The Carrboro News Recognizes Self as Top Music Site
in Triangle!

In any fledgling newspapers lifespan, there are certain benchmarks that serve to quantify the success and potential future of that said paper. In this case, that said paper is this said paper, The Carrboro News.

Imagine my surprise when I opened my email and found an email from a music promoter from the west coast asking if I knew of any newspapers that they could contact to promote the Against Me! February 25 show at The Cat's Cradle. With our usual ability to read between the lines to determine what someone contacts us really wants, we ignored the what was written, realizing that we have been asked to review the band. If someone sends you links to the band mp3 files and all the show dates, they obviously want more than to just harmlessly ask a question about which paper they should use to promote their show.

Our fledgling music department, due to staffing problems, has been moved to the Infant/Child Department, so take into mind that the reporter is used to reviewing Sesame Street, The Bad News Bears and the likes, not a hard core punk rock band.

After passing on the names of the two unnamed Chapel Hill Newspapers and the The Independent, I went to listen to the mp3 file to hear what this band that will be taking Carrboro by storm on Feb 25 had to offer. I clicked on the link in the email to listen to the file when I came across my first roadblock. The link was long and spanned two lines, but the linkable part of the link was only the first line....thus when I clicked on the link I found a "Page Not Found" Page. Realizing that bands are usually not that internet savvy I went back to the email to trouble shoot. I saw the problem almost immediately and then copied the whole link and then pasted it in my browser window...only to notice that the second line was left behind and once again I found the "Page Not Found" Page. I went back to the email copied the last line and pasted it at the end of the first line in the browser and Eureka!, the file came up.

Having spent the last two years reviewing music that would be acceptable to my two year old daughter you can imagine my apprehension of pushing the play button and unleashing the wall of chaotic sound that I was sure was hidden behind the file. Punk rock is a long way from the melodic tunes sprinkled throughout Mr. Roger's Neighborhood and Sesame Street. I put on my ear phones, so as not to expose my daughter to what could be a life changing and possibly permanently debilitating event, and pushed the forward button.

I have to say, in all honesty, it wasn't Sesame Street, but I did make it through the first song from their Smoke or Fire Album called The Patty Hearst Syndrome. Pretty good, I thought to myself, if I was into punk, this is probably the punk I would be into. I listened to the second song from their Only Crime Album called Take Me. Pretty good, I thought to myself, if I was into punk, this is probably the punk I would be into.

OK, good.....the music was listenable, so I went to Google and ran a couple of other searches so that I could make this a better review and try to look a little more knowledgeable..... I found more information as well as the official Against Me! website. Since I found that I decided that it was better to go to their web site to get a less biased review than I had to offer. I mean, where else can you get a more objective review than from the band's own web site.... so off you go.....

Final Notes- If I was into punk, this is probably the punk I would be into. If my daughter didn't have to be in bed by 8pm on Feb 25 and if it wasn't 3 days before the Miami/Clemson game I would probably be at the Cradle listening to these guys live. Even though they are from the stronghold of Bush Country(Gainsville, FL) in the state that's responsible for the mess we're in(Florida), we probably shouldn't hold them responsible- If they bothered to vote(In a county that their vote probably wouldn't be counted anyway), my guess is that they probably didn't vote for Bush and are probably as upset as I am about the State of the Union. Less melodic than "It's a Small World" or "Sesame Street Theme Song", but more melody than I expected. The last show I saw at the Cradle was Todd Rundgren and I can't remember the last show I saw before that, so the chances of getting me to the show on Feb 25 (with or without my daughter)if I was into punk and if this was the punk I was into, would be slim to not very good.(But keep in mind- I'm the Children's Music Reviewer, so you may want to ignore this review and go to Google on your own and do a search for "Against Me!" to see if you want to mark Feb 25 on your Things to Do Calendar.