Titus Andronicus. Jon Landau once said, way back in the last century, “I saw rock and roll’s future and its name is Bruce Springsteen”. So much has happened in our world since that time that it is almost as if he was talking about Stephen Foster or Scott Joplin. Disco, Punk, Hip Hop, Gangsta, Grunge, Boy Bands, GaGa. Don’t even get me started. Springsteen’s still at it, but Glen Rock NJ’s own Titus Andronicus, named because of the amusing duality of Shakespearean drama and “Saw like” violence, have written the next chapter of Born to Run. No blue collar, muscle car romance here though.
Frontman Patrick Stickles channels the hyper informed, internet overwhelmed everyman—Bruce on broadband—and spews it all out, with knowing references to his patron saint in almost every song. Their second album “The Monitor” uses the civil war as a great giggling facade, with daguerreotype photos, Ken Burns like fake voice over intro’s and war battle song titles, but the songs are certainly not an Americana historical novelty concept. What is here is brutally honest rock about bleak futures, frat boy assholes, sexual selfishness, and the exquisite howl of being young and hurting, in the truly scary (how quaint does the cold war seem now?) modern world. Connor Oberst, Paul Westerberg and Ian Mackaye all come through in this glorious messy thrash with aspirations of arena epic scope that they actually pull off. The video(s) above are of the 12 minute + last song on the album, “The Battle of Hampton Roads” recorded just this past week at NJ’s greatest record store, Vintage Vinyl in Fords.
“…and half the time I open my mouth to speak it’s to repeat something that i heard on TV,
and I’m destroying everything that wouldnt make me more like Bruce Springsteen.”
This one is close to perfect. Listen to that chugging groove and then the Monster hook. The O’Jays “Backstabbers”
The Big Day Approaches (part I)
Another heartfelt and honest account that again explains that testing as a measure of school “success” and “accountability” is a failure in practice and needs to be overhauled completely. And now.
Mark Linkous 1962-2010 He was once, a “Little Fat Baby”
A master of the fragile, shattered, melancholy that I (and so many others) adore in music. Sparklehorse made some of the most evocative and influential music of the past 15 years. There will be a gaping void left by his departure, but I am comforted that he is no longer in pain; the pain now is borne by his family, friends and fans. Haunted.
BILLY EICHNER ON THE STREET : THE OSCARS!
Awesomeness in a viral video. New York is my city and these are my people ;-)
Tom Hanks & Tom Brokaw on Morning Joe
Tom Hanks is so brilliant that I will PAY to see one of his bad movies next time it comes out. (some are good, but I’ll pay for the bad one b/c of this).
I’m guestblogging on Jasons site…I’ll let you decide whether I’m saving the good stuff for here….or there…or if it’s all just shite.
Woman’s Last Stand: Dodge Charger Commercial Spoof
Hey! this is so wrong! I did NOT cry at the end of “Rudy”
Brilliant.
