The Killers and Their B Sides

I bet it was pretty great back in the day when artists couldn't afford to let too many months go by between albums for fear of losing relevance in popular culture. Sure, not every cut would be a mind-blower, but in today's world where artists will take years to release something new, does that ever happen? Not really, but I bet it was nice to know the wheels were always turning. Sometimes I'm not sure if bands are even together anymore. Matchbox Twenty pretty much disappeared after 2002's More Than You Think You Are. Rob Thomas was hugely successful but the rest of the band was nowhere in sight. The most detail I could ever find was that lovely ambiguous word "hiatus." What the crap does that mean exactly? If a tv show goes on hiatus, there is a good chance it's not coming back. Anyway, just as I had forgotten MB20 even existed, they came out with Exile On Mainstream (which I believe was self imposed) and Adam Gaynor was gone. Guess I missed the memo.

My rambling aside, I was intrigued by the information that The Killers are releasing an album of B sides, remixes, and other tracks previously shafted. Anyone who bought the limited edition of Hot Fuss will find "Under the Gun," "Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll," and "The Ballad of Michael Valentine." Honestly, I've always thought they were three of the best songs on the album yet ironically weren't really on the album. "Daddy's Eyes" and "All the Pretty Faces" are also included from Sam's Town. As far as I can tell there is only one brand new song, "Tranquilize," and the rest we're just going to have to wait and see.

Under any other circumstances I'd be worried that this was going to be a bunch of crap scraped off of the cutting room floor and sloppily thrown together because of the multitude of people who will buy it because it's the Killers. But then again that's what I thought when weighing the Limited Edition of Hot Fuss versus the regular one. I was wondering if I wanted those extra songs, I was thinking maybe it was just a marketing ploy to sell a few more cds to hardcore fans. Happily, I was wrong. Maybe they've got something going here, not many other bands are doing this kind of thing...so I'm willing to buy into the idea that an entire album of B sides is worth $14...so long as it's the Killers.

Sawdust will be released November 13th.

A Marvelous Night for a Moondance

I think that sometimes people can get turned off on things that are from a past generation. Obviously, not everyone is like that, but I do think it happens even if it turns out to be unintentional. Point: Van Morrison-- for a long time he was cemented in my mind as the guy who sang "Brown Eyed Girl." That's not the worst thing to be known for, but it's not completely fair either. The song is not exactly substance-heavy. I recently hijacked my dad's copy of Van Morrison's Moondance album with the sole intention of importing the title song and "Everyone" but I had a flicker of good judgement and put the whole album on my laptop.

I'd always heard that it was a great piece of work...but some of the songs are really impressive. The very first track, "And it Stoned Me" is soulful with a hint of "The Weight" by the Band out in '68. It's very enjoyable and one of my favorites. Admittedly there are a one or two tracks that lose me to a degree, but still each one has something distinct. "Into the Mystic" is not a stick-out track for me but still it's got a quality that I find hard to deny, and by deny I mean via the skip button. Musically, it's a solid album, employing a variety of instruments including saxophone and piano which give it a loftier, more sophisticated sound. It's not guitar-driven rock and I think it sounds gorgeous and rich. The whole album has a feeling, if I may be so vague. You'll have to hear it.

So, do a little excavating beyond what's played on these blasted oldies stations and give a listen to something very chill and satisfying.

Ciao

Best Concert So Far Part 3: "The Weirdest F%&^@#! Show of My Life"

Nathanson's words, not mine. Happy that my city could earn that distinction. The comment stemmed from the observation that the audience was remarkably mellow. Michaelson said so too, and I guess we were, but I'm not totally sure what was expected from an all ages show on a Sunday night. I will say though, the hype surrounding Nathanson as being great with the crowd and a a lot of fun to see was true. I suppose though that the circumstances were slightly altered. Due to the fact that the concert was being broadcast live, there was to be no swearing. He was forced to give his "best PG show." After he said that, I was wondering what exactly went on during a regular show; he even called out a couple people who left after a few minutes. His shtick was engaging, entertaining, and mostly humorous. In between songs he made cracks about the radio, and random comments, like how great the E chord is. Inexplicably he read an excerpt from "You Can Run but You Can't Hide: The Life and Times of Dog the Bounty Hunter," which was hysterical in it's a) obscurity, b) absurdity, and c) delivery.

The only somewhat annoying portion of the set was when a couple who was celebrating their third anniversary, requested some song and got up right there and started slow dancing while singing into each others' faces. It was really and truly obnoxious and awkward. It's not really they kind of place where people dance and what's more-- they were blocking my view of the stage so I had no choice but to watch the luvyduvy-ness of what should had been a private moment. He opened with "To the Beat of Our Noisy Hearts" and played about 18 or 19 songs in total, switching from acoustic to electric. Major crowd-pleasers were "Come On Get Higher" and "Still" which he accompanied with an interesting metaphor...as well as "Car Crash," his single.

Unfortunately he tried on a couple of occasions to get the audience to clap along. I just wish performers would abandon that ploy altogether. He covered Journey's "Don't Stop Believing'" and hardly had to ask for participation. What is it with that song? About three quarters of the way through, the drunks showed themselves to be a small group of about four who "came all the way from Memphis to hear [Nathanson] play 'Straight to Hell,' "which is weird because I don't think that's one of his songs. In any case, as time ticked there was one song that was MIA and I kept wondering if he was going to play it at all. Finally, almost right at the end came "Detroit Waves" with a powerful extended bridge that dipped into "Paint it Black."
At 10:30 Nathanson wrapped it up with "Then I'll Be Smiling" and scooted off stage. As he passed my table someone shouted out "great job!" and in a persona much different from the one we had just seen, he shyly answered, "thanks for coming, guys."

Best Concert So Far Part 2: Mêléerocks (that's their website...fyi)

My biggest fear going in to Mêlée's set was that it would go by too fast. There was a twenty minute break after Ingrid Michaelson. It was a really long twenty minutes for me, sitting there knowing that Mêlée was coming on next. The band members were back and forth as always to and from the stage to the dressing room until it seemed that they had made their last trip. I can only imagine the nerves. My city's only independent radio station, which happens to be the best station in the city, broadcasts live from the venue most Sunday nights and the show was featuring all of Mêlée and the first hour of Matt Nathanson. Mostly I spent the time chuckling at people who had just now realized where the dressing room was and were stealing furtive glances back or even circling it a few times. Oh, brother.

As far as music goes, there are few things better than seeing a band live and realizing that they sound better than their recordings. In a world of mumbling, grumbling, and oddly annunciating singers, it was like some one had thrown the door wide open to let in some air; there was that excellent vocal clarity that first perked my ears. I noted good vibes between the band members. They related to each other as one might imagine they would if they were playing in someone's garage. Either they really get along or they're fantastic actors. From my point of view, they looked comfortable doing what they were doing and I can't even begin to explain how much impact that has on stage presence. "We should do a song about love," dead panned lead singer Chris Cron to guitarist Ricky Sans. "Good idea, do we have one of those?" No one was trying overly hard to be some sparkling sense of humor, but it just made them seem like very likable people.

They played roughly eight songs. The best song of the night was "Drive Away." It was like they tapped into a different energy that was previously hidden in the recording. I could tell many in the audience were fighting to stay seated at times. "Built to Last" was also exceptional and I think it was this song where Cron was nearly standing on top of the keyboard. It was pretty cool and done with enough spunk to be entertaining without being obnoxious or overdone. Anyone ever seen Sugar Ray in concert? No one is quite sure how to help Mark McGrath (tranq dart?). "You Got" was great to hear live, too. I can't find fault with any of the song they performed...which included, "Love Carries On," "Rhythm of Rain," and of course, "Stand Up"-- the closing song. My only disappointment was not hearing "Frequently Baby."
Not too bad for a first time in town.

Part 3 comes tomorrow and boy do I have a some interesting stories. Stay tuned, folks.

Best Concert So Far Part 1: The Way it Was

So frequently do concert goers spend the next day raving about how they went to the greatest concert in the history of concerts. It can get pretty obnoxious. Honestly though, last night I went to a really great concert; I might even say the best one to date...in my experience,that is. It all started when a friend found out that Matt Nathanson was going to be in town and another friend and I decided to go with her. I investigated and was quite pleased with all three acts: Ingrid Michaelson, Melee, and Nathanson. Last night as I sat there taking it all in, I realized that one entry is not enough so I'm breaking it down into three. Here's the first part.

The venue is cosy. Not big, on the side of small so we wound up more towards that back, but as we were settling on that one particular table, with a decent view and limited congestion, I noticed something. We were feet from the dressing room. The end result was that all three acts were literally hovering over our shoulders the whole night to watch whomever was performing. When we first sat down I immediately recognized the lead singer of Melee, Chris Cron, and two other band members sitting in the very back eating. It was cool,being in this moment where none of the acts are too good to get their own drink from the bar, or feel the need to hide themselves away. I did not ask for autographs, pictures, did not fawn, didn't really even make eye contact on the multiple occasions they walked past or just stood there. I was contented to sit and make notes on the back of an envelope.

The show started at 7 sharp when Ingrid Michaelson came out with either a really small guitar or a ukulele to perform "The Beast." Her voice is very warm and smooth and her songs have a whimsical flare to them which is very appealing. Add in a intriguing stage presence and her set was great. Overall, she was very engaging, quipping about driving her mother's minivan on this tour and our state's many firework retailers. It felt very natural. Sometimes crowd banter can be painful and cheesy but she just talked to the whole audience with a surprising level of comfort. "Far Away" was the perfect example of said whimsy, a little reminiscent of a Natalie Babbitt story. I hadn't heard it before, but the lyrics were really colorful and enjoyable. "Overboard" was a set favorite of mine, but recognition really set in with "Keep Breathing" which is featured on the Grey's Anatomy season three soundtrack. The song's soaring chorus kept the audience attentive. After that it was the good old "everybody clap" on "The Way I Am." That was one of the few times getting the whole audience to clap was justifiable. Obviously there were a few more songs in there, but I think these were the highlights. She closed with a cover of "Fools Rush In." Usually I'm cautious of covers but she didn't let Elvis down, doing a slow, melodic, smooth, job on it with her own particular brand. When her set ended I could hardly believe it had been 40 minutes. It was far too short. Michaelson got off stage, walked past my table and was in and out of the dressing room, making an occasional trip to the merch table the rest of the night.

Either later today or tomorrow look for my next entry on Melee's set. I'll say this right now...wow. Unfortunately the venue was really dark so I didn't get but a couple usable pictures. There's so much more to say...I figured I didn't feel like trying to be concise. Until then...

Blog Action Day: Light Green

Let me go ahead and state the obvious. It's blog action day. If you're not familiar with this event, the whole point is to get a bunch of blogs to write about the same topic-- it's a little forced awareness, I guess. Normally, I think I'd stay away from all this blog brotherhood-ing but the topic this year is the environment. In all good conscience, I can't ignore this call to action via my Blogger Dashboard.

I read an article some months ago which contained John Mayer's approach to environmentalism. He calls it "Light Green," somewhere between freak out and denial. Mayer admits to driving a Porsche SUV and continuing use of privet charter flights while touring, but mostly his stance is-- here's life and here's what I can do without disrupting things too badly. It's an interesting perspective and I think that if we ramp it up a bit, it's more practical and easier to pitch, especially to people who worry "going green" is subscribing to a life of scooter riding, budget breaking, and a loss to those damn hippies.

I can't afford to switch to solar power right now, or install some fancy heating and cooling system, but as trivial as it sounds-- I can unplug my cellphone charger. There's no great sacrifice there but I'm a big believer in every little bit counts. I can't think of a single person who doesn't have a cell phone.
If everyone unplugged that charger...and maybe a few other electronic devices...don't tell me that wouldn't help. I say leave the multimillion dollar overhauls to the multimillion dollar corporations who need to clean up anyway and can afford it. That's what 's really going to take a big quick bite out of this problem.

To an extent, I'm with Mayer (just a bit more intense). Pick something(s)-- do it. Do what you can and what you're willing to do. Fear accomplishes nothing but an unevenly distributed amount of attention to a problem which needs prolonged concern.

The Musically Inclined...
~unplugs charger ~walks instead of drives
~unplugs laptop ~recycles plastic bags
~unplugs desk lamp
...refuses to believe we are powerless.

Changing the Way We Hear Business

A couple years ago I griped about how it's so hard to take the plunge and buy an album. I don't really care to waste $14 on something that's got one good track and the rest of it makes me want to use it as a coaster. If only there was a way to hear the other tracks on an album without the awkwardness of standing in a bookstore with those gigantic headphones, pretending to be so engrossed in the album artwork because there's nowhere else to look. Fast forward slightly to one afternoon when I was killing time on my computer and saw AOL was having a "listening party," the gist being, they were featuring a couple albums about to be released and by featuring, I mean you could hear the whole thing for free. Nice. I actually bought one of the albums I heard that day. It was Rock Kills Kid. Good stuff, slightly negative at times but otherwise fun to listen to. Anyway, I figured that was a pretty good way to promote and for people like me who are always trying to keep the music machine going, it was the perfect tool in expanding the collection.

The reason I bring this up is because technology is blowing my mind. NBC announced just recently that it was pulling its shows off of iTunes to put them on their web site. Now, what is true of all three major networks, is a person can watch whatever they want whenever they want and don't after to pay more than about a 1.5 minutes of attention to commercials. It's no longer a novelty trick of ABC, that's just the way things are. I think it's great and along similar lines, being able to visit a band's website or myspace and hear multiple tracks has been a major blessing, especially in writing this blog. Fans can come from odd places, going off of recommendations, or whim and maybe they like what they hear. The result? CDs, merch, and maybe I want to catch them when they come to my town.


It's no secret that the world has gone digital. Everyone's seen the charts. Downloads are up, everyone else is praying to their higher authority for salvation. I'm just hoping that no one is going to screw things up. As dopey as it sounds, I'd be pretty ticked if I was losing money because some idiot is too cheap to pay 99 cents. That's all I'm saying. Sure, I still love the feeling of personally engaging in my epic CD shrink wrap battles, but I won't blindly buy a CD without some kind of insurance that I'll like it,so hearing album cuts prior to purchase has become important to me. We're moving to a pretty cool direction with this kind of accessibility (and the way I see it, culture sharing). Let's just all try to behave ourselves, okay? Please?

Adventures in Getting Beaten by the System

So, I've got a little adventure to write about. Some friends and I went out to get tickets for a couple concerts last week in order to avoid the ever so stupid service charges which, when combined equal another ticket. We set out feeling vaguely proud that we were beating the system. Oh brother. The first fiasco was trying to locate the first venue, after getting some sketchy directions from someone finally we pulled up and parked in a place which we could only hope, would not result in the towing of my friend's car, only to find...

It was closed. Really. All of that and the place is sealed tight...and it's not like they even mentioned business hours on the website, because I looked. That really blew a hole in our plan then, because we were going to get directions to the second venue at the first. So basically all we had to go on was the place was on 3rd and another street. How do we get to 3rd? I'm awful at navigating and somewhat unfamiliar with the area, leaving my third friend...who is not even from this geographic region of the country, siting in the back seat with a map from AAA trying to get a grip on the downtown layout. After a lot of street weaving, and a couple bad judgments (like which way to turn once we found 3rd...we should have gone right) we were nearly there, just keeping an eye out for that intersecting street. All along, I'm drawing some amount of comfort from having in my mind the painting of the facade which they show on their website. I figured maybe I'd be able to recognize it. Wrong. The place looked nothing like it! At all! Except for the fact it had the name written across the top! That aside we parked and went in.

There wasn't exactly a hostess waiting inside. We stood there a moment, trying to see if we could find someone who at least looked like they worked there, amid blaring music. Some guy, presumably the owner or manager, poked his head out from the bar and I seized the opportunity to ask if the box office is open; can we get tickets? He asks, "what show?" I yell back because the music is garishly loud, "Matt Nathanson." His answer? "Those tickets are only available online."
That's it folks, I'm done.
Peace