i haven't watched the o.c. this season (i know, what the hell is wrong with me?) but they're still going strong on their music selections, at least. stereogum has matt pond pa's cover of neutral milk hotel's "in the aeroplane over the sea." in the aeroplane over the sea is one of those albums i never recommend to anyone solely because i assume everybody must already have it, but if you don't, get on it. it's one of the most heartbreakingly gorgeous works of music out there. also, it contains probably the only song about anne frank and world war II that will make you want to dance your ass off. anyway, matt pond pa's cover captures the sound nicely.

I might set up a CafePress store soon with some Butterstick shirts. I'll have to redo it in a higher resolution, but I'm thinking something like this:

What do you think? Too subtle?

I just got back from Operation Ceasefire and... eh. Heading to Charles' mom's tailgate thingamajig at the Nats game was definitely the right call: free food beats free Green Party literature any day.

The concert seemed very well-run. Not too many detestable hippies in the crowd, and everyone behaved themselves. The politics expressed on stage were predictably silly. The bands mostly avoided embarassment, sticking to "Fuck George Bush" and "Let's Party!" But the inter-set haranguing veered wildly from general, sane opposition to the Iraq War, to incitements to interfere with all forms of military recruitment, to broad anticorporate diatribes that, while up my alley, seemed a bit far afield from the show's stated purpose. I think Yglesias' prediction was correct, and that the whole shindig will ultimately be counterproductive. Despite organizer Adam Eidinger's thoroughly sane explication of the concert's aims on Friday's Kojo Nnamdi Show, these kinds of things have a way of making utterly reasonable political ideas as unpalatable to the mainstream as possible. Bad things happen when you send true believers on stage between sets to kill time ad libbing.

Anyway, I caught the end of Thievery Corporation's set, some belly dancers, the Bouncing Souls and Le Tigre. TC did their thing, but it's hard to have a big finale when descriptions of your music frequently include the word "downtempo". The belly dancing seemed to feature some above-average bellies, but I was off getting a bottle of water during their performance. The Bouncing Souls seemed good, pretty much a perfect fit for anyone who wants melodic pop punk that's one step too hard for MTV (which includes me).

I was most interested in seeing Le Tigre, though, having heard from friends that they put on a great live show. Prior to tonight I didn't really have much exposure to the band besides a rough sketch of their history and hearing a couple of singles.

Maybe it's just my suddenly-threatened phallocentric worldview speaking, but I wasn't that impressed. It seems like it's probably pretty easy to be a great live band when half of your sound is canned. The drums and synths I can understand... but vocals? C'mon now. Also, some of their "message" songs come perilously close to that most dreaded of musical genres: socially conscious rap performed by white people, AKA Christian Rock for Atheists.

Oh well. I have to admit that when the guitar came out they rocked pretty hard; at their best, they sound like Patti Smith with a sampler, which is pretty good. And their sorta choreographed, video-integrated show is certainly well-done — it's just not the kind of thing I'm that interested in seeing.