Blahg

31 December 2004

2004: The Year in Review Top Albums:

• 1. How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb - U2
• 1. Long Gone Before Daylight - The Cardigans
• 2. Silence Is Easy - Starsailor
• 3. Feels Like Home - Norah Jones
• 4. Scissor Sisters - Scissor Sisters

(Both U2 and The Cardigans rank as essentials.)

Songs of the Year:

• Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own - U2
• Live and Learn - The Cardigans

Band of the Year:

• U2 (duh)

Top Concerts:

• 1. Chicks with Attitude, featuring The Cardigans and Liz Phair with Charlotte Martin and Katy Rose (Paramount Theatre, Denver, Colorado)
• 2. The Corrs with Sophie B. Hawkins (Universal Lending Pavilion, Denver, Colorado)
• 3. David Bowie (Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, Colorado)
• 4. Starsailor with Matthew Ryan (Fox Theatre, Boulder, Colorado)
• 5. David Byrne with Sam Phillips (Ogden Theatre, Denver, Colorado)

Top Movies:

• 1. Ray
• 2. Girl with a Pearl Earring
• 3. Spider-Man 2
• 4. The Aviator
• 5. Dodgeball

Sexiest Matt Alive and Mattopia's Most Eligible Bachelor:

• Matthew Anderson (How do you do it year after year, Mr. Anderson?)

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13 December 2004

Congratulations to "my band" for making it into the Rock Hall in U2005!

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11 December 2004

Finally watched the DVD included in the Limited Edition How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (hey, I've been travelin', ya know? Out there... in Zoo Station, Zooropa, in the People's Republic of Zootopia, not to mention The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France; I was out there feeding the soul and taking it for a walk of Forrest Gump proportions).

Back to my thought: I must say the video for the Temple Bar Mix of Vertigo is simply priceless. And, while we're on the topic of the new album, Fast Cars is a fantastic track that should've been included on all versions of the CD.

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20 October 2004

A dark day for baseball... and all mankind, for that matter.

"... for when the heroic men in pinstripes succumb to the ugly, bedraggled invaders clothed in stockings drenched in red, ye shall know that the end of the world is nigh. The victory will bring false hope to those who march in Fen's way, for the curse of the infant will plague them and birds armed with bats shall have their way." - From the Lost Prophecies of Mattstradamus, Century 5, 4th Quatrain.

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6 October 2004

Why do the Yankees rule? Because they battle back time and again. Tonight's game was a 12-inning doozie!

DER-EK JE-TER! Woo-hoo!!

At the other end of the spectrum, once again owning the worst fans in all of sports are the Atlanta Braves, a team that can't even sell out their playoff games.

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26 September 2004

Ahhh... The New York Times. It's one of the joys in life to read it over fresh java on Sunday mornings. Set aside the recent scandals and the accusations of a left-wing slant; it's still the best paper in the country. Especially when you get to read stuff like the following by Harvey Araton*:

"When Pedro Martinez says he can't beat the Yankees, it makes you wonder if he has officially kicked off a campaign to join them.

"The Yankee-taunting, head-hunting, Zimmer-tossing Pedro in pinstripes? You say: blasphemy. I say: Roger Clemens.

"Here is what Martinez said after an eerily familiar eighth-inning decision by another overmatched generic Boston manager left him weakened and exposed to a typical cavalry charge by the Yankees, who put a chokehold on the American League East on Friday night by defeating Martinez and the Red Sox:

"'What can I say? I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy.'"

Beautiful stuff!

But wait. It gets better. There's the hilarious editorial by Peter Mehlman**:

"Hold on, you say, just picture it: The Sox win the Series for the first time since the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, there's a parade, the players get to make speeches, the fans get to vandalize some revitalized section of town - and then what?

"'Well, then...'

"Then, my friend, you have nothing to live for."

That's an argument I've heard before, actually, but it's always a delight to read that kind of logic.

On a lighter note, there was this by Jack Curry***:

"Bernie Williams spent Friday afternoon in his hotel room here preparing to play the Red Sox by composing some music. Williams brings his guitar on every Yankee trip, so it was no surprise that he was relaxing by working on some new songs.

"But what made Friday's session especially rewarding for Williams was that his younger brother, Hiram, joined him. Hiram picked up the guitar first, then Bernie grabbed it and, all the while, the brothers kept strumming and smiling. Their bond is more about music than about baseball."

There you have it. Fair and balanced reporting on what's really important in life. Root, root, root for the Yaan-kees...

* Page 3 of Sports, the Sunday Times, 26 September 2004 ** Page 8 of Sports, the Sunday Times, 26 September 2004 *** Page 3 of Sports, the Sunday Times, 26 September 2004

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25 September 2004

Norah Jones is a crack up. At her Red Rocks show last night she joked about the cold (it was one of the last shows for the season at the amphitheatre) and her need to borrow a long-sleeved shirt. Unfortunately, the shirt had a hole in the right arm pit, a source of amusement to her and a hole which she pointed to when she sang about a hole in her heart.

She came on stage wearing a blue scarf and joked about how she felt like such a diva wearing it, even though it was there for sheer practicality to keep her neck warm during the chilly evening. At one point she joked about tying the scarf to her mike stand like Aerosmith; she struck a pose and the foreshadowing of a real rebel rocker was right there on stage.

On occasion she talked about letting her hair down, an idea to which the crowd enthusiastically responded. She also shared in the thrill of having performed a duet with Keith Richards and her date with the letter "Y" on Sesame Street. One can only imagine what a rockin' wonder Norah could be if she did indeed let her hair down and rocked out.

As it stands, she's a unique performer with a reeeallly great personality. A joy to watch on stage, with the hair up or down.

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11 September 2004

Never forget.

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4 September 2004

You may ask yourself, "Who is David Byrne?"

Well, he's a musical genius and living proof that white men can indeed dance. Maybe the band Talking Heads and their concert movie Stop Making Sense will ring a bell with you. But David is much more than a 1980s punk/new wave retro act. His solo career has taken him all over the globe musically and otherwise, from scoring The Last Emperor to his latest album, Grown Backwards.

I had the distinct privilege to see David perform twice in New York's Central Park. One time was a blistering July Saturday afternoon. He played Burning Down the House with such unabashed gusto, it's an experience that was burned into my very consciousness and has stuck with me ever since. That was more than a few years ago now and back then the man was a hard-working, energetic performer who could breathe new life into Talking Heads tunes with a world music spin. Today, he's that and much more. His solo work continues to become more self-standing, assured, and solid.

This time around, with, of all things, the Tosca Strings from Austin, Texas, on backup, classics like Life During Wartime and Once in a Lifetime found fresh sounds and energy. His solo on Heaven was beautiful and his new tunes, particularly Glass, Concrete & Stone, Tiny Apocalypse, and She Only Sleeps prove he's at the height of his creativity; just watching him it is apparent he loves music and diverse cultures. He's in his element when he gets to mix them all up. After all, how many other punkers out there can sing in Portugeuse, Spanish, and Italian?

Even listening to David's chit-chat is highly amusing. With the life he's lived, there's plenty of whimsy to draw from, particularly when he introduces Lazy as a song written with X-Press 2 and later remixed by Freeform Five and that he was about to perform a live rendition of the remix. Maybe you had to be there to hear David unwind it all.

As for the whole experience, I can't imagine a heartier reception, even if he were to be back at CBGB. David was so taken by the crowd's cheers he had to stall a couple times, absorb the energy, smile and laugh. His demeanor is so polite and gentlemanly. His shocking white hair, undermined with the original black, is so carefully disheveled. It's simply a pleasure to watch this man perform. He's one of a kind. And I've never seen a collection of string players smile and laugh and get into as much as the Tosca Strings; they're able to let their hair down and forego the classical pretenses.

There was one glaring problem with the crowd at the intimate Ogden Theatre, though. Denver needs to get the chorus straight on Psycho Killer; you get to do that little scream thing only every other time! But at least David seemed amused and he didn't lose track of where he was in the song.

Swept up in the frenzy caused by a magnificent 2-hour set, I snagged David's blue towel from the stage. Yes. The very towel he used to dry his sweat. It's the type of towel Elvis would throw into the crowd. But this one's blue and very similar to towels that can be found in my very own house. Obviously, geniuses have similar tastes.

This one will be sealed up for future display at the Mattsonian, along with the ticket stub. Unless, of course, David wants it back. I'll oblige if necessary, but it makes for a nice keepsake in light of my having been denied a press pass on behalf of the PRM and the stringent enforcement of a "no photos" policy that included the nearly useless cellphone camera. Adding salt to the wound, I was standing next to two photographers during a good portion of David's set.

Serving as an appropriate mood setter was Sam Phillips' opening half-hour set. Self-described as "weird," her catchy music has decidedly twisted lyrics. But the twists were smart and exuded an elegantly dark humor. She was like a 1930s cabaret singer; in fact, her songs are oddly reminiscent of the same wit found in Kander and Ebbs' Cabaret and Chicago. Her "love song" I Wanted to Be Alone is a perfect example. Among her eclectic sources of inspiration are The Beatles and Monty Python (she did, after all, title one of her albums Omnipop (It's Only a Flesh Wound Lambchop).

The surprising thing is she's been making this kind of music for more than a decade and has numerous albums to her credit under the Virgin label. Unfortunately, her current label, Nonesuch, hasn't been able to thrust her into the mainstream.

Then again, that's probably a good thing. The world is a better place with quiet surprises and hidden treasures such as Sam Phillips.

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