Thursday, August 30, 2001
What a great night I just had. Thank you, all four of you. You know who you are.
Am I ready for New York again? I hope so.
Expect blog silence until my internet is properly hooked up in NY -- which could be as early as tomorrow afternoon. But one can never be sure.
9:22 PM | e-mail |
Am I ready for New York again? I hope so.
Expect blog silence until my internet is properly hooked up in NY -- which could be as early as tomorrow afternoon. But one can never be sure.
9:22 PM | e-mail |
I Hate Music is back, ladies and gentlemen. Warning: One tasteless Aaliyah joke ahead. And threats of physical violence upon the person of The Edge. Nice to have you back, Tanya.
4:03 PM | e-mail |
4:03 PM | e-mail |
Could it be? Am I actually almost done packing? Once this load of laundry is done and shoved into the corner of one suitcase or another, I think I'll actually be quasi-ready to blow this joint. Yikes. Just doesn't feel right.
3:45 PM | e-mail |
3:45 PM | e-mail |
Wednesday, August 29, 2001
I made a weblog. I gave it a title cause Chris said it was a good one.
I am the man.
Ladies and gentlemen, my good friend Paul Pugliese has a weblog. I urge you to enjoy King Of Trash.
It's named for a brilliant Gavin Friday song, just like this blog used to be. Listen to the song in question.
11:19 PM | e-mail |
I am the man.
Ladies and gentlemen, my good friend Paul Pugliese has a weblog. I urge you to enjoy King Of Trash.
It's named for a brilliant Gavin Friday song, just like this blog used to be. Listen to the song in question.
11:19 PM | e-mail |
She said: "You were a blogging machine today."
It's easy to blog a lot when you're avoiding important responsibilities.
And is it just me, or does the word "responsibilities" contain far too many "i"s for its own good?
10:08 PM | e-mail |
It's easy to blog a lot when you're avoiding important responsibilities.
And is it just me, or does the word "responsibilities" contain far too many "i"s for its own good?
10:08 PM | e-mail |
My favorite meme of the moment: Defacing an OJ Simpson comic-book ad. My contribution.
10:05 PM | e-mail |
10:05 PM | e-mail |
I'm still digesting VESPERTINE, but Pitchfork's review of it seems to mirror my thoughts pretty closely. Which is becoming increasingly rare, I might add.
They've also brought me the news that I have another three-album Tuesday coming up -- in addition to the previously-announced New Order and Pulp albums, October 16th also brings The Avalanches' SINCE I LEFT YOU, which I'd rather like to have. Blast it all. I'm supposed to be saving money!
8:05 PM | e-mail |
They've also brought me the news that I have another three-album Tuesday coming up -- in addition to the previously-announced New Order and Pulp albums, October 16th also brings The Avalanches' SINCE I LEFT YOU, which I'd rather like to have. Blast it all. I'm supposed to be saving money!
8:05 PM | e-mail |
Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman will duet on the big-band standard "Somethin' Stupid," which was a hit for Frank & Nancy Sinatra in 1967. I am speechless.
7:11 PM | e-mail |
7:11 PM | e-mail |
I'm starting to pack -- I leave Friday morning. I am awful at packing. In the moving sense, anyway. I have no trouble packing for a vacation or that sort of thing, but the complexity of a full move makes me completely useless. My thoughts don't cohere, I can't get organized, I just stuff things I want into suitcases and take them out again when it doesn't work, when I realize I don't need them, when they don't fit, et cetera.
I'm trying to move as lightly as possible -- nothing but clothes and bare essentials, like a lamp and some supplies. I will NOT repeat what happened last year, which I'm just now realizing I never blogged about since it happened pre-blog -- an entire box full of my most treasured graphic novels & books was lost in the mail. Amazingly enough, they recovered all but three of the things in it, which I couldn't believe. In any case, never again -- this year I'm bringing maybe a dozen books, most of which are school and research-related, and I'm bringing all of my CDs in albums rather than cases -- the cases got smashed in the mail and took up far too much room in the cramped confines of the dorm (same with the books). Leave it behind, that's the motto. Which is pretty damn hard for a pack-rat like myself.
But I'm still finding it nearly impossible to pack all my clothes and random crap. GAH. I am a useless, useless little man. I'm starting to think it would be worth the money to literally drop everything I need into a bunch of boxes and just next-day them to NY, no organization required.
5:12 PM | e-mail |
I'm trying to move as lightly as possible -- nothing but clothes and bare essentials, like a lamp and some supplies. I will NOT repeat what happened last year, which I'm just now realizing I never blogged about since it happened pre-blog -- an entire box full of my most treasured graphic novels & books was lost in the mail. Amazingly enough, they recovered all but three of the things in it, which I couldn't believe. In any case, never again -- this year I'm bringing maybe a dozen books, most of which are school and research-related, and I'm bringing all of my CDs in albums rather than cases -- the cases got smashed in the mail and took up far too much room in the cramped confines of the dorm (same with the books). Leave it behind, that's the motto. Which is pretty damn hard for a pack-rat like myself.
But I'm still finding it nearly impossible to pack all my clothes and random crap. GAH. I am a useless, useless little man. I'm starting to think it would be worth the money to literally drop everything I need into a bunch of boxes and just next-day them to NY, no organization required.
5:12 PM | e-mail |
SHIT! Turn away from the TV for one second, and you miss the best Kids In The Hall sketch ever.
1:57 PM | e-mail |
1:57 PM | e-mail |
Upon reading the lyrics, I have become entirely convinced that "Shut Your Mouth" would've been a far superior lead single for BEAUTIFUL GARBAGE than "Androgyny" is. It's one righteous, pissed-off song, and I can go down it checking off all the things I've heard Shirley Manson bitch about in the studio diaries for the last year. The anger quotient just seems much more relevant to the listener in this, the age of horrid aggro, plus it has the same sort of R&B-influenced stomp that "Androgyny" does. I appreciate the ballsy weirdness of "Androgyny" -- come on, who's sending modern-rock radio songs about bisexuality and gender reappropriation these days? -- but I think "Shut Your Mouth" would have a bigger impact.
Or maybe I'm smoking crack and babbling about inconsequential nonsense.
Anyway, download "Shut Your Mouth" and tell me what you think. ("Androgyny," along with the rest of the songs on BEAUTIFUL GARBAGE, should be freely available on the file-sharing app of your choice by now.)
1:25 PM | e-mail |
Or maybe I'm smoking crack and babbling about inconsequential nonsense.
Anyway, download "Shut Your Mouth" and tell me what you think. ("Androgyny," along with the rest of the songs on BEAUTIFUL GARBAGE, should be freely available on the file-sharing app of your choice by now.)
1:25 PM | e-mail |
Why wasn't I told about this? Prol has a new weblog of links (rather than journal-type stuff, which is what Prolific now seems to be for), and I had no idea!
It's good, too. Wow.
(via Plasticbag)
12:14 PM | e-mail |
It's good, too. Wow.
(via Plasticbag)
12:14 PM | e-mail |
Tuesday, August 28, 2001
I have worked my last shift at Old Navy. Until Christmas, anyway. If I get desperate for a job in NYC I may work at the 6th Ave. / 18th St. store. But I'm hoping to avoid that, just so I can get a job somewhere cooler -- like one of the many CD or comic book stores. Or hell, even Virgin.
To be honest, I had a good time at ON. The pay was good, the job wasn't difficult, and the people were all exceptionally nice. Of the two main problems people have with Gap stores, one is bullshit -- the whole conformity "we are all clones" thing is absolute nonsense. Jesus fucking Christ, you'll buy clothes where you want to buy clothes. You can make an independent decision. The people who shop there want to shop there, nobody's holding a gun to their heads. Get over it.
However, the second problem is a legitimate greivance -- the sweatshop labor factor is extremely upsetting to me and honestly, it would've been a reason to decline their job offer if I had ANY other choice -- none of the dozens of applications I had turned in around town were panning out and I *really* needed money. If they weren't using such frightening manufacturing processes, though, I'd honestly say they're a good company -- stunningly good employee benefits and a really healthy, non-soul-destroying working environment. At least in this store, anyway. I'm sure the level of humanity varies from location to location.
So that's that. Cord is severed. On to New York employment!
9:58 PM | e-mail |
To be honest, I had a good time at ON. The pay was good, the job wasn't difficult, and the people were all exceptionally nice. Of the two main problems people have with Gap stores, one is bullshit -- the whole conformity "we are all clones" thing is absolute nonsense. Jesus fucking Christ, you'll buy clothes where you want to buy clothes. You can make an independent decision. The people who shop there want to shop there, nobody's holding a gun to their heads. Get over it.
However, the second problem is a legitimate greivance -- the sweatshop labor factor is extremely upsetting to me and honestly, it would've been a reason to decline their job offer if I had ANY other choice -- none of the dozens of applications I had turned in around town were panning out and I *really* needed money. If they weren't using such frightening manufacturing processes, though, I'd honestly say they're a good company -- stunningly good employee benefits and a really healthy, non-soul-destroying working environment. At least in this store, anyway. I'm sure the level of humanity varies from location to location.
So that's that. Cord is severed. On to New York employment!
9:58 PM | e-mail |
FYI, I did buy Bjork's VESPERTINE today. I'm going to take my time to get into it; expect a report later. Maybe a few days from now. I'm tired of making quick judgements that I later regret.
Also bought U2's ELEVATION (PT. 2), which contains several dandy remixes of the title track -- maybe the most consistently good U2 remix single yet. Most of the others have had at least one stinker. All of those remixes will go onto the U2 Collected Remixes series I'm about to start burning -- six discs in all. I bought the CD-Rs on the same shopping trip. I'm ready, baby.
11:55 AM | e-mail |
Also bought U2's ELEVATION (PT. 2), which contains several dandy remixes of the title track -- maybe the most consistently good U2 remix single yet. Most of the others have had at least one stinker. All of those remixes will go onto the U2 Collected Remixes series I'm about to start burning -- six discs in all. I bought the CD-Rs on the same shopping trip. I'm ready, baby.
11:55 AM | e-mail |
I feel like clearing out some space on my server, so if you want copies of the two MP3s I'm currently offering -- U2's "Discotheque" and Radiohead's "Like Spinning Plates (Live From Ohio)", you'd best get them today -- I'm taking 'em down at midnight (Eastern time) tonight.
Much to the dismay of many of you, I'm sure, Kylie Minogue's "Your Disco Needs You" has already been removed from the server. Please, don't cry. Be strong.
11:51 AM | e-mail |
Much to the dismay of many of you, I'm sure, Kylie Minogue's "Your Disco Needs You" has already been removed from the server. Please, don't cry. Be strong.
11:51 AM | e-mail |
New York Times link, requires registration. Chicago is having everyone in the city read the same book at the same time -- TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee. What a cool idea...
"They're flying off the shelves, and librarians across the country are sending me e- mails saying they want to do the same thing," said Mary Dempsey, Chicago's library commissioner. "It's exciting partly because this book deals with important themes like civil rights and social justice, but it's also about creating a culture of reading."
11:11 AM | e-mail |
"They're flying off the shelves, and librarians across the country are sending me e- mails saying they want to do the same thing," said Mary Dempsey, Chicago's library commissioner. "It's exciting partly because this book deals with important themes like civil rights and social justice, but it's also about creating a culture of reading."
11:11 AM | e-mail |
Monday, August 27, 2001
So apparently, one of our local PBS affiliates carries the BBC World Service. Everything about it is superior to American news. Especially their coverage of America.
According to their report on the drug war, 5 times as many American whites use cocaine than non-whites -- but 13 times as many blacks are arrested on cocaine charges. Does that seem right to you?
I hope we get this on one of the stations at NYU...
10:27 PM | e-mail |
According to their report on the drug war, 5 times as many American whites use cocaine than non-whites -- but 13 times as many blacks are arrested on cocaine charges. Does that seem right to you?
I hope we get this on one of the stations at NYU...
10:27 PM | e-mail |
This afternoon: Brought my comforter to the laundromat and my leather jacket to the cleaner's in anticipation of The Move. I have a moral objection to my leather jacket, but it looks so good... what a shitty idealist I am.
Also copied all the new MP3s I acquired this summer onto my laptop -- I actually filled up its hard drive space for a second there, before pausing to delete about a hundred-odd things that were either duplicates of other MP3s or things I already had on CD. Or things that just sucked. So now, fully half of the occupied space on there is MP3s. I'm a sick boy. I'll do a real system cleanout to the thing once I have a chance to just sit in front of it and work...
4:06 PM | e-mail |
Also copied all the new MP3s I acquired this summer onto my laptop -- I actually filled up its hard drive space for a second there, before pausing to delete about a hundred-odd things that were either duplicates of other MP3s or things I already had on CD. Or things that just sucked. So now, fully half of the occupied space on there is MP3s. I'm a sick boy. I'll do a real system cleanout to the thing once I have a chance to just sit in front of it and work...
4:06 PM | e-mail |
The Doyoufeelloved.com Top Ten, August 21st - August 27th, 2001:
And I make no apologies for Billy Joel. None. But maybe a very teeny-tiny one for Sheila E. Very small apology, though.
1:09 PM | e-mail |
- New Order - "Crystal"
- Garbage - "Shut Your Mouth"
- Smashing Pumpkins - "You're All I've Got Tonight"
- U2 - "Discotheque"
- Garbage - "Androgyny"
- Billy Joel - "I Go To Extremes"
- Talking Heads - "Life During Wartime"
- U2 - "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of (Studio Acoustic)"
- R.E.M. - "The One I Love (MTV Unplugged v2.0)"
- Sheila E - "A Love Bizarre"
And I make no apologies for Billy Joel. None. But maybe a very teeny-tiny one for Sheila E. Very small apology, though.
1:09 PM | e-mail |
Sunday, August 26, 2001
As soon as I send in my credit card check and pay off the better part of the bill, I'm buying a Blogger t-shirt. Yes. Yeeeeesssssss.
I am, in fact, also working on a new design to bring this site back to NY in style. Expect it within the first week of September. Uh-huh, aw yeah, let's rock, assorted other confidence-raising utterances.
11:14 PM | e-mail |
I am, in fact, also working on a new design to bring this site back to NY in style. Expect it within the first week of September. Uh-huh, aw yeah, let's rock, assorted other confidence-raising utterances.
11:14 PM | e-mail |
You know, it must seem like I'm obsessed. Let's end it with this. Fred Solinger gives us an excellent short piece on The Subject at New York London Paris Munich.
6:52 PM | e-mail |
6:52 PM | e-mail |
The Metafilter thread about the death of Aaliyah pisses me the hell off. Most people are being very respectful and intelligent and thoughtful, but others are chiding people for their grief. "She's only a celebrity," is the essence of their argument; "why don't you cry like this for the millions of nameless faceless 'ugly' types who die every day?"
What the FUCK kind of rationale is that? People cry when they lose the things they know. They cry as much for themselves as for the loss, it's true, but you know, that's human life, you sacks of shit, and if you don't like living it then get off the boat. We have complex feelings and emotions that relate to the world outside of ourselves. Celebrities are a part of that world. We may never relate to each other directly, but a lot of emotional heft can become mixed up in our indirect relationships with them. Aaliyah made people dance, and they liked that, so their goodwill extended back to the person who brought them that gift. As a result, they are upset that something awful happened to her, and yes, there's a selfish aspect to that. We mourn only those who brought something to our lives. It's selfish and in a way it's insensitive to the horrors of everyday life, but guess what, asshole? It's a fucksight less insensitive than chiding people for feeling a human emotion, and making a "statement" out of a senseless and shitty thing. They're upset, you unfeeling sack of crap. Kicking them while they're down in an attempt to bring them into alignment with your worldview (one which apparently has no place for people who become successful by bringing people joy) is disgusting and reprehensible, and shows absolutely no understanding of the emotions felt by the common people whose glories you are abstractly trumpeting when you ask why you don't cry for them. Did that ever occur to you? That the faceless 'ugly' folks who die every day ARE THE SAME PEOPLE YOU ARE HARRASSING NOW, and not some abstract bunch of saints you can use in your little game of ego-chess against the rich and famous?
I don't like getting angry, because I lose all coherence. If I saved this post and came back to edit it later, I'd end up scrapping it. So I'm just letting it out there.
3:44 PM | e-mail |
What the FUCK kind of rationale is that? People cry when they lose the things they know. They cry as much for themselves as for the loss, it's true, but you know, that's human life, you sacks of shit, and if you don't like living it then get off the boat. We have complex feelings and emotions that relate to the world outside of ourselves. Celebrities are a part of that world. We may never relate to each other directly, but a lot of emotional heft can become mixed up in our indirect relationships with them. Aaliyah made people dance, and they liked that, so their goodwill extended back to the person who brought them that gift. As a result, they are upset that something awful happened to her, and yes, there's a selfish aspect to that. We mourn only those who brought something to our lives. It's selfish and in a way it's insensitive to the horrors of everyday life, but guess what, asshole? It's a fucksight less insensitive than chiding people for feeling a human emotion, and making a "statement" out of a senseless and shitty thing. They're upset, you unfeeling sack of crap. Kicking them while they're down in an attempt to bring them into alignment with your worldview (one which apparently has no place for people who become successful by bringing people joy) is disgusting and reprehensible, and shows absolutely no understanding of the emotions felt by the common people whose glories you are abstractly trumpeting when you ask why you don't cry for them. Did that ever occur to you? That the faceless 'ugly' folks who die every day ARE THE SAME PEOPLE YOU ARE HARRASSING NOW, and not some abstract bunch of saints you can use in your little game of ego-chess against the rich and famous?
I don't like getting angry, because I lose all coherence. If I saved this post and came back to edit it later, I'd end up scrapping it. So I'm just letting it out there.
3:44 PM | e-mail |
You know, this is one of those things that at first, you're so sure it's a joke. And then, you realize it's not.
Aaliyah killed in plane crash.
She died leaving the same Bahamian island I was on in June. And she was only 22. God, that's tragic.
12:16 PM | e-mail |
Aaliyah killed in plane crash.
She died leaving the same Bahamian island I was on in June. And she was only 22. God, that's tragic.
12:16 PM | e-mail |
Saturday, August 25, 2001
Awww yeah 2: The Sequel. The mail was good to me again.
I no longer have silly regrets, by the way. I'm looking forward to the show.
10:16 PM | e-mail |
I no longer have silly regrets, by the way. I'm looking forward to the show.
10:16 PM | e-mail |
FUCK MTV!: Sugar on the asphalt.
The site is hopping again, with this sucker and two new reviews by Michele, all posted within two and a half hours. We're very, very angry. We promise we'll write something nice again soon...
9:38 PM | e-mail |
The site is hopping again, with this sucker and two new reviews by Michele, all posted within two and a half hours. We're very, very angry. We promise we'll write something nice again soon...
9:38 PM | e-mail |
Oh, great. So apparently Blogger fucked up and never posted the below message, so Michele doesn't realize that I did not, in fact, forget her birthday. Damn it all.
5:52 PM | e-mail |
5:52 PM | e-mail |
Friday, August 24, 2001
It's after midnight here on the East Coast, so happy birthday to Michele, one of the coolest people I've met online!
11:19 PM | e-mail |
11:19 PM | e-mail |
I'm gonna go to dinner, but before I go: According to The Blogdex (I like adding the capitalized "the"), Freakytrigger has had more weblog links than the N.M.E. God bless you, webloggers.
7:22 PM | e-mail |
7:22 PM | e-mail |
A sequel to TRAINSPOTTING? Hmmm. As grotesque as those four words sound, I'm actually quite interested...
5:51 PM | e-mail |
5:51 PM | e-mail |
I haven't linked to The Onion so far this month. What kind of weblog am I?
Family Of Five Found Alive In Suburbs.
4:41 PM | e-mail |
Family Of Five Found Alive In Suburbs.
4:41 PM | e-mail |
2xy.org introduces me to Keithers.com who introduces me to the fact that "Androgyny" from the new Garbage album is out on the Web. I am downloading it now. God bless both of those beautiful people.
4:00 PM | e-mail |
4:00 PM | e-mail |
Thursday, August 23, 2001
Because I told you I would.
What's the most important album of your life?
U2 - Pop
I'm willing to bet a whole lot of you just threw up your hands in disgust right now. Most people do when it comes to POP. Of course, most people haven't actually heard it when they do so. But I don't intend for this to be some kind of giant diatribe about how People Don't Understand Greatness, for two reasons: (1) This is supposed to be about how I relate to POP, and (2) it's not a Great album. But it is a damn good one.
In January of 1997, I was 14. I'd gotten into U2 only about a year earlier -- "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" had hooked me in the summer of 1995 but I hadn't been reeled in until the following summer of '96, when I bought ACHTUNG BABY. Before that time, and well after, pretty much all I listened to was sissy-ass hippie-dippie female songwriter shit -- Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, etc. Mind you, I still consider them to be interesting musicians -- well, Tori anyway -- but man cannot live on Lilith alone or he ceases to be man. He becomes emasculated sissy-boy. So being introduced to the electric guitar, via ACHTUNG BABY and R.E.M.'s MONSTER, did me a world of good.
Like everybody else, I'd heard the rumors that U2 were making POP a dance-music album. When I was 14, I hated dance music. Think about it, though: All I had to go on in terms of experience was bullshit club nonsense, which in 1996 America was pretty dire, especially since I lived so close, culturally speaking, to Ybor City, which is a haven for that sort of thing. And so all I heard on the radio was C+C Music Factory and its progeny. That was my perception of dance music. Dance music, as far as I was concerned, could suck it. I wasn't a very good dancer anyway, so I didn't see the point. The idea of U2 making "dance music" as I knew it scared the shit out of me.
Then, one night in January, I was sitting in my sister's old bedroom watching MTV when the video for "Discotheque" appeared on the screen -- probably the second time the network had ever aired it. I was rapt, paralyzed, staring at the screen as the swirling intro unfolded. The giant spaceship disco ball opened, the crazed psychedelic lights started flashing. A big flush of dread poured into my stomach. "Oh shit," I thought, "it's as bad as I thought --"
And then the guitar riff kicked in, and my head broke.
Within days, I was OBSESSED. The song had taken me over completely. Everywhere I went, that guitar riff and the simple, repetitive bassline throbbed in my brain. I tapped my feet incessantly in class, I hummed every time I was outside, I sang it at the top of my miserable lungs whenever I was alone. I had been introduced to Pop Music, the sort of infectious shit I'd always disdained as False and Untrue and Not Art.
The way I see it now, POP introduced me to the idea of having fun. Between the ages of 12 and 14, I had been a miserable little bastard with absolutely no sense of humor. Ask my friends, I'm sure they hated me. And I think that only an album as downbeat and depressing as POP -- it's easily U2's darkest, bleakest piece of work -- could've done it for me, because it gave me something to go on, that base of misery colored with these desperate attempts to let go and enjoy yourself, if only for one night, and making yourself doubly fucked in the morning but not caring because come on, it's all gonna be shit anyway, might as well shake your ass a little.
God forgive me for shamelessly and melodramatically quoting the lyrics: but I wanted to be the song that I heard in my head. I was finally ready to take what I could get in the world and enjoy it, instead of being obsessed with ridiculous teenage utopian fantasies.
The rest of the album doesn't give me the same rush as "Discotheque" -- how could it, the song changed my fucking life -- but the great songs on it are equally as great as anything in the U2 canon -- "Mofo," "Wake Up Dead Man," "Gone," "If You Wear That Velvet Dress." "Please" especially is a monstrously great song, but it never came into its own until it was rearranged with an orchestra behind it for its release as a single. A lot of the songs on POP are very half-finished, the band admits it themselves -- they didn't finish the arrangements because they'd backed themselves into a corner on the tour schedule. They were still recording backing vocals in the mastering booth. And so in that little way, POP introduced me to compromise, to taking a hit and rolling with it.
All of these "revelations" may seem ridiculously obvious to you, but consider two things.
(1.) I was a socially retarded fourteen - year - old. Hearing this album probably saved my life, if not in the physical then at least in the mental sense. Had I not found this thing I would probably be a deeply unhappy man right now. And so, I am eternally grateful.
(2.) The sentiment of just wanting to mindlessly have fun -- i.e. boy-bands and bubble-gum pop -- was just NOT that present in the youth culture in 1997. Grunge's cloud was still hanging over everything, people wanted to be Meaningful and Deep, and so enter the rise of the whole Lilith Fair tribe who promised emotional frankness and wide open minds and very serious thinking about Big Issues (sound familiar? Think of a certain band in 1987). The idea behind POP -- people still want to have fun, even if the world is shit -- came too early, and I think they got nailed to the wall for being "meaninglessly ironic" when in reality, the irony was cutting a bit deep.
Here's my desperate little plea, spoken, admittedly, as a proselytizing zealot. I know that most people have never given POP half a chance. Please, now that you've seen U2 pull out the big chiming guitars again, and you've gotten your concert with "Pride" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and all that nonsense, just come back as an older, wiser person and listen to "Discotheque." It still might not be your thing, and that's OK. But maybe, now that you've heard me say this, and heard the song with different ears, you'll stop thinking that "U2 went wrong" and start to think that for a little while there, the rest of the world did.
6:29 PM | e-mail |
What's the most important album of your life?
U2 - Pop
I'm willing to bet a whole lot of you just threw up your hands in disgust right now. Most people do when it comes to POP. Of course, most people haven't actually heard it when they do so. But I don't intend for this to be some kind of giant diatribe about how People Don't Understand Greatness, for two reasons: (1) This is supposed to be about how I relate to POP, and (2) it's not a Great album. But it is a damn good one.
In January of 1997, I was 14. I'd gotten into U2 only about a year earlier -- "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" had hooked me in the summer of 1995 but I hadn't been reeled in until the following summer of '96, when I bought ACHTUNG BABY. Before that time, and well after, pretty much all I listened to was sissy-ass hippie-dippie female songwriter shit -- Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, etc. Mind you, I still consider them to be interesting musicians -- well, Tori anyway -- but man cannot live on Lilith alone or he ceases to be man. He becomes emasculated sissy-boy. So being introduced to the electric guitar, via ACHTUNG BABY and R.E.M.'s MONSTER, did me a world of good.
Like everybody else, I'd heard the rumors that U2 were making POP a dance-music album. When I was 14, I hated dance music. Think about it, though: All I had to go on in terms of experience was bullshit club nonsense, which in 1996 America was pretty dire, especially since I lived so close, culturally speaking, to Ybor City, which is a haven for that sort of thing. And so all I heard on the radio was C+C Music Factory and its progeny. That was my perception of dance music. Dance music, as far as I was concerned, could suck it. I wasn't a very good dancer anyway, so I didn't see the point. The idea of U2 making "dance music" as I knew it scared the shit out of me.
Then, one night in January, I was sitting in my sister's old bedroom watching MTV when the video for "Discotheque" appeared on the screen -- probably the second time the network had ever aired it. I was rapt, paralyzed, staring at the screen as the swirling intro unfolded. The giant spaceship disco ball opened, the crazed psychedelic lights started flashing. A big flush of dread poured into my stomach. "Oh shit," I thought, "it's as bad as I thought --"
And then the guitar riff kicked in, and my head broke.
Within days, I was OBSESSED. The song had taken me over completely. Everywhere I went, that guitar riff and the simple, repetitive bassline throbbed in my brain. I tapped my feet incessantly in class, I hummed every time I was outside, I sang it at the top of my miserable lungs whenever I was alone. I had been introduced to Pop Music, the sort of infectious shit I'd always disdained as False and Untrue and Not Art.
The way I see it now, POP introduced me to the idea of having fun. Between the ages of 12 and 14, I had been a miserable little bastard with absolutely no sense of humor. Ask my friends, I'm sure they hated me. And I think that only an album as downbeat and depressing as POP -- it's easily U2's darkest, bleakest piece of work -- could've done it for me, because it gave me something to go on, that base of misery colored with these desperate attempts to let go and enjoy yourself, if only for one night, and making yourself doubly fucked in the morning but not caring because come on, it's all gonna be shit anyway, might as well shake your ass a little.
God forgive me for shamelessly and melodramatically quoting the lyrics: but I wanted to be the song that I heard in my head. I was finally ready to take what I could get in the world and enjoy it, instead of being obsessed with ridiculous teenage utopian fantasies.
The rest of the album doesn't give me the same rush as "Discotheque" -- how could it, the song changed my fucking life -- but the great songs on it are equally as great as anything in the U2 canon -- "Mofo," "Wake Up Dead Man," "Gone," "If You Wear That Velvet Dress." "Please" especially is a monstrously great song, but it never came into its own until it was rearranged with an orchestra behind it for its release as a single. A lot of the songs on POP are very half-finished, the band admits it themselves -- they didn't finish the arrangements because they'd backed themselves into a corner on the tour schedule. They were still recording backing vocals in the mastering booth. And so in that little way, POP introduced me to compromise, to taking a hit and rolling with it.
All of these "revelations" may seem ridiculously obvious to you, but consider two things.
(1.) I was a socially retarded fourteen - year - old. Hearing this album probably saved my life, if not in the physical then at least in the mental sense. Had I not found this thing I would probably be a deeply unhappy man right now. And so, I am eternally grateful.
(2.) The sentiment of just wanting to mindlessly have fun -- i.e. boy-bands and bubble-gum pop -- was just NOT that present in the youth culture in 1997. Grunge's cloud was still hanging over everything, people wanted to be Meaningful and Deep, and so enter the rise of the whole Lilith Fair tribe who promised emotional frankness and wide open minds and very serious thinking about Big Issues (sound familiar? Think of a certain band in 1987). The idea behind POP -- people still want to have fun, even if the world is shit -- came too early, and I think they got nailed to the wall for being "meaninglessly ironic" when in reality, the irony was cutting a bit deep.
Here's my desperate little plea, spoken, admittedly, as a proselytizing zealot. I know that most people have never given POP half a chance. Please, now that you've seen U2 pull out the big chiming guitars again, and you've gotten your concert with "Pride" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and all that nonsense, just come back as an older, wiser person and listen to "Discotheque." It still might not be your thing, and that's OK. But maybe, now that you've heard me say this, and heard the song with different ears, you'll stop thinking that "U2 went wrong" and start to think that for a little while there, the rest of the world did.
6:29 PM | e-mail |
I really don't want to go to work right now, but I have to. Before I go:
(1) Happy birthday to Blogger!
(2) Today's run of posts at Plasticbag is extraordinarily good. When I get home (6PM) I'm going to answer the question he poses to us. But until then, have a good day.
10:32 AM | e-mail |
(1) Happy birthday to Blogger!
(2) Today's run of posts at Plasticbag is extraordinarily good. When I get home (6PM) I'm going to answer the question he poses to us. But until then, have a good day.
10:32 AM | e-mail |
Wednesday, August 22, 2001
It has always been a source of tremendous frustration to me that nobody on the Web seems to compile release dates for upcoming CDs. Well, as it turns out, Pitchfork Media does. Huzzah! My forthcoming purchase schedule:
August 28th: Bjork - Vespertine
September 18th: Tori Amos - Strange Little Girls
October 16th: New Order - Get Ready; Pulp - (Still Untitled)
Scattered along the way are a few of the Elvis Costello reissues, which I want. Suspiciously absent is Garbage's Beautiful Garbage, which supposedly comes out in the UK on October 1st... hmmm.
10:13 PM | e-mail |
August 28th: Bjork - Vespertine
September 18th: Tori Amos - Strange Little Girls
October 16th: New Order - Get Ready; Pulp - (Still Untitled)
Scattered along the way are a few of the Elvis Costello reissues, which I want. Suspiciously absent is Garbage's Beautiful Garbage, which supposedly comes out in the UK on October 1st... hmmm.
10:13 PM | e-mail |
Tuesday, August 21, 2001
Back now. Had a mighty fine, if brief, time and got something done that I'd been meaning to do for a while.
My condolences go out to Bono, who lost his father to cancer today. He was 75.
6:59 PM | e-mail |
My condolences go out to Bono, who lost his father to cancer today. He was 75.
6:59 PM | e-mail |
Monday, August 20, 2001
OK, I'm off to Gainesville to visit friends. But first, a quickie Doyoufeelloved.com Top Ten, because I said it would be a Monday tradition and I'm determined not to quit after only one go-round.
11:25 AM | e-mail |
- The Strokes - "Last Nite"
- PJ Harvey - "Sheela-Na-Gig"
- Outkast - "Gasoline Dreams"
- Blur - "Girls And Boys"
- Queens Of The Stone Age - "The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret"
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "Your Funeral My Trial"
- U2 - "Bullet The Blue Sky (Live From Popmart Santiago)"
- U2 - "Beautiful Day (David Holmes Remix)"
- The Pogues - "Dirty Old Town"
- Robbie Williams - "Supreme"
11:25 AM | e-mail |
Well, I bought Bjork tickets after all. I figured I'd go ahead and buy the tickets, and if I have a change of heart, I'm sure I'll have NO problem unloading them -- the show is already sold out. If anyone's interested in advance, you might want to make me an offer -- theyre third mezzanine (I'm a cheapskate) for October 5th. But unless announced otherwise, I think I'm just gonna go see the show -- if the performance is as good as I figure it is, it'll be worth it for "Hyperballad" and "All Is Full Of Love" alone...
9:53 AM | e-mail |
9:53 AM | e-mail |
Sunday, August 19, 2001
I just got a hit from the bookmarks folder of a John Smith. If you're the John Smith that I think you are, then e-mail me, man.
9:10 PM | e-mail |
9:10 PM | e-mail |
So Bjork played her first show of the tour, and the setlist is lame. It's just kind of boring. She plays a lot of the new album, but then she runs through all her torch songs and slo-mo minimalist stuff, which is, IMHO, her least interesting musical output (with the exception of "All Is Full Of Love," which is great). The closest thing you get to up-tempo is "Human Behavior." I'm disappointed in this, greatly disappointed, and I'm starting to think that maybe I should save my $100 for other shows (such as U2's much-buzzed-about potential four-show stint). On the other hand, it's Bjork, and I'm sure she puts on a great performance no matter what, and if I go, I probably won't feel like I pumped my money down the drain. I simply don't know what to do.
Anyone who reads this message between now and 9:30 AM EST tomorrow, e-mail me with your opinion. (Michele, you don't count. You already gave me yours and I ignored it. ;-D)
5:29 PM | e-mail |
Anyone who reads this message between now and 9:30 AM EST tomorrow, e-mail me with your opinion. (Michele, you don't count. You already gave me yours and I ignored it. ;-D)
5:29 PM | e-mail |
Saturday, August 18, 2001
You know, this is easily the longest I've ever maintained one design at this site. I'm definitely thinking I've got to change it for the return to New York. But I am completely without inspiration.
Hmmmmm.
8:40 PM | e-mail |
Hmmmmm.
8:40 PM | e-mail |
Thursday, August 16, 2001
So last night, I went to see Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band. Quite unexpectedly. My friend Len had tickets he couldn't get rid of, so I and a couple of other brave souls made the journey with him to Tampa to watch an ex-Beatle parade himself around in front of a spectacularly middle-aged audience. (If the guy in the black suit with the silver dragons on it is reading, you're a pathetic sack of shit. Please die.)
I will say this for the show: It was inspiring. Insomuch as we all want to be rock stars now, because we KNOW we could put on a better show.
They were all great musicians, obviously. And Sheila E. kicked my ass up and down the block (the highlights of the show were easily the renditions of "A Love Bizarre" and "The Glamorous Life"). But man, it just wasn't interesting. All the All-Starrs this time out, with the exception of Sheila E., are bad prog-rockers or adult-contemporary maestros, and their music was just not at all compelling or poignant. The audience ate it up, but not because the performance was superb in the here and now; they weren't loving the concert, they were loving the memory of hearing those songs on the radio twenty years ago and all the great things they did then. It was not an exercise in passion and music-making, it was an exercise in nostalgia. I can't condone that.
Still, any concert is a concert worth seeing, in my opinion. I'm glad I went, if only for the fun and conversation we had in transit.
In unrelated news, if anybody knows where I can get an MP3 of the Quincey & Sonance Remix of U2's "Elevation," e-mail me. Audiogalaxy and Kazaa have both failed me.
7:34 PM | e-mail |
I will say this for the show: It was inspiring. Insomuch as we all want to be rock stars now, because we KNOW we could put on a better show.
They were all great musicians, obviously. And Sheila E. kicked my ass up and down the block (the highlights of the show were easily the renditions of "A Love Bizarre" and "The Glamorous Life"). But man, it just wasn't interesting. All the All-Starrs this time out, with the exception of Sheila E., are bad prog-rockers or adult-contemporary maestros, and their music was just not at all compelling or poignant. The audience ate it up, but not because the performance was superb in the here and now; they weren't loving the concert, they were loving the memory of hearing those songs on the radio twenty years ago and all the great things they did then. It was not an exercise in passion and music-making, it was an exercise in nostalgia. I can't condone that.
Still, any concert is a concert worth seeing, in my opinion. I'm glad I went, if only for the fun and conversation we had in transit.
In unrelated news, if anybody knows where I can get an MP3 of the Quincey & Sonance Remix of U2's "Elevation," e-mail me. Audiogalaxy and Kazaa have both failed me.
7:34 PM | e-mail |
Tuesday, August 14, 2001
I'm havin' the best time of anyone's life
And I'm closer than ever to everybody's wife
-U2, "Holy Joe"
I love that line.
No, this has not become a lyrics blog -- I was just listening to the song and decided it needed to be shared. I'm compiling every officially released U2 b-side (studio originals and covers only -- no remixes unless no original was released, and no live stuff, as both of those will come later) -- 51 in all -- onto CD. Which is truly sickening, I know, but I need to knock down the number of CDs I bring with me to school, and 10 CD-Rs (only 3 for the b-sides, probably 4 or 5 for the remixes, 2 or 3 for the live tracks) is better than 20-something individual singles. And it gives me an excuse to collect all the b-sides I didn't previously own.
Just for fun, here's the tracklisting. If you're as dangerously obsessive as I am, you can make your own. If you're having trouble finding any of the stuff, let me know and I'll try to hook you up.
DISC ONE:
DISC THREE:
11:17 PM | e-mail |
And I'm closer than ever to everybody's wife
-U2, "Holy Joe"
I love that line.
No, this has not become a lyrics blog -- I was just listening to the song and decided it needed to be shared. I'm compiling every officially released U2 b-side (studio originals and covers only -- no remixes unless no original was released, and no live stuff, as both of those will come later) -- 51 in all -- onto CD. Which is truly sickening, I know, but I need to knock down the number of CDs I bring with me to school, and 10 CD-Rs (only 3 for the b-sides, probably 4 or 5 for the remixes, 2 or 3 for the live tracks) is better than 20-something individual singles. And it gives me an excuse to collect all the b-sides I didn't previously own.
Just for fun, here's the tracklisting. If you're as dangerously obsessive as I am, you can make your own. If you're having trouble finding any of the stuff, let me know and I'll try to hook you up.
DISC ONE:
- Boy-Girl
- Another Day
- 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
- Touch
- Things To Make And Do
- J. Swallow
- A Celebration
- Trash, Trampoline, And The Party Girl
- Treasure (Whatever Happened To Pete The Chop?)
- Endless Deep
- Boomerang
- Boomerang II
- Three Sunrises
- Love Comes Tumbling
- Sixty Seconds In Kingdom Come
- Bass Trap
- Luminous Times (Hold On To Love)
- Walk To The Water
- Spanish Eyes
- Deep In The Heart
- Silver And Gold
- Sweetest Thing
- Race Against Time
- Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) *
- Hallelujah Here She Comes
- A Room At The Heartbreak Hotel
- Dancing Barefoot
- Unchained Melody
- Everlasting Love
- Night And Day
- Alex Descends Into Hell For A Bottle Of Milk / Korova 1
- Lady With The Spinning Head
- Satellite Of Love
- Salome
- Where Did It All Go Wrong?
- Paint It Black
- Fortunate Son
- Can't Help Falling In Love (Bono solo)
- Slow Dancing
DISC THREE:
- Bottoms (Watashitachi No Ookina Yume) (The Passengers)
- Viva Davidoff (The Passengers)
- Holy Joe (Garage Mix)
- North And South Of The River
- Pop Muzik (Pop Mart Mix Radio Edit)
- Happiness Is A Warm Gun (Gun Mix)
- Slow Dancing (With Willie Nelson)
- Two Shots Of Happy, One Shot Of Sad
- Summer Rain
- Always
- Big Girls Are Best
- Don't Take Your Guns To Town
11:17 PM | e-mail |
While you make pretty speeches
I'm being cut to shreds
You feed me to the lions
A delicate balance
And this just feels like spinning plates
I'm living in cloud-cuckoo land
This just feels like spinning plates
My body's floating down the muddy river
Because I was wondering, and now I know: the lyrics to "Like Spinning Plates," easily my favorite song on Radiohead's AMNESIAC.
Psst. Want the live MP3 I was talking about?
5:38 PM | e-mail |
I'm being cut to shreds
You feed me to the lions
A delicate balance
And this just feels like spinning plates
I'm living in cloud-cuckoo land
This just feels like spinning plates
My body's floating down the muddy river
Because I was wondering, and now I know: the lyrics to "Like Spinning Plates," easily my favorite song on Radiohead's AMNESIAC.
Psst. Want the live MP3 I was talking about?
5:38 PM | e-mail |
ROMEO & JULIET retold in L33T, the jargon of online freaks, complete with a trip-hop soundtrack and Kool-Aid. Oh my GOD this is funny. Watch it, right now. It has the best ending in the world.
(via Lukelog)
5:24 PM | e-mail |
(via Lukelog)
5:24 PM | e-mail |
Well, that post down there should've showed up last night. So not only is it irrelevant, it's now not topical. Wow!
4:35 PM | e-mail |
4:35 PM | e-mail |
Monday, August 13, 2001
Ahem. I have already dicked up the Doyoufeelloved.com Top Ten, having left out a lot of things that should almost certainly have made the list. My zeal to correct this should probably be taken as a sign that the whole project is going to go up in flames -- after all, I could've just saved these for next week. You never would have known. But anyway, here's an alternative list. It does not replace the previous one. It simply co-exists with it in a parallel continuum. Errr. Yes. God, I'm wasting my time.
10:31 PM | e-mail |
- The Strokes - "Last Nite"
- Radiohead - "Like Spinning Plates (Live From Ohio)" *
- PJ Harvey - "Sheela-Na-Gig"
- Wyclef Jean - "Perfect Gentleman"
- Bjork - "Verandi"
- N'Sync - "Pop"
- Cornershop - "Brimful Of Asha (Fatboy Slim Remix)"
- Outkast - "B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)"
- Pulp - "This Is Hardcore"
- Suede - "Europe Is Our Playground"
10:31 PM | e-mail |
Go visit Michele's Banned Books Project. And take the link button from the sidebar if you want it.
10:11 PM | e-mail |
10:11 PM | e-mail |
You know, I went as far as to look up a bunch of airfares to Dublin over this. All of them were over $1,000. Which I could not POSSIBLY afford without spending the interceding weeks between then and now in frenzied prostitution.
I really wanted to do something crazy and spontaneous like fly to Ireland for a few days in the middle of school... gah. I need to be rich, please.
6:50 PM | e-mail |
I really wanted to do something crazy and spontaneous like fly to Ireland for a few days in the middle of school... gah. I need to be rich, please.
6:50 PM | e-mail |
I'm going to implement a new Monday tradition, because I'm bored -- the Doyoufeelloved.com Top Ten Chart. It'll track the ten songs that get the most airplay on my CD player / Winamp / mental jukebox / etc in a given week, or the songs I'm most passionate about during that period of time. Whatever. It's all arbitrary and it's just something to do, but maybe you'll pluck a good song out of the mix for yourself occasionally.
Off we go. August 6th to August 13th, 2001:
4:18 PM | e-mail |
Off we go. August 6th to August 13th, 2001:
- Mirwais - "Naive Song"
- Pulp - "Disco 2000"
- The Mr. T Experience - "Swiss Army Girlfriend"
- The Ramones - "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker"
- U2 - "I Love You" (New song, live from Antwerp)
- PJ Harvey - "This Is Love"
- Coldplay - "Spies"
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - "The Witness Song"
- Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - "I Love Rock And Roll"
- Robbie Williams - "Rock DJ"
4:18 PM | e-mail |
Sunday, August 12, 2001
Finally, I updated the Media section on the right. You missed a lot of stuff, like PLANET OF THE APES, SEXY BEAST, my second reading of THE SATANIC VERSES (I've come to the conclusion that it's Rushdie's weakest book), and dozens of albums, as well as various other books and movies. But don't cry. It's really pretty irrelevant to your continued existence.
9:30 PM | e-mail |
9:30 PM | e-mail |
Saturday, August 11, 2001
I must sleep.
But I must also listen to Pulp's "Disco 2000" over and over again.
Systems conflict. Error. Beep. Beetle boop. (Here is a club sandwich.)
Oh my GOD what a great fucking song. If you don't know it, you need to go get it with the illegal/immoral copyright-violating software of your choice. (Hurts so good, though, doesn't it.)
Jesus Christ I'm incoherent tonight. I'm speaking entirely in pop culture. This is what happens when I don't sleep...
By the way, Jackie and/or K-Daz, if you're reading, sorry I was a butthole at work today.
10:25 PM | e-mail |
But I must also listen to Pulp's "Disco 2000" over and over again.
Systems conflict. Error. Beep. Beetle boop. (Here is a club sandwich.)
Oh my GOD what a great fucking song. If you don't know it, you need to go get it with the illegal/immoral copyright-violating software of your choice. (Hurts so good, though, doesn't it.)
Jesus Christ I'm incoherent tonight. I'm speaking entirely in pop culture. This is what happens when I don't sleep...
By the way, Jackie and/or K-Daz, if you're reading, sorry I was a butthole at work today.
10:25 PM | e-mail |
Friday, August 10, 2001
It's gonna be a long day. But a good one.
Don't expect any blog entries until sometime Sunday afternoon -- today, I spend the whole afternoon cleaning, then my friends show up at 8PM and trash the place again, then everyone goes home tomorrow morning, I clean up AGAIN, then I grab about four hours of sleep and go to work until 10PM. Then I collapse into bed in a jelly-like heap and sleep for at least twelve hours.
This had better be worth it. ;-D
12:23 PM | e-mail |
Don't expect any blog entries until sometime Sunday afternoon -- today, I spend the whole afternoon cleaning, then my friends show up at 8PM and trash the place again, then everyone goes home tomorrow morning, I clean up AGAIN, then I grab about four hours of sleep and go to work until 10PM. Then I collapse into bed in a jelly-like heap and sleep for at least twelve hours.
This had better be worth it. ;-D
12:23 PM | e-mail |
Thursday, August 09, 2001
Boy, I'm really upset about something extremely stupid right now. Only it's not stupid. But it is stupid. Argh.
Don't look for more on this, because it's not coming.
12:12 AM | e-mail |
Don't look for more on this, because it's not coming.
12:12 AM | e-mail |
Wednesday, August 08, 2001
As it turned out, I tweaked the site -- stripped the Archives links out of the sidebar and created a new annotated Archives Index. Don't ask why, I just did it to do it.
10:49 AM | e-mail |
10:49 AM | e-mail |
I haven't been awake this early without a work- or school-related reason in forever. I hauled my ass up at 10AM to get the PJ Harvey tickets, and now that that's done, I feel so empty. I literally don't know what to do with myself.
Well, that's a lie. I know a lot of things I could do with myself (shut up), such as:
9:49 AM | e-mail |
Well, that's a lie. I know a lot of things I could do with myself (shut up), such as:
- Clean my room.
- Buy my sister's birthday card, and go to the post office to mail it (and some other junk.)
- Watch GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS since it has to be back at Blockbuster tomorrow at noon.
- Write something for FUCK MTV!
- Tweak the site.
9:49 AM | e-mail |
MTV.com has redesigned, and while it looks a lot less ugly now, it also takes longer to load and looks like shit while doing so. The news section is harder to navigate, too. However, there was this fabulous story about my new obsession Elvis Costello, so I won't complain TOO loudly.
9:29 AM | e-mail |
9:29 AM | e-mail |
And PJ Harvey tickets are gotten. Excellent. Now I just need the Bjork onsale dates, and I am SO ready to party...
There's always U2, too, but that's so expensive I'm not even gonna think about it right now. But I will go. Oh yes.
9:13 AM | e-mail |
There's always U2, too, but that's so expensive I'm not even gonna think about it right now. But I will go. Oh yes.
9:13 AM | e-mail |
Tuesday, August 07, 2001
How many times do you have to be told "When using scissors, cut away from yourself" before it sticks in your brain?
Apparently, more times than I've heard it.
Owch.
9:13 PM | e-mail |
Apparently, more times than I've heard it.
Owch.
9:13 PM | e-mail |
Bjork has confirmed an initial set of dates for a world tour of theaters and opera houses in support of her latest album Vespertine, which will be released August 28th. The specific venues were chosen after her request that the sites have "the best acoustics possible." A September 23rd date at the English National Opera will make Bjork the first pop music act ever to perform at the venue. The U.S. leg will kick off with a two-night stand at New York City's Radio City Music Hall on October 4th and 5th.
Accompanying Bjork on her first tour in three years will be the electronic duo Matmos, composed of Martin Schmidt and Ander Daniel; Zeena Parkins, playing an electric harp she invented herself; and the Il Novecento Orchestra, conducted by Simon Lee. Providing backing vocals will be a throat singer from Northern Canada and a choir of Inuit girls recruited by Bjork on a recent holiday to Greenland. (more)
I. WILL. See. This.
12:28 PM | e-mail |
Accompanying Bjork on her first tour in three years will be the electronic duo Matmos, composed of Martin Schmidt and Ander Daniel; Zeena Parkins, playing an electric harp she invented herself; and the Il Novecento Orchestra, conducted by Simon Lee. Providing backing vocals will be a throat singer from Northern Canada and a choir of Inuit girls recruited by Bjork on a recent holiday to Greenland. (more)
I. WILL. See. This.
12:28 PM | e-mail |
Monday, August 06, 2001
Continuing in the concert vein of the last couple posts: U2 played a brand-new song at their concert in Antwerp tonight. Tickled am I. Hit U2log if you want an MP3 or RealAudio...
I bought The Ramones' ROCKET TO RUSSIA today. I was listening to it, thinking "Why don't I like this?" Then I realized, "Ah. I'm not playing it loud enough." I cranked up the volume and it started kicking ass.
10:08 PM | e-mail |
I bought The Ramones' ROCKET TO RUSSIA today. I was listening to it, thinking "Why don't I like this?" Then I realized, "Ah. I'm not playing it loud enough." I cranked up the volume and it started kicking ass.
10:08 PM | e-mail |
!!! God hates hipsters. Bjork has announced her US tour dates, and one of the New York shows conflicts with the Nick Cave concert!!! My chances of seeing her were just sliced in half... bugger.
12:22 PM | e-mail |
12:22 PM | e-mail |
Saturday, August 04, 2001
I'm going to see Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds!!!
The seats are shit but I DON'T CARE. Woo-hah!!!
Next up: PJ Harvey tickets, on sale sometime in the next two weeks...
10:26 PM | e-mail |
The seats are shit but I DON'T CARE. Woo-hah!!!
Next up: PJ Harvey tickets, on sale sometime in the next two weeks...
10:26 PM | e-mail |
Thursday, August 02, 2001
God, I'm tired.
Not in an existential sense. I just really want to get some sleep.
6:15 PM | e-mail |
Not in an existential sense. I just really want to get some sleep.
6:15 PM | e-mail |