Come in 2007! We've been waiting for you...

Though Pete Yorn and RHCP are sure to rock me in 2007, what I'm looking forward to the most is MCR's tour in support of The Black Parade!! I'm also hoping to catch Cradle of Filth and possibly the Rasmus, if they ever come to St. Louis! Here are some selected tracks from the shows I saw in 2006. -K

For Us - Pete Yorn

The Days Go By Oh So Slow - Nightmare of You

Where Eagles Have Been - Wolfmother

Exo-Politics - Muse

Bom Bom Bom - Living Things

I Gave You - Bonny Prince Billy

Shine A Light - Ghostfinger

I Write Sins Not Tragedies - Panic! At The Disco

Dark Blue - Jack's Mannequin

Your Sweet 666 - HIM

Hey There Delilah - Plain White T's

Girl's Not Grey - AFI

Radio - Alkaline Trio


In 2007 I am looking forward to a new Kings of Leon record, seeing Gnarls Barkley live in January, more references to the Sound of Music in popular songs and television commercials, and The Black Parade tour. Here are some selected tracks from the shows I saw in 2006. –J

Aminal Eye – Ghostfinger (I love this song!)

The Man – Pete Yorn

Starlight – Muse

Marigold – Foo Fighters (originally a Nirvana B-side)

Louise – Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders

Shutterbug – Veruca Salt

Mama’s Room – Under the Influence of Giants

Molly’s Chambers – Kings of Leon

Build God, Then We’ll Talk – Panic! At the Disco

Hate (I Really Don’t Like You) – Plain White T’s

Turn Into – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Mercy Me – Alkaline Trio

Silhouette – Driveblind

Dimension - Wolfmother

V-Dubs Rock

It arrived today in the mail, something that could change my destiny, my Volkswagen One Act Custom guitar. Get ready world.

I’m getting ahead of myself. I have wanted a Volkswagen Beetle since I can remember. My best friend C’s sister had a Beetle back in the early 80’s and even though I think her sister hated it, I loved it. I have a perfectly fine small car that we had to buy in a pinch back in 2003 when we relocated to St. Louis. H. bought it without me seeing it and every time I take a road trip, he has to hear a ten minute speech about how much I hate that car because it has no cruise control. It’s kind of a love/hate relationship because while I hate that car because it has no cruise control, it has been the mode of transportation to many a memorable show in 2005/2006. Hell, maybe no cruise control was the thing that kept me awake when driving all night back from Chicago or Champaign.

Anyway, back in October I was feeling very down and desperately needing a change. I told H. I wanted to buy a Beetle. Little did I know that Volkswagen had started their V-Dub Rocks campaign and I would get a guitar with my purchase. K was out of town when I made the deal. I had made plans with the salesman to pick the car up the following Saturday. I called K, a fellow Beetle owner, to tell her and I said something like, “Well, fate has played its hand. I bought a Beetle this weekend and I get a guitar that plugs into the car with it. I guess I won’t be buying a set of drums when I finish my master’s in December. I’m gonna learn how to play guitar”. I’ll never forget her response, “But you’re a drummer”. I just laughed because immediately in my mind my response back was “No, I’m a woman heading towards middle age with occasional anger issues. A drummer I am not”. Anyway, I love that K doesn’t lose faith in my dreams even though I bathe in a healthy dose of self-loathing each day.

So the guitar arrived today. H. immediately had to go out to the garage to plug into the Beetle and try it. H. always keeps a radio on in the garage and as he was plugging in, a Led Zeppelin song blasted from the radio’s speakers. I said to him, “Let me turn this off so as not to get you and Jimmy Page confused”. He smirked. So, according to VW, I am now an owner of a guitar and an amplifier that doubles as a car. I am going to try and learn how to play a bit. My brother M tried to teach me some chords when I was a teenager and after realizing playing guitar hurts your fingers, I quickly dismissed the exercise. That was before childbirth. Now I can do anything. --J

James Brown - Rest in Peace

Our Brush with a Shirt that had a Brush with Greatness

Speaking of The Police, I was taking a break from the mundane and sent K the following pic of Stewart Copeland and Taylor Hawkins backstage at a Foo Fighters show. K took a look at it and thought, “Where have I seen that shirt???” Well, here’s a pic of Taylor, his drumstick, and I at the Double Door months before his hanging with Stewart. --J

One Train Later - Andy Summers

Having some time off for the holidays and no travel planned gave me the perfect opportunity to read One Train Later and then obsess over early Police records. Even if you aren’t a fan of The Police (I don’t want to know if you aren’t), this book tells the tale of a seasoned musician with way more experience than I had realized. Unexpectedly, I couldn’t put it down. Some interesting points were:

Andy was more interested in contributing something new to the music scene than becoming a British blues guitarists like Eric Clapton who copied the legends of the American South. Eric and Andy traveled in the same musical circles and at one time, after Eric’s ’59 Les Paul is stolen, he hounds Andy to buy his since he has the only other ’59 Les Paul in London and he is getting ready to record with Cream for the first time. He sells it to him and the rest is history.

Hearing his description of meeting and seeing Jimi Hendrix play in his early days was fascinating.

Reading about Sting being totally hoodwinked by a Canadian keyboardist who was trying to wedge his way in as the fourth member into the now successful band was amusing.

This fall I read a book written by the drummer of Semisonic who, in the grand scheme of things, had minor success. I wondered what the inside story would be like if the band had monumental success. Well, here’s the book. While you get the impression that the band did not make a conscious decision to go out on top as they did, instead it was motivated by Sting’s call to the lute, they did just that. Could you turn on the radio in 1983 and not hear a single from Synchronicity? What’s totally refreshing in the end is that Andy is not bitter about the way it ended. As I read the book, I found myself scrutinizing the cover, looking for the name of a ghost writer. There is none that I could find, but this book is shockingly well-written. If you aren’t a reader, but want to know more, check out the Andy Summers interview on Sound Opinions. He distills the essence of the book on the air and also once again, proves what a gentleman he is by not taking the bait and dissing on one particularly famous former bandmate. –J

All-American Rejects Behind the Pageant

Hahaha, K did such a lovely job of summarizing that I don’t know what to add about the All-American Rejects experience. It was funny and disappointing. A., being an eleven year old girl on the first night of winter break was just enjoying being out in the city among all of the excited teenage girls. She also knew that most of her friends' moms would not have agreed to such a venture. So from that perspective, it was all good.

Nick was the nicest of the group, coming out first when the crowd was the largest, and hanging out taking tons of pics. Here’s one of him signing A’s pic so she can give it to her friend. After two hours A. said to me, “Only one more to go mom, just Tyson that diva”. Truer words have never been spoken.

I thought it was really shitty for Tyson not to come out since you could tell for many of the young gals possibly attending their first concert, he was the draw. They showed up in Butter shirts, Tyson’s clothing line. All I could think of as I watched him scarf down Imo’s pizza and ignoring the seventeen fans still waiting after two hours for his appearance, I thought to myself, that’s the STL revenge right there. When my friends T and J came to visit St. Louis and tried Imo’s St. Louis style pizza covered in processed provel cheese, about four hours later they said they felt like someone had poured cement into their stomach. Take that, Tyson!

The most amusing moment of that night occurred when we were driving home discussing something completely different, sitting at a stoplight while A. fell asleep in the backseat. K just happened to look up at the overpass above the stoplight we were sitting at and saw the All-American Rejects tour buses go past. She stopped whatever she was saying mid-sentence so a string of expletives about All-American Rejects could be released.

Move Along All-American Rejects, move the fuck along. –J

Tyson's Secret? He's an Ass Hole!

I didn't think I'd have anything to write about before 2007. Holy shit was I wrong.

J's daughter thought it would be a great Christmas gift for her All American Rejects-loving friend if she got the guys to sign their autographs on a sheet of photo paper displaying the band's logo. The show was sold-out, so we all went down to Loop, got some tea from Starbucks, and stood out behind the Pageant along with the other fans waiting for the show to end and the guys to come out. One by one the guys appeared and signed autographs. The last one to come out was the lead singer, Tyson Ritter. While the others were gracious and chatted up a storm with the fans, Tyson, after making everyone wait until past midnight, appeared wearing a ridiculous beret-like hat and did the unthinkable: dismissed each and every fan out there by completely ignoring them. It's not like he went straight to his bus and that was it. No, he actually hung around the area and continued to ignore the fact that his fans were trying to get his attention.

Fucking hell, I think when you have 17 teenagers waiting to meet you after your show for two to three hours the least you could do is acknowledge them. The wrong thing to do is to be in full view of them as you walk from the back door of the venue to the bus, get off your bus to get on another, be seen drinking champagne to celebrate the last show of the leg on said bus, then quickly get on your own bus and take off. I think this all went on for about 15-20 minutes, which was enough time for J and me to go from indifference to complete disgust. We weren't the only ones. The fans around us were appalled. One security guard was extremely apologetic and frustrated with how long Tyson had delayed things in the first place. When the bus backed up towards where we were standing, one of the guards said something like "they are leaving, you all have been shafted."

I have been to some post-show wait-arounds where the teenage girls are scary. Last night they were completely well-behaved and even the security guards weren't yelling at us. It was a pretty laid back evening. What was the problem?

Doesn't Tyson Ritter realize that there are enough bastard lead singers in this world to hate already without him working to give us another? Tyson should start developing his personality a bit if he wants to enjoy the ride for a few more years. His material isn't unique or original enough to not be forgettable, though Dirty Little Secret was part of the 2005 Judakris soundtrack. Move Along was a pretty good song, but it wasn't great. Also, J and I saw the band live in Chicago last year and they're not particularly passionate or engaging onstage.

Despite everything, J and I did have some fun this morning thinking of insults referencing their songs. One of mine was "yeah here's a not so dirty little secret: you suck!" J's got some good ones that she'll probably share. God, we're hilarious.

Have a great Christmas, y'all! I'm off to Alabama tomorrow until 2007. Peace out. -K

2006 Concert Survey

It’s December and Judakris has decided to put together our own survey of the live shows we’ve enjoyed, hated, and obsessed about in 2006. Most of the shows and acts were seen here in St. Louis where occasionally the local time is 1840. Every act and show we mention in this survey has been reviewed somewhere on this blog.

Individual Acts:
Best Opening Song
J: Wolfmother - Dimension
K: Muse - Knights of Cydonia

Most Anticipated
J: Foo Fighters – Since this was a completely new setting, and the tickets were purchased so far in advance, I would definitely say this was the most anticipated for me.
K: HIM. It was my first time.

Best Storyteller
J: Dave Grohl easily! Who doesn’t want to hear a story about the first time he met Kurt Cobain?
K: I could only wish to be as engaging as Pete Yorn the morning after an all-night bender. The most I can usually pull off is to somehow find a way to say “shut the fuck up” politely.

Best Showman
J: Richie Kirkpatrick of Ghostfinger – I was very impressed at the energy and liveliness of the show when there were about 20 people in the whole bar. It was awesome.
K: Yeah, Richie. Gotta love that guy.

Show That Gave Us Best Story to Tell
J: This one is kind of tough but I’m going with Wolfmother. When is the last time I’ve been invited to a private performance? Never. Also the guys were so great that it made it extra special. I also loved being there with K and D.
K: J and I get a lot of mileage out of the Wolfmother night, but to me it’s the Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders show in Chicago. My head was practically in Taylor’s bass drum all night, the slutty white jeans girl was pretty engaging and the fact that Taylor used my skin as a canvas after the show gave me some pretty bloggerific material this year.

Most Disappointing Act
J: Hands down – Living Things
K: Living Things

Best Production
J: Muse
K: AFI

Best Sound
J: Muse – Their album sounds like it’s got a lot of studio wizardry so I didn’t expect them to sound so good live but they were amazing.
Foo Fighters – The acoustics at the Auditorium Theater were impressive and really enhanced the experience.
K: Nightmare of You.

Funniest Act
J: Under the Influence of Giants – They were so over the top with the clothing and the onstage antics, it was worth the price of admission. By the way, this is a compliment!
K: I don't know if this is a legit answer, but the Bonnie Prince Billy in-store at Vintage Vinyl had me rolling internally for most of it.

Best Connection with the Audience
J: Foo Fighters – The banter with the crowd makes even the largest venue feel intimate.
K: AFI. The fans loved Davey and he loved them for lovin' him.

Most Creative Production
J: As overwhelming as it was, Panic! at the Disco
K: Ditto

Most Impressive Production
J: For a band with only one album, Panic! at the Disco
K: I’m not trying to be a copycat; I have to agree with J once again.

Biggest Ass-Hole Lead Singer
J: Lillian Berlin of Living Things – You won’t be playing bigger venues than the Creepy Crawl if that’s how you treat people who pay to see you perform. It’s all about karma fellas!
K: I agree with J. Never have I been so disappointed after a performance.

Sexiest Lead Singer
J: I’m gonna go with Pete Yorn here. If you can be sexy at 2:00 in the afternoon under fluorescent lights in a record store when you’ve just rolled out of bed, you’ve got something there.
K: I’m sure it’s obvious what my answer will be. Sick, chain-smoking, and hiding every inch of his flesh, by mid-concert Ville Valo’s 6’1 lanky frame and smoky baritone made me want to jump off the balcony and die for him this year at The Pageant. Luckily, I had J there to keep me in check.

Best Scream
J: Dave Grohl always wins this category for me. I wish I could make his scream the alert sound in my Outlook email at work. I might smile at work every once in awhile if that was the case.
K: Veruca Salt’s Louise. I’m sure she was tutored by Dave. Actually, I remember J and I commenting that she sounded JUST like Dave. We might all know why that is.

Worst Opening Act
J: Dead Meadow – I just wanted them to go away!
K: Oh god, yes, Dead Meadow. I wanted to kill someone by the time they were done.

Honorable Mention
J: Veruca Salt – I have to give Louise props for holding her own in a 2006 concert lineup of men. She was super cool.
K: Alkaline Trio’s opening act, Against Me! For making Judakris stand up and take notice during their set.

Shows:Best People Watching
J: HIM – Since I was just there for the ride, I focused more on the crowd than usual. Also, it was completely diverse from frat boys to goth kids.
K: Muse- Geeks, freaks, gays, fratboys, and a handful of disgruntled library automation coworkers all having a grand time together.

Best Post-Show Feeling
J: Kings of Leon – I wanted to jump in my car and follow them forever.
K: HIM, The Pageant. Again, it was my first time. I found out recently that the reason the band stood us up after the show was for legitimate reasons so I'm over it. Let's face it, I was over all that an hour after the show and practically emigrated to Finland over the following months. Not since seeing U2 for the first time years ago did I feel a post-show love (metal) hangover quite like that one.

Most Disappointing Night
J: I am going to go with HIM because I was hoping to be won over by the music and wasn’t and then to be stood up for the meet and greet was pretty shitty. I hated that for K.
K: Alkaline Trio because I realized I wasn’t as much of a fan as I thought I was that night.

Most Anticipated Song Not Performed
J: Time to Waste at the Alkaline Trio show and also Ain’t it the Life at the Foo Fighters show, especially since that was on the setlist for other venues.
K: In Joy and Sorrow- HIM

Thanks to all the bands in 2006 that made us feel alive. Judakris has already begun planning dates for the 2007 concert schedule. Don't hold back, bands. You know we won’t. XOXO J and K

Panic! at the Disco - A Mom's Perspective

I’m afraid if I write a straight review of the Panic! at the Disco concert I attended last weekend, the night before seeing Wolfmother, Panic! will suffer terribly by comparison. Instead I thought I would write this from the perspective of a mom taking her eleven year old daughter to a show she had been dreaming about for months. From that perspective, it was unbelievable.

A. has been listening to Panic’s album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out nonstop since the end of July. Every morning when I walk into her room to wake her for school, a Panic song is quietly coming from her CD player that’s set on infinite loop. Every day when I drive her to her bus stop and I let her take control of the music until her bus arrives, it’s always the same three or four Panic songs. A couple of months ago after going to the mall with K and looking over all the Panic merchandise at Hot Topic one Saturday afternoon, she woke up the next day begging me to take her to the mall. She had decided which shirt she wanted to buy. She loves them.

The day of the show A. was all aflutter. Her cousin D was going with us as was K. When were we going to leave? Did I know how to get to the arena? A. is also as anxious of a kid as I was, worrying about things neither of us have any business worrying about. We got into the arena and headed for the merch table so A. could spend her report card money on some fingerless Panic gloves and a poster. Gone is her Harry Potter poster now off of her wall, hello Brendan Urie! When part of the arena was blocked off, forcing us to walk out of our way to find our seats, A. worried that our tickets were not valid.

A. could have cared less for the opening bands Plain White T’s and Jack’s Mannequin. I agreed with her on the latter. As for Plain White T’s, a number of their songs sounded exactly the same, so the high points were the variety in their set which came in the form of Hey There Delilah and Hate. When Panic hit the stage, A. began to scream and was basically fixated on the stage until the bitter end. The show had a circus/Moulin Rouge feel to it. The band members wore costumes that were a mixture of circus ringmaster and Oliver Twist and there were also contortionists/performers dotting the stage during every song. I found it all very distracting from the music, but A. ate it up. She is still talking about how awesome the show was. They played most of their album as well as covers of Killer Queen and Eleanor Rigby, which were both perfect, and the set even included a drumline performance. These boys are classic overachievers. It all left me a little cold, but happy that A. had had the best night of her eleven year old life.

After the show, with memories of meeting Brendan Urie back in July fresh in her mind, A. wanted to go back by the buses and re-live that experience. We headed back there and there were probably two hundred kids waiting. It was cold and when I looked back at D and K who were hanging back, all I could think about was, how can I talk her out of wanting to wait? Here’s when A. becomes more of an eleven year old with a bedtime than a hardcore fan. I say to her, A. there are too many kids out here. I doubt they will sign anything with this crowd honey, let’s go. She responds and says I don’t want to go; I don’t want to go to bed, knowing it’s past her bedtime. I explain to her that she doesn’t have to go straight to bed. Her face brightens up and she’s outta there. Brendan who? Everyone is happy! --J

St. Louis or Hell – Is there a difference?

Since Wednesday, I have been sick with the flu, respiratory distress, fever, aches, etc. Since Wednesday, between chills and the sweats I have been laying in bed in the fetal position with my eyes closed listening to the television as I waited for death to arrive. Thursday, as H reported to me that our first winter storm was really happening, all I could think of was who cares?! I’m dying! Yes, I can be a bit dramatic when I’m ill. I think it comes from the fact that I’m not sick like this very often, and also, when I was sick as a kid, even if I was coughing up a lung, my brother M would tell my mom and anyone who would listen that I was faking it. I feel the need to state my case.

Then at about 2:00am on Friday the power went out and was not restored until Monday night. What the fuck?! Again?! Friday I laid in bed under a down comforter until H got home from work and could coax me out of bed to go check into a hotel. As I laid there with my eyes closed in the silence Friday, many things ran through my mind. Was it sheer coincidence that Panic! at the Disco was in town during both St. Louis power outages? Did they have some preternatural force surrounding them giving them unbelievable talent and success at a young age and bringing death and destruction to all that stood in their path? What else could explain 18/19 year olds instantaneously getting a record contract and selling out venues left and right? Hmm, my nephew D was also in town close to both power outages. Has he been practicing the dark arts and failed to mention it on our drive to Springfield, IL on Tuesday? Will I get over the sticker shock of the Red Hot Chili Peppers/Gnarls Barkley $71 concert ticket I recently purchased? Also, what happened to The Soup Dragons??? There were other strange thoughts that I won’t admit to here. The Soup Dragons curiosity comes from the ubiquitous Chase Freedom commercial that samples the Jagger/Richards song I’m Free that they remade back in the early 90’s. If you haven’t seen the commercial yet, trust me, you will. Before the power went out, I think I heard it in the double digits.

Now it’s Wednesday and I’m in a different part of the country for work and on the mend. I could care less about the Soup Dragons so I’m making progress. Onward and upward. --J

Is That A Red Thong I See?

J and I attended the Panic! At The Disco show last weekend at the Family Arena in St. Charles. Plain White T’s and Jack’s Mannequin opened.

The Plain White T’s were great, but the lead singer had these low rider, women’s cut jeans that gradually began to creep down his ass. J and I both looked at each other at one point and swore we saw ass cheek. So, I ask the question, was the lead singer wearing a red thong? Because, seeing red underwear in this situation is one thing, but from where we were sitting it looked like we saw flesh in a most unexpected place. We will never know. I love their song Delilah and the crowd lit up with blue cell phone lights during its performance.

Jack’s Mannequin was a crowd favorite. I haven’t listened to any of their music and from what J told me, the lead singer recently survived cancer. They rocked the house.

While we waited for Panic! At The Disco to take the stage, the NIN video for The Perfect Drug played on the jumbotron. God, how great was that video.

What can I say about Panic! At The Disco. I did not expect to be entertained like that. I’m not a fan of their music and honestly the songs were overshadowed by the dancers that performed for the show’s duration. J put it best when she described one dance performance as “walking 69”. J then looked at me and suggested that I ask a guy who I've been avoiding if he can do this. If he can, then I should agree or at least consider to hang out with him more.

As far as the band’s performance, I can’t help but describe it as something close to perfection. For being so young, they demonstrated an expertise in regards to showmanship and orchestration. The lead singer cuts quite a handsome figure on stage, but as I watched him break into dance, flirt with the guitarist, and prance around I couldn’t help but wonder when he’ll be coming out of the closet. I don’t care really, but putting my observation from that night together with the night that J and I hung out behind the Pageant and saw him not look one female fan in the eye UNTIL J’s tall and handsome nephew D complimented him on the performance, at which time Brendan was all about the eye contact, I can’t help but wonder. Regardless, he’s a gifted performer and I hope he’s having the time of his life doing what he’s doing.

The most unexpected part of the show was the band’s cover of Killer Queen. When the song began J glanced over at me with a nervous look. I’m a little territorial when it comes to Queen, but when it was all said and done it was a perfect cover. I truly loved it. Again, I’m not a fan of Panic!’s music, so it was also wonderful to hear a song I actually liked that night.

I know I was a grumpy bitch during the show, J, but I have to give it an Unexpected. It was, in truth, a very good show. As Jack Black would say “well played, Panic! At The Disco.” -K

Synkkien Laulujen Maa

I'm very excited about Ville Valo’s latest side project. Like he did back in the late 90s with The Agents, along with other various artists he has recorded a couple of Finnish classics. This is not rock; it is old Finnish melancholy goodness. The cd is called Synkkien Laulujen Maa (The Land of Dark Songs) and it was released on November 22, 2006 and is currently the number one downloaded album in the Finnish iTunes music store. I know I should be reviewing this cd rather than just reporting about it, but it’s difficult to find this one here in the States right now. Hopefully, ebay will come through for me once again because I kind of dig hearing the man sing in his native tongue.

Ville’s songs are Kun minä kotaini läksin (When I Left My Home) and Täällä Pohjantähden alla (Here Under The North Star). You can hear samples here and here. -K