The National

Saw the National last night in their second of 5 sold out shows at the Bowery. Now occasionally a band does this week long tour of duty at the Bowery amidst a huge amount of buzz and pomp and circumstance. Usually it means that the Bowery will be crawling with hipsters (as it was the last time I went to one of these The White Stripes in early 2003.) but for the National the crowd looked surprisingly plain. However the acted like hipsters and talked through the whole show, but let's not get into a subject that will allow withdrawal to turn this newly non-smoking human into a raving angry lunatic. Suffice to say people needed to shut the fuck up. I wanted to scream out "Go back to Williamsburg motherfuckers" at one point, but I think the band live there... so it might have been misunderstood. Well even with people talking... being at the Bowery after 3 shows in a row with that crap Webster Hall sound system was great. the Bowery Ballroom has some of the best sound in New York, all bands should play there.

Anyway the music was fantastic all night. Opener Doveman produced beautiful, elegant, passionate, discordant music. I will shortly attempt to but their entire catalogue. Sweet laments were sung with the vocals placed way out in front of the mix of banjo, trumpet, drums, piano and guitar. The singing style reminded me of Yo La Tengo, that gentle touch with the words. The played a version of Only Love Can Break Your Heart that would have made Neil Young cry.

The National came out and rocked, with a set consisting mainly of Boxer and Alligator. The new album is excellent even though it stays away from the straight up rock numbers like Mr. November and Abel which stand out on Alligator. Boxer is a more mature record, one that from front to back creates and sustains the listener. The one exception to the set list of the last two albums was Wasp Nest, one of my personal favorites. They were refreshing as the hot new thing, no gimmick save the lack of one really. They definitely looked as though they had moved here from the Midwest and had yet to be completely assimilated into NY culture (good thing). The singer seemed very nervous yet extremely into what he was doing. He wondered about the stage occasionally screaming at or away from the mike, holding up his mike stand like some sort of religious totem. When I asked the person with me if she thought the singer was into it she responded yes... but that he was a little lost.

Paraphrasing now what she said
'He wonders around the stage like he's lost, then all of a sudden he goes down to the ground, like he has something really important to do down there, then he gets up and really excitedly does a few seal claps with his wrists like he's really proud of himself for whatever it is he did on the floor.'

This is actually a perfect description of the behavior of the singer on stage, it was awkward but sincere. He seemed to be uncomfortable while enjoying the music. The rest of the band shared the slightly uncomfortable but into it vibe. The violin player in particular seemed to want to punish his instrument. All in all... good shit. They play 3 more times at the Bowery (Wish I was going) then again for free at the South Street Seaport 8/17.

Quitting smoking

People have a hard time fathoming the mood changes one actually goes through while trying to quit smoking. Ya think to yourself, it doesn't have that great of an impact upon one's behavior, It's not like cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or even alcohol. There is no obvious intoxication when it comes to smoking cigarettes. No feelings of euphoria, no dizziness, no hallucinations, no memory loss, or pressured speech. None of the traditional befuckered symptoms...

Yet I feel stressed and cranky like I haven't in ages. I wonder if over time, over years of smoking, all that nicotine slowly changed my personality. Maybe this high strung, cranky mother fucker is the real me, and that laid back fella was just a product of my smoking.

God I want a cigarette.

bill

The Jesus and Mary Chain

Well the Jim Reid didn't look strung out and bored because he was high as a kite and dieing of starvation on stage, he just looked bored. It's quite sad when reunion shows have no joy to them. All these 30 year olds are excited to reach back and touch their youth, and the band is so clearly up there trying to make a buck. Not that I'm against making a buck, but people want to feel some energy running through their minds, and JAMC had all the energy of a bunch of Romero zombies. I saw the Pixes, a band I didn't even like that much, and they rocked as hard as 40 year olds can. J Mascis and Lou Barlow seemed to actually enjoy the fact that they were resurrecting this gigantic guitar rock act. They even seemed to enjoy each others company. Even when I saw Urge Overkill, Nash and the King still acted like they were a young band on the cusp of stadium rock shows. All right it's not necessarily pretty at all times (a skinny-ass Nash Kato with his shirt off), but at least the bands seem to be trying to throw the energy back at the aging crowd. Like we are all trying to create some sort of fountain of youth for 2 hours together. JAMC, well... they just wanted a fountain of money.

I got right up front for the beginning, but up front was a not so nice a place, as asshole frat boys shoved their way into the crowd. I was aware of the fact that a little lackluster slam dancing would occur, and that doesn't bother me. But a beer got dumped on someone so I headed out of the danger zone.

Part of the problem could be I have decided that webster hall has shit sound. maybe it's good for the thumping base needed during a wet T-shirt contest, but for rock, the place sounds hollow. The other problem could be that I just quit smoking, and am now in a constant state of frustration and anger, with no real cause and no outlet for it. Oh well.

Andrew Bird

Saw Mr. Bird again on thursday at Webster Hall. He looked a little lost on such a big stage. His oh so intimate act relegated to attempting to perform louder than the asshole new yorkers talking at a soft rock show. His band has swelled to three members now, and less of the creation aspect of his live show remains, this moves the show along faster, but takes away from the unique aspect of an Andrew Bird live show (The best of which was when i saw him as an opening act and alone).

That being said, quite a bit of the new stuff sounded fantastic, and very different than the arrangements found on the album. The old stuff was not pulled off with quite the care I had seen in the past. He also attempted the lamest crowd participation piece I've ever heard.
He asked the crowd to hum the violin part from his encore tables and chairs. First off, crowd participation doesn't work in NYC, a true new yorker is way too cool to sing along with everyone else, secondly,most people's voices do not have the range of a violin.

28 weeks later

So yesterday I decided to go see 28 weeks later, and I got it in my head that I wanted to see it @ a drive-in. So I went to Poughkeepsie last night, it was a nice ride (Though I do have to admit the Taconic Parkway is kind of scary @ 1:30 in the morning. At one point deer attempted to scare the crap out of me by eating grass or whatever on the shoulder of the road.) I think it's the longest I've ever driven for a movie. I just love the drive-in, to tell the truth. When I was a kid we used to go to the drive-in in Chicago and see all sorts of stuff. I remember yelling "get the bastard" during the end of Aliens when Ripley comes out with that big yellow loader contraption. Got my mouth washed out with joy dish soap for that one. A movie we went to see cause the white sox game sold out because a young pitcher by the name of Roger Clemens was starting that night. I used to sit with my brother on the top of our van with a gigantic brown paper bag full of homemade popcorn. I remember seeing David Bowie in Labyrinth out at a drive-in in Nevada. I remember one of the oddest double features I ever saw, ET and Animal House. Nothing like some boobs and beer to go with your cute little alien.

Which sort of brings me to last night. With that perfect double feature of... Firehouse Dog and 28 Weeks Later? Didn't get there in time for Firehouse Dog, I'm sure it's brilliant though. 28 Weeks Later was an hour and a half, completely engrossing, shocking, scaring, gross-out festival of zombie wonderfulness. Though lacking the humor present in most Romero zombie films, this film is superior to Romero's films in every other way. The violence was not humorous, no close-ups of belly rings being torn out, or intestines played with by shambling creatures. The most violent scene was actually very much so in keeping with the first film, reproducing one of the more grisly shots in recent memory.

Now all zombie movies, probably due to Romero's influence, generally attempt some form of social commentary (Even Shawn of the Dead's normal humans walking around zombified was sort of a nod to Romero social conscience). This film addresses both the political war on terror, while also taking a look at the motivation of human beings. The film opens with Robert Carlyle coming into contact with the infected and surviving though not before ditching his wife to save himself. Racked by guilt and fear he attempts to explain this to his children when they return from holiday (sent on a school trip a couple days "before") to an empty england. A US led force has attempted to start rebuilding England, as the infected have died off, and the country is ready to be repopulated. I wont describe the story line much more than this because quite frankly the movie is shocking and twists and turns down some roads you may suspect, but down others you will not expect. The ending I expected, but I still love the shot, cause it's exactly what I wanted to see.

If you enjoy horror in the least go see this, cause it is quite possibly the best of it's kind.

Spiderman

I went to see spiderman, and well it obviously wasn't as good a piece of cinema as the last two. The story (stories really it seems as though they were trying to cram 3 movies into one) was cliche. They attempted to pack in too much into too short a time, sacrificing depth for width and plenty of action scenes. But ya know what... I loved it.

I don't know what it is but I have always identified more with Spiderman than any other of our tights clad characters. He's a nerd, socially awkward, and attempts to make up for this with humor. He breaks things down and tries to explain things away scientifically. Tries to be empathetic and puts his foot in his mouth. Can be a little too introspective and full of himself. None of this has to do with his being a superhero, I'd watch a movie about Peter Parker if there were no special effects.

The fan boy aspect was excellent. They used a very old bad guy (Sandman), a classic arch nemesis (Goblin) and probably the most popular baddie in Spiderman (Venom). Sandman was played excellently, the traditional sympathetic bad guy. The Goblin, Harry Osborn this time, with ridiculously obvious foreshadowing, was pulled off well. Venom looked brilliant but they did not spend enough time developing the character, I was waiting for a good half an hour of wisecracking back and forth from Venom and Spiderman, but alas, there was no time for it.

I do have to say that I don't get the scene with Spiderman leaping in front of the American flag. Seriously this is not the quintessential American hero. This isn't some square jawed muscle bound hunk. This isn't Batman, Superman, or Captain America (RIP). Spiderman is somebody that more stands for the little guy. Not a billionaire, an Alien or a soldier but a kid who accidentally becomes something. This movie is gonna go all around the world, and everyone knows it's an American movie, no need to rub it in people's faces.

Lastly I was watching Army of Darkness the other night. This effected the way I saw Spiderman (and not just Bruce Campbell's laugh out loud cameo). I thought, as I was watching Spiderman, that Sam Rami is the perfect director for Spiderman. He is still that nerdy kid making three stooges movies as a teenager. That is perfect for this material. You have to be able to stay in touch with that 13 year old boy to make this stuff. The story is a thirteen year old boy's story. A thirteen year old love story, damsel in distress, sticking it to the jocks, that's what this crap has always been about.

Cornelius

Well it wasn't as good as the first time, but it still rocked. The show started out on a sore note as I realized my camera had been left at the bar I came from. A heartfelt thanks to the security at Webster Hall for letting me leave and go get my camera. So I ran on my gimpy leg a block to and from the bar, but my camera was still there.

So the show. Same incredible coordination between image and music, but with less use of straight white light and more focus on the movie aspect of the show. The new music was equal to Cornelius' previous work and although the album isn't out yet here (curious timing). Highlights had to be a film of a hand walking through various scenes (Once falling into jam and wiping it's feet off) that was eerily similar to a naked person with their arms behind their back. see it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQI0R_87Afc

Another particularly interesting video involved stop motion and/or computer animation and a crazily growing sugar cube structure. see it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AeodCMHCFk

The band was gracious, coming out for an encore, after bowing like they were in a Broadway play and taking pictures of the audience. For a band that seems so inclined to perfectionism their honest appreciation of the crowd and the clear sense that they enjoy playing in front of people is refreshing hear in the land of hipster beebop junkies.

Just the facts ma'am, just the facts

So a while back I wrote about some ERP work a friend of mine was doing... (and his reluctance to follow the line of research. see below post.

http://midwestlivinginnyc.blogspot.com/2006/04/ignore-positive-accentuate-negative.html

Well I bumped into more evidence for this sex difference. I wrote a paper about the emotional representation of music in the brain for a perception class and there it was staring me in the face again. One way of examining the emotional quality of music is by looking at the vigorous reaction of chills to music. Found extremely pleasurable this reaction has been studied as a window on music for a while. Well when men and women are asked to bring in music that gives them the chills, what sorts of music do they bring in? Well women bring in sad music, and men happy music. Surprise folks.

Like the study I mentioned before this doesn't control for depressive level (women are far more likely to be depressed), but the question in my mind is becoming a chicken or the egg. Is there something inherent in women that makes them susceptible to depression? I'm not ever going to claim that the way our society treats women doesn't contribute to the problem of over representation of women in depression, but if there is something there neurologically do we not have an obligation to examine the issue? Many people could be saved quite some misery, regardless of how many feminists it pisses off, cause they don't like the answers being provided. Because there are differences between men and women (duh) beyond the physical does not mean in any way shape or form that men or women are inferior... we are just different (more similar than different but different nonetheless... sometimes even down to brain structure).

The stuff I've talked about is tangential to the problem of depression in women, but as a whole depression studies should be done using more female than male subjects (not sure if this is already being done). And a search for a neurological indicator of why women get depressed more than men is clearly does not stand on weak scientific ground.

enough babbling.

Turkey

A few years ago I used to make fun of this commercial for Turkey turism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiffgiXLHZo

I used to say "Come to Turkey... where we have the best acid in the world," after seeing the ridiculous mermaid flying through a Roman arch.

Well it appears as though I will be going to Turkey, where I'm fairly certain they do not have the best acid in the world. But they do have fantastic architechture, ruins, and a wonderfully diverse culture. I went to a photo gallery last night (The SOHO gallery 15 White St.) to see an exhibit of work by Attila Durak, whom traveled around Turkey, his home country, and photographed the people from the many different cultures within Turkey. It was a beautiful show, and has furthered my extreme excitement over this first trip across the Atlantic for me.

BTW I just got approved to take the time off.
Whoppie