December 30, 2010

A (mostly) uninformed listening of the top 50 singles of 2010: 11–20

No, I haven't forgotten! I'm listening to all 50 of Rolling Stone's top 50 singles of 2010, having heard hardly any of them till just now. You can read 41–50 here, 31–40 here, and 21–30 here. Now: 11–20. Honesty follows…

20. “Boyfriend” – Best Coast



The ruler-slapping grammarian in me finds this song annoying simply for its repeated refrain: “I wish he was my boyfriend” (were, dammit, were). This is a fairly appealing little mash-up of pop music tropes (“imagine Brian Wilson as a sensitive stoner girl,” Rolling Stone writes, and that’s dead on), buried in that tin-can production haze that’s supposed to be…authentic? Enigmatic? I can’t tell. Combined with the singer’s wholly unexceptional whine, it makes the song a little too annoying for its own good. But it gets in and out in a brisk 2:31, so no harm done. (Why this band has inspired a fervent cult, however, is beyond me, but I think I need to get used to that feeling.)

19. “Your Hands (Together)” – The New Pornographers



Perhaps the saddest thing about my withdrawal from the pop-music scene is the fact that even when I become a fan of a band, I fail to keep up with them; I’m routinely hearing about a supposed favorite group of mine’s new album months after the rest of the world has consumed it, let alone its legions of Internet acolytes. Example: the New Pornographers, whom I’ve enjoyed quite a bit for at least seven years (I remember this song really grabbing me in the early days of the Big Quiz Thing—I squeezed it into the first Canada Day audio round, stumping nearly everyone). I had no inkling this new song existed till just now. Give me a minute while I start following them on Twitter. (Now follow me.)

The New Pornos have a great, quirky sound, outstanding melodies and tight-as-hell musicianship, and this song is no exception, but I don’t think this is their best effort. My initial reaction is that it’s a good idea needing development; the entire song sounds like the bridge of a much better song. Wait, let me listen to it again…

Yeah, not doing it for me. Try this instead.

18. “Scissor Runner” – Jenny and Johnny



Calling your act “Jenny and Johnny” makes me want to hate you, though I suppose I can stomach it if you actually consist of a woman named Jenny and a man named Johnny. These two have a great way with a melody and terrific vocal interplay; I was going to critique Jenny's voice, seeing as how it sounds like nearly every indie-pop queen of the past ten years, but then I discovered that she's the gal from Rilo Kiley, so she pretty much is every indie-pop gal of the past ten years. Still, I just cannot get excited by this, though I forgive them for the duo name.

17. “I Can Change” – LCD Soundsystem



The LCD Soundsystem guy (I believe it’s just one guy, but again, doing hardly any research here) clearly loved Depeche Mode and the Human League as a kid, but thought those guys weren’t trying hard enough to get laid. So here you go: a catchy repeating techno backline fronted with overemotional, milky vocals. This is far more human than I expected from this act, and fun, but it seriously overstays its welcome, which undercuts the humanity of it and makes it sound like just another slice of computerized product.

16. “Coffee Spoon” – Cold War Kids



I really enjoy the sound of this one; the muted dancing guitar figures, the white-guy soulful voice, the perfect female backing vocals. A really beautiful gem held together nicely by throwback musical sounds. Then I looked up the lyrics, and welcome to pretension-o-rama: “Ascetic wring their hands, this decadent misuse/Inside my china room you are my coffee spoon.” I don’t think it’s complete gibberish—I think I could puzzle it out if I wanted to make the effort—but I don’t quite have the patience. But I’ve always had a talent for ignoring bad lyrics in favor of catchy music (hell, I used to like the Goo Goo Dolls), so I’ll let it pass and put this song in the plus column.

15. “Over” – Drake



Ah, the rapper laments the struggles and tragedies of fame. Hard to do this in a fresh and original way these days, especially when you’re as lyrically dopey as Drake. He just doesn’t seem to be trying very hard to make his words work together in a coherent fashion, rambling with confidence but not eloquence. Lucky for him, he does it all over a great symphony of samples and instruments, with shifting time signatures that really command the attention. Still, cry me a river, millionaire.

14. “Shutterbugg” – Big Boi feat. Cutty



Icy electro rhythms that sound straight out of a vodka commercial, but appealingly so. Big Boi—the other guy in OutKast, from my POV—has a lyrical confidence, and an impressively speedy flow. Lots going on here, in a good way. I’m never going to love something like this, but I do like it.

13. “Hustle and Cuss” – The Dead Weather



I never could get with the White Stripes, though I always admired Jack White’s appreciation for that undefinable classic-rock flavor. This is his side project, the Dead Weather, with a hellion female lead vocalist, and it has that same element: the dark, heavy overtone of an Iron Butterfly song, with a lot more personality. But it also has what I perceive to be the White Stripes greatest flaws, a dulling repetitiveness and slight pretension. They hustle and cuss and lick on the dust, I take it, many, many times, whatever the hell that happens to be. Another example of a good idea that isn’t really taken anywhere worth going.

12. “Bang Bang Bang" --Mark Ronson and the Business International feat. Q-Tip and MNDR



That took too long to type. Another genre mash-up—ultra-white Euro-techno and hip-hop— with an excellent melodic hook in the chorus. The song takes “Alouette” as its point of departure, cleverly. But ultimately this is too sterile to appeal beyond the level of a novelty. I feel like too many modern musicians are in the business to impress people with their talent, and not so much to express something emotionally—they’re stuntpeople, rather than artists.

11. “Everlasting Light” – The Black Keys



More falsetto vocals over hazy, chugging guitar rock. Maybe it’s me, but this is just another damn decent idea that some guy in a leather jacket pounds into the ground, to diminishing returns. Toward the end of the song, a crescendo begins, building the song to what will hopefully be some kind of cathartic payoff, but then it completely fizzles out in the wimpiest way conceivable. Do these guys have emotions or just interests?

Only ten to go! I bet those will be really, really awesome…

December 29, 2010

Recap: Philly made us an offer we couldn't refuse

Well then: The Big Quiz Thing made it back to Philadelphia last night for our first ever Movie Trivia Spectacular, which seemed a dodgy proposition in the days leading up to it: snow, transportation complications, etc., etc. But we made it (or, more accurately, I—Quizmaster Noah—made it; sidekick EDP was unexpectedly detained, and I owe a tremendous thanks to my last-minute Philly-local assistants, Amanda and Jen from Sazz Vintage in Old City, source for my newest quizmaster jacket. Plug well earned, but completed). Philly wasn't nearly as walloped by the snowpocalypse as NYC was, so it was pretty smooth sailing once I reached the Brotherly Love region (doesn't sound right).

However I got there, it was great to be back at World Cafe Live, rapidly becoming one of my favorite venues, this time in the beautiful big room downstairs. Thanks to what I gather was a very important rescheduled Eagles games (I was told that some bar trivia nights around Philly were canceled to make way for it, which boggles my sports-averse mind—don't let jocks bully you around, nerds!), the crowd was on the light side—ten teams. But it was quality over quantity, especially considering that absolute avalanche of Smart-Ass Points last night:

The future Oscar winner who appeared as the baby in the christening scene in The Godfather? This guy:

Mabel Simmons is the full name of what contemporary film character? Him:

In The Wizard of Oz, the two-word message does the Wicked Witch of the West skywrites above the Emerald City? This:

As part of the run-backwards "Movies Go Kaboom!" video round, which film is this scene from?



Groundhog Day was the extremely clever answer.

Although it must be said, several of these teams hardly needed the Smart-Ass boost: As I discovered in my previous sojourns to PA, Philly trivia geeks are among the sharpest I've encountered in my career (perhaps we dodged a bullet when a promised team of party-crashers didn't make it to the NYC Clash of the Trivia Champions). Several teams were scraping the upper limits of scoreability at last night's quiz (one squad—Don't Call Me Shirley—missed only half a point in the 20-point Bipolar Movie Challenge round, failing to specify which Kill Bill was being juxtaposed with Gone with the Wind). I'm sorry I couldn't challenge them more vigorously, but hey, I gotta please all types.

But then, of course, is the Three-Way Finale. Such is the nature of the Big Quiz Thing that no matter how high a point total you rack up, it comes down to the bells (or—now in New York—the annoyingly loud buzzer system). After a quick runoff for third place, we were left with one representative apiece from Don't Call Me Shirley (Koob was the man's name; in the heat of competition, I missed the details of his explanation, but I like to pretend it's a reference to this), Ask and Tell (Michelle), and Ron Paul Stiltskin (Mike), live onstage. Heavy, heavy contention: the score was tied one-all, but Mike of RPS clinched it with this question (a favorite of mine):

What fast food chain was named for a character in the 1971 film The French Connection?

Isn't that interesting? My favorite kind of question: Somewhat figureoutable, fascinating to discover the answer whether you're correct or incorrect. Behold your winning team, seemingly happy in their cups:

Thanks to everyone who was there. We are most definitely hoping to come back early in 2011, perhaps for another movie quiz, maybe general knowledge, perchance an entirely new gimmick. Keep track like the kids do, with Twitter and Facebook, and buy a shovel, already.

December 27, 2010

A (mostly) uninformed listening of the top 50 singles of 2010: 21–30

Getting to the halfway point. I'm listening to the top singles of the year (per the dubious authority of Rolling Stone), mostly for the very first time. Here's 41–50, and 31–40, and now, 21–30. Here we go…

30. “Nothing but the Whole Wide World” – Jakob Dylan



This guy is still around? Actually, back in the day, I gave Jakob Dylan credit: He could have totally skated by on his name and his good looks, but he seemed to be making a real effort regardless with the Wallflowers. This song, however is drop-dead boring, pounding the same melody ad infinitum, and Dylan has an unpleasantly strained voice. Maybe his dad or James Taylor could have pulled this off, but not Jakob Dylan.

29. “The Trip to Pirate’s Cove” – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers”



I love, love Tom Petty: easily one of my favorite songwriters ever, even this late in his career (this song from ’08 is an absolute stunner). But I’m not sure about this song, which sounds a little tossed off, despite some typically excellent guitar work by Mike Campbell. This suffers from a lot of the same problems as that Jakob Dylan song: lack of melodic development, and an oddly strained vocal performance.

28. “Laredo” – Band of Horses



Like many contemporary artists, Band of Horses is a group I know for one particular song (“The Funeral”—nicely affecting overblown bombast) than for an album or a body of work. And based on my admittedly narrow knowledge of their oeuvre, this song surprised me its peppy folksiness—come to think of it, very Tom Petty–esque. But again: a good idea that doesn’t really go beyond square one.

27. “Bloodbuzz Ohio” – The National



I didn’t know fact one about the National, despite what I gathered to be deafening buzz. Three seconds into “Bloodbuzz Ohio” (terrible title), I know everything I need to know, and am not the least surprised by the cult. A self-consciously dark, Ian Curtis–style vocal, chiming guitars, insistently stuttering drums. This is the kind of music that huge masses of white people find inspiring. Me—maybe. I can see this song growing on me; it has a great, classic sound. But I could use a touch more passion.

26. “Dancing on My Own” – Robyn



Everyone I know who loves Robyn—and that seems to be lots of people—is either female of gay, strong evidence that I’m not going to go nuts for whatever she’s selling. So the pertinent question: Can I appreciate the effort? Yeah, I think so. She’s a got a steady, unflashy voice, and the bubbling synth melody is sweet without being saccharine, with nice dark undertones. Most important, unlike Ke-dollar sign-ha, Robyn isn’t making a fool of herself trying too hard. It’s about as substantial as cotton candy, but of I had a 14-year-old daughter, I’d be proud to take her to a Robyn concert as a Hanukkah present.

25. “Did It on ‘Em” – Nicki Minaj



I’m starting to think Nicki Minaj is trying to be the Lady Gaga of rap, with the whole outer-space dance-club robot thing. But Minaj is lyrically confrontational in a way Gaga isn’t (from what I can gather), in the overcompensating-rap tradition. She keeps repeating “Shitted on ’em” (classy), talks about how she’s so much better than everyone else, blah blah blah. We get it already.

24. “Not Afraid” – Eminem



When Eminem first emerged, he wasn’t my thing, but I recognized his iconoclasm (same way I felt about Alanis Morissette and Nirvana, come to think of it). My issue was that he came off as a bully: Wow, what a tough guy, picking fights with Britney Spears and Moby.

But Em’s stood the test of time, and his artistic growth is undeniable. His flow’s a little unsteady here, and his inspirational words here are a pretty cliché (“We'll walk this road together, through the storm/Whatever weather, cold or warm/Just let you know that, you're not alone”…zzzzzz). Still, he’s honest, and he seems to have the right attitude, finally.

23. “Macon” – Jamey Johnson



Time for another nap: one ‘70s country-rock trope piled atop another. (Does he need to “get back to Macon”? Yep. Is the guitar twangy? Surely. Are there female backup singers? Indeed.) Still, I have far more important things to do than hate this song, or even particularly dislike it. “Yeahhh, here I come!”

22. “B.M.F. (Blowin’ Money Fast)” – Rick Ross feat. Styles P



More? Bragging about what an awesome drug dealer you are over endlessly looped Cadillac beats? Jeez, enough!

21. “Infinity Guitars” – Sleigh Bells



At a friend’s recommendation, I listened to a little Sleigh Bells earlier this year, and my assessment from then stands: This is some of the most irritating music ever recorded. It’s clamorous and jumpy, like tiny needles scratching my mucus membranes. And I tend to like “jumpy” music—take my favorite song of the year—but there’s absolutely nothing smooth or soothing about this, just rock & roll banging you on the head again and again. This is what old people must have thought about the Beatles in the ‘60s. “Infinity Guitars”…is that a threat?

Twenty more to go; hope to wrap it up by 2011…

December 26, 2010

Good news and bad news…

Friends–

Happy holidays, of course. As the Big Quiz Thing gets ready to move into the New Year, I have good news and bad news.

The good news first:

As you are likely aware, the typical BQT event (in NYC, at least) features a cash jackpot of $250. The winning team gets $200, the runner-up squad receives $50. That buys a lot of drinks, folks. But starting with the January 3 episode, we're upping the numbers: $300 in cash prizes. The champs still get $200, second place still pockets $50, but now, third place will receive $25. Every team in the big Three-Way Finale will earn cold, hard cash. Useless knowledge isn't so useless, is it?

And that last $25? Get this—we're giving it to tenth place. Why tenth place? A little somethin' somethin' for those people aren't quite as nerdy as the top scorers. Sharing the wealth—I'm a Marxist socialist wealth redistributor, after all.

Now the bad news…

The cover charge is going to $10. Apologies, but a few things to keep in mind: (1) We haven't raised the price in over five years. In that time, the show has expanded and improved; you still get a completely original multimedia live show, approximately every two weeks, for less than the cost of a movie. We got value up the wazoo. (2) The fact that we're raising the cover charge isn't actually bad news from my and EDP's point of view. See how that works?

The next event is January 3—eight days away, at a new venue, Drom. We're hoping to stick as close to the every-other-Monday schedule in 2011, but we'll keep you posted. You're the best fans in the world.

December 22, 2010

A (mostly) uninformed listening of the top 50 singles of 2010: 31–40

Continuing on: A couple days ago, I realized I'd heard nearly none of the top singles of the year, so I'm listening to all 50 (per Rolling Stone) now, and giving each a fair review. Click here to read what I thought of 41–50; today's list, 31–40, features absolutely zero songs that I'd heard until today, but some definite gems. Subjectivity awaits, but hey, it's a blog.

40. “Power” – Kanye West



Kanye West epitomizes how thoroughly I’ve dropped out of the modern musical conversation: He is everywhere, created the year’s best album virtually by acclamation, yet I know next to nothing about him (I can recognize “Gold Digger,” that’s about it). This song is interesting, as good as hip-hop gets from my limited-enjoyment perspective: Such a great, bold sound, and samples a favorite of mine, King Crimson’s “21st-Century Schizoid Man.” And only 1:43 in length, so I appreciate the concision.

39. “The Diamond Church Street Choir” – The Gaslight Anthem



It’s a pretty sanitized, and the guy’s voice is totally contrived, but this is an okay, straight-between-the-eyes, I-wish-I-were-Bruce rock song; Hootie and the Blowfish if they had a lot of tattoos and were better songwriters. The guitarist is really good; some nifty Mark Knopfler figures dancing around in the background. But I can do without it.

38. “The Mystery Zone” – Spoon



In the early ‘00s, when I was still at least somewhat up on current indie rock, Spoon was the hottest thing among my aging hipster contingent for a couple months, and I tried to like them, I really did. But I could never get around what continually struck me as a defiantly derivative songwriting sensibility: Every one of their songs sounded like I’d heard it before. (Like Pavement, Spoon was a band that I found to be about as interesting as its name.) But "Mystery Zone" finally breaks through with me. We’re clearly hearing from a more mature sensibility here. There’s an incantatory thing going on: He keeps repeating “the mystery zone,” and that combined with a spookily insistent bassline drives the song dangerously close to hypnotizing me. Must…like…Spoon! Great ending too, and excellent musicianship; good song.

37. “Beamer, Benz or Bentley” – Lloyd Banks ft. Juelz Santana



Really? We’re still doing this? Empty-headed paeans to fly rides and ho’s? I appreciate the great rhythm here, the flawless production, that amazing vocal hook (I’m going to have “Beamer, Benz or Bentley” running through my head for, oh, the next two millennia), but this song is the apotheosis of what I don’t like about stereotypical hip-hop: the coldly off-putting combination of conspicuous consumption and antiseptic production. Yeah, yeah, I ripped on that parent-friendly B.o.B. song too—I guess there’s a narrow sweet spot for me when it comes to this genre (and the mighty Kanye hits it, so I must not be alone).

36. “Up All Night” – Drake ft. Nicki Minaj



I hadn’t heard Nicki Minaj before, but I had read an article about her that hailed her first album as “the fastest-selling debut female solo release since Lauryn Hill,” which sounded like the most absurdly qualified praise I’d ever read. Anyway, both she and Drake have good, distinctive voices, but there’s not a lot of variance in their delivery: They strike the exact same don’t-fuck-with-me poses throughout this song. A little more soul than the Lloyd Banks song above, and excellently produced, but again, not what I will ever be in the market for.

35. “Paradise Circus” – Massive Attack ft. Hope Sandoval



Ah, trip-hop: How I miss you, late ‘90s. During my music journalism career, I once interviewed the frontman of Massive Attack on the phone, and when I (foolishly) let slip that I hadn’t listened to their album (the publicist had accidentally sent me an empty CD sleeve), he started insulting me. It probably wouldn’t have made a difference, because back then, I found this kind of music about as interesting as wallpaper paste, and nothing has changed. There isn’t anything here that couldn’t be straight from 1999: the washing sonic textures that sound like they’re banged out on an expensive Casio, the female vocalist who couldn’t be bothered to have a cup of coffee this morning, even the “trippy” song title. Next!

34. “Stylo” – Gorillaz feat. Mos Def and Bobby Womack



Nice! A great synthesis of modern techno-noodling and genuine classic soul-pop sound (man, Bobby Womack has one hell of a voice!). This is how you do mellow and trippy. I’ll never put something like this on voluntarily, but I’ll definitely enjoy it while browsing at H&M. Gorillaz—my favorite shopping-for-clothes-and-wishing-I-had-a-girlfriend-to-help-me band.

33. “Post Acid” – Wavves



Rolling Stone describes this song as “part Buzzcocks”—I’m listening. Not bad: Definitely has that jumpy, reved-up rock element that I so very much love. A solid melodic hook, though it’s way too herky-jerky to remind me of the Buzzcocks (whose melodies were always very smooth), and it sort of wears out its welcome, even at less than two and a half minutes. The calculated lo-fi sound typically grates on me, but I’m working on getting over that; I think it’s just jealousy over the fact that I never formed a band in my garage.

32. “Enter the Ninja” – Die Antwoord



A crazy South African rap duo, apparently. This is very, very weird—some guy rapping in Afrikanglish, a woman chiming in on the choruses with a helium voice, all over a dark computerized rhythm. Unique, and extremely catchy. But it makes me feel a little dirty.

31. “I’m New Here” – Gil Scott Heron



A legendary '70s musical poet mounts a comeback. Emphasis on legend; I’d long heard of this guy, but never heard him. About what I expect, a soulful free-form rap over a crystalline acoustic guitar. This is intriguing stuff, but it’s apples and oranges comparing this with Die Antwoord and Ke$ha (forget apples and oranges; it’s apples and protozoa). This is Rolling Stone’s problem: It tries to be everything to everyone, but music (and pop culture) is just too broad to boil down into credibly ranked top-40 lists.

Next time, I hit the halfway point. This is fun!

December 20, 2010

A (mostly) uninformed listening of the top 50 singles of 2010: 41–50

The other day, someone asked me what albums are on my top ten list for 2010. The question hadn't occurred to me at all. As a teenager and young adult, I was obsessive about making lists like these—I had a top ten for albums and singles every year of the '90s (1994 it was Weezer, of course), but no more. I pretty much totally tuned out 2010 in music; I liked one new album and about three new singles. Mainly, I've been revisiting Warren Zevon, the Pixies and XTC—my taste is still good, but man, is it old.

How did I come to this? I was The Rock Guy in college; I moved to New York City to be a music journalist, lucking into a great job answering phones and collective vapid rock-star quotes for Rolling Stone magazine. Now, not only do I know nothing, I don't much care.

So an experiment: I'm taking a look at Rolling Stone's list of the year's top 50 singles (yeah, yeah, I know, bullshit authority, but reading that magazine is where my rock expertise began, and working for it is where it went to die), and I will write, in this space, a brief review, poorly informed review of every song on its list. I'd heard very few of these songs before; I claim no expertise.

See below for the first ten; more in the coming, dwindling days of '10.

50. “We R Who We R” – Ke$ha



God, I hate this song.

I was aware of Ke-dollar-sign-ha, sadly. Damn, I guessed almost exactly what "Tik Tok" sounded like based on the song title, so that tells you something there. I know, I know, I'm fucking old, but I just don't understand how anyone buys this woman—she's trying way, way too hard to impress us with how "current" she is and what a badass she is. (Plus, she sings like she has gum in her mouth.) I have trouble believing a word she says, though it helps that she isn't saying much. That's the point of a song like this, but the whole thing is so sterile and airless, I just can't imagine why I'm supposed to care. The beat's not bad, but it just lays there, passionless. C'mon, pop music, you can do better.

49. “El Camino” – Elizabeth Cook



Clearly some country affirmative action, but this is a cute tune. It's not very exciting, but Cook—who's got a pretty, unique voice—tells a little slice-of-life story about some greaseball slipping her a roofie and molesting her in the back of his piece-of-shit car. Hilarious. She rhymes “annul it” with “mullet” and “get much hotter” and “piña colada," which is great, except she (or whoever wrote the song for her; I'm not doing research here) works a little too hard shoehorning the lyrics into the rhythm. Fun stuff, if not very good. Decent guitar solo.

48. “hahahaha jk?” – Das Racist



I thought these guys were way overrated; that "Combination Taco Bell and Pizza Hut" was one stoner joke stretched out way too long (not even one joke—it was a good idea for a joke). But this is a lot better, primarily because they sample the flat-out creepiest-sounding TV theme of all times, Days of Our Lives, and they have a great sense of rhythm. And the lyrics are actually funny, in a way that self-referential rap rarely is, no matter how much critics and bloggers tell themselves it is. (They drop the names Sammy and Lucas, then say, "That’s a reference to the soap opera Days of Our Lives, even though I was a bigger General Hospital fan.”) It kind of runs itself in circles after a while, but it's the rare song that makes me like it despite using text-message speak in its title.

47. "Born Free" – Kid Rock



What is with this guy? When he first hit it big, Kid Rock was king of the dirtbags, celebrating guzzling beer and fucking porn stars, which I suppose has its appeal, but he's since mutated into a bad Bob Seger. Good on him that he still has a career a decade-plus later, but this song is a terrible mess of "real America" clichés, seemingly exist only to sell for an advertisement (I'd actually already heard this one, in an ad for a baseball game). This sounds like the lowest-ranked guy on American Idol who still manages to get a record deal.

46. Congratulations – MGMT



Another one I'd heard, though hadn't really listened to. I truly enjoyed MGMT's first album, and my reaction to their '10 release was the way I feel about a lot of sophomore albums—they believed their own hype. People told them they were geniuses, so they figured they didn't have to try hard or focus, and the result was way, way below their talent level.

But listening to this again, carefully, I think that's only partly true. This is not a bad song—a lyrically fresh assessment of fame, a great melody and unique sound. But I really wish these guys wouldn't sound so sleepy and narcotized; the whole thing is buried in a haze that doesn't help the song. Also, it has a sing-along vibe, but you can't sing along to a song that doesn't repeat any of its lyrics. Focus, gentlemen.

45. "Plundered My Soul" – The Rolling Stones



Only Rolling Stone would consider this Stones rarity—just recently seeing the light of day on the rerelease of 1972's Exile on Main Street—to be a "new" single. That said, it's great, gritty, bluesy classic stones, which only depresses me because it makes me think of the utter shit this band's been shoveling for nearly 30 years now.

44. “Love and War” – Neil Young



Now here’s a guy who you believe him when he says something. Neil looks back on his career—he's sung a lot about both love and war, you see—with only the expert interplay of his acoustic guitar and his voice. Perhaps he's phoning it in a little, but Neil Young is the Jack Nicholson of rock & roll—even when he's lazy, his charm carries you through. Also, he rhymes "wanna" with "Toronto" (which has been done before).

43. “Nothing on You” – B.o.B. feat Bruno Mars



When a rap song sounds like Maroon 5, you know the genre has completely lost its ability to threaten old people. This song is wholly competent, but absolutely nothing more (and I can't tell if "You the whole package, plus you pay taxes" is clever or annoying). I’m old, this music bores me.

42. “Floating Vibes” – Surfer Blood



I'd heard about this, since Surfer Blood has been universally hyped as "the Beach Boys meet '90s alt rock," two things I love. (Though I swear that synthesis isn't new, but not example is coming to me.) I like it—a lot of interesting sonic things going on in the background. But there's the problem—like MGMT, these guys lack focus. They get lost in the wacky studio experiment, never reining the song in and keeping it from meandering all over the place. Good, too bad it isn't great.

41. “In Every Direction” – Junip



Apparently, this guy is some kind of Swedish folkie, but my first thought was a 21st-century Christopher Cross. Nice little weird pop song with a dark undertone. I like this, but this is music that’s never really going to excite me.

That was interesting. More to come…

December 18, 2010

When is a Blue Album not a Blue Album?


Last night, I paid a lot of money to see Weezer in concert for…let's see…the fifth time in my life? The band's first major tour (opening for Live in Minneapolis—I really liked those guys till they went all Jesusy); then early in Pinkerton tour again in Mpls; then, the week I moved to NYC, the tail end of the Pinkerton tour at Roseland; nine long years ago at Jones Beach, before they started pumping out mediocre albums; and now last night, again at Roseland. Want to feel really, really old? Go see your favorite college-era band in the same venue you saw them 13 years earlier, then spend the whole next day lying on your couch with a headache blogging about it. Works every time.

This was Weezer's Memories tour (sponsored by State Farm, only slightly more rock & roll than when Sears sponsored a Phil Collins tour), and as per the modern fad, it involves the band playing its classic albums in their entirety. Last night is was the band's self-titled debut release from 1994 (a.k.a. the Blue Album), tonight it's its legendary and misunderstood follow-up, 1996's Pinkerton. Together, those albums formed the bulk of the modern contingent of my college years' soundtrack (most of what I listened to in those days was 15-year-old punk and new wave), so they're indelibly hard-wired into my psyche. I wasn't sure at first which of the two shows I preferred to see, finally opting for night one, since (a) Pinkerton is a little too depressing for me to handle this time of year, and (b) Blue is just a flat-out better record, perhaps the best of the '90s.

But a quick note about my particular Weezer connection: As you may or may not recall, Pinkerton bombed when it was released. Frontman Rivers Cuomo sort of freaked out and bagged on properly promoting it, and the album was just dark, flying in the face of the reputation the band formed among nonfans as a joke-rock band (hard to blame them if the only thing you know is the video for "Buddy Holly").



By the late '90s, the band was considered all but dead, yet another example of '90s alt-rock-boom roadkill. And in 1999, still a dreadfully young man, I'd inexplicably found myself the very junior man in the music department of Rolling Stone magazine, and I lobbied hard for the Blue Album to be included in the magazine's list of the top 200 (not even 100) albums of the '90s. My bosses literally laughed at me; half of them thought I was talking about Ween. The album didn't make the list, but Foxy Brown, the Spice Girls and Billy Joel's River of Dreams were in attendance. Five years later, the Blue Album anniversary release got five out of five stars from the magazine. I love to say I told you so.

I'm getting way off the point here, which is…what? Weezer thoughts in general? As I tweeted during the show (of course), "Seeing Weezer perform the Blue Album makes me realize that I became a quizmaster only because I knew I would never be Rivers Cuomo," and I think that's one faux-profound witticism that stands up to scrutiny the next day. I couldn't fulfill the near-universal dream to be a rock star, but I still wanted to be king of the nerds.

And this thought: "the Blue Album." Such is how everyone refers to that first Weezer album, the band included, in reference to the cover hue, to distinguish it from Weezer's 2001 self-titled album (known as the Green Album) and its 2008 self-titled release (the Red Album). It's a little weird to hear it universally referred to as "the Blue Album," since for seven years, at the height of its fame and emotional power, it didn't have this name at all. It was just Weezer, or "the first album," or "the self-titled one" or "the one everyone cared about."

Even weirder is when it's rendered as The Blue Album—the italics indicative of an official album title (e.g., Pinkerton). Wrong, screams the nit-picky copy editor in me: just the Blue Album. Same as the White Album (formally The Beatles) and Led Zeppelin IV (untitled, also called Zoso, Runes, a bunch of other stoner-derived monikers).

Just nicknames, people. The Blue Album is not The Blue Album. Excuse me while I edit the Wikipedia page.

December 14, 2010

Recap: We are the champions!

As if there was any doubt.

Last night's Big Quiz Thing was preceded by a special viewing party of that most familiar of familiar quiz shows, Jeopardy! BQT regular (and undisputed NYC trivia co-champion) Jonathan Corbblah quite simply mopped the floor with his competition on the blue set. Halfway through Double Jeopardy, it was a foregone conclusion, and we were merely rooting for him to rack up enough dough to have one of those losing-is-impossible-unless-I-bet-stupidly-like–Cliff Clavin situations. He just missed it, despite some canny hesitation tactics ("I'll…have…uhh…that same category…for…uh…I guess…$1,000"). And of course, he won (what about tonight? didn't get home in time to watch). In his own words:



Following that, we had a nice little interview session with Champion Corbblah (while we ironed out tech issues), then the first NYC BQT in far too long. Great crowd, great show, great times, great oldies. The sad news this evening (other than the fact that one team was unhappy that the "Great Nicknames in Sports" video puzzle included a professional wrestler) was that this was the last Big Quiz Thing featuring DJ GB.


As I mentioned at the show, Gretchen was been with the quiz since the very beginning eight years ago—even before. She was just the girlfriend of a buddy of mine then, and when I mentioned to them that I was planning "a bar trivia night, but more like a show," she said I needed a DJ and offered her services. And her services were very much needed, it turned out, at that first chaotic evening at the Slipper Room (when an Irish women hurled insults at me for saying Samuel Beckett was British). And now that Gretchen and my buddy are happily domesticated parents, she's moving on. To fete her, I put together "Great Nicknames in Sports" (which was her idea), and she did a bang-up job on her very last audio round, the oodles of fun "All Awesome Alliterative Audio Answers." The good news is that EDP and I are carrying on, and we'll be joined by a new sidekick, stand-up extraordinaire and Last Comic Standing semifinalist Claudia Cogan. So fear not, the stage will still have that refreshing hint of estrogen.

Another unfortunate thing last night: the video shenanigans early on. I didn't have a chance to show you this, my graphic for returning champions Incontinental Strippers…

…who re-split up into their constituent parts last night, Incontinental Congress (playing this night as "An Incontinental Xmas") and Strippers for Stephen Hawking. A nerd supergroup: They like not only Star Trek, but also Star Wars.

The good things last night: Jonathan stuck around onstage as our guest sidekick (as my videographer friend Bill said, "You're lucky to have that guy on your side"), which made it apropos when I whipped out as a question the Daily Double I got wrong when I was on Jeopardy! (Jonathan got both of his right, but c'mon—those were easy): Name the three countries that border Mex…okay, fine, [Sigh]: These three countries border Mexico. (What are duh, this one I got, and this one I forgot about and Trebek gave me a hard time about it?) But a lot of you were spot-on; well done.

Finally, the big Three-Way Finale (video will be posted here soon, though I'm told the lighting wasn't so hot) featured the debut of the fully functioning BQT buzzer system, which makes me such a happy little quizmaster. The usual gang of nerds: Ilene of Jefferson Davis Starship, Steve of the Fantastic Fournicators, and Stewart of Cash Cab for Cutie (which, by the way, was rocking a hefty three-point lead going into the finals). Tense and exciting, as usual—I was very proud of this admittedly bizarre question…

In the alternate universe where John Edwards won the 2008 presidential election, he is the first sitting President whose wife died since whom?

…but I suppose it was appropriate that the Fournicators ended up winning: In a night that spotlighted New York's ultimate trivia champ, it makes sense that the team that's won the damn BQT the most times would claim sweet victory. (And it was appropriate that Steve won on "What fast-food advertising character was revived after a 25-year hiatus in 2003?"—this is not an insult, this is what his teammate told me, I swear.)

The standings:

1. Fantastic Fournicators
2. Cash Cab for Cutie
3. Jefferson Davis Starship: Happy birthday to Harris, BTW.
4. Fat Kids Wake Up in Installments
5. Strippers for Stephen Hawking
6. Oh Noah You Didn't
7. Gerard Depardouche
8. An Incontinental Xmas/Corbblah-di, Corbblah-da (tie)
10. Sugah Titz

Also, thanks to our theatrical sponsors: Colin Quinn: Long Story Short and The Flying Karamazov Brothers. We'll have more of their tickets next time: Turns out trivia is the nexus between comedy and juggling.

NEXT: We're doing our damnedest to get back on a regular schedule, which means we return in three weeks, January 3, at a hot new venue, Drom, on Avenue A in the East Village. Stay tuned for updates. And don't forget, follow me on Twitter for the Google-Proof Question of the Day: First correct answer wins 1 million BQT Bucks!

December 13, 2010

It's THE NOT-SO-SECRET SECRET CLUE!

Yes it is! Tonight the Big Quiz Thing is finally back, 7:30pm at Crash Mansion, and we got a clue to help you along…

Saturday Night Live 1995–2002

How 'bout that? Use it when we give the word at tonight's super-tremendous quiz: 7:30pm, after the special Jeopardy! viewing party, hot prizes at stake. You know you love it.

December 11, 2010

Prizes: Shows! Shows! Shows!

Good God, there is too much happening at this Monday's long-awaited episode of the BQT. Apart from it simply being the first NYC event in far too many moons, we got the preshow Jeopardy! viewing party, the possible debut of the BQT buzzer system (I believe in technology when it believes in me), and a super-secret surprise (at least one of them). And, as always, we got prizes.
Shows! Straight from Broadway, the one-man show Colin Quinn: Long Story Short. Like many of you, I first became familiar with this guy as the annoyingly endearing, endearingly annoying sidekick on perhaps the greatest non–Price Is Right TV game show of all time, Remote Control. He wasn't bad, though clearly not the reason I was a fan, and several years later, when he showed up looking uncomfortable on Saturday Night Live, I wondered how the hell this guy got to be (semi-)famous. Damn, I could do this. I would do this! I decided to become a stand-up.

So I became a stand-up, and shiver me timbers, found myself opening for Colin Quinn (eh, not really; he performed in the 8pm show, I was in the 6:30 one, but cut me a break, I was getting neither paid nor laid). And this guy quickly gave me a clear and undeniable lesson about why I would never make it in that insane business: He was funny, yes, but also smart (even though I didn't always agree with his insight; dude was totally pro–Iraq War), and—most importantly—he was completely cool and comfortable onstage, making it look stupid easy. He made the whole room feel like they were his nicely toasted drinking buddies, trading jokes and observations at the bar on a Friday night (or, if you prefer, his thoroughly stoned roommates, trading jokes and observations in the dorm on a Saturday night). By contrast, my act was occasionally funny, usually smart, but I was never cool and comfortable—nothing looked easy in my set. That was that; I didn't last much longer at the Comedy Cellar.

And now—Broadway! Long Story Short is billed as the "History of the World in 75 Minutes," and will you look at that, it's directed by some old sitcom star! It was just extended to February 5, so get your tickets while you can. Or, better yet, win them Monday night.

Plus, Off Broadway…The Flying Karamazov Brothers! These guys played NYC in the '80s, my parents took me, and I remember it with uncanny detail. They juggled. Like, everything. They invite the audience to bring stuff for them to rhythmically toss in the air (I recall a pound of liver), and you best your bippy, they fucking juggle it. Boom. Plus, I can pinpoint this show as the exact moment I learned about the time-honored art of improvisation: They kept making fun of a horrible sport jacket some guy in the front row was wearing, I figured he must have been a plant, but my mother (being the show business veteran she is) told me about the art of ad libbing. And years later, I was angling for laughs on an Upright Citizens Brigade stage.

And now the FKBs are back. "Their looks can kill, their show can slightly injure," goes the slogan, so apparently the modern-edition Brothers are rather handsome fellows. (I remember a bunch of bearded dudes who looked like nerdy versions of ZZ Top.) Judge for yourself…



Free tickets to some lucky winners Monday night. Plus, since I love you, you can get cheap tix by going to Ticketmaster and using the code LSP584. And please, avoid any "dropping balls" jokes. Thanks!

Have a show/product/event that you want to hype via the Big Quiz Thing? We're always looking for promo partners: E-mail info@bigquizthing.com and let us know.

December 9, 2010

Monday: Preshow! Jeopardy! party! (!)

It all started with Jeopardy!, you know. Way back in 2002, I was a contestant on that august quiz contest—it's a long story that I will not go into now—but it convinced me to make a life in the world of trivia competition. And here we are.

And here we will be Monday night. Monday, of course, the Big Quiz Thing returns to Crash Mansion after this painful hiatus, with an added bonus: I just got confirmation that yes, doors will open shortly before 7pm, at which point we'll fire up the TVs and watch Jeopardy!, featuring an appearance by BQT regular Jonathan Corbblah (the big, extremely friendly black guy who jumps from lucky team to lucky team). Jonathan just might be the smartest person I know (apart from being one quarter of NYC's trivia champions, the guy plays poker and teaches chess for a living, no lie), so while he's refusing to divulge how well he fared in the glare of the Trebeck Demon, you can take a guess.

Following the show, at 7:30pm, the BQT will begin as scheduled, with Jonathan as special guest stage sidekick. To get you excited…


December 6, 2010

The schedule: Finally, a hit of trivia goodness


Friends and fans–

I know how trying this past month and a half has been. You've suffered the severe symptoms of trivia withdrawal. Sad but true, there has been no public Big Quiz Thing in more than a month (in NYC; Boston was wicked awesome, as always), and your addiction has tortured you. The reasons for this are varied, annoying, and annoyingly various, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel (though the inside might be as black as the night, at the end of the tunnel there's a liiiiiight!). Rest easy, the beast will be fed.

First of all, there's a show one week from tonight, December 13, at our old haunt of Crash Mansion. Oh, we got the usual delights, with a new video round, "Great Nicknames in Sports"; an "All Awesome Alliterative Audio Answers" audio round (say that five times fast; better yet, don't); and a few more surprises, including some great show tickets as prizes (details in this space forthcoming).

But a warning: I can't say for sure, but this might be a rather crowded event. Check it: BQT stalwart Jonathan Corbblah (one fourth of citywide trivia champions Fuckface Murray Abraham and the guy at right above) will be appearing on Jeopardy! that night, and we're hoping to do a preshow viewing party at 7pm, with many of JC's many friends in tow. Moreover, for whatever nutty reason, an unusual number of people whom I perpetually hype the event to say they're finally going to show up at this event. So get there early and watch your step, friends.

Beyond that, I'm booking shows left and right. You can always keep up on the calendar, but lemme break it down:

— In 2011, in NYC, we're going to be back on the biweekly-Monday schedule…more or less. We have January 3, January 17 and January 31 all booked, along with February 21. 1/3 and 1/31 will be at a new spot, Drom in the East Village; 1/17 is back at (Le) Poisson Rouge, at the special time of 7pm; and 2/21 is at Crash. We'll settle down eventually, Ma, promise.
— Tuesday, December 28, we're returning to World Cafe Live, our cool and classy venue in Philadelphia, for the BQT's first ever Movie Trivia Spectacular. Eight years and we've never done an all-movie quiz, but that all finally changes. Tell your Philly friends; the food at this place is excellent.

—One of the highlights for 2010 was establishing a BQT beachhead in the Boston metropolitan area, with a handful of shows at Oberon, a really, really, fucking really beautiful venue in Harvard Square. We're planning to hit it more often in '11, having already booked two events: January 10 and February 7 (both Mondays). These shows have developed into a rivalry between two extra-nerdy teams, so expect the blood to really fly in the New Year.

And as always, you can follow me on Twitter, to hear my trenchant trivial insights, and (try to) answer the Google-Proof Question of the Day (and win free admission). See you next week, fun people.