The first shot is the Bonnaroo main stage at night with no one on it.  The second is a shot of Metallica on the stage.

That’s all.

I’m not going to say what the movie is about. It’s a Pixar film, that should be enough. Fred Willard is in it too, he says my favorite line of the movie, “Space is the final FUNtier!”. 5 stars.

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Aimee said I have to say something more about the movie.

I’m a big fan of Pixar, they consistently do it right. They get wonderful talent to make their films and then they do something that no other studio has dared to ever do; they keep them around and nurture their talents so they can make more imaginative films. Brilliant! This crazy plan makes the worst Pixar movie¹ better than the best piece of garbage coming out of any other studio. I’m not just talking about CGI kids fare, I’m talking about EVERYTHING coming out today. On average² for every Toy Story, we get 100 You Don’t Mess With The Zohans. Why would anyone want to have their intelligence insulted by watching that junk is beyond me. I know, some people don’t care. They just want to watch something that they don’t have to think about. I like watching dumb movies too, but I still get more out of repeated viewings of R.O.T.O.R. than I would if I had watched the newest rehashed Dane Cook “comedy”. Gosh, I didn’t think I’d get so angry writing about Wall-E.

Ok, so I know it’s not for everyone, but Idiocracy³ is a great companion piece to Wall-E. I did a good job of avoiding the advertisements of Wall-E so I didn’t really know what it was about. And I’m not going to ruin one bit of it for you. The animation is the best ever, the sound design is just superb, and the storytelling is top-notch. Storytelling, that’s what it’s all about. If you can’t even do that then your movie is going to be terrible. I don’t really care what the story is, the art of telling a story well is enough for me.

1. I say it’s Monsters Inc. But I’ll probably change my mind if I had a Pixar marathon. Which sounds like a great way to spend my weekend.

2. I just did the math in my head, it’s correct.

3. Idiocracy definitely has it’s problems, but at least it exists.

I will start this off by saying that I am not a big fan of music reviews of any kind.

They usually make me think that some poor social outcast with a decent vocabulary is being paid to sit at his computer desk and download hundreds of records a day, comparing and contrasting genres, guitar sounds and vocal styling until he is blue in the face and does not know right from left anymore- thinking the more he criticizes things like “artistic integrity” the more cool points he gets, but secretly he longs to be any one of those boys on stage moaning trite lyrics and making ladies swoon…

My point being- when I read a review, I want it to be direct. I want it to communicate the point without all the quasi- clever quips that sound more like envy than education.

I am trying a different approach in my review of the The Raconteurs recent live shows in Nashville, Tennessee. I obviously can not be objective. I love the band, and I helped design the suit Jack White wore… However, I will do my best to bring you the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

The Band-
Jack White (of the White Stripes)- Vocals, guitars, piano
Brendan Benson- Vocals, guitar, keyboards
Patrick Keeler (of the Greenhornes)-Drums, percussion
Jack Lawrence (of the Greenhornes)-Bass, backing vocals, banjo
Dean Fertita Unofficial member (of Queens of the Stoneage)- guitar, keys, percussion

The Name-
RAC*ON*TEUR- [rak-uhn-tur]
n. One who tells stories and anecdotes with skill and wit.
A person who is skilled in relating stories and anecdotes interestingly.

The Dates-
April 14th and 15th 2008

The Venue-
The Cannery Ballroom (although the shows were originally booked next door at the Mercy lounge, tickets for both dates sold out within ten minutes with very little prior advertisement.
The Venue was changed just a few days before the shows.)
I was extremely disappointed in the Cannery as usual. I speculate only about 25% of the crowd could actually really see the stage from where they were standing.

The Opening Band-
“The Magic Wands” was not very interesting. I gave them fifteen seconds to attract my attention and it did not happen.

The Songs That Stood Out-
I am very happy to report that the set list was not exactly the same both nights. Overall I did favor Monday night’s selection. Each show was a little over an hour long including the encore.
The most ear catching, enjoyable and impressive live songs for me personally were as follows (in no particular order-mind you)

Level
Broken Boy Soldier
Consolers of the Lonely
You Don’t Understand Me
Top Yourself ( my all time favorite)
Carolina Drama
Blue Veins

The Crowd-
It was a good mix of jaded musicians and/or music industry people, up and coming hipsters, typical indie show attendees, restaurant industry folk, average college radio kids and borderline hippies

Monday night’s crowd however seemed a bit older and more seasoned.

The Example-

If you must, read Rolling Stone’s review of the new album “consolers of the lonely” here