Three drunk men, all in their twenties, decided it would be a good idea to play in Sacramento’s sewer system. They were reminiscing of the good times they had playing sewer dwelling turtles in their make-believe Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game as teens. The men became stuck in the sewer and had to be removed yesterday in the middle of the night.

Police were patrolling the area by the sewer system around 1:00 a.m. when they heard the men. The men used the excuse that they used to explore the sewer as teens, so why couldn’t they now? The men attempted to lift a 100 pound manhole cover and try to get out of the sewer. Once they lifted the manhole a car passed over it causing it to come down onto the head of one of the men.

Firefighters had to climb down into the sewer, strap the injured man to a backboard and lift him out on the rescue board. The firefighters said they have seen a lot of strange things in their line of work but this sewer rescue was a first for them. The man was not seriously hurt.

I can’t believe he hasn’t played on American Television before. UK heartthrob Ed Harcourt will be on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show this evening to promote his new album (well, that is to say his 2006 album that never got released in the States) The Beautiful Lie, which came out on Dovecote Records last Tuesday. Listening to The Beautiful Lie (and his back catalogue as well) it baffles me why he isn’t as huge in North America as he is in Europe. Last March during SXSW I ended up tagging along and filming Ed and his wife Gita as he got a sweet tattoo of one of his first songs, “Sing For My Supper” on his arm in Austin, TX. Enjoy our lil’ mini doc:

ED HARCOURT TO MAKE U.S. TELEVISION DEBUT ON THE TONIGHT SHOW JUNE 6, WEEK OF ‘THE BEAUTIFUL LIE’ RELEASE

LOS ANGELES, May 6, 2008 - Not long since wreaking havoc on Austin, Texas during SXSW, the illustrious Ed Harcourt will return to the States from his native England to perform on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” Friday, June 6. Timed perfectly with the release of his fourth full-length album, THE BEAUTIFUL LIE, due June 3 on Dovecote Records, Harcourt will celebrate the arrival of this much-awaited LP with a national television debut.

The Mercury Prize-nominated Harcourt has been keeping extraordinarily busy on tour with the Gutter Twins overseas, where he has been joining Greg Dulli, Mark Lanegan and co. on stage following his own opening set. “Ed Harcourt’s songs are as close to cabaret tunes and 1960s pop as they are to current rock,” recently noted the NEW YORK TIMES while UNDER THE RADAR hailed ‘The Beautiful Lie’ as “his best work to date.” The WALL STREET JOURNAL was on hand for one of his acclaimed Austin performances, calling Harcourt, “a gifted songwriter in the mold of Karl Wallinger and XTC’s Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding” adding, “and thus a descendant of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.”

Lead radio single, “Revolution in the Heart,” mimics Harcourt’s larger-than-life personality, brimming with his exquisite piano playing, booming delivery, thunderous rhythms and bursting backup vocals, compliments of The Magic Numbers. The track is currently going for adds at radio, already receiving early support across the country from stations like Starbucks XM Café, KBAC and others.

This visit is a precursor to additional U.S. tour dates this summer, to be announced soon.

Apart from boasting a shithead college for shithead students and the world famous Sierra Nevada Brewery, Chico, California, has a thriving (if not nationally recognized) music scene. Many of the players in this scene contribute to a summer School of Rock-style band camp named The Collective Sound. Last year they decided to start putting together a documentary of the goings-on of the staff and the campers, aged 12-18. Watching it will give you that warm on the insides feeling. Please enjoy Episode 4.

The most difficult bog I’ve ever had to ‘write.”

More “journalism” after the jump. (it gets better) (more…)