Coffee on the Keyboard

Voodoo Lighthouse

Combine Metallica–era Metallica with a healthy blend of slightly more recent metal bands like Staind and Disturbed and you’ll basically have Voodoo Lighthouse. The only problem is all three of those bands were more creative.

I saw these guys live at the Green River Café here in East Lansing last night. I suppose it was fun to ridicule post-UofM fratboys with their entourage of high school seniors, but the music left something to be desired. The highlight of the evening were their covers of the Foo Fighters and one of those catchy-but-non-descript 90s pop tunes that I can never remember the name of.

There were supposed to be two other acts, Joe Sleep and No Fat Chicks, but we didn’t see them anywhere, so we took off after Voodoo’s set.

But the whole experience got me thinking about how the venue effects the music. Would arena rock bands be as cheesy (or awesome) if they were playing in a dank bar? Does being surrounded by hippies make you feel differently about the act on stage?

The Green River Café is supposedly a little indie coffee shop, but in reality it’s a hippy/vegan/wiccan (probably) coven. I support fair-trade and organic coffee, and if people want to be vegetarians that’s all right with me, but I got the distinct sense they didn’t appreciate my leather coat. (If they’d known it’s lambskin they probably would have skinned me to see how I liked it.)

As covens tend to be, it’s also very cliquey. At least 80% of the people there all knew each other. My friends and I were very much outsiders. Of course, high school students and just-out-of-high-school 17 or 18 year old freshman who can’t go anywhere do tend to be cliquey, so it wasn’t wholly unexpected.

But I was also thinking about better venues, like St. Andrews and Magic Stick in Detroit. St. Andrews tends to attract what can best be described as mopey-semi-religious-pop-punk, bands like Mae and Gym Class Heroes and The Ataris. Magic Stick has a much more indie/post-rock line up, like Ted Leo, Blonde Redhead, and Of Montreal.

Obviously, albums are a different category. Some artists are great live and terrible on record, and vice versa. But in terms of shows, I think the venue almost matters as much as the band. It shouldn’t. Why can’t EITS play as well at St Andrews as at Magic Stick? So I’ll suck it up and go anyway and try not to let it bother me.

Tags: local, Music
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Hoodies

So I did end up going to Urban Outfitters. I was about to blow almost $100 on a jacket and hoodie, but then the jacket rang up for 90% off. That’s right. 90%. I don’t think she typed in enough 9s, because it was sure supposed to be $50 and came out to $5.

I think people have appreciated the fact that I wore a <gasp /> different shirt.

Tags: Life
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Crazy German!

Arsenal 2-1 Wigan.

Good. Of course, true to this season’s form, the Gunners had to come back from a 0-1 deficit, but at least they won. Though with possibly the least class ever displayed in the Premiership.

On a goal called back, Henry starts it off by screaming at Wigan keeper Kirkland while handing him the ball. Admittedly, Kirkland had been wasting time. Then we see several cynical and unnecessarily rough tackles before the coup de grâce: Lehmann.

Arsenal manages to pull themselves level, thanks to a Hall own-goal, and then ahead, thanks to some brilliant play by Henry and Rosicky. Then, as soon as the ball sails past Lehmann’s line behind the boards, he leisurely jumps the sign… and “accidently” tosses the ball straight into the back of it. Turns around. Picks it up. Makes it over this time. And he follows it straight to a yellow.

That makes 5 for him, he misses the next League Cup match.

Normally, any keeper picking up 5 cautions in a season is… rare? Impressive? Depending on your point of view. But with Lehmann, the crazy German star of last year’s Champion’s League Final defeat, the fact that it took him until February is the most shocking.

This man will run 30 to 40 yards off his line to get in peoples’ faces. After they’ve been fouled.

Whoever managed to get Gerrard’s temper under control at Liverpool last year should be hired at twice his current salary to keep a muzzle on Lehmann. (And in his spare time he can do some anger management with Henry and Young Cesc, who is rapidly developing the team spirit.)

Never cut off an Arsenal man in traffic. There are no officials to stop them in their road rage.

Tags: Football
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Sushi

I love Sushi. Even more than that, I love being the type of person who eats sushi.

One of the few local restaurants around here, completely independent, is a sushi place down the street called Q Sushi. It’s run by a family, I think they’re Korean but I’m not positive, and they really roll some quality fish.

It’s not as “nice” as some of the other places around here, but it’s cheap, it’s fast, and it tastes good. And it’s the closest. What more could you want?

On an unrelated note… Only having one hoodie (and one or two long-sleeve t-shirts) is starting to bore me, so tomorrow I think I’m wandering down to the vintage store and/or Urban Outfitters.

Tags: Life
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Modular

Modular has about 2 dozen artists, ranging from the relatively insufferable Jack Johnson to Gary Jules, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and NYPC. Check out some of their less well-known artists, they’re pretty good. Gary Jules almost sounds like a latter-day Boss. Think “Sinaloa Cowboys” but less depressing.

You might recognize NYPC from a recent, poorly conceived, Intel ad campaign. They do have other songs, though, and they’re recent EP is pretty good. It’s one of the better dancepunk albums I’ve heard, and certainly the best in a few years. (And there are girls in the band. Real ones! Pretty rare in this scene.)

I’m still trying to find Leave Them All Behind and Rocket Science, so if anyone wants to hook me up with some of their tracks, please do!

Coming up, I talk about last year’s efforts by BSS, Mogwai, Cursive, and Mastodon.

Tags: Music
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