06.02.2002 – world cup, elmer gantry, the promise ring, pink, andrew w.k.
woke up early this morning to catch the pre-game. iain was still up from the drunken festivities of his mates’ housewarming party, but soon retired to bed, and didn’t even wake to utter obscenities when i knocked on his door to get him to come to the pub. we got to the pub just as it opened at 10:15, and took our seat. the pub wasn’t licensed to serve alcohol that early in the morning, but there were still people there watching the game. it was a good game. england dominated during the first half and scored on a powerful header off a corner. they looked in top form. they were winning a lot of 50-50 balls and generaslly taking it to sweden. beckham looked great. he was playing confidently and placing balls into the box as is his typical duty. not a bit of hesitation from his much publicized foot injury. he did, however, get substituted due to fatigue around halftime. and after halftime, the english side was really a different team. sweden score early on, and really dominated the second half. england was lucky that the swedes didn’t score another goal. rob chalked the change up to a strategic error. he said that sweden had compressed the midfield making it difficult for england to maintain control of the play, and the large swedish defense easily won the long balls in the air. sweden’s the team i’m pulling for in the this world cup final because they have freddie ljundberg, and because the us’s hopes of advancing, despite rumblings that the team is one of the most respectable yet, are pretty small. still, being in a group with the likes of england and argentina, sweden’s chances might not be much better.
started reading elmer gantry on the recommendation of tim. he described it as a slow-reading but interersting, though perhaps somewhat dated, critique of religion. dated? no way! a read a chapter or so, and the first thing that came to mind was “promise keeper”. seems the idea of the manly christian is a pretty old one, and i suspect that it will continue to be an attractive selling point for the christian right. closer to home, i can’t help but think that maybe some of the christian hxc bands that i generally regard as pretty innocuous are just a slightly hipper version of the promise keepers. that would be funny actually. to start a brother’s keeper rip-off band called promise keeper and sing about moral purity and manly strength. to be honest, that’s probably why sxe caught on in the hardcore scene. i can bear to call myself straight-edge because, as the term was conceived by ian mckay, one of the least promise-keeper-like males i can think of, i feel confident that sxe needn’t only be about mindless faith in an ideal that simply replaces vice rather than transcends it. to be honest, if being sxe had been an easy decision, like if the decision to become straight-edge had meant being welcomed into a cheering throng of throwdown t-shirt clad musclemen, i would probably be getting trashed right now. the fact that in hs, i was in the minority as someone who didn’t drink or do drugs, convinces me that my abstinence was more than just another fad. it might have made me more comfortable with myself, but it certainly didn’t win me any popularity points at school. but, i digress. i like elmer gantry so far. it’s criticism of “promise keeper” christianity is clever, and biting, but maintains the subtlety that marks all good satire. what fun would criticising an institution be if they knew they were the brunt of the joke?
i go back and forth on whether i like the promise ring‘s album very emergency. the tracks jersey shore and skips a beat are so cheesy, yet so good, that i can’t help but love them, but the rest of the album is a bit too saccharine for me. i’m interested to hear their new album, wood/water which supposedly sports a more sophisticated sound that is neither the emo stylings of their older material, nor the pop of very emergency.
i saw some live footage of pink on viva+ last night. the girl’s a rocker! who would have thought? her past efforts have always had an r&b twinge to them, and this is not entirely missing from her latest, more rock-oriented, release. but her live show has no choreographed dancers or bling-bling mcs. she’s got a full band and could just as easily be mistaken for allanis morrisette as eve. i’d say that pink is the most relevent female artist in music right now. appologies to ani and kathleen hanna, but pink is the only female artist that comes to mind that is positioned to break the prepubescent masses out of their britney-fied daze. the thing that i notice most, is that pink’s performance is seems to, at least in some part, reflect her personality. maybe it’s not completely honest, but it’s more honest than seeing a confused little girl shake by numbers. her music is angsty, but not whiny, and in a way that seems like it should resonate with real, live, human girls. pink is sexy, but in her own way. if you look at her, she’s a big girl. tough, square jawed, and muscular. hair cut sharply in a manner that could just as easily be considered butch as it could beautiful, but in a way, she’s both. britney, on the other hand, is a reflection of the same lolita fantasy that has occupied pop culture for years. boring. outmoded. meaningless. i’d like to think that society’s notions of female pop icons can just be cloberred, but barring that, at least i kown they are being caressed a little.
also saw the new andrew w.k. video for she is beautiful. i don’t hate it. catchy at best, tolerable at worst. like kid rock, but without offending every single one of my aesthetic and ethical sensibilities. more of an homage to multiple genres (ramones style punk meets hair-rock) than rock’s moreau-like monstrosity of rap-rock fusion. andrew w.k. is good if only to give me an example when i’m arguing with people about why certain acts are so lame. andrew w.k. escapes being lame only because he’s image-conscious without posturing. he distills mindless fun down to it’s most basic elements and thus avoids being an asshole. it’s partying hard without drunk hookers and hot rods. dozens of stupid r&b/pop boy bands can croon minutes of lyrical drivel and not capture the sentiment any better than w.k. does with the words “she’s beautiful” (which, if i’m not mistaken, is pretty much it for the song’s lyrics. he won’t need a teleprompter if he ever does a reunion tour). i guess that’s how andrew w.k. can create something that is neither particularly original or intriguing but is still incredibly refreshing. he keeps the songs short and the interviews long. that’s the way the world ought to be.