Local Music Roundup

I am not sure how widespread this knowledge is, but did you know that Chris Richards from Q and not U has a regular column in the Washington Post? It runs every Wednesday, and in it he reviews singles because the Ipod killed the album. By my count, that gives the post two pillars in the DC music scene, I am pretty sure Travis Morrison works for the Post online. It really makes one wonder why they don't do a better job covering local music. I am not selfish, I don't need full length album reviews. If only they had a column giving quick reviews of albums, that would be a good place to highlight local music...

In other news, I saw Ian MacKaye at the Pearl Jam concert last night. He was backstage talking to Eddie at the end of the concert. I know that Eddie is a big Fugazi fan, and claims to that "13 songs" is the album that he has played the most, so I wasn't too surprised to see Ian there. I was kinda really hoping that Ian would come out on stage to join the band for "Waiting Room" or something, but alas. Actually, judging from the crowd, they probably wouldn't have known who Ian was, and that would have made me sad.

Meat is Murder!

In order to honor our brave service men, myself and friends will be vacating the District of Columbia for the beach. The bloggyness of this trip even astounds me. Should something happen to us this weekend, a large swath of your rss reader will stay empty and you might be able accomplish something at work.

In order to prepare, I have been charged with leading a contingent to Costco to purchase provisions. Of course, the nature of the holiday compels us to slaughter a large number of animals and cook them over an open flame. What surprises me is that, to my knowledge, no one in our group is a vegetarian. In a group this large, you would think that someone would be a vegetarian. I guess that it is possible that I have too many friends from Texas.

I had a lot of friends in college who were vegetarians, including two band members and a roommate. As a result, I ate, and learned to cook, a lot of vegetarian meals. Once I was even charged with feeding an entire vegetarian reggae band, who loved my vegetarian burritos by the way. For a while, I only ate meat 2-3 times a week and it was actually kind of nice.

All this is to say that I think I am fairly sympathetic to the vegetarian lifestyle. In fact, given the right circumstances, I would be more than happy to give up meat for the rest of my life.

For the record, when I wrote this I had my inevitable marriage to Kristen Bell in mind, but if a hamburger is the only thing preventing me from working with Prince, then that hamburger will have to go.

Exciting News from the World of Celebrities

Did you all know that Stacy Keibler's favorite area is the Baltimore Washington area? Well according to Celebfavorites, it is. While her list might be a little too Baltimore centric for my taste, she is from "Charm City" so I guess I can forgive her.

She highlights many of the exciting things that this region has to offer like Tysons Corner Center and the Merriweather Post Pavilion, which boasts lawn seats that don't allow you to see the stage! To be fair, one of her favorite places in the area is Deep Creek Lake, although she fails to note that it is the home of Beer Day.

Each Time I Call, I Die A Little...

A few months ago, I wrote about an original ringtone by Philip Glass that was being auctioned off. The auction closed on Friday and the damn thing sold for $950.00. It really takes my breath away, and not in the awesome Berlin way, but in the crappy Jessica Simpson way. I just hope the winner realizes that they could have spent that money on more productive things like feeding the poor, or 70 Mozart Bobble Head Dolls!

The Dance of Days...

Washington is frequently accused of not dancing at rock shows. I must admit this to be true, but as a native Washingtonian and a non-dancer, except when one is keeping score, I have never had a problem with this accusation. It is a sad state of affairs if you require me, or someone else, to be dancing in order to enjoy a rock concert.

I have never really thought about why D.C. doesn't dance, but someone offered an interesting hypothesis in J. Freedom du Lac's Post Chat yesterday. I'll quote the whole thing to save you the effort of finding it:

"The authority conundrum was quite graphically illustrated in D.C. during the early to mid-nineties when Fugazi started offering frat-guys their money back when mosh pits were created during their sets. Audience-members started seeing the disdain that violently thrashing about could elicit from an authoritative source (in this case, Ian). As time progressed, not only was violently moshing frowned upon, but so was dancing and later, any movement whatsoever-- to the point now at which the correct standard posture for a D.C. rock show is arms-folded, eyes straight ahead (I can't take credit for this thesis; this idea was first set forth in an excellent yet now-defunct online zine called the "Finley Breeze")."

The quote occurs in a larger context of the effect Pitchfork has on indie rock. I have no idea if this is true or not, but it at least seems plausible. Most of this process occurred before I started going to concerts, so I don't know if people use to dance in the pre-Dischord era. I do know that Fugazi would stop concerts if they saw a mosh pit, and Ian MacKaye's influence over this city's rock scene is undeniable.

Has anyone heard this hypothesis before? Does anyone have any other explanations as to why we don't "shake it?"

Patience

I have known Tommy for a long time now. We met in the 6th grade, and have been friends ever since. Occasionally, I find him a little frustrating. When this happens, I just take a breath and remember that he went to an inferior high school.