Solely because everyone seems to be talking about it, I wanted to avoid talking about it. However, as a fan of music in general and Motown, I'd be remiss not to dedicate a few lines to the late Michael Jackson.

I'm not a Jacko fan, per se. I don't own any of his albums (okay, I do have Thriller on vinyl). I could recite the lyrics to "Eat It" and "Fat" a thousand times before I could ever do the same to the originals. His megalomania creeped me out— in particular, that HIStory trailer with the Sovietesque motif and giant MJ statue was a WTF moment for me. And that Moonwalker video game for the Sega Genesis was terrible.

But my caveats aside, it can't be denied that this guy was a musical and entertainment capital-F Force for decades; it's my hope that his overall legacy overshadows the bizarre tabloid circus that became the final portion of his life. I remember growing up when his music videos were debuted on prime time network TV and, whether it was loved or hated, everyone would be talking about it the next day. The summer that HIStory was coming out, MTV was had some sort of 24/7 Jackson Marathon (you know, back when MTV and "music" weren't mutually exclusive). The documentary on the making of Thriller completely blew my mind. and in spite of it being easy to poke fun at his public persona, I could never say the man wasn't good at his craft. And let's not forget the Jackson 5 had some fucking awesome tunes, too.

I've been watching a few videos of him performing and it struck me that in every sense of the word, Michael was a performer. He could sing on key, dance unbelievably well, and— the kicker— he could do both at the same time. In the current world of Britney Spears, et al, lip synching their way through concerts so they can do some uninspired dance routines and cash a paycheck, I wonder if we'll ever see an entertainer of this caliber ever again.

God, I hope so.

Henry



(PS... about 8 minutes in = Money)

I really should blog more often than the once a week business. Maybe.

Wednesday we ventured out to TT's to catch The Motion Sick and Fatal Flaw. They were opening for Pansy Division, which I had to miss most of (unfortunately). It was a great show, as usual, and once again The Motion Sick goaded me into doing a little dance. Damn Konami code gets me every time. Got word that Pandora rejected MS's material for inclusion on their site, which— considering I've had to hit the skip button on Pandora more times than I'd like to— is absolutely ridiculous.

Thursday night we did some rehearsing for the Portland show (which will be followed by the— gasp!— Paradise show on the 11th). Sounding real good. You will get your money's worth.

Bit of a crisis on Friday. Website had to get taken down for a day. Thanks to Go Daddy's subpar security, someone hacked into the site last week. Because of this, we got indexed by Google as a malware site, which meant most browsers wouldn't let you see the site. Had to take the whole thing down then upload it again. Still having residual effect of Jen and I getting our Twitter accounts suspended because we have allthingsaloud.com listed as our site. Hope to get that fixed soon so I can get back to updating every five minutes about mundane things that annoy me. On that point, if you're considering getting web hosting, do not go with Go Daddy. They suck ass and we'll be taking our business elsewhere very shortly. Yes, they're cheap, but— to paraphrase Dana Carvey— you can't piss into Mr. Coffee and get Taster's Choice.

However, we managed to escape the madness Friday night and enter... more madness. Hit up the Pill to catch the New Collisions. They played a tight set, and watching Scott play the crap out of that guitar makes me miss my SG. I know I've said this at least 15 times in the last couple of months, but when I say "I saw people there I haven't seen in years," I really mean it. It was fun. Hell, the whole night was fucking fun; we were there till last call (which in Boston is 5pm.. har har har). Good things are happening in Boston these days, kids. Let's hope it sticks.

Spent most of today in Gloucester with Jen, Dave, and Martin. Had a monster breakfast at Aloud HQ before stepping out. Our friend Beca is participating in the yearly Pirate Faire they've got going on, and it was pretty fun. The shops they had were mostly of the medieval fare, but a few things stood out.

For example, in the weapons shop, they sold fucking batarangs like the ones in the Chris Nolan flicks. Like real throwing knives. Considered buying one, if only to chop vegetables; or 500 to begin my crimefighting career (which would be tragically cut short, of course). The other thing was a tent with a bunch of odd musical instruments, including a hurdy gurdy. John, one of the dudes there, let me play the mandola he was carrying around. Thrilling. It's played exactly like a mandolin, except my fingers don't cramp up like bastards. (On that note, he's in a group called Ice Cream Social, playing All Asia on the 28th.)

Oh, and I totally saw Goth Pirates.

Got back, had some espresso, and watched a few episodes of Arrested Development. Show was so good. If you haven't seen it, you should see it (twice). It is the anti-reality TV.

Also just finished my mom's book a couple hours ago (my mom wrote a book). It's still in an unedited form (let's call it the chrysalis phase), even though it's mostly complete. Anyway, my mom's been working on this thing for four or five years now, and I'm pretty proud of her she's managed to get a book under her belt. She's pretty good at it, and it's something she's been wanting to do for a long, long time (I'm sure having me and my sister out of the house for a fair amount of years now made this process easier). Anyway, if you head over to Amazon and search Beguiristain (you know how to copy and paste, you lazy bastards!) it's the first two books there, called The Fly On The Wall. It's available in hardcover and paperback. She's donating a portion of the proceeds to the War On Autism™ till mid-August. Will post more info/name of actual charity when I have it.

Can't blog about the week without getting into Iran, eh? To say it's crazy shit would be the understatement of the year. Hopefully they can sort it out without any (more) bloodshed. It's a fucking travesty what that government's been doing to those people. Between media blackouts, repression of free speech, and a clearly rigged election, how can the government expect to be in the right on this one? And then they not only rig an election, but do it so poorly. ("A-plus?! You know a D turns into a B so easily. You just got greedy.") Anyway, I say bully for the Iranians. To not only take on their political system so vehemently, but to do it so peacefully (at least as far as I know right now) is pretty goddamn inspiring. We may be at odds politically, but I'll raise my glass to you folks. Stay safe out there, and good luck turning the tide.

Okie dokie, kids.. should probably get to bed. Busy day tomorrow, including some studio time. Happy Father's Day. Be good to yer pa's.

Henry

Currently watching:
Batman: The Animated Series (Vol. 3)

Good morning. A rather rugged morning today, but I hear it's to be warm out... Hope it's nice where you are.

It was a writing and demoing race for Henry and I this week. Got the chance to demo two new songs on Monday and Tuesday. Friday we sat down for to write another tune and put the demo down before speeding off to practice. We're working out the sets for our upcoming Portland and Boston shows. The Portland one is free and Boston you should buy your tickets now: http://www.livenation.com/edp/eventId/407799. It really will be an honor to be playing the Paradise in July and joining our friends in the process.

With all that writing and rehearsing we worked up quite an appetite. Had dinner at Charley's on Newbury St with Aloud t-shirt printer helper and dear friend Dave Palmer. Joined up with recent Boston transplant and manager Annie Burns and her fella Chris (who directed the Julie video) last night for some fine dining. We went to John Harvard's and were happy to see our usual table vacant.

Going to see Doves tonight to get our live music fix and then to River Gods tomorrow for Annie's new night SEEN(un)SEEN. Drinking and music videos by your favorite local and not so local bands. I miss that MTV when they actually played videos too. Here's the inf: http://www.annierock.com/.

More writing to occur this week. Looking forward to it. We started working on another tune yesterday and did a quick live demo. Might end up working on that Tuesday.

Cheers,

Jen

PS. Saw the Metric video for Sick Muse and it is sick!

With all the writing Jen and I have been doing lately, we didn't get out a whole lot this week. However, we did manage to get out on Wednesday to see Ryan Lee at the Middle East Up. First time in I can't remember how long that we've seen him perform with a band (Elio DeLuca, from Hallelujah the Hills was on guitar, keys, and a fucking harmonium! — Dan Daskivich on drums).

The NYC show (aka Annie's Last Blast) was insanely awesome. Got to chat with a lot of friends we hadn't seen in a while, or enough of. Something very frenetic about our set that I really enjoyed. One of my pedals even stopped working— usually a source of immense consternation— and it didn't even matter. I think that's the fun part for me about playing shows... the potential of a monumental fuck up derailing the entire show (this is also a recurring nightmare I have, no lie... I have problems). Opening up the show was a girl named Margaret, performing under the name Pezzettino. She normally has a backing band, but while she's on tour it's just her, her dad's accordion, and a hell of a lot of stomping. A little odd only at first, as accordions are, but her style was interesting and she had her act down pat. Super nice as well. Oddly enough, she would be playing in Boston the very next day.

Motion Picture reunion was fantastic, and it was great seeing our buddies up onstage again (he pointed out that our first show together was at Arlene's, which I'd forgotten). After the show, we went over to crash at Michael's place. Loading everything into the freight elevator, some biker started revving his engine as loudly as possible (keep in mind, it's nearly 3am), and apparently he's been doing this every other night during the week. Michael goes to confront the guy, who keeps saying saying his bike stalled. More residents from his building show up, also yelling. Biker's ace in the hole was to say we "must be from Long Island", which I took to be some kind of insult in New York or something. Who knows. I may have egged the biker on. In any case, one of the building residents finally had enough and kicked this guy's ass. Managed to give Mr. Biker a bloody nose even though he was wearing a helmet.

I don't condone violence, but when an entire building is sick of your obnoxious shit, you probably deserve it. Just sayin'.

Don't know why I woke up so early on a Saturday. It's not like I went to bed early or anything. Will probably do more writing and/or demoing today. It's funny how the Beatles Anthology starts making its way on our TV again when we get this way. Not even out of "oh-em-gee, we have to write the next Revolver" or some other misplaced musical enthusiasm; really, their work ethic just gets us going. Except for Let It Be, of course— who the hell thought that was a great idea? At least Phil Spector is finally going to jail for it. That is what his trial was about, wasn't it?

Bummer about David Carradine. What a way to go, eh? Rest in peace, grasshopper.

S'all I got for today. Should think about getting some breakfast in my belly.

Be well.

Henry