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September 30, 2008
Texas: October Concert Listings
It’s a somewhat somber month in the Lone Star State, and not just because of the Austin City Limits hangover. 2008 is the sixteenth and last year for the iconic Austin club the Backyard, and this month marks the final billings of shows. The Backyard is an outdoor amphitheater-type venue and has housed performances by Willie Nelson, Gordon Lightfoot, Morrissey, Beck, REM, ZZ Top, Belle & Sebastian, David Bowie, Barak Obama and many other elitist celebrities. . Nelson leads a cornucopia of local musicians in closing the venue’s doors on the 26th. The reason for the move-out is blamed on the suburban business development in the surrounding area which has taken away from the available parking. According to a KVUE post from last April, the owners want to reopen somewhere else in the rural town of Bee Cave, which is about twenty minutes from Austin.
Not all is bad, though. As you’ll see below, the Texas concert season is firing on all cylinders and on more than one day this month Texans will be burdened with the awesome responsibility of deciding between a number of promising shows. Particularly, Emo’s is really taking itself seriously this October – just check out the killer slate from the 14th to the 20th. One question though, for the entire state: What to do on Halloween? I man, besides this.
Austin
01 Jonathan Richman at the Parish
03 Ra Ra Riot at Waterloo Records
03 Ra Ra Riot, Walter Meego, The Morning Benders at the Parish (Moved from Stubb's) 04 Tito and Tarantula, De Los Muertos, Mice and Rifles at Red 7
04 The Kooks w/ the Whigs at Antones
05 Henry Rollins at La Zona Rosa
08 Rahim at Emo's Lounge
08 The Presidents Of The United States Of America w/ The Black and White Years at Stubb's
10 The Strange Boys, The Bad Sports, John Schooley's One Man Band, Cause for Applause at Beerland
10 The Devil & the Sea, Las Cruces, Pack of Wolves at Room 710
10 The Walkmen, The Little Ones at the Parish
10-11 Widespread Panic at the Backyard
11 Cat Power, Appaloosa at Stubb's
12 Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, David Vandervelde, Judgement Day at the Mohawk
12 The Roots, Estelle, Gym Class Heroes at the Backyard
13 Ryan Adams and the Cardinals at Paramount
14 The Magnetic Fields at the Paramount Theater
14 Boston Spaceships (Robert Pollard), The High Strung at the Parish
14 A Place to Bury Strangers, Sian Alice Group, Ringo Deathstarr at Emo's
16 Baroness w/ Opeth and High on Fire at the Monarch
16 Dressy Bessy, Bad Flirt, Loxsly at Emo's Lounge
17 The Wedding Present, The Jealous Girlfriends, New Roman Times, Astronautilis at the Mohawk
17 Devin the Dude, Coughee Brothaz at Emo's
17 Sunburned Hand of the Man, Franklin's Mint at Emo's Lounge
17 When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Cave, Megazilla, Magic Jewels at Beerland
17 The Chumps at Room 710
17 Charlie Louvin at the Cactus Cafe
18 Portugal the Man, Earl Greyhound, Wintersleep at Emo's
18 Outformation at the Parish
19 Deer Tick, The Black, Chris Paddock, Mandarin Dynasty at Emo's Lounge
19 The Ting Tings at the Parish
20 Girl Talk, Grand Buffet, Hearts of Darkness at Emo's (outside stage)
20 Born Ruffians, Plants and Animals at Emo's (inside stage)
20 Weezer w/ Tokyo Police Club and Angels & Airwaves at Frank Erwin Center
23 MSTRKRFT at La Zona Rosa
24 Cold War Kids, A.A. Bondy at Emo's (outside stage)
25 Kings of Leon, The Stills, We Are Scientists at the Austin Music Hall
25 Ben Folds, Missy Higgins at Stubb's
26 A.K.A.s at Emo's
26 The Backyard's final show with Willie Nelson, Ruthie Foster, Grupo Fantasma, Kelly Willis, The Gourds, Carolyn Wonderland, Nakia & His Southern Cousins, Lucky Tomblin Band, Elizabeth Wills at the Backyard
29 Steel Train, Dear and the Headlights, Forgive Durden at Emo's
29 Ozomatli, Chali 2Na, DeLeon at Stubb's
30 Japanther, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Best Fwends, Killer Dreamer at Beerland
30 Magnolia Electric Co., Will Johnson (Centro-matic), Tre Orsi at the Mohawk
30 TV on the Radio w/ Dirtbombs at Stubb’s
31 Ghoul's Night Out III: The Dicks, Children In Heat, The Pickled Punks as Demented Are Go at Room 710
31 the Low Lows at Waterloo Records
Dallas
01 Cowboy Mouth at House of Blues
05 Yngwie Malmsteen at the Granada Theater
09 Cat Power at the Palladium
11 The Walkmen w/ Ghostland Observatory at the House of Blues
11 The Roots, Estelle and Gym Class Heroes at the Palladium
15 Baroness w/ Opeth and High on Fire at House of Blues
16 Neil Diamond at the American Airlines Center
18 The Rocket Summer, Phantom Planet and The Secret Handshake at the House of Blues
21 Girl Talk at the Palladium
21 Weezer w/ Tokyo Police Club and Angels & Airwaves at Nokia Theater
23 Ben Folds at Palladium Ballroom
26 Thievery Corporation at House of Blues
28 Dar Williams w/ Shawn Mullins at House of Blues
28 TV on the Radio w/ Dirtbombs at Lakewood Theater
29 Kings of Leon at the Palladium
Denton
04 The Low Lows w/ Starhead at Hailey’s
15 Dressy Bessy w/ Bad Flirt at Hailey’s
El Paso
04 Luis Miguel at El Paso County Coliseum
18 Mariachi Vargas at Abraham Chavez Theatre
24 Carrie Underwood at Pan American Center
Fort Worth
25 Willie Nelson at Billy Bob’s Texas
Grand Prairie
11 Ryan Adams and the Cardinals at Nokia Theater
16 Luis Miguel at the Nokia Theater
24 Vicente Fernandez at the Nokia Theater
26 Randy Travis at the Nokia Theater
29 Jackson Browne at the Nokia Theater
30 Carrie Underwood w/ Little Big Town at the Nokia Theater
Gruene
10-12 Gruene Music and Wine Fest at Gruene Music Hall
18 Asleep at the Wheel at Gruene Music Hall
25 the Derailers (CD release party) at Gruene Music Hall
Houston (although the House of Blues is technically located in Beaumont, I think)
03 the Kooks at Meridian
04 Ra Ra Riot at Rudyards
09 the Walkmen at Walter’s on Washington
10 Cat Power at Warehouse Live
10 Ghostland Observatory at House of Blues
10 Neil Diamond at the Toyota Center
11 Cowboy Mouth w/ The Lifters at House of Blues
11 Voxtrot at Numbers
12 The Presidents Of The United States Of America at House of Blues
12 Luis Miguel at the Toyota Center
14 Ghostland Observatory at House of Blues
14 Ryan Adams and the Cardinals at Verizon Wireless Theater
14 Neil Diamond at the Toyota Center
16 Charlie Louvin at Lucky Duck
17 Baroness w/ Opeth and High on Fire at Warehouse Live
17 Reverend Horton Heat, Asleep At The Wheel and Whiskey River Revival at House of Blues
19 Portugal The Man at Median
20 The Ting Tings at House of Blues
23 Weezer w/ Tokyo Police Club and Angels & Airwaves at Reliant Arena
24 Ben Folds at Warehouse Live
24 Thievery Corporation at House of Blues
25 Cold War Kids at Warehouse Live
27 Tina Turner at Toyota Center
28 Superdrag w/ Steel Train at Warehouse Live
29 TV on the Radio w/ Dirtbombs at House of Blues
30 Alejandro Escovedo w/ Los Lonely Boys at House of Blues
31 Willie Nelson at House of Blues
31 Muchos Backflips! at Last Concert Cafe
Lubbock
31 Mountain Goats w/ Kaki King at Tequila Jungle
Plano
02 Ra Ra Riot at the Loft
RGV
08-09 Luis Miguel at Dodge Arena
14 the Higher w/ Just Surrender, the White Tie Affair and the Morning Of at Cine El Rey
16 Brad Paisley w/ Jewel at Dodge Arena
18 Spit at Newman’s
21 Senses Fail w/ Dance Gavin Dance, Sky Eats Airplane and Foxy Shazam at Cine El Rey
22 Stone Temple Pilots at Dodge Arena
24 All Time Low w/ Mayday Parade, Every Avenue and the Maine at Cine El Rey
24 Spit at Smoking Aces
31 Spit at Newman’s
San Antonio
23 Nine Inch Nails at AT&T Center
Posted by Randall Monty at 10:26 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Phish rumormill: Hampton comes Alive...again?
Phish - Back to the future?
To be taken with a mountain sized grain of salt:
According to a well connected Merry Swankster source, Phish will announce later today a three night run of reunion shows at Virginia's UFO shaped Hampton Coliseum next March. Hampton Coliseum was also the site of the 2002/2003 hiatus breaking tour that saw the band perform a triumphant MSG New Years show followed by a trio of Hampton dates.
Hampton was also the site of the November 1998 shows that would eventually be released in box set form commemorating a weekend of legendary, but typical hijinks from the free spirited band. Highlighted by a series of off-beat covers, the shows included Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll, Pt. 2", Ween's "Roses Are Free", Beasties' "Sabotage", Chumbawumba's "Tubthumping", and "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" by Will Smith.
Update 12:32am ET:
Well, the day is obviously over and nothing happened. I defer to this.
Update 3:41am ET
Its official. Phish will play 3 shows at Hampton Coliseum on March 6, 7, 8 per Phish.com.
[Hampton Coliseum]
Posted by Merry Swankster at 01:51 PM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
Videos: Medio Mutante
Medio Mutante - "Corre Corre"
Medio Mutante - "Inestable"
So I picked up a record yesterday by a group called Medio Mutante. Do to cover art and store placement, I admit that I thought it one of my beloved "obscure old things." Much to my surprise, it appears to be an obscure new thing. Well, I have an even softer spot for those! I still know little, but the clips above, for two of the record's tracks will ease you on to my current ground floor. Detective work and vinyl digitizing will fill in some gaps soon enough.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:10 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Monolith: More from Day 1
[Holy Fuck crowd - All Photos by Chip Diffendaffer]
Chip's Monolith dispatch continued...
Drummer rocks:
[Blitzen Trapper]
[White Denim]
Previously: Monolith: Day 1 | 09.13.08
Holy Fuck
Blitzen Trapper
Blitzen Trapper quickly became one of my new favorite bands after seeing them at Bumbershoot in Seattle. They deliver an incredibly rich experimental folk sound that keeps you hooked in throughout the entire performance.
White Denim
The Veils
The Foals
Cameron McGill
Morning Benders
Superdrag
Silversun Pickups
//Chip can be contacted via email - chip.diffendaffer @ jetfiredesign.com.
//Chip Diffendaffer @ Flickr
Posted by Merry Swankster at 02:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
ACL Day 1: 09.26.08 - A Proper Start
Alternate Title: Where the White People Are
Background: the Austin city limits; Foreground: the Austin City Limits
As tends to be the case at non-Longhorn-related gatherings in Austin, Texas, a vast majority of the crowd at the 2008 Austin City Limits Music Festival last weekend was a group of predominantly young, reasonably affluent white people longing to deny their own heritages in favor of more culturally sympathetic personas. Being that this writer is a member of one of those demographics, is steadily leaving another and slowly (hopefully) moving to the last, yours truly finds ACL to be the perfect mass-ensemble outdoor concert. Even minus the ever-present pretension that permeates out of the Lone Star capitol, Austin City Limits is worthwhile precisely because it so consistently delivers on what every one of these mega-shows promises to do: end-to-end excellent performances by some of the better artists in the business. In the particular case of ACL, it’s the distinct mix of old and new, global and local, combining to create a spectacular individual identity.
The first act I caught on Friday exemplifies all four of the above concepts, even if on paper Vampire Weekend sound completely gimmicky: a collective of white, Ivy League post-grads co-opting African and Caribbean rhythms and sounds. Contrary to the tendency to peg these guys as new-millennial colonizers, the band absolutely delivers on stage, dissolving all of the most obvious presuppositions. (Great songs have that effect, and Vampire Weekend have a number of great songs.) Frequently and generally, audiences are instructed to close their eyes and judge a music’s worth based solely on what is heard; but to fully appreciate Vampire Weekend, perhaps a better approach is to block one’s ears and make assumptions based exclusively on what one sees. Doing that, it would be damn near impossible not to accept their sincerity. By most visual accounts, Vampire Weekend are simply an honest rock band – albeit a rock band that just so happens to sound the unconventional way they do. In spite of VW’s knockout performance, there’s no denying the ever-present thematic that wealth is seen as inauthentic while portraying humble roots garners instantaneous credibility.
Vampire Weekend
The inverse of that concept was why I was initially hesitant to attend the performance by the self-proclaimed “gypsy punk” outfit Gogol Bordello, a group that epitomized the audience’s desire to blend other cultures with their own. This is not to take anything away from GB, whose performance was an absolute leviathan of noise and energy, starting right with the opening bass drum that was the loudest single instrument I have ever heard. The remainder of their set – drums, fiddle, dancing, bass, accordion and chanting all independently wailing away until timely reuniting at the end of each song – did little to relent from the initial onslaught of noise.
Gogol Bordello
The authentic/inauthentic binary, did however, negatively effect British electropop outfit Hot Chip. Existing on the delicate cusp separating the sincere from the ironic, Hot Chip played an aural game of cat and mouse with the audience, continually and unapologetically baiting the listeners with the premise of another huge hook right around the corner. Hot Chip ended their set with a cover of Sinead O’Conner’s, “There’s Only One Sinead O’Conner Song That Anybody Knows,” and the crowd obediently stuck around through the first verse, anxiously waiting for Chip’s characteristic all-in hook to recommence the booty shaking. Brilliantly, the pay-off never came. Instead, the closing track was the quintessence of earnestness. Unfortunately, the majority of the masses didn’t/couldn’t appreciate the irony/sincerity of it all.
Swinging the pendulum back towards rustic authenticity, New Mexico’s Ryan Bingham and his band tore through a quintessential country-rocker set on the smaller BMI stage. I’m not sure if Bingham is any better than the singer-songwriter playing at any other dive bar in Texas last Friday night, but more so than any other artists that performed that day at ACL, I believe him when he sings that he’s in danger of losing his job. So there’s that.
Ryan Bingham
It makes perfect sense that the Swell Season are an entirely fabricated band, because it’s impossible for me to imagine a more appropriate act to fill the dusk-at-the-end-of-the-summertime slot. Even so, the Swell Season try desperately hard to be “real” – leadman Glen Hansard even played with a broken guitar! Along with singer/pianist Markéta Irglová, the group is most known for their Oscar-winning turn in the not-at-all true story, Once, but good luck convincing the audience that their image was anything but authentic; it looked as though the Swell Season drew the largest crowd of the day.
Manu Chao, Friday’s headlining act, perfectly encapsulates the notions authenticity and cross-culturalism, making him the ideal artist to close the show. For the uninitiated, Chao’s music is at its base a punk/ska hybrid, but from there his songs are scaffold with Tejano, rai, worldbeat, salsa, chanson and others; his primary languages are Spanish and French, but he mixes elements of Galician, Portuguese, Arabic, Wolof and occasionally English into his repertoire as well. (But don’t all of these over-descriptions beg the questions: Is he actually authentic or just actually third world? Does he exemplify the audience’s notions of what authenticity should be, or is he truly way off the grid?) Chao’s trademark intentional code switching couldn’t deter me from seeing his entire set, even knowing that I wouldn’t understand most of what was being said. At the very least, I could pretend his lyrics made sense; something I couldn’t do listening to the Mars Volta.
Austin is as accommodating a city as you’ll find on the map, just another aspect making this concert such a successful endeavor. While I would wager that most of the concert attendees wouldn’t approve of cattle being caged and directed the way the people where to the buses, it’s difficult (not to mention completely ungrateful) to dwell on the symbolic oppression of free public transportation. Let’s just chalk transport up to another example of why the Austin City Limits Music Festival is a glorified mix of purpose and paradox; and it couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.
Posted by Randall Monty at 01:39 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 29, 2008
Xeno & Oaklander, live @ Fat Baby, Manhattan, 09.19.2008
Photos by Devon Banks
I've known Sean McBride and Liz Wendelbo for a few years now, through intrepid MS photographer Devon Banks, but I've never seen them perform under their cryptic aliases before--a wrong righted two Fridays past. As Xeno & Oaklander the duo play well sculpted and triumphantly bleak European synth music of the sort that always leaves me smitten. Its roots are deeply dug into the hordes of anonymous Germans, Frenchmen, Belgians, etc., who all seemed to simultaneously discover the easy discomfort a synthesizer could create simultaneously in the late 70s and early 80s. Names like Christof Glowalla, DAF, Malaria!, Grauzone, Ruth, Charles De Goal, or Linear Movement spring to mind. Names that mean little to most music fans now, and honestly, probably didn't ring too many bells even in 1981 Berlin. But for those who love the stuff (I've got a dozen compilations lying around full of it, and this guy has my beat by a mile or two), X & O are about as authentic as you can get.
Shawn glowered and growled in the post-punk tradition, while Liz floated gracefully with airy melody in both English and her first language French. Rich but compact synth tones and propulsive beats girded both. A new record will come soon on NYC's Wierd Records, and I will give you the scoop as I have it. They play again on November 12th at Home Sweet Home on the Lower East Side, and it'll be well worth your time. I'd say so if I had no knowledge that they were delightful party guests, I promise.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 06:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 9.29 - 10.5
[Santogold]
Monday, September 29
James @ Ogden Theater
The New Year @ Larimer Lounge
The Robert Cray Band @ Boulder Theater
WHY? @ Hi-Dive
Tuesday, September 30
Adele @ Fox Theatre
Back Door Slam/Rob Drabkin @ Soiled Dove
Cataldo @ Larimer Lounge
Horse The Band @ Marquis Theater
Musee Mecanique @ Hi-Dive
Obituary @ Bluebird Theater
Wednesday, October 1
Bart Davenport @ Hi-Dive
Greg Ginn And The Taylor Texas Corrugators @ Larimer Lounge
Santogold/Mates Of State @ Gothic Theatre
Thursday, October 2
Aunaturalice 4 @ Soiled Dove
Awesome Color @ Larimer Lounge
Bearkat @ Walnut Room
Gza @ Fox Theatre
Magic Cyclops @ Hi-Dive
Margot & The Nuclear So And So's/David Vandervelde @ Bluebird Theater
Strut @ Gothic Theatre
Friday, October 3
Cold War Kids @ Boulder Theater
P-Nuckle @ Gothic Theatre
Peter Hammill @ Soiled Dove
The Pink Spiders @ Marquis Theater
Plastic People Of The Universe @ Walnut Room
Rose Hill Drive @ Bluebird Theater
Slim Cessna's Auto Club @ Larimer Lounge
Vendetta Festival @ Hi-Dive
Z Trip @ Fox Theatre
Saturday, October 4
Big Head Todd And The Monsters @ Gothic Theatre
The Glitch Mob @ Fox Theatre
Killing Kings @ Marquis Theater
Sarina Simoom @ Larimer Lounge
Seneca @ Walnut Room
Sonny Landreth @ Soiled Dove
Super Diamond @ Ogden Theater
Vendetta Festival @ Hi-Dive
Yard Dogs Road Show @ Bluebird Theater
Yellowjackets @ Boulder Theater
Sunday, October 5
Astrophagus/Joshua Novak @ Hi-Dive
Forgive Not Forget @ Larimer Lounge
The Loved Ones @ Marquis Theater
Silver Jews @ Bluebird Theater
Weezer/Tokyo Police Club @ Broomfield Event Center
Schedule appears courtesy of Mystik Spiral.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 07:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 26, 2008
Numerology: Getting Your Kicks in 1956
Fifty-six is responsible for some primo sepia-toned moments of the past century—Joe DiMaggio hit in 56 consecutive games, Shirley Temple had exactly 56 curls on her head, to name two—but these admittedly alluring phenomena did not inspire songwriters to render specific numerical homage. Thus, 56 is perhaps best known to rock enthusiasts not through a song title but for a brief but memorable walk-on part in a Bob Dylan song that goes:
Meet me in the morning, 56th and WabashaMeet me in the morning, 56th and Wabasha
Honey, we could be in Kansas
By time the snow begins to thaw.
No more eloquent mention of 56 exists in the annals of popular music. 56th and Wabasha, where Dylan dreams about meeting the lover whose absence torments him throughout Blood on the Tracks, is the pinnacle of explicit musical 56-ness. (“Love Potion #9” with its line, “I told her that I was a flop with chicks/I’ve been this way since 1956” is a close second.) But if you’re thinking about making a pilgrimage to 56th and Wabasha as part of a mad quest to visit every place ever mentioned in a Dylan song, think again. While Dylan’s songs are full of real place names (on the previous track he mentions Honolulu, San Francisco, and Ashtabula) if you visit the Wabasha Street near the University of St. Paul, where Dylan spent formative time, and expect to find your way to 56th Street, you’ll be disappointed. They do not intersect. Another, much huger, thing that it pains me to note is that this admittedly rich discussion has focused on a song called “Meet Me in the Morning” and not “56th and Wabasha,” which forces me to acknowledge that after a quadruple run of classic songs by classic artists (B-52s, Ramones, Toots & the Maytals, Tom Waits) numerical reality has slapped us upside the head, pointed an impudent finger at our chests, and said, “Are you SURE about this? Is there really a cool song with 56 in its title?” The answer is yes, barely. On a technicality—but yes. (Be patient: we’ll get to it.)
Several in the rarified world of 56-titled songs refer to 1956, a glorious year in rock ‘n’ roll’s brief infancy when the charts were clogged with Elvis, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and other charter members of rock’s pantheon. “Nineteen Fifty-Six” by the Rascals—one of the premier singles bands of the ‘60s—is good fun, a rocked-up blues number that borrows perhaps a bit too much from “Kansas City,” but it doesn’t rank as essential listening. “Nineteen Fifty Six, Fifty Seven, Fifty Eight,” a jaunty Bollywood rave-up celebrating the rush of progress, comes from a 1959 film called Anari (The Naïve One). It features the distinctive vocal talents of one of the most celebrated Bollywood playback singers, Lata Mangeshkar, who was once alleged to be the world’s most prolific recording artist and is now acknowledged to be a merely fantastically prolific one, with many thousands of recordings to her name. While classic Bollywood music is based on ragas and other traditional Indian structures, the genre also included a kitchen sink of influences, every single one of which seems to make an appearance in “Nineteen Fifty-Six.” And somehow in all of it I detect a curious Fiddler on the Roof meets the “Russian Sailors Dance” flavor. Oddly enough, it has a far stronger Eastern European flavor than “Budapest ‘56” by Paris Violence, a song about the infamous Soviet crackdown on Hungary, told via shouted French vocals and Ramones chords.
Lata Mangeshkar - "Nineteen Fifty Six, Fifty Seven, Fifty Eight"
Paris Violence - "Budapest '56"
Unsolved 56 Mystery: Michael Stipe sings the word “yeah” 56 times on R.E.M.’s Andy Kaufman tribute “Man on the Moon.” On Nirvana’s yeah-fest “Lithium,” Kurt Cobain sings it 56 times. Why??
Another mystery is why 56 is so well-liked on the West Coast, but there’s no refuting the facts: “56 Hope Road” by Orange County action-figure band Sugar Ray, “Haunting 56th Street” by Oakland’s Push to Talk, as well as Goldenboy, a skate punk band (OK, from the west coast of Norway) that cites Paul Anka, Chuck Norris, and White Lion as influences, and sounds a note of Weezerian power punk on “Fifty Six.” Bringing a jaunty ska beat to the proceedings is “Dub 56” by the Toasters, a long-running American ska revivalist institution whose members appreciate the sound of a good saxophone, and would no doubt dig “Fifty-Six,” a marvel of invention and technique by the legendary tenor sax player Johnny Griffin. “4:56 A.M.” from Roger Waters’s midlife-crisis-themed album, The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, is graced by plenty of Floydian sax, courtesy of David Sanborn. And “A Dip in the Lake: Ten Quicksteps, Sixty-two Waltzes, and Fifty-six Marches for Chicago and Vicinity” doesn’t call for a saxophone, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t one. This theoretical work, conceived by John Cage in 1978, called for groups of people to visit hundreds of predetermined addresses in Chicago and “either listen to, perform at and/or make a recording of the sounds at those locations.” So if a man happened to be playing saxophone at one of Cage’s addresses, and one of the delegations opted to make a recording of him, you could say the work had a saxophone in it. But that’s far too esoteric for me.
At least with Australian black-metal exponents Spear of Longinus (named after the spear that pierced the side of Christ) and a song like “The Sine of Satan is 56,” you know damn well there’s no saxophone, and you’re glad for that certainty.
Certainty though, has been in short supply during my search for the ultimate 56 song. While I prefer to confer top honors on a title that uses the numeral in a deliberate or evocative way, sometimes that’s just not possible. The song I’ve chosen, “Five Feet of Lovin’ ‘56” by Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps, is identical to the original 1956 version of “Five Feet of Lovin.’” (It was not unusual for Vincent to revisit songs from his back catalog, a practice that yielded a slew of alternate takes and alternate titles.) What really matters is that “Five Feet of Lovin,’ ‘56” by any name, shows off the talents of a singular, tragic figure, in all his snarling rockabilly glory.
Born Vincent Eugene Craddock in rural Virginia, Gene Vincent came storming out of the gates in 1956 with “Be-Bop-A-Lula,” an original composition allegedly inspired by the Little Lulu comic book character that ranks as one of the indisputably great songs of the early rock era. But Vincent never came close to the upper reaches of the charts again. Abandoned by American radio, he found favor and adulation in the UK. But while on a1960 tour of the UK, he was in the horrific London taxi crash that killed Eddie Cochran and left Vincent permanently damaged. For the next 11 years, on various labels and amid numerous personal crises, he struggled to revive his career. In 1971, while visiting his father in California, Gene Vincent died of complications related to a bleeding ulcer at the age of 36.
The Gene Vincent story is as sad they come, and it is one that has inspired rock writers to do their best work. As a preteen I learned about Gene Vincent from the hallucinatory Rock Dreams, which distilled two decades of rock iconography and poured it into the folds of my fevered teenage brain. One haunting illustration showed a hunched, switchblade-clutching Gene Vincent, surly and defiant, cornered in an English pub, facing down a constable holding a badge. The accompanying passage is something I’ve never been able to forget:
“After he hurt his leg, Gene Vincent always performed in pain and the possibility of collapse, and he stood on stage without moving, leaning forward, with his bad leg half-bent in front of him. Sometimes he seemed quite desperate, and he would shudder and strain and shake himself like a maimed, black-leather animal, castrated by captivity.” --Nik Cohn, 1973.
In the fantastic 1001 Songs, Toby Cresswell reckons that Mick Farren, “a writer and sometime rocker, put it best when he said, “Gene Vincent was a drunk, a pillhead and at times, a dangerous and creatively erratic asshole, but that may have been the true power of the man….His leather clothes have been copied so many times down the generations that they have become one of rock’s visual clichés. His attitude has been copied in some part by most of rock’s wannabe philosopher desperadoes and pretend warrior poets.”
Gene Vincent - “Five Feet of Lovin’ ‘56”
Numerology is our pal Dave's ill advised quest to find the definitive song for every number from one to a hundred. The higher the digit, the lonelier the climb.
Previously: No. 1, 2-4, , 4 (redux), 5-7, 7 (counterpoint), 8, 9, 10/11, 12/13. 13 (counterpoint), 14/15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26/27, 28 , 29 , 30, 30 (counterpoint), 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 , 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55
Posted by David Klein at 12:00 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
September 25, 2008
Video: Au - "RR vs. D"
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 04:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 24, 2008
Retrohump: And Then... (Right Now)
When your favorite band is nearly a decade defunct, there are only so many chances to really bask in your fandom. Sure, there's the inevitable reunion, but what until then! You can only scour YouTube for new (old) clips every so often. The records themselves provide familiarity, comfort, pleasure, etc., but they can never really surprise, now can they? Which is why, every two years or so, Matador Records does us sad, nostalgic Pavement enthusiasts of the world the great service of making our old love new again with their comprehensive reissues of the band's five studio albums. Yesterday, another track listing was announced, this time for the expanded Brighten the Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed. of the band's sly 1997 record. And there was much rejoicing.
An odd quirk of that tracklist is the seeming creep of material surrounding the band's fifth and final LP Terror Twilight into the BTC goodie bag. "Spit on a Stranger" b-sides "Harness Your Hopes" and "Roll With the Wind" oddly pop up, and the first disc ends and the second disc begins with versions of Twilight's fulcrum, "the Hexx" under it's original title "...And Then" (and then also as just "Then" in order to be contrary). As a live set staple from the Corners era, at least it's chronologically consistent.
As "And Then," the song excises "The Hexx"'s atmospheric opening riff on the unique physiology of the Capistrano Swallow, as well as it's agile football references ("the secondary stumbles 'cause the cadence of the count has lead them astray..."), skipping straight to the point where Malkmus spies you in a parking lot. The nagging guitar lead maintains and bulks up fearsomely, and the lyrics digress from there to track the the majestic non-sequitur in its natural habitat (substituting the tale of a diplomat's daughter over the eventual recorded versions cold dissing of architecture students). Luckily for you and I, a commenter on Matt Perpetua's Fluxtumblr posted a swell live bootleg of the altered beast in the comments to a post on the reissue. I've re-posted below for ease...
Pavement - "And Then" (live in Germany, 1997)
Pavement - "The Hex" (aka "...And Then")
(I dunno)
The closest thing YouTube currently has to offer by way of video documentation is the above clip, which seems to be excerpted and altered to fit the general "And Then" configuration. The goofy font they throw up in the beginning makes me think it might be from the episode they did of HBO's short-lived alt concert show Reverb but I thought that was recorded during the Terror Twilight tour, when the song had come to resemble its eventual album shape.
The Slow Century clip below shows the song as I remember it played live during my one and only attended Portland concert, a day which I've retroactively declared one of the Halcyon Days of My Youth.
Pavement - "the Hexx"
(live in Seattle, 1999, from the Slow Century DVD)
Of course, this is still none too shabby...
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Video: Ponytail - "Beg Waves"
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September 23, 2008
Madame Shredder
Now that the Republican party has opened my eyes to the pervasive evils of sexism in the world around us, I feel a bit shamed for referring to Marnie Stern as "Madame Shredder" in this post's title (though not for the awesome visual that makes it manifest). I mean, why is the "Madame" qualifier even necessary? Do her vitrtuoso guitar skills not qualify her as a plain "Shredder"? Well, it's pertinent I think, because in this case the feminine allure is a main factor in my like of her and her presumably Fiona Apple named new LP, This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That. Because normally, when you have a sweaty dude up their with his axe, finger tapping away, and burning through odd time signatures, I just don't give a shit. It sounds too labored and macho. Take Stern collaborator and stylistic compatriot Zach Hill and his band Hella for example. I just don't care to listen to them. It's all bluster and no charm. But then take a band like Deerhoof or Ponytail, their fierce riffs obscured by a singular female presence, and I'm all for it. I guess I'm a reverse sexist if anything. Sorry dudes.
Marnie Stern - "The Package is Wrapped"
Here's a barnburner from the aforementioned new album, which starts with Marnie standing her ground and diddling her strings. Her voice is a bit thin, but gutsy; the sort that filled alt-rock radio in the 90s. She sounds like she's struggling to ride atop the thundering riffs that she herself gleefully, but shortsightedly unleashed. It's a choppy strut until around 2:40, when she tops it by letting loose a pinched, Joey Santiago-esque, distorted solo. Lyrically, I'm honestly not sure what she's going on about. I'm still in the letting details sink in stage of appreciation. But I'm damn sure, even at this early moment, that a line like "the Celtic knights are calling me from behind" would earn an immediate press of the skip button had it come from inside a bearded maw, and without a playfully feminine touch.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:45 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
September 22, 2008
Video: TV On the Radio - "Golden Age"
TV On the Radio - "Golden Age"
I'm not sure how I missed this one. New TV on the Radio officially comes out tomorrow. Unless your neighbors are also cave dwellers than you already knew this. If they are though, then know it's titled Dear Science,. Everyone is making a big deal out of the comma. An action coming from any other band and not one of the best contemporary bands to marry Art into their art, with such staggering success, would probably be unwarranted. It's a keeper. Dive in and enjoy.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Monolith: Day 1 | 09.13.08
[All Photos by Chip Diffendaffer]
Due to none but terrific reasons, I was unable to make it to Monolith this year - you know, that awesome indie rock festival at Red Rocks. However, in what qualifies as an incredible case serendipity, I was able to tap our friend Chip Diffendaffer to provide coverage. Chip just so happened to be in the middle of trying his darnedest to single handedly rescue the suddenly frail American economy via a binge of photo equipment acquisitions. The timing was, as they say, perfect.
After the jump, a taste of day 1 at Monolith 2008 - including Cut Copy, Devotchka, Fratellis, A Place to Bury Strangers, Port O'Brien, Presets, Vampire Weekend - by way of Mr. Diffendaffer's ever watchful lens.
[A Place to Bury Strangers]
Cut Copy:
I'd bought the Cut Copy album many months ago after hearing a couple of songs on this hot girl's MySpace page. Turns out it was the best thing I ever got from her. I really didn't expect much besides some groovy, swirly synth pop, but Cut Copy may have had the biggest and bounciest crowd of the main stage during the entire festival. I would like to see them as an evening act in the future. They are not top tier yet by any means, but they have potential to be very good.
Devotchka:
It was unfortunate that a light rain hit Red Rocks just as Silversun Pickups were finishing their set, as it seemed to drive some people out of the seating area early. It did not last long, and those who stuck around were treated to a smooth orchestral performance from Devotchka. After a long day of shooting photos, it was nice to rest my weary legs and soak in the melodies of one of Denver's finest contributions to the music scene in years.
Fratellis:
I have been a big Fratellis fan since I saw them play two shows at SXSW in 2006. Costello Music was tops of my most frequently played albums in iTunes. Their sophomore release, Here We Stand, was a more refined and polished musical effort. While I won't say their show at Monolith was a let down, it definitely lacked the raw intensity and camaraderie of that small whiskey bar on 6th Street in Austin.
A Place to Bury Strangers:
Strobes and raw noise are almost all I remember from A Place to Bury Stranger's set. Constant pulsating light and darkness messed with my camera, which if animated, would surely have seeked immediate shelter in a closet or bathroom. With a crowd packed tight in the Heart of the Rock stage, more was felt rather than heard.
Port O'Brien:
And the winner of the Crowd Participation award is... Port O'Brien! After thoroughly enjoying the guitar and piano melodies from this Oakland folk outfit, fans were invited to select pots, pans, and other mountain cabin hardware from a wooden case and join the band on stage for the last few songs. I think everyone would have joined them had the stage allowed. Port O'Brien definitely made some new friends in Colorado.
Presets:
The Presets, a psychedelic duo from down under, closed out the inside stages on Saturday night with raucous finesse. Bathed in blue light and sporting a electric pink sport jacket, Julian Hamilton and Kim Moyes gave all those fortunate enough to make it in the room one of the most sonically invigorating performances of the weekend with hypnotic trips as "Talk Like That" and "This Boy's in Love".
Vampire Weekend:
There's something simple, elegant and just righteous about the vibe that Vampire Weekend portrays. I honestly feel smarter hearing their record and seeing them in person. "Mansford Roof" was a perfect start to a set that carried listeners through their entire self-titled debut album. They mixed in some new tunes, giving fans a preview of what might come in what will be much anticipated follow-up record. Ezra and company closed with "Walcott", named for the main character of Ezra's unfinished indie film from which the band is named.
//Chip can be contacted via email - chip.diffendaffer @ jetfiredesign.com.
//Chip Diffendaffer @ Flickr
Posted by Merry Swankster at 02:06 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 9.22 - 9.28
[High Places]
Monday, September 22
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson @ Larimer Lounge
Bullet For My Valentine (No Fear Music Tour) @ Fillmore Auditorium
Dubconscious @ Fox Theatre
Shiny Toy Guns @ Marquis Theater
Tuesday, September 23
Earth, Wind & Fire w/Michael McDonald @ Red Rocks
James Intveld @ Larimer Lounge
Spiritualized w/ Grand Ole Party @ Ogden Theater
Common, w/ N*E*R*D @ Fillmore Auditorium
Wednesday, September 24
Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers @ Fox Theater
Lions the Brave @ Oriental Theater
Iz @ Larimer Lounge
Toadies @ Gothic Theatre
Counting Crows & Maroon 5 @ Fiddler's Green
Jeff Hanson @ Hi-Dive
Foreigner @ Paramount Theatre
Thursday, September 25
The Background Noise w/Guilty Pleasure, others @ Hi-Dive
Prymal Rhythm, Phoenix Rising, Last Tragedy, others (
Sky High Music Festival) @ Aggie Theater
Lagwagon w/ MXPX @ Ogden Theater
The Dicky Jaguar Band w/ Stab!Heart!Kiss!Kill! @ Larimer Lounge
Dirty Vegas @ The Church
Temptations @ The Four Tops @ Paramount Theatre
Friday, September 26
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds @ Ogden Theater
Dismembered Fetus @ Larimer Lounge
Galactic @ Fox Theatre
Children of Bodom @ Gothic Theatre
Digable Planets @ Vinyl
Chemical Brothers listening party @ La Rumba
Xavier Rudd @ Fillmore Auditorium
Danceotron @ Hi-Dive
Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers @ Bluebird Theater
Saturday, September 27
Sigur Ros @ Red Rocks
Dandy Warhols w/Darker My Love @ Gothic Theatre
High Places, Ponytail, Pictureplane @ Rhinoceropolis
Dr. Dog w/ Delta Spirit @ Hi-Dive
Deadbolt @ Larimer Lounge
David Allan Coe @ Fox Theatre
JJ Grey & Mofro w/North Mississippi Allstars @ Ogden Theater
Sunday, September 28
Whiskey and Rouge, Birdmonster, others @ Larimer Lounge
Sky High Music Festival @ Hi-Dive
August Burns Red @ Marquis Theater
Posted by Merry Swankster at 12:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 21, 2008
Woozy Twosome
If memory serves, I think I might have grabbed both of these tracks at some point from Gorilla vs. Bear and then filed them away, only for them to really grab me in recent days. So props to that guy for being perpetually ahead of the curve, as far as romantically warped pop music goes...
Get Back Guinozzi ! - "Carpet Madness"
Get Back Guinozzi ! is a French two-piece, as well as a cryptically specific command. "Carpet Madness" has a peculiar childishness to it that reminds me off Cibo Matto in tone, if they were completely drained of their 90s hip-hop fixation. This one isn't so beat-heavy, despite a sturdy bassline that's worthy of a minor 60s radio hit. It's not long enough to discern much about its titular dementia, but if I had to guess I'd say that adhesive fumes were the root cause. There were some light heads in this studio, surely.
Memory Cassette - "Listen to the Vacuum"
Memory Cassette is an individually branded offshoot if the indistinct Philly project known as Weird Tapes, which is itself an offshoot of a band called Hail Social. Perhaps it took three subdivisions to tap into this specific brand of lush, succinct balladry. A gender-inspecific vocal, which sounds eerily like a fey dude, artificially estrogened up with a few home studio settings. "I've been watching TV just to see another face," our lonely androgyne informs us. Its longing has a light, breezy 70s AM radio universality to it, but sun bent enough to satisfy those of us with a predilection for more obscure melodic delivery systems. At barely over two minutes, it's too feather-light to be a satisfying aural meal. As luck would have it, you can download the "band"s Rewind While Sleeping EP in its entirety here.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 11:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Fact:
Juan Waters' flyers for his band the Beets continue to be totally awesome...
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September 20, 2008
Salem's Lot
I did my pertinent growing up years in Salem, Oregon, and at least at the time, the town did not having a thriving music scene. I remember a few terrible sub-pre-diversification Bonnaroo Festival type acts for the built-in suburban hippie demographic, a valiant garage pop punk band or two, and even a totally incongruous Euro-synth-goth trio called Softcore, but nothing was even within spitting distance of anything you'd call adventurous. Not that we, as sleepy Northwestern citizens in the 1990s were ready for our late 2000s namesake. I posted a dark video for Salem's song "Dirt" a little over a week ago, like a lot of sites did, out of knee jerk appreciation for unsettling creepiness in general and female flesh in specific. The extricated mp3 of said track has been burrowing underneath my skin in the interim, and I thought it might demand a few more words.
It starts with stuttering clicks and robo hand claps, foreshadowing a club banger that it never actually attempts. Before anyone could even attempt motion, a dense fog of electro-distortion engulfs everything. What sounds like a slowed and warped human vox lays a buzzing foundation, which a more sharply rendered voice rests atop. Previous songs from the mysterious band, be it the unlikely Springsteen cover that caught my ear in the winter, or the few other tracks from their instantly unavailable vinyl EP, Yes, I Smoke Crack that have hit the 'net, have had a plaintive female vocal. Here the singer seems masculine, though reflected in a Silent Shout fun house mirror. The words aren't intelligible to my show-battered ear, but the melody is fairly buoyant in the muck. In that sense, the song borrows from the well-trod shoegaze aesthetic, but more for a sense of disorientation than easily recognized guitar racket. It's only a minute before a crystalline tone darts through, it's nagging memorability further demonstrating a commitment to providing easy points of entry within a intimidating framework. Its swirling midsection is just flat out pretty; the aural equivalent of watching TV static congeal into geometric patterns and immediately rescramble. It's all quite intriguing, for sure.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 10:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 18, 2008
Dylan in The New Yorker (and not in a column by Sasha Frere-Jones)
Bob Dylan, London, England, 1966
- BARRY FEINSTEIN, 1966
In the game of poetry Bob Dylan has cut into Dylan Thomas’s once insurmountable lead by two as the September 22nd issue of the The New Yorker will publish two pieces from the former dating from the early 60’s. Dylan originally wrote the text after the photographer Barry Feinstein asked him as a joke to write some copy to accompany some of his Hollywood snapshots. The project, forgotten for enough decades to now be mysteriously labelled as a “Lost Manuscript,” was revived when Barry Feinstein went digging through his archives and found bundles of photographs accompanied with bundles of prose. Initially the project was canned in the early 60's due to the publisher’s fear of being sued by Hollywood elite. Now with a November 2008 release date, Simon & Schuster have bravely stepped up to the plate to publish this Dylan fellow in a work titled Hollywood Foto-Rhetoric: The Lost Manuscript (warning: the title may be confused in a Google search as "Hollywood Photo Erotic"). I did a quick check and it seems the last work of original poetry published by Simon & Schuster this year was Verbal Penetration: Punany Poets. I am sure somehow I could make a connection between the two but I wouldn't even know where to start, perhaps at one point the Punany Poets did a cover of "All Along the Watchtower."
The poems featured in The New Yorker are revealingly named “#17” and “#21.” The first is matched to a Ferris Bueller's Day Off type of photo involving a crashed sports car under a chandelier. Dylan doesn’t waste a single word and aptly gets straight to the point:
after crashin the sportscar
into the chandelier
i ran out t the phone booth
made a call t my wife. she wasn’t home.
“#17” continues with a litany of things gone wrong and bad thoughts until the poem is finally pulled out of the darkness of everyday troubles by a non sequitur distraction that comes from where else but Hollywood.
i went home an began writin
a suicide note
it was then that i saw
that crowd comin down
the street
i really have nothing
against
marlon brando
The second piece, “#21,” follows the elegiac tradition as Dylan wrestles with the idea of the deceased moving from this world to the next by purposely removing the female subject from the poem and instead transfers her “body” to other objects in the text.
death silenced her pool
the day she died
hovered over
her little toy dogs
but left no trace
of itself
at her
funeral
If only The New Yorker had jumped on the idea of using lines from Dylan sooner they may have avoided all the trouble that came with their failed attempt of satire by using his opening lines from the song “Idiot Wind” to explain this…
Someone’s got it in for me,
they’re planting stories in the press
Whoever it is I wish they’d cut it out
but when they will I can only guess.
-Dylan "Idiot Wind"
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September 17, 2008
Retrohump: Wait, You Want to Do What?
Magazine - "Permafrost"
(Live in Berlin, 1980, West German Television)
I hadn't thought about this song, the frigid finale to Magazine's positively sub-zero 1979 sophomore album Secondhand Daylight, in a couple of years until I recently picked up a live record in which it was prominently featured. In truth, it's actually kind of a hard song to forget about. While his Buzzcocks' mate Pete Shelley ditched that quintessential punk singles band to record some swell robo-pop (as recently detailed in this space) Howard Devoto got real grim. His second band's debut Real Life stands high atop the list of way-too-serious post-punk classics. Its critical reception apparently convinced Magazine that songs like "Shot By Both Sides" were a little too light and fluffy. Secondhand Daylight's synthetic dread is spread equally throughout its 43 minutes, but not even a toe tapper like "Rhythm of Cruelty" can match "Permafrost" for abject alienated misanthropy. Let's just take a gander at the sweet nothings of Devoto's chorus:
"As the day stops dead/ at the place where we're lost/ I will drug you and fuck you/ on the permafrost"
You've got to give him points for directness, if not tact. But in spite of containing perhaps the most ill-advised speed dating line of all time, "Permafrost," has a kind of strutting menace and retro-futurist instrumental prowess (I was going to saw "charm" but that's clearly not an apt descriptor). Above, the band tackles the song in an appropriately dark German concert hall, taped for the always mind-boggling Rockpalast program. In the clip, a very sweaty Devoto resembles some sort of alien fish creature, who's just been let out of his protective tank. It's a distinctive look.
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 01:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 16, 2008
Girls! Girls!...That's it. Two Girls.
Annie - "Song Reminds Me of You"
The final track on Annie's Don't Stop finds the Norwegian singer less than gushing about her life's work. "Music's all good, music's okaaay," she guesses at the onset. But once the faint praise has floated, we get to the crux of the matter, i.e., the destructive effects of music on the ruins of an already broken heart. "Every song I hear reminds me of you," she breathes in to the synth pop echo chamber. It's a common sentiment that's easily relatable to bleary-eyed sad sacks listening to their local K-100 and adorable Scandinavian pop singers alike. But the song takes it a step further, asking "...and does it hurt to hear your songs on the radio?" Well, according to every music biopic ever, it's kind of a kick, actually. So here's the narrative I've worked up in my head. She's singing a metatextual pop star's lament, serenading a svengali who's crafted hits for her in the past. Now that their professional and presumably personal relationship is ended, neither can take pleasure in the success of their previous work. So here's our hypothetical gal, simultaneously guilting him lyrically, and rubbing his face in this sweet and icy popsicle of a production job. As Anniemal's Richard X is still all over the boards for this record, we'll assume it's just a clever short story.
It's been a bear market for Johnny Jewel's production work lately. Last year, we were living high on the hog as tracks continually seeped from his Portland factory, and he frantically shipped out orders for breathy vocal parts to not one, not two, but three lithe yet languid lovelies. I can't seem to recall if even one of his nouveau disco classics has made it to my hard drive this year, sadly. So when this new demo appeared online from his dreamy Chromatics brand, I was fully prepared to rationalize its unfinished stature. Remember, it was in demo form that I fell for their still profound cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill." This is not that, alas. The sound fidelity is bloody red, missing the Ferrari sheen of the band's finished sound. It plods a bit as well, with a portly loop sustaining interest as Ruth Radelet and a vocoder plead with Johnny for "something to do." BUT!...at 2:46, when the beat finally drops in earnest, all qualms are forgiven, and the remaining two minutes are the sound of the song and I having make-up sex in the backseat of an Oldsmobile. (Sorry if that ruined it for you forever.)
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 12:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 15, 2008
Denver/Boulder: Shows this week | 9.15 - 9.21
[Jenny Lewis]
Monday, September 15
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter @ Fox Theatre
Point Juncture WA @ Hi-Dive
Tuesday, September 16
Carrie Underwood @ Pepsi Center
Danger Radio @ Marquis Theater
Drive A @ Larimer Lounge
Jenny Lewis @ Fox Theatre
Kate Voegele @ Bluebird Theater
Ra Ra Riot @ Hi-Dive
Wednesday, September 17
Hoots & Hellmouth @ Hi-Dive
Jenny Lewis @ Bluebird Theater
Kurt Elling @ Soiled Dove
Perpetual Groove @ Fox Theatre
Suns Of Ra @ Larimer Lounge
Thursday, September 18
Burning Spear @ Fox Theatre
C-Rayz Walz @ Hi-Dive
Cameron Mcgill @ Walnut Room
Cecilio & Kapono @ Gothic Theatre
Everybody Else @ Marquis Theater
The Lavellas @ Larimer Lounge
Lila Downs/Gregory Alan Isakov @ Boulder Theater (E-Town)
Xiren @ Bluebird Theater
Friday, September 19
Alejandro Escovedo @ Bluebird Theater
Bad Luck City @ Larimer Lounge
Burning Spear @ Gothic Theatre
Eyes & Ears @ Hi-Dive
Kenny Lee Young @ Walnut Room
People Under the Stairs @ Marquis Theater
Railroad Earth @ Fox Theatre
Toby Keith @ Fiddler's Green
Saturday, September 20
The Donkeys @ Larimer Lounge
Gavin Degraw @ Ogden Theater
Ill Bill @ Marquis Theater
The LaBarge Brothers @ Hi-Dive
Matt Morris @ Walnut Room
Perpetual Groove @ Bluebird Theater
Phantom Planet @ Gothic Theatre
Railroad Earth @ Fox Theatre
Say Hi @ Hi-Dive
Sunday, September 21
29th St. Disciples @ Larimer Lounge
Buckethead @ Fox Theatre
Dead Science @ Hi-Dive
Delerium @ Gothic Theatre
Shwayze @ Bluebird Theater
Trapt @ Marquis Theater
Schedule appears courtesy of Mystik Spiral.
Posted by Merry Swankster at 11:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 12, 2008
Appreciating the Fine Art of the Concert Poster
Throwing shows has turned me into a bit of a poster connaisseur, and this one, by Juan Waters of my last show's stars the Beets is hilariously ace. Check their MySpace if you're having trouble reading the fine print. The show's tonight, in support of caUSE-co-MOTION! and you should very much attend, by the way.
the Beets - "Happy But on My Way"
caUSE co-MOTION! - "Who's Gonna Care?"
Posted by Jeff Klingman at 02:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Numerology: We Can Drive the 55 Conversation in Other Directions
Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven starred in 55 Days at Peking, a 1963 film about China’s Boxer Rebellion of 1900. Sammy Hagar, an avid boxer in his youth, became known for rebellion with “I Can’t Drive 55,” his flip of the bird to the double-nickels that became an MTV staple in 1984. I won’t venture a guess as to how Charlton, Ava, and David would have fared, but it’s a good thing Sammy wasn’t born in Victorian England, where the Locomotive Act—the world’s first speed limit—made it illegal to drive a car (known then as a “light locomotive”) faster than about 10 mph. My guess is that Hagar, a longtime Patti Smith fan (they jammed together when both were inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame in ’07) would have had to invent punk 100 years ahead of schedule just to express his outrage.
Sammy’s song looked like it would be one of a small handful of 55 songs, but once again, this mad quest of mine has turned up far more crooked-numbered titles than I would have ever imagined. “5:55” is the bewitching title track to Charlotte Gainsbourg’s first grown-up solo work. Cowritten by the French duo Air and Jarvis Cocker, the song is a lush and transporting blend of rolling piano chords, whispered vocals, and soaring strings. There are a more than a few songs titled simply “55”—by Echoboy, San Antonio troubadour Jack Levitt, and even the Master Musicians of Jajouka, who were to Brian Jones what Ladysmith Black Mambazo was to Paul Simon. The Perfect Disaster was an English alternative band of the late ‘80s whose song “55” has the mathematically confusing refrain of “57 miles from home,” but features a four-on-the-floor chug that harkens back to Jonathan Richman’s “Roadrunner” and by extension, the Velvet Underground’s “I’m Waiting For the Man.” (The Perfect Disaster struggled to find an audience, but bandleader Phil Parfitt went on to play with Spiritualized, while bassist Josephine Wiggs played with the Breeders, Dusty Trails, the Josephine Wiggs Experience, and has recently collaborated with Massive Attack.) Screaming Blue Messiahs also sang about the accursed speed limit in the late ‘80s. An Americana-loving trio led by the chrome-domed Bill Carter, the Messiahs offered the charged-up rockabilly stomp of “55-the Law,” which comes off as a celebration of the open road until Carter slips something in about “the wife and kids are dead”—an odd touch indeed. Before launching into “55,” Kasabian front man Tom Meighan asks the Brixton faithful if there are any punks in the house. Not surprisingly, the crowd answers in the affirmative. Possibly the best of the straight-up 55 lot is “Fifty Five” by Pink Industry (1985)—an eerie slice of synth-pop from a duo comprised of former Frankie Goes to Hollywood bassist Ambrose Reynolds and former Big in Japan vocalist Jayne Casey—which has far more icy appeal than one had any right to expect. And let’s just say that the Dave Matthews Band’s lite-pop workout “Stolen Away on 55th and Third” is two blocks and an eternity away from “53rd and Third” by the Ramones, and that “$55” by John Wesley Harding sounds more like Elvis Costello than Elvis Costello himself, which is a tad unsettling.
Fifty-Five Fact: Class of ’55, a mid-‘80s tribute to Elvis Presley by Sun Records legends Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Cash also featured Rick Nelson, in his last recording session.
To the youth of Boulder, Colorado circa 1963, the Astronauts—Rich, Stormy, Bob, Dennis, and Jim—were the biggest band around. “’55 Bird,” the band’s pleasantly goofy tribute to a well-loved vintage of Ford Thunderbird, employs a vocal arrangement reminiscent of their contemporaries the Beach Boys, who had already transcended the surf music genre in a way that bands like Astronauts and the Trashmen (proud sons of Minneapolis and the creators of the classic “Surfin’ Bird”) never would. “’55 Bird” is a fun trifle, but the band’s fever-charged instrumentals—powered by a twin rhythm guitar attack—were its strong suit. The Astronauts’ lone chart success came in 1964, with a sizzler called “Baja,” written by ace producer/songwriter-for-hire Lee Hazlewood. Hazlewood, who went on to record 20 idiosyncratic albums of his own (most of which went unappreciated until the end of his lifetime), had an enlightened rogue persona that had much in common with Tom Waits. Hazlewood even recorded a Waits song on Poet, Fool or Bum (1974), which received the one-word review: “Bum” upon its release. While Hazlewood’s grizzled, booze-soaked melancholia was getting no respect at all, his musical doppelganger over at Asylum Records had just turned out a grizzled, booze-soaked, melancholic masterpiece and kick-started a career that’s still going strong after three decades. No one said rock ‘n’ roll was fair.
Waits’s proper debut, Closing Time (1973), opened with “Ol ’55,” a love song to a car that’s hard not to feel instant kinship with. So lonely it aches, then soaring and full of hope, “Ol’ ‘55” introduced the world to a voice that one waggish writer said sounded like it was bathed in whiskey, hung in a smokehouse, and then run over. What better way to deliver poignant, wryly observed lines like these:
Well my time went so quickly, I went lickety-splickly out to my old '55As I drove away slowly, feeling so holy, God knows, I was feeling alive.
When the world-weary Waits (who was only 24 at the time) describes turning to his beat-up old car, it’s more than just a ticket out of a bad situation: it’s his hope, his refuge and salvation. A year later, his label-mates the Eagles recorded their own version, and liberally sweetened it with West Coast harmonies, which Waits, not surprisingly, found “a little antiseptic.” Still, that’s the version most people know. Sarah McLachlan covered the song as well, but the original is imbued with a rough grace that the voices of Henley, Frey or McLachlan are just too damned pretty to capture. But no matter who’s doing it, the glorious chorus feels like the musical embodiment of the sun’s rays spreading over the horizon, and the “freeway cars and trucks” perfectly capture 55’s automotive essence. Ever the innovator, Tom Waits didn’t just write the greatest 55 song ever—he also gave the world “lickety-splicky,” an adverb that should only be uttered by people whose voices have been freshly run over.
Postscript: Whether “Schfifty Five” by Group X is technically eligible to win the top spot is a question I will leave to the numerological sages on high. Thankfully, Tom Waits has made the question moot, but this strangely inflected rap goof by a Georgia band posing as an Arabian outfit has some kind of primitive magic to it.
Numerology is our pal Dave's ill advised quest to find the definitive song for every number from one to a hundred. The higher the digit, the lonelier the climb.
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