A quick hello and an update on my latest...
Here's this week's list of concert picks, as presented on Citystream DC. The site also put up a nice photo and my bio on its contributors page. Trouble is, they misspelled my last name! (It's usually the first one that gets mangled.)
And just to add a little more, here's a quick peek at some of the new music I picked up earlier this month when I was up in Toronto, which is, BTW, a fabulous city. I was there to visit College Girl and see her performance in a UofT production of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" (it's a mother's dream to see her daughter in a corset and ripped tights while she does the pelvic thrust). The show was great fun, she was terrific and it just happened to be Canadian Music Week. The PR person I contacted via email was kind enough to give me credentials for the two days I would be there, so I had lots of fun checking out the music scene. On the Saturday, I walked around the Royal York hotel and checked out the exhibition booths, gathering a few freebies...
PREACHERS SON - Love Life & Limb (self-released)
A pretty impressive package - full jewel case and insert booklet with artsy design, although I’m not sure I want to know what that fleshy, bloodied thing is in the photo under the disc tray. Gavin Friday appears on one track (“Lipstick”) and the overall look of the male/female duo is The Ravenettes gone Goth.
TORONTO’S SUPERSTARS - Various Artists
18 tracks by 18 different artists in a full jewel case with a cheesy, generic art cover. Despite going through the CMW program a few times, and reading about over 100 bands who'd be playing in the city during the fest, I can’t recall seeing any of these names before, which would mean not a single one of them played the festival!? Doesn’t bode well.
RAISED EMOTIONALLY DEAD
Oops. I generally avoided picking up the freebies that were obviously metal or super-hard rock, since it’s a style I generally don’t enjoy. Looking at this one - in a simple clear plastic sleeve - more closely, I see that the band’s logo is the initials (are?) R.E.D. dripping blood. Probably not gonna be my bag, baby.
JOSE CLAUDIO SILVA
Another general rule I had was not to grab CD-Rs that had no markings other than a name in sharpie, thinking it’s a sign that the act hasn’t put enough effort into what they're doing. But this one was being distributed in the cushy international lounge, so I felt it might be an exception.
MUSIC FROM IRELAND: SXSW 2011/CMW 2011 - Various Artists
The front cover lists SXSW in the title, the back cover cites CMW. Hey, at least the Canadian fest gets some billing. The only reason I even heard about CMW in the week before I visited was a casual mention in an email with a band's itinerary that included a Toronto date. Meanwhile, every other music related missive I got was SxSW this and SxSW that. The Canadian fest was definitely way smaller, but that made it so much more mellow and easy to navigate. Anyhoo, in this two CD package, the first lists artists heading to Austin (hey, there’s James Vincent McMorrow, whom I met at Jammin Java when he opened for Bell X1), the second is split between CMW players and a bunch listed as “Indie.”
JENAVIVE - Demo (self-released)
A cardboard case with a photo, it says “Demo” as the title of the four track disc.
O/CD Tally: 43
(if I ever get around to actually counting all the digital downloads, thus number may amount to something)
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