I know this is supposed to be serious Gothic Rock music, but listening to these tracks cheers me up somehow. Maybe it's the whiplash effect of justifying the "gothic" image of this group with their "retro" sound, (I mean how can I not think of "You Spin Me Round" by Dead or Alive?), especially as heard on these two tracks.

Anyway, "Assassinate Me" is incredibly catchy, and well, "Nowhere Girl" just makes me laugh. Go figure. xoxo

Assassinate Me Jesus On Extasy Holy Beauty
Nowhere Girl Jesus on Extasy Holy Beauty


J.O.E. MySpace
Buy Holy Beauty

Jeane The Smiths Troy Tate Sessions, 1983 - the original.

Jeane The Smiths Hand in Glove (Sandie Shaw version), 1984 - Sandie Shaw, a great pop singer of the 1960s whom Morrissey and Marr idolized, makes a guest apperance on this track. You can hear Morrissey doing awesome, howling, back up vocals.

Jeanne Billy Bragg The Peel Sessions, 1991, or earlier as this is a collection of performances up to that date - fast paced, straining on the high notes, but for Bragg it's surprisingly in tune. This is my favorite version, although I hated it at first listen.

Jeane Billy Bragg Reaching To The Converted, 1999 - a slow, out-of-tune-starting version. Classic Bragg, he made this song his own, all full of angst, strongly accented with his Cockney inflection. Bragg says,

The Smiths cast a long shadow over this compilation, either in the person of Johnny Marr or in the influence on my songwriting. I felt they were my comrades in a struggle to bring the focus of songwriting away from production and videos and back to good tunes and great lyrics. They stopped playing this song so I picked it up and looked after it for a while.

Jeane Billy Bragg - unknown source
As far as I can make out, this track came from the great blog, This Recording, but I can't find any tag information for it. Do any of you know? It's labeled as track 18 but that didn't help me at all. Maybe it will you. Of course it doesn't help that I've found the title spelled as both "Jeane" and "Jeanne." It sounds like an older Billy rather than a younger one, so I'm guessing it's a late 1990s or early 2000s recording. It's in a lower key, with less angst, and more resignation to the delivery. Bragg's songs become less regional sounding as he ages, and yet still he gives us a gorgeous tune.

Nope, no hidden meaning in the lyrics of this one for me. I just loved playing around with the different versions this evening and seeing how Bragg, a favorite artist of mine, took something and gradually molded it to his own style.

buy The Troy Tate Sessions... well, keep checking here, you might find one!


buy Billy Bragg from his website!

One of my favorite words, "trajectory," ... I love tracing the sometimes non-linear, evolving nature of a thing, be it peoples' biographies, cultural entities like organizations or groups, or simply the sound of a band from one era to another. My latest assignment in the Tart's musical education, Joy Division and New Order. So, you can see why I'm thinking of trajectories right now. Plus, the concept of a trajectory is much more pleasing than that of a descendant or of a derivative which can be very judgmental. Trajectory just implies that something shot off in a direction, not naming the direction or even the force or extent of it's range. Keep that in mind here.


I hadn't listened to New Order's Substance probably since it first came out. The popular tracks were all the rage at parties and in clubs. To be honest, I never knew who the artists were behind "Bizarre Love Triange," "Shame of The Nation," and "Blue Monday." We just danced our asses of to them.

Now, as I listen to Joy Division for the first time, without even knowing the connection between it and New Order, I'm tempted to just turn it off. I can't get through it, I skip ahead in the songs, hoping for something bright. It's not there. My ears hear The Doors all over it. (Oh god, don't fling dead things at me, it's what i hear, ok?!) Without belaboring the point, I'll just throw out my observations to you dogs and see what happens (sorry Pup, I'm desecrating JD with Morrison as we discussed!).

• Obviously vocally, Ian Curtis in the later years of Joy Division took on a very similar baritone drone.
• Imagine the organ in The Doors music as two separated components, the upper register covered by the the guitar bits of Joy Division (and the synthesizer, obviously), the lower tones covered by Peter Hook's bass. So that you have a layering in Joy Division's sound over the more simplistic and yet "messy" sound of The Doors.The roots are still exposed however. I totally agree with Puppet Show; The Doors meander while Joy Division is clean and boxy and tight, as any post-punk band should be. But the skeletons of so many tracks are so aligned with each other.
  
• Ian Curtis' tragic death and that of Jim Morrison while of course not connected linearly do have a kind of cosmic loose affiliation, no?
  

Honestly, not having heard Joy Division before, I would place "Colony" as a derivative track, directly in the musical trajectory of The Doors, updated for a 1980s sound. Yes, I'm being judgmental in the case of "Colony." It's too close for my comfort level.

Colony Joy Division Heart And Soul
Means To An End Joy Division Heart And Soul
Strange Days The Doors Best of The Doors

But the real question of the day is how did we get from a song like "Colony" or "Means To An End" to the real pop-flavored stuff on Substance? Obviously there is a huge amount of carry-over, but the change is shockingly abrupt. Or is it just the context I heard it in initially? These are questions a blogger has to ask, our interpretation of music is so very much influenced by our past, is it not?

Call me crazy if you will, but as a new listener to this it's all I got for you today!

True Faith New Order Substance
Blue Monday New Order Substance

Hey buy all of these great songs, just follow the links!

Yeah, no mp3s for you either, apologies. I'm trying to keep as much RIAA stuff off of this blog as possible. Let me know if the allmusic links work for you, hopefully you can play the songs there, xoxox

At some point last night, my sweetie turned to me and said, "It's like they're up there, just ecstatically happy to be doing what they love to do and they can't even believe they're getting PAID to do it!" And that is exactly what going to last night's Holy Fuck show was like. Four guys, jamming on stage, bouncing like little kids on a trampoline and banging on their mom's pots and pans for the simple pleasure of the chaos. Except, in this case, add some incredible musical talent, of course ;) photo credit: neil365

We arrived about halfway through the second supporting band's show. I'm glad we got a chance to hear them, from the local review of their EP I'm not sure I'd want to have heard them.

The previous Poison Arrows EP, Straight Into the Drift, was dissonant avant-rock cloaked in a matte-black mood, simultaneously claustrophobic and desolate. The Casual Wave EP isn’t exactly a happy-go-lucky record, but the band has lightened up a little.

We walked into the Subterranean (one of the nicer, inexpensive venues here in town) to the sound of heavy drumbeats and strong bass work, the guitar riffs were almost a throwback to the classic rock of the 70s, just a small, sideways step from that psychedelic sound we associate with the time period. My itunes slipped onto Whole Lotta Love by accident while listening to this EP and in some odd way it just wasn't that far of a leap. However, vocally, The Poison Arrows are a whole different kind of group. For as retro as their guitar sound is, Justin Sinkovich's vocal style is understated, subdued even, right in step with so many contemporary indie bands. It's almost as if he's imitating the synthesizer featured predominately on the EP tracks. Hearing them live, I found the band to be less synth heavy and solidly guitar driven, but perhaps that was a function of our lateness. In any event, The Poison Arrows are not to be missed, surely a rising star, and an excellent warm up for the main attraction that night.

Trailer Park The Poison Arrows Trailer Park EP
Lockaway The Poison Arrows Straight Into The Drift EP
The Poison Arrows on MySpace
The Poison Arrows website



Holy Fuck came out to much applause, and although I'd heard about their loyal following it was a trip to see them in action. This band has carved the perfect niche out of the indie scene -- part heavy handed guitar and bass, a solid rock underpinning, and part rave, awesome improvised synth and vocal manipulations that you have to move to. The scene was awash with bouncing and head banging and if someone had tried to ride the crowd, I'd have not been surprised. And that sound in between songs? At first I thought it was the music from the club below, then perhaps the elevated subway (I know, it's an oxymoron, but it's what it's called here, get over it, it's the "El"), going past... but no, it was simply the roar of the enthusaistic crowd. In sociological terms, collective efferevescence was everywhere. photo credit: jalapeno

They played for an hour or so, and no, I can't tell you one song except Lovely Allen because I really think they made all the rest up as they went along. Honest. They do that. It's DIY indie style and it's amazing to see. That's why I wanted to go in the first place. There's only so much you can get from playing their CDs loud in your car. It's the kind of experience you need to feel, ... hot, sweaty, pulsing, the bass pounding up through the core of your body, hands swaying in the air, loud annoying woman behind you talking throughout the show (oh wait, that wasn't necessary, was it?), and most of all... your lover's body pressed up agaisnt yours.

I was worried that Meatpocket, aka, the little woman, the wife of mine, would hate it. But the minute they took the stage she was in motion. And a Meatpocket in motion is a thing of beauty. Holy Fuck has impeccable timing, their show ebbs and flows at almost all the right times, rarely do you wish for a creshendo when they're full on engaged in the downside. The whole show seemed to build up to the "hit" Lovely Allen and when it began, the crowd roared CHARGE in one giant gaping voice. They left the stage to a chorus of HOLY SHIT repeated over and over until they returned to perform a calming encore. We left exhilirated and exhausted into a swampy, dank night, -- drenched in sweat and washed by rain on the way home. But not before being sold the new CD, confusingly titled "LP," by the bass player himself! I'd had my eye on him all night, it's always about the bass for me.... And he was delicious looking, indeed. xoxoxo


The Pulse Holy Fuck LP
Tone Bank Jungle mp3 Holy Fuck SXSW 2008-3-14 - KEXP @ ACL Studio

Holy Fuck on MySpace
Holy Fuck's website, buy directly from them!
photo credit: INDEED

Get To Work (On Me)Post Honeymoon Between The Two. I missed them, but I'm liking the EP quite a lot, good low-fi, post punk goodness.
Post Honeymoon on MySpace

...an event?" Says I, to the kind, middle-aged housewife from Iowa on the phone at TicketWeb. "Sure, what's the event?".... and here's where it goes all so wrong.

Me: Well, I'm going to see a band, "Holy Fuck," sorry that's their name!
Her: Oh (deadpan)
Me: It really is their name, I'm not being vulgar, I'm so sorry (turning more than red, feeling sheepish and like I've just exposed somebody's mother to ebaumsworld.. no, do not google it if you don't know.)
Her: Ok, well, if that's their name, I guess it's not your fault. (not a hint of humor in this yet AT ALL)
Me: Uh, yeah, sorry again about that (complete humiliation achieved, thank you very much guys).

The things we will do to see good music. This conversation lasted a good 10 mins. with all the necessary credit card number tracing, checking with supervisor on the files - between Meatpocket and I, we sometimes get our accounts confused and I had no idea who's credit card I had used. So at the end, I'm sure Mrs. Iowa housewife thought I was not only some weirdo female pervert but one that was committing credit card fraud to do my evil deeds as well!

I may be a perv, but I'm certainly not a criminal one. In fact this week I was named "the fleshy pincushion of the blogosphere" in comments on another site (which shall go nameless, I've given him enough credit over here!). I took that as quite a compliment! I like to flirt, and online personas are good fun, and in a world where so much is impersonal, reverting to feminine whiles is not in itself a bad thing. Is it? Besides, who wouldn't want to be a major tart out here in music blog land? Most of you bloggers are men, how else does one join the "good old boys club" without the necessary equipment? Go ahead, give me a poke, I dare ya ;) And no, it's not a photo of me below, I remain anonymous thus far.

So it's Friday, and I've got a show to go to, this time with my lovely Meatpocket at my side. We'll see how the dear wife holds up to Holy Fuck. I'll keep you posted. And yeah, this last picture is for a certain pizza blogger, it kinds looks like the guy in it is actually considering going in, eh? Ewww.

SafariHoly Fuck EP
buy it!

photo credit for Hitler pincushion
photo credit for flesh poke
photo credit for fleshy pizza

Pop over to the great blog, Fong Songs and hear how the author atteneded the world premiere of the rock doc It Might Get Loud at the Toronto Film Fest. It's a cool story and he was actually in the audience with Jimmy Page, Jack White, and The Edge. He includes a recording of some of the Q&A at the end of the screening... totally cool!

It Might Get Loud, official site

I hate silence, yet I work best in silence, it's such a cruel joke. Gradually, I'm hoping to train my brain to receive data, I mean thick, theoretical data, while listening to ambient music. Other people can do it, even with music that has lyrics. Surely I can make my mind do it, no? Just to be able to go to a coffeeshop and read would be a serious pleasure. Yesterday's Hauschka almost worked, after about the fifteenth go round I stopped listening to it. Here's something a bit angrier today, let's give it a go.

It's also chosen in light of my ongoing effort to switch webhosts, and transfer the small amount of music I've got here on the blog over. Turns out setting up a new file system, (this time correctly, I hope), does actually cause one (intermittently) to want to commit murder. But the kind 12 year old techs enslaved into windowless, brightly lit, carpeted, basement rooms over at the mega conglomerate web hosting site are really very kind when my memory of UNIX file permissions protocols temporarily fails. So, in any event, let us not deny corporate America their child labor and do let me know if the files are downloading slower or faster than before if you notice such things.

As for New Order, this is a track I pulled from a huge gift from the Pup. He's given me a Joy Division/New Order syllabus this past week in the Tart's-School-of-Music 102 (I did come to the table with some knowledge of my own). No, I've barely cracked the cover of it; yes, I'm getting to it as soon as I return properly from my foray into UNIX land. So, this track is all you get, and with very little explanation other than it suits my needs, has a fitting title for my mood, and I quite like the sound of it. Ha! What was I listening to instead of New Order in 1987? Probably the Smiths, Tom Petty, and I must admit Poison or Whitesnake, eeek! xoxoxo

Murder New Order Substance (Disc 2)

buy it!

I'm needing some peace and quiet here lately, and I'm finding myself turning to an interesting fellow named Volker Bertelmann, for you can't really have a quiet house or you'd surely go mad. I stumbled across Hauschka, as he is more generally known, awhile back on someone's blog, (before I knew better than to not keep track of where I was getting things so as to be prepared to thank them here.) I always loved piano pieces. Classical music was never a love, however. But piano music was somehow different and I could lose myself in anything that came out of a piano for hours or days. photo credit: bhollins

Hauschka does odd things to his piano. He plays a prepared piano, something created conceptually by the great John Cage. It's adulterated by all sorts of objects, thrown in, tied into, and otherwise mucking up the striking of hammers and tweaking of strings inside the instrument, thereby creating an altered sound. I love the idea of that when I'm feeling rather mucked up inside. But more importantly I love the sound that Hauschka makes and the elements of other instruments he blends into these pieces. It's good music for a quiet day, a day to just give my fucking head a rest.

Happy Wednesday, get over the hump with me, gently... save the exertions for this evening ;)

Haushka Room To Expand 2007

La Dilettante
Chicago Morning

Hauskha's webpage more downloads there
buy Room To Expand


photo credit: corrado.nuccini

At the new album by Joan Osborne, Little Wild One, out today, it's beautiful and wonderful and takes her back to herself as I first met her; a soulful, bluesy, sing-it-down-from-the-bottom-of-your-gut kinda woman. Damn that's sexy!

Little Wild One

buy it here

more complete review coming soon!

and you know what you do to me, my London lover. Sometimes it takes a song to transverse that ocean and make more real what I see when I look at you, what I feel when your eyes are on me. Come Christmastime I want your hands on me, your lips on me.... everywhere. Let's make it happen, my darling xx

You moved like honey in my dream last night
Yeah, some old fires were burning
You came near to me and you endeared to me
But you couldn't quite discern me

Does that scare you? Ill let you run away
But your heart will not oblige you
You'll remember me like a melody
Yeah, I'll haunt the world inside you

And my big secret - gonna win you over
Slow like honey, heavy with mood

I'll let you see me, I'll covet your regard
I'll invade your demeanor
And you'll yield to me like a scent in the breeze
And you'll wonder what it is about me

It's my big secret - keeping you coming
Slow like honey, heavy with mood

Though dreams can be deceiving
Like faces are to hearts
They serve for sweet relieving
When fantasy and reality lie too far apart

So I stretch myself across, like a bridge
And I pull you to the edge
And stand there waiting
Trying to attain
The end to satisfy the story
Shall I release you?
Must I release you?
As I rise to meet my glory

But my big secret
Gonna hover over your life
Gonna keep you reaching
When I'm gone like yesterday
When I'm high like heaven
When I'm strong like music
cuz I'm slow like honey, and
Heavy with mood

Slow Like Honey Fiona Apple Tidal
buy it!

[Edit: Just confirmed, Samatha and The Midnight Shivers will be at the Double Door here in Chicago on Oct. 17 with Will Hodge, the everybody fields, and McCarthy Trenching]

If you've never been to O.K., well... that's the best introduction I can think of for it. And Samantha Crain might become the best singer to come out of it since Woody Guthrie. I say become because this tiny person with this great big voice that echoed all the way up to my seat in the balcony tonight is only 21. Now to you who've seen the YouTube vid above that's not so shocking, but if you've only heard the songs, well, you'd be as shocked as I was.

Disclaimer: I'm a lover of folk music, but bad folk music is worse than even bad punk music and I've no qualms about walking out on a bad gig. No worries here, however with Samantha Crain. Tonight she gave a great solo performance, no... I take that back, tonight she gave a fan-fucking-tastic performance! She sauntered out on stage in her red cowgirl boots and blew us away with "Devils In Boston" featuring her wailing vocals and a damn fine harmonica.

I soon snuck an envelope outta my pocket and a pen and wrote down all the songs she sang, for being in the balcony I knew I'd never make it to the stage in time to swipe the setlist if she even had one. Sure enough, I never even saw it. I did get to speak to her after the show and hastily grabbed my crumpled and scrawled upon little paper, "oh and here's my attempt to keep track of what you sang!" I squealed a bit too loudly into her angelic face. "But of course, that's a bit crazy, isn't it?!" and I trailed off the end of that sentence with a laugh, to which she replied, "well a bit, but you can email me and I'll try and remember it for you." Sweet kid, this Samantha Crain, and I say that with no sarcasm in the least.

So, I'm embarrassed to email the girl from O.K. and here is what I can make out of what she sang for a captive and attentive audience tonight, who all applauded and some of us cheered and whistled, and one older woman in the balcony even sang along on the one's she knew and got an autographed poster, for she already had the EP, thanks "Campfires and Battlefields" and Matthew over on Song, by Toad:

• Devils In Boston - a foot stamping, rowdy opener, she shone righteously doing this for us.
  
• something with the chorus of "What will I do?"
• Get The Fever Out - go find this song and listen to it, it's beautiful.
  
• Calm Down - unknown to me, a slow and almost melodramatic tune, really lovely and yes, I can't help myself but say it, ...haunting.
  
• The River - with an introduction instructing us that indeed it is a comedic song, at least in O.K. where a preacher drowning children while baptizing them in the river really does hit the funny bone, from The Confiscation EP
  
• Traipsing Through The Aisles - from The Confiscation EP
  
• Where Will You Go? - this was a real and rare treat, a debut of a new song, never before played before an audience and she confessed to being quite nervous about it. I asked her after the show what the name was, this was the working title she gave me, but agreed that it was in flux still. The song was brilliant, full of passion, and I know that's kind of a cliche with her work, but honest to goddess, this song was so real, so full of force, you could see in her body how close to the surface it was for her, how new and raw it was. I think it gave us both chills, her to perform it (she kind of shook it off afterward, like when you get out of a cold pool of water and your flesh is all tingly) and us to receive it, we felt the electricity in the air this evening then.
• I Wish The Dam Would Break - introduced as a real "Oklahoma kind of sad song" and it truly was.
  
• the last song she played was the second song she ever wrote. I didn't get the title, I wish I had, for it reminded me of some of the early Indigo Girls songs, before they became known and when they just wrote folk music like their heroines did. The chorus went, "It ain't over yet... What you say, we hold each other up?" And it was gorgeous and simple and young and honest.

Go and buy Samantha's EP, it's only got five songs, it's all she could afford to do at the time, but there's more to come and it's going to be brilliant. She's heading back into the recording studio as we speak, with her band.

But more importantly go see her and The Midnight Shivers, she's wonderful to hear in person, her voice has incredible range, a tone and shape that is unique and interesting and just jarring enough to be so interesting that you want to keep listening to it for another hour or so to try to see what she'll do with it next, and she's gracious and unassuming on stage, a rare treat in so many ways! Lyrically, her songs travel to all those places of heartache, sadness, melancholy, bittersweet and remembrances long past due. You want to go there with her. You need to go there with her. Go see her. You have received your orders. xoxoxo

The River, The Confiscation EP, Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers 2007

Change Your Mind, Demos, Samantha Crain 2007

I Don't Wanna Know, Strange Fire, Indigo Girls 1987

buy The Confiscation EP
her MySpace
(Yes, two very different kinds of folk music for you today, but something about them goes together in my mind, ... the early rawness of an emerging woman artist perhaps)

I Like You, Morrissey, Live at Earls Court

buy Live At Earls Court

Wow in all this time, we see a good amount of people shuffle through here, it seems as though people enjoy the little blog we have going here... but the funny thing in all this time I have seen just a few comments from fellow bloggers. I am not one to bite the hand that feeds me, well I guess no ones really feeding me, so lets have some fun with this...

Reasons for not letting us know how were doing and leaving a comment...

A bit stuck on oneself and you really would do yourself if you could.
I Wanna Fuck myself - G.G. Allin - Doctrine of Mayhem .....buy it

You have a hard time with the English language.
Speak English or Die - S.O.D. - Live at Budokan .....buy it

Your all emo and your not sure if your gonna be around to see any comment on your comment.
Cutting - Ayria - Flicker .....buy it

You're a record industry type and are just scouting.
Kill the Music Industry - Cold - Year of the Spider .....buy it

So here is the deal, we (well mainly Tart) puts in a crud load of time and likes to hear from folks, let us know if you like what we're doing... THANKS!

So with Tart going all political-cide on me, I think I will clear up a few things as well... as much as she doesn't say she has a political agenda I would beg to differ. As for my alliance, I am neither a Republican or Democrat and actually consider my self a Libertarian (Yes I know throw away that vote) As much as I would agree with McCain choosing Palin because she has breastages, well she does, and lord knows that a good pair of breastages distracts a lot of people which can be good. Lets see, Nuclear war... pop those puppies out and distract the opposing side from the attack. Starving kids in Ethiopia (people if your still hungry move to where the food is for lords sake) well pop the tittens out and say, I WILL FEED YOU!!!! In essence breastages can be good.

So lets see am I for Sarah... well she does look good, and well fantasizing about doing the V.P. of one of the worlds most powerful nations... well that's just HAWT!

Anyway, I am NOT a supporter of Mr.Obama, as he has holes in some "stories" so I will begin with my tribute to him, followed by some good old fashioned tribute to Caribou Barbies with nice boobages everywhere!

Liar - Yngwie Malmsteen - Trilogy ..... buy it
Weak and Powerless - A Perfect Circle - Weak and Powerless CD single ..... buy it
The Most Wonderful Girl - Lords of Acid - Greatest Tits ..... buy it
Spotin' a Woody - Dangerous Toys - Dangerous Toys ..... buy it
Evil E what about sex? - Ice-T - O.G. Original Gangster ..... buy it

I'm trying very hard to not get too partisan on this here music blog; the Puppet Show and I never have any trouble at all finding common ground and sometimes agreeing to disagree when we are at odds. We're both generally uber-rational and only get more so when things get feisty, but I have to beg your indulgence here for a second while do some partisan romping. Regular programming will return in just a bit, I promise.

Actually I was fuming and fussing in my head for most of the day over "Caribou Barbie's" speech last night. I do give her kudos for making a hell of an impression on people! She gave a great performance. And I feel she will win many over. And in the interest of full disclosure I'm not much of a Democrat, honestly (Not to say I'm a Republican either, don't believe that for a second!) I do support Obama this time around out of desperation to stop what I see as some kind of death spiral in my country's political arena.

Now, before you go about crucifying me, yes, I agree, it is SO WRONG to criticize Sarah Palin for being a woman. And any comment about her family or her maternal duties are off limits, I agree. But I think it is fair to admit that she was chosen, in part because of her gender. So let's agree on that and enjoy the music.

Honestly, I was gonna leave Sarah alone today on the blog. But I had this song in my head all day and knew I'd find it on YouTube. Well, I found this instead, and it's oh so much better:


and just because I can't be subtle!

Ain't Nothin' But A Woman Robert Cray Strong Persuader ..... buy it

Crazy Woman Magic Slim and The Teardrops Black Tornado ..... buy it

Pipeline Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble Real Deal: Greatest Hits Vol. 2 ..... buy it

but do go over to Matthew's blog and hear a fantastic bit of folk music by James Yorkston. Yes, Song, by Toad has done it again and given us the kind of review that makes you want to not only hear the music but also just soak up as much of it as you possibly can. That, my friends, is good blogging, and one of the main reasons I began doing this.

And James Yorkston has given us thought-provoking, rich, melodic music with which to while away a gloomy fall day. It hit me perfectly between the eyes this afternoon and you just had to know about it! (Plus, I've always been a sucker for a red-headed Scot, now don't you get pervy on me, you know I mean musically!)

thanks Matthew, xoxoxo

Hear two tracks from James Yorkston's The Year of the Leopard on NPR, here
James Yorkston on MySpace
buy his NEW album, When the Haar Rolls In

Song, by Toad
photo credit: jethro*

I had to put up something to divert you all from that horrid picture of Bush down below (oh goddess, how I wish he was down below, and no, I don't mean below my desk right now, you pervs!). So, while traipsing through my files I've noticed a few of you have searched for my Dolly Parton cover of Stairway to Heaven (which I took down prematurely) and I just felt it needed re-airing. I'll add another track from that album so you know what Dolly should sound like too.

Plus I know how much Puppet Show loves it. :)

Stairway to Heaven mp3 Dolly Parton Halos and Horns

I'm gone mp3 Dolly Parton Halos and Horns

ok, the antidote is here:

Yes Puppet is alive, and doing very well, just sometimes life gets in the way of doing things that you want to do and you do what you HAVE to do. Plus I'm having a hard time with "topping" Tarts posts, since she is through in what she does...

Well after noticing her prep work on her future concerts (freakin concert going goody two shoes with extra cash pfffft) it got me to thinking, what was my first concert. Well this says a lot... Dio - Sacred Heart tour, in fact I think I still have the T-shirt somewhere. Well this was my first concert, though some of this information may have been a given to some of you, it was news to me... I got my own education in "concert edict".

First off general admission can suck ass, needless to say lets not bring up "The Who" in that comment. But being we were at the now torn down Toledo Sports arena I was safe from a mob converging on us as we entered into the arena.

Secondly you can sneak about anything into a concert if you try hard enough. We all know there will be some "herb" and some hard liquor making there way into a concert, but the crew that assembled the 5 ft bong before the show... whoa.

Thirdly, don't confuse the devil horns for the international symbol for "I love you" especially at a Dio concert... the man who originally brought you the devil horned salute (though Gene Simmons will tell you otherwise.)

Lastly go to a concert YOU want to go to. As I enjoyed Dio and his previous album ruled, Sacred Heart SUCKED ASS, that's just my humble opinion. I went cause my best friend was a Dio fan, and though it was a great show, I didn't know 3/4 of the songs they played so it was all new to me.

Anyway have some Dio just because, Starting off with a very nice line up of Ronnie James Dio, Yngwie Malmsteen, Stu Hamm, Greg Bissonette, Paul Taylor a definite who's who of 80's rock GODS! doing a tribute to Aerosmith "Dream on", followed up with "Don't Talk to Strangers".

Dream On Ronnie James Dio/Yngwie Malmsteen/Stu Hamm/Greg Bissonette/Paul Taylor - Tribute To Aerosmith: Not The Same Old Song And Dance

Don't Talk to Strangers - Dio Holy Driver

Buy Dio Stuff, cause YOU ROCK

*as a side note, a little while ago I posted up a song "Mr. Crowley" saying it was done by Ronnie James Dio, well thanks to my super sleuthing co-hort it has been deduced that the track was actually Yngwie Malmsteen and Tim "The Ripper" Owens off Bat Head Soup: A Tribute to Ozzy ...
Mr. Crowley is here for your interests (redo the tag after you get it, just because.)

(somehow you make me find all the covers tart, whats up with that)

As a side note... enjoy as I was looking for devil horn pictures I found this, and sorry, I HAD to laugh.

Here's some Gothic, Sci-Fi, Industrial synth-rock for your Tuesday and welcome back to school kiddies! Where's the Puppet Show been, you might have been wondering? He's busy behind the scenes, don't fret, my musical education has not floundered. I'm currently digesting Xymox, The Verve Pipe, Interpol and Ministry. Tomorrow I'm on to Ben Folds and The Wedding Present in preparation for upcoming shows! The Pup keeps me well informed on what he thinks I should be filling my ears with. But don't think I'm a blank slate either here. We do argue every now and then, and between you and me, I think he's coming around to my idea of actually labeling his mp3's in a coherent manner :)

There's a great post, (and pardon me for alerting you to it so late,) over on Troubled Souls Unite about how two people can hear a song so differently. I immediately thought of the Pup and I. Coming as we do from a history with different musical genres (he with metal and me with folk-rock) but overlapping as we do so much in taste and in just some sort of sense of what's good about music (not in a kind of snobbish, intrinsic, "there is a good kind of music" way, I think), he and I can often hear something and have totally different reactions to it. That's part of what keeps our conversations going, or what keeps me thinking about what he's said about a track long afterwards. I hear Depeche Mode in God Lives Underwater, he hears something completely different (I'll goad him to post on it by not telling you what I think he hears here! hahaha). Of course it helps that we both listen to almost all kinds of music regardless of our "first love."

Anyhoo, I'll leave you with two tracks from Xymox, a group I've not heard until today and at first blush I'm enjoying it immensely and I'll go out on a limb and say.... I'm hearing the Cure in here, and a little bit of, dare I say, INXS, without sounding offensive?

your student,
xoxoxo

Xymox (now going by the name of Clan of Xymox): website buy it there

It's Your Life mp3 Xymox Headclouds

Headclouds mp3 Xymox Headclouds

go with The Smiths. I'm up late too many nights wondering where my life is going, spending days doing useless things, and consoling myself that my mp3 hording, ... er hoarding, (edit: had to keep that typo in, it was toooo funny to hide! I mean, can you imagine a horde of mp3's coming your way? ha ha ha) is oh so much better than a drinking habit! So, at this point, being completely uninspired and uninterested in anything, I'm cocooning back into my warm and fuzzy hole with Morrissey and a rather odd song, lyrically. The closing track on The Queen Is Dead, features Marr's gorgeous guitar, layered over what can most generously be described as ridiculous lyrics.

From the ice-age to the dole-age
There is but one concern
I have just discovered :

Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls mothers are bigger than
Other girls mothers

Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls mothers are bigger than
Other girls mothers

As anthony said to cleopatra
As he opened a crate of ale :

Oh, I say :
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls mothers are bigger than
Other girls mothers

Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls are bigger than others
Some girls mothers are bigger than
Other girls mothers

Send me the pillow ...
The one that you dream on ...
Send me the pillow ...
The one that you dream on ...
And Ill send you mine

By far, the most interesting interpretation of this song is from a website, which describes:

THE DIANA-MORRISSEY PHENOMENON

August 31, 1978:
19 year-old Steven Morrissey first meets guitarist Johnny Marr,
the one who will launch Morrissey's career several years later
by aggressively enlisting him to co-found a band: The Smiths.

August 31, 1997:
19 years to-the-day since Morrissey met guitarist Johnny Marr,
Princess Diana is killed under circumstances foreshadowed
in Morrissey's work, beginning with an album by The Smiths.

This same site takes a kind of Nostradamus take on Morrissey's career, mining his work for prophesy of Diana's death, finding similarities in album artwork, song lyrics; almost everything is fair game when it comes to predicting the tragic end of the beloved Princess. I found it creepy but also hugely entertaining, go see for yourself!

Now, what I take away from this conspiracy collection is that perhaps this song isn't about fat girls at all, as most other commentators have mused. I like his point that "big" can mean "famous" and having great social importance. And that folks, is indeed a new and refreshing point of view on these goofy lyrics, regardless of it's muddled source!

So, even though I've been burning the candle at both ends to stoke my self-inflicted misery, I'm finding insight in the oddest crevices of the nets! HA! Take that Rolling Stone!

Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others mp3 The Smiths: The Queen Is Dead

The dreamy verse at the end, sung so oddly is beautiful and sweet, a fitting end to this perfect album. If you must buy only one Smiths album (and for the love of all that is right in the world, buy two!) then let it be The Queen Is Dead.