Sheesh. Nothins really happening tonight, unless you're into Michael McDonald and Steely Dan. I bet you're all going to pretend that you don't like "Peg" and "Takin' it to the Street," but I know you do. Its O.k., I won't tell anyone.

You can also catch Flashlight Party spinning early with The Billy Nayer Show (which I'm not sure I get) at Rubber Gloves tonight, but there appears to be no DJ Nature and @ RG and no DJ G at the Cavern this evening. Don't shoot the messenger. If anyone knows about anything good goin' down, feel free to post.

So, Syd Barrett is dead. Yes, it's true, the only member of Pink Floyd with any integrity is gone. Syd Barrett was an incredible talent as a founding member of Pink Floyd (originally as "The Pink Floyd Sound") and somehow seemed even more uniquely gifted throughout his solo career.

If you were to read any kind of band bio on the Floyd and use that as your only reference, you would probably end up completely disregarding any of Barrett's solo work... but this would be a mistake. Each and every song on the Syd Barrett "Crazy Diamond" box set is significantly more remarkable than pretty much all of the material on the Pink Floyd "Shine On" box set because Syd's stuff hasn't aged at all, and you certainly can't say that for the heavy handed seventies synths and embarrassing blues rock soloing found all over those Floyd blockbusters, no matter how much you like them. In other words, Barrett wasn't taken very seriously as a songwriter or guitarist in the late 60's/early 70's, but this was probably because he made records that could have been made today. Or maybe they couldn't. So-called "freakfolk" sounds pretty silly when you compare it to the genuine weirdness on an out-take of the song "DarkGlobe," and the cheesy hippie era wasn't quite ready for the stripped down and starkly haunting beauty found in any of the songs on "The Madcap Laughs" or"Barrett." Thats a shame, because it means that Syd Barrett didn't quite fit in anywhere, and will probably be remembered mostly for two things: giving Pink Floyd it's name and going insane.

I think he deserved more than VH-1 sensationalism and played out rock lore as predictable as a frat boy drunkenly slurring "Dude, do you know what Ozzy did one time?" For someone who started a band so wildly popular, he'll probably always be a footnote to the mainstream version of rock history, even though he was a man who influenced David Bowie and Marc Bolan when they were still lame little folk singers. I think his direct musical influence is most evident in the realm of underground rock, revealing itself in everything from the Melvins cover of "Interstellar Overdrive" to the quirky acoustic song-writing of Entrance.

And although I'm anonymous, I'd like to share a little personal story. The second ever rock show I went to (after Sid King at Hard Rock Cafe) was a weak and bloated Pink Floyd concert at Texas Stadium in1994. I didn't care that they were an aging and inferior version of the band, because I was in the eighth grade. When David Gilmour and the other chubby millionaires took the stage, they opened up with"Astronomy Domine", the first song on Pink Floyd's first album, which was written by Syd Barrett. I had never heard the song before that night, and it was the greatest thing my young ears had ever heard. It was pounding, throbbing, and eerie in a way that no other song they played that night would be. I automatically went out the next day and found the record it was on, along with anything else Barrett had to do with. Years later, long after my inevitable conversion into a punk/experimental enthusiast, my experience as a music fan came full circle. It was a few years ago, at a show performed by a reunited Mission of Burma during SXSW. This was one of my favorite punk/indie rock bands, and they played a very faithful cover of "Astronomy Domine." Its funny, because Mission of Burma themselves were credited with having a lot to do with expanding rock's possibilities, and here they were covering a Syd Barrett song that was more than thirty five years old... and it made total sense, fitting right in with all their futuristic avant noise and deconstructed song structures. And that's how I want to remember Syd Barrett. Not as some sixties sideshow, but forever relevant.

1. Danielson - Ships
2. Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
3. Astronautalis - The Mighty Ocean & Nine Dark Theaters
4. Wolfmother - Wolfmother
5. Nobody & Mystic Chords of Memory - Tree Colored See
6. Luna - Best of...
7. Be Your Own Pet - Be Your Own Pet
8. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
9. David Bazan - Fewer Moving Parts EP
10. The Paper Chase - Now You Are One Of Us
11. Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
12. Great Lake Swimmers - Bodies and Minds
13. Tunng - Mother's Daughter & Other Songs
14. The Theater Fire - Everybody Has a Dark Side
15. Alexi Murdoch - Time Without Consequences
16. Prototypes - Prototypes
17. Juana Molina - Son
18. Kool Keith - The Return of Dr. Octagon
19. The Walkmen - A Hundred Miles Off

Did I leave off #20 or did they? Oh well, fuck it. 19 is pretty good.

UPDATE: alright, fine. Here it is:

20. Grandaddy - Just Like the Fambly Cat

Lost Generation w/ Wanz (The Cavern Upstairs)
Wanz will be playing some Syd Barrett and some of his contemporaries (Silver Apples, Hendrix, etc.) Soft Machine, Diplo, a lot of cuts from the new An Albatross record, and a bunch of other stuff too.

So Many Dynamos | Everything Looks Better Upside Down | Plastic Assassins (Metrognome Collective Ft. Worth)
So Many Dynamos describes their own sound as Dismemberment Plan meets Les Savy Fav, and I'd say thats just about right. And despite the fact that they might not have the most original sound in the world (they sound A LOT like LSF, perhaps a bit rougher) they write good songs and will be good live. They'll be playing with the excellent and eclectic ELBUD. Plastic Assassins are one of those bands that have a horrible song on their Myspace page ("Certaphone"), and a couple ok ones. So I don't know what to tell you about them, but I wouldn't get TOO excited.

And Chris Garver is playing at Club Dada with Domenic Ferraro (who provided the very disturbing photo above and plays with Eaton Lake Tonics). Ferraro plays slightly above average indie folk I guess you could say. Kristin Allen Zito also plays.... I guess her songs are like cutefunny, which I guess makes her like the Jill Sobule of Dallas or something? I don't have the energy.

Sad day. We were all really big fans. But unlike almost every article we've read about it today, we're not going to say "shine on you crazy diamond" at the end. We'll just say that we loved the strange innocence and genius of his songs and persona.

GuardianUK (Interview with their first promoter, credited with "discovering" Pink Floyd)

MSNBC quick rap up

NME

And the sound quality isn't good, but it is kind of haunting:

Been a bit slow around WSJR HQ for the past few days, but we've got some good stuff for you this week, including some MP3s, interviews with local bands you might care about, interviews with touring acts you may care about, and um, probably some other shit too. Wait and see.

HEY, EVERYONE SHOULD NOT GO TO THE SHOW AT J&Js BECAUSE WE JUST FOUND OUT FROM ED THAT IT WAS CANCELED A WHILE BACK. THE TUCSON BANDS STILL HAD IT LISTED ON THEIR MYSPACE PAGES, HOWEVER, SO WE DIDN'T KNOW. SORRY.

Fra Pandolf | North | Notes(J&Js- Denton)
We were going to tell you to go see the off the fucking hook live spectacle of Notes from Underground, but they aren't actually playing this show. What we thought was a new cool slang name for Notes from Underground was actually meant as an indication that Tucson's Notes is playing this show. Notes does a pretty low key southwest neofolk influenced ambient electronica, and seem to be pretty effective in their attempt at putting across a creepy, isolated front to serve as a thin veil for underlying layers of fairly warm textures and melodies. It might be kind of "head scratcher," to borrow a phrase from one of the other WSJR crew members, but very good atmospheric stuff. They will also be joined by North, which leans more to the metal atmospherics, although they stay far away from the drone of bands like Sunn0))). Its kind of boring, but might be a different deal in a live setting... and there are certainly some very strong peaks and valleys on the recorded stuff. And I bet you thought all Tucson bands sounded like Calexico, didn't you?

And I'm just not sure what all the mini buzz (consisting of two Observer staff writers) is surrounding Comrade, who plays tonight at the Cavern with Seattle's Unwed Sailor (perhaps a bit similar in sound but MUCH more interesting). Now don't get me wrong, I would certainly say that they are quite a bit better than the average ready for KDGE Dallas "Indie" group, but I'm just not sure why we are supposed to be excited about a Travisesque post-Radiohead band that isn't actually from the U.K. They've got a diverse and technically strong singer, and they sound like they know how to play their instruments, but it doesn't make up for the same old same old song structures, trite lyrics, and rehashing of everything that Nic Harcourt thought was cool in 2001. And although comparisons to Pleasant Grove are understandable, I just don't think they have the emotional unsteadiness, intensity or inventiveness of most of Pleasant Grove's strongest material. Again its not terrible, but nowhere near great. If you're planning on going, be prepared to sort of enjoy it.

VCR | Ballroom Dancing | Oh No Circuitry! (The Eighth Continent- 731 Texas St. Denton)
VCR is a band that will be perfect for the 8th continent: loud, catchy, energetic danceable punk slop that sounds like it was made for a video game... in a good way. Its a new wave take on no wave. Ballroom Dancing, who recently played at the metrognome Popfest, is probably the poppiest band to play 8th Continent. And although we heard some mixed reviews of their live show (as in some good and some bad with few in betweens), we think this will be a great venue to see them in if you like the songs you hear on their Myspace. Circuitry seems to be a punk influenced take on proggy postrock/shoegaze and sounds like they could pack a punch live, which gives you a good reason to get there early, even if the 8th might force you to take a few heat wave breaks during the show. Should be good times, and I think its five bucks.

An excellent show going on tonight that we missed on the weekender post: Chief Death Rage and The Night Game Cult will be playing @ the Amsterdam in the patio area. The Amsterdam is on Exposition near Avenue Arts and Minc... this will be a kick ass show. Thats all.