November 05, 2005
good shows
last night i went and saw the melvins + jello biafra at the crystal ballroom. on one hand it was pretty cool to finally see jello but on the other it's wierd to see punk age and he was looking pretty old. i still can't hear for shit.
May 03, 2004
April 29, 2004
method man
got free tickets from the radio station to see method man last night. the four opening acts kind of lagged but he was great. it's always cool when you get to see a performer who just owns the stage. the $5 beers were the only sad spot of the night.
this morning nick send me this link to an article about the new music service that's going into trials in new york. the idea is you after the show you pay $10 to download a recording of the show you just saw onto a memory stick. i really hope this takes off.
February 23, 2004
built to spill
krista, nick, his friend dereck, and i went and saw black heart processional and built to spill play tonight. the sound for black heart was horrible i couldn't even understand the lyrics they finally go it worked out for the last two songs but by then i was ready for them to be over. on the other hand, built to spill was amazing, one of the best shows i've seen in a while.
November 16, 2002
we don't got no place to go, lets go to the punk rawk show!
well it's not really punk rawk but i got to see the black heart processional tonight, mates of state was supposed to play but ended up canceling.
a one man act called, pleasuresaurs (or something like that) opened. it was one of the funniest things i've seen in a while. picture that kid with attention deficit disorder you went to school with now in his early twenties with a suitcase full of costumes and a whole list of nonsensical songs played over some kind of generic bumper music. i kept going back and forth between "why am i watching this clown make such a fool of himself" to "this is really happening" and then laughing hysterically.
some really crappy band played next, their lead singer can only be described as andy dick playing the role of bumbling rock star. he had the most limpwristed tambourine style i've ever seen, i almost died when he almost kicked the mike stand into the guitar player. even better was after hopping down into the crowd to mix and play tambourine he almost crashed trying to hop back up on stage. i'd almost watch them again in the hopes that tragedy would befall them.
i'd never heard any of the black heart procession before and didn't have any expectations going in. after seeing it i've got to admit they put on a pretty good show. i think this was actually the first time i've ever seen anyone play the saw before, they managed to make it work well with the rest of the band too. i didn't have any money but i'm going to try to pick up their new album it's supposed to be excellent.
November 14, 2002
new johnny cash album
i picked up the new johnny cash record, american iv: the man comes around, and it's excellent. the majority of songs are covers, everything from nine inch nails to the beatles to depeche mode. the original songs are great though, solid cash and worth every penny.
May 30, 2002
into california
steve gingold had been talking about going to see the hives for a couple of weeks and when his extra ticket became available i decided to jump on it and go with him. we separate cars to sacramento then carpooled into san francisco. the opening bands (rainning music? and mooney suzki?) were horrible, they were totally into themselves, loud and sucked, any one of which by itself would have been excusable.
the hives were pretty good i think they put more time into rehearsing their rockstar kicks and microphone tricks than into playing but it was still fun. the lead singer either played the role (maybe it wasn't acting?) of a rockstar in such an over the top manner that there was bound to be some animosity. saying it was a hostile crowd would be a bit of an understatement. watching the lead singer argue with the crowd was the best part of the show: "i was told in advance that san francisco is a tough crowd. also i was told that it will be two days, no less than 48 hours, before you realize that this was the best show you've ever seen". the jeers increased at this point, a full beer was thrown and he reminded the crowd that "you all bought tickets, say what you want, it's money in my pocket". when he told the crowd "san francisco i love you but you need to fuck off" it was the highpoint of the show. strangely i was the only one cheering.
steve dropped me off back at my car and i drove on down the road a ways before pulling off on the side of 80 in the middle of a bunch of truckers.
this morning i woke up and headed down to oakdale to see some relatives. since i didn't announce i was coming it wasn't really a surprise that none of them are around. i think i'll hang out a little longer to see if my grandmother shows up, if not i'm thinking about going into yosemite for a day or two. i've got time on my side at this point.
