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Still on a high from The Wedding Present show on Sunday night. I forgot to mention yesterday that my fave Weddoes album (besides Bizarro
Much cheaper than the $22 they want for Bizarro on Amazon(although I'm def. picking up one of the 4 copies of vinyl they have for sale on eBay). OK, so they want like $40 of it on Amazon(!!!!). Shop your local mom and pop for a used copy.
Safe As Fuck! The Goldie Lookin' Chain album will be unleashed on these shores next Tuesday! You heard that shit here first!
Game 5 tonight bitches. My shit talking grace period is over Bob Cook! We are dropping the hammer tonight, Days of Thunder steez! Inept Anthony Johnson is hurt! What line up will we start with? Will we win by 30+ points again? Seriously, could the Pacers be a bigger bunch of walking wounded? The C's are in a no-win situation here. When they win the series, everyone will say "Ha! They were hurt and Artest was suspended, obvs." but if they lose it will be a huge upset. I'll take the former. Fuck Ron Artest.
Today is a good day not to be Jeff Van Gundy. Dude is in some deep shit with Commisar Stern, someone you absolutely don't want to eff with.
Did Theo fuck things up? Honestly I don't care. We're World Champs!
Strange things are afoot in the Circle K Bronx.
Weekend recap time. Now...I have heard nothing but good things about Stars, so much that I had contemplated buying their record, but in concert, they SUCKED. I can't convey how bored I was during their show. Their first few songs sounded like Arcade Fire, Jr., but they got progressively worse from there. I think it had to do with their lead singer, who had this gay, white, Sammy Davis Jr. vibe going on. He just bugged me and I couldn't get past it. Not my thing. Oh well.
Ivy, however, were just great. Very Nico-esque with lots and lots of la la la's, so of course I loved them. I really enjoyed their set and even worked my way up towards the front of the crowd (something I rarely do lately), but the crowd cleared out after Stars finished their set. Miss Gl*mrocker, who accompanied me, informed me that Ivy did a mean cover of the Go-Betweens Streets Of Your Town which I downloaded from iTunes after I got home later that night. Not mind blowing, but pretty damn good nonetheless. Look for it on the monthly mix, which will be relvealed later in the week. So...to sum up; Ivy=good, Stars=bad.
Saturday I watched the C's roll over the Pacers (worst. Pacers. playoff. loss. ever., PP had 30, 7 boards, 8 dimes and 5 blocks!) and then headed out to the Black Cat for Razzmatazz. Some other bluestaters were in attendance and we all hung out (i.e. they danced, I was clinging to the wall) until I called it a night around half twelve.
On Sunday, I was exhausted for most of the day. I went down to IKEA shopping for some picture frames (which they didn't have in stock) and that took all damn day. It was hard for me to muster up the energy to go see David Gedge and The Wedding Present, but I sure am glad I did. I headed in to DC at 10, which put me at the club around 10:30, just as the Weddoes were about to go on. The place wasn't very crowded so I grabbed a Bud and went up near the stage. Soon after Gedge and Co. came out and ripped shit up.
They played a good portion of Take Fountain
Sadly, this was the first time I had ever seen one of my favourite bands. I saw half a Weddoes show in the mid 90's at CMJ, but that really didn't count since two of my best friends at the time (both females) got into a fight at the gig (sadly, not over me) and I had to leave to go referee. Predictably, they broke into my fave Weddoes track, Brassneck, shortly after I bailed. Needless to say, the two females in question were never forgiven for this terrible offense which has scarred me for life. Until now, yay!
Oh, and in the ultimate act of fanboy validation, I scored a setlist.
For those of you unfamiliar with The Wedding Present, head right over to Bradley's Almanac and download their set from Boston (and some covers! can't wait to listen to them). Thanks Brad! The Pita saw the NYC gig and offers up her fave Weddoes song for download. I'll have some tracks tomorrow, as well as photos, but I got home too late to upload shit last night.
Also, I just realized this morning that I don't have my copy of Bizarro
Swizzamped at work. V. much looking forward to this weekend, much of what I'll be doing is in the DCist weekend preview, which I helped write. So is Paul Westerberg sober or not?
Anyways, my plan for the weekend:
Tonight: Stars & Ivy at the Black Cat. I've never heard either band but have heard good things about both. And I really need to hang out at the Black Cat more.
Saturday: Celtics v. Pacers, Razzmatazz
Sunday: The Wedding Present at the Black Cat. I was gonna skip the show but Frank got me all excited about it. Waiting for Brad to chime in.
My own personal Coachella if you will. Only with no scorching heat or Stereophonics!
RE: that game last night, the esteemed Bob Cook and I have been going back and forth all morning (and he's being way too nice to me) but let's just say that Doc Rivers put on a coaching job of Isiah Thomas like proportions and the team as a whole gave Wizardsian effort on defense. If we don't make changes for Game 4, it'll be too late.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Our kid's at it again (as he usually is right before an album release): Like Damore, he's not into Franzia; "“He reminds me of fucking Right Said Fred. You put on 'I’m To Sexy For My Fucking Thing' next to their records and I bet you any money it’s the same person. It’s the same fucking person! He’s just gone on the Atkins diet and grown his hair! Not my thing at all. I don’t like quirky, weird music. It’s not my cup of tea all that nonsense, million miles an hour music that’s not going anywhere.”
He goes on to spout off about Bloc Party (who's CD I am ADDICTED to), Kaiser Chiefs (not so much, they're pretty fucking lame), Scissor Sisters and everyone's favorite useless smackhead, Pete (not relation to Matt) Doherty! But he doesn't hate everyone. Not at all; "It's Charlotte Church for me, man,” he stated. “She could be the next Liam. She's got a great voice and she f**king has it. She knows how to get f**king hammered and she freaks people out."
ooooohhhhhhhkay. Moving on...
Coachella Set Times. Last year I was muy jealous that I couldn't go. This year? Not so much. But it would be cool if everyone decides to see Bloc Party and Spoon instead of Coldplay.
Here's a few rescheduled Doves dates.
Warning! Sounds less than Promising.
Lindsay gives some sex advice from a blogger.
A Brief History of a Quarter Century of Washington Basketball. Great stuff. [via Catchdubs]
Let's wind up Bob Cook shall we?
Stephen Jackson sprained his knee in Game 2. He's gonna give it a go tonight but it looks like PP will be guarded by (dramatic pause) Reggie Miller!
JO is STILL fucking complaining about his shoulder. Listen you whiny fucker, shut up or go out there and play.
The Sport Guy says Reggie Miller, A SuperDuperStar? Not so much. Above average? That's more like it. Spot on if you ask me. But I liked him when he used to kill the Knicks and he had all those fucked up hairdo's.
You know, like when the website you help edit and write for throws a party and you and your DJ friends get to spin records at it. Should be fun. Be there! Yes, I will be playing Ring Of Fire. I'm also determined to play The Connells One Simple Word which came on the iPod yesterday and gave me a big ol' smile. Cheers to Holly for the flyer design.
The first half of the Doves tour has been cancelled. Yes, including Coachella. Don't sweat it DC, we're on the tail end. Speaking of, those injured Manc lads have a new EP out today. It has live versions of Pounding, There Goes the Fear, Words, Catch the Sun, Caught By the River and Here it Comes and is only in select, cooler than you, indie record stores.
Tonight, local boys The Fatales are playing with the much buzzed about Canadian outfit Stars, in the Darfur Benefit at Northsix in Brooklyn. Get you tickets from Ticketweb.
Coldplay and Franzia to tour together?
The Landlord will patrol the paint in Durham for his senior season. A wise decision sir.
Doc decided he didn't want to win Game Two last night. How else do you explain only nine minutes for Al Jefferson and twice that for Mark Blount? The announcers for last night's game(John Thompson and Rex Chapman - who knew he was still alive?) were making me nauseous. I think Thompson was rubbing ICYHOT on JO's shoulder during the timeouts. It would have been less conspicuous if they had pulled down his pants and given him an HoJo. Jeezy Creezy. I loved JO's acting job after Al blocked his shot in the first half. Also, memo to TNT: Reggie Miller is retiring after we win the series and send his sorry ass home for good. We get it.
Hopefully in Game Three, GP will remember to run the pick and roll with Raef and Marcus Banks will start going to the rim again. Perhaps Doc won't play PP and Tione the ENTIRE SECOND HALF. It's not like we have a good bench or anything.
One thing is certain, Bob Cook and I will continue to talk shit to each other.
I was engrossed in the game and my Divo'd episode of 24 last night, so expect more pictures of Mr. Pink tomorrow.
Ahem...First place, bitches!
Last night's game was great, with a few exceptions.
1) It took us THREE HOURS to get to Baltimore (thus missing the ENTIRE first inning) and we left work an hour early. Yep, that's right, 180 minutes to drive 48.5 miles. Can we bring this up as Exhibit A the next time Peter Angelos starts complaining on how people in DC should only come to O's games? Until he builds me a dedicated freeway that will insure me being able to see the first pitch, he can suck it.
2) I stood in line to get food for an inning and a half only to get some chicken tenders and cold french fries. And by the time I got up there, they had no hot dogs ready. It's like the food services people were shocked people wanted to order food to eat. Jeezy Creezy.
3) They only sold beer, CrackerJacks and cotton candy in the stands. Again, no dogs. No ice cream. No nothin'. If I didn't know better, I would think they are trying to promote alcoholism.
But enough complaining. The game last night at Camden Fenway Yards at Oriole Red Sox Park was alot of fun. I would estimate the Sox fans to O's fans ratio where we were sitting (left field stands) was about 80/20 in favor of the good guys. We got a very loud "Let's Go Red Sox" chant going every inning. The Sox fans were rowdy and funny too. The guy behind me kept yelling "Shut up, you look up to Washington DC!" everytime O's fans got a little to vocal. Some people behind us were saying it was cheaper for them to fly down to Baltimore from Boston and go to this game than it was to scalp tickets to Fenway. There were thousands of WORLD CHAMPS shirts in the crowd. It was a good night to fly your colors. I took some photos, the best of which are here.
The game itself was great. Matt Clement got 'er done, just like I said he would. Can't wait to go back on July 8th! That's a Friday night game BTW, but we have summer hours then so I'll start heading up 295 at 1 PM with hopes of seeing the first pitch.
Oasis quotes. [via Ultragrrrl]
Airtoons [via The DCeiver]
NBA Playoffs start tomorrow. The C's play the Pacers at 8 PM. The esteemed Bob Cook and myself are trying to fashion some sort of wager on said series, which will be grand 'cause we're so gonna beat that ass. Who's gonna win the whole thing? The Sports Guy weighs in and notes the Reggie Miller is shooting under .400 for the last month.
Any MT savvy people out there want to walk me through hooking up my flickr account to my blog? Cheers.
Believe it or not, as of today I've been using the internerd to blow them leaves for two whole years. Holla! And although he just joined the crew, Mr. Pink is just as excited as me.
I'm not the only one having a birthday today either.
I'm celebrating by ordering a Divo (which will be installed tomorrow) and traveling to Baltimore tonight to see THE MOTHER FUCKING WORLD CHAMPION RED SOX. Recognize! Matt Clement is gonna do the damn thing.
Here is something I never hope I say: "I've strained my groin before but I've never felt anything like this."
I made three attempts at Mixtape #2 last night, none of which I was totally happy with, so look for it on Monday.
OK everyone. I did indeed get three of the "leaked" Oasis tracks. The verdict? Collectively I'd rate them just like Lou Reed's solo stuff: No, it's not bad, but it's not great either. From the six tracks I've heard (the following three, Lyla - which leaked last week - and the live versions of A Bell Will Ring and The Meaning Of Soul that have been floating around since last year) no way is this the best record the band has ever done (get real Noel). My thoughts:
Let There Be Love - Slow weepy in the vein of Born On A Different Cloud that has Liam and Noel trading of verses, Acquiesce steez. Starts out with a sparse piano riff and some acoustic guitar with Liam singing "Who kicked a hole in the sky so the heavens would cry over me?" and the like. Liam has two verses before the drums kick in Noel comes in and sings his verse, which ends on a "We'd love to turn you ooooonnnnnn"-type flasetto. Right after this, about 2 and a half minutes in to the song, it kinda peters out and you expect the track to end before Liam starts back up again with the first verse. A slow and gradual buildup begins and runs through the rest of the track with Liam singing "Let there be love" over and over. A decent tune, but it sounds unfinished, like they couldn't really decide if they just wanted this to be a slow song or make it into a Don't Look Back In Anger type stadium anthem. The result is something in between.
Keep The Dream Alive (written by Andy Bell)- A typical Oasis rocker (and that's good thing). Kind of like a slower Roll With It or a better (Probably) All In The Mind (which I originally thought was written by Andy Bell). Finally some Oasis type lyrics, "I'm at the crossroads / waiting for a sign / My life is standing still / but I'm still alive". Liam's singing is superb and Noel's back up vocals really add alot to the song. Big fuck off chorus makes this stadium ready, complete with signature semi-noodley Noel guitar solo. Liam brings it all home near the end of the song with some "na na na na's" and your author is smiling profusely as he types this and counting the days until I see them in Detroit. A song worthy of being included in the Oasis catalog.
Mucky Fingers - (written by Noel) A blatant and subpar stab at Noel writing I'm Waiting For The Man sans the onetwofifth reference. Rides the Velvet Underground groove repeatedly throughout the song. I kept waiting for it to really take off and go somewhere but it never really does. The chorus is Noel singing "It's alright" over and over again (something that cannot be said for his songwriting lately). There's even a harmonica solo after the bridge. Why do I have a sinking suspicion that the worst songs on the album are all going to belong to Noel? Bottom line: a disappointment.
So from this batch, that gives us one ace tune, one good album track and yet another clunker from Noel.
Also yesterday friend of ILB Mark sent along the new Coldplay single The Speed Of Sound. I have a love/hate relationship with Coldplay. I love their music (being the huge dork I am) but I hate it when that fookin' student opens his mouth to the press. I still stand by my claim that they are the most boring live band on the planet. Their new single sounds like Clocks (admittedly a fave of mine) except with more guitars. It starts out with a short piano intro before the student starts singing over some Echo & The Bunnymen type drums and the pianos come back in after the verse. Midway through the next verse the guitars come in and the student breaks out the falsetto as they approach the chorus. Stadium ready Coldplay by the numbers. Thus, I love it.
Some other treats that have been flooding my inbox:
M.I.A. videos in Real Player:
Sunshowers
Galang
*taken down at the label's request (why put them up and send them out in the first place?)
The Raveonettes "Love In A Trash Can" video (Quicktime)
Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the passing of former Panthers great Sam Mills. In a town full of Alonzo Mourning, Kerry Collins, Rae Carruth, Fred Lane and many others Mills was the cornerstone of the Panthers franchise and a force in the community as well as on the field. He will be missed.
Tomorrow: Red Sox v. O's in Baltimore! Also, I hope to have the new mixtape/podcast up for your downloading pleasure. Be sure to go get the first one if you haven't already.
For some reason the internerd has been flooded with posts/mentions/info about The Bravery today. Strange. I said I liked The Bravery way back in January (pre hype train) but even back then I pegged them as an amalgam of most of the current now sound alternative type bands. I saw them again in March (post hype build-up) and I still liked them and I'm not changing my views now. It seems too many people are wrapped up in their look (yes, they do look like they were put together by a record label) and influences, but I look at it this way; At least bands like The Bravery and their ilk are ripping off INXS, The Cure and early u2 instead of being one of the endless Coldplay/Travis clones coming out of the UK for the last three years. Purely from a DJ point of view, you can dance to it and people dig it, so I'm cool with it. Also, I give Endicott props for producing their debut album, it sounds superb. Whether you like the tunes or not is up to you. But I digress...
Check out this Boston Phoenix piece on the Killers v. The Bravery. One of the guys on CSI: Miami was in Skabba The Hut. Who knew? I think too much is made of this whole ska thing. The lead singer of the Mooney Suzuki was once one of the rap guys in 2 Skinnee J's before he decided to rock out and no one really cared about that. Or maybe no one cares about The Mooney Suzuki. Who knows? [link via Catchdubs]
Predictably, Pitchfork gives The Bravery's album a sub-6 rating. That's actually tough to argue with though, because the clunkers on that record are BAD.
But haters, take heart, apparently The Bravery aren't THAT big yet. Witness this report from Gawker. On a somewhat related note, I'm very excited to finally see The Information. Last week at iPod Jukebox, Holly mentioned to me that they were coming to town soon, and sure enough, Bliss is hosting them at DC9 on May 12th.
Some other stuff to get excited about:
- The setlist from a recent Manic Street Preachers show. Hottness. Faster would definitely get a mention from me an a "Greatest Song Ever To Namecheck Mensa, Miller, Mailer, Plaith and Pinter" discussion.
- Parts of the Oasis album have leaked online! Did you get them? I have three of the tracks (thanks L Boogie) but no way to listen to them at work. I'd like to present this as Exhibit A in the band and label's furtive attempts to prove to fans that the record will be better than the first single. "Leaked" my ass. I'll have a report soon if what I have is indeed the real thing.
- Quoth Liam: Fookin' Students! [via Stereogum]
- The La's to play Glastonbury? DROOL.
- Gnarls Barkely. Best. Name. Ever.
- Umm...who are these hotties and why didn't I see them at bluestate?
Three albums I've been really into lately:
Kings Of Leon
Bloc Party
Beck
Yo, if anyone out there wants to give your favorite leafblower a free pro flickr account, just get at me.
Last week after I did my Oasis post, I started feeling bad about this big Super Furry post I had conceptualized in my head but never got around to write. And no, I'm not going to recount all 20+ times I've seen the band (I honestly couldn't even if I wanted to) or recall the times I've been onstage with them (peep the bottom row of photos, that's me in the green gorilla costume) or recap the multiple weekends I spent with them in the studio while they recorded Rings Around The World or the time they dedicated my favorite SFA song to me in Dublin and they had only played it twice before so Gruff couldn't remember the words or anything like that. I've already done that, albeit briefly. No, the inspiration for this post was touched off by this absolutely amazing article from Under The Radar Magazine (download the 8 page pdf here). It's one of the most in-depth articles about the band I've ever read. Very thorough. I LOVE reading about the Furries (robvs.), they always have something to say. Gruff always comes up with these incredibly vibrant and intelligent quotes that never fail to get me salivating over whatever new release they have coming up. I can't believe their new record isn't due out until August! That's way too far away for me. It seems like a lifetime. But I digress..
In the article, they of course cover some of the songs on the new record. One of them is a song called Zoom, which has been kicking around in one form or another for over four years and the article calls "perhaps the most impressive song on the new album". Of course I, ever the completist, have a live copy of the song from when the band debuted it live in John Peel's backyard on July 12th of 2001. They literally wrote it on the way to Peel's house, so it isn't necessarily a stunner in its early form, but I've always wondered what happened to this song and I'm excited to hear what the final version sounds like. Here it is along with some other live tracks from that performance:
Super Furry Animals Live From Peel Acres
Zoom (MP3)
Nythod Cacwn (MP3)
Run! Christian, Run! (MP3)
Lastly, here is an ultra rare Beach Boys cover the Furries did on a BBC Radio 1 Evening Session in June of 2001
The Warmth Of The Sun (MP3)
Who loves ya?
Also not to be missed is the left over quotes from the Under The Radar piece. Parts of it are pure gold.
On Tom Jones...
UTR: Does [Tom Jones] even speak Welsh?
Guto: Oh, hell no. No.
Too funny.
And be sure to check out the quotes from the fans they interviewed for the article, including the one and only L Boogie (who's first name they got wrong, BTW). Sweet!
Big ups to everyone that came out to bluestate on Saturday. We had a fairly sizeable crowd and it was alot of fun. My setlist (beatmatched, natch) was:
Interpol, "Narc"
Daft Punk, "Around The World"
Arcade Fire, "Rebellion (Lies)"
VHS or Beta, "Night On Fire"
The Cure, "The Walk"
Mylo, "Destroy Rock N' Roll"
Echo & The Bunnymen, "Lips Like Sugar"
Prince, "I Would Die 4 U / Baby I'm A Star"
The Bravery, "An Honest Mistake"
Kasabian, "Reason Is Treason"
The Police, "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"
Franz Ferdinand, "This Fire (Playgroup Remix)"
R.E.M., "Radio Free Europe"
Bloc Party, "Banquet (Phones Disco Edit)"
The Postal Service, "We Will Become Silhouettes"
David Bowie, "Modern Love"
Lindsey Buckingham, "Holiday Road"
Gorillaz, "Feel Good, Inc."
I know everyone already hates The Bravery, but "An Honest Mistake" sounds damn good over a loud soundsystem, particularly when it's mixed in with some old skool Prince. "Holiday Road" was the super secret 12 inch and it predictably cleared the dance floor. Effing youngsters. We have two, count 'em two, gigs in May so keep your eyes on the bluestate website. Everyone else's set lists will be up soon.
Ladeez and Gents, your Atlantic Division Champions for the 2004-2005 season. For those of you counting at home, this is the C's first division title since Larry Bird was still roaming the parquet.
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