Thursday, December 16, 2004 at 14:45:11 (EST)
death to the Pixies Yay, I'm back! My cold is mostly gone and I saw two kick-ass shows last night. The Pixies were as good as their word, they sounded great and Joey Santiago especially distinguished himself with some nice bits of guitar frenzy (through his JCM900s of course). As usual, the trappings of the Big Venue Show were present and annoying: cavernous space, tons of dopey people, pointless light show, bouncer scanning the crowd for smokers. I suppose if I can stay away from such places except in the case of some act I absolutely must see no matter what, I'll be okay. somebody asked me which band might reasonably play the Hammerstein for me to return. I guess maybe Public Enemy would fit that bill, but I dunno. Thank god Shellac isn't all that popular. Then it was down to Rothko for MMR and Turing Machine. I totally forgot the guitarist in Turing Machine used to be in Pitchblende. I saw them when I was a first-year college student. It was part of a series of shows one enterprising youngster from the college radio station had managed to secure. Along with Pitchblende I got to see Victim's Family, The Nation of Ulysses, and Alice Donut, among other seminal acts. All the shows were held in an auxiliary space under the dining hall. Fluorescent lights, no alcohol, no smoking! Last night's show was perhaps not as influential to me, but that guy can really play the hell out of a guitar and a couple of delay pedals. So my dad decided he wants to go to some Italian restaurant way on the Upper East Side. I guess it's good for me to go up there occasionally to remind myself it still exists, and no, I still wouldn't want to live there. And for those of you who are annoyed that my blog isn't topical enough, what's up with the Lubavitcher Jews beating each other up over this guy who some of them think is the Messiah? And I had been thinking the Lubavitchers were the more sensible branch of Hasidim! Posted By Jimmy Legs | Non-PermaLink
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	Wednesday, December 15, 2004 at 13:34:21 (EST)
She always hated his hacking cough early in the morning The problem with working from home all the time and then getting sick is, I can't take the day off. I mean, if I was super sick, like all delusional and wobbly, then yes, I suppose I could justify not doing my dumb job. But most illnesses are not that invasive; you stay home so you don't get anybody else sick. I know, cry me a river. So I've been sick and I'm already home. But I keep missing fun stuff to do because of it. I have not spent any significant time outside of my own house since Friday. I've been talking to to the cats more than people. The cats appear to be avoiding my company now. Hmm. Anyway that's all over tonight. I caught the Pixies on David Letterman last night, it was pretty cool, although they sounded a little out of tune. Does anybody know what kind of amps Joey Santiago (ooh look at this) and Black Francis play through? I couldn't quite make it out on the show, but they're definitely Marshalls, and they may very well be JCM 900's, the same model that Motico uses. Could this have been yet another unconscious influence of the Pixies on modern rock? If it means we can start saying we sound like the Pixies, why not? Then again, can you think of any indie-rock type band these days that doesn't get compared to the Pixies? Posted By Jimmy Legs | Non-PermaLink
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	Tuesday, December 14, 2004 at 14:17:20 (EST)
I wanna be with you in the night time So the weekend left me a little ill. Not a heavy duty flu, just an annoying cough and congestion sort of thing. It was enough to put me out of commission yesterday, effectively missing Heather's actual birthday. But Heather and Josh made me feel part of the drunken action by sending me a barrage of text messages. It was a little like having a party by conference call. But in a good way. I spent some time scanning the upcoming band listings and it's driving me crazy, there's way too much good stuff happening this week, I can't decide what to go to, assuming I get well enough to leave the house at all. the shortlist: WYSIWYG Talent Show: TONIGHT. It's all musicians this time (hmmm, but where is Jimmy Legs?), so you know it will kick ass. Is there anything better than musical bloggers? Or I guess it's more appropriate to say "musicians who happen to blog." Rye Coalition is playing at the Delancey tonight for free, with The Brazillian Girls, and then a ton of celebrity DJs, including people from The Rapture and LeTigre, and also DJ Mojo (!), with video work by recently-cleancut Joly of Punkcast. What the hell is going on? This show starts late so people can hit the blogger thing too. Wednesday it's the Pixies and LeTigre for me. I so do not relish the idea of getting to Hammerstein Ballroom early to scope out good standing room, but what choice do I have? Also Wednesday, Turing Machine plays at Rothko with Measles, Mumps, Rubella. Maybe the Pixies will play a short set ... Thursday the Fresh Kills play at Sin-é along with Theo, former frontwoman of the incredible Lunachicks. But oh! conflict! Udet is also playing Thursday at Lit Lounge. And Evan Dando is playing at North Six, but who cares? Friday is a show at Asterisk featuring a band called "New Beruit Holiday (ex-Oneida)." What does that mean? The only "ex-Oneida" guy I know of is Papa Crazee, but these days he's more directly aligned with Oakley Hall. If it was a People of the North show (Kid and Bobby of Oneida), wouldn't it say "MEMBERS of Oneida" instead of "EX-Oneida"? I must get to the bottom of this. UPDATE: Electric Turn to Me is playing at Luna Longe! Saturday, the Square Johns once again take Lit, along with CMJ-showmates Holy Ghost. But the Oxford Collapse is also playing at the Knitting Factory. UPDATE: Dynasty is playing at the Delancey! And there's probably a million other things to do as well (like I can't forget I'm taking my dad out to dinner on Thursday). If I miss all this stuff just because I'm under the weather I'll never forgive myself. Now, what pharmaceuticals can I take to completely cure all my symptoms until I'm in Cleveland next week? Posted By Jimmy Legs | Non-PermaLink
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	Monday, December 13, 2004 at 13:08:01 (EST)
Where streams of whiskey are flowing With another birthday behind me, I look forward to reinventing myself for the new year. This time I'm trying "Sleazy Porn Enthusiast Who Wears Sunglasses Inside Sleazily." thanks to all who helped make The New Me a reality. also thanks for my other gifts, including the Crazy Cat Lady action figure (where I have I seen that before?) and the "Promotional Use Only" Mr. T Chia Pet. I dunno which is better: the actual terra cotta head (which looks more like an Easter Island head than B.A. Baracas) or the picture on the box (just a poor photograph of Mr. T with green stuff Photoshopped onto his forehead). There are many more photos to go through. There would be even more but I just noticed that Heather left her camera here, so you'll have to wait a bit for her take on the party. Thanks to everybody who made it; I am happy to report that nothing got irreparably damaged! Perhaps with age comes a certain modicum of sophistication. You be the judge. See more pictures from the party! Posted By Jimmy Legs | Non-PermaLink
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