Way cuter than Winona Ryder in Heathers...

Following yesterday's post of my favorite Joy Division tune, I thought I'd post my favorite New Order track. This video completely and perfectly synthesizes all my hipster chick fantasies into one easy package. Lovely, just lovely:



"Temptation" by New Order

Gaza

I came across this poem surfing the web. I'm not going to take a political stance on who's the better or more just in the back and forth in Gaza right now, but I do think we need to use our scalpels more than our swords.

Theories of Non-Violence
By Sandra Beasley

A frightened rabbit kicks its hind legs so hard that it can

break its own back. Someone thought to record that pain

on tape. Someone said Shelve this under non-violent tactics.

Just a line item, buried in daily reports from the siege:

after blasting Ozzy Osbourne and dentist drills, before using

flash bombs and gunfire, they played Rabbit death scream.

Repeat loop. Officers wrote the wail was like a teakettle’s whistle,

but endless. My father, in uniform, used to speak of war

in terms of the sword and the scalpel. Scalpel, meaning we kill

only who we meant to kill. Meaning, clean. Meaning, better.

Sword, meaning we kill anyone who gets in the way.

Even now, watching news of each new explosion, I wait

to see if our flag flashes onto the screen. If not there’s that tiny,

cool blink. Well then. An old lover calls to tell me they finally

made him a doctor. First do no harm, they made him swear.

Then they said To save that man, you’ll need a sharper knife.

“Theories of Violence” from “Theories of Falling” (New Issues Poetry and Prose, 2008).

Depression is wasted on the young...

As I get older, and my personality darker, I enjoy this band more and more:



"Disorder," Joy Division

Upcoming Shows I'm Excited About

I've had to miss a lot of really good shows this last year (including the Pogues!) because its just not plausible to stand for 2+ hours with my back. Luckily I did go to one of the best Cure shows I've ever been to AND there are some upcoming shows I'm looking forward to seeing where hopefully I'll be able to arrange for a seat for my poor back, including:

The Raconteurs at 9:30 Club



Dropkick Murphy's at Merriweather Post Pavilion



Mighty Mighty Bosstones at Merriweather Post Pavilion



Rancid at the 9:30 Club

Best New Song, 2007

I did a bunch of "Best of 2007" posts when I first started blogging, but kept it safe with things like best coffee, best brunch, etc... I never really made any hard calls -- till now. I just discovered that Itunes can tell me how many times I've played any one song and rank the most played accordingly.

Surprisingly, the tune I've played most in Itunes, even though I only downloaded it in Fall 2007, is "Transistor Kids" by Foundry Field Recordings. FFR is one of those bands that has a MySpace page with only a couple thousand hits, play shows with 10 people in the audience , and occasionally put out some of the best new music you've heard in a long time.

I'm too old and too unhip (no ironic t-shirt, pink bandana on my wrist, skinny jeans, socks with cartoons, and black and white checked Vans on this fat Indian) to really be listening to shoegazer indie rock. Yet there is something about this small band from Columbia, Missouri that really makes me stop, drop, roll and play them again and again. Listen to "Transistor Kids" below (but check out their other stuff, especially "Battle Brigades" 1 & 2):

This song qualifies as the Best of 2007 because its got everything: emotional resonance, introspective lyrics, classic rock like piano opener, noise rock, and a heavy finish. Its the perfect song.

I'm Cured!

I was going to do my own write-up of the phenomenal three hour Cure show last Friday at the Patriot Center, but the one below from Pitchfork is far better then anything I could do. Big thanks Elsie for buying GREAT front and center seats for my birthday:)

Report: The Cure [Fairfax, VA; 05/09/08]

Photos/notes by Kyle Gustafson

The Cure launched their spring North American tour with a bang on Friday night, playing a 38-song, three-hour marathon gig at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia (just outside Washington, D.C.). A taciturn Robert Smith lead the quartet, which features recently returned guitarist Porl Thompson, through a set that included lots of old favorites and only three new songs: "The Perfect Boy", "The Only One", and "Freakshow".

"The Only One" and "Freakshow" are slated to be released as singles on May 13 and June 13, respectively, leading up to a brand new Cure album September 13 on Suretone/Geffen.

The deliberately paced concert started slow, picked up a bit after "Lovesong", and really gained steam with a lively, funky version of "Lullaby". The band was visibly having fun performing it. After that they segued into poppy hits like "Hot Hot Hot!!!", "Friday I'm in Love" and "Just Like Heaven" before closing the main set with some of their more drawn-out, jammy material.

During the first of three encores, a long, dramatic intro led into "A Forest"; the band slowed to a crawl, gradually gaining speed until the crowd recognized the riff, and went nuts. Before the second encore, Smith said, "This being Friday and the first night of the tour, we're going to play some pop stuff. Bear with us and sing along." "Lovecats", "Let's Go to Bed", "Close to Me", and "Why Can't I Be You" followed.

The Cure hit Boston tonight, and continue on the road until late June, when they end their tour with a pair of dates in New York City. The English post-rock band 65daysofstatic opens every show.

Tour dates, setlist, and more photos below!

Setlist:

01 Plainsong
02 Prayers for Rain
03 A Strange Day
04 alt.end
05 The Walk
06 The End of the World
07 Lovesong
08 To Wish Impossible Things
09 Pictures of You
10 Lullaby
11 The Perfect Boy
12 From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea
13 Hot Hot Hot!!!
14 The Only One
15 Push
16 Friday I'm in Love
17 In Between Days
18 Just Like Heaven
19 Primary
20 Shake Dog Shake
21 Never Enough
22 Wrong Number
23 One Hundred Years
24 Disintegration
***encore***
25 At Night
26 M
27 Play for Today
28 A Forest
***encore***
29 Lovecats
30 Let's Go to Bed
31 Freakshow
32 Close to Me
33 Why Can't I Be You
***encore***
34 Boys Don't Cry
35 Jumping Someone Else's Train
36 Grinding Halt
37 10:15 Saturday Night
38 Killing an Arab

Cure dates:

05-12 Boston, MA - Agganis Arena *
05-14 Montreal, Quebec - Bell Centre *
05-15 Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre *
05-17 Chicago, IL - Allstate Arena *
05-19 Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre *
05-21 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre *
05-23 Salt Lake City, UT - E Center *
05-25 George, WA - The Gorge Amphitheatre (Sasquatch! Festival) *
05-26 Vancouver, British Columbia - General Motors Place *
05-28 San Jose, CA - HP Pavilion
05-29 Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl *
05-31 Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl *
06-01 Los Angeles, CA - Shrine Auditorium *
06-03 San Diego, CA - Cox Arena *
06-04 Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theatre *
06-06 Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center *
06-08 Austin, TX - Austin Music Hall *
06-09 Houston, TX - Toyota Center *
06-11 Tampa, FL - St. Pete Times Forum *
06-13 Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Bank Atlantic Center *
06-15 Atlanta, GA - Gwinnett Center *
06-16 Charlotte, NC - Charlotte Bobcats Arena *
06-18 Cleveland, OH - Wolstein Center (Cleveland State University) *
06-20 New York, NY - Madison Square Garden *
06-21 New York, NY - Radio City Music Hall *

The New Socialism

What have we come to? The following is an email exchange from a friend of mine in the market for a house. As usual, his timing is lousy. In any case, to protect the innocent, names have been withheld...but sometimes we refer to him as Rasta:

Rasta: Part of me just wants to say fuck the man and invest whatever I would have sunk into a house in Google stock or something. Then I can keep living my semi-communist-euro life in [my girlfriend's] little junior 1-bedroom.

Me: Yeah thats how you say fuck the man. Buy Google stock.

Rasta: Its the modern way to fuck the man...At least it isn't Microsoft stock.