Ahh.. the much promised first real original content! I had contemplated blogging about the Security Council meeting this morning, but it has been well dissected elsewhere and with much more skill and knowledge than I would bring to the table. Besides, I think the whole situation has reached a saturation point. I do not claim to bring any new or original ideas or information to the dialogue and I think (fear?) people are fairly entrenched in their beliefs on the use of force.

So let us avoid all that and speak of music. I picked up the Zwan CD here just the other day. I must admit that I am not a lover of Billy Corgan, but the bits I heard were promising. And the supporting cast (don't know if they want to be known as such, but let's face it, when the cueball is your front man you'll be stuck in the background) is much more talented than the Pumpkins line up. Of course, for us indie rockers, this band poses a problem. We all think Billy sold his soul a long time ago after getting our hopes up with Gish he went on to emptyvee stardom and sold out arenas full of teenyboppers the world over. But, for this band he has brought in Dave Pajo, one of the undisputed champs of indie rockdom. Oh, and the guitar player from Chavez is in the band, too. But come on he's no Pajo!

I popped the CD in and have not been disappointed. There are a few tracks that the kids will like (and the TRL crowd will vote for), but there is a good chunk that is only more accessible to a discerning ear (yes, I am a music snob!). You can hear the indie influences and on some songs Billy goes almost silent and lets the music work its magic. One track even approaches post rock ruminations.

I'll give this one 3.5 stars (out of a 5 star universe) for now. I may have to revisit it sometime down the road, but I will try not to let the kids' adoration colour my views!