Danny Doom’s Booze Cabinet

I love this Springsteen tune from “Nebraska.”

Well, no great Lollapalooza recap here, not like years past, only some last-minute half day Sunday coverage this time. It was difficult to be at home knowing it was going on, not because I was missing any great band that I loved (I wasn’t) but because it’s always a good time no matter what. Alas, I couldn’t stay away, and so on Sunday afternoon after the rain stopped an executive decision was made and we were there. This is some of what I saw:

“Are you hearing this shit? What year are we in?!?” Haha, I love that video. Here’s Andrew from Wolfmother. Derivative, yes, but also lots of fun, what can you do?

The National are a band I am slowly coming around to but I’m still not sure about the live show. Maybe I wasn’t sitting still long enough to feel the slow build. But I like their latest album a bit.

Win from Arcade Fire (yes, on the video screen). Really, the main reason I wanted to go. And my only real complaint was that the sound kinda sucked. Turn it up! We moved around a bit and it got better but…not sure why the headlining band sounded quieter than every other band I heard.

Also saw Erykah Badu and Cypress Hill briefly, skipped Soundgarden completely and don’t regret it.

Hit Miller’s Pub afterward for some mozzarella sticks and some nice icy cold water. Glad to not have the three-day stink on me today, but there’s still a stench thanks to the ridiculous heat. I have never–never!–complained about the weather, most especially the heat in our all-too-brief summers, but man, I am really sick of the 90s. Really. I’m hot and tired of it. The End.

Get yer tix here, you can still will call it! Should be a doooozy!

The small print: This is an early school night show, doors at 8:30, show at 9PM.
Stardeath and White Dwarfs (10:45PM)
Milk at Midnight (9:45PM)
Tin Tin Can (9PM)

UPDATE:

“Three allow-me-to-tell-you-what-you-should-do-with-your-time reasons to do as I say and hippity hop on over to the Subterranean this very evening…

1. Sometimes trolling the internet for shows leads me to discover some pretty lovely local music that has somehow escaped my ears. Such is the case with Chicago’s Milk At Midnight. This stuff is right up my alley (Yes, I have other alleys than just metal ones). Sure, there’s a little old Flaming Lips – You know, when they were a rock band – but more than anything it’s just good old, driving indie rock. Welcome to my ears, Milk At Midnight.”

- Ross Meyerson, Loud Loop Press

That’s tonight! Also with Blah Blah Blah. Good bands, good times, good brews, what more can you ask for?

Pitchfork linked to a Thom Yorke/Atoms for Peace vid of them doing “Love Will Tear Us Apart” but it sounds like shit. I would have liked to hear them do that when I saw ‘em but whatever. Here’s Radiohead doing “Ceremony” instead.

Went to this show last night. Great band backing Mr. Yorke, even Flea! And all of “The Eraser,” with some Radiohead songs thrown in, solo “Airbag” was a true highlight for me, if I find it I’ll embed it. But this was great too, “Like Spinning Plates.”

UPDATE: Not embedded, but…linked. “Airbag.”

I was hoping for a better undercard at Lollapalooza, and maybe I just have no idea who these bands are, but…kinda underwhelming if you ask me. Metric, yes, that’s cool. And Devo for the old school. But I’m looking through the list and nothing pops out to me as a “must get a ticket” band. That said, I may go a day or two anyway, cuz it’s fun. But I really was hoping for more.

Arcade Fire is the only band on there I would really want to catch and yet, I have, at Lolla, the Riv and the Chicago Theater. So…

Let me just say that Soundgarden does not do anything for me. Never has. Chris Cornell’s voice is a screech. There, I said it. Maybe Lady Gaga will be provocative and show her boobies?

If there was a 21st-century attention-span paradox in having the man who wrote rock operas and concept albums compress his life’s work into 12 minutes — well, Townshend said beforehand that the medley was Daltrey’s idea.

Yeah, that kind of says it all. That review in the NY Times has to be the kindest one I have read. I fully expected the medley and so was not disappointed, but just underwhelmed. They are old now, and Roger can’t sing like he used to. It’s kind of depressing but what can you do? It was still exciting to see them in action, even for such a corporate gig–the biggest corporate gig ever. Well, that’s what they do these days, shill and provide the soundtrack for t.v. shows.

It was never going to be the awesomeness that I saw at the House of Blues years ago, with John Entwistle still alive and me so much closer in proximity than I ever could have imagined. Just amazing that I did it, that I spent $300 I very clearly could not afford (no more today than then), and that it all worked. So I am forever glad about it. Twelve minutes at halftime? Nope, not gonna do it.

Let’s keep it real. I don’t really care who wins the Super Bowl. I want the Saints to win but I believe the Colts will win. But whatevs. The true highlight for me will be halftime, when The Who, as they currently exist, take the field for one of those made-for-t.v. medleys that will no doubt leave me unsatisfied. But still. I’m excited for it. You’ve got to appreciate these guys while they’re still here.

I didn’t watch the Grammys, but I happened to see a few things before I put in the Harry Potter movie (The Half Blood Prince), and so these are my thoughts–actually just one thought:

I don’t think there was ever a time in my life when I would not have thought the Black-Eyed Peas were anything but total garbage. Not the ten-year old me, not the fifteen-year old me, not the twenty-five-year old me…not the little tiny baby me who had no idea what was good or bad. This is just awful, awful, bad “music” and–please–lyrically an affront to all mankind. I can only imagine what a horror it is to be in the audience for one of their shows…the people who pay money to see them? Ah, the taste of our mass-consuming public. Not embarrassed yet?

Waiting For Something – a short documentary about Jay Reatard

Jay Reatard | MySpace Music Videos

Didn’t know much about Jay Reatard but…now I do after watching this. Pretty good doc.

Kristin Hersh’s tweets read like one of her songs after the death of Vic Chesnutt:

he’s gone…so much to go away in a moment / i’m shattered…i loved him so much

none of this is real / the moon’s moving…racing across the sky

it’s like a bad dream / can’t take another step in these funeral shoes

I haven’t had much use for Twitter but I’ve been checking in with her since I heard the news and it has kind of been like being there. I’ve always been a big fan of Hersh since forever, and many years back I saw Vic Chesnutt open up for Bob Mould at Metro. I had no idea they were so closely connected until now though.

the last thing vic said to me was “i miss you so much” the last thing i said to him was “sorry you’re cold”

Sad.

Land of Talk at Empty Bottle this past Saturday. A damn good Canadian band! I’d been waiting for these guys/gal to come back since I saw them open for Film School a while back. I was not disappointed.

Suddenly I’m in a Dewey Cox kind of mood!

Yes, those are my ancient Docs standing guard over a Tecate disguised in a Pabst Blue Ribbon glass. A few stories here. First, the Docs: they have reached their end. It is sad, and I would have kept them on my feet but it was insisted that I replace them with new ones. Insisted. As in, throw them away. They’ve been around since the early 90′s and they’ve seen a lot. Many Lollapaloozas and certainly many grunge-era shows. Too many Pearl Jam shows to count, but also those heady days at Lounge Ax and Metro, when there seemed to be a great show every week, every night, somewhere. But I was still wearing them to the end, just a few holes here and there, what’s the big deal?

So, they have been replaced. Pretty much the same exact shoe, so it’s like they never left. The PBR glass was a gift this year, and a nice one indeed. And while I often turn my nose up at the beer, I found myself drinking it Wednesday night at Liar’s Club, because, well, it was free. Band beer. Cans. What the hell?

No, it did not treat me any better than it normally does, the PBR, but I got through it, and it saved me some dough. At home though, I can put whatever I want into that glass, and it looks just perfect. I am a strange kind of beer snob: I don’t like the shitty beers but I also don’t very much like the fancy schmancy ones either. Not big on microbrews and can’t stand the Goose Islands and Sam Adams. I don’t know. I love Mexican beer. And Belgian beer. And Guinness. Hey, man, what can I tell you? It’s a mystery. And it’s become more about avoiding the hangover now, now more than ever! Damn this alcohol…