She played them all. Yep, that's all you really need to know from this hoarse, exhausted, #1 fan of Amy Ray. It's over 24 hours since the show and I'm just now getting my voice back, just now feeling like I can walk around the block with my dogs at a normal pace. Damn, going to gigs in your 40s really sucks! Amy is a month older than this old Tart and she sure didn't show it last night. Her set list was long, her band was loud and hot and well tuned and even the new guy on bass who was so very obviously out of place (he had sheet music and they kept him in the way back, he was that new!) sounded very good. Amy worked her magic in that magical venue, the Metro. I've never been so close to her, a mere 25 feet from one of my favorite singer/songwriters, I swear she smiled right at me once. I swooned. We all did.

Her music is a rocking twist on folk-indie-pop with just enough roots in early punk to keep it edgy and fresh. The songs off her new album Didn't It Feel Kinder made her both dance and cry for us last night, they're so close to the surface of her emotions, so raw yet and new. She wowed us with extended versions of "Give In" and "Put It Out For Good." She flew to the ceiling in pure delight with our appreciation when we cheered and sang along to her new songs, "Cold Shoulder," "Bus Bus," and "Stand and Deliver."

Her voice was in great shape, she hit those high notes just the way I knew she would, in a way that made you go a little weak in the knees. It's not her usual range and you can tell, but you don't mind and neither does she. It's good to stretch a bit, and I noticed she did so again when she was improvising on the end of another song. When she's usually taking the low end of the scale with Emily in the Indigo Girls shows, on stage alone she's free to wander where she wants. And as always, the guitar work is beautiful, intricate at times, heavy handed and hard at others. One of the best things about Amy Ray is the versatility of her playing, of her talent. Her first encore was, of all things, "Johnny Rottentale" played on mandolin at an incredible speed.

I'm shaking my head in disbelief still at the whole experience of it. She said very little between songs, the lyrics say it all. And we all knew them, we all sang them for her, with her. When Amy gives it away in a gig, you take it home with you for days and days afterward. Here are some tracks previously posted here and here. I've reviewed her new album already, I'll not give any more out, go buy her stuff, you should support this artist who supports so many good things that are important to the idea of a better world,... oh and she rocks too.

Amy Ray's label, Daemon Records, buy her stuff here and support her other artists


I'm gonna save Arizona for a whole post of their own. Needless to say they were amazing, and I'm kicking myself for missing the first few songs of their show.
Their MySpace page.

Everyone, it seems, compares The Boxing Lesson to Pink Floyd. And well why not? Paul Waclawsky, lead singer and songwriter is a big Floyd fan without shame. But don't fear dear ones, this Floyd hater fell in love with Wild Streaks & Windy Days anyway. No, it's not because this is the very first band to enter my mail box, (ooh I've been de-flowered in yet another manner!) and no, it's not because I've since exchanged very cordial emails with their manager and publicist, Ryan Cano, who has been so kind as to grant me explicit permission to share any two files of my choosing with you all.

No, dear readers, I love this album for one simple reason: it's incredibly moody.

It's that bitchy woman that you love too much and put up with even when she makes ridiculous and loud arguments in public, even when she wears garish lipstick to make everyone look at her and want to kiss her, even when she pouts and gets sulky when you're so obviously JUST JOKING! You love that bitch.

See, I am that bitch sometimes. And Wild Streaks & Windy Days takes you through that process of knowing a woman like me. It starts out with a really great catchy song, a terrific guitar lick-- you want to hear the rest. That first wink really turns your head ;) And with a title like "Dark Side Of The Moog" who can resist wanting to know how Jaylinn Davidson is gonnna work that synthesizer? (It's a moog, by the way.) The album was created sequentially, in other words, in order, from one song to the next and listening to it that way is the way I love to listen to an album. It doesn't mean that all songs have to flow into one another. Everything a person says and is doesn't flow so reasonably does it? I expect some twists along the way and this album provides some really fun ones. It's heavy and dark at times, then twirls us back to modern rock and roll with songs like "Brighter" and "Hopscotch and Sodapop." Wild Streaks & Windy Days gets all moody and introspective and blue, but it takes you there with it. And it leaves you feeling melancholy and mellow, just like a night with a good woman.

"Hanging With The Wrong Crowd" is a fan-fucking-tastic song, if not for the cool electro opening, then for the repeated chorus of "she's such a whore" at the end. God!, I so want to be on stage with a guitar, screaming that into a microphone some days! Jake Mitchell's heavy beat is perfect on a song like this. Likewise, "Freedom" just makes you want to dance and sing along. That crazy synth takes a rather normal pop/rock song and pushes it right into the stratosphere. Damn, I wish they were touring up North soon. Chicago would welcome The Boxing Lesson with open arms, ... hint, hint.

My one complaint? I'd love to hear more of Jaylinn on this album. Her backing vocals are great, and I'm a sucker for female voices in a great punk song. The Boxing Lesson's sound could only be made bigger and broader by adding more vocals. Plus, well, she's really cute... so share the mic Paul! ;)

Wild Streaks & Windy Days is a great album by an up and coming band. Check out these two authorized* tracks and see what I mean.

Freedom mp3 The Boxing Lesson Wild Streaks & Windy Days
Lower mp3 The Boxing Lesson Wild Streaks & Windy Days

The Boxing Lesson on MySpace it's the only source you need, seriously, ... see their tour schedule, buy their album, hear more mp3s and see more pics there, it's a great site!
*There's been quite a drama going on about Blogger.com and google pulling posts with mp3s which have allegedly infringed on the copyright of artists and labels. I've been reluctant to post this review for fear of having it yanked. So I waited to get explicit permission from the publicist and manager of the band. He emailed me, saying "We realize and cherish the importance you play in helping people discover music. You definitely have our permission to post 2 songs as we own these songs and no one else." If anyone out there has a problem with that I suggest they contact Mr. Cano directly, his contact information is on the band's MySpace page.

And for more info on the apparent crack down and on the draconian DMCA law I refer you here and here. But don't worry, this will not stop the Tart from doing her thing! xoxoxo

Remember when I told you "Don't forget that real loss is not in things"?* Jesus Fucking God, that was asking for it.



Dear NastyEvilMotherFuckingPeopleWhoSteal,

It might not have occurred to you on Saturday night as you were smashing our car windows that I had already had a pretty bad day. I'll forgive you for not knowing that I had been to a wake, and a rather unpleasant appointment (that shall remain nameless) immediately following that, earlier in the day. I'll also forgive you for not knowing that even though we currently live in a pretty nice neighborhood, we have absolutely no money now thanks to the recent turn of events in the financial markets. How could you possibly know that, afterall?

HOWEVER, it strikes me as completely inexcusable that someone of any persuasion (and by that I mean politically, socially, racially, financially, ethnically, etc.) could possibly think that stealing our car, right from behind our apartment, is a truly righteous thing to do. Maybe if I had been careless and left it overnight down by the lake, or in a dark alley near some abandoned warehouses, then --- sure, it might seem up for the taking! But right behind our house? We paid good money to actually purchase that fucking parking spot, we even pay PROPERTY TAX on our fucking, goddamned parking spot. That's how much our car belongs there, motherfucker! You really deserve castration for such a heinous act, and how do I even know you have a penis? I don't believe a woman does this kind of thing regardless what Hollywood would try to sell us. Read on for my logic on this one.

AS for the damage done to our one remaining car, that was just completely gratuitous on your part. In fact, you're an awfully stupid nastyevilmotherfuckingthief because breaking the window to only take my gym bag was a real waste of time and only cost me $115.00 to replace (the window, not the damn bag.) You didn't even bother to take the bottles of extremely expensive hair products, you ignorant fools! Do your homework next time and learn to recognize high end packaging. This, I take as proof you're a man or gang of underdeveloped, wanna-be men who will never feel anyone's gorgeous locks of hair in their hands because they're simply TOO STUPID to be allowed that close to people, even their own kind. Go back to wanking into your dirty socks and leave people's cars alone. Or keep stealing cars and face the knife,... you choose.

BUT most importantly I want you to know just how incredibly idiotic you are because you took one car (the one that's not paid off, thanks for that, no really... we actually LIKE debt here in Chez Tart, we eat debt for BREAKFAST you fucktwit) but you didn't even realize that inside that car you stole is the key to the car YOU LEFT!!! Yep, both cars were ours! Didn't you notice the license plates were off by only one number?? No woman would be so stupid. I'm waiting with my cleaver, come on back to steal my remaining car, I dare ya! Ha! (ok, I exaggerate here male readers but I'm so extremely pissed off, just rant at me in the comments and I'll play nice again, I promise.)

YEAH that's right! We're laughing our asses off at you and your unmatched level of collective ineptitude because the car you left would get you a whole lot more money on the black market, weenies! Not to mention the incredible sounding BOSE stereo you left in it, mmmwwwaaaahhhhhhaaaaahhhhhhaaaaaa!!!!!!! Fucktards, you lose!!!!

SO peoplewhosteal, you suck. You deserve to sit in a really filthy Burger King restaurant on a Sunday morning listening to your wife's ineffective attempts to cheer you, drowned out by the cries of small children and the endless soundtrack of Kenny Rogers, Neil Diamond, and Celine Fucking Dion. I hope you get to one day share in my joy of hearing that re-keying a car with a really great stereo will cost you almost as much as parking it in a garage for the past three nights did. I really do.

And for you out there who took my cellphone three weeks ago, please make sure to use it while driving. Get into a really good fight with your sweetheart, maybe she'll even dump you as you're driving on Lake Shore Drive and you'll be distracted and drive right off the road and into it. Just don't take anyone else out with ya, ok? The same goes for the person who stole my previous cellphone a month before that too, just in case you were wondering...and my wallet that one time in the Tucson airport, my bike in 1989, my dog when I was 9, and my lunch money every day of my life in 6th grade, YOU ALL ARE NASTYEVILMOTHERFUCKINGPEOPLE.

xoxo,
Tart

*well ok, I can't let it go at that, because deep down I do still believe that real loss isn't in things. At least we weren't in the damn car when they wanted it. More music tomorrow I promise, and I've got a surprise for you all. Two, yep, two bands wrote us and want us to review their music! Wheeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

I'm loving this track by Dropsonic, it's odd how you find cool stuff when looking for something else, eh? Anyone heard of them?



I need this: