I’ve been meaning to post about this but I guess I’ve been so mad about it, I forgot. Coachella is only selling 3 day passes this year. There are no one day tickets. So If I want to go to only Day 3 to see Pavement and Gorillaz, I have to pay $269 freaking dollars. That is insane. I really hope this new venture will fail miserably, but I know it won’t because concerts are no longer for actual music fans, they are for rich people who don’t even care what show they are going to. I have seen more evidence to this fact when I do actually make it out to a show and I see more and more people talking and not even paying attention to the set, getting completely drunk so they won’t even remember the show, and other ridiculous displays of non-cool show behavior. I am aware I probably sound like an old man ranting about this, but I really don’t care. Live Nation and the big promoters are ruining live music as we know it. I guess I’ll stick to the small local shows, but I really do miss the big concerts. Perhaps if the fans stop handing these crooks their money by the bushel they would be forced to change. One can dream.
Sorry for the lack of updates. My computer started acting all crazy and I just now got it fixed. I made the jump to Windows 7 since Vista was causing a lot of problems. My music library is getting so large that whenever I make any kind of big change to my computer setup I have to take some extra care to make sure all my music gets put back where it is supposed to be. I guess that’s one instance where Brax’s refusal to enter the digital age pays off. Anyways, as Brax said, we’re going to be at Long Beach One Day Comic Expo on Saturday. We’ll be handing out stickers so be sure to find us!
I just thought I’d post a little bit about this since I thought the movie was fantastic. Between this and Anvil! The Story of Anvil, 2009 was a great year for music movies. I could see how some casual fans might be disappointed since there was surprisingly little footage of the actual epic meeting between The Edge, Jack White, and Jimmy Page, but I think the filmmakers realized they needed to add more of a narrative to the film so they delved deep into each individual and what they came up with is pure gold. Any creator, not just musicians, will be inspired by this film. The archive footage alone is worth the price of admission and seeing these three generations of amazing guitarists coming together and rocking out is just a great thing to watch. I give it two fins up!
Remember Zines? I’ve always been a fan, so much so that Brax and I are currently in the planning stages of publishing our first zine. I’m not sure what we’re going to call it yet. I’m partial to Manny Rules the World but for some reason Brax isn’t keen on that. Brendan and Phil will be contributing their comics to the project, which is pretty cool, I guess. I’m looking to review some albums so if you have one you would like to send or tell me about, be sure to let me know.
My favorite local band, The New Limb, is in contention for The OC People’s Choice Awards and you can help them out by voting for them here. Just put The New Limb in the band name field and vote away. I am SUPER excited for their full length album which drops soon, I hope. It will definitely be in serious contention with whatever Jason Martin puts out for my album of the year for 2010.
While I said earlier that I agreed with Rolling Stone’s assesment of Radiohead being the band of the decade, I have to say that Starflyer 59′s Dial M is my choice for album of the decade. I have listened to it more in the two years it has been out than any other album I have pretty much ever. That’s saying a lot since I pretty much listen to music all day long. I can never grow tired of the combined rock and synth sounds, a blend that Jason Martin has truly perfected on this album. After The Brothers Martin album was released in 2007 I knew that Jason’s next offering would be something special and I certainly wasn’t let down. If you haven’t checked this out yet, you are totally missing out.
Brax interviewed Jason Martin of Starflyer 59. I don’t know how he did it. He sure as heck didn’t tell me about it. Someone please tell Brax I am mad at him because I am not speaking to him right now.
OK, first question: What is the deal with the question marks next to Thom Yorke? Does that mean Radiohead is playing? Is it Thom Yorke and unknown guests? Is there some new band I don’t know about called the Question Marks? Either way, Day 3 definitely sounds awesome and I am really going to have to consider braving the crowds and the heat to see Pavement, Gorillaz, Thom Yorke and who knows, De La freaking Soul, Gary Numan (I wonder if his mentions on The Mighty Boosh have anything to do with this resurgence), and tons of other great bands. The other days look good, don’t get me wrong. I mean, I’d consider going to Day 1 just to see The Specials, but Day 3 really is irresistible for me. I wonder if the Gorillaz are going to do that crazy Pepper’s Ghost thing they’ve done with some of their previous live shows so the characters are actually on stage. That would be NUTS. Now I just have to stock up on SPF 50 sunscreen as Manta Rays burn pretty quickly. Can’t wait!
So I was listening to this streaming radio station the other day called Class of 1998 Reunion and it was pretty awesome. Yeah, they play some crap in there, but there was some crappy music back then, just like there’s always been. Even the crappy music can take me back though. So anyway, they played the song “There She Goes” and it said it was by The Boo Radleys. I am very fond of the movie So I Married an Axe Murderer so I am surprised at myself for not realizing the movie contained two versions of the song, the original by The La’s and a cover by The Boo Radleys (great name btw)!
Now I am kind of torn about which version I like better. Never mind the Sixpence cover, which is decent, but it doesn’t have the nostalgia factor for me like these other two versions do and that is really what makes this song affect me so deeply. The Boo Radleys version is a bit more poppier (is that even a word? Spellcheck says no, but what does it know) but it has the horns and the handclaps which I kind of dig. I’m really starting to wonder why they would put the original and the cover version in the same movie. Did they not think the original was good enough? If I were the La’s I would be kind of offended. What do you think about this whole situation?
So someone got to this site by searching for “does owl city use auto tune.” I would respond by searching for “does brax talk to that plant way too much?” Of course Owl City uses auto-tune, dude (or dudette)! Just because the guy doesn’t sound like T-Pain doesn’t mean he isn’t using it. Most of its worst offenders are actually quite subtle. And now you know, and knowing is half the battle.
