If you love the Smashing Pumpkins, or just want some intelligent, thoughtful comments on what makes “alt rock” alternative; click here to read what Hipsters United has to say.

Hey, remember The Toadies? Their big radio song was Possum Kingdom from the album Rubberneck; “make up your mind, decide to walk with me, around the lake tonight…DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!!” That was just a little refresher for those of you who were trying to remember that far back. I thought I saw them three times in concert, but Tac just told me he thinks only twice. So whatever, the point is I got to see them at least twice, once on Tac’s 23rd birthday and if you look on the raggedy poster you can see the words “happy 23rd Tac” written on the brightest circle thing on the poster.

My point was going to be that I have seen them live more than any other band, but perhaps not. I have seen Billy Corgan three times, but every time he was in a different band (the last time his band was just as himself). I can only think of two other bands that I have actually seen twice: Sugar Ray and One More Weekend ( a very cool local Vegas band that our friend Nick was in).

Before you puke, Sugar Ray used to be awesome, they opened for the Toadies one night, and to this day we still think of that show as one of the best we have ever seen. They rocked so hard, I don’t know that I have ever seen a band display so much energy and sound so good doing it. When they came through Boise again (thats where we lived), it was for Warped Tour so we went mostly to see them, but it was right after they put out their second album; I think it was called wuss music, and they went downhill fast after that.

All of this makes me think of trying to go crowd surfing, watching my husband in the mosh pit, baggy Levi’ Silvertabs and 501’s, my standard concert shoes: steel toe boots, and having no children to take care of. The Toadies broke up after that, I have no idea what any of them are doing now.

Youtube is a treasure box full of footage from the May 22 concert The Smashing Pumpkins performed in France. Since I currently do not have tickets for any of the up and coming shows it has been very cathartic to watch the videos. So far my favorite is one that was put together with footage from all different parts of the show. Click on this link to see it!Video of The Smashing Pumpkins first show in Paris

Last time I saw the Pumpkins in concert was during the Machina tour in Mesa, AZ. It was in a lovely outdoor ampitheatre and we really had a great time. Shortly after that was the announcement; the Pumpkins were breaking up. I’ll admit right now that I cried, not hysterically or anything but there were tears. But during that concert Billy was wearing a fantastic black dress thing, ooh he looked so good. He always looks good, Billy has good taste in clothes. I saw him once when he was with Zwan, and again for his solo album The Future Embrace (which I so love) and each time I was impressed with what he was wearing. When video clips started pouring in from the reunion concert, once again I really liked what Billy wore: all white, with a little bit of black in the stripes.

Another exciting thing is that we are getting a chance to hear some of the songs from the new album, I have been watching them live on youtube and listening to them on a site called thepumpkins.net  to find and listen to the set list click on “music- Grand Rex” in the “latest editions” box.   I especially like Thats the way (my love is) and Bleeding the Orchid, not to mention what a thrill it is to hear songs like tonight  and cherubrock, and just feel the emotions of the crowd as the last song muzzle is played.

My ipod didn’t stray far from the “m” section today. We listened to Muse in the car today, AND the weather was so sunny and hot that we had the windows down with the warm air blowing on us while we drove. Muse is one of those bands that is exactly what you needed no matter what kind of mood you are in. They totally rock, the lyrics are interesting, sometimes it sounds like there is an orchestra playing with them, and the vocals are amazing. There is so much emotion filled into those words as they come out at you, and I love this: the guy is singing so hard that he has to take these deep breaths and just keep going (its not like they are really loud, its just one of the many details that make this band so dang cool). Later in the house, we listened to the indie band Mae. I was first drawn to Mae because I really like the singers voice, and the more I listen to them, the more I like them. For the most part they are fairly mellow, but certainly not boring.

I so enjoy a guys voice that can get up high, carry beauty and emotion, and rock all at the same time.

So a little Muse in the car, a lot of Mae when we got home, and then my husband played Muse tonight while I was ironing and he was doing some work and I didn’t even ask him to put something else in because I had already listened to them. Plus I got a little sunburn in the back yard playing with the hose on the trampoline ( with my kids of course). I would say we had a pretty good day.