I'm going to be gone for a few days, which means no updates to the Daily Pick. I know this is very upsetting to people. The only remedy to the situation I could think of was more cowbell.

I hope enough time has passed since our last journey into the culture of this essential and legendary musical instrument. Unlike other people, I believe there is such a thing as too much cowbell. The archive blog has links to the actual SNL skit, the transcript, T-shirts, an interview with Blue Oyster Cult, new definitions from Urban Dictionary, and a site that encourages users to "add cowbell to their favorite song." Here is the sketch. And the new cowbell updates are:

Cowbell.com, which offers cowbells with your team or business logo on it. One of their subsidiaries, MOEN, has been around since 1922, and it even manufactures the offical cowbell of the U.S. Olympic Ski Team.

Will Ferrell makes a cowbell comeback in this live performance with Queens of the Stone Age. A video link.

NPR's All Things Considered has an audio essay from Mitch Myers, who is not at all ironic (and I don't mean that in an ironic way. I mean: the guy is not at all ironic) about the benefits of the cowbell to 1970's music.

Blue Damage, whose blogger writes "I have recently been informed that this blog needs more cowbell," and continues on in that vein. Responses to this post include: "you’re darned right it needs more cowbell!!! what doesn’t?" and "My husband’s a drummer - recently got a cowbell - drives us all crazy at practice by hitting it in unexpected places…our guitarist (his brother) gets this crazy little tic whenever he hears the cowbell…I guess people feel passionately about it."

I don't know who Maynard's Music Malaise is, but they've got an article on 1233 ABC Newcastle about the cowbell. It includes a list of some songs with the cowbell, and also this frightening excerpt:

It can be played traditionally of course, (right) Karen Maxwell drove the crowd wild “bellin’ it up” at the National Reamers Convention in the US last year, and naturally she also carried off “best costume”. There is a link to that special reamer event at the bottom of this page.

SoylentRed.com has a photoshop of Christopher Walken in an Uncle Sam outfit, pointing and declaring "I Want More Cowbell."

Finally, Threadless T-Shirts has a different tee from our last post. The site also contains a comments section, and it seems there are the beginnings of an anti-Cowbell movement in place. Comments include:

-- "That skit is so overplayed," from Spane
-- "the cure is less cowbells," from Minor Mishaps
-- "dude. when will summer vacation be over so you guys can go repeat the 3rd grade?", from rigqguy


Well, that's your Summer 2005 serving of More Cowbell from the Daily Pick. We're going to cut back on the cowbell till Autumn. Yes, I know: Not too much. We're going to want that cowbell. That said, rock on.

Hello,

I thought I was/am at least a little bit ironic.

Mitch Myers
(npr commentator)

Oh NO! Not an anti-cowbell movement. The Horror! LOL.

Really enjoyed reading this!