RTP-area local music and culture

["Rawls nospam" <rawlsnospam AT gmail.com>]

> From: Baby Messy
>
> I watched them on SNL the other week and thought..."this is it?...why
> all the hype?" and I really thought I was missing something in my old
> age. I mean, as soon as you heard Radiohead you KNEW, love it or hate
> it, that there was something special there. So maybe I needed to dig
> deeper, and through the magic of Youtube, etc. I tried. Lord I tried.


    In '04 I saw the Arcade Fire at the Cave, the Local 506, and a packed
CMJ affiliated show in New York a few months later, right after seeing
Springsteen play at the Meadowlands arena...and "On the Dark Side" along
with most other Springsteen rip offs are fine by me.    I get the hype.  I'm
not head over heels about it like some youngsters I've seen post things that
basically claim nothing like this has ever been recorded...every band has
obvious influences and over time it becomes fun to discover those
influences.

    I've become a bit of a fan musically, but as people I liked them
instantly.  Not to toot my own horn, but I reviewed Funeral and claimed they
would be large (songs with anthemic, catchy choruses usually catch on re:
U2).  It's in the Raleigh Hatchet archives somewhere.  I know people who
jumped on the bandwagon in early '05 because certain websites gave it the
thumbs up...I can only hope some day someone who doubts her or his own
opinions will read my review and say, "I'm not insane!" I'm counting on the
Arcarde Fire review for this confirmation because my Van Halen reviews
probably won't do it :(  Dammit I love Van Halen and wish Roth would quit
being such an idiot and Edward could get whatever it is going on with him
together (and props to Hagar and Anthony for just showing up to the Hall of
Fame induction and being classy)

    The Arcade Fire SNL performance was fine...if you liked Arcade Fire in
the first place. I was sitting next to someone during their appearance on
Conan O'Brien two years ago who wasn't a fan to begin with and that person
was underwhelmed.  Talk show appearances just aren't that divergent from
the original recording anymore. I think Eddy Grant's crunchy guitar version
of "Electric Avenue" was the only time an SNL performance really did a
number on me, all other performances since on that show have been pretty
much by the book.  So they didn't rip up a picture of the Pope (which was
kind of cool although Sinead's music didn't really do much for me).

    I thought "Creep" by Radiohead upon first hearing it in '93 was a lame
attempt at jumping on the grunge rock bandwagon.  Everything I've heard from
them since has been very underwhelming, making me think at best, "Unwound
achieved this a few years ago with way less financial backing."  The singer
seems to take himself way too seriously, but overall they seem like nice
people with good taste...until now I'd never posted those thoughts on a
bulletin site because I'm comfortable in knowing that sometimes my opionions
don't always run parallel with others.  Now I'm going to go back on youtube
and search for more footage of Paulus flopping, not because I think I'm
insane, I just think it's hilarious!

Rawls