i remember when i was 15 and i couldn’t stand it when shows were 16 and over, or for that matter 18 or 21 and over. but now that i am over 21 i’ve become a complete snob when it comes to shows. i consider all the high school brats to be lepers. they weren’t there before… or rather not as many, lately they’ve been dominating the shows. making them near to intolerable… not all of them. trust me i know their are teens out there that hate teens just as much as i do because when i was one i hated on them more than i do now… (mostly because they were always around me). shows got calm for a time there, comfortable enough distance from the person next to/in front/and or in back of you. space to dance amongst yourselves. the last batch of shows i’ve gone to have included: moshing, stage diving, crowd surfing, pogoing (damn you Sid Vicious), and pushing. i feel like i’m 15 again and i have to take off my glasses if i want to go into the crowd. yes i did lose them before, i spent years not knowing what the band looked like. and i guess it might be that the shows have changed and not the people. what happened to courtesy? what happened to 21 and over shows?

this past weekend a bunch of us kiddies went to a cd release party for Oxford Collapse (i myself, not so impressed). aside from being a very interesting (illegal) venue, which it was. it was also the most disgusting place i’d ever been to. i’m speaking of Grasslands Gallery (on the south side of Williamsburg). so f’ing dusty, i’ve never seen so much dust… but that wasn’t the disgusting part… wait until you have to go to the bathroom, which when accompanied by alcohol… many, many did. but did all of them snap photos like we did? it was weird, the bathroom was extremely filthy while being clean. everything your body had to touch was clean but everything around it was wrapped in gonorrhea. but it did have a shower in their, no pics of the shower… it was too dark. and no pics of the Palmolive dish soap, blame Terrence for that one… he’s a terrible spy. but aside from being dirrrty i quite enjoyed the venue. i like small intimate settings, if the crowd wasn’t so obnoxious i would have enjoyed it a lot more. bonus points for the art room where they encourage the patrons to paint all over the walls. i didn’t find a single penis amongst the bunch and the laptop with the story that you were supposed to continue, of course Tim and Terrence had to bring it to the penis and the cumming halt. no one added to the story after them. i enjoyed the cell phone room, though i didn’t go into it. the stage was so low that the crowd was fully capable of storming it and interrupting the show… (which they did). but all in all… actually i couldn’t wait to get home. and the following morning when i blew my nose, covered in dirt. nice.

for more pics of the bathroom.

(psst… she gets better with age) after weeks, months, seems like forever of trying to download Y’s i finally got it last week in this bulk torrent file for 2006 Indie releases (the file was quite useful actually). it did take me until today to listen to it, i saw Joanna live with Neko Case in August and she played i’m sure every track off of Y’s and it bored me to sleep. it was so quiet, the crowd was shifting around silently listening to unfamiliar tunes and between each track a few would shout out “Peach, Plum, Pear” but she never played it. i was so bored by the 12 minute tracks with just Newsom and her harp, along with her adorable squeaks and quirky faces… she’s so hot in person… anyway, i digress. i wasn’t sure i’d like it but i still had to hear it. today i finally put it on and seriously a very much understated album done live. i loved it so much i had to listen to it twice back to back. though the album is 55 minutes and the longest track is over 16 it felt short to me being only 5 tracks long, i might listen to it again. it’s fantastic, i strongly recommend each and every one of you go out and buy Y’s when it comes out in November. i’m amazed by it’s orchestral arrangements provided by Van Dyke Parks and the harp which is rapidly becoming my new favorite instrument, from the echoing vocals on Emily to the stormy end of Cosmia, this album gives me heart palpitations. oh and lets not forget the constant squeaking… it wouldn’t be Joanna Newsom without the childlike vocals and the prepubescent squeaks. christ, i’m in love.

and if they don’t you’ve already heard all the worthwhile material so you’re basically paying for filler/crap. it really is a trend that i’ve been noticing throughout the years, i haven’t really enjoyed any of these albums. what brought me to the edge so i’d have to speak about it? the new Bright Eyes b-sides and rarities collection, Noise Floor. not only did i already have most of these b-sides… but i didn’t like them then and i don’t really like them all too much now. this might be an unfair statement considering that i haven’t actually finished listening to it yet. i just recognized the titles of tracks that i’m familiar with and i thought to myself… ‘booring’. my opinion on this collection in particular might also be made bias on the basis that Bright Eyes doesn’t do it for me any more the way he used to. my hatred of Conor Oberst’s whiny persona is clouding my love for the music. i just really hate him so much, i want to slap him. you’re rich and famous, lighten up! Christ. but it doesn’t stop there, the list of boring b-sides and rarities collections stem back years. Pearl Jam, Sarah McLachlan, Less Than Jake, No Doubt, U2 (i’m sorry, it just doesn’t fo it for me), and most recently Tori Amos. to a lot of people this list might seem obvious… a bad collection for a bad artist. yeah… i guess you could say that but at the time i liked these artists. Read the rest of this entry →