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August 13, 2010

Ear Worms

There are people that get really stuck on a specific song. I'm one of those people. Sometimes I'll listen to a certain song for days on end. Even when I'm not listening to it, I'll be singing it to myself or it'll be playing in my head. Then I'll obviously get sick of it. Then I'll come back to it. Lately, I've been rediscovering some of them, and I thought I'd share. "Clementine" by Washington This is a really simple song, but I really like the singer's voice and delivery. Everything about the song is incredibly infectious, I think. "Set...

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July 29, 2010

Fleetwood Mac

I've been on a ridiculous Fleetwood Mac kick lately; I have no idea why. I've been obsessed with "The Chain" for a while. I think it's a fantastic song. Everything about it--from the music itself, to the lyrics, to the interplay between all the different verses, to the great bass-based breakdown--is just awesome. This is a good live version of the song: And they're clearly such a bunch of ridiculous people. I was first exposed to Fleetwood Mac through, not surprisingly, The Smashing Pumpkins. Pisces Iscariot, the Pumpkins' collection of b-sides and rarities--and still one of their best releases, I...

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September 25, 2009

Built to Spill Was Built to Rock

For the second time since I've been here, Built to Spill came to the Barrymore Theatre. And for the second time since I've been here, Built to Spill put on one of the most best shows I've ever seen. The set list was a very good mix of older stuff and stuff I've never heard, presumably because it's on their new album. While they failed--again!--to play "Car," they did play my two other favorite BtS songs: "Virginia Reel Around the Fountain" and "Else." Both versions were spectacular. Doug Martsch is an amazing guitarist. He might not be the most technically...

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September 10, 2009

Jason Mraz Fucking Sucks

I remember the first time I heard this no-talent assclown's music. It was a video for one of his songs and he was going out of his way to be all "look at me, I'm happy and care-free but also a tooled-out hippy." The music itself was inoffensive enough, I guess, but it was completely disposable and uninspired. So, of course, the guy's fucking huge now. I've had his song "I'm Yours" stuck in my head for fucking hours, and I'm about ready to smash my new guitar with my face. That song is infuriating both for its banal lyrics...

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June 25, 2009

"I've Been a Victim of a Selfish Kind of Love"

I remember this one time in high school. Me and some friends were in my friend's car. My friend's brother was also there. He was listening to HIStory on his Walkman. I made fun of him for it. I made fun of him for it because I was weak and stupid and because I was more concerned with being perceived as cool than I was with being honest. Because, although I railed against Michael Jackson, the truth was that I loved Michael Jackson. I remember being ten years old and buying Dangerous on tape. It was the first album I...

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May 10, 2009

The Four Most Overrated Things in Life

Dee pointed me to Overrated List, a blog consisting of readers' lists of the top four most overrated things in life. Dee also asked me to write my own. So here goes, in no particular order. Summer. Yeah, I have to admit that I was pretty excited when the average temperature started being above freezing this year. Yeah, I like not having to put on four layers just to take my garbage out. Yeah, I like being able to go for walks and stuff. And I love the farmers' market. And the Terrace. I love all of those things. But,...

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May 7, 2009

Happy Birthday Dane101 (Warning: This Post Contains Butt Funnel)

So, Dane101 is apparently four years old. To celebrate, they threw a party at my favorite Madison venue, the High Noon Saloon. So RPM and I, along with some others, went down there. It was a good time, and I got to talk to Jesse, who I have a bit of a heterosexual man-crush on (his favorite band is The Pixies! I love The Pixies!). The music, though, was a little, um, let's say "eclectic." The first band up was Little Red Wolf. This was apparently their first show, but I wouldn't have known that had I not been told....

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April 23, 2009

Rock Show!

Chelsadilla, R-Mac, and the girl R-Mac's seeing (is she at nickname status yet? I don't know) went to the Annex to see some heavy-metal rock show thing tonight. It was fun. The first band consisted of four women. Everyone agreed that several of the women were really attractive, but we couldn't agree on which ones were and which ones weren't. Based on the fact that they all played Gibson instruments (including the bassist--when was the last time you saw a Gibson bass used in a hard-rock setting?) and that they all had other expensive backup instruments, I was suspicious. It...

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February 23, 2009

A Weekend in Madison

This weekend was awesome. Let me tell you why. On Friday, a bunch of us met up at Brocach for drinks and food. Our original plan was to go to happy-hour Gomeroke, but that shit ended at like 7, which was lame. So we went to Brocach and had some drinks. I hung out on the fruity side of things, enjoying some brady old fashioneds and a midori sour. Then I had a vodka gimlet, which wasn't very good, frankly. Chelsadilla and I split a shepherd's pie and some fries. It was friggin' awesome. Around ten, RPM, L-Dawg, X-tina, chelsadilla,...

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February 19, 2009

Mary Star of the Sea

So, in keeping with my resolution to listen to albums rather than songs on random, I sat down and listened to one that I hadn't listened to in a while: Zwan's Mary Star of the Sea. Zwan, for those of you who don't know, is Billy Corgan's other band. It only released one album, which is really too bad. I'll go through song by song like I normally do and then give you an overall opinion. Lyric This is a beautiful song and a great opener. It's up-beat and uplifting. The vocals are really pretty, with the bassist--Paz Lenchantin--providing a...

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February 12, 2009

"Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"

So, Mr. Vice, RPM, chelsadilla, and I all went to the Majestic Theatre last night to see dane101's showing of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Joss Whedon's NPH-starring musical bad guy thingy. As it turns out, the thing was awesome, and seeing it with a bunch of people who loved it only enhanced the experience. I should note that of all of Joss Whedon's offerings, I have loved only one: Firefly and the movie it spawned, Serenity. I don't care for Buffy or Angel. Still, I really, really love Firefly and I had heard innumerable good things about Dr. Horrible's. As...

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February 9, 2009

Lipsynching Is a Sin

You know, I didn't care for Jennifer Hudson's performance of the Star-Spangled Banner at the Superbowl. I've never really liked all the histrionic nonsense people do to the song. But, whatever--it takes a fuckload of talent to do it. And from the perspective of appreciating someone doing something difficult and impressive, Hudson's performance was awesome. Except that it was a lie. Which is bullshit. According to Hudson's manager, lipsynching is "the right way to do it." He goes on: There . . . [are] too many variables to go live. I would never recommend any artist go live because the...

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January 4, 2009

Motherfucker!

I hadn't left the apartment all day. So I had no idea what to expect when I left to go to a show with RPM. That was my first mistake. My second mistake was expecting that the ground would provide me with traction. Apparently, slow rain coupled with temperatures fluctuating between just below freezing and just above freezing means that the ground stops being the ground and starts being an exercise in high-school physics: for the sake of simplicity, we'll be ignoring friction in all of our calculations. The result of this whole situation was that on literally the first...

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December 9, 2008

"Too Late to Turn Back Now, I'm Running Out of Sound." (Updated)

So, after an initial delay, I finally saw The Smashing Pumpkins again last night. This was the fourth time I've seen them, and I can now say that I've seen them tour for every album since and including Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The first time I saw them, it was on the "Infinite Sadness" tour on December 7, 1996. It was in a giant arena, and Billy was wearing his most iconic outfit: the Zero shirt and the silver pants. I believe he had just started shaving his head. I don't know for sure because our seats sucked...

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December 4, 2008

Are the Grammys Completely Out of Touch, or Am I?

I love the first Coldplay album. I think the second one is good. X&Y is pretty bad And this new thing they put out, Viva La Vida, is fucking unlistenable. It's fucking crap. It's some of the worst "music" I've ever heard. "Roman Catholic choirs are singing"? How does that count as a lyric! Compared to "Don't Panic" or even "Yellow," this new shit is appallingly bad. And who the fuck is Lil' Wayne? I honestly have no idea. Have I heard something by him? I mean, what the fuck is going on in the world of music? Anyway, all...

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October 30, 2008

What in the Fuck Kind of Person Likes John Mayer?

I have never been a fan of John Mayer. I don't particularly like being whispered to by another dude. But then I saw this cover he did of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'" and now I pretty much think he's the worst thing that ever happened to the concept of music. Check it out: Seriously, what the fuck? Since when does stripping all the actual energy out of a song and replacing it with supersmooth, adult-contemporary-inspired, generic, repetitive bullshit count as "good"? His vocal delivery on this song suggests that he has about as much soul as a prostitute. He sounds...

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September 16, 2008

Sad Songs

One of my favorite iTunes features is the smart playlist function. Not only do I try to rate all of my songs, I also try to label all of them according to general feel. The result is that if I want a bunch of good, hard songs, I can just put on one list and know that I'm going to get what I'm looking for. I think my most-played list is "Mellow," which has a lot of acoustic and mid-tempo stuff on it. I play it a lot because it's good to listen to in the background while I'm reading...

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July 31, 2008

Destroying Instruments Is Stupid

I strongly prefer The Daily Show to The Colbert Report. In fact, I don't really like Colbert that much. I mean, I don't dislike him, I just think he's greatly, ridiculously inferior to Jon Stewart. And even with The Daily Show, I don't really like the interview segment. I don't really like the interview segment with any show. Even when I was a religious Conan O'Brien watcher, I would mostly tune in for the monologue and the sketches. So it was that after the two noninterview segments of The Daily Show tonight, I started trolling around for other things to...

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July 24, 2008

Weezer Kicks Unbelievable Amounts of Ass

I heard about this on the radio a while ago but then forgot about it. Anyway, apparently Weezer decided that they wanted to do some shows where they would invite people to bring their instruments with them and play along with the band. At the time, I remember thinking it sounded cool but couldn't possibly work, and also that it would be fun to be there but that it would suck to watch. Well, I was wrong on both counts. Check out this version of "Say it Ain't So": And this version of "El Scorcho": I especially love the look...

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July 17, 2008

I'd Totally Still Do Her, Though

Hayden Panettiere, the cheerleader from Heroes, is totally hot. She also apparently risks her life to save dolphins. And although she's a rich teenager in Hollywood, I haven't seen anything about how she's spending her nights doing blow off of guys' cocks in skeazy West Hollywood clubs. And, as near as I can tell, she hasn't nearly killed anyone with her car. Oh, and she's not the worst actress I've ever seen. So, you know, she's got some things going for her. What she does not have going for her is musical talent. Check out her music video: Now, unlike...

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June 10, 2008

Weezer (The Red Album)

As I said, I was pretty apprehensive about the release of Weezer's new album. In fact, I had completely forgotten that it was supposed to come out last week. Forgotten, that is, until Mr. X called me up and reminded me. At his insistence--and on his recommendation--I went out and bought the thing. And I've been listening to it nonstop since. In broad terms, it is simultaneously a very typical Weezer album and something completely new. I say that it is typical because it has all of the elements we've come to expect from Weezer albums good and bad: it's...

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May 28, 2008

Weezer! Now With 98 Percent More Lightsaber!

I have to admit two things. First, I really liked "Beverly Hills," the lead single off of Weezer's last album, Make Believe. Second, I fucking hated the rest of the album. I was pretty much done with the whole band. I mean, I guess I've already talked about what I think of each of Weezer's albums, so I won't rehash that. But the point is that I was somewhat sad but mostly relieved when I read that Weezer had broken up. And then I was cautiously excited but mostly apprehensive when I heard that they were actually releasing a new...

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May 10, 2008

"Disarm You With a Smile."

I remember the first time I heard The Smashing Pumpkins' "Disarm." I had recently fallen head over heels for Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, but I had yet to venture out and explore more of the Pumpkins' work. This was due partly to the fact that I was afraid of being disappointed but also because I didn't know what else they had done--I was completely new to the whole "listening to music" thing. Still, my friend Kenny--who had introduced me to the Pumpkins to begin with--kept mentioning another album the Pumpkins had done that had some awesome songs on...

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March 22, 2008

I'd Be Just Fine Without You

A friend of mine once described U2 as a band that people who know absolutely nothing about music really like. I think she meant that it's an easy enough band to enjoy but that they're really not all that special. I tend to agree, which means that the fact that some people call U2 their favorite band. I mean, ok, U2 was the biggest band in the universe at one point. But that point was twenty-five years ago--I think we can move on. I mean, sure, The Joshua Tree, and Unforgettable Fire were decent albums. But the fact is that,...

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March 18, 2008

Acoustic Guitars Totally Rock

I don't know why, but I almost always like unplugged versions of songs more than the original, plugged versions. I mean, that might be a bit of a stretch, but I almost always really like unplugged versions, even if I like them in a completely different way. For example, "Cherub Rock" is one of my favorite songs generally, but I especially like it if I need to get excited or pumped up--it's a great song to listen to at the beginning of a night out, I think. On the other hand, the acoustic version is awesome in a whole different...

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March 9, 2008

There Will Be Blood, but it's OK--I'm Going to Graceland

My friends and I watched There Will Be Blood tonight. I'm going to discuss the plot, so if you haven't seen it and don't want it ruined, skip down. Actually, nothing I could tell you about the movie could ruin it. See, the entire concept of ruining a movie stems from the assumption that there's, well, a plot. Like, if you hadn't seen The Sixth Sense or The Empire Strikes Back and I told you that Bruce Willis was a ghost all along or that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father, then you could say that I ruined the movie...

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February 5, 2008

Setlist

So, like I said before, I want to get out and play some open-mic nights sometime this year. The first thing I have to do in order to do that is to create a setlist, so I've been listening for some good songs that could be arranged for one guitar. It's generally easy to play a version of a song that's recognizable regardless of what the original instrumentation was, but it's often difficult to keep all of the important elements while removing all but one instrument and still put your own spin on the thing. I've done some vaguely risky...

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February 4, 2008

Super Bowl XLII

As I've said, I'm new to the whole "caring about football" thing. Still, last night's game as awesome. Or, well, the fourth quarter was awesome. And, actually, the rest of the game was much more exciting than the score might suggest. I was rooting for the Giants for a few reasons. First of all, I hate the Patriots. I hate the Patriots because the fucking media seems to be unable to stop themselves from felating Brady and Co. They are an amazing team, Brady is an amazing quarterback--even I can see that. But do we really need to mention it...

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December 28, 2007

I'm Tired of Boring Music

I've been hearing for a while about The National for a while, but I hadn't bothered to check it out because, well, I'm lazy about finding new music. Someone essentially needs to foist new stuff on me for me to listen to it. That's exactly what Rachel did last night. And now I'm just annoyed because Boxer, The National's first album, kind of sucks. I mean, ok, maybe there's something here that's not terrible. The instrumentation is very complex and lush sounding. There are a bunch of instruments at work--guitars, strings, pianos, horns--and they all come together really well. The...

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December 20, 2007

Clash of the Choirs

I've been watching Clash of the Choirs on NBC for some reason. Actually, I know the reason. See, I'm kind of a sucker for choirs. There's something about a bunch of people coming together to sing with one awesome voice that I really get into. I really like the interaction of a bunch of different voices, and there's not a more natural-sounding musical tone than the human voice. So, yeah, I like choirs. So I've been watching Clash of the Choirs. But here's the thing. I've been recording all of the episodes on my DVR and I've been using the...

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December 13, 2007

Christmastime Has Come

It hadn't actually occurred to me how close it is to Christmas until I was at the mall today. I was helping a friend do some Christmas shopping and the store was playing Christmas music. I recognize the song, but it took me a little while to realize that they were playing The Smashing Pumpkins. I had actually completely forgotten that SP had recorded a Christmas song sometime after Siamese Dream but before Mellon Collie. Anyway, the song actually took me from being completely out of the Christmas spirit to being completely in it--I'm really excited about it now. Which...

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December 6, 2007

Why the Fuck Is Amy Winehouse Famous?

Seriously? How the hell does someone like her end up not only famous but nominated for six Grammys, including four nominations in the top categories? That's fucking fucked up. Granted, I've never actually heard one of her songs, but just look at her: She actually looks frightening. And what is with that fucking beehive hairdo? What the hell is going on here? I guess I lied earlier when I said that I hadn't heard any of her songs. I have heard this: But, seeing as how she's just mumbling in a vaguely rhythmic fashion, I don't think it counts as...

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October 10, 2007

In Rainbows

Lots of people have already discussed the fact that you can download Radiohead's new album, In Rainbows, and pay as much--or as little--as you want. I think it's great that Radiohead is doing this, but mostly because it means that I get their new album for free and don't have to feel guilty about it. I don't think that it'll have any effect on the music industry at large, though. What's more important, though, is the music. So, here are my thoughts on my first listen. 15 Step. I think this is a really strange opener. It just sounds to...

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October 7, 2007

Electric Six Kicks Ass

Ph, Mr. Vice, and I went to the High Noon Saloon tonight to see Electric Six, the Gore Gore Girls, and We Are the Fury. I had never heard any of these bands tonight, but I was blown away by how awesome the show was. In fact, I'd have to say that this was the best show I've seen in a while. In terms of musicianship and performance quality, it probably wasn't as good as Built to Spill. But, in terms of sheer fun, this was definitely the best show I've seen at least since college. And in terms of...

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September 7, 2007

"Sky of Blue and Sea of Green" or "In Defense of 'Yellow Submarine'"

I recognize that this may be controversial, but I would put "Yellow Submarine" in my personal top-five Beatles songs. In no particular order, I think the other four would be "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Love You To," "Yesterday," and maybe "All You Need Is Love." The last three are definitely up for discussion, but I won't budge on "Yellow Submarine" or While My Guitar Gently Weeps." In the past, when I've told people about how much I like "Yellow Submarine," I've been laughed at and mocked. I don't really understand why. The song is awesome. In the dark days...

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September 4, 2007

What the Fuck Happened to Coldplay?

I know I'm a few years late on this, but, seriously, why did Coldplay decide to call off being a good band? After some initial waffling following the release of A Rush of Blood to the Head, I have since concluded that Parachutes is definitely their best album. The first five songs off of Parachutes are all excellent--they each earn at least four stars on my iTunes list. "Don't Panic" is a great opener that really sets the tone for the album; "Shiver" is a really good follow-up to the first track; "Spies" is one of my favorite tracks on...

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August 29, 2007

Honor Shakespeare, Dishonor Nirvana

I went to see an outdoor performance of Much Ado About Nothing tonight. Although I have read several Shakespeare plays, this was the first time I actually got to see one performed. I thought it was pretty good, although I still think that Shakespeare is pretty ridiculous and the dialogue is sometimes impenetrable, especially when it's mumbled in an outdoor venue. Still, the outdoor stage made the whole thing much cooler, except for the part where it started raining really, really hard. But that only lasted for about ten mintues and, after a brief break, the play resumed. The second...

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August 20, 2007

My Weekend and Myspace

So, as I expected, I did pretty much nothing this weekend. In fact, I forced myself to go for a drive tonight just so that I could say that I actually left the apartment this weekend. I did some reading--I finished Over Sea, Under Stone, the first book in the Dark is Rising series, which is apparently about to be made into a movie or something. It was decent, although really short. I think I'm going to read the rest. Man, I love young-adult literature. I rule! I also watched some TV. There's this show on GSN called "Without Prejudice?"....

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August 16, 2007

Stevie Ray Vaughn

Seeing as how I have almost nothing interesting to say about myself or anything that's going on right now, either in my own life or in the world at large, I've decided to do what comes naturally: be pissed about things. The thing I'm most pissed about right now is Stevie Ray Vaughn. Some of you might think that I, as an aspiriing guitar god, should probably love SRV. But the fact is that the man sucks balls. Although I fully admit that he was an extremely talented guitarist, he is--along with Eddie Van Halen--a perfect example of why a...

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August 5, 2007

Why the Fuck Is There a Song Called "Radar Love"?

I was driving around this afternoon listening to the local classic-rock station, The Lake. They usually stick to the pretty standard classic-rock stuff: the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Led Zeppelin--that kind of stuff. It's usually pretty good, although they sometimes play some unmitigated crap--seriously, who the fuck likes progressive rock bullshit? Anyway, "Radar Love" came on. And I thought to myself "why the fuck does this sone exist?" It's such a terrible song! First of all, I hate call-and-response arrangements. If you can't come up with a better idea than to constantly switch back and forth between stupid lyrics and...

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July 16, 2007

Zeitgeist

As you may or may not know, The Smashing Pumpkins--my favorite band of all time--released their first album in seven years last week. I haven't been as excited as you might think, though, for a few reasons. First, it's not really The Smashing Pumpkins--it's just Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin. While Billy was always the main songwriter and the Pumpkin sound always depended heavily on Jimmy's drumming, I was afraid that the absence of James Iha (not to mention D'arcy, who I maintain was an underrated member) would result in a diminishment of the band's awesomeness. Maybe the band was...

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July 8, 2007

In Defense of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Twilight to Starlight

You can read my thoughts on the "pink CD" here. "Where Boys Fear to Tread"--5/5 This song is really simple, but it rocks a decent amount. Moreover, I really like the way it starts off this side of the album: from disparate sounds it builds to a relatively steady, driving rhythm. It's one of the simpler songs on the album--it doesn't involve a solo or any lead work, really--but I think it's a good song to drive to. Also, it features the explosions from the video game "Doom" that are mentioned in the liner notes. "Bodies"--5/5 This is, by far,...

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June 30, 2007

"I Have So Many Ass-Blood Stories!"

For the first time in almost two months, we gathered at a table and played poker. It was awesome. The awesomeness culminated, I think, in Mr. Utah delivering the above line. I could give some context for the remark, I suppose, but I'm not going to. Another of my favorite moments was when L-dawg lost a significant amount of money to Eugene, who's known for playing in a completely ridiculous fashion. On this particular occassion, Eugene beat L-dawg with a Jack-five off-suit. And that's after there was a significant preflop raise. I love watching L-dawg lose. Bar/Bri sucks pretty hard....

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June 25, 2007

Lyrics

I think I'm a pretty decent writer. I mean, one of the things I spend a lot of time doing is editing other peoples' work, so I have to be decent at it, right? I think that, where prose is concerned, I can express my ideas in a coherent and compelling way. And I also think that I can write music pretty well, actually. The original songs I've put up here don't represent my best efforts, unfortunately, but I think that I can write pretty decent music. What I can't write to save my life is lyrics. I think everyone,...

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June 24, 2007

Maybe Things Are Going to Be Ok . . .

Ok, I know this is my third consecutive Smashing Pumpkins post. I'm sorry, but there's a lot of Pumpkins-related stuff going on right now. Anyway, here's a video of the newly reformed band playing "Tonight, tonight" in Paris. I think it sounds pretty good, and I can't wait to see them when they come to the States. It's still really strange to see some other guy standing where James should be, and the new bassist is no D'arcy. I wonder if the original line up will ever get together again . . . . Anyway, enjoy:...

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June 23, 2007

In Defense of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, Dawn to Dusk

In my last post, I called The Smashing Pumpkins' fourth album one of the best albums of all time. Several commentators then challenged that assertion. Which is fine. But you guys are wrong. Let me explain why. Although I've previously explained why I love The Smashing Pumpkins generally and Mellon Collie specifically so much, I think that I can defend the album on its own objective merits. So now let's evaluate each song--all twenty-eight of them (in two parts). I'll give the title, my iTunes rating, and a brief opinion. "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness"--4/5 This serves an excellent...

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June 8, 2007

Fuck You, Bono. No, Seriously.

If you go to CNN.com right now, one of their top stories is a video about how Bono, who's at the G8 summit, got so angry that he took his glasses off. The man takes off his fucking sunglasses, and it's fucking headline news. Am I in some bizzaro universe right now? If I push something off of my desk, will it fall ip to the ceiling? If I throw a ceramic plate against the wall, will it bounce like a rubber ball? Seriously, what kind of a universe am I living in? First of all, what the fuck is...

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June 6, 2007

Stars

Some time ago (was that first year? No, it must have been second year, right?), I went to this show here in Madison with Wade Garrett and afs. We saw this band called Stars. They were really pretty good--even though I had never heard of them before and was not familiar with their music, I really enjoyed the show and the songs. Mr. Garrett got their CD, Heart, and was kind enough to share it with me. I put it on my computer and listened to it a few times, picked out my favorite songs, gave them four-star ratings in...

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May 26, 2007

Live Music

By sheer luck, I've now lived in two cities that have a pretty awesome music scene for their size. Flagstaff had a ridiculous live music scene and I, as a friend of one of the more popular bands in town, ended up seeing a lot of the music the town had to offer. It was a lot of fun--live music always is. Madison has a good live music scene, too. Or so I've been told. The problem is that I haven't checked out the live music here nearly enough. It's not that I don't want to, or that my friends...

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May 21, 2007

Tarantula

Thanks to an anonymous tagboard poster, I learned that the first new Smashing Pumpkins song in about seven years is available for download on iTunes today. So I downloaded, and I'm currently listening to it for the first time. My first reaction: it's a punk song. The rhythm guitar part sounds pretty simple, and it doesn't involve a riff; it's just a few chords. The lead work is also minimal and, frankly, unimpressive for a guitarist of Billy Corgan's caliber. There's also a fair amount of palm muting. The palm muting actually has the strange effect of making some of...

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May 9, 2007

Who Needs Electric Guitars?

I've been looking for some new music for a little while. After I burned myself out on "Neon Bible," which was the only album I listened to for about two weeks straight, I decided that it was time to add some new blood to my usual music mix. I've had the Soundgarden best of on my computer for a while but never really listened to it. So I called that up and got hooked on "The Day I Tried to Live" for a few days. Now I'm sort of leaving that phase. And where I've ended up at a new...

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May 4, 2007

Name That Tune

There's either way too much stuff on my mind or not enough. Either way, I can't come up with a good topic, so I'll come up with a lame one. After recent events, I made what I think is a pretty awesome mix CD. The songs on it reflect my extant state of mind. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to do one of those things where I quote the song and you guys name the song. Maybe it'll be lame, who knows. Anyway, here goes: 1. "Now from his pocket quickly flashes, the crayon on the wall it...

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April 19, 2007

I Don't Care What Anyone Says--Janis Joplin Sucks Ass

I was driving into school this morning listening, as I usually do, to The Lake, a classic rock station that recently switched over to a "shuffle" format. I don't really understand why they did that, but whatever. In any event, Me and Bobby McGee came on, and I realized how much Ms. Joplin sucks. She's really fucking bad. I know some of you out there (I'm looking at you, Dee) are Janis Joplin fans, but I just don't get it. Anyone can scream! It's not "distinctive" or "unique" or "revolutionary"--she's just a bad singer, so she screams. She's the Sanjaya...

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March 20, 2007

Riffs that Rock

As you may or may not know, I play the guitar. I'm not necessarily very good (let me know what you think), but I like to play anyway. Although I haven't gotten to do this as often as I'd like, I can tell you that there's nothing more fun than playing an awesome, loud, distorted riff with a full band. It's one of the most satisfying experiences I've ever had. And definitely one of the best ways to get pissed/pumped. While I don't get to do that nearly often enough, I do listen to music fairly often, and a derivative...

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March 13, 2007

Of Flaws and Family (and My Favorite YouTube Video)

I've been feeling pretty good about myself the past few days. Although there's still a hell of a lot I've gotta do between now and the end of the semester, I've been making progress, and that's a great feeling. Further, getting ready to finally actually be a real person has forced me to realize just how far I've come. I used to be anxious about getting out of school, getting a job, and actually just being an adult. Then, a while ago, I started to fear it and I started to wonder if I'd be able to make it. Now,...

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March 6, 2007

The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible

I stand by my initial assessment that the Arcade Fire's first album, Funeral, is the best album of the new millenium thus far. That album was simultaneously energetic, catchy, and thoroughly depressing. It's a great album to listen to when you're by yourself and you'd rather not be. It goes without saying, then, that I love the Arcade Fire. Still, when I heard that they were releasing a new album, I was kind of nervous; I would almost feel betrayed if the album sucked. Well, I just bought Neon Bible on iTunes and I'm going to offer my first thoughts...

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February 10, 2007

Great News and a New Poll

It's almost as if today hadn't happened. I spent the whole day recovering from last night--man, I was worthless today. In any event, I'm back amongst the living now and, I suspect, will be back at 100 percent efficiency tomorrow. Which is good, because I've got an insane amount of work to do. I've gotta be better about staying in touch with my friends. Thankfully, the blogosphere has kept me in touch with some friends, and IM fills other gaps, but I've really gotta step up the phone calls. So, if you get a random phone call from me just...

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February 5, 2007

What a Disappointment

Football doesn't interest me in th least. However, I usually enjoy the Super Bowl because of--what else?--the commercials. But this year's commercials were pitiful. There weren't any so-cool-you've-gotta-talk-about-them-the-next-day commercials. And, strangly, there were a lot of really depressing commercials. For example, that commercial with the car-building robot that fucking kills itself? That was just . . . wrong! Why would the ad company spend all this time humanizing a robot, making me identify with it, only to have it jump off a bridge. And then, oh, it's ok--it was all a dream. No, that one sucked. And so did the...

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February 3, 2007

Damn Stupid Cliffhangers

The last few days have been pretty quiet. I felt pretty bad for a few days, as if I was getting sick. I still might be, I'm not feeling 100% yet. I've been almost nonstop busy, although, somehow, I'm about a hundred pages behind in classes already. I got home at about ten o'clock last night and, though I had previously said I was going to bar review, didn't. In fact, I went to bed at around eleven. And then I slept until about one o'clock this afternoon. It was awesome. I went into the office for a while today...

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January 17, 2007

Can I Create a Meme?

I figure that if some asshole can come up with the "what's on the top twenty-five most played songs on iTunes" meme, I can come up with one, too. Maybe I'll fail--who knows. My proposed meme is simple but it'll make you think, maybe. The rules are as follows: 1. In no particular order, name your top ten favorite songs--ever. 2. Justify each choice. 3. The list should be completely subjective. The point is to name the ten songs you think are best, not the best songs you think everyone else thinks are best. So, here's my list (remember, in...

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January 15, 2007

I Was Just Thinking . . .

I've got a bunch of stuff on my mind right now, so this is going to be one of those random posts. First off, I was reading Althouse today (I don't know why, it's one hell of a crappy blog), and I suddenly realized: I hate coffee shops. I don't necessarily hate the people in the coffee shop, I just hate the coffee shop itself. Althouse posted pictures of herself at one of the coffee shops here in town (she didn't say which one, although it's pretty obvious from the pictures. Still, if she doesn't want to give away which...

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December 12, 2006

Baby's Got the Bends

I don't care what anyone says. The Bends is definitely Radiohead's best album. I mean, look at the fucking track list! 1. Planet Telex. A great opener. Definitely gets the album going really well. 4/5. 2. The Bends. Good. Not great, but good. 3.5/5. 3. High & Dry. Excellent. This song used to be one of my favorite Radiohead songs. Although it's since been surpassed, it's still great. 5/5. 4. Fake Plastic Trees. Another awesome song. Since this song was on MTV after I stopped watching MTV, I wasn't burned out on it. Same with the radio. So, this song...

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December 8, 2006

Infinite Sadness

I know that December 7th is a day that will live in infamy, but the day is special for me because something positive happened that day. You see, it was ten years ago today (or yesterday, I guess) that I first saw the Smashing Pumpkins live and in concert. It was on their Infinite Sadness tour, in support of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. It was at the very height of their popularity, and it was the biggest crowd I've ever seen them play for. It was at the America West Arena in Phoenix. And it was awesome. The...

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November 6, 2006

Cause I'm a Punkrocker, Yes I Am!

I've got the song from this commercial stuck in my head: It's called "Punkrocker," and it's by a band called the Teddybears, featuring Iggy Pop. I really like the song, even though I recognize that it's not the best song. That brings me to something I've been thinking about for a long time. Why is it so hard for contemporary bands to combine excellent musicianship, melody, and loud guitars? Most current bands have, at most, two of those three. But it's not just doing it for me anymore. That brings me to something else that's been on my mind. I've...

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October 31, 2006

Maybe This Will Make Donnie Shut the Fuck Up (AKA: Another New Poll)

Gandalf by a landslide. Moving right along. At Donnie's request, I am now asking you to help decide, once and for all, which is the best Journey video. Your choices are as follows: Open Arms (Live) Faithfully Chain Reaction Why Can't This Night Go on Forever Separate Ways and Don't Stop Believin' Personally, I don't think anything can top Separate Ways. The keyboard on the wall and the drum kit made out of trash cans, in addition to the ridiculous premise (some woman walking around for no apparent reason) puts that video over the top. But, as always, you should...

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October 24, 2006

Jimmy's Love Letters

Jimmy Chamberlain, the drummer for The Smashing Pumpkins, has started posting on the band's Myspace blog.Greetings from Pumpkinland! Sorry it's taken so long to write! I'm here to tell you that great things are on track for the future. As some of you know we are indeed creating music again. Music that comes from a place so pure it will burn the lies off the very souls of those who try to discount it. We have arrived at a place in our lives where truth and honesty prevail and we are creating from that place. I will try to keep...

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October 18, 2006

Stuff That's on My Mind

I noticed something yesterday as I was walking to school. Or, rather, I didn't notice something. That's right, those fucking cows are finally gone! Happy days are here again. I honestly can't believe that they kept them out that long. That's fucking bullshit. Two days of those ugly things was way too much, in my opinion. Apparently, a Massachusetts school has banned playing tag. That's one of the stupidest fucking things I've ever heard. Tag is what kids are supposed to play - that's just what you do. The game's got everything - running, screaming, chasing, tagging! And there are...

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October 4, 2006

Brown and Nerdy

Weird Al's got a new song out called "White and Nerdy." If you haven't seen the video, you have to watch it now. It's awesome. Now that that's out of the way, here's an update on what I've been up to: I was at school all day today working on various things. I have to say - although today was a 16-hour day, I didn't mind it very much. I find most of my classes interesting. My favorite right now is probably Remedies because I want to litigate so I find the topic inherently interesting. My second favorite class is...

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September 25, 2006

Fuck You, Charlie

So, I like listening to the random music station, Charlie, on my way to school in the morning. There's something about Charlie's mix of classic rock and so-bad-it's-good 80's music that I find relaxing and non-offensive. If I listen to pretty much any other station, especially the hard-rock station, I find myself getting angrier and angrier at how much the music fucking sucks. I mean, seriously, have you heard the latest Godsmack song? It's bad. Really fucking bad. In any event, I'm listening to Charlie this morning, when the unthinkable happened. At first, I was sure I had misidentified the...

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September 24, 2006

My Foolish Ship

First and foremost, a hearty congratulations to Mr. Zachar who, in a stunning display of his trigger pulling abilities, beat 50 other competitors today and took home the Dean's Cup Texas Hold'em championship. His prize? Pride. And, together with the second-place finisher, the knowledge that he helped bring 9 additional points to the law school, increasing our lead to over 20. We're gonna fucking win this year, I can feel it. After poker, Zachar and I went over to Laurence and Cristina's, where we watched Dodgeball, which is awesome, walked to State Street, I ordered way too much Taco Bell,...

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September 16, 2006

Built to Spill

So, on Thursday night, Ryan and Elise and I went and saw the Built to Spill concert. It was awesome. The opening band, however, sucked worse than almost any other band I've ever seen. They were called Helvetia or some such shit. They were fucking worthless. Their songs didn't end, they stopped. They were half-assed. They were not dynamic or interesting. The guitarist was a one-trick pony: instead of playing a guitar solo, the guy would turn on this strange phaser/pitch shifter effect and then play a guitar. What a fucking douchebag. That's another thing, the lead singer was clearly...

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September 14, 2006

New Poll!

Given this picture: 36.36% of you guys think that number 5 is the biggest douchebag. I'd have to say that I agree. In second place was 6 with 24.24%. Number 7 was third with 15.15%. Number 8 was fourth with 9.09%. The others, while extraordinarilly douchy, were not douchy enough to overturn the extreme douchebaggery of Number 5. You know what that means - time for a new poll. This one comes as a result of my driving around Madison listening to The Lake. The other day, when "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton came on, I realized a few things....

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September 3, 2006

2006 MTV Video Music Awards (Updated!)

For some reason, I woke up yesterday and I was convinced that I was going to have a shitty day. I felt all lonely and shit. But then the universe sort of knocked me around until I realized that I have a large number of extremely high-quality friends. So I'm feeling pretty good today. What that means for you is that you get to read me ranting about something rather than wallowing in self-pity. It has come to my attention that the MTV Video Music Awards were held recently. Now, as far as I'm concerned, the single best VMA performance...

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August 23, 2006

You Suck, Modern Music

So, as I've mentioned, being at my parents' house allows me to watch TV, something I'm not normally able to do at home. Today, I accidentally stumbled onto the most horrific show I've seen in a while. It was called "Rock Star: Supernova." Let me tell you about the show. Apparently, Tommy Lee, Dave Navarro, Jason Newsted (the former bassist for Metalica and the only person with any credibility), and some other guys have started a "supergroup" called Supernova. I put supergroup in quotes because, while the band meets the technical definition of a supergroup, i.e., it consists of members...

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August 5, 2006

Not the Best Day

First and foremost, I want to congratulate someone on something. The person who is being congratulated knows who they are. My happiness for my friend notwithstanding, I'm feeling kinda shitty tonight. The worst part about it is that I can't really put my finger on why. Or maybe I can and I'm scared to admit it. The fact of the matter is that I don't know where I'm going. No, that's not true. I know exactly where I want to go, I just don't know if I can get there. The "where I want to be" part is simple: a...

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July 24, 2006

Michael Jackson Kicks Ass!

Alright. Whatever Michael Jackson may or may not have done later in his life, his music (at least his music from his time with the Jackson 5 up to and including Dangerous kicks ass). Ever since Cole, Kristin and I watched Clerks II (which was funny and did not ruin the View Askewniverse), I've had ABC by the Jackson 5 stuck in my head. It's a fucking awesome song. I downloaded it from iTunes the other day and have been listening it almost non-stop. It's a great mix of funky R&B-type stuff and pure, unadulterated 70s pop. Having started listening...

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July 19, 2006

Musical Obsessions

So, lately, I've been going through phases where i"m irrationally attached to a song for a few days/weeks at a time. Just ask anyone who had to drive around with me during the few weeks when I couldn't listen to any song other than Alice in Chains' "Rain When I Die." I burned a CD with just that song on it. It was awesome. Then, I went through a brief "River Euphrates" period. That was a rather short period, though. Now, I've moved on to two other songs. The first is "Born in the U.S.A." by Bruce Springsteen. Listen, that...

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April 9, 2006

I Wasn't Ready For the Midget

I just watched all 12 chapters of Trapped in the Closet. I don't even have anything to say. It was so bad. Something's wrong with out society. That's all i have to offer. My god. UPDATE: As if the Trapped in the Closet train wreck wasn't bad enough on its own, the CliffNotes versions (chapters 1-5, 6-12) add to the hilarity substantially. Especially look at the glossaries and the essay questions....

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March 21, 2006

Spring Break: Day Seven: Popozao and Pax Americana

DISCLAIMER: I was drunk when I wrote this. I've left all the spelling errors and stuff in for flavor. The first thing we did today was cooking burgers covertyly. The first thing Ryan saw was Russian douchebags in their thongs. Then, we decided that it was time to leave, so we went down to our parking lot. On our way down, we saw those fucking Russian douchebags in their ass-flossy-man-thongs. And the Lord said it was bad. We got down to the seXterra, and we realized that the stupid sluts from North Carolina also drove an Xterra. Ryan came up...

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February 27, 2006

I'm a Good Student, After All

YES! I am actually caught up through tomorrow in both Evidence and Professional Responsibilities. Astounding! I'm back on track. I'm not going to fail out! I fucking RULE! What's that? What about Insurance Law, you say? FUCK YOU! The point is i'm caught up in Evidence and PR, you naysaying twit. More importantly, i'm fucking going to be ready to be on call in Evidence this week. Excellent. Yes, i had to cancel working out with Laurence and Cristina, but you gotta break some eggs to make an omlette. Still, i feel bad and guilty for flaking out and not...

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February 19, 2006

Weezer . . .

You know, i have to say that i like Weezer's "Beverly Hills." The rest of the Make Believe album, however, leaves a lot to be desired. I'll briefly review the collected works of Weezer now: Weezer (Blue Album) Excellent. One of the best albums ever. To be honest, i don't know if i can separate the music from the personal emotional meaning of each of those songs. Just amazing. From start to finish, not a single song i would normally skip. From "My Name is Jonas" through "Undone (The Sweater Song)" to "Only in Dreams," the album is almost flawless....

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February 5, 2006

White Dust Woman

So, Courtney Love says she's getting better. Again. We'll see how long this lasts. For the sake of Francis Bean Cobain, i hope it really does last. Still, we've seen this before. God, Courtney Love is such a fucking loser. Her band pretty much sucked, and her biggest claim to fame is having tricked a guy who was out of his mind on heroin into marrying her. I don't personally buy into the whole Courtney killed Kurt thing, but i do buy into the whole "Courtney Love can go back to shaking her ass for money" thing. Fuck, even Kurt...

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January 3, 2006

So Ugly, I Couldn't Stop Staring

Ok. Sorry, i had to put this up. The PopoZao song was on my desktop, and i saw it, clicked on it, and i'm currently listening to it. I just can't believe how bad this song is. This might even be worse than the stupid "this shit is bananas" song by gwen stefani. At least that song has a Queen reference. This PopoZao song is just . . . i don't know how to even express in words how bad it is. And yet, i can't stop listening to it. It's like that fucking Russian girl at the bowling alley...

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January 2, 2006

"State of Fear" and Unsuckable

So, I just finished reading Michael Crichton's book, State of Fear. I bought it at LAX so that I would have something to read on the flight home from visiting the family for Christmas. I bought State of Fear even though I had just started Al Franken's new book, The Truth (With Jokes) because I was in the mood for a light-hearted romp of a book. Having read all of Dan Brown's books on my last two trips home (by the way, he's basically been writing the same book over and over again) I felt it was time to return...

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