Posted on January 14, 2003 at 9:45 am | No Comments
So, do I get to spend this sick day sleeping and trying to get myself somewhere near healthy? Nope. There’s some serious construction going on outside, and it’s shaking the entire house to it’s foundation. Enough vibration to skip the records I’m trying to play on my turntable. Grrrrr. Can’t sleep, might as well blog…
Everything Old is New again…
So I recently mentioned that I was feeling a little old because some of the bands that helped shape my musical tastes are gettin’ into the rock n’ roll hall of fame. Y’see, your first album has to have been out more than 25 years to get in… and that includes Elvis Costello, the Clash, and the Police, who all had stuff out before 1978.
Well, to compound my musical carbon dating, it now appears that some of my favorite bands have been gone long enough to have ‘reunions’. Hey, I’m not complaining. Getting to see a band you thought you’d never hear from again is a rare treat, especially when that band ends up sounding better than ever.
Case in point: Camper Van Beethoven. How the hell did they pull off a two-set, near-flawless show last Saturday night? I’ve never heard a better sound mix at the Middle East Down… you could hear everything. That’s no small feat when you’ve got a violin, keyboards, two (sometimes three) guitars, bass, and drums. All the original members were back, except for drummer Chris Pederson, who skipped this particular show. David looked a little older, Victor went gray, Jonathan cut his hair, and Greg put on a little weight. Close your eyes, though, and they sounded like an improved Camper-of-old. Incredibly tight. Cracker’s drummer, Frank Funaro, did a fine fill-in job on the drums, although it would have been nice to hear Chris again. I saw CVB a couple times back in the late 80s, even got to hang with ’em after a show at Dartmouth, and I daresay that Chris was one of my drummin’ heroes. But I digress.
Two long sets, and every song they played was a surprise. There was one song I just had to hear, and that was ‘She Divines Water’. Well, hot damn, they did it. Sounded better than I hoped. So many great songs… from their first album to the last. ‘Good Guys and Bad Guys’, ‘Shut Us Down’, ‘Tania’, ‘Eye of Fatima 1 & 2’, ‘One of These Days’, ‘Turquoise Jewelry’, ‘Joe Stalin’s Cadillac’, ‘Take the Skinheads Bowling’, ‘Where the Hell is Bill?’, ‘The Day That Lassie Went to the Moon’, ‘Sad Lovers Waltz, ‘When I Win the Lottery’, ‘Axe Murderer Song’, and a few covers… ‘Pictures of Matchstick Men’, Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tusk’, and for Joe Strummer… a cover of the Clash’s ‘White Riot’. What a show.
The reunion trend continues with news that The House Of Love are back together, recording new material and gearing up for live shows. Now there’s something I’d never thought would happen. There was no love lost between Guy Chadwick and Terry Bickers, but as with Camper, time heals all wounds, and they’re back with Pete Evans working on new stuff. My love for this band runs deep, so deep that I even bought Chadwick’s solo material. It never did anything for me… it needed a touch of Terry. Good to know that’s exactly what it’s gonna get. Check out the Nov. 29th news item here for the deets.
It doesn’t stop there, though. HOL’s former Creation Records labelmates (and one of my all-time faves) Ride, are even getting back together, sort-of. Take a gander at this bit of news on the Creation site. “Mark Gardener to play solo US dates”, so it says. Mark wrote and shared vocals on about half of Ride’s stuff, and he’ll no doubt be playing a bunch of it on the tour. His writing partner, guitarist Andy Bell, currently wastes his time playing bass in Oasis (the man should be writing songs), but rumor has it he’ll be joining Andy for selected dates. Oh please, oh please, make one of those stops be in Boston.
But wait, there’s more! The Throwing Muses are back. A reunited Kristin Hersh, Bernard Georges, and David Narcizo recorded an album last year, with original Muse Tanya Donelly guesting on vocals for a bunch of songs, and the results are due out in March. Well, the thing is already floating around file-sharing sites, and I admit it… I caved and burned. (like I’m not going to be first in line when it comes out, but hey). It’s so raw and rockin’… sounds as vital today as if they’d recorded it years ago. So inspiring. Hearing Kristin and Tanya’s voices together again is on hell of a treat. Live dates are being announced, and there’s no doubt one will be here in Boston. The Muses are indirectly responsible for Amie and I ever meeting, so we’ll be up by the front, as usual. Somewhere near Hollis, Steve, Craig, Stephanie, Marla, and neighbor-Steve.
I wish I could continue by saying the Pixes are getting back together, but I’m not gonna hold my breath. Time can’t heal all wounds, y’know.
Well, whaddya know. Massachusetts finally instituted it’s Do Not Call List Registry. If you live in MA, add your phone number and see if it makes any real difference in the number of telemarketers calling at dinnertime. Or worse, Saturday mornings. Here’s hoping they just go away.
Also on the consumer protection tip, check this out. A few of you may remember the lawsuit that was brought against major record labels, claming they were charging more for discs by collaborating on a ‘minimum price’ agreement with each other. A settlement was reached that provided for a refund to consumers, however inaccurate, and this page allows you to file a claim. According to this article, not many people are doing so. Hey, it’s may be only from $5 to $20, but if you bought a cd between January 1995 and 2000, it’s yours.
Excuse me while I get a little geeky. A recent article reveals a nasty flaw found in ethernet device drivers. Ok, so you don’t want to read that. The gist? When your computer sends information through the network card, there’s a minimum ‘packet size’ for pieces of information. If your packet size doesn’t meet the minimum, the card just ‘pads’ the packet with extra, random info. Ends up with some cards, some of that info isn’t so random. Sometimes it pads with previously used network traffic, which means data you don’t want to get sent actually gets put out there, for anyone to sniff and decode. That’s what we in the Information Security field refer to as, um, ‘not good’. Nice find, you MIT brainiacs.
Alright, one more bit of InfoSec minutia. Want to know exactly how vulnerable wireless networks are right now, out of the box? Well, the West Point Military Academy just installed a complete wireless network for their staff and students. The cost of setting up the network? Roughly $125,000. The cost of securing that wireless network (which has data links to the Pentagon)? $625,000. Five times the cost of the network itself. Unbelievable. Your tax dollars at work, folks. Let’s hope some more secure wireless equipment starts hitting the shelves sometime soon.
Hey, the house finally stopped shaking.
Comments
Leave a Reply