Tuesday Morning Randomness December 11
ince I have no compelling topic to write about in depth this morning, here’s some little things I’ve been considering lately.
Charles and I checked out the last stop of the Ted Leo and the Pharmacists tour at the 9:30 Club on Saturday and were BLOWN AWAY. I mean, we’ve each seen Ted before but not with such energy and pure non-stop rock. It had to have been 40 minutes into his set before the took a one-minute break, and even then it was just to tune up and let Ted tie his shoe, and then right back into non-stop rocking out. To anyone who likes rock music, having fun, and/or phenomenal live performances, DO NOT miss the next time Ted rolls into town.
The Onion’s List: “Let it Die. 23 Songs that Should Never be Covered Again”
This is a fantastic little list that all music fans can appreciate, especially people in bands who’ve ever tried to come up with an idea for a “cool” cover tune they could do. I couldn’t agree more with most of the entries on this list. I also can’t put into words how much I love the following line from this article:
“Imagine a world in which only those who truly understand and embrace the message of John Lennon’s “Imagine”—that religion, nationalism, and capitalism are all essentially insane—bother to cover it.”
Good God, I hate that song. Not because it’s a bad song, because it’s a fine song. More because every empty-headed cheeseball loser and their brother have covered it, most of whom have no idea what the song is about. And because John Lennon was a self-righteous, hypocritical ego-maniac. There, I said it.
Attention all musicians, especially drummers, and anyone who’s ever stepped inside a Guitar Center. Go to this link. You will die laughing at this Fred Armisen parody of instructional drumming DVDs. It’s about time someone did a send-up of these stupid ass things.
For those who don’t play instruments, there are these really obnoxious DVDs that line the shelves at music stores, especially the drum sections. They always feature some prog-rock or fusion-type drummer who is really talented, often foreign, very famous among drummers, and completely unknown to almost everyone else in the world (usually the bands these guys are in are “musician’s bands”, meaning musicians love them but they sell like 27 albums). The videos purport to be instructional, but usually come off in show-offy, snooty, “you could never hope to be this good” tone.
Fred Armisen nails these guys, right down to the unnecessarily big drum set, 80s-style tank tops, and lame hair. It’s one of the more amazing things I’ve seen this year.