by SHANE SINNOTT

When Somali pirates captured the massive oil tanker MV Sirius Star this past weekend, it brought about a sense of excitement here at Load-down HQ. A long lover of all things pirate, it warmed my heart to think that the pastime of capturing other vessels on the high seas is alive and well today. To get in the spirit, I suggest “Professor Booty” by the Beastie Boys (tinyurl.com/5gmtv4), a song which doesn’t really have anything to do with pirates, but the mention of booty speaks to the pirate in all of us. Or if you want something that takes the subject more seriously, try “Fire Down Below” by Nick Cave, streamable at tinyurl.com/5t856m. And to really do it right, we need to get into the collection that Cave’s song comes from, Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys, a two-disc set of pirate covers. There’s “A Drop of Nelson’s Blood” by Jarvis Cocker (tinyurl.com/5vmr7f), “Leave Her Johnny” by Lou Reed (tinyurl.com/5s7rw8) and “One Spring Morning” by Akron Family (tinyurl.com/5vfhgn), all from the same collection.

Now, having said all that, make sure you don’t confuse pirates, who are super cool and admirable, with piracy, which is bad and—according to vested sources—destroying the music industry you so dearly love. If you’re the facts-and-figures type, check out this press release by MultiMedia Intelligence, a research firm claiming that music pirated in P2P networks in 2007 was worth $69-billion: tinyurl.com/6z7mwm. Or if you want to hear what’s being heavily trafficked these days, consider Chinese Democracy, the Guns N’ Roses album that has finally come out (links disappear too quick for me to put here), or the Killers’ “Neon Tiger,” which you can hear at tinyurl.com/6zggul. For more variety, I’d bookmark the excellent link section on the blog Pop Tarts Suck Toasted (tinyurl.com/65r2el), which, if you take a look right now, has leaks from Fennesz and tracks from tour albums by the Twilight Sad (a nice Joy Division cover) and No Age.