Cheevyjames’ Musical Roundhouse

A little late in the game, I know, but I just finished downloading a bunch of albums from iTunes.  This was the first Christmas where I didn’t get any CDs (didn’t ask for any) and instead I asked for iTunes gift certs if people wanted to get me some music.  I happily received $75 in GC’s and tonight was the night I officially went over to the “dark side” of downloading the music from iTunes rather than buy the CDs directly.  It’s kinda strange for me.  Truthfully, when I listen to music 90% of the time it’s through my iPod, so the idea of saving money while buying music is a good one for me.  I figure that the important stuff (Maiden, Zappa, Crimson, etc) will still be purchased in hard copies, but for most everything else it’s not the end of the world if I get it from iTunes.

So, what did I get this evening?  Bebel Gilberto’s Momento, Jonathan Richman’s Action Packed, Pink Floyd’s Obscured By Clouds, Swervedriver’s Mezcal Head, Thievery Corporation’s Mirror Conspiracy, Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil & Zero 7’s Simple Things.  I also bought a few extra one-off tracks that will be cool to delve into.  Oh, I also used some money from another GC and bought 2 Mike Keneally OOP albums, Tar Tapes Vols 1 & 2.

I haven’t listened to any of the new stuff tonight, but that’s what all I’ll be devouring tomorrow at work.  I’m excited to hear all of it.  Maybe I’ll report on the stuff tomorrow.

np - no “music”, only the sound of the rain.  Don, your songs worked!

Continued working on album reviews today:

• Adrian Belew
• Bryan Beller
• Leonard Bernstein
• Better Than Ezra
• Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey soundtrack
• The Black Crowes
• Black Sabbath
• Bon Jovi
• Boston

np: XTC - Skylarking > Heart - What About Love

>>>Evening Update<<<

Finished up the B’s with the additions of:

• James Brown
• Dave Brubeck
• Bill Bruford/Tony Levin
• Jimmy Buffett

np: Oingo Boingo - Best O’ Boingo

Hi!  I’ve been working on this page a little bit since the 17th, but Christmas happened and I haven’t made time to update what I’ve been doing since then.  I did some minor cosmetic work (with lots of thanks to Jeff) so now you IE users won’t see a page that looks all funky.  Here are the old album reviews I’ve posted since last update:

• Bach
• Barenaked Ladies
• Beastie Boys
• Beatallica
• The Beatles

More updates will be posted as I get them done.

np: The Doors - Strange Days (Moonlight Drive)

Posted a few more album reviews tonight and finished up the A’s. Obviously I’m going in alpha order:

• Anthrax
• Louis Armstrong
• ASAP

np: MP3 CD for Don consisting of, randomly: 3 Penny Opera, Citizen Lane, Echo Juliet, Flat Mass, Gypsy Tree, Mike Keneally, Robert Fripp, Shaolin Death Squad, Tony Levin, Twang Twang Shock-a-Boom & Vernon Reid.  Currently it’s on 3PO’s Diamonds.

Worked on transferring some album reviews today. Brought over the reviews for:

• 3 Penny Opera
• 8½ Souvenirs
• 47 Indians
• Afro Cuban All-Stars
• Alice in Chains

I’ll keep working on the A’s tomorrow.

np: Norah Jones - Come Away With Me

If you’re a friend of mine or new to my world - welcome!

My original idea for this website was for me to be “finished” with it before presenting it to the world. Now I feel it’s better to present it now and fill in the details when I have the time. “Finished” meant everything that is on the old geocities site would be housed here. That’s a lot of album reviews to move. I’ll just mention when I move things over and you can check them out then.

Here’s what I still need to move over:

• 99% of the album reviews
• 95% of the content for the 3PO, Echo Juliet, Miniver Cheevy & Mastermonk pages
• a few of the links on the Live Effect page
• other random links to stuff
• livejournal posts

If you’re looking for some content on this site and it isn’t here (like a particular album review) everything is still available at geocities.com/cheevyjames and it should be easy to find (roughly the same places). I guess that’s all for now. I plan on blogging about the Hawaii trip very soon.

I’m still tired from last night. Stayed up way too late.

I had a great birthday though. All day long I thought about thrashing some people in pool at the work Christmas party yesterday afternoon. Maybe it’s one of those “visualize it and it will come true things”, but I actually played pretty well. Won 3 in a row; first was by myself and the next two were teams. AND! I had only 1 “luck shot” during the whole 3 games. I think that’s a record for me. Could it be that I’m actually improving at playing pool? After the work party I headed home and cleaned up a bit before opening my presents from Julie (DVDs of the new Futurama move and Ratatoulie - hell yeah!). The original plan was for everyone to meet at our place and then we’d all drive out to Tir Na Nog in Raleigh (less cars driving to an Irish pub), but 4 people would be arriving late so they just met us up there. Full list of characters for the evening: me & Julie, Don & Lizzi, Travis & Brooke, Eric & Jenn and Kelly and Greta. I absolutely LOVED hanging out with all of my best friends in NC. We had a great time at the pub, drank some great beer (hooray for half-and-halfs!) and ate some amazing food. My Lamb Stew was incredible. Man, lots of laughing during and after the meal. I’m really happy that all the various groups can get together and still have a good time. I guess it’s a good thing that all of my friends are cool. After the pub we came back to our house for more conversing, Benny Lava & the mud pie Julie made. YUMMY! After everyone left (after midnight) Julie and I watched a bit of the Futurama movie before heading to bed around 1. Long day, but tons of fun and a great birthday.

For my yearly birthday present to myself I bought the Iron Maiden DVD from last year or whenever, Death on the Road. Can’t wait to watch it.

Julie and I leave early tomorrow morn and fly out to Kauai, Hawaii. Hell yeah! It’s gonna be a long flight, but we’re going to have an excellent time there. I’ll finally get to swim in the Pacific Ocean! Woot! Don and Lizzi were cool enough to offer to drive us to the airport and Travis & Brooke will be happily taking care of the gatitos. So thanks, all of ya!

OK, I’m out until next time…which will hopefully be on the new website (getting there).

Good news, everyone!

Current Location: East Coast, for now

Current Mood: loved

Current Music: Trey Gunn - Acquiring Canopus

I’ve only seen Zakk once on his own, and twice before that with Ozzy.  He’s a fantastic guitarist and always puts on one hell of a show.  I saw him at a club in Dallas called Trees back when he was doing his Pride and Glory band.  I don’t think that band played that night (it was billed as Zakk Wylde) but I remember it was around that time.  Besides his excellent guitar playing, the thing I remember most from his show is how versatile he was.  He played a few songs on piano (pretty well too), but mostly it was in the versatility of the material.  He covered a lot of ground, with most of it being non-metal.  Definitely refreshing.  I haven’t seen his current band, Black Label Society, but knowing what kind of a performer Zakk is, I’m sure they’re pretty cool.

• Concert Reviews:
• 3/9/96 (Béla Fleck and the Flecktones) w/ 8½ Souvenirs, Austin, TX
• 12/9/97 Austin, TX

Oh my goodness! Victor’s the *best* bassist out there. I’m a bassist and have been for almost 15 years now so I think I’m qualified to judge. He does things on the instrument that I had no idea were even possible. I’ve seen Victor play twice, once with the Flecktones and then at a solo gig with drummer Brendan Temple. Those two guys, in the same room, playing together? Phenomenal. Yes, it was just a bassist and drummer, but those two can do more than most bands that have 4 or 5 people. Besides the obvious funky and jaw-dropping playing, I loved how Victor not only brought a lot of humor to the show, but also a sense of “he can do anything musically and it’s going to be fun”. I have no idea how non-musicians would go for his shows, but regardless of if you’re a musician or not, you’ll definitely be entertained.

• Concert Review: 4/21/06 Raleigh, NC

I’ve only seen them once and that was a couple of months ago.  I had heard a few songs by them from my friend Kelly and so when they came to Raleigh I wanted to check it out.  Just judging by their songs, I like the music a lot more than I like the vocals.  I had no idea how it was going to go in a live setting.  Of course they’re a huge band with an extremely large (and dedicated) following, so naturally they played at one of the biggest venues in the area.  I think some bands do well at large venues and some don’t.  WSP seems to me like they’d be better at a smaller, more intimate, venue.  I mean, truthfully, I was pretty bored for a lot of the show.  Granted that they had a very off night according to most people who were there (this was said after the fact), but I still didn’t think they were that hot.  None of the songs really impressed me as compositions in a live setting and the 6 members just stood there and seemed bored the whole time.  Maybe they were bored too?  Who knows.  I tried to get into it, but it really wasn’t for me.  I like some jam bands, but definitely not all of them.  Actually, most of them bore me because when they extend songs out, they don’t go anywhere, they only just vamp over a few chords while some guitarist wanks away for 10 minutes.  That’s what Widespread seemed to be doing when I saw them.  Their lead guitarist, who was decent enough, just played solos the whole time and never really contributed anything musical to the band.  I don’t know, maybe it really was just a bad night for the band, but I was severely unimpressed.

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