Theme Songs Redux

Over at Really Nothing Special my wife posted an interesting bit the other day on the power of personal theme songs--y'all should give it a read. And if you are wondering, yes, I choose not to judge her for her choice of "The Hills" theme music--I'm big like that.

Lauren puts forward Gavin DeGraws "I Don't Wanna Be" as my theme, and I have to admit, it's hard to argue with that. When I'm in the mood for irony tinged triumphantness (which happens pretty frequently) there's nothing better than the joyful absurdity of Mr. DeGraw's One Tree Hill theme song.

I would, however, offer two more contenders. The first song is for those earnestly triumphant moments (which happen fairly regularly as well)--"Echoes Myron" by Guided By Voices. The second song has long been my Friday afternoon "going home from my army job for the weekend" theme--"Get Me Away From Here, I'm Dying" by Belle & Sebastian.

Enjoy.

Radiohead vs. Prince

There are some interesting copyright issues afoot!

Not that I particularly want to watch/listen to Prince sing Creep, but still...Radiohead want to see the clip, Prince. Ease up, little guy.

Thrice Monthly Dinosaurs of Indie Rock Update

This is really kind of depressing. Built to Spill has scheduled a series of US dates throughout the US in September. At said dates BTS will perform their classic 1997 album Perfect From Now On. Like, in its entirety. Awesome, right?

Except that I'll be overseas for the entirety of that tour. Which is not cool...not even a little. (See the comments section for more on Built to Spill).

In far less depressing music news, the epicly titled Rock the Net: Musicians for Net Neutrality compilation will feature a new song from Army 2.0 fave the Wrens. The Wrens haven't released a new track since 2003's Meadowlands (lazy bastards) so this is (we can hope) an exciting step toward a new album for the Jerseyites.

Ah, net neutrality...I totally used to know what that is. It has something to do with the giant tubes that connect together all our computers, right?

Seriously, Wilco? Seriously?

Wilco is playing Fairbanks this summer.

For those of you who don't know, I lived in Fairbanks, Alaska from November 2001 until November 2003. It was an interesting time in my life--first time in the Army, first time a long way from home, and first time completely cut off from the "real world" due to the geographic absurdity of my location (this deployment being the second).

Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of live music acts worth checking out up there. Occasionally someone worthwhile would drop by Anchorage, and just to give you some perspective, we would strongly consider driving the 365 miles through mountain passes filled with snow/ice/treachousness to get there.

We had one sorta-music venue in town--the Blue Loon--which also doubled as the dance club, art house movie theater, Jaegermeister dispensery, home of the only Galaga machine in the city, and the place where crappy comedians would perform their crappy comedy. It's out on the edge of civilization on the west side of Fairbanks, and we all kind of loved it.

As many such places do, it has pictures on the wall of famous performers who had passed through their doors. And I kid you not, the most notable picture I remember is the Gin Blossoms, who had come through in like 2000, years and years after their peak.

And now, nearly 5 years after I bid Alaska farewell, they get Wilco. What the hell, Fairbanks? What the hell?

p.s. Looking through the Loon's summer lineup, it looks like Third Eye Blind is swinging through as well--now that's really more your speed, Blue Loon.