change of venue

due to some really sad news for the metropolis folks- namely this i'm at pause right now. really sad news- not real sure what to say as i didn't know her, but i know who she is (did a google and found some pictures to confirm this). it's odd to think of anyone being gone that suddenly. a little unnerving... enough to get me back into 'scared to die' mode last night (which happens occasionally). i'm glad that they were closed today- it's an encouraging sign when people are allowed space to grieve after something like that.
listened to the new raveonettes album on the ipod for the first time (i usually just listen to it on the computer). i like about half of it a lot and the other half not so much. i guess they'll never make a record as great as 'lust lust lust'- the lukewarm response to that record is something that i've never found anything short of completely baffling, but whatever. so this raveonettes record goes in the drawer with most of their other records- a handful of really amazing songs coupled with another handful that are trying a bit too hard and fall a bit short of their intent. i am impressed by 'boys who rape (should all be destroyed)'- it is an impressive thing to make a song that poppy about disturbing subject matter- it's probably enough to give the sense of what it was like in the 60's to hear a song like 'there she goes.' but things like 'last dance' and 'suicide' and 'd.r.u.g.s.' (there's a line in there about burping and farting- what were they thinking?) just really aren't doing it for me at all. that said 'wine,' 'gone forever,' 'heart of stone' and 'echoes' (i bought the album on itunes and it had two bonus tracks) are all fantastic songs! i guess i'd rate this album above 'pretty in black' as that one has some truly wretched songs on it (why did they cover 'my boyfriend's back' again?). i'm not so keen on 'chain gang of love' as an album either, but at least it's doing what it's originally set out to do. given all of this i still wouldn't mind going to see them at the metro- i'm on the lookout for free tickets. the black angels are opening and i wouldn't mind seeing the raveonettes again- my theory was if i got the free tickets i'd watch the black angels, wait for 30 minutes and if they weren't onstage at that point then i'd just leave rather than wait the full hour. seriously- that shit is inexcusable.
i'm back on a cure kick. listening to 'pornography' right now- i don't think i've ever listened to it on my own through my ipod. adam snow played it once at beans while we were closing on a sunday afternoon. i'm kind of back on the cure wagon because the 'disintegration' remaster is finally coming out in 'spring 2010.' i'm hoping that doesn't mean may or something like that. it's going to be three discs and the third disc will basically be a remastered version of 'entreat' which will include the remaining 'disintegration' tracks that weren't on- so it's basically a live version of the album. that is just ducky with me because there is a fucking amazing live version of 'the same deep water as you' from the fourth show at wembley arena (which is where 'entreat' was recorded) that i have on a bootleg, but certainly wouldn't mind having on a cd. i'll probably actually buy this one- i skipped most of the other reissues simply because i had vinyl versions of most of them and went with those in lieu of expensive reissues- i also found out that i could get ahold of the individual extra tracks through itunes. i had a download of the bonus disc for 'faith' and i didn't like it very much. i haven't listened to the whole of the 'pornography' bonus disc either. as if that weren't good enough news supposedly 'show' is finally going to be released on dvd and blu-ray next year as well. AT FUCKING LAST! i'll buy that one even if there aren't any bonus tracks (although i'm hoping for some pretty nice ones knowing the cure). it's always been baffling to me why they released another live dvd from that 2005 festival tour with all old songs right on the heels of the amazing 'trilogy' set.
i was wracking my brains trying to figure out what album to play on mr. james eric lazckowski's new series of people playing albums in their entirety, but last night as i was discussing it with stefanie we kind of figured it might not be worth doing. the best idea i think that i had was if i can get the string players to come along we could do a 40-minute selection of acoustic arrangements of cure songs- i had some ideas for some decent ones. i even have a string arrangement mostly done for 'plainsong.' arranging the cure for strings is pretty straightforward. i had this idea that i wanted to record versions of all of the songs on 'disintegration' for my 30th birthday, which is also the 20th anniversary of the album. i started a cover of 'untitled' as well since i thought that i was selling my 6-string bass for the vox ultrasonic and the irony was that i was getting the tones i've been chasing fruitlessly for years and figured out a simple way to capture them accurately. basically at this point i'm planning on spending the next year saving up to buy one of those vox ultrasonics- it'd be easier to have the money once one pops up rather than trying to find anything and everything i could sell in order to afford it. this way i am also able to keep the 6-string bass around.
anyway this is long, rambling and weird enough to be over. listening to 'a strange day' right now- how fitting.