Kablammo!

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