Weekend Roundup 1/20 & 1/21

Just because nothing has been going on here lately, doesn't mean nothing's going on here.....

Friday
123 Pleasant Street - Nakano, The Sea, Like Lead, Sparrow's Swarm and Song
Local Art-rockers supporting a local art show.
Rosewood Theatre - Steppin' In It
Old-Time Music from East Lansing, MI
Side Pocket Pub - The New Relics (Up All Night, presented by U92FM)
Local pop-rockers
WV Brewing Co. - Borderless Puzzle, Oshe
Jam-rock from the 'burgh.

Saturday
123 Pleasant Street - Davisson Brothers Band, Zen
Rollicking country-rock n' roll.
Gibbies Pub - the love me knots
Alt-Country
Rosewood Theatre - Shayar & Krooshal Force
Reggae, former Burning Spear alum
Side Pocket Pub - Ish (Up All Night, presented by U92FM)
Local three piece rock.
WV Brewing Co. - '85 Flood
Homegrown acoustic bedlam.


Support Local Music!

Exploring Reunion Tours in the iTunes Era

So I went to the Camper Van Beethoven show last night, and I'm not gonna say much about their performance. I took a day off work so I could see the show, but also so I could get some work done today. I struggled to complete all the crap I had to do at work and drove back up to Motown in a rush with a little time to spare. When I got in the door I really wasn't positive I wanted to go out, because I was tired and a little frazzled, but I didn't want to miss the show. The openers really did nothing for me, so I went down to the bar and played pool for a little bit.

I never quite felt like being in a bar at a show but the steep $20 cover kept me from leaving. Camper Van Beethoven took the stage so I and my lady friend went up there to see them. Now, I won't pretend to be the world's biggest fan of Camper Van. I really only knew two songs: one an MP3 and one on one of the best mixtapes I have ever received. Judging on these songs, I anticipated something of a cross between the 80s college rock stalwarts the Feelies and the joke punks the Dead Milkmen.

I don't know if the band has always sounded as they did last night, or if they 'matured' as they aged. Knowing only two songs, it was hard to sit through material I didn't really know with probably quite clever lyrics I couldn't really hear. I was reminded of when I saw Aussie atmospheric rockers the Church at Mountain Stage in Charleston, based solely on their ethereal cult hit Under the Milky Way and Dreaming. It's difficult to enjoy rebirthed songs you don't know, even if you can imagine yourself liking the originals. When I saw the Go-Betweens' and the Pixies' reunions I knew all the words, and how every song went, so to see it reinvented was glorious. When I saw Mission of Burma I didn't need to know every single song, they had such bombast it only mattered that I knew half of their canon. But for Camper Van Beethoven, I think it was a tougher sell to someone hearing their songs for the first time. They just seemed a little blah. I hope it was just me. I saw a few other readers and contributors there, what did you guys think?

Everyone Has AIDS This Year

AIDS is not just a disease. It's a lifestyle that millions of Americans are finding more and more appealing. Back in the '90s, nobody wanted AIDS, but now everyone wants to take a big ol' bite out of the AIDS pie, grinning ear to ear as AIDS juice drips down their chinny-chin-chins.

With profit margins and popularity at an all time high, many AIDS carriers are enjoying unprecedented success.

"The positive energy is just incredible right now," said Putnam County resident Darla Haynes, "when I first got the AIDS back in September of '99, I thought my life was over and that it would only get worse as I got older, that is, even more over than before. And that's pretty gosh-darned over if you ask me, but now I've got a new lease on life thanks to the recent popularity surge of my sexually-transmitted terminal illness."

Darla isn't alone. AIDS clubs are sprouting up all over the world and the official AIDS website boasts over 90 thousand registered users. AIDS is in full bloom, but that's leaving some commentators wondering if all this AIDS hysteria is good for your health.

Dr. Miguel Cintos of Dracula Valley says AIDS isn't cool at all "and neither is G-Unit, for that matter." Dr. Cintos believes that making a fatal STD a positive indicator of social status is going too far.

"I think it's going too far." the doctor said.

Some people wonder if AIDS is here to stay or if it's just a passing fad like Tickle Me Elmo, Swing Music, Flash Mobs, Crystal Pepsi, or Testicular Cancer.

Others, like 3rd year UCLA Sociology major Leo Jacobs, view this question as irrelevent.

"AIDS isn't about popularity," Jacobs said in a trendy uptown establishment "it's about respect. I had AIDS before the media even cared and I resent all these AIDS amateurs coming in here and contaminating a perfectly good disease."

Though the verdict is not yet in on the AIDS craze, Darla Haynes says she's going to ride this bad boy out for as long as she can.

The 32 year old single mother told the Associated Press "I used to think AIDS was the worst thing that ever happened to me, but now it's like I'm the Queen of the Prom. I don't want this to ever go away. If it does I'll probably kill myself."