Okay, I know I’m probably the only person who reads this blog who likes anything approaching heavy metal (well, except for Carrie, except she doesn’t often read this blog). But hey, Steven always writes about TV even though half his readers don’t watch any, so I guess it’s fair play in blogland. Anyway:the best rock shows are surprises. Last night I went to see Tim Hecker open for Jesu: these are two acts I know and like and both delivered in their own ways. Tim’s music sounds great loud and there was this cool low end that you don’t get listening to his albums on earbuds, which is how I mostly have done it. Jesu had a much much better mix than when they opened for Isis. But inbetween was a band called Torche (pronounced “Torch” but the extra “e” makes it extra heavy, also the cross in the band’s logo helps). I’d never heard of them. They were savagely heavy. And yet familiar. About 3/4 of the way through the set they played a Floor cover and it sounded, well, so good. Floor, you see, is a now-defunct metal band from Miami that achieved semi-legendary status in the 1990s without releasing a single album. Well, they did release two albums and some EPs, but it’s complicated. I love Floor. Carrie loves Floor. When something good happens, we have sometimes cranked up the Floor to celebrate. So anyway, after the show, I go over to buy the band’s CDs, and it turns out that the singer and rhythm guitarist was in Floor. So it extra special, because it was a little like getting to see a band I’d previously had no hope of ever seeing, and in addition to a couple Torche albums I picked up the “missing” Floor CD. A good time was had by all, except Carrie, who was home sick.
I’ve been home all day writing. It’s great, wish I could do it more often these days. Back to that.
Here’s what breaks my heart … I hope it doesn’t happen to you. When someone tells me they don’t watch television but they like to read what I write about it. If they like what I say, how come they still don’t watch the stuff that inspires me in the first place?
I’d listen to some metal, but it’s my bedtime.
Actually, it doesn’t happen to me. Musical taste is so fragmented from person to person I don’t worry about it too much. Plus, I feel like while most of academia got hipper, I went on some crazy tangent. I’m sure there’s a log post in that. Anyway, sometimes reading about something is better than the thing itself. I certainly don’t watch all the shows Heather Havrilesky writes about but I love her column. And for that matter, I prefer reading about the business of the CFL to watching their games on TV (though live is more fun). And then there are those guys who love rock criticism even though they don’t like the same music as the critics. That’s not me (I’m not a fan of music journalism in general) but it happens.
Hey, I like Black Sabbath! And EARTH!