BRET, YOU GOT IT GOING ON/Flight of the Conchords

I first heard Flight of the Conchords at a listening station in the Union Square Virgin MegaStore, where I often go to kill time and find out what’s new, good, and selling. They’ve got a not bad book department, too. And a DVD section with all of the Criterion Collection stuff in its own separate bin. I feel a little guilty that I don’t actually buy stuff there, but rather use the place as a resource to find out what I want and then either download it for free or get it cheaper at an independent store where I don’t so much mind spending my vast sums of disposable income, not to mention saving myself from feeling stupid (or envious) about funding some ultra-rich lunatic’s round-the-world balloon trips.

Anyway, Flight of the Conchords didn’t make much of an impression. They seemed to me, and likely many others, a Tenacious D knock-off with Kiwi accents and no Jack Black. But having been to New Zealand, and having loved all of the Flying Nun stuff of the late ’80s and early ‘90s (The Verlaines, The Chills, The Clean, etc.), I’m pretty sure I’ll always be interested in the country’s unique cultural mix of Pacific/Maori influences and the veddy, veddy British. If its music scene is any indication, New Zealand's ties to Mother England are far stronger than those between the UK and Australia, although I can’t say that’s a firsthand opinion, having foolishly, in retrospect, not bothered when I was down there to take the short flight from NZ to Oz, despite having already traveled 23 hours to the South Pacific: NY to LA to Auckland (north island) to Christchurch (south island). (The upside of such a long journey is that there’s virtually no jet lag, as you pretty much go, time machine-like, smack into the next day. The downside is that I took the trip when smoking was still permitted on airplanes, which, even as a smoker at the time, was quite disgusting.) New Zealand is also, as anyone who's watched the LOTR trilogy can attest, more-or-less the most beautiful place one could ever hope to find themselves. And the national beer, Steinlager, isn’t bad either. In short, the place has everything anyone could ever want or need (except for maybe a job).

But back to Flight of the Conchords. I think they’re kind of lame. Nevertheless, my friend Mauricio sent me this link earlier today, and I defy anyone to not let this goofy little ditty get stuck in their head.