san jose state university – Spinning Platters

J Leto: "I'm no Jesus. Neither are you, my friend..." — J Leto: “I’m no Jesus. Neither are you, my friend…”

In the years since I became a 30 Seconds to Mars fan, it’s been a bittersweet ride. The first time I ever saw them live was two and a half years ago, at this very same venue. As you can see from that review, I was ready to let Jared Leto himself baptize me into the “cult of Mars.” I also said regularly that I’d be happy to inject the band’s music into my veins if I could just figure out how. And then I took my best friend to see them, where we had a little issue with front man Leto, and ever since, I haven’t quite felt the same about the band. Frankly, I’m not made of whatever that stuff is that allows a person to be a fan of someone they dislike as a person. I’m just not. For two years, I’ve tried to convince myself that maybe that was just a bad moment, and Jared really is who I want him to be: a fantastic actor with an amazing voice and musical talent, and hopefully even a decent human being to boot. So yes: I couldn’t wait to see Mars again Friday night when they came back to SJSU’s Event Center, and try to make up my mind once and for all. (And it has to be said that the band’s most recent album, LOVE LUST FAITH + DREAMS, is nearly as good as the one before it, the epic This is War. It certainly couldn’t hurt my chances of enjoying my evening that I had several new favorite songs I expected to hear…)

Continue reading “Show Review: 30 Seconds to Mars with New Politics at SJSU Event Center, 10/11/2013”

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to interview legendary bassist Mike Watt. We spoke about a lot of things, including many of his musical projects. As any good journalist does, I made sure to ask him about his sessions working with Kelly Clarkson on her underrated 2007 release My December. His response was great. He said, “Working on the record was a lot of fun. They gave me a lot of freedom to experiment in the studio, and Kelly was very sweet. She had a great voice and learned to sing in the church. Somebody told me that she also won a game show or something. I get asked about this a lot. Is she famous?” It was in interesting response. This is one of the most famous singers to emerge from the last decade, yet to the people that she worked with, one would never be the wiser. This humility could be either good or bad for a live performance. Luckily, I had the opportunity to make a rare journey into San Jose to see her play live. I was hoping it was worth the journey. Continue reading “Show Review: Kelly Clarkson with Carolina Liar at The Event Center at San Jose State University, 3/27/12”