Upcoming Shows

I figured, since I don't have a lot to write about right now, I'll put up a list of upcoming shows that are of interest to me, and hopefully to all of you. All of these shows currently have tickets available and are on sale right now, unless they don't have a price next to them, in which case tickets haven't gone on sale yet.

Thievery Corporation – Saturday, July 30th, 930 Club SOLD OUT
Elvis Costello – Sunday, July 31st, Wolftrap, seats - $42, lawn - $25
Ben Folds (w/Rufus Wainwright) – Wednesday, August 3rd, Wolftrap, seats - $36, lawn - $25
Brian Jonestown Massacre (as featured in the film, DiG) - Thursday, August 4th, DC9, $10
The Doors of the 21st Century – Tuesday, August 9th, 930 Club, $55
Brian Wilson – Wednesday, August 10th, Wolftrap, seats - $38, lawn - $25
New York Dolls – Wednesday, August 10th, 930 Club, $35
Shout Out Louds – Wednesday, August 10th, Sonar (Baltimore), $10
Devo – Sunday, August 14th, 930 Club, $55
Of Montreal - Thursday, August 25th, The Ottobar (Baltimore), $10
Rilo Kiley - Thursday, September 8th, Sonar (Baltimore), $15
The Wrens – Friday, September 9th, Black Cat, $12
Sigur Ros – Sunday, September 11th, Strathmore Music Center, $40
Idlewild – Sunday, September 11th, Black Cat, $13
13 & God (The Notwist and Themselves) – Wednesday, September 21st, Black Cat, $13
Q and not U – Thursday, September 22nd and Friday, September 23rd, Black Cat, $10
The White Stripes (w/The Shins) – Tuesday, September 27th, Merriweather Post, seats - $40, lawn - $25
Sufjan Stevens – Tuesday, September 27th, 930 Club, $15
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – Wednesday, September 28th, 930 Club
Oasis – Thursday, September 29th, Merriweather Post, only lawn available - $25
Coldplay (w/Rilo Kiley) – Friday, September 30th, Nissan Pavilion, seats - $46, lawn - $31
Electric Six – Saturday, October 1st, Black Cat, $12
Decemberists – Sunday, October 2nd, 930 Club
Nada Surf – Tuesday, October 4th, Black Cat, $13
The New Pornographers – Saturday, October 15th, 930 Club
Nine Inch Nails (w/Queens of the Stone Age) – Wednesday, November 2nd, MCI Center, $45

I currently have tickets to Sigur Ros, The White Stripes, Oasis and Coldplay, so I will see you there, and I will almost definitely be going to The Decemberists and New Pornographers when they go on sale. Unfortunately, this means I will have to miss both Idlewild (who I've never seen) and Sufjan Stevens (who I saw last winter). I'm especially upset about Sufjan playing the same day as The White Stripes, but the fact that The Shins are opening was too much to pass up, plus M Ward is playing with them as a nice little bonus.

Important Music?

Music criticism is a strange game. According to critics, there is a canon of albums out there that are widely considered to be "classic," though how this list was determined, I'm not sure. The impression I'm starting to get, however, is that if you don't like every single one of the albums on this list, then you are not allowed into the vaunted hall of music critics and therefore have no credibility when discussing music. Now I'm a music elitist, don't get me wrong, I will judge people based solely on their musical taste, but I am not about to tell someone that their opinion of the new Coldplay album doesn't mean anything because they don't think that The Beatles' Revolver is the greatest album of all time (which it quite possibly is). But this whole concept worries me because there are a number of bands and albums that are on this list that I don't like, and it's not for lack of effort, mind you, but I'm a little scared that my lack of interest in the following bands may keep me from ever being a viable rock critic.

The Rolling Stones - Okay, okay, let the boos come, I'll wait a second for them to stop. Alright, I don't dislike The Rolling Stones, and I'd even go as far as to say I really enjoy songs like "Painted Black" and "Ruby Tuesday," but for whatever reason, I can't sit down and listen to more than a couple Stones' songs at a time. My dad didn't listen to them much when I was growing up, so I don't have that association with childhood that I do with so many other musicians of that era (The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Simon and Garfunkel, The Doors, Bob Dylan, etc. . .), so I'm assuming that's part of it. But I think it all may have something to do with the fact that their songs are rooted in blues, which for whatever reason runs thin very quickly with me. I can listen to one blues song and love it, but the fifth one feels like is like that fifth slice of pizza, it doesn't go down as smoothly as the first four, and things go progressively downhill from there, and this also might have a hand in why I can't get into. . .

Led Zeppelin - Yes, IV is a great album, and I own it, but as I've been told by many a Zeppelin lover, there is a problem when your favorite Zep song is "D'yer Mak'er" as it is rooted in reggae when almost every other one of their songs is rooted in blues. The combination of the blues and crunchy, early heavy metal guitars just doesn't do it for me. I truly appreciate this band, but there's a difference between appreciation of a band and liking a band, namely that I don't ever want to listen to them, but I will discuss their originality and talent.

Can - Now, these guys aren't as widely hailed as Zeppelin or the Stones, and I won't get nearly as much shit for disliking them, but they are being praised all over the indie press these days for their unique sound. And I will admit, they are unique, but their songs remind of fingernails on a chalkboard and each one lasts about 10 minutes and makes me want to set off a firecracker inside my ear drum to make the noise stop. They've also been rather influential to a bunch of other bands that critics love and I don't, like Public Image Ltd. and The Fall. I've recently become convinced that Can knew exactly what they were doing and made strange, inaccessible music for critics to praise and no one else in their right minds to understand and now they just sit back and laugh at all the love they get from critics. I think this because they're German, and Germans are weird and would do something like that just for fun.

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation is widely considered to be one of, if not THE, best albums of the last twenty years by the current group of 20 something rock critics. I think I'm missing something here. "Teen Age Riot" is a fantastic song, and a great way to start off an album, but, um, something is kinda missing on the rest of the album, one word, MELODY. I don't get it, they start off the album with a great pop song, and then dive into 65 minutes of abrasive guitars, long jams and very few choruses. I've tried many times to make it all the way through this album, and I think I have, though never in one sitting, and every time I half expect to come out of it thinking, "Hey, I got it this time, that album was awesome!" but instead I usually stop after a few songs and NEED to listen to The Smiths, and I mean need, like humans need water to live.

(This post was inspired by a section of Chuck Klosterman's book, Killing Yourself to Live, go buy it now, it is fantastic.)

Who Gives a Shit About Babyshambles?

I'm going to go off on a bit of a rant here, so I am warning you all ahead of time. As an avid music fan, I tend to surf the mainstream music websites for music news as they are usually the first onto the scene. I've been hitting up nme.com lately because they cover the British bands a bit more heavily and also because they update earlier in the day than rollingstone.com or spin.com, but I'm starting to get fed up. I swear to fucking God, every day I go to their website, there is a story about Pete Doherty, formerly of The Libertines and currently lead singer of the band Babyshambles.

For those of you who don't know, Pete Doherty developed a heavy heroin addiction as The Libertines fame grew. While The Libertines were touring for their first album, Up the Ladder, he was holed up in rehab in London, from which he ran away to rob fellow bandmate Carl Barat's apartment to get money for drugs. Amazingly enough, he was not kicked out of the band, and he managed to sober up enough to record a second album which contained one of the best songs of 2004, "Can't Stand Me Now," which fittingly summed up the contentious relationship between Doherty and Barat to a t. His drug problem relapsed during some early touring, and the band again sent him to rehab, this time to a Buddhist-kinda place in Asia, but again, Doherty ran away, and Barat was forced to kick him out of the band, which inevitably led to the end of The Libertines.

Aren't you sick of this guy yet? Do you really care what happens to him now? Well apparently the lovely people of England aren't, because he won't fucking go away! So late last year, Doherty started up a new band called Babyshambles where he's in charge and no one can put him in his place. (if I were in this band, I would beat the shit out of him every single day, swear to God!) They released two singles, and have developed a reputation for showing up extremely late to their shows or sometimes not showing up at all. Pete's been arrested for robbery and blackmail (charges which were later dropped), and recently jumped on stage at another band's London show and destroyed equipment for no reason. They were booted from Oasis' tour for bailing on a performance a couple of days ago. But seriously, who the fuck cares?!?!?! The Libertines were an average band with a couple of good songs who were touted as the second coming of Jesus by the British press, and undeservedly so. Babyshambles music is shite, there's not better way to describe it, and yet somehow Pete Doherty is dating supermodel Kate Moss and his band gets more press than the rest of the bands in England combined. This guy is a fuck-up and a loser who makes sub par music and yet is praised for it day in and day out. Could this please stop? Would somebody please kick Pete Doherty to the curb? Or maybe just shoot him in fucking head and end all this? There are a lot of other new bands I'd like to hear about, and if I never heard the word Babyshambles again, my life would be the better for it.

Bands Reunited

First off, I'm going to try to update this blog more often from here on out, hopefully twice a week at minimum.

On a completely unrelated note, I was hanging out at home on Saturday afternoon, flipping through the channels when I came across MTV/VH1's coverage of Live 8, which was actually quite good and non-MTVish. (By the way, I in no way advocate watching MTV except for Subterranean on MTV2, and okay, maybe the Real World: Austin, and damn, alright Laguna Beach is addictive as hell, but that is it, nothing else on MTV is worth watching). They were showing a couple songs from whatever band was on at the time, The Who, Stevie Wonder, Destiny's Child (I thought they broke up, but oh well), but one performance really caught my attention and almost brought me to tears. I had changed channels, and I flipped back to hear "Breathe" by one of my all-time favorite bands, Pink Floyd who were playing together with Roger Waters for the first time in over 20 years. They continued on to play "Money" and "Comfortably Numb" before Roger Waters addressed the crowd, saying how happy he was to be up there with the band again after all this time, and damn, he looked genuinely happy to be there. They then launched into a heartwrenching rendition of "Wish You Were Here," which got me all choked up and brought me back to being 17 all over again. I loved this music in high school, but I think I respect on a different level these days, it truly is timeless.

So with Pink Floyd apparently back together, hopefully long enough to tour the US, it got me thinking about what bands I'd like to see reunite that could feasibly do it (ie not have any key members who are no longer living like The Beatles or The Doors). After all, reunions are the new hotness, with Gang of Four, the Pixies and others reuniting after decades apart. Even the Smashing Pumpkins, who haven't been broken up 5 years are talking about getting back together, not that I'm complaining. Here are my top 5 bands that I would love to see live if they reunited, some of which I would give body parts to see.

1) The Smiths - Honestly it would just have to be Morrissey and Johnny Marr for me to be truly happy. Andy Rourke was an excellent bassist, but he's been quoted saying that he'll never play with Morrissey again, so I'm not sure we can expect him back. Still, seeing Morrissey, Marr and Mike Joyce on stage together playing Smiths's songs for 2 hours would be a mindblowing experience.

2) Pink Floyd - I've said pretty much everything I need to say up above, but until I hear otherwise, their Live 8 performance was just a one-time deal. Please Roger, Richard, David and Nick, listen up, tour the US, and more importantly come to DC, though I'll travel if I must.

3) Talking Heads - It's been 14 years since they disbanded, but their music is more relevant now than it's been since the early 80s. David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth are all still very much involved with music so it's not out of the realm of possibility. I feel like there still may be some animosity between the other band members and David Byrne, but come on guys, it's been a long time, bury the hatchet and entertain me.

4) Smashing Pumpkins - This one is not as dire as the top 3, as I saw them on the Mellon Collie tour back in 1996, but I would cough up a lot of money to see them again. Billy has said that a reunion is in the works, but he's crazy so I'll believe that when I see it. Plus, what does a reunion of the Pumpkins mean? Is it just he and Jimmy Chamberlin, or is it the whole band? Personally, I think I could settle for Billy and Jimmy playing Pumpkins songs, but I'd like to see D'Arcy and Iha join the fray as well.

5) The Verve - In the summer of 1998 The Verve came to Denver with opening act Massive Attack. At that point in time, The Verve were just the "Bittersweet Symphony" band to me, and I had no idea who Massive Attack were. Not a day goes by where I don't regret missing that show because The Verve broke up less than a year later and I don't think Massive Attack has played in the US since. This reunion makes total sense as Richard Ashcroft hasn't even come close to the success that the Verve had, and he needs Nick McCabe's guitar playing and songwriting. C'mon guys, Brit-rock is back, the time is now.