Friday, October 29, 2004
It was 1966 when The Who brought us their truly kick-ass 9 minute mini-opera "A Quick One While He's Away". . .
Now some 38 years later Green Day have picked up the where The Who left off by giving us a concept album (Nothing more punk in 2004 than releasing a concept album-been said before but worth repeating) that boasts TWO 9 minute mini-operas!
American Idiot's been out for a while but I just got to it last week and I have to say that it goes to show that the Worst U.S. Presidency Ever begat the Best Rock'N Roll Album of 2004 hands down!
It goes to go to show that some good comes out of everything...even an American Idiot.
Good Friday to all.
VOTE!!!
Now some 38 years later Green Day have picked up the where The Who left off by giving us a concept album (Nothing more punk in 2004 than releasing a concept album-been said before but worth repeating) that boasts TWO 9 minute mini-operas!
American Idiot's been out for a while but I just got to it last week and I have to say that it goes to show that the Worst U.S. Presidency Ever begat the Best Rock'N Roll Album of 2004 hands down!
It goes to go to show that some good comes out of everything...even an American Idiot.
Good Friday to all.
VOTE!!!
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Hot Damn Tamale!
May the other underdog from Massachussetts be as victorious as the Boston Red Sox come November 2nd...
Stay tuned Beatle People...and for god sakes....VOTE!!
May the other underdog from Massachussetts be as victorious as the Boston Red Sox come November 2nd...
Stay tuned Beatle People...and for god sakes....VOTE!!
Thursday, October 21, 2004
I could say the reason that I haven't posted is because it took a week to recover from the aforementioned bad theater I saw but I'd be lying...almost.
Just been one of those week's where the bloggin' stick wasn't pointing my direction, felt just plain lazy and overly tired from the Mundane to Friday of everyday life...but I'm back!
With that said, the new R.E.M. doesn't suck (I made a promise to tell y'all why last week). Why does it not suck? Well because its basically the record all the whiny fans wanted this band to make since Bill Berry's departure seven years ago. Its actually what should have followed 1992's "Automatic For The People" instead of the awkward electric "Monster" that arrived in the height of grunge in1994 and has continued to litter used record store bins across the first world ever since.
"Around The Sun" finds the veteran Athens trio in their most focused voice since 1997's "New Adventures In HiFi" (the last to include Berry and my favorite R.E.M. record to date). The lead single ("Leaving New York") is by & large their best since Bush senior was invading Iraq and has a hook that if it came out a decade ago, it would've been a number one.
So why the lack of interest? Why the critical backlash? Well contrary to the worlds of Robert Hilburn and David Fricke (two music critics who haven't bought a record as long as I've been alive and deserve a teaching post a Pomona Junior College and never to be heard from again), this band hasn't lost their focus nor their game. Their audience for better or worse has grown up and doesn't care to hear anything new from them, no matter how hard R.E.M. tries to make familiar sounding records their fans might be comfortable with. They wanted another "Automatic For The People" and for better or worse, the band has delivered a pretty fair forgery of that record.
And chart success? Well the last time R.E.M. made a record that "mattered" chart-wise, Britney was still a Mouseketeer and 50 Cent was bad grammar for a half-dollar. The type of patience it takes to appreciate a contemplative record such as "Around The Sun" no longer exists. No one (especially critics) "takes in" albums anymore. Things are far more accellorated in this "Best Week Ever" pop culture landscape and if "Automatic For The People" had been released now, chances are it would've met with the same fate as "Around The Sun".
Bob Dylan said recently in his autobiography that his original audience had grown tired and inflexible, the same could be said about this band's. . .
Just been one of those week's where the bloggin' stick wasn't pointing my direction, felt just plain lazy and overly tired from the Mundane to Friday of everyday life...but I'm back!
With that said, the new R.E.M. doesn't suck (I made a promise to tell y'all why last week). Why does it not suck? Well because its basically the record all the whiny fans wanted this band to make since Bill Berry's departure seven years ago. Its actually what should have followed 1992's "Automatic For The People" instead of the awkward electric "Monster" that arrived in the height of grunge in1994 and has continued to litter used record store bins across the first world ever since.
"Around The Sun" finds the veteran Athens trio in their most focused voice since 1997's "New Adventures In HiFi" (the last to include Berry and my favorite R.E.M. record to date). The lead single ("Leaving New York") is by & large their best since Bush senior was invading Iraq and has a hook that if it came out a decade ago, it would've been a number one.
So why the lack of interest? Why the critical backlash? Well contrary to the worlds of Robert Hilburn and David Fricke (two music critics who haven't bought a record as long as I've been alive and deserve a teaching post a Pomona Junior College and never to be heard from again), this band hasn't lost their focus nor their game. Their audience for better or worse has grown up and doesn't care to hear anything new from them, no matter how hard R.E.M. tries to make familiar sounding records their fans might be comfortable with. They wanted another "Automatic For The People" and for better or worse, the band has delivered a pretty fair forgery of that record.
And chart success? Well the last time R.E.M. made a record that "mattered" chart-wise, Britney was still a Mouseketeer and 50 Cent was bad grammar for a half-dollar. The type of patience it takes to appreciate a contemplative record such as "Around The Sun" no longer exists. No one (especially critics) "takes in" albums anymore. Things are far more accellorated in this "Best Week Ever" pop culture landscape and if "Automatic For The People" had been released now, chances are it would've met with the same fate as "Around The Sun".
Bob Dylan said recently in his autobiography that his original audience had grown tired and inflexible, the same could be said about this band's. . .
Friday, October 15, 2004
Regarding the play my wife and I suffered through last night, I offer these words of advice: Friends don't let friends see independent theater in Los Angeles (which by the way has more playhouses than NYC-you'd think we'd be able to produce at least one non-vomit-inducing independent theater-going experience, just one for God's sake!).
And here's why:
IT SUCKS BALLS!!!!!!!!!!
Any playwright who concocts a three hour future-politico-love-triangle-turd-of-a-show in bad Orwellian-Shakespeare-Speak clearly holds nothing but contempt for his audience, wishing only to make them as miserable as he is. On this level, the show succeeds entirely.
I'd rather eat a rusty thumbtack souffle in an acid bath while Celine Dion sings the Diane Warren songbook than have to sit through another pretentious L.A. play.
The late William Shakespeare and decent playwrights everywhere have my condolonces.
Up next: Why the new REM doesn't suck...stay tuned Beatle People.
And here's why:
IT SUCKS BALLS!!!!!!!!!!
Any playwright who concocts a three hour future-politico-love-triangle-turd-of-a-show in bad Orwellian-Shakespeare-Speak clearly holds nothing but contempt for his audience, wishing only to make them as miserable as he is. On this level, the show succeeds entirely.
I'd rather eat a rusty thumbtack souffle in an acid bath while Celine Dion sings the Diane Warren songbook than have to sit through another pretentious L.A. play.
The late William Shakespeare and decent playwrights everywhere have my condolonces.
Up next: Why the new REM doesn't suck...stay tuned Beatle People.
Monday, October 11, 2004
Farewell Christopher Reeve...
And thank you for making a generation of kids everywhere believe a man can fly.
And thank you for making a generation of kids everywhere believe a man can fly.
Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Well Murry Wilson didn't exact his revenge as I'd feared.
Saturday I got my SMiLE on and it is by far the best and most lovingly produced album I've heard all year. Imagine the feeling you had listening to Sgt.Pepper, Dark Side of the Moon, OK Computer, or Come On Pilgrim for the first time, multiply it a million-fold, and you get an approximation of what its like to experience this record.
I could go on about this record and what it means to have it finally, but I defer to The Fryegod and his observations as I really couldn't have said it any better:
http://friedproductions.blogspot.com/
Saturday I got my SMiLE on and it is by far the best and most lovingly produced album I've heard all year. Imagine the feeling you had listening to Sgt.Pepper, Dark Side of the Moon, OK Computer, or Come On Pilgrim for the first time, multiply it a million-fold, and you get an approximation of what its like to experience this record.
I could go on about this record and what it means to have it finally, but I defer to The Fryegod and his observations as I really couldn't have said it any better:
http://friedproductions.blogspot.com/
Friday, October 01, 2004
Rocktober's Upon Us!
So it is with that I say in the battle of Presidential debates, Kerry Vs. Bush was like Billy Yule Vs. Mo Tucker: No Contest.
Billy who? Mo what? Is he out of his bloggin' mind you're probally asking yourself...
Well I did just compare Kerry's performance to that of replacement Velvet Underground-drummer Billy Yule, who basically drums circles around Mo Tucker (evident especially on the Loaded & Live At Max's Kansas City albums). A pretty obscure reference/comparison I'll give you that, but who would you rather have drumming for your band? (And by band I mean America and by drummer I mean the President.)
The answer is plain and simple as the grilled cheese you had for lunch, you want a Billy Yule.
In other nonsense:
I firmly believe the ghost of Murry Wilson is out to deny me the newly released SMiLE.
I went to two different stores to get my Brian Wilson on this past New-Release-Tuesday evening and was flatly denied by both. SOLD OUT. Both @ Aron's and at the local Best Buy. Denied like Wayne & Garth tryin' to play Stairway To Heaven at Guitar Center. Refused like a refugee at the border...Murry I know this is the work of your bespeckled jealous menace.
I'm sure you'll probally try to secretly re-stock the SMiLE section of my local stores with your crappy muzak solo record and The Sunrays* Boxed Set but I will not give up. I will have my comeuppance! I will have the last laugh. I will have SMiLE before the weekend's through...
I'm a genius too, Murry!!
(*For those who care, The Sunrays were Murry Wilson's attempt to make a new Beach Boys after the real Beach Boys tossed his ass out like the greedy mean-eyed asshole he was...they had one hit (We All Live For The Sun) and gave Murry the old heave-ho...)*
So it is with that I say in the battle of Presidential debates, Kerry Vs. Bush was like Billy Yule Vs. Mo Tucker: No Contest.
Billy who? Mo what? Is he out of his bloggin' mind you're probally asking yourself...
Well I did just compare Kerry's performance to that of replacement Velvet Underground-drummer Billy Yule, who basically drums circles around Mo Tucker (evident especially on the Loaded & Live At Max's Kansas City albums). A pretty obscure reference/comparison I'll give you that, but who would you rather have drumming for your band? (And by band I mean America and by drummer I mean the President.)
The answer is plain and simple as the grilled cheese you had for lunch, you want a Billy Yule.
In other nonsense:
I firmly believe the ghost of Murry Wilson is out to deny me the newly released SMiLE.
I went to two different stores to get my Brian Wilson on this past New-Release-Tuesday evening and was flatly denied by both. SOLD OUT. Both @ Aron's and at the local Best Buy. Denied like Wayne & Garth tryin' to play Stairway To Heaven at Guitar Center. Refused like a refugee at the border...Murry I know this is the work of your bespeckled jealous menace.
I'm sure you'll probally try to secretly re-stock the SMiLE section of my local stores with your crappy muzak solo record and The Sunrays* Boxed Set but I will not give up. I will have my comeuppance! I will have the last laugh. I will have SMiLE before the weekend's through...
I'm a genius too, Murry!!
(*For those who care, The Sunrays were Murry Wilson's attempt to make a new Beach Boys after the real Beach Boys tossed his ass out like the greedy mean-eyed asshole he was...they had one hit (We All Live For The Sun) and gave Murry the old heave-ho...)*
