Finally, you get to see my photos...

I'm loving my new iMac and Aperture. I'm able to zip through thousands of photos and create albums, movies, slideshows, etc. Check out the following photo albums:

Saturday night's Blowoff at the 9:30 Club - Joe Tresh Photography

Washington Renegades RFC victory over the Atlanta Bucks RFC - Joe Tresh Photography

September 16, 2006 :: Washington Renegades RFC's After-Match Social

Carbon Leaf, September 7, 2005, 930 Club, Washington D.C. - Joe Tresh Photography

BNL: My "Barenaked Ladies Are Me" Review

I pre-ordered the new Barenaked Ladies CD Barenaked Ladies Are Me from the website to get a DVD as well. I received it last week.

I'm not often one to jump in to listen to a CD at the first moment, especially from my favorite bands. I held on to Guster's latest release, Ganging Up on the Sun for the midnight plane ride back from Las Vegas. I am glad I did. The opening number "Lightning Rod" was unexpectedly and magically accompanied by a beautiful Nevada lightning storm below me in the distance. The CD was a perfect choice for the moment. Damn, I love Guster.

But this is not about Guster, this is about the new CD from Barenaked Ladies. Instead of throwing it on at work or on the iPod on the METRO, I warmed my ears up yesterday by listening to the funtastic 1996 BNL release Born on a Pirate Ship. See, I've been on a BNL hiatus, myself, while the band has been home and in the studio. I haven't listened much and I haven't read the blogs etc. This release is my first date with the boys in a long time. I want it to be, you know, special.

So tonight I got only half naked (it's cold out), chilled on the couch, plugged the earbuds into my new 20" iMac, unwrapped the CD (how 90s!), and slipped it in the side of the display.

With Barenaked Ladies Are Me, BNL have finally broken out of the rut they have been in for years. It is a wholly satisfying album of tunes (and with the regular 13 track CD, I've only heard half of it. There's a whole other CD out there!). You can hear the joy in the 'Ladies voices and music. To those fans who are always looking for another Gordon, look at it this way: Here the guys have recaptured the spirit of Gordon by mixing eccentricity with accessibility, while not simply trying to recreate successes of the past.

B.L.A.M. works as a whole album successfully. In my ears, BNL hasn't done this very well since Stunt (1998). Maroon (2000) had some great songs, but the order of them and the habit of ending every song with trailing sounds really made it a tough listen. Everything to Everyone (2003) was as plastic as the irony it represented, and often felt like tracks were carbon copies of songs past. ("For You" redeems the whole disk.)

Kevin again adds a tremendous amount of depth and fun in the signature sounds of many songs. Listen for his accordion, organ, and occasional solo guitar work.

"Adrift" starts the album slowly. This song was obviously envisioned by Kevin, but is sung by Ed. The opening strings remind me of Nick Drake for a moment. It's a great way to warm our way into the CD.

BNL made a good choice of dispensing with the comedy early on with "Bank Job." The story told in the song brilliantly unfolds slowly until the very last line. It's a simple song structurally, but musically is performed richly as the foundation for the first-person storyteller, singer Ed Robertson.

Every BNL CD has a song for Steve Page to play with his his voice. I think "Sound of Your Voice" is this album's contribution to that fine tradition. Oddly, the song was originally written for and by soft-sung Kevin, according to Wikipedia. Being such, it's not such a showcase as these songs tend to be, and it's nice to hear Page restrained by the song he's in. It instead becomes just a fun tune instead of a ballad demanding attention.

"Easy" is wonderful. Thank Gordon they released this beautiful song as the first single instead of some "One Week" clone. I have always loved this gentle driving almost-country sound that BNL has occasionally shown since Stunt, and it is well done in "Easy." The song also fits the "feel good no matter what" mold so popular and needed in these turbulent times.

Oddly enough, "Bull in a China Shop" will sneak up on you. All of a sudden you are singing it.

I love "Everything Had Changed." I'm still somewhat baffled by it, which adds to the joy. Jim's intro, Kevin's accordion, Ed's banjo, fascinating lyrics, and the fingersnaps all add up to a musical mystery. This song is grabbing me and will be on repeat listening. When I saw that Jim helped write it, I said to myself "of course!" What a great melding of the minds of BNL.

Little did I know things were just beginning to get heated up.

You cannot help but sing and bob your head to Peterborogh & the Kawarthas. You may never in your life understand it (this is a Jim Creeggan song so this is the way it should be), but you'll sing along.

I found myself cheering at "Maybe You're Right." I fell in love with BNL Music during the "Wow" moment at the end of "Enid" and I was cheering the "Wow" ending of "Maybe You're Right." This is the first song I threw on the stereo speakers at the end of my earbud review.

"Take it Back," a song that would find itself a perfect fit in a "Smallville" episode and soundtrack CD, has a catchy hook and a chorus that will endear itself to listeners' hearts.

I was wondering if Steve would pen another Ironic Political Statement Song, but I wasn't particularly looking forward to it. Quite honestly, even I was getting tired of BNL's snarky sarcasm (see "Shopping"). I was hoping instead that they would either say something more direct, or nothing at all. Instead, "Rule the World With Love" dives so deep into irony that you have to suspend disbelief to understand it. I actually love it. The lyrics play with words and phrases about love and war to make them familiar and meaningless at the same time, reminding us of the political dialogue and demagoguery today. It's a study in irony that switches and ends with a strong direct statement. This is finally the Ironic Political Statement Song worthy of BNL. Most people won't get it.

How much fun it must have been for the guys to get Kim Mitchell to solo guitar on "Wind it Up." They're making a big deal about it with the air guitar video contest. It's a good song with a catchy hook, and will fit nicely into the BNL breakup song lexicon. It's also a good way to end the album, leaving you wanting more.

All told, Barenaked Ladies Are Me is one of the better CDs in the BNL catalogue and really the best studio album in years, which is sorely needed. The new freedom BNL has found with themselves as their own label has been good to their music.

BNL are back.

Barenaked Ladies Are Mutants? Gods?

Did anyone else notice that - at around 9:30 on a Tuesday night - Hurricane Gordon formed the VERY DAY that Barenaked Ladies released their seventh original studio (non-holiday) album "Barenaked Ladies Are Me" (BLAM). BNL's first big studio release - and a cornerstone in the identity of the band - was "Gordon" in 1992.

Coincidence? I think not.

Torture and Convictions Based on Invisible Evidence? Go USA!

Is he serious? Bush is anti-American.

Passing these torture and tribunal laws that Bush wants would be the final nail in the coffin that holds what little moral authority the US has remaining, embolden our enemies, and will jeopardize the safety of our troops.

Passing laws to OK torture, ignore the Geneva Conventions, and convict people based on withheld evidence? Is this supposed to be American?

We hold people picked up by Afghani bounty hunters who bagged any male Muslim they could find just for the reward money. Is it American to assume these men are automatically guilty and should be put away? Or are we creating MORE terrorists and enemies when we pick up random people and throw them in secret prisons forever?

If Bush gets to create an illegal and immoral judicial system to deal with our detainees, History and the world will never forgive us.

The Bush administration and the Republican party have NOT learned the lessons of September 11th. They don't understand real American values. They have badly mismanaged Afghanistan and made a wreck of Iraq. They have made us less safe. Lock-step Republicans are out of touch with America, out of touch with the world, and dangerously incapable of managing the security of America.