8 posts tagged “music”
Some great recent shows posted on Internet Archive for your listening pleasure.
This is where I would have loved to have been on NYE. At MSG in NYC listening to MMJ:
In all honesty, I should be asleep right now. Or at least doing something productive. But, noooo, I've just spent the last, oh, 2.5 hrs. digesting the "debate" and the blog/msm analysis. I still haven't even seen the whole thing since I couldn't catch the live webcast and the clips so far are incomplete (esp. the last bit on foreign policy). But, it seems it mostly went ok for Obama, so I'm pleased. For me, the highlight was when he answered healthcare is a right, whereas McCain said it is a responsibility. I think he nailed that one. Interesting to read the National Review blog -- they were all beating up on McCain! Complete resignation. Good riddance, I say.
Other stuff: well, we had an enjoyable trip to Legoland this weekend. Little One has been pining to go for months now, and we had a good opportunity given that we were taking care of one of her friends for the weekend. Cuz two adults and one kid at Legoland is not the right balance -- 2/2 works much better. And it was good. Much more mellow than DLand, and the kids really dig it b/c they can actually do everything they want to do. She didn't even try (much) to get us to buy a bunch of junk.
Little One's bike riding has been improving, though we had some regression about a week ago. Prior to that, she has begun to start pedaling on her own without support. Doesn't get it every time, but we're getting there. Which means, since she can already brake and steer, we're pretty much good to go. Next thing is to try out on some bike paths that have a little more traffic, but are still wide and easy. That way she can get comfortable with oncoming bikers and people passing her. And then i figure we're ready to do that bike tour of Africa I've always dreamed about :)
In case you forgot, I am a bonafide Gourdhead. The lads were in town last week for a show at Safari Sam's. 'Twas a school night, but I still could not resist going. I guess after being six years in the desert (i.e. no shows between 2002-2008), a man works up a thirst, you know? So, yeah, a second show in 2008 after the great one in SF in February was definitely called for. The show opened with Kevin Russell playing solo under the moniker of Shinyribs, as he had in February. Probably no more than 20 people in the crowd at that point, but he still put his all into it. The setlist (no doubt, with errors since there were many tunes I didn't not know):
1. Sweet Potato
2. Me & Jesus (Tom T. Hall) -- serious white boy gospel. hard to tell if he was earnest or ironic
3. The Devil's Song (?)
4. Image of Me -- "one fo the best country songs ever written" by Harlan Howard (who??)
5. Fisherman's Friend (?) -- a song for travelers
6. Dang Me -- Roger Miller tune
7. Who built the moon? -- pretty silly ditty
8. Highway 61 Revisited -- "Bobby" Dylan countrified. Changed all the verses 'cept the first.
9. For the turnstiles -- excellent cover of Neil
10. Waterfalls -- apparently a cover of some R&B group called TLC
Shinyribs was followed by a gawd awful local troupe called Stampead. The less said the better.
By the time The Gourds came on, the crowd had built up some. Not packed, by any means, but at least not embarrasing (if you forget the fact that some 15 mil. people live in metro LA).The set was spirited, though not quite the knockout that Slim's was. They played:
1. My Name is Jorge
2. Arapahoe
3. Old Man from the Mountain
4. Jesues Christ with Signs Following
5. Gyroscopic
6. Maria -- Jimmy at his maniacal best
7. Yoli Find a Possum -- not sure where this one comes from
8. LGO
9.O Rings
10. Roll & Tumble
11.Take Me Back to Tulsa
12. All the Labour -- one of my favs!
13. I'm a Man -- very impromptu Muddy Waters with different lyrics. Actually, Jimmy just sang about one verse.
14. Flavor on Your Tongue -- ending with the "do do do doo doos" from the Stones' "Hangfire" and followed by a few bars of Chariots of Fire((!!)
15. Promenade -- nice ballad, but the line about Southern Democrats is really weak
16. Red Letter Day -- Max on vox
17. Dr. Spivey -- Jimmy at his maniacal worst. Too bloody loud. (tho' I liked how he snuck in a bass line from "I Want You (She's So Heavy)
18. Mr. Betty
19. Gin and Juice -- snippets of The Hungry Wolf (X), Surrender (Cheap Trick), and The End (The Doors)
Frankly, I could of done w/out G&J. It's just getting too cliche for them to play and they looked bored playing it. They do a great version and it's a lot of fun, but it just doesn't make sense to make a cover your signature tune and play it at every gig. I liked it back in, oh, 1998 when they stopped playing it at every show for a while.
And with that, I really will go to bed now.
Just discovered the Internet Archive has widgets available so you can stream content from your own site. Check out this live set from the Gourds from Austin in 2004 (if you likes, you can download the show from the IA at http://www.archive.org/details/gds2004-10-16.matrix.flac)
I remembered that today was World's AIDS day, which reminded me it's been 16 years since Freddie died. Of course, so have countless others in the interim. Yesterday, Smile and Paul Rogers (I shan't call them Queen, as that band passed away with Freddie. Smile works, since that was Brian and Roger's pre-Queen band with a forgettable singer) released a song to support Nelson Mandela's campaign against AIDS. I probably shouldn't dis it b/c it's for a good cause, but seriously, this is a lame power ballad that reminds me of the equally bad track Brian did with Meatloaf (!!) for the Special Olympics in 1987. Judge for yourself. Hope this isn't reflective of the album they are currently recording.
Little One started piano lessons this week. Should be interesting to see how she takes to it. I always regretted never having properly learned how to play an instrument. At various times I learned piano, oboe and guitar. I was encouraged to try stuff, but when I wanted to quit, I wasn't pushed to continue. I can understand why parents don't want to push their kids to learn music against their will, but, on the other hand, a bit more encouragement through the rough spots might be all it takes. Look at me, she's only just started, and I'm already trying to figure out how to convince her to keep at it!
Working on my final projects for school. This time next week, it'll be all over. But I've a long week ahead. The minutae of the cataloging assignment is driving me to distraction. As for reference, I have my guide basically finished; now I need to come up with a 20 min instruction session on how to search for stuff using Academic Search Premier (a popular database). I'll be working midnight shifts for most of the next two weeks starting tomorrow night, so that should give me time to pull it all together.
Last night was the Lucinda Williams concert I had been waiting for, and it was definitely a killer show. After Better Half and my friend Bun E's Twin's wife decided not to go, Middle Sis and Little Sis joined Bun E.'s Twin and me for the gig. We all first met up for dinner at an African restaurant just down the street from the El Rey called Ngoma. Although I was disappointed with my goat dish, I'd still recommend the place for a pre-show bite to eat. Relaxed and different. Some guy asked Bun E.'s Twin what he thought of his Tucker lager from Nairobi. You could see the guy just beaming with pride as Bun E. gave his seal of approval, declaring it to be "smooth, with just a hint of sweetness." He was pleased to hear someone praise his hometown brew.
At the show we managed to get up pretty close to the stage and basically in the center. It's a drag that you have to stand at the El Rey the whole time (unless you're one of the lucky few who manages to nab some of the seats on the side), but you sure can't complain about getting to see a show from such close range. The band came out around 9:15 and launched right in to "Right in Time," the opener on Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. I've always had a soft spot for this particularly sultry, sensual track, and it is a great opener for setting a mood. But, the presence of four guitarists on stage seemed a bit OTT and the instrumentation lacked definition.
For the second song, the title track of Car Wheels, she introduced her first guest of the evening, Steve Earle. Turns out he was rather involved in the production of the album. I like Steve. He seems very genuine, and he's a fine songwriter. Saw him once in Cologne just days before the US invaded Iraq, and he talked a lot that evening about trying to prevent the war. An easy sell in Germany at the time, though probably not such an easy stance to take over here (see the Dixie Chicks affair). Anyway, Steve sat in on much of the rest of the set and in the second set as well.
Wasn't until about the fourth or fifth song that the sound got better. And at first, the pauses between songs seemed to disrupt the rhythm of the set. But this was really just a reflection of being used to hearing the album in its entirety w/out any breaks. In fact, it was very nice to hear some of the stories behind these great songs. The intro to "I Lost It" was particularly amusing. She explained that she had written in the 70's after seeing lots of bumper stickers around Houston declaring "I Found It," and she didn't what they had found.
Round about "Can't Let Go" the band really started to gel, and from then on they were very tight (with the exception of a pretty sloppy encore). In addition to Steve Earle, another guest was Allison Moore, whom I'd never heard of, but is apparently country singer Shelby Lynne's sister and Steve Earle's husband. She sang some harmony vocals on "Greenville," but it was nothing that really stood out. What did stand out, though, was the playing of Mike Campbell from the Heartbreakers, who first sat in on the same song playing some semi-psychedlic guitar lines through a phaser. Campbell continued to play for the rest of the set, as I recall, and he smoked on the highlight of the first set, "Joy," trading great licks with Doug Pettibone. Little Sis recognized Pettibone from having seen him play around clubs in San Diego. There was a seemingly incongruous reference to the Doors during the song, but it still rocked.
After finishing off Car Wheels with a nice version of "Jackson" there was a short intermission before the second set. Turns out they are selling CDs of the concerts at the show. So, I went over and bought a copy of the "World Without Tears" show from a few nights earlier and reserved my copy of the night's show which could be picked up after the second set. Nice.
Here's a run down of the second set:
1.
Where Is My Love? (West)
2. Fruits of My Labor (World Without Tears)
3. Pineola (Sweet Old World )
4. Jailhouse Tears (Steve & Lucinda - a corny, unrehearsed tear-in-my-beer duet)
5. Your're Still Standing There (Steve & Lucinda,
singing Steve's song)
6. Righteously (World Without Tears)
7. Changed the Locks (Lucinda Williams - one of my favorite songs of hers. more smoking guitars and some truly inspired singing. Not as good as the version on Live at the Fillmore, but it's hard to go wrong with this track.)
8. Come On (West - she said this was her parody of "cock rock")
9. Wrap My Head Around That (West)
10. Unsuffer Me (West - another highlight. She was in this one body and soul. the way she was flailing her arms around, you'd think she'd gone to the Joe Cocker School of the Performing Arts)
11. Honey Bee (a new song, punkabilly)
Encore
12. Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys (the Willie classic)
13. Come To Me, Baby (a Howlin' Wolf cover. sloppy and a real toss away)
The show ended about 12;15, a good 3 hours after she started. There was another guest who sat in on some of the songs (can't remember exactly which) named Marvin Etzioni. He played a mean mandolin. I mean he really jammed on it like it was a guitar. I've never seen anyone play that instrument like that before. Apparently he used to be in Lone Justice.
Overall it was a great show. A few things odds things stuck out, though. First, the self-consciousness with which she approached playing Car Wheels was a bit off-putting. What I mean is, she's obviously aware of how revered she is for that album, and she sort of played off that reverence in a manner that rubbed me a little the wrong way. Second, she had her songbook out in front of her the whole evening. Called it her "Linus blanket," declaring that she is a little neurotic and OCD. Fair enough, but I've never seen anyone else do that, including folks with much bigger song catalogs. And then there were the oddballs in the audience: the guy who repeatedly shouted out "Te quiero" (she actually answered him back at one point with a few sentences in Spanish), the guy who kept clapping VERY LOUDLY long after everyone else had quieted down so she could talk about the next song, and the weirdo who shouted out "Freebird." Now seriously, what was he expecting? That said, the jamming on "Joy" was evocative of Lynyrd Skynyrd. And, finally, my heart goes out to the poor the little girl who looked to be about 3 whose mama didn't know better than to bring her to a loud rock concert late at night.
Yeeha! I got tix to Lu. Was able to preorder using an AmEx card. I'm very excited about this show. It means missing the Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker campout in Pioneertown (which was a blast last year), but this is gonna be great.
Oooh, just learned that Lucinda Williams is playing a series of gigs at the El Rey in September. Each set is apparently devoted to one of her earlier albums, though curiously not to her most recent. Anyway, I hope I can score tix tomorrow for the Sept. 8 show, since that's the only one I can go to. Also happens to be the set for Car Wheels, arguably her best album. I saw her in Austin at SXSW in '98 or '99, and she was mesmerizing. Interesting duets with David Byrne, of all people.
Working on a Sunday. It's real quiet, so getting some grunt work done. Shifting, cleaning. Real fun stuff.
Could write about lots of things right now. All kinds of stuff wandering 'round my head. After my interview with a music programmer/librarian at KUSC, I headed off to Hollywood to finally check out Amoeba. Course, I'd spent many a paycheck at their shop in B-town years ago. I hadn't been in a record shop since Tower was shutting its doors last fall. Amoeba did not disappoint. I purchased:
Carrie Rodriguez - Seven Angels on a Bicycle (phenomenal. great vocals, lovely, haunting geytar by Bill Frisell)
The Gourds - Noble Creatures (damn, didn't even know they had a new one. sounds like their most straight ahead effort at a rock album yet. not sure yet how I feel about that. nice to have Steeple Full of Swallows finally on a studio release, though. Just checked out the new website - they're playing Slims in SF on 8/4. Man, do I wanna go.)
Lucinda Williams - West (more tasty Frisell licks!)
Luna - Bewitched and Pup Tent (i've had these on cassette for years. nice to be able to spin them in the cd player. saw the band play in Austin back in '98 or '99)
Crowded House - Crowded House and Temple of Low Men (saw them recently at the Glass House in Pomona. great show. very funny blokes)
Queen - Live Killers (couln't resist. haven't heard this in ages since I have long had no functioning turntable)
Elvis Costello - Imperial Bedroom (has some nice bonus trax)
Richard and Linda Thompson - I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (a classic)
Various Artists -- I am the Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey (my dad was high school buddies with Fahey and he's got one of the original pressings of Blind Joe Death. nice interpretations, including Peter Case and CVB personnel Viktor Krummenacher and David Immerglueck. i remember one time hitching a ride across the Bay Bridge to work and this guy had Fahey playing on his tape deck. up till then, i'd never met anybody who'd even heard of him!)
It was a good catch. You can't imagine how many other discs I wanted to take home.
