ATTN: NYC folk, change your plans tonite & get down to the Knit for the RANARock!

Big RANA update! Tonite at the Knitting Factory in NYC, my favorite Jersey rockers will be playing a big show to celebrate the long-awaited release of their second full-length album. RANA will be headlining at 10pm, giving all you New Yorkers plenty of time to find your way downtown after work to revitalize whatever joy the recent Yankee collapse may have sapped from you. Early arrivers can catch openers Secret Government @ 8pm and Super 400 @ 9pm. Everybody should be recovered from their post-CMJ hangover by now, & this event is not-to-be-missed IMO. Alas, I am stuck out here in Mpls, but just because I'm missing out doesn't mean you have to.

Details regarding the new album are limited:

17 tracks that span two years of this band.
we are printing a *very limited run at first (limited edition artwork),
and we'll see if our predictions ring true.

our predictions:
-this record is a monster
-this record will make you very happy
-this record was worth the wait

There's another RANA-related CD release show on Friday nite (10/22) in NYC, as keyboardist Matt "Durant" Trowbridge & friends will be playing at The Tank to celebrate Matt's first release under the moniker Leafcutter, entitled Casio Punk. It's a mastered collection of many of the work-in-progress demos Matt has been posting over at his blog, where you can purchase a copy online. Matt is scheduled to perform around 10pm, and the show is only $5. Come on out & show your support, friends.



Lastly, big-ups to Sam Champion (which includes RANA drummer Ryan Thornton), who were profiled last week by Gothamist. You might want to drop by their halloween show @ the Mercury Lounge NYC, where they will be covering another band's album in its entirety (Phish-style, but different).

MP3 RANA - "Eggo"
This heavy & powerful track was recorded in the summer of 2003 during the Athens Sessions, which were engineered by John Keane and produced by former R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry. "Eggo" features some searing guitar work by Scott "Boots" Metzger, and an intense vocal performance from Durant, whose lyrics explore the inner-struggle of jealousy with remarkable emotion & poetic insight. I saw them play this at the Knit back in spring of 2002, and it was absolutely killer. I get chills just thinking about it.

MP3 RANA - "Ring in the Sand"
Also from the aforementioned Athens Sessions, this song was also recorded for RANA's 2002 debut LP Here in the USA, but was not included on the album. This version is cleaner & more concise, though it does lack a particular guitar riff that's usually heard when performed live. "Ring in the Sand" is a charge-ahead rock song, used often as a set-opener or set-closer when it was first introduced back in 2001. However, its lyrics are notably reflexive & somewhat somber, with the bombastic "whatever blue means to you" chorus managing to be both anthemic & nostalgic all at once.

bonus MP3 RANA - "Need You Tonight" (live 4.12.01)
I first encountered RANA on April 12, 2001 at Wetlands Preserve (R.I.P.) in NYC, where they were opening for Minnesota-based jamband The Big Wu. The Wu were purely average (at best), and it was RANA that really took me by surprise & captured my attention. I vividly recall standing at the bar and hearing the first notes of this INXS track, from their 1988 album Kick. I was instantly amused, and I walked up to the stage to check out what was going on. RANA proceeded to stretch out the song to an unexpected length, rocking harder & more furiously than anything I had heard in some time. I was instantly hooked, have since been a diehard RANARock supporter.

do you believe in miracles? yes!

The Boston Red Sox celebrate a game seven victory at Yankee Stadium. For real.

Can you believe it? They actually pulled it off. Baseball's evil empire went down in flames Wednesday nite, as the Boston Red Sox won their fourth consecutive game to claim the AL pennant move a huge step toward potentially shattering the dreaded curse. Incredible.

My buddy Andy, however, was not rooting for the BoSox last nite, as he explained his logic for doing so prior to the big game:

Tonight's game is the greatest game ever played by two teams in any sport. Not for what might occur in the game, but for the platform on which it is being played.  Love the Yankees or hate them, it is imperative for them to win tonight.  If Boston wins, then everything changes. Babe Ruth, the game's greatest player, becomes a sidenote and 100 years of beautiful history are flushed down the toilet.  If you want Barry Bonds to be the new Babe Ruth, if you want your grandkids looking up to a guy that bent over and let another man stick needles in his ass, then root for Boston tonight.  If you believe in the harmony of the universe, then damnit you better route for the Yankees. If the Red Sox win, then the Yankees are no longer the Yankees, and all was for naught.  The Red Sox could go on to win 100 world series in a row, with Manny Ramirez walking halfway to second after each homerun. Future players will look like Johnny Damon and disgrace the game with their neanderthal appearance.  It will be OK to throw 72 year old men on the ground like Pedro did.  If this is what you want, go ahead, route for Boston.  If you want every world series to be meaningless for the next 5 years, route for Boston, because no one will remember who wins in the next 5 years, they will only remember that Boston won tonight.  Why is this game so important, why is this the greatest game?  One reason: Boston always loses, if they win tonight, then all the future games are meaningless in comparison.  If Boston won last year, who would care about this game?  It would be another ALCS game 7, like the one being played in the NL that no one cares about.  But if the Yankees win, then next year there can even be a bigger, more important game than this.  So choose wisely gentlemen, choose wisely.

While I see Andy's point, I have to disagree. I just love former-Twin & backup first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz way too much. My sincere congrats go out to the Sox & their long-suffering fans - especially my old pal Kaitie, whose emails I cannot respond to at the moment for fear of jinxing her team in the midst of their improbable playoff run. Now onto the Series!

This entry was posted by mr gilbert at 10/21/2004 07:45:00 AM.