This week in shows...

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

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.

oooooh daaaaamn....new rilo video

for the full- porn-tastic version- click here: http://www.themoneymake.com/

Pumpkins for sale....

well...it isn't illegal downloading that's killing records stores afterall is it? it's the fucking greedy artists....


article courtesy Pitchforkmedia.com....
Smashing Pumpkins to Fans, Indie Stores: Fuck You

Warning: Excessive greed may cause baldness, artistic impotence


Well, that's the nail in the coffin, then. Just when we were slightly, slightly starting to care about the Smashing Pumpkins again-- what with the release of their long-awaited new album Zeitgeist, and its not-terrible first single, "Tarantula"-- here comes something that makes us more than a bit mellon collie.

Billy and company would like you to know that they fully support the extinction of the American independent record store at the hand of large, faceless, little-guy-crushing big boxes. They also support bleeding their fans dry. How? By releasing FOUR different versions of Zeitgeist.

Best Buy and Target each get a version with an exclusive bonus track. So does iTunes. Like, a different one for each. Everybody else gets the regular version with no bonus tracks. So if you want all of the bonus tracks, you have to buy an album at Best Buy, an album at Target, and an album at iTunes. (Ooh, the presale iTunes version also comes with an extra set of Smashing Pumpkins covers by the Bravery, the Academy Is..., Panic at the Disco, Test Your Reflex, and +44. Ooh.)

Making fans who've been waiting the better part of a decade for new Smashing Pumpkins tunes buy an album several times over is, you know, bullshit. My god, you have to go to Target (and only Target!) to get the version with the title track! That just ain't right.

Best Five Seconds on The Internet

This week's picks & TMBG

these guys never cease to dazzle me with their creativity.....




Picks this week

The New Pornographers-Challengers Executive Edition Not ONLY did this band decide that their latest album will be available with a special bonus FOUR disc set (for a paltry $20)....You can listen to the thing (legally!) months before it comes out with pre-order.... much more info here.... (GO DO THIS!! The record is amazing & you should support these ventures from great bands like New Pornos!)

Joan As Policewoman-Real Life Having been out in the UK for quite some time, this week i was finally able to get my hands on a domestic copy of this great disc. Like a combination between Nina Simone, Jeff Buckley & a little bit of her own thing, Joan is quickly becoming one of my faves of the yeater.

Raging for The Machine

This week Rage Against The Machine announced that they would play Alpine Valley in East Troy WI, their first headlining concert in nearly 10 years. With talk of a tour, an album & an all out return by the legendary hip-hopanistas, I have to admit that given the politcal climate, I couldn't think of a better time for Rage to make triumphant return.

One big problem though.....a quick glance at the ticket price revealed $60 for all seats! (including the crappy lawn seats in the back). in addition to that, the concert was being promoted by what i consider to be the industry leader in corporate bullshit- Livenation (remember them...they used to be called....uh...Clear Channel)

How could this happen? I thought Rage Against The Machine (and specifically Zach De La Rocha) had a little more respect for their fans than to do the old business as usual high concert ticket prices. This band that was supposed to be for the people & by the people, championing the rights of the little guy, is now stabbing the little guy in the back!

Many bands work really hard to keep their concert tickets low for their fans but the drawback is always a a little bit of a lower pay-day for the band in exchange for a reasonable ticket price (which many of the gazillionaire bands probably should be just fine with...but usually aren't). I'm just surprised that RATM of all bands would have taken the low road & listened to the Livenation credo of "If people will pay it, then it must be worth it to them" . Rage & their management (unlike many bands) are in the unique position where because of the fact that the band has taken a 10 year hiatus from live performances (& were hugely popular the entire time), they can basically name their situation in terms of ticket price & venue and it's very likely that the show will either do very well or sell out. But of all bands I thought Rage would have been one to ask themselves the all important question "Just because we can get it....does that mean we should?" Is it really fair to all of the fans who aren't selling lots of records & tickets...and who will really have to scrape to buy tickets for this show?

Let's do a little comparative math:

The Price of a pair of RATM tickets at alpine valley
(as per the ticketmaster site)


FULL PRICE TICKET US $60.00 x 2

Total Convenience Charge(s) US $12.10 x 2

Order Processing Charge(s) US $4.85

TicketFast Delivery

US $2.50

TOTAL CHARGES US $152.00


now look at it this way of those dollars at $152.00 per pair & about 40,000 capicity at alpine valley, the total amount a sold out house will pay to see Rage Against The Machine is somewhere around $3 million.

The charge for the tickets alone is about $2.4 million. Meaning (if my concert economics are right that generally the band gets about 75% of the gross in a big concert like this.....Rage probably walks with about $1.8 Million.....not bad....but when it's money earned through & for Livenation (the walmart of the music world) & it's also money that was earned by making their fans scrimp & save, what are you really Raging Against?

Their fans aren't doctors or lawyers or people with big incomes. The Rage Against The Machine Fan (by now) is probably working at a entry level to middle income job where an extra $152 out of pocket probably means that this person really is put out of their way to go see the show.

Rather than taking care of their fans, Rage Against The Machine has opted for the big payday.

Isn't this band big enough to exist above that? Do they really NEED Livenation as a partner in risk on this, taking a piece of the pie & subsequently raising the ticket price so the band gets paid what they want? Let's make no mistake, behind this all is the Livenation promoter trying as hard as possible to get a higher ticket price because they of all people know that people will pay it, that's their job....create as big a pie as possible & then take a piece of that pie.....Here's the thing though...Rage is in the rare position where they could make their own pie...& have the whole thing....where they really could go in themselves, rent out the venue, choose their own ticket prices, choose who they want involved & who they don't & given the popularity of the band, they wouldn't really have to even advertise beyond their website & maybe just let the local rock station know....uh....this is really happening.....in the internet age, the rest of the work is done for you. The band would sellout the show either way, why does somebody else need to be cut in on the action? The role of the promoter is to advertise the show & take risk so that the band is not at risk of losing money. But with a band that will sellout with no advertising....where's the risk? Where's the need for somebody to advertise the show? There is none......

Why can't Rage promote their own shows, charge $35 & make their own pie that will also be friendly to their fans? Simple answer....greed & they don't care. It's easier to take the huge payday & look the other way than it is to do the right thing.

Just another day of business as usual in the music industry.