deer tick @ daniel st

last week I went to see Deer Tick at a little rock club in Milford, ct. For some time now, I have heard about the place and heard that it was a great venue, amazing sound system and all the rest. But this place is so self righteous and lame that it brings tears to my eyes. And it could be the best sound system on the planet with the best techs and engineers, it still wouldn't change the fact that the design is so poor and shortsighted. I see the theory behind what they did and why they did it. The theory, i think, was to have the bar facing the stage so that you can sit at the bar and watch the band. But in this sort of situation, make up your mind. you can't have it both ways. it's either a bar, or a rock club. The set up creates an acoustic nightmare, where the din and chatter from the bar overshadow the performance. terrible... very disappointed.

gone too soon

Gone too soon. It seems that's used way too often when talking about a great artist. Gone too soon. Not that I think that it's a good thing to lose a talent young and in their prime, but is there something inherently necessary about it? Would those artist continue to be relevant if they lived long lives? would we study them? Listen to the records over and over again? watch their movies or visit their paintings in museums? Would they continue to intrigue us? Would we create scandals, or discuss the actual scandals that were there? If Chevy Chase were to have died young would we be hailing him as one of the great comedic talents of our time? If Elliott Smith had gotten healthy and continued to make music, would he be making the heartbreakingly beautiful music that he had? Pain and struggle seems to be the common denominator in genius, and if that's gone would it still blow our hair back? If Nick Drake were around today would he make us think? When someone ceases to evolve artistically, do they continue to be talked about? Gone too soon. Tragic and illogical, but perhaps necessary?

neon trees

i'm sitting here, freshly home from florida and an excruciating trip to disney with the children. if they didn't love it, it would have been a total disaster, but since they had such a great time, it was all worth it. but now, i'm home and spending alil alone time on the couch with my pup and watching conan, and the neon trees performed. i don't have anything against them. when they come on the radio i don't immediately change the station. they have a reasonably good sound, proficient song writing with good hooks, but I was surprised to see them. I don't really know what I was expecting, but they have a total throwback 80's style. their stage presence was superb. they won't make my ipod, but a fun band all in all