Tickets for the Yo La Tengo Toronto show on April 14 go on sale Thursday. $21 + service charge at the usual spots.

OKGO were selling wristbands at their show last night. WRISTBANDS. What the hell is that?

The three-way deal for the guitar neck has come undone a bit. The fellow in Ireland decided against building yet another parts guitar, and thus doesn’t need my rosewood neck anymore. I’m still getting the maple neck, as the price is easily half what I’d pay anywhere else (which means I could sell mine on eBay for almost double what I’m paying). This actually makes my life simpler since I don’t need to ship a box to Ireland.

np – Rainer Maria / Long Knives Drawn

So Longwave tonight. My first show since early December and they’ve both been Longwave. This time opening for OKGO who I’d been advised to miss on pain of really bad rock. Thankfully, Longwave got an especially long opening set, just under an hour, which made the experience worth the ticket price without having to catch the headliner.

Playing to a considerably larger audience than the 30 or so people at the Horseshoe last time (all these people couldn’t possible be there to see OKGO?!? File under: perplexing), I’d say the band was either riding a goodly amount of hype coming in or quickly won over the unfamiliar, considering the response they got. And it was deserved, they delivered a very solid and rocking set consisting of material from both Endsongs and the forthcoming The Strangest Things. They closed things off with the drummer from OKGO playing second percussion on a couple songs, then some well-intended but not-so-successful stage-diving. All in good fun, sure. I left satisfied and with another t-shirt for the collection. And I’m pretty sure that they’ll be back at least one more time supporting the new record.

God, dust off your old mosh pit moves – Lollapalooza is back. Words can’t describe how uninteresting that lineup is to me.

Picked up Sebadoh’s Harmacy, on advisement from Kyle. If I don’t like it, he’s getting one solid kidney punch next time I see him.

np – Sebadoh / Harmacy

God I love indie labels. I got my Rainer Maria order from Polyvinyl today, and it’s a a veritable loot bag of neat stuff. Let’s see, we gots:

1) A copy of Long Knives Drawn

2) A limited edition copy of the first Rainer Maria EP, New York 1955 (I have number 502, for the record)

3) A 7″ of the latest RM single, “Hell and High Water”. I understand why vinyl is the ultimate music geek fetish object. I really need a record player. And somewhere to put it.

4) A 14-track Polyvinyl sampler CD

5) A little Rainer Maria pin

6) A Rainer Maria sticker

7) A piece of Airheads candy

8) A Spongebob Squarepants valentine! Addressed to me, personally! It doesn’t get any better than that, let me tell you.

No band practice tonight as 517 is seeing his girlfriend in The Vagina Monologues and Brad got tickets to see The Pretenders – the perks of a wife who works at Chart. They know people who know people. Anyway, it means that I don’t have to rush from rehearsal to Lee’s Palace to catch Longwave at 9:45. AND I don’t have to eat Harvey’s for dinner! Huzzah. Plus, the less time I have to spend outside tonight, the better. That is a cruel, cruel wind out there.

np – Rainer Maria / Long Knives Drawn

In a curious little bit of synchronicity, I’ve added a new mp3 of the week and noted that on Jam! Music’s new release list they have an untitled Flaming Lips EP due out on April 8. Could it be the on-again off-again release of Yoshimi Wins! is back on again? It’ll make my exclusive little mp3 considerably less exclusive, but that suits me fine.

Matador is reporting a new Guided By Voices album this year, once again reaffiriming Bob Pollard’s position as THE most prolific man in rock. The title given is Live Like Kings Forever, but you can be sure it’ll change at least a dozen times before it’s released. That’s just too straight right now.

Pretty slow day, didn’t leave the apartment. Built a footswitch to turn the trem on my Traynor amp off, I was getting sick of the constant cyclic motorboating in the background. “Whub whub whub whub whub whub”. Errrrgh. Read more of An Illustrated A Brief History Of Time, confirming that I’m nowhere near as smart as I might have once thought I was.

Longwave tomorrow night. My first concert of 2003! And I’m only staying for the opening act. Go half-assed or go home. I will go home.

One more week… I WANT MY NEW GUITAR NOW. Grr.

np – Guided By Voices / Mag Earwhig!

The video for Johnny Cash’s version of “Hurt”, by Nine Inch Nails, is getting a lot of attention. There’s a lot being read into the elegiac tone of both his cover and the visuals, which comprise a very old and weary looking Cash performing the song, interspersed with footage of himself throughout his career as a much younger and vibrant man. The obvious intent is to contrast the man he was with the man he is now, and combined with the lyrical content of the song, the overwhelming sense is of regret, sadness and ultimately resignment.

With all due respect to Cash and his career, I’ve been wary of his recent output. The cynic in me regards his inclusions of unconventional covers (Beck, Depeche Mode) as something of a bid at novelty sales. I can just see the frat boys now, “I love Johnny Cash. His cover of “Rusty Cage” is the best”. And I shudder. But this interpretation silences that naysayer. Cash has taken a song I’ve always dismissed as shallow and sophomoric (Never ever liked Nine Inch Nails, still don’t) and imbued it with an amazing weight and emotional resonance. His performance in the video only underscores how remarkable it is – what could have come off as manipulative and crass is instead very real.

But I hope it’s not. I hope it is just a performance. I hope that at this point in his life, Cash is looking back on his works and his legacy and feeling pride, satisfaction, not the bitterness and sadness conveyed in the video.

Thanks to The Rub for bringing this vid to my attention and making me think. Even on a Sunday.