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The Dead Milkmen with Mercury Radio Theater and Women – Johnny Brenda’s (Philadelphia, PA) – October 25, 2008
What an incredible show! Playing a secret show under the name LES INFANTS DE PRAGUE, this nonetheless sold out beforehand as word got out and the combination of the jam-packed room, complete with the audience singing along to almost every song as well as dancing, stagediving and on one occasion, a fan climbing up into the balcony (thankfully he didn’t dive off), made it the most fun I’ve had at a show in a while. It was so hot that I was covered in sweat by the end of their main set and appropriately enough for a band who I’ve been listening to since I was 15, they made me feel like a teeager again after watching FUGAZI, BAD RELIGION, ALL or countless other bands I saw at City Gardens back in the early ‘90s. It also didn’t hurt that Mercury Radio Theater (who I was previously unfamiliar enough) played a nice, mostly instrumental set and that Women played an absolutely blistering set of early ‘80s style hardcore punk! What a powerhouse they’ve become in the last year or so since the last time we saw them, opening for JAY REATARD at the First Unitarian Church.
Wire – Johnny Brenda’s (Philadelphia, PA) – October 10, 2008
Although they only played a few choice selections from their classic first three albums, concentrating mostly on the newly-released Object 47 and other recent material from their 2004 album Send and the three Read and Burn EPs, and although Wire painstakingly re-arrange familiar songs, thereby puzzling fans wanting to sing along to “12 XU” (which we did get to do, as it was their last song of the evening), this was still great. After all, how could it not be? Here was a legendary band, playing the smallest-sized venue on their current tour, with excellent sound and a sell-out and fully receptive crowd to boot? It just doesn’t get much better and though I would’ve preferred more familiar material, I still respect them for playing what they want.
Magnetic Fields – Paramount Theater (Austin, TX) – October 14, 2008
I have to be honest here. Although I love this year’s Distortion and although they put on an absolutely great show, we left after the first intermission. Why? Well simply put, we were exhausted, having flown into Austin a few hours earlier. Regardless, what we did see was a deft mix of tunes from Distortion, stripped down and done acoustically and on piano (appropriate for the theater seating of this show), along with tunes from the rest of STEPHEN MERRITT’s catalog, both with Magnetic Fields and side projects such as THE GOTHIC ARCHIES. I’d love to see them again, this time when we’re feeling more energetic!
The Triffids – In the Pines (Domino)
I picked this up at a great cheapo book and CD store (named Half-Price Books, appropriately enough) in San Antonio and boy am I glad I did. I know very little about this band, other than this album and Born Sandy Devotional (the title track of which appears on this CD) being reissued in recent years. I need to get that record, though, because this is wonderful stuff. It’s a little like a countrified GO-BETWEENS, but with a vocalist who on occasion can sound like MICHAEL HUTCHENCE of INXS or IAN ASTBURY of THE CULT.
Springhouse- From Now to OK (Independent Projects)
I’ve been listening to this since June, but now that I have a copy of the released CD, I have to comment on the packaging. It may be the best designed CD package I’ve ever seen. It should win a Grammy for that, but of course the music is great, too. In fact I like this record more and more with each listen. Ten years in the making, it was worth the wait, as it reveals a beauty, depth, and intelligence not commonly found.
Johnny Cash – Johnny Cash at San Quentin (The Complete 1969 Concert (Legacy)
Reading Johnny Cash’s autobiography made me pull this one out and boy is it great! Of course, this album (along with its counterpart Live at Folsom Prison), originally released in 1969, was Cash’s best-selling record up to that point, even eventually going double-platinum. Given its unusual nature (how many other artists performed at maximum security prisons, after all) and the fact that MERLE HAGGARD famously was a prisoner at San Quentin during one of Cash’s previous appearances there, this album has been written about many times before. All I’ll say is that if you’re curious, have never heard this and wanna know what he’s all about, this wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
The Trashcan Sinatras – “Oranges and Apples”
This new digital only single, available only on iTunes and eMusic, is a nice preview of their forthcoming album In the Music (scheduled for release sometime next year). In fact, I played it three times in a row after I first heard it. It’s already been four years since their last album, 2004’s masterful Weightlifting, but considering that it took them eight years to release that record, I can wait a few more months.
Johnny Cash with Patrick Carr – Cash: The Autobiography (1997, Harper Collins)
I’ve wanted to read this book ever since I first saw High Fidelity. Specifically, JOHN CUSACK’s character ROB GORDON states early on that though he’s read books like MILAN KUNDERA’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being, this is his favorite book. I found a cheap used copy at a cool bookstore in Austin last week and I’m glad I picked it up. It’s a good read for any fan of “The Man in Black,” with Johnny himself ruminating on topics ranging from the early days of rock and roll to his creative and commercial rebirth in the ‘90s on RICK RUBIN’s American Recordings.
Abram Shalom Himelstein and Jamie Schweser – Tales of a Punk Rock Nothing (1998, New Mouth from the Dirty South)
Although on the surface, this is a fictional account of a Jewish punk rocker from Tennessee moving to Washington, DC in the early ‘90s, starting a band, fighting with roommates and idiotic scenesters, and generally trying to survive in the big city while living by his ideals, I can’t help but feel that much of it actually happened. Because of my participation in the scene during that time, I can still relate to many of the characters and the events since it feels like I knew many people like the ones contained therein during this time period.
Amy Rigby- Til the Wheels Fall Off (Signature Sounds)
Seeing her play with her husband WRECKLESS ERIC last month made me dig out this album, a 2003 release that’s her second-to-last album prior to the album that she and Eric just released together. Sure enough, the songs that had the strongest impact on me were ones that I’ve also seen her play live in recent years. In particular, this album is worth it for the extremely moving “Don’t Ever Change” and the hysterical and self-explanatory “Are We Ever Gonna Have Sex Again?”. In typical fashion, though, just about everything on here is excellent.
