A Few Good Memes

Alyssa and I were eating at a new restaurant in the strip mall by the video store. Alyssa says “Do you remember the newspaper ad we saw with an ad for ‘KIST’ that was like ‘KISS’?” She was referring to an ad in the Chicago Reader that I brought home from Anna and my 10th anniversary weekend in Chicago. I told her I remembered and she asked what kind of band they were. I said “They are a KISS tribute band”. She said, “This restaurant is like a Panera Bread tribute restaurant”. Pretty astute. It’s basically a Panera Bread knockoff with panini and wraps and smoothies and such. The decor is very similar to Panera Bread. She’s a smart, observant kid.

I really don’t like pop-punk. Green Day is palatable, Blink-182 is just a bunch of lamers. Pop and punk should never mix. If I want punk, I’ll listen to Fugazi or The Clash. If I want pop, I’ll listen to Kelly Clarkson.

I saw that Panic! At The Disco was on the charts on Rhapsody and decided to see who they were, just based on the interesting name. It didn’t look good when I saw they were 4 suburban white high school kids influenced by Blink-182. I played it and found that they were using the typical fake British accent. But I was working, so I didn’t have a chance to turn it off for a minute, and somehow, I ended up really liking it. They have smart lyrics that belie their ages and a better sense of melody than any of the other punk-pop I’ve heard. I came in this morning and was compelled to put it on. And it was still good, so it wasn’t just the coffee yesterday.