The Teenagers/Team Robespierre/Bearries
The Abbey Pub - Chicago, IL
4/29/2008

I never have any idea how many people will show up to a concert in Chicago. Popularity in indie music is hard to gauge and a bands’ hype often disillusions actual turnouts. Sometimes it’s the night of the week or the venue. So, when crowd size peaked around 120 fans Tuesday Night (April 29) at the Abbey Pub for The Teenagers, I guess I wasn’t surprised; though, I wouldn’t have been if the club sold-out either.

An awesome set from the Abbey Pub DJs welcomed (currently 30) fans at 9:00. The synth-ridden, club-mixed blend of songs from Cut Copy and the Presets (both appearing this month at the Abbey), TV On The Radio, and some cool obscurities later shifted to the more familiar, “Stay Fly,” “Stronger Remix”, and MSTRKRFT’s “Bounce,” and were all intertwined beautifully. Definitely one of the night’s highlights.

Three young experimenters from the Southside of Chicago formed Bearries; I’m thinking Bearries are used in place of Cubs (they’re probably Southside White Sox fans). Their 20-minute set started strong but grew irritating with repetitious sampling of “Do It,” the lone song on their MySpace; true clubbers and housecats: you be the judge.

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As some of you already know, I am not a big Facebook fan. It’s for many reasons but one is the great deal of widgets or applications that are on Facebook. I currently have 90+ requests from people to use applications. I am over the zombies and the Christmas tree applications. I feel like I am continually bombarded with quizzes and trivia.

I am more of a Myspace fan myself, I see the use in Myspace at least from a marketing standpoint. Now that they have allowed an open platform for applications I am scared. I have a bulletin from Shania Twain:

From: Shania Twain

Date: Apr 29, 2008 1:22 PM
Subject: Pets and gifts
Body: Hi, Shania Fans!

Hope your spring time is going smoothly!

Respectfully, we have to request that you please stop the “pet” and “human gift” requests (new MySpace applications that you download). They are getting out of control and filling up the inbox by the THOUSANDS.

Shania greatly appreciates your continued love and support!

Take care!

When are the useless applications going to stop? Let me know, or pass it along, when someone has a more practical app like “finding the cheapest gas station near you” widget.

Please don’t get me wrong, I love my friends on the social networks, but Respectfully, I have a request that you please stop sending me “zombie” and “trivia” requests. But please feel free to send me a round of drinks!

Some people are put on this earth to do something, whether it’s to win a Nobel Peace Prize or to be the homeless woman that sits on Jackson right after the bridge in Chicago collecting money. Then there is Scarlett Johansson who is a beautiful actress with great talent that decided to release an album. The question is why? Why did she start a singing career? I was gun-ho in anticipation for her album of covers songs. Then I actually listened to one of the songs. Please, let Tom Waits sing his own songs. Check out her myspace profile

Here is one of the songs off the album Anywhere I Lay My Head. This one is “Falling Down.”

The album drops May 20th and is released by ATCO Records.

The tracklist from Anywhere I Lay My Head is as follows:

1. Fawn
2. Town With No Cheer
3. Falling Down
4. Anywhere I Lay My Head
5. Fannin’ Street
6. Song For Jo
7. Green Grass
8. I Wish I Was In New Orleans
9. I Don’t Wanna Grow Up
10. No One Knows I’m Gone
11. Who Are You

When listening to sample tracks from the album I realized none of the songs are in hear range. You can hear her struggle to hit the low notes. Check it out for yourself at scarlettalbum.com.

I think it’s about time that I cover a game that I think is true musical genius, since this is a site about music, right? If someone were to ask me what video game had the best soundtrack of all time, I’d have to tell them Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. This game was released in the U.S. by Konami for the Playstation way back in 1997 but it’s one of the greatest games I’ve ever played.

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The Crush Reunion Show
The Triple Rock Social Club-Minneapolis, MN
4/25/08

The last time I saw The Crush I was told I would never get to see them play again. Ironically on my cab ride home from Friday nights show I was told this again by the same person as six years ago. Last week we took a ride to Minneapolis for The Crush Reunion Show at Triple Rock Social Club. I have been to The Triple Rock once before for a night of pub crawling. That night was my very first introduction to a smoke free bar. When you walked in the smell of dirty hippies filled the air with their mixture of B.O. & petruli that would normally be masked by cigarette smoke. I can still remember the girl that face planted while trying to be smooth hopping from booth to booth, knocking over her glass just to get up with a broom & dust pan in her face to clean up her own mess.

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Def Leppard/Styx/REO Speedwagon
Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre (aka Coors Amphitheatre) - Chula Vista, CA
4/27/2008

A concert is defined by not only the music but by the experience around the music. I won’t go into detail about mine, lets just say part of it was a VERY long wait in the will call line. How long you ask? Try long enough to miss REO Speedwagon completely. As we waited in line we could hear the faint music of REO, but none of us thought they were actually going to start because all of us were outside waiting to pick up tickets. I wouldn’t had to wait in line if my tickets were to have actually arrived on time. UPDATE: The tickets for Saturday’s show still haven’t arrived! Update:4/29 - The tickets for Saturday’s (4/26) show arrived last night. Hmmm…so much for 2nd Day delivery.

We walked into the actual amphitheatre to find our seats and to hear the start of Styx. Styx ran through their set that was full of their hits minus “Mr. Roboto.” My favorite was actually hearing “Come Sail Away” live and it was better than hearing it on the radio or through the home system. San Diego was also Styx last night on tour with Def Leppard. You can read Tommy Shaw’s write-up on the last night of touring with Def Leppard here.

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Peter Moren
Schubas - Chicago, IL
4/26/2008

Peter Moren is one third of the Swedish group Peter, Bjorn and John best known for their 2006 hit “Young Folks.”

Saturday’s show at Schubas was definitely surprising. I like Peter Bjorn and John but I’ll admit that I was a little skeptical about seeing Peter Moren by himself. Moren released his solo album entitled “The Last Tycoon” earlier this month.

Before the show, I visited Moren’s MySpace to check out what his solo stuff was like and it sounded a bit boring to me - mostly acoustic guitar and vocals - no bass, no drums or synths. Apparently his posted MySpace songs aren’t the best way to get a feel of his music.

If you are a fan of Peter, Bjorn and John then essentially you are going to be fine attending a Peter Moren show. I say essentially because once you hear his music you’ll really begin to realize how much of himself makes it into a PB&J album. You can hear it in his writing and in his song composition. The solo material is basically giving us one element of PB&J - and the drums and bass were present so it wasn’t boring after all.

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I recently received an email from my friend LJ Rich in London. She said that she participated in a flash mob in London. Everyone there got Rick Rolled…watch it and you will know what I am talking about!

Thank you LJ for uploading this to youtube!

This particular flash mob was so large and eventful that it made the London news!

If you don’t know Ms. LJ Rich also writes for Virgin Media as their Technology/gadgets guru. She’s Fabulous!

For all of our readers with our RSS feed you may be receiving this post twice. My apologies.

It’s been four years since his last original album release. The New album 11 is something that is worth the wait. There are 11 songs on his 11th release, thus the title 11. Produced backstage while on tour and in the hotels 11 was produced by Bryan Adams along with Mutt Lange. 11 drops May 13th exclusively at Walmart stores and at Walmart.com. For all the Apple lovers expect 11 to come to iTunes later this year.

Track listings include:

“Tonight We Have the Stars”
“I Thought I’d Seen Everything”
“I Ain’t Losin’ the Fight”
“Oxygen”
“We Found What We Were Looking for”
“Broken Wings”
“Somethin’ to Believe In”
“Mysterious Ways”
“She’s Got a Way”
“Flower Grown Wild”
“Walk on By”

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I cannot stress enough how proud I am of Mariah Carey! I have been one of her #1 fans since the 5th grade when I was 10 years old and first heard Always Be My Baby on the radio. I am now 23 years old and a senior in college and still love this woman, her songwriting skills, and mad vocal chops! God, that voice! Not a day goes by that I do not wish that I could sing like her.

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