tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82653162024-02-28T00:38:53.328-08:00More In The MonitorThis is what happened at various shows around New York City. We swear.Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1133761585414399712005-12-04T21:40:00.000-08:002005-12-04T21:47:30.540-08:00Ray Davies, Supper Club, NYC, November 28, 2005Ray Davies, Supper Club, NYC, November 28, 2005<br />by Jason Gross<br /><br />Oh Ray... even after all these years, disappearances, failed comebacks, family and band spats, you are still the consummate entertainer when you want to be. Just like Macca and Mick, you can even put out a respectable record now but who would have thought that we'd see you do a small club show and manage to wow us all again? <br /><br />Granted that you're my mom's age by now and many of the crowd looked even older than her or you, but you looked so damn youthful and sprightly- did Dick Clarke lead you to some Faustian pact to forestall aging? And yes, you did that Yo La Tengo gig not too long ago but now you actually have a new record to celebrate. And no, I can't imagine any of the '90's Brit-pop without your tunes as a cornerstone or know anyone else who's been covered by David Bowie, Van Halen, the Raincoats, the Pretenders, the Jam, Herman's Hermits, Blur, Big Star and the Fall.<br /><br />And don't you know how to play us like a book? I mean, starting off with a B-side that's become a concert staple and an anthem for independence and individuality like "I'm Not Like Everybody Else"? Did you know how loudly we'd be singing along with the chorus, finding not just ourselves there but also bolstering your position as a perennial outsider in the biz? My god man, you had us by that first song.<br /><br />We expected some tunes from your recent EP, "Thanksgiving Day" and you had them in there but they didn't sound bad and didn't break the momentum of the oldies much. But such an English chap like you celebrating a Yank holiday? How perverse!<br /><br />And no opening act, just two hours of you, plus your new trio- a good old guitar/bass/drums line-up like your old band. And while these youngsters weren't the Kinks (though guitarist Mark Jones did shred nicely), what are the Kinks anymore or are they anymore? There would be you, your brother Dave plus... a rhythm section you put together. We know you're the lead man, the brains and such but you heard people should out for your errant sibling 'cause he's the heart of the band.<br /><br />But no matter 'cause you know how to bring a house down yourself. You could have just run through the hits that the radio keeps spewing out but after the opener, you kept stepping up with these wonderful little gifts to us real, old fans like a... set of songs all from the "Village Green" album! Yes, we did want to hear "Picture Book" and not just because of the recent commercial but the nice readings of "Johnny Thunder" (who you called your hero) and the touching "Animal Farm" more than made up for it. Or chestnuts from the very cult album "Muswell Hillbillies" like "20th Century Man" and "Oklahoma USA." And wasn't it lovely to hear you dig up other little favorites like "Dead End Street" (a natural sing-a-long) and "Tired of Waiting For You" (one of your most beautiful songs)?<br /><br />And how you teased us with "You Really Got Me," telling stories about the song (how a record exec thought Dave's guitar sounded like a barking dog) and then doing a lounge version before roaring into the real thing... And leaving "Lola" for the inevitable encore where you know that all of us were going to shout along with you... Or how you stopped to let us all sing the verses to "Sunny Afternoon"... Or how you waited to the end to unfurl your most heart-warming tunes like "Days" and "Waterloo Sunset"... Or the Harry Belafonte "Banana Boat" call-and-response you had us do on "All Day and All of the Night"... And yes, you knew how to get our sympathy with a touching observation about the biz: "(We) couldn't get a deal in the beginning... (it's the) same now!"<br /><br />But ending off with "Low Budget"? Yeah, that was your late '70's comeback and it's always good to tie it to hard times but it ain't up to your other classics or even some of your new tunes. But all's forgiven- you nicked us for sixty-five bucks and we got every penny's worth out of you for it. And right back at ya- we thank for the days...Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1122662630897524102005-07-29T11:40:00.000-07:002005-07-29T12:03:27.503-07:00Antony and the Johnsons/ Town Hall/July 28, 2005<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/264/552/1600/dead-.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/264/552/320/dead-.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Why, Amy Phillips, are people questioning the fate of this spazzy site? Tell the people.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: because us girls have gone and got ourselves jobby-jobs<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: True that. Amy, you are moving on Monday to Chicago to become the news editor at Pitchfork. Is that accurate?<br /><strong>amy</strong>: indeed it is. and you can fact-check that!<br /><strong>amy</strong>: and caryn, you are staying right here in nyc, and you have already become arts and entertainment editor at the associated motherfuckin press???<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Yes, it also proven that I have been hired by that venerable newsgathering organization to be the arts and entertainment editor of a new line of content aimed at the kids.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: damn<br /><strong>amy</strong>: we run this writing game!<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: I am now The Man and you are now Da Boy.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: but we are both competing for the kiddies' attention<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: I wanted to auction off MITM to the lad or lassie who wrote us the best letter convincing us that they would care for our baby. I wanted to go out with a bang. But you boged. Why?<br /><strong>amy</strong>: because i'm not sure i want to sell this baby to the black market just yet. <br /><strong>amy</strong>: i might want to keep it alive, if only via a feeding tube and IV<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Do you really think that you'll post from Chicago?<br /><strong>amy</strong>: yes, i really do think<br /><strong>amy</strong>: we can both see the same band play and then compare notes on their shows in the different cities!<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: It's possible that we could change the format of the blog and make it just our musical ramblings rather than show reviews. But then it will be like so many other blogs. Perhaps we could make it about the various songs we sing to ourselves in the shower. <br /><strong>amy</strong>: pearl jam's "alive" all the way, baby<br /><strong>amy</strong>: but i still love writing about live music<br /><strong>amy</strong>: and i probably won't get much of a chance to do that as news bitch<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Ok, so MITM is *not* dead. Just in a coma for a while. So people shouldn't delink us?<br /><strong>amy</strong>: most definitely not!<br /><strong>amy</strong>: they should also check the pitchfork news section every day. and, uh, their local paper?<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Actually, the AP project will also consist of a hosted web site, so I will link to it when it goes live. Wow, I feel like it's 1999 when I write "go live."<br /><strong>amy</strong>: of course, it will never be as "live" as more in the monitor<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: But, it's safe to say that people will not get a C+A IM live review such as the one that we're about to offer for a long, long, loooong time. Correct?<br /><strong>amy</strong>: correct-- unless we end up at the same CMJ shows, which could happen<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: And isn't it appropriate that this review is of a show filled with the wan longing of a schoolboy who forgot his lunchpail, yes?<br /><strong>amy</strong>: indeed it is<br /><strong>amy</strong>: i'd say the wan longing was a bit more intense than that though<br /><strong>amy</strong>: more like that of a desert missing the rain<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: hahahahahah.<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: We're speaking, of course, of Antony and the Johnsons LIVE at town hall last night.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: i personally was shocked, shocked! at how FUNNY antony was. were you?<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: No. Tragedy + comedy = DRAMA.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: yea, verily. last night was all about drama<br /><strong>amy</strong>: girls dressing up as boys, boys dressing up as girls<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: What kind of schmata was he wearing? Huh? It was like something on special at Lane Bryant (not that there's anything wrong with that...)<br /><strong>amy</strong>: maybe it was a lane bryant special in a former life, but it had been thoroughly mutilated. <br /><strong>caryn</strong>: The underneath stuff was Lane Bryant, the over wrap was David Bowie.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: i dunno, i was feeling more of a stevie nicks vibe from it<br /><strong>amy</strong>: (for those playing along at home, it was a gauzy, ripped-up black shawl)<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Yeah, that too.<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Is that his real hair or a wig?<br /><strong>amy</strong>: i was going to ask you that!<br /><strong>amy</strong>: it looked like a wig<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: From our vantage point behind his head, it was clear that a random chunk was just missing from the back. I think it was a wig.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: he looks a lot like robert smith<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Same shoulders!<br /><strong>amy</strong>: his movements at the piano reminded me a lot of stevie wonder<br /><strong>amy</strong>: stevie wonder meets a seal wiggling across an iceberg<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Someone at work asked if he speaks in falsetto (or, to mine a Pavement song: What about the voice of Antony? How did it get so high? I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy?)<br /><strong>amy</strong>: he does speak like an ordinary guy<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: I would say he speaks like an ordinary guy...sort of.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: that was kind of disconcerting, actually<br /><strong>amy</strong>: i was expecting his speaking voice to be more... flowery<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Is it even possible to describe his singing voice? When you find the right words, perhaps then you must die from the effort. Let's describe his voice using only food as descriptors.<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Butterscotch.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: black forest cake<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: anise.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: what's that?<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: a licorice-like spice.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: i learned something new today<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: truffle oil.<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: And truffles.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: you know what? his body language is kind of like a pig nudging its snout through the forest looking for truffles<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: ganache<br /><strong>amy</strong>: what's ganache? pardon my food ignorance<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: a rich mixture of chocolate and cream often used on cakes. Now that we both have jobs, we should go out to eat more and I can school you. Oh yeah, you're moving AWAY on monday.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: yeah, i'm going to have to find someone new to be my restaurant top!<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Charoset.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: hahaha<br /><strong>amy</strong>: good one<br /><strong>amy</strong>: so i guess we could conclude that antony's voice is rich, decadent, expensive, slightly sickening?<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: yeah, that about does it. Seemed like the place was sold out. Or at least very full.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: yeah, i was surprised. i didn't know antony had that many fans<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: What did you think of the whistle routine?<br /><strong>amy</strong>: i loved it. but i think there was some recorded whistling being piped in.<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: I think the whistling was piped in, too.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: same with the humming<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: yeah.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: i was also surprised that there weren't any special guests!<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: I think Lou Reed was in the house although I didn't see him; when A played that Lou Reed song he made a dedication that seemed to be to be him.<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: What was your favorite song?<br /><strong>amy</strong>: for today i am a boy<br /><strong>amy</strong>: that's my favorite song on the record, too<br /><strong>amy</strong>: you?<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: I liked when he sang about being a cavewoman. he really looks like a cavewoman.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: oh yeah, he definitely does. and the bassist looks like a caveman.<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: What song would you most want Antony to cover?<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: I am voting for Girlfriend in a Coma.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: hmm. something by pj harvey<br /><strong>amy</strong>: i want him to do "oh my lover"<br /><strong>amy</strong>: gf in a coma would be cool too<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Hmmm, both intriguing choices. <br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Anything else you'd like to say about the show before we sign off?<br /><strong>amy</strong>: those cocorosie girls are hot stuff<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: As I stated whilst watching them, if they were my age, when we were their age, they totally would have been Deadheads. I am so pleased to see how the culture has moved forward.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: and i said, i think they ARE deadheads. the one girl had a big silver pot leaf necklace!<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: But she was wearing a Tupac t-shirt.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: what, deadheads can't like tupac?<br /><strong>amy</strong>: you should see the outfits they're wearing in the album art<br /><strong>amy</strong>: tie-dye fantasia<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: the deadheads of my era literally only listened to the dead. and maybe Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. It was pathetic.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: well i guess culture has moved forward then<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Amy, as I prepare to sign off, let me say this so that it may be put into public record: you are the sister that I've never had and your brain pleases me to no end. I will miss you.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: aww shucks caryn. i will miss you too, and you are also the sister i never had.<br /><strong>amy</strong>: but i have the feeling that our paths will cross again.<br /><strong>caryn</strong>: Cue Green Day's "Time of Your Life." Fade out.Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1116950728894982092005-05-24T09:03:00.000-07:002005-05-24T09:09:28.503-07:00Jeff Buckley exhumedOur friend Daphne Brooks (no relation, I wish though...) will be reading/discussing her new amazing little book on Jeff Buckley this Thursday. Daphne is one of our favorite thinkers. Join us, won't you?<br /><blockquote><br />A Reading of Jeff Buckley's Grace<br />with author Daphne Brooks<br /><br />Thursday, May 26 <br />at 7:00 p.m.<br />Cake Shop<br />152 Ludlow<br />LES, NYC<br />(between Stanton and Rivington)<br />www.cake-shop.com<br /><br />The power and influence of Jeff Buckley's Grace increases with each passing year. Here, Daphne Brooks traces Buckley's fascinating musical development through the earliest stages of his career, up to the release of the album. With access to rare archival material, Brooks illustrates Buckley's passion for life and hunger for musical knowledge, and shows just why he was such a crucial figure in the American music scene of the 1990s.<br /> <br />Jeff Buckley's Grace is latest in the 33 1/3 music series by Continuum Books. Copies of the book will be available at Cake Shop.<br /> <br />Daphne A. Brooks is an assistant professor of English at Princeton University where she teaches courses on AfricanˆAmerican literature and culture, performance studies, critical gender studies, and popular music culture. She is the author of two books, Jeff Buckley's Grace (2005) and Bodies in Dissent: Performing Race, Gender, and Nation in the TransˆAtlantic Imaginary (Duke University Press, 2006).</blockquote>Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1116875548684839832005-05-23T12:01:00.000-07:002005-05-23T12:17:56.776-07:00Dropping/kicking scienceNot a show review, but a book review. <br /><br />If you're reading this, chances are great that the <a href="http://www.snobsite.com/">Rock Snob's Dictionary</a> will beckon more than a few heaving belly laughs from you. <br /><br />I interviewed co-author David Kamp <a href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2005/05/19/entertainment/e160105D46.DTL">here</a>. Kamp is the guy who wrote that stunning <a href="http://entertainment.myway.com/celebgossip/pgsix/id/09_07_2004_1.html">article</a> on Rick Rubin/Johnny Cash that ran in Vanity Fair last year; one of the best pieces of music journalism in recent memory.Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1113441167667936182005-04-13T18:10:00.000-07:002005-04-13T18:29:56.510-07:00Martha Wainwright/Joe's Pub/ April 12, 2005Anyone else here think that <a href="http://www.publictheater.org/forms/pub_about.cfm">Joe’s Pub</a> has the best sound in the city? I don’t go a lot, but almost every time the sound has been perfect, almost chillingly so. There was one marrow-melting Grant Lee Phillips show there about five years ago that I just don’t think you could even replicate anywhere else.<br /><br />I hadn’t been to Joe’s Pub since the Dresden Dolls about a year and half ago, so last night I was sort of startled by what seems to be a new seat reservation policy. I got there plenty early and they asked if I had a seat reservation and I was, like, uhhhh. So they told me I had to stand at the bar in the back. I was not pleased. I was able to infiltrate the table of a splayed-haired guy who looked like a backup musician of some kind (you know that look, right?) by just being forward and asking if there was anyone else sitting there. He was nice. What’s up with this seat reservation thing? Is it for every show? Do you have to pay more?<br /><br />But back to the topic at hand. <a href="http://www.marthawainwright.com/">Martha Wainwright</a>. She looks like a 70s burn out, a delicate cross-pollination of Stevie Nicks and Cherrie Currie. Her new self-titled record has really started to grow on me. Her voice is this almost twee tremolo that rides into instant signature territory. A Martha Wainwright song can always be picked up out of an aural line-up. The only thing the songs on this diverse new record of hers have in common is her voice and her sticky phrasing that French kisses vowels. <br /><br />This night the only appearance made by a famous relative was by her mom, <a href="http://www.mcgarrigles.com/">Kate McGarrigle</a>, who flew in from a gig in Amsterdam to play piano for a few songs and kiss “my favorite daughter.” Martha’s dad <a href="http://www.lwiii.com/">Loudon</a> is known to be a bit of prick when it comes to competing with his kids in the musical ring; he had a record that came out yesterday, the same day as his daughter’s first full-length and he scheduled a show at Joe’s Pub the night after hers. Maybe it will help her out, who knows? It just seemed lame, like he is trying to pull some spotlight away from her. Not surprising, then, that Martha’s song “Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole” is about how her dad doesn’t treat her seriously (this ripe song is the most folky one on the record.) I guess he’s treating her seriously now. Where's this family's reality show? It would end up on PBS instead of Fox, but still.<br /><br />I’m not sure if I was incredibly impressed or a little disappointed that her set, bulked up with songs from the new record, sounded a lot like they do on the disc (a perennial barometer for live music). In this case, I am leaning on the side of impressed. It was a record release show and it played homage to the studio work. As she stood on the stage wielding her simple acoustic guitar, I couldn't help but think: what would a Martha Wainwright/<a href="http://www.andrewwk.com/">Andrew WK</a> duet sound like? What can I say---the $11 G-n-T was particularly strong. But I actually think it would sound awesome.Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1112215605616564932005-03-30T12:43:00.000-08:002005-03-30T20:21:33.396-08:00Noise from the Underground/Columbia University/March 29, 2005Amy and I were supposed to a do a blazing IM recount of last night’s throwdown*, but the girl is M.I.A. (and not in a galang way, either). Perhaps she’s too shy to recount her brief time on a stage filled with music journalism luminaries. Or maybe she’s been immediately whisked away to a containment center deep in the Rockies lest she reveal any more highly confidential blogging secrets.<br /><br />But they didn’t get me. Here’s a list of not so secret secrets revealed.<br /><br />1) Sasha Frere-Jones is a master moderator. Ha-ha-inducing, squabble-ready, hat-wearing and always with his hand on the control panel, he is a good argument for the rock critic as performer model. If you’ve been in a band, you’re cool with sitting on a stage in a packed, overly heated room serving up the banter. If you’ve hidden yourself away with your laptop and vinyl since age 12, well, you might not be so good at this kind of thing.<br /><br />2) That guy Knox from the Fader is a trip. This is probably a litigious statement, but he seemed as though he baked and staked that night. A big brouhaha erupted when he claimed that professionalism in journalism serves to marginalize under represented groups. I actually think that he was misunderstood. I may be wrong, but I think that what he was trying to say is that the inverted pyramid traditional music crit style (this is what I think he meant by the term “professionalism”) blocks out things because of what it has to include in order to keep the professional style intact. So, a piece on Band A will have to include who, what, where, when, why in favor of some other fringe info and feel. Knox, you out there? Help us out, man.<br /><br />3) Anthony DeCurtis was a brave fellow for volunteering to be the stand-in for The Man. He got pummeled repeatedly for being part of the establishment. You know what? He didn’t apologize. I have to respect that in a way.<br /><br />4) I kept making thought bubbles appear over Tunde’s head. I wish that he had spoken more. It was interesting when he talked about getting stacks of clips about his band and how reading them one after another makes it abundantly clear how much biting goes on in the world of journalism. Cut-n-paste journalism = scourge of a nation.<br /><br />5) I wish that there had been some representation by the Mp3 bloggers.<br /><br />6) Amy yet again shamelessly promoted her mother. Amy’s mom has got it going on, but c’mon already. Uh, hi Mrs. Phillips. Amy was talking about when she writes for the Philly Inquirer, she imagines that she’s writing for her mother. I only imagine that I’m writing for my mother when I create my special poetry that I keep in my special place that helps me release my special feelings as advised by my Freudian analyst. Uh, hi Dr. Hammerichen.<br /><br />7) I can almost completely visualize what Michael Azerrad was like in the 80s/90s, surrounded by stacks of seven inches and zines. Which is to say that he is cool. I mean, his name includes the word “rad.” I liked how he brought up the social climbing elements of links on blogs (not that there’s anything wrong with them, cough, cough…) as I don’t think people really discuss this kind of delicate old boy’s network nicking. <br /><br />8) Mad props to Brandon Wall for keeping a day job in the j-biz and curating a professional looking music site. Not easy to do.<br /><br />*In the spirit of full-disclosure (ain't that professional) I must mention that I am affiliated with the National Arts Journalism Program, the generous organization that put on this event. I was a NAJP fellow last year.Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1111561947861346542005-03-22T23:02:00.000-08:002005-03-22T23:19:51.466-08:00The Go! Team/Southpaw/ March 22, 2005<span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:19:52 AM): It's weird to see a band and not really know the music. One of the weirder show going events in my life was seeing Tenacious D before I had ever caught the tv program. Everyone there was singing along. I felt like an alien.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy </span>(1:20:33 AM): oh my god you saw tenacious d live. i am so jealous<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:21:26 AM): Oh yeah, at this smallish club in Portland. When they were real culty. So, without a lot of pre-knowledge and some minor absorption of the Go! Team phenom, I have to say, I was not impressed.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:21:09 AM): the go team live experience is quite different from the album actually. the album sounds like a cut-and-paste dj record, like the avalanches<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn </span>(1:22:39: There seemed to be a total lack of cohesion with the stage show. Seriously, they reminded me of the dorky brother's band in Welcome to the Dollhouse. But not as good. And without the occasional sprightly sound of klezmer clarinet.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:23:10 AM): there was banjo, harmonica, melodica and recorder! surely that made up for it. yes, i agree they were sloppy. but i thought that made them endearing.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:24:02 AM): I hated how the lead lady, as peppy as she was, tried to hype everyone with the most clichéd moves ever. Ye olde "Repeat after Me." Ye olde Battle of the Sexes. Ye olde wave yer hands in the air. Boooor-ING.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:24:32 AM): this is also true. it was quite cliché. but, once again, she was so cute it was endearing<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn </span>(1:25:23 AM): C'mon Amy. That's just weak. You usually don't let people slide just because they're cute. Or...maybe you do.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:25:56 AM): not just cute. endearing. getting over on pure charm.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn </span>(1:24:45 AM): The bass player? He looked like those pictures of John Kerry from when he was in that garage band in his youth.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:24:57 AM): yeah! and he was wearing a springsteen-esque headband<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:25:27 AM): as for the battle of the sexes, have you ever heard someone make the guys say "aahh-ooh, aahh-ooh" like dogs in heat<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn </span>(1:26:59 AM): Whatev. Some Brit lady came up to me and was like..."so, what do you think of 'em?" I wasn't sure if she was their sister or something. I was like, "Honestly? Not too impressed." She giggled and said, "Me either. I mean, they're from England, and I'm glad they're doing well, but..."<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:28:36 AM): oh also, the mix was shit<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy </span>(1:28:41 AM): made even worse by my earplugs<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:27:53 AM): I know that that record is likely much better and more complex and more cohesive. I will check it out before I delete Go! Team from my Buddy List.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:31:34 AM): Ok, the two drummer thing. Trick or treat?<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy </span>(1:32:00 AM): trick AND treat!<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:32:18 AM): Why?<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:32:49 AM): well they obviously didn't need two drummers. and both drummers were playing along to backing tracks<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:33:02 AM): so they weren't really adding to the music<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:33:05 AM): That's the trick.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:33:08 AM): yes<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:33:11 AM): What's the treat?<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:33:26 AM): it seemed like they were like "hey, people will think it's cool if we have two girl drummers! let's do it"<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:33:33 AM): the treat: it was cool!<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy </span>(1:33:51 AM): i love watching female drummers<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:34:10 AM): Hmmm. Not buying it. A whole family in Africa could have been fed for a year just with the cost of transporting that second drum kit around.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:34:32 AM): oh come on. you think madonna shouldn't have backup dancers? kiss shouldn't use pyrotechnics?<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:34:41 AM): it's the same thing. spectacle!<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn </span>(1:35:29 AM): I love a spectacle. Hooray the spectacle. This hardly was a spectacle. Maybe it their drumsticks were on fire. If Sheila E. can do it….<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:36:01 AM): well, two girls, one of which is adorably pudgy, playing the drums with big goofy grins on their faces, is enough spectacle for me<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:36:23 AM): You are so gay Amy Phillips! I can see the movie now...Drum Fine XXX.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy </span>(1:37:05 AM): the boys in the band just weren't as cute as the girls<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:37:37 AM): also, the show was very desexualized<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:37:43 AM): it was like a children's birthday party<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:38:08 AM): That one with the orange t-shirt had a goofy rolling on X grin. Like Bez from the Happy Mondays.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:38:34 AM): according to my friends, that is the guy who made all the music on the album<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:39:30 AM): I think you're right about the total lack of sexualization. Maybe that's why I didn't like it. And why it reminded me of Welcome to the Dollhouse. It was a musical Special People's Club.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:40:02 AM): even when the lead girl started shaking her ass all rap-video-like, it wasn't sexual<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn </span>(1:40:31 AM): The audience (except for me and Lady Brit) were really into it, though.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:41:05 AM): a lot of people in the back weren't into it. but i was quite surprised at the enthusiasm. because, as the lead lady said, nyc is not known for its dancing audiences.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:42:22 AM): Most of the audience seemed to know all the songs.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy </span>(1:42:30 AM): ah, the power of the internet. oh i saw that they were selling 13 piece button sets at the merch table for 5 bucks<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy </span>(1:43:04 AM): 13 buttons!<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:43:12 AM): All Go! Team?<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:43:16 AM): yes!<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">amy</span> (1:43:26 AM): you could decorate the entire front of your shirt with that<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">caryn</span> (1:43:34 AM): Or your ass.Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1109867363501531212005-03-03T08:27:00.000-08:002005-03-03T08:43:06.900-08:00Sleater-Kinney/Mercury Lounge/March 2, 2005I have to wonder if all this noise about the new Sleater-Kinney record being loud is really just another subconscious battle of the sexes? <br /><br />I have The Woods, S-K’s latest, and no doubt it does sound different than their previous stuff. There’s lots of fuzzy bass sounds and rolling psychedelic riffing, but when people say that it’s loud, what do they really mean? <br /><br />Call the Doctor was loud. Dig Me Out was loud. Hot Rock was loud. All Hands on the Bad One was loud. One Beat was loud. Shit, they are all loud. But loud in a different way. Those previous records featured Corin Tucker’s high vocal shrieking and Carrie Brownstein’s serrated guitar leads. Now, with The Woods, it’s a darker loud, a deeper loud, a meandering loud. <br /><br />Could people be confusing “loud” with “masculine?” The previous records were loud in an unmistakably feminine, soprano-seeking way. This is a band without a bass player, remember. But this record reaches for the bass. Skuzzy, boy bathroom bass. Corin still keeps up a pitch that’s on top of a mountain, but the music is running down the hill away from it. This is a new dissonance. The new loud. <br /><br />It was great to hear the just birthed songs unleashed in the relative small environs of the Mercury Lounge. They played most of the The Woods. I’ve seen the band about 15 times in my life, so I can say some certainty that the wacky, dramatic faces Carrie made while singing were entirely new. If she sang the word “crazy” she’d pull this complete lunatic pose. It was sort of punk rock kabuki. Corin is becoming more and more a lush earth mama. During some of the noodling songs, she had her eyes shut and bowed her head just so; for a split second, she almost looked like a hippie…not that there’s anything wrong with that. <br /><br />Not all of the newer songs trail in the footsteps of Big Brother & The Holding Company. Some have an airy 1970s AM radio feel, like “Modern Girl” which has this bright chorus that goes “My whole life is like a picture of a sunny day.” At first listen, "Modern Girl" sounds like a happy song until you unpack the lyrics and you realize that, duh, if your life is like a picture of a sunny day, well, it’s not officially sunny. They played that song. They also played one of the better songs from The Woods called “Jumpers,” which for some reason reminds me of a Mirah jam---jabs of harmony, brisk singing, marching beat. It sounded really strong live, their voices turning grapes into jelly.<br /><br />The night ended with an encore of the old favorite You’re No Rock-n-Roll Fun, which I mentally dedicated to my favorite unofficially straight-edged blog partner, one Amy Phillips.<br /><br />Oh yeah, the band before them, Pela, was mostly unremarkable except for this one lyric of theirs that struck me as outrageously poetic: "You have a fragile face in a public place."Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1109784002431992182005-03-02T09:13:00.000-08:002005-03-02T09:28:20.096-08:00Breaking NewsCaryn Brooks and The Amy Phillips have been at odds for a few weeks as they exchanged long distance jabs but on Monday night (February 28), the beef between the two former collaborators escalated. MTV.com reports that a 24 year-old woman from Portland, Oregon, was shot in the leg outside of New York's WQHT as Caryn Brooks was conducting an on-air interview.<br /><br />According to a post by The Amy Phillips’ friend Daphne Carr on the blogger’s <a href="http://themusicissue.blogspot.com/">The Music Issue</a> website, The Phillips and her entourage were attempting to enter the radio station to confront Brooks but they were denied admission and an altercation ensued. According to Carr, a member of their entourage was allegedly shot by someone affiliated with Brooks and they are now holding Brooks responsible.<br /><br />Brooks, who was on air at the time, abruptly stopped her interview and was ushered out of the back exit of the radio station once news of the shooting reached the studio.<br /><br />Before the interview was interrupted, Brooks explained that The Phillips was no longer a member of More in the Monitor because she was disloyal. The blogger was referring to comments made by The Phillips on Saturday (February 26), that she didn't want to be involved in Brooks’ beef with bloggers <a href="http://fluxblog.org/">Fluxblog</a>, <a href="http://douglaswolk.com/">Douglas Wolk</a>, and <a href="http://ultragrrrl.com/">Ultragrrrl</a>.<br /><br />Brooks also said that The Phillips should stop saying More In the Monitor and added, "She thinks she's doing me a favor when she says that."<br /><br />Later Monday night, shots were also fired outside of Blogger. The company hosts <a href="http://m-matos.blogspot.com/">Matos</a>, <a href="http://anthonyisright.blogspot.com/">Anthony is Right</a>, <a href="http://onelouder.blogspot.com/">One Louder</a>, and Daphne Carr. No one was hurt in the incident.<br /><br />No arrests have been made in either case.Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1109459814971538072005-02-26T15:14:00.000-08:002005-02-26T15:17:31.083-08:00The 22-20s/Southpaw/Feb 22, 2005<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">by Abi Cameron</span></span><br /><br />The 22-20s look like the cast of Reservoir Dogs with better haircuts. They play a thudding, full-body impact, non-stop wall of gritty, supped-up neo-blues for 40 minutes – one song screeching into the next, transforming the 9 p.m. beer-nuzzling crowd into the 9:05 p.m. party. It’s dirty. It’s loud. The sound guy ran around his booth attempting to sooth the whining sound-system. The bass throbs down the stage, across the floor and up my legs when singer/guitarist/songwriter Martin Trimble’s first lines slam through the air and hit me. I want to dance. I want to make out with…somebody.<br /><br />Bassist Glen Bartrup, tall and emaciated, is the focus of every press camera (and my point-n'-shoot) in the place. He struts around the stage like a young Mick Jagger, wrapping Trimble in his trailing cable and seemingly taunting him into an onstage battle of Who’s-The-Bigger-Rockstar. But this is not a choreographed rock show. There are no looping-“rockstar” moves. None of the usual “I’m-so-out-of-control” jumps and slides and jives. They create a show one beat at a time. It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve felt like I was seeing four guys playing their hearts out. This cranking energy is not lost on the crowd. Trimble sneers back. Bartrup gyrates into his bass and writhes in fits of ecstasy.<br /><br />Tumbling bass and drum syncopations, like sneakers in a dryer, make me feel like a Mexican jumping bean. I just don’t know which way to jump first. Instead, I’m carried away on the rolling, gospel-kissed organs that they slather on top of it all. All the while, Trimble slurs and growls and prances his way through one incendiary song after another. With the best use of syncopated rhythms since 'Cry Me A River', the 22-20s are a hybrid of Interpol and Slim Harpo.<br /><br />Formed three years ago and named after the Delta bluesman, Skip James'<br />piano-led '22-20 Blues,' the Lincolnshire 22-20's are not what is rolling off the current garage-rock conveyer belt. They play fast bluesy rock. This isn't your White Stripes novelty-brand blues; this is the real thing - they've got heavy, dirty bass guitar, and enviable guitar maneuvers. The bulk of their set is composed of catchy, filthy songs that embed themselves in your cranium on impact. They actually have something to hang their hat on – white man's blues. It's the same blues that Eric Clapton brought to British music in the late 60s, Bowie twisted into one-blue-eyed soul in the 80s and the Black Keys have brought into the 21st century.<br /><br />They have the obligatory garage-rock Ode to a Fucked-up Relationship ("Messed Up") and the standard Ye Olde Apology Song ("22 Days") but they douse these less than original themes in seeping rhythms and noise so full and distinct that I don’t care. You just want to see what happens next.<br /><br />The licks, hooks and chops are all there and you get the sense that they are playing from a need to get something off their chests and it works. If you’re shooting for the blues as white boy brits, you’ve got to really mean it and persuade an audience you really mean it. The 22-20’s are very convincing. They play straight-forward blues-rock that you could probably hear coming out of any dive bar in Mississippi, but the 22-20s take what could be a languid, bluesy jam and pound you over the head with it. Again. And again. And I still wanted more.<br /><br />Perhaps the 22-20's best song is "Devil In Me." An exhausting bass line, rock-hard drums and lyrics lifted from Robert Johnson's diaries propel this sweat-inducer from its actual four-plus minutes into what seems like a minute forty-five. This is the one to put on a tape for an ex-boyfriend to convince him that you've turned evil and hard post break-up.<br /><br />The show ends when they just simply stop. The stage is empty in minutes. There has been no banter between the band and the audience during the show. Nothing is said when they leave the stage. This is not a band for small talk. And I could care less.Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1108367618420289812005-02-13T23:44:00.000-08:002005-02-13T23:55:51.316-08:00The Strangeways Glee Club/Floyd, NY Bar in Brooklyn/ Feb.13, 2005Is it fair? Shall the critique be unleashed? These people were volunteers after all. Aid workers gathered to lead the lovelorn in the singing of songs by the Smiths.<br /><br />The answer is right there. Fairness? It is but a fantasy in the world governed by Messrs Morrissey and Marr. Nature’s a language, can’t you read?<br /><br />So the Strangeways Glee Club was but a group of amateurs. They had to pluck the lyrics off of sheets of papers. The dude on the acoustic guitar couldn’t get it right. One of the singers looked like a zippy fourth grade teacher.<br /><br />But you want an academic discussion about The Authentic, huh, bigmouth? It’s in the pub. It’s two friends sharing stories about The Smiths while singing songs by The Smiths as led by a community group manhandling songs by The Smiths. All on the eve of Valentine’s Day.<br /><br />Yes, it was a crime that “How Soon is Now” was not part of the evening’s program, but do you blame them? Do you know anyone who can play that song? And is it their fault that at least one person in the room was crushed that “Ask” remained unfurled? How could they know that the bucktoothed girl from Luxemburg is a specter that haunts my, er, <span style="font-style: italic;">her</span> everyday existence? These petty grievances seemed not to bother the chortling choir members dressed in black.<br /><br />And thank goodness for that. Self-absorption was the drink of the day and everyone there was soused on the stuff. Together.Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1107361952122127722005-02-02T08:26:00.000-08:002005-02-02T08:43:04.966-08:00The Arcade Fire/Webster Hall/Feb 1, 2005Dear Diary,
<br />
<br />Ohmigod, last night I got to see the Arcade Fire. They…are…so…CUTE. Every single one of the hundred band members, completely fuckable. Even that singer guy Win who sorta summons the je ne sais quoi of Rocky Horror Show’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0639782/">Riff Raff</a>. Win, if this diary ever becomes public, please know that this is totally a compliment.
<br />
<br />But I have to confess. Can I confess to you, sweet receptacle of my innermost thoughts? I hate them. To death.
<br />
<br />See, during the whole show, they all kept switching instruments with the laissez faire of a pre-schooler running from game to game in the basement rec room. The hopped from keyboards to drums to accordion to bass to tambourine. They made it seem easy. Diary, I have tried to play one instrument in my life and have failed miserably. How do the kids in the Arcade Fire think it makes those of us not blessed with the nexus of creative and math smarts feel? The answer is dumb and bitter.
<br />
<br />But then again, it’s hard to stay mad. You see, they all line up and shout the ebullient choruses at you, almost like a dare. Come on, join us. We are singing at YOU. Double triple dare you!
<br />
<br />And then different players act out these dorky tableaux during songs: the two violin players start pretending that they’re having a vicious lover’s quarrel, a man in a motorcycle helmet starts pummeling the dude with the accordion, two of ‘em start waltzing. This is strictly study hall goofs and they’re unabashed about it. Know why? These guys are having fun. You just can’t hate them.
<br />
<br />Diary, know what else I feel really dumb about? I think I was standing behind David Bowie the whole time and didn’t even know it.
<br />
<br />See, I got a VIP pass because I’m writing about the show for another outlet besides you. Don’t be mad, ok? Why they gave me a VIP, I’ll never know. I had fully planned to be with the hoi polloi. I had dressed accordingly: tons of light layers to shed as I got hotter and hotter packed in with the masses. I got there early.
<br />
<br />So it was a surprise, this VIP thing. When I entered the VIP balcony, I noticed that all the good places were these tables against the railings that had reserved signs on them. Since I was so early, no one was sitting at them and I picked the best one and sat down, thinking the person would ask me to move when they got there.
<br />
<br />Well, just before the AF hit the stage they got there.
<br />
<br />A huge burly man swooped in and shouted, “This table is reserved for INSERT LADY’s NAME HERE, move away from the area.” He was really mean. I was thinking, “Who the hell is this lady?” I had never heard of her. She was over forty and a little jangley.
<br />
<br />I wasn’t going to let them get the best of me, no way. So, I had to give up my seat. No biggie. Didn’t mean I was going to abandon my post. So I stood behind her date, a dorky guy with a British accent. Diary, please believe that this man had no Bowie aura whatsoever. He seemed like this lady’s date and was dragged to the show. Granted, I mostly saw the back of his head. But still.
<br />
<br />I got into the show, but this huge bodyguard stood right behind me the entire time, practically pressing into my back. Who the hell was this lady who needed a body guard all night? They quickly went backstage before the show to meet the band. When they wanted to leave, the lady nodded to the burly guard who practically lifted me up and moved me out of the way.
<br />
<br />When I left the show I called Agent Amy Phillips to do some internet recon and look up the lady's name. Amy came up with <a href="http://www.algonet.se/%7Ebassman/photos/cs.html">this</a>. Duh. I am dumb. Still, I gotta say, in person Bowie comes off as a dad. A dad who was into the show. As was I.
<br />
<br />All said, a good night Diary. A good night.
<br />
<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1105677215195068442005-01-13T20:29:00.000-08:002005-01-13T22:03:52.073-08:00Tegan and Sara/Bowery Ballroom/Jan 12, 2005<span style="font-style: italic;">Since Amy and I are both reviewing this show for separate publications, we decided to publish our thoughts as hashed on IM rather than a traditional review. </span>
<br />
<br />caryn (10:09:07 PM): So T&S. did you like the show?
<br />amy (10:09:34 PM): yes i did
<br />amy (10:09:44 PM): they are very talented and very adorable
<br />caryn (10:09:58 PM): did it change the way you viewed them? do you regret not pazzjopping them?
<br />amy (10:10:13 PM): no
<br />amy (10:10:20 PM): i still like everything i voted for better
<br />amy (10:10:34 PM): but i realized that i love that "i hear noises" song
<br />caryn (10:10:39 PM): I regret that you do not regret pazzjopping them.
<br />amy (10:10:47 PM): haha
<br />amy (10:10:56 PM): see, i can't pazzjop their cuteness or their stage banter
<br />caryn (10:11:26 PM): i really think that's just a small part of it. i think they are excellent song writers/singers/musicians, the whole schmear.
<br />amy (10:12:46 PM): but i still think ciara, eamon, jason forrest, etc. made better music than they did last year
<br />amy (10:12:56 PM): though i agree with you
<br />caryn (10:13:01 PM): You'll probably hate this, but i've compared them to Elvis Costello, Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac. And I really believe it.
<br />amy (10:13:18 PM): definitely more the lindsay side of fleetwood than the stevie side.
<br />caryn (10:41:09 PM): So do you think the guy standing next to me was the most annoying man ever at a rock show? I'd like to nominate him for the VV Best of Issue.
<br />amy (10:41:29 PM): no, i've experienced way more annoying people
<br />amy (10:41:40 PM): like, people falling on me from drunkenness and yelling to each other throughout the show
<br />amy (10:41:58 PM): and spilling stuff on me
<br />caryn (10:42:40 PM): Ok, here's why this guy is worse.
<br />caryn (10:43:04 PM): 1) Stood too close to girls, including me, as a way to cop a feel.
<br />caryn (10:43:22 PM): 2) Shouted sexual things at Tegan and Sara, which was just gross.
<br />caryn (10:43:38 PM): 3) Had a mullet. Ok, maybe that's not so bad.
<br />amy (10:43:45 PM): at least he didn't touch us, which is what the drunk fall over guys do
<br />caryn (10:43:55 PM): 4) Talked on the phone really loud during songs.
<br />amy (10:43:57 PM): they use their instability as an excuse to feel you up
<br />amy (10:44:12 PM): he also repeatedly asked if he was bothering us
<br />caryn (10:44:36 PM): 5) Kept trying to engage us in conversation but kept saying the same thing..."their record is the most amazing record ever."
<br />caryn (10:44:54 PM): I knew I shouldn't have whipped out that reporter's notebook and my gay pen.
<br />amy (10:45:12 PM): well i didn't tell you what he said to me afterwards
<br />amy (10:45:24 PM): which was "that was the best show i've seen since the white stripes at hammerstein"
<br />amy (10:45:36 PM): and i said "well, it's a shame you couldn't hear all of it because you were on your cell phone"
<br />amy (10:45:44 PM): and he said "i was just trying to share the experience!"
<br />caryn (10:46:32 PM): Also, notice how he was trying to impress us by letting us know that he was a "stage hand." Oooh, does that help get us back stage? You're so my cherry pie, dude.
<br />amy (10:46:45 PM): haha
<br />amy (10:47:02 PM): i still think the guys that come and sit next to me while i'm sitting in the corner reading a book are worse than him
<br />caryn (10:47:40 PM): Okay, enough about him. What was your favorite T&S stage comment?
<br />amy (10:47:42 PM): like how can i send a bigger signal that i don't want to talk to you? sitting here READING A BOOK isn't getting the message across
<br />amy (10:48:14 PM): hmm
<br />amy (10:48:24 PM): the grandfather in the strip bar
<br />caryn (10:49:20 PM): Right. She tells this long story about her grandfather and then ends it with, "Wow, I'm telling stories about my grandparents. This is like a Christian rock show." (Pause) "And so then we all went a got really fucked up."
<br />amy (10:50:15 PM): oh yeah, the christian comment really made it
<br />amy (10:50:29 PM): i wonder if those old people in the balcony were their family
<br />caryn (10:50:45 PM): I thought that. But they seemed lame. Like label people.
<br />amy (10:50:57 PM): one dude was talking on a walkie-talkie
<br />caryn (10:51:25 PM): Rock-n-roll! So, what did you think about the audience, besides mullet man?
<br />caryn (10:52:13 PM): It really was sold out. Which was nice.
<br />amy (10:52:33 PM): i loved the couple where the girl was singing along to all the words and the guy was half massaging her back half beating out the rhythms of the songs
<br />amy (10:52:57 PM): and of course the couple next to us where the one girl held up her ipod recorder the whole time and the other girl leaned on her shoulder
<br />caryn (10:53:16 PM): Ooh, I missed them. There were a lot of girl couples who were more than little past foreplay on the floor.
<br />amy (10:55:00 PM): yeah, not so many guys there.
<br />caryn (10:55:01 PM): I thought that song "Where does the good go" sounded particularly awesome. Also, might I add that when Tegan plays the keyboards with her electric guitar strapped on and ready, it's particularly sweet. As in sweeet!
<br />amy (10:55:57 PM): yeah, i thought the keyboards sounded great in general last night
<br />amy (10:56:03 PM): the backing band was really, really tight
<br />amy (10:56:09 PM): also, i learned to differentiate their voices
<br />caryn (10:56:28 PM): Don't you feel personally offended when a band doesn't play your favorite song? Like something's wrong with you. Or them, for not liking the song as much as you. They didn't play city girl, which bummed me out.
<br />caryn (10:56:42 PM): Really, how do you tell their voices apart?
<br />amy (10:57:52 PM): tegan has the piercing, avril/alanis canadian tinge
<br />amy (10:57:54 PM): sara does not
<br />amy (10:58:03 PM): oh fuck
<br />amy (10:58:06 PM): maybe it's the other way around?
<br />caryn (10:58:07 PM): Do you think we could start a campaign to try to get Tegan and Sara on the OC to play the Bait Shop?
<br />amy (10:58:21 PM): oh man, that would so rule
<br />amy (11:02:46 PM): i liked how they wore matching outfits
<br />caryn (11:02:50 PM): I kinda wanted to ask that girl who was recording it to her ipod if she'd send it to me. what's the manners for that kind of thing?
<br />amy (11:03:08 PM): i have no idea
<br />amy (11:03:12 PM): i guess you just ask
<br />amy (11:03:06 PM): i wonder if their parents made them wear matching outfits when they were growing up
<br />caryn (11:03:39 PM): They weren't really matching outfits. They both had black shirts on, but Tegan had stuff written on hers.
<br />amy (11:04:01 PM): yeah, but they were cut the same way
<br />caryn (11:04:14 PM): Man, I so wanted one of those t-shirts with pictures of them as plump, hairriffic three year olds.
<br />amy (11:04:46 PM): haha yeah those were awesome
<br />amy (11:05:00 PM): did you notice that the singer of the opening band had a tegan and sara haircut?
<br />amy (11:08:31 PM): oh, the bass player-- did his shirt have a bunch of tvs on it?
<br />caryn (11:08:46 PM): Hmm, didn't notice.
<br />amy (11:09:09 PM): i really liked the design, but i couldn't tell what it was exactly
<br />caryn (11:09:32 PM): Here are covers I'd like T&S to do...1) "Silly Love Songs"
<br />caryn (11:09:49 PM): 2) ""Summer Babe"
<br />caryn (11:10:03 PM): 3) "Stacey's Mom"
<br />amy (11:10:14 PM): oh my god, stacey's mom!! that would be so incredible
<br />caryn (11:10:50 PM): So, should we actually put this chat on MITM? Think people care?
<br />amy (11:12:00 PM): we could put an abbreviated version
<br />amy (11:12:13 PM): but the "think people care" question... i don't know, do they care about anything we put on there?
<br />
<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1105424265697347042005-01-10T22:09:00.000-08:002005-01-10T22:51:27.320-08:00Amy's reading/Astor Place B&N/Monday, Jan 10 2005It's official: Amy kicked ass.
<br />
<br />Who was the voice of reason when the guy who happened to be the (cough, cough) EDITOR of the damn book made gross (in multiple senses of the word) generalizations about music he clearly hasn't even listened to?
<br />
<br />AMY
<br />
<br />Who didn't turn it into a Joe Strummer blow job fest and pointed out some criticism she got from women in the field?
<br />
<br />AMY
<br />
<br />Who was the best looking reader of the evening?
<br />
<br />AMY
<br />
<br />(I have to admit that the whole time I couldn't get that Sonic Youth song "Kool Thing" out of my head...I wanted Amy to take the Kim Gordon part and turn to Chuck D. and say, "Are you going to liberate us girls from the male, white, corporate oppression?" Word up!)
<br />
<br />Some photographic evidence courtesy of Jason Gross and one self-portrait:
<br />
<br /> <code></code><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/39644700@N00/3226127/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://photos1.flickr.com/3226127_a98c8e4cee.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="amychuck" /></a>
<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/39644700@N00/3226495/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://photos1.flickr.com/3226495_0037ecab36.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="amyread" /></a>
<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/39644700@N00/3226124/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://photos2.flickr.com/3226124_a2f9f713b9.jpg" width="249" height="333" alt="bumrushtheshow" /></a>
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<br />
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<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1105203150831729102005-01-08T08:49:00.000-08:002005-01-08T08:59:53.070-08:00Amy live...with Chuck D.Amy's too shy to post something about this on here, so I will.
<br />
<br />The young Ms. Phillips contributed a chapter to a book called <span style="font-style: italic;">Let Fury Have The Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer</span>, which was published by Nation Books last month (for more info, go to<a href="http://%20www.letfuryhavethehour.com"> www.letfuryhavethehour.com</a>).
<br />
<br />On Monday, January 10th at 7:30 pm, she's going to participate in a reading at the Barnes and Noble at Astor Place, along with Antonino D'Ambrosio (the editor of the book) and Chuck
<br />D. Yes, THAT Chuck D.
<br />
<br />Be there.
<br />
<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1105112531865872702005-01-07T07:37:00.000-08:002005-01-07T13:23:56.373-08:00Man in Gray/Southpaw/Jan. 5, 2005<span style="font-style: italic;">We're starting out the new year with something a little different. Instead of a show review from the audience's perspective, today we present a show review from the band's perspective.</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The band in question is <a href="http://maningray.com/mig05beta/">Man in Gray</a>. The band member is Christina DaCosta. In the spirit of full disclosure, I must tell you that I am personally friends with the lovely DaCosta and am a much better person for it. She is an amazing performer who swallows, stamps and spits out the stage without hardly breaking a sweat.</span>
<br />
<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Man in Gray next performs at </span><a href="http://www.tiswasnyc.com/" style="font-style: italic;">TISWAS</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> on January 22. Christina is also a member of </span><a href="http://www.combustication.net/themarks/" style="font-style: italic;">The Marks</a><span style="font-style: italic;">, a band that was reviewed </span><a href="moreinthemonitor.blogspot.com/2004/10/marks-siberia-october-21-2004.html" style="font-style: italic;">here</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> in October.</span>
<br />
<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Our Show</span>
<br /></div> <div style="text-align: center;">by Christina DaCosta
<br /></div>
<br />On Wednesday I walked the two blocks to <ahref>Southpaw and went to a rock show.
<br />
<br />It was freezing rain and I was tired after a long and dull day at the office, but I had to go because I am the singer of <ahref>Man in Gray and we had a gig.
<br />
<br />You may have heard our name somewhere, as we do get some good press and play around NYC a lot, but it is hard to juggle since we are all (mostly) working stiffs trying to lead double lives of rock-n-roller and cubicle dweller.
<br />
<br />This leads to many problems with getting gear to the gig, soundcheck (or lack thereof) and scheduling, but we keep playing because we love each other and our music and have a lot of fun.
<br />
<br />The band consists of Jeremy (guitar & vox), Bryan (guitar and vox), Jeremiah (drums) and Jared (bass). We all get to hear what the band was like from the audience. What about the band? They have feelings too.
<br />
<br /><a href="http://www.spsounds.com">Southpaw</a> is a great venue to play and if you're in a band, I suggest playing there just to get into the nice backstage (basement) area. You can smoke and drink, play Ms. Pacman and explore the drawers of a dusty dresser that contains two humongous aerosol cans of Aquanet hairspray. It's also fun to hang out with the other bands in a relaxed setting where you all know that you are in the "exclusive" backstage area. Sometimes, it's nice to feel that way, even though the last time we played there, the lounge area had garbage pail full of beers and water bottles. Luxurious!
<br />
<br />Upstairs, where we actually do go to talk to friends and have them buy us drinks, is better than most rock clubs. Southpaw is clean, but not sterile; small enough to get intimate, but big enough to dance around like a dervish. We have played there once before and it has been my
<br />favorite place to play. Compared to other clubs, Southpaw has a feeling of professionalism that doesn't exist everywhere and the sound guy knows what he's doing.
<br />
<br />Unfortunately, we weren't able to soundcheck (see above) because we only got to the club around 7:30...when doors were supposed to open. Therefore, the sound was not as good as it was the first time we played there. Standing at the front of the stage, all I could hear was the fuzziness of the guitars behind me and could barely hear my voice in the monitors. I was getting pretty nervous about how bad it was sounding until I walked out past the monitors and heard that it must sound better to the audience – at least that's what I'm telling myself.
<br />
<br />We can't control what the sound guy is doing, but you, yes you, standing in the audience with your arms crossed, can control the lack of dancing. Why don't people dance any more? Really? Is it the booze? Do they need more booze? We played an amazing show at a loft
<br />for an RNC Not Welcome Benefit and those kids were dancing like crazy. I love it when the audience dances to our music. Nothing makes me happier.
<br />
<br />Instead, Wednesday night we had people standing at least 4 feet from the top of the stage, more at the bar and more in the seating area. We're a loud band, but we don't hurt people! Audiences need to learn that if they like the band, they should move closer. They should also dance or move vigorously. I dance around very hard on stage and would like to see some other people getting sweaty. Is it too much too ask? I believe this is a New York problem, but correct me if I'm wrong. For all of you people who go to shows, please shake it if you're into the band, just a little. It is the Paradox of Rock Show Dancing: If no one dances, no one will dance. Everyone stands with their arms across their chests and bops their head to the beat, everyone. If a few people stopped doing that and started dancing, more people would follow.
<br />
<br />Ask your friends if they are too embarrassed to dance at a rock show, ask yourself! It also could be the problem of a stage. I find that when we play shows that are on the floor and I'm face-to-face with people that they tend to get a little crazier. Perhaps we need to get rid of the stage format to get people to move?
<br />
<br />Even though there was no frenzied dancing to our last song, ("Brakelights," our dance number), people seemed to like us. We got on stage a half-hour later than we scheduled and more people stayed than I expected. Many people were friends and friends-of-friends who had never seen us before and I received many congratulations on rocking out hard. Even though some complained about the weird bass buzzing that made them tingle and the lack of vocals in the monitor, every one who was there seemed to have enjoyed themselves and the vibe was very welcoming.
<br />
<br />I really appreciated the people who came up to me to talk because I know that the freezing rain and early a.m. job would have kept me home. It wasn't the best show that we've played, but it certainly wasn't the worst and we have another one coming up soon on a Saturday.
<br />
<br />After thanking people for showing up, I quietly went downstairs to get my coat and said goodbye to the few friends hanging out backstage. I left unobserved and walked back home in the rain, content in knowing that people had fun at the show, but also knowing that I had to get up and go to work in a few hours.
<br /></ahref></ahref>Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1104385681326883492004-12-29T21:44:00.000-08:002004-12-30T14:12:05.376-08:00Caryn's Top Five Live Shows of 2004Please forgive me as I’m not as anal as my sister-in-arms Amy Phillips, who just so happens to keep a written tab of every single show she’s gone to since she’s worn braces. As a consequence, the dates may be a bit off on my rundown. But everything’s in the general vicinity of being accurate.
<br />
<br />(In vague backward chronological order rather than order of importance.)
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1) Patti Smith. Bowery Ballroom. New York City. New Year’s Eve.</span>
<br />
<br />Everyone should go to the annual last day in December Patti Smith-a-thon once in their lives. It’s the anti-Dick Clark Rockin’ Eve. You get Patti kicking it all shaman-like. Patti making out with her outrageously foxy and notably younger beau/guitar player. Patti inviting a cast of thousands on stage. This particular night she had Steve Earle with her and there were many stabs at explaining our collective political predicament. Patti Smith’s hunted howl somehow made it seem all that much better. Yeah, people have the power all right. Alas, it wasn’t the portent I’d hoped it would be.
<br />
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2) Dizzee Rascal. Volume. Brooklyn, NY. February 7.</span>
<br />
<br />This was Mr. Rascal’s American live debut and the new (yet sadly short-lived) club Volume did it right for the Vaseline-tongued Brit. Instead of a stage, they had this huge pimped out flatbed truck which kinda made it theatre-in-the-round. When Dizzee went a cappella, I was sure that he was consorting with an alien. But was I that sister from another planet? Dizzee, can you hear me?
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3) Kiki and Herb with The Last Town Chorus. Bowery Ballroom. New York City. February 14.</span>
<br />
<br />First of all, I saw Boy George that night. Be mine, be mine! All the Valentine a girl could need, really. Then, Megan of the LTC was funny as shit. She asked all sympathetically, “Who here doesn’t have a Valentine?” All these people raised their hands or hooted. “Good,” she said and waited with perfect dramatic pause. “Go fuck each other.” Then she started tapping out that morose code of hers on the lap guitar. Next, it was a visit to that pleasantly musky cultural waste processing plant lorded over by definitive operators Kiki and Herb. Yeeeessss…was the start of my last jam and here it is again, another def jam. For sure.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4) The Thermals. Three times in 2004.</span>
<br />
<br />Yep, I saw the Thermals three different times this year. Once, at Northsix. Another time opening up for Sleater-Kinney at the Hammerstein Ballroom. Lastly, at the Mercury Lounge. Thing is, most Thermals shows seem to be similar. There’s Hutch as MC Declarative, the bouncing bass of Kathy and the firm hand of Jordan on drums. Simple. Elegant. Fuckin’ A. It all goes by pretty quickly and by the end you feel like a snow globe that’s been run through the centrifuge. That shit’s good is all.
<br />
<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5) Rock-n-Roll Camp for Girls Showcase. Aladdin Theater. Portland, Oregon. July 29.</span>
<br />
<br />You know that old saw about how only 10 people went to the Sex Pistols show in Manchester (or insert some legend about The Velvet Underground here) but all of them started bands? I definitely got that revolutionary feeling at this show. Not so much that these girls would themselves go out and take over the world (but some of them were so good that they just might) but, rather, the mechanism behind rock camp is so right on that it is sure to change the course of music history.
<br />
<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1101328963841172252004-11-24T13:11:00.000-08:002004-11-24T13:08:01.180-08:00U2/Saturday Night Live/ Nov. 20, 2004I like stage shows. Dancing. Costumes. Wardrobe malfunctions. Moving, mechanical parts. If Madonna's gotta lip-synch to pull it off, so be it. This is spectacle and a good spectacle is a mighty thing to behold.
<br />I also love performance. I tend to think of this as a more stripped down thing. The moving mechanical parts are humans. Humans attached to instruments. A rock band in its most basic form would fit here. Rappers in a cipher, too.
<br />Can a spectacle feature performance? Yes. Can a performance veer into spectacle? Yes. But the main thing is, they both can stand on their own.
<br />I don't want to get into one of <a href="http://http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30717FB3E590C728FDDA90994DC404482">these</a> debates. They both have their merits. Hallelujah!
<br />That said, one of the most inspiring bits of performance I've witnessed recently is U2 on SNL this past week.
<br />Usually a performer offers up 2 songs at most to the late night tv crowd; on this particular Saturday night, u2 took the stage for a third time during that goodbye period when the cast is all on the stage.
<br />The Edge kicked into the jagged chords of "I Will Follow," the band's king clarion call from its clarion clogged song file. Bono dropped into all the requisite rock star poses (the toe-to-ground, the cross, the it's-cold-outside). The Edge slid up and started singing the chorus into Bono's mic. Bono slung an arm around his shoulder and said something like, "I'd follow you anywhere." Feels cheesy to write it, but it felt sweet and real when it happened.
<br />Then Bono walked off the stage and started heading toward the audience. Clearly this wasn't planned. The camera people seemed confused. This wasn't part of the master plan. The Edge followed Bono out into the audience. A kerfuffle unfolded on live television. A joyous kerfuffle. How rare.
<br />Bono started grabbing the camera and pulled it along in Zoo TV fashion. He straddled some woman in the front row and she looked like she might explode with happiness. He then headed toward the main stage where the cast members were jumping up and down. He pulled Amy Poehler to his chest and she looked like she was crying.
<br />The song ended and the audience crackled and convulsed. Just as the show was about to go off the air, I could hear Bono say, "One more! One more!" The crowd officially went kablooey. Cut to commercial. Only in my imagination could I guess what the rest of that set was like.
<br />I was sweating when it was over.
<br />Now, your turn. See it <a href="http://homepage.mac.com/elevationusa/iMovieTheater15.html">here.</a>
<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1100286139269241412004-11-12T10:57:00.000-08:002004-11-12T11:03:40.190-08:00Doobie Brothers et al/Hammerstein Ballroom/Nov. 10, 2004<em>Reviewed by </em><a href="http://dir.salon.com/topics/mac_montandon/"><em>Mac Montandon</em></a>
<br />
<br />Not since the Big Chill soundtrack hit record racks in 1983 has so much baby-boomer rock been seen in one place.
<br />
<br />The New York City-based nonprofit Boomer Coalition wheeled out some of pop music's creakiest heavy hitters on Wednesday night at the Hammerstein Ballroom to raise awareness and funds for their fight against cardiovascular disease, or CVD. At times the R&B and blues-leaning lineup---anchored by the Doobie Brothers,Los Lobos, the Taj Mahal Trio, and Patti LaBelle---slung enough overcooked noodle to satisfy an Olive Garden franchisee. But the forgiving and nearly filled house happily stuck with the if-it-feels-good-do-it vibe of the night.
<br />
<br />From very early on it was clear the late-arriving crowd came out more for the music than the message. Before the show, lobby lingerers buzzed, as two computers set up for new member registration sat lonely and unused. The multi-culti crowd, thick with older guys stroking graying goatees and younger, GAP-clad latte-lovers, seemed primed for pleasure. LaBelle kicked things off with a short and bizarre set. Before begging off, saying she was "sick as a frog," the 60-year-old soulstress dolloped a taste of her soaring, molasses sweet jazz riffs on an adoring audience. Her frothy act dissolved soon after she invited five men from the crowd to dance with her onstage and sing along to "Voulez Vous Couchez Avec Moi, Ce Soir?" A rail-thin exhibitionist named Earl briefly stole the show with emphatic, comically twitchy dance moves.
<br />
<br />Taj Mahal was up next and his heavy, straight ahead blues rescued the night from its initial Gong Show flavor. Los Lobos provided the evening's biggest burst of raw power, cranking out Latino-tinted garage rock. The seven-piece outfit enhanced their crackly, distorted sound with a three-guitar front. Taj Mahal joined them for a rumbling version of the blues standard, "Sweet Home Chicago," that had the crowd shaking in their 501s. Perhaps the shows most apropos moment came during Taj Mahal's set, when a waft of marijuana smoke blanketed the balcony. If nothing else, this proved that the Boomer Coalition was on to something when they ran ads in the New Yorker magazine that read: "If you smoked pot at Monterey in '67, you might have CVD."
<br />
<br />That and a ticket to a mid-week dinosaur rock show.
<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1100056813167705652004-11-09T19:05:00.000-08:002004-11-09T19:23:10.796-08:00Jimmy Eat World/Webster Hall/Nov. 8, 2004I thought I’d be over it by now, but I’m still smarting from the election. Even though I’ve made <a href="http://dabble-rouser.blogspot.com/2004/11/no-surrender.html">public promises</a> to be optimistic (and I do have my moments), I’m still sore and sad and mad and snippy. Thank god for the music.
<br />
<br />In moments like these, I like nothing more than a lil’ jangle pop to put a snap to my step. For those born after, say, 1980, jangle pop (or jangulius populis) is the early bud of what later blossomed into radio-friendly alternative rock. Sprung from The Byrd’s jingle jangle morning (Mary Lou Lord later wrote an ode to that phrase), with just a few harmonies and some rattle and hum, jangle pop at its best is wildly optimistic yet defiantly angry. Starkly stubborn yet unapologetically vulnerable. Radically land-grabbing yet torn from the universal songbook. Lots of yets. Think REM’s “Radio Free Europe” with its insistent drumming urging on Stipe’s whine or Crowded House’s love poem “Something So Strong.”
<br />
<br />One of today’s torchbearers of the jangle pop aesthetic is Arizona’s finest, <a href="http://www.jimmyeatworld.com">Jimmy Eat World</a>. Awful name, yes. But pretty, pretty songs. I needed to get a leg up from these sad times by seeing them live. Amy and I headed off to Webster Hall.
<br />
<br />It was packed and Amy and I (being serious shortees) nudged ourselves in downstairs to the side. A pack of girls crammed up right on our asses and started giggling and doing a lot of up talk. “So, like, after class I went to the library? And it, was, like, empty?” I hate when girls do uptalk or speak Valley Girlese. It’s my own personal prejudice. There’s no way that you can sound smart while engaging in these activities. Even Kathleen Hanna. And I don’t buy that reclaiming the whatthefuck bullshit.
<br />
<br />So, anyway, these girls are behind us and I think, “Great, they’re going to have inane conversations behind us the whole show.” But from the moment the band started with “Bleed American” through even much older material, these girls sang along, every word. Every word. And not in that self-conscious Dashboard Confessional audience way, but in a full-throttle spirit release way. And I loved them then, I really did.
<br />
<br />Jimmy Eat World seem to be a play-by-the-book live band. Jim Adkins, the main singer and guitar player, is the energy force of it all (and his floppy, sweaty bangs just may be the fifth member of the group) as he jumps up and down and hunches his shoulders just so.
<br />
<br />In a weird way, I got what I wanted from the show, but it wasn’t handed to me by JEW, necessarily. Yes, the meta moment when the band played “Praise Chorus,” (their homage to music that’s inspired them and includes snippets of other songs) while the audience sang back its own form of appreciation, that was part of it. But it was the little praise chorus behind me that lifted my spirits. Their energy and commitment was irrefutable. And that’s the least I can bring to the party.
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<br />
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<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1098594292504111782004-10-23T21:55:00.000-07:002004-10-23T22:20:12.140-07:00BREAKING NEWS...Ashlee Simpson...EXPOSEDOkay, so I'm watching Saturday Night Live. Ashlee Simpson does her first song, that Pieces of Me treacle. I could swear that she's lip-synching. I'm staring hard. She's cupping her hands around the mic so you can't see her mouth. Still, something seems off. But I had always heard that SNL had a no lip-synching rule with musical performers, so I just assumed that I was being obsessive.
<br />
<br />Then she comes out for her second song. Just as the band is about to start, a vocal track starts floating out from somewhere. It's the vocals for Pieces of Me. The band, unsure of what to do, starts playing the music for Pieces of Me. Ashlee starts skipping around the stage nervously. It then seems as though she's going to start "singing" that song again. Then, another different vocal track starts pumping out. Ashlee walks off the stage, leaving the band to continue to play the music for Pieces of Me. The show quickly cuts to commercial. When the show ccomes back, no Ashlee, no band.
<br />
<br />At the end of the show, at the goodbye part, she BLAMED THE PROBLEM ON THE BAND PLAYING THE WRONG SONG!!!!
<br />
<br />I'm not necessarily against lip-synching (or enhancing) as a part of big stage shows with lots of dancing (see Madonna and Britney) but this is SNL and it's a show that positions itself as a home for good LIVE music. And she wasn't dancing. Really.
<br />
<br />But I guess it was exciting to see a major fuck up on live tv. Her Daddy couldn't control this script.
<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1098544232991227502004-10-23T08:01:00.000-07:002004-10-23T08:15:02.840-07:00The Marks / Siberia / October 21, 2004<span style="font-style: italic;">Reviewed by <a href="http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/920/920_l_word.asp">Sara Marcus</a></span>
<br />
<br />I sit next to the Marks‚ bassist, <a href="http://millwhistle.blogspot.com/">Mary</a>, in an aesthetics theory class every Thursday morning. Mary doesn't care much for theory, and she spends the two hours scribbling furious notes to herself and me about the fates she wants to inflict on the visual artists in the class. Sometimes she can't take it any more and a short populist diatribe erupts. Yesterday morning, during a conversation about Brecht and alienation effects and the potential uses of holding an audience at a distance, she exploded: "Excuse me, isn't the point to <span style="font-style: italic;">communicate</span>?! Ten hours later, Mary got onstage with the other two Marks and <a href="http://www.combustication.net/themarks/index2.html">the band's</a> first-ever show began.
<br />
<br />About half of the Marks‚ songs are examples of that form of populism known as three-chord punk rock. The remaining songs are excellent, and I am going to focus on those because once the six-month-old band writes more of them, I have reason to believe that they will not be playing the CBGB's tunes any more unless they need to warm up their hands in a freezing club.
<br />
<br />Apparently the guitar and vocals person, <a href="http://www.lamepunkslogan.com/">Phil</a>, believes along with Mary that the point is to communicate. Instead of singing, he speak-shouts very quickly and clearly into the microphone. He likes to make sure his vocals are turned way up and he likes to tell you what the songs are about before they begin. "This is a song about sit-coms." (He had to repeat the word "sit-coms" because he had slurred it the first time and somebody in the audience had yelled, "What?") "This is a song about getting married in Wal-Mart."
<br />
<br />The rhythms are quirky, the sound punk-whimsical. A Dead Milkmen parallel is immediately apparent, but speaks more to a sense of playfulness than an actual quality of the songwriting itself. The Minutemen comparison emerges more gradually from the experience, because the sound is nowhere near that frantic, but when I told Mary after the show that I was hearing a slightly laid-back version of the Minutemen, she grinned and said, "That's exactly what we're going for."
<br />
<br />
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<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1098388481581938512004-10-21T13:29:00.000-07:002004-10-21T14:15:08.913-07:00Happy Ending Reading Series/Happy Ending Bar/Oct. 20, 2004WHAT? She's reviewing a reading series? Don't those literary fucks get enough chatter on their own overblown blogs?
<br />
<br />Simmer down.
<br />
<br />The Happy Ending Reading series, put on by the saucy <a href="http://www.amandastern.com">Amanda Stern</a>, is different than all that scratchy throat Barnes and Noble bullshit. Stern curates the evening so that there's reading and music and hopefully mayhem.
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<br />This night's<a href="http://www.softskull.com/cgi-bin/Calcium38.pl?Op=PopupWindow&Amount=Month&amp;amp;amp;amp;NavType=Both&Type=Block&CalendarName=SoftSkullEvents&Date=2004/10/20&ID=727&Source=%20"> gathering</a> was lacking in mayhem, but made up for it in other ways.
<br />First off, one of the readers was <a href="http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-932360-00-X">Matthew Sharpe</a>. He used to be my fiction teacher and now I kind of stalk him. I really think you should go out and get his recent novel The Sleeping Father. It's about this overly precocious, overly obnoxious kid named Chris Schwartz. If you are reading this blog, you are or were Chris Schwartz. Click <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/193236000X/ref=sib_vae_pg_14/104-3633182-0960727?%5Fencoding=UTF8&keywords=nirvana&p=S00L&twc=2&checkSum=ulWBpsNX2WZuVMjMySgQgUuuwVubtIr%2BLv3TLqt3iP4%3D#reader-link">here</a> for the section Sharpe read last night from the novel (you have to sign in to Amazon to access it), the part where Chris is supposed to be giving a class report on Paul Robeson and by accident slips a Nirvana disc into the player instead of the Robeson Smithsonian anthology.
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<br />Also please note that Sharpe has an interesting publishing industry story that mirrors the music industry stories we hear so much about, except in this one, Sharpe clobbers the Man. (You could probably substitute "Wilco" for "Sharpe" and "Nonesuch" for "Soft Skull" in the following story.) When Sharpe handed in the manuscript of The Sleeping Father to the Big Publisher that had put out his previous stuff, the Big Publisher rejected it, saying it wouldn't sell. Sharpe then went to indie Soft Skull press and sold it to them. And guess what? It's sold like black tar H in the East Village. Gazillions. Well, maybe not THAT much, but lots. It was picked by the Today show for its book club and everything. So ha ha ha on them.
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<br />The musical guest for this evening of cross-genre entertainment was a singer-songwriter from Ireland named <a href="http://www.independentrecs.com/Mark.htm">Mark Geary</a>. Mark is short and tweedy and absolutely adorable. The thing about these s-s types is that they can win you over simply with their personalities (see Tegan and Sara). But is that enough? Even though I was <span style="font-style: italic;">there</span> with Mark, <span style="font-style: italic;">there</span> the whole way with his stories and his plucky little songs and his Irish accent, the reality is that there's not enough to set him apart from other talented s-sers.
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<br />He has a nice voice, his songs were catchy enough to inspire a sing-a-long and you'd definitely want him to bring his guitar to your backyard BBQ. I was touched, but I wasn't marked. The guy and his guitar? That guy has to haunt you. Or at least me.
<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1098155182540009322004-10-18T19:53:00.000-07:002004-10-19T14:30:30.116-07:00Tegan and Sara/Apple Store/Oct. 16, 2004You know you've seen Tegan and Sara more than your fair share when you can start telling them apart. Tegan's face is just a tad more crisp and angular. Sara's got just a smidgen more softness. I don't know if I can tell their voices apart, though. They trade off singing lead and harmonies. Sometimes their whine sounds like Tom Petty's, all, <span style="font-style: italic;">awawawawawaw, she's an American geh-rrrlll</span>. Othertimes it's just like throwing darts at cotton balls, Stevie Nicks-style.
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<br />While I have deep respect for all sorts of complicated machinery oriented musicians, I hold a special place in my heart for the rough and tumble types who could just easily play their show on a street corner. Tegan and Sara are like that. Even though Tegan joked, "We play a lot of boardrooms," and they probably do (they were playing some weird closed-to-the-public CMJ thing that night), they have been those kids on the corner spitting shit in their sisterhood cypher. And they could do it again in a second.
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<br />Speaking of sisterhood and cypherhood, T&S could seriously have a second career as comedians. They have some of the consistently best stage banter of any performers I know, and I don't mean that hyperbolically. They have this twin power activate comic timing and they just riff off of each other. I've seen them many times and I've never heard the same story or joke twice. I truly think they are winging it. They could own the Borscht Belt. Or at least the Hummus Belt. Jabs during the Apple showcase included bits on how Sara is passive aggressive when she doesn't like something, and wouldn't come right out and tell Tegan that she didn't like her "early 90s jeans." It really doesn't sound that funny when I write it. But it was, trust me.
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<br />They added a new member to their cozy crew. A guy named Ted. Don't really understand his purpose as of yet. All three were playing guitar. He picked up an egg and shook it around a few times. In their real show maybe he does more?
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<br />I haven't picked up T&S's latest record "So Jealous" yet, but they played a bunch of new songs from it. My favorite is the one called "Walking with the Ghost," which has this nice jagged guitar line and is very 80s, very Tubes.
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<br />Their<a href="http://www.teganandsara.com/index.php"> site</a> has lots of great Mp3 downloads. Go forth and prosper. And Tegan and Sara? Cuter than...let's make that<a href="http://moreinthemonitor.blogspot.com/2004/10/franz-ferdinand-roseland-oct-3-2004.html"> </a><a href="http://moreinthemonitor.blogspot.com/2004/10/franz-ferdinand-roseland-oct-3-2004.html"> </a><a href="http://moreinthemonitor.blogspot.com/2004/10/franz-ferdinand-roseland-oct-3-2004.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">20</span></a><a href="http://moreinthemonitor.blogspot.com/2004/10/franz-ferdinand-roseland-oct-3-2004.html"> pounds</a> <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0428/sheffield.php">of fuck kitten in a ten-pound bag</a>. Just might entice Amy Phillips to hitch up with the Michigan's Womyn's Festival this summer. Or not.
<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8265316.post-1098124253362024362004-10-18T11:20:00.000-07:002004-10-18T12:04:15.603-07:00Shifting Ears Conference/Columbia University/Oct. 16The <a href="http://najp.org">fellowship program</a> I have an association with hosted this <a href="http://www.najp.org/news/news.htm#EARS">weekend symposium</a> about (in all caps now) THE PRESENT STATE AND FUTURE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITICISM.
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<br />Now, I don't deign to consider myself a classical music critic, but I've been the editor of a classical music critic and I do like classical music and I get so frustrated with the way this field holds itself back, I thought I'd check it out for bit.
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<br />I was most interested in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/15/arts/dance/15APPO.html?oref=login">John Rockwell'</a>s portion the proceedings. Rockwell is a New York Times critic who was brought to the paper in the late 1960s to cover classical and then found himself writing about that new fangled thing called rock-n-roll. And he didn't even have to create a fantastical spear-throwing last name to do it. <span style="font-style: italic;">My name's John and I rock well</span>. He's one of those really, really smart guys who has a really, really large head. I don't mean ego. I mean, the circumference of his head seems on par with Mars. I think there is probably a correlation between head size and intelligence (not to get all eugenics on you) because two of the smartest people I worked with at <a href="http://wweek.com">ye olde alternative weekly</a> had heads so big they couldn't find glasses to fit around their noggins. Now, I personally have a small head. And a big butt. I won't go into what that might mean...
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<br />So, anyway, where was I? Ah, yes. John Rockwell. Rockwell talked about how classical music coverage need not be so sniffy and serious. His main argument, which I have a real passion for, is that there really shouldn't be a separation between pop music coverage and classical music coverage. Yet, like Romeo and Juliet or J.Lo and Ben, there are forces at work---strong forces---that work real hard to keep them separated. Both the music and media institutions are real set on keeping them apart. Fear. Prejudice. Ignorance. These are the ingredients.
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<br />One thing I like about Rockwell is that he's this established know-everything-guy, yet when people in the audience kept talking about how you have to know everything about the history, the canon etc...he'd say, well it helps, but that a good music critic does not make. He argues that one of the main reason classical music coverage hasn't grown is because "a critic confronted with radical music has a problem of feeling insecure in his or her knowledge...lighten up a little bit." The one upmanship of criticism, where someone would never deign to acknowledge not being an expert and just offer a reasoned opinion, shackles music criticism, according to Rockwell.
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<br />Even as editor of the NYT culture section, Rockwell wasn't able to merge the forms as he would have liked. He makes a great point: there's no classic movie critic/pop movie critic; there's no old art critic/new art critic. There's just critics covering the field. What do you guys think of that?
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<br />Anyway, it was just announced that Rockwell is switching over to becoming the Times' dance critic after decades on the music beat. He made some analysis I also agreed with: the most interesting, innovative, original music he sees on the big stage these days is at <a href="http://www.musiccenter.org/dance_mercecunningham.html">dance performances</a> because the dancers are so attuned to that stuff and aren't caught up in the whole hi vs low arguments that abound within music itself. They know what they like and they go for it. And shouldn't we all.
<br />Dabblerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01350629410916514517noreply@blogger.com0