FRISSONIC

So, U2 had to cancel their tour due to Bono’s back surgery. Crushing shame for fans all over the world, right?

Tell that to the Glastonbury audience.

In their absence, Muse was asked to fill the slot. Now … I have no problem admitting that I am a HUGE Muse fan, and I bask in their musical glory on a daily basis, but those are awesomely MIGHTY large shoes to have to fill. U2 is legendary. Their shadow is cast on just about every country. Is there a corner of the world that hasnt’ heard of them? I highly doubt it. Muse, by way of comparison, are on the rise, and they are comprised of some of the best musicians out there, but …  they’re not Adam, Edge, Bono or Larry.

Yet.

So the good folks at Glastonbury recognized the talent in Muse, asked them to headline the show. An honor in and of itself. However, Muse “filling in” for U2 is like asking the now LA Lakers to “fill in” for the Chicago Bulls of the 90s. You can’t do it.

Yet.

Muse knows PR. They know the fans got shafted out of seeing the legends. They also know that they have a good, strong fan base in the UK. So … how do you assuage the audience that feels cheated?

If that doesn’t give you goosebumps, you suck. Period. For one, it means you know next to nothing about either music history or current music, which begs the question: “Why am I even reading this blog?” Second, the energy these two bands have ALONE is enough to power a small country, like France. Together? I don’t know. We’re way past nuclear fusion or atomic energy. We haven’t even created that much energy yet.

Or maybe they have.

In any case, enjoy the video. I have at least a dozen times at this point.

Don’t I wish …

I’ve been swamped with work stuff. My boss quit a few days ago. All the projects got dumped in mylap. I had been asking to help with things so I would know what’s going on … but no. Everything was handled by my boss up until the last day. Kind of wanted to get my hands dirty with these projects so it wouldn’t be such a shock. No such luck.

So anyway, that’s been my life for the last 3-4 days. Before that, I had strep and a kidney infection. Lots of pain killers, lots of anti-biotics, lots of sleep. It’s been a rough couple of weeks.

So my wife and I were talking about everything we have going on this summer. Barenaked Ladies in a few weeks in Boise, U2 about 2 weeks later, and Rush in August. Pioneer Park’s concert series is gearing up in a few months, and the list is awesome. Among the performers are Modest Mouse, New Pornographers, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, She and He … good series!

More info here. http://www.slcgov.com/arts/twilight/

I’m most excited for She and He. I’ve liked Zooey Deschanel since hearing her in “Elf.” Yes, that really is her in the movie. Anyway, she and M. Ward have two CDs together, aptly titles Volume 1 and Volume 2. Not the most creative titles, but appropriate. Their music rather neo-50s doo-wop … sort of. Imagine todays pop music being heavily influenced by the late 5os. There you go. They’re fun stuff.

So they’re coming. I’d like to see Modest Mouse as well. Always been a fan of Johnny Marr, but … he’s not with the band anymore, as far as I can tell. Truly a travesty.

I met a guy who builds custom cabinets. Basically, my wife found a shelf on KSL that she liked, so she asked if I could go pick it up. When I picked it up, I started chatting with the guy. Come to find out he does all kinds of stuff–bed frames, cabinets, shelves … you name it, he can build it. I got to talking to him about how we need new shelves for everything we have media-wise: DVDs, blu-rays, CDs, etc. He said he could build us some for really cheap. After discussing dimensions and paying for the new shelves, he said he’d have them done by Wednesday of next week, POSSIBLY over the weekend.

“Dude. So what? Why is that such a big deal?”

Right now, our “extraneous” CDs are sitting on top of the one shelf we have. We have about 200 CDs with no home. Homeless CDs need love too, right? They need shelter. Our movies are scattered around the downstairs. Some have homes, others do not. Some are in a shelving unit with locking doors; others are in another room on a wall shelf; the rest are on top of our bar or on the old entertainment center for the TV. I wanted a one-stop shop for everything. Now we’re getting it. And for frickin’ dirt cheap. SWEET!

So here’s a shout-out to Brian Moore, who’s building the shelves. He is Mountain West Furniture in SLC/Park City. Great to work with, reasonable prices … you can’t beat his work.

I’m hoping to get some video footage of the upcoming concerts around here. I have a device that will do it, but whether I keep it is a big question. For one, the battery life is low: less than 2 hours for each charge. I’m keeping it until the BNL show on May 21st, but after that, we’ll see. If the quality is as good as the reviews say it is, then I’ll re-evaluate.

I was at Gray Whale this afternoon for a quick music fix. I’m really digging the fact that a lot of their used CDs are $2.99. I bought their discount card for $20 several years ago, which means I get $1 off for every CD.

Maybe it’s because I go in there a lot. Maybe it’s because I’ve probably bought about 50-60 CDs there since Ocotber. As I was rooting through the indie bin, I found Samantha Crain’s “Songs in the Night” CD. I just about passed out. I had been meaning to pick it up from Amazon, but I never got around to it. Now it’s just sitting in the local used CD shop indie bin. SWEET!

I took my stuff to the register and chatted with the guy about her CD. “Have you ever heard her?”

“Yah, she’s really good.”

“She sounds a lot like a mix of Regina Spektor and Feist.”

“Hey, yah. That’s spot-on.”

She sound like them. Amazingly gifted vocal talent, great folksy blues music. Just an amazing CD. If you have the chance to pick it up, do so.

But that’s not what I’m going to write about. Not today, anyway.

So I also got a couple of blu-ray discs. They keep the actual discs behind the counter, and put the cases out on display. Because I bought everything upstairs, I had to go back down to the main level to get my discs. Thankfully, Kylee was interrupted by a relatively lengthy phone call because it gave upstairs guy a chance to come downstairs. He and I got to talking again, and he ended up handing me a copy of Alela Diane’s new CD, “To Be Still.”

“Have you ever heard her?”

“No. Haven’t.”

“Here. Take this. If you like Samantha Crain, you’ll probably dig this chick.”

“Cool. I’ll check it out. Thanks!”

Musically, the first thing I heard was a steel sliding guitar. Not exactly my cup of tea, and I instantly thought Super … a country CD. Could’ve used this last night for a coaster.”

How wrong I was. Keyboards, steel guitar, acoustic guitar, light drums … mellow.

That was the only CD I listened to on the way back to work. Vocally, she sounds like a folksy version of Bat for Lashes meets Dido.

Then there are the lyrics. She reminds me of Suzanne Vega in her level of detail and poetic style. She pours her heart and soul into her vocals to help paint the scene that she portrays–not in a boistrous or overbearing way … she sings at a perfect level fitting for her music.

Here are the lyrics to “Dry Grass and Shadows.”

There are things that I’ve seen in my head
While I’m sleeping in bed
That do not wither in the morning light

There are things that I’ve seen in my head
While I’m sleeping in bed
That do not wither in the morning light

I’m taken back
O I’m taken back
To the dry grass and the shadows

I’m excited to find the rest of her stuff. She has strong staying power.

Official website: http://www.aleladiane.com

Yesterday, my wife called me to announce that Muse is coming. Not only are they coming, but they’re bringing Silversun Pickups along for the ride. That show is going to rule. April 5, 7:30 PM. Ha ha … wife and I have have a date night scheduled! WHOO! Albeit in April, but still …

I’m excited for the show because Muse shows are so high-energy. Lots of jumping, dancing, singing along … they’re a blast. The *only* concern I have is that I haven’t listened to much of the new CD. It’s just  … it’s too political for my tastes. Yah, I like System of a Down and Rage, but they were political from the beginning. Mostly. Rage was, anyway. System got more political with each new CD. But muse … this one is just too in-your-face political for me. They’ve always been the band that plays amazing music and wraps it around amazing lyrics about anything BUT politics. Anyway, for all of that, I haven’t gotten into the new CD as much. Granted, there are some stand-out tracks, like “Undisclosed Desires,” “Unnatural Selection,” “The Resistance,” “MK Ultra” … like I said, there are some good tracks. Amazing tracks, at that. I’m sure the longer I listen to it, the more it’ll grow on me.

The best part is that this show is actually at the E-Center this time. The last time they were here–in September 2007–they played at the McKay Events Center in Orem, on UVSC’s campus. Not exactly a large venue. E-Center is much more conducive to a Muse-worthy crowd. Should be sufficiently large to hold all of us. I can’t wait.

So now comes the debate: Floor (GA) or lower bowl? I’m leaning towards lower bowl. Here’s why: I don’t like being mashed up against the front rail. And that’s probably where I’d try to get . Even within 5 feet would be amazing. On the other hand, bowl seats are a little confining. At least with GA seats, we could move to the back if we want some wiggle room. So it’s either NO or a LOT of moving room, or barely some. What to do … which to buy. Decisions, decisions.

I’ve been in a blogging drought lately. This was evidenced by a comment left on my other blog by a friend who was curious if I was ever going to write again.

So for lunch today, I got a hankering for some new music. There’s a local CD swap shop a couple of miles from where I work, so I thought I’d see what they have to offer. For those of you in the Salt Lake area, if you aren’t familiar with  CD Exchange yet, you either just moved here or your live in a very dark hole that’s 5 feet under a very large rock. Your hole is sound-proof and culturally deprived. I weep for you internally.

For those of you who are familiar with GW, you already know the verneable cornucopia of potential new finds offered at any of their locations. Today being a limited browsing opportunity day, I only got to hastily rummage through letters A through the beginning of D. The yield was pretty good. Here’s a list of stuff I grabbed:

Dear John Letters – Unbroken
Atherton - Skyline Motel
Absentstar - Sea Trials
Kirsten Candy - Glimpse
Blue Condition - Cheap Wine

I also picked up a Cranes Submarine EP with a bunch of remixes, but that’s just because it’s a Cranes CD. That’s a must-have purchase, in my book.

I’ll be reviewing each of these CDs over the course of the weekend (minus the Cranes EP), probably starting with the Dear John Letters CD, since I’m already listening to it. Not bad …

There was a time when discovering unknown music was simple: you simply ran down the the local used CD store and find something you had never heard of. You’d find some new music, take it home, listen to it, fall in love with it, and brag about it. “Hey, have you heard of [insert unknown band name here]?”

“Nope. Who are they?”

“Found them at [insert local used CD shop's name here].”

*hand headphones to buddy*

“WHOA. These guys are incredible.”

That was a relatively short time ago.

Music and file sharing in general has led to an exponential decrease in the “ability” to find new music that no one’s heard of. At least in your own circle of friends, however large or small that may be. An example of this is Heather–a girl I used to work with. She favors the more mellow, sometimes acoustic sound. I fired off as many a relaxing band: Air, Mew, Bat for Lashes, Folk Implosion, Halloween Alaska, Howling Bells, Sparklehorse, The Olive League … even Scarlett Johannson.  She had heard of ALL of them. Not some … all. I was rather blown away. I pride myself on my music collection. It’s divers, it’s ecclectic, and I used to think I had some obscure stuff. Heather’s collection blows mine away.

One band I’ve been hung up on lately is Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. He’s not necessarily obscure, but ask around and see who’s actually heard of him. Better yet, check local music shops. See how many actually have his CDs in their new material. 

Imagine the anti-thesis of Suzanne Vega. Her music is peppy, positive, light, and fun. Nick Cave’s … polar opposite. Except for the fun. It’s AMAZING fun. If you’re into “Murder Folk” music with a gospel twist, he’s your man. He has a real penchant for writing about death–specifically in saloons, in bar fights, down by the river.

Here’s the best part: he’s been around for well over 35 years. And you’ve probably never heard of him. Or at least, you’ve probably never heard a single song of his.

I highly recommend checking out his stuff. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I prefer my CD covers have some kind of artsy feel to them. Cave CDs generally have some image of him on the front. Typically, that’s a red flag in my book. Don’t let this fool you. The music warrants the vanity. To his credit, his later CDs (ex: Abbatoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus) dispose of the self-aggrandizing visage cover and embraces minimalist art. Coincidentally (?), this happens to be my favorite CD of his. The music is at its strongest. Track 2, “Cannibal’s Hymn,” is disturbing. Actually, most of what he writes is un-nerving. You have to wonder what kind of childhood he went through to come up with some of the stuff he writes. I mean, yah … most musical artists pour some of their angry youth into their music. Those artists are typically in their early 20s, and the anger is still relatively fresh. Nick Cave is 52, and he’s been performing since the early 70s.

Anger-y? Good question. He has some sweet love songs, too. Take, for example “Where the Wild Rose Grows” Here are the lyrics.

*ahem*

They call me The Wild Rose
But my name was Elisa Day
Why they call me it I do not know
For my name was Elisa Day

From the first day I saw her I knew she was the one
As she stared in my eyes and smiled
For her lips were the colour of the roses
They grew down the river, all bloody and wild

When he knocked on my door and entered the room
My trembling subsided in his sure embrace
He would be my first man, and with a careful hand
He wiped the tears that ran down my face

CHORUS

On the second day I brought her a flower
She was more beautiful than any woman I’d seen
I said, ‘Do you know where the wild roses grow
So sweet and scarlet and free?’

On the second day he came with a single rose
Said: ‘Will you give me your loss and your sorrow?’
I nodded my head, as I lied on the bed
He said, ‘If I show you the roses will you follow?’

CHORUS

On the third day he took me to the river
He showed me the roses and we kissed
And the last thing I heard was a muttered word
As he stood smiling above me with a rock in his fist

On the last day I took her where the wild roses grow
And she lay on the bank, the wind light as a thief
As I kissed her goodbye, I said, ‘All beauty must die’
And lent down and planted a rose between her teeth

CHORUS
Hmm. Actually, that’s pretty morbid. OH WAIT. That’s Nick Cave.

Like I said, I highly recommend.

In the late 80s and early 90s, I was heavily in to Van Halen. They have a concert video called “Live without a Net” that I had on VHS. The way my brother put it, “It was the bible of concert videos.” I couldn’t agree more. I’m pretty sure I ran that tape extremely thin. Thankfully, my dad had a stereo VCR. I ran audio out cables to the back of his little boom box and made an audio tape of the concert. I wore THAT tape thin too. I had 5150, OU812, “The Red Album” … wasn’t as much into the David Lee Roth stuff with the exception of their first album from 1978. GREAT music … “Runnin’ with the “Devil,” cover of “You Really Got Me,” and of course, “Eruption”–Eddie’s seminal solo for the ages.

That was about 18-20 years ago.

Flash forward to today. My tastes have shifted somewhat. I still like rock, but with a much more refined ear. Odd time signatures impress me. Key changes are a must. Van Halen … not a lot of that going on. However, earlier in the week, as I was playing with mininova.org, I stumbled upon a DVD copy of the old concert video with which I had spent so much of my time as a kid, visually and audibly. For kicks, I downloaded it.

Wow.

That “wow” has various and sundry layers to it. The most prominent is the sheer “shudder effect” I had when hearing Sammy scream “HELLOOOO, New Haleeeeeeeeeen” and Eddie’s wailing guitar starts up as they get ready to launch into “There’s Only One Way To Rock.” The goosebumps, the chills, the thrill … I was 17 again, sitting on the edge of my bed air drumming with Alex (cuz let’s face it … there’s no way I’m going to even attempt to air guitar with Edward).

The next layer of “wow” was the amazing 80s clothing styles. Sweet merciful crap. Michael Anthony comes out in this yellow blazer looking coat thing with matching yellow pants. Huh?! Why?! I mean … YELLOW pants. MAYBE it was cuz he knew they were video taping, and he was deathly afraid of peeing himself, so he figured, “Hey … yellow pants, pee is yellow … sometimes. Maybe it’ll just blend in.” I don’t know. All I know is that Sammy was dressed in something that would make Joseph’s amazing technicolor dreamcoat cringe. THAT’s saying something. Of course, 3 songs in, he and Michael ditched their top layer. Wisely so, given Sammy’s desperate attempts to show the crowd how David Lee Roth-like he can be, jumping around and high-kicking and what-not. I guess I didn’t know much about the history of the band growing up. I knew DLR split after releasing 1984, but I didn’t know his stage style–his constant martial arts displays, etc. Knowing what I know now and going back and watching this concert, it’s … interesting.

Another “wow” layer. Maybe it’s just me, but there just seemed to be a really thick, heavy “cheese” element to a lot of Sammy’s extraneous dialog. What the hell is “vosephus” anyway? Defining what “5150″ is supposed to mean … I dunno. Even some of the songs themselves seemed to have not aged well. That was truly a disappointing revelation. Here were my childhood icons, putting on an amazing show, and there is now a rather different feeling to watching it this time. Everything was just so over the top.

But what from the 80s WASN’T over the top, right?

In essence, it was just a fun trip down nostalgia lane, watching parts of this video again. The great part to this old classic is the dynamic tracking–allowing me to skip over the songs I didn’t want to necessarily finish and get to the good stuff, like “Get Up,” “Best of Both Worlds,” “Panama,” “Rock and Roll” (Zep cover, and WOW!) … there are other good songs, but stuff like “Summer Nights” I just skipped over. Even “5150″ didn’t hold up well, but that’s due mainly to the point that I *never* cared for that version. I HATE it when a band plays a song in concert and tunes the whole song a step or 2. Like no one’s going to notice. Rush does that with 2112 all the time. Metallica FINALLY got around to playing “Dyer’s Eve,” only to tune it down a whole step. It’s not like James Hetfield can’t hit those same notes … he hits higher notes on “That Was Just Your Life” off of Death Magnetic. My point is this: if you’re going to play a song in concert, PLEASE play it in the original key.

Anyway, overall, the concert held up well. If they’re not the best party band in the history of music, they definitely have a solid place in the top 10, if not top 5. They’re just … FUN!

So, I use my iPhone for a lot of things–music, blogging, staying in touch, reading up on news, playing, edutainment, etc. I’ve downloaded some pretty cool apps lately that I would highly recommend. Some cost; some don’t. If you have the means, I would highly recommend these.

1. Shazam. Ever hear one of those songs on a commercial and wonder who’s performing it? Or you’re listening to your local radio station and you change the channel right as the last 30 seconds are playing to some song that you’ve been dying to hear, BUT you have to get out of the car before the announcer says who it is? Shazam to the rescue! The concept is that you launch the app, press “tag now” in the top right corner, then hold the phone up to the speaker. The app “captures” about 20 seconds’ worth of music, analyzes it and sends back the results. Once the results are displayed, you have a ton of options: tweet, send as a postcard, album review, biography of artist, discography, view youtube video, purchase the song from itunes … you can even geotag where you heard the song. Why you would want to do this is beyond me, but you can.

   It finds really obscure things, too. It’s found everything I’ve thrown at it. I especially like using this when I’m listening to the local college station when they have their indie music time slot. REALLY handy. REALLY free.

2. Drum Kit. For all you Neil and Danny wanna-bes (and yes, I throw myself in that mix), you *have* to have this. 4 toms, 2 crash, 1 each of high hat, ride, bass and snare. Press the icon in the lower right, and you have access to recording and playback of what you churn out. Sorry, no gong.    Price: 1.99. Worth every penny.
3. More Cowbell. Straight from Christopher Walken’s best SNL performance, you too can now bang cowbell with Blue Oyster Cult zeal and zest (or not …).  You can also select maracas, triangle, tambourine or sleigh bells. You know … for when it’s Christmas and stuff. 

   There are all kinds of fun things you can do with this. I won’t spoil the surprises here. Just get it. It’s 99 cents, for crying out loud. And SOOOO very worth it.

4. Music Studio. Wow. Just … WOW. You really could write your own music on this thing. 128-track recording studio, replete with all kinds of keyboard sounds. WOW. Seriously … i’m going to use this to rework Ravel’s Bolero. All 13 sections.

   This one will cost you 19.95, but again, I say without reservation that you will be amazed at everything this little app can do.

That’s all I have right now. Well, okay … I have a few other apps I could discuss, but those are the maat and potatoes of my musical app time. Enjoy!

So, there seems to be this faddish thing with only using one ear bud on an mp3 player. Someone is going to have to explain this one to me. I tried it just to figure out what the appeal is. There isn’t one, in my book. Too much outside noise, not enough music. I just don’t get it. I especially don’t understand the appeal to driving like this. Even a stock radio is better than driving around with one-sided earphones, even if it is just an AM knob-dial tuning piece of junk.

Anyway, I had been planning on reviewing Muse’s The Reistance at some point, but with everything life’s thrown at me the last 2 weeks, it’s been impossible. I’ll try to get to it tonight, though I suspect my wife and I will try to catch up on The Office, since we’re so behind this season. We’ll see.

So, i’m in the gateway district in downtown Salt Lake. It’s frickin’ freezing out here. The thing of it all is that there is a lot of ambient noise going on: rain, splashing puddles, passing cars, there’s some kind of music coming from somewhere, but it’s barely discernable over everything else. The lady parked directly in front of me is getting her daughter squared away for … something. Work? School? whatever it is, The girl is in a seriously misguided, weather-inappropriate plaid miniskirt and white t-shirt, and I can’t help but wonder why. It’s no more than 40 degrees out here. Oh well. The things some people do.

It’s an awesome September send-off.