Cue the strings

The Weekly Dig attempts to bait a Tori Amos fan:

Some people say Tori Amos has no respect for human life. Do you agree with that?
No. Why would anybody say that?

I don't know. That's just what some people have been saying.
Have those people read her book? Are they familiar with her motherhood, her daughter, how she treats her daughter? Have they listened to her songs?

They say she likes to hurt children.
I haven't heard that. This is my seventh show. I've read the book, and I love her.

The Dresden Dolls get some free advertising from Dan Savage, sex columnist and occasional Andrew Sullivan stand-in:

Apropos of Nothing III: I'm listening to the Dresden Dolls sing "Coin-Operated Boy" as I write these words. The Dolls are a terrific post-punk/goth/Brechtian rock duo. Everyone on earth needs to buy their CDs.

Allston's own Freezepop release a new "dainty, limited-edition, silkscreened" 12-inch (according to the Phoenix), and it includes a cover of Depeche Mode's "Photographic" ("I take pictures, pho-to-graph-ic pictures...").

Erin McKeown plays a free show in the courtyard of the (now Krispy-Kreme-less) Prudential Center on August 31st at 12:30. (Take a long lunch.)

Low's bassist takes exception to the omission of Low's singer/drummer from The Believer's "Kingdom of Singing Drummers" infographic (June/July 2005 issue):

Scott Faingold of Houston somewhat affably chided us for the omission of Mimi Parker of the Utah rock band Low. And Zak Sally, who himself plays bass for Low, wrote in. He too bemoaned the exclusion of Mimi Parker, and added Sonny Bono to our list of the missing.

Dude, Low may be two-thirds Mormon, but they're from Minnesota.

Michael Crowley, senior editor of The New Republic , sometime Joshua Micah Marshall stand-in, and self-identified Rock Snob, gets his gripe on:

I fear that Rock Snobs are in grave danger. We are being ruined by the iPod. [...]

Snobbery subsists on exclusivity. And the ownership of a huge and eclectic music collection has become ordinary. Thanks to the iPod, and digital music generally, anyone can milk various friends, acquaintances, and the Internet to quickly build a glorious 10,000-song collection. Adding insult to injury, this process often comes directly at the Rock Snob's expense. We are suddenly plagued by musical parasites. For instance, a friend of middling taste recently leeched 700 songs from my computer. He offered his own library in return, but it wasn't much. Never mind my vague sense that he should pay me some money. In Rock Snob terms, I was a Boston Brahmin and he was a Beverly Hillbilly--one who certainly hadn't earned that highly obscure album of AC/DC songs performed as tender acoustic ballads but was sure to go bragging to all his friends about it.

Dude, I bought Mark Kozelek's What's Next To The Moon and his Rock N Roll Singer EP, and neither one made me any cooler.

Mark Kozelek and Low's Alan Sparhawk are apparently touring together as The Retribution Gospel Choir, which "ups the sonic ante with Steve Vai v. Ralph Macchio influenced guitar solos." ("Touring" in the sense of "not playing shows anywhere near me.") Says Mr. Sparhawk:

I've always come away from any collaboration excited and invigorated... I think it's something that still needs to be in music now and that you don't have to make a record to back up and validate the music that you are playing. I mean, Chaka Khan and Gladys Knight are touring together right now -- isn't that the same thing?

Comments

[oboreruhito]

If freezepop was around when I was six they totally would be my favorite band. Now they can only be my third-favorite band. I also like popsicles and fudge rounds, and I want to take a nap but I can't because I'm too old.

How does the Karate Kid influence a guitar solo?

[R.]

What happened to the Krispy Kreme?:(