scene but not herd

I don't foresee many updates in the near future. I skipped going to see Neko Case this past weekend and there doesn't seem to be many upcoming shows that I'm interested in. I'm curious as to how Neko Case was, but of course there was no review in the L.A.Times which has a critic, Robert Hilburn, that really irritates me. I should have known to keep my distance when he and another music writer I dislike, Jay Babcock of the L.A. Weekly, were both raving about the Kills. I went to see the Kills last Tuesday at the Troubadour and, in contrast to the aforementioned writers, I thought they were just ok. Once again it just comes down to "I've seen this before." I've heard many references to "sexy" and "sexual tension" about this band, but I just wasn't feeling it. To me they just came off as too obvious. They don't really have a similar sound, but I think Royal Trux was already doing this years ago. The girl from the Kills has nothing on Jennifer Herrema from Royal Trux circa 1992. Now that was sexy! I can truly say I stood in awe when I saw her back then. She had a great hairdo which was just somewhat teased hair with bangs that just barely covered her eyes. She had on a football jersey as well as a big jacket with a football team logo on the back. She had on really tight jeans and cool boots. I guess the way she looked wasn't what was sexy about her, but rather the way she carried herself. When she wasn't singing she just stood at the front of the stage staring into the audience while chewing gum or smoking a cigarette. There was nothing coy about her; she looked totally in control. Every now and then she would put her foot up on a monitor and slip her fingers barely into the top of her pants and just keep taking drags from her cigarette and there was just something so cool about that to me. Who knows, maybe I'm just easy. As to other things I find infinitely more sexy than the Kills... Kim Gordon singing "Halloween." When she does those slow songs she has the sexiest voice ever. I can't help but think of a line from a Beat Happening song which mentions something about "sin dripping down my chin." When I hear that voice I'm like a dog that is getting its belly rubbed furiously and its leg is kicking back and forth like crazy. I'm sure Jay Babcock would cringe, but the interaction between Jon Spencer and Cristina Martinez from the video of Boss Hog's "I Dig You" is much more sexy than the Kills' show I saw last week. Enough of that. Needless to say I don't think I'll go see the Kills again, but oddly enough, I wouldn't mind listening to their first album because some of those songs were interesting.

I hope some bands do suddenly pop up that I want to see because otherwise I think I'm going to be feeling pretty down for the month of December. I don't know what it is exactly, but I tend to get kind of depressed around the holiday season. A feeling of profound loneliness threatens to overtake me at times and hopefully I can fight it off this year and remain in good spirits. Maybe I'll just have to drink some fine spirits to fight it off. I have to keep things in perspective, though. My friend Kim was just diagnosed with breast cancer so any "problems" I may have are of really no consequence. Nothing says the holidays like chemotherapy. It's going to take some discomfort and time, but I think she'll be fine and I have to realize that all in all my life is ok. Stay strong sister!