The Lillingtons - The Too Late Show

So The Lillingtons. A band I recently found out about, but ultimately, one of the best records I may have ever heard. They keep the 1-2-3-4 Ramones styled super energy flowing from the first slams of "Gunbullet" to the very last notes of "Stay Tuned". Kind of nasally, but not whiny vocals tie it all together in a great way. Keep rockin on this one and try very hard to not get "Do It U.S.S.R." stuck in your head for too long. Contains one member of Teenage Bottlerocket. Don't let that scare you, because this is far better than that outfit in my opinion. Or if that makes you happy, well...yeah.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Lillingtons!

Are Scary Movies Really Scary?

It's Halloween. You're either excited because of one of a few reasons. First, because you're five. You get to dress up, go out, guided by your parents (if you aren't lucky enough to live in a gated community), and get all the free candy you can get. If you are older than ten and trick-or-treating, then you are too old and need to go home and stop it. Secondly, you may be excited because you get to also wear a costume. Yet you're not five nor ten years old. NO! You are in your college years and get to go to a Halloween Party. What excitement! Booze, and girls just slutty enough to dress up as Sexy (insert word here). Well go and have your fun my bretheren. Just make sure you don't drink and drive as it is, count it, double the fine on Hallotweekend for DUIs or suspected ones.

Or, maybe you're like me.. no friends to count on. Just passin out candy to the young ones and digging on some Halloween type scary movies. However, I don't like them. My girl is the avid horror-flick lover extraordinaire around these parts. To be honest, it takes a lot to get me to sit through a movie that is not a comedy. I just don't have the attention span. Watching an hour and a half of crap that passes off as a movie nowadays for Hollywood is comparable to a full-scale Lobotomy. It is not worth it eight times out of ten. However, when it comes to horror movies, it is even more of a drag to bring myself to watch these ones. They just are not scary. Maybe I'm too much of a realist to be conned into the leap of faith that requires belief in the "paranormal". Half of the time I'm just trying to either figure out the plot, guess who's getting killed next, or waiting to find out who the killer is. That's most of the enjoyment I get out of them.

As far as scary goes, not so much. The type of self fooling that goes into being scared by these movies isn't gonna happen any time soon. For instance. You don't believe in God. Good for you. You go see a movie where religion plays the major part in the movie, and requires belief in "said god" to get the enjoyable effect of the movie. Whether it be fear of the devil, spiritual enlightenment, or godlike intervention amongst the characters; you won't care. You'll hate the movie, and more likely than not be laughing and just sort of putting it down in your head till the end. So since I don't believe in the undead and spirits, or God, this happens to me in horror movies a lot. It just doesn't grab me as much as others may be grabbed. So Sue Me!

Let me know If this makes sense to you, or if you've felt a similar thing with movies that you don't enjoy.

Happy Halloween, unless of course you're an adult. In which case, have a decent Sunday.

Ben Weasel

So, I guess I wasn't following him quite as rabidly as the rest of you. Anyways, I have recently been listening to the backlogs of his Weasel Radio show that was cast out of Madtown, WI until recently. Or so I'm told. It's just kind of interesting to compare his albums I've listened to with the most recent radio shows he has done. It was kind of shocking to hear he voted for John McCain, against the backdrop of "Anthem for a New Tomorrow" echoing in the back of my skull. However, I'm not as avid as the average Obama voter. I just thought that the party of the possibly worst President ever should not get another crack at the economy, as well as other social issues. That was my main reason for voting for Barry. On further evaluation of Ben's arguments, it kinda made sense to me. The fact that Obama's hype was way too much to live up to is a major standout. Yes, hope and change... It really did not work out too well for him. He was preaching to the idiot voter and maybe I'm one of them. "derrr". The economy is at a standstill and he cannot even pass decent social legislation with a majority of Congress on his side. Something tells me he just doesn't know what he's doing, or is not as "intelligent" as is stated. Besides, punk is supposed to be anti-establishment, which is just what Obama has become. Oh well, business as usual for Washington is all I can say. I'm shaking off the voter guilt of giving him my endorsement. Well, If only I were in charge.... right?

The facts are it is not easy to enact change without bipartisan support. He clearly has none.

One interesting thing I heard on BBC World News that kind of coincided with the whole discussion is how one party figure, whether it be Prez, Senator, etc... only panders to his own crowd. Wouldn't it be fun to see Obama get grilled by Hannity and Rush, rather than the good ole' boy Jon Stewart? Don't get me wrong, Stewart is a funny guy, but he's no conservative. A nice fireside chat with Mr. Dennis Miller would be quite different, with plenty of confusing words and references to really test Obama's intelligence. I heard one Daily Show fan talk about how Stewart "grilled" our President. Well maybe a bit. But only because he's as disappointed as the realistic Obama voter was. He'll probably vote Democrat again, being the Democrat rebel-rouser that he is. I'll really contemplate whether voting is worth it. Why can't Libertarians get more play in the run up to elections? Is that so much to ask?

"do you really want to be In America?" - the Fastbacks

Continued.. record score!

Yes it's the continuation.

Germ Attak "Ouroboros" LP
- This one sounds like it was straight out of the eighties, but in a good way. Raw, and thrashy h/c punk ranging from Discharge to Crucifix influences. The lyrics are short and to the point, which is nice. Sometimes volume of songs outweighs the actual content for the benefit. The lyrics are not just thrown together for no reason, as some punk bands have been known to do, and the resulting effect is slogans that are easy to comprehend, without being overly preachy. Love every minute of this, you spiky punks! The energy is coming at you with every lick, and these Canadian boys keep you bobbing your head til the end. Highly recommended for your hardcore thrashy fix of the month. On Capitalicide records.

The Measure [SA]- "Old Crow" EP
The first song is absolutely great! Trading off female/male vox makes for a very heartwarming song about parting ways. The second song, "good soup" is the clearly weakest song here. It is a faster h/c'ish song that just falls flat lyrically and vocally. The rhythym is off from music to vox, and it shows. The third song is a cover and is very strong. Originally by Soltero, "The Moment You Said Yes" is a ever increasing song in the pop punk vein with great vox on how both parties are disaffected with their sexual partners. Builds up and keeps the interest flowing throughout. A definite classic.


New Bomb Turks- "Stick It Out" EP on FatWreck...
Yes!!! Blazing speed on the first two tracks, lyrically inclined and on shiny Blue Vinyl to boot! Excellent punk rawk and roll thrash through the first two. The cover I feel is the obvious standout. "Job" is clearly excellent, forcing you to respect their punk credentials on the other two tracks. They rip through their songs with plenty of licks to handle themselves, yet the vocals either seem too buried or too irrelevant to anything for me. Some improvement could come from this. However, "Job" cover from Nubs is well worth getting this one.