Start A Fire

Another short takes edition of Nonstop Pop for today, as my brain is still a bit frazzled from my flight earlier today. (Of course, I was supposed to be on a plane Monday night instead, but, y'know BLIZZARD...)

• Spotted on the Pete's Candy Store web site:
  
  SAT 2/22
  HONEYBUNCH 9
  LAX (ALEX KEMP FROM GODRAYS) 10
  SUMMERSQUASH MEADE 11
  
  Early 90s indiepop nostalgia trip! I wonder who Jeffrey is currently playing with as Honeybunch. And new bands each from Alex and Phoebe of Small Factory. If only I wasn't going to see Mission of Burma in Philly that night instead!



• Speaking of Burma, another rock club web find, this one at the Middle East site:
  
  Wed 3/5 U Kadane Brothers, The Binary System, Clint Conley (w/ special Guest Hugo Burnham of Gang of Four), Milo Jones 18+ $9.
  
  Whoa, Hugo Burnham of Gang of Four playing with Clint Conley. I am tempted to make one of my ritual rock-trips-up-to-Boston for this one, but I'll just cross my fingers and hope that this special guest will also make an appearance at the NYC show at Northsix on 3/7. Besides, I might save my gas money for Consonant at the same club just 10 days later.



• My last Boston rock trip, last Thursday, was well worth the drive. Even if I needed to assume the "elbows-out" stance to avoid getting bruised in frantic moshing near the front of the stage as The Rapture broke into a furious version of "Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks." More frenzied than for "House of Jealous Lovers," even. And a set-capper of "Louie, Louie" followed by an encore that finished with "Rock and Roll, Part II"? Stupid fun. Openers Out Hud impressed me with their bubbling and beautiful brew of rock n' electronix n' cellos, too.



• So I would see Out Hud at their next NYC gig on 3/7 (opening for Liquid Liquid!), except I'll be at Northsix for Clint Conley et al instead. Also on the same night are Interpol, in the first of two back-to-back shows at Irving Plaza. Which sold out almost immediately after going on sale last Friday. Crazy. Almost as insane as this ad on Craigslist. If you can fix me up girl, you'll go a long way...



• Instead of frantically hitting the "refresh" button at the Ticketmaster site for those Interpol tix last Friday, I was in lovely Seattle (once again), shaking my hair-do to the space-age, geek garage rock sounds of locals The Cripples at Sunset Tavern. They were the second act on as part of an anti-Valentine's Day show of sorts. "Show your divorce papers at the door and get in for free" was the come-on, and I saw at least one person who took them up on that offer, as he waved his papers proudly for one questioning Cripple. As for the music: Chris Stamey-esque whiny vocals, surfy, staccato bloops and bleeps from 80s-style keyboards wielded proudly from guitar straps, and a bashing rhythm section that provided the necessary backbone. I was a little worried when one of the band members kept pouring whole mouthfuls of sugar into himself from one of those diner-style dispensers, but it didn't prevent them from pulling off a cover of "Push It." Real good.



• It was good to discover another current Seattle band (in addition to Tullycraft) worth following, since the local music scene does pale in comparison to that of New York's. But I better get used to it, since the big news is that I'm moving to Seattle this spring. Go ahead, tell me how crazy I am. I know the bars close at 2am, 24-hour anything is a scarcity, the pizza sucks, and they add fucking avocado to salmon on a bagel. But the air is clean, vodka tonics are $3.50 a pop, the coffee knocks my socks off (I couldn't help but drink 3-4 cups of top brew per day!), the weather is balmy (highs in the low 50s all this past week, you snow-shocked New Yorkers), there are cool bars and shops galore in my soon-to-be-new neighborhood, and I can get a huge bling-bling apartment in a prime area for less than the cost of a shoebox one bedroom in some walk-up tenement in my current 'hood. And everyone I've had the pleasure of hanging out with in Seattle has been more than welcoming. So if you're out there and I haven't met you yet... that will be me near the front of the stage, The Girl You Always See At Shows.