I need me some REM love. So on Saturday, I had people over for a BBQ/Live 8 listening to festival. (It was on the radio here, thankfully, b/c the MTV thing, which we TiVo'd, was awful.) Oh, and don't call the cops, but we had jarts. Seriously. Metal tip ones.

What do I do when the little 6 year old walks over to see what we are doing? Keep in mind that it's illegal to sell, own or play these things. So again, what do I do? After all, I'm an attorney. Well, I tell ya. I give them to her to throw. It wasn't as bad as that sounds, we had her stand about two feet away and toss them towards the ring. Still...my neighbor should never let his daughter come over again.

But anyway, I did get to see the REM performance on MTV. (My sister called me to tell me it was on and that was the entire reason I TiVo'd it, so I rewound it.) At least one of them (MTV sucks. Anyone else think that? Cause they kept cutting in at the end of the song. Did so to the best Killers song, did so to the REM song. UGH!) And the radio played the other two songs that REM performed.

Via the AOL Blog:

Their frontman, fit as a fiddle and confident in a dark blue suit and a bright blue shirt is made up with a thick stripe of electric blue powder that goes from ear to ear and that Pete Doherty could only aspire to.He walks up to the microphone “Hello we’re REM and this is what we do.” The band plays “Imitation of Life”, Mike Mill’s backing vocals in perfect harmony with Michael Stipe’s distinctive tone. This has been the best performance of the day so far and REM never wavers with “Everybody Hurts’ and, their favorite song to perform live, “Man On The Moon”. REM is one of those bands who, like U2, has never lost its freshness, bands who have had careers that span decades making music that inspire and move people all over the world. I am inspired and moved.

Yay! I personally felt that Michael Stipe's voice was a bit scratchy - probably from touring since October - but it was only super noticable on Everybody Hurts. (Which is on of MY favorite songs to hear live. Though I do love Man On The Moon - what they now close with, after they took away my other favorite song to hear live, It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) Duh!) The scratchiness was also somewhat noticable in Rome. Not too bad, but it sounded like the beginning of a strained voice. Live 8 sounded like it was the worst of the scratchiness.