According to Rip it Up the show on Sunday has been cancelled. This is a hell of a disappointment at leaves me quite …. well, upset is the appropriate word I suppose. Nothing on the Venuetix website yet but they are often a bit slow in updating. According to RIU those of us with tickets can get a refund at the city office in the Da Costa arcade.

Oh, well it’s not all bad. Despite persistant rumours The Pixies still seem to be coming next week, though there has been a change of venue – it’s now at Thebby Theatre. The Thursday V-fest show with The Pet Shop Boys et al is now at the Entertainment Centre.

Also, I’ve just heard that we have another visitor from overseas next week, not quite a big name like Lee Perry or The Pixies, but someone I am rather keen on seeing again. UK guitarist Mike Cooper returns to Adelaide with two shows. The first clashes with the Pixies so I’d be keen on the Thursday one at Urtext, which is a live score for a film. I saw Cooper play at the Ex once before and it was fantastic, he uses a number of unconventional techniques to produce sounds that you wouldn’t expect from a guitar. Well worth seeing, and as a bonus Daniel Varricchio is supporting, he is usually excellent as well. More info here.
The giglisting:
Tonight- Bad Seed Conway Savage at the Garden of Unearthly Delights.
Tomorrow – GB3 at the Garden of Unearthly Delights. Glenn Bennie from the Underground Lovers. $25.

APRIL
3rd – The Pixies with Jarvis Cocker and Phoenix at Thebarton Theatre. About $100.
3rd – Mike Cooper at the Exeter with Lenin Simos.
5th – Mike Cooper at Urtext with Daniel Varricchio.
13th – Little Ice Age and Running With Horses at the Wheatsheaf.

This week the footy season starts again and on Saturday there is a grand final replay – Swans vs Eagles, so I’ll dig out my pre-game assessment from last year. What does this have to do with music? Read on ….

The Swans vs The Eagles
Key players:
The Swans – Michael Gira, Jarboe
The Eagles – Don Henley, Glenn Frey

Their records:
The Swans – Cop, The Great Annihilator, Soundtracks for the Blind
The Eagles – One of These Nights, Hotel California, The Long Run

Style of play (from All Music Guide):
The Swans – Crawling out of the same noisy, arty New York underground that sired Sonic Youth and Lydia Lunch, Swans created a dark, abrasive, murky, slowed-down noise rock that served as a starting point for their ruminations about alienation, depression, depravity, and the disturbing side of human nature.
The Eagles – Though most of its members came from outside California, the group was closely identified with a country- and folk-tinged sound that initially found favor in and around Los Angeles in the late ’60s, as played by such bands as the Flying Burrito Brothers and Poco, both of which contributed members to the Eagles. But the band also drew upon traditional rock & roll styles and, in their later work, helped define the broadly popular rock sound eventually referred to as classic rock.

Summing them up in the words to their “team songs”:

The Swans:
Nobody Beats Your Body Like A Cop In Jail
Nobody Burns Their Body Like A Cop
Nobody Burns Your Skin Off Like A Cop In Jail
The Heat Hurts
Humiliation’s A Disease

The Eagles:
Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the Hotel California
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find it here

Prediction – A win for The Swans (Update: Damn! Wrong again)
On the Stereo

The Dead C – Harsh 70’s Reality cd (Siltbreeze)
The Pixies – Bossanova LP (4AD)
The Residents – The Third Reich’n’Roll LP (Ralph)
Robert Pollard – Not in My Airforce LP (Matador)
Aesop Rock – Bazooka Tooth cd (Def Jux)
Mr Lif – I Phantom 2LP (Def Jux)
Mr Lif – Emergency Rations cdep (Def Jux)
Cannibal Ox – The Cold Vein cd (Def Jux)
Mira Calix – Peel Sessions EP (Warp)
Mouse on Mars – Radical Connector LP (Sonig)