Truly the best?

I'm a sucker for "best of" and "greatest ever" lists, even though they're pretty lame, not very comprehensive, and extremely subjective. I thought the Phoenix's Greatest Rock Shows in Boston History would be kind of cool, but as it turns out they should have added "put on by bands that ended up being world famous." I guess it would be kind of tough to sift through all of the Boston rock shows in history, but it would still be nice to hear about terrific performances by lesser know bands.

Long-neglected album reconsidered

Four years ago I bought an album by Glifted that I listened to about twice, and decided I didn't like it too much. I was, and still am, a big fan of the band Hum, and this was a side project of that band's guitarist, Tim Lash. After years of meaning to give it another listen, and Jeff giving the album major props on several occassions, I dusted the album off this morning and it's currently in its fourth (fifth?) spin on my computer CD player this morning. It's a very dark, thick, moody, crunchy, spacey, riffy album. Is this what they call shoegazer? I remember hating the vocals on the album back in the day, but now they sound great. At any rate, it's a lot better than I remember it being, and it's excellent to listen to with a morning cup of coffee. At first I didn't think the tracks flowed together very well, but it gets better with each listen. It's kind of post-grunge with keyboards, or something. It's a great album for the Halloween season - that's probably one of the reasons I'm loving it right now - it's ripe for the fall!

Music I'd normally think was bad that I just can't shake

Yesterday evening I wandered into Newbury Comics, and came across The Cars: Unlocked. I don't know what it is about the Cars, but I have this huge soft spot for them. Their music sounds inane, simple, and just plain dumb sometimes, but it's so darn catchy and memorable that I always find myself going back to their stuff and loving it. The CD+DVD set was new and on sale, and so, what the hell, I bought it. So far I've only listened to the CD, but I totally love it! The funny thing about the Cars, and much other music of that era (I'm talking Flock of Seagulls, Duran Duran, etc.), is that their live shows don't vary much from what's on record. The popular music of the time didn't exactly lend itself to blazing guitar solos or inventive jams. But still, there's something nice about listening to the Cars play live (except for one tune, "Double Trouble," which is just a train wreck), even if most of the tracks sound awfully close to what they played in the studio. "Hello Again" shows that the band ought to maybe have broken up a little earlier than they did; It's an even worse track than I rememeber it being. But the remainder of the tracks are very cool and still a great pleasure to listen to. I kept on wanting to turn my CD player off and go to bed last night, but I couldn't, I was somehow drawn further into tunes like "Moving in Stereo" (one of the best tracks on the album) and "Just What I Needed." It's the music of my youth and I love it. If you love the Cars, then you'll love this album. I haven't watched the DVD yet, hopefully sometime in the next week. If anyone wants to join me for a good laugh, I mean, a viewing of the DVD of the Cars (Live!) lemme know.

Movies to see

I haven't been seeing many movies lately, but fortunately the only two I've seen in recent memory have been standouts. One of them, Shortbus, I was skeptical of because its selling point seemed to me to be that there was actual, explicit sex going on in the movie! Even though I'd enjoyed John Cameron Mitchell's other movie,"Hedwig and the Angry Inch," I was wondering what the point of this porn with a pedigree would be. Even after Matt Savage wrote approvingly of the movie in his column I didn't think much of it. But then I read a few snippets of reviews of the movie, and I suddenly it sounded like the type of movie I'd dig. And what do you know, I thought it was pretty fantastic. The sex wasn't superfluous, it actually fit nicely into the plot, and augmented to story, even. Overall, it's a very touching movie, about freaks and the sexual and non-sexual relationships they have with all sorts of people. And within this, these people just trying to find a place in the world that they're comfortable with. I give it my seal of approval.

I also saw Little Children last week, and it's one of those movies that's really very good, but difficult to recommend because it's disturbing in a lot of ways. If, like me, you're into movies that focus on the dark underbelly of the suburbs - the promises, fantasies, and ultimately the dashed hopes of living in the land of manicured lawns and 2.5 kids - then this movie is for you. It's another movie who's focus is freaks - though freaks of another kind, freaks who've subjected themselves to the suburban life but who've found it difficult living in a place that has pretty much drained the livelihood and passion of their everyday lives. Throw in a convicted sex offender who's relocated to this Boston suburb of Wyndam (!?!?!?), and this ensemble cast pulls off a winner. Totally worth seeing, though disturbing.

Things changing in Eastie

Someone has finally bought Victor's restaurant on Marion and Bennington! There's a sign that reads "Opening Soon" in the window (and indeed, I looked into the darkened restaurant and saw what was probably the owner sitting down for a breakfast sandwich), but it's tough to determine these days when things will open in the East of Boston. You have "The Melting Pot" over on Sumner, the supposed "Rosticeria" on Meridian...places which have been vacant for some time and which occassionally have some action going on but don't seem on the verge of being ready for customers. It will be interesting to see what sort of food the new Victor's will offer...will it be a Latino eatery? Will it continue to serve Italian cuisine? I'm just happy someone bought it.

"Pizza Shuttle" has changed its sign. It's no longer the kitschy, retro sign probably made in the 80s, now it's flashy blue with other colors I can't remember, but it's mainly blue. Not very attractive, but it does stand out, which I guess is what matters. The menu on the wall inside has the same electric blue motif, but whoever printed it left out a few letters. Hopefully they will fix that.

Speaking of things changing in Eastie - I was walking down Maverick Street a while back, near an auto body shop, and I heard these two elderly men talking, and one said to the other, "Hey, remember when that [the auto body shop] was the horse stables, and everyone used to come here to see the horses? Man, that was great."

LATE UPDATE: The new Pizza Shuttle sign does not even show a space shuttle...it shows an AIRPLANE shuttle. (Thanks to P. Chipman for this observation) How lame. The times are a-changing. Despite the new sign, I will always think of the Pizza Shuttle as arriving from outer space, not from New York City.