My eyes are crossing but I haven’t had any time to blog so I thought I’d try to power through a full week’s wrap-up.

Friday: went to the K’s. Ponged, drank beer, ate pizza. I won the pong so I lead the hunt for Mr October. We watched Morrissey’s new-ish DVD, Who Put the M in Manchester?. I could probably write a whole bunch on things I think about Moz (not all of them great) but I’ll leave it with a couple of observations. Firstly, the way the concert was directed with tons of quick close-ups is really irritating to watch. I’m sure that looks nice for a Christina Aguilera video, but for Morrissey, it’d have been nice to see the whole stage. The close-ups on Morrissey’s stage moves also really hammed them up. (One of the “extras” on the DVD is footage from the Move Festival and it blows away the main concert both in filming and sound.) Secondly, the song “Don’t Make Fun of Daddy’s Voice” is ridiculous. We couldn’t believe it was a real song.

Spent a lot of time listening to Metallica’s Ride the Lightning in the car. I don’t think I even agree with this statement now but over last weekend, I’d have argued with you that “Fight Fire With Fire” is the finest Metallica song. And the opening three-song salvo, I was convinced, was the best they’d ever done. Now, with some distance, I think that could be kooky-talk.

Tuesday / Wednesday: interviewed Jeano from the Creeping Cruds for a piece for the Rage. Spent a great deal of time listening to Shout Out Louds for another piece. Tried to get an interview with them but crossed signals with the publicist. I really like the record, Howl Howl Gaff Gaff. It’s a bit melancholy but it’s got its place and the opener, “The Comeback,” just rules. I play it over and over. Such a perfect tune.

Wednesday evening: went down to see the Clutters at the Exit/In around 9.30. Stood outside for a minute listening to a really awful band whose name I didn’t catch–totally bland dad rock. I went in and they continued making noise for a good twenty minutes or more. I began to suspect they were a Christian rock band. The perfect haircuts, the expensive gear, the vaguely positive songs–it all added up. Way too wimpy even for the wimpy emo scene they were aping. Then, to my surprise, Bang Bang Bang started setting up. I found Doug Clutter and asked what had happened. Turned out, the Clutters played at 8.30 to nobody but the guests they’d brought. So I might as well have flushed that $6.

I watched a little Bang Bang Bang and they are too silly for words. They’re a band who has chosen a style of music–in their case neo-Southern rock a la Kings of Leon–and completely copied it. There’s plenty of bands that do that (see: all emo bands), but usually they don’t pick a genre as completely ridiculous as Southern rock. The band (except the bassist) dresses Southern rock, has Southern rock hair, straps their guitars up real high, has three guitarists–it’s just awful. After he set up his kit, the drummer returned with Aviators on.

They’re a very competent band. Seem to be great musicians. Much more capable than I am. But I just don’t understand bands who choose a style of music and then make a band accordingly. They had three guitarists. And the lead guitarist has the worst guitar face possibly ever. He’s combined the full-face squint with the white-man’s overbite and it’s simply crazy. I think I even saw him blow a kiss to someone. God have mercy.

I laughed through the entire first song and then when I discovered that it wasn’t a joke, we left.

Thursday: I went down to a photoshoot with the Creeping Cruds. It was awesome. Such a quick and easy deal. We walked in; Sam the photographer set up the lights while the Cruds put on some make-up and bloody clothing; then Sam got them arranged and shot a couple dozen pics and it was done. They got into a pose and held it and it looked good. It was awesome. They’re a band who knows what their image is and they gave it.

Today: I spent much of the afternoon re-designing NashvilleZine. It was one of those things where I was just playing around with the new design and then thought “oh this won’t take me a minute to get online.” Two hours later, I’m still wrestling with a code problem. But thanks to Zach, I didn’t have to scrap the work so I feel like I got it accomplished. Still needs some heavy tweaking though.