Slow Stupid and Hungry

Smoke Two Joints- Sublime

As High as wu tang get- Wu Tang Clan

Quest for Herb- Murphys Law

N Y donnaH C

Deeplinking now has a link to the article that the Donahue show was all about, check that out here. So after I posted that video, we got over 300 hits and we got linked to almost more times in one day than all previous days combined. So what I'm getting is that the less I actually write, the more interesting this site will be. SWEET.

"Expectations" by Youth of Today

"Vicky Crown" by Murphy's Law

BEST YOUTUBE FIND EVER

So I stumbled across this episode of Donahue from 1986 about the New York Hardcore scene. Jimmy Gestapo (murphy's law), Harley Flanagan (cro-mags), Ray Cappo (youth of today), and Vinnie Stigma (agnostic front) are all on stage or in the audience and they are all ridiculously young.

I especially love the guy they interview in the beginning. "Hardcoh' is from tha hahrt".

Night 6!!!!!!

"Hate & War" by the Clash, covered by Murphy's Law

My week in ROCK

My week in rock kicked off on Tuesday, when I headed out to Yonkers to check out the annual Murphy's Law Halloween show.

Maybe it suggests a sad state of affairs for NYHC when Murphy's Law can't even get a booking within the 5 boroughs for their Halloween show, but who knows. The show rocked pretty well though, with better than average openers for a hardcore show, reasonable drink prices, and Jimmy G dressed up like Satan, even more so than the flyer advertises. I was a little disapointed when I saw that the entire lineup had changed since the last time I saw them, Jimmy Gestapo aside, but they definitely made up for it once the performance started. I mean, how many bands open countless bottles of Jager and pass them out to everyone in the pit? How many bands follow this up by lighting fatty joints and passing them to everyone within reach? How many bands do all this while having a case of iced beers on stage, free for the grabbing? Just one, that's how many. The best thing about Murphy's Law has always been the fact that going to see them is a lot less like going to a concert and a lot more like going to a party, and this was no exception. Another great thing about them is that even though they're a mainstay in the hardcore scene, they were able to work in a 20 minute reggae ska jam and a ZZ top cover. Plus they covered "Straight Edge" by Minor Threat. Oh the silliness of the band that released the Back with a Bong album covering "Straight Edge". They pretty much played everything I could've wanted them too and even played their song "beer" twice. Some of the highlights are right here below, for your pirating pleasure.

"Woke Up Tied Up" by Murphy's Law
"Vicky Crown" by Murphy's Law
"Quest for Herb" by Murphy's Law
"Ska Song" by Murphy's Law

When I told my brother on Thursday that I was going to see the Decemberists the next night, his response was, "Oh cool, that should be pleasant." We had a nice laugh, and ya know, I figured that he had picked a good way to describe it. To my surprise, he was wrong. Maybe it helped that I had more than a few beers in my belly, maybe it helped even more that those beers were doing a two-step with a whole lotta gin. Either way, the show was the most fun I've had at a show in a long time. Colin was pretty good with the stage banter, even if some of it was repeat banter from the show NPR streamed on Monday night. Even if some of the stage banter was repeated, it was cool to see that they switched up the set list a bit, most noticeably throwing in "Myla Goldberg", which fits given the whole "unique new york" part. At one point, three of the band members went marching through the crowd, then cleared a large circle for (unfortunately, not a circle pit) a reenactment of the charge of the light brigade. There were some songs I really would've liked to hear, that I didn't, but that happens at almost every show.

"The Sporting Life" by the Decemberists
"Sunshine" by the Decemberists
"July, July" by the Decemberists

I was kind of surprised at the lame crowd reaction to "Culling of the Fold" though, the crowd went crazy for it in D.C. on Monday. They were into it by the end, but it really didn't get the response that a song that intense should get. The show ended with the band beating on their instruments and running around on stage, while drummer John Moen sang "Just What I Needed" into random mics as he tried to avoid being tackled by Mr. Colin Meloy. Some highlights...

"The Perfect Crime #2" by the Decemberists
"The Culling of the Fold" by the Decemberists
"The Engine Driver" by the Decemberists

Sunday brought me to another end of the musical spectrum, when I went to the Met to see Puccini's Tosca.

When I was in middle school we had a music teacher who made us study a lot of opera. Granted this guy was a wackjob and in most respects he was a terrible teacher. He did spark my interest in the opera, however, so I have to give him that. Among my favorites were Pagliacci (which I'm going to try and see in January) and Tosca, so I was naturally pretty excited when I had the chance to go see the latter. The oppurtunity came through my great aunt Kath, who's been going to every series at the Met for the past 50 years, longer than it's been at its current location. Being a person who likes to convince myself that I know things about music, it's great to talk to her and get totally blown away by the wealth of knowledge she has in the genre. She can tell you what singers have performed which operas, who wrote the libretto, the synopsis, when it came to the met, everything. On top of all the knowledge dropping, she hooked me up with a seat in the sixth row, so I was right there for all the action. The three principals in the show -Andrea Gruber in the title role, José Cura as her lover Mario Cavaradossi, and James Morris as the villian Scarpia- were all fantastic. Usually in opera, there aren't many rehearsals before a show. The singers are mostly familiar with the material already, so it's just a matter of them learning the direction and such. Since there's usually less rehearsal than a theatrical staging of any other kind, the chemistry can sometimes leave something to be desired. With these three, it couldn't be any more different from that norm. Their chemistry was incredibly, most notably in the second act. As Scarpia had Cavaradossi tortured, he calmly attempted to ply a confession from Tosca, and the result was one of the most chilling things I've ever experienced in the theater.

"E Lucevan Le Stelle" by Beniamino Gigli

Here, Cavaradossi writes a farewell letter right before his execution, how fucking tragic!

Also, a Cigar Box Guitars myspace has been created. The douchipster and I have tossed around the idea of some blunted podcasting, so the myspace was created as a place to host those, should our half baked plan ever come to fruition. Since I'm starting a new job, there won't be any smokefests anytime soon, but if you want to go on myspace and befriend us, you'll be notified when something does happen.

Also also, I heard this new track from KRS-One today, linked up at Spine Magazine.

"Return of the Teacha" by KRS-One

It's really disapointing to hear someone who claims to be as enlightened as KRS dropping homophobic rhymes. I guess being "Spiritually Minded" includes adhering to God's vision of marriage.

thanks for the heads up, talib

Okay, so Talib mentioned on his myspace blog that Mos Def is currently recording with Madlib. I don't know about you, but that makes me feel raunchy as hell in the pants. I love me some madlib, and I love me some mos def, so I'm hoping I'll love Moslib even more.

"Sex Freaks" by Jaylib ( J dilla with Madlib )

"Peeyano Keys" by MadVillian ( Metal Fingered Villian with Madlib )

"Six Days" remix feat. Mos Def by DJ Shadow ( Mos Def and DJ Shadow without Madlib )

So yeah, all these songs are awesome and listening to them now is going to be even nicer, because everytime I do, I'll get that little sparkle in my eye thinking about the forthcoming Mos Def / Madlib project.



Also,


I have been digging Page France for a little while now. I actually got into them at first when I heard their song "Jesus", but today I was listening to music on shuffle and another song by them came on. It has kind of a beatle-y piano line -not neccessarily a bad thing- and there's a cool intro with a really heavily distorted electric guitar over a super clean acoustic. Give it a listen.

"Antarctica (my beloved home)" by Page France

"Jesus" by Page France



aaaand lastly,
if Mr. Douchipster is going to recommend Björk's movie, (yeah that's right, I used the umlauts. Yeah those dots are called umlauts. whatup.) then I get to recommend her husband, Mr. Matthew Barney's movie Cremaster 3. I don't really even know how to explain it, it's so weird. It showed at the Guggenheim as part of an exhibit. It's honestly too artsy for me to really even get into, I didn't understand it, I just kinda thought everything looked cool. Oh and also I was an extra in the scene where Agnostic Front and Murphy's Law play. So ya know.


peace.
and fuck mudvayne.