#thesefourwalls10 and no, they still don’t have jetpacks

In my last post here on The Practising Troublemaker, I wrote about Duran Duran’s John Taylor and his autobiography and how it had been 20 years since I had become a full-fledged Duranie. Today’s post is all about another big anniversary: 10 years on since the release of We Were Promised Jetpacks’ debut album for FatCat Records, ‘These Four Walls’. The Scottish band were in our country for the last month to play a celebratory series of shows in celebration of the milestone.

Last Tuesday night, We Were Promised Jetpacks (who will be known as WWPJ going forward in this post) played U Street Music Hall with friends of mine Catholic Action, also from Scotland. Summer shows in DC are always tricky propositions: unless the headliner is a long-established artist with many years under the belt, most of the fans attending shows in DC are college-age kids, which means you might have trouble selling tickets. Being in a basement on a DC summer night isn’t great, either. Years ago, I covered the Gaslight Anthem for DIY in the same venue in July, and the heat was pretty overwhelming. I was glad, though, to see that many people packed out the venue for a band who had come such a long way to play for us.

Weeks prior to the gig, WWPJ announced that lead guitarist Michael Palmer would be leaving the band after their North American tour wrapped. I had first seen them a decade previous, playing as part of Brighton, England indie label FatCat Records’ tour in the autumn of 2009. I hadn’t known much about WWPJ before seeing them play that show at the Black Cat, the first of many times I would see them play live at individual shows and music festivals. (Sadly, following the demise of PopWreckoning, that review and its photos are now lost to the ether.) It was comedian Patton Oswalt (you know, the guy who voiced the cooking mouse in Ratatouille) who, during an interview on Fuse TV, tipped them and their video for ‘Roll Up Your Sleeves’. I hadn’t been with There Goes the Fear as their U.S. editor for long, but I knew in hearing the passion in tracks from ‘These Four Walls’ that these kids from Edinburgh were going somewhere. I just had to write about them! And we/I at TGTF wrote quite a bit about them over the years.

Ten years in our business is a long time these days. Many bands don’t make it past a few years, let alone a decade. I mean, consider Duran Duran for a moment. They’ve been doing this for 40 years. Any band with any sort of longevity in 2019 can credit the same few things for their success: hard work, great music, great songwriting, fantastic live shows, and devoted fans. In WWPJ’s case, I would argue that the rising of their own star in America contributed to a greater awareness of what was going on in the Scottish music scene for years to come.

It wasn’t that there weren’t Scottish bands worthy to be written about and covered by places like TGTF back then. In the early Noughties, Franz Ferdinand proved to Scottish bands that global success was possible. No, it was about having touchstones, reference points for those of us like myself who previously had next to none.

Three years after ‘These Four Walls’, WWPJ would close the rammed Scottish music showcase at Easy Tiger at SXSW 2012, the first of eight years I would attend the carnival of crazy. On the same bill were art-pop noiseniks Django Django, who were enjoying a wave of popularity thanks to BBC Radio backing. I met Django Django’s Dave McLean at that showcase, as well as BBC Radio Scotland’s Vic Galloway, who has since become a dear friend and resource. I have been to Scotland many times since, and I feel very at home there. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Scotland has, arguably, the most exciting music scene of all of Britain at the moment, and I don’t think I would have invested as much time in Scottish indie if I hadn’t watched the video for ‘Roll Up Your Sleeves’, did my research, and found myself rocking out to ‘These Four Walls’.

I was well past any teenage or even twenty-something angst when I popped this CD on for the first time. Yet what struck me most was the aggression of the music, matching the tormented shouts of frontman Adam Thompson. I have never been the kind of music fan that enjoys the Bob Dylan-y, guitar-toting troubadour on a stool telling me stories about his life. The reason WWPJ’s debut album works so well is the immediacy of its singles: the aforementioned ‘Roll Up Your Sleeves’, ‘Quiet Little Voices’, ‘It’s Thunder and Lightning’. These are songs to yell along to at the top of your lungs in a cathartic rage. I wouldn’t call the album punk, for there are songs like ‘Conductor’ that have that garage-y, folk-y thing going, while ‘Keeping Warm’ is an 8-minute opus with an extended instrumental. The album was a statement of intent: here we are, we are Scottish and proud to be Scottish, and we're going to make the music we want to make. They were young and hungry and more importantly, it worked.

I think it’s important to note, too, that despite receiving a 6.7 from Pitchfork, ‘These Four Walls’ surpassed the average music critic’s expectation, or perhaps I should say the band did with respect to music listeners. It was word of mouth and fan devotion that kept WWPJ viable as a band for so many years. I told so many friends about them and talked them up on TGTF, which I am positive ‘sold’ them to American fans interested in British music. How to break music in 2019 is very different than how it was done successfully in 2009. I’m definitely sad that Michael and his monster riffs will no longer be a part of WWPJ, but I am pleased they will be continuing as a band. They are truly lovely people, and they should be rightly proud of the legacy they have built for themselves and all the fans they’ve picked up along the way. Rereading my 2009 Bands to Watch on them, I feel honored that I played a small part in their journey, that I gave a helping hand to a band I heard so much promise in.

baby We Were Promised Jetpacks
(I'm gonna guess I nicked this from their Facebook at the time)

😁😂 @wwpj @uhalldc tonight. Apparently my reputation precedes me because they remembered who I was as I rocked up. 👍 #editorlife pic.twitter.com/ouwauPvzRx

— Mary Chang (@theprintedword) July 31, 2019

why I want to give John Taylor a big hug

I am not sure where to put this. I’ve got Music in Notes but that’s a lyrics analysis site, TGTF is dormant, and this doesn’t feel like the right place, either. But it’s what I have for tonight and this was good enough for my last missive in December. If it was good enough then, why not now?

Yesterday afternoon, I received Duran Duran bassist John Taylor’s 2012 autobiography in the post. After I clocked off from work, I sat down to devour it. More like sprinted through my first read of it and stayed up late to get through it. I am sure I missed stuff and will be rereading this more than a few times. John was my favorite member of Duran Duran when I became a Duranie at age 19. My turning into one occurred, quite oddly, many, many years after their New Romantic days and as a result of hearing a snatch of song from a VH1 documentary.

Before their reunion of the Fab Five in the early Noughties, it wasn’t easy nor fashionable for a teen to be a Duranie. We were tolerated by those who had “been there” in the ‘80s when the band were blowing up the charts, but just barely. I guess some of the old-timers just didn’t like us underfoot. I was lucky to have found some friends, some of whom are still friends of mine (no pun intended) today. I won’t go into that further here. I’ve got the bones for most of that chapter for my memoirs, and you’ll just have to wait for it.

I had avoided getting the audiobook to JT’s autobiography because I was scared I wouldn’t be able to get through it, that I would find it too weird to have him talking “to me.” He was someone who I had at first idolized superficially. If you’re a straight woman and you don’t have some kind of reaction to photos of him (that smile!), I think something is wrong with you, ha. By the time I became a Duranie, he’d already left the band to toil away in other projects, family life, and sobriety. While time went seemed to move all too quickly during my obsession with Duran Duran, as I finished up my first degree and was heading for my second, I felt lucky enough to have been along for the ride while John experimented with his solo career and expressed himself in a way that he couldn’t as part of Duran Duran.

Over the years I used to think, or perhaps I had trained my brain to think, that the reason I was completely intrigued by what John Taylor was doing outside of Duran was simply because of his prior connection to the band and how I felt about him in it. But what has become increasingly in focus in the last few years is a part-subliminal message that seemed either specifically meant for me or meant for many others, with the purpose of healing. There are lots of heated discussions among Duranies, but there is one thing that we can all agree on. We are forever grateful that our “bass god” got help for his internal demons and is alive today. And if there is ever one takeaway you get from me, it’s that it’s my firm belief that we’re here, in this life, for as long as we’re meant to be.

Trust the Process. That was the name of John’s web site after leaving Duran and the title of a song off his debut solo record ‘Feelings Are Good and Other Lies.’ I can’t find it now because the site has been wiped since Duran Duran reunited, but I recall an interview or some kind of press release where he explained why he named the site Trust the Process. (I hope I’m remembering this correctly; if I am not, it sure feels like this is how it was meant to be conveyed.) It was a personal mantra meant to keep him on the road of sobriety, a reminder that even when he felt he couldn’t cope without drugs or alcohol, if he could will himself to stay on course, he could get through it. All would be okay.

“Trust the process” has been the code phrase that I use with my close Duranie friends when life is giving one of us a right bollocking and all seems lost. We’ve all been there. Three simple words that have floated through texts, emails, and phone calls of support. Sometimes I’ve had to repeat it to myself, silently, out loud, or even sometimes scream it.

one of his solo pop songs only known within the JT fandom, sadly

As I started reading the first few chapters of In the Pleasure Groove, I was blown away by how many times I laughed loudly, muttered “bugger” under my breath, or felt I was going to cry to a story John related from his childhood. I know you’re asking, what on earth would a boy who grew up in a suburb of Birmingham in the ‘60s have in common with a girl reared in a suburb of Washington, DC, 20 years later? We got glasses at the same age and were shamed at school for them. (JT is famously known to have truly bad eyesight – over 10 diopters – as do I. Lucky for him, he was able to get LASIK.) We both suffered from terrible social anxiety as children and never felt like we fit in. Both our fathers were notoriously, painfully reticent, mostly standing still emotionally, like statues from a bygone era. Like John, I essentially grew up like an only child, as a friend reminded me recently on a trip to Scotland. Our parents put up with musical obsessions and coped with our ridiculous schemes.

We both knew on an intellectual level that we were loved by our parents but...something was amiss in both of our childhoods. In the book, John doesn’t come to the conclusion that I did with my own upbringing: when either or both parents don’t come to terms with the emotional trauma from their own lives, they unknowingly pass it on to their children. It wasn’t until 4 years ago that I found the psychological term for what had happened to me. Through therapy, I’m still trying to assess and work on undoing the damage.

I had surmised long ago that all the alcohol and drugs he consumed and constantly so were to make up for a major void in his life, but I hadn’t guessed correctly what exactly that was. It sounds counterintuitive but as he explains in his book, drinking and binging himself into oblivion temporarily erased any lack of confidence or doubts he had about not being good enough to occupy this this larger than life idolized persona whose handsome face was splashed across all the teenybopper magazines and hung on teenage girls’ walls. It pained me then, at the start of my love of Duran Duran, to know he’d been through addiction and suffered so much, but I had trouble understanding why he did it. I never occurred to me that the vicious cycle of shame and lack of self-esteem went hand in hand with the substance abuse.

After experiencing this book, I have never felt closer to John as I do tonight. Perhaps he was meant to be this influence on me all along, his handsomeness and his bass playing the “hooks” to get me interested in him long enough to stick around and pay attention. It just didn’t crystallize into what was meant to be until I had read his autobiography and considered the connection.

I wish I could reach out and give him a big hug. I want to tell him that I was sorry for what happened to him and that I understood because I had gone through my own harrowing emotional experience, even though in my life, it played out entirely differently. I want to thank him for being so honest about how he finally found salvation and how he deals with things day by day. He has transcended what it means to be a rock star. We Duranies all knew he was more than the media ever gave Duran Duran credit for when they wrote the band off in the ‘80s. By telling his story, John has offered the hope that recovery is possible. We all cope in our own ways when we’re damaged. As that quote goes, we’re all works in progress. Just that some of us do a better job at “fake it ‘til you make it.”

NB: I know that some Duranies are upset that John didn’t thank Duran Duran’s original guitarist Andy Taylor (no relation) at the end of his book. They interpret this as a major intentional slight. The way I see it, it’s quite possible that as part of John’s continuing sobriety, he couldn’t bring himself to thank the bandmate with whom he had gotten so wasted so many times in Duran Duran’s early days. He doesn’t say it – John is ever diplomatic in the book – but seriously, once you understood your problems, figured out a reasonable solution, and were on the road to a better life, would you thank your former enablers? I know I wouldn’t. Perhaps one day the two of them will sit down over coffee, talk it over, and mend fences before it’s too late. But I’m not holding my breath.

seven years on

I haven't written on here in ages but I felt compelled to write after finding something last night that stunned me, made me stop in my tracks, my heart feeling like it had dropped to the floor like a stone.

I was going through one of my journals from 2006 and found this entry from Tuesday, the 18th of July 2006. I *think* I know what it's about, but the more important thing is what it stands for (or stood for I guess, in past tense).

When you find something you wrote years ago, you may find strange solace that the younger version of yourself had gone through the same problems in life.

Or maybe it shouldn't be considered solace at all if you're still making the same mistakes and suffering the same terrible heartbreaks.

==

::sing-song voice:: "Hello, is anyone in there?"

::coffin creaks open:: "Yes, I've been taking a nap. A long nap." ::yawns::

"What have you been up to in there?"

::still yawning:: "Doing a lot of thinking. Mainly feeling sorry for myself."

"Sorry to hear that."

"Well..." ::stretches arms::

"It's not healthy. To wallow in self-pity, you know."

"But S. does it so well! And he writes so beautifully..."

"S.?!? you haven't seen his photograph lately, have you?"

"Noooo...why?"

"He's all...skinny. and pale. Like..."

"Oh no, is he on speed and X again?"

"Could be. You know he's been running around with Robs."

"Oh. Yeah. Forgot that. You know what I was doing the other day? Re-reading those stories I wrote. Like the one about him."

"My dear. That was years ago. But you were really in love with him, weren't you?"

"I was."

"Maybe you should take up writing again. Might be therapeutic for you."

"I'm one step ahead of you. I just put up a new thingy on that stories page, and more is to come. I need to write...I feel...broken. More broken than usual."

"Then why aren't you writing in your journal, sweetheart?"

"People don't want to read about your sorrow. Besides, I don't WANT to make people unhappy."

"So...?"

"So...while I've been beating myself over you-know-who, I've been crying on the outside and crying on the inside, and sometimes I can't tell which way's up. Why the hell do I feel this way? He doesn't feel anything for me anymore. He just wants to be 'friends'..."

"Because you cared for him so. Don't beat yourself up over him. He's not worth it."

"I just wish I was an unfeeling b**ch. With a heart of ice and stone. Then I wouldn't hurt. I wouldn't feel this bad. It's been nearly 2 years you know. And the idiot has to come back into my life and hurt me all over again. I know he didn't mean to hurt me again, but just coming back and *pretending* everything was okay again was like pouring salt into the wound. He doesn't seem to understand why this is so difficult for me."

"I know, sweetie, I know. I hope things get better for you soon."

"So do I...it all starts with this..."

"What?"

"This is what I submitted to them today. I hope he responds..."

when lighting is not a blogger's best friend

I generally do not use this blog as a place to rant but reading my TGTF email gave me pause today, from a commenter named "Paul" in regards to my recent DC9 Slow Club live review:

"Mary- turn off you [sic] flash. It's rude."

I've had a look through all the photos I took that night. Of the 94 photos I took of all three bands, 5 were with flash. This comment is particularly annoying to me because I was not being annoying and using flash for every photo. What was the problem then? I can tell you the problem. DC9, due to its size, isn't large enough for professional lighting rigs. I can usually get away with no flash at the 9:30 Club (look at this Erasure live review as an example) because the lighting onstage is enough to light up the bands on stage.

I realize flash is annoying not only to the artists but also to the fans. If I didn't, I would have used flash on every photo. Did I? No. When possible, I try to use whatever lighting is available, and try to make up for it with the exposure settings on my camera. The provided lighting ALWAYS makes a photo look better compared to one with flash. I'm no expert but I've gotten some good shots over the years that I'm proud of, so I would consider myself a functional gig photographer. Provided I get to the gig early enough to be up front.

That said, I would like to point out something about the way I blog, and how blogging is done in general. There are three types of people who cover live gigs:

• people who contribute only writing to blogs, so when they cover live gigs, they only provide a write-up
• people who only take photos and don't do any write-up (general professional photographers, some of whom actually get paid by print or online publications)
• people who take photos and do a write-up (very rare' some are like me and aren't using fancy SLRs, and even more rare, the folks with fancy SLRs that do awesome write-ups: not common at all)

I give as an example the photos taken by a photographer of a DC-based blog at the same show. Her photos are better than mine: that should be expected as she's a photographer and has a way fancier camera. I'm not. Peter, if you think I used my flash too much, you should bring your complaint up with her also. She also used flash but for *every* photo. I should know. Half the time she was either in front of me or near me and I tried desperately to look away from her when possible because her flash was going off. I'm not even counting any of the other fans who were there, taking photos with flash also. It happens.

I don't really care if someone doesn't like my photos. Feel free to rip on them all you want; I take photos at gigs not because I have to, it's because I like to and it's for the promotion of bands. That's what each of the three types of contributors above are trying to do.

The reason why there are better and better bands coming to DC as the years go on? It's a direct result of what we bloggers do. Have a problem with what I'm doing? Come and see me about it. But I doubt you would, would you?

should we raise the flag for Brother?

today it was announced on NME that Slough band Brother - who the NME, like the Vaccines before them, has supported massively, making you wonder if there's something in it for them beyond just "music journalism" - has had to change their name from "Brother" to "Viva Brother". according to this NME article, the band was served a writ at a show in San Francisco by a Celtic band of the same name.

there seems to be a massive, massive hatred for this band. I don't know where all this vitriol is coming from. granted, I'm generally look at every one of NME's picks with a jaundiced eye. take for example the band Mona. my guess is that the cockiness of Brother did the same thing cockiness did for Mona - it acted as self-made hype when no one else would have given it to them.

how many of these people who purportedly hate the band (some close friends - ?!?), want to beat them up, etc. have actually heard the band play live? (their debut album doesn't come out until 2 August so it's not like you really have that much to go on at this point.) I'm going to see Brother in late July when they're here in DC and see if they're any good. I won't pass judgment until I see them play all their material. Mona is quite good live, but I'm sure there are people who won't even have a listen to their stuff b/c there is so much backlash against them in the media.

music piracy - what does it mean to you

*note: there was no Roundtable this week b/c Lammo is at Glasto (obviously) and you couldn't pay me to listen to who's standing in for him *cough*Andrew Collins*cough* so that's why there is no Roundtable for the week of 19/06. just an FYI.

so last week when I was seeing Noah and the Whale - who BTW had an absolutely blinding performance at the 9:30, I couldn't believe I was seeing the same band! - a girl next to us was asking how I got my photo passes, complaining that staff had confiscated her DSLR and that they were being mean. I held my tongue firmly in cheek and didn't say (though I was perfectly in my right to), "I work hard for them." instead I explained that I ran my own music blog. then she started saying some things that probably common sayings among young people, but I was just appalled.

she was saying that on a journal Web site that shalt not be named she could get free albums from other people and that's where she got almost all her music.

you don't want to know what was going through my mind after that. you don't want to know. really.

I'll say now that I don't *mind* that much if you're trading with your mates your favourites to share music, b/c that's where we get good music tips, your best mates. but very rarely. I don't even do this, even though the number I have is insane (both digital and physical) and there's a legitimate reason why I have these. I don't really buy music anymore, b/c when I want to hear something, I ask for a review copy and review it. that way I've given back to the band somehow.

I think young people don't realise what all this illegal downloading is doing to music. I have this discussion with many of my friends' bands, bands that are not at the level of U2, Coldplay, or whoever else, who depend on album sales maybe not for the actual cash but for survival with their label.

while I can relate to young people being skint - I never got a regular allowance myself - it's called saving up. I didn't have enough money of my own to buy my own albums until I was 10. I suppose theoretically, as long as you're old enough to see the computer screen and click on things with the mouse, you could get whatever you wanted, couldn't you?

and I never stole any music as a kid either. the Web makes it far too easy, unfortunately. I used to say my purpose of being a blogger was to get people to gigs in Washington. but now maybe it is a crusade to get people to realise that the music you're stealing is someone else's baby, the product of their blood, sweat, and tears. how would you like it if someone just walked into your house and took something that belonged to you? and spread it around the world?

sorry is the hardest word...

I've been so harried running to and from things and having to travel out to the foreign land known as California for the job that pays all my bills that I've missed the last 2 Roundtables. I feel terrible :/ hopefully I'll be able to review tomorrow's St. Patrick's Day edition (17/03) and somewhat make up for it.

I'm sort of obsessed with this song by the Joy Formidable. they're one of my favourite live bands as of late (seeing them next week at the Black Cat) and this song, 'The Greatest Light is the Greatest Shade', sums up pretty much what should be the healthy end of a relationship. but we all know it's more difficult than that. ::frown::

to anyone who's ever suffered a broken heart...this song better than anything I've found shows that you are not alone. and you will come out on the other end of this terrible event in one piece. and stronger.

3 videos for a much needed battery recharge

1. pretty anticlimactic film, but this is probably my favourite song off Keane's 'Perfect Symmetry'. they never play it live, so I find it weird this is a performance video.

I have this crazy dream that one day Tim Rice-Oxley will write a song that I can duet on with Tom Chaplin. but until that day, I find solace in that there is something better, bigger than what you're doing right this v. moment. it might not feel that way, but get inspired!

you can hang your hopes on the medicine
you can put your faith in the phone-in
you can tell yourself you're doing your best
you can do so much better than this



2. this Vertical Horizon video for 'Everything You Want' takes me back quite a bit. I remember thinking, how the heck did they delay the guitars like that? (now I can fathom a guess: an effect pedal or an effect put in production later on, I'm sure.) I didn't understand what it meant then - I was a naive little kid - but I get it now.

you're waiting for someone to put you together
you're waiting for someone to push you away
there's always another wound to discover
there's always something more you wish he'd say

and yes, everything you want is not everything you need. usually.



3. I take it as a good sign that I can listen to 'Magic' by the Cars and not break down (haha no pun intended). watching the video and noting how pointy Ric Ocasek is? that really helps.

the '80s were such thrilling years for music. everything since has been redux/remake/remodel of something that's come before. or electronically produced to be such.

2010 in review

I had a think the other night when I was lying in bed, you know, that little twilight time Macca describes right before you fall asleep and strange thoughts come into your head. (at least that is his explanation for 'Yellow Submarine'. a likely story...) and thought it might be nice to have a "best memory" of each month of this year.

January - this is a tie: 1) standing in front of Johnny Marr, jaw on the floor, as he played with the Cribs at the 9:30 on 19 January. he really is that amazing on guitar. and 2) interviewing We Are Scientists backstage at the Black Cat. they are so, so funny. and I got to enjoy the gig with my good friend Catherine, who enjoyed their show even she had no idea who they were / what they sounded like previous to the gig. score!

February - this is probably going to sound a bit strange, but the highlight of February was seeing Delphic's 'Halcyon' video in all its full colour, wide screen glory on a tv display at DC9, 19 February. I had only ever seen it on a computer screen and being able to see it in front of me, huge, brought a smile to my face. that and MB and I were singing along to it and dancing to it like loons, even though no one else there had a clue why were acting that way. (ohhhh, the ignorant!)

March - watching the xx play a sold-out gig at 6th and I Synagogue, 28 March. what a gorgeous, intimate venue to see such beautiful music being played.

April - witnessing Two Door Cinema Club's debut appearance in Washington, at Constitution Hall, 26 April 2010. they could have been scared and apprehensive playing one of the bigger stages in DC, supporting heavyweight Phoenix, but they showed no signs of worry. they were friggin' amazing. I was happy I wasn't the only one dancing along to their tunes but golly, just 5 months prior I'd received a sampler from Kitsune with 5 tracks of theirs (absolutely loving them) and now I was getting to see them live.

the best part was afterwards, when I went right up to Kev Baird and said hello, showing him I knew who he was (he was very surprised!) and when I gave him my business card, he said, "IT'S YOU! you're the woman who writes lovely things about us!" and we hugged. since then I have been sending friends to see them all over the world, and the band know this, b/c inevitably, they meet my friends after and they say, "Mary sent me!" haha

May - Laura Marling at Iota (16 May). I'd just come back from Philly seeing Two Door and was feeling ambivalent about this gig - I'm not a big fan of hers. live, she is WOW. how is it possible someone so young has so much talent?

June - meeting Conor O'Brien (Villagers) and seeing him do a solo show at DC9, 21 June. I wasn't sure if it was such a good idea going to this gig, just days before I had to leave for Denmark, but I am so, so glad I went. we had a nice chat. he wanted to know about me b/c I had said I had learned about him from Steve Lamacq (um, of course!)

July - Roskilde. professionally, this was a major coup, being the only American invited to be an official blogger for the festival. (seriously, I now get the "you went to Roskilde???" gasp from most bands when I tell them I saw them there. probably the best gasp was from Dougy Mandagi of the Temper Trap, whose mind was blown when I told him I had stood behind him as he smoked during the Kissaway Trail's set at Odeon and since he was chilling, I didn't want to bother him. this discussion went on outside the Boston House of Blues, see September.) I saw so many bands gig there that I may never get the chance to see in my lifetime, and I feel truly blessed for the opportunity. personally, I met two English musicians who I think will be friends for a very long time. if their band doesn't get too big and they forget the little people that helped them at the very beginning of their world domination, that is :)

August - I bought my first amp! it's only a practise amp but it signalled my first real foray into bass playing. I am teaching myself how to play electric bass guitar - I started the week after I got back from Roskilde - and it's become a wonderful hobby. I used to sing alto in the school choir, so it's coming pretty naturally to me to play a harmonising instrument than a lead melody one. also of note: I have learned how "sensual" an instrument the bass guitar is. (and yes, that is all I will say on that subject!)

September - travelling to see Temper Trap and Delphic in Philly (26 September) and Boston (29 September). such great shows. forget the money and traveling, I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat for similar amazing experiences. probably the two best moments were 1) interviewing Matt Cocksedge of Delphic, b/c he's such a funny, intelligent, and talented guy and 2) getting hugged by Dougy Mandagi after the Boston show, he'd had such a high after meeting a large group of girls from Indonesia (where he is from) who had travelled all the way to Boston to see their show, because up to that point, they had not played in his home country. I am really glad to have seen them before they start playing stadiums, b/c I'm sure that's where they're headed next. Delphic had a good if not great reception, which is pretty good, considering not too many people know who they are on this side of the pond (hope this will be rectified soon, b/c I've tried my darnedest to promote them over here).

October - seeing the tragedy of DC9 scared the heck out of me (it took a couple weeks before I would even go back downtown again) and First Aid Kit's show was cancelled (boo), the highlight of the month was seeing Delphic there on 8 October, a week before that drunk guy got killed outside the club, is bittersweet.

it had been pretty much a perfect night, the weather was wonderful to hang out on the rooftop bar. (nearly) all my local friends had come for the show, and they were not disappointed. even weirder, one of my cousins was there celebrating a friend's birthday (I had not invited her, she just happened to be there and was surprised to hear there was a band playing that night). before the night was out, I'd introduced her to Rick Boardman - her first rock star encounter (insert proud older cousin smirk here). before the band left, we were able to have a moment with them for catch-up so I could wish them well for the second part of their campaign across our continent. there was mutual appreciation and hugs all around.

aww, now I'm getting teary-eyed! haha.

November - two things. 1) emotionally, I needed to see the Script at the 9:30 on 2 November. (don't you dare laugh.) a lot of people think they're too commercial but I like their sound and they are v. good live. I was amazed how the crowd sang along to every song. what a great night. however, 2) I also needed a good rocking out / kick in the pants this month, and that was delivered by the Joy Formidable at Black Cat Backstage (11 November). it is with some amusement that I remember almost getting hit in the head several times by Ritzy Bryan's guitar. haha.

December - interviewing Brian Briggs of Stornoway at the Black Cat and telling him how much 'Beachcomber's Windowsill' meant to me, and he was touched. before I left the venue, the whole band signed a set list for me, "to Mary, with love from Stornoway, and thanks for the praise online! Oli, Brian, Jonathan, and Rob". I feel very grateful that my "job" allows me opportunities like this.

I am now looking forward to seeing what 2011 brings - more amazing gigs, interviews, and meetings, surely, but I also wish for love. blogging as a single woman is a very, very lonely experience. you just don't know how lonely it is until you actually do it for 2 years and go to most (if not all) gigs by yourself. everyone else is at a gig with their significant other, or at least their friends.

I've travelled alone to all sorts of places for gigs and I wouldn't trade the experiences I've had in places near and far, meeting bands and seeing them gig. but most of the downtime, wandering around an unfamiliar town, is pretty lonesome. it'd be nice to find someone who loves music as much as I do and be able to share that important part of my life with him.

well. it is time to bid adieu to 2010. if you are in DC, London, Manchester, New York, LA, or further afield...I hope you have exciting plans for tonight to say goodbye to this eventful year.

roll on 2011! and happy new year!

Mary x

top gigs of 2010 - TGTF - winner: the Postelles
top albums of 2010 - TGTF - winner: 'Acolyte', Delphic
top 'lists' of 2010 - Popwreckoning - posts tomorrow, 01.01.11

my cup has been Phill-eth

so it's been a couple weeks now since I got back from my last holiday-cum-journo trip, and you're probably wondering "she's a spaz, why hasn't she written about her Philadelphia trip yet?"

the truth is, during and immediately after the trip I was experiencing some conflicting emotions, the worst being those that crossed my mind when I tripped on (and hurt myself pretty badly) on uneven pavement literally seconds before being where I needed to be for Two Door Cinema Club's gig at Johnny Brenda's. at that point, I couldn't turn around. what would have been the point of all that travelling if I couldn't see them? I was wearing skinny jeans so I couldn't ice my knee, but I was able to buy a bottle of water and ice my elbow and that seemed to help. the show was wonderful and Sam and Kev of TDCC were super nice (Alex was under the weather and disappeared swiftly after the set), as was their tour manager (who recognised me from touring with another one of his charges, Jack Penate, as I'd interviewed Jack in DC last autumn).

but to prevent any more damage, immediately after the show I took a cab back to my temporary lodgings, iced my knee as much as I could, and waited for the morning when I had to go to hospital to get this stupid thing attended to. the bad thing was I had to completely cancel all my plans on Day 2 - all the really touristy things like the Liberty Bell and the Rocky steps. even worse, I had to cancel on my mate Eddie Argos and his gf Dyan Valdez (aka their side project Everybody Was in the French Resistance...Now) and I felt terrible, like I'd let him/them down.

worse, I became petrified of what would happen at Roskilde. I mean, the bad condition of a Philly sidewalk was the sole cause of this accident. but at Roskilde I'm going to be surrounded by rowdy drunks, and I will get pushed and I will get shoved.

anyway...temporary crisis is over. I'm not eager to get back to Philly. or maybe better put, I'm not eager to go back by MYSELF. anyone not involved in the medical, service, or hospitality industries (my nice b&b owner who drove me around town to get the treatment I needed), everyone that I met was for some reason unnecessarily rude, and no one stops for pedestrians. (I thought DC was bad but Philly is far, far worse.) my brother said to me (over the phone while I was wailing, tears streaming down my cheeks I might add), "it's Philly, didn't you know?" no, I didn't know.

conclusion: I want to go back to England ASAP for a gig, festival, whatever is doable. dunno how realistic that is though. I've got several friends who are going over this year, and I am deathly, deathly jealous. I've actually cried over how much I miss the place. I'm trying to organise an England/USA pub lunch with friends here, knowing I'll be the only one who will not be rooting for the USA (oops).

what difference does it (a year) make?

I can scarcely believe that today, the 24th of March 2010, is exactly one year to the day when I first saw three boys from St. Albans live for the first time. (actually, four boys if you include Rob Lee, but I'm talking about the holy trinity of Friendly Fires - Edd Gibson, Ed Macfarlane, and Jack Savidge - said v. tongue in cheek! - in D.C.)



little did I know that life as I knew it was going to change forever, as I would see them 4 more times over the next 9 months, in three different cities (four if you count Brooklyn separate from Manhattan, plus Nottingham in England and Boston). not one of them in D.C. my bank book changed as well (and the band know this too...I am sure they are fully aware of how difficult they've made my life and how much they owe me a show in D.C. ASAP, haha!)

they made me love dance music again. they made me want to dance again, or rather Ed Macfarlane did, with his seriously wicked dance moves on the stage and sometimes IN the crowd. they made me get excited about music again, because I hadn't been for a v., v. long time.



I met and talked with them at different times in different places, at one point interviewing the Edwards in Nottingham on their tour bus, which had to have been one of the most surreal moments of my life. it was the first "real" interview I did after becoming a blogging journo, and I was nervous as hell b/c, well, I was in England for starters! and being a fan, it was nerve-wracking enough to be asked by their tour manager to "go on up" onto their bus. then I narrowly missed running into the back of Ed Macfarlane as I came up the stairs.

for sure he was not expecting me, wearing a v. Magnum P.I.-esque red Hawaiian shirt and very tight white trousers, looking the epitome of cool. (I kick myself often that I do not have a photo of this cool cat outfit.) before Edd Gibson showed up, there were a few tense, silent moments until we started talking about food and alcohol (isn't that what they say, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach!) and then everything was ok b/c I'd been sussed as a worthy journo. (since then I've been validated in a similar way by many musicians I've interviewed and trust me, it feels great when people in the business respect you for what you're doing.)

sitting on that bus with them, two out of three members of my most favourite band of the moment, in my most favourite country in the world...I was on cloud nine. and I got to see them perform a couple hours later too. I nearly had to pinch myself that the blessed day in Nottingham, 24 May 2009, actually happened.

it's been weird, watching them getting more praise and accolades (which they totally deserve) but at the same time I feel a bit sad b/c for a while, they were my little secret, the band that I loved with all my heart in secret b/c no one here had any idea who THEY were...and now they've gotten enough cred around the world that anyone who is anybody in the business know who they are. and you know what? that's just fab.

but even if years from now they are some huge massive band that plays stadiums and shows up on network telly all the time, I can still look back and say, yes, I was there when they first came to Washington. I experienced that! even if they don't remember playing that little town of D.C., I'll always remember that night.

--

in honour of the occasion, I'm dusting off the second live review I ever did for PopWreckoning and some others I found to take you back to the blessed day where every single person present agreed that they had usurped the faux headlining crown from atop White Lies's proverbial head and took it for their own. enjoy.

my PopWreckoning review - somehow I managed to veil my sudden defection from the dark Londoners to the carnival dance inducing blokes from St. Albans in this.

personal thoughts posted on this very blog shortly after my world had been rocked by them.

Brightest Young Things review - this is by a local, D.C.-based blog and has the immortal line 'I was lost, deep in thought, scratching my head trying to figure out how I was going to justify to myself, friends and family, the fact that I had a bit of a man-crush on this small, british, seemingly-coked up singer of lead melodies'. I think the comment 'fun as shit' is more uncouth than I would write, but I have to agree with the sentiment!

Everybody Taste review - loving that a lover of the Soft Pack's would admit so readily to be drawn in by a dance-punk band.

DCist review - view this mostly for the pictures by Francis Chung, which are absolutely lovely. you can see my camera in the fifth photo (it's a small square one) but not me actually b/c of the angle (boo).

actually, there is only one piece of Friendly Fires media that I'm aware of being in, and that's this crazy, crazy video from their performance at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on 13 August 2009 (aka 'the video where the drunk girl mauls the English singer'). Ed Mac jumps down from the stage during 'Paris' and for a couple moments you can see me before the crowd swallows me up and pins me to the stage (definitely not my finest hour!) to my knowledge, it's the last time he's jumped into a crowd and I don't think he'll ever do it again, because no venue would be able to guarantee that after jumping in, he would emerge unscathed with arms, legs, and clothing intact (!)

Twitter world is *not* the real world.

the more time I spend on Twitter, the more I'm convinced people think it works like the real world. it does, but in a worse way than the real world does. and I think that's possible. people need validation and their egos stroked in real life, but it seems like on Twitter the desire to be liked, in the case of some of the more difficult cases, the desire to hear the sycophantic cries of your followers, is magnified to ridiculous proportions.

I've regarded Twitter as a useful tool b/c it's like Facebook and AOL IM rolled into one. (if anyone like me is still around out there that remembers what AOL IM was.) you can use it to tell people what you're doing, and if you're into music, what music turns you on and what you're listening to at the moment.

this afternoon I made a factual (so what I considered a completely unincendiary) statement about the absence of Steve Lamacq from 6music this week. a good majority of my followers don't listen to 6music as much as I do (or even listen to it at all) so I was stating the fact that Andrew Collins was subbing for him while he is in Brooklyn on quasi holiday, quasi work trip, and with Collins in for Lammo, the show isn't the same. Lammo is an indie music cheerleader of sorts, whereas Collins is a comedian (I recall him going to Edinburgh Fringe quite a lot?) / lit chap these days. it's like comparing apples to oranges. the show is bound to be different when you've got a different presenter.

Radcliffe/Maconie suffers a similar fate when one of them is out and the other must present solo, and the Mark Radcliffe fans love it when Stu is away, b/c he plays more indie-ish (?) stuff from what I can gather? and the Stuart Maconie fans like me are chomping at the bit when Mark is away, b/c Stu gets away with playing more Northern soul, and he tends to flirt with his female guests and generally be adorable (haha).

"one of the things is not like the other" is something we learned from Sesame Street, right?

somehow Mister Collins took my comment of "I miss Lammo. no offence to @CollingsA but drivetime isn't the same (:" as a personal slight. had I said, "Collins, you suck!" or "Andrew Collins should never be allowed to host drivetime, evah!" I could see he would have a decent argument for being upset. to a certain degree. in any event, he thought I was dissing him.

what's even loonier about the whole thing is that Collins must have been looking up his @replies to have found my Tweet in the first place. I'm sure Mister Big UK Media doesn't follow an inconsequential person like me, so that's the only way he could have found it. my guess is that it must have been a really slow night in London and with nothing to do, he went fishing for compliments through his @replies or possibly (and quite masochistly?) was looking for complaints into his second day of subbing for Lammo.

unfortunately, he found the Tweet and decided it was grounds for (minor) war. he said something to me that I regarded as a bit of a threat, saying I shouldn't say things on Twitter I wouldn't say to his face. ok, so you tell me, what part of "I miss Lammo. no offence to @CollingsA but drivetime isn't the same (:" is hateful? I don't see it. I'm not an arsekisser *and* I'm a fan and friend of Lammo's so the last thing I'm going to say to any of his substitute presenters is "you're so wonderful, I love it when Lammo is away and you can fill in for him!" b/c I don't think that.

apparently, I was supposed to be sensitive to the fact that Andrew Collins might misconstrue a statement of fact as a dig at him. and oh yeah, he said I needed to learn Twitter etiquette and not use his Twitter handle in my Tweets so he won't read them and get upset. ummm...WTH?

I ended up deleting the Tweets because I just don't have time to deal with any rabid Collins fans coming after me with a pitchfork. some of my followers who also follow him have told me they read the exchange and either laughed and/or shook their heads at what happened.

the man has 10,000+ followers. if he feels the need to go after an innocent comment someone made stating a preference for a favourite presenter on a threatened radio station, that's pretty stupid.

a couple weeks back I wasn't allowed to have an opinion. now I'm not allowed to state facts. Twitter just keeps getting more interesting. (ha!)

FYI this whole thing ended up confirming what I already knew: I prefer Lammo above all others :)

(oh yeah, and I *still* think that Foals track sounds like Doves.)

edit 24 Mar 2010, 9:30 AM: he's still going on about Twitter etiquette. is there such a thing? this is pretty weird. it's like having the Emily Post of Twitter come back at you and tell you you've made a social gaffe.

dunno, I suppose I should be grateful that he slightly backpedaled on his previous vitriolic Tweets to me.

CollingsA
@theprintedword Not offence at comment, offence at etiquette failure re: using someone's Twitter name when you needn't have done

he wanted to make the point that any Tweet containing his name should be praise and nothing else? dunno. if you're expecting Twitter to deliver only compliments to your desktop / mobile phone / electronic gadget of your choice, I think you're missing the point of Twitter completely. it's a great equalizer b/c anyone with access to the internet can post whatever's on their mind, whenever they want. I wonder what his thoughts are on all the recent "comments" made about Director-General Thompson.

how massive is too massive (for D.C.)?

(I originally started this post on 20/12 but have finally gotten around to posting it.)

it's hard to tell with Friendly Fires as to when they are joking. I thought Ed Mac was joking when he said to me in Nottingham that their next video would be filmed in Ibiza. at the time, "Kiss of Life" was another 2 months away from being released and none of us outside the Friendly Fires camp had heard anything about any new single. but then the video came out and my jaw dropped. Ibiza. I'd been told before anyone else. of course, at the time, I had no idea...but never mind that. you couldn't get me off that cloud at the time of the discovery...and even today I still feel special! ::grin::





I don't know if Edd and Ed Mac were joking when they told me during my interview with them in Nottingham that they didn't want to return to D.C. but I worry about it for a v. good reason that I'm sure exists in the back of their minds.

it's a long story, but here's the somewhat shortish version: Dulles Airport (IAD) customs (or possibly Virgin Atlantic?) lost their/Jack's drum kit when they arrived for their first headlining tour of North America in March directly before their gig at the Black Cat, PopWreckoning review here. they ended up using White Lies' drum kit, which at first struck me as v. odd but this was later explained to me rather clearly. I remember this v. well, b/c Ed Mac and I swapped MySpace msgs over this. we talked about D.C., I found out how old he was (just a boy!), he called me "madame" (the first time in my life I'd ever been called that term of respect that so much was I surprised by this that I nearly keeled over from the politeness, heh!), etc. and at the time, I was just starting out as a blogger, so I was bowled over by the attention and this obvs endeared the band to me.

while I'd love to see them again of course, I'm not sure whether it's actually going to be feasible. if they become like other big-name acts that skip over Washington and play somewhere else, I'll probably have to pass, unless I have a really good reason to be at that "somewhere else." they've grown by leaps and bounds and if their second album does well, their star will no doubt skyrocket. I can't quantitate it but I'm sure through my own word of mouth, telling people how good they are live, AND all the posts I've written about them have certainly gotten their name out (along with everyone else's coverage like Niall Doherty's FLY MAGAZINE and such of course).

I'm starting to feel like Cathy from the Cavern circa Liverpool 1962, when the Cavern devotees started to realise the Beatles weren't ever going to come back to play for them at the Cavern again. they'd just become too massive. it's a tough call. you want your friends to have success, but you don't want them to become so massive that they totally forget what they were like when they were starting out, and they forget you too. I'm totally not begrudging them anything, b/c they've worked so hard - to the point of exhaustion/illness a couple different times in Jack's case, poor fella! - but yeah, having seen a band through the beginning, from their hard slog to win over White Lies's fans at the Black Cat (and myself having to convince girls outside the club that yeah, you should stop smoking your fags and get in there to see Friendly Fires before your White Lies come onstage), so yeah, I feel like they're my boys.

silly? quite possibly yes.

save BBC 6music!

so I wake up from my illness-induced stupor, open my email, and read this from Emmy the Great:

--

hello all,

I don't tend to use my mailing list that often, so please forgive the twice in a week.

Firstly, we're doing Tweedy on Saturday night. She wins. Everybody loves her. Apparently she cries diamonds.

On another note, newspapers are reporting today that the BBC is closing down 6music. According to Shaun Keaveny on his breakfast show, this isn't set in stone, but it's a definite possibility.

6music is probably the only reason we sold any records, and it's certainly the only reason I pay a licence fee DESPITE NOT HAVING A TV. Now I guess I'm paying for the website.

They say in the report that one of the reasons is because 80% of adults have never heard of 6music - a weak excuse for closing down an ALTERNATIVE radio station. Consider also that it costs just under a third of Jonathan Ross's last reported BBC salary to run it.

There are still ways to show your discontent - If you're on Twitter chances are you've seen the top trend of the day is #saveBBC6music, but people are also leaving comments under the articles that broke the news (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article7041944.ece, or joining groups on Facebook (no links for that, sorry), or sending in emails to the station itself. I'm gratefully accepting any other modes of complaint, and will post them on Myspace as blogs.

It might not do anything, but it'll be a nice rush of activity before we return to throwing things at the radio every time the dial accidentally lands on a music channel.

Oh, and they're shutting down the Asian Network too. That's my plan B gone.

Thanks BBC.

from Emmy

--

Emmy is the only Chinese woman I know of and am proud of in "pop music" and I agree with her statements wholeheartedly. BBC 6music is a station that plays alternative stuff, not just top 40, not just stuff middle-aged people (sorry) want to hear on their commutes home. not only do they play great music, they have live sessions (the Hub sessions, as noted in a Tweet by Frankie of Frankie and the Heartstrings earlier today), they have cool specialist shows like Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone and Jarvis Cocker's Sunday Service, just started this year, and they even have cool documentaries on the history of music! I mean, it's not just the same boring sludge we get here in the States.

I realise I don't pay the license fee and therefore I'm not really in a good position to argue WHY the station should be saved because I've never "paid" for it as such, but I consider all the $ and £ I've paid to see concerts, buy music, buy merch, and travel around America and to Britain for ANY artist I've heard on the station as payment to the music community at large. b/c what 6music does better than any of the other BBC radio stations is get people excited about music.

BBC 6music also personally means a lot to me. not only do I listen to it a heck of a lot, I've gotten to "know" several of their DJs (in particular, Steve Lamacq, Nemone Metaxas, and Stuart Maconie) and if the radio station was canned, it'd be like losing members of my family.

I need to do some research on petitions and such. I already joined the Save 6music Facebook group weeks ago when Andrew Collins mentioned it on his Twitter that the gears were in motion for their closing.

dunno what I'm going to listen to if 6music closes. I guess I'll be stuck with Radio2 and the odd Radio1 programme. (I still think Zane Lowe shouts way too much.) if Drowned in Sound can be believed, Absolute Radio has said they'd buy the station, in which case I'll probably follow them instead.

you talking to me? I might just laugh right in your face.

first, here's what I've got for you regular readers...gig and interview posts from January 2010:

We Are Scientists (Uninhabitable Mansions supporting) - 21.01.10 - Black Cat, Washington, DC - my Popwreckoning review my There Goes the Fear review

my interview with Chris Cain and Keith Murray of We Are Scientists part 1 part 2

the Cribs (Adam Green and the Dead Trees supporting) - 19.01.10 - 9:30 Club, Washington, DC - my Popwreckoning review tag team interview with Ross Jarman

--

word of note to any aspiring bloggers:
you will receive far more personal insults and complaints about your writing than you ever will compliments.

last night before bed, I made the mistake of visiting the Web's authoritative blog/site for all things We Are Scientists. the owner, the lovely Renee Barrera, had kindly posted links to my two gig reviews (done separately for PW and TGTF) and my two-part interview with Chris Cain and Keith Murray. I don't know why I bothered to look at the comments. well, actually, I do know why I bothered. I was hoping someone would say, "great job!" or "this was a fun interview, I'm glad she was able to meet them and post the interview for us." I had expected the complete gloss over of me as interviewer - after all, this was a WAS interview, and they're the stars of the piece, not me.

I was, however, not expecting for one female fan to say she wanted to punch me in the face for the way I laughed in the interview, with another fan concurring with her statement.

really? you're threatening someone with physical force for having a good time? while they're interviewing your favourite band? and getting insights about the said band for you?

I'm never going to apologise for the way I laugh. there's a reason why I laugh when I'm interviewing someone: it's because I approach band interviews in a light-hearted way. I know bands are usually tired and having already been through their umpteenth interview, they're not looking forward to talking to some blogger like me that they've never met from a blog they've never heard of.

so I try to make my questions interesting. I do my research way ahead of time to come up with some queries for them that they haven't heard before, so it's more fun for them and they'll feel more comfortable talking to me and feel like they can trust me, like we've been mates for years. that's the goal anyway. and comfort is key to a successful interview, in my experience.

my first big interview (with Friendly Fires) worked out extremely well because we had already broken the ice (the Ed[d]s couldn't believe I'd travelled by myself to another country to see them) and they seemed to appreciate the questions I'd asked them weren't the same run of the mill "how did you guys get together?" (answer: they met at school) types. when you can prove to someone that you've done your homework and that you're a real music fan, things usually come together better than you expect.

and I've thought to myself, if Chris Cain really hated the way I laughed, I doubt he would have talked to me for over an hour beyond the interview itself. agree?

and going back to my laugh...I have many stories about my "unique" laugh. the most recent I can think of is being in hospital last summer and having been "heard" before I had been "seen" by my attending nurse, who swiftly explained that my laugh was particularly joyous. at the time, I was getting blood drawn in the infusion (cancer) ward so I was happy to provide a little sunshine. so apparently my laugh is memorable by the good folks of Georgetown Hospital. and that's a good thing, b/c people who get stuck there often don't have much to smile - or laugh - about.

folks, this isn't 'Dateline', '20/20', or '60 Minutes'. and feel free to discuss the content of the interview, b/c that's what I work hard at. but taking pot shots at my guffaw? that's going below the belt.

--

however, today was an eminently better day:

Friendly Fires came to the Radio1 studios for a chat with Fearne Cotton about their chances for the two BRITs they have been nominated for. as usual, it was lolzworthy, including Fearne imploring a wary (and trying desperately not to give any more fuel to the fire that he's fey) Ed Macfarlane to stroke Jack Savidge's newly clean shaven chin (er...?); Jack mispronouncing the name of his "favourite" member of JLS; and Edd Gibson insisting that should Peter Kay ring them in Australia at 4 AM local time with the news that they've won a BRIT, they'll all be dressed in their nightgowns ala Wee Willie Winkie.

I would also like to note here that both Fearne Cotton and Ed Mac have equally unique and possibly annoying laughs like mine so really, if those WAS fans have a beef with the way I chortle, they can take similar complaints to them as well.
listen here

Fanfarlo were Marc Riley's live in-session guests at the Manchester Oxford Road studios this evening, and they played four songs on 6music. absolutely brilliant.
listen here

the danger of Tweeting

apparently communication via Twitter - no doubt b/c of the 140 character limit - is dangerous.

I Tweet-commented "tosser" to a favourite guitar tech of mine in November last year in response to his Tweet to cyberspace that someone called him a pansy whilst he was tuning a Fender onstage. and then he responded, "what?" which freaked me out b/c I thought maybe he meant I was calling him a tosser. I tried Tweeting him again to clarify but he never responded back, which further worried me that he was mad at me. thankfully, this was all cleared up in person in Boston and hugs all around. thank goodness.

then this very morning my fave lunchtime DJ Nemone asked people about Manchester Academy. I emailed her saying I missed the Apollo - meaning I missed SEEING gigs there. she misinterpreted this as meaning that the Apollo was now gone:

greekydj

Having hazy memories of nights out at the acadenmy - and one of you has said the Apollo no longer there NNNNOOOOOOOOO! favourite venue ;-(

so I hastily Tweeted to clear up the misunderstanding:

theprintedword

@greekydj no the Apollo is still there! think you misunderstood my email, I said I missed it (as an American) want to see another gig there!

to which she responded:

greekydj

phew now found out Apollo lives on yey!!!!!!!!!!!

oh dear. Nemone just returned on Monday from maternity leave and I probably just gave her a near heart attack :/

in a future post (that has already been lovingly handwritten by yours truly) I will share with you my favourite Tweet moments of 2009. it will surely be much happier!

x

new year's? I'm so over it.

I've been sick since Sunday afternoon, when I thought my body might implode on itself. TBH I wanted someone to put me out of my misery, my stomach hurt that bad. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess I picked it up from my cousin's kid xmas day, b/c I have the tendency to pick up germs really easily (lucky me and my immune system) and you know kids and germs.

so yes, I have a stomach bug of near biblical proportions.

lest you think I'm kidding, I haven't been this sick (not including when I've been ill due to chemo) since I was in the 2nd grade of Mrs. Lyons's class (I was 8). back then there was no way my mother would let me go to school, but in the working world sometime you have to hunker down and grin and bear it. before 2010 arrives, I've pledged to clean off all my writing surfaces in my desk - something really important to an editor! - and I really want to tie off any loose ends so I've got a relatively clear path work-wise at the beginning of the new year.

feeling poorly, I haven't been much in the mood to do any reviewing. (I really should be doing a review of a remix album so that we'll be in the good graces of a certain label b/c I'd like to work for them someday. but I just can't bring my body to sit at a computer any longer than necessary. my stomach is making some heinous gurgling noises.) I'm scheduled to see a bunch of bands next Friday (08.01). and I hope by then my mood will have raised b/c otherwise I'm going to have a real problem keeping the smile on my face, trying to cover the gig and take photos. I really like Locksley: originally from Wisconsin, they've got a fun sound and they're the band of the four that I'm really looking forward to most.

with this stupid bug, there's defo no going out for me for NYE. most likely I'll be sat in front of the computer trying to amuse myself with YouTube videos and a Region 2 DVD that only runs on my antiquated graduate school-era PC that runs Windows ME. (no joke.) and instead of champagne, I'll be drinking de-fuzzed ginger ale.

other things that are bugging me right now...

1) I was out sick all day Monday. I spent the day curled up in the foetal position on my bed, trying to sleep. I come back on Tuesday AM and notice the photos I have in frames on my desk had been moved, as have my xmas cards. there's no reason I'd have the back of a xmas card facing me. furthermore, it makes no sense that photos of me and my friends would not be facing where I sit at my computer.

that someone touched any of my beloved photos gives me murderous thoughts. almost as murderous as the time the new girl came into my office and grabbed one of my beloved photos from Nottingham off my desk *without even asking* and proceeded to gawk, "why do you have such cute friends?" er...none of your beeswax!

2) I work really hard in all parts of my life and have gotten to the point of asking myself, "what's it all about?" I mean, really? it reminds me of a quote from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn from Francie's mother Katie - "I want to live for something. I don't want to live to get charity food to give me enough strength to go back to get more charity food."

for the same token, I work so hard for everything in my life - and I guess that's why I've always been take advantage of, b/c I have this desire to finish what I've started, to do everything well. but is that all there is? not including uni, I lived in the same town all my life. I really want to get the eff out of here and over to blighty. but a discussion I had with my mum and other relatives at xmas regarding my insurance requirements that will make this dream of mine unlikely. so I'm feeling frustrated.

I've always had to work so much harder than everyone else to get certain things to happen in my life (especially when I've been sick) and for once, it'd be nice to be recognised and rewarded. everyone wants that. it seems the only times I've ever gotten recognised was when I killed myself to finish something to the best of my ability, like my B.Sci. (Hons).

I can't help but think that I'm sick right now b/c I'm so stressed out and my body's had enough.

3. I might need a break from all this blogging. dunno. I had no real expectations of what would happen once I started writing for music blogs, so I can't say I was truly surprised/stunned/etc. by what's happened to me in the last 10 months b/c I really had no idea, there's no way I could have even guessed. I sure have some great memories, but I also have some painful ones. I'm not sure if my personality is up to doing this (music writing) for a living.

I'm thinking back to the glorious letter I received from Stuart Maconie and his uplifting words of "Do what you love is my advice. And take care of yourself". at the time I had such high hopes but now, not so much.

I need a period of re-evaluation. I don't know *who* I love anymore, let alone *what* I love.

4. I hate rice. I'm eating it for lunch right now. I've been having it plain every day since I've been sick for nearly every meal. having a wheat allergy sucks, I can't even have a Saltine. and don't even dare tell me "rice cracker" b/c that's RICE!

5. I'm so tired right now from being poorly I'm gonna snap. like a twig.

I look at the stupid nail polish on my fingers and then my swollen ankle (for some reason, my left ankle has been swelling up over the last year and my doctor has no idea why) and get upset.

in any event...see you on the other side...in 2010.

--

and oh yeah, as a reward for those of you who have read this far, here are some links from D.C. gigs that have not been posted yet:

Fanfarlo @ Iota (Arlington VA)
PW review
TGTF review

Phenomenal Handclap Band @ Rock n Roll Hotel
TGTF review

how to fight Ticketmaster/Live Nation merger, effectively

TBH I never have had a problem with Live Nation. strangely and happily, I've had v. good ticket karma with Live Nation. (this is the only way I can explain how I got a 3rd row ticket to see Morrissey this year, haha.) not so much with Ticketmaster. so I have this terrible feeling about what would happen if Ticketmaster effectively "ate" Live Nation and they merged into one. they're the two biggest national ticket sellers in America. if only for my being selfish, I'm sure my overall ticket karma would suffer!

but really, I'm writing this post because this has the potential to really stop the music business in its tracks and it will affect us as consumers as well as our friends, the bands we love to see live. as a music blogger, a music lover, and a lover of live music performances, I try to encourage people to go to more concerts and support musicians. my friends who are less keen on music will pass on concert tickets a lot of the time b/c of the high prices, no doubt with whatever's tacked on as "convenience" and "handling" fees. less people will be going out to hear good music. that to me is the greatest tragedy. not to mention musicians are already losing a ton of money on illegal downloading, so the only viable source of income they have left is with touring. if people don't attend concerts, they can't make a living. you may say "cry me a river" when we're talking about U2 or Bruce Springsteen, but for my friends who are just starting out, they depend on their royalty checks and whatever cut they get from a tour. so trust me, it matters to them. and while we're on the topic of the Boss, I hope you have not forgetten what happened to the fans that were mysteriously redirected to a resale Web site and paid higher fees than they should have. click here to read more from 50 concerned Congressmen. for more recent news, check out ticketdisaster.org.

I'm not happy with either company's "convenience" and "handling" fees. a recent purchase of a pair of Muse tickets ended up taking on an additional $28 over the face value for the tix. um...can we say ridiculous? I had already requested the tickets be mailed to my house for free.

us in the D.C. area who regularly attend club concerts know we can get around these by showing up in person to buy our tickets at the 9:30 Club (and pay an extra $1 per transaction fee - not bad, not bad at all) and the Black Cat (and pay nothing but the face value for the ticket). 9:30 Club has recently defected from Tickets.com to Ticketfly, and the Black Cat has joined the Rock and Roll Hotel, going with Ticket Alternative instead. if I can avoid any extra fees, I avoid them. but sometimes when you love a band, you'll pay extra...and presumably, Ticketmaster/Live Nation bank on us paying for the convenience. and you know if no one is competing with them, the fees will magically increase. and we'll all feel it.

--

us Washingtonians have already received the call from Seth Hurwitz and the 9:30 Club peeps about fighting the proposed merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation in this country. a similar merger has already taken place in Britain and we need to mobilise American music fans to fight the same thing from happening on our side of the pond.

problem is, the email we received gives an email address (antitrust.complaints@usdoj.gov) and no direction. like all bureaucratic red tape, it's actually quite complicated to draft an email or letter that has all the necessary pieces for them to take your complaint seriously. I doubt shouting at the DOJ will help, so I've done the legwork for you and snooped around their Web site to figure out what you need for a legitimate claim. so don't say you're too busy or it's too complicated b/c I've simplified it for you.

taken from http://www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.htm (my notes in red):

Information from the public is vital to the work of the Antitrust Division. Your e-mails, letters, and phone calls could be our first alert to a possible violation of antitrust laws and may provide the initial evidence needed to begin an investigation.

To report antitrust concerns to the Antitrust Division:

• Step 1: Fully Describe Your Concern
• Step 2: Submit the Concern to the Citizen Complaint Center

If you do not think your concerns involve the antitrust laws, you may want to visit the Department of Justice site for more information or send an e-mail to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov.

Please keep in mind that the Antitrust Division is prohibited from giving legal advice to private individuals.

Related items on this page:

• How We Handle Your Complaint
• Confidentiality Policy and Privacy Policy
• Criminal Antitrust Leniency Program for Companies and Individuals

---

Step 1: Fully Describe Your Concern

If you have information about a possible antitrust violation or potential anticompetitive activity, use the following questions as a guideline to describe your complaint:

• What are the names of companies, individuals, or organizations that are involved? Ticketmaster and Live Nation.
  
• How do you believe they have violated the federal antitrust laws? (For details on federal antitrust laws, see Antitrust Laws and You.) yes, they will be violating American federal antitrust laws if their merger is approved. specifically, they will be violating all three major antitrust laws - the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Act, and Federal Trade Commission Act.
  
• Can you give examples of the conduct that you believe violates the antitrust laws? If so, please provide as much detail as possible. hmm. I guess this is speculation, since it hasn't actually happened yet. I suppose you could paint the bleak picture? see my discussion above.
  
• What is the product or service affected by this conduct? Where is the product manufactured or sold, or where is the service provided? the product is concert tickets, the service is concert performances by bands/singers/entertainers etc. the service is provided at your local concert venues.
  
• Who are the major competitors that sell the product or provide the service? this may differ depending on where in America you are. I believe in the D.C. area it'd be TicketAlternative, Tickets.com, and Ticketfly.
  
• What is your role in the situation in question? I'm a consumer and I will be affected by the decreased competition between ticket sellers.
  
• Who is harmed by the alleged violations? How are they harmed? other consumers and the musicians/entertainers themselves. consumers may not be able to afford tickets. musicians/entertainers will likely no longer have a viable livelihood.
  

Step 2: Submit the Concern to the Citizen Complaint Center

You may submit your concern by e-mail, regular mail, or phone.

E-mail		antitrust.complaints@usdoj.gov
Mail		Citizen Complaint Center Antitrust Division 950 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Room 3322 Washington, DC 20530
Phone		1-888-647-3258 (toll free in the U.S. and Canada) or 202-307-2040

How We Handle Your Complaint

The Antitrust Division's Citizen Complaint Center (CCC) facilitates communication of your concerns to the Division's legal staff. When you submit a complaint to the Antitrust Division, the following occurs:

1. The CCC creates a record of the information you have provided.
2. The CCC conducts a preliminary review of your complaint for possible antitrust violations.
3. If your complaint raises sufficient concern under the federal antitrust laws, the CCC will refer it to the appropriate Division legal section where additional research may lead to a formal investigation into the reported conduct.
4. If the Division decides to review your complaint further, you will likely be contacted within one month of submitting your complaint.

In some instances, the volume of mail, e-mail, and phone traffic on a particular issue is such that we cannot respond to each message individually. We would like you to know, however, that all incoming correspondence is forwarded to the appropriate staff within the Antitrust Division, and you can be assured that your voices and views are being heard.

Confidentiality Policy and Privacy Policy

Our Confidentiality Policy and Privacy Policy apply to all complaints received by the Antitrust Division.

Criminal Antitrust Leniency Program for Corporations and Individuals

Individuals or companies who (a) believe they may have been involved in criminal antitrust violations and (b) cooperate with the Antitrust Division can avoid criminal conviction, fines, and prison sentences if they meet the conditions of the Division's Leniency Program.

Leniency application instructions, the Division's corporate and individual leniency policies, model leniency letters, and other information regarding the Division's Leniency Program are available on the Leniency Program page.