Devin Davis @ Mo Pitkins, November 19, 2005

Lonely People Of The World Unite! ended up being one of my favorite records of 2005. I really can't explain how the soft spoken, non-assuming Devin Davis managed to win me over, but somehow he did. The whole singer/songwriter thing usually doesn't vibe with me. Perhaps his pure heart comes through on the record in ways I simply can't put into words.

I had the opportunity to meet Devin very briefly at CMJ this year. He seemed to want to avoid conversation and didn't have a lot to say. When I ran into him at Mo Pitkins, I was surprised when he remembered my name...my full name (first and last, I don't have an easy last name, folks).

I had seen Devin before with a full band and it's a little better than solo, but this was also a very special show where all the acts were playing sans band, so I sucked it up and enjoyed. Also disappointing was not seeing him use the theremin despite it being set up right next to him on the stage (he might've used it when I snuck away to the bathroom...enough free Red Stripe will do that to you, which is another reason I can't complain too much).

Throughout the set Devin's eyes remain closed, and he seems very focused on the task at hand. In those cases when he needs to muster up some louder vocals, he face looks in pain. There's something moving about the way Devin seems to need to dig deep down into himself to get his music out, yet offers nothing but transparency and honesty in his music and his personality. Despite this diachotomous* nature, or more likely because of it, Devin Davis ends up being one of those singer/songwriters that doesn't annoy the fuck out of me.

*Sometimes we writers use big words just to make ourselves feel smart and stuff.

Neko Case @ Joe's Pub, November 17, 2005

Neko Case is probably most famous as a member of the pop band, The New Pornographers, but over the past few years she's struck out on her own an made a name for herself as an alt-country singer/songwriter. I had the opportunity to catch The New Pornographers' Bowery Ballroom show at this year's CMJ (without Neko, as it seems she's only in the band in the studio and doesn't tour with them anymore), and I found myself asking a similar set of questions after Neko's show at Joe's Pub as I did after the Bowery show.

Why isn't Neko Case exploding all over the place? Why is she considered an "indie rock" artist? Now, don't get me wrong, this music isn't exactly my thing. I was even a little bored at the show; however, the songs I heard seemed like they could be as huge on country radio as they were on college radio...And a trillion other mainstream radio genres (what do they call it now, Adult Contemporary Hits Radio?). Maybe Anti doesn't have the power to push their artists onto pop radio, but pop radio needs to listen up.

The crowd ranged from young to old, from hip to er, not so hip; even the venue staff on hand seemed transfixed by Neko's performance, but as I looked around the crowd I noticed there did seem to be a large number of females (hey, I notice these kind of things, I am recently single). This brought me to a revelation. Earlier in the year, I had heard that radio simply abandoned the female demographic. Apparently some marketing asshole believes that testosterone driven 18-34 year olds have money to spend on things music related while estrogen driven 18-34 year olds must spend things related to, I don't know, ponies, rainbows, and Lifetime. Am I suggesting a vast conspiracy against estrogen? Yeah, probably.

I kind of wish I was more familar with Neko Case so I could describe the show a little better, though I'm not sure it would've helped since apparently she played a lot of new material. There was also a lot of talk about french fries (though I left before the encore, she seemed hesitant about playing the "song about french fries to the tune of 'Born To Be Wild'"). Does that make any sense? Or maybe it all makes perfect sense as the quirkiness is what turns country into alt-country/indie rock.

Quintron @ Some Loft Space, November 12, 2005

The first thing you will probably notice that sets this blog apart from the one I posted earlier is the lack of pictures. It's not that I didn't want to take pictures, it's just that this show was, uh, rather crazy to say the least...more on that in a big.

One of the bands to open up was Aa (it's not pronounced Aaaaah!). I've seen Aa a couple of times now, but the only time I actually thought they sounded good was at a show were everyone else said the sound was horrible. This show has a lot of visuals like people dancing in sheets (maybe they were supposed to be ghosts)...unfortunately, I couldn't really SEE exactly what this spectacle was.

Following Aa was some marching band. My god, was this annoying. After pushing an already overcrowded bunch back, the band proceeds to do their marching band thing. ::Yawn:: I've seen it before; I'm over this idea. No, we aren't going to dance...we're just fucking sick and tired. It's late. We want to see the band we've come to see...........

Quintron. Okay, okay, so after seeing Quintron and Miss Pussycat I'm making some new rules. for shows.

One (For the band playing). Your friends have probably seen you so many times, they will probably see you again. There's no reason to call them to the front of the room at the beginning of your set.

Two (For audience members). Do not promote your show by being some sort of fat asshole who decides to semi-mosh through the crowd throwing flyers out. I was actually considering attending the Vietnam show tonight at Scenic...until I realized it was the douchebag throwing out little pieces of paper were for that show. Call me petty.

Three. There are reasons clubs have fire codes on maximum capacity. Apparently, stages also form a useful function in clubs. Who knew?

Four. $10 is too much for a shitty loft party.

Over all, though, I did enjoy Quintron's set...even if it was another band I didn't actually get to see that evening. I probably would've been better seeing him at the Mercury Lounge the next night instead. Oh, well.

Spinto Band @ Piano's, November 11, 2005

Welcome to NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR FUCKING BLOG.

I guess I should start off explaining why I've decided to start a new blog. It's not as if I don't have an already existing blog, but you know what? This is going to be more than that. Sure, I might post stuff here from there, but it's so narrow over there, and it's on myspace; governed by the rules of myspace; and full of login's and shittiness, etc. I can expand this little corner of the Internet to whatever I want, and, fuck, if you continue to read it like the sucker you are, I will feel a certain sense of acomplishment. There will be spelling and grammatical errors. This is not my entrire life; however, I will excessively use the word "I" as this is meant to be poor journalism. I might consider you extremely insane for coming back time after time, but, hell, why not? Everyone wants to read about what I have to say, right? I'm the center of the fucking universe, and my opinions mean more than yours...that's what blogs are all about. This one will be no different, and much like the rest of them, no one will care.

So, onto the post. Last night I went to go see The Spinto Band at Pianos. Pianos is a very shitty venue. I never like going there. It was insanely crowded, and I had hoped Spinto had outgrown the small venue since packing a CMJ show there. It was a little miserable being trapped like a sardine, but I really wanted to check out the show.

Enough about the shitty venue, onto the band. I've actually known The Spinto Band for a while don't remember how I actually first met these guys (more specificly one of the guys, who I don't even think is in the band anymore)...probably something They Might Be Giants related. They opened up for the band I used to manage in Syracuse. Anyway, the influence of the quirky-rock duo shows through with The Spinto's with toy instruments(not pictured), kazoos (not pictured), and bouncing energy (pictured right).

The band is basicly doing some gigs to show-off to record labels after the release of their indie label debut on Bar None (though the brits are eating them up like no one's business). The band fit with their label Bar None about as nice and nicely as they fit at Pianos; they are ready to break out onto something bigger, but it has quite happened yet.

It'd be great to see a quirky rock band being on a major label again (fingers crossed). It's been a while since bands like They Might Be Giants (sorry to reference them again) or Presidents of the United States of America made an impact. But does any label really know how to handle a quirky rock band anymore? Emo is the new big thing in rock for the majors; that hasn't been cool for years and they barely know how to sell that. Let alone, major labels barely know how to sell rock in general, and the quirkiest thing I've seen come out lately from a major is The Bloodhound Gang. That's sad; that's really sad. To put it mildly, I have hope for future signings, I'm just not sure I have hope for future profits.