Spent yesterday away from the computer and largely in the dark trying to quell another massive headache. Today, I’m feeling a bit better but I’ve had to plug in just to get some work done. I’m hoping several hours of computer exposure don’t bring the headache back even worse. I’m about to sign off for the day but I wanted to blog a bit. (continue reading…)
[This piece appears in All the Rage.]
The Creeping Cruds and Halloween go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Their brief, aggressive tunes have plenty of shout-along chorus about “eating the living‿ and “M-U-R-D-E-R‿ but they’ve also got plenty of sweet guitar licks that land just on the tasteful side of shredding. In short, this Nashville-based horror-punk band owes as much to the Misfits as they do to ZZ Top. All The Rage got together with Jeano Roid, one of the Cruds’ two axe-murderers, to talk scary stuff. (continue reading…)
[This piece appears in All the Rage]
The story of Sweden’s Shout Out Louds starts, like the stories of so many precocious bands, in an art school where singer Adam Olenius met guitarist Carl von Arbin. Adam taught Ted Malmros to play bass and the trio started gigging with an old drum machine. Eventually, as the trio honed their sound, they recruited an actual drummer and keyboardist. (continue reading…)
Name that lyrical reference, you light-weights!
So, about two weeks ago after a weekend filled with writing which required staring at the computer screen until early in the morning, I got some real nasty headaches. I’d had them before. You know, the kind that feel like a bolt of lightning just stabbed into your brain? Maybe you don’t. Anyway, I think they’re what people call “ice pick headaches.” Fun-sounding, huh?
So a couple of days later, they hadn’t gone away. I stopped getting the ice-pick headaches but I was still having a headache every day and almost all day. I took an antihistamine which just knocked me out. So guessing that it was a sinus thing caused by allergies, I took some decongestant. Seemed to help. But I was still getting low-grade headaches every day. Yuck.
Over this weekend, the decongestant and Advil seemed to stop working. So, naturally, I lay awake in bed last night wondering if I had encephalitis or perhaps a tumor. Although the funny Austrian-accented voice in my head told me “It’s not a tumor,” I couldn’t help but wonder why I’d had a headache for so long.
So this morning, I called my doctor. I went in and went through the standard barrage of questions. I agreed with the Nurse Practitioner: yes, it was probably allergies/sinus-related, maybe an infection, but it still didn’t sound right. So she sent me down the road to get a CAT scan.
I was pleased that a modern CT scan (at least for your head) is just a matter of lying on a very thin table for five minutes while a big sci-fi donut moves over you and not the dreadful metal coffin that we used to hear about. Although, I didn’t get to say to the attendant, “What is this? Some kind of tube?”
They told me nothing and sent me on my way. I called the Doc to ask if I should get the prescriptions filled to fight what might be a sinus infection or wait the two days to hear from the radiologist. She called the radiologist and called back to say I didn’t have a stroke. Thankfully. And it probably was just a sinus infection. So get the prescriptions filled.
One of the meds is one of those steroid dose packs. That guarantees I will get no sleep.
Anyway, as you can see from the post immediately preceding this one, The City Paper published my review of the new Martina McBride record. I was actually unaware that it ran. Interestingly, I didn’t recognize the Johnny Cash song she does on the record, “I Still Miss Someone,” but when I was re-organizing my vinyl collection the other night, I found a 45 of it. I bought a few JC 45s a while ago. I knew I had “Boy Named Sue” and “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town” but I didn’t realize I had “Still Miss Someone.” Weird.
[This piece appeared in the City Paper.]
Martina McBride
Timeless
RCA Records Label
“It all begins with a song‿—the old songwriters’ adage—proves perfectly apt in the case of Martina McBride’s newest album, Timeless. For this record (her first solo production), Martina chose to pay homage to her roots by recording an album of classic country songs. The result is an 18-song tribute to the beauty of country music’s heritage sung by one of the genre’s present-day greats. (continue reading…)
Saw the new Jetpack lineup last night with Brian “The Fuzz” on drums and Double D on bass. It was a rocking show. Even given my prejudice against slow songs. They broke out a few ballads but Sean knows how to write a good song and he keeps the slower ones short.
Some band called Arkitekt opened. They perfectly demonstrate the problem with Bang Bang Bang. Arkitekt are a really talented band that clearly reflect the sum of their influences, not just a choice to make music according to one style. I still didn’t like them. But I didn’t think they sucked. I guess that’s the danger with choosing a particular style for your band–choose one that audience members dislike and they’ll walk away.
Sam Ashworth headlined. I watched a song and left. As I walked out, someone (I think Joe) shouted to me from the deck that he wouldn’t tell that I was leaving during Sam Ashworth. I told him he could go ahead. I mean after all, I’m telling you now. Big deal. I left during Sam Ashworth. I’m not a fan. Although his bass player kicked some ass.
My eyes are crossing but I haven’t had any time to blog so I thought I’d try to power through a full week’s wrap-up. (continue reading…)
[This piece appears in All the Rage]
Even if you haven’t yet seen Harper—one of the city’s newest and brightest pop bands—you may recognize the faces. Singer/guitarist Ben Harper played bass for Feable Weiner until earlier this year. Guitarist/keyboardist Raf Cevallos once played in The Pink Spiders and currently plays in The Darling Hearts. Bassist Keith Lowen plays in The Privates and was once a member of Lifeboy along with drummer Sam Smith. All the Rage gathered with the band in the studio where they are recording their debut album. (continue reading…)