A few short things before the weekend. I know I'm lagging on my recap of the Xiu Xiu/Shearwater/Casiotone for the Painfully Alone show -- the hosting hijinx earlier in the week really threw me for a loop -- but I do have a few small items for you today.

First -- Calla, Dirty on Purpose, and the newly-retooled Sugar Report take the stage at the Bowery Ballroom Saturday night. The Sugar Report's demos are enough to make us want to see if they can bring it (you know, "it" being that je ne sais quois that the best bands have live) on a bill with two bands that are pretty formidable performance machines. We'll let you know how it goes.

Secondly -- A friend sent me an interesting article, which you may or may not have seen around the interpipe, about violin virtuoso Joshua Bell's experiment with The Washington Post. They asked him to busk with his Stradivarius violin in a busy DC subway station to see what happened when a master of his caliber graced a more humble venue than a vaunted concert hall. Would people notice? Or would it not even register? The results didn't really surprise me all that much -- now that I live in a city constructed atop a massive public transportation system, nothing that happens in a subway station gives me pause. Anyway, I'd like to posit that this is some of the best writing about music, just in general, that I've read in quite some time. I was moved to tears a few times. You'll see -- I have a feeling that if you're reading this, you're the kind of person who'd be touched by it as well.


I wasn't able to get an mp3 of Bell's recording of one of the pieces in the article (though you can watch a video of his performance at the article link) -- Bach's Chaconne from the Partita No. 2 in D Minor -- but I did find another fiery virtuoso's version...

Lara St. John -- Bach's Chaccone from Partitia No. 2 in D minor. [site]

Thirdly -- I'd forgotten how great lovefingers is. (Recent posts: Michael Moorcock's Deep Fix! Tuxedomoon! METALLICA!! A Kid Creole remix! All in one week!) I'm super bummed that I missed his dj sets here in NYC in February. Ooops.

Fourthly -- James Green Peaness has a great review of the self-titled Voxtrot record. As a preview of coming attractions, I suppose I should let you know that my opinions are pretty much aligned with his. VXTST (hey, I just made that up -- I like it as an abbreviation!!) isn't a collection of jangly, light-hearted singles -- it's a hefty bildugsroman-esque (Though, Pinkie tells me that maybe it's more Künstlerroman-y. Smartypants!) album, which I think is pretty neat. I have a weakness for what I call "thinly-veiled semi-autobiographical coming-of-age" novels -- you know, the kind of thing that lots of promising writers put out as their first effort (everything from To Kill a Mockingbird to Less Than Zero to The Mysteries of Pittsburgh to Special Topics in Calamity Physics follow this literary trope -- there are countless others), and most never get around to following up? Yeah, those. That's what the Voxtrot record is like, in a way. (Except I surely hope there will be an exceptional followup!) Anyway, this will make more sense later, I promise.

YOUR OFFICIAL PARTY TRACKS OF TAX WEEKEND, BTW or, I'm cleaning out things I've wanted to post for months now:

Pull Tiger Tail -- Let's Lightning [ myspace ]
The Longcut -- Idiot Check [ myspace ]
Beyoncé -- Irreplaceable (Dances With White Girls RMX) [ remixer ]
Herbert -- The Audience (Martinez Cosmic Re-Edit) [ remixer ]