Happenings of the Week

I'm still on hold for my "civic duty." After spending a 11 hour day at the court house in Rockville on Monday, I'm still calling in to see if they want to talk to me more about my "objectivity." Once this is settled I'll fill it out, but lets just say this case is a "shot" in the arm.

So more interestingly, the New Gomez album How We Operate was released yesterday. I'm a bit mixed on it. It is more calm than perevious albums. I am particuarly fond of the title track, "Homoa Beach," and "Girlshapedlovedrug" (thats how they spell it.) Tickets are on sale for the 9:30 club show on June 22, as I was informed this morning at 9:30 interestingly enough. Mine are already purchased and I can't wait to see the worlds best live band come the Birthday month.

Pearl Jam (the band I used to obsess over) released a self titled album yesterday too, and this one is the best they've managed since Yield. "World Wide Suicide," "Unempolyable," "Life Wasted," and "Army Reserve" have that raw power of the early Pearl Jam, though they have decided not to return to the kind of studio polish that made Ten such a Uber-Album. "Parachutes" does harken back to the kind of composition they had on tunes like "Black" and "Betterman." For those who don't already have 100 live disks, this release does come with a bonus track. A live recording of Why Go form the Academy Theatre in NYC. The best live version of this tune is still from the early 90's Denmark tour when Eddie stops the song in the middle to tell people to stop crushing each other. Never the less, it's pretty good. Seems like Eddie and Co. have benifited musically from all the bad leadership we've had in our government, so I guess silver linings.