It's Official - Scatter O' Light has a new address: scatterolight.com
ALL new Scatter O' Light content will be on scatterolight.com going forward, so update your bookmark / rss feed if you so desire and hopefully we'll see you on the new site ...
Scatter O' Light is moving off of blogger and to its own domain: scatterolight.com
Nothing fancy. And layout/visual theme still in development, but the Scatter O' Light development team (ha) will make it more official in the next day or so and then there will be no more new posts on this blogspot address. New Scatter O' Light content will be on scatterolight.com going forward, so please update your bookmark / rss feed or whatever it is that brings you here ;)
Parallel topper Alan Moloney is also producing "The Virgin of Las Vegas" with U2 frontman Bono. Liam Neeson is attached to star in the $14 million project, which affectionately recalls the Irish pop culture phenomenon of show bands. Show bands, which became popular across Ireland before the onslaught of TV, used to play cover songs in the early days of rock 'n' roll and amassed large followings across the country. Neeson will play an aging show band singer, prone to drink and living in Vegas, who finds his life turned on its head following the arrival of a mysterious stranger. Barry Devlin is penning the script.
Q: why did u2 not play the song stand up comedy at all on the first leg of the u2 360 tour?
a) because it stinks or b) they are saving its live debut for the usa since they think we have really questionable awesome taste or c) they are waiting for will.i.am to drop some hot beatz on it so they can play it remix style or d) other reason
why did they bother even writing that song, finishing that song and putting it on the album if they didn't plan on playing it live?
(i do realize they have forever to still decide to play it and there are lots of songs they recorded and have never played but this song is so irritating to me. it started out as a killer riff and they neutered/tried to make a pop hit out of it. and now they don't even play it? live? where it will for sure be better? the fact that u2 hasn't yet played it makes me think u2 might not like it so much. conclusion. jumped.)
It's midnight on Manhattan's Lower East Side, and the apple-cheeked guitarist in the baggy tank top doesn't know what's coming. "Yeah, we've got another show in Brooklyn in a couple days," brags Apple Cheeks to Dominic, a skinny blond Englishman in a black leather jacket. It's early summer and the two are standing outside the front door of a small club/bakery called Cake Shop. The musician's band finished playing a few minutes ago, and he's still feeling flush. The sidewalk is lousy with well-appointed degenerates who look as though they've also got another show in Brooklyn in a couple days.
"We're playing a place called Bruar Falls," he says, arching his eyebrows above his thick glasses. "I'm pretty sure we're headlining." Bruar Falls is the size of a rich man's bathroom.
Dominic looks up from his iPhone. "My band's playing New York. Not till September, though."
Apple Cheeks isn't impressed. "Oh really?" he asks. "Where?"
A goofy grin spreads across Dominic's face. "Giants Stadium."
Apple Cheeks' jaw goes slack. "Wh -- what band are you in?"
my favorite version is the live remix version. which too badly is not being sold anywhere. but actually i think it isn't captured that well when i see it on video or hear the bootlegs. it's an in-person you have to be there to fully appreciate it thing.
but you know what's crazy awesome? this:
no, i am not talking about bono, people.
(i'm talking about that thing his hair is doing at the front top middle.)
our friend northern star has a post on her blog that includes a bono meet up, chit chat and wembley 2 report ...Debbi said that his voice was really good at the moment to which he replied, (something like this anyway)"Thanks, I thought I was singing good." He then asked us how the sound was "Because the sound was bouncing back at me". We told him that it was good where we sat. He asked whereabout we were, Debbi said that we were in seats to the side of the stage to which I added, "On Edge's side in the lower tier." Bono nodded and said he was glad the sound was ok for us because he "Was worried about that." [more]
finally, sorry but the intro to this grizzly bear review made me laugh so hard. In the week that U2's supposedly democratising '360 degree' staging initiative turned out to be a transparent ruse to facilitate charging roughly a third of a huge stadium crowd full price for the opportunity to watch Bono's backside perform, evidence was urgently required that pop's promises to dissolve existing hierarchies can be more than just hot air.
New York-based foursome Grizzly Bear supply that evidence, with a show at Camden's Koko which makes an elegant mockery of the idea that the only functional structure for a life-changing rock 'n' roll band is one messiah and three disciples... [more]
no wait, really finally, look, rosie just went clammin' and got some CLAMS:
this unreleased unforgettable fire era track has been "worked on" and a fragment of it was played a few days ago while bono and edge were being interviewed by edith bowman on bbc radio. more info plus interview links on atu2.
so last night we went to see brendan benson play the first show of his tour supporting his new album. he didn't seem so ready. he was nervous and kept wondering why everything was moving so fast. one guy booed when brendan started and stopped his first song and explained he hadn't played any shows yet except for one mini one in nashville. this dude in the crowd booed and brendan was like, "fuck you man booing nashville. that's music city. what the fuck. get out of here. why don't you go blog? go blog your boos." i laughed, but i don't really like that insult. his album is streaming on npr. and this article on brendan in the independent is good. "There's a big distinction between being a fan of music, and making it. It's frustrating and sad sometimes, listening to something so good and so beautiful, and thinking, 'I want to write a song like this'. But writing music's more like being seized or possessed, and being asked what a song's about afterwards is like remembering a dream. And sometimes, it's just a song." unrelated:
i went to see these two bands on friday: the xx and school of seven bells. mostly i went because it was free and there was cold beer. but also because, as the crazy high girl next to me said, "the blogs are all about to be sucking the xx's dicks."
the xx are two boys and two girls, 19 0r 20 and one of the lead singers/guitarist is a girl named romy and she has a pretty great voice.
anyway, the guardian says the new xx album is quietly, utterly electrifying. and if you've seen this video, you get an idea of what they are like, live too. they just stand there like they are hypnotized. it's not really for me.
school of seven bells is slightly more animated live. benjamin curtis sort of spends all the time twhirling around and making space rock guitar sounds that alternate between having a hook and going in circles. the deheza sisters stand pretty still with their instruments and sing their harmonies. live it was a bit muddled for me (maybe i was too close to the stage), but the record has lots of atmospheric beauty to it:
dudes in the crowd spent a lot of time during the school of seven bells set figuring out which deheza sister is hotter. (apparently the keyboardist because the guitarist is "too perky.")
above pics are from night 1 of u2 at wembley stadium. more here: ineedmyfix.com
last night u2 played night 2 in london. this video jumps out at me:
bono is singing the song in a bizarre tempo for the first few minutes. when he did that in dublin i was thinking it was a screw up. like how he has decided on this tour to change the way in a little while ends and end it with a second scatter of light verse. or how he refuses to sing certain verses of ultraviolet (i guess it's the price of love... is now, "i guess that's the something something something something something it ain't cheap.") the first time you hear it you are dumb enough to think it is a slip up and then you realize he is doing it on purpose.
seriously, you MUST see this in a theater. one with a very good sound system if at all possible.
i saw the movie it might get loud yesterday. the edge, jack white and jimmy page. yeah, yeah, you know all about it. i have read some people commenting on such intellectual sites as ONTD! and YouTube arguing about why certain members of this group shouldn't be included in a documentary about the electric guitar. as if maybe they weren't all worthy. edge uses effects you know! and jack white ain't no derek trucks. (so .. and so?) seriously, i don't know if i want the people who make these comments to see the movie and have their minds altered or if i just want them to die. tough one.
this movie is well done and it focuses on three very worthy individuals. it has some scenes that made me cry. not because of anything that was said but more just because of the feelings of awe inspired by the music and the images coming at you very big and loud. i literally had an internal conversation with myself at one point. "cara, why are you crying? i don't know, maybe because you love the edge so much? maybe because your popcorn ran out? who knows." [end conversation]. really, maybe it was little things like, oh, i don't know, jimmy freakin page standing next to the edge powering through i will follow. i really enjoyed this. i also had to literally bite my hand to stop from saying "OH MY GOD" too loudly when edge was walking us through (and jumping up onto) one specific location at mount temple.
i did think parts of jack white's segments dragged near the end and i wish jimmy page could articulate some of his feelings a bit more clearly. even though he is the most well-known and highly regarded (i'd say) of these three, jimmy comes across as having the least interest in crafting his own narrative. meanwhile, jack, who i really do like, is amusingly all about the struggle and keeping it real, yet his persona is clearly the one with the most artifice. as a u2, um, psychotic, i'd be lying if i didn't admit i wanted more edge. if the movie was called it might get edge i'd be happier. but it was really cool. the other two guys ain't so bad;) it is an amazing gift to u2 fans to have the edge as one of the featured stars in a movie such as this one. i hope the dvd comes with many many extras.
