Saturday, August 21st, 2004

Silver Rocket

Uncut lists ten reasons they love Sonic Youth, complete with pithy commentary from SY themselves. I, myself, am just now getting into this seminal band. I’ve had Daydream Nation for ages but didn’t feel compelled to get any more – until now. I guess you could say that I am starting to “get it”. It started when I happened across a clip of a track from their latest record Sonic Nurse and I was really taken by the intricacy of the music – this wasn’t the discordant squall of noise that I usually imagined when I thought of Sonic Youth. It fascinated me and I wanted to hear more. Mayhap both I and the band have grown to a point where we can communicate? I intend to find out.

I grabbed their effort before last Murray Street yesterday and find it quite engrossing – I think I needed to start listening to something outside my usual musical comfort zone and this is doing the job of expanding my horizons quite nicely, not to mention giving me all sorts of ideas for abusing the snot out of my my new Jazzmaster (not that new, it’s used and I got it a couple months ago). Expect to see more of thier catalog appearing in my recent purchases list over in the sidebar over the next while. I expected this to happen sooner or later – my roomate in first year university was a big fan so I spent eight months staring at a mondo-sized Sonic Youth poster (I tried to find an image of the exact poster, but to no avail). It had to have gotten into my subconscious at some level. Anyway, I’m just glad that most of their back catalog is plentifully available in the used shop and is muy cheap. And their website is nuts (check out their gearology, sheer madness) – though I’d expect nothing less.

The Alameda Times-Star interviews Steve Earle about his pants. And if you look over to my good ol’ blogroll, you’ll see that I’ve added a new blog from the man himself. I have my doubts as to his ability to keep it current, but it’s a nice touch. He mentions that touring to support The Revolution Starts… Now will begin in October but I don’t expect a Toronto date on this leg – he’s concentrating on states where he might be able to persuade the vote, which pretty much excludes foreign countries.

Oh, and another new celebrity blog in the link-list: Strong Sad is rocking his “Litany of Crushed Hopes and Dreams” again.

Tickets for the Wilco show October 9 show at Massey Hall go on sale Wednesday August 25 at 10:05 through Wilcoworld. TEN. OH. FIVE. Do not attempt to buy tickets before then. You will, uh, get a virus that will, uh, turn all your mp3s into Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”. Dance remix. You’ve been warned. Actually, I don’t know that they go on sale at 10AM – I am just assuming since that’s when they usually go on sale. Either way, Ticketmaster’s block goes on sale Friday the 27th.

The artwork from Matthew Sweet’s Living Things, out September 7.

Josephy Arthur has been named as support for REM when they swing through Toronto on November 10. That is not the push I needed to decide to attend (all due respect to Mr Arthur).

There was a going-away party for Five Seventeen last night to bid him adieu as he moves to Vancouver at the start of next month to open the west coast branch of the burgeoning Chromewaves empire. It was a good old fashioned house party, though it was a bit of a disappointment as Kid showed up but Play was nowhere to be seen.

np – Sonic Youth / Murray Street

By : Frank Yang at 10:07 am
Category: Uncategorized
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  1. Shoma says:

    Frank,

    Do you know how much are the Wilco tickets? I’m going to have be pretty creative with my concert budget for October … too many good shows, not enough disposable income.

  2. Frank says:

    No idea on ticket prices but going by how much shows at Massey Hall have cost in the past, I’m budgeting around $50 a ducat, again. I’ve had good luck snagging right-up-front tickets, too (front row centre for both Belle & Sebastian and Sigur Ros) so here’s hoping my luck holds out.

  3. david says:

    I’ve snagged tickets for next month’s Austin City Limits Music Festival, plus the club shows in Austin by Wilco and Drive-By Truckers, so I’m extremely hyped.

  4. david says:

    Have you read "Our Band Could Be Your Life"? The SY chapter is my favorite in the book.

    One of the few times I’ve ever been tongue-tied was when I met Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon. I dated a friend of theirs when I was in grad school, and we went to dinner. I felt like an eighth grade boy talking to a Playboy centerfold.

  5. Shoma says:

    Hey, just doing some massive internet surfing on company time and I stumbled across this … you were linked on http://www.morrissey-solo.com. You, kind sir, have been knighted. ;)

    Front row? Are you serious? Care to reveal your secrets? I had balcony seats for Sigur Ros, no complaints, though.

    I might have to miss Wilco because of the aforementioned Morrissey … Construction for my make-shift shanty start next week – feel free to point and laugh. Oh, but how I would love to see Wilco again.

  6. Frank says:

    I did enjoy the SY chapter in "Our Band…" Hell, I loved the whole book. While I’m only now getting into their music, they’ve always had enormous respect from me. The Dino Jr chapter was my personal fave, the stories of how utterly dysfunctional Lou and J were (are?) slayed me.

    I saw Kim Gordon last month in Seattle at the Experience Music Project. I think she caught me gawking and I made a hasty exit. I avoid celebrity – I will cross the street to avoid a famous person. Okay, not really, but sort of.

    Shoma – yeah, I had front-row centre. Massey Hall has been veddy veddy good to me. For Sigur Ros, it was some inside information as to when a pre-sale was going on. For B&S, it was dumb luck. And in both instances, it was ignoring work responsibilities to constantly hit ‘refresh’ until the ticket sales went live.

    Shoma – I’m not a Moz fan so there’s no conflict for me, though shelling out $100 over two months to see the same band smacks a little bit of Deadhead-ism. No complaints here, though. I also expect to shell out when Steve Earle comes through town, but what can ya do.

  7. solace says:

    SY are fucking incredible, welcome aboard :)

  8. Robert says:

    I just saw SY and they were explosive. I think now is a good time to be getting into them. I bought Experimental Jet Set… when it came out and was disappointed. Then I bought Washing Machine when it came out and was disappointed. When A Thousand Leaves came out I bought that and was again, disappointed. So I stopped buying their records. It’s nice to see them finally returning to form. I had all but given up.

  9. josh says:

    $60 for wilco tickets via musictoday! ($90US for the pair)

    insanity!

    even though I had what looked like row E secured (but not purchased) via musictoday, I’m waiting for the ticketmaster on sale, friday.

  10. Frank says:

    Row A, Seats (20, 21)

    yeah, it’ll cost me about $60 a ticket, but you don’t pass up front row centre. You just don’t.