Got ‘Em

I was really hoping for this… 90’s alternative rock nerd boy just scored two tickets to see Belly in October. Now I just need Throwing Muses to announce North American shows and my 2025 musical life will be complete. I want to see both halves of Throwing Muses this year.

I did not see Belly when they were together in the 90’s and I did not see them when they got back together a few years ago and I did not see them when they played in my freakin’ back yard (Lowell, MA) last year. This will correct this gross oversite on my musical obsession bingo card. I saw Tanya Donelly shortly after Belly split, and once more years later with Jen, and once with Throwing Muses back in 1989, but I’ve never seen Belly.

I’m trying to remember all of the Muses related shows I’ve seen…

  • Opening for REM at Great Woods in ’89
  • At the Hatch Shell in Boston (a free show) in… ’95? I think. It was before Limbo came out
  • At an in-store mini set at Newbury Comics in Harvard Square on the day Limbo came out in ’96
  • At the Middle East on the day that Limbo came out in ’96 (yes, I saw them twice on the same day)
  • Tanya at The Paradise… either just before or just after her first solo LP came out
  • Kristin Hersh at The Paradise playing solo acoustic around the time Strange Angels came out… I think.
  • Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave at The Middle East on August 11, 2006
  • Kristin Hersh at Hy N Dry Studio on May 27, 2007 with Jen
  • Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly (separately and briefly together) on October 6, 2007 at The Brattle Theater in Cambridge, MA

Damn… that list is a whole lot shorter than I thought it would be. I’m pretty sure that’s it though. Hopefully this year we’ll be adding two more shows to it. Hopefully… if Throwing Muses would just announce a nice Boston show to go along with their already announced European shows.

Happy concert tickets day, everyone.

Distract Myself

Work is crazy, the united (fascist) states of america is collapsing…

I need a music project to distract myself from everything. I think I am going to do the Record Every Month thing again. That’s the year ’round RPM Challenge spin off where you just write and record one song each month. I usually bump that up to two songs each month. That way I can pretend I’m releasing a single like it’s 1964 or something.

I just want to have an excuse to not think about reality for a few minutes at a time. Living in the (nazi) united states of america these days really blows. I just want to pretend it’s not happening, if you know what I mean. Living in Massachusetts is still okay if we just ignore the federal government.

So yeah… a year long music project. I’m in.

Busy Morning

The work day isn’t even an hour old yet and already my day is insanely busy. What’s up with that?

I haven’t had time, energy, or desire to read about the orange nazi goo’s speech from last night. I’m sure that every word was a lie so who gives a flying fuck what he said. I’m more interested in the Democrat’s reaction, which I am sure was lame and ineffectual. I wish I was being sarcastic, but I am not.

Anyway, here’s a couple of cat pics from earlier this morning to help start your day.

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New Look Bedroom

The bed is in the same place. Pretty much everything else is different.

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The cushions on the new chairs will need a couple of days to finish expanding, but they’ve come a long way in about two hours since I sliced open the vacuum sealed package they shipped in.

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One cat shows tentative approval. The other is hiding in terror, though she was all over the new chairs as I was putting them together. The rug was just too much for her tender little soul though.

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The mirror is kinda my crowning achievement. The two paintings behind the bed were a nightmare to hang and will forever feel like the bane of my existence.

Robert wrote this post while whistling past american’s graveyard.

What Would Be Better?

Tonight the fascist orange shit clown putin-puppet of a us presidential felon in chief will be addressing a joint session of congress. It’s not the state of the union address, but… you know… it’s the state of the union address.

I am trying to decide what I want to see from the democrats in the legislature. I have a couple of thoughts, none of which we will actually see because said democrats will firmly lodge their heads up their collective asses and continue to do nothing while the federal government is overthrown by a fascist dictator who has sold our country out to its enemies and turned us into a russian vassal state. You know how it is.

Part of me wants to see the entire democratic party flat out boycott the speech. Just collectively say fuck that orange shit clown and his lies and gaslighting and all of it and just say no and not show up. Yeah, like that would ever happen.

Another part of me wants them to just heckle the shit out of the fascist felon in chief. Every time he lies start screaming… which means they will all scream throughout the entire speech because literally every word will be a lie. They would have to take it in shifts because all of that screaming would result in the entire democratic contingent losing their voices before the end of the farce. Yeah, like that would ever happen.

Another part of me wants to see some sort of theatrical protest. Something that will look epic on television (which is the only thing the shit clown really cares about) whose meaning would be completely unmistakable. Something like having the entire democratic population of the house and senate stand up and turn their backs on the first felon throughout the entire duration of the speech. Maybe they could all flip the bird over their shoulders. Yeah, like that would ever happen.

I’m guessing the only response will be polite and ineffectual. They will take the high road as the country descends into a cesspool of authoritarianism and fascism and dies whimpering like the sad pathetic puppet state we’ve become. Huzzah and shit.

The Cold War is Over and We Lost

So what fresh hell am I waking up to today?

We’re ending all attempts to stop Russian online attacks? Did I read that right? I could not possibly have read that right. You think data breaches are bad now? Oh just wait.

We’re eliminating all economic sanctions against Russia? Did I read that right too? Sure, that sounds like a good idea.

We’re ceasing (I believe the word was “pausing”) economic and military aid to Ukraine? Even though there is an actual, literal LAW in place to send them the aid?

And you still think the orange shit clown is not a Russian agent? Really? 50% of the voting population of the united (fascist) states of america is still with him? Un-fucking-believable.

The president is a Russian agent. The cold war is over and Russia clearly won. It just took a little longer than we expected. Maybe this will unite Europe somehow. I don’t know. I can’t seem to find another potential bright side to all of this rampant fascism.

But hey, at least we don’t have a president with a vagina. That would be completely unacceptable.

Do I Want to See Clapton?

Eric Clapton announced US tour dates. There are two New England shows, TD Garden in Boston and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. Tickets go on sale on Friday.

Do I want to go? I don’t know.

It wasn’t that long ago (just before the pandemic, I think) that I told my wife I wanted to see him one more time before he’s gone. I know he has some sort of neurological issue that is reducing his ability to play the guitar so the days are definitely numbered. Jeff Beck is gone… how long before Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page are gone too? I really should go see them before it’s too late. Those three guys are, more than anyone else, the reason I started playing guitar. Clapton more than the other two. I should want to go see him one more time, right? That makes sense.

But…

During the pandemic he demonstrated clearly what an absolute piece of shit he is as a human being. Do I really want to reward him for that by shelling out what is likely to be an absurd amount of money?

I honestly don’t know what to do.

Keith Relf and Jeff Beck are dead. John Mayall is dead. Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker are dead. Rick Gretch is dead. Delaney Bramlett and George Harrison are dead. Duane Allman, Jim Gordon, and Carl Radle are dead. Clapton is going to turn 80 at the end of this month. Based on that very long list of band mates (no, Jeff Beck was not a band mate, though they did play together a few times over the years) who have died, I think he might actually be immortal, but that’s just speculation. It could be true.

I really don’t know what I want to do.

PS: I am just thinking out loud. I have zero interest in anyone’s comments on this. None at all. This one is just for me, dig it?