Blue Balls

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Checking in with Trent, Part 4

It figures that right after we decided to put WTC on hiatus, shit starts happening.

Okay so I'm a little behind this morning but thanks to a tip from reader, Persephone, we see some new live performance pictures surfacing. Now I am severely torn by these photos. Half of me wants to say "yes, Yes, YES take me Trent and we can play helpless prisoner/naughty security guard all. night. long.", and the other half wants to seem detached and oh so cool in front of the other hipster bitches here and say "RECYCLED."

But you know what? Fuck being cool. I own half this blog so I can be however I want to be.

Trent, the gloves are still HAWT! Pfffttt...I didn't even make it to the other pictures without 'em. Matter of fact I'm going to go out on a limb here and say they look better now than they did then. I'm not saying I wasn't intrigued by your kinky little fetish getup back then...it's just that skinny guys who look like I could take them out don't "really" do it for me. But now...oh-ho-ho...now you look like you can play the way I like it. And I’m sorry I said I hated you the other day. You know I didn’t mean it! You just...well...you just sounded like shit. But I bet you brought the fucking house down on this night. -sigh-

I wonder if he consciously picked this prison guard shirt and tie combo out knowing how many Year Zero DIY designed panties he would moisten. I can already hear Dierdre saying, "Well, of course he did, Iris. Trent Reznor is always Asking For It!"

Now bring on the hate. I'm waiting...

Checking in with Trent, Part 3

Is it sad that the best part of this performance is when the noise kicks in towards the middle? Trent, honey, you sound way too out of breath, the pitch is all off, you're screechy/screamy in all the wrong places (really the best part of this song is how smooth and controlled your voice is...was...whatever), and are you fucking making a shadow puppet bird in the beginning?
For any of those who want to start shit and say “well NIN live has never completely sounded like the album versions. That’s part of what Trent loves about touring is how the songs get changed up”, just hold up. Some of my favorite songs are the live versions. See pretty much anything off the And All That Could Have Been DVD. Even with all the love in the world for this man, I still have to call it like I see it this time. Goddammit Trent, this was a highly anticipated song to hear live for me too. Dammit, dammit, dammit.

Thanks to Rob for trying to get a closer shot of the stage...even if it didn’t quite work either.

I will say you look cute here, Trent. Short, but cute.

Grumpy Iris out.

Edit: So if you're one of the ones wondering what the fuck I'm complaining about and can't see the embedded video, check the new live performance video on nin.com of The Great Destroyer.

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Uneasy Lies The Head

Hey bitches.

So I know you've all been salivating lately, wondering just what has the guy that writes Gabriel been doing since WTC closed, other than being totally annoying to Maise and Iris?

Okay, maybe not salivating per se, but you've definitely not needed any help in the mastication department.

In any case, the answer is: Uneasy Lies The Head.

Please check out the MySpace page and give a listen or an add. I hope you dig. More content to come shortly.

(Oh, and Angelman will be joining me for live shows, JR, so you're really gonna be missing out on this one.)

We Interrupt This Rock Blog for a Little Ella Worship...

I remember the first time I heard Ella Fitzgerald. I was in college, it was Christmas vacation, and I was at the home of my friend Padraig's parents, sitting in their sunny living room, surrounded by green leafy houseplants and African art. Padraig was debuting a new mix tape (and yes, our medium was mix *tapes* even in the late '90s), and we were only half paying attention as we chatted...until I heard Ella's lovely voice sing these words:

"I'll sing to him, each spring to him/And worship the trousers that cling to him/Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - am I/When he talks, he is seeking/Words to get, off his chest/Horizontally speaking, he's at his very best..."

I remember laughing out loud because this very classy-sounding jazz song, performed so bittersweetly, had hilariously dirty lyrics for its day. Not only that, but it perfectly summed up almost all of my experience with love (aside from Mr. Maise, of course): wild infatuation leading only to disillusionment and coldness:

"Lost my heart, but what of it/He is cold, I agree/He can laugh, but I love it/Although the laugh's on me..."

"Wise at last, my eyes at last,/ Are cutting you down to your size at last/Bewitched, bothered and bewildered - no more..."

Girls, whether you're hopelessly in love or whether the thought of your ex makes you cringe, you should have "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" in heavy rotation.

Anyway, that was the beginning of my love affair with Ella Fitzgerald, and she has never disappointed. Now apparently, she's back on the U.S. pop charts for the first time in 38 years with the album, Love Letters from Ella. And to celebrate that fact, here are some YouTube clips of some of my favorite Ella songs.

Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra: "The Lady Is a Tramp"--although I prefer the version on my "Best of the Songbooks" album, how can you argue with adding Sinatra? This is one of my absolute favorite songs EVER...no matter how dumpy and stuck in a rut I feel, this song always makes me happy. Instead of commuting back and forth to work, I feel as though I'm hanging out in a nightclub in New York with Truman Capote and his friends.

Ella singing "Mack the Knife." I have a version at home where she's singing live in Berlin and forgets the lyrics; then she improvises hilariously and saves the song. You can hear some of that in this version, when she says, "Ella and her fellas/are making a wreck of/Mack the Knife." Anyway, this version is just as awesome.

Oh, and I had to link to this one for Gabriel, Iris, and Dierdre, if she's out there.

If you've never really listened to Ella before, I hope you'll give her a chance. Even if you're just cleaning the house with her singing in the background, you'll feel just a little more fabulous. As though you're doing something more fun, with a martini in your hand.

Lollapalooza...in conclusion

So now that we've recovered from Lollapalooza, here are some afterthoughts and post-concert reviews. I know it's a week later but hey, this girl's been busy, and it's better late than never, right?

Pearl Jam
I've never really listened to PJ all that much. I know their hits from my high school days, but powerhouse vocalist Chris Cornell of Soundgarden was more my cup o' tea. Now it seems that Eddie uses his vocals to bring attention to world problems, which not all corporate sponsors are pleased with. During "Daughter," the band slid into a cover of "Another Brick in the Wall," where Eddie changed up the lyrics to "George Bush leave this world alone / George Bush find yourself another home." But curiously this section was missing from the AT&T webcast. AT&T has said that the censorship was done in error, and they are currently working to rebroadcast the performance yadda, yadda yadda, which actually means some poor editing schlub got fired because he did what he was told at the time, but when the backlash rolled in, he became the scapegoat. Lucky for you fine readers, I was there to capture the whole thing live! Click here for the complete unedited version. Oh and who knew Dennis Rodman would show up?

Daft Punk
Amazing set (for what we saw). Although I was okay with leaving early that night because it had been a full day, now I'm completely kicking myself for not staying longer. Obviously some were anticipating this act more than others. Check out this guy--100% commitment, people. For those of you not familiar with this getup, check out Daft Punk's video for "One More Time".

Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs
I only caught a couple of songs, due to having to hike about a mile to get from one end of the park to the other. Karen O was...interesting. Clad in a black leotard, crisscrossed pattern pantyhose, mid-arm-length latex gloves, and white sneakers, she was a sight to see. She also seemed to be channeling a bit of Marilyn Manson, sporting a bright blue forehead, which you could see when she wasn't singing under her sparkly Micheal Jackson-esque towel. I was so entertained by her outfit and onstage antics and flirting with the crowd that I really didn't listen to their songs until after getting home and reviewing the clips. Not sure if that makes them good, bad, or indifferent.

!!! (chk, chk, chk)
Oh where do I even begin with this fucking band? After seeing a rousing clip of their act at Coachella on YouTube, I was really pumped to see this group. They seemed like a fun, dorked-out dancing, super group (there's seriously like 10 people on stage), and I was more than willing to completely bust a move along with them when they came on. What I was not expecting was the singer's dorky dance moves to be paired with lyrics / spoken word / pseudo rap crap such as "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK", and "SUCK MY DICK" (or perhaps "cock"--I've tried to block it from memory) delivered as though he were some street-hardened thug. Dude, you failed, Failed, FAILED to pull this off. By the fourth song, I was making my way out of the crowd, shaking my head in disappointment. I probably could have written this off as a bad act and forgotten about it fairly quickly, but the fact that I had left Iggy and The Stooges right as the onstage riot was beginning just so I wouldn't miss any of !!! is like salt in an open wound. Especially since Gabriel had also given them a poor review prior to this. (maise says: I HATE it when he's right!)


Juliette & The Licks
These guys were awesome and so much fun! After their set, we got a bite to eat and casually made our way down to see who was on the list to sign autographs that day. Lo and behold, their names were taped to the schedule. Apparently they weren't initially scheduled, but Juliette had decided that since it was such a good set that they wanted to stick around to sign some autographs too. I had to have a CD to get in line, so I ran in the music store tent: sold out. The shady-looking guy selling them outside the tent: sold out. The people already standing in line: not willing to sell. But fortunately another case was found, and hubby snagged one for me. Up close, Juliette is just a tiny little thing but still full of so much energy. She'd let people come around behind their table to take silly pictures with her and the band and would really ham it up for the camera. Here's the face I got for my picture with her.

Of course I cut myself out because if the saying goes "the camera adds 5lbs," then it should be said that standing next to Juliette Lewis adds 20lbs. And then of course, my signed CD. HELLZ YEAH!




Other tidbits:
*LCD Soundsystem = perfection. Fabulous performance, even though the drummer was under the weather, and it seemed uncertain in a couple of songs as to whether he was going to make it.

*Interpol's bassist can keep the ash on his cigarette from the start of a song to the finish while still playing and moving around. Impressive. While admiring this with Ro's friend, I was hit on by a guy who had clearly stolen his look from Seth Green in "Can't Hardly Wait". I'm talking right down to the goggles.

*As we were walking to the Bud Light stage, Rodrigo y Gabriela played out a few minutes of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" on their acoustic guitars, which gave me chills. Described as a "Mexican-born, Ireland-based, heavy-metal-obsessed instrumental acoustic guitar duo," even if they don't sound like your kind of thing, they still are worth a listen because they're that good.

*Angelman will also be happy to know that I purchased some hippie-dippie Vegan sandals due to poor judgment that morning in festival-going footwear. They were more than I would ever normally pay for sandals, but then again I don't think my tire-tread sole will wear out anytime soon.

You can check out some of our other pictures here or click the link on the sidebar. They're organized by day 1, 2, & 3 for easier perusing. There are loads of them! I think they turned out pretty good considering this was about our average distance from the stages.

This was probably inevitable, I guess...

But it's still sad news.

Amy Winehouse has been hospitalized for "severe exhaustion" in London...and we all know what that PR euphemism means. She wasn't looking terribly well last Sunday, truth be told. She is an incredibly talented lady, and we wish her nothing but the best. I personally hope that she takes some time off, gets her curves back, slows down on the drinking and drugs, and enjoys life a little so that she can enjoy performing again. It was clear last weekend how not fun for her this all is.

I also wouldn't mind a return to the above hairstyle, but first things first.

Get well, Amy!!!