Rock n' Roll

The show last night was a ton of fun. The Boy Least Likely To might not be the prettiest men in the world--they can't help it, they're British--but their personalities are certainly infectious. As a number of reviews have pointed out, the great thing about the BLLT is that they take that kind of cutesy, poppy Indie thing but add a certain dark sense of humor. So they have lots of kind of cute songs with names like "Warm Panda Cola" and "Fur Soft as Fur" and "I'm Glad I Hitched My Wagon to Your Apple Star," and they are very peppy with plinky bells and banjos and whatnot, but they've always got an edge. The eponymous creatures of "Monsters," for instance, are his childhood friends who have now grown up and had babies. And the songwriting is totally top-notch. Anyways, I highly recommend their album. You can get it on iTunes if need be. And their US tour is just starting, so non-LA people might be able to catch them live this summer.

And also loves The Bicycles, a Toronto bad who opened. Their drummer looks distinctly like Patti Smith, they sing in chipmunk voices and were covered in temporary tattoos, and I have more than a little crush on their lead singer, who had a mohawk and had written on his guitar, "This Machine Kills Fashions."

I don't have the time, energy, or inclination to care too much about the rock n' roll kids listen to nowadays. It's a full-time job to keep up with indie rock. But going to a good show occasionally reminds me that live music is fun!

Speaking of rock n' roll, and kids, I'm finally putting together my syllabus for this summer. How I am supposed to recount the history of popular music in the United States in twelve classes, I ask you!? Oh wait, Fourth of July holiday, make that eleven classes...plus the final exam, make that ten classes...yikes! I think reggae is going to have to go. And probably country rock too, not that that's a big loss.