Sept rehash and Oct look forward

1. no Roundtable assessment for 01/10 (yesterday), sorry. as usual, I have an excuse...

I went to 5 gigs this month. it's actually not that big of a feat, given that 4 of them were in a span of 8 days and I just had the fifth Wednesday night. I haven't a lot of time, so I'll link to these two areas of PW and TGTF and you can have a look:

http://popwreckoning.com/category/local-scene/washington-dc-local-scene/ - I've written most of these articles. the most recent gig reviews:

• Perez Hilton Presents Tour (Ladyhawke, Ida Maria, Frankmusik, Semi Precious Weapons) - 12 Sept - 9:30 Club
• Jack Penate / Miike Snow - 18 Sept - Rock n Roll Hotel
• School of Seven Bells / Phantogram / Dub Pixel - 27 Sept - Rock n Roll Hotel

http://www.theregoesthefear.com/author/mary/ - these are all written by me. most recent postings, including gig reviews:

• Perez Hilton Presents Tour (Ladyhawke, Ida Maria, Frankmusik, Semi Precious Weapons) - 12 Sept - 9:30 Club
• Appomattox - 16 Sept - Red and Black Bar
• inteview with Appomattox - 16 Sept
• Jack Penate / Miike Snow - 18 Sept - Rock n Roll Hotel
• interview with Jack Penate - 18 Sept
• the Horrors / Crocodiles / Casper Bangs - 19 Sept - Black Cat

1.5. Appomattox and Jack Penate were a complete joy to interview. Jack says I should move to London. he says so, so I should, right? haha. he also wanted me to say hello to the Horrors the next night, but I couldn't stomach hanging around any longer after their show than necessary. I'll give any music a try but they're just not my thing.

2. The review for 30 Sept's Pains of Being Pure at Heart / the Depreciation Guild / Cymbals Eat Guitars gig at the Black Cat has been submitted but not posted, so keep an eye on PopWreckoning should you be interested. I was told that the "feature" option is currently broken on the PW site, which sucks b/c I really wanted to post it as a feature. why? I do believe the Pains... are my new favourite live band. you'll read more when the gig review comes out, but yeah, I had a taster of what they were like live in Nottingham but could not see them clearly, nor could I witness a full set of theirs.

I appreciate sincerity in rock stars b/c once they attain a certain level of fame and status, they all seem to become wankers and idiots and don't remember the little people. Kip Berman remembers everyone, shaking hands with and engaging in convos with so many people at the show Wed night that I thought he must have known everyone there. at one point he talked to this young girl (who had shouted "Kip!" to get his attention when he was tuning his Jaguar) and we were laughing at something he'd said about uni days and then looked at me, saying "what? it's true!" and then flashed a smile. I almost died. sorry, but I'm vulnerable to any singer/songwriter who's actually nice. then after the show, I went to buy a copy of their new EP, "Higher Than the Stars", and talked a bit to Peggy Wang, their keyboardist. so sweet, we hugged, she thanked me for dancing during their set. WHY other people weren't, dunno. the pure sweetness of the lyrics with the washy shoegaze guitars - GORGEOUS. thanks to the great wonder that is KEXP in Seattle, you can watch "Higher Than the Stars" live at the now-famous Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, Oregon.

GET THE NEW EP. it's fab. for more info on them and the EP, read this article from the D.C. area Express Night Out that funnily enough mentions Mike Joyce.

3. I am interviewing Brakes (Eamon et al.) next week. The Brighton band, not the Philly one. I'm really nervous about this one. I've never met them before obviously, but more so, I was asked specifically for this interview. I'm not sure if my reputation precedes me or what, so this should be interesting nevertheless. I will be armed with some new knowledge bestowed to me by my best Dutch friend...

4. for my belated birthday present to myself, I've bought my ticket to the last date of the Winter NYLON Music Tour in Boston on 4 December. the ticket should winging its way towards my mailbox any day now, as I got a notice earlier this week that it was shipped. going to see if I can interview Friendly Fires for TGTF, because it'd be brill to have a "what a year it was for you guys!" kind of piece on them. have to sort my plane tickets and a hotel room but this is pretty much a go...and it's going to be one wild week b/c...

5. the day I fly home from Boston, I will be seeing the Big Pink at the Black Cat, on 5 December. if the FF interview does not pan out, I'll see about interviewing the boys of the BP instead.

have a fab October!