I wanna rock 'n roll all night and party every day

I love music. I appreciate quality musicianship. I admire a talented musician and musicians who play well together and enjoy it to boot. That said, I'm thoroughly convinced that there is no good, quality, original pop music these days. I won't go as far as to sound so old and cranky and "all bands these days SUCK!" but I might be doing so soon. Not much good rock, either, for that matter. I'm talking new bands. Can't think of a good one as far as I could throw 'em.

Where I do see massive most excellent things happening musically, though, are in other genres like country, bluegrass and blues. On a radical whim today because I just had to get out of the apartment and stop doing nothing (what I tend to do when I have too much I SHOULD be doing), I bought two new CDs. I was like, wow, liner notes, what a concept (since I've been iTune-ing most stuff lately).

So far, worth every graduate stipend cent. It's the little things that thrill me. Sugarland has this certain 'je ne sais quois' and they are different somehow in a way that I can't quite put my finger on yet--but they've got it. Not just 'yet another' country trio. You can tell they write and play their own stuff and have lived a little, thank goodness for the record company hot shot or whoever it was who pulled them from their solo careers into one room so they could kick it. I bet they get bigger and bigger. You heard it here first. BTW, happened to catch them with Bon Jovi on CMT's "Crossroads" (the best musical show idea in ages), which was the total shiznit! Anyone who can hold a stage with Bon Jovi is alright by me. By the way, Bon Jovi still rocks.

Also, Nickel Creek has a new release out; you know those bands where you just buy their CDs without hearing any singles or reviews first because you know it's gonna be worth it? This is one of those, for me anyways. These kids blow anyone out of the water, defying genre and taking you all over the place while backing it all up hard-core with their sheer skill. I think all three of them are under 25 or some crazy thing. They jam with Bela Fleck and Edgar Myer and Allison Kraus produces their stuff. I'm sure they'll be fine.

That's all for now. Must get some beauty sleep to prepare for reading and eyes bugging out. Lack of comments makes me cry: