donewaiting announces the siren festival bands, which of course includes my favorite band of now now, the constantines.

if you dont know, my birthday is in july. here’s a tenative schedule:

7/17: siren festival
7/22 - 23: birthday party
7/29 - 8/1: merge 15 year parties

enter into the mind of marcellus hall.

aside from the wife-meeting, this is a nice summary about the whole GBV deal.

GBV played in the area last week [read: trenton] and well, i couldnt find much of a reason to justify going. i havent been very fond of the band for a long time now [not just on a musical level, but for many personal reasons], so perhaps its good that things are ceasing.

but its like losing your diary from when you were a teenager or something sentimental, you just cant deal. even though you have to.

an email arrived the other day in my personal account from this place, dicussing the RIAA and students right’s at Penn. i’ve never heard of this place before, but upon reading their site, they’ve found a new fan in me.

i wouldnt call the observer unbiased but they are very good at calling the university’s bullshit. finally, someone else who realizes how stupid the daily pennsylvanian is!

you know what i love? when i drink heavily and get into mock-arguments about music with people, primarily random strangers. i should write a book about this but the truth of the matter is, i forget most of the argument when ive sobered up. it probably wasn’t much of an argument anyway, something like “polvo managed to synthesize experimental, aggressive music into the standard confines of a pop song”. come to think of it, thats too complex of a thought process to have after 3 tequila sunrises. it was probably more like “polvo is better than belle and sebastian.”

regardless, you know you’ve made it [whatever that entails] when someone writes about you on their weblog. check out here [check out right below “unnerving thing #8″] and here.

if there’s others, let me know. i keep an entire folder for this stuff in explorer. im world famous for these sort of things.

im watching cyndi lauper perform on VH1’s “divas in concert” and im reminded of the time she performed at my old place of work. no, it wasnt her team of makeup technicians and security guards, but rather the moment when i escorted her in the elevator. informed that she would perform on the balcony of the store, she threw a fit. im sure my former boss has a better recollection of her scolding him as a result of this. after their interaction, she cornered me in the elevator, “do you think its fair?”

i couldnt think of a response. i had been up since 6AM and frankly, it wasnt a big deal. it was a better idea that we keep her on the balcony for “safety” reasons. [ie, crazy fans] and i thought it was better not to respond, so that i didnt sound like another “yes person”.

my lack of a response caused her to say, “oh what does it matter; they dont pay you enough to have an opinion.” uh, what?

i should have bitched her right then and there, but well, i was too tired to care. miss lauper went on to perform for her “peeeepuhhhllll” [her pronounciation] and did an astoundingly pretty version of “time after time” that brought tears to my eyes.

revenge came when cyndi, she who was so concerned about her fans, cut the autograph sessions short because she was tired.

a couple days ago, someone on the spoon mailing list complained about people who sing along to bands at shows. this display of snobbery hit a raw nerve with me, especially because i belive that people should enjoy themselves at shows and if that includes singing, im all for it.

little did i know id get some backlash on this response, mainly from people who think singing along is an infringement of other people’s enjoyment. as a result, my response was:

you know, im suffering from seasonal allergies today and I thought I was pretty cranky!

tom, singing during an opera IS unacceptable but that is because opera/theatre/musicals/etc have their own set of rules and etiquette. furthermore, the design of these spaces take into consideration a certain
kind of behavior.

if I remember correctly, however, spaceland has a pretty shitty sound system. I work at a club as well and pretty much across the board, rock clubs don’t sound good. the few which do, you’d never know since shows are loud by nature.

the thing is, these are two different kinds of musical experiences and should never be placed in the same group if your plan is to make a compelling point.

spatial arguments aside, is singing really such a horrible thing? no, its NOT. its an expression of enjoyment, which last I checked is primarily the reason people attend rock concerts. lots of bands actually appreciate the gesture, given that most crowds stand and stare at the band as if it was a painting in a museum. does singing infringe upon your own enjoyment? it might, but the effects are so minimal, I cant believe im arguing over this.

things which are DEFINITELY more of an infringement upon one’s enjoyment; more so than one dude poorly singing along to ryan adams*: having beer
spilled on one’s self, getting burned by cigarettes, being verbally/physically harassed or injured.**

I like fun and stuff
-m.

* which begs a deeper, more pressing question: why the hell would they want
to listen to that lousy music? if ryan adams wants to alienate his fans by making fun of them for singing along, im glad he’s never seen a single cent of my money. what an undeserving prick.

** a few years back at an enemymine show, some guy got super rowdy and as a
result, I fell right into the bands bass drum and tore a ligament in my knee. needless to say, spending the night at the emergency room certainly wasn’t as fun as being at the khyber.

what do you think? granted, people singing loudly at a low concert would be unacceptable, but if you’re at any other kind of rock show, its fair game. i dont get what the big deal is and largely, why indie rockers are so anti-fun.

unrest, perfect teeth
the raincoats
north of america, brothers, sisters
madder rose, panic on
trouble everyday, days vs. nights
dif juz, soundpool
stereolab, emperor tomator ketchup

still reeling from playing on friday night!

you remember that store soapbox [or as it was then known, “philadelphia soap co”]? ever since they closed up their locust street store, ive been feeling sad. and a little less clean. thankfully, you can find their soaps here.

I couldn’t believe the thread on BCO. I refused to believe it. A week ago I had a discussion with Jon about wanting to meet with him and talk about the process of setting up a small venue. As the man who runs Hey Day Entertainment, he’s a big role model of mine. He was one of the few agents in Philly that books multiple venues, independent of Clear Channel, and has spoken out against that company.

But as more and more posts flooded in to BCO, reality sank in. Jon did it. He’s one of them now.

I’m shocked but not ready to make any kind of official comment on it yet; specifics on the situation are hard to come by this early in the game. Keep checking the BCO thread, since some news from Troc employees has been trickling in.