Why me????

What is it about me that people at work constantly feel the need to tell me about their bodily functions, trips to the proctologist, random infections, etc.??? Ick. Yuck. Eewe. Shudder. They usually catch me off guard and so I don't know how to react to the information that they are sharing - I usually just end up giggling nervously and hoping that my phone will ring. It just happened again... A woman just told me that her hair has been frizzy lately and so, per her crazy (really) sister's suggestion, she used "Coochie Cream" obtained at a "Pleasure Party" in her hair this morning. I guess the back of the bottle says that it is a good conditioner. Huh. What is the proper response when someone tells you that??? Why would someone tell you that? Help me.

Anyway, here's where you should be this Saturday....

The Beggars
Honor
The Honorable Mentions

with acoustic set by Jesse Kresnak

Saturday, September 25, 2004 at 9:30 pm

Whiskey in the Jar, Hamtramck.

This is The Honorable Mentions last show ever. Per Miss Julie: "Go down in history! Witness the SMELLIEST and WORST TRAINED musicians ever brought together!" Plus, you get to see The Beggars!
How can you say no? Be There.


Hugs and Kisses...

I'm all for cloning, if we can use it on Ewan McGregor

Starting October 28, 2004, don’t call me on Thursdays between 10 and 11 pm. I’ll be watching… Long Way Round (scroll down a bit on the Bravo page...)

“Actors and friends Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman will star in and co-produce this new Bravo series chronicling their four-month transcontinental journey by motorcycle..."

Ooh, and here’s a little more info…

Why is he married? Why can’t we clone him and bring him to me in Detroit??? <--That would be at the top of my Christmas wish list.

If you can tear yourself away from the picture of Ewan looking all cute and scraggly on the Bravo page, scroll up and you’ll see that Bobby Brown is also getting his own show, Being Bobby Brown. They’re going to “demystify Brown's relationships with Houston….” Huh...

Hugs and Kisses...

You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby…

It looks like some Morrissey fans may sue KROQ out in L.A. for not telling them early enough that their hero wouldn’t be playing at the KROQ Inland Invasion.
Via Aversion.com ...
Doesn’t this seem rather aggressive for Morrissey fans? Shouldn’t they just be sitting in their rooms, being sad, and wearing black on the outside because that’s how they feel on the inside? I kid... because I love (or something like that).

Anyway, since I wish I lived in London… Here's some information gleaned from NME this morning…

1) Interpol are opening an art gallery. (cllck here)

2) The Pixies are reissuing Come On Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa, and Doolittle on vinyl… (cllck here)

And, saving the best for last...
3) There is going to be a Wham! musical! Yes! (cllck here)

Hugs and kisses...

LLGD

I overslept by THREE HOURS this morning so I am stuck working late. A little tip: It helps to actually set the alarm on Sunday night after you change the wake-up time....

While I’m staying late, I’ve been listening to the latest from Greg Dulli’s Twilight Singers, She Loves You. So here’s my little review (bear in mind the fact that I’m and engineer and not an fancy-shmancy reviewer for a snobby indie-rock magazine. I have a large vocabulary but it is filled with technical terms -There aren’t a lot of flowery, descriptive words in my repertoire. I’m going to try really hard not to use the Really System (TM) to rate the album…). If you require a proper review, look here.

Anyway, let it be known that I think that Greg Dulli can make just about anything sound sexy. He could sing the nutritional information on a can of Diet Coke and I’d be swooning. I’ve always said, LLGD*. Not that these songs are “just about anything.” He covers Martina Topley-Bird, Mary J., Marvin Gaye, Billie Holiday… But, if I didn’t know better, I’d think that these were all his original songs. Especially, Feeling of Gaze and Black is the Color of my True Loves Hair - I can’t even imagine that someone else could better perform these songs. Maybe they do, but I’m hooked on what Dulli has done with them. Throughout the album, he injects his patented dose of love, lust, sex, sin, and desire. …Makes you think of those steamy, stormy relationships that are bad for you, but which you can’t give up. The only fault I can find (I know I’ll be showing my age by making this comparison) is that I like Siouxsie and the Banshees cover of Strange Fruit better… Her version has a ghostly, sinister quality to it that Dulli’s version lacks. I can’t listen to his version without hearing how Siouxsie sang it over the top. In Dulli’s defense, his take on the song relies more on emotion and anger than on an eerie, third person view of the scene. While I’ve never heard Billie Holliday’s original version, I can only imagine that it surpasses both of these attempts. Regardless, I’m going to be listening to this cd for quite some time... Greg Dulli has, once again, made an album that makes me want to put on a little black dress and some heels…

(*Ladies Love Greg Dulli)

Right now I’m kicking myself for over-napping and missing their show at the Magic Stick last year.

20 days until WILCO!

The "Really System"

The Really System TM for Album Reviewing:

“I really, really, really liked it” (3 Really’s): Holy Cow!… This is awesome! I’m going to buy everyone I know a copy of this and make them love it! I’m going to use a lot of exclamation points!!!!!!! I may never stop listening to this!

"I really, really liked it" (2 Really’s): This is an amazing album. I may not quit my job and follow the band around, but I’m going to be singing along in my car for months.

"I really liked it" (1 Really): You should pick this up when you have a chance.

"Yeah, it was ok" (0 Really’s): That was listenable, but I’m not sure I’ll be buying anything else by him/her/them.

"My God, that’s awful" (Negative Really's): …enough said.

Hugs and Kisses...

I need a caffeine IV

Since I'm so tired this morning that I'm thinking of eating coffee straight from the can, here's some random music news.

Speaking of lalas and handclaps...
Sloan will be playing the Austin City Limits TODAY (9/17). If you are like me and love Sloan, but are nowhere near Austin today, you can still listen to the webcast via the Yahoo website (Yahoo is broadcasting selected bits from the whole festival). Sloan will be on between 4:00 and 5:00pm central time. More details...

Strokes Kill Live Record
"Remember that hype about an upcoming Strokes live album? Well, it apparently sucked, so the band put it on ice." Nice.

This one should be interesting... Dre Collaborates with Bacharach
Do you think Dre's peeps are gonna buy it? I'm not so sure.

This one goes out to Shay...
"Pinback will release their third full-length album October 12 on Touch and Go; the album, titled Summer in Abaddon, will be the band’s first album on the label. The band also expects to have an EP ready for sale on their upcoming album-support tour. They'll also be at the blind pig in Ann Arbor on 11/3/04." (Via 30music.com)
One of these days I'm going to have to get around to listening to them.

Hugs and Kisses...

I miss Chicago, but I don't miss the road rage...

Remember how I said that I loved the English Beat, Dave Wakeling, etc…? No? Well, anyway, General Public is going to be at the Abbey Pub in Chicago on 9/25 and at the Nike Run Hit Wonder 5K/10K race in Grant Park on 9/23! Looks like even though VH1 couldn’t get the English Beat to reunite, Dave and Roger were able to kiss and make up. Alas, Detroit isn’t on the list for the tour or the Nike Race. What a fun race to run, too… Grant Park, General Public, Devo, Tone Loc!?, and more.

Right now, I wish I still lived in Chicago...

This is wrong...

We have a guy at work who only does his laundry every two to three MONTHS.
I’m dead serious… Don’t think about the details of that too hard, you’ll just get really grossed out. Needless to say, he’s old and single and used to live with his bird, until it flew away. We got into another argument today about why the laundry thing is just wrong – He just doesn’t understand why you’d need to do it more often…

Anyway, summer is over and I need to move into my “fall” cds…. Alas, I can’t seem to give up on my summer romance with A.C. Newman’s, The Slow Wonder. Sigh…

p.s. The Beggars were fabulous on Friday. Though, we’re now officially “superfans” (or stalkers – it’s such a fine line) thanks to one homemade Beggars T-shirt. You missed out!
p.p.s. The sound at The Belmont stinks.

I promise to always use bigger font in the future.

If I were to say to you, can you keep a secret? Would you know just what to do or where to keep it?

Damn that VH1.

They keep sucking me into watching their reality shows… First it was Bands on the Run where I was captivated (really) by the saga of four crappy bands (Flickerstick, Harlow, the Josh Dodes Band, and Soulcracker) traveling and playing shows all over the country in order to try to win some kind of prize. Then it was, inexplicably, Tough Enough. You know, the one that was like boot camp for people whose dream it was to become professional wrestlers – I have no idea why I had to watch this every week as I have no interest in professional wrestling beyond the fact that I think it was “kitschy-cool” that, when we were much younger, my brother had The Wrestling Album with Land of a Thousand Dances sung by various wrestlers and Grab Them Cakes sung by Junkyard Dogs(!) (check it out).

The latest show is Bands Reunited… This one tries to get bands to come together for a reunion and a one off show. Oh, the drama of it all – Will Aamer be able to pull it off? Sometimes he is successful, sometimes he isn’t, and sometimes he’s kinda successful. This week I’ve watched Haircut 100 become a Band Reunited, half of ABC reunite and play a show (their drummer is hot), and, sadly, had to watch the unsuccessful attempts at reuniting all 6 original member English Beat**. While I’m not sure why I had to watch Bands on the Run and Tough Enough, Bands Reunited is pretty freakin’ cool. Almost all of the bands had some awesome songs (NKOTB excluded). Don’t even try to tell me that you don’t like Poison Arrow by ABC… I’m hooked. Damn that VH1 for making me watch TV.

Enough of my babbling for one morning… Go see The Beggars at The Belmont in Hamtramck tonight!

Hugs and Kisses!

** Say what you will, but I have to profess my enduring love for the English Beat. They have been rotation in my cd (or cassette) player since I was in junior high). I saw Dave Wakeling play a few times when I lived in Orange County (he lives out there now) and he was fan-freakin-tastic…

"Because all you need is a pretty song..."*

So I am trying to figure out the best way to do this... Being that I have no short term memory and I always remember concerts that I wanted to go to after they've happened and that I’m always bothering people about concerts and that I like run-on sentences, I'm going to keep a running list of concerts I'd like to go to, in the hopes that I’ll remember that I want to go to them and someone might like some of these bands and want to go with me. I'll probably post other random crap here, too. Really, this is just my lame way of advertising I am a nerd. I’ll also leave this open for suggestions and additions to the list so that you guys can be nerds via me! Let me know if I am missing something.

And now...

The First Set of Shows!

1. The Beggars - Belmont, 9/10 (Because Ms. S needs to wear her new shirt.)
2. The Sunshine Fix (opening for Saturday Looks Good To Me) - Blind Pig, 9/17
3. The High Water Marks - Lager House, 9/24 (Hilary Sidney's (of the Apples in Stereo) new band)
4. The Honorable Mentions w/ THE BEGGARS - Whiskey in the Jar, 9/25
5. The Trashcan Sinatras - Magic Stick, 9/26 (I used to have their 1st cd. I kinda liked a few songs on it... There are a few songs that I'd like to hear.)
6. The Dirtbombs - Magic Stick, 9/29
7. The Faint - Majestic, 10/9
8. WILCO - Hill Auditorium, 10/10
9. The Libertines - Magic Stick, 10/10 (Thanks to Kim and her wonderful husband, I’ll be at Wilco…)
10. Interpol – State Theatre, 10/15
11. PJ Harvey - State Theatre, 10/14
12. Death Cab For Cutie – Clutch Cargos, 10/17
13. Morrissey – State Theatre, 10/17
14. Blues Explosion - Saint Andrews, 11/6
15. Mates of State w/ Pas/Cal - Magic Stick, 11/12 (I want to see if one of the Mates finally shoots an eyeball or something across the room. They do some pretty intense “singing” during their shows. But, I've only seen them once - Maybe they have worked with a voice coach or something in the meantime and have learned some vocal techniques that will help them so that they don’t seem like they are going to hurt themselves.).
16. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Magic Stick, 11/19
17. The Pixies - 11/18 and 11/20 (I'm going to one of these, but I'm not sure which one.)

Please note that red denotes the “HOLY CRAP! I must go to this!” category and so a few people will definitely be hearing from me about going (You know who you are and I apologize in advance)....

Hugs and Kisses,

KJ

*I still love Beulah...