Small Fish, Big Pond

I’m famous!!!

I was looking up the Street Dogs entry in last.fm and keyed the entry into Bing. Front page bottom of the page links to my Last.fm tag directory (which happens to contain Street Dogs).

Although it’s the German version It seems my opinion of punk music is closely related enough to Street Dogs and Last.fm that Bing’s algorithms tie the pages together.

click for larger

I frankly find this hard to believe (I’m awesome but not that awesome) and suspect that Bing must have some tracker cookie influencing their results to make them a bit more customized to the place I goto. But even if THAT is true it’s still amazing that Bing could make such an amazing connection.

Still maybe I am influential enough that I’m front page news for Bing’s search.

Wow usually I’m just blogging on things that I’ve read at other places, this is news I actually discovered on my own!!

It stems from the fact that I always go through a certain process to prep my new music to be added to my music library. I did a full write up on the process at last.fm a few years ago; one of these day’s I’ll copy and upload it here. Basically I tag using Musicbrainz to get the right album, track, and artist tags. Then move it into a holding folder where I listen to it, put an appropriate genre and sub-genre, and a rating.

The problem is that when you edit the ID3 information in WMP12 it rewrites the ID3 header and corrupts all the non-standard ID3 tags on the MP3.

The metadata for MP3s are held in an ID3 header that is slapped onto the front of the file. All the artist, track, and album names are contained in here, including album art files if you want them. In addition to the standard ID3 tags there is the ability for third party companies to append their own tags into the system. Many programs put their own data in these non-standard tags, sometimes to put their own unique identifier tags on the file or with some they can actually put data that can be read by a player to dynamically change the songs as its played (typical with programs that change the track gain).

However many programs abuse the ID3 header. The worst I encountered was an expensive piece of DJ software that calculated the Beats Per Minute and put this info into the header so their software could quickly synch tracks. The problems is that it bullied the other tags, removing them and replacing all data with its own as if it were the only music player you’d ever need.

Luckily after corrupting my whole music library I was able to reload from a backup then get my money refunded for their bogus software. That also lead to my current methods of tagging and storing music; when you have over 40k songs all individually tagged and rated over the last 13 years you don’t want all that info wiped out by a poorly designed piece of software.

All through WMP9 to 11 there was no problem with the way Windows deals with ID3 tags. If you made a change to a tag it would edit just that tag and leave everybody else’s tags alone. But something changed with the new WMP version that is included in Windows 7 x64 (probably x32 as well).

Because now simply adding a rating in Windows Media Player in Windows 7 will screw up all the non-standard tags for the file, in my case erasing the Musicbrainz unique identifier code so it’s a pain in the ass to update tags later down the line.

First we have a good track, properly tagged a couple years ago. Notice the Rating and Musicbrainz tags:

Now I change the rating in WMP12 to 3 stars. Notice the change to the Musicbrainz tags:

I used MP3Tag to view the ID3 tags. The happens for ANY ID3 change, it doesn’t matter if you change the rating or the track name which is a standard ID3 field.

After some back and forth with Microsoft support I was told that this is a known issue and that hopefully if will be fixed in the future (I’m not holding my breath). And as Microsoft is promoting it’s Zune player and Media Center more heavily I don’t think WMP will be much of a priority. Too bad too, because I really like Windows Media Player better than iTunes, WinAmp, and foobar.

And finally to rub salt into the wound Musicbrainz currently has a bug where it erases all ID3 tags when it writes its own regardless of it’s setting to disable “erase existing tags”. Musicbrainz caught and reported the bug a year ago but new revisions come about as often as Windows media Player is updated. So you can’t work around the problem by doing one before the other. If you tag in Musicbrainz the WMP rating is gone. If you put a rating in WMP then the Musicbrainz UID is gone.

Hopefully one or the other bugs will soon be fixed and the problem eliminated but if you make any tag changes in Windows Media Player be aware that and special third party applications that use customer tags may have their data lost.

Update: Link to Musicbrainz bug report added. Thanks for the reminder!

Gizmodo is announcing Time of Death for the iTunes LP.

Everything I said when it was announced still holds true as much as it did half a year ago.
iTunes LP (possibly Cocktail) fails

The final reason this won’t work is that it doesn’t solve the core reason that people online only buy music a track at a time. People are sick of 2-3 good tracks and 10 “filler tracks” that are unwanted.

For getting people to buy LP’s instead of individual tracks EVERY full album purchase on iTunes should come like this by default at the normal album price. This is what iTunes should have been doing from the get-go to entice us into putting up with those 10 filler tracks. As a more expensive version of an normal track only album it’s not worth it.

First Kayo leaving Polysics and now Etsuko leaving Shonen Knife; it’s just not shaping up as a good year for Japanese musicians.

The Shonen Knife lineup has changed quite a bit since they we’re opening for Nirvana back in the 90’s; Naoko (the lead singer) is the only original member left. However when I saw them when they toured the US a few years ago Naoko’s sister, Atsuko the other founding member played with them since she now lives in the US (might as well kick it with the old crew I guess). But when the came through the member that really stood out was their new drummer Etsuko, here’s the quote I made in my last.fm review of the show.

…I ended up totally being taken by the new permanent drummer Etsuko Nakanishi (total hottie) who was a wizard on the drums.

What a bummer, I hope she finds her way back to another band to put those drum skill to use. Plus it’s always comforting to know that somewhere in the world there is a Japanese hottie working herself into a sweat rocking out on a set of drums.

BTW: The picture at the top reminds me of the Little Drummer boy on Robot Chicken.
Caution Dragonball-Z and Akira spoofing.

A3H7VGQ8QJJP

Since I drove roughly 1400 miles to see Polysics I should finally write a new review (I have about 6 shows I’ve seen without reviewing). As I mentioned earlier Kayo is leaving so this is as much a farewell tour as anything else. I know that the band will go on but after this show it’s hard to imagine them without her.

First off it was fun finally taking my new car on a road trip. My sister came along but spent most of the trip napping in the passenger seat. The drive was long but fun; driving around LA is a royal pain in the ass seems like people like to sit in the passing or commuter lane and go slower than the already slow moving traffic.

Anyway the show.

It’s funny that for how different things seem they’re really all the same. At the Roxy, the charge $5 for plastic cup half full of bud and call it a deal; I guess all places are rip offs. I thought it was a bit odd that there is a curtain shutting off the stage until a band is ready. I guess its good since it keeps ignorant fans from cheering when a roadie is tuning up a guitar.

There was also reserved seating which I think was more for the late night club crowd that aren’t there for the show, they just always hang out at at the club.

I didn’t catch the first band’s name, Little red riding hood I think?
Too bad because they had great energy, whole group was onfire regardless of how much the crowd was into it. They eventually got the crowd to at least react which is impressive for a first band of the night.
The platinum blond was hot and sexy, although she was a bit over the top at times. Running your hand over your body = sexy; flat out rubbing your pussy with your hands and the mic is too much. Save that part for the guy’s imagination.
The lead guy had good energy as well and they made a good compliment to the music, although his outfit seemed a bit gay (maybe he is or maybe it’s just a really “artistic” outfit.
They really had a good sound that goes down well with what’s popular in music now. It was independent but not in a boring crybaby emo Iron and Wine sort of way. It was very aggressive and upbeat without being top 40 pop music.
I definitely wish they had been more clear saying their name so I could find them online.

The sound guy for the Roxy is perfect, with ear plugs in the music was just the right volume and just the right balance. After years of suffering through the local SLC sound guys this guys seemed like a master of the craft. Kudos.

2nd band was New Kingdom; first thing I noticed about them was everybody had the same big hair. But once the music started I was pleasantly surprised again. They also had an “indie” sound that is very similar to popular non-mainstream music right now.
The best way I could describe them was like a chilled out more indie sounding band heavily influenced by Jameroquai.

After two great bands like this I was starting to feel bad for how sad the local music groups in Utah were. We have a few good bands of kids who are used to playing in their parents garages but nothing really worthy of grabbing out of the area and pushing for nationwide release, and here were two relatively small bands that seriously need to be “discovered”. All I could do was think back to that crummy local band Vile Blue Shades. Kids in LA are spoiled by too much good talent.

But not all was lost, the third band, Sabrosa Purr, sucked. Indie music treads a fine line between genius and madness, you’re either one of the other. Except in this case madness isn’t like some cool intensity, it’s just shitty ear grating music. It was just slow and moody and it’s hard to tell if they were actually playing music or each in some drug induced trance making noise that sounded like music to them.
Fuck this emo shit.

I don’t mean to dwell on the negative and I know some people really like this stuff (the same people that think Pitchfork Media is the gods of reviewing good music). I’m sorry but if you like this you’ve been brainwashed by the shitty indie overlords who want to destroy music. 20 years from now your kids will ask you why you liked a band that faked its talent by playing really slow AC/DC chords and screaming 14 year old poetry into the mic and you’ll have no response other than you were just trying to fit in (It’s so ironic that people try to dislike the popular so much that they’ll let people convince them this is good music.) Screw this pretentious bullshit.

–Re reading this I realized that everybody drumming at the finale was nice but not revolutionary enough to make up for the crap music. Oh, and the chick playing was kind of hot.

Polysics were Polysics; amazing in just about everyway. Many bands seems so cool when you watch a music video, or look like their shows are amazing; then you see an actual show and it’s utter crap. Polysics are just as energetic and out of control on stage as they are in music videos; maybe more so, in the music videos it’s a bunch of cut scenes with makeup and cool down time in between, live it’s just a marathon of music and energy, it wasn’t 2 songs in before Hiro was already covered in sweat from bouncing all over the place belting out lines and guitar riffs.

While I was watching I realized that the band has an almost perfect setup for the music they’re doing. Masashi in the back, relatively emotionless as the drummer anchor. The two girls to either side doing mostly backup vocals, Fumi is a bit more energetic but Kayo with her robot impersonation. And Hiro trapped between them and the audience bouncing around all over the place. The setup is great, it’s not like justa band crammed up on stage, you could setup a camera and every performance would look like it was setup to be a music video.

Only Hiro attempted any English and it was limited at best, considering all Japanese go though a couple years of english I’m sure they have a bit more understanding then they let on but it was still fun watching them try to break down the language barrier. God know how tough it is, I learned myself from the time I spent in Japan trying not to sound like a fool.

Anyway, well worth the time and gas to head down to see the show. If you have a chance to see them make sure you take it. And that’s not counting the 4-6 hours or so that we had to be tourists the next day before we headed back home. 24 hours driving, 4 hour show, 6 hours car camping, all in about 42 hours. Not bad at all.

New CDs Bought at the show:

Lala was recently acquired by Apple and now everybody is wondering how Apple will bring it to bear on the market. Michael Robertson makes a post at TechCrunch with some interesting tidbits on how this will play out.

Almost everybody assumed that iTunes would integrate lala’s 1 full play, then 30 seconds for every replay after that. However:

Lala will play a critical role in Apple’s music future, but not for the reasons cited above. Lala’s licenses with major labels are non-transferable, so they’re not usable for any new iTunes service. The 10 cent song rental model never gained traction and does not cover mobile devices thus is of little value to Apple.

That is an excellent point.

I am was a long time lala user and when the new streaming features came I really wasn’t interested in it. Last.fm handles all my music streaming, and even Pandora has a better service IMHO. Lala is a bit more on demand but I don’t like taking the time to make playlists and usually listen to my own music on shuffle anyway. Last thing I’m going to do is rent songs for 10 cents.

And the fact that the streaming license doesn’t carryover is something I totally overlooked. Of course the big labels would never let their music be streamed free over the net to a mobile device, it’s so obvious now that it was never a possibility.

That just leaves the odd ability for lala to work as a cloud storage for your personal music as a potential benefit to Apple.

When this first came out on lala I was skeptical about the legalities and the privacy concerns for individuals uploading the music. Here’s how it works (or how it worked when they rolled it out).

Everybody doesn’t upload their full collections. There doesn’t need to be 1.5 million copies of “Toxic” by Britney Spears, just one copy that is registered to 1.5 million people. So when you’re uploading your music you’re really only uploading what music isn’t already in the cloud, it makes things easier on lala and is actually quite logical. Much like multicast vs. broadcast it makes use of the design of the internet to make more optimal use of data. Unless the uploaded copy is crap, in which case everybody with good music is forced to make do with bad music because somebody didn’t know how to rip.

All this works great if you listen to top 40 radio. If you’re like me and 20,000 of your 40,000 songs are from overseas and not available in the US, you’ll be uploading a lot of music. Which is how I found out that you can only upload 5000 songs before it quits (hopefully they removed this cap, or else you may only have A-C of your library in the cloud).

Add to this the fact that the lala software didn’t ask me to upload my music, it just assumed and started uploading without my consent. Now we see where my legality suspicions come in.

-First off I’m not sure from their description but they made it should like this pool of uploaded music was where their streaming service pulls from. Thus if I upload a Japanese indie band that is not available anywhere online, lala now has a copy and can stream their music in the radio (in addition to me and others who “upload” their libraries).

-Second, it seemed shady to take peoples music without their knowing. It’s like what got Kazaa shut down but in reverse, automatic sharing.

-Third a lot of people have music on their computer that they didn’t acquire legally. So if I rip my legally purchased copy of “Cosmogenesis” by Obscura, another person with a downloaded copy will be able to listen to my nice legal rip free of charge. Also people who download illegal music will be able to upload it to lala for themselves and others to listen to, thus lala is streaming illegal music.

The first point may not be illegal based of the way music royalties are paid, which contrary to logic or common knowledge is so backwards and double handed that it makes RIAA’s arguments against piracy seem incredibly hypocritical. So long as you pay your royalty to Sound Exchange you can play any music you want no matter what or who the artist is because theoretically the artist should get paid for it (but often doesn’t).

The second and third point may get under peoples skin when it comes to privacy. Basically lala’s cloud storage is creating a giant list of what music you have, and previously was doing this even without your knowledge. If a virus ran without your knowledge and catalogued your system’s files, then uploaded the info to a private business to use for their monetary gain would you approve of the action?

This doesn’t really bother me, but the “Tin Foil Hat” part of me doesn’t want to give that info out to a company. Especially a company that is so desperate to keep its license for streaming that it may make a deal with the record industry to share its database of ownership.

That is that valuable market research data that I don’t like being given away without letting me wet my beak with the money it makes. And imagine if you’re unfortunate enough to be one of those people who are served with a cease and desist or are sued for illegal downloading. A simple subpoena to lala and the record industry has proof that not only were you on a torrent tracker for a new album, but you downloaded it, kept it, and listen to it regularly.

Still, for apple to harness the power of every iPod, iPad, and iTunes connected device into a giant online cloud of accessible music is a massive achievement. This doesn’t just cement its position as a media provider it sets Apple up to be the media hub for the distribution of content to the world.

Considering that advertising while distributing is traditional media’s bread and butter this has to be have content holders shaking in their boots. Or at least they will when they realized that jobs can clinch even more control than he has now.

Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine are technically retired now, Dick is doing some other projects and is basically taking a year off so his music and influence isn’t gone, just on hiatus or in transition to a new project depending on your interpretation.

However there are still some new CDs coming out in the next few months including the new studio album “Ok Bartender”. Hearing this I ran to his site to pick it up directly and found out they have a great deal going to join his “Super Fan Fun Club”.

I know you’re rolling your eyes hearing the word “fan club” so let me translate it to something you’ll understand.

6 Richard Cheese CDs for $41. Or $6.80 a CD.
(The site looks like it was made in 1997, I’m not sure if that’s fitting RC’s comic mentality or indie nature of the group.)

Now I’ve been meaning to buy his CDs for a long time. I have two at home, but I admit I have his entire works in mp3 form as well. Sorry Richard, but as I stated in a treatise at last.fm once, online downloads are my music preview method. The whole reason I bought 2 CDs in the first place was because I liked what I heard online, now I’m collecting the entire discography as I can find CDs.

Which brings me back to the Super Fun Fan Club. The price for 6 CDs is cheaper than any store you can get them from unless you get them used, and Richard Cheese is too popular to ever be in the used bin. On the rare occurrence you find a used CD is you’ll likely be paying more than $6. They throw in some stickers and stuff too because it’s a “fan club” thing but the CDs that are out will ship ASAP, the new ones are shipped before official release dates.

The main point is $41 for 6 CDs purchased directly from the man himself, to support the band and their endeavors. I know a lot more than just me have their music already but few have taken the extra step to support the band they found the love.

So act now, deal runs out Jan 5th.

PS for those who haven’t heard of Richard Cheese, head over to last.fm, youtube or your favorite preview site and check out a few tracks. The band does covers in a hilarious lounge act style. Kick up your feet with a martini, pretend you’re in the Las Vegas Holiday Inn Lounge, and enjoy the music.

A few weeks ago one of my favorite Japanese bands, Polysics, said they’re touring the US on a new tour, unfortunately they’re not passing though here. The closest shows are about 650 miles ($120 in gas) away by car ($250 by air).

I wasn’t really sure if I was going to go but they just announced Kayo (the girl doing weird synth voices and playing keyboard) is leaving the band, now I’m thinking I might go since this will be their last major tour before a farewell/10th anniversary concert in Tokyo.

Kayo is not my favorite member (Fumi rocks the bass!), but she’s an integral part. A lot of their unique sounds comes from her influence, however some of their more “unique” songs aren’t my favorite I prefer the more recent mainstream punk style they’ve been getting. The question is how much more will they drift into the mainstream without Kayo? They very easily can go from innovative to boring depending on how much she influenced the band.

On the plus side, I’ve wanted to go on a long distance road trip in the new car for a while, this would be a fun way to do that, escape the freezing Utah winter, and see a good concert in one fell swoop. And with car camping I could probably keep the price under $200.

I hate to say it but it’s been apparent for a year or so and it’s getting worse, Kaori Mochida’s voice is dying. I mentioned it in a previous post but it’s becoming more widely noticed now.

As linked on FG recent performances are nothing like they were in their hey-day. Her vocals are flat now.

And Then:

I used to like ELT but you could tell back then that from the way she sings, even though it creates and interesting and unique sound it’s killing her vocal chords and has been all along. The comparison to then and now is about the same as listening to hear somebody sing before and after they go through puberty. And even though you can force your voice to reach pitches it did before you really have to strain to do so.

It’s not really known generally among many music listeners but singing is a lot like any other workout, if you don’t have good form it puts you through more stress. Stress that can eventually wear you down before your time.

Kaori is was a huge pop singer and should have been exposed to many professional voice trainers that could help her maintain her singing in a way that is less destructive to her vocal chords. But being one of the main draws for the label she was likely pushed to keep straining to keep albums sales high without worrying about the long term effects. A prime example of a label riding their talent hard to bleed them dry.

And considering ELT is part of Avex that’s hardly a surprise; they have been riding the Ayumi train so long they’ve let a lot of good talent fall under the wheels. Talent that could have stepped up to take the reign now that Ayumi and Kaori are fading stars.

Recently Every Little Thing has been less prolific than they used to be, the only time they get air time is for 1 or two songs during A-Nation and the occasional TV appearance. I’m not sure if it’s because Kaori knew her vocals were going and is fading out or if Avex has seen ELT’s sales drop and are shuffling her off to pasture but lack of practice and a high strain method of singing has taken it’s toll. It’s too bad to see somebody who had a lot of talent get used up and discarded due to burnout.
I’m guessing Avex’s cash cow Ayumi will be next, she’s already lost hearing in one ear due to the “Rock and Roll” lifestyle of constant performance with no break. I hope they can both get good gigs as TV tarento where they can reminisce with viewers back to the new millennium when they dominated Japanese music.

I was more of a fan of the more upbeat songs rather than the ballads.
4Force was the album that first got me interested.
But I like the Super Eurobeat remixes the best.
Or just hedge your bets and get the Best Singles compilation.

I used to be a big lala user when they were a CD trading service. I got a TON of CDs in my now pretty extensive collection by buying interesting looking bargain bin CDs, matching up with a lala user that wanted them, then trading for a CD I wanted.

Now all my trading is mostly on Swap-A-CD and MusicBoomerang but not nearly as much as I traded on lala.

What’s interesting is that lala fueled my collector nature and got me a to go out an purchase 1000+ physical CDs, the ones that music labels make all their money off. The ones that are steadily decreasing now because online track sales though iTunes and it’s brethren are outpacing them.

How ironic that lala that once touted itself as a method for keeping physical music moving and supporting artists in that way is potentially getting into bed with iTunes the force that many people attribute with destroying the age of the physical CD.

Just food for thought.

A picture of my current collection while I was putting it in order.

1024 digital tracks are worth $0.23 according to Time Warner

Reel Big Fish – Sell Out (Official Music Video)

Want to know why I feel no guilt watching big labels bleed a slow death, read this great article from an un-recouped band trying to find out how much money they’re making.
It’s a bit long for a “quick” read but it’s great, and as you’re reading keep in mind this is one of the numerous “little guys” once embraced by the corporation that is now discarded by the wayside. And one of the few who has the abilities to see just how bad their getting screwed.

As I asked more questions (Why do we get paid 50% of the income from all the tracks on one album, but only 35.7143% of the income from all the tracks on another? Why did 29 plays of a track on the late, lamented MusicMatch earn a total of 63 cents when 1,016 plays of the exact same track on MySpace earned only 23 cents?) he eventually got to the heart of the matter: “We don’t normally do this for unrecouped bands,” he said. “But, I was told you’d asked.

Time Warner is the 4th largest media conglomerate. They aren’t a mom and pops startup business in danger of dying so that they have to cut costs to stay afloat. Just a few of TW’s lucrative holdings:
New Line Cinema (Makers of Lord of the Rings Trilogy)
Time Inc.
HBO
Turner Broadcasting System
Warner Bros. Entertainment (All Harry Potters, Batmans, and Supermans)
Cartoon Network
Adult Swim
CNN (The “Not Fox or that crappy MSNBC” one)
DC Comics (And all the comic book movie moneys they bring)

My point is a company this big an powerful has the ability to do basic accounting of where their money is coming and going; something they are all too quick to point out to say that illegal downloads of music and movies is apparently killing them.

Making money is making money, it doesn’t matter if you’re up $20,000, or in the hole $300,000 income is just as important. The fact that record labels dismiss the income (debt reduction) owed on artists that are un-recouped is just bad as if they cut a recouped band out of a $10,000 royalty check. The artists aren’t suffering because of downloads like the labels say, they’re suffering because the labels are lying to them and cutting them out of the income they are entitled to.

Alternatively we have proof here that the big labels aren’t losing hardly any money on digital downloads at all. If 1,016 plays of a track on MySpace is only worth 23 cents, why are illegal downloaders being fined $80,000 for downloading a digital copy off the internet?

Either way you slice it the conglomerate labels are lying and exploiting their artists and customers.

Via Giz

Having the wherewithal to buy tickets to Flogging Molly before the show I was actually able to get in this time since they regularly sellout the venue, a few outside weren’t so lucky and resorted to begging for tickets. It’s surprising they’ve grown this much considering the first time I saw them play In SLC they were just an unknown band on tour with Bouncing Souls people were waiting on to finish the set and get to the main act. Now they’re huge.

They’re touring with Hepcat an old school Ska band that has been around forever but doesn’t release a whole lot of new CDs. And frankly I enjoyed the Hepcat portion of the show more than Flogging Molly. I like energetic ska music like Suburban Legends but sometimes some good ska music to just chill out with is great. The two lead vocalists Greg and Alex were great at setting a good mood to groove to some great ska.

I made a point to go buy a couple Hepcat CDs at the swag table before the post Molly rush crowded the place too much. I was surprised to see Flogging Molly was smart enough to have a credit card reader that their table to run cards. I make a point to bring plenty of cash to shows but I always see countless others who don’t have the experience to plan ahead and end up passing on buying merchandise. Considering how much the artists make off merchandise sales at a show I’m amazed more artists don’t bring card scanners.

I usually don’t have any problems with the staff serving drinks at In the Venue/Club Sound; the servers are usually pretty nice and take care of people well. This time I was pissed however, I think we can all agree that people who cut in front of line when there are 20 people waiting to get a drink are the scum of the earth and deserve a special place in hell. Especially the ones who give that smug look at you after they get served as if to say, “Suckers!”

And what can you do? When I got close enough to the front I’d give a, “Hey!” with a thumb over my shoulder to the back of the line; but even then most people got their drinks anyway, and the people in line with me just looked at the floor and saved their criticisms for muttering under their breath when the line-cutter moved on. Mandy Patinkin does a great job of how we all wish this kind of scenario would usually play out:

But even with people shouting that they shouldn’t be cutting Club Sound’s barmaid Carrie served them anyway. So if line-cutters are assholes that deserve to be kicked out, what does that make her for being the staff that serves them anyway?

I’ve noticed this problem alot in the service industry that goes along with the “The customer is always right” proverb. Some jackass ignores the implied or posted rules but the staff helps them anyway because they don’t want to risk losing a single sale. But what about the 20 other good rule-obeying customers they just alienated by helping somebody that cut in front? Logically a business proprietor would tell the rule breaker to fuck themselves and an lose the 1 bad customer and better serve the 20 good customers, instead in the vein of “The customer is always right” they commonly serve the asshole and screw over the majority.

The sad part is that people put up with it anyway like sheep. Even after remarking, “I can’t believe she’s serving them even though they obviously cut!” I watched a girl leave a substantial tip anyway. Well I’m sticking by my response to the girls comment, “I’m closing my tab, not tipping, and never buying a drink from here again.” Although that’s a lie, I did leave a tip on my recipt:

“Tell Carrie not to serve people who cut”

If a business provides bad service they should receive a bad tip if any at all. They’re lucky we don’t walk out when the staff symbolically joins in the “Suckers!” slight given to the people who waited patiently for them to do their job.

I know that tips are shared among servers and bartenders so good servers at Club Sound are punished as well. Which is too bad since I know two of them are great bartenders and deserve big tips, hence the “Tip” on the receipt that a coworker’s bad decisions are costing them as well and they should set her straight or do themselves a favor and replace her. Because the tip they lost from me is nothing compared to the fact that I refuse to get drinks there from now on. I’m not a frequent customer but losing $15-20 each time I go is more substantial than their share of one nights tip.

That may seem a bit extreme but really it’s more of the straw that broke the camel’s back, the $14.40 price above is for TWO draft beers, and one of those was Coors Light (All other taps were dry at the time, I had no choice); I could get 3 pitchers at Cheers to You for that price. So fuck Club Sound, their overpriced drinks, and lousy service. I’m never buying a drink there again and I recommend you do the same if only to send a message that a tip line on a receipt is no guarantee that you actually deserve the tip.

Back to the concert.

After 30minutes in line I missed Flogging Molly’s opening of course. I was one of the first in line when the last band ended too. I’m sorry for those behind me, they probably missed half the show. The crowd was out of control; people crowding around the bar entrance were jumping up and down or moshing and they’d invariably bump into people coming out with drinks in their hand then complain about it. “Screw you, you jumped into me, what did you think would happen?” I slid into a relatively calm corner and watched the show.

I have to say Flogging Molly is great but I think alot of the music is better listened to as it is on the albums. That is more introspective, music and not “mosh-pit, kicking and shoving” music. Songs that are introspective ballads on the albums were sped up to bouncing high-energy songs, and high energy songs from the albums were so high tempo it was hard to sing along with them. I almost feel sorry for poor Bridget Regan working a fiddle at that speed. She must have massively strong arms to play shows like this every night.

Speaking of which it was great that the normally bad sound mixing at In the Venue was good enough that the fiddle and penny whistle sounded really good. I noticed that Rancid the night before had good sound too. Did In the Venue get a new sound guy or has he finally figured out how to mix for the site?

It was a great show but the crowd that Flogging Molly gathers is kind of an irritation to me. A UK friend at last.fm once mentioned how all Americans pretend to be what they think of as “Irish”. Maybe a bit of an overstatement, we’re not all like that, but Flogging Molly sure draws that crowd. It’s almost like they’re there because they think it gives them some tie to a non-existant Irish heritage even though Flogging Molly is a US band playing Irish-American Punk and far separated from traditional Irish music and culture. It’s the same crowd that claims the reason they drink too much is because “I’m 1/16th Irish!”. No you’re just a drunk. The same crowd that think all Irish people dance like Michael Flatley or Riverdance even though Flatley is American. I actually saw some girls in the crowd doing their own approximation to step dancing during the show!

Most kiddies seemed like they were there for the scene and not the music. Whenever the word Irish came out of Dave King’s mouth a loud cheer would go up regardless of the context. But when there was a reference to the seminal “Irish-Punk” group The Pogues less than half the crowd cheered or understood who they were. Earlier when talking to a self described “Huge Fan” of Flogging Molly I asked if she liked The Pogues or The Tossers as well and all I got back was a blank stare. I think alot of the self professed diehard fans here were those group of newbies that like them because it’s cool in American to claim to be Irish and listen to Irish-American music. Which is fine so long as you don’t start to confuse yourself into thinking that it really means you know something of or are connected to real Irish culture.

Other than spending 30 minutes waiting to get an overpriced beer it was a good show, with Hepcat really being the highlight of the night in my mind. Flogging Molly was overrated. They were still great, I only say that in context of the fact that all the kiddies coming out of the show were acting like it was a transcendent experience when it wasn’t. It was a good show, but I’d hardly agree that “I could die happy now”, as I overheard somebody say on the way out.

CDs Purchased:

This is a great article on the music scene in Japan. In the US and Europe indie music is very popular (sometimes even when it’s no good) but it’s very common for small indie artists to get a foothold and grow rather big without ever landing a contract with the big labels.

In some cases they even create their own labels for self release (like Suburban Legends or Less than Jake’s “Fueled by Ramen”) and these labels can grow to be a dominant force in their genre like Bad Religion launching Epitaph, so that the indie labels can go toe to toe with the big labels… at least in their own genre. However this is unheard of in Japan.

In Japan, “punk” is not an attitude or a spirit, it is just a fashion. So Japanese people will think that the Sex Pistols and Avril Lavigne are the same thing, because they are associated with a trend. The British movie This Is England has just been released here, but young Japanese people in are more interested in the skinheads’ wardrobes than in the historical background. They definitely enjoy it as a fashionable film, but won’t consider its political content. They don’t know what a skinhead really is.
Japanese people have a tendency to think that music is not “art”, but “entertainment”, something to be consumed.

Japan is just the opposite, fans flock to big labels and indie releases are seen as a holding pattern until you’re “discovered”. This leads to the assumption that if you haven’t been picked up by a big label you must not be any good.

There could be a lot of possibilities for this: the article mentions how fans see music as a fashion for consumption and not an art in itself. I personally think it has a lot to do with the Japanese tendency to conform, fit-in, and follow authority without question or without bothering to try something that may be “different”. In the west we pride ourselves for listening to something others don’t, in Japan they pride themselves for being a part of the fanbase of all their peers.

Regardless the outcome the result is a music industry even more top heavy than the US with a few massive labels and an almost non existent indie scene. Really there’s nothing wrong with that in itself, being signed to a big label doesn’t mean your music is any worse than before you signed the contract (although the label may make asinine requests to change or market your music). In America we sometimes go too far thinking that because a good band signed a deal with a big label that the music isn’t as good anymore and they’re nothing more than “sellouts”. This is sometimes true but often times not.

In Japan the trend leads music to become more homogenized that usual, good up-and-coming artists can be absorbed into a giant machine like Avex but never promoted as much as the big name artists like Ayumi Hamasaki, or Koda Kumi. Thus they don’t get the exposure, fans don’t find out about them, and they get swept under the rug.

Although I like a lot of big label music from Japan the times I’ve been to Japan it’s been nearly impossible to find underground punk music comparable to what I like in America. And even what I’ve found is usually bands that have been adopted by big labels so that they have a high enough visibility that an outsider on vacation like me can find them.

But when you do stumble upon the tiny underground scene it’s nothing like America. It’s akin to a watering hole slowly evaporating on the Serengeti, as it shrinks it gets more concentrated than when it was huge. So the underground scene in Japan is much more intense and raw than here in America. Instead of finding shows at big venues attended by a bunch of MySpace/HotTopic kids who are there because it’s popular to like psudo-irish music (Flogging Molly concert review coming soon), you get tiny hole-in-the-wall venues full of fans who truly listen to the music for what it is.

It may be small but when you do find it the indie scene is much more like Agnostic Front at CBGB’s than it is like Blink 182 at Warped Tour.

The shame of it is it’s the fans that miss out by not discovering new music they may like more than Ayu-BoA-Amuro-Kumi, and overseas fans miss out because good indie bands never get to play a venue larger than 200 people, let alone perform for an anime intro that might make it to the Japanophiles in the US.

When bands come to town they seem to come in waves, and always in fall for some reason. Thursday was Rancid at In the Venue with Authority Zero and Resistor Radio.

I saw Resistor Radio a few months ago when they were here and they’re really good, not at all what I’d expect from the “local bands” that usually open shows. It’s not going to take long before they get more popular; in concert they have alot of energy and even though they only have one indies EP out (currently unsigned) it’s a good disc with some really good music.

I’ve heard a bit of Authority Zero but always as part of a compilation disc like “Warped Tour ‘03″ or something so I’m not really up on their music. I was amazed! The band has great energy and reminds me of going to shows back around the 1998-2002 timeframe when I was listening to alot of bands like Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly who’s music was going from “walk to run”.

It made me nostalgic for those days of being 20, in college, spending the nights partying with my friends, and catching punk shows as often as my low paying job would afford me to. And like Less Than Jake, Dropkick Murphys, and Street Dogs it’s always great having a lead singer (Jason DeVore) that focuses specifically on singing and getting the crowd riled up. Not that leads with a guitar aren’t as good but there’s something to be said for climbing around the speaker stacks encouraging the people on the balcony to get moving.

Although as much attention that is paid to the lead singer and guitar players it was the drummer (Jim Wilcox) that I thought was really amazing. People always groove the the guitarists grinding away on the axe but if you watch the energy, speed, and precision that a drummer cranks out during a highspeed punk song you start to realize how much talent it takes to get a good drummer.

In The Venue isn’t being as big of dicks as they have in the past. The bouncers were a bit more relaxed and were helping people have a good time rather than playing the “Respect my Authority” game with the people who paid to be there. Even tossing out bottles of water to the kids in front and in the pit (water which had to be bought in back at the “21 and under” bar near the entrance. Giving water out is probably good insurance against possible lawsuits from kids with heat stroke too but before they seemed comfortable to watch you suffer or add to it.

Rancid was off the Friggin’ hook this time. I was a bit critical of them last time they played here because they were so joyless and un-engaging with the crowd. Enough to officially declare they lost the position of my favorite band to Street Dogs.

That tired, old Rancid didn’t show up to play this time.

Instead in their place was a powerful veteran Rancid that came in to show everybody why they’re arguable once of the most influential punk bands in the 1990’s and 2000. Ok, they’re a bit past the time where they could climb up and do backflips off the stacks but they could belt out their definitive punk anthems with and energy that shook the walls. And even though Tim and Lars get plenty of acknowledgements it’s the bassist Matt Freeman that I think really deserves alot more attention. Bassists and Drummers are often relegated to the background but watching Freeman’s technical abilities is amazing at times, keep an eye on his hands when you see these guys and imagine trying to do the same while making it look easy.

There was a good mix of old songs from “…And Out Come the Wolves” for all the causal fans here to see legends, plus a good smattering of songs of the newest album “Let the Dominoes Fall“. Tim and Matt’s ska influence from “Operation Ivy” showed through at times, plus they slowed it down for a few acoustic songs from the new album (be sure to buy the deluxe version so you get the acoustic disc!).

Alot of my favorite songs from Let the Dominoes fall we’re played. “East Bay Night”, “Last one to Die”, “New Oreleans”, and the tribute to the troops (which hits home especially hard for me) “Civilian Ways”. Finally after coming back out for the encore Branden Steineckert (drums) came out in a Real Salt Lake football* jersey, probably given to him by the team who had VIP seating for the show. Lars came out the San Jose Earthquakes jersey on, obviously staying true to his home team. But it’s nice that they had some fun with the local football team.

I’m glad that the definitive punk band Rancid can still perform, I was afraid after the last show that they had passed their prime and were in decline. Luckily it seems that they were just having a bad night that one time. Although no matter how they play live Rancid is still one of the few bands that I can quite honestly say that each consecutive album has set the bar higher than the one before it.

CDs Bought:

Authority Zero
12:34

I already have all the Rancid CDs.
Although while I’m on the subject I want to mention that Rancid is following the method I recommend for maintaining physical CDs in this digital climate (wow that article was 2 years ag0):
-Releasing singles of key songs that will appear in the forth coming album as they’re written.
-Then when the album comes out with those singles, plus some new songs (that aren’t filler).
-Plus releasing a “Limited Edition” of the album with additional bonus tracks and a DVD of the music videos and/or live footage.

This is why indie labels are maintaining while the dinosaur big four are dying.

*Football being the world famous game played by kicking a BALL with your FOOT. Not the often confused American game “HandEgg” where and EGG shaped ball is carried in a players HAND.

The band US Metal band “Steel Panther” created a stir on the Japanese NHK program West Wind for all the wrong reasons. I saw the post on Japan Probe and thought, “Here we go again…”

You see, alot of Morning Musume fans are mad that somebody touched one of their precious idols. It’s absurd but their fans are that obsessive.
But I just watched the show (overseas “torrent delay”) and apparently I’m the only one because nobody has mentioned the real fun of that clip.

During the Q&A one of the questions was “At your house, what family rules do you have?”
Steel Panther response:

Seriously. This is a screen cap from the broadcast show.
Update: A foreign friend of mine isn’t up with US slang. For people still in the dark here (slightly disturbing wikipedia page).

Nobody in the guests panel, the crowd, or the hosts seems fazed; they didn’t ever react that much at all. Probably because the (rough) translation at the bottom is “If you dirty the sofa clean it up.” It’s hilarious when they pan back to the panel and you see all the “clean, pure, virginal” Musume members smiling or nodding their heads as if they’re saying “Yeah, that is a problem.”

The follow up rule given by Michael Starr, “Always flush the toilet after you go poop” got lots of laughs and comments. Chalk the first one up to being completely lost in translation.

Thumbs up to Steel Panther for getting this on TV, or thumbs up to the translator trying to figure out how to keep this from being an issue for the broadcasters. Or maybe the translators just thought it was a slang term for getting a sofa dirty and though the goofy gajin were really obsessed with living room cleanliness.

But Kamei Eri likes the gajin and gives them a big thumbs up. Or maybe that was for the Jizz comment, we’ll never know.

Update:
The girl that got rubbed up against, Kusumi Koharu, just announced she’s leaving the group AND the whole project. I told you they take this shit seriously.

Apparently there aren’t any hard plans on what she’ll do but she want’s “to be a model”. Yeah, good luck with that. Who’d leave a project that is built around selling modeling books to a brainwashed fanbase to be a model.
No, “leaving to be a model” means either she was sick of their crap, or they were sick of her’s.