Media Glutton, April 9, 2008

So this has been an unusual media week for me, a time to try out new things and experience stuff I don't do nearly as often as I should (besides eating enough vegetables). In reverse order then, we'll start with last night, when I went with friends up to Tampa to see an awesome band called Golem play at Skipper's Smokehouse. My friend told me they were a kind of punk/klezmer band, although having seen them I didn't really get a lot of punk vibe. I did however get a whole lot of Awesome! vibe and had a helluva good time. They're definitely rocking, but they're also very much about the Klezmer, with the accordian and violin front and center and most of the songs being sung in Yiddish. But there's also a trumpet, a bass guitar, and drums, which gives it all a kind of swing/rock thing which makes it that much more fun. I have developed a serious crush on the violinist, Alicia Jo Rabins, who works that fiddle to great effect, but that's not to short-shrift the rest of the band. They're all great, and the sort of co-leads, Annette Ezekiel (singing and accordion) and Aaron Diskin (vocals) are great, engaging performers who gave us they're all. And the way Annette handles that accordion is a sight to see. They're based out of New York, so if any of this sounds at all good to you, you should definitely go check them out. They'll be in Miami this Thursday and then next month they're playing at Joe's Pub in NY on May 13th.

Monday night I went and check out the Sarasota Film Festival's Sarasota Shorts collection, which featured four short films by local film makers, including one by my friends Austin and Sherrie McKinley. Weirdly enough, three of the films, including Austin's, featured hitmen (or women) killing people. They were all enjoyable and it was a really fun evening. All were shot here in Sarasota, so it was fun to see some familiar places and faces, including a guy from the gym I go to getting shot in a big gunfight. Only Austin's flick is up on youtube, so you can go see it here:

The week before that I got sucked into the addictive rock and roll world of the videogame Rock Band. Now, I've resisted the siren song of Guitar Hero like music games for several years. I like kicks and explosions in my games. I like running around and shooting things or commanding vast armies or doing something weird with the Wii controller. Over Christmas a friend of mine tried to get me to play Rock Band but I declined. Well, that same friend sucked me into a game while I was in California and I finally figured out what all the fuss is about. OK, I haven't actually figured out what the fuss is really about, but I do know this - the game's damn fun and stupidly addictive. And I think there's some real value to it as well. It's not just about pushing the right colored button at the right time - to get good at the game you actually have to listen to the music and learn how it's put together. As someone with no musical talent to speak of, I find that a really interesting, valuable experience. Nothing like playing a real instrument of course, but I'm not going to play a real instrument anytime soon (or ever probably), so for me it opens up a realm of experience previously closed to me. I may only be seeing the tiniest sliver of that world, but, right now at least, that's all I really want anyway.

The other big media event in my life anyway was the Season 4 Premiere of Battlestar Galactica. There was an incredible amount of hype for the premiere, and the show had a lot of expectations to live up to. Naturally enough, it didn't manage to do that. It was still a good solid episode and I'm excited the show's back on the air, but it didn't blow me out of my seat like the Season 3 premiere did. But it didn't make any mistakes either, and it built on the finale in good ways. I'm excited to see what comes next, but there weren't any huge "Awesome!" moments for me this past week. But I have faith that they're coming in the months to come.