Sorry I haven’t posted since my now-infamous pro-context diatribe. It’s been a busy few weeks. I’m trying to cut down to just one job, but it’s going to take me a little while still it appears.
It’s been a time of non-stop shows. I’ve seen Eagles, Dixie Chicks, a Hank Williams Jr. tribute with Kid Rock, Buddy Guy, Toby Keith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and a bunch of other folks, John Doe (at McCabe’s!), Tegan and Sara, Shelby Lynne, and Danzig (on Halloween no less). Varied, funny couple of weeks, culminating with Doyle joining Danzig on stage for four Misfits songs on Halloween night. It was a bit surreal to drive to see Danzig with an MC (Paranorm), DJ (DJ Destroy), and Amy Stevens from KROQ, listening to a hip hop mix tape the whole way to/from… That night I learned that I really don’t know any Danzig songs, but I absolutely know every word to every single Misfits song.
Now I’m in NYC, Lucinda is sleeping, Julie is with her sister, Zoe is in Boston visiting Ethan, and it’s me some headphones (Z-Trip and Lateef on at the moment) in a room in the Hotel London on 55th street.
I have a few longer posts I’ve been whittling away at, but I wanted to share a couple of things I’ve been enjoying lately since I have no idea when I’ll get the time to finish those up…
Firstly, Greg Shewchuk sent me this excellent animated short featuring a skateboarding cat and brick. Yes, that’s a brick that can pull kickflips on vert. Don’t miss this, it’s the future of entertainment:
That cat’s got skills.
On another note, as anyone who’s been following my Facebook status knows, I spent all of last weekend with the new AC/DC 3-DVD set, “Plug Me In”
Anyway, it rules. Well, let me be more specific, Bon Scott rules. Even though I was the kid who sat alone on a stump every recess period in second grade with a little Panasonic tape recorder listening to High Voltage, I’d never seen much live footage of Bon. He was rock n roll at its finest, a guy who could have just been the old dude hanging around the high school picking up underage girls but instead found a rock band he could lead and lived his dreams (until he didn’t anymore). There was a lot of magic in that early band.
They were blues++, but also had the notion that they should *entertain*, and they did in their own funny way, Angus constantly shaking his head with his little school boy backpack on, until he undresses and moons the crowd. That’s actually the worst part of the set, watching skinny little Angus strip multiple times. Might have seemed like a good idea at the time, but it’s not too tantalizing in 2007.
No offense to the guy, but it’s difficult to transition right from Bon into ol’ BJ. It’s hard to believe post-Bon Scott AC/DC couldn’t have done better than Brian Johnson. Sure, Back In Black was hot, For Those About to Rock was pretty good, Flick of the Switch didn’t completely suck, but starting with Fly On The Wall Brian led them into mediocrity. The only post-Bon footage that I could really sit through was the stuff from ’83. That was the Flick of the Switch tour and the same tour I caught them on at the age of 11 at the Notre Dame ACC (thanks, mom! maybe if we’re lucky mom will post the photo of me at age 11 in an AC/DC headband in the cheap seats. it’s mad embarrassing.).
Anyway, if you have any love for early AC/DC then this set is worth the thirty bucks. And if you don’t, well, I dunno what to say to you. You must not like rock music or just have never put in the time with Powerage or side two of High Voltage, which is a fuckin’ shame and I’m sorry. There’s still time!
Quick funny story. I get an out-of-nowhere phone call in my Grand Royal office one day around 2000. I answer, and it’s my friend Josh Blum on speaker phone. “Hey Ian,” he says, “who is the greatest rhythm guitarist of all time?” Without hesitating I say, “Malcolm Young.” “Thanks,” he says, and hangs up. Guess he had to settle a bet or something. Funny part is he and I had never discussed Malcolm’s “solos get in the way of my drinking” style, but I appreciated that he knew he could count on me for the correct answer.
Oh one more note. There’s a new Ween record! Not my favorite wEEn record of all time by a long shot but if you want to buy the two tracks which are classic Weenicity pick up The Object and My Party
OK, time to call the front desk and see if we can change to a room which doesn’t have a “the building is falling down” noise every ten minutes. What could that be? Radiator? Hrm…
ian
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Now playing: DJ Z-Trip & Lateef – Track 2
via FoxyTunes