I Wanna Rock

whew! i am actually still full from dinner last night. for me, that’s not usually a good thing. to take my mind off of it, let’s talk about music.

Mark has a bunch of songs he has been working on and i am hoping that he finds a need for some tambourine. or some cowbell. i got a tambourine for my birthday and i’m just waiting for the opportunity to shake my ass whilst banging it against my hip. currently, it’s just being used to torture the dogs and even that isn’t working out so well. instead of tortured, they appear truly inconvenienced. anyway, i wrote the bass line for one of the tracks and we need to practice a bit more before recording. i also need to work on some lyrics. the song i just wrote is not really suited to the music. it’s very dark. i can’t help it though, everything that pours out of my pen happens to be dark.

we also spent a day last weekend guitar shop trolling. we hit Guitar Center, which i generally dislike. i really need a new bass. i have Mark’s old one (a very old Kramer with a chubby sound) but after playing that for several years, i am longing for one i picked out just for me. we also have a Squier Jazz P-Bass Mark had bought just to have but i swear it feels like the neck is eight feet long. my short little arms just don’t like it. i like to practice with Mark’s Fender American Telecaster, but that’s his guitar and i really do like the bass better. everything at Guitar Center seemed to be Fender (sprinkled with Ibanez and BC Rich). i had played a Rickenbacker awhile back and really loved the way it felt and played. alas, it had been fretless and there’s just no way!

so on to American Music in Fremont, which had a surprisingly small selection and a sales guy that followed us around. last stop The Trading Musician in the U-district. they had a wall of used pedals that hypnotized Mark and i tried out the mapleglo Rickenbacker 4003 (this one was $1000 and looked to be in good condition). i need to spend some more time trying out others, but really, i love this bass. wrong color though and if i’m spending $1000, then everything about it has to be exactly what i’m looking for. i guess i will keep on trolling Craig’s List (if you’ve never heard of it, chances are there’s one for your city too). i had been browsing on eBay just for fun. i’m not so sure about buying a bass that way though. Mark S pointed out that i may receive my bass and find out it’s actually a Wickenbacker. good point.

the quest continues.

Neko Case w/The Sadies

this weekend has been a leisurely one and i’m awfully sorry to see it go. it’s only fair that we ended the last night out with drinks and a show at Neumo’s. i’d never been to a show there before at anytime in it’s club history. sadly Moe’s had closed the year i moved to Seattle and ARO.space, well, was ARO.space. i was impressed to find that the club was really open (architecturally) with good ventilation to alleviate the smokiness of it all. another bonus is that Frites happens to be nestled next door and open until 2:30am. when we walked into the main room, the subtle smell of the fries wafted through the audience. i can imagine how many times ‘hey, let’s get some frites after the show!’ was uttered.

Dexter Romweber was the first act and we missed it (which may have been a mistake). after a quick dinner at Ballet (cheap, delicious and non-pretentious Asian chow) and a couple of drinks at Des Amis, we arrived just time for The Sadies. if you haven’t seen them live, really you are missing out. they played their asses off! that’s truly the best way to describe their presence on stage and the quality of their music. they are not one of those bands that seem to be elsewhere while running routinely through songs. you can feel that there is nowhere else they’d rather be but on stage lighting it up. there are bands i love for the spaces they leave in between their music (i.e. Low) but i loved The Sadies because there was not an inch of wiggle room. every moment was drenched with well written lyrics, serious ownership of those instruments and so much soul. they did a fine job of rousing the crowd for Neko (an often difficult task in the land of stiffed legged concert gazing).

Neko came out very shortly afterward (i think Neumo’s needed everyone to be out by 10pm for their usual Saturday night thing). unfortunately, also at the same time, three idiots appeared next to us complaining loudly about how the crowd wasn’t dancing (she had just started with Favorite, for those of you who know the song it isn’t exactly a hoe-down type tune). and guess who two of the people were? you know them, you love them, yes! it’s the grinding-on-each-other-to-any-kind-of-music-people! nothing like dirty dancing to Neko Case. and as much as they kept professing to getting into the music, they managed to talk their way through loudly enough to alienate everyone around them. at one point the guy behind me mockingly screeched a line she sang and i was forced to dole out the full-on momentary STINK-EYE (in which i don’t just glance over my shoulder with a warning, but bring the complete turn around face-to-face). Heff later said he thought he was going to have to separate us. this prompted them to whisper amongst each other (’she gave me a dirty look’). my sister kept laughing and emulated their grinding by pretend-humping my leg with shocking realism. i blame all of the dogsitting. the girl (or grindee, as we’ll refer to her) saw this and stopped grinding for a moment to tell the grinder. ick.

ANYWAY, i have to admit there was a build up for this show. we have seen Neko many, many times and only once (at the Flag Pavilion at the Seattle Center for a free show) did we ever see her with a complete set of boyfriends to provide all of the fantastic instrumentation and vocals that appear on the studio recordings. so let’s just say as much as i love Jon Rauhouse, we were looking forward to the whole enchilada for the first time in years. The Sadies were, of course, a formidable backing band, but all in all there was something lacking in the performance. Mark was disappointed in the set list (due to a single song from Furnace Room Lullaby and only two from Blacklisted). she did play several songs from the upcoming album and many songs from the latest release The Tigers Have Spoken. Rated X, Loretta, The Tigers Have Spoken, Favorite (which also appears on Canadian Amp), Hex (sounding a bit strange without the three part harmony), If You Knew (in which i actually missed Kelly Hogan’s backing vocals), Make Your Bed (also appearing on Canadian Amp) and Soulful Shade Of Blue. Mark had really felt that the set list wasn’t the greatest considering what she could have done with The Sadies backing her. i’m not sure i agree with that entirely. i did enjoy the new songs and was certain that she would play lots from the latest release. i had hoped The Sadies would fill in the backing vocals, but felt it was a good show. not a great one, but good. her voice, as always sounded fantastic albeit a bit metallic due to seeming sound issues. still, it’s difficult to deny her presence on stage and i will see her every time she comes in to town.

the night ended appropriately at Hattie’s Hat with more food and drinks and then bed. oh lovely bed!

Beaver, As In ‘Busy Little’

i’ve been a busy little beaver as of late. but i’ve got a few new bits to report:

the track listing for the new M83 Before The Dawn Heals Us, due out late January ‘05. more to come as we give it a listen today. listing is as follows:

1. Moonchild
2. Don’t Save Us from The Flames
3. Farewell / Goodbye
4. Fields Shorelines and Hunters
5. *
6. I Guess I’m Floating
7. Teen Angst
8. Can’t Stop
9. Safe
10. Let Men Burn Stars
11. Car Chase Terror!
12. Slight Night Shiver
13. A Guitar and a Heart
14. Lower Your Eyelids to Die with the Sun

as of sometime this weekend, i will officially be a published rock writer. okay, okay, so it’s really just 80 words and the Rock-A-Rama section of Creem Magazine but let me pretend that to be cool just for a moment or two.

and lastly, i’ve actually made steps (other than talking about it) towards migrating my shtuff over to a new host. i’m first working on a new fansite called Three Girl Rodeo which i’m very excited about. it’s dedicated to spreading the word about three our favorite ladies: Neko Case, Kelly Hogan and Carolyn Mark. i’m just in the design phase right now, but hopefully will have something up in the next few weeks.

and that my friends is what i’ve been doing.

Goodbye John Peel

John Peel is gone and he leaves a giant hole.

almost everyone i know has at least one Peel Session. how many Peel sessions do you have?

Big In Seattle

i can’t believe it’s taken me a week to post this. but i have been on somewhat of a self-imposed ban from my laptop in the evenings. that and we’ve been so damn busy. Sunday was the KEXP brunch to see The Concretes, Monday was drinks (too many, i might add) with Celeste and Scott and then Tom Waits, Tuesday was my birthday and we celebrated with the Heffs, Wednesday was my sister’s birthday and dinner and yesterday we finally managed to take care of dog walking and grocery shopping. tonight is Interpol and i would not be disappointed if we stayed in.

but goddamn that Tom Waits put on a good show.

to say that we were expecting a memorable show from him would be an understatement. he ranks up there with Nick Cave for me in terms of depth of musical and lyrical talent. and he certainly delivered to a sold out Paramount Theatre Monday night. the energy was incredible when he walked out on stage and right from the start his performance was really mesmerizing. i’ve never experienced anything quite like it. the one thing about only doing two shows (the other in Vancouver), there’s no half assing it. you’re not tired just trying to muster the energy to get through the show, you’re actually giving all of your energy to it. not that Tom would half ass it. he is such a full on entertainer, not to mention Marc Ribot’s amazing guitar.

ahh, the miracle of a good show.

New Music Monday

the thing i love about bands that are not on major labels, are that they are still accessible as real people and most of the time they still appreciate meeting new fans. i emailed Kim of My Velouria to ask them a few questions about the band and lo and behold, when i logged into my Gmail account this afternoon the response was already waiting for me. thanks Kim!

i’ve also been giving a listen (and will be picking up) the self-titled debut album from the Deadstring Brothers, a group hailing from good old Detroit (not Dee-troit as the west coast folks like to pronounce it). their sound is just as it is described on the site:

“Not unlike Exile-era Stones, the Deadstring Brothers deliver a menacing sound that draws equally on the melancholy of country ballads and the abandon of rock and blues.”

it doesn’t look like they’ll be heading out west anytime soon, but when they do i will definitely check them out!

Ubiquitous Sunday Post

♥ split the weekend between responsible (running errands, paying bills) and being irresponsible (buying shoes, going out to dinner). i am the proud owner of a brand new pair of fuzzy, ruby uggs. for those naysayers out there, i do not plan on wearing them with a mini skirt. i bought them specifically to rid myself of cold feet. my feet are always cold and the prospect of walking around in warm fuzziness all day got the best of me.

♥ awaiting the arrival of My Bloody Valentine (the movie) this week. i haven’t seen it since i was a kid and it scared the pants off of me then. plus, it’s the namesake of one of my favorite bands. you better recognize.

♥ i can’t remember what i was looking for, but came upon a band website for My Velouria, a self described “alt.rock band from the suburbs of Oslo/Norway.” they have one demo posted for listening called What Is This?. it’s very obviously influenced by the aforementioned My Bloody Valentine and also Slowdive. i’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more songs to be posted. but so far, so good.

♥ pondering the Flip Flop as seen on Sean Bonner’s site.

and on that note, have a lovely evening.

Mission Accomplished

i am now the proud owner of two tickets to the October 18th Tom Waits show at the Paramount Theatre here in lovely Seattle. one of only two North American shows, i might add. but i’m not gloating or anything. i’m just v v v excited.

and speaking of excited about shows, i’m also ecstatic about getting tickets to one of two Neko Case and Her Boyfriends shows at Neumo’s on 11/27 and 11/28. we have scene her countless times, but only once with a full band. usually she is accompanied by the amazing Jon Rauhouse and sometimes an upright bass player which is great. but, i have missed the full band on many of the songs.

now all that’s left to do is grab Interpol tickets and potentially Slayer tickets and my fall lineup will be complete. i’ll add in that it’s a shame that we will be out of town for the PJ Harvey show at the Showbox … but not too much of a shame since we will spending Halloween in New Orleans! if one more great show gets announced, i might just go broke.

Big In Japan

taking the time out of my oh-so busy day to report that Tom Waits has scheduled a single, lonely little tour date this year. guess where? yes, that’s right. the single date is October 18th at the Paramount Theatre here in lovely Seattle! i can hardly wait, although i am less than enthused with the idea of standing in line. the entire article from Billboard if you’re interested.

Sonic Bits

Random music bits:

* PJ Harvey comes to Seattle for the first time since who knows when. October 29th at the Showbox (a fantastic venue to see her i might add). tickets on sale now through Ticketswest.

* buying Interpol tickets to see them on October 22 at The Paramount, the adult dream venue (clean, beautiful and seated). buy those tickets directly with the theatre because Ticketmonster is charging a whopping $7.50 ‘convenience fee’. what’s f*#$ing convenient about that, i ask you?

* just got my grubby little paws on some sick presents from the husband (not sick as in cool. as in phlegm-plagued) including the 28 Days Later DVD and The Black Keys - Rubber Factory. due to the sickness, i haven’t much listened to any music. but you can bet it will be queued up on iTunes when i get to work on Monday.

* taking me back to the days of swine and roses, i just noticed that Ministry will be playing with My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult this coming Wednesday at guess where? The Fenix of course. oh and hey, Rob Zombie? Al Jourgensen called and he wants his outfit back.

Sometimes I’m Dreaming

last night we ventured up through the I-5 traffic to the brand new Everett Events Center to see The Cure. the complex is an ice rink, home to Everett’s WHL team newly built just last year. at the entrance we were frisked (Brianna had to run back to the car because they wouldn’t let her in with the belt she had on). while we waited for her we observed the crowd pouring into the arena. a decidedly different crowd than what i would expect to see in Detroit. for some reason the trend this evening was towards the goth-trash look combined with lots of wiggly, jiggly bellies hanging out. it was a very odd scene indeed.

we opted not to stand in line for a wrist band on the floor and grabbed a nice spot one level up to the left of the stage. i must admit i wasn’t feeling the usual excitement i have for seeing The Cure and i think it has to do with the cancellation of the original festival date. Mark and i made a list of songs we actually didn’t want to hear to pass the time waiting for them to take the stage. Mark had been trolling the setlists for the other shows and had concluded that if they started with ‘Lost’ it meant bad news. and lo and behold, they started with ‘Lost’. i do have to admit, as much as i loathe most of the new songs (and ALL of the lyrics) they are improved live. immediately after they jumped right into ‘Plainsong’ and as much as i adore that song, the sound was horrible. you could literally hear the drums echoing off the back of the arena and to overcome the crap sound, the band just played louder.

there were typical ‘crowd’ favorites (at least this is what i’m told. it seems that none of the ‘crowd’ actually enjoys the huge non-radio catalogue the band has. but, i digress). ‘Just Like Heaven’, ‘Fascination Street’ and the like. we were sitting right in front of a group of people that screamed at the top of their lungs through the entire show for any song that had received radio airplay. any song that hadn’t found them to be outside smoking. do i sound bitter? the crowd just seemed really lame. it’s as if the majority had bought the Greatest Hits and that was it. all of the people around us sat frozen like statues, no movement, no bouncing of heads, no shaking of hips. nothing. it’s a weird Seattle phenomena.

i was starting to wonder whether this show was going to be, well, boring until near the end of the main set they played ‘Disintegration’ and ‘One Hundred Years’ (all of the dancy, spinny people on the floor stopped dancing). and then, they did a whopping FIVE encores. and can you guess what the first one was? ‘The Drowning Man’, ‘Charlotte Sometimes’ and ‘Faith’. i thought Mark was going to pass out from happiness! each of the encores sounded fantastic. i have to say it was the new stuff that didn’t sound great (yes, i know i said it sounded better live … but it still wasn’t all that great). they even played a couple of songs from Bloodflowers after Robert proclaimed that they hadn’t played them ‘in four years’ and that afterwards it felt like ‘time travel’. each song ended with the typical Smith ‘Q’ (translated=Thank You).

i suppose this sounds a little jaded. i should say that i see The Cure every chance i get for so many reasons (other than being one of the sacred ones). i have so many memories tied to this music because it’s been what i’ve listened to through so many different periods of my life. when Disintegration was released, i bought it the day it came out (on tape, no less) and then drove around to listen to the entire thing (that’s a whole lot of driving when you’re downriver). i’ve fallen asleep to that album for 15 years now. wait, that can’t be right. oh, that makes me feel a little sick. and each time i see them, i never ceased to be amazed that 5 people can mean so much to so many different people. i could never understand how they got pinned with the ‘goth’ or ‘depressing’ label, or why people think their music is depressing. the lyrics are poetic, lovely and sometimes silly (even bad at times … hey, no one’s perfect) and the music is complex. Simon is such a great bass player (i just had to throw that in). so what is so depressing about that?

i’m rambling, i know. i just love The Cure. like so many other things (aversion to baked fruit), i can’t help it. i will see them again, and again, and again.

p.s. Travis Hay at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, anytime you want someone to come and write a real review for you, you let me know.

Shows Gone By

before i ever knew i wanted to meet someone and fall in love, i had a sort of list (go figure) of things that needed to exist for me to be attracted to someone. it was a fairly short list. it may sound shallow, but number one on that list was taste in music. i’d met plenty of men/boys that were very sweet, well intended but had horrible taste in music. and honestly, music is such an important part of my life i just couldn’t get over it. today in the car i asked Mark to make a list (he’s used to this by now) of all of the shows he’s seen. my first response was amazement at how much money that can be equated to over the years (not that it matters). it’s amazing. and it was interesting to look at our lists side by side. and the second was that it looks like a metal resume, not exactly the list i might have thought up. it goes something like this:

Ozzy Osbourne (2), Motley Crue, The Scorpions, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Quiet Riot, Slayer (3), Anthrax, Celtic Frost, Metallica (the tour that Cliff Burton was killed), Motorhead, Danzig, Dark Angel, Death Angel, Morbid Angel, -insert more black/death metal bands here-, Judas Priest (2), Sisters Of Mercy (on tour with Public Enemy … how weird is that?), Voivod, Megadeath, The Cure (3 soon to be 4), Faith No More, Christian Death (2), Swans, Eintzurzende Neubauten, Lush, Morrissey, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (3), Neko Case (5), Radiohead (2), Supergrass, Low (2), Catpower (3), The Magnetic Fields, Angels Of Light, Air, Curve, Skinny Puppy, The Rolling Stones, King Diamond, The Beastie Boys, Dio (hahaha), The New Pornographers, The Handsome Family, Ryan Adams, Rex Hobart and the Misery Boys … and more.

it’s funny how the person you were meant to be with is not always the person you might have imagined. again it just goes to prove that sometimes, i have no idea what i need. and i love that he can listen to Low and still love Slayer at the same time. that says something to me. we’re coming up on our one year anniversary (of marriage that is. it really is more like 8 years) and i still think he’s the best person i’ve ever known.

Curiosa at The Gorge Postponed

much to our dismay (that would be me and my travelling companions) the Curiosa show at The Gorge next weekend has been postponed. i suppose i should be glad it hasn’t been cancelled, but i fear now that it will be re-scheduled when i am out of town. at any rate, i am keeping a close eye on Chain Of Flowers for the answer. the best non-official band website i’ve ever seen. this is the one and only place to go for all Cure news!

Ms. Neko Case

Neko Case is set to release her fifth album this fall on November 9th! it’s an understatement to say i’m looking forward to it. with the power gloss of pop and indie rock these days there aren’t many artists i can count on for not only consistently good albums but consistently amazing albums. Neko is damn reliable in that respect. it also helps that she’s charismatic, funny and well … a siren. Tigers Have Spoken is being licensed to Anti- records in the US and and other places outside Canada. dans Canada, as always, she is still on Mint Records.

Recorded over 7 nights and at 3 different venues in Chicago and Toronto, the album finds Neko backed by a full band featuring the Sadies and steel guitar whiz Jon Rauhouse and special guests Kelly Hogan, Carolyn Mark, Jim & Jennie and the Pinetops, Paul Morstad and Brian Connelly.

it is a live album but anyone who has seen her live knows this will be worth waiting for.

the album will contain two new songs as well as her signature style of covers including: Loretta Lynn and Buffy Saint Marie (an artist she constantly mentions in interviews). it also contains a song i’d heard her play live before it was finally released on Canadian Amp called Favorite. it’s possibly my favorite song of hers. it will also feature the usual suspects guest starring: Carolyn Mark, Kelly Hogan and Jon Rauhouse (fresh from recovery from heart surgery this past summer). the last handful of times we’ve seen Ms. Case (with the exception of a New Pornographers show), she has been backed solely and amply by Rauhouse. i am hoping that this time she’ll head out in the fall to support the album with a full band. while her live setup does a nice job of conveying the feeling of the songs sans band, with the full band is an experience not to be missed. is it November yet?

the track listing:

1. If You Knew
2. Soulful Shade Of Blue
3. Hex
4. Train From Kansas City
5. The Tigers Have Spoken
6. Blacklisted
7. Loretta
8. Favorite
9. Rated X
10. This Little Light
11. Wayfaring Stranger

Remaining Faithful

what goes better together than coffee and cigarettes? perhaps Marianne Faithful, Nick Cave and PJ Harvey. per the little birdie, comes news of a new release from Marianne Faithful titled Before The Poision(indeed!) and due out in January 2005. the record boasts collaborations with an all star cast including Nick Cave, Pj Harvey,Adrian Utley (of Portishead fame), Warren Ellis and Damon Albarn.

The tracklist per Anti-:

THE MYSTERY OF LOVE. Music and lyrics by PJ Harvey. The track features Marianne’s vocals with PJ Harvey on guitars, bass and synths and Rob Ellis on drums, piano and glockenspeil. The track was produced by PJ Harvey

MY FRIENDS HAVE. Music and lyrics by PJ Harvey. The track features Marianne Faithfull’s vocals together with PJ Harvey on guitars and backing vocals; Rob Ellis on drums and Portishead’s Adrian Utley on guitars and synth bass. The track was produced by PJ Harvey

CRAZY LOVE. Music by Nick Cave with lyrics by Marianne Faithfull. Marianne is backed by Cave together with Warren Ellis, Jim Sclavunos and Martin P Casey from the Bad Seeds. The track was co-produced by Nick Cave and Hal Willner

THE LAST SONG. Music and lyrics by Damon Albarn with additional lyrics by Marianne Faithfull. Marianne is backed by Adrian Utley on guitars and bass; Rob Ellis on piano and percussion; Catherine Browning on violins and Andy Nice on cello. The strong arrangements are by Rob Ellis, who also produced the track in partnership with Head

NO CHILD OF MINE. Music and lyrics by PJ Harvey. The track features Marianne’s vocals with PJ Harvey on backing vocals, guitars, piano and bass; Rob Ellis on drums and piano and Adrian Utley on bass synth. The track was produced by PJ Harvey

BEFORE THE POISON. Music by PJ Harvey with lyrics by Marianne Faithfull. The track features PJ Harvey on guitar, piano and backing vocals together with Rob Ellis on drums and percussion and Adrian Utley on bass and guitar. The track was produced by PJ Harvey

THERE IS A GHOST. Music by Nick Cave with lyrics by Marianne Faithfull. Recorded with Cave and Bad Seeds’ Warren Ellis, Jim Sclavunos and Martin P Casey. The track was co-produced by Nick Cave and Hal Willner

IN THE FACTORY. Music by PJ Harvey with lyrics by Marianne Faithfull and PJ Harvey. The track features PJ Harvey on guitars, slide bass and synths together with Rob Ellis on drums and Adrian Utley on guitar and bass. It was produced by PJ Harvey

DESPERANTO. Music by Nick Cave with lyrics by Marianne Faithfull. Recorded with Cave and Bad Seeds’ Warren Ellis, Jim Sclavunos and Martin P Casey. Co-produced by Nick Cave and Hal Willner.

CITY OF QUARTZ. Music by Jon Brion with lyrics by Marianne Faithfull. Jon Brion is the celebrated American composer, producer and songwriter who built his reputation working with such artists as Aimee Mann, Rufus Wainwright, David Byrne and The Eels. This track features Adrian Utley on toy piano, paintbrush guitar, sampled dictaphone of a marxophone originally played by Jon Brion; Diana Gutkind on piano; Rob Ellis on fake piano, fake vibraphone, fake glockenspeil and fake clockwork mechanisms; Catherine Browning on violins and Andy Nice on cello. The string arrangement is by Rob Ellis, who also produced the track in partnership with Head.

i’ve never been a fan of Faithful’s, but i’m always looking for reasons to like an artist.

Hold Me Closer Than That

i’ve been sick for the last couple of days and it has relegated me to the couch. this afternoon, i started to feel a bit better (despite having been bitten by my dog). Mark stopped by Sonic Boom to pickup the new (and much anticipated)Low boxed set A Lifetime of Temporary Relief: 10 Years of B-Sides & Rarities. we ordered chinese food and settled in for the DVD included with the set. the behind-the-scenes/documentary included are sometimes charming, sometimes boring but always true to Low’s brand of minimalist, meaningful music. the DVD also features a vignette of spoken word dedicated to Raymond Carver very much in the vein of his writing. it also includes the recording of the In The Fish Tank collaboration with The Dirty Three.

i haven’t listened to the purely audio discs yet, but i’m sure we’ll love them. my favorite release is and always will be Long Division for musical, lyrical and sentimental reasons. the dewy guitar in ‘Shame’ always brings my heart into my throat (no, seriously) and i loved the video for it. their version of ‘You Are My Sunshine’ dampens the sweetness to deeply sentimental. all in all, it was a well spent $33.00. i would say though that if you are new to the band, i would spend your money on Long Division or Things We Lost In The Fire first to whet your appetite. but that’s just my opinion … who else’s would it be?

Attention Earworms

summer is in high gear and yet, true to form, i am already thinking about the fall. you must admit fall does have its points. after all there is: Halloween, weather, pumpkins, scary movies, Shocktober and the new Nick Cave. add two more items to that list: the release of Slayer’s DVD Reign In Blood Live: Still Reigning on September 28, 2004. the DVD will include backstage footage, interviews and the band live on stage performing Reign In Blood in its entirety. if you were with me last year, you know that this is one of my favorite CDs and always in the car during the summer. i honestly don’t know how it fits in with anything else i listen to, but then again, what does?

and for the little earworms itching out there, here’s something to scratch it. Glenn Danzig has put together a fall tour titled Blackest Of The Black featuring Danzig wsg ex-Misfits Doyle,Mayhem (are any of the original lineup even still in this band?), Devil Driver, Death Angel(Reunion) and Eyes Of Fire. i have no idea who a couple of these bands are, so its hard to tell whether the title is appropriate. the press release promised a special Misfits set for what is to be “the closest thing to a Misfits reunion anyone is ever going to see!”

It’s Friday I’m In Love

i have given into my cravings for books and music over the last weeks and bought the new Clinton (not George) book My Life. i didn’t buy it because i thought it would be enlightening or because i need to reminisce over his time in office due to the current state of affairs. i bought it because it is a very long book with small print and looks to be a good read. after all, he is a Rhodes Scholar and was president of our fair country so he must be able to write a decent book! i haven’t started it yet, but i’ll let you know. it’s sad, but the truth is i read so quickly sometimes i go for a mix of quality/quantity rather than just quality alone. books are expensive and until i can get down to the brand spanking new library and clear my notorious record of never returning a tattered book i lost, this is the way i operate.

on a side note, have you seen the new library? probably one of my favorite things about Seattle is that it is a town that is willing to stand in line for hours to get the first glimpse at the new library. and thanks to previous levies, the libraries citywide are constantly being improved.

i digress. have you heard of The Innocence Mission? of course you have. i am the only college attending person who may not know about them (since apparently they are big on college radio). but to be fair, no one told me. i heard them on the radio this morning and had mistaken them for The Sundays. it’s easy to do, the singer’s voice is very similar to Harriet Wheeler’s. i had no idea they had been around since 1989 (around the same time as The Sundays), which made me wonder “Who influenced who?” anyway, i suppose it doesn’t matter. but hey, it’s 7:00am and these are the kinds of things swimming around in my head this early.

i don’t like the new Pixies song Bam Thwak. for unreasonable and strange reasons, such as a general dislike of nonsensical sounding words sung in song. don’t try to change my mind, my dislike has nothing to do with reason. it stems from the same natural aversion to bananas. it doesn’t help that it sounds like they are saying ‘wakka wakka’ and that just seems like piracy from Fozzy.

and lastly, we bought bloated, expensive tickets for the The Cure at The Gorge in August. essentially we paid $60 a piece to see two bands: The Cure and Interpol. we have become masters at the art of timing our arrival at a show to skip anything we don’t want to hear and minimize our time standing around inhaling second hand smoke (yes, we’re old). oh wait, except for Supergrass, we did miss hearing them play my favorite song from the last album. anyway, i have a sneaking suspicion this “festival” is going to cancel and the sad thing about it is it wouldn’t break my heart. i wanted to see The Cure again, but at a much smaller venue and sans opening bands (and especially not with a bunch of other bands!). oh well. i’ll make sure to take my padded seat for the lawn. just kidding …. maybe. no really, i am kidding.

Mixed Tape

make me a mixed tape and i might fall in love with you. but it has to be just the right mix. not too long, not too short. not to high, not too low. i’m working on a tape for a friend who is overseas. three to be exact. the first is Sam Cooke’s Nightbeat. this is an album that i firmly believe everyone should own and as i was instructed when i bought it, it should be listened to after 2am preferably after a night of drinking. you can listen to it otherwise, but it won’t mean quite the same.

the second tape is titled Asleep and is as follows:

Overcome - Tricky Maxinquaye
Metal Heart - Catpower Moonpix
This Twilight Garden - The Cure B-Side to High Maxi Single
Eau D’Bedroom Dancing - Le Tigre Le Tigre
Love Songs On The Radio - Mojave 3 Ask Me Tomorrow
Everyday Is Like Sunday - Morrissey Viva Hate
Slow - My Bloody Valentine
Wonderwall - Ryan Adams Love Is Hell Pt. 1
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths The Queen Is Dead
You Are Everything - REM Green
Song To The Siren - Tim Buckley Starsailor
Dreams Burn Down - Ride Nowhere
Neko Case - Favorite Canadian Amp
Zero 7 - Home When It Falls
Redhouse Painters - Mistress (Piano Version) Redhouse Painters I
The Dirty Three - Some Summers They Drop Like Flys Whatever You Love, You Are
Blur - No Distance Left To Run 13
Monster Movie - Shortwave Last Night Something Happened

if you are interested, email me your mailing address and i will send a copy along. i just ask you do one for me in return. and though i am notoriously bad about sending mail on time, i promise i will! the third tape will be added when i’m finished deciding.

oh and replace tape with CD.

The Boatman’s Calling

in other tasty music news, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are set to release their thirteenth studio album this fall (September) titled Abbatoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus. recorded in Paris this past spring, it’s a double album with all of the usual suspects (of course sans Blixa, who will be off doing Neubauten-y things). per the site they will also be touring the UK this fall. i’ll exhale heavily again about the lack of a Seattle tour date the last time around.

pushed back to 2005 is the slated release of b-sides and rarities (i know, this is semi-old news). i haven’t always been that impressed by the b-sides. it seems that they really are right on in picking what should be on the albums, but it is something we’d buy anyway out of obligation. i haven’t bought The Videos collection, but that is also inevitable. and a happy Monday to you too.