» Tuesday night James and I drove out to Asbury Park because Spoon were playing at the Stone Pony. I was covering it for Pitchfork, James was a curious observer. I mean, let’s face it — wouldn’t you rather see Spoon in a teeny dingy rock club rather than a gigantic hall?

I belive that venues, and to a larger extent, their neighborhoods inform the listening experience, sometimes impacting a performance in ways you’d never expect. In short, the creepy, post-apocalyptic vibe of Asbury Park’s boardwalk — crumbling, desolate and in the nth attempt to revitalize it — leaked its way into the band’s set. When the band wasn’t off-key and sloppy, they were awkward and terse, as if they expected the wrecking ball to come crashing down on the club at any moment.

Oh yeah, another fun thing to note: I was nearly chucked out of the club. Now, I am no stranger to security guards tossing me out (*cough*bannedfromtonic*cough*), but in all the years I’ve been photographing concerts, this particular one marks the first time I’ve ever been busted for taking photos. Everyone else in the front row had a camera — most, if not all were nicer than mine! Somehow I must have had “troublemaker” scrawled across my forehead or something, because the security yanked me out and tried to confiscate my equipment. Things were looking pretty iffy for me until dropped the P-bomb; suddenly everyone wanted to accommodate me and my photographic needs. Meh.

» The new Mary Timony album has made its way into my grubby little paws. It straddles a bunch of her previous incarnations, so this record could be a temporary stop onto another style. If you really liked Ex Hex, you might be less into this one; if you loved the No Guitars, this could be your jam. Me, I love the fact that I get a very Sonic Youthy song bumped up against some crazy Eric Burdon keyboard noodling!

» A seed of something: So back during the whole Popped! festival, there was a piece on Phawker essentially advocating a media blackout for the house show circuit. While I understand why a suggestion like this was made (Stupid Penn professors or likeminded folks getting places shut down), I’m finding the blackout aspect problematic in the grander scheme of documenting/criticism.

To wit: I always hear about really great bands playing house shows and as a contributor to a local paper, have this innate desire to tell folks about them. But if the media’s at fault for killing off the scene (this is a little too Blame Game-y for me, really), then how do critics/journalists document it? I find limiting the conversation to blogs and messageboards a bit too limiting and reeks of elitism. Of course, talking about any subculture or fringe group in print stands to co-opt and/or misinterpret. This has been an ongoing problem, but is there a balance that can be struck?

» A pretty decent Monday night show: Neal from the Snowfairies has a new band, Scary Monster, playing at the Khyber. Also on the bill are Casper & the Cookies, who are pretty Elephant 6-eqsue. I’d probably go if I didn’t have stuff to do tomorrow night, but you should.

» Oh yeaaah: this is the last week of my show for WQHS. Make sure you tune in!