iPod Discovery

Dandy Massacre Reprised

Okay, so long time, no follow up.  What can I say?  I'm busy with things related to the other blog.  However, after last night, I just had to post something over here.

In the previous post I said that I was heading to a BJM gig later that evening.  Well, head over, early no less, with some friends, I did.  To our intense dismay there was a line of at least 100 people waiting for the 50 day-of tix available.  What the second 50 were doing there since they obviously weren't getting in is anybody's guess, but I digress.  Needless to say, I didn't make the show.

So imagine my pleasure at having scored a ticket for last night's BJM show at The Independent.  Unfortunately I had another engagement earlier in the evening and wasn't sure I would make it.  However, the gods were on my side and I entered the venue around 11:15pm or so, about the time I expected Anton and the fellas to be on stage.

Now here's the part where I refer you back to the movie DIG!.  Anyone who has seen the film will know what a nutjob Anton Newcombe is, or in his mind, that he was made out to be.  Well folks, I can tell you from firsthand experience now that he is indeed a total nutter and that what one sees in the movie is what one gets on stage.

So what did I get?

1. A band that didn't come on stage until after midnight - the show was to begin around 10:00pm.
2. A shirtless, strung-out lead singer off his head.
3. A lead singer who started the set by going off on a LONG, rambling, incoherent spasm of the mouth encompassing everything from the hurricane in the Gulf to his own greatness.  Oh, and much ado about a "bad" guitar string which ended up taking about 20 minutes to replace.
4. A lead singer who berated just about everyone in the place from the lighting guy to the sound guy to several members of the audience.
5. Fight challenges to said lighting guy, sound guy, and audience members from the lead singer.
6. Numerous threats to walk off stage and abandon the gig by the lead singer.
7. THREE AND A HALF songs during the course of an hour!

You know, I felt really badly for the other members of the band.  They weren't spared Anton's wrath and gamely put on patient faces.  They can take comfort in the fact, however, that they really rocked on the three songs that Anton let them perform, especially drummer Daniel Allaire, despite Newcombe's insistence sabotaging the show.

After one more invective-laden tirade I called it quits.  I walked out wondering if what I'd just witnessed was a farce or some strange exercise in Dadaism.  Regardless, Newcombe has certainly attained that rare status of becoming a parody of himself.  (Check out the movie - you'll understand what I mean.)

Thanks for the three songs, Anton.  I'm really glad I wasted $15 to watch your dumbass antics.  It's a shame because you could have rocked.  I, like the friends I went with, have seen my last BJM show.

Dandy Massacre

I watched the documentary DIG! the other night and have been ODing on the Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre ever since.  Seriously, I haven't listened to anything else for the past three days.

As fate has it, BJM is playing a show tonight at the Bottom of the Hill.  Tickets are sold out but I hear that there's 50 reserved for day-of sale.  I'll be heading over early with some friends to brown bag it in line and, hopefully, catch a glimpse of what seems to be a fascinating character, Anton Newcombe.

If you haven't seen DIG! yet, are a fan of documentaries, and have an interest in sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll, you'll definitely want to check the movie out, even if Anton isn't 100% pleased.

Vertigo!

Apparently the first version of U2's Vertigo video has leaked onto the Internet.

Hot New Video

Okay, so I haven't updated this blog in quite some time.  And, okay, this post has nothing to do with iPods, randomness, or serendipity.  But you've got to see this:

America We Stand As One - music video

(Commentary/background can be found here.)

If anyone can find a better worse example of cheeseball nationalism as this, please feel free to share it.

The Case of the Non-Existent Album

For more than a year there have been two unreleased Fiona Apple songs making their way around the file-sharing networks - Extraordinary Machine and Better Version of Me.

As it turns out, the songs are from an unreleased album that Ms. Apple cut nearly two years ago.  Apparently her record company, Sony, didn't feel that the music was in line with "current tastes" and scrapped it.  I guess the good folks at Sony know that we're only interested in the pre-packaged crap that's been served up regularly for the past few years and God forbid they should release something unique and original.

How do I know that the songs are unique and original, you ask?  Well, firstly, a DJ at 107.7 in Seattle has gotten his hands on the entire album, also called Extraordinary Machine, and has been regularly been playing tracks on the air.  Secondly, all kinds of sites have sprung up where one can download tracks.

I checked a couple songs of the songs out today and they are different than Ms. Apple's previous hits, e.g. Shadowboxer, Criminal, etc., but certainly not unworthy of commercial release, especially coming from a proven talent.  But if Sony is too spineless to take a risk on something new then only option is for the people to take matters into their own hands.  Go out and listen for yourself before the RIAA gets wind of things.

(A good article on the whole affair can be found here.)

Beta Version

I, unfortunately, recently read of the demise of one of the best groups that you've probably never heard of - The Beta Band.

These four guys from Edinburgh - vocalist Stephen Mason, drummer Robin Jones, DJ/sampler John Maclean, and bassist Richard Greentree - had a sound that can't be pigeon-holed into a single genre.  Think ambient breakbeat acid jazz funk.  Before questioning whether they pulled it off, consider that they opened for Radiohead during the 2001 summer tour.  Not a bad vote of confidence.

Their best known song has to be Dry the Rain from The Three E.P.'s.  Some writer in Hollywood must have really dug it as they wrote an entire scene around it in the John Cusack film, High Fidelity.

Rob Gordon: I will now sell four copies of "The Three EPs" by The Beta Band.
Dick: Go for it.
[Rob plays the record]
Beta Band Customer: Who is this?
Rob Gordon: The Beta Band.
Beta Band Customer: It's good.
Rob Gordon: I know.

Rob Gordon was right - The Beta Band was really good.  It's a shame that they didn't achieve greater commercial success, perhaps they'd have stuck together.  Regardless, they left behind a few albums of great music that are all worthy of being in your collection.  I guarantee that if you play a few tracks during your next party, someone will ask you "who is this?"

Shameless Plug

I'm sure that you'll all be excited to hear that I've started another blog over here.  No iPod, less babbling, more updates, more links.

Six Degrees of Hoople

Sorry it's been a while since the last post.  I've been busy with other stuff lately.  You know those little things like work, home, friends, etc.

Regardless, the iPod's been serving up lots of Mott the Hoople recently.  In particular I think I've heard Half Moon Bay about three times this past week.  This raises an interesting question about actually how random songs are selected, but I digress.

A mentor of mine gave me a MTH album some years back as he was a big fan but, I'll admit, I never listened to it.  Thankfully the random experiment has opened my ears and it seems like I've been missing out.  Once you get past the fact that the MTH lead singer sounds like Bob Dylan, there's a lot of interesting stuff going on - metal, glam rock, cynicism, homoerotic imagery, etc.

Speaking of interesting and homoerotic, GCCT recently sent me this link.  Who would have thought that there are only six degrees of separation between MTH and Megadeth or eight degrees between Kansas and Joy Division?

Only Phish

Anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a big Phish fan.  And given the amount of their music I have in my collection (2.3 gigs or 1.7 days worth) it's no surprise that I usually hear at least one Phish tune per day, usually more.

Some of you not familiar with Phish may wonder how (or why) I can have so much music by a single band.  Several reasons: 1) Phish allowed taping of their concerts; 2) Phish played a lot of concerts (1,183); 3) Phish played a lot of songs at their concerts (19); and 4) Phish had a huge repertoire (647 songs).

Today I heard the last song Phish ever played together, The Curtain With.  I was lucky enough to be in attendance for this performance, along with my long time phriend and road trip buddy, Chris K.  Of the 50 or so shows I attended over the years, Chris was there for many -  a better brother one could not have.

Another buddy of mine, David T., recently forwarded me this great link.  The set up is basically that a prankster sent a bunch of letters to a variety of bands (The Rolling Stones, Janes Addiction, among others) under the guise of being a rabid fan who "accidentally" downloaded a copy of a song.  Along with the letters were checks representing payments for the songs.

I don't want to ruin the prank for you but let's just say that the boys from Burlington showed another reason why they are one of the best bands of all time and will always be one of my favorites.

F*cking TypePad!!!

So I just spent the better part of two hours composing a long, thoughtful, humorous post bursting with interesting links and goddamn TypePad craps out on me.  Yeah, thanks for the error message, jackasses.  A lot of good that does me after I've lost everything!  I cannot begin to describe how frustrating this is.  And it's not the first time it's happened.

I'm too drained to rewrite the post right now - I need a drink.

Note to any TypePad employee who sees this:  How about a "save draft" button plainly visible in the toolbar instead of the "draft" option in the posting status dropdown that's not even above the fold?