14 minutes of fame left...

Chris, Gibby, and the back of my head are famous! Check it out.

Oh, and The Beggars are playing Friday at the Magic Stick for the tsunami benefit... The official line is...
WHIRLWIND ROCK, PART TWO: "A whirlwind of bands get together at the Magic Stick for a special fundraiser to aid the victims of the tsunami. 100% of the door will be donated to UNICEF. Whirlwind Two includes these great acts: Hentchmen, the Riots, Slumber Party, Nice Device, the Beggars, Genders, the Vamps, Bang Bang!, Light, the Blue Sunrays, New Grenada, Fifth Period Fever, Johnny Headband, the Trembling."

XOXO...

p.s. A certain Ann Arbor-dwelling lady's favorite Beggar is also in another band playing that night, Johnny Headband.

Strange things are afoot...

So I was at the more “urban” mall in my area (i.e. Fairlane) today to pick up some powder. While I was there, I made my usual detour through the ladies’ “undergarments” section and was on my way to the shoe section when a strange thing happened. I was just about turn the corner into the shoes when the song playing in the “urban” clothes section to my left caught my attention. Keep in mind when I say, “urban” clothes, I mean Baby Phat, Roca Wear, Enyce, etc. and that people who wear these clothes usually listen to more Hip Hop and R&B. So, to get to the point of all this… The song that was playing was Heavy Metal Drummer by Wilco. I’m pretty much sure that they were playing the wrong tape. It was just a weird moment. I felt like sharing.

Hugs and Kisses…

10 days until paczki

I don’t know what was up with my body, but I really wanted a doughnut yesterday. Well, not just any doughnut, but a paczki. I never crave doughnuts. I considered driving to Hamtramck after work, but the thought of getting back into my freezing car was just too terrible. At least, Paczki Day is coming up – February 8th. I’m required to eat multiple paczki that day.

Via an email from Matador – More New Pornographers this year. Carl Newman says…

"We're hard at work on our new album, which should be in the hands of Matador by mid-March, and in the hands of real people sometime in late summer. Maybe September? I don't know. If it was up to me it would come out two weeks after we finished it, but that's just not how it's done.

"We've become fascinated by the ability of the ebow and baritone guitar to sound kind
of like a cello. This fixes the problem of wanting cello, but not wanting a cello player in your band. They take up way too much room. We can also get that Creation bowed guitar sound without bowing the guitar, and looking like a guitar-bowing idiot.

Dan's been coming around alot and recording with us, more than on Electric Version, so that's cool. This album will have the Jackie sequel, "Jackie, Dressed In Cobras", for those of you that always wondered where Jackie's life took her/him. Neko's gonna come and sing, Nora's gonna come and sing, and my long lost niece is gonna come and sing with us too. Not because she's my niece, but because she's really good. I want a lot of singers. I think it will be good.

Various unintentional influences have crept into our work, some of which are quickly removed: The Moody Blues, Tubeway Army, Wings, always Wings, never The Beatles, Eno of course, you can't play ebow without sounding like Eno, Modern English, middle period post-Gabriel Genesis, The Stranglers, the vocal inflections on "Dreadlock Holiday" remain a steady influence, we're still trying to find a way to insert
some dub/white reggae in the mix, just as an intellectual exercise, to see if we can do it without being dropped from the label. I know it sounds awful but it will all work out."

There’s a lot to look forward to this year: Portishead in the studio, Sloan Greatest Hits, Doves, New Pornographers, and other things I can’t remember right now.

Hugs and Kisses... Stay warm!

She Quit Smilin'

I hate it when people say, "I could care less." Really? Because I couldn't care less that you could care less.

That out of the way, um... This weekend. The Witches are playing. Supposedly with Pas/Cal. At Small's.
I think this is the last show in the D for a while since they'll be touring the east coast with Outrageous Cherry (at least I think that's what I read).

Read anything good lately? I need to go to the library and I need suggestions.

XOXO...

Maybe you don’t care…

But you should… Some new pictures are up on the Beulah website from their 2004/2004 tour. More pictures are on the way (supposedly). I’m still waiting for the tour DVD.

Randy has given me a lot of good music lately….Lou Barlow, the Decemberists, Chemical Brothers, Matador 10th anniversary box set, and A LOT more… Despite the fact that I have all of these shiny, new things to listen to, I keep finding myself in the car with Dream Police by Cheap Trick on repeat. It has been about a week now and I still just need to listen to that song. (The dream police, they live inside of my head. The dream police, they come to me in my bed. The dream police, they’re coming to arrest me, oh noooo!). I’m a total sucker for a catchy tune. I’m sure that I look cute doing my lead singer routine in the car, too (at least it’s usually dark when I’m driving).

Speaking of Randy… I didn’t know that you were famous enough to have a band named after you... Randy Heads into Studio. You’re the coolest.

The Beggars were pretty good on Friday night… Though, I don’t think that they have ever had quite the impact that they had on me the first time that we saw them at Small’s. They seem to be still trying to find their feet (and expand their repertoire) now that Steve has joined the band. In all, it was fun. More t-shirt ideas were developed (I’m going to have to email the photographer woman to see if we can get any “pants” shots for Shay’s new shirt – though there might be some decency laws that prohibit her from wearing it), I finally got the SLB love-life lowdown, and my unwarranted spinsterhood was discussed. I’m going to have to figure out how to make t-shirts that last a little longer.

Hugs and Kisses…

Frosty grievances

So, it couldn't have snowed on a weekday so that we could stay home from work. Nope. It had to snow about 8 feet (so it was 12.2 inches - same thing) on a Saturday. I had to shovel snow 3 times. 3 times! Not right. At least Shay and I got to watch the Food channel all day. Fried chicken, sour cream mashed potatoes, and apple pie... Mmm.

It can warm up any day now... I want to go running. I want to walk outside without my fingers turning white in 2. 3 minutes... I want to wear my flip flops. Ugh.

Hugs and Eskimo Kisses...

Holy Shit! Portishead!

Portishead Come Out Of Hiding, Hit Studio
I’m sorry, but I’ve been waiting for that for a very, very, very long time. Portishead’s live CD is still, in my humble opinion, one of the best cds ever. At least once a month Glory Box spends an entire day on repeat. So, so, so excited!

I’ll calm down. Once again you might think that I’m Canadian because I seem to get all of my music news from Your Canadian Music Source and because of how much I love Sloan. Every time that I've seen them live, it has been non-stop "I love this song!!!" dancing. I'll be forever jealous that my little brother got to see them play in a classroom at MSU. I just found out that they are putting together a greatest hits cd with 2 new songs and a whole boatload of DVD material, possibly released this summer. Here's what Jay says… ”I never thought 'The First Cut Is The Deepest' and 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' were so easy to play.......OK, just kidding....it's 2 new originals…” Something to look forward to...

Ok, so I’m happy about new Sloan stuff, but Portishead… That’s AWESOME!

I’m still working on the birthday pictures. I think I just need a new home computer. I keep getting those nasty blue error screens in the middle of uploading my pictures from the camera to the computer. Ugh.

Tomorrow is Friday…

Hugs and Kisses…

Another year younger…

Despite the fact that I’ve been really sick since Saturday (last week’s cold kicked into high gear), I had an awesome birthday celebration on Friday night. Thanks for coming out! I think the funniest part of the evening was at dinner when my mom called Wade to find out why he was standing me up on my birthday… “Hi Wade. This is Mary Ann, mother of Kathy and Chris, friend of Shay…". We should have brought my mom out to the bar. I promise to send pictures as soon as I can picture out how to get them all from my camera to my computer. Thus far, I’ve only been able to get pictures of Matty at Sausagefest 2004 and one extreme close-up of Wade that Chris took on Friday night. There are a lot of pictures of Shay’s cleavage and a lot of self-portraits taken by Chris. I’m going to have to read the directions for my camera. Oh, and I’m going to have to wait to use the Poodle Magnet Craft Kit that Shay gave me because the directions clearly state ”Be sure to have adult supervision if using a hot glue gun for this craft.” I’m certainly not old enough. Shay, maybe since you’re 35, you could help me???

Hugs and Kisses…

Happy Birthday to Me

I’m going to start lying about my age at the gym… I hate it when people next to me can see how freakin’ O-L-D I am when I enter my info. on a machine. In reality they probably don’t care, but you know how paranoid us old people can be. And, no Shay, I’m not 34 yet. How did it feel when you turned 35 this year?

Paranoia aside, ever since NYE, I’ve been on a huge Flaming Lips kick… Have you heard their cover of Seven Nation Army (more info)? They’re going to release it as a single... Gloriousnoise has a link so that you can stream it.

Hugs and Kisses...

In case you were wondering, I'm sick of winter already

Ok, while I’m still terribly disappointed that someone screwed up and advertised the extraordinary double bill of The Beggars and Troy Gregory and The Stepsisters on January 14 when the show is actually on the 21st, I’ll survive thanks to everyone who has promised to come out on the 14th for my birthday… Though, seeing The Beggars and Troy Gregory would have been an awesome birthday gift. I’m also pretty much sure that we won’t be taking Ross up on his suggestion of celebrating at Dom Polski with a muskrat dinner, but I appreciate the suggestion from my favorite brother. Maybe next year…

I know that Canadians are very proud of their country and I know that this is for an excellent cause, but I’m just not sure how Sloan (as a band that definitely does not suck) fits into the following:
CBC Tap Sloan, Rush And Celine Dion For Tsunami Special

Ooh, ooh, ooh, and in some very exciting news (to me, at least), New Order will release a new album this year… The U.S. release date is TBD, but the album, entitled Waiting for the Sirens’ Call, is “tipped to be a return to the bands dance pop roots.” I can’t wait… Plus, there is and Ian Curtis biopic in the works. I wonder who they’ll get to play him?

Hugs and Kisses…

Don't Fear The Reaper

So I spent NYE in the 24th row of the Wilco, Flaming Lips, Sleater Kinney show at Madison Square Garden... It was Fan-Freakin-Tastic. Best New Year's Eve EVER. Period. Here's the recap:

Sleater Kinney started the night out kind of slow. Carrie, Corin, and Janet only played songs from their upcoming album (May 2005?) and so I wasn't able to sing along to anything. The ladies were in a great mood, too; unlike when they played Detroit in 2003 when Carrie chastised us for not being a good crowd. Despite the fact that I didn't know any of the songs, they totally rocked out. It sounds like it is going to be another strong album.

In contrast, The Flaming Lips brought the party. There were the standard animal costumes, fake blood, and mostly naked dancers, but they really stepped it up by starting with Race for The Prize and launching a ton of giant balloons into the crowd for everyone to bat around. (Have they done that before?) I've been trying to find pictures so that I could show you just how cool it looked to see Madison Square Garden filled with these massive balloons and 11,000+ people laughing and knocking the balloons around. So much fun. Corin Tucker (Sleater Kinney) came out to duet in War Pigs. Later they led sing-a-longs to Yoshimi and She Don't Use Jelly. The only person who didn't seem to enjoy it was the crabby, white turtleneck/ tan leather jacket wearing, bald man next to me who kept yelling "Wilco" before finally just sitting down - I almost gave him ten bucks to go get a beer so that maybe he'd lighten up. That was the first time I've seen The Flaming Lips live and I must see them again. I don't know how to describe their performance, other than to say it was joyful.

...Last up was Wilco. Tweedy came out in his pajamas and started out quietly with Less Than You Think and then progressed into a few songs off of A Ghost Is Born. Their performance gained more and more and more momentum as it went along to the point where, at midnight everyone just went totally ape-shit (the only way to describe it) when they did covers of Judas Priest's Living After Midnight, The Captain and Tennille's Love Will Keep Us Together , Blue Oyster Cult's Don't Fear the Reaper, and some others that I can't remember who sang them (Randy Newman?). There was even a Flying-V on the stage at one point during the covers. Tweedy joked about paying $50 to see a bar band. Oh, and we even sang Happy Birthday to Glenn Kotche. Wilco played straight through until they were required to get off the stage because Tweedy said that he didn't want to waste our time with leaving and coming back for encores... He knew that we loved them. True, true, true. I don't think that I have ever screamed so much during a show. I love Wilco. Oh, and I think that the set list is as follows:
1. Less Than You Think
2. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
3. Hummingbird
4. Handshake Drugs
5. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
6. A Shot In The Arm
7. At Least That's What You Said
8. Jesus, Etc.
9. Theologians
10. Poor Places
11. 12 midnight countdown and balloon drop and Auld Lang Syne and Happy Birthday
12. Livin' After Midnight
13. Love Will Keep Us Together
14. Political Science
15. I Shall Be Released
16. Something In The Air
17. Heavy Metal Drummer
18. Kingpin
19. I'm The Man Who Loves You
20. The Late Greats
21. I'm A Wheel
22. Don't Fear The Reaper
23. Gut Feeling
24. Comment
Definitely one of my top five favorite shows of all time...

The rest of the weekend was awesome. We just walked around a lot. The second best part of the trip (after Wilco) was that I took the advice of the DJ in the Michael K store in Soho, who implored us to "get your shop on;" I came out of there with a brand new pair of purple Pumas. Yeah!

I hope that you had a great NYE and that you have a great 2005!

Hugs and Kisses...