"I'll change your mind and the metric system to time."

Good lord. I never realized how much I occasionally need a good rock show. The type of event where the music gets so loud that your equilibrium gets screwed up, walking becomes a chore, and even if you only drank water all night, you're still afraid you'll get pulled over for suspicion of a DUI. Where, at the end of the evening, you've managed to piss off at least one person just by being there and having a good time. So, thank you John and your Benefit for providing such an evening for a reasonable price, and even though your voice was a little hard to make out, the new guitar solos were more than enough to make up for it.

Actually, a lot of thanks needs to go out to PoundCake who were the real headlining band of the evening. I don't know a lot about them, other than the bassist used to be the drummer in Deconstructing Jim, but they managed to pick up where the Benefit left off, and then managed to find a few louder notches on the amp dial. Simply awesome. Definitely keep an eye out for them.

So, if the political rant of my previous post proved anything, it was that I needed an outlet to let loose and have my brain melted back to its usual stupor with wave after wave of sonic aggression. Having successfully accomplished this, I'm back to a mellower mood and mellower shade of music. (Current track aside)

I'm going to embarrass myself something severe here, but I have no other way of setting up this transition. I like the television show iCarly. There, it's out. I'm a twelve-year old girl. Seriously though, it's a well produced and acted show, with humor that hearkens back to a couple of my favorite old Nickelodeon shows, Rocko's Modern Life and Kenan & Kel. Not to mention, both lead actresses, Miranda Cosgrove and Jennette McCurdy, are active singers trying to make their way in the music business as well.

Now, Miranda (Carly) essentially has a CD out already in the form of the iCarly Soundtrack. Where, amongst audio clips from the show and some other bands, she sings a few tracks. It's not bad, per-say, and if I were really a twelve-year old girl I'm sure I'd enjoy it. Besides the surprisingly good show opener Leave it All to Me which features Drake Bell, Headphones On, and Stay My Baby (Once again, nothing special and done better by European tween star Amy Diamond), the album produced one single for her, the insanely catchy Sugababes (click this link for the best inappropriate jump ever) cover, About You Now. For it's audience and even for jaded misanthropes like myself, it was a good way to spend a few minutes killing your nervous system with bubble gum and pop. However, it drips generic and there's nothing to make me want to spend my time wanting more, not to mention it's heavily draped in an auto-tune that even Lil' Wayne would have suggested they turn down, if only slightly.

Which brings us to the other star of the show, and the real reason for my post, one Miss Jennette McCurdy (Sam). I'm actually a little saddened to say this, but I fear she's going to be a waste of talent. She's signed to Columbia Nashville and, if you couldn't tell, I have quite an aversion to major labels, even if they happen to be country. She's already released two singles, So Close and a cover of the Amanda Stott song Homeless Heart. The latter of which is a vanilla ballad that's not good, not bad, just there. It's not really my cup of tea, however, her voice does shine in this piece, not to mention twenty percent of the proceeds go the Cody Waters Foundation, both of which are enough reason to buy the track from iTunes.

The former of which is the basis for my talent wasting fears. As stated above (and about to be shown below) she has a fantastic voice. So Close, which, once again, is a song that's just kind of there, save for the vocals, just screams to me that Jennette is going to be swept up into the machine that is modern music and her talents are going to be pillaged and twisted until she's a Taylor Swift clone, winning VMA's, getting attacked by Kanye, and being used to make millions of dollars for people who will drop her from the label as soon as the tweens stop caring.

God. I hope I'm wrong on this. She's not only a developing singer, but a budding songwriter as well. And, I'm more than sure, that with the right label and producers guiding her way, her talents could be put to much better use. She has the type of voice that doesn't need Columbia's hype machine and over production. Just strip everything down, put her in a room with an acoustic guitar and let her voice do the work. Hell, it's not rocket science, it's something YouTube has already proved to us.

That's a cover of Carole King's So Far Away and it's a shame that it's only a YouTube clip and not a single. Otherwise, I might have some clue as to where you could download a copy of it.

The biggest disappointment of all was the smile upon my face.

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Now playing: The Hives - The Hives-Introduce the Metric System in Time
via FoxyTunes