Burned By The Sun........

Um, Should I Start That Coachella Rumor List Now? (Or: Rilo Kiley Confirmed for Coachella!)
Granted, there were already a few rumors at the Coachella message boards (Outkast, U2, Franz Ferdinand, REM, Coldplay), but November just seemed too early to start the list up again. For those who have no damn clue what I'm talking about, back in January I put up a list on my site, keeping track of bands rumored to play at Coachella, and posting links to news sources for the band confirmations and rumors. I had a blast compiling the list (I enjoyed the sleuthing as well as the email tips from other Coachella devotees), and planned to do it this January too. The key word being January. 'Cause November seems insanely early.

But! When I saw the Billboard story about Jenny Lewis putting out a solo album next year (I heard her play some solo material back in August at the Hotel Cafe, it was good), I found this quote from her at the bottom (regarding touring with Rilo Kiley):
"We're going to Europe with Bright Eyes in February, and I think to Japan with them as well," she says. "We'll come back and do another tour -- we're playing Coachella and Bonnaroo."

So, I don't know... should I start the list or not?

Other News

- Oh, add Slint to the list of bands reuniting.

- Yet another rumor regarding the upcoming Harry Potter movie: Jonny Greenwood is going to be in the 'Wyrd Sisters' band with Jarvis Cocker. Also, I didn't know Ian Brown was in the last movie. I guess he was an extra in a scene at the Leaky Cauldron. Pitchfork is reporting that Franz Ferdinand, who were initially rumored to play the Wyrd Sisters, turned down the cameo.

- Pitchfork also has tour dates for the next Bright Eyes tour (2/12-13 at the Orpheum in LA).

- The Guardian looks at the Manic Street Preachers' Holy Bible, and asks why it didn't inspire a new wave of intelligent bands.

- A USC student paying someone to do their homework? I've certainly never heard of any such thing (*voice dripping with sarcasm*). I'd love to know what happened to that business major my old roommate knew who was pulling that stunt.

Shoe Shopping With the Marcos, Or: The Death Knell of the English Language
My brother called me yesterday, and told me, "You HAVE to mention this on your site!" I was sceptical at first. Some of the things my brother finds hilarious are in fact quite stupid. But he was right about this one. He was trying to find a pair of G-Unit shoes (Hell if I know...) and he stumbled across some very interesting reviews at a particular shoe site. Here are a few: 1 2 3 4 5 6
Oh, and don't miss the site counter at the bottom of the page.

I think this review is my favorite:
This Kicks are hot If u get a pair Ladies are going 2 be no your N*t

Is 'no' supposed to be 'on'? Or is he saying buy those shoes and Ladies won't want to go anywhere your N*t?

Or maybe this one:
AHHHHHHHHHHH DAMN CUZZO THE ABSOLUTE FRESHNESS BABY YEA! COLOR STYLE SHYNE ....WATT. BAM! HOLLA BACK

I like that second one because I never knew anyone could get so excited over a pair of shoes.

News and Stuff

-This sounds interesting: Breandan Benson and Jack White have been collaborating on an album, which is almost done. The article says they're determined to release it and, if necessary, launch a tour in support of it. Meanwhile, the NME makes it sound like Benson is going to produce the Stripes' new album, which should be out next year.

- So, the Libertines are pretty much broken up, because, let's face it, Pete probably isn't going to quit drugs by the end of the year. On the one hand, I'm really disappointed, but on the other hand, I'm glad they made this decision, because it is definitely the right thing to do. They probably could have continued without Pete (by 'continued' I mean, like, playing shows and making money), so you've got to give them props; so few bands seem to make decisions based on the music rather than on the money.

- Speaking of money, the reunions continue: Cream and Gang of Four are next.

- TV on the Radio won the Shortlist Prize.

- KROQ's first night of that Almost Acoustic Christmas show is pretty cool (Franz Ferdinand, Muse, the Killers, Modest Mouse, the Shins...) but it's sold out already. I was really mad, as I just found out about this show ten minutes ago, but when I saw that it was at the Universal Amphitheatre and tickets were $60 (plus those wonderful Ticketbastard fees), I didn't feel that bad anymore. I guess there's a second night, and that lineup is supposed to be announced tomorrow morning at 7:15. I just thought I was obligated to mention this because this is supposed to be an LA site and all.

- So, another fight broke out at a rap awards show. Hasn't anyone figured out what's going on yet? I'll tell you what's happening at these things. Okay, so, you've got a room full of people with two things in common: short tempers and expensive jewelry, right? What's happening is that the ushers and seat fillers are in cahoots. An usher will say to a rapper he's seating, "Hey, do you know that guy over there? You don't? Well, he just called you a pussy. And he said your mother's a ho. Just thought you should know, I mean, if someone said that shit about me I'd kick his ass." Meanwhile, all the seat fillers and ushers are doing something to this extent. And when the fight breaks out, they're the ones picking off all the jewelry and pawning it and selling it on ebay. You know I'm right.

Misc
So, over the weekend I went to those Guided By Voices and Warlocks shows. Here are some random thoughts (maybe, just maybe, I will have pictures posted soon):

-Guided By Voices w/ Brian Jonestown Massacre

How great was Anton's motivational speech? Someone in the audience yelled, "Can I play guitar?" Anton responded with something along the lines of, "Can I play guitar? That's the stupidest heckle I've ever heard...No, you can't play guitar. And you shouldn't even ask. I don't care how bad the band is...You should have started a band when you were 14! Not when you're 26 or 28! Follow your dreams! Don't ask me if you can play guitar!...One day you're gonna be sitting in a nursing home when you're 97 and you're gonna ask the guy sitting next to you, "Can I play guitar?" and he's gonna say, "No! That's MY fucking guitar!""

The set went surprisingly smoothly, and it sounded pretty good. Anton didn't even have to correct anyone onstage. (Most of the time, when someone notices a bandmate has fucked something up, they'll wait until after the band leaves the stage to berate them. Not Anton.)

Guided By Voices played for three hours. Before they came onstage we had to watch a little slide show on a screen. The first was of a blue sky with clouds that read "Guided By Voices: 1983-2004" and it had pictures of the band interspersed with pictures of flowers and trees and fields. My favorite picture was the one of Bob sitting at a table in a bar, with a cigarette in his hand, talking to someone and looking totally shitfaced. You know those drunks who start telling crazy stories and saying, "You know what I MEAN, man?" Yeah, that's totally what he looked like, even the expression on his face seemed to indicate that's what he was saying. But everyone else's favorite slide was one of Bob drinking a Miller Lite. Go Figure.

Speaking of drinking, everyone knows that Guided By Voices go through A LOT of beer in a show. They went through two giant buckets full of beer bottles, while the bassist had to leave to pee twice in the three hours, and Bob was sure to point these instances out to the audience and make fun of the guy. Yeah, they drink a lot. But what I didn't know was that the audience was going to try to kill Bob. Seriously, in addition to the insane amount of beer he drank, the audience kept buying him shots. Everybody was buying him a shot. Eventually he had to beg people to stop giving him shots. "If you keep giving me shots, the show's gonna be over!" he (sort of) joked.

Anyway, the show was drunken, chaotic, fun, and Bob denounced a large number of crappy songwriters (the guy from Matchbox 20, Sheryl Crow, a bunch of others I can't remember right now) while everyone cheered. A good time was had by all.

Oh, I also remembered
Important Note:If you are a crappy local band...ok fine. If you are a local band (because even being a good band doesn't exempt you from this) it is VERY TACKY to try to throw your CD to a lead singer when he is onstage and in the middle of a song! Also, it is tacky to throw beer cozies with your band's name on them at a band while they are onstage. If you must harass a more popular band with plugging your band, please have a bit of class and wait until later. When a band is onstage (on their farewell tour, no less) it's their time. Not yours. Deal with it.

- The Warlocks w/ Dead Meadow

I don't have a lot to write here, because when I write a lot, it's usually about band or audience antics (see above). But there weren't really any audience hijinks, because everyone was just entranced by these bands. And the bands didn't really do anything but kick ass. I had never seen Dead Meadow before, but they were great. They've got that deep, heavy psychedelic sound and they jam and the stage is all dark save for a bit of blue lighting and the band and audience kind of bob up and down in unison. It's stuff that would make a killer soundtrack for driving through the desert at night. I had seen the Warlocks once before, but they just blew my mind. It's one of those rare sets where you keep thinking "Oh my god, this is so GOOD!" every two minutes. If you don't know what they sound like...I could say they have three guitars, two drummers, a bassist and a keyboardist, so it's a rather dense, but not necessarily dark sound, kind of psychedelic, at times upbeat ("Shake the Dope Out") and a couple of the songs they played were really beautiful and kind of..elegant? Or to use the cheap rock critic cop-out description, if White Light/White Heat is your favorite Velvet Underground album (it is mine), you'd probably like them. And it was a cool show to watch as well as to listen to. There were all these crazy lights and laser beams and a fog machine so it was like being in another dimension. Such a good performance.

Mp3
It's time to change the Mp3s. Okay...you know, I never know how much the people who read my site know. Like, today I'm going to post Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot's duet "Bonnie and Clyde", because I've been listening to it a lot lately. And I'm wondering if people are going to be like, "Oh cool, I've never heard this before"...or if they're thinking, "Jeez, can you BE more obvious?" Oh well. Anyway, Serge Gainsbourg was famous in France, he usually duetted (and dated) with much younger actresses not known for their singing abilities. One of these actresses was Brigitte Bardot (the French equivalent of Marilyn Monroe, pretty much). I found a website with the lyrics to this in English, but I forgot them, because I don't really care about the lyrics. I just like the way this song sounds.

But this second Mp3 can't be too obvious. I don't think. So, the band Pussy Galore covered the entirety of the Stones masterpiece Exile on Main Street, but never released it (for obvious reasons). I had been hearing about this for years (mostly hearing about how amazing it is) and managed to find a few tracks on Limewire. Um, most of them are not works of genius, as I had been hearing. But I think "Sweet Virginia" sounds pretty good.

News and Stuff
- So, the tracklisting for the Nirvana box set came out a few days ago. And, for anyone with one or more volumes of the Outcesticide bootlegs, it looks like kind of a bummer. The only songs I'd really want to hear off this are the Leadbelly covers, and maybe the home demos of "Do Re Mi" and "You Know You're Right". And the DVD might be cool. But the Velvet Underground and Wipers covers? Heard them. They suck. Most of the other tracks? The same. I'd say with the $60 price tag this is definitely for collectors only.

- Sleater-Kinney is on Sub Pop now.

- The last one in particular cracked me up. I think it's because of the stupid font.

- Is Jarvis Cocker writing the score for the new Harry Potter film?

- The LA Weekly has an interview with Hunter S. Thompson.

- Since I'm the one always bringing up 90s nostalgia: Local H did a cover of "Toxic".


Misc.

I'm sure many of my international readers (if I still even have any) and readers who live in large cities may be wondering why the fuck Bush is still president. On Wednesday, I wrote out a whole explanation and then tried to save it as a draft (I hadn't done the news yet and I had to go to class), except, yes, that's right, it wouldn't save. So I lost it all. But anyway, the main gist of that was that once you get away from the coasts, America is mostly a bunch of small towns. And people who never grew up in a small town, like I did, wouldn't understand the vice-like grip that churches have on rural America. Sure, the president lied about weapons of mass destruction, but I guarantee you a lot of people don't give a shit, if you point out that Bush lied, they'll just retort, "So what? We got Saddam." And the majority of American households aren't being personally affected by this war (as in, being close to someone involved in the military), so they don't care if our troops are being used to guard private oil sources. Which brings me back to the churches thing: Since the Christian Coalition and the Republican party are virtually the same thing, Republicans really have to fuck up to lose the Christian vote. Tuesday's votes weren't necessarily votes for Bush, they were votes for conventional Christian values, they were votes against abortion and gay marriage. Michael Moore likes to talk about how most Americans are just like him (he emphasized that when he spoke at my school a few weeks ago), and it may seem that way, because if there's one thing liberals do well, it's make noise. Most creative people (so ultimately, a great deal of people involved in movies and music and other media) are liberals. So we see a bunch of documentaries and hear a bunch of songs about the evils of the Bush administration, but the fact of the matter is that the majority of Americans are not trendy liberal urbanites who pay attention to the media, they're conservatives who live in smaller towns or out in the country, who don't give a fuck what cool bands think. Yeah, it sure seemed like Kerry would win. But I knew he wouldn't. And it wasn't pessimism that told me that, it was the fact that I hadn't forgotten that America is, unfortunately, a conservative country.

Although, I have to say...this theory is interesting too.

Some Shows I Went to Last Week

- Wednesday's Interpol Show (by band)

Hail Social: One of those bands you enjoy watching, but know you aren't really going to remember in a couple of weeks.

Secret Machines: Stole the show. At least in my opinion. They create their own little world onstage, so much that you're not even sure they notice the audience, which would normally be the kiss of death for a live band, but because they're so absorbed in their music you can't help getting sucked in as well.

Interpol: Pretty good, but I don't like this new album as much as the first, and there was a lot of the new stuff. There were three songs where, upon hearing the first notes I thought, "Huh? Didn't they just play this one?" But the second encore (and final song) was "Stella Was a Diver..." which is my favorite, so it's all good.


- Saturday's "Devil Doll Ball" (by artist)

Suicide Girls: I thought this was going to be really boring, because, well, why the hell would I want to watch a bunch of girls take their clothes off? (I am a girl, though some people think I write like a guy) But it was pretty cool, what they do is more like a dance routine or skit (for example, a sendup of porn movies or a takeoff on the torture scene in Resevoir Dogs) to cool music. Most of the depictions of stripping in media are of dancers who look like they hate what they're doing, which makes it kind of...disturbing. But the Suicide Girls look like they're having a blast, which makes the whole presentation more enjoyable.

Juliette and the Licks: Betcha think I'm gonna make some cheap joke about actors trying to sing, don't you? Sorry to disappoint you, but Juliette Lewis doesn't have a bad voice. And she has a pretty decent stage presence. The problem? With the neon yellow spandex capri pants, David Lee Roth-esque stage banter delievered in a Joplin-esque voice/manner, and the most contrived and predictable stage dive ever, it seems like maybe she studied just a little too hard for this part. But hell, what do I know? The folks in the pit ate it up.

Courtney Love: I was going to try to incorporate that lyric, "I fake it so real I am beyond fake", into a title for this post somewhere, because the one image that will always come to mind whenever I think of Courtney Love or this show is the image of Courtney in a sparkly red dress with sparkly devil horns to match, singing "House of the Rising Sun".

I absolutely love that song (the Animals' rendition, of course), but if you really think about it, it's such a load of crap. The song was really an old blues song that the Animals had been covering on tour, and since it was a crowd favorite, someone suggested they record it. They had to change it, of course, because it originally was more about prostitution, which would not have been acceptable for radio at the time, so the focus became gambling instead. And, though it may seem boorish to point this out, the Animals were British! Could they have even found New Orleans on a map? And weren't they one of those mod groups who favored designer suits to blue jeans? But ultimately, who cares? It's a great performance. You could say they faked it so real that, well, you get the idea.

Which brings me to Courtney's rendition. I remember reading a Hendrix biography and the author was discussing his performance of "Like A Rolling Stone" at Monterey Pop. He was saying that you have to earn the right to sing that song. And Jimi had. Before he was famous, he had spent hours wandering the streets of Greenwich Village, hungry, alone, and through lighted windows he could see into the lives of people who had so much more than he did.

With that said, can you think of any pop or rock star more deserving of the lyric, "Mother, tell your children...not to do what I have done..." And while Courtney could probably sing that song with more sincerity than anyone else (especially if you reinterpret the idea of a brothel into the vicious world of celebrity), at the same time, she knows that the image of the badly behaved rock star is a cliche (In fact, right before she started the song she announced, "This is a cliche, but it's fun") and that that particular cliche is exactly what we expect from her, the costume just seemed to indicate that she's enjoying it. And why the hell not?