You missed a good one...

If you weren't at the Dresden Dolls, Devotchka, and Faun Fables show last night.

Dawn the Faun is my heroine. I love her albums, but she's so much better live.

Devotchka were fun, but the whole Gypsy thing is getting played out. This is exactly the kind of band that gets Hutz' panties in a bunch.

Dresden Dolls are among the most powerfully engaging performers I've ever seen. And, Brian Viglione might just be the best drummer in rock — at least at the moment.

I think I figured out their allure, though. (Non-Jungians can feel free to skip ahead). Archetypally speaking, Amanda Palmer is anima, and Viglione animus.

Which is to say, each is the projection of the opposite sex's idealized gender. Palmer represents what boys would like to be if they were female, and Viglione is what women would dream themselves to be if male.

While she's hardly butch, Palmer possesses a certain subtle masculinity. Viglione is a man's man for sure, yet there's enough pliability in his nature to hint at the feminine.

Just a theory.

Here's a few links:

Halloween Mash-Ups
Diamond Dave writes to Stern
Remember the Egyptian Warrior?
All Day Trey

Thanks to MGP for the Roth bit...

Six String Sycophant.

Funny shit, courtesy blogmaster False 45th. A guitarist's dream?

Speaking of guitars...

In anticipation of possible negative reaction to my review of axeman Steve Kimock's Eudemonic in today's paper, I feel I need to make a couple of points I did not have space for in the notice:

#1. I like jazz-rock and fusion. I consider Mahavishnu Orchestra's Inner Mounting Flame to be  the pinnacle of the form. Over the years, I've owned my fair share of John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell and Pat Martino albums, and I grew up playing guitar in this very style. So I am not exploratory-rock averse. But keep that Al DiMeola and Pat Metheny crap the hell away from me!

#2. I love funk music, and even some of its rock-hybrid spawn. The Meters. Funkadelic (not Parliment, too silly). Hell, I even dig me some Chic.

#3. Instrumental music is A-OK with me. (See # 1).

#4. I understand that guys like Kimmock and Trey Anastasio have a tendency to play more passionately in a live setting.

Hope that clears up any possible misconceptions about my atttitudes towards neo-jazz, funk and groove music. I guess I'm just a jam-snob, if such a thing is possible.

Man, that Kimock album is horrible!

Hello.

Tomorrow's edition is pretty Halloweenie.

Dresden Dolls on the cover, Rasputina inside.

Listened to the Grateful Dead all day.

Why do I like them so much lately?

Bought a new video iPod. Like I needed that.

Friday wisdom.

Careful with those fingernails, Jeff.

I went to the Haunted Forest last night. Not scary at all, unless you count the mud. Those guys totally owe me some new Converse One Stars.

Here's the latest Hutz Report, courtesy our pal Sean Altrui.

Just got the new Guided by Voices boxed set, Suitcase II. I'm reviewing it for another rag, but with more than a hundred tunes, it'll proabably take a while to digest. It's signed by Bob Pollard!

My eagerly-awaited copy of the special 2-disc edition of David Cronenberg's The Fly came in as well. Overall, a fine day for mail.

The iPod I bought from Ethan is a little bit screwy. It freezes from time to time and locks up my brand new dual processor G5. How the hell can that be? I guess the pod is pretty ancient. Three years in the world of technology is an epoch.

I'm hoping to get a new model soon.

It's gonna be another working weekend. Although my word count in the next issue of 7D is already pretty high, I still have a Dresden Dolls piece to put together.  I've also got some mix work due, and I'm on deadline for a gear review. Haven't made it too far in the manual, either. Yikes.

All I really want to do is lay in bed and watch Jeff Goldblum's body parts fall off.

Number One With a Bullet (In the Head?)

Contrary to popular belief, I was not named after this guy. No comment on The Dead tune.

Central VT-based blogger Flatlander mentions the Seven Days' "Popten" feature in False 45th today. Check it out.

As the gent who puts that list together, I'm sometimes amazed at what ends up making the cut. Canadian rocker Aldo Nova made the top slot at Plattsburgh's Peacock Music not long ago. And it wasn't even a new album.

Vermont Bookshop in Middlebury consistently reports local artists — usually of the folk variety — as their bestsellers. You can count on a Putumayo compilation in their top 10 from time to time as well.  One imagines that they only have to sell a couple of any given disc for it to make the list.

Good 'ol Pure Pop in Burlington better reflects the tastes of American indie music buyers. From hip-hop to metal, their best sellers are usually more consistent with national trends. Of course there are often a disappropriate number of jam-rock releases on their list. Let's not forget where we live.

It's always surprising to me just how snugly provincial the Green Mountains are. Vermont is a great place to live, but not exactly a bellwether of hipster culture.

Hee, hee. What do you call a hyperlink that's also a pun? A hyperpun?

Man, I gotta get more sleep.

Grrrrrr.

It happened agian. I spent most of the morning composing a post, and I went to drag a picture from another browser window to the desktop, and I accidentally pulled it into the blog window. Firefox threw up a message telling me that I was about to leave an encrypted page. There was no option but "OK."

I couldn't even copy the text, as the main window was rendered inactive by the pop-up.

So I had no choice but to watch in horror as all of my work went down the drain. Fine way to start your day.

Anyway, go here. I had a ton of fun commentary and links to accompany this one, but technology defeated me.

Guess I'd better just head down to the offfice.

Lame, lame, lame!

I had this awesome post written last night, that I spent about an hour on. Video Free Burlington was on in the background, and I typed like a man possessed. Unfortunately, I accidentally closed the main browser window while in a flurry of hyperlinking.

Sucks.

More later, I'm goin' home.

Nuffin' Much.

Getting ready to head into the office. (Hint: click the 7" covers).

Not much local music news this week — if you're a regular reader and you have tall tales, feel free to send them along to: [email protected]. Doesn't everybody wanna see their name in print?

Casey's Geek Corner.

I just updated my Pro Tools system to LE 6.9. Mac OS 10.4 Tiger should be in today, at which point I need to install PT 6.9.2. Yippee.

Does anyone know if Tiger comes with any kind of word processor?

OK. Enough of that.

This rain sucks. I might go to Nectar's tonight to catch Maddub, a central VT dub band that folks are talkin' about.

One of the dudes plays a Chapman Stick!

I had one of those, but I sold it to buy some sweet studio monitors.

What was I gonna do with a stick, anyway? There's already a Tony Levin. And I could never grow a moustache like his.

Wish I was cool like those Candlebloggers and had fun links to post.

No time, no time.

Last Man on Earth Gets iPod.

Thanks to my Brother Shamus (not an Irish Monk) Ethan Covey, I finally own an iPod.

It's an older model, but it is loaded with 10 gigs worth of primo head-trip music. I DL'd a hack that lets me transfer the stuff to a foreign computer, so I can swap tunes to my heart's content.

Between EC's collection and my own, that little piece of plastic now contains a massive library of mind-melting sound. Yum. Oh, and Ethan, if you're reading this, I'll pay you soon... That damn City was expensive!

Let's see... Tryin' to get some club listings done so I can go home and play record producer. Two fun article/interviews on the 26th — Rasputina & the Dresden Dolls.

What else is new? I just recently finished the 33 & 1/3 series volume on Pet Sounds. I had previously devoured the Led Zeppelin IV book and loved it. Focusing largely on Jimmy Page's occult chicanery, its overall thesis is that the album is a talismanic spell of sorts. Author Erik Davis makes a compelling case, with tongue at least partially in cheek. A self-proclaimed "occulture critic," he possesses enough knowledge of mystical arcanum and rock history to pull it all off.

The Pet Sounds one wasn't quite as exciting, but it was certainly written from the heart. Anyway, I highly recommend the series.

Okee — back to the grind.

New York Cares...

Casey does the tourist thing atop the Empire State.

Things I love about the City:

1. Abundant, inexpensive "ethnic" food. Ever order Cambodian delivery at 10:30 p.m.? In Brooklyn you can. Props also go to to Zen Palate, Kaytoon's, Milano & Baluchi's.

2. Crazy people. They are everywhere, and they are ready to let you know what's up.

3. The Strand Bookstore. Miles of Books. 'Nuff said.

4. Pretty girls.

5. That strange occult musical instrument shop. Can't remember what it's called. But expect some weird-ass bells on the next Contrarian record.

5. Other Music & Kim's record/movie stores. I found a Magma disc, for crap's sake! You can honestly spend a half hour wondering WHICH Terry Riley album to buy.

6. A-Rod's in Fort Green. This tiny 24-hour hispanic bodega is the REAL Brooklyn experience.

Things I hate about the City:

1. Asshole cabbies who let four people into the cab, ask where you're going and when you tell 'em "Brooklyn," they claim they're off-duty.

2. Driving rain in Manhattan when you're trying to hail a cab.

3. Times Square, and any shop on Lexington or Madison Avenues.

4. That shitty hipster/hippie vegan breakfast joint with the 2 hour wait and wretched service. Kate's, I think it's called.

5. Quasi-attractive hordes of wannabe bohemians in the Lower East Side who think they're on to something. Grow up.

By the way, Neil Michael Haggerty (ex of Royal Trux) Is the greatest American rocker alive.

It's like having Jerry Lee Lewis, Dr. John, Chuck Berry and Lou Reed changing Hendix's diaper. Sorry no hyperlinks there — I gotta go to work.