I don't even really know how to describe the feeling one gets after seeing a Morrissey show. You really have to be there to really understand it. It is a weird mix of feelings. After liking and listening to someone for 20 years or so you start to feel like you almost know them better than you know yourself. Morrissey is one of those artists that gets deep into his fans hearts and minds and stays there forever. He is like your best friend that never lets you down and is always there to get you through the rougher bits of life. All you needed was a Morrissey or Smiths album and you would be OK. I have seen him play many times over the years. But never in anywhere as small as the Fillmore. The Fillmore is a rather large venue. But for the Morrissey sized crowd, it is sort of small. It was perfect.

We actually got to the show early hoping we could get some of those seats up in the balcony. There is really only room for about 16 people up in the side balcony. So we were counting on the 100 or so people in front of us rushing to the stage downstairs. I ran up the stairs only to find the 2 people in front of me grabbing the last 2 seats. But then I noticed 2 large security types sitting in one of the sections. I asked them if they were going to stay there and they told me they were just checking out the crowd and would be leaving in a couple minutes. There are some crazy fanatical Morrissey fans and I think they were just trying to figure out the crowd for the night. They were probably counting the flowers and gifts in the audience and trying to figure out who would be the ones to try and jump on stage. So we got our seats and were actually going to eat at the show. I usually hate those people that eat at shows but in order to get there so early we sort of had to. But the amazing thing was that the whole menu was all vegetarian! Amazing! We vegetarians often have to search menus for the one garden burger or salad. Or maybe we can get the nachos with no meat. But there were like 10 things on the menu and they were all vegetarian. I was trying to figure out if Morrissey had requested some of the items or not. I got some potato latkes and they were delicious. I was just so excited I had to take the menu home with me. We hurried to finish our food before the show started though. I really didn't want to be one of those people that eats during a show. Even if it was just the opener who we had already seen two times before this.

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Out today is the beautiful new album from Jose Gonzalez. Mute reissued his first album "Veneer" about 2 years ago. So this is his second album. But his first real album for Mute. It is called "In Our Nature." I will admit that Jose Gonzalez is not for everybody. I was not even sure if he was for me for a long time. It took me a little while to give in to Mr. Gonzalez. Most of his popularity initially came from his brilliant little cover of "Heartbeats" by the Knife. It was used in a commercial that everybody seemed to watch on the internet.  I am not sure if the commercial sold more Sony Bravia LCD TVs. But it for sure sold thousands more copies of his debut album "Veneer." I think I actually heard his version of this song before I even heard The Knife. I would eventually become obsessed with their version as well which was on their album "Deep Cuts." Jose and The Knife share more than just this great song. They both come from the land of Sweden.

 Jose Gonzalez was born in Sweden but his parents are from Argentina. His music doesn't really sound like the mix of ABBA and Astor Piazzolla that you might expect from a Swedish Argentine. It has more of a minimal Nick Drake sound. Beautiful little minimal indie rock with just mostly guitar and vocals. He is sort of known for his covers and performs many of them live. His version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is almost as magical as the original. He also has a cover on the new album which he has already been playing live for the last couple of years. The song is "Teardrop" by Massive Attack. It took me a while to actually even recognize it. Which is very impressive since it happens to be one the most overplayed songs of all time. The Massive Attack version with vocals from the wonderful Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins is fantastic. But I have heard that song so many times over the years that I had pretty much decided that I never needed to hear it again. And I also love Cocteau Twins more than anything. So it is a hard original to compete with. But his version is just as brilliant but completely different.  The whole album is  absolutely beautiful. It is simple and uncomplicated. Just a great album. Jose Gonzalez is actually one of those people that deserves any fame that he has acquired over the last couple of years. I just hope all those fans he got from that commercial don't forget about him. He has managed to create a second album that is just as good as the first. I am going to go listen to it again right now. And unlike that original Massive Attack song that he covers, I am not even close to being over Jose Gonzalez.

I just went to go see the wonderful Sinead O'Connor this last Sunday at the fantastic Davies Symphony Hall. I absolutely love this venue. Not only is it a wonderful little venue with great architecture and sound but it is so close to my house. The only other time that I had been there was for the Margaret Cho show a couple of years ago. We had seats in the balcony this time, so it gave us a different perspective on the whole venue. It is nice seeing someone like Sinead in a venue where people usually see classical music and symphonies. The Margaret Cho show was great expect for the fact that we had a loud dude sitting behind us. He really felt a connection with Margaret and felt the need to yell out "true" after every single joke that she told. I can literally still hear the sound of his voice in my head.  Now it makes me laugh, but not so much at the time. Lucky for us, I don't think he was at this show. But we did have one of those dudes who likes to sing along sitting behind us. I am not sure if he wanted to show us how cool he was because he knew what the songs were before they even started. Or maybe he was just such a super fan that he could not hold in his excitement. There were many others that felt the need to clap during the first 30 seconds of most songs. It had Curt and I wondering why this always happens. I understand that they want to show the artist how much they love them. However, it seems that what they really want to do is show the rest of the fans what a bigger fan they are. These types especially like to clap for the more obscure songs as soon as they recognize them. I totally understand clapping after a song is over and I usually participate in this activity. But clapping and cheering at the beginning of the song just sort of ruins the beginning of the song. But then again, maybe people like Sinead would start crying and refuse to play the song if nobody clapped at the beginning. But I seriously doubt it.

I have been wanting to talk about this new album from Gravenhurst for over a month now. It seems like it has taken forever for this album to come out. The album is brilliant and I have been obsessed with it ever since I first heard it. I really liked their last album "Fires in Distant Buildings" from 2005. But this new one is so much better. It is called "Western Lands" and it comes out today. I don't even know where to begin. I just want everyone to go out and buy it and love it. Gravenhurst comes from that great country that I love so much. They are from Bristol, England and have been putting out albums since 2001. But it seems they have been a bit secretive about it. I didn't really hear about them until 2005 when they released an album on Warp Records. The album is really easy to get addicted to. So I would just like to warn you to be ready for that.



Gravenhurst are great because they are one of those bands that sort of combines lots of different genres and styles into one brilliant style that is all their own. It is like they have taken bits and pieces of all my favorite bands and put them into one brilliant album. They are very dreamy and ethereal but also very accessible. They really combine a lot of shoegaze style music with a more folky musical style. Imagine Elliott Smith combined with My Bloody Valentine. Nick Drake with Joy Division. Flying Saucer Attack with Piano Magic. Pale Saints with Pentangle. It really is something magical. They released "Trust" as the first single from the new album. But I am not really sure why. The second single will be "Hollow Men," which is so much better. It reminds me of some song from My Bloody Valentine's album "Isn't Anything." It really is that good. It is virtually impossible for anybody to not like this song. It is very catchy. But not in any normal pop song kind of way. It's also a nice little video.

I remember when I was like 13 some friends of mine rented "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)" by Woody Allen. They were really disappointed and told me not to bother watching it. I think they thought it was really gonna be all the things they always wanted to know and I am sure they were not familiar with the humor of Woody Allen. I sort of think music and its history is sort of like sex. Everyone pretends to know everything about it and nobody ever wants to ask questions about it. So they remain in the dark about certain bands or styles of music simply because they are afraid to ask about it. I have always been the opposite of this. I love asking people about music and I don't pretend to know about things I do not know about it. I feel like Heart is also one of those bands that most people secretly like. Or maybe I just love them so much that I assume everyone likes them at least a little bit. The great Ann Wilson (who is the lead singer of Heart) has just released a solo album this week. This is her first solo album! It is called "Hope & Glory." It is all covers and features a lot of guests on the album. Nancy Wilson, Wynonna Judd, Alison Krauss, Rufus Wainwright, Elton John, K.D. Lang, & Gretchen Wilson all appear on the album. She covers songs by Pink Floyd, The Animals, Led Zeppelin, Creedence, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and John Lennon. It is for sure worth a listen. I am not really saying you won't ever want to take it out of your CD player and you probably will not even want to put it on your IPOD. But the girl deserves your love and respect. This lady has been at it for a long time now and has had a quite a musical career. So I thought I would break down all the Ann Wilson and Heart albums for you. Just in case you were afraid to ask...