Blurbs

The words glare there like smoldering embers of our own spiritual shortcomings as a species: “With the lights out / It’s less dangerous / Here we are now / Entertain us”. These lyrics, of course, were delivered in full shrieking howl, long, blond hair in face, guitar swinging and long-sleeve shirt inducing excessive sweat, by … Read more“Third Eye Blind Theory / Chapter 2: Uncovering a Singular Sort of Drive for Calamity and Disaster in Third Eye Blind’s Lyrics”

Third Eye Blind was so cool in the late ’90s that even their record label sounds cool: “Elektra.” Not only does it sound like the name of a porn star, but it also doubles as a term applied to speed, per some theories, as would in such a case be documented by the Everclear song … Read more“Third Eye Blind Theory / Chapter 1: Elektra Looms as an Eerie, Almost Derelict Phantom, in Light of the Hoop-La”

Is there room in this party for moral congruency? The possibility gets mucked up beyond recognition, like a CD covered in old, sticky Mountain Dew and stuck to another one for a whole week. It seems, sometimes, to believe in rock and roll is like a practical joke we play on ourselves.  But then, he … Read more“Third Eye Blind Theory : Introduction”

It seems like, out of nowhere, everyone wants to have an opinion on Jane’s Addiction, these days. It also seems, unfortunately, that none of them amount to anything acknowledging of the band’s accomplishments — it’s all tearing meat from their bones, jumping on this occasion of feud and tour cancellation to try to throw a … Read more“Calling for a Perry Farrell Book of Poetry”

What if Jane’s Addiction ruled the world? Are you afraid that you’d turn gay? Did Dave Navarro turn you on, shirtless, in leather pants, noodling out some of the dopest guitar riffs you’ve ever heard?  Ok, just to backtrack: the primary source of my virulent rage toward Jane’s Addiction criticism is The A/V Club, which … Read more“Toward Initiating an Apoplectic Hissy Fit about Google’s Jane’s Addiction Post”

To be honest, I seem to remember there being a pretty decent amount of hype surrounding the 2006 release of Secret Machines’ second album, Ten Silver Drops. The album gathered a three-and-a-half-star review in Rolling Stone (which I think they’d automatically give to any album provided it were indie) and the thought of it seeing … Read more“Is it Possible We’ve All Been Sleeping on Secret Machines?”

I’ve mostly been listening to my vinyl records at night, lately, and the reason has to do with them being generally placid, mostly encompassing music recorded before 1980. Punk rock came along, of course, in the 1970s, and is surely enjoying a resurgence, at least around where I live, among girls in their 20s, in … Read more“A Call for The Dismemberment Plan to Revive Vinyl Rock”

I was a little surprised, I have to admit, to look at the Riot Fest roster for this year and actually find it relatively intriguing. There’s a pretty solid mix of old classics from the ’90s like Beck and The Offspring along with precocious small-fry acts like HEALTH, The Lawrence Arms, The Hives, et. al. … Read more“Why I Can’t Vouch for Beck’s Live Set”

It’s a pretty hard thing to ignore — things just aren’t like they were in the 1990s, or even the 2000s, in terms of grassroots music scenes, all across the nation. Chicago is a great measuring stick for this. I can remember, that is, a time when the outdoor ampitheatre in Tinley Park (which I … Read more“Indie Rock Fires Rekindle in Chicago with Mer’s Musical Showcase”