborhood on a wild goose chase. We're talking about an album cut from Richman's 1977 LP Rock 'N Roll with the Modern Lovers, which the word "obscure" doesn't even remotely touch. We don't know what or where Kohl's is, but we're there.

Cold
Even Hendrix would think it a little 'long-winded'

Neo-legendary noodlers Phish will play the national anthem before Game 4 of the NBA Finals Wednesday. Game time is 8 p.m. Phish starts the anthem at 3.

Overly skit-ish

We love legendary Hip-Hop producer Prince Paul for his groundbreaking work with De La Soul, Gravediggaz and Handsome Boy Modeling School. You can blame him for the overdone and usually poorly executed practice of including comedic "skits" on Hip-Hop records, but his pioneering work presented it like an art form. So it's a disappointment to hear Paul's new joint, Politics of The Business, which, despite a promising guest appearance by comedian Dave Chappelle, is neither a biting nor a humorous skewering of the music biz. There's a fine line between clever and stupid (to paraphrase one music great), but even Paul's parody of current Hip-Hop studio sounds falls short. Better alternative: The Majesticons' Beauty Party, Mike Ladd's more thorough spoof of the game.

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