Java Jane’s Neighborhood

I have a ton of news I need to get to, but obviously still playing catchup because of my illness from last week. As I have previously mentioned, many of these news items can be found on our press.weheartmusic.com website, so if you have music-related announcements, please let me know, maybe even twitter me?

First off, is Stereo Total return to the USA for one BBQ show!. This is for May 31^st, in Brooklyn, NY. And if I lived in New York, I would be out all the time... especially because everyone seems to tour and/or are in New York. Plus, I love Stereo Total!

My Music 1 comment

I don't normally announce other people's contests, but I felt this one is too good to pass up: Win a Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus Terabyte Hard Drive. It is for a Terabyte drive from Maxtor. As you know, my HD is fast depleting, so I entered into this contest. Don't worry, I never win at these things anyway, so I thought perhaps you guys might have a better luck at it.

What makes his contest music-related is that it includes MP3s and videos (?) and music content from The Sickest Kids, Be Your Own Pet^[W♥M], Between The Trees, Story of the Year^[W♥M], Black Gold, etc.

Winners will be contacted the week of June 9^th from www.thesyn.com/blog.

Jason is reviewing Samantha Crain's album, The Confiscation, so I thought you might want to check out Samantha Crain - "The Confiscation," a music novella, out July 22 on Ramseur Records.

Reading her mini biography, it seems that she's a Native American folk singer, so the obvious "earthy and spiritual" was used to describe her music.

It should be interesting to read the review and hear some of her music here.

She's also doing a ton of tour dates, so head over to her myspace for the latest information.

Grupo Fantasma - El Sabio Soy Yo

Bad Religion - Heroes & Martyrs 5 comments

Also, a few brief mentions: Grupo Fantasma Serves Up Sonidos Gold For June 17th Release and Bad Religion to Release New Maps of Hell (Deluxe Edition) on July 8th.

These titles are pretty self-explanatory. It seems like we just reviewed Grupo Fantasma's Comes Alive, but this new CD, Sonidos Gold, is a studio album with new material.

From my brief listen to this new album, it's really good, with a fusion of latin and dance/pop music.

Also, briefly, my favorite, Bad Religion is re-releasing New Maps of Hell, in a "deluxe edition". This is pretty cool, considering that this legendary punk band have never released any deluxe or repackaged their albums before.

I will assign someone to review their album, but in the meantime, read my previous article on Bad Religion.

Links: weheartmusic.com

I have never before been this prepared for a trip this many hours before my plane was to take off.  My two (heavy but small) bags are zipped up.  My check-in confirmation is tucked into my passport in an outer pocket.  The house is clean and the garbage is out. Every dish is washed!  I have my flight xanax in an easily accessible pocket.  I am drinking tons of water to stay hydrated.  I have been stretching and will do another half hour or so of that before my ride gets here. I have my gels and liquids packaged legally.  I picked up extra prescriptions.

I am so ready for this vacation.  I've been experiencing a fair amount of turmoil this year so far, and the idea of 3 weeks just doing whatever the hell I want is pretty appealing.  I am not going to be overly-touristy, but I am going to focus on taking care of myself (spa day in berlin), writing, reading, and enjoying good food.  There's plenty of art and architecture to enrich my time, but I'm not going to force any agendas on myself.  I will get up each morning and if I don't have a plane or train to catch I will spend the day exactly however I want to.

It's been officially confirmed -- Moonlight has been canceled.

Let the hysterics begin.

Look, I know what one likes or doesn't like is purely subjective, but it makes me snicker when I read some of the comments on Kristin's announcement saying how Moonlight is the best-written show they've ever seen, better than Angel, etc. Um...yeah, not so much.

I watched the show and enjoyed it for the most part, but I'm not particularly heartbroken about its cancellation.

I will, however, miss seeing Alex O'Loughlin on a weekly basis.

ech:

• I ate too much dessert last night and the night before & now I have a sugar hangover
• I'm indecisive about my career options
• I am leaving just when the warm weather is about to arrive
• Heartburn
• Being busy does not seem to lead to personal satisfaction
• Feeling dehydrated
• Packing... too many options!
• The state of my bathroom floor

ahh:

• Leaving for Europe TODAY!
• I am pretty much ready to leave without last minute panicking
• Going to see Nick Cave in Berlin... Just like in Wings of Desire, eh
• Berlin biennial of contemporary art. Yes.
• I get to use five different currencies on my trip.
• Money in the bank
• Having options
• The airport lounge
  

ETA: New CBS news from Ausiello -- The New Adventures of Old Christine and How I Met Your Mother have been renewed; Shark has been axed. Still no word on Moonlight.

More Upfront stuff, this time via an interview with ABC boss man Steve McPherson (courtesy of Kristin Dos Santos.)

I am so excited about Life on Mars. I saw the pilot of the British version and loved it. I'm quite happy about Jason O'Mara playing the lead. I'm just slightly worried that David E. Kelley is behind it -- his erratic behavior and tendency to bail on his shows halfway through is legendary -- and that the guys behind the recently canceled October Road are going to showrun it. It's landed itself in a prime spot, though -- Thursday nights after Grey's -- so if it can't make it there, well, it probably can't make it anywhere.

Also, if Sarah Chalke is coming to HIMYM full-time, I'll have to brush up on Seasons 2 and 3.

Scrubs Is Moving to ABC (Duh): In the reveal of what is perhaps the worst-kept secret in the industry, McPherson announced that ABC will air 18 episodes of Scrubs this fall. "Given the fact that it's been moved 17 times and still doing better than any other NBC comedy on Thursday than The Office...We think it's really a great addition for us." Holler.

Ted on How I Met Your Mother Is Screwed: McPherson confirms that Sarah Chalke is most definitely back on Scrubs for the new season on ABC. Full time. Stelllllaaaa! If she is the mother, Ted's gonna have to wait.

Men In Trees and October Road Are Gone: On behalf of all you heartbroken fans (I feel your pain), I asked McPherson if this call was made purely from a ratings standpoint. "It was, yeah," he replied. "It was a really hard decision. I think both shows were incredibly well done and we have a fantastic relationship with (Men in Trees creator) Jenny Bicks. We're hoping to do some great things with her. But even when we gave it a pretty decent run on Thursday, I would have loved to see it pop."

As for October Road: "It was like the little engine that could. It was a pilot that was picked up late and the series was picked up late. It was a terrific show it just had a very, very small but dedicated core audience. [Road producers Josh] Applebaum and [Andre] Nemick and [Scott] Rosenberg are going to work on our new drama Life on Mars and have some great ideas about this version. So we love the people but it's just unfortunate that we couldn't find the kind of audience that would make it worth keeping."

McPherson Calls the New Fall Schedule "Incredibly Stable": With only one new drama and two new unscripted series, there isn't much change at all. Still, he adds that there are 17 pilots still in development for midseason, so clearly, thanks to the strike, there wasn't a lot of grooming time this year.

Life on Mars Looks Pretty Awesome: Cherry-picked as the only new scripted series coming to ABC this fall, this British import about a cop who gets sent back to 1972 actually looks pretty engaging. (They showed a clip.) Jason O'Mara (most recently McDreamy and Meredith's latest brain-tumor patient on Grey's) stars and the series is produced by David E. Kelley and the brain trust behind October Road (Applebaum and friends). It will air after Grey's on Thursday nights at 10.

Also Coming to ABC: Opportunity Knocks, a game show from Ashton Kutcher which McPherson describes as "Extreme Home Makeover meets Millionaire" (the show comes to your house with a truckload of prizes and asks you to answer trivia about your own family and community) and an untitled Ashton Kutcher/Tyra Banks reality show, which is "a beauty pageant like you haven't seen before" that McPherson says "we are keeping under wraps for now at their request."

Ugly Betty Is Most Definitely Moving to NYC: Says McPherson, "The pilot was shot in New York. The show is based in New York. And the studio made the decision that given the current climate in New York that it made a lot of sense to move it back. We're excited from a production standpoint to have that real NY quality because as much as people try to cheat NY it's really hard to do so. So I think it's sort of funny that people are taking issue with the fact that it's cheaper to do a show in New York about New York." McPherson also says all cast members will be on board, but that Rebecca Romijn has "left the show." When asked why, he says Rebecca's run was always supposed to be a limited engagement and now that run is over. (Something tells me that's news to Rebecca.)

Ugly Betty Is Getting Back to Betty: "Silvio [Horta] is very smart to do what he's doing. I think that on Ugly Betty, there was sort of a flight of fancy that was going on there and it was funny but I think it got away from the core that really is the heart of the show. And some of the episodes at the end of this year have gotten back to that." Also, LL will be back. "[Lindsay Lohan] is going to do more episodes next year. I don't know that the New York move will affect that but she is doing more than one episode next season."

Is Edie Gone from Desperate Housewives? When asked if Nicolette Sheridan will return, McPherson initially gives a firm "Yes." When pressed for clarification, given that Marc Cherry was just quoted as saying that's the last we're gonna see of her for years, McPherson just smiles and says "Maybe." Hmmm…

Pushing Daisies Love: My beloved Pushing Daisies, which will back next season in its old time slot, is still all about the love. The ABC new-season video they showed us featured Lee Pace talking about how, "I've fallen in love with Anna Friel," and how that's a good thing because they can't touch on the series so they really have to sell the love through their eyes. Awww...

Grey's Anatomy Is Planning Something Big: "Grey's has got a big idea for next year that Shonda's getting ready to launch on people," says McPherson, but wouldn't go into further detail (shocker). "But the other shows we feel like are firing on really good waves so there's no big kind of shift." (Read into that transition what you will.)

Why Eli Stone Got the Pickup (Hurrah!): "In comparison to the big shows we have it's not particularly expensive," McPherson explains. "And we just felt like it had a very tough launch amidst the strike without our original programming to really launch it. And creatively we felt like it grew from the beginning to the end of the first 13, so we really feel like it's got a big up side… We also think we have a better lead-in for it with Dancing with the Stars." As for the big twist in the 13th ep, Mcpherson says: "That was always Greg Berlanti's design of where it would go.

Lost Timeslot for Midseason? TBD, according to SM. "At this point we still like this 10 p.m. on Thursday and we could move Life on Mars at that point. But it's also been a great 9 p.m. performer and 8 p.m. performer, so I think some of that quite honestly we have to see how the fall plays out."

Before Cas headed back up to college, she left me a love note!

Tour Dates 05/30/08 Electric Weekend Madrid 05/31/08 Siesta Festivalen Hässleholm 06/13/08 Skabazac Festival Rodez 06/14/08 Greenfield Festival Interlaken 06/15/08 Mix Up Festival Verneuil/Paris 06/21/08 Hurricane Festival Germany 06/22/08 Southside Festival Neuhausen 06/26/08 Frihamnen Göteborg 06/27/08 Peace & Love Festival Borlänge 07/03/08 Sundsvalls Gatufest Sundsvall 07/05/08 Ruis Rock Turku 09/05/08 Gröna Lund Stockholm

Punk rock Swedes Millencolin has been around forever it seems. I've been listening to them since 2001, and they were already established with several CDs. My absolutely favorite disc by these guys is Pennybridge Pioneers. It loud, fast punk but not thrown together. It's smart, and displays their talents wonderfully. That's why I was surprised when I popped Machine 15 into my Macbook because it doesn't even sound like the same band!

You can definitely recognize Nikola Sarcevic's gritty vocals, but they are prettier, and more melodic. They whole album has taken a straight rock, dare I say, emo/indie rock turn. Songs like "Brand New Game" and "Saved by Hell" sound like they should be played with Taking Back Sunday, instead of at a Bad Religion show. The closest they come to their old stuff is with the song "Route One".

They are great songs, but I'm still shocked at how different it is in comparison to their late 90s-early 2000s stuff. I was actually most impressed with their opening track Machine 15, which has a slight euro-rock feel, ala their Swedish friends The Hives (and personally one of my favorite bands). I wish there was more of that influence on the entire album, but hey, who knew these guys could pull off power pop too?

They are touring in Europe all summer, but be sure to check back in the fall.

Links: www.millencolin.com myspace.com/millencolin epitaph.com//Millencolin

Is anyone else having problems viewing their neighborhood? 

I am....

strange?????

There is no half-full or half-empty here. The glass is drained. Twice. Ben has been working every day and mostly on-site so we've not had time together. The day had been stressful for us both - so at 5:15 we headed to Milagros for "us" time. Dinner was delicious as were the margaritas. By 7:30 we were snuggled in bed watching "WALK HARD." (omg this movie is so funny) and then a seemly endless number of "how it's made" and "dirty jobs."

We were looking forward to being the the office together today when the phone rang and he was summoned back up to  SF to troubleshoot the system for Cisco, again.  Sheesh -  I miss him when he is not home with me!

The Alarmists - She Will Love Again (Hey Kid) The Alarmists Tour Dates 05/14/08 First Ave Minneapolis, MN 05/30/08 Upfront & Company Marquette, MI 05/31/08 Upfront & Company Marquette, MI 06/07/08 Fine Line Music Minneapolis, MN 06/14/08 UW Terrace Madison, WI 06/28/08 Triple Rock  Minneapolis, MN 07/05/08 Summerfest Milwaukee, WI 07/12/08 St. John Center  Rochester, MN

     Just two weeks short of 13 years since I'd first seen Polara, I visited Minneapolis' Varsity Theater to see if they were still the band I remembered so fondly.

     Their first opener, Mercurial Rage, performed an entertaining, if not amazing, electro-rock set. Being the fashionably late sort, I actually missed most of it, so it wouldn't be fair to judge them entirely, but I did see some potential there and certainly didn't dislike what I saw. The Faint meets INXS, perhaps. They seemed a bit like a work in progress. I'll definitely have to check them out again down the line.

     Thoroughly exploiting my weakness for co-ed punk were the Mood Swings. The Mood Swings are what I would call no-scream girl-punk. Sometimes I forget that female-vocalized punk can still have an edge and an energy without being angry or harsh (Though in all honesty: the good stuff is often both). This narrow-mindedness is no doubt due to stubborn attachment to my Bikini Kill, Babes in Toyland and Muffs collections. But anyway The Mood Swings were lovely. Check out myspace.com/themoodswings and listen to No Limit, my personal favorite. I think you'll find "Lovely" is an apt descriptor).

     Polara chose not to play last, instead allowing the Alarmists to take that spot, saying they would be able to more enjoy their release show that way. It had been over two years since their last live show, and I was impressed at how effortlessly they hit the stage running. No sign of rust whatsoever. Lead singer/guitarist Ed Ackerson took to the stage looking - with his disheveled hair and trademark clunky glasses - less like a rock star and more like someone at the IT desk who would help you reset your password. As a whole, the band looked both very natural on stage and very much as if they enjoyed themselves, soaking in the attention with humble professionalism. And why not? There were enough photographers darting back and forth in front of the stage to make me wonder when Posh Spice would make her appearance. It was a good set, actually even better than I remembered them and certainly well worth the hype.

     Then, at exactly midnight, it was time for my first glimpse of the Alarmists. I soon became aware that, like Cinderellas in reverse, dozens of 18 to 25-year old women had appeared as if from nowhere to join the ball, flooding forward in order to gaze in rapt attention at the poster-ready boys who took the stage. I thought their set was good, indie, post-punk hard rock - not typically conducive to legions of screaming girls, on the face of it - but as I attempted to peer over the impenetrable wall of Scandinavian female flesh, I could only arrive at one conclusion: these boys must be dreamy hot. The highlight of their set - the highlight for me anyway, and likely also for the male hipsters who had largely by this point retreated to a safe distance - was when they called Ed Ackerson back to the stage in an old(er) meets young(er) set evoking Neil Young with Pearl Jam. Don't roll your eyes at me. The song was Cinnamon Girl, OK? Alright then.

The Mood Swings ♥ photo by andrew

Polara ♥ photo by andrew

The Alarmists ♥ photo by andrew

Links: myspace.com/polara thealarmistsband.com myspace.com/themoodswings www.susstones.com