​It's pretty genius of Wild Flag to release their video for "Romance" on the day that so many office drones are dusting off the last sand grains of summer and getting back to autumn-borne reality—in the Tom Scharpling-directed clip, four co-workers from different departments leave their workplace at the stroke of 1 p.m. to generally wreak havoc around town while driving a hot-pink car and wearing animal masks so as to hide their true identities. The fun includes some viral promotion of their self-titled full-length, which comes out one week from today, as well as some, uh, unorthodox coffee preparation and a visit to a weekday garage sale. (It's the economy?) Clip below.

More >>

Tom Scharpling "directing" Ted Leo, in June. Photo by Stelios Phili.

​The last video writer/director/radio host/comedian Tom Scharpling directed in 2010 involved Ted Leo, Julie Klausner, John Hodgman, and a decoy fake musical in the spirit of Green Day's American Idiot. The clip convinced a few hundred thousand people to listen to New Jersey punk rock for a few minutes, and that is always a good thing. Success on that scale also probably puts Scharpling ever more in demand as a director, and so it is no surprise that the WFMU stalwart is returning to work similar magic for Leo's fellow Matador artists New Pornographers. And, just like before, you can be in the video too. As per Facebook:

More >>

Rob Hatch Miller's TwitPic

Only love for these guys, but we were admittedly excited about the prospect of the "top secret" video location for Ted Leo's "Bottled in Cork" to be a dingy Bed-Stuy loft, or the Party Expo space (maybe part of that TBA?), or Damon Dash's basement (we know, it's booked), or Allen Ginsberg's recently gutted apartment, or Lincoln Center, where the punks versus theater-goers rivalry could elevate far beyond anything scripted. No such luck, the Ted Leo video is filming this afternoon at the Bell House. But, no fear, if the above photo of Paul F. Tompkins throwing a beach ball at Scharpling's face on the set is any indication, this will be plenty ridiculous.

More >>

Matias Corral

In the precarious scope of volunteer video-casting calls, the one WFMU host/writer Tom Scharpling last night posted to Twitter sounds promising. For one, it's a Ted Leo video. For two, longtime friend Scharpling is personally directing it. For three, they're only asking for a commitment of four-to-six hours this Thursday night. Lastly, there's no treacherous caveat about skimpy costumes, just an amusingly phrased request that you "wear your finest theater-going or punk-rocking attire."

More >>

"Fuel Dump is going to be like Magnolia. Or Crash. It's going to be like Magnolia meets Crash."

Obligatory caption: "What I Do On The Weekends For Disposable Income."

What Tom Scharpling, host of The Best Show On WFMU with Tom Scharpling, might lack in modesty, he makes up for with his impressive time-management skills. When Scharpling isn't busy chatting with guests like Patton Oswalt, Aimee Mann, or Paul F. Tompkins he uses his radio show to ask, and answer, the big questions. After all, someone has to proclaim that songwriter Gary Puckett is officially the sleaziest musician of all time. (Have you read the lyrics to "Young Girl" recently?)

More >>