Conference decc::radio_radioes]radio_radio

    TERRASTOCK is now officially sold out.  No more requests for passes
    will be honored.
    
    Lisa

The Loud Music Festival was quite a lot of fun.
I am now recovering from the laryngits.

    > The Loud Music Festival was quite a lot of fun.
    
    What was it like?  How were the non-traditional venues?  Any trouble
    getting into shows?
    
                         - Paul

> What was it like?

It was a lot more low key than I would have thought.  30 minute sets meant
that bands either were quick getting setup and starting to play or cut off
midset (some bands just don't have a clue).  I missed a couple of things
running between shows (a skateboard and the skill to ride it would have
helped).  I was really bummed about Plum Tree not making it down again;
maybe the rain we had was snow up there.  Otherwise things were a blast.

> How were the non-traditional venues?

The Greek American club was fine.  Big room with a big stage.  It's about
the size of the former Bunratty's.  Small Plannet was a bit awkward (less
so than Green St), but the beer was good.  Those were the two odd places I
went.  There were a few complaints about dollar-a-pound being too far away
& having a huge pile of stuff between the band and the crowd (and their
sets were much later than the schedule).  If Jules Verdone had played
closer to Central Sq than the Lizard Lounge (past Harvard) I might have
dropped by, but I'd have missed too much driving around.

> Any trouble getting into shows?

None.  I had anticipated having to stay put due to lines getting in (having
heard tales of North Hampton), but attendance seemed somewhat light.  This
being the kickoff event only about one in four bands was (substantially)
from out of town.  My guess is that the full big deal in the fall may have
these problems.

If the fall festival has GAPC again and can add TT's to the list of venues,
maybe it'll be OK.

    I hadn't any thoughts of going to see this show, but before tickets
    went on sale, someone I knew said he was going and I decided, "Oh,
    what the heck"...  So, off to Avalon for a LATE Monday night (I think
    the show ended around 1:15 or so -- I was pretty danged groggy at
    work the next day).

    Avalon was transferred into a rave palace that night.  When acts 
    weren't performing, DJs were mixing LOUD techno music, lights were
    flashing and the crowd was dancing.  And it was PACKED.  Avalon's
    balcony was closed due to all the film equipment, slide projectors,
    etc. that the acts had brought in.  This made for a very densely
    crowded audience -- I don't think I've ever seen it so crowded at
    this club before.  Also, there were speakers in the 4 corners of
    the club and the sound was quad -- I don't think I've ever seen 
    that at the club before either.

    The Orb started at 9 pm.  I had seem them do an hour-long set at
    Great Woods last year as part of the ENIT festival and thought that
    the set had been about 15 minutes too long.  Well, tonight they
    played for 105 minutes and it seemed like about an hour too long --
    the first hour.  They *finally* hit their groove about an hour into
    their set and the last 45 minutes was enjoyable.  The Orb is two guys
    who stand in the dark with lights flashing all around them (and on
    the giant cube suspended from the ceiling over the audience), images
    filling the screen behind them, and dance music blaring from the
    speakers.  The Orb revel in repetivive rhythms that go on and on and
    on until the next song starts -- there usually isn't much of a build-up
    within each song; they stay on an even keel.  I'm not sure if they
    intend the songs to be mesmerizing or dance-inducing (probably both),
    but they too often just end up being dull.  Like I said, though, the
    streak was snapped in the last 45 minutes and I enjoyed that segment
    of the show.

    After a 45-minute break (over 30 minutes of which was spent taking
    down The Orb's massive equipment), The Chemical Brothers started. 
    Once again, we have two guys and a lot of equipment, but we actually
    get to see what these guys look like (they aren't standing in the dark).
    They put on a really good set -- they're really good at building tension
    through their (mostly) instrumental songs and generating tension-releases.
    And the songs are catchy -- the melodies jump into my head and swirl
    around -- they really are dance-inducing.  Interestingly, they knocked
    off the biggest singles from each of their albums right off the bat. 
    They also used lots of lights, film and slides during their show.  The
    only complaint I have about them is that they were too "rock star"-ish,
    using the kinds of arena-friendly gestures that I haven't seen since
    the early '80's.  

    So -- is this the next big thing?  Probably not.  But the Chemical
    Brothers have the potential to be a bigger-than-club act.

                           - Paul 
    

   I went to the "First Annual Crankin' & Skankin' Mass Fest" at Great
   Woods last week.  Basically, this was a collection of 6 punk and ska
   acts.  Actually, 3 of the acts (The Offspring, L7, AFI) are on tour
   together.  So, it was basically that tour with 3 Boston-area bands
   thrown in.

   This was opening night at Great Woods and the lawn looked great (until
   L7 came on, but I'm getting ahead of myself) and the staff wasn't surly.
   It was also quite chilly; my hands were freezing by the time I left.

   The first 4 acts played a half-hour each; the last acts got more time.

   First up, at 5 pm, was AFI.  A nice nostagia kick for me, these guys
   sound a lot like the hardcore I listened to back in the early to mid
   '80's (there seem to usually be quite a few acts like this on the
   annual Warped tour).  They had the usual "nice guy" attitude and the 
   guitarist tried to get a "bonding" thing going by wandering around the
   pavillion, playing his cordless guitar.  I thought they were OK, but
   they were playing to a fairly empty place and it was hard for them to
   generate any crowd enthusiasm.

   Next up was Tree.  This was the 3rd time I've seen them and they still
   really impress me.  They're one of the best hardcore/punk outfits that
   I'm familiar with.  Nice variety of songs; very powerful and intense
   playing; friendly rapport with the audience.  I find these guys very
   entertaining.

   Bim Skala Bim was the next act.  I saw these guys once about 8 or 9 
   years ago.  They really haven't changed at all.  In the range of ska
   music from the very poppy, gentle sound to the punk-bordering type, 
   these guys definitely stay on the gentle side.  They're very pleasant,
   but I still think there are a lot of acts that do this stuff much
   better.

   L7 took the stage and all hell broke loose.  Slamming through an all-too-
   brief set, L7 are much more tight and powerful now than they were a
   few years ago.  Their new bassist is a big asset; her playing anchors
   the band really well and she projects an infectious, snarly attitude
   on stage.  The problem with the set was that this was when the kids on
   the lawn decided to rip it up -- chunks of sod started flying through
   the air and landing on the stage.  For the last couple of songs, one
   of L7's guitarists stayed behind a stack of speakers while the other
   stood far back on the stage.  Only the new bassist seemed to revel in
   the shower of sod.

   The Offspring were on next and were pretty tedious (at least for the first
   half-hour or so, which is when I left).  I saw them once before and
   thought that their sound was too glossy, but their performance compensated
   for that.  Unfortunately, they didn't even have that going for them at
   this show.  I didn't see much difference between them and the Night Rangers
   and Def Leppards of 10 years ago -- a little faster, but just as 
   predictable in their music.  That's too bad.

   I skipped the Mighty Mighty Bosstones in favor of getting home earlier, so
   I can't comment on them.

                                  - Paul

   L7 set-list after the form feed

   Andres
   I Need
   Off the Wagon
   Bad Things
   Drama
   Shitlist
   Fast and Frightening [I think]
   Pretend We're Dead   
    

 I thought they were scheduled.

 Ed

    > No Mighty Mighty Bostones??
    >
    > I thought they were scheduled.
    
    They played, I didn't see them -- this was buried at the end of my
    write-up:
    
    > I skipped the Mighty Mighty Bosstones in favor of getting home
    > earlier, so I can't comment on them.
    
    The Globe said the Bosstones were really good and were probably
    the highlight of the show.

                           - Paul

    I went to the Peter Buck extravaganza at the Middle East last night.
    He's been involved with 3 different side projects that have each
    released CDs recently -- this show was a 3-hour-plus showcase of those
    3 side projects.  Interestingly, instead of clearly delineating between
    the 3 different acts, the 7 people just stayed on the stage (for the
    most part) for the whole performance, so the lines between the acts
    were blurred.  Basically, the differentiaton came over who was (or
    wasn't) singing.  The majority of the material played was from the
    most recent CDs of the various acts.

    I have to emphasize how much fun these guys were having; this tour
    is an obvious labor of love and they are obviously having a heck of
    a time doing it.  And despite all the instrument-switching and
    free-flow set list, it went off sounding really well and without
    any major screw-ups.

    The evening started around 9:45 with 45 minutes of instrumentals --
    this was Tuatara, a new age-ish/jazzy outfit that Buck's been 
    involved with.  One thing that was obvious during this segment was
    just how multi-talented the folks on stage were; there was lots of
    instrument switching and I never noticed a weak spot developing because
    someone switched, say, from drums to stand-up bass.  Lots of 
    interesting instruments, too, including vibes and the digeridoo (sp?).
    The length of this segment felt right so that it didn't get dull.
  
    Then Mark Eitzel took the microphone (he wasn't on stage for most of
    the Tuatara segment) and sang for around 40 minutes.  I had seen him
    do a solo acoustic show backing up Bob Mould once and thought he was
    OK, but nothing I'd see again.  He was *much* better last night --
    pouring forth emotions in the songs that overcame the somewhat obvious
    lyrics and sometimes trite music (the bulk of the songs he performed 
    last night were co-written with Buck).  He was fascinating to watch
    (decked out in a pork-pie hat) and his set went by quickly.

    Next up, Scott McCaughey took over vocal duties, so this was The Minus 5
    segment.  The Minus 5's newest album was easily my favorite of the
    3 new releases (I'm a sucker for that catchy, infectious pop stuff) and
    I thouroughly enjoyed this 25-minute slot.  The last song was an avant-
    garde thing during which the various musicians pretended they couldn't
    play well and was chock-full of bizarre tempo changes -- a lot of fun.

    We then got another 30 minutes of Tuatara material; this didn't work
    quite as well as the opening segment (The Middle East pretty much
    emptied out), but was still enjoyable.  Eitzel then did another 25
    minutes of material, followed by encores of one song each from the
    3 acts and an extra one from Eitzel.  

    When all was said and done, it was kissing 1 am; they had played
    continuously for 190 minutes and it was a really good ride.  A bargain
    at 10 bucks.
 
                              - Paul
    

    
    The show was scheduled as a Mark Eitzel show.  He's the guy that used
    to be in American Music Club.
    
    To die-hard Eitzel fans, the presence of Peter Buck was an unfortuante
    after-effect of the recent Buck produced record.  I know a few of these
    fans, they would have a group aneurysm if they heard the show referred
    to as a "Peter Buck extravaganza".  There might be violence involved
    also, hence the warning.
    
    Lisa/public servant

    > The show was scheduled as a Mark Eitzel show.
    
    Hmmm... I'm not sure what you mean by that.  Are you saying that it was 
    originally booked this way?  Did Eitzel originally book a tour that
    mutated into this?  I'm asking because I heard about this tour 
    (billed as something silly like "The Magnificent Seven vs. the United 
    States" tour, reflecting the seven members) months ago.  Way back then, 
    it was described like the show I saw last night.  Or maybe the Middle 
    East sent out some bad promotional material at one point?
    
    > the presence of Peter Buck was an unfortunate after-effect of
    > the recent Buck produced record
    
    Not only did he co-produce it, Buck also co-wrote every song (save one)
    with Eitzel and does most of the guitar work on it.  It actually plays
    like a duo album rather than another Eitzel solo effort (though I
    still find it as lyrically trite as previous Eitzel work).
    
    > if they heard the show referred to as a "Peter Buck extravaganza".
    > There might be violence involved also, hence the warning.
    
    I think that these fans are being naive about this tour then.
    I called it the "Peter Buck extravaganza" because Buck is the only 
    common link (I'm pretty sure) between the 3 new albums, so I'm guessing 
    that this whole tour thing is his doing -- a neat way of doing a tour 
    with all the side projects he had been working on.  I could be wrong, 
    though.
    
    There were quite a few Eitzel fans there last night yelling out
    requests.  He did one.  There was also an obnoxiously drunk REM
    fan hanging out directly in front of the stage.  Before Eitzel
    began his second segment, Buck came over and asked the guy not
    to shout during Eitzel's segment (surprisingly, the guy did just
    that).
    
    > -< It's a Mark Eitzel show, folks >-
    
    Nah.  It was a 3 act showcase that included Mark Eitzel as one of
    the acts and as one of the seven members onstage.
    
                                - Paul

The Printed callanders I have list the show as Mark Eitzel,
Tuatara, The Minus Five.  WMBR shortened that to Mark Eitzel
when it was listed as an upcoming show.  Now I wish I'd gone.

The Poster Children played their rockenest show in a couple of
years Monday night though (& exhaustion set in).  The only slow
song of the night was He's My Star.  Rose just about collapsed
at the end in what looked to me like exercise induced athsma.

R.

    
    RE:  .697
    
    This show was the BEST!!  It'll be tough to beat, but I think the
    Prodigy gig at Avalon on monday night is gonna be the one to do it...
    
    Kev --
    

   Since I was at the Middle East Tuesday night, I couldn't see the
   Ben Folds Five show at the Paradise, so I opted to drive down to
   Providence last night to see them and Bettie Serveert at Lupo's.

   Very young crowd -- there were lots of seniors in high school,
   absolutely giddy with the fact that they've finished school, were
   about to graduate and had their adult life just starting; therefore,
   there was a *lot* of chit-chat, especially during the backup acts.
   Lots of inane conversations and some infuriated Bettie Serveert fans
   (since these conversations were happening at the expense of watching
   the band).

   First up was September 67, a duo (guitar and drums) doing folksy
   songs that were quite intriguing.  Interesting melodies and they
   made a lot of their limited instrumentation.  I found them mesmerizing
   and wished they had played more than the 25 or 30 minutes they were on.

   Next up was Bettie Serveert.  Hard to categorize, they had elements
   from many different sources.  Sometimes quiet, sometimes loud, 
   sometimes jangly, sometimes abrasive (even all in the same song),
   the disparate elements didn't quite coalesce all the time, but they
   get lots of points for trying, were never boring and have a pleasing-
   to-watch stage presence.

   On to Ben Folds Five.  I absolutely raved about him at last year's
   Lollapalooza (I had no idea who he was then) and was wondering if
   that was just a fluke.  Nope.  Last night's show was incredibly
   entertaining -- the 90 minutes he was on flew by.  Although the
   new album is weak compared to the first album, it doesn't matter
   when it comes to his live show.  Folds has amazing energy, seems
   very restless and is always looking for something to do -- and
   it's a blast to watch him doing it.  He manhandles his baby grand
   piano in increasingly creative ways and has a great time doing it.
   His humor is deadpan and dead-on.  If his music appeals to you at
   all, I highly recommend catching him -- he's a lot of fun.

                            - Paul

  Ben Folds Five set list follows the form feed


   Steven's Last Night in Town
   One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
   Kate
   Philosophy
   Selfless, Cold and Composed
   The Last Polka
   -instrumental-
   Jackson Cannery
   She Don't Use Jelly
   Smoke
   Brick
   -instrumental-
   -instrumental (Hava Nagila)-
   Fair
   Battle of Who Could Care Less
   Song for the Dumped
   Ultimate Sacrifice (?)
   -rap parody-
   Underground

   Missing the War
   Julianne
    

I had a similar reaction to Bettie Seveert the first time I saw them
a couple of years ago.  They either opened or I went to see the opener.
I saw them again 6 mos later after having bought Palomine (recomended)
and knowing the songs, was completely taken.  Part of it was having
an easier time with the lyrics & part was being entertained with the
improvized variations they played & part was not being nearly so
disturbed by a guitar solo in every song (I think they kept it to half
of the songs) and the guitar player letting Carol have her moments on
stage too.  The new album -- Dust Bunnies -- is on a par with Palomine.

R.

    > not being nearly so disturbed by a guitar solo in every song 
    
    He was really interesting to watch.  He'd play and then start 
    bouncing around as if he was out of control, seemingly having
    nothing to do with the music.  I enjoyed him (though a teenager
    kept looking at him and saying he was "gross" because he was "shady" --
    I have no idea what she meant by that).
    
                                    - Paul

I have Bettie Serveert's 'Palomine' and agree that it's pretty good. I saw then
open for Buffalo Tom a few years ago. The guitarist has a very Neil Young Ragged
Glory-ish sound (a good thing). He even looked like a cross between Neil and
Thurston Moore, and did jump around a bit from what I remember. They sounded
pretty good...

I saw that "Ben Folds Five" is playing the HORDE tour this year with Neil Young
& Crazy Horse, Beck, Morphine, Primus, Kula Shaker ...

-Jeff
 

    
    The Prodigy show was monday night, Avalon, Boston MA.  In a nutshell,
    this unit SLAMS!  But man...the show was way to short.  Also, I have
    no idea what the 'house-DJ's' were doing...they spun some _lame_ tunes,
    making you want to sit.  Wrong move.
    
    Good night, moved HARD, felt good.  Maxim wasn't in cat-eye
    mode...he still looked possessed as did Keith (the "Firestarter" dude).
    These guys freak on stage, really pumping up the croud pretty much
    non-stop...they definitely got the MC-thing down.  Volume could have
    been louder I think..
    
    They extended "Voodoo People" for a bit, I thought it was the best tune
    they did.  "Breathe" was hot too...and of course, "Firestarter".  
    
    Latest buzz:  a Chemical Brothers/Prodigy tour late summer/early 
    fall.  
    
    Kev --
    

    I came away from the show only feeling lukewarm (if that) about it. 
    The calls of "Are you representin' Boston?" and "I can't hear you!"
    were a bit grating.  The music was just OK.  Not overly involving. 
    About 45 minutes into it, I found my self checking my watch.
    
    I found Keith, "the firestarter guy," to be sort of "Billy Idol-ish". 
    Lots of snarls, goofy looks, and antics, but no real substance.  By the
    end I wasn't sure if they were being serious, or if they were trying to
    be a parody.  I hope that later.
    
    On the other hand, I found the Chemical Brothers show of a few weeks
    ago to be extremely good, especially when compared to Prodigy.  CB had
    me dancing until I wanted to drop.  The music was tight, intense, and
    NOT boring.  For 2 hrs of techo-pop, I expected at least some let down,
    but there wasn't.
    
    -Steve
    

    I guess I'm just totally out of it. Lord knows I've heard 
    about Prodigy, the record biz death throes techno-buzz, the 
    next big thing, ad nauseum. But to my ears there's nothing 
    even remotely interesting, or new, or "techno."" about their 
    big hit single. 
    
    When I finally cam across the video on MTV (vaguely amusing
    in an agitated Adam Ant sort of way) I simply could not believe 
    that all this interest (real or industry-enhanced ) is being 
    generated by such a slight piece of pre-fab confection.

    You were expecting industry interest for something original?
    
    The "industry" seems to react to whatever Spin says is cool.  By the
    time Spin hears about it, you're into the derivative of the derivative
    of the derivative of something that probably had some musical value in
    its original form when it started out five years before.
    
    Luckily, there have been pronounciations that "Grunge is dead" from
    the hip 'zines, so maybe Pearl Jam and Bush and Oasis and the other
    fifth generation derivative comm-alt bands will go away.
    
    I personally have never understood techno.  Then again, 99.995% of all
    Americans polled don't understand Labradford.
    
    Loopy Go-getter
    

    I'm more with Steve than with Kev on the Prodigy show.  I wasn't
    quite sure what to expect.  What I got was techno-punk -- lots of
    times they'd insult the audience, etc.  But it was cartoonish techno-punk.
    The sometimes-lead singer (from the Firestarter video) reminded me of 
    a more cartoonish version of Johnny Rotten.  The guitar player (who I
    think played for a grand total of 3 songs) reminded me of Sid Vicious.
    
    Besides the guitar player (again, for only 3 songs), the only other
    musician was a guy behind a wall of equipment.  The other members of
    the act were two rapper/singers, who pretty much alternated taking
    lead on consecutive songs, and another guy who danced during every
    other song.
    
    Their stage patter was pretty tiresome.  Lots of arena-rock stuff
    ("I can't see you!!", "I *said*, do you *represent* Boston?!?!",
    etc.) that was unnecessary.
    
    They suffer from the same problem as many of the rap acts I've seen 
    -- they get a song into a groove, then stop it for no apparent reason
    to do a lot of stage patter, then start the song back up again; it's
    pretty annoying.  But, maybe it's supposed to be.
    
    I'm no big expert on the band (I only know the radio hits and I
    recognized an encore cover of L7's "Fuel My Fire"), but this was
    a letdown.  A lot of the songs really sounded the same to me, but
    that could be due to lack of familiarity with their stuff.  (Then
    again, I didn't have that problem with The Orb's much longer set a few
    weeks ago.)
    
    Anyway, they do have some good ideas, but I think they need work.
    
                              - Paul

    
    The CB show was the Prodigy show to the 15th power, no question
    about it.  I dug the croud at the Chemical gig more than the bunch
    gathered for monday night's show.  Seemed like folks were WAY more
    psyched into what the Chemicals had to offer.
    
    However, if there's a scene to dance to, and dance hard, I'll take
    Prodigy anytime just as I'd geek at a CB show.
    
    Kev --