Thursday, July 24, 2003
what i'm listening to Right Now: Bob Dylan, May 9, 1965 Royal Albert Hall London (Bootleg from 1965 Revisited) - Talking World War III Blues
Disclaimer: This is Part 2 of 3 of my NY trip. I realize I've been rambling these last few days. Only one more installment to go. I pride myself on being an interesting writer, but I've been typing at work, whenever I can find time, so it's not as structured as I'd like. Kind of stream-of-conscious isn't it? Stay tuned though, because after I finish up with the NYC thing I'm going to be talking a blue streak about Nellie McKay. But I'm holding off on it until I tell you about the Nellie McKay show that I "went" to in New York. On with today's post.
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BREAKING NEWS: Good Gravy!!! Look what I just read on Glorious Noise. I quote the end of the article: "In an exclusive Glorious Noise email interview, Matrix manager Sandy Robertson told us, 'The Matrix have cut 3 tracks with Mooney Suzuki already. They will be co-writing and producing their whole album when MS get off Lollapalooza.'"
The MATRIX!!!! I don't know how to feel about this! At first I feel shock, but now that a few minutes have passed since I saw it, I feel excited. Should be interesting. I'll wait to hear it before I pass judgment, but I hope the Matrix doesn't kill our Mooney’s.
Anyway, picking up on where I left off yesterday, I was just catching the train to Coney Island. It is a long train ride out there but it goes above ground after a while and that was kinda neat. But finally, and I do mean finally, we made it. Crowds made their way out onto the streets. Siren has two stages, the "Stillwell Stage" on Stillwell ave, and the "Main Stage" on Surf ave. Here was the schedule.
The subway comes out on Stillwell Ave. and I can see the stage up ahead; however, it was 2:15ish by this time and the Kills should still be on stage. So I kick into high gear, down the street to find Surf Ave. and the "Main Stage." I was singing to myself the "Cat Claw" song (but I don't know the words so I was actually just singing gibberish like "Its time to stand on da fingers from the bell, Tell sugar no how you found him come on sugar..." Come to think of it, I might have the words right.) and then I rounded the corner and there the Kills were, and they were singing that exact song!! Weird coincidence.....Unless I was subconsciously hearing the song off in the distance and that's why I was singing it. But I do like that song, so maybe it was just a coincidence.
I had to go to the bathroom after the train ride, so I waited in line as the Kills finished up. I sure was parched so I went out in search of cool beverage. One thing I wish was that there were more places to get a hot dog on Coney Island. O.K. that was sarcastic. There was no shortage of greasy hot dog stands there. Now I live just over the river from Virginia Beach and we have a boardwalk and beach that looks a lot like Coney Island, but Virginia is run by the Morality Nazis. Coney Island on the other hand...You could buy beer at the food stands and carry it around the boardwalk with you! I've never seen that since I lived in Europe! In Virginia you can't even carry a beer around Busch Gardens! The same Busch Gardens that is owned by the beer company!
Now this Coney Island beer story explains another theory that I have about New York. NYC is the most liberal place I've ever seen. Not a very far reaching conclusion but true none the less.
So I was sightseeing the boardwalk, and there was this freak show. I remember a worm eater girl, a snake girl, and a big fella that lies on a bed of nails. The barker guy who was trying to sucker us all into the theatre cast a magic spell over all of us. He made us all children for 2 minutes. Wow. Guess what! That means we get in for the children’s price!!! At least for the next two minutes. I enjoyed my two minutes of child status to pants the guy next to me as payback for all the crap I put up with the first time I was a child.
I headed back to the "Main Stage" to find out what's the deal with this !!! band. I didn't know anything about them. I came down from the boardwalk and leaned up against the chain-link fence along stage-left. The stage is full of guys. One has a saxophone, two or three on percussion, and some keyboardists. They're late getting started. One of the reviews I read of last years Siren praised the fact that everything went off on time. I don't know what happened but it was getting close to 3:30 and they were only just getting started. Then right in the middle of the first number the lead singer guy starts saying how the cops need everyone to move off the sidewalk. Some kinda safety thing where they have to have to have a walkway along the sides. Well the Dirtbombs were supposed to go on at 3:30 at the other stage! What am I supposed to do? I've never seen the Dirtbombs live and I already know I like them, so I split. So I didn't see the whole !!! show, but what I heard was very disappointing. But I can't make up my mind yet on them, but If I want to dance to some RocknRoll I'd think of the Liars first.
I made my way over to the "Stillwell Stage" for the Dirtbombs. I was excited to see them the most, and they did not disappoint!! They had a chick bass player too. In case you didn't know, they have two bass players and two drummers on two drum kits. The sound sure sucks at the Siren Festival. I don't know what it is, but it's not very good. The Dirtbombs are still Awesome. The scenesters where too caught up in the hype of !!! and Sahara Hotnights to walk over and check out one of the best bands at Siren.
Sahara Hotnights were next. I wasn't too excited to see them. Why? Because I've listened to the album. It's not that good. "Alright, Alright" rocks, but lots of bands rock, so why should I care about these girls. If I was a girl, I'd probably LOVE them, but I don't love them. Now because of the !!! issues, the Main Stage was late by about 30 minutes. This means that the Main Stage bands were going on at the same time as the Stillwell bands. So I left Sahara a smidge early to go see this Northern State. That was excruciating. Painful to watch. Again, if I was a girl, I'd think this was the coolest thing, but come on. Chrissie Hynde, Sleater-Kinney, even Lucinda Williams. They are chicks that are doing it right. Those three (and there's more) would be awesome if they were chicks are not. YYY's, Sleater and the von Bondies were at Siren last year. I'm starting to think I was a year late for the good Siren.
Things started to get crowded. I was glad I saw a bit of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. By this time I had to get back to the city. I don't make it to NYC often enough and there was still some sightseeing I wanted to get in while it was still light out. I knew the subway would be a while, so I split after them. I REALLY wanted to see Modest Mouse, but since they were playing the Norva in Norfolk the following Monday I didn't feel to bad (although I missed them there because my car stopped working).
When I got back to the city, the real fun began. But I'll tell you about it next time.
P.S. I wrote by best song ever today, and I think I'm going to upgrade this site so I can post music and pictures soon.
Stay Tuned!
Disclaimer: This is Part 2 of 3 of my NY trip. I realize I've been rambling these last few days. Only one more installment to go. I pride myself on being an interesting writer, but I've been typing at work, whenever I can find time, so it's not as structured as I'd like. Kind of stream-of-conscious isn't it? Stay tuned though, because after I finish up with the NYC thing I'm going to be talking a blue streak about Nellie McKay. But I'm holding off on it until I tell you about the Nellie McKay show that I "went" to in New York. On with today's post.
---------------------------------------
BREAKING NEWS: Good Gravy!!! Look what I just read on Glorious Noise. I quote the end of the article: "In an exclusive Glorious Noise email interview, Matrix manager Sandy Robertson told us, 'The Matrix have cut 3 tracks with Mooney Suzuki already. They will be co-writing and producing their whole album when MS get off Lollapalooza.'"
The MATRIX!!!! I don't know how to feel about this! At first I feel shock, but now that a few minutes have passed since I saw it, I feel excited. Should be interesting. I'll wait to hear it before I pass judgment, but I hope the Matrix doesn't kill our Mooney’s.
Anyway, picking up on where I left off yesterday, I was just catching the train to Coney Island. It is a long train ride out there but it goes above ground after a while and that was kinda neat. But finally, and I do mean finally, we made it. Crowds made their way out onto the streets. Siren has two stages, the "Stillwell Stage" on Stillwell ave, and the "Main Stage" on Surf ave. Here was the schedule.
The subway comes out on Stillwell Ave. and I can see the stage up ahead; however, it was 2:15ish by this time and the Kills should still be on stage. So I kick into high gear, down the street to find Surf Ave. and the "Main Stage." I was singing to myself the "Cat Claw" song (but I don't know the words so I was actually just singing gibberish like "Its time to stand on da fingers from the bell, Tell sugar no how you found him come on sugar..." Come to think of it, I might have the words right.) and then I rounded the corner and there the Kills were, and they were singing that exact song!! Weird coincidence.....Unless I was subconsciously hearing the song off in the distance and that's why I was singing it. But I do like that song, so maybe it was just a coincidence.
I had to go to the bathroom after the train ride, so I waited in line as the Kills finished up. I sure was parched so I went out in search of cool beverage. One thing I wish was that there were more places to get a hot dog on Coney Island. O.K. that was sarcastic. There was no shortage of greasy hot dog stands there. Now I live just over the river from Virginia Beach and we have a boardwalk and beach that looks a lot like Coney Island, but Virginia is run by the Morality Nazis. Coney Island on the other hand...You could buy beer at the food stands and carry it around the boardwalk with you! I've never seen that since I lived in Europe! In Virginia you can't even carry a beer around Busch Gardens! The same Busch Gardens that is owned by the beer company!
Now this Coney Island beer story explains another theory that I have about New York. NYC is the most liberal place I've ever seen. Not a very far reaching conclusion but true none the less.
So I was sightseeing the boardwalk, and there was this freak show. I remember a worm eater girl, a snake girl, and a big fella that lies on a bed of nails. The barker guy who was trying to sucker us all into the theatre cast a magic spell over all of us. He made us all children for 2 minutes. Wow. Guess what! That means we get in for the children’s price!!! At least for the next two minutes. I enjoyed my two minutes of child status to pants the guy next to me as payback for all the crap I put up with the first time I was a child.
I headed back to the "Main Stage" to find out what's the deal with this !!! band. I didn't know anything about them. I came down from the boardwalk and leaned up against the chain-link fence along stage-left. The stage is full of guys. One has a saxophone, two or three on percussion, and some keyboardists. They're late getting started. One of the reviews I read of last years Siren praised the fact that everything went off on time. I don't know what happened but it was getting close to 3:30 and they were only just getting started. Then right in the middle of the first number the lead singer guy starts saying how the cops need everyone to move off the sidewalk. Some kinda safety thing where they have to have to have a walkway along the sides. Well the Dirtbombs were supposed to go on at 3:30 at the other stage! What am I supposed to do? I've never seen the Dirtbombs live and I already know I like them, so I split. So I didn't see the whole !!! show, but what I heard was very disappointing. But I can't make up my mind yet on them, but If I want to dance to some RocknRoll I'd think of the Liars first.
I made my way over to the "Stillwell Stage" for the Dirtbombs. I was excited to see them the most, and they did not disappoint!! They had a chick bass player too. In case you didn't know, they have two bass players and two drummers on two drum kits. The sound sure sucks at the Siren Festival. I don't know what it is, but it's not very good. The Dirtbombs are still Awesome. The scenesters where too caught up in the hype of !!! and Sahara Hotnights to walk over and check out one of the best bands at Siren.
Sahara Hotnights were next. I wasn't too excited to see them. Why? Because I've listened to the album. It's not that good. "Alright, Alright" rocks, but lots of bands rock, so why should I care about these girls. If I was a girl, I'd probably LOVE them, but I don't love them. Now because of the !!! issues, the Main Stage was late by about 30 minutes. This means that the Main Stage bands were going on at the same time as the Stillwell bands. So I left Sahara a smidge early to go see this Northern State. That was excruciating. Painful to watch. Again, if I was a girl, I'd think this was the coolest thing, but come on. Chrissie Hynde, Sleater-Kinney, even Lucinda Williams. They are chicks that are doing it right. Those three (and there's more) would be awesome if they were chicks are not. YYY's, Sleater and the von Bondies were at Siren last year. I'm starting to think I was a year late for the good Siren.
Things started to get crowded. I was glad I saw a bit of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. By this time I had to get back to the city. I don't make it to NYC often enough and there was still some sightseeing I wanted to get in while it was still light out. I knew the subway would be a while, so I split after them. I REALLY wanted to see Modest Mouse, but since they were playing the Norva in Norfolk the following Monday I didn't feel to bad (although I missed them there because my car stopped working).
When I got back to the city, the real fun began. But I'll tell you about it next time.
P.S. I wrote by best song ever today, and I think I'm going to upgrade this site so I can post music and pictures soon.
Stay Tuned!
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