The Real Juiced

I must say that this spring’s softball season has been kind-of a disappointment. Not because our team is doing poorly (Section J has won both of our games so far), but because there have been so few games. I was, however, able get back out onto the field this Friday for my first game with that other team I’m on, the one from RELLS (Rex E Lee Law Society, named for a prominent LDS lawyer), and let me tell you, that was some game. We were up against what must have been the body-builders club at UVa Law, there were so many big guys on that other team. Seriously, I didn’t even know our school had such huge students. Perhaps they are going to be litigators and use their size as intimidation, because I sure know that when I took the field with the rest of our rag-tag team, I thought that we wouldn’t stand a chance. I was also worried that my Co-Ed pitching wouldn’t be up to the big leagues. Fortunately, though, it must have been enough, for we were able to snag a narrow victory when yours truly was able to hit a nice little grounder RBI in the bottom of the seventh. Now, I only mention this in the interest of reporting the facts, I would defiantly not think of myself winning the game for use—if anyone did that, it was the guy who hit us a home run every time he stepped up to the plate. A really fun game, all and all, and the first in the play-offs, which means that the our team, which has the unfortunate name of “Stone Cold Sober” (adopted without my vote) has made it to the second round. And were going all the way…

Other than softball, though, there really is not much more to say, school wise, unless you want to hear about my property outline. And for all of you that think that aversive possession or reciprocal negative easements sound a little bit interesting, I can assure you that it most definitely is not.

Instead let be say a few words about my second favorite subject: Indie Rock. Actually, now that I think of it, calling indie rock my second favorite subject like I just did makes it sound like Law School is my first favorite, so let me rephrase.

Instead, let me say a few things about a topic that I find infinitely more interesting than any kind of easement, reciprocal or otherwise: Indie Rock.

Back in 1999, when Billy Corgan announced the end of his band, the Smashing Pumpkins, announced his frustration with the pathetic state of popular music at the time, and said he was giving up the fight and allowing a new scene to start the next musical revolution. Well, since the Pumpkins are releasing their comeback album this July, perhaps he is sensing what I am: is the musical revolution now upon us? I direct you to the following observations: Last year, the Arctic Monkeys, a small indie band from the UK released the fastest-selling album ever in that country (yes, even faster than the Spice Girls). This year, various indie and indie-sounding bands like the Decemberists and the Shins have released very popular records, and in just this last month, the Arcade Fire’s new album debuted at #2 on the charts, and Modest Mouse, a long-time indie standard debuted at #1 (despite the fact that their new album is sub-par). All of this action suggests to me that the music industry is starting to over-turn itself again, vaulting indie stars into full fledged stardom, all during the same period when the major labels are facing continuing losses. Is it because music fans are finally fed up with being force-feed horrible pop tunes? Has the internet leveled the playing-field enough that smaller, but much more talented musicians are getting the distribution they deserve? I don’t know, but it is kind of exciting, and probably will continue to be so until the music industry picks up on this new trend and start manufacturing Arcade Fire rip-off bands and saturating the airways with mediocre approximations of the indie sound that is popularizing many of the smaller acts today.

And speaking of smaller acts making it big. My latest prophecy is that Canadian Indie Queen, Feist, is going to explode. Her new album (out on May 1st I believe) is great, and I can see her becoming a hit. Anyways, that’s what I think, and I hope I’m right