File Under Pop

Mission of Burma Friday night at the Bowery Ballroom. Suicide Saturday night at the Knitting Factory. And, as a late add onto the Suicide bill, Thee Majesty, featuring Genesis P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV fame. From my coming weekend of show going, you would think I am old. Well, for general show going, perhaps I am - - but I'm not that old. I really am into new music. I love collecting old vinyl, but I buy new records all the time too. I go to shows by current bands. I am not a jaded "back in the day" kind of person. I think that now is a great time for indie rock, and I think tomorrow will be too.

You are going to accuse me of being a little too defensive, the old he doth protest too much thing. It isn't that. It is that I am generally against reunions by old bands, but in the past year or so I have gone to my share. Rocket from the Tombs and the MC5 being the most obvious. Both were good shows but didn't seem genuine. I don't have time now to write about my aversion to reunions. I'll save that for a post next week.

I do want to say that I don't consider Mission of Burma a mere reunion. At first I did, and I was somewhat skeptical. Then, I heard the great reviews, but I didn't live near any of the cities they played. I thought about driving up to DC from Greensboro, but it didn’t happen. At that time, it was still a reunion though, even if the reviews were universally glowing. Then they came out with a great new double lp last year, and now it is no longer a reunion. It is a vital, ongoing concern. Then Burma came to Chapel Hill a couple weeks after I moved to New York. Wouldn't you know it. Then they opened for the Pixies here in NY, but I wasn't that interested in the Pixies. After all, they are just a reunion. And I didn’t want to see the greatest band ever to come out of Boston (except for maybe the Girls) open for an inferior Boston band. Plus, the show was in a stadium. That isn't the way to see Burma for the first time. Well, the short of it is that I finally get to see Burma this Friday, three years after their first "reunion" show, and I am very excited.

Suicide I am not so excited about. I don't know what to expect. I heard Martin Rev's latest record when it came into WQFS last year. I remember thinking it was OK, I played a track, but it wasn't memorable. I haven't heard Suicide's 2002 effort, American Supreme. But I love old Suicide and I figured what the hell, it should be fun. A reunion is fine if you go in with that attitude. It is dangerous if you mythologize the band, and then, 25 years on from their peak, they inevitably don't live up to the myth you have built up in your head. Then, to some small degree, your experience of the records is spoiled. I don't think that will happen with Suicide.

As for Genesis, that should be fun too. I have a great Throbbing Gristle story to share with you, but I'll save that for a later date.

A weekend of retro show going. I am looking forward to it, but I doth protest too much.