Heh. Some guy on AskMetafilter wonders “Why do you like U2?” and asks whether he’s alone in his hate for them. The ensuing discussion is 90% people agreeing that they suck – “U2 is the Wal-Mart of ‘alternative’ music” is a particular highlight – and 10% people going, “Yeah, I liked ’em back in high school but everything since the 90’s pretty much sucks.” Which amuses me.
Category: Music
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Australian iTunes Music Store at last!
Woohoo! Just saw on Major’s site that the launch of the Australian iTunes Music Store is rumoured to be “imminent.” KICK ASS. I think that means I need to empty out my US$ balance before I can switch to the Aussie account. I’m off to buy some Presidents tracks!
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Pogoing like I’m 19
She’s Lump, she might be dead! At the PUSA show with Amy. Rockin’ like it’s 1996! Peaches for me…
Later: Wow, fantastic show. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard Australians chanting “USA! USA!” (and most likely the last). The Presidents evidently have a new album out but they deferred to the crowd and mixed in all of their old hits. (I have never seen a crowd pogo like they did during “Kitty.”) People were actually crowd-surfing! It was like we fell through a hole into the mid-90’s. Tripod nearly stole the show for me though. They were hilarious. I had to cover my face during the “You may be a little autistic” song because I was laughing so hard…
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Australian Idol
Lee totally rocked Australian Idol tonight! (Though I did think his punked-up version of “Eye of the Tiger” was a teensy bit too fast). And I was totally laughing when Kyle was talking about how everyone in the country loves Lee and he hasn’t met anyone who hasn’t, and the Snook and I were all, “We have!” The other three guys’ performances were pretty forgettable. I really want to like Dan but he always looks scared to death when he comes out on stage. He doesn’t look like he has any fun. He takes it all too seriously. (Quote the Snook: “He looks like he’s gonna barf.”) Emily was great but she still weirds me out a little bit. (I think it’s the crazy eye makeup.) Kate was good but I was just disappointed that she didn’t do Madonna after teasing us with the awesome netted headband in her segment. As for Anne, I’m a big fan of “Open Arms” and she did a fantastic job, but Holden was right on the money: she oversang the hell out of that song. Interestingly, it really does look like it could come down to Lee and the three chicks! And that would be hilarious. I feel like he knows it’s a piss-take, and I respect the fact that he’s not really “playing the game.” He really does come out every week and just be who he is. (And it’s doubly funny that he gets such props for musical integrity when his preferred genre – lite pop/punk – is just about as trivial as they come.) He just looks like he’s havin’ fun. I also like how he sticks his tongue out when he’s really excited, which makes me think of Muriel…
As I said to the cat afterwards, “I’m off to vote for Lee now because every week he stays in it just annoys the hell out of your Aunty Amy! And that’s never not funny!” 🙂
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Fiddler on the Roof
“If I were a rich man…” I’m gonna be singing that for days. I just got back from seeing Topol – honest-to-God Topol! – in the new Sydney production of Fiddler on the Roof. My boss Albert scored some comps and called me up this morning to say they had an extra. How sweet is that? We had excellent seats, right in the center, and I have to say I was pretty impressed with the Capitol Theater. It was very Italian, all marble and niches with faux Classical sculptures. I liked the twinkly star ceiling too. The show itself was excellent. I still cannot get past the fact that it was freakin’ TOPOL up there on stage. You know when he starred in the film version? 1971. THIRTY-FOUR YEARS AGO. And now he’s 70! He’s a little trimmer than before but I was just in awe of the energy and vitality he brought to the stage. I would’ve been panting after three hours of exuberant dancing but he just seemed to feed off every bit of applause (and we gave him plenty). It’s undoubtedly a star vehicle but it’s still well worth seeing. Amongst the other actors I particularly liked Hodel, Perchik, Golde, and the crazy woman playing Fruma Sarah. (“Tevye’s Dream” was awesomely psychedelic for such a sparse production design.) I was actually in Fiddler about ten years ago – man, I feel like Topol! – in a community production. This was my first opportunity to watch the show from the seats and, for the most part, I was just reacting to Topol and appreciating the show from a technical standpoint. Sometime in the second act, though, it started to get to me. During “Far From the Home I Love,” a song I always found boring in our production, I started to well up with tears. There’s just something about following the man you love somewhere far away from your family…
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Stipey got Fugged
Ooh, Stipey got fugged! As the picture was loading (from the top) I was thinking, “Actually, that isn’t really too bad, even considering the scarf-thing…” and then the boots appeared and I was like, “… OH.”
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Paul Kelly Interview
One of the Snook’s and my favorite Australian musicians, Paul Kelly, recently gave a one-hour interview to ABC Queensland. You can download the whole thing as an MP3 and apparently he performs four live songs on it. (I’m still downloading it at the moment.)
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622 Music Videos
Good Lord! 622 Music Videos. I don’t know who this guy is, but he ROCKS. Most of them are in Quicktime, it looks like. Lots of stuff from 80’s and 90’s. (Amy’s gonna be all over this.) I’m grabbing the two Matthew Sweet videos right now. Squee! (Link courtesy of MetaFilter.)
A little while later: Hey, that’s Samantha Mathis in REM’s “Strange Currencies” video, isn’t it? The forgotten little sister in the holy alterna-girl triumvirate of Claire and Winona. Major 90’s flashbacks here. And I really liked “At My Most Beautiful” too. I can’t figure out who the chick is. She looks like she could be one of the Phoenixes, but I can’t find her credited anywhere.
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REM Tour
Kick. Ass. REM has extended their current tour to Australia! The relevant dates are here. They’re coming to Sydney on March 31. Since I’m a member of their “Online Community”, I can register to buy tickets early in a pre-sale! The store opens in four hours. I’m excited. I’ve only seen them play once before and it was from way, far away.
Update: We’ve got tickets! “Gold reserved” seating. Hopefully that doesn’t suck.
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REM Album Review
Kevin’s posted an excellent review of REM’s new album. He makes it sound pretty downbeat. Crud. My fandom has really never recovered from shelling out for the “deluxe” CD edition of Up only to discover that I couldn’t tell when one depressing song ended and another depressing song began. (Not to mention the fact that it was advertised as coming with a “poster” which actually consisted of the pages of the lyrics booklet, which you were supposed to disassemble and tape together or something.) I didn’t even bother getting the Greatest Hits CD, though I suppose I will if I decide to get the new album. My obsessive-compulsiveness wouldn’t be able to stand having a hole in the chronology of my REM catalog…