i went to bed at 3AM. doug called me at 7AM and i remember this because all i could think was , nooooo, i just went to sleep! somehow i managed to wake up and get ready to leave.

we hit the road at 8.30, making a stop at sara’s [i had to drop off some flyers for a show] and then we were on I-95. it was perfect and sunny. not a drop of traffic in sight until we hit DC. it should come as no surprise that the highway system in our nation’s capital is as fucked up as our government. i always warn bands about this city and new york: you will ALWAYS hit traffic.

we made it through in one piece and took a driving break somewhere outside quantico. we hit more traffic outside richmond. and then there was the rain.

it started pouring almost immediately as we crossed the state line. im talking about the kind of rain that doesnt get things drenched, it floods towns. i made the decision to continue on, even though i could barely see out my windshield. [note: as i type this section, it just began raining heavily, here in philadelphia]

somehow, we made it to ned’s home in chapel hill safely and took a quick break before getting dinner at carrburritos before the show.

the rosebuds kicked off the festivities, just as rocking as the night before. however, i was too tired to rock. and i was too tired to watch quiet bands, so i met up with my friend julie and took a walk down franklin street during richard buckner’s set. i came back in time for the essex green, who were a more rocking version of the ladybug transistor [they share bandmates, of course]. unfortunately, i discovered a dark corner where i could sit and fell asleep during their set. i woke up in time for m ward and was lulled into a sleep [again] but his hypnotic guitar playing and dreamy vocals.

the naps proved to be the perfect ammunition in my fight to see superchunk, as i was completely refreshed by the time they hit the stage. and what a show it was.

first thing that would have been visible to you was that laura is very pregnant. she’s such a tiny lady and now there’s this huge bulge on her body and right below it is a bass guitar slung quite low. julie took a great photograph of her:

dont let her pregnant demeanor fool you though, she rocked hard. if you’ve got the bandwith, check out her brief clip of the band performing “precision auto”. the sound quality is awful but i think its a great example of the band in action and pretty close to what being there felt like, especially if you were pogoing around like me.

the other noticeable thing about the band was a lack of additional instrumentation. no extra keyboards or egg shakers [which a friend mercilessly mocks superchunk for]. just superchunk.

the set was reverse chronological order, so they started off with their newest track, “freaks in charge”. the rest of the set list:

Late Century Dream
Art Class
Hello Hawk
The Majestic
European Medicine
Detroit Has A Skyline
Like A Fool
The First part
Precision Auto
Throwing Things
Shallow End

Can I Ride [polvo]
Slack Motherfucker
Brand New Love [sebadoh]
Fishing

What do I

ash bowie of polvo came out in the encore to sing “can i ride”, ditto for lou barlow on “brand new love”. ash’s long hair made me think of “strangers with candy” and i wanted to call him chief big bong. dont ask me why. im retarded like that. jon came out from behind the drumkit and sang “fishing”.

the final encore included “what do i” because as mac said “its the only song we have left!”

…to play kickball with britt daniel this week!

to make up for it, ill be appearing on my friend kevin’s radio program FRI 7/30 on WXYC [89.3FM, chapel hill] at 3PM EST. tune in!

just as i did with the ten year anniversary, i got to see a merge band the night before i traveled to north carolina. in 99 it was ladybug transistor with beulah & the apples in stereo, 2004 brought us merge artists camera obscura and the rosebuds at the north star.

from what i understand the opener, menocu, showed up too late and couldnt perform. they’re local but ive never heard them. [i know. out of anyone in philly, i should be the last person to say such a thing]

the rosebuds took the stage next trying to rock the pants off the lazy philadelphia crowd. aside from me, i spotted 3 people dancing in the audience while the front row sat down crosslegged at the foot of the stage. what the heck? i can understand that kind of behavior at an azusa plane concert but for a band that is pretty upbeat? no way. inexcusable.

the band got a new drummer since i last saw them at sxsw and he seems to be working out really well. the new songs previewed were really great, especially this one be-bop-ish tune that erupts into garagey noise during the choruses. im looking forward to hearing their next full-length.

if you thought the audience sitting down during a loud rock band was funny, they all got up for camera obscura and appeared to be — gasp! — lively. and for the life of me, i cant figure out why. camera obscura are middle of the road, librarians-and-cable-knit sweaters kind of rock. i dont even like belle & sebastian but i felt kind of sorry for B&S because now they have to deal with being partially responsible for spawing 56,357,575,757,597,547,575 horrible bands. calvin johnson didnt ruin rock for a whole generation, stuart murdoch did.

to their credit, i will say this: their cover of “sugar town” was nice. even the part where they broke into “blue moon”, only because it sounded different from the rest of the stuff they playing!

after the show, doug [my traveling partner] drove me home and i proceeded to stay up for hours packing.

image courtesy of philth magazine. a magazine about philly that uses the “ph” to replace “f” sounds? what a novel idea! joking aside, its not that bad. nice feature on trouble everyday.

actually, that guy above plays in trouble everyday.

make of this as you wish.

you know who im talking about. that dude. david segal breaks down the types of people who “ruin” shows.

the first read had me laughing because after so many years of booking / attending shows, these people are second nature to me. then i got to thinking about what a show would be like without this kind of audience, and the mental picture i conjured up was much less satisfying – people standing around, passively observing a band.

what kind of fun is that? i know ive made this argument before, but as long as someone doesnt infringe upon the security of the rest of the audience, no one is doing anything wrong. there’s no need to ostracize people who arent “cool” like the rest of the crowd. at least i remembered that person, as opposed to the other hundred hispter douchebags looking and acting the same way, you know?

http://www.wprb.com/printplaylist.php?show_id=1564

i believe this is the second time i’ve done a show for WPRB on my birthday proper. last time around it was an “audiobiography” of my life. instead of replicating that, i tried a different tack: records from 1978.

of course, five seconds after pulling records for this, i tired of the idea. so the show is a mishmosh of things. that’s got more to do with the personal crisis i was simultaneously undergoing.

and yes, that was my mother who stopped by and said hello — she was bailing me out of the previously mentioned crisis.

thanks for your birthday calls!

click on the logo to read.

This is my review for WPRB. Its not very exciting:

EVIL WIENER are NC’s best kept secret – that’s what my friend Ned keeps telling me. Head Wiener Bill McCormick works as a schoolteacher during the day and being surrounded by children has clearly made its mark on his music.

Not only that, his music’s made an impression on Chapel Hill scenesters – enough to warrant an entire tribute record. Not being very familiar with EW [remember, they’re a secret!], I can’t make any comparisons to the original material. With that said, I think the contributions on here are pretty great and make for a companion compilation to Compulation: Songs From North Carolina, Volume 1 (Pox World Empire, released in ’03).

popmatters writes a really good review here.

are women more prone to dissecting band relationships? what kind of stories are album titles telling? is linda ronstadt a rebel?

too funny not to share, courtesy of ILM. anyone want to get together on a friday night and play?
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