Today former N*Syncer Lance Bass joined past and present Irish boy-banders Stephen Gatley (Boy Zone), Mark Feehily (Westlife) and UK's former boybander Kevin McDaid (V) in their attempts of forming a new boyband, er, boi band. Men*Sync? Backdoor Boys? New Kids on The Cock? 98 Degrees...of man on man action? Ie. he's a big homo. All we need is a fifth to make it a proper boy band. My fingers are crossed for Robbie Williams. I could take that. Ba da bum.

But seriously. This was breaking news (from People magazine) on both CNN, and yahoo (along with an article about J. Timberlake's new CD... which I am guessing appeals to the same demographic). Now the articles are everywhere (and I'm shocked that none of them have included that super gay Rolling Stones cover where the band is all covered in glitter). The media deluge may be a bit excessive, but congrats still to Lance Bass (who was apparently born into gayitude with that porn name of his.) About time a US boy bander came out, even if it is because of evil bloggers ratting him out. I'm kind of conflicted... on one hand, leave the guy alone. On the other hand I am sure he will be happier now, so it is a good thing. He can be all public with his already out beau (winner of season 4 of the Amazing Race). That's a great thing. And I think that it will make all of those people that were sad he didn't get to go to space a little happier knowing that at least he is getting some trouser rocket.

Come on...I had to.

Alexi Murdoch's live set at Schubas last Sunday reminds me why Schubas is my favorite venue ever. The venue is perfect for single performers with acoustic guitars. One of the most amazing performances I've ever seen there was Ray LaMontagne by himself right around the time Trouble came out. I hoped that Alexi Murdoch's set would have a similar vibe, and it did.

The first thing my roommate and I noticed upon arrival was the fact that tables were set up... an indication that tickets sales were subpar. This was kind of shocking considering the success of "Orange Sky." However Murdoch kept saying how impressed he was by the big crowd...the biggest of his US trip so far. Awww.... He kept wondering aloud where all the people came from. Someone from the crowd shouted "You're pretty good" in response. Muroch followed that up with "Gee, Thanks Man." Then I think he felt like that sounded to sarcastic or something and started talking about he never says stuff like "gee, thanks man" and he was trying it out.

He played a lot of great new songs from Time Without Consequence such as "All of My Days." At one point he asked for a guitar pic to play a song. Then he forgot what he was going to play in the first place. He scoffed at having a setlist though, saying that "preparation is the road to routine."

As good as the new songs were, highlights were from the 4 seasons EP. "Song For You," my personal favorite, was beautiful. I have never been as enamored by "Orange Sky" as everyone else, but hearing it live I finally understood how epic and wonderful the song is. Afterwards someone in the audience yelled out "Nick Drake loves you." When Alexi Murdoch responded "Where is he?" the person from the crowd yelled back "inside you."

During another conversation Murdoch let the f-bomb slip and then, concerned, asked if there were any young kids in the audience. A voice called out yes. Murdoch asked, "really." And the audience said "no." Murdoch joked around a bit and then said "but seriously, are there any young kids" and a voice responded "yes" but it was hard to figure out if the person was being serious or not. Eventually, Murdoch just said "Fuck It."

The final song before the encore was an unreleased song called "Something Beautiful" which Murdoch said people called his "Christian song." He then pondered on why people get weired out when they hear the word God in a song. He said he wasn't judging, but that he himself wasn't really Christian or a God person and sometimes he'll be singing the song and get weirded out singing about God and that he is just curious why it takes people back sometime. The song was encouraged as a sing along and at first it kind of struck me as a Christian youth groupesque sing along, but by the end it was spiritual in a different way...in the way where the spirituality didn't come so much from an outside source but instead from the celebration and joining that was present in the music and singing. It was pretty amazing and the crowd sang and clapped along perfectly. Hopefully, like Ray, Alexi's popularity will only grow.

Blue Mind

The rest of June was aight too:

Continue reading "New Tuesday - June (Part Two)"

Hey everyone! I don't know about you but I spent MY 4th weekend sifting through the bags and bags of letters I got about how I didn't post any New Tuesday's for June. Little Cindy, Age 5, from Nebraska had the following to say:

Music Bath,

Bitch, how do you expect me to know what CDs to bye. Post something already you total whore!

Screw off,

Cindy.

Awww. First off, Cindy, it's buy...not bye. It's okay... clearly your mom listened to a little too much Phish during your pregnancy...if you know what I mean. Which I'm pretty sure you don't. Whatever, I'll probably make five or six similar mistakes in this post.

Secondly, that dirty little runt has a point. June (the month, not the band) had some pretty great CDs. So I've been busy this week checking out some recent releases... Here are some of the better or more interesting releases from the past month, just in case you missed them:

Continue reading "New Tuesday - June (Part One)"

So today I finally watched the series final of Six Feet Under. Thanks to Best Week Ever's penchant for spoiling everything, I already new some of the big twists and turns of the last season. I also knew that Sia's song "Breathe Me" was used in the closing scene. That didn't stop it from rocking my world. I would go so far as to say that it was the most powerful closing to a television series I've ever seen and the most poignant and perfect use of a song in a television show. It brought home to me how much a written character can grow to mean to someone. It also reminded me of other songs on othertv shows that overtook my life and my mind in the past. I made a huge list, but then decided to boil it down to the top four that really moved me the most. I cannot hear these songs without instantly remembeing the scenes they were attached to and the emotions I felt during them.

Sia - Breathe Me (Six Feet Under)
Kim Richey - A Place Called Home (Angel)
Sarah McLachlan - Full Of Grace (Buffy: The Vampire Slayer)
The Drifters - Save the Last Dance For Me (Queer as Folk)