I get asked a lot why I hate iTunes and what's so much better about Amarok. This is about Amarok 1.4.7, since there is no good way to run Amarok 2 yet. When I can get any copy of Amarok 2 to load a track and play it, either via the KDE4 Live CDs or from RangerRick's KDE on OSX native project, I'll give it a spin.
[music | Dr. Octagon - Waiting List (DJ Shadow/Automator Mix)]
I don't usually post about new CDs, I just get way too many of them. But I've been waiting patiently for two independent CDs and they both came in recently, and I really liked both of them.
Here are some of the good photos from the Reverend's 11/17/2007 Boston show.
Nashville Pussy and Hank Williams III/Assjack opened, and the crowd was really wound up and active an hour before the Reverend came out, which is the highest praise I can give an opener, so let's stop there. If you're unfamiliar with Hank III / Assjack, he does basically two sets, a psychobilly set and a thrash/hardcore set. So we basically got 4 bands for the price of 3, and it was awesome. I'm still trying to figure out the roots of the gg allin & Murder Junkies connection, since he remains a local legend and heroic hardcore pioneer. It was good to see props in a big way. I know they've got allin & MJ family on board, playing with Merle Allin et al, which is great. Here is a good interview on NHPR with G.G. Allin & the Jabbers members, since I'm on the subject.
[music | Me, humming Big Red Rocket of Love quietly]
Get a present, lose a toenail, here's what tonight's Rev. Horton Heat show did to my foot :-) :
Due to my age and state of my knees, I've re-assigned myself from dancing in the pit to doing "Pit Maintenance" around the outside, this is what you get when you don't wear steel toe caps.
Natalie actually thinks that, as disgusting as this is (and more importantly, will become), my abilities to spread and bend my toes like fingers is worse:
[music | Gabby La La - Be Careful What You Wish For...]
I guess it's determined by its users, but any page that lists Gaby Lala as being similar in the slightest to Veruca Salt, Sheryl Crow, or Joan Osbourne has serious flaws.
Secondly, why do I live on the wrong side of the continent to see any of the artists I've listened to tonight?
That might have been the most inappropriately mixed show I've ever been to. I've seen Tori Amos on 6 different tours, and that was by far the Cher-lookin'est Vag-grabbin'est humpiest I've ever seen her, but it didn't matter, you couldn't really hear a piano anyway.
Natalie and I have seen Regina Spektor 4 times now in Boston. First opening for Dresden Dolls at Lupos in Feb '05, then a small show at the Paradise lounge in late '05 or early 2006. Then it seemed like she got real popular all at once, which is great. Last year about this time we saw her at a packed Avalon (~2000 people), and then tonight at a sold out Orpheum (cap 2750).
Holy Crap I can't wipe the dopey smile off my face. Natalie and I have seen Kristin Hersh perform a couple of times (50 Foot Wave opening for the Pixies at BU, 50 Foot Wave opening for Throwing Muses at the Middle East), but I'd never had the opportunity to see Tanya Donelly either solo or with the Muses, I'd always been either too young/too poor or she wasn't playing out much. Just bad luck. I've always had a huge Tanya Donelly crush, which absolutely remains intact.
