Cursive, The Thermals @ the Metro 9/25/2006

Steve was kind enough to get me on the guest list for the Cursive show tonight at the Metro. Even better, he let us into the special zone (dare I say VIP) so we didn't have to stand with the high schoolers down below.

Uh...The Thermals. Eh? They were ok. Perhaps too poppy for me, but they were good at what they did.

Cursive. I'm not really sure why I see bands from my Omaha youth anymore. Every time I go I say "man I'm not doing this again," and yet...I keep on attending these shows. There are a lot of bands that I love: The Talking Heads, Belle and Sebastian, !!!...but they don't feel like "mine." Cursive? They feel like mine. As hokey and immature as it sounds, that band has deeply personal historical significance to me. I see them now, and I can't stop thinking of those old Cog Factory shows, in the dead heat of summer, in the intimacy of that tiny decrepit hole in the wall. I discovered music then, and as a result a local band like Cursive means more to me than I feel I could adequately describe without you the reader wanting to gag yourself with a spoon (as if you aren't already). I'm sure many of you have a band like this as well, one where you get upset at shows when the kids in the crowd only know the songs off the last two albums and just stand there when some seriously amazing old songs are played (which was only one tonight - the first song). It's just hard for me to witness something so special to my adolescence move far beyond my memories. I'm probably just romanticising those memories anyway.

At the same time, its fucking awesome for Cursive. They've been playing music for over twenty years and 'finally' made it. Through break ups, moves, divorces, etc, they stuck with it and are doing what they love. Makes me feel sort of like a shmuck, going to a 9-5 job every day slaving away at something that isn't all that important to all that many people. Also makes me want to eat my thoughts and words when I think about my friends who are currently "living the dream" but are broke. Because guess what, I'm fucking broke too and I'm not even living the rock dream. So who wins? I sure as hell don't. But anyway...its great for those young kids at the show, so maybe they don't know the old songs, the songs they do know are theirs. The memories they make at shows like these are theirs to write about 9 years later and complain about the new generation of kids. Is this where Elton John's "Circle of Life" gets played?

One thing I realized tonight, is that I don't think I gave The Ugly Organ enough credit or tries. I'm going to have to pop it onto my iriver and give it some more listens.