Pitchfork

Man, it's been a weird week. Violence all over the place, Scarlett Johansson covering Tom Waits, and now, Stephin Merritt performing as the Gothic Archies on Atlanta's local Fox network.

Here, a morose, mumbling Merritt gives an awkward interview, then nails a brief but solid rendition of "Smile! No One Cares How You Feel" from the just-released Archies compilation, The Tragic Treasury: Songs From a Series of Unfortunate Events. We suspect Fox settled on Merritt because Series author Lemony Snicket's (Daniel Handler) schtick is evading the public eye, and because through some convoluted dealing, Rupert Murdoch probably owns Stephin Merritt.

And oh man, who knew Snicket played accordion on 69 Love Songs?