not on my radar you don't.

I am a magnet for controversy, so it seems. I've gotten flamed by Mat Horne and Andrew Collins. and now this.

the last week of September-into-October I saw 5 gigs in 7 days. I had Monday and Thursday off, that was it. and I was up in Philly for the first show, saw two in Boston, then came back to DC for two more.

I wasn't taking it easy on my "holiday"...I'm not using that an excuse. far from it. but I take offence as one woman saying she could write better than me when she lived in "Bumblef* Texas".

I'd like to see her try writing 10 gig reviews in a span of 10 days. and do we really need such language? seriously. and that was from a Teenage Fanclub fan that I gather traveled up and down the East Coast for them.

obviously she was not happy that I gave the Vaselines a better review than Teenage Fanclub. sorry but they brought it that night and had the energy. I write what I see and hear. unless you were at that show you can't even begin to challenge me on this. she must be some scholar on semantics as well b/c she is arguing with me that it was not in fact the first night of the North American tour. well, it depends who you talk to. it was the first night the two bands COHEADLINED on the tour. I don't go making "facts" up.

the opening band, the Radar Brothers of California, are not happy with me either. they posted a link to my review of their set on their official Web site. I'm not going over there to read whatever they've posted, b/c I imagine whatever's up there is vitriol directed personally at me.

really, opening bands should be grateful any blogger is taking the time out to write and photograph them. I can't count the number of times I've seen most "real" journalists show up only for the headliner.

also, I am not one to pretend I know anything about every single band I've written about. no one can be an expert on every band. just the fact that I write for a UK blog should have told them that I'm not an expert on Americana, never have been, and never will be. it's not one of my favourite genres and TBH I have no idea why two Scottish bands chose them as an opener.

edit: 21/10: so I have found out that the Radar Brothers and Teenage Fanclub are on Merge here in the States.

well that explains it. Merge is an indie American label. it also pretty much explains why I didn't know about them.

the only band I could scrounge up in my mind that sounded anything like them was the Grateful Dead. this apparently has not gone over well.

if they were really offended by what I said, they shouldn't have posted it. b/c that directed a bunch of their fans to my site and increased my hit count.

there had to be a positive angle to this, right?

so according to my stats counter, the review has had a grand total of 58 hits. so now I'm kind of disappointed. firestorms like this usually generate far more hits!

oh well. you can't win them all.

I'm hoping Frances McKee of the Vaselines comes out of the woodwork and says, "ignore those twats!" and then, just like on the night of that gig, something sexually provocative yet hilarious.

now waiting...whatevs. in light of what happened at DC9 last week and thinking that I'll be forced to go to the 9:30 from now on :P I'm not eager to return there.