I say it every year, but Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin is my favorite festival. And that won’t change in 2011, thanks in part to a badass lineup that includes Danzig playing Misfits tunes, Public Enemy playing Public Enemy tunes, the fucking Hot Snakes, Reggie Watts, M83, Slayer, Ted Leo, Russian Circles, Del the Funky Homosapien and Touché Amoré, just to name a few.

Last year was doubly special, since I got to meet up with Josh, Sammy, Don and Sergio for the first time during the trip. Hopefully I get to see them again, both on the road and at the festival.

:: Kinks frontman Ray Davies is “impossible to live with.”

:: Danzig is such a sweetheart. He’s always accommodating folks, like when he “allowed” the North Side Kings frontman to punch him in the face.

:: For all intents and purposes, Montreal has two indie rock scenes. Who knew? Other than people that lived in Montreal, that is.

:: It’s a sad, sad day for Roger Daltrey. Word recently broke that the Who frontman tried out to be a judge on American Idol… and lost to Steven Tyler.

:: Ellie Goulding seemed to be a hit at the royal wedding.

I know this isn’t DANZIG WATCH 2010 or anything, but news about the Lord of the Dance Lord of Darkness is still important — especially when it pertains to awesome bands covering his songs.

Avowed Danzig lovers Coliseum (who ably contributed to DW2K10) will be teaming up with Superchunk to release a split seven-inch with covers of the Misfits’ Bullet and Horror Business, respectively. It’s an odd pairing, to say the least. But just remember: It’s Danzig that stirs the drink.

It’ll be available for Record Store Day, which already has me salivating. April can’t come fast enough.

Danzig was scheduled to play a show Nov. 9 at Minneapolis’ Cabooze, when he apparently decided that he venue’s 15-foot-tall ceiling wasn’t high enough. At that point, it seems Danzig shut down the show before doors even opened.

While the Twin Cities’ City Pages couldn’t get in touch with Danzig to get his side of the story, they did hear from Michelle Metz at the Cabooze. While discussing how the Dark Lord’s decision had adversely affected the venue, Metz had this to say about any guilt he may have felt:

Oh he slept well, trust me. I don’t think the guy has any of that going on for him. I don’t think he sees it, I don’t think he feels it. I think he feels good about himself. I don’t know if the room wasn’t big enough for his ego or…I don’t know where he was coming from with the ceiling thing. He’s too old to do gymnastics, I didn’t get it. I can’t even wrap my head around it. It’s so convoluted.

It’s disheartening. The whole thing is just sad. We’re trying to recoup some of our losses here and we don’t know where to start or stop. We tried everything to make the guy comfortable and it just wasn’t working.

Maybe the truth is that Danzig thought the ceiling was too tall. If it was half that height, it might make 5-foot-3 dynamo look a little taller.

All of DANZIG WATCH 2010 has built to this moment! Buzzgrinder actually had a chance to chat with Danzig himself as he prepared to rip faces off across the nation on the Blackest of the Black Tour, with a Nov. 3 stop in Louisville at Expo Five.

The main thing I learned about Glenn Danzig is this: He can be a mumbler. But hey, when the Dark Lord is low talking, you don’t say, “Um… Glenn… could you speak up maybe a little, please?” You just get out of his way and say, “Thank you Mr. Danzig sir for acknowledging my existence.”

I don’t know if you noticed, but a couple of weeks ago, a photo of you carrying some cat supplies home from the grocery hit the internet and…

I don’t care about that.

I didn’t think so, but…

Hey, you know what, why do people even care? Why are they wasting their lives on this? [laughs]

I guess it’s just a weird thing, because there aren’t many musicians who people…

Follow with cameras? [laughs]

Exactly. There aren’t many people who are Glenn Danzig.

Yeah, but you know what… I just play music, you know what I mean? That’s what I want to spend my time talking about. [inaudible, followed by laughing] So you know, let’s talk about the tour, man. We’re coming through Louisville for the first time in a long time.

See the rest of our interview with Glenn Danzig.

Hi, welcome to DANZIG WATCH 2010. Somebody has to keep up with every mention of Glenn Danzig on the web, right? Any tips or help you might want to offer would be greatly appreciated (danzigwatch@buzzgrinder.com). After all, DANZIG WATCH 2010 is more than one blog can handle. It’s bigger than us all. Because Danzig’s pecs are bigger than a classic 1964 VW Beetle.

DANZIG WATCH 2010 has been a little quiet as of late. We’ve been lying in wait for the Evil Elvis to drop some more newsworthy tidbits (like what he eats for dinner, when he’ll renew his Gold’s Gym membership, how many motorcycles he owns, et. al.), but this will have to do.

After peppering the nation with a few shows in June, Lord Danzig has decided to resurrect his Blackest of the Black Tour after taking a year off in 2009. This year’s incarnation will also include rare U.S. appearances from Marduk, as well as less-rare appearances from Possessed, Toxic Holocaust and Withered. And the best part is that they’re all coming to Louisville, so I’ll be able to bask in the glorious darkness that is Glenn Danzig’s flowing mane.

See the Danzig tour dates.

Hi, welcome to DANZIG WATCH 2010. Somebody has to keep up with every mention of Glenn Danzig on the web, right? Any tips or help you might want to offer would be greatly appreciated (danzigwatch@buzzgrinder.com). After all, DANZIG WATCH 2010 is more than one blog can handle. It’s bigger than us all. Because Danzig is bigger than the House of Ideas.

It was only a matter of time before Danzig found out about his imaginary gay escapades with Henry Rollins in Henry & Glenn Forever. After an interview with Danzig where the tome came to light, Decibel gave author Tom Neely a heads up about the Dark Lord’s reaction — so Neely shared his interpretation of how the events likely unfolded.

Hi, welcome to DANZIG WATCH 2010. Somebody has to keep up with every mention of Glenn Danzig on the web, right? Any tips or help you might want to offer would be greatly appreciated (danzigwatch@buzzgrinder.com). After all, DANZIG WATCH 2010 is more than one blog can handle. It’s bigger than us all. Because Danzig’s quads are bigger than an Edsel.

Some dude named Guy Wilson has filed a lawsuit against Danzig for an incident in January where The Man allegedly “recklessly crashed” into Wilson’s car, causing some serious “pain and suffering” as well as “emotional distress.” No word on what he’s suing for, but it probably involves a set of those bone wing dealies.

The real question in all this, however, is whether Danzig smashed up his Shelby ‘Stang or his cherry Jag.

Louisville’s Coliseum has a new album, House With a Curse, out today. And in honor of the hellacious record’s release, frontman Ryan Patterson is taking the reigns of Buzzgrinder today. Speaking of albums out today, here is Ryan’s entry into our storied DANZIG WATCH 2010.

In honor of Buzzgrinder’s Danzig Watch 2010, I’ve come up with a list of some of my favorite Glenn-penned tunes. Most mentions of Danzig these days seem to bounce between reverence for The Man and sarcastic snark at his expense, and to be fair he does walk a precarious line between completely-fucking-awesome and ass-clenchingly-embarrassing.

While he might come off as over the top at times, and there seems to be an inflated ego at work on occasion, his impact cannot be understated. His influence is pervasive, he’s gone from underground punk/hardcore innovator to top 40 hit maker (if only just once) to pop culture icon to infamous subject of a viral video clip.

Glenn Danzig’s public persona may be self-consciously aloof and at times uncomfortably smug, yet in a way it’s no different than if any comic and horror-obsessed nerd was thrown into a life where the art and music he created in his mom’s basement eventually garnered fans and attention across the world…

Do we want Danzig to be an all-powerful icon of horror-punk or just a regular dude? Had he grown into a comedic everyman, like his friend Henry Rollins, would we still be as obsessed with him and his work today, or would the magic have worn off? Regardless, he has created some music that I truly, truly love and has been among my favorites for much of my life.

Some of my favorite Danzig/Misfits/Samhain tunes, in no particular order:

See which Danzig songs are Ryan’s favorites.

The moment has arrived. Danzig Watch 2010 comes to a head with a new release from The Man Himself, Danzig. Rock and roll.

Also, a Daniel Johnston box set, a new Wovenhand release, Robert Pollard has what I think is his fourth album this year so far, Stars have a new one, and The Chemical Brothers and The Roots have releases that I wrongly thought were released a few weeks ago.

Keep it fresh.

:: Baths, Cerulean (Anticon)

:: Canvas Solaris, Irradience (Sensory)

:: The Chemical Brothers, Further (Astralwerks)

:: Coliseum, House With a Curse (Temporary Residence)

:: Dadawah, Peace & Love (Dug Out)

:: Daniel Johnston, Daniel Johnston: The Story of an Artist 6-disc box set (Munster)

:: Danzig, Deth Red Saboath (Evil Live/The End)

:: Diskjokke, En Fin Tid (Smalltown Supersound)

:: Early Graves, Goner (Ironclad Recordings/Metal Blade)

:: Fol Chen, Part 2: The New December (Asthmatic Kitty)

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