Box o' Crap

Happy February, everybody. Not only is February the month of leeerrrvv, it's also the month of black people. You know what I learned today? Slash of Guns 'n' Roses is half African. Nigerian, in fact. I never knew that! Then again, I never thought about it either way. Here's a (blurry) picture I took of Slash back in November 2008 at the Tribute to Les Paul in Cleveland:





Sweet.


On a moderately unrelated subject, I had some good fortune last night. Walking to class, I came across some boxes outside WTMD 89.7 FM's studios with a sign labeled "Free CDs." Imagine my luck! Boxes full mostly of bands I've never heard of. I quickly grabbed three albums that looked like they might be good, but I had to get to class. I sat through most of it impatiently bouncing my leg in anticipation of going back for more.


Of course, there were plenty more when class was dismissed early because of the snow, and I dug through the boxes like a homeless person digs through dumpsters. It's fun judging CDs by their covers! That's really all I had to base my choices on. In total, I stole 14-- I couldn't carry any more than that. I headed to John's afterward, and we had ourselves a listening party. I felt like a record exec making decisions that would change bands' lives forever. As we listened to the first track of each CD, we made snap judgments: "yes" or "meh." All we needed were big, fat cigars in our mouths.


One of the first we listened to was Thomas Dybdahl, a Norwegian singer-songwriter compared to Elliott Smith, Jeff Buckley and the like. He was one of my favorites. Check out "From Grace."

Another artist I enjoyed was Caroline Herring, who sounds like a countrified Joni Mitchell.

Nurses was interesting, and Crash Kings, whom I'd heard previously, is loud, fun rock. (I always want to use words like "are" instead of "is" or when referring to bands whose names end with an "S," but that's technically incorrect. I think. I'll have to check. Ugh, why do I care? It's MY blog!)

Anyway, if you want to check out the other bands I stumbled upon, here they are. Google 'em:

• Catherine MacLellan
• War Tapes
• Flea Market Poets
• Girls
• Black Blondie
• Trevor Hall
• Black Friday
• Peter Bradley Adams

(I picked up Muse and Spoon singles, too. They're just more well-known.)


Still have more listening to do before I can determine whether some of these artists truly are good or meh. Let me know who you like!