Slipknot At The BI-LO Center 2-11-09

Loud, aggressive music was the order of the night as the BI-LO Center hosted Slipknot, along with Coheed And Cambria and Trivium. Scaled down to the theater setting, The BI-LO center is a good venue for these types of bands. I only caught one song from Trivium, but I was interested in seeing Coheed as I have heard a lot of buzz surrounding them. Coheed harkins back to the day's of the 80's metal only these guys learned to play there instruments before signing a record deal.
Slipknot is the best mainstream metal band to come out in the past decade. And when I say metal I don't mean faux metal or emo. I mean balls out heavy guitar riff, double bass madness with lyrics that as socially conscious as they are, are not preachy. Staying mostly on there catalog from the past 10 years, most of the song selection came from the bands first 3 albums. stopping only a few times to play some gems off of All Hope Is Gone. I think a lot of ol' school metal heads tend to discount Slipknot because of there success and the use of the masks, but fuck um. With lyrics like; "Fuck it all, Fuck this world, Fuck everything that you stand for, I wouldn't care if they came out wearing tutu's. I wish I could see them tonight in Gwenette, but my Obama stimulus hasn't kicked in yet.

Upcoming Shows

Not a lot going on right now in the news that peaks my interest. The election is in the silly season, our athletes are kicking ass in china, and World War III is getting ramped up in Georga.

Here is a list of shows I am going to try and catch over the next couple of months:

Clutch: September 23 At the Orange Peel in Ashville.

Willie Nelson: October 1 in Spartanburg.

GWAR October: 6 at the Orange Peel in Ashville.

David Allen Coe: October 10 at the Orange Peel In Ashville.

As always I will give my review of each show. (As if anyone gives a shit about my opinion).

C U LA TOUR

Ministry rolled into Tremont Music Hall in Charlotte NC Thursday on their C U LA TOUR. Al Jorgenson has said this will be the final installment of the Ministry saga. I decided that this would be a show that if I missed I would regret. I made the trip and was rewarded with a show that was unequalled in intensity. From the fist pumping drumbeats of Rio Grande Blood, to the sensory overload of Just One Fix, Uncle Al gave his all.

I saw Ministry back in 93; I think it was some incarnation of Lollapalooza. Al and company stole the show. The show Thursday was even better because of the venue.
Tremont Music Hall really is my kind of place. It’s big enough to host bands like Ministry but still has the look and feel of a dive bar. The audience this night was an eclectic mix of metal heads, Goth kids, and old school head bangers like myself. We all watched and listened as Uncle Al preached the word of corrupt politicians, government run amok, and the politics of greed.

I hope this will not be the end of Al’s musical aspirations entirely. My guess is that it won’t be. I’m sure he will still have his finger in fire with some of his other bands. (Revolting Cocks, Pig Face, and others)

Here is the good news though the Bush family seems to be Uncle Al’s muse for Ministry,
And we still have Jeb and few others from the Bush clan who might just fuck up enough to lull Ministry back in the studio.

The Sound Of My Youth

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080416/music_nm/subpop_dc_1;_ylt=ApqrHTCctLQicWXK2WKNaakE1vAI

Sub Pop Records celebrates its 20 anniversary this month. This is the label that signed all those Seattle grunge type bands back in the 80’s, which turned into a phenomenon in the 90’s. Sub Pop along with IRS records was arguably two of the most important record labels of the modern era. (Think Motown and Stax for rich white college kids.)

In other music news, I picked up the Allison Krause/Robert Plant album Raising Sand yesterday. One of the best albums I have heard in the past year. Of course Allison Krause could do an album of Yiddish throat music and it would sound great. Add the raspy “voice of the gods” in Plant, the production genius of T-Bone Burnett, and the songs of Tom Waits, Towns Van Zandt, Sam Phillips and many more and it makes for one of the most pleasant listening experiences you will have.

KID ROCK AT THE BLC

I ran house lights for the Kid Rock show Saturday. Not really a fan of his music but he really seems like a down to earth guy in interviews I have seen and read. The High lights of the show were when Dickey Betts and his son, Duane joined Kid on stage to do a few renditions of Allman Brothers classics. Also making an appearance was Joey Simmons, aka DJ Run from Run DMC fame. This I have to say was pretty awesome as I am a big fan of old school rap pioneers. It would be awesome if Run DMC could get together for a tour, but with the untimely death of Jam Master Jay, and the voice problems that Darryl McDaniels has had it seems unlikely.

Other than that, the show was Robert Ritchie playing whatever persona he happens be right at this moment. He played to the packed out crowd and the crowd liked what they saw.

The Grammys

I did not watch the Grammys. I have had no interest since the Bee Gees lost their relevance. It does look like a mistake was made by the academy last night though. They awarded the album of the year gramophone to an actual musician, Herbie Hancock. Now mind you he did win for an album of Joni Mitchell’s music, but I wont hold that against him. He is still one of the best modern jazz musicians today. (Plus he did that awesome song Rocket back in the 80’s, Moog rules!)

This does mark a change though, as in the past few decades the Grammy’s have been more about fashion, and record sales than about musicianship and talent.

I guess every now and then the academy has to throw a bone to someone talented instead of just fallating the Maroon 5’s, Usher’s, John Mayer’s and whatever Emo band is the flavor of the day.

Porcupine Tree At The Orange Peel

If you close your eyes and listen to Porcupine Tree, you might hear some, Floyd, Rush, or even a little Dream theater. But at the end of it all they have a sound that is all their on. I was pleased to be able to catch these guys at the Orange Peel last Wednesday. Great musician ship interlaced with heavy guitar riffs, and lyrics with meaning. My only complaint is I wish they had played all of the music off of their new album "Fear Of A Blank Planet". It is a concept album that indicts all of our new technology that has turned young people mindless drones. A great album, a great band, a great live performance.

Porcupine Shooter

Checking out Porcupine Tree tonight at the Orangepeel in Asheville. (Eric I will say hello to Matt for you)

http://www.porcupinetree.com/music2007/music_player.cfm


Checking out Shooter Jennings tomorrow night at the Handlebar. (Eric and Matt, I will try to annoy Vince for the both of you.)



I will review both shows next week, but regardless it will be good to see my old friend Matt.

Hail To The Chief!

Let's face it. Our country needs a bit of an ass stompin. and todays nominee is just the man to do it. He is Billy Joe Shaver. If you don't know Billy Joe Shaver, then you ain't worth spit.



Not only did he write some of the finest songs known to man, he taught himself how to play guitar with two missing fingers. (suck it Jerry Garcia.) One time at a bar in Lorena, Texas he had to shoot a man in the face because the man told him to shut up. Just the type of man we need at the next G8 Summit. He could take care of all them other whinny industrialized nations, and all them hippie protesters that always show up too. If you don't own any of Billy Joe Shavers music, you must be a pinko commie bastard in need of a mud hole stomped in your ass.

Rock And Roll Hall Of Crap

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070928/ap_en_mu/music_rock_hall_3;_ylt=AuvLGVO4o2dJSNRC07CxVkIE1vAI


Just in case anyone still believes that the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is still relevant, this years list of nominees should convince everyone otherwise.

Afrika Bambaataa, The Dave Clarke Five, The Ventures, Leonard Cohen and even Chic I do not have a problem with. But Madonna, John Cougar Mellencamp, The Beastie Boys and Donna Summer?

I say burn the place to the ground and build a Wal-Mart on the site of the hall of fame. It would be a more fitting tribute for today's music industry.

Our Next Nomonee Is.........

One of the greatest music pioneers of the real punk scene. Mr GG Allin.



This is the man that took punk off of it's high and mighty perch and brought it back down where it belongs........in the sewer. If you were lucky (or unlucky) enough to see him perform live, you probably left with the smell of feces and urine wafting through your nose. These little piss ant emo bands that call themselves Punk should try to find some bootleg video of his live shows and quit the music business.

The only reason I'm nominating GG, is the thought of his state of the union address makes me happy. I would love to see him just drop trow and take a big dump on the podium and fling it at Hillary, Bidden, or any Supreme Court Justice. He would bring the Washington establishment to it's knees.

Concert For The Dead Princess Chick

I watched some of the concert yesterday, wasn't half bad. Noticeably absent was U2, not sure if they had a scheduling conflict, or maybe Bono was raising money for some African war lords or something. This past weekend of course, was just a rehearsal for the big show this upcoming weekend. I'm talking of course about the 24 hour world wide Gore 08 campaign rally. Al's booking agent has said that all of his speaking engagements have been cancelled through the next year. I imagine that he will announce this weekend. He will get plenty of face time on all the networks and news channels, leading up to, during, and after the event, so it would be logical to do it. It's kind of ironic that so many acts signed up to do this little dog and pony show, seeing that if Gores wife had her way (and she might come 09) she and the rest of her PMRC (if you are younger than 30 Google it.) posse would stop at nothing to destroy the carers of most of them. Yea, remember that all you wannabe tree hugging hippies? When the PMRC ruled the roost in Washington? Well that was your good buddies Al and Tipper Gore. Hope all you good time Pop stars and Rock and or Rollers have fun sucking at the teat of the people who would destroy you. The sad part is, no musicians, even the ones that Al and Tipper had directly in there cross hairs, (except for Dave Mustaine and Dee Snider) have even called them out on it.

What has happened? I mean Music used to be non partisan, against all politicians be it left or right, Republican or Democrat. It's a sad state of affairs. It used to be that the music community lined up to denounce the political establishment not work to help it. Now today's pop/rock stars can't wait to get in line to falate the bastards. It truley is a dark time.

The Hip and the Hop

Russell Simmons who along with Rick Rubin helped bring The Hip and the Hop to the masses in the 80's is calling for the end of the use of the big three words. What will hip and hop artists do with out these words? I cannot condone any type of forced censorship by the government but this will be self imposed. Of course this is not going to happen anyway. The record companies make too much money off of these words for the hip and hop artists to stop using them. And with the record companies already losing millions, I just cant see any real impact Mr. Simmons pronouncement would make. So don't worry, Snoop will still be able to smack his ho's and bitches.