Puma Meets Vancougar

I hate goin' out by myself, but I do it anyway on occasion, going against my better judgment. Even though I'll know folks most places I end up, I never feel entirely comfortable without a designated companion (even though half the time I'm hanging out with people other than that DC). I just don't trust myself is what it comes down to.

Well, I flew solo Thursday 'cause I wanted to check out Goodnight Loving at Cakeshop. No major problems, thankfully, just strange, fleeting conversations with buddies and show-goers and band members over too much drink and too much smoke.

So, the opener, Big Fun, were, well, fun, in an unpolished, endearing, cute sorta way. (I never liked that flick Heathers -- Big Fun is the fake band in it; I kinda always hated it, actually. And Christian Slater doesn't help matters. Though I'll admit, I do love the funeral scene when the dad sobs over the loss of his dead, gay son).

Back to the show. Goodnight Loving sounded great, too. But the pleasant surprise for me was Vancougar, a four-piece out of -- duh -- Vancouver. Great harmonies, catchy lyrics about boys and personal finance, cool keyboards, and a lotta haircuts with bangs. I picked up their CD "Losin' It!" and it's pretty darn good. I also got the new Goodnight Loving record which I have yet to give a listen. (It's only been a couple days and I've been doin' plenty of partying and listenin' to ball games in between then and now.)

A few tunes (I like "Naughty") are up on their MySpace page.

Alright Oakland

Somebody from Oakland just ordered Cookie Chaos! (thanks, Lynda), so I figured that was enough reason to praise one of my new fave bands of the past few months, The Pets. They're from Oakland, and they play really great rock 'n' roll. Rather than throw out a bunch of 'sounds like' banter (OK, they do remind me of The Kids a lot, but perhaps a bit more poppy -- lots of other bands, too), I'll leave it to you to listen for yerself. They've got a couple really kick ass new tunes up on their MySpace page, "Alotta Things" and "Can't Keep Myself Straight."

Hey Pets, come back to NYC or Jersey soon, wontcha?