October 15th, 2007
The expected sleeper hit of the season, Aliens in America seems asleep at the wheel. The show’s solid premise is that a white suburbanite family takes on a foreign exchange student to boast their flagging profile, only to be unexpectedly saddled with a Pakistani Muslim exchange student named Raja (Adhir Kalyan), who is fast friends with Justin (Dan Byrd), the unpopular youngest of the family. It is their relationship which the premise hinges upon, but the show is sparsely written with only a few good laughs in between. While the show packs revelations both satirical and heart-tugging, Aliens in America requires robust writing if it wants to stay past sweeps. Aliens in America airs on the CW Mondays at 7:30.
October 15th, 2007
A couple weeks ago, some friends of mine and I headed out to CJs for a couple games of pool. While we were there, a fairly new band took the stage called Tigers in the Backseat (http://www.myspace.com/tigersinthebackseat). This four-piece band’s original music immediately reminded me of a live version of early Death Cab for Cutie, mixing minor chord harmonies with a standard 2-guitar, bass and drums setup enhanced by xylophones and other exotic instrumentation. Many instrumental interludes wound between songs, adding complexity and interest to their set.  For a band this new on the scene, their sound is mature and satisfying for even the older listeners among the crowd.Â
Information on their MySpace page indicates they’re working on recording an LP here in Rockford. The two songs you can hear there give you a good idea of the style of the band. Tigers in the Backseat have been playing a few all-ages shows in addition to their stop at CJs, with their next performance coming on November 9th at the ELB. If you like what you hear, make a point to check them out.
