The Next Big Thing

It was an effort but I managed to drag myself out of the house yesterday.

There was an early screening of "The Wrestler" that I figured would help bookend the proceedings. Being that I was to attend the screening of "Transatlantic Feedback" in the evening. "The Wrestler" is pretty good and not at all like most modern movies. Rourke is pretty amazing and so is Marisa Tomei. I guess it's a case of championing the underdog whilst keeping uncertainty intact. The end is as open to conjecture as another New Jersey based drama was of late. You want to see a decent flick? Then this is it...

In these days of dwindling audiences and general indifference , it was jarring to see such a horde of youngsters queuing to get into The Garage. Earlier in the day, I'd seen a gaggle of little "emo types" hanging about the back of the place as I made my way up Hill St to the flyover. On the way back into town we find it's a band called Escape The Fate. I had never heard of them until that point and wondered how a band with such a crummy name could elicit such a following. I imagine it's the internet and having found out they're on Epitaph then that at least explains their profile.

Obviously there are still labels out there that can garner an audience that is entirely parallel to any alleged mainstream hype. I'd say the oldest of the kids were perhaps 15 or 16. Now I got a look at a band arriving in their van and they looked like McFly going to a costume party as My Chemical Romance. Not a good look to a fogie like me but then again, I'm well out of the range of the target demographic. Actually, I have no flippin' idea if that was ETF or not but what these kids do clearly works in a way that so many other things aren't. For a start, here was evidence of a physical following. Not massaged numbers. And there's your generation gap right there.

I checked out their myspace and it turns out that it sounds like that sanitised pap that masquarades as "alternative". At least to me. But it's not for me so good luck to them. Maybe they're all over Kerrang, an important part of what happens in this day and age is that you don't have anything to do with stuff that is of no interest. I do like to hear everything but I don't have to. I do like to try and keep some kinda finger on the pulse. Just as a marker.

But anyway, I just looked at the time and it suggests that it's time I wasn't here. I'll get to The Monks in due course. But not tonight...