Confessions of a Fanboy

History repeats itself.  The last time I wrote about Morphine, I did a callout to M.Sahm of Magic Junk Radio fame.  I’m doing it again today.

It’s fun to have comrades-in-ears.  I know when I’m in a Springsteen mood, I can call 11, Saleski, or Iguana Glen Boyd.  When I’m in U2 mode, 11 is always handy.  Same with Oasis.

Morphine is a bit more of an acquired taste and fellow fans are in shorter supply.  There’s me, Sahm, and Tom Johnson.  There’s also Big Jon- the guy who turned me on to them in the first place.  There was a guy I knew in college.  That’s about it, and I never see those last two guys anymore.

Now some of you might be trying to read things into why I’d reach for Morphine and Cure For Pain this morning.  Listen carefully:  great music never needs an excuse or a reason.  Don’t get carried away trying to see things that aren’t there.

“Buena, Buena, Buena… good, good good!”

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Apparently, I wasn’t sufficiently critical of the last set so I’m going to pay closer attention to this one. Okay, I like “I Took Your Name,” which hasn’t been played a ton on this tour. “Drive” into “Driver 8” is a fun one-two from a title perspective, a bit odd from a musical one. “She Just Wants To Be” and “Imitation of Life” should be forever stricken from our memories. Fucking Reveal. Please. Well, I love “I’ve Been High.” They can keep playing that one. “The Lifting” would be nice, too.

“The Great Beyond” is a great song for the encore. I love that. All in all, this isn’t bad for an abbreviated set. There are a couple show killers, but this has adequate balance.

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That which is understood need not be explained.  Friends of the Fanboy Universe M.Sahm and S.Rod have just completed and launched the 12th episode of their ongoing aural fixation Magic Junk Radio.  The new episode is called “Looks Good On You.”  You are politely commanded to download it immediately.

I’m listening as I write, having just heard “The Universe Will Do It For You” and “Greenwash and Go”.

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I know what you’re thinking.  Is it Monday or some other day.  To tell you the truth, in all the weekend hours I’ve been working I kind of lost track myself.  You just have to ask yourself one question:  what the fuck is Hathaway blabbering about?

That seemed like a far better idea when I started writing it than when I finished.  So, it is Monday and I’m trying get my balance.  I’ve listened to some random playlist-y things from R.E.M. and Springsteen (NPR played a clip of Bruce at an Obama rally this weekend) and some Brendan Benson.  Good songs all around, but I think Dave Carter is more what I had in mind.

“Short Street” has a special, unique ability to provide instant soothing to the frayed edges of mind and sanity.  That’s priceless.  This might have to be my #1 of 2008 for that alone.

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A long time ago, on a web site far, far away a group of ‘netfriends collaborated on a web site called The Mondo Project.  Great time, it was.  Many good things were written.  Much banter was bantered.  We even did these things we called Hot Topics, in which we’d form a round table and yakk about music, film, book, debauchery, ungentlemanly acts, and masturbatory philosophical twaddle.  It was a lot of fun, some of the most fun I’ve had as a ‘net writer.  Those folks: El Bicho, Duke De Mondo, his faithful companion Sir Fleming,  Sir Mary, Sir Brewster, Saleski, by God Eric Berlin, and the great phantom that is Sir Bennett… great folk one and all.

What all this has to do with anything is that Sir Mary wanted to revive a Hot Topic for Halloween and it didn’t happen for the same sad reason TMP finally closed its doors:  those great, great folks were all just a little too busy to make the magic happen.  Sad, but true.  Still, those were good times.  Since the Mondo clan couldn’t get it together for Halloween, we’ll have to leave it to our old pal Bruce Springsteen.  He has something special going on over at his web site.  Here, I’ll let him tell you about it:

Dear Friends and Fans,

If you grew up in Central or South Jersey you grew up with the ‘Jersey Devil’.  Here’s a little musical Halloween treat.  Have fun!

Bruce Springsteen

“A Night With The Jersey Devil” will be available as a free audio download and streaming video through November 2nd.

If I had gotten a chance to write about Halloween with the lads (and Sir Mary), I would have talked about me and holidays, and how we’ve grown apart over the years.  Special occasions just don’t feel quite as special anymore and I’m not sure why that is.  Birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, April Fool’s Day, Thanksgiving… all of them have been special to me at one time or another.  Now, they’re just days.

Anyway, that’s what I would have written about.  I suppose it’s appropriate to talk about ghosts on Halloween:  The Ghosts of Mondo.  It would have been fun, writing about it and reading what my comrades in fuck had to say about it all.  I miss those days.  Cheers, Mondo.

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Short show in Bogata last night, and not much to get too excited about. “Animal” and “Sweetness Follows” are probably the two songs played the least on this tour, and both have been plaed. “Sweetness” is, of course, awesome. “Animal” is less. Not a great show, but not a bad one either.

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2008 will go down in history for many reasons.  For starters, because that’s what every year does when it’s over.  It’s a stupid phrase.  This year will go down in history.  As opposed to what every other fucking year does?  What the fuck?

Anyway, this being an election year there will be certain stories that will be remembered.  The United States will have a first something in their executive branch this year.  All of that is great and interesting.  I guess.  More interesting to me, and therefore to all of you, is what happened to me this year in music.  2008 is the year I became a Nine Inch Nails fan.  I’m by no means a SuperFan, but I did come over to the dark side.

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Guest Reviewer 11:

In June of this year, Lord Hathaway and I found ourselves at an R.E.M. show at Lakewood Amphitheatre in Atlanta. On the bill prior to the almost-hometown heroes were a pair of opening acts: The National, and Modest Mouse.

I usually don’t pay much attention to opening acts. Oh, I pay attention in the sense that I listen without doing anything disrespectful or unruly (I am from the South, so I know how to act), but don’t mistake my attentive gaze for genuine interest. I’ve seen some good opening acts, but they were people I had heard of prior to the show.

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So, how did AC/DC’s plan to distribute their new album Black Ice exclusively in the US through Walmart work out for them?  Not bad.  They are set to debut at #1 on the US charts, selling more than 780,000 copies in its first week.

Of course, Black Ice went to #1 in 28 other countries and some of them don’t have Walmarts so it’s also fair to question the necessity of the deal.  Either way, AC/DC has the first #1 debut of their career.  I guess it’s also safe to say that despite freezing the #1 music retailer in the US out completely (iTunes), they were still able to get some copies of the new album into the hands of fans.

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I just got my copy of Cardinology and have nearly reached the midway point of my first listen through the album.  My thoughts so far?
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