Kablammo!

OK, so the Black Eyed Peas have been quite busy in recent months, promoting such things as the NBA Finals and the Democratic National Convention with their “Let’s Get Retarded” song, which has been carefully modified to make it less ‘objectionable’ and more ‘rousing’. I can live with that.

Today, though, I saw the Raveonettes and “That Great Love Sound” pimping K-Mart. Nothing wrong with that either — hey, I love the song — but it’s interesting to see these previously-obscure songs on TV a few short months after they were on a mix CD I made. Coincidence? That same CD also featured Outkast and “Hey Ya!”

If I ever hear Tomte’s “Schreit den Namen meiner Mutter” or my own “Everything” in a commercial, I’ll know something is very wrong with the world, and that I need to be extra careful about what I put on mixes from then on.

No doubt I’ll end up making and distributing a few CDs consisting entirely of Guitar Wolf and Thee Michelle Gun Elephant, just for the hope of being able to hear some Japanese noise-rock on the tube. Mmm.

In other news, I leave on August 22 for parts unknown Estonia. For a year. Should be interesting. We’ll be in touch.

Song of the Moment: «Let’s Get Hurt» — Guitar Wolf

Before I begin in earnest, I’d like to quote somebody, if I may:

The cause of America is, in a great measure, the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which, their affections are interested. The laying a country desolate with fire and sword, declaring war against the natural rights of all mankind, and extirpating the defenders thereof from the face of the earth, is the concern of every man to whom nature hath given the power of feeling; of which class, regardless of party censure, is

The author.

The author, of course, is Thomas Paine, and the passage above is from the introduction to Common Sense. I can’t help feeling that his writing is just as relevant today as it was on Valentine’s Day, 1776. Back when he was inciting insurgents into insurrection against their imperial overlords, America was the underdog. Have we lost our way?

Perhaps, but that’s not really what I feel like writing about right now. What I do feel like writing about is the asshole who rear-ended me on I-95 earlier today. I don’t wanna say whiplash just yet, cuz that’s a little too far, but good thing he was insured. For what it’s worth, I’ve now been involved in the fucking up of both the front and the rear of my mother’s automobile. God damnit.

So anyway, the day after we missed the first half of the Violent Femmes concert in DC, they played a free show at Baltimore’s annual Artscape festival thingy. So it was all good, and I even managed to record 80 minutes worth of their show on Saturday. I ran out of space before they got to the encore and rocked out with “Kiss Off”, but it’s all good.

Speaking of which, Spitesto turned out fairly anticlimactic, tho it was still well worth attending.

Song of the Moment: «Me and Jesus Don’t Talk Anymore» — Beulah

For one thing, it seems I’ve now taken and passed enough courses that I’ve satisfied Cooper‘s credit requirements for a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering. Now I just have to make sure the Office of Admissions and Records becomes aware of that fact, so I can get a stupid-looking, poorly designed piece of paper attesting to it. I can then use that piece of paper to replace the one saying ‘hey you still owe us some classes motherfucker’ that’s currently in the diplomaholder I got at commencement.

In other news, however, I was at CBGB (& Omfug) tonight, watching Shamra playing their set, when I made some interesting observations about this week in music. Well, this week in music as it affects me.

See, last Saturday I saw Suspyre, a “progressive metal / neo-classical” band, playing at Red Rock, a showcase of local bands playing in the firehouse of some shitty Podunk village in Hunterdon County. Tonight, as mentioned above, I saw a rock-type band with an album playing at a highly respectable club. This Friday, God willing, I’ll be seeing the Violent Femmes, a platinum-selling (and minimalistic) group, playing at the 9:30 Club, an ‘actual’ venue.

It’ll be interesting to compare the trends in recognition and sound for these bands. Last weekend I saw some guys playing basically for their family and friends, and the family and friends of the guys in the other bands. These guys also happened to be completely electrified, their two guitarists trying to outduel each other in the most flamboyantly homoerotic ways possible, and their drummer whacking his choice of about 15 different cymbals he had set up as part of his kit. Tonight I saw a band playing for their friends, acquaintances, and fans, as well as for the kind of people who go to well-respected rock’n’roll clubs on a Tuesday night. For every Telecaster or other electric guitar they used, they had 1.5 acoustic guitars in use (note: there was only one electric guitar), and the drummer had a pretty standard drumset set up. Next weekend, I’ll see some guys playing for a bunch of fans, some of them casual, some of them rabid, some of them younger than the band’s first singles. The band themselves? Three guys, three drums, acoustic bass. What more could you ask for?

PS. Happy Bastille Day.

Song of the Moment: «Cop Killer» — Body Count

You’d think I’d have learned my lesson from last fall, or any number of other semesters or other academic terms. I guess not. Anyway, there’s still a chance I’ll be done with this infernal tedium forever.

In other news, I had a contact lens in my left eye until quite recently. I didn’t take it out and it didn’t fall out, but there is now no sign of it at all. I’m kind of freaked out.

Also: what the fuck is up with this? Hooray for excesses of copyrighting and DRM.

Song of the Moment: «(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman» — The Kinks

Why is it that whenever I eat an ice pop I get an uncontrollable urge to cough?

Song of the Moment: this as-yet-unnamed song