Tuddd's Muddd

NYC Show listings: Today's shows (December 1st)

    I'm still pissed at myself for misreading the start time for last night's Kinski show.  Fortunately, tonight's Baroness show at Bowery is going to rock my balls off.  Let's get this sumbitch started.

Saturday, December 1st

Show: Baroness opening for Witchcraft at Bowery.
Why I'm going: Simply put, Baroness fucking rule.  I saw them at Don Pedro's exactly two months ago with local faves Attake.  (During Attake's set I saw one of the most fucked up things I've ever seen at a show, but that's another story).  Red Album is one of the top heavy music albums of the year, right up there with Panthers' The Trick, Hull's Viking Funeral and the new Pelican record.  I watched the show from the back of the room at Don Pedro's; it'll be nice to actually see the band playing this time.  I'm psyched. 

Show: Times New Viking at Cake Shop
Why I'm not going: I've been meaning to check out these lo-fi denizens but alas this one is sold out.

Show: Japanther at Europa
Why you should go: I still feel like an asshole for missing out on the Dinosaur Death Dance thingy that these guys put on at PS 122 in November, and a very reliable source has informed me that these guys have one hell of a live show.  I'll check them out sooner or later.

Show: Gil Mantera's Party Dream at Knitting Factory
Why I'm not going: Well, there was this bitch last time I saw them.  But she shouldn't diminish how much fun a GMPD show can be-- first time I saw them was early '06 at Bowery opening up for Art Brut in what turned out to be #3 on my year-end best shows list.  (For the record I saw about 60 shows last year.)  Here's something I wrote shortly after seeing that show (please pardon the wonky formatting):

I’ve decided it’s totally impossible to describe this band – or, more aptly, the Gil Mantera’s Party Dream concert experience -- and do even the slightest bit of justice to ‘em. But honestly, I’ve never laughed so hard in my life for such a lengthy consecutive period of time, period. But how to pigeonhole these guys? Drunken hillbilly exhibitionists playing contemporary R+B, complete with cheesy covers? Gil is the more shapely, lithe blonde one who plays keyboard and flounces about with quasi-ballet dance moves.  Ultimate Donny, who plays guitar, has a bit of a pot belly, and a decent southern rock-style blues voice. I can’t imagine enjoying a live act more, although I don’t know what that says about me.

Show: Pissed Jeans opening up for Mudhoney at Yuppie Northsix
Why I'm not going: patience, gwasshopper, I'm seeing 'em tomorrow night at Bowery.

Show: Blues Control at Silent Barn
Why you should go: I'm running out of time here, but Blues Control put on a very, very fun set.  Let me just close by saying that if you like their self-titled debut, their live show is infinitely better.

OK, gotta go. 

NYC Show Listings, November 12th thru November 16th

    Sadly, my camera is still broken, so I can't publish pics from the A Place to Bury Strangers show from last week (opening for Black Angels at Bowery Ballroom), or the Witch show at Luna Lounge, also from last week.  Or the pics from the Damo Suzuki show a couple of weeks ago.  Meh, so what, so be it, fuck it.  This week's shows deserve attention, too. 

Monday, November 12th

Show: Pipettes with Nicole Atkins at Gramercy Theater
Why I'm not going: Well, first off, the show was yesterday so attending this show would require some severe metaphysical tinkering.  I have a serious soft spot for classic era Motown and girl groups but the Pipettes really are somewhat of a poor facsimile of what I truly dig.  Plus the "I like to disco" verse of "Pull Shapes" reminds me too much of an unironic update of the Muppet Babies theme song ("I like adventure/I like romance/I love great jokes/ANIMAL DANCE!").  And Nicole Atkins and the Sea, who I saw opening for the Raveonettes at both of their recent NYC shows, are just too middle-of-the-road to hold my attention.  Pass.

Tuesday, November 13th

Show: Battles with A Place to Bury Strangers and White Williams at Webster Hall
Why I'm going: Can't beat Battles' in the live setting.  Sure, Mirrored may be overrated, but their live show is fucking fantastic: energetic, sweaty and precise.  Plus I have a semi-sexual man crush on John Stanier, the sweatiest man in show business.  I've seen them twice already this year but it's been awhile since I headbanged so hard my glasses fell off (AKA the Battles show at Studio B in July) so that should be fun.  Also, I've already gone on record several times as having totally drank the Kool-Aid on A Place to Bury Strangers, so their opening set is icing on the cake.

Show: Van Halen (with Diamond Dave!) at Madison Square Garden
Why I'm not going: Van Halen has finally reunited with the erstwhile lead singer of the band's formative years, showman galore, "Diamond" David Lee Roth.  That's all well and good, but when you think about it, the main reasons for wanting to go to this and not wanting to go pretty much hand in hand: major trainwreck potential and unintentionally self-parodying arena rock misery.  And, of course, the reviews from the tour up to this point have been rife with accounts of Eddie Van Halen's petulance and pomposity (throwing equipment at his guitar tech, pitching a monitor into the crowd, playing full songs out of tune, and getting caught air-guitaring to pre-recorded rhythm tracks).  The way I see it, if they're going to have a legendary meltdown, where better than The World's Most Famous Arena?

Wednesday, November 14th

Sorry folks, no interesting shows.  Move along, nothing to see here.

Thursday, November 15th

Show: Japanther Dinosaur Death Dance Show at PS 122
Why I'm not going: Hold yer horses, this sounds pretty fucking bizarre.  According to PS122's website:

Williamsburg's favorite noise-rock band Japanther (Ian Vanek and Matt Reily) unveils a new comedic rock-opera of unpredictable scale, repercussions, and decibel levels. Using a high-energy multi-media format - their "tool kit" integrates live music, dance, an interactive set, video projections plus an animatronic robot dinosaur - the band and their collaborators create a full-immersion theatrical concert experience that sports a a sharp political edge and an equally edgy heart.

What starts as a post-modern funeral becomes an uplifting and entertaining ceremony. The set, designed by conceptual artist Dan Graham, becomes a canvas for simultaneous stimuli: a large optical glass wall not unlike his "pavilions" is situated next to a circular band stage, a la the Rolling Stones on Ed Sullivan, where Japanther works their musical magic. While Sonya Robbins and Layla Childs dance up a storm, an animatronic dinosaur narrator, designed and built by industrial artist Doyle, inhabited by the text and voice of peace-punk Penny Rimbaud (spoken word artist and the co-founder of anarchist punk band Crass) lies on his deathbed recanting his belief systems. Darkly humorous intersticial commercials advertise the sunny plight of the American Indian and advocate arresting those who feed the homeless. By daring the audience to laugh at sad truths, Japanther opens up a door to hope and makes it cool again.

Uh, wow.  You can catch this show from the 15th thru the 19th at PS 122.

Friday, November 16th

Show: Aloke at Matchless
Why I'm not going: I have some incredibly uninteresting family shit to take care of.  But I saw Aloke at the "old" Northsix sometime last year, and I was impressed with their brand of dissonant, noisy, emotive, catharsis-mongering.  Good shit, check these kids out if you have a chance.

Show: Tommy Ramone's Uncle Monk with Used to Be Women at Knitting Factory
Why I might go: Well, Tommy Ramone's the last surviving original Ramone, so that's cool.  His Uncle Monk project, according to the Knitting Factory website is

an alt-country indie-bluegrass duo featuring Tommy Ramone on vocals, mandolin, guitar, banjo and dobro, and Claudia Tienan on vocals, guitar and bass. The duo’s music is rooted in old-time and bluegrass influences, to which they have added unique musical textures to create a sound with a new sensibility.

Sounds pretty lame.  But Used to Be Women, as I've written here before, are among my favorite Brooklyn bands: gritty and grimy with a distinct '60s R+B/garage flavor.   I dig 'em and so should you. 

 

NYC Show listings, October 28th to November 3rd, 2007 (Halloween edition)

    If you're looking for Sun-Mon-Tue show listings, go here.  If you're looking for show listings beyond Wednesday, yer outta luck 'cuz I haven't done 'em yet.  I'll try to finish listing the week's interesting shows tomorrow. 

    But, yeah, there's a shitload of tempting Halloween shows.  I'm still pretty much undecided as to which one I'm going to attend, but if you see a big fat dude wearing a box covered in wrapping paper, it's probably me.  On to the shows....

Wednesday, Oct. 31st (Halloween!)

Show: The Giraffes with Goes Cube at Europa
Why I'm not going: hmmm, actually this is probably the best-looking Halloween bill.  I might go.  As I've written before, I totally dig Goes Cube and I've heard good shit about the Giraffes, too.  Not to sound like a broken record, but if you haven't checked out Goes Cube Song 46, go here now and listen immediately. 

Show: Slaywhore and Under Satan's Sun at Knitting Factory (early show)
Why I'm not going: this sounds pretty cool; Slaywhore are apparently an all-female Slayer tribute act, and Under Satan's Sun has members of Tarantula A.D./Priestbird (who are awesome).  I saw Priestbird opening up for Pelican back in July and I was very impressed (third paragraph down).

Show : B-52s with the Rapture at Roseland
Why I'm not going: I GOT ME A CAR IT'S AS BIG AS A WHALE AND IT'S ABOUT TO SET SAIL!!!

Show: Cheeseburger with others at Union Hall
Why I'm not going: I still might go.  I've sung Cheeseburger's praises on this site several separate times but every time I see 'em I get the feeling that I'm the only one who actually paid to get in and that doesn't know the band personally.  Which is kinda lame. 

Show: The Police at Madison Square Garden
Why I'm not going: Well, let's start with the Police sucking (except "So Lonely").  Let's continue with the cheapest tickets being $70+ after TicketBastard surcharges.  These poofters don't need my money-- this fucking shitshow is probably already sold out anyway. 

----
I'll try to finish up the week's shows tomorrow afternoon.  Hopefully I'll have something to say about tonight's Damo Suzuki show, and some pics to boot.  Till then, feel free to drink outta my ass.

NYC Show listings, October 28th to November 3rd, 2007

    Egads, I haven't gotten my shit together to post anything for the past week-plus, with nothing posted since I got supremely fucked up at the Z-Trip/MSTRKRFT CMJ show at Studio B.  And I won't be posting a review of that show (or any pictures) mainly because I spent about 90% of the show outside, unable to, uh, "baseline" but feeling so damn good that I really didn't care.

    Didn't go to a single show last week, the first time I've skipped a full week in several months.  I had tix for Down at Roseland Thursday night, but face it, the new Down record is fuckin' boring, plus on Friday I had friends from the Midwest fly in to visit so I had to rest my chemistry for that shit.  I'll be out of town next weekend (wedding in 'Nawlins) which means I'm going to miss *BOTH* of Bobby Bare, Jr.'s area performances (GRRRRRRR!!!).  So here's a list of the week's shows which caught my eye.  Enjoy. 

Sunday, October 28th

Show: Boris and Damon Naomi (with Michio Kurihara) at Bowery Ballroom
Why I'm not going: first off, I'm fucking exhausted from the weekend, and second off I've been smoking weed for hours.  But more importantly I already caught this tour on its first trip through town (Oct 3 at Yuppie Northsix).  And I got a sweet/dank poster.  Not that it wasn't enjoyable, but I prefer Boris without Michio Kurihara guesting.  Honestly, Wata was completely drowned out and barely audible when I saw 'em.  Important to mention that although they are focusing more on the slower, bluesy shit on this tour, they still toss a bunch of Pink-esque barn-burners into the set, and they do "Farewell."  So smoke a fatty or two, fire up your earplugs and head over to this -- you'll dig it.

Show: Attakke with The Degenerics and Planned Collapse at Uncle Paulie's
Why I'm not going: fuck man, I'm groggy.  This is some of the best weed I've smoked in several years.  But yeah, I saw Attakke opening up for Baroness at Don Pedro's on Oct. 1st and I was pretty impressed.  Classic thrashiness with an impressively throaty female shouter on vocals.  During Attakke's set, I saw perhaps the most fucked up thing I've seen at a show all year.  ("How fucked up was it, Tud?")  Well, I'll tell you how fucked up.  Attake's singer was late so the crowd was getting ornery while waiting for their set to begin.  People were killing the time by double-fisting PBRs, and it was getting pretty ripe around the stage.  As Attakke started their set, blasting into their set at a billion miles an hour, the wheelchair-bound fan who was next to me was upended by a gaggle of particularly overzealous/drunk fucks, and dumped out of said chair onto the floor (where people were slamming into each other pretty painfully).  Now, while this was pretty fucked up, the truly fucked up part of this is that a large percentage of the crowd didn't seem to care at all about this poor dude who was flopping around on the floor, and continued basically beating the shit out of each other.  Pretty absurd, and probably the most hardcore crowd I've seen since Slayer in February.  (Oh yeah, and Baroness were amazing too.)

Monday, October 29th

Show: Damo Suzuki with "special guests" at Knitting Factory
Why I'm going: Well, truth be told, I'm really not all that familiar with the Damo Suzuki's work with Can (I dig the era when they had that crazy black dude as their vocalist.  But from the (admittedly tiny) sampling of Suzuki solo shit I've heard, this concert will be bizarre enough where I'll get my money's worth.  Members of Oneida are apparently guesting, which can be either a good thing or a bad thing. 

Tuesday, October 30th

Show: The Forms at Cake Shop
Why I'm not going: whoa there, buster, who says I'm not going.  I'm kind of undecided on this one.  Basically, I know very little about these guys other than what one of the guys from Goes Cube wrote in their MySpace blog.  But Goes Cube are awesome enough that I might be inclined to take their word for it on this one. 

Show: Used to Be Women and Awesome Color with Tall Firs at Glasslands
Why I'm not going: well, I actually might be more interested in this one than the Forms show above.  I can't believe it's been nearly a full year since I've caught the awesome Used to Be Women, which was also at Glasslands.  Saw Awesome Color opening up for Dinosaur Jr. at Irving Plaza in June and I think they share a couple members with UtBW.  And you can't beat Glasslands for a venue. 

Show: Nicole Atkins and the Sea at Union Pool
Why I'm not going: saw these guys a couple of weeks ago at the Raveonettes NY shows and I wasn't impressed.  Kinda loungy, middle-of-the-road major label pap.  Probably the type of stuff you'd take a girl to if you're trying to get in her pants.  (This is helpful if the girl in question has really unoriginal tastes in music.)

I'll be back tomorrow with the pick of this year's Halloween shows, and maybe more (depends, as with pretty much anything, upon how stoned I get tomorrow).  Peace. 

Still yet more good shows, Oct 14-20

    Wow, a couple of much bigger blogsites linked the past days' show listings and obviously hits went through the roof (i.e. from none to a few), which is cool.  I saw a highly entertaining Bad Religion show last night and if I get time I'll post a review.  Here goes...

October 19th

Show: MSTRKRFT and Z-Trip at Studio B
Why I'm going: Well, all of my friends seem to enjoy this mashup bullshit.  I personally think it's kinda artless; I mean when Greg Gillis said that for him everything starts with figuring out the BPM of a bunch of songs and that that's largely the basis for his mashups.... just sounds kinda random and hack-y.  Plus I derive no pleasure from hearing some R+B chick croon over the "Sweet Child O'Mine" riff.  Why not just put on Appetite?  But whatever, I've bought 8 tickets for this show, all of which are accounted for, and friends are coming in from DC, Boston and New Haven to see it.  Hopefully we'll get some good drugs and I'll enjoy it.  But hot damn do I wish I were seeing Hull instead. 

Show: Hull with a lot of other bands at Club Midway.
Why I'm not going: well, see directly above.  I've written about Hull a few times, with concert reviews here (towards the bottom) and here (fourth paragraph in) and suffice it to say I really dig these guys.  Clocking in at nearly 17 minutes, "Viking Funeral" is probably the best "song" (slash album side) of the year.  If you have even a passing interest in brutal, pummeling, meat-n-taters metal, checkemout. 

Show: Atlas Sound with Dragons of Zynth, Turbo Fruits and others
Why I'm not going: well, it's an early show, but apparently it's an "invite only" Fader party.  Atlas Sound is Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox's side project -- check out their MySpace page here.

Show: All day extravaganza at Galapagos, featuring (most notably) A Place to Bury Strangers and Jay Reatard, but tons of other bands.
Why I'm not going: hmmm, it's an all-day show, maybe I can still hit this up.  A Place to Bury Strangers are playing roughly 14,000 shows during CMJ, so sneak over to Galapagos.  And if you like your punk rock melodic, fast and furious, you'll dig Jay Reatard.

Show: O'Death at Union Pool
Why I'm not going: I really like O'Death , and I love how they're able to turn a roomful of hipsters into a moonshine-fueled hootenanny.  Alas, can't make this one-- I'll be at dinner with said visiting friends.

October 20th

Show: Goes Cube at Club Midway
Why I'm not going: Friends are in town, none of whom are interested in the "skullfuckingly awesome" crunch of Goes Cube.  Boo friends. 

Show: Jesu with Torche at Gramercy Theater
Why I'm not going: Well, if my friends can't handle Goes Cube, then there's no way they'll be able to deal with Torche or Jesu.  God fucking dammit I wish I were going to this one -- never seen Jesu live but I saw Torche opening up for Mogwai last year at Webster Hall and they were brilliant.

Show: A Place to Bury Strangers at The Delancey
Why I'm not going: Again, not going to be able to interest anyone in this, which is a shame.    

More good shows, Oct 14-21

    If yer lookin' for my listings for Oct 14-16, go here.  Below are shows for the 17th and 18th -- I'll finish the weekly roundup when I get a chance tomorrow.  Goddamn it I'm starting to wish my friends had chosen a different weekend to come up because there's no way I'm going to drag them to all the CMJ shit I want to see.  Boo fucking hoo. 

October 17th

Show: Deerhunter with Dan Deacon at Bowery Ballroom
Why I'm going: Deerhunter's live show is fantastic-- to date their show at Mercury Lounge in April rates as the third best concert I've seen this year (out of 60+).  Of course, a few bizarre non-music-related incidents at that show really makes it stick out in my memory: 1.) Karen O spitting beer all over me from behind (I was standing against the stage at the very front row).  Eventually she elbowed her way in front of me and briefly guest-sang on a song or two.  My halfhearted attempts at grinding with her were nonchalantly rebuffed.  2.) Deerhunter's bass player reached down and gently removed my glasses from my face, donning them for awhile during the set.  Eventually he returned them saying that "they're too big for me, I don't want to break them" which of course is an extremely polite way of saying "dude, your head is fucking huge."  3.) Shook hands with David Cross after the show.  He was visibly blown away by the powerful performance we'd both just beheld.  Or maybe he was on drugs.  Yeah, that's it, on drugs!  (Come to Tuddd's Muddd for all your marginal celebrity dish!) Saw them in July at Bowery, too, and even though it wasn't as absurdly transcendent as the first time, it was easily worth the price of admission.  Believe the hype; Cryptograms is one of the year's top three albums. 

Show: Thurston Moore at Apple Store SoHo (free!)
Why I'm not going: Hate to admit it, but I'm really not too interested in hearing Thurston Moore's acoustic jams.  Plus I've always told myself that I'd avoid going to a "show" at an Apple store, so I'm'a keep that going. 

Show: A Place to Bury Strangers at Death By Audio
Why I'm not going: ARRRGH!  The one shitty thing about living in New York is that because shows sell out so quickly I always wind up buying tickets way in advance, for example today's Deerhunter show.  Who knew that Deerhunter would be playing a ton of other shows in NYC in the coming weeks?!  ARRRRGH!  (Note: A Place to Bury Strangers is also playing a show at Yuppie Northsix later in the day so check that shit out.)

Show: Mannequin Men at Don Pedro's
Why I'm not going: again, Deerhunter same day.  I've heard good things about Mannequin Men but I'm really anxious to get back to Don Pedro's -- great tiny, grungy non-venue.  Saw Baroness there a couple of weeks ago and it was great, yada yada.

Show: Holy Fuck with many others (including Turbo Fruits) at Galapagos
Why I'm not going: too many great shows today.  Don't know much about Holy Fuck other than that they toured with Pissed Jeans (who are fookin' awesome) and that the singer sometimes shoves a drumstick up his own ass onstage.  Neat-o!  Turbo Fruits are cool, too.  Garagey teenagers.

Show: Hull with Goes Cube at Matchless
Why I'm not going: DOUBLE ARRRRRGH!!! Love love love Deerhunter, but had I known this show was going down I would have planned differently.  Hull are either the best or second-best NYC metal band (possibly behind Early Man).  Seen 'em twice, and I've been spinning (and recommending) their debut CD, entitled Viking Funeral constantly.  And Goes Cube are phenomenal as well.  Loud and crunchy and groove-tastic.  Go over to their myspace page here and listen to "Goes Cube song 46."  If you don't absolutely love this song you can go fuck yourself. 

Show: Serj Tankian and Tom Morello at Irving Plaza.
Why I'm not going: forgot to get tickets.  I've heard parts of the single from Serj's new joint and it sounds pretty much exactly how you'd expect, which is fine.  Tom Morello will be performing in his "The Nightwatchman" persona, playing gritty, nondescript acoustic protest songs while a bunch of overprivileged, drunk white kids shout Rage Against the Machine requests at him.  "C'mon!  Play the 'fuck you I won't do what you tell me' one!  COME ONNNNN!"

October 18

Show: Holy Fuck at Glasslands
Why I'm not going: friend coming in from DC.  But, unlike the dude in Holy Fuck, I seriously doubt my friend will stick a drumstick up her own ass.  Hmmm.  Suddenly, I feel cheated.

Show: And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and a ton of other bands at Highline Ballroom. 
Why I'm not going: aforementioned friend.  But everyone seems to hate these guys and I'd like to check 'em out sometime. 

Show: A Place to Bury Strangers at Loisada (?)
Why I'm not going: goddamn it, I wish I was going, and I'd love to catch them in a presumably tiny place I've never heard of (like Loisada).  Fuck.  I realize that I've recommended these guys several times on the site without giving any real idea of what they sound like, but I plan on doing a relatively lengthy entry on APtBS sometime soon.

Show: Jay Reatard and Turbo Fruits at Mercury Lounge
Why I'm not going: FUCKSHITGODDAMNIT!  It's shows like this one that are supposed to make CMJ so fun... I saw Jay Reatard opening up for The Ponys at Bowery a few months ago, and these guys busted out fifteen lean, mean, tight-as-a-drum punk songs in 18 minutes.  I seriously thought I'd given myself whiplash trying to keep up with them by the end of the set.  Truth be told I was a bit underwhelmed by Blood Visions but these are songs that are meant to be seen in the live setting.  GO IF YOU CAN.   (And be sure to rub it in how awesome they were and what a dickhole I am for missing it.) 

Show: The Big Sleep at Pianos
Why I'm not going: I'm a pussy.  But supposedly, these guys are great.  I was psyched to see them at the closing of the real Northsix back in January but Con Ed managed to fuck that one up. 

Show: Deerhunter at Rebel
Why I'm not going: seeing them on the 17th.  But if you have a CMJ pass and you haven't yet seen Deerhunter live, you should make sure you do so at least once before the weekend's up.

Good shows this week, Oct 14-21

    I've decided to start a new regular entry here at Tuddd's Muddd, with help from other assorted show listings.  Without just verbatim listing _all_ the shows that are going on in a given week, I'll just be focusing on shows I'd like to see, or that I have at least a little interest in, or which are so absurd that it's fun to mock them.  And what better week to start off with than CMJ week. 

Sunday, October 14th (that's today!)

Show: Voxtrot at Northsix for Yuppies
Why I'm not going: I'm fucking tired and not terribly psyched about going back to "Music Hall of Williamsburg."  Never mind that the place is as clean (and has as much character) as a movie theater at the mall, the staff there is a total bunch of assholes.  Last show I saw there (Boris with Damon and Naomi) I saw a bouncer kick a couple out for -- get this -- crouching against a wall.  Fuck this place.  Fuck it right in the ass. 

Show: Chaka Khan at Westbury Music Fair
Why I'm not going: I don't have enough friends that know who Chaka Khan is for me to waste $70+ on a show that I'd be going to solely for the purpose of making fun of it.  Pass. 

Show: Kelly Clarkson at Beacon Theater
Why I'm not going: forgot to get tickets.  Damn.  (*cough*)

Show: Ricky Martin at Madison Square Garden
Why I'm not going: yikes, how many reasons do you need.  Not that I'd ever consider going, even for the sake of irony, but I just thought it was funny that RIcky Martin _and_ Kelly Clarkson are playing in the same town on the same night.  Pretty craptacular, no?

Show: Paul Mooney at Carolines
Why I'm not going: I've never been able to figure out if Paul Mooney's "everything is white people's fault" schtick is a clever, Colbert-esque send up of black leaders, or if he actually believes his own invective.  If I had to bet on it, however, I'd put my money on the latter.  Which is not funny. 

Show: Charlie Hunter Trio at Southpaw
Why I'm not going: I have no good excuse.  I'm fuckin' lazy.  Sue me.

Monday, October 15th

Show: Bad Religion at Nokia Theater
Why I'm going to the show: Well, I love Bad Religion, and they're a great live band.  Which makes me wonder why this is only the fourth time I will have seen them live.  Oh, right, they're usually doing the Warped Tour thing and I don't feel like sitting through a bunch of limp emo crap just to get 45 minutes of Bad Religion.  Right.  Furthermore, I haven't actually "rocked the fuck out" and been in a real mosh pit since I broke my ankle in early September.  Also, of all the medium-size venues, Nokia's staff is the least dickish.  Can't wait. 

Show: O'Death at Death by Audio
Why I'm not going: I have Bad Religion tix, see above.  Duh.  But O'Death is a very entertaining group, playing Appalachian-by-way-of-Brooklyn mountain music.  Saw them last year at the old Northsix (R.I.P.) and had a fine time.  Their debut CD, the ultra lo-fi Head Home is worth listening to also, so if you're going, pick up a copy.

Show: USAISAMONSTER at Europa
Why I'm not going: mainly, Bad Religion.  But noise duos can be incredibly fun, and Europa's a nice venue.

Show: Voxtrot at Music Hall of Williamsburg (night 2)
Why I'm not going: Bad Religion tix.  Plus, I hatehatehate the Music Hall of Williamsburg (see above).

Show: Boyz II Men at BB KIng's
Why I'm not going: Bad Religion.  I had no idea these guys were still around, and heckling them/loudly singing their shitty lyrics off-key would be fun, although I'd probably get shot (and deserve it). 

Tuesday, October 16th

Show: Cheeseburger along with a ton of other bands at Galapagos
Why I'm going: Love Cheeseburger.  Their show at MHoW was fantastic (see my review here: http://tudsmudh.typepad.com/tuddds_muddd/2007/09/cheeseburger-at.html).  Everything a good rock and roll show should be.

Show: Voxtrot and The Rosebuds (with many others) at Bowery Ballroom
Why I'm not going: Cheeseburger calls. 

Show: St. Vincent at Other Music (free show!)
Why I'm not going: Cheeseburger awaits.

Show: Celebration with Dragons of Zynth and Effi Briest at Union Pool
Why I'm not going: Cheeseburger beckons.  But I've been meaning to check out Dragons of Zynth for the better part of a year now; it just seems every time they're playing I already have tickets to something else (like tonight).  I saw Effi Briest open up for The Kills last year at Southpaw.  They've got a Birthday Party/Smiths/Sugarcubes vibe going which I kinda dug (plus their bassist is super-hot).

Show: Bouncing Souls at Webster Hall
Why I'm not going: Cheeseburger onward!  Plus I've seen these guys twice in the last year which... for a band I really don't dig all that much...

Show: Alter Bridge at Irving Plaza
Why I'm not going: Creed might be the second worst band of all time (Maroon 5 is the worst).  But I can never remember: is this the band with the singer or the one with the guitarist?  Either way it's a good show to go to... if you have a pipebomb strapped to your chest.