As I’m sure you probably know (but I’m gonna say it anyway), Dave is a writer, performer, musician, actor, comic and artist. He is a frequent on-air correspondent on HBO and Cinemax, and has also appeared on MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Adult Swim, Sundance Channel, TLC, Current TV, and Spike TV. He has written for the New York Times, Salon, HBO, Blender, the Huffington Post, FHM UK, the New York Daily News, XXL, Guitar World, Guitar Player, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, VH1, Spike TV, The Learning Channel, Court TV–and that was all before 9:00 this morning. He’s a contributor to “This American Life”, and his first book, Tasteful Nudes, will be published by St. Martin’s Press May 22, 2012.

Tomorrow night, he’s ours. And he’s talking about The Replacements. It’s probably best if come out and listen to the man.

Alex is a writer, producer, and performer whose writing has been published in National Lampoon, Thought Catalog and Hello Giggles. He’s currently putting finishing touches on his first short film and he does standup at open mics around New York City. If you do the Twitter (and I’m sure you do), follow him at @alexjmann.

On Thursday, he’s gonna tackle “Sympathy for the Devil.” It’s about time somebody did.

Jill is a writer and and performer based in New Jersey, who, most notably, has performed twice with the NYC chapter of “Mortified” at the 92Y Tribeca. When she isn’t traveling around for concerts, obsessing over Twitter, or devouring every piece of news about her celebrity crushes, she is working in retail, making cakes and cupcakes behind a counter.

And on Thursday, she may or may not be discussing Colin Quinn in her story based on “Mr. Brightside.”

Blaise is a writer, storyteller and visual artist, as well as the creator, producer and host of The How I Learned Series (which is a ton of fun–I did it last month) and has appeared on The Story Collider, Steamboat Humor Readings, Mortified, Cringe, Literary Death Match, The WYSIWYG Talent Show and In The Flesh. One time, she was awarded a month-long writing fellowship in Vermont where, among other things, she got electrocuted and maybe almost killed a horse. Maybe.

And next Thursday at our two year anniversary show, she’s talkin’ ’bout Chicago. The band. Just so we’re clear.

(By the way, kids…we know the sound is hard to hear on this. But never fear! Future segments of “Off the Record” will be clear as a bell, thanks to our newest member of the ol’ Soundtrack crew–the one and only Jeremy Mather.)

Photo by Spencer Ritenour

Well, speaking of Girl Talk–the DJ who samples hundreds of songs and layers artists like Black Sabbath over Ludacris in ways you never would have thought possible–check this out. A lot of people see an artist like Girl Talk as a living, breathing lawsuit just waiting to burst into flames because all the samples he uses could be viewed as copyright infringement. But is his art wrong or illegal because he merely takes two or more already existing sounds to create a whole new one? This is the trailer for Copyright Criminals, a documentary that looks at the history of sampling and both sides of argument as to whether sampling is copyright infrigement that should be enforced more diligently.

While I personally think sampling is fair game, after seeing this, I do wish someone would acknowledge Clyde Stubblefield, who was once James Brown’s drummer. Clyde is one of if not the most sampled drummer in all of hip hop, but the man ain’t yet seen a dime for it, and is pretty much credited nowhere, except as James Brown’s drummer. So could someone please give him a mention somewhere (are liner notes still a thing?)? And throw the man some cash? Seriously, it’s one thing to sample one teeny bit of a Stealers Wheel song.

It’s another thing that this guy is the most sampled drummer in the game.

Photo by Spencer Ritenour

If you haven’t yet seen this, it’s one of several videos known collectively as Girl Walk–the dance project set to Girl Talk’s “All Day” where several dancers (lead by Anne Marsen) dance their way around New York City. Central Park. Yankee Stadium (my personal favorite). The Staten Island Ferry. Occupy Wall Street. Under the scaffolding outside a Daffy’s. The list goes on.

I can guarantee that if you’re currently having a crap day, this will turn that right around. There is so much I love about this series of videos. It’s a love letter to New York. It’s a love letter to an album. It’s a love letter to music and movement.

And it’s a call to be happy. You will notice in the scene where she follows the Jewish men, that one of them asks her why she is dancing. She tells him that she’s happy. And he responds, you should always be happy.

He’s right. And I’m happy just typing that.