Missed pre-sale for Radio City - darn!

Ok, well, the early birds got the worm. I checked in on the MMJ web site at the judicious time of 5 p.m., and guess what, their pre-sale for their June 20 show at Radio City Music Hall was already sold out. Went on sale at 10 a.m. - Friday is my 'sleep repair' day from living at my work for four previous days, so I missed it. Regular tix go on sale next Friday, so I'll try then, I suppose.

While I sit here amidst freelance hockey work, waiting for calls and e-mails that may never come, I've got possibly the next best live band on the TV. The Cat Empire comes from Melbourne, Australia, and I first heard and saw them at Bonnaroo 2006 (where our aforementioned heroes MMJ from Louisville, Ky., put on a three-hour set starting at midnight - it's available on Archive.org's Live Music Archive). They have the best and least cheesy mix of ska, pop, rock, latin, jazz you'll hear - check out their stuff on their myspace site. Stay away from the song 'No Longer There' - it's kind of a boring straight-ahead pop song (you guys are better than that!) - everything else just kicks, though. For now, buy their album 'Two Shoes' from their Web site, but make sure you get the version that comes with the bonus DVD, which I have on as I write this.

After kicking butt at the 'Roo, they came back this past summer of 2007 and put on two legendary (in my mind at least) outdoor free shows in Portland - on my 32nd birthday that one - and in Boston. I'm attaching pictures here from the Copley Square show that my wife Nicole took. Their Boston performance was easily the best musical adventure I had for that year. I have a few minutes of that show up on Youtube right now.





If they come back this summer, and you feel like you just want to shed your skin and dance around in your bones, then the Cat Empire is your answer. Let's just hope they don't play that 'No Longer There' tune, or at least save it for the encore. Or maybe play it first and get it out of the way, but then that might drive prospective fans away. Yeah, maybe just don't play it at all. The world has enough mid-tempo 4/4 pop-rock songs, gentlemen. Again, you're way better than that.


By the way, when you're on their myspace site, check out the video for 'The Car Song' - it's the best video maybe since the 80s, when that old station MTV still played 'films with music.' Hilarious - imagine playing basketball against all your insecurities. Then again, don't imagine, watch the danged video! That's it for now.