My Thoughts on Asher Roth..

I honestly can not believe it's taken this long for someone to come out with a song about college.  This song is so simply written that it's infuriating.  Honestly, how has no one thought of this before?  Everyday, for years, hundreds of thousands of students attend college, and not one thought to make a rap about how much they liked it?

On a more serious note, is this song only popular because a rather average looking, white male came out with the song?  Is it just me, or is that why it's so successful?  I'm also curious to know what the rest of his album deals with.. xbox 360 sessions? living in a dirty college apartment? What else can he possibly write about? 

My life is very odd.

Today I was sitting at work and all of a sudden I starting singing to myself, "All we hear is radio ga ga, radio goo goo, radio ga ga."  And I could not for the life of me remember who sang it, or any other bit of words from the song.

I just got home from work and turned on VH1 Classic, obviously.

Queen's performance of "Radio Ga Ga'' is on the television from Live Aid.

This is not the first time, or the 10th, more like the 200th time, something like this has happened to me.  It usually happens on a daily basis, I'll wake up with a song in my head I haven't heard in AGES and I'll hear it playing later in the day.

One of my other most notable experiences with this, with which I have yet to come up with a clever name, was about 2 (wow, 2) years ago when I woke up with "No Rain" by Blind Melon stuck in my head.  I had, seriously, not listened to that song in years.  I had a concert to go to later that night, and one of the openers covered it.  Very, very odd.

List of bands I'd like to see before THEY die...

The Rolling Stones

AC/DC

Van Halen (NOT Van Hagar)

THE ORIGINAL LINE UP GUNS N ROSES

Motley Crue (just for the hell of it..)

My love for KevDev knows no bounds.

Crappy iphone camera pic of Kevin Devine playing before Saves the Day at CMJ 2008

There are few artists I've come across in my life more talented than Kevin Devine.  I've been a massive fan of his for a few years now, though granted he's been around much, much longer.  I distinctly remember reading a thread on him over at absolutepunk.net about how great "Cotton Crush" was, just practically praising it.  I listened and immediately felt the same way I did for it, and him, like I had the first time I heard Bob Dylan, Guns N' Roses, and Bruce Springsteen.  For a period during my senior year of college I firmly touted him as the next Dylan, the voice of our generation, even though very, very few people of my generation knew who he was.  I came in late to him, having already put out 4 LPs and a handful of EPs.  I made it a purpose to see him whenever he came close to where I was, and first (knowingly) saw him in April of 2007 opening for Brand New and Manchester Orchestra (probably the best line up of a show I've ever seen) right after the release of The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, and was blown away.  Little did I know Kevin had opened for Brand New before, back when I saw them in April of 2004 in Dewey Beach, DE while still touring for Deja Entendu.  If I only knew.  I've seen him 3 times since, again with Jesse Lacey (of Brand New) on their solo acoustic tour in July of '07, and again in September and October of '08.  I highly recommend him live to anyone, as I think he is one of the most supremely talented singer/songwriters out there.  His back catalogue is fantastic, his live performance is heartfelt, and his lyrics are smart.  I'm never disappointed when I see him, nor when I listen to him.

Brothers Blood drops in April, but unfortunately, its already leaked onto the internet.  I hope all those who download it do go and purchase it, or at least purchase tickets to his shows.  I know I'll be seeing him when he comes back to the Bowery Ballroom in April.

Recommended Tracks:

"Ballgame"

"Cotton Crush"

"You're My Incentive"

"Not Over You Yet"

"People Are So Fickle"

"No Time Flat"

"Keep Ringing Your Bell"

"You're No One Else's Problem"

Album I recommend checking out first:

Split the Country, Split the Street

Brothers Blood will be released April 28,2009.

Update: Shit the Bowery Ballroom date sold out in a flash.  Back to the old school days of eBay and over paying, but I'm doing it.