Throwing Muses, 50 Foot Wave and Screaming Females at the Middle East

My sore legs were worth it. We stood through five hours and three full sets of kick-you-right-where-you-pee music last night. At times, I thought: They know we are an aging crowd, why are they making us wait so long? But, really, I had no business complaining. They tore the roof off.

Screaming Females, a trio of indie-punky musicians from New Jersey, were a real breath of fresh air. The lead vocalist (and incidentally lead guitarist) was the mitochondria. She whaled, she screamed, she transported me. Her name is Marissa Paternoster, by the way. I hope Screaming Females can help turn the pathetic current bullshit music scene right on its head.

Hersch and the crew did not disappoint (Except they didn't play Counting Backwards. Oddly, this single is not available on iTunes, either. Is there a connection?). It's hard to believe that voice could possibly come out of such a small woman. But it does. And I am ever-so-grateful. I've always gravitated toward female performers who aren't afraid to belt it out. I hate the girly-girl, baby-talk type performers. I won't mention any names (Jewel). Joanna Newsom is a rare exception for many reasons I won't get into here. Give me a gal who tears it up any day of the week! Throwing Muses, 50 Foot Wave and Screaming Females: A + + +

Lay-Away

You know, when I was a kid, people put things on lay-away. If you wanted something, but didn't have the money for it, you would pay in installments (as much and as often as you like), until the thing was paid off. Then, you get to take it home! Hurray! The best part? No debt.

Perhaps, in lieu of these tough economic times, we ought to roll things back a few decades and revisit the whole lay-away idea. I understand that this is still done in some department stores, but with the popularization of credit cards and immediate gratification, lay-away has been muscled out of the picture.

Hate to sound old-fashioned, but lay-away might teach the younger generations a little about patience and the value of earning something.

Hazzard County

I had a little scare on the road yesterday. I was driving in the far left lane on 495 N when the car in front of me came to a sudden stop. I slammed on my brakes to avoid rear-ending the person, swerving my car some, back and forth. I was successful. The person in back of me, however, was not so lucky. These things cause chain-reactions and the poor driver wound up driving right down into the snowy ditch. The worst part is that I couldn't pull over anywhere. There was no shoulder and my best shot to check on them was to pull over to the right, then walk across 3 lanes of traffic. This was not a safe option. So, instead, I drove all the way to work in a state of shock and nausea. I called the State Police to find out if the person as alright. I knew that their car was fine (meaning, it didn't hit anything going into the ditch), but I was concerned about the driver. The officer I spoke to assured me that they were fine. Whew!

When I got off of 495, I kept looking in my rear view, imagining that the person flew out of the ditch like Bo and Luke Duke. I thought that every white car was the ditch person coming after me to make me suffer their wrath. I'm sure these ridiculous thoughts will start up again today. I am my own worst enemy.