Friday was Cat Power.  Mmmmm…Chan.  All that shit people say about her, her rep for being difficult, I didn’t see much of that, maybe a few little hints.  But I don’t blame her, especially when most of the audience is loudly gabbing away throughout the entire show.  I don’t know what’s wrong with this town.  Shitty-ass grooverock bands like Deep Banana Blackout and Strangefolk get undivided attention, Cat Power gets a bunch of talkative hipsters there because Alternative Press magazine told them it was cool.  There was a war going on in my head between my concentration on her, and the relentless babble that raged behind me.  Fucking losers.  And another thing…where are all these 7-foot tall indie rockers coming from?  And why do they always have to be in the front row?  Hey, beanpole…your view of the stage will be great anywhere you fucking stand.  Aside from that shit, Cat Power was great great great, standoffish and pretty and flawless.  It’s too bad she definitely won’t be coming back here again.

Saturday we made the trip to Montreal to see Jackie O Motherfucker and Godspeed You! Black Emperor.  After getting a few rounds of beer and sushi we made our way to the club.  Nice place with a balcony.  Jackie O Motherfucker SUCKED.  No other way to put it.  It was just nothing.  I don’t get it.  Their albums are really good…after a few technical difficulties, Godspeed came out and just rocked.  It was truly exhausting, in the way seeing Lightning Bolt was exhausting.  The enormity of what was happening sonically was almost too much.  My brain was going into these weird zones where it was like being asleep.  They sound just like they do on their records, but being there and feeling the music hitting your chest is something else.  Fuck yeah.

Yesterday (Tuesday) we went back to Montreal to see Yo La Tengo at the Cabaret, which is such a nice little place to see a band, I’ve seen quite a few there now, GBV, Mouse on Mars, Mogwai…Portastatic opened and they sucked.  Superchunk were such a good band, I don’t know much about Portastatic, but it seemed like they were Mac’s Superchunk reject band.  The songs just weren’t good, particularly the lyrics, typical “hold my baby tight, hold my baby all through the night” type stuff.  Oh well.
YLT were great.  They can’t really fail.  And they’re so nice.  So talented and yet, so nice.  They actually like the fact that people like their music, no apathy towards their fans, although when one idiot started yelling “Freebird” Ira very cleverly suggested that yelling “Freebird” at concerts (which so many idiots do) might be the cause of SARS.  And yeah, YLT rock beautifully.  Although, again with the beanpole indie dudes in the front.  Fuck that.

So I feel like I’ve been on some sort of indie rock tour, except I’ve gone home to sleep in my own bed every night.  It’s cool.  I’ve seen a lot of amazing bands, amazing music in the last ten years or so.  I feel lucky.

Best records so far this year (that I’ve heard):

“Wonderful Rainbow” by Lightning Bolt
“Up In Flames” by Manitoba
“Summer Sun” by Yo La Tengo
“Dartmouth Street Underpass” by Keith Fullerton Whitman
“Parellel Universe” by DJ Broken Window
“You Are Free” by Cat Power

I’ve decided I don’t like the new Malkmus too much.  Oh well.

A high five to anyone who can tell me what the object in the picture is.

But that doesn’t make any sense either, because you’re reading this in the first place.…

It was Alert Level Orange while I was in NY last week (is it still?) and the Libertarians did the craziest thing … NYC’s poised to outlaw toy guns that resemble real guns (color of gun is not an issue since anyone can score black spraypaint), and the Libertarians, of course, say no one should be able to tell them what they can or cannot buy for their children … and besides, that “resembles an actual gun” criteria is a real gray ocean …  the whole banning movement got a shot in the arm a few weeks ago when a kid in East Harlem was shot to death after aiming a watergun (painted black) at an undercover cop … so these Libs go to grade schools in this very neighborhood, still wounded and sore from the incident, and proceed to hand out toy guns to kids. As you can imagine, the shit blows up.

Cooley thinks that the first track on the new Cat Power is about Kurt Cobain. Have any opinions? Email jason@ibrecords.com.

So in case anyone was even wondering, Nana (my grandmother) is coming along. I mean, she hasn’t walked yet, and is utterly incontinent, but she’s a fucking champ. She’s gotta be, being married to Pop (my grandfather) for over 60 years … I mean, he almost broke me this past week … practically ground me into dust.

I can’t think about it. I have a 3″ to finish.