Live Music Friday: Drunk Drivers

The politically incorrectly titled Drunk Drivers are a band out of Eau Claire that puts on a really entertaining live show. (Not to be confused with the NYC punk outfit DRUNKDRIVER.) I must admit that I haven't seen them play in person in about 9 years. They are part of the Crustacean Records family, the Madison-based label that is home to most of my favorite local acts, including Droids Attack and the previously profiled Mad Trucker Gone Mad. The first time I had ever heard of the Drivers was catching their live show after a friend's band had played before them. Some other friends encouraged me to stay and check them out. I really enjoyed their show, it was a lot more than I was expecting. They come out on stage looking like a bunch of gas station attendants who have been at the bar since noon, but they had songs and style and energy. Their music and their style are somewhat hard to describe. A Minneapolis Star Tribune review of one of their shows may have captured it best:

"Bukowski set to music by four guys who have somehow managed to make being a motor head from small-town Wisconsin sexy."

Enough said. These guys are still out there doing it after about 15 years together. You can still catch them on a semi-regular basis at their local haunts like House of Rock in Eau Claire, but they are also no strangers to Madison joints like the High Noon Saloon and The Inferno and can often be found there when Crustacean puts together a show of the label acts.

Here's a performance from The Inferno in Madison about 2 years ago, of their song "Get Ahead."

The Future of Media

A while back I got in a big argument with a buddy who used to work for a big cable company. My argument was that cable companies are going to die off if they do not change the way they do business, and the future of media is going to through your internet connection. All TV and home movies will be watched through your internet connection, and there will be no reaso for you to pay big money to Cable companies. I, like everyone else, am sick of the way the cable companies run there monopolies, and believe that the costs they charge people to watch things that they can get for free on other mediums is absurd. Think of what is happening with Newspapers. Why would somebody pay for a newspaper every day, when you can get your news for free? Anyways I stumbled upon this aricle a while back and it basically backs up my argument. To be fair, the person I was having the argument with believed that it would be impossible to stream the quality of video that you receive through your cable companies over an internet connection. Especially a wireless connection. My belief was that the phone companies would become the new monopoly of media. They would provide you with your wireless internet connection, and you could stream whatever television show, movie, game that you wanted directly to your PC or Television set. He may have been correct in saying that, the article doesn't really touch on the technology. I am not saying that we will be able to get all of our media for free, I dont believe that to be the case at all. However I think so much of what drives the cost of cable companies is the fact that the consumer has so few options. If i want cable right now I have to either go with Charter or I have to with Dish. So they can keep fucking up my bill every week, charging me more and more, and i can do little about it. However eventually every television show, movie, or game will be available online. You will be able to directly to the HBO, ABC, and ESPN and stream your content directly to your TV, PC, or Phone. There will be need to pay those ridiculous costs and deal with that horrific customer service.

The reason for this post was not to say I won my argument. I am fascinated with where media is headed and far this technology has come in such short time. With wireless devices like the Iphone being able to stream live video in HD quality, it is amazing to think how much information your PC or TV will be able to handle. Look at how much traffic sites like Hulu and Youtube get each day. I just posted the other day how I can stream movies from netflix through my Xbox live account. There are still some obstacles in the way, heck my parents are still using dial up for the internet connection so it is foolish to think these changes will happen anytime soon. I dont really know when these changes will take place, but I do believe they are coming. Anyways I think the article covers what I said here a lot better than I could explain it. It is worth taking a look. Let me know what you think.

Humpday: Jessica Alba

I couldnt find anyone really interesting to go with for humpday so I just went to the well. I am not sure if Alba is currently working on anything that will be released soon, but she has to be one of the 10 hottest chicks on the planet. Enjoy!

Caption Contest

Most Memorable Death Scenes

Here is a pretty cool link of the top movie death scenes of all time. LINK I have always felt the death scenes are usually the most powerful part of movie cinema, or at least what I usually remember the most after a movie is over. Here are a few of my most memorable movie death sequences. Please post a link to your favorites or most memorable.

Live Music Friday - Radiohead

I must disclose to the reader(s) that I will be in attendance at the Coldplay show at Alpine Valley tomorrow night. I understand that many of you will use that information to disregard anything I write about music ever again. Transparency above ego.

However, this fact leads me to Radiohead for two reasons: (1) The best live show I've ever seen in person was Radiohead at Alpine Valley in August 2003, and (2) Coldplay has become the biggest band in the world by trying to sound like a cross between U2 and Radiohead. Turns out, if you take an interesting musical style and make it a little bit shittier and more boring, lots of Americans will tune in.

Anyway, even though large segments of the American population are oblivious to it, Radiohead is probably the most important band of the past decade. They are already in Rolling Stone's Top 100 rock bands of all time. Kid A, OK Computer and In Rainbows all won Grammies for Best Alternative Album, and each was nominated for Album of the Year (all genres). What's even more mind-blowing is that a poll of the British declared OK Computer to be the greatest album of all time, beating out the likes of The Beatles (Sgt. Peppers and Revolver), Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon) Michael Jackson (Thriller), and Nirvana (Nevermind). When the British like you better than the Beatles, you are King Shit of Fuck Mountain.

Beyond the innovative styles, layers, textures and overall atmosphere that Radiohead's acclaimed records deliver in full force - a Radiohead record can make you feel dizzy and high, and will alter your mood in every listen - they are also an absolutely phenomenal live act. It's hard to believe that they can reproduce all of the unusual sound, feel, and ambience of their recorded albums and actually kick it up a notch in intensity for a live performance, but they do exactly that. I would have loved to have found a great live show in front of a huge audience, but they all sound like shit recorded on somebody's cell phone camera.

The clip below is from a live performance from In Rainbows - From the Basement, a production they did concurrent with the release of the album. It was performed and shot in a recording studio, but it is a live performance, the likes of which most people will never be fortunate enough to see in person. They did the entire In Rainbows album, but tossed in a couple of older tunes, including Where I End and You Begin (The Sky is Falling In) shown below.

Please see below for a band that is better than that band you like, playing a song that is better than that song you like, in a performance that is better than that live act you like so well. Deal with it.

By the way, if anybody here can look as creepy at Thom Yorke, you're invited to my Halloween party.

I Would Fellate The Inventor of Netflix

Well it has taken me about five years to hop on board but I have so in a big way. I am not sure what the last straw was but I think it was the $7.50 I paid for a New Release a couple weeks ago at Blockbuster which turned into $10 when I failed to bring it back on time. In the old days I would never return movies and go get another card at another movie store. Fuck paying late fees, now they have your card and charge you a BS restocking fee. I then would typically go to family video where they do not make you pay your late fees to rent movies. Or if I had a late fee and I knew this I would use my buddies phone number and information (sorry Jake). However Family video has a poor selection and most of the time the movie you want is gone, unless you want to watch something that came out three years ago. So I figured it was time for a change. I cannot believe how fucking amazing Netflix is. I am on the two movies at a time plan and I already had one lost in shipping, but still I get movies within a few days, watch them when I want to watch them and send them back. In a couple days two more movies appear. What is great is with an Xbox live account, you can add movies to your instant queue and stream them live on your xbox. So for 70% of the movies and television shows I want to watch I don't even need to fucking walk to the mailbox. How tits is that? I have to say what the fuck was I thinking, waiting for this long. Netflix has revolutionized the way I watch television. In fact if the Brewers aren't playing the TV is only used to broadcast my netflix movies or television shows.

In the past 3 weeks I have watched.

- The first two seasons of Weeds
- The first season of the Tudors
- The first two season of 30 rock
- The first season of Madmen
- The first season of The Wire
- and a shit ton of movies i have been wanting to see

I plan on giving some reviews later, right now I would rank them.

1. The Wire
2. Madmen
3. Tudors
4. Weeds
5. 30 Rock

Anyways if there was anyone dumb enough to still be using Blockbuster or any other video store for anything but video games, like I was, get you ass online and sign up for Netflix. You will not regret it.