Hello campers....sorry i've neglected you....i shall be updating as often as possible now that we're actually doing some stuff at the pabst & riverside....(at least as long as i don't get uber lazy here again...)
anyhoo...glad to be finally back in the swing of things with 3 shows under our belt for The Pabst & Riverside. Tuesday, we had a double feature with the odd yet workable combination of John Fogerty (zero of which i saw, but as i understand, was a pretty darn great) & an acoustic(ish) Jimmy Eat World show that also featured former Azure Ray singer Maria Taylor.
Maria put down a very nice set although i have to admit....i kinda wish her & Orenda would take a break from all this solo business & get an Azure Ray record. Nonetheless a nice intro to what turned out to be a pretty laid back Jimmy Eat World Show.
Jimmy Eat World has always been one of those bands that sort of started something that began as a good thing (i.e. The Bleed American & Clarity albums specifically) & went on to influence some pretty cruddy artists including Fallout Boy, Say Anything, Plain White Ts and on and on and on in the emo-crud genre. What's really disappointing as a result of all of this is the fact that whether it's deserving or not, previously supportive outlets such as CMJ, Pitchfork & others have gone on to really bash this band as of late & lump them in with a group of bands that they really don't belong with. To me it's sort of like faulting Nirvana or Pearl Jam for creating 3 Doors Down & Nickelback. Sure those guys probably had a lot to do with spawning the influence for some true crap, but at the same time would you prefer that they had never existed solely so that we wouldn't have to listen to that lunk-head from nickel back release the same single for the 500th time? probably not....
so...even if it's an unfair world of music in terms of who gets the big payoff & who is only modestly rewarded, if we end up with an alpine valley full of fall-out boy fans & a pabst or riverside theater with Jimmy Eat World....I'm just glad i work here instead of there....
in any case, i digress. The Jimmy show was really cool. Not the least bit intense, but instead a very laid back, not quite acoustic but definitely relaxed set. Lead singer Jim Adkins has is really one of the most unique artists i've encountered mainly because he's so normal & unassuming. Jim was walking around the theater kind of early in the morning & i stopped & said hey for a minute or two, really cool guy & not the least bit bratty, demanding or anything.
side note on this show, i reunited with Jimmy's tour manager Mark who i had been with for two completely horrid & difficult dashboard confessional college shows. Mark & I had the shared pain of a particularly bad gig in middle-of-nowhere-saginaw-michigan.
Interesting story on Mark... he's been out with some pretty interesting bands including Jurassic 5, The Roots, Dashboard & a few others & we had gotten to talking about ticket prices on shows (as jimmy's was a paltry $20) & got onto the issue of Rage Against The Machine's $60 concert tickets. In the middle of my diatribe, Mark said... "yeah, i used to play in a band with zach...doesn't surprise me much..."
so....there ya have it.
anyway....Erasure tonight & i'll blog on pt 2 "Tilly, SSION & Juice Boxxx" soon....that was a trip....buckle up.
St. Vincent- Marry Me - Great record from 24 year old multi-instrumentalist Annie Clark who's done shifts both with Sufjan Stevens' band The Polyphonic Spree & most recently an opening solo slot for The Arcade Fire. Occasionally shocking and generally ironic lyrics paired with a tremendous knack for high drama direct for the Tori Amos school of dramatics, this very intense, intriguing debut solo offering from St. Vincent is just a really great record. I'd suggest it.