Thanks to all for the birthday wishes!

Here's an exercise I recommend to everyone. Get you, a good friend (or friends), a good bottle of bourbon or wine or gin...sit down and design something. Friday night, I went through this exercise from 11p until 4a - and we designed a hotel...in Vegas, minus the gambling and confusing decor. Put in all the things you want, none of the things you don't...then all you have to do is find the investors.

Saw The Walkmen on Saturday night, in between drinks and strangling myself with my tie. The songwriting is there, but everyone (including myself) is so conditioned to immediately say, "they sound like the Strokes." Agreed...they are from New York. Agreed...they are doing the post-punk rock. Agreed...there were 3 or 4 songs in the set that you could swap with the boys Casablancas and you couldn't tell the difference.

However, the songs from the new record and 1/2 of the old stuff showed plenty of originality, drive and design beyond verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus out. Then again...I like that formula - if the sounds are different.

The performance was the real treat. The backing members were improvisational, but kept to the songs. The lead singer (and sometimes guitarist) sang, screamed and yelled from all parts of the stage. He came close to aping John Lydon at one moment, shoe gazer the next...but never uninterested.
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The Oliver Future show will now (most likely) occur on December 5th - venue to be named later. We are having discussions with 3 places and will get out the details very soon. CD release date is still November 4th...so have your skrilla' ready.
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And, before I forget....happy anniversary to this blog! 3 billion web pages on the internet today, and you decide to come here...i'll leave it at that.