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Majestic Theater
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Stay Positive has three or four additions to the band's catalog of great songs, of which this is the only one I managed to record. The criminally relegated-to-bonus-track-status "Ask Her For Adderall" wasn't even played, unfortunately, but "Stay Positive" and "Constructive Summer" were both superb. On the whole, I think the new album is not quite as good as Boys and Girls in America, but it's still on the inside track to my top album of the year.]]>
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Majestic Theater
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I believe Madison's last Hold Steady set contained all of their then-newest album; by constrast, this show left out a couple of tracks from Stay Positive. Two that I noticed go missing -- "Both Crosses" and "Magazines" -- have musical and lyrical themes in common with this one, but I think this is the best of the three and it made for a nice late-set slow-down.]]>
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Majestic Theater
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Much like their last Madison show, the Hold Steady came out with some oldies and rarities early. "Modesto Is Not That Sweet" may only be available as a bonus track on the Australian edition of their debut album, but it stands with the best of their early material. Tellingly, the crowd was excited when the tune started -- more than a lot of others, this band seems to have integrated their old and new fans and used their pre-fame catalog to great effect in their live shows.]]>
First, the packages they offer you (at $40, $50 or $70/mo) don't come with descriptions that actually tell you what's different about them. If you go into their live chat support system, the service reps will refer you back to a big list of channels that they offer, but that don't differentiate by package. If you actually add a package to your order and begin setting it up, you'll see that various tiers are available with each package. HBO and Showtime are handled differently for some reason (HBO is bundled with Starz in the top package, Showtime is stuffed in the "movie tier"), and other digital channels are tiered based on nothing in particular. Also, over the course of the next year we'll be paying about the same total amount for far fewer channels, no premium channels, and no DVR.
Oh yeah, if you want HD it's an extra $13/mo. Plus you're going to pay $60 at the time of installation, for installation and "line of service fee," a surprise bonus that you don't find out about until after you've ordered. That is, if you ever get an installation scheduled. I've been in the live chat for the last 15 minutes trying to get this set up and the guy's spent most of that time trying to sell me more shit and retaking the information I already submitted with the order. I've finally got him talking times and he offers me "1-3 or 1-5." What? How do you have two-hour and four-hour slots, with no 3-5, except the next day there is a 3-5 slot? When I called to cancel the DTV order they were extremely pleasant and helpful; made me wistful, it did
I don't even have service yet, but still: Fuck you, Charter!
[UPDATE: The cable guy showed up three hours early, which was OK in this instance, but come on. Normal people aren't going to be home. Also, the "digital view" tier didn't show up on my account, even though I'm 100% positive I ordered it, and Charter's "universal" remote has five codes for my TV manufacturer, none of which work.]
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High Noon Saloon
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Testa Rosa played some other new stuff besides "My Sin," but I don't think you can really put this in that category. This is the theme song to a Milwaukee cable-access show about HO slot-car racing, which I assumed at first was a wrong-lyricked cover of "Blitzkrieg Bop." Not really the sort of thing I'd've predicted would be in their set, to be sure.]]>
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High Noon Saloon
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Dropped in with the 60's harmony-pop that dominates Testa Rosa's debut are a couple of soft, almost ambient ballads. This one in particular shows off Betty Blexrud-Strigens' voice spectacularly, though I'm not sure the acoustics of the High Noon are quite meant for it. ]]>
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High Noon Saloon
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Perhaps the only silver lining of the current high gas prices is that bands who can't afford to tour this summer are instead staying home and putting new music together. This was one of a couple new songs Testa Rosa played at this show, recently recorded and too be released soon-ish. You can check this out at their MySpace page; hopefully next time they're here they'll have a new record.]]>
The silver lining is that the 80GB iPod Classic I got to replace it is really nice. The interface isn't quite on the level of the iPhone, but the addition of Cover Flow and the half-screen menu is pretty terrific, and the display in general looks better than the one on Emily's iPod Video. Unfortunately, we're throwing a party tonight, which means I've got to spend most of the day copying stuff back over to this thing so that we can have music.
]]>Republicans, for their part, said that they got more than they even thought possible. The upshot of this is that Obama's biggest and most monolithic source of support in the blogosphere, Daily Kos, is undergoing a sudden case of No One Could've Predicted. E.g.:
Sure, there's an election on, but what will be the excuse the next time a corporate giant's income stream is threatened?
Of course I'll still vote for Obama, but what he said was insulting, and that needs to be recognized. And the only way I know how to tell them about this that will make a dent in their world is to act on my frustration.
Meanwhile, long-time DKos editor DHinMI:
Can you explain why the initial FISA vote in the House last Summer wasn't a problem for most people, why the Senate vote was, and what two provisions that got added by the Senate made it a problem?
Do most of you ranting about FISA even understand what is objectionable, or are you just addicted to histrionics?
Guess what, Democrats. This is what Unity looks like, and it's Unityman's party now. Expect many more House votes that pass with the support of all the Republicans and 46% of the Democrats.
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United Center
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This was one of three album-closers included in the set -- it and "Electrolite" both got terrific receptions, while Accelerate's awful "I'm Gonna DJ" brought the main set to an awkward close. Other highlights included an excellent acoustic arrangement of "Let Me In," the Kurt Cobain memorial from Monster, and a version of "Fall on Me" with Johnny Marr of Modest Mouse (and late of the Smiths) during the encore. All in all, an incredible show and an experience I hope to be able to have again -- here's hoping their next good album and big tour isn't 12 years away.
[ #remunited ]]]>
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United Center
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This song is the last one from R.E.M.'s last great album, and the last one from the original line-up era. It's been one of my favorites since the first time I heard it, a terrific synthesis of the Automatic and Monster approaches. In a lot of ways I think of it as a cap on the whole 90's alt. rock era, and listening to Michael Stipe's introduction and the way the crowd reacted to it, I felt like a lot of other people see it the same way. Has it really been 12 years?
[ #remunited ]]]>
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United Center
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My first time through Accelerate, I hated this song and nearly let it ruin the album for me. Probably my least favorite R.E.M. song is "Final Straw," the ham-handed Iraq War protest song they released on their website in 2003 (and the only Around the Sun entrant played at this show) and from the opening line I thought this was going to be the Katrina version of the same song. Instead it turns out to be a tight and compelling dirge, and like the rest of the album it doesn't belabor the point.
[ #remunited ]]]>
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United Center
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We were in New York last weekend, and the torrential rainstorm that washed out the second half of the first day of Emily's craft show also delayed R.E.M.'s performance at Jones Beach by a couple hours. The next morning it was all over the news, which leads me to think that they're "back" in a way they wouldn't have been had a 2004 show been delayed. Which is an interesting reminder that it wasn't so long ago that they needed to make a comeback at all -- "Man on the Moon," the Andy Kaufman biopic named after one of their songs and including this then-new single came out in 1999, when it seemed their first Bill Berry-less album was just a blip rather than a herald of several years in the wilderness. Their return to greatness couldn't have been more welcome.
[ #remunited ]]]>