I got promoted to music director last week here at the LA station. Reading a book Zac gave me by Joe Pernice from The Pernice Brothers and Scud Mountain Boys called "It Feel So Good When I Stop." Not half bad so far.

Zac was here last weekend so that ruled. We went to see The Mekons and did a lot of record shopping. Connie and I saw My Chemical Romance at a small show the other day. Surprised by how much I kinda like them

Hey

wish it wasn't dead in here....it's fun to read posts from everyone.....and stay in touch...but we are all busy, and life gets crazy...miss you all

Hoping to see the Hangover and Away we Go this weekend...

Anything Good

So, has anyone seen any good movies lately? Any good music? Any good books? I liked Transformers, I am reading "Three Cups of Tea",and I am enjoying Muse, Damone, White Lies, and Gaslight Anthem in the music department.

"This place is dead anyway"

Holy Crap!

I'm not a big Jimmy Fallon fan, but I have to start tuning in now!

WHERE I WAS LAST WEEK

What I've Been Listening To

This month is the fifteen year anniversary of taking over the Adv Club. That should make you all feel somewhat old. Anyhoo, I have been doing a series of best of shows so that's all I'cve been listening to. Stuff like...

RANCID



THE STONE ROSES



ELVIS COSTELLO



EDITORS

I'll Bite

This year has been a pretty exciting one for me musically. I'll be the first to admit that new music has not impressed me much over the last several years. I've spent much more money on older records and back catalog than anything contemporary. There have been some good tracks here and there, but great albums by established artists are rare, and up-and-comers are inconsistent, luring me in with a great track, but disappointing with the rest of the album. I've become a cranky old man ranting about "kids these days" with their illegal downloading and their lack of consideration for the album as a work of art.

However, the first half of 2009 has delivered some fantastic albums from new and classic artists:

Faunts - Feel.Love.Thining.Of - Their past releases (a full-length and an EP) have centered around one brilliant track followed with ambient, shoe-gazing tracks. Good stuff, but not even close to living up to the promise of the single. F.L.T.O., however, finally delivers the album I knew they were capable of writing. Start to finish, this is a truly amazing record and I'm not a good enough writer to describe its greatness. If I were rich, I'd buy a copy of this for each of you. You need to hear it.

U2 - No Line on the Horizon - Fantastic? Not quite, but after the career that they've had, they get a free pass in my book. You write an album like Achtung Baby, Joshua Tree, or Boy and you get lifetime credibility. However, I do applaud them for not writing another album just like How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. It would have been the easy thing to do. The new songs sound like they're trying a little too hard to remain relevant and it backfires. It usually comes so naturally to them.

Bat For Lashes - Two Suns - Again, another example of a new artist that, I think, is doing something interesting and exciting. I liked her first album a lot. The sparse instrumentation really showcased some great songwriting. Her follow-up sounds much more mature, with more textured arrangements with great choruses and melodies. She's got the most interesting parts of Tori Amos and Bjork, and, like them, she's definitely got a case of the crazies. Fortunately, unlike Tori and Bjork, I don't think Bat for Lashes would ever hurt anyone, and I wouldn't be afraid to be in the same room with her.

Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe - I don't know how they do it, but DM has consistently delivered strong albums, even after the golden age of Music for the Masses and Violator (Ultra being the exception). Unfortunately, with the decline of radio and MTV, their relevance has waned and they haven't quite captured a new generation of fans. SOTU mixes some really amazing tracks with some pretty good tracks, and only one skipper (Martin's song, natch). The most notable thing about this album is the juxtaposition of the slick production of their recent albums with the return of analog synths (or at least analog modelers). The guitars are dialed way back (thankfully) and while I think that DM will never be the same without Alan Wilder, I do think they've managed to find a way to stand on their own.

A Camp - Colonia - According to Josh, I'm the only person in the country who still cares about the Cardigans. While he may have stopped paying attention after the success of Lovefool, he completely missed three records that are undoubtedly, and successively better and better. They may not have had the exposure or fame that they had in the late 90s, but their music continues to mature. While I wait patiently for another Cardigans record, I will gladly accept a new A Camp record. A Camp is Nina, her husband Nathan Larson (Shudder to Think) and some other dude, and Colonia is their second full-length. Other than Nina's voice, it sounds very different than the Cardigans, but it's very good.

Always with the Music...

So, I think I ask this about once every 3 months or so, but it seems like a good way to keep up on good music. That's a tall order these days with the crap that plays on the radio.

So, I saw Gaslight Anthem a couple of weeks ago in San Francisco. All I can say is that if you haven't listened to them, then get on it. If you haven't seen them, then trust me when I say they put on a hell of a show. They do their songs justice live.

I recently started listening to The Lost Cause by Billy the Kid. The interesting thing about her is that I knew her from fronting the punk band Billy and the Lost Boys. This CD is a whole new direction for her, but the songs and the lyrics are fantastic. Not to mention this one is a whole lot more commercially viable than BatLB, but then again, I like both. I also haven't really progressed beyond high school when it comes to pop punk bands, so that might be saying something.

The trailer for Where the Wild Things Are has a whole lot of Wake Up by Arcade Fire. That's pretty damn cool, but the song is off Funeral instead of Neon Bible.

Chase doing S&G

It is painful trying to do a new music show on a weekly basis. Most of the music made now is really terrible. Except The Black Eyed Peas

Adventures in Ticket Buying

This morning U2 tickets went on sale for their D.C. date. Luckily, it's my spring break, so I wasn't at work. I had two computers going at the same time to compare ticket availability. Totally awesome. The first set of tickets that came up were 3rd row, lower level, directly behind the stage. Seriously, these would have been maybe 20 yards back from the band. BUTTTT, they were directly behind the stage. And I don't care what they say about this tour being "in the round." When the stage is set in one endzone and 3/4 of your audience is on the other side, they're going to be playing to that side of the stage. So I dumped my tickets to try for another. (BTW, those were $95 each and we're not really able to afford that anyway). Needless to say, next time around the "best available" tickets were at the opposite end of the field. I'm definitely not paying $200 to be at the other end.

Meanwhile, I was searching for the $55 level tickets on the other computer. They brought back a couple, but both times the sections were lined up where the pegs of the stage canopy. If you check out the stage mockup at U2 360 you can see that at four points around the stage, the view is going to be blocked by the stage. So I kept dumping them waiting for better seats. Sold out. Dang.

So I start checking the upper level, $30 seats on both computers. After a couple of tries, I get seats directly adjacent to the stage. Awesome. Nothing in the way, pretty high up, but right next to the stage. Plus, they were only $30. That's really awesome. Those are cheaper than my Depeche Mode tickets I bought a few weeks ago.



We're sitting in section 426. All for less than $100, even with all of the service charges. That's pretty damn cheap for a big stadium rock show. With tickets that cheap, I might be able to justify seeing them again when they come back to North America. Rumor is they will be playing Ravens Stadium in Baltimore, so we won't even have to drive to D.C. Katie is stoked! (@)

p.s. We get Muse as our opening act. Easily the best of the proposed openers. Snow Patrol would be cool, but I don't care too much for Glasvegas, and I fucking loathe the Black Eyed Peas...sorry Josh (@)

Bat For Lashes

This song has been out for a couple of months and I'm still obsessed.

more U2 pictures

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffJRb9FUt1E&feature=related

Watchmen

Anyone seen it? When are we gonna discuss?

U2, Wikipedia, and A Few Other Musings...

I've been meaning to respond to a number of posts on here, but I have just been busy lately. That, and when I go to sea, I don't have internet access.

Anyway... As for Wikipedia (Adam), I believe it is still a great place to start for information. I don't think it is any less accurate than some of the more established print Encyclopedias. Of course, we are probably looking for different stuff. I am mostly looking at technical articles. For bands, I typically just go straight to their website.

I think, given the large volume of information on there, they do a pretty decent job of correcting stuff when it is found to be wrong. I wouldn't use it as my prime source, but I use it all the time as my source of sources. If I am interested in a topic, first I wiki it, then I google it... So long as you know to take it with a grain of salt, it is still useful.

On to U2, I haven't really listened to the whole CD. I've more or less just listened to the previews on iTunes and I certainly can't comment on the lyrics. As I'm not a big U2 fan, I didn't even realize they had a new one coming out until Adam mentioned it. It sounds to me a lot like their older stuff, but I've pretty much thought that about all their stuff since Achtung Baby came out. I always think of the Henry Rollins routine where he talks about U2 having only one bass line and using it over and over for 20 years. That makes me laugh, but if it works, why change? One greatest hits CD is good for me. I like their cover of "The Saints are Coming." If I come across the CD somewhere, I will probably give it a spin though.

I am glad to hear that they are nice guys. That makes me like them more.

So, I've been re-reading High Fidelity the last couple of days. That book just gets better with age. I don't collect stuff with quite the zeal that I did back when I read that book for the first time, but I do have a few more life experiences and I realize what a fantastic job Hornby did in painting Rob's situation. I feel for Rob about now.

So, who has heard, and what do you think of, "Help, I'm Alive" by Metric? I never remember listening to Metric before, but that song is pretty awesome. I'm now looking forward to that album when it comes out in April. My other constant listen right now is "The '59 Sound" by Gaslight Anthem. The whole CD is great and quite a departure from their skate punk sound of "Sink or Swim." They got some E-Street band mojo in them or something.

So, that's about it for this post. I'm moving to California next week, so I'll let you guys know when I get there.

More U2

I got to meet them at an industry party last night. They were here doing an interview that radio will run coming up about the new album. More to be recorded in Chicago and Boston. Anyway, the had a party for record and radio people to kiss up to them afterward. Each was nice and exactly what you'd expect. Adam and Larry were the most talkative. Adam talked about his love of the new Prodigy and Airborne Toxic Event records. He said openers on the tour will be Muse and someone else I have forgotten. They will switch off. It will be September and October stadiums in the US. Larry was cool as well. We talked a bit about the turmoil at the beginning of the Achtung recording sessions. I asked why they never played Acrobat live and he said they never even tried and that it wasn't meant to be played live. Edge said they soundchecked it, but it sucked. That was after he said they had played it live but I disagreed. Edge was really happy when I told him, like I did the other two, that Achtung was my favorite and how much that record meant to me when I was 16. Larry was impressed that I remembered the date Adam and I saw them in '92.

That leads us to Bono.

That dude is tiny. Really nice, full of stories. He and I talked about radio research and sales and things. You can tell he is the one who checks their chart position every week.

I got everyone but Bono to sign my 11 O'Clock Tick Tock 7 inch.

When we left there were hundreds of fans and paparazzi outside waiting for them. They signed for ages.

New U2 album?

Anyone heard it yet? It's streaming at a few places online.

Overall thoughts: It's not this much-hyped reinvention they've been promising. Although, it's probably difficult enough to do that once in a career, much less twice. Besides, it's impossible to ever expect another Achtung. No one could live up to that.

The good news: Get On Your Boots is the worst song on the album. I was hoping this would be true. They have pulled this rope-a-dope in the past. Discoteque kind of threw everyone off and was definitely one of the weaker songs on Pop. Who chooses singles for these guys?

The bad news: Bono's lyrics just continue their downward spiral that started back w/ Zooropa. In the past I've been able to overlook a lot of them; for the most part I don't hear the words, I just hear the voice as another instrument. But there are some real steamers on this record. So much that they pull me out of my moment of enjoyment and make me say, "did he really just say that? Dang."

Overall, I like the record. We'll see how it stands up after several listenings. Other than Beautiful Day, ATYCLB really soured with me. I hardly ever go back and listen to that record. And HTDAAB really grew on me. I wasn't so impressed when I first bought it, but it's worked its way into a regular rotation.

Thoughts?

This Place Is Dead

Where the white people at?

My Dream Last Night

Adam, Scott and I were in the airport taking a trip. There were loads of missed connections and stuff before we finally got the the hotel. That's when Scott opens his suitcase and takes out a tiny dog. Adam and I had to take care of it while Scott went to a bar and got drunk.

The End.

Kid high after dentist.....funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs

Star Wars

This made me laugh a lot.

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/02/the_13_most_misery-inducing_action_figures_from_th.php#more

Make sure you read both pages

Wiki-tastic

Earlier this week I was reading through the Wikipedia entry for The Doors (it's better not to ask why, lest ye submit yourself to a rant against rock and roll idolatry and the taste of popular culture).

Meanwhile, imagine my amusement as I read this entry for The Doors second album, Waiting For the Sun. (Check the red text>


(For the record, the second #1 single for The Doors was "Hello, I Love You").

Really? Had they released "Suck Kunal's Balls Like A donkey On Friday" as a single, I might actually start to like this band. Needless to say, this is a prime example demonstrating the vulnerability of a wiki, especially the extremely popular, and often cited-amongst-students, Wikipedia.

I took the screen-cap immediately because I knew there was no way it would last too long and I needed to have proof. It had been changed less than 3 hours later. However, the editor had changed it to "The Unknown Soldier," again, an incorrect wiki-fact. For a while, I considered just watching this event transpire to see how long it actually took before the information was completely correct again. Well, I made it about 3 more hours before my librarian senses got the best of me and my responsibility to the Internet took over. I logged in and corrected the entry myself.

The one thing I hate more than The Doors is mis-information posing itself as fact on Wikipedia.

Chase

We updated Chase's youtube page.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Chaseylou1

There are ABBA and Crue references contained within.

She and Isaac's band will reign supreme someday.

Their first album will be titled "Greates Tits"

.

Hope you are all well. I don't have much news to report other than I survived the layoffs we had here the other day. 1850 people company wide. Seven percent of the entire workforce of Clear Channel. Amazing.

New President - new blogs.....

Hey just checking in on everyone... What movies has everyone seen that are currently out? I say, Doubt is awesome....some of the best acting I've seen.

Check out this picture taken in Chicago...

This was near my friends apartment! Crazy! Yes that was the street caving in.....

Metalheads Only

http://www.amazon.com/Fargo-Rock-City-Odyssey-Dakota/dp/0743406567

I know this book is several years old at this point, but how did I miss this? Has anyone else read this, and if so, why didn't you tell me about it. If you haven't read this book, you need to read it now. Bump it up in your queue, I don't even care.

Check it out!

Here is a video I was a producer on for a local band.....I like it....Some of you may have seen it. Let me know what ya think. And we are in the final editing stages for a video comedy short I've been working on...i'll send it soon...

I keep getting an error when I try to embed it....so here's the youtube link....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F65c6kaidU

oops - nothingto see here...blogger having errors

http://www.star987.com/main.html

If you click that you can see a little Josh pop up and tell you about something dumb

In other news...

I am reading this right now



It's really good so far.