War Has Been Declared!

Hmmm... That title may be a little inappropriate considering the current geo-poltical climate. Anyway, the one I'm speaking of is much more benign. iPod War. Hue declared it to me this afternoon, without warning of course. Essentially, we list the first five songs that play when we put our iPod on shuffle. And it's up to you the voters to decide which playlist is better.

Hue's Songs:
"Hawkmoon 269" by U2
"Believe" by the Chemical Brothers
"For Whom the Bells Toll" by Metallica
"Surface To Air" by the Chemical Brothers
"Ten Miles Back" by Crystal Method

My Songs:
"Gone for Good" by the Shins
"Here Comes Your Man (live)" by the Pixies
"Prototype" by Outkast
"Sing Me Spanish Techno" by the New Pornographers
"Sister Savior" by the Rapture

So please vote or the outcome may be like a real war.. no winners... unless you're talking about WWII... Ha! What do I know about world history...

11 Last Minute Dinner Guests

The title says it all. They were from France, they were staying with my parents and they all decided to drop by two nights ago. How did we make dinner for so many people? We made them do it themselves. We set up a burger bar. Megan did have to marinate the meat and form it into patties, and I grilled. Otherwise, the toppings and buns were set out for them to do what they pleased. Paper productes made clean-up a snap. Megan did find time to make dessert. The fruit cake decorated like the French flag inspired an inpromtu singing of the French national anthem. The rest of the meal was all-American: baked beans and corn on the cob. (Is this entry too much like the Wangsters blog? A diary of what we ate?) We did get some good gifts and it was nice opportunity to revisit our wedding pictures. Of course, we took some new photos.

One Last Thing About Lollapalooza

I don't get out to the rock shows as much as I used to. It's ironic. Now that I'm done with med school and residency, I have the funding and the time, but I have fewer rock-fan friends and of course, there's Megan and the baby. My music taste changed in the last couple of years. I tended to like artists with great records without knowing what they sounded like live.

Lollapalooza was a welcome opportunity. Ten years ago, I would have preferred club shows, but the festival provided ample opportunity to make new rock memories. Three performances in particular stood out.

#3 The New Pornographers
This one was easy. Half the work was done for them, since they already had an arsenal of catchy, accessible pop songs which the crowd naturally embrassed. However, the highlight was the inspired bouncing congo line that snaked through the audience during the wonderfully titled "My Slow Descent Into Alcoholism."

#2 The Go! Team
Live, this band was a party band. Simple lyrics and an energetic stage presence had the skeptical, ironic indie kids in attendence dancing and singing/shouting along. Check out this in-studio live performance of "Ladyflash." Despite being recorded at 9:30 AM, they sounded like they'd jump right out of my speakers during the outro.

#1 Broken Social Scene
This was the best concert experience, I've had since... wow! I can't even remember another show this good. They brought the full band (somewhere between 15 and 18 members, I lost count) and they played every song like it was a closing number, full of passion, horns blasting, both drum sets banging... multiple guitarists and singers all combined to form one energetic beast. By the last song, everyone in the audience abandoned any detachment and had their arms raised screaming at the top of their lungs. When it was over, I immediately wanted to re-live that experience. I guess the audience agreed with me, since they chanted for an on-demand encore for 15 min. Alas it never came, since the Red Hot Chili Peppers had to start.

If you search YouTube, you'll find several fan videos of the closing moments of the show. This one is my favorite even though the sound is crappy.

If you don't believe me, check out the comments to this video.
Here's another song: 7/4 Shoreline

Lolla-Chicaga 2006

I'm still in disbelief. Despite being the father of a newborn, I got to fly to Chicago to attend a three day rock festival. Luckily for me, Megan and Paige were off to the beach with Megan's aunts and cousins, and those plans did not include me.

The Wangsters joined me from California and we stayed with their friend Jordan. Jordan was quite generous. I got keys to his place, a couch that was truthfully indistinguishable from a bed, and a reception of Chinese take-out. Hanging with Hue and Sioux meant meeting their friends for lunch, but rudely leaving early to catch the 1:30 bands. It also meant having people to drink with after the show, so of course, that was fun. Sioux, by the way, didn't have tickets to the concert and mostly hung with family and friends in Chicago. However, due to a little ingenuity on our part and lackluster festival security, she did catch Kanye West's performance.

As for Lollapalooza itself, it was held in Chicago's Grant Park with, I think, eight stages. It took over ten minutes to go from one side of the festival grounds to the other, so I found myself making choices like leaving Wilco's set early to catch Broken Social Scene. The hardest decision was choosing between Gnarls Barkley and Sonic Youth who were playing simultaneously at opposite ends of the park. I succumbed to the hype and chose the younger act.

Now onto "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly":

The Good
Although polished pop bands like The Shins and Death Cab for Cutie sounded wimpy on record, they totally rocked out their sets without loosing their charm or catchiness. The later even turned their song "We Looked Like Giants" into an extended jam. As for the the hard rock bands, Sleater-Kinney totally brought it. Their impending break-up pained me, but from what I saw they were ending their career on quite a high note. Good for them for not going stale and fading away. The Hold Steady were quite good too. Always the bar band, they were throwing down beers at 1:30 in the afternoon. No band looked happier to be there. Other highlights included Ryan Adams (who covered Sonic Youth's "Expressway to Your Skull"), Iron and Wine (I never heard a note from them before, but they won me over), Built to Spill, My Morning Jacket, Common and Blackalicious.

The Bad
Looking back, I don't know how I failed to predict that Gnarls Barley would disappoint. I loved their album, but performance-wise they brought nothing new to it. Unfortunately, the huge crowd they attracted only cared to hear one song, so everything else they played was only mildly well-recieved. Apparently, I didn't even have to see them to catch a performance of "Crazy" since that song showed up in the sets of the The Eels, the Raconteurs, and Kanye West. Kanye West's show started a little lackluster too. He was the least tight with too many long breaks between songs and too many guest appearences (a mainstream hip-hop plague). However, to his credit, he improved significanly during the second half of his set, and by the end of the night, I was dancing and singing along. On the other end of mainstream was Lady Sovereign. I felt that being the next hot thing gave her no excuse for starting her set stoned and 30 minutes late. Wilco bored me too, which was shame since I loved Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Seeing them, I discovered I don't like their other stuff.

The Ugly
The crowd for the Red Hot Chili Peppers was the most obnoxious. People were crammed too tightly together and there was way too much crowd surfing to enjoy the show. Maybe I'm becoming an old man or maybe I've just had enough of the mid-90s alterna-rock mosh pit scene. The atmosphere also seemed a little mean-spirited to me. I think some of it had to do with them following the spectacular Broken Social Scene (more on that later). Also, I was a fan of the Peppers in high school but their new material bored me. To their credit, they did engage their audience with almost all newer material. I think I heard only three songs that came before the year 2000. Kudos to them for not relying on old hits.

Wait! There's More!
I wanted to write about my favorite three acts at Lollapalooza, the "Oh, My God!" great rock and roll moments. However, this post is getting long and it's late. So until next time...