your mom's favorite dj

I'd better write this stuff down while I'm in a fightin' mood. Feist (Nov. 17, Riviera) was great. I got there early to get a good spot by the stage. I was in that rare situation of being close enough that you're not being gradually pushed back throughout the show by assholes who come late and push their ways in front of everyone. Feist played drums on the first few songs for the opener. I don't think I was the only one who didn't even realize it was her until she started singing on the second or third song. She was immobilized by a sprained ankle, and actually looked pretty feeble, but played it up well, channeling the spirit of her mobile self as some lady tapdanced to Now At Last, which Feist played oddly upbeat on the guitar (with piano backing). The video portion of the performance was actually quite interesting, with everything created as silhouttes on the large background screen with some kind of overhead projector. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it.

M.I.A. (Nov. 21, House of Blues) was worth the half-hour wait in the cold, as the doors opened 20 minutes late. Openers the Cool Kids (hey, I've seen them before!) were decent. Before M.I.A. came out, her show opened with a wide video of a creepy political figure addressing the nation and talking about wanting to destroy the country since there are no good solutions to its problems. It was obviously inspired by the situations in Sri Lanka, but left vague enough to apply to anywhere, without naming specific places or parties. I suppose it could have been an actual speech, but I doubt it. Anyway, it was cool. As soon as the music started, the crowd got crazy. There was crowd surfing during the first song. We were all being pushed around, not away from a mosh pit, or toward the stage, but collectively in all directions. It's so fun to be part of a crowd that's so excited and into the music. Going back to my distaste for newspaper concert reviews, I again happened to notice on Monday a review for M.I.A.'s friday show. The picture, with the caption 'Rapper M.I.A. blah blah...', was a picture of her backup singer/rapper. p.s. All concerts should start at midnight.

Tonight, went to finally see Paulson, one of my favorite unknown bands. It was my first trip to Subterranean, which is like RIGHT next to the Double Door. They call it Subterranean because it's on the second floor. It's like any small venue with a bar, except that there's a third floor where you can watch the band from directly above. As I said to my friends when they mentioned they weren't crazy about the last band, it's the only place I've been to where if you don't like the band, you can very easily spit on them. All the bands were good, playing mostly crunchy, ethereal hard rock, which is my favorite kind of hard rock. Definitely going to check out previously-unknown-to-me So Long Forgotten and As Cities Burn. Paulson announced they're releasing an album of covers on Christmas, which I probably already knew but forgot about, and did a great version of Wonderwall.

Next time, I'll append my list of previously attended shows with the ones I don't have ticket stubs from.