There ain't nothing new, and I'm not sure I care - as long as it sounds good. There's new to you, fresh takes, twisted interpretations, mash-ups, and shit that ain't worth listening to in the first place. But I'm afraid we've done run out of new. I'm surprised we made it this far. I'm surprised I still have this job trying to figure it all out.

There is, however, plenty of music that sometimes masquerades as new, out there to be re-introduced and re-discovered by new generations that'll hold us over for years. Consider New York's 1977-era punk rock, and certain facets of pure pop music regardless of the decade. It ain't new, but it doesn't get old either. And I like it, yes I do.

It was Saturday night and Monty's Krown was the keen scene to be seen as Dark Charly and The Tombstones brought on the rock 'n' roll like a resurrection of The Heartbreakers. It wasn't just punk as we know it now, but music of a completely un-self-aware, unpretentious curiosity that didn't spend a lot of time looking in the mirror or looking back. Yeah, the band touched upon some Velvet Underground, Jim Carroll, and the mighty Mr. Thunders with a big scoop of pub rock dishevelment and leather-clad cool, but it wasn't the least bit gratuitous. The band is showroom shiny new, but with its ragged on-stage persona it blended perfectly (almost to the point of monochrome camouflage) into the joint's gin-mill mystique. The band wasn't young and pretty, but hell, neither are you. Besides, young and pretty doesn't always equate to good music.

Our quest for last call led us to the Bug Jar, where Eddie Nebula and the Plague was completely out of control and playing, among other things, an incredible version of Rush's "Spirit Of The Radio." I wonder if the Plague could pull off "Red Barchetta."

Fashioned out of what used to be The Format, the aptly named Fun played a stripped down in-store show at The Record Archive on Sunday. Now, where a lot of bands lose their punch with the required volume and instrument compromise of a typical in-store, Fun's songs were as powerful and catchy as they were fleshed out on record. What is most remarkable about Fun is its endless search for uncharted melodies. The interesting thing is with the band's uber-lush vocal layering, it sounds like it may have found some. It hasn't, but it sounds like it.