thescroll

It’s just now sinking in how fast time flies. I haven’t updated here since October!?! Hard to believe. I suppose that can mostly be attributed to the holidays over here being a wild one this year… which is a great thing. No describing how much fun a couple of little boys can make Christmas… like bein’ a kid again for me as well a lot of the time.

Anyway, also been working on projects for others while continuing to work on the new optiflux.com, which is almost ready for prime time (perhaps writing it down here will fuel the final burn necessary to get it finished)… All this amidst finally moving all my equipment from a 2nd floor bedroom down to the underground bunker… which isn’t yet complete, but close enough to start hosting the action. Wondering what types of sights these new walls will see over the years to come.

So in a nutshell… the long-form nature of the posts I’ve been doing here don’t fit in with the available time I’ve had lately… once I finish writing the copy for the new optiflux site, these posts will continue… and hopefully at that point it can become a more consistent thing… they’re a lot of fun to write.

So keep checking back… it won’t be long now.

As Trent Reznor was ripping across North America a couple months back on the Nine Inch Nails farewell tour, he said repeatedly that he wasn’t done making music, he was just done with the touring entity that was Nine Inch Nails. My guess on what would come next definitely included possible soundtrack work… moving quickly as he’s been prone to do in the last decade or so, we now get some early proof of what’s next…

J.J. Abrams, Executive Producer of the paranormal serial that is “Fringe” (Thurs, 8pm, FOX)… was telling his friend Reznor that the show was working up a promo to the Nine Inch Nails track “Zero-Sum” from the album “Year Zero”. Trent got interested and offered to rework the songs lyrics to tie it directly to Fringe, which he did by replacing the spoken word lyrics of the original with the spoken dialog of Dr. William Bell, a character played by Leonard Nimoy on the show.

The promo is set to debut during the American League Championship Series tonight on FOX… but wouldn’t you rather watch it right here, right now?

Halloween… the time of the year when many of you may be looking for last minute costume ideas… So depending on your leanings… you may have landed here in the right place. In what is shaping up to be an annual “Tool of the Year” homage… Ethan Persoff and Scott Marshall, two old mates from the Art Institute days, have just released their 3rd Annual Halloween Mask offering in the form of Glenn Beck’s bloated melon of a head… Simply visit this link, download, print it out, apply it to the diaper of your choice and Voila… you’re on the streets collecting candy.

In the words of the authors;

When the holiday is over, mask converts for daily use. Listen and watch Glenn in this perfect receptacle to fill your head with waste. Dispose of in trash can. Do not flush.

And if Glenn Beck doesn’t do it for you… visit the inaugural mask of tool supreme Larry Craig back from 2007… or the Rotten Monster set of awesome art from last year including John & Cindy McCain, Sarah Palin, RNC Chair Mike Duncan, Sean Hannity, Henry Kissinger, Joe Lieberman, Greta Van Susteren, Laura Bush and Charles Krauthammer. All tools in their own right…

Treat, no trick… enjoy.

More and more these days, when I’m scouring for shows to go to, I’m thinking about the smaller venues, the cheaper tickets ($40 and under) and the bands that may have reached a certain level of fame at one point, but have since found their fan-base distilled down to the diehards… for many bands, that can still be a significant audience… but lucky for us, not more than the Vic or the The Riviera can accommodate, venues known for great sound and an intimate size.

One such band is Living Colour, who reached the height of their fame in the late 80’s early 90’s with a string of hits including “Type”, “Solace of You” and their biggest, “Cult of Personality”, which charted as high as #13 in 1988. They were on the bill for the first Lollapalooza as well, so they go back… With a capacity of only 475 though, the Double Door seemed an odd choice of venue… the stage was almost too small for a band that uses a significant amount of gear in their performance. It was also hotter than hell, as it always is… you would think they could figure out a way to ventilate that space after all these years… but at $20 a ticket, this show was the hands-down bang-for-the-buck winner among the 20 or so shows I’ve seen in 2009.

Any minor annoyances quickly dissipated once Living Colour took the stage. In essence you have Vernon Reid, an extraordinary guitarist akin to Eddie Van Halen in terms of creativity and physical dexterity… also in common, these two guitarists require a certain type of rhythm section able to hold that bottom end when they meander, or literally take off, whichever the case may be… In the 4-string inventiveness of Doug Wimbish and the metronome-like, fill inflected drumming of Will Calhoun, Reid has such a rhythm section, which allows him all the space he needs to do his thing. Another point to note about Calhoun on drums are the ever-changing time signatures that he effortlessly transitions to and from which no doubt originate in the way Vernon Reid constructs the bands songs.

And then there’s front-man Corey Glover. When you listen to him live it dawns on you that this guy has one of the best, genre-spanning voices in rock music. With seething and screeches in the vein of Fugazi and Bad Brains to gospel melodies alluding to the Motown greats… Glover’s voice goes a long way, he also doesn’t seem to have lost any of his range or ability, all songs were in their original keys and Glover struggled with nothing. Unfortunately the one place Doug Wimbish can’t compete with original Living Colour bassist Muzz Skillings is with the backing vocals… give him credit for giving it a go, but every time he sang, I wished he hadn’t.

The band hit the stage with a long string of hits including “Middleman”, “Type”, “Bi”, “Open Letter (To A Landlord)” and “Funny Vibe”… they occasionally transitioned from one song to the next with deftly executed cover song fragments including some Sly and the Family Stone. There was a bass solo that was actually pretty cool as Doug Wimbish came down into the crowd for some Parliament-style funkitude… but then a drum solo that felt like it went on a little too long… In all though, a nicely paced first third of the show.

From there, Vernon Reid grabbed a mic to announce the bands latest album, “The Chair in the Doorway“. He asked the audience whether it would be alright if they played some songs from the new disc which was met with enthusiasm… then some technical problems with the guitars caused about a 10 minute delay, before the band ripped through 6 of the new songs… two of which I really liked in “Decadance” and “Behind the Sun”. The new album is beginning to grow on me… not really strong throughout, but definitely with its high points.

Then on to the end of the show, once again filled with hits… “Glamour Boys” (arrgg), “Ignorance is Bliss”, “Time’s Up” and others before culminating with the “Cult of Personality” (see the video below)… the band then left the stage briefly before returning for a cover of Jimi Hendrix “Crosstown Traffic” dedicated to Buddy Miles before closing with a soulful version of “Love Rears its Ugly Head” to wrap things up. All told they played for 3 hours, 15 minutes which was exceptional for a $20 ticket. Weeks earlier, U2 played for an hour less than that at 13 times the ticket price…

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the opening band, Sekund Skyn (I think that’s the right spelling). These guys more scalded eardrums than they warmed-up the crowd. The band wasn’t that bad, but their front-man (pictured at left) struck as I guy who’s not really a musician, but a place was found for him because everyone thinks he’s a cool guy. He mostly shouted, rarely sang, made sure you saw his sweat glistened 6-pack abs and said some variant of the word “fuck” far too often, mostly injecting it into the wrong part of the sentence… for example, “Fuckin Chicago, you rock fuckers… enjoy this song bitches…” That’s verbatim… he sucked…

Anyhow, Living Colour… great band, great show… these guys are journeymen… honing their craft and getting better with age… I’m telling you, focus on these more intimate shows… you’ll no doubt leave feeling much more satisfied than you ultimately would from shows at the United Center or the Allstate Arena. I’m convinced that live music simply can’t be experienced at the large-capacity venues, they’re just too big.

The following video wasn’t taken at Double Door this past Sunday… but it was shot only a week earlier on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon… so it’s representative of what Living Colour look and sound like these days. An inspired performance and a great example of the rhythm section holding down the fort while Vernon takes off…

A quick post here to share this video as it documents some pretty amazing Nostradamus-like behavior.  Mike Blowers played 11 seasons in the majors and now does color broadcasting for the Seattle Mariners. The pre-game prediction he makes here is highly unlikely to say the least and even seems to turn into a bit of a joke at the end, but that’s because none involved could have guessed what the actual game would bring. It concerns the first career home run of rookie Mariner infielder Matt Tuiasosopo.

Note that Blowers correctly predicted six separate things: the batter, the at-bat, the pitch, the count, the home run and where it would land. The Mariners lost the game 5-4, but that’s unimportant as both teams were out of playoff contention anyway… What will endure is just one of those moments in broadcasting that will be retold again and again for a long time… Blowers himself was baffled as his prediction came to fruition and could do nothing more than laugh at the craziness of the odds that were at work…

As the new owner of the Chicago Cubs, Tom Ricketts is just the guy to send a message to all the future Milton Bradley’s that may be coming up through the ranks… How? By making Milton the highest paid Single-A ballplayer in history.

The way these things work is that the club who is stuck with the problem player (and his contract), have “no other choice” than to deal the problem guy to any team that will take him on… in exchange for eating most if not all of the remaining dollars on that players contract.

How does that make any sense?

If you’re going to be paying his salary anyway… someone tell me why we should allow another team to have him, when… and don’t kid yourself… Milton will most likely have a breakout year and contend for MVP wherever he ended up. He would have the ex-Cub factor going for him after all… so this way, at least there’s no chance he could hurt the Cubs further from an enemies dugout. And again, don’t kid yourselves… Cubs make it to Game 7 of the 2010 World Series… tie game, bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, bases loaded for the Boston Red Sox… who steps to the plate? That’s right Cubs fans… it’s Milton Bradley… just the kind of twisted serendipity Cubs fans are conditioned to.

Let’s not let that happen… instead, I say we score a Guinness World Record (feel good press coverage as well) and see how Milton feels about the right field bleachers at Wrigley after spending his Summer touring the Florida State League with the Daytona Cubs.

Just look at the dollars… Milton Bradley has a 3-year contract with the Cubs totaling $30 million dollars. This year, Milton was paid $7 million of that contract. With the median income of a US household at $50,233, that means Milton made enough this season by himself to support 140 families… yet he can’t dig down deep and find the will to do his job? Which is playing baseball by the way… how much might any one of us endure for the same privilege?

And if you’re the Florence Nightingale team that feels it can change/fix Milton Bradley… a behavior clause might be something to consider in any forthcoming proposal (where were you on that one Jim Hendry?). You have a pre-existing condition here now Milton, I wouldn’t raise too much of a stink over this, just sign on the dotted line and then do your best to not be yourself…. because after 7 teams in 9 years… it might be time to look in a mirror.