Charlie Brown...

"...searches for the true meaning of the holidays when he finds himself surrounded by crass commercialism."

So says my digital cable box. Awesome.

Mutant Pop Fest '99

One of the best shows I have ever played or watched. Someone mentioned this show today...I had almost forgotten how amazing it was.

Here was this completly random assemblage of people, brought together only by a shared love for underground pop music. Anyone in attendance, band member or fan, was the kind of person that lived not with music, but for it. You couldn't help but get caught up in the spirit of things; there was this incredible, immediate connection between everyone there. This happened not gradually but instantaneously; the moment you arrived at the show, you were one of us, one of the few people who "got it". The bands were all great, and through it all, there was this awesome kinship and a collective disdain for everyone who wasn't us. This is precisely the sort of scene love I've railed against in this very blog...but it was great.

If you were at Bernie's in Columbus, OH in October of 1999, you know. You get it.

Back then, we were still in our drunken sloppy poppy phase. We released 7" records (already a dying format), and played (under the influence of PBR, usually) primarily punk rock shows.

I can't even listen to that stuff anymore. Once your band gets better, you want more...or, at the very least, you want more people to hear it. It's hard to retain that we-suck-so-what-fuck-you punk rock ethos when you don't actually suck...

But it's precisely that mindset makes music fun. Our band got a LOT better, but I don't know if I ever had more fun playing music than I did that night.

Straight outta De-troit

Detroit has reclaimed the #1 spot as America's most dangerous city:

http://www.cqpress.com/docs/City%201%20-%20Top%20and%20Bottom%2025_14E.pdf

That puts the Motor City well ahead of Compton (#14)...

Bitches.

Elegy

You always kept me moving
allowing me to go
to leave
to escape
not to any particular place, necessarily
Just to traverse, to be in transition
in between one place and another

It wasn't so much the leaving
well, it was, in a way
but definitely not the arriving
so much as the going
somewhere...anywhere
Not the road less traveled
or oft traveled
but any road
where there was rarely a way out
but always a way

Remembering your unremarkable appearance
your indifferent black exterior
You weren't into looks
colors, textures, and shapes were incidental

Songs we heard
the soundtrack to my aimless peregrinations
the chorus to "Here Comes a Regular"
that still reminds me of you

Not a person
you were too reliable for that
serving a singular purpose
better than any human could

You didn't give me answers
but you were always there
to move me
when I needed to be moved

Weakerthans

Amazing live band with an unparalleled dynamic range. I forgot just how loud and rocking this band could be in a live setting. With three guitars, the loud stuff was really loud, a wall of distorted (yet melodic) intensity, awash in feedback - a boisterous reminder of Samson's punk rock roots. I've seen them play "Aside" numerous times, but never quite like this; they literally tore up the stage.

And yet those exquisite little finger-picked ballads were as gorgeous as ever. Samson isn't afraid of his own meek, plainspoken delivery. He isn't stretching or yearning, just providing an unequivocally human voice for his remarkable lyrical acuity. I've made it clear before that I'm not necessarily a lyrics guy, but this band is the complete package. Great, great show.

As was the case three years ago, the first encore was "One Great City"...but it didn't depress me this time.