Take a whispering class!

Any down time in my last 24 hours have more or less consisted of jumping between Cee-Lo's delightfully profane "non-video" video and this magical journey to the stage of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists:

Ted Leo And The Pharmacists - "Bottled In Cork" (Official Video) from Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

Interestingly, The AV Club (along with the plague mouth-breathing, mutant commenters that render that otherwise great site mediocre) are viewing this clip as pure mockery of Green Day, though I didn't see it that way at all.  I think it's no doubt satirizing the trend for Broadway to latch onto pop music as opposed to other original content, but it's not "mocking" anybody specifically, except maybe the Rx themselves.

That said, the video didn't remind me of Green Day nearly as much as it reminded me of the AMAZING disaster from four years ago, when a musical based on the music of Bob Dylan was actually greenlit, and actually on Brodway for a month before everyone realized it was terrible and nobody was going to see it and they should all stop making it.

If you've never seen this, it's amazing. And you will never be able to un-see it as long as you live.



How does it feel? It feels terrible. To describe my feelings any better, I'd need a giant ball to bounce on.

BIBJ Playlist of the 2000s entry #45: Me and Mia by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

BAD IDEA SHOW REVIEW: TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS AT LINCOLN HALL

photo via Flickr

While watching Ted Leo and the Pharmacists Sunday night, I realized that it might have been the first time I'd ever seen a headlining act treat an encore more or less as it was originally intended.  At this point, the art of the encore is a ridiculous notion.  It's no longer a demand of the audience wanting more, but rather artists tailor setlists as to hold off the signature tracks specifically for the encore.  So it was interesting to see Leo come out for the encore and actually take a few minutes to think about what to play.  (He eventually on solo covers of Eddie and the Hot Rods and The Waterboys before bringing the band back out.)  At this point, encores are automatic.  We all know they're going to happen, so it's nice to see at least some attempt at spontanaity.

But the encore selections weren't the only admirable attempts at ad-libbing last night.  Leo preceded "Bottle of Buckie" with a story that at certain points involved being creeped out by "Greased Lighting" at age 10, and watching "Hoffa" with a girlfriends' parents - a circumstance which allows a heightened awareness of every f-bomb on screen.  While rolling through a mid-set flurry of new songs, a broken bass drum was replaced while Leo did his best impression of a jam band to kill time.  Faulty equipment aside, the band was outstanding.  The new songs have me eagerly anticipating his Matador debut, and Lincoln Hall sounded great for a new venue still working out the kinks in sound mixes.

"Me and Mia" is a track that is so catchy on the surface that it's easy to overlook what the lyrics are actually referring to.  Based on years spent around a diagnosed anorexic, I can attest that Leo's depiction of the details are eerily exact.  Lack of body heat, sunken eyes, spinal prominence on the back.  Not to mention the "me against the world" mentality that tends to develop in those afflicted, when an infinite number of verbal battles with those trying to help usually only cause the victim to further worsen their condition.  The final lines offer a thought-provoking parallel about those using hunger strikes to fight for an actual cause vs. those using a similar method for less valid, more personal reasons.  It would seem that Leo has likely fought the battle himself, and the video at least offers a happy ending that gives some sense of hope in winning the war.