Pitchforkmedia reupdated their Top 100 Albums of the 1990s. Sure, it might be a lame attempt at covering up embarrassing choices in their previous top 100, but I like the idea of going back and re-evaulating which albums hold up against the scrutiny of time. I think an album that has meaning over a long period of time overshadows the importance it had when it came out. I freaking loved the Alvin and the Chipmunks record I had as a kid, but now I can see that it was just a few regular guys singing Christmas carols with the recording speed turned up.
Here are the albums on the list that I own:
94: Frank Black – Teenager of the Year
83: The Pixies – Trompe Le Monde
66: Tricky – Maxinquaye
65: Daft Punk – Homework
64: The Breeders – Last Splash
54: Blur – Parklife
53: Weezer – Pinkerton
43: REM – Automatic for the People
30: Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville
28: The Pixies – Bossanova
26: Weezer – Weezer
19: Beck – Odelay
18: Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
13: Nirvana – In Utero
08: Pavement – Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
06: Nirvana – Nevermind
05: Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted
03: The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
01: Radiohead – OK Computer
Pitchforkmedia reupdated their Top 100 Albums of the 1990s. Sure, it might be a lame attempt at covering up embarrassing choices in their previous top 100, but I like the idea of going back and re-evaulating which albums hold up against the scrutiny of time. I think an album that has meaning over a long period of time overshadows the importance it had when it came out. I freaking loved the Alvin and the Chipmunks record I had as a kid, but now I can see that it was just a few regular guys singing Christmas carols with the recording speed turned up.
Here are the albums on the list that I own:
94: Frank Black – Teenager of the Year
83: The Pixies – Trompe Le Monde
66: Tricky – Maxinquaye
65: Daft Punk – Homework
64: The Breeders – Last Splash
54: Blur – Parklife
53: Weezer – Pinkerton
43: REM – Automatic for the People
30: Liz Phair – Exile in Guyville
28: The Pixies – Bossanova
26: Weezer – Weezer
19: Beck – Odelay
18: Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream
13: Nirvana – In Utero
08: Pavement – Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
06: Nirvana – Nevermind
05: Pavement – Slanted and Enchanted
03: The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
01: Radiohead – OK Computer
If you didn’t come out last Wednesday you probably missed the best open mic ever. Tons of great musicians and a gigantic crowd came out to the Tree House. A few old friends stopped by we hadn’t seen in a while, family members came out for support, and even one Scrooge couldn’t ruin the holiday spirit (more on this down below).
1. Ben Garvey – I sound checked with John Prine’s “That’s the Way the World Goes ‘Round.” After that I played Beck’s “Cut in Half Blues,” “99%,” and “I Hope I Die on the Moon.”
2. Cynthia Bennett – Break up songs are a constant underlying theme to Cynthia’s music. I wonder what a happy song by her would sound like?
3. Erik Balkey – I turned off the monitors and raised up his vocals as he requested. His first song sounded fine. In the middle of his second song, he pulled out his plug and started putting his guitar away. I told him he could play another song, but he said he wasn’t in the mood. I asked him if anything was wrong and he said, “well, no one cares about the sound around here and no one is respecting me.” I thought someone heckled him, but it turned out that a bunch of people came in during his 2nd song and were talking among themselves. I guess Erik needed their undivided attention to enjoy himself up there. It’s one thing to not like the vibe of a place and decide not to come back. It’s another thing to quit in the middle of a song. Personally, I think he needs to grow the hell up.
4. Matt Winn – Played a rocking set on his new 12 string. As I mentioned at the open mic, he’ll be playing with me at the Tree House on December 6th.
5. Sarah Allen – She sounded great and even played a few songs later in the night.
6. Bob Michel – I think the crowd enjoyed Bob’s stuff this week.
7. Willie Tapps – Willie rocked the house as usual.
8. John Brennan – His grandmother made me get out of her way while he was playing, but that’s fine by me. John sounded pretty good and I think he did a few Beatles covers.
9. Joe and Kelly – Kelly’s voice is so easy to listen to. Jeanne heard them practicing outside and said they sounded great out there, too. They closed the show with Natalie Impruglia’s “Torn” and “Sweet Home Alabama.”
10. John Shaughnessy – The crowd went nuts for “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” giving him a receptive audience for his next two songs. Good thinking.
11. Roz King – “Christmas in a Trailer Park” could become a holiday classic if Rox ever recorded it.
12. The Forest Greens – There were a ton of great performances on Wednesday, but the Greens get my vote for best act of the night. Erik went to a Sixer’s game, so Mike convinced a friend of his to play violin with him and she was fantastic. The sad part is that Rob (the guy who usually works the counter on Wednesdays) loves the Forest Greens and he missed it because he was away.
13. Chrishana Obey – Her first song was quick and to the point – She needs a boyfriend. She played some song she sang for an American Idol tryout (“Simon’s an asshole,” she said) and “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess, which won her first place in a pageant.
If you didn’t come out last Wednesday you probably missed the best open mic ever. Tons of great musicians and a gigantic crowd came out to the Tree House. A few old friends stopped by we hadn’t seen in a while, family members came out for support, and even one Scrooge couldn’t ruin the holiday spirit (more on this down below).
1. Ben Garvey – I sound checked with John Prine’s “That’s the Way the World Goes ‘Round.” After that I played Beck’s “Cut in Half Blues,” “99%,” and “I Hope I Die on the Moon.”
2. Cynthia Bennett – Break up songs are a constant underlying theme to Cynthia’s music. I wonder what a happy song by her would sound like?
3. Erik Balkey – I turned off the monitors and raised up his vocals as he requested. His first song sounded fine. In the middle of his second song, he pulled out his plug and started putting his guitar away. I told him he could play another song, but he said he wasn’t in the mood. I asked him if anything was wrong and he said, “well, no one cares about the sound around here and no one is respecting me.” I thought someone heckled him, but it turned out that a bunch of people came in during his 2nd song and were talking among themselves. I guess Erik needed their undivided attention to enjoy himself up there. It’s one thing to not like the vibe of a place and decide not to come back. It’s another thing to quit in the middle of a song. Personally, I think he needs to grow the hell up.
4. Matt Winn – Played a rocking set on his new 12 string. As I mentioned at the open mic, he’ll be playing with me at the Tree House on December 6th.
5. Sarah Allen – She sounded great and even played a few songs later in the night.
6. Bob Michel – I think the crowd enjoyed Bob’s stuff this week.
7. Willie Tapps – Willie rocked the house as usual.
8. John Brennan – His grandmother made me get out of her way while he was playing, but that’s fine by me. John sounded pretty good and I think he did a few Beatles covers.
9. Joe and Kelly – Kelly’s voice is so easy to listen to. Jeanne heard them practicing outside and said they sounded great out there, too. They closed the show with Natalie Impruglia’s “Torn” and “Sweet Home Alabama.”
10. John Shaughnessy – The crowd went nuts for “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” giving him a receptive audience for his next two songs. Good thinking.
11. Roz King – “Christmas in a Trailer Park” could become a holiday classic if Rox ever recorded it.
12. The Forest Greens – There were a ton of great performances on Wednesday, but the Greens get my vote for best act of the night. Erik went to a Sixer’s game, so Mike convinced a friend of his to play violin with him and she was fantastic. The sad part is that Rob (the guy who usually works the counter on Wednesdays) loves the Forest Greens and he missed it because he was away.
13. Chrishana Obey – Her first song was quick and to the point – She needs a boyfriend. She played some song she sang for an American Idol tryout (“Simon’s an asshole,” she said) and “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess, which won her first place in a pageant.
Indians and Pilgrims alike are welcome to the weekly open mic at the Tree House coffee shop from 8:00 – 11:00PM. You can sign up in advance here.
Surprisingly my computer is still pretty much KO’d, but I think it should be up and running soon.
I caught the White Stripes last Monday at the Tweeter Center. I’m pretty pissed because I bought tickets the day they went on sale and our seats were three rows from the back. Maybe it’s because I bought 8 tickets, but that still seems pretty unlikely considering the show wasn’t even sold out. Also, the sound was terrible. I could hear the music fairly well, but Jack White’s voice sounded a million miles away. Overall I was pretty disappointed with show, especially considering all the BS we had to go through to get there.
No one seemed to like Whirlwind Heat who opened for the Stripes, but I think they had potential to be good in a smaller venue. Their songs don’t have names. Instead, they give each one a color, which I think is kind of cool. They’re made up of a drummer, a bass player, and a screaming vocal guy with a moog.
See you tonight.
Indians and Pilgrims alike are welcome to the weekly open mic at the Tree House coffee shop from 8:00 – 11:00PM. You can sign up in advance here.
Surprisingly my computer is still pretty much KO’d, but I think it should be up and running soon.
I caught the White Stripes last Monday at the Tweeter Center. I’m pretty pissed because I bought tickets the day they went on sale and our seats were three rows from the back. Maybe it’s because I bought 8 tickets, but that still seems pretty unlikely considering the show wasn’t even sold out. Also, the sound was terrible. I could hear the music fairly well, but Jack White’s voice sounded a million miles away. Overall I was pretty disappointed with show, especially considering all the BS we had to go through to get there.
No one seemed to like Whirlwind Heat who opened for the Stripes, but I think they had potential to be good in a smaller venue. Their songs don’t have names. Instead, they give each one a color, which I think is kind of cool. They’re made up of a drummer, a bass player, and a screaming vocal guy with a moog.
See you tonight.
Most who read this site know my feelings on MP3.com. It used to be a great resource for finding great local and underground bands. I signed up for them in early 1998 and I loved being able to upload one of my song and share it with the world immediately. Then, they started making sure you didn’t upload “Stairway to Heaven” by putting each upload through an approval process which took a few days. I could live with that. Then, they started taking over a month. The last straw was when they decided to limit nonpaying customers, the ones that made their site as extensive and incredible as it was, to three songs. They cut us down to 3 after waiting months to get them approved. That was the whole reason I started this site in the first place.
You would think I was happy they were closing down, but I’m not. So much music will be lost forever on December 2, 2003. From the Register:
CNET has decided to buy some “specific assets” of the company that Michael Robertson founded in 1998 with the intention of forming a marketplace for the exchange of music. CNET won’t inherit the sprawling archive of music that has accreted there, however. MP3.com has never been less than a mess, but it does represent a hefty social archive. And at some point (and we shall endeavour to find out who, and where) two drunken business executives decided to flush the chain on the whole lot, and strike a deal. CNET has acquired the mp3.com domain name, to add to its existing treasures, such as “com.com” and – stop laughing, you folks – “news.com”. The music archive, however, gets it in the neck.
Musicians received this announcement on Friday.
“Your personal information, music, images, related content or other information will not be transferred to CNET Networks, Inc. or any other third party… Please note, however, that promptly following the removal of the MP3.com website, all content will be deleted from our servers and all previously submitted tapes, CD-ROMs and other media in our possession will be destroyed. We recommend that you make alternative content hosting arrangements as soon as practicable.”
So Vivendi is not even selling MP3.com as we know it. They’re just selling the domain name and then destroying, or locking up, every song in their system. This is immoral, unethical, and should be illegal.
Most who read this site know my feelings on MP3.com. It used to be a great resource for finding great local and underground bands. I signed up for them in early 1998 and I loved being able to upload one of my song and share it with the world immediately. Then, they started making sure you didn’t upload “Stairway to Heaven” by putting each upload through an approval process which took a few days. I could live with that. Then, they started taking over a month. The last straw was when they decided to limit nonpaying customers, the ones that made their site as extensive and incredible as it was, to three songs. They cut us down to 3 after waiting months to get them approved. That was the whole reason I started this site in the first place.
You would think I was happy they were closing down, but I’m not. So much music will be lost forever on December 2, 2003. From the Register:
CNET has decided to buy some “specific assets” of the company that Michael Robertson founded in 1998 with the intention of forming a marketplace for the exchange of music. CNET won’t inherit the sprawling archive of music that has accreted there, however. MP3.com has never been less than a mess, but it does represent a hefty social archive. And at some point (and we shall endeavour to find out who, and where) two drunken business executives decided to flush the chain on the whole lot, and strike a deal. CNET has acquired the mp3.com domain name, to add to its existing treasures, such as “com.com” and – stop laughing, you folks – “news.com”. The music archive, however, gets it in the neck.
Musicians received this announcement on Friday.
“Your personal information, music, images, related content or other information will not be transferred to CNET Networks, Inc. or any other third party… Please note, however, that promptly following the removal of the MP3.com website, all content will be deleted from our servers and all previously submitted tapes, CD-ROMs and other media in our possession will be destroyed. We recommend that you make alternative content hosting arrangements as soon as practicable.”
So Vivendi is not even selling MP3.com as we know it. They’re just selling the domain name and then destroying, or locking up, every song in their system. This is immoral, unethical, and should be illegal.
If you’ve been following Survivor this season tonight was a huge episode. They voted off the show’s best contestant, Rupert, and it’s all Sandra’s fault for knocking him out of the blow dart challenge. Good going! Also, why the heck did Sandra vote for John at the end? He should have been the one they voted off, but did she talk to her allies? They were voting off Dara. This season has been awesome, but I felt bad for Rupert.
If you’ve been following Survivor this season tonight was a huge episode. They voted off the show’s best contestant, Rupert, and it’s all Sandra’s fault for knocking him out of the blow dart challenge. Good going! Also, why the heck did Sandra vote for John at the end? He should have been the one they voted off, but did she talk to her allies? They were voting off Dara. This season has been awesome, but I felt bad for Rupert.
I did a pretty poor job of managing the flow of the show last night. A fair number of performers came out, but a few only did 2 songs and I don’t think anyone dragged out their set. Somehow we managed to fit 12 performers in about 2 hours. We had some new people this week which is always nice.
1. Jarrod – I never know whether I should spell his name with one “r” or two. He did what he could remember of Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue,” and I am in full favor of him writing a song called “Stop Talking to me about the Subway Guy.”
2. Ben Garvey – I played a bunch of songs including, “Why Now Satan,” “The Genius of it All,” “99%,” Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Big River,” Beck’s “Asshole” and a half-assed cover “Heartland Feeling,” also by Beck. I probably did more, but they’re all running together.
3. Kris Noyes – I think you have to be a musician if your last name is pronounced “Noise.” I think I was the only one who voted for him to play a Violent Femmes song at the end. I thought the Femmes would dominate the other choices, the Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen, but I was sadly mistaken.
4. Judy Rusk – She has a nice voice and I liked the Jewel cover.
5. Cynthia – She said she flipped three coins before coming over. Two said “Go to the Tree House,” but only one said, “Go to Manayunk,” so we got to hear the song about her blood “boiling like beer in a barrel.”
6. The Forest Greens – Eric’s guitar mocked me at every chance until I pulled the plug and miked him. Things sounded 10 times better after that. At first I thought it was his guitar, but now I think it might have been the cord. The Tree House always seems to have an ample supply of damaged cords.
7. Sarah Allen – She totally showed off this week by standing and playing. I’m only jealous because half my songs sound like crap when I stand and that’s not including the half that already sounded like crap. I don’t think I ever mentioned this, but Sarah’s webaddress/alter ego, “taxisirensymphony,” is a fantastic word. I don’t know if she made it up or took it from somewhere, but it’s great.
8. Willie Tapps – Sorry Willie, your secret identity is no longer a secret to me. He brought his portable guitar and rocked out on it anyway.
9. Roz King – It felt like a while since I last heard him perform. He filled in for me 2 weeks ago, so I missed him then. He did a few good covers and gave Jarod a lesson in alternatic christian guitar tunings.
10. Will Sankofa of Transitions – Thise vocalist from the poetry group, Transitions, belted out some notes with his killer voice.
11. AJ & Mark & Electric Guitar Guy – I give their Wilco cover two thumbs up. The guitar player’s guitar had a strange tone to it and I couldn’t tell if it was intentional or not. I thought it sounded great though. I didn’t catch the name of their electric guitar player.
12. Tony Desanto – Tony did some good songs, especially his awesome, “You Don’t Have to Grow up to be President.” That song could be famous if the right people heard it. He should send it to MoveOn.org.
I did a pretty poor job of managing the flow of the show last night. A fair number of performers came out, but a few only did 2 songs and I don’t think anyone dragged out their set. Somehow we managed to fit 12 performers in about 2 hours. We had some new people this week which is always nice.
1. Jarrod – I never know whether I should spell his name with one “r” or two. He did what he could remember of Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue,” and I am in full favor of him writing a song called “Stop Talking to me about the Subway Guy.”
2. Ben Garvey – I played a bunch of songs including, “Why Now Satan,” “The Genius of it All,” “99%,” Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” and “Big River,” Beck’s “Asshole” and a half-assed cover “Heartland Feeling,” also by Beck. I probably did more, but they’re all running together.
3. Kris Noyes – I think you have to be a musician if your last name is pronounced “Noise.” I think I was the only one who voted for him to play a Violent Femmes song at the end. I thought the Femmes would dominate the other choices, the Grateful Dead and Bruce Springsteen, but I was sadly mistaken.
4. Judy Rusk – She has a nice voice and I liked the Jewel cover.
5. Cynthia – She said she flipped three coins before coming over. Two said “Go to the Tree House,” but only one said, “Go to Manayunk,” so we got to hear the song about her blood “boiling like beer in a barrel.”
6. The Forest Greens – Eric’s guitar mocked me at every chance until I pulled the plug and miked him. Things sounded 10 times better after that. At first I thought it was his guitar, but now I think it might have been the cord. The Tree House always seems to have an ample supply of damaged cords.
7. Sarah Allen – She totally showed off this week by standing and playing. I’m only jealous because half my songs sound like crap when I stand and that’s not including the half that already sounded like crap. I don’t think I ever mentioned this, but Sarah’s webaddress/alter ego, “taxisirensymphony,” is a fantastic word. I don’t know if she made it up or took it from somewhere, but it’s great.
8. Willie Tapps – Sorry Willie, your secret identity is no longer a secret to me. He brought his portable guitar and rocked out on it anyway.
9. Roz King – It felt like a while since I last heard him perform. He filled in for me 2 weeks ago, so I missed him then. He did a few good covers and gave Jarod a lesson in alternatic christian guitar tunings.
10. Will Sankofa of Transitions – Thise vocalist from the poetry group, Transitions, belted out some notes with his killer voice.
11. AJ & Mark & Electric Guitar Guy – I give their Wilco cover two thumbs up. The guitar player’s guitar had a strange tone to it and I couldn’t tell if it was intentional or not. I thought it sounded great though. I didn’t catch the name of their electric guitar player.
12. Tony Desanto – Tony did some good songs, especially his awesome, “You Don’t Have to Grow up to be President.” That song could be famous if the right people heard it. He should send it to MoveOn.org.
Come one, come all to the weekly open mic at the Tree House coffee shop from 8:00 – 11:00PM. You can sign up in advance here.
For those interested in my computer problems, I couldn’t get WindowsXP to boot back up at all. I didn’t want to lose my data, so I borrowed another hard drive, installed and formatted it, installed XP on it and now I can read my old drive. I was able to back up everything I originally forgot to back up (MP3s, some large downloads, etc), too. I’m going to wait to set up everything properly until this weekend, so I don’t completely kill my brain with sleep deprivation.
See you tonight.
Come one, come all to the weekly open mic at the Tree House coffee shop from 8:00 – 11:00PM. You can sign up in advance here.
For those interested in my computer problems, I couldn’t get WindowsXP to boot back up at all. I didn’t want to lose my data, so I borrowed another hard drive, installed and formatted it, installed XP on it and now I can read my old drive. I was able to back up everything I originally forgot to back up (MP3s, some large downloads, etc), too. I’m going to wait to set up everything properly until this weekend, so I don’t completely kill my brain with sleep deprivation.
See you tonight.
Sometimes you have a day where you look back and think, “Wow, I got a lot done today.” Today I installed a hand-me-down stereo (an upgrade for me) for my entertainment center, cooked a nice meal for my fiancee, and installed Red Hat 9 on my computer. I’ve been without a linux machine since I left DC, so it should be fun messing around with it again. Supposedly I should still be able to boot to WindowsXP, but I didn’t see it on the boot loader during the installation. doh. I backed up most of my stuff, but reinstalling everything again would be a pain.
Also, Jeanne is PO’d that she needs 12 different remotes to watch TV now, so maybe all my accomplishments are creating more work for me.
My site looks pretty good in Linux/GNOME/Mozilla. The main difference is how slick the fonts look. I love it.
Sometimes you have a day where you look back and think, “Wow, I got a lot done today.” Today I installed a hand-me-down stereo (an upgrade for me) for my entertainment center, cooked a nice meal for my fiancee, and installed Red Hat 9 on my computer. I’ve been without a linux machine since I left DC, so it should be fun messing around with it again. Supposedly I should still be able to boot to WindowsXP, but I didn’t see it on the boot loader during the installation. doh. I backed up most of my stuff, but reinstalling everything again would be a pain.
Also, Jeanne is PO’d that she needs 12 different remotes to watch TV now, so maybe all my accomplishments are creating more work for me.
My site looks pretty good in Linux/GNOME/Mozilla. The main difference is how slick the fonts look. I love it.
Adrien and Steve of Reju were awesome last night at 3 Beans. I think everyone was impressed at how high Steve’s voice went during “Floating.” Mia Johnson opened up and she did a nice job. I liked her voice and her guitar style. She gets a nice percussionist to go along with the chords she’s playing.
I watched a little of MTV’s Wild Boyz before we came over to 3 Beans. It had some awesome clips of Great White sharks, but those guys are seriously going to get eaten by an animal one day.
Adrien and Steve of Reju were awesome last night at 3 Beans. I think everyone was impressed at how high Steve’s voice went during “Floating.” Mia Johnson opened up and she did a nice job. I liked her voice and her guitar style. She gets a nice percussionist to go along with the chords she’s playing.
I watched a little of MTV’s Wild Boyz before we came over to 3 Beans. It had some awesome clips of Great White sharks, but those guys are seriously going to get eaten by an animal one day.
There are a few good shows I thought I should tell you about this weekend…
Friday:
Adrien Reju @ Three Beans Coffee Co. in Haddonfield. The show starts at 9:00PM. Three Beans is on Haddon Ave, kind of near PJ Welihan’s. ($3 cover)
Matt Winn @ The Tree House at 8:00PM. ($3 cover with free drink)
Saturday:
Willie Tapps with opening act, Sarah Allen @ the Tree House at 8:00PM ($3 cover with free drink)
Jason Wheatley at Marathon on the Square in Philadelphia from 10-Midnight.
There are a few good shows I thought I should tell you about this weekend…
Friday:
Adrien Reju @ Three Beans Coffee Co. in Haddonfield. The show starts at 9:00PM. Three Beans is on Haddon Ave, kind of near PJ Welihan’s. ($3 cover)
Matt Winn @ The Tree House at 8:00PM. ($3 cover with free drink)
Saturday:
Willie Tapps with opening act, Sarah Allen @ the Tree House at 8:00PM ($3 cover with free drink)
Jason Wheatley at Marathon on the Square in Philadelphia from 10-Midnight.