3 posts from February 2009

I got the rare pleasure of seeing some great talent in a small venue Saturday night at Comet Ping Pong in DC. Perhaps it was the two cans of Sea Hag I'd had that led me to describe the show in a text message that night as "truly grand," as well as another description about the show too obscene for the family audience of this blog. Let's just say it was dirty in a good way. I'm optimistic about the world after a drink or two, if nothing else.

Lillie Ruth Bussey opened the show for The Laughing Man and kinda stunned us into submission. She's got an interesting vocal quality, which is something I value at a time when a lot of female vocalists seem to mimic one another. I rarely remember my dreams, but that night I dreamed I had an entire conversation in vivid detail about her singing, why the singing on American Idol is uninteresting to me, and the shifting winds of public opinion about what makes good vocals. This is a long way of saying check her out.

The Laughing Man came on next. Jury is still out on them for me. But they are easy on the eyes, and worth another outing soon. They play the Black Cat this Saturday night. In the meantime, All Our Noise and a very nice gentleman there have provided this video for you. Judge away:

Other news: NPR streamed the new Neko Case record, Middle Cyclone. After a few listens, I'm partial to the song People Got A Lotta Nerve, mainly because she keeps repeating "I'm a man-man-man eater" in the chorus. Still, I'm not sure anything on the record justifies the last 30 minutes of recordings of crickets chirping. Oh, yeah, this is what it sounds like when I sing.

Saw Chrissie Hynde play with her Pretenders last night at the 9:30. Not a lot to say about the show, except that she still rocks and she's about the only woman her age who pretty much looks today like she did in the 1970s. Maybe it's all the veggies she eats. I dunno.

The Pretenders didn't play "Middle of the Road." And they didn't play "My City Was Gone," a song about paving old farms and putting up parking lots in Ohio. It got me thinking about songs that either feature Ohio in the title or have lyrics about Ohio. The Jayhawks have a song about making calls from "deep in Ohio." A Modest Mouse song repeats the name of the state over and over again. Liz Phair shoehorns it into a rhyme about Cinco De Mayo. I'm just scratching the surface. Don't make me raise the specter of Les Nessman, livin' on the air in Cincinnati, WKRP. What gives? Why so many songs about Ohio? Here's another to add to the list:

I am obsessed this week with Sun Kil Moon's Carry Me Ohio, and Mark Kozelek's lyrics specifically.

If you want to trace the origins of "indie rock" (whatever that means these days) take your index finger and move it over the U.S. map to Lubbock, Texas. That's where Buddy Holly was from. He was a badass who made it acceptable for all the precious boys with guitars to rock out in spectacles. He had an incredible gift for song craft. His untimely death in a plane crash on this day in 1959 has been acknowledged in other parts of the net today. But his influence cannot be discussed enough. Start listening if you don't know.

Noted: If you are ever in a band, have someone introduce you as a rock specialist (see video).