Maybe some of you have heard of this game called Guitar Hero. I am sure some of you are fans of Rock Band and want nothing to do with Guitar Hero. I am probably one of the very few people who has never played Guitar Hero or Rock Band. I have heard  people talk about it endlessly  and been at parties where people have been playing it, but I have resisted for some reason. I guess it is sort of like Karaoke. I love the idea of it and actually love watching people "perform" at Karaoke bars but am just too shy to actually sing out loud in front of large crowds of strangers. A couple of years ago one of my friends dragged me to one of those private Karaoke booths that they have in Japantown in San Francisco. I never even really knew these existed. I could finally do karaoke. I really don't mind embarrassing myself in front of my friends. I just don't like strangers I guess. So really I should love Guitar Hero. There will be no strangers watching me embarrass myself. I just never had this game in my own house before.

Up until last week the newest game system I had was a Super Nintendo. They unfortunately did not make Guitar Hero for Super Nintendo. I have spent numerous nights playing Nintendo Jeopardy and Super Mario World late into the night, but I never really felt the need to upgrade. In my mind all the new games were for people who were obsessed with sports or war games. I didn't really feel the need to kill people in a game. I felt that I could happily live out the rest of my life living off used Super Nintendo games from thrift stores. Then I found out that there are actually new games for people like me. I just never spent the time to find them. When I found out Amoeba was going to be in the new Guitar Hero game, I realized I had to get myself some sort of new game system. I could not let this moment in history pass me by. Amoeba Hollywood always carried used games, but we never really got into the whole new games market until now. How could we not carry a game that we are a star of!? We are carrying the Guitar Hero games in all versions at all 3 stores. But we also have a selection of other games at the Hollywood store. I am so excited that game nerds can now hang out with music and movie nerds. I am sure we will all get along. We don't sell the actual game systems, but I imagine you can figure out where to find those. I could have gotten a Play Station or XBOX, but being a long time fan of Nintendo, Wii was the obvious choice for me. Of course, these are the hardest systems to find, but I managed to track one down last week, and I will be bringing home my new copy of Guitar Hero very soon. The new version of the game, Guitar Hero World Tour, actually came out yesterday, October 26th. The Game industry seems to have their own set of rules. Guitar Hero actually came out on a Sunday! They can't even wait until the Tuesday street date like the movies and music.

I am excited to be able to embarrass myself in front of my boyfriend and friends. The new Guitar Hero will let me do that numerous times I am sure. Rock Band was basically a more involved version of Guitar Hero. You didn't just get a guitar but a drum kit and microphone. Guitar Hero has now become the best again with Guitar Hero World Tour. Not only does the game feature Amoeba Music Hollywood as one of the venues you get to play in, but it also comes with a whole lot of extra stuff. The band kit comes with drums, a guitar, and a microphone. It even has a music studio program that lets you create your own digital songs that you can share with other users of the game. I will be patiently waiting for the New Wave Edition that comes out with a keyboard! This is surely the next step. Come on, Guitar Hero, do it for me! I could also go for the Shoegaze edition. I would most likely do a lot better playing a Lush song than Korn. But for now, I will settle for Guitar Hero World Tour. In case you are dying to see the songs that come with this new edition, here they are...

• 311 - "Beautiful Disaster"
• 30 Seconds To Mars - "The Kill"
• Airbourne - "Too Much Too Young"
• The Allman Brothers Band - "Ramblin' Man"
• Anouk - "Good God"
• The Answer - "Never Too Late"
• At The Drive-In - "One Armed Scissor"
• Beastie Boys - "No Sleep Till Brooklyn"
• Beatsteaks - "Hail to the Freaks"
• Billy Idol - "Rebel Yell"
• Black Label Society - "Stillborn"
• Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - "Weapon of Choice"
• blink-182 - "Dammit"
• Blondie - "One Way or Another"
• Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band - "Hollywood Nights"
• Bon Jovi - "Livin' On A Prayer"
• Bullet For My Valentine - "Scream Aim Fire"
• Coldplay - "Shiver"
• Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Up Around The Bend"
• The Cult - "Love Removal Machine"
• Dinosaur Jr. - "Feel The Pain"
• The Doors - "Love Me Two Times"
• Dream Theater - "Pull Me Under"
• The Eagles - "Hotel California"
• The Enemy - "Aggro"
• Filter - "Hey Man, Nice Shot"
• Fleetwood Mac - "Go Your Own Way"
• Foo Fighters - "Everlong"
• The Guess Who - "American Woman"
• Hush Puppies - "You're Gonna Say Yeah!"
• Interpol - "Obstacle 1"
• Jane's Addiction - "Mountain Song"
• Jimi Hendrix - "Purple Haze (Live)"
• Jimi Hendrix - "The Wind Cries Mary"
• Jimmy Eat World - "The Middle"
• Joe Satriani - "Satch Boogie"
• Kent - "Vinternoll2"
• Korn - "Freak On A Leash"
• Lacuna Coil - "Our Truth"
• Lenny Kravitz - "Are You Gonna Go My Way"
• Linkin Park - "What I've Done"
• The Living End - "Prisoner of Society"
• Los Lobos - "La Bamba"
• Lost Prophets - "Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)"
• Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Sweet Home Alabama (Live)"
• Mars Volta - "L'Via L'Viaquez"
• MC5's Wayne Kramer - "Kick Out The Jams"
• Metallica - "Trapped Under Ice"
• Michael Jackson - "Beat It"
• Modest Mouse - "Float On"
• Motorhead - "Overkill"
• Muse - "Assassin"
• Negramaro - "Nuvole e Lenzuola"
• Nirvana - "About a Girl (Unplugged)"
• No Doubt - "Spiderwebs"
• NOFX - "Soul Doubt"
• Oasis - "Some Might Say"
• Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train"
• Ozzy Osbourne - "Mr. Crowley"
• Paramore - "Misery Business"
• Pat Benatar - "Heartbreaker"
• R.E.M. - "The One I Love"
• Radio Futura - "Escuela De Calor"
• Rise Against - "Re-Education Through Labor"
• Sex Pistols - "Pretty Vacant"
• Silversun Pickups - "Lazy Eye"
• Smashing Pumpkins - "Today"
• Steely Dan - "Do It Again"
• Steve Miller Band - "The Joker"
• Sting - "Demolition Man (Live)"
• The Stone Roses - "Love Spreads"
• Stuck In The Sound - "Toy Boy"
• Sublime - "Santeria"
• Survivor - "Eye of the Tiger"
• System of a Down - "B.Y.O.B."
• Ted Nugent - "Stranglehold"
• Ted Nugent's Original Guitar Duel Recording
• Tokio Hotel - "Monsoon"
• Tool - "Parabola"
• Tool - "Schism"
• Tool - "Vicarious"
• Trust - "Antisocial"
• Van Halen - "Hot For Teacher"
• Willie Nelson - "On The Road Again"
• Wings - "Band on the Run"
• Zakk Wylde's Original Guitar Duel Recording

While these are not exactly the songs that I would have picked I am sure I will end up knowing more of these songs than I think I do. I am excited to see Oasis and the Stone Roses, and can't wait to perform "Eye of the Tiger." But where is The Cure?? Black Sabbath?? Def Leppard?? AC/DC?? Journey??? Judas Priest?? Guns N' Roses?? I guess you can't get everything. And I am sure much work goes into the acquisition of these songs for the game. I wasn't really expecting to find Suede and The Cocteau Twins. But is The Cure too much to ask for?

I have been anxiously awaiting the new Gang Gang Dance album since hearing their excellent EP from last year. I fell in love with Gang Gang Dance in 2005 when God's Money came out, but the EP RAWWAR totally blew me away last year. It was only 3 tracks but they seem to pack the greatness of a whole album into that little EP. I still listen to the second track whenever I get a chance. "Oxygen Demo Riddim" is just an instrumental track but it became one of my favorite songs of the year. Gang Gang Dance is now back with a new album called Saint Dymphna. This band has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. I have never really done any research on them and have never read a review of them or their albums. I know they live in New York, but that is pretty much where my knowledge of them begins and ends. I have no idea what they look like and I have no idea how others have described them. It makes them more interesting to me. The music just basically exists in my head and I have made my own little personal set of stories about them. I have not yet had the opportunity to see them live -- maybe that will clear up some of my questions about them. I do have a chance coming up soon. They are playing November 15th at the El Rey in Los Angeles. I really do know one thing about Gang Gang Dance: I love this new album and I love Gang Gang Dance. They don't really sound like anything I have ever heard before, yet the music somehow speaks to me. The songs are often intense sort of musical collages -- lots of instruments and sounds seem to interfere with each other but end up creating some beautiful music when all put together.

I am now even more obsessed with Antony & the Johnsons. After their amazing show last week it is really all I can think about it. I was completely blown away by the show. It was tragic and sad and beautiful and wonderful all at the same time. This was also my first trip to the Disney Concert Hall. What a perfect place to see him play. I seriously just wanted to stay there all night. I kind of want to live there permanently. We did sort of feel like tourists walking around the venue and looking around at everything, sort of like how tourists do when they first visit New York City and can't stop looking up at the skyscrapers. He ended up playing a bunch of new songs that were not from the recently released EP. I don't think I even noticed any of the songs from the EP that night. The new songs sounded fantastic and I am now even more excited for the new album next year. There were of course songs that I wanted to hear that he did not play, but he did manage to play some of my favorites, including his cover of "Crazy in Love" by Beyonce. It was a fun crowd to be around as well -- many celebrities were in the crowd that night. I was sitting next to a certain reality star of the show Work Out. Totally random. It just made me happy that he was a fan. Everyone was just in awe of Antony that night. It will be hard to compare other shows to this night. It was really that good.

Not a whole lot out this week. Christmas is around the corner, but once again the labels don't seem to have a whole lot to offer us. There is one new album that I have become a bit obsessed with. For some reason it took me over 10 years to finally discover Windy & Carl. I have long been a fan of the label Kranky. This new album Songs for the Broken Hearted will be their fourth on Kranky. Before this were Depths (98), Conciousness (01), and The Dream House (2005). They have also had about 6 or 7 other albums in between those Kranky albums over the years, in addition to a 3CD compilation in 2002 called Introspection. I have heard of them but never really gave them a listen until now. I was just waiting for somebody to tell me to listen to them, but it never happened. I thought they were a little too new age for me or maybe a little too experimental, but I really didn't know for sure. I gave this new album a listen and fell in love after the second listen. They almost sort of hide their greatness within the album. You may not find it right away. The casual listener could easily dismiss the album as another album of ambient droney shoegaze, but you just sort of have to open your mind a bit and let the album sort of take over. There are brilliant short little songs with vocals hidden between the rest of the album, which is mostly ambient sort of guitar pieces. The album is also very full of emotion. Depending on what kind of mood you are in, it could either drive you to tears or make you feel happy and content. This is another sort of album that I think of as musical therapy.

So we have to wait until January of 2009 for the new full length album from Antony & The Johnsons. That did seem really far away a couple of months ago, but Halloween is quickly approaching, followed by that little holiday called Christmas, so all of a sudden January is almost here. That will mean that I have been back in Los Angeles for a year already! I can hardly believe it. I have been looking forward to a new album by Antony since the day after his last album, I Am A Bird Now, came out back in 2005. That seems like an awfully long time for us to wait, but I love his last album so much that I never really got sick of it. I have been listening to it more this year than I think I even did back in 2005. Antony is nice enough to give us a little sneak peak of the album by releasing a new EP this week. Another World is a nice little gift for his fans, but it really is too short. It seems to end just after it starts. I need more Antony! It is almost cruel just to give us only this. He also really sort of made it hard to make anything better than his last album. How can you compete with the brilliance of I Am A Bird Now? I don't really know what he could have done to make a better collection of songs. The Crying Light will come out on January 21st in 2009. I am hoping that he has kept some of his brilliant and magical new songs for this full length. I am sure he has. I do really like this EP but it just does not really compare to his albums...or maybe it is just too new for me right now. I have listened to it a bunch already and often just start it over once it stops. I might just need some more time for it to fully grow on me.

My Bloody Valentine is one of those bands that people get really obsessed with. I can still remember the first time that I ever heard them. After that first listen to Loveless I was forever addicted, forever devoted to the magnificence that is My Bloody Valentine...however, they broke up the same year that I finally discovered them. So I slowly came to terms with the fact that I would never probably see them live. I knew I would never see The Smiths perform live, but at least I had many Morrissey shows that more than made up for it. My Bloody Valentine is also one of those bands that brings people together, like we share this common unbreakable bond. You just know which of your friends are fans and you don't really even have to talk about it. Since you know what it is like to be a fan you can figure out what it is like for others. If you are a My Bloody Valentine fan you have most likely listened to Loveless and Isn't Anything many times by yourself in your bedroom. You have probably listened to these records right before you go to sleep. They have probably helped you overcome bouts of depression and just made you happy to be alive. They have spoken to you in a way that only really good music can, even though you can't really explain how. You have also probably listened to Loveless with your boyfriend or girlfriend during one of those special moments. I know I have said this before, but I really can't imagine my life without these albums. They are that good. They are that important.