scene but not herd

When the Undertones announced that they would be playing two shows in the L.A. area I have to admit that I wasn't very interested. I knew Feargal Sharkey (original lead singer) wasn't involved so I didn't see much use in going. On the other hand, the O'Neill brothers were still involved so seeing how much enjoyment I've gotten from the bands they've been in (Undertones and That Petrol Emotion) I decided to go anyway. As per usual, last night as the show time approached I was kind of over it. I didn't have much enthusiasm about the show and I arrived at the Galaxy Theater at about 10:00 hoping to miss most of the opening bands. I met up with Tita there and she had gone Friday night and said it was great so I started to be a little more optimistic about the evening. Finally the Undertones came on and they opened with "Jimmy Jimmy" and they just sounded great. I simply forgot that Feargal wasn't singing and I just had a blast. God! I had forgotten how much I love these songs. "Teenage Kicks," "Get Over You," "Here Comes The Summer," "You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It?)." I was smiling and singing along to everything. There were a bunch of kids up front singing along to a lot of songs and it was nice seeing a whole new generation appreciating the Undertones. I think everyone came away smiling from that gig. It was a bit of a strange night. The girls from Voice of the Beehive were there. A pen pal that my friends Tita and Nancy had when they were seventeen was there and it turns out he had moved from Ohio to L.A. about two years ago. Needless to say the girls were a bit shocked to see him there. Tita wanted to say hello to the O'Neills so we stood outside the backstage area waiting for them to come out. I haven't done anything like that in ages, but it was fun. Tita recounted a story that when they were eighteen she and Nancy drove up to Santa Clara to see That Petrol Emotion after they had seen them at the Roxy and the Coach House. Tita's mom had forbidden her to go, but she left a note explaining that she just had to go and she went anyway. Tita and Nancy are talking to the band up in Santa Clara when someone walks in and asks if there is someone named Tita there. Tita says yes and is then told that her mom is on the phone! Thankfully her mom wasn't angry, but she didn't want the girls driving all the way back that night and they should find a motel and spend the night. It turns out that one of the O'Neills let them stay at his hotel room that night after hearing about Tita's mom's concern. Last night he was a little vague about the details, but he did seem to remember the incident a little bit. It was nice seeing those guys still playing music after all this time. Do yourself a favor and buy the first couple of Undertones albums or a singles compilation because even though they began in Derry, Northern Ireland during extreme violence they played some of the greatest, most joyous and innocent pop-punk ever. I didn't get home until 3:30, which is very not the norm for me lately, but it was a very fun evening.

Friday I'm going to get my Neil Young and Crazy Horse fix satisfied by Magnolia Electric Company at the Echo and Saturday I might check out Outrageous Cherry at Spaceland.

There are basically a few emotions or ideas that the arts dwell on over and over. Love, hate, pain, happiness, sex, solitude. You would think that these subjects would eventually be bled dry; nothing new or worthwhile could ever be discussed in relation to them ever again. Yet, I know 50 years from now something will be written or sung that will have people salivating in analysis at the exquisiteness of what they have just read or heard. Of course banality is ever present and it certainly makes one tire of these subjects at times, but quality often appears out of the blue to introduce these subjects in your mind once again. I read a quote at the site, Achtung Baby!, that is attributed to the author Francoise Sagan. I don't know the year of the quote or if it is taken from a novel or from an interview, but I know that I love the sheer simplicity of it and the truth at its core. "A dress makes no sense unless it inspires men to want to take it off you." A nice bit of eroticism at play there. No need for flowery language to convey your meaning, just simple and to the point. I know it is not a very p.c. statement. Some could say it once again puts women solely in the role of a sex object and that women do not dress themselves simply for the benefit of men, but excuse me for being able to appreciate women as intelligent, complex human beings while at the same time thinking about them lying naked in a bed. Anyway, it's just a simple sentence that conveys an impression in what I feel to be an artistic way, which just comes out crudely and obvious in the hands of others. It is amazing to me the whole concept of a muse. As an artist you meet someone who truly sparks something inside you and you are able to describe that spark in the form of words, music, or images. It certainly is not an easy task and I find it a very commendable quality. I wish I could express the thoughts running through my brain.

Thursday night I went to see the Wedding Present at the Troubadour. I ended up being very pleased by the show, so much that I will probably go see them again in May. David Gedge is the only member left from the original line-up, but he's the main guy so that's ok. I hadn't seen them play since the time of the Sea Monsters album and it was nice to reaquaint myself with their songs. Everything sounded great, even the stuff off the new album which I haven't heard yet. I did kind of miss that frantic guitar strumming from the past though. It was nice to hear some old stuff like "Once More," "My Favourite Dress," "Dalliance," and "Kennedy." It was also nice to hang out with my friends Tita and Nancy who helped me cultivate my love for the Wedding Present way back in the day.

Friday night I went to see Dead Meadow at Spaceland. Matt Hollywood's (formerly of Brian Jonestown Massacre) band the Out Crowd played as well and I really liked them. Not much of an original sound, but it's a good one. A lot of current bands owe a lot to the Telescopes. Jennifer Gentile were up next and they didn't do too much for me. I commend them for being all over the place musically, but it just didn't do anything for me until the last song which was a fuzzed out guitar work out. What can I say about Dead Meadow? Once again not much of an original sound, but goddamn can they come up with some riffs. Loud, heavy, repetitious riffs equals heaven for me. I was just grooving along the whole time. Soooo much better live than on record. I probably should have gone to see them again last night, but my ears were still suffering from Friday. Good times.

Tita suggested I checkout a guy named Dave Gleason playing at the Doll Hut in Anaheim yesterday, so being that the show started at 5:30 and it was quite near my house I was there. I met up with Tita, Cari, and Irene there and it turned out to be a real good time. I watched Dave Gleason do a solo acoustic set and then he joined Dave Insley's full band for some rocking good country music. I'm a sucker for great guitar playing, especially pedal steel. Three pitchers later and I was home by 9:30. I love enjoying my evening and not having to suffer the next day because of lack of sleep or a hangover.

Not much going on this week; I'll probably catch up on some dvd viewing, although this may be broken up by tonight's NCAA championship game and the start of baseball season tomorrow. Friday and/or Sunday I may go see the Hacienda Brothers (Dave Gonzales of the Paladins and Chris Gaffney). I saw them a year or two ago when they had a residency going at the Doll Hut and they play some really good country music. My other show option is to see Deerhoof either Friday or Saturday at the Echo.

I wake up today and pretty soon after I turn on the TV. I see a listing for something called YOU SEE ME LAUGHIN'. Why does that name sound familiar? Ah, it's the documentary I wanted to see last year about Fat Possum records. It was playing at the Arclight during their run of music documentaries, but unfortunately it was only playing in the early afternoon on a weekday so I was unable to go and see it. I watched a little bit of it and it looks pretty interesting. This is the type of blues I like. I don't really like B.B. King or Buddy Guy or those type of guys. I hate that "white boy blues " sound as well. Don't care about Eric Clapton or Kenny Wayne Shepard, et al. I love the repetitious and hypnotic quality of many of the artists on Fat Possum like Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside. I taped this so I'll have to give it a good look soon.

I went to see SIN CITY today as well. I'd never read the graphic novel it is based on, so I went into the screening completely cold. The trailer looked very interesting just based on the look of the film. I want to interject something here first, though. Am I wrong in thinking of ONE FROM THE HEART in relation to SIN CITY? ONE FROM THE HEART is considered to be a bad movie, but it is one of my favorites. I'll agree that it is not a great film, but there is so much going on visually (which should be a priority in filmmaking, n'est ce pas?) that it over rides the mundane storyline. I was wondering if SIN CITY would be the same type of thing and to a certain extent it is. Based on the trailer I was expecting some kind of film noir type of storyline and basically that is what I got. The storyline in the film is bare bones pulp noir to the point of cliche. I would say it is more of an homage to that type of literature and film. Here is where I feel I can compare ONE FROM THE HEART to SIN CITY. The plots take a back seat to the way these relatively common type of stories are depicted visually. Both of these films are eye candy, but I don't mean that negatively. There is true imagination at work here. I remember the first time I saw ONE FROM THE HEART in a film class at Santa Barbara and how in awe I was of what I was seeing. SIN CITY almost gave me that same feeling although today's technology doesn't usually make me all that impressed. Digital effects just don't do it as much for me as do in camera effects. Still, the look of SIN CITY is quite impressive. I've read that they basically took the panels from the graphic novel directly to the screen. At this point I would love to see how those two compare and I imagine that this could be a very interesting feature on a future dvd. What I really wasn't expecting from the film was its visciousness and what I believe to be a certain subversiveness. This is a pretty nasty film and given the world we live in today I'm surprised it was given an R rating. I suppose the violence is somewhat subdued because of the comic book graphics look of the film, but it is still pretty extreme. I have a feeling quite a few people are going to be unpleasantly surprised by the film when they see it. The film actually is quite an affront to "bourgeois values" and I see that as a positive. The worst villians are those in power, especially those in government and religion. I kind of get a kick seeing a movie that is definitely meant to be a box-office blockbuster show the pillars of society in a bad light. I definitely enjoyed this one and it has much potential, in terms of presentation and extras, when it comes out on dvd.