shane bettenhausen's journal

my old kentucky home

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 07:56:35 GMT

I'll be back in my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky for a few days starting this Saturday. If I know you and you live there, let's hang out.

Inland Empire premieres

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 06:57:24 GMT

Last night, David Lynch premiered his new film Inland Empire at the Venice Film Festival. That's him rockin' some award alongside stars Laura Dern and Justin Theroux.

Shocker: the buzz is that the film is "weird." Critics scratched their heads and asked questions like "Is this supposed to make sense?" at the press conference afterwards. "It's supposed to make perfect sense...that's what's so terrible about press conferences. It's all about the film, not about the words." defended Lynch. No reviews have surfaced yet...not that I'm even sure if I'd read them. (The Times has this brief, spoiler-free story, though.)

I hope that this would get a real release date soon...and I dream that this 3-hour+ festival cut makes it to theaters, or at least DVD.

rebuild?

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 05:54:05 GMT

whoa, have people know about this for a while? Am I that out of the anime loop?

News is from the new issue of the Japanese Newtype that isn't out til this weekend ...

Project "Rebuild of Evangelion"

- 4 Theatrical features starting next summer.

- Essentially condensing the original TV series yet reworking it drastically, as opposed to the Zeta Gundam movies, they will feaure a "large" amount of new material.

- It's said not to be a re-working, but an entirely new creation and that the content will not be redundant for people familiar with the series.

Staff include General Supervisor: Hideaki Anno, Director: Tsurumaki Kazuya , Character Design: Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Mecha Design: Ikuto Yamashita, Animation Production: Khara (Color) Studio. The scenario of the 1st part will be written by Hideaki Anno with storyboard by Shinji Higuchi.

uhhh.. how do I feel about this?

two long songs

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 06:42:45 GMT

Today, my ipod experienced some cosmic covergence and placed the following two songs in shuffled succession:

Tortoise's "Djed"
from Millions Now Living Will Never Die
(20:57 long)

Orbital's "The Box*"
from in sides
(28:11 long)

I made it all the way through this epic sonic journey, which felt shockingly...nostalgic. It's odd to think that it's been a decade since I first heard this stuff. (I was in college! I'm so old). I found that "Djed" hasn't really aged at all. In fact, hearing it again has me psyched for the impeding release of A Lazarus Taxon, a multi-disc set of the band's coveted rarities. Oh, and they're touring for it. Sweet....

This version of "The Box" hails from some bonus disc, and it's positively absurd. The normal album version is a catchy, funky thunder of percussion, but this overblown remix adds glacial buildups, questionable lyrics, and an extended whistled outro. It's beyond over the top, yet still weirdly fun.

Hmm...I really need to blog about the Wu Tang Clan and Sleater Kinney concerts that I've seen in the last 2 weeks. Maybe I'll still get to that, now that deadline's over.

Oh, I'm also stoked about going campling/white water rafting this coming weekend. If I know you and you're up for it, I think we have an open slot for one more rafter...

Sorry, Mormons

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 04:25:50 GMT

A federal court has halted the further sales and distribution of motion picture videos that have been edited to remove sex, violence, and offensive-language scenes. Judge Richard P. Matsch ruled that four companies that engaged in bowdlerizing the films were violating the copyright holders' rights "to control the reproduction and distribution of the protected work in their original form." Companies named in the suit include CleanFlicks, Family Flix, Play It Clean Video and CleanFilms. In an interview with Salt Lake City's Deseret Morning News, Daniel Thompson, who owns four CleanFlicks outlets in Utah, said, "I think it's ridiculous that you can't watch a movie without seeing sex, nudity or extreme violence. I don't understand why they're trying to keep that in there." But in a statement, Michael Apted, president of the Directors Guild of America, said, "Audiences can now be assured that the films they buy or rent are the vision of the filmmakers who made them and not the arbitrary choice of a third-party editor. ... We have great passion about protecting our work, which is our signature and brand identification, against unauthorized editing."

source: IMDB

I'll be late for that; baby I'll wait for that

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 02:58:51 GMT

You see, I had planned to put together a timely follow-up to 2004's music wrap-up blog post back in January, but, yeah, uh... not so much. It's practically 2007 up in here. I suck. But goddammit -- I listened to a lot of music in 2005, and it's not too late to ramble on about it on my self-indulgent blog, right? Here's the first chunk of stupidly late awards, brought to you by David Bowie and a skull.

My favorite album of 2005
Edan: Beauty and the Beat
2005 became the year that I embraced my hip-hop leanings and dove in headfirst. I'm glad that I did: rap's production scene pumped out some totally bizarre, funky stuff, and a lot of talented upstart MCs made strong debuts. Edan's not exactly new, but this sophomore LP represents a big leap from his older stuff. He's a triple threat--DJ, MC, and producer--and he finally proves himself by ditching his lightweight, whimsical style and making something with some gravitas. Beauty & the Beat blends old-school hip-hop with psychedelic rock riffs to amazing effect. Individual tracks transform and expand, flowing seamlessly together into a prog-rap adventure. The whole thing clocks in at a scant 37 minutes, but it's a dense listen, regardless. The production easily steals the show, and I'm fine with that. Edan's not the best rapper around...he's clever and has a good flow, yet isn't the most skilled writer. But he still gets the job done here, and some op-notch guest raps help to flesh out the album's rhymes. Overall, it's a stunning work. I still listen to it all the time.

Best object (musical or otherwise) of 2005
Talking Heads: Brick
This year, I came to the vaguely startling observation that the Talking Heads are my favorite band ever. I already owned half of the albums in this comprehensive reissue box set, but somehow I'd failed to delve deep into the material. Upon closer inspection, this band is absolutely essential. I can't believe I hadn't fully noticed earlier. The haunting post-punk grooves, paranoid lyrics, and arresting delivery of David Byrne all peak on the Eno-produced albums, but even the less brilliant later LPs offer plenty of substance. And this amazing box contains both remastered CD versions (with previously unreleased demos and rarities) and DVD-A versions with new mixes overseen by Talking Head Jerry Harrison. These new 5.1 mixes are incomprehensibly good, pushing the boundaries of the format with creative use of the channels. I dare anyone to find a more engrossing listening experience than Remain in Light in full 3D sound.

(audio nerds should read this article about the 5.1 mix on apple.com)

Album that I listened to like 2000 times
Talking Heads: The Name of This Band is Talking Heads
So what if this didn't come out last year? It never left my rotation. Rhino's phenomenal reissue inflates the Heads' first live album into a mammoth two-disc size with tons of previously unheard performances. The discs chronologically track the band's growth, climaxing on disc two with the stellar 10-person band from the Remain in Light tour. Songs have been radically reworked into sprawling, driving jams dense with polyrhythmic interplay. The versions of "Stay Hungry," "Houses in Motion," "Born Under Punches," "Life During Wartime," "Crosseyed and Painless," and "The Great Curve" turn the drama and intensity up to unforeseen levels, outclassing the album originals. The best songs ever just got better. Buy this now.

Most Growth (now with bonus tragedy)
Sleater Kinney: The Woods
I went to see S-K play at the Warfield right before the Woods dropped. To my surprise, they played the entire new album in its entirety, followed by a short encore of their older favorites. Those ladies have some balls. A lot of fans were pissed, but I actually adore the new sound. The precise, poppy punk of yesteryear gave way to dense, angry guitar rock steeped in the psychedelic tradition of Zeppelin. Songs melt together into virtuoso guitar solos, yet the thick production never goes so far over the top as to rob the album of its impact. Oh yeah, and they decided to break up earlier this week. That totally blows, but at least we got this stellar album first. Thanks, ladies. You rocked.

2 more batches of awards (and much, much more!) TK later this week.
Peace out.

pour one out for boy buddy

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 00:54:21 GMT

Our good friend Christian has uploaded a ton of old photos to his flickr account. Go ahead and click. You'll find countless nerdy pictures of me (please do not look at or save any of them), see plenty of gaming industry superstars in their younger days, and discover the ultimate collection of cat snapshots. Here's my favorite, an ancient snapshot of Asuka and her dearly departed brother, Boy Buddy, back in Kentucky. Peace out, bro.

I crossed the burning desert

Tue, 02 May 2006 08:06:10 GMT

Now that was a weekend. Apologies for not updating much...I've had some great experiences in the last few weeks that really should have gotten some press here, such as a stellar vacation in Tokyo. Maybe we'll still get to that. But the buzzing in my head demands immediate explanation.

We just rolled back into town after a wild 4-day weekend at Coachella, the giant 2-day rock festival down near Palm Springs. The trip was an unabashed success...so much, in fact, that Skip randomly felt compelled to exclaim "this trip is really successful!" this morning. We all kind of overdid it on Saturday, so we spent the first half of Sunday drinking while swimming at the resort's luxurious pool array. It was retarded.

Day 1

Lady Sovereign
I only caught her last three songs, but this chick definitely lives up to her scrappy reputation. No-frills presentation (just MC and DJ) put her verbal assaults right up in ya grill. Eh, she's fun. Still, I only came into this sweltering tent to get a good spot for...

Lyrics Born
Wow, it has been a few years since I last saw him play live...but I think he's actually gotten even more absurdly energetic and spirited since his solo album came out (ages ago). I expected to hear some new material, but I'd somehow forgotten the unspoken rule that Coachella setlists = greatest hits. Doesn't matter, though--LB was on fire, as was his band. Awesome stuff. Eleven more hours of this! And that's just today...

Common
I've got no beef with Common's R&B-infused hip hoppin', but I'm secretly pushing my way through the throngs of vaguely-interested hippies in order to secure a good spot for...

Kanye West
The last-minute festival addition (2 days before!) has the nerve to show up to the stage about 20 minutes late (which sucks, because they can't really run over--Kanye mentioned that he was having to revise his set list because he was late. Lame.) and still gave my favorite performance of the entire weekend. I really had no idea that he was that good of a performer. He's certainly not the best rapper, but his band, DJ, backup singers, and uh, string quartet add lots of sizzle. Plus, Kanye had fun with all us white kids--first, he suggested that we all should sing along to 'Gold Digger' since it's the only time we can say that word without getting in trouble, and then he led everyone in a full-on karaoke of a-ha's 'Take on Me.'

I had to skip My Morning Jacket (who rocked my face off last fall at the Fillmore) to see Kanye, and it was actually worth it. Insane! In other news, the sun has finally set, so now I love Coachella even more.

Ladytron
As I'm starting to flee the main stage, I hear what appears to be an Elvish horn of nerd summoning--aka, some sort of spooky, moog-y beacon alerting the hip hop fans of an impending Sigur Ros concert. As us street people swarm out in our Timberlands and sideways baseball caps, we pass legions of nerds, hippies, and Europeans filtering towards the stage. I think I saw someone carrying a Dungeon Master's Screen, and I heard at least two entirely made-up languages being spoken. Actually, I kind of wish I'd stayed. Despite singing in a made-up language, Sigur Ros somehow escapes my wrath--their music is just too pretty. Sorry.

But I went to see Ladytron instead -- I'd seen them a few years back, but their last album showed a lot of growth so they beat out the LOTRockers. They sounded good, but the show leaned on their older stuff, which sounds a tad dated compared to their newer, more sophisticated sound. Maybe I should have listened to the unicorns and shit. Oh well.

Damien "Jr. Gong" Marley (and his 19 friends)
Nothing could stop this grinding reggae party from running way over its alotted time slot, and I was all for it. The jams were dope, and it was once again easy to walk through groups of dazed hipsters to get dangerously close to the...

Eagles of Death Metal
Wow, these guys rocked. I'd heard that they were good, but somehow never actually investigated. But yeah, they put on a helluva show. Double drumming (from Josh Homme and some hot chick) gives their sound some extra kick, and their frontman is a total nut. Catch these guys on tour.

Atmosphere
I'd heard some of these guys on other projects, but hadn't actually heard any of this rap/rock hybrid's work. Good crowd interaction, some sick tracks, and uh...I can't believe I've seen all of these bands. The goblet of rock runneth over.

Daft Punk
I'm so lame that I just sit down near the throbbing, glowstik-filled tent and enjoy Daft Punk's first performance in five years from a safe distance. Apparently they dressed up like robots and had a light show to rival the one on my Nuon. Skip was apparently up front, possibly wearing a Cat in the Hat hat.

day 2 coverage tomorrow...

grooving?

Sat, 25 Mar 2006 08:00:06 GMT

Would anyone who's gonna be in Tokyo next week want to join me at Springroove? A giant hip hop show in Japan seems awfully fun...right?. Tickets can be had here. Also, anyone in Japan able to lend me your address for delivery since they don't ship to the U.S.?

That ain't butter beer, li'l lady

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 03:59:48 GMT

I didn't buy it for her, I swear.

Best headlines I saw today on Google News

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 07:39:45 GMT

"Jaws Creator Loved Sharks, Wife Reveals"

"Rocker Scott Stapp Gets Married, Arrested"

show your love

Wed, 01 Feb 2006 04:17:50 GMT

I don't actually watch Law & Order: Special Victims unit, but I have to give props to an artist who has designed (and is selling) valentines based on the show. I'd be psyched to get one of these in 2nd Grade.

100 x 100

Mon, 30 Jan 2006 06:51:17 GMT

When you're really drunk in Vegas, you might think that ordering a 100-by-100 burger at In-N-Out seems like a good idea. You might be right. Check the gory details of this awesome transaction, complete with a pic of the nearly-$100 recepit. As disgusting as these pics look, I'd still go for a Double-Double right now if it came my way....

Bai Ling does Sundance

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 03:37:39 GMT

palm springs, anyone?

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 06:49:43 GMT

Wow, I really hope this is real. Coachella was a blast when I went 2 years ago, and with proper planning (like an extra day to drive back) this could be A+' stuff. Seriously, I want to see 26 of the bands on this (hopefully not fake) flier. Tickets go on sale tomorrow...and the lineup reportedly won't be officially revealed until next week. WTF?

Hmm, and this site has a list of confirmed bands that almost perfectly matches up with that flier. Could be a conspiracy, still.

coming soon

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 07:04:59 GMT

Now that I've had plenty of time to reflect on 2005, I'm finally ready to write a long, rambling piece on my favorite albums of last year. Well, not tonight...but soon. Tonight we get a coloring book. Enjoy.

happy new year

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 02:39:29 GMT

We started celebrating a full 26 hours early, just to make sure we make the most of 2005.

that gum you like is coming back into style

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 05:30:02 GMT

This weekend, you'll find me at the movies. Jesse Ficks, the guy who used to program the brilliant 'Midnites for Maniacs' series at the 4 Star, will be presenting three nights of David Lynch double/triple features at the castro theater here in San Francisco. Best weekend at the movies ever.

Friday, Dec. 9
7pm: Mulholland Drive
9:40 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Saturday, Dec 10
7pm: Blue Velvet
9:15 Wild at Heart
Midnite: Lost Highway

Sunday, Dec 11
7pm: The Elephant Man
9:20: Dune

in which i succumb to a meme

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 08:44:12 GMT

(I rarely do memes, but this one seemed harmless...and I'm in the middle of researching a massive upcoming post about my favorite albums of 2005, so I thought it would be fun to list 7 songs I listened to today that do not appear on any albums I'll be covering. Random, I know.)

tagged by: jonnyram

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're any good, but they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LiveJournal along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

David Bowie: Station to Station
PJ Harvey: One Line
Baby: What Happened to that Boy?
Boards of Canada: Kid for Today
Pulp: Glory Days
Miles Davis: Hand Jive
Lisa Whelchel: Good Girl

If I don't officially pass the meme on, does that mean I'm breaking the chain letter? I'm always curious what new stuff ferricide ferricide is into...he's always on the bleeding edge of the UK scene. But really, I'd love to know what all my friends are digging currently...

Bling Mitzvah

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 06:08:07 GMT

I thought I had a fairly rad birthday, but I've got nothing on David H. Brooks' daughter. Her dad spent $10 million dollars on her Bat Mitzvah last weekend, mostly on the entertainment. If your dad can afford to hire Aerosmith, Ciara, Tom Petty (?!) and 50 Cent to play at your birthday party, you're officially too rich.

Yacht Rock #2

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 08:19:22 GMT

The second episode of Yacht Rock is up...this stuff is damned funny. Or if you're late to the hottest internet video trend like I was, watch the premiere ep first. Younglings might not appreciate this superb satire of the smooth music of my childhood, but fellow oldsters will dig it. Gracias to Kathleen for pimping this stuff at me.

i'm old, yo

Tue, 29 Nov 2005 08:18:07 GMT

Today's my birthday...the big two-nine. I'm taking it in stride, I think. 25 offered the whole quarter-century freakout, and yeah, I'm certainly wary of turning 30...but I'm getting a good vibe about the next year. Plus, Ray and I recently resolved to make next year the best-ever. A fairly ambitious new year's resolution, I know.

In terms of celebration, we're going to revel at our favorite chinatown bar Tuesday night, 9 ish. You should come out. Since it's a school night, I may reserve the right to refuse shots. Wait, is that allowed?

I let my rock star idols do my thinking for me

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 04:04:49 GMT

I tend to edit myself a bit when it comes to big topics, but after seeing Negativland's suberp live performance of 'It's All in Your Head' (an ambitious musical/information performance piece that boiled down to absurdly funny / brilliant evangelical atheism), I've really wanted to spill my guts regarding organized religion. Or at least the current debate over teaching "Intelligent Design" in public schools. Luckily, one of my personal music heroes went and did it for me. Thank Jesus we're on the same wavelength. Take it away, David Byrne. (Oh, and check out this boss picture of intelligent design I googled. God is lookin' super high tech and rad!)

(from David Byrne's blog)
Lots of articles everywhere about Intelligent Design these days; it's the latest re-working of reality to allow God a place in it. It's a bit of a waste of time, all this discussion, in my opinion. If people insist on taking the Bible literally, at face value, and reforming the evidence on the ground to fit that, then there is no reasoning with them--they've abandoned reason from the beginning.

It's not a question of reason vs. faith either, in my opinion. I believe one can have a belief, a sense of a higher force, without taking virgin births, Adam and Eve, Noah and a man who make a sea part literally. You can believe in Mystery--in something beyond us that we don't understand, without necessarily believing that the stories that point and support that belief are also all literally true.

Over and over it has been shown that these tales that make up the Torah and the Bible were cobbled together from pre-existing mythologies and assembled to form these new groups, giving a new emphasis. Twice it happened--in the Torah and later by the Christians. That doesn't denigrate the mythology described in these books in any way, or deny its metaphorical power. A metaphor as powerful as these has the power to guide lives, to inspire, to order societies and to back up moralities. And they can be beautiful and poetic at the same time. That's a tall order.

But to say that it also literally happened is, well, to miss the point. It is to mistake the finger pointing at the moon for the moon, as the Buddha once said. The myths point towards a way of living, they give social and moral foundations and provide a backbone for daily behavior--but they themselves are not those foundations and backbone. They are signposts, not the thing itself.

Intelligent design strikes me as the latest convoluted attempt to allow something patently unbelievable to remain standing. If, for example, one confronts a person who insists that the first few pages of Genesis are to be taken literally with the evidence of the world around them, they have no choice but to admit that it probably didn't happen quite that way. Pause. Ummm, so, ahh, wait a minute! How about this? God didn't actually MAKE everything, but he set it in motion! How about that?

This sounds like a 10 year old desperately figuring out an alternate story explaining where the cookies went or how the dog got in the house. It's amusing, and maybe sweet in its desperation, but not to be taken seriously as literal fact. It is psychological fact, which is different. No less real, but very different.

The U.S. is a fragmented country--split between fundamentalists and infidels. Maybe that's why these days this issue is taken seriously and given so much media space. It speaks to larger divides and deeper problems.

I think it's possible to believe in God, Gods, a higher power, or the Force, or a Vast Active Living Intelligent System without taking the myths at face value. It doesn't devalue them either to not take them literally. But it can go either way.

I think in Buddhism there are 2 paths, and one consists of literally mostly just rote behavior. Just do the rituals, chant the sutras, behave correctly, and you'll get there--or your descendants will. The other road is about achieving release through deep understanding and lots of diligent effort. Often this is the road for priests, monks, hermits and wandering seekers. It is claimed that either road leads to eventual enlightenment--it doesn't matter which way you go--you don't have to know how a car works to arrive at your destination--but one should not mistake the car for the destination. Like a simple Bible reader in the USA, a dedicated churchgoer, one can achieve the end goal simply by following directions.

How this then got twisted all over the world into intolerance (forced teaching of Intelligent Design is intolerance in my book) is slightly beyond me--unless it's basic human nature to subdue the lands around you.

When I read about the Big Bang it is hard for me to believe that it all began more or less from nothing. And it's equally hard to believe that all will either disperse into empty wastes or collapse back in and restart the process over and over again. It's hard to believe there was a beginning or that there can be an end--a cycle is easier to believe, endless repetition, but then how did the cycle get started? How could anything always be here? Why is there matter or energy to begin with? In searching for an answer here is where an infidel like myself comes close to faith.

It is said that speed of light travel is impossible--that we would become energy and would therefore no longer exist as matter. This might be true, but viewed from a higher, much much faster level, that might not make much of a difference. What we consider as--existing--and what organizing principle may still exist when one becomes pure energy may not be so different. Simply (or not so simply) they may be different forms for the same thing, or non-thing, as the case may be.

Imagine speed of light travel in which yes we do become energy and we somehow maintain our organizing principles. Forget about space ships and maybe even bodies--we've become something less. We can then not only travel very quickly and far, but maybe time begins to be somewhat flexible as well. Here is where we can indeed enter wormholes and even stars become like planets--planets of energy, rather than of mass (though there is mass there, too.)

This level of travel--and of existence, really--would be all but invisible to us. Pulses and rays and concatenations of energy--it would be pretty hard to discern their organizational forms, if such things could exist, form where we sit. It would be the equivalent of another dimension--albeit the one the touches us fairly often.

Once one is converted into a form or pure energy would there be a reason to go back to being mass? Ever? Would this be considered a form or transcendence? It literally is. And does that put it in the realm of the spiritual? I think not, but appearances are deceptive. But it does allow one to imagine that there might be levels of--being--up our out there that we find pretty hard to imagine, and they are, when viewed by us, suitably Godlike.

fax machine anthems

Wed, 16 Nov 2005 08:20:28 GMT

Head here to check out the new video for Beck's song 'Hell Yes.' (Directed by Spike Jonze and Garth Jennings) It stars those lovable QRIO robots that Sony plans to wage war on humanity with.

in a dream i saw you walkin'

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 07:58:24 GMT

Wow...I attended two really amazing concerts this week. First up, I saw Broken Social Scene on wednesday. Having seen them twice before, I knew what to expect: obscenely complex yet catchy rock delivered by a massive number of band numbers. [I've noticed that BSS aren't exactly an easy sell to newcomers...maybe people group them in the same creepy quasi-cult genre with the Polyphonic Spree? I hope not....] Even with the departure of all the people currently touring in Metric and Stars, the Scene still managed to crowd between 7 and 15 ( I counted!) players onstage. And while their recent eponymous release comes off as a little too self-indulgent and bombastic, the new songs expoded live--where suddenly every rock song benefits from 5 guitarists, 2 drummers, and an entire brass section. Epic, emotional, blisteringly-loud...I think that by the end the band was nearly as fucked-up as us audience members, making an absolutely surreal encore. I left the theater elated, sure that I'd just seen the pinnacle of this quarter's rock-out season. How could I be wrong?...

Saturday night offered my home state's apparent answer to Radiohead, My Morning Jacket. I randomly picked up their recent CD based solely on good press and an odd desire to see if Kentucky could actually produce something decent. The album, Z, rocks...it's all over the place in the best possible way, and doesn't take itself all that seriously. Still, it's a bit spotty in places, so my expectations for the live show were modest. But I was intrigued by the fact that the band would be taping the concert (along with the previous night's show) for a DVD...and that patrons were encouraged to wear "Fantasy Attire." Ren Faire rock? Sign me up. An admirable number of costumed folk came through, and the band had decked out the Fillmore's stage with tons of crazy foliage, fake owls, and copious smoke machines. I skipped the opening act and weaved into the crowd (no chance of meeting up w/ Skip, though...he was front and center, the lucky bastard) mere minutes before MMJ took the stage, and I could feel that the crowd was already seriously jazzed...hell, a fourth of them were dressed as fairies, goblins, or unicorns. (all 3 types spotted) The band stormed the stage and immediately amazed...these guys decided to go balls-out tonight for the DVD. It's tough to convey just how good this show was: They'd segue from a searing rock song to a haunting country-feedback ballad, following that up with an epic prog masterpiece and a dancehall joint that evolves into a 25-minute psychedlic swamp jam. Then they'd suddenly turn into the sequel to R.E.M. mixed with the second coming of Guns N Roses. It's tough to piece it all together...though I clearly remember losing my shit over the performance of Z's best song, closer Dondante. As good as it is on the album, the live version packs roughly 20x the power, emotion, and drama. Seriously, one of the finest performances I've ever heard. A 40-minute, turned-up-to-11 encore later, Skip and I gushed over how fucking brilliant the show had been and how the band had just risen at least 2 letter grades in our estimation. If they're coming to your town and you like to rock, go see them!