you look the same, you sound the same, you....

think that being different's acting just like you.....well...

so, yesterday i went to bamboozle.  it's a music fest in new jersey that leans towards the heavy/emo side.  no doubt headlined, supported by the used, rise against and my bro's, the reason i went, taking back sunday, who were amazing.  also, as an awesome surprise to me, VOD played.  sick!

  on the other smaller stages were a melange of musical outfits all doing their best to get attention from the 30,000 very young people who sat in the rain all day.  as i walked around i noticed something, it was impossible to avoid,  all the bands look and sound the same.   you know it, they play the fast verse with the screamy singer and then bust into chorus with the emo singer, then end with the mosh bit (which, whether they know or not, is just s rewrite of the end of sepultura's "roots bloody roots', which can't be outdone, so don't bother trying).  it got so pathetic,  i thought the same singer just kept running from stage to stage.  how are that many people born with the same timbre in their voices?  it's astounding.  

of  course, my song "your punk sucks" played on repeat in my head.  maybe it's always been like this since that song was written 5 years ago.  it's a shame.  i tried to be objective and not bitter old jealous guy.  it was hard.  none of these bands were better or more talented than mine or many other bands,  they just have the right booking agent or as i later found out, paid to play.  so many of these bands are young and are getting signed before they developed beyond just playing the music of their idols (which doesn't go beyond a 5 year scope), like so many start off doing.  this was more than obvious when the later bands went on and gave the other end of the spectrum. original and well developed.  what's my point?  i'm not sure.  just observation really.  

heaven and hell

I've been neglecting commenting on new music of late so I'm going to recommend some rock.
First I need to discuss my undying love for dio-era black sabbath, now called heaven and hell. It's probably totally lame to prefer it over ozzy, but at this point in my life, I do. They are releasing a new album on April 28th called "the devil you know". It's awesome! Dio is nearly 70 and sounds amazing. They went right for that classic sabbath production. No reinventing the wheel, just rocking the fuck outta some doomy metal! Enough said, get this somehow. It was easy to steal on the Internet if you can't afford it. Utitlize the google.

Another new record that's pretty awesome is my old faves superdrag's "industry giants". If you know the band already, you get exactly what is expected, solid pop/rock with an English flavor and a southern heart. Great band.

A big thank you to all who came out to see my bands this week. It was fun.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

the end

i started today with my landlord's son's  7:30 am cocaine party waking me from my 3 hours of slumber.  normally i let it go, but my roommate has been working long hours and i felt bad for him so after 30 minutes of ridiculous techno music i went outside with my crutches and did an old man hand wag coupled with a very disgusted look and put a stop to it.  after falling back to sleep, i woke up to my buddies adam and bgb bringing gifts of brewski and lunch to celebrate my pre surgery blues.  we drank till around 7:30 when adam left and george arrived.  the beer flowed like wine!  finally around 10, i got hungry and we took a cab a few blocks to toby's public house.  i love their antipasti and artichoke pizza.  george, my wife and i continued to indulge in the spirits when i got up to go to the bathroom.  when i returned i realized that my knee didn't seem to hurt as much.  everyone thought i was just drunk, which i was and still am, but i got up and walked.  straight leg and all!!!  i fucking walked!!!  the torn meniscus had released from my knee bones just the way the doctor said it might!!!  it took 6 days but i am healed.  on the eve of potential expensive surgery, it all fell into place.  holy shit.  it's still very uneasy but i can walk.  i'm in shock and feeling really lucky.  i still need surgery but not emergency style.  i'm afraid to go to sleep.  thank you to all who wished me well.  

that's it...

i'm losing my mind.  5 full days in the house.  i finally went to the corner to buy a 6 pack tonight and felt like i ran 5 miles when i got back.  thank god i had the sixer...it was miller time!!!  i've decided i will go to the hospital on tuesday to begin negotiating my mri and surgery.  i need another day.  my wife has to be sick of me by now.  although, i've been pretty upbeat till tonight when i realized i had written and recorded 3 songs, finished lyrics for the gfjd record, read a book and the sunday times, gotten 3 sessions of accupunture and generally been a stationary busy body, all i wanted to do was sit and watch some fucking 'law and order'.  there was plenty of episodes  to pick from but it turned out i saw them all!! shiiit!!!  so now i gotta focus on my impending bullshit debt, not to mention the actual surgery.  it's enough to make a man insane and it has.  so here i am at 2:45 am getting ready to watch "10000 b.c.".  why?  because it's free. 

watch this guy play guitar

this is beginning to suck...worse

my knee is not improving.  i'm on day 3 of acupuncture and the progress has slowed.  i think my biggest worry now is being plunged deep into debt by surgery with no insurance.  so, i researched the injury and surgery last night only to find no definite numbers except how long i would probably be out of work afterwards.  suffice to say, it's too long.   i've had various crazy ideas thrown my way like flying to england and getting it done there etc.  not going to happen.  my situation of no health insurance as a bartender/musician is ever so common in NYC and mine is a good example of how fucked the american healthcare system is.  for years, i have refused to participate in the system as is (as well as not being able to afford it).  i've had a check up once in 8 years and forget about the dentist, that went out the door when i left home.  thing is, if i had regular check ups, this might have been detected and prevented.  that is a big plus side to socialized medicine, preventative care.  in a country that is willing to go to preventative war, you'd think it could happen.  

 i had a funny conversation about medicaid with a medic friend of mine the other night.  after finding out i made $3000 too much last year to qualify, he proceeded to tell me about people he has to pick up for various bullshit like headaches or wanting to be taken from one hospital to another because they know that a cab will cost more than wasting tax payer money (not theirs) and valuable emergency resources on an ambulance.  with story after story i was aghast of the flawed medicaid system.  i can't get fixed to get back to work (and believe it or not, my work is a necessary evil)  but a woman who wants out of central booking and feigns illness only to be outed by the insertion of a catheter or the woman with 6 kids in a one bedroom with a headache who wastefully calls 911 soley because she knows she can and its easy, will be covered in full. basically the system works in favor of those who have more people in their household, so have more kids.  why not?  the system will take care of them.  it's frustrating.  i guess i will have more on this when i actually go to the hospital and start the process.  

one thing i did do yesterday besides write depeche mode-esque opuses, was finish my demo's of the gay for johnny depp.  this is always a somewhat arduous process for me because it is written and performed in (somewhat) character.  one of these songs was a bit of a revelation.  it was based on the idea that the "enemies of our country" want to destroy our way of life because they "hate our freedom" and what they see as western materialism and gluttony.  hmm, it dawned on me how ironic it is that it wasn't a foreign terrorist who has recently brought down the US, but a domestic one.  the greedy capitalist.  they did it in a way that the freedom haters could have only dreamed of, the near collapse of our banking system, amongst other things.  i'm definitely not an authority on any of this but it just seemed strange that for a split second, i thought of the various "businessmen" who's greed we have to blame for our current economic predicament as terrorists.  they certainly aren't "freedom fighters", it's all in the definition, right? 

i found this today, it's pretty amazing.  a mid seventies, 3 piece, all black, proto-punk group from detroit called death.  this never came up on my obscurity radar before and it could be because i was a fan of the very unrelated metal version of the moniker from florida and drag city just released their demo's from 1974.  this is great stuff!!!

acupuncture day 2

so, my knee has continued to get better but i still can't walk or for that matter, even straighten my leg.  i've opted for some intensive acupuncture as a possible remedy.  i figure the swelling could be relieved at the very least which would help the piece of torn meniscus to release itself from the clutches of my knee bones.  acupuncture is much less of the hocus pocus type treatment i thought it was. it's much more physical and immediate.  it is also painful, sometimes very much so.  maybe that means it's working.  all i know is that i'm going fucking insane.  this needs to get better, i have too much to do.  crossing my fingers for today's acupuncture session.

i read a great book yesterday called "ablutions".  it's a series of observations from the perspective of a bartender in a hollywood dive bar, something dear to my heart.  it made me want to write my story but i know i could never.  it seems disrespectful to write about people when you only really see the worst.  they come to blow off steam and look for companionship, not to be judged.  that's a very idealistic view, but one i try to uphold.  i love the way the book describes the evolution of "the regular".  it's pretty spot on.  read it, you won't be disappointed.  

i'm fucking bored

i'm bored and in pain, so what do i do in these situations?  normally sit in front of my pro tools rig and make insane electronica no one will ever hear but it's too painful on my knee to sit in my room.  instead i have been finishing the lyrics for the upcoming gay for johnny depp "ski mask orgy" record and checking out new music online.  a few days a go i wrote about the shitty side of  UK emo/pop  with you me at six.  well, the other side of the UK music scene that drives me insane is the endless fucking interpol/joy division influenced bands (the nme hype machine)  that never seem to end.  it was all the rage here in NY a few years ago, at least in my practice space.  we're way onto 2 piece bands now, which might be over as well.  i can't keep up.  anyway, i stumbled upon a record by west london's own white lies.  their debut record was number one in the uk the week it came out in january.  now, it's not a complete rip off, neither was interpol really but can't anyone over there do something remotely original, even the artwork is factory-esque, which i don't blame them for.  it's pretty timeless.  i thought i'd never say this,  but thank god for the fucking arctic monkey's!!  check it out for yourself.  it's not bad but been done before.  what hasn't right?  

another thing i never thought i'd say is i like the last bring me the horizon full length...

also please check out the new hopewell full length "good good desperation".  the song islands is an amazing mix  of hipster cool and good janes addiction, which was pretty hip when it was new...their guitar player also happens to be the one and only chelsea piers of gay for johnny depp.   

finally listen to trap them, sick crusty style hardcore/punk.  the real deal.  i hope they aren't canadian....