I'm not sure how many of you living in the D.C. Metropolitan area are familiar with Capitol Radio, a show on 106.7 WJFK. It's a punk show on Saturday nights from about 10 or 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Dirk insists on listening to it every Saturday, much to my dismay.
Honestly, I don't mind listening to punk music, be it local or older, more popular stuff. After all, I'm in a punk band. It would be astonishingly stupid to play music of a genre I don't enjoy listening to. I like the music fine, it's the interviews and such that I object to.
Honestly, only about a third of the show is devoted to music. Less than that, if you factor in commercials. The rest of the time, they interview people. I'm using the term "people" loosely here, you understand. These "people" are generally the members of some astonishingly obscure band whose music doesn't even get played on Capitol Radio. Again, that's not so bad, but I think there should be a format to these interviews: name the band, name the members present in the studio, name their latest [album], tell folks where they can get it, and maybe a few humorous anecdotes from the various members.
I never get that lucky. The listeners are regaled with stories of how the band formed:
"So, Melvin's Hemorrhoids is certainly an unusual name; where did it come from?"
(long, audible drag from a joint) "Uhh....see....I went to France. And....uhh...I was studying microbiology...."
(That was an actual interview question this past Saturday, unfortunately. And he expects us to believe he was studying microbiology in France? Hahaha — he must think we're idiots!)Listeners are also forced to listen to whatever horrid music (not necessarily punk) that the interviewees bring with them. It's like Bring Your Own Tape Night.
(another long, audible drag from a joint) "Uh....this next track was a recording we made at a party. It's, uh....Mike, our drummer, vomiting after drinking one too many Buds, then singing ‘Yankee Doodle'. It's really funny, because he starts puking in the middle of the song, but he keeps trying to sing."They also discuss the consistency of their feces, and whether or not they've ever met Ian Mackaye or Henry Rollins. As if that's a fucking big deal. You go to any local show around here, no matter how small, and jump onstage to ask over the P.A., "Who here has met Ian Mackaye?" I shit you not, half the audience will raise their hands. The numbers are only slightly smaller when you ask about Henry Rollins.
Stupid, stupid....but it's all we've got worthwhile around here (and it'll likely be the first station to play my band's stuff), so I suffer the interviews.
Eyes Wide Shut turned out to be a pretty good movie. I'm usually impressed with the movies I see, simply because I go in expecting them to be horrid. Nicole's acting was ten times better than Tom's, and there was this irritating background music — slow piano, played one note at a time, each note emphasized. There was also the fact that the scary parts weren't really scary — people were laughing aloud. Same with some of the dramatic parts. But those were the only low points to the movie. Anyway, you can see Nicole's tits, and they (Tom and Nicole) get high.
We went out with Katie and Chris, as planned. We went out to eat, bought tickets for the movie, hung out at Border's until the movie started, and saw the movie. It was a really enjoyable evening, made more so because of this heightened awareness I have for my friends these days. I've lost way too many lately.
And you can't beat Katie and Chris for tolerating our (Dirk's and mine) quirks.
We practiced for seven hours on Saturday. I'm kidding. For about three of those hours, we just set up the equipment, messed around, and ordered a pizza. Doshu showed up promptly at 7, with a migraine. That guy is dedicated. We kept offering to stop, since his face was turning gray from the pain, but he wouldn't. He insisted we keep going.
That's actually a pretty common theme with him. He doesn't want any special treatment whatsoever. Even when we said we'd understand if he needed to take some time off the band if something happened with his dad, he said that he wouldn't dream of it. Great guy.
He told us about how his old band, Enemy Soil, started a riot somewhere in Quebec (I think it was their capitol city). They didn't mean to, it's just that the venue they were playing in could only hold 250 people, and there was another 100 hanging around out in the street. Apparently, some of the people inside were sneaking pitchers of beer out to the people outside. A bouncer finally figured out what was going on, and tried to stop one of the kids sneaking beer out. The kid threw him through the front window, and the other punks waiting outside beat him up. Two cops came rushing up to save the bouncer, and they got beat up, too.
The end result was $100,000 worth of property damages (the crowd looted 11 nearby stores in their frenzy) and the police officers and the bouncer being seriously injured. The riot ended only after 100 police officers in full riot gear showed up. Apparently, they have a lot of riots in Quebec.
DoShu and his band took off as soon as it started getting ugly. The story even made CNN.
Sunday was a lazy day. We eventually went up to Mars Music, and I saw this gorgeous purple bass for only $200. I'm torn between that one and the 1978 blue bass that's at Classic Axe. The ‘78 costs about $800, though....Dirk'll be buying it for me anyway, but I don't know if I want him to pay that much money for a bass with single-coil pickups. (They make a squealing noise)
But enough plans to completely waste money on musical equipment. I'm waffling about whether or not I should see The Blair Witch....I know I shouldn't, but it draws me. How can I not see a movie that everyone is raving about?
Pretty easily, if I actually gave the matter some thought, instead of giving in to the malignant tide of pop culture. I do want to see the movie, though.
