I'm Addicted to Music

Exquisite Grateful Dead

I'm Addicted to Music — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:22:22 GMT

With a tip of the hat to Zak--

Here is an acoustic set from 1978 that is very much worth a listen. Filled with gems. We miss you, Jerry.

Phish had some enjoyable moments

I'm Addicted to Music — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:36:48 GMT

This is one of them.

So is this.

Stupid iphone still not working.

Crises

I'm Addicted to Music — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:44:18 GMT

That is not a typo. I am not having one, but multiple music crises.

One, my piece of junk iphone is not working, and I can't upload pics (or have it recognized by itunes). I want to update the site with stuff I've done since Rothbury, but I guess I'l wait.

Two, I bought two tickets to see Metric and Mates of State, two bands I really enjoy, both of whom I've never seen. Then just a few days later, Trey announces a show at Music Hall of Williamsburg for the same night! Capacity 550! Pre-sale was this morning, and I got dinged. Oh and my date for the concert can't go. Today I get an e-mail: Metric canceled, and I can get my money back. Mates of State are playing with a band I've never heard of (which means nothing - I'm sure they're great). So now I've got two tickets to a concert I'm not sure I want to go to, with no one to go with, and no tickets to the concert I want to go to. Woe is me. See title of this post, supra.

Rothbury finale

I'm Addicted to Music — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:29:14 GMT

After the music finished at 4am, and we celebrated our hard work with Carl in the forest afterwards, it's a minor miracle we even woke up on Sunday at all. When I arrived on site, I almost immediately shirked any remaining duties and disappeared. Why? To see the set of a music legend I've always wanted to see but had thus far never been able to: Taj Mahal. I reached out to Taj for an interview but didn't hear back, but he receives no negativity for that, since he's freakin' Taj Mahal. And he did not disappoint. Wait, let me rephrase. He impressed the heck out of me. Such great stage presence, he played several instruments, and his music oozes joy.

Above is Taj, of course. Below is a close up of the recycled art hanging on the side of the Sherwood Court stage: aluminum cans and plastic bottles.

When his set was over, there was one hour before Trey. But we wanted to get an interview with a representative from Conscious Alliance and their world record breaking (I think) can sculpture. It was pretty far from where we were - there were parts of the festival I never experienced, like swimming in the lake, because the site was huge - but we were able to get a ride on a golf cart round trip, so I figured time wasn't an issue. Here's a shot on the way.

Conscious Alliance does great work. But when I got there I realized two things: this was going to take a while, and we didn't have a ride back. I consider myself a pretty chill person, but I panic when life confronts me with one obstacle: being late to see Trey. And life appeared to be presenting me with this obstacle. I kept giving the "cut it" sign to Alec to end the interview, but it kept going. At some point, I abandoned everyone and starting speed walking to the main stage. I got there with ample time to spare, of course. I'm neurotic; what do you want from me?

I spent the first few songs by myself, until the gang met up. There was another mic set up on stage, so we knew something was up. Trey ran through several songs solo acoustic, all stuff he'd played before. A bit rusty, but that's what happens when you haven't played an announced gig in well over a year. Then the announcement: Mike Gordon! Then they played two new originals, making an obscenely obvious comment about the imminency of a Phish reunion. The set concluded with Chalkdust, and Trey saying to go see Mike and Gov't Mule. Duh.

We joined the herd leaving the main stage and heading to Sherwood Court to see Mike. A few songs in, Trey came out, sans guitar. Whoops. So the band played two more songs without him, and then Trey came out for some playing that made me feel very good about his health. He sounded amazing, and had me literally jumping in the air. He was in fine form, focused, spitting fireballs out of the guitar. Just how we need him. Then Fishman came out for a 3/4 Phish reunion for She Said She Said - here is a crappy audio version on youtube. But I'm telling you: while everyone is focused on the Beatles cover with 3/4 of the band, and fewer are talking about the version of Meat, the highlight is what no one is talking about for some reason - the blistering version of Cruel World. Trust me.

Then back to the main stage to see Gov't Mule. A fun set, although at this point the heat and the wear and tear of the weekend was having an impact. When the set ended at 7:45, there was a decision to make: chill for a few minutes until Phil started, or run to catch the last 45 minutes of John Mayer's set. I've heard good things about Mayer from people whose musical tastes I respect, so I made the trek by myself. I get there with 34 minutes left in his allotted set time, and I was stunned to find that he was finished. The only set of the weekend where the artist, instead of playing up to or over their allotted time, decided to pack it in way early. This was incredibly lame. But fortunately for me this meant I could hear the end of the Atmosphere and Brother Ali set. Festivals rule. I'd never heard of these guys, and I'm not sure when I would have ever heard of them. But there they were, playing right in front of me (to a huge crowd of people that obviously knew who they were), and they impressed me a lot.

Then the closer: Phil Lesh & Friends. I've seen these guys before, of course, but there's a new friend - Jackie Greene. He was really the star, imho. Phil ran way over, playing about an hour past his allotted time, so by the time we got to the closing party, it was already done! No worries. Off to chill in the forest and let it all soak in. But stunningly we were kicked out of the forest by security, as they were trying to get the place shut down. You could camp overnight, so I assumed you would be able to hang out in the forest overnight. This was one of the few planning shortcomings of the weekend for me. The other one is that the food was just awful. But with those few negatives out of the way, I can say that this was an incredible weekend of my life on many levels. If I was there just as a music fan I would have left satiated, but getting to talk to so many heroes, I left with a feeling of happiness heretofore unexperienced.

Inevitably with festivals, the next day we almost missed our flight back home. I love literally running through airports. I really do. But we made it of course, and although it took me about a week to recover (if I have recovered), this weekend was simply unforgettable. Except the parts I forget. Thanks to everyone that made it possible.

Albums played live

I'm Addicted to Music — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 02:21:39 GMT

Elisabeth Vincentelli, the author of the NYTimes piece I posted earlier today from Dec. 31, 2006 (and Arts & Entertainment Editor for Time Out New York) got back to me and said this:

"I haven't heard of bands doing it in the 60s. Maybe some of the prog bands in the 70s? I believe it really started in effect in the early 90s and fully took off in the 00s."

The other article I posted makes it clear that bands were doing it in the 60s, but who started it "in effect" in the "early" 90s? Someone other than Phish? I'm not going to bother her again.

Saturday at Rothbury

I'm Addicted to Music — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:51:57 GMT

On Saturday, there was a roundtable on energy for media and other such folks not open to the common rabble. I got there towards the end. One of the panelists was a friend of nearly twenty years, Mr. Peter Shapiro. He's kind of a big deal, and many moons ago interviewed me and included a clip from the interview in his film "Miles to Go Before I Sleep." He edited it in such a way that made me look like a stupid kid, but at the time the shoe fit a bit too well, so no hard feelings. He was the first interview of the day, and he's up to so many cool things that my role was basically nothing more complicated than making sure the mic was close enough to his mouth. One of the good eggs. Alec handled the next several interviews, including STS9, while I snuck off by myself to hear The Dresden Dolls. I had one of our photo passes, so I was able to get into the press pit.

They covered Pink Floyd, Fugazi, and Neutral Milk Hotel. They played a nice variety of their original material. This is a good band.

And yes, that is the drummer on guitar. I had to leave just before the end to make it back for my 4:30 interview: Michael Franti, the frontman of Spearhead. The guy hugged me before we started. I realized one thing from this interview: the world would be a much, much better place if Michael Franti were in charge of it. He is amazing on so many levels. I was a fan before the interview, and left a bigger one. Wow. Everything he said was head-shakingly right on. I can't remember what happened next, exactly. Maybe we ran to get food? I remember hearing a few seconds of The Black Keys, but since they were too busy to be interviewed by us, I scoffed. Plus I had to go back to interview Alabama 3. I had set this one up, so was planning to do it, but was somewhat exhausted at this point, and handed it off to Alec. Kind of a mistake. We spoke with Larry Love and Devlin Love. These people are crazy, and I mean that as the highest compliment. Most people say they don't know who this band is, but when you say, "You know, the people that sing the song that plays during the opening credits of The Sopranos," they know. I had bought their latest album, but hadn't listened to it yet. (I have since, and love it - M.O.R.) (Somewhat confusingly, I think the album is called M.O.R, and I had to put the period at the end there to close the parenthetical. And now the comma makes it perhaps even more confusing. Moving on.) When the interview ended, much of Spearhead's set had passed, but we ran to hear what we could. I think I ran first - hmm. I think I have this slightly wrong. I think I went to hear some of their set by myself, went back for A3, then we went together to hear the end. Anyway, when I went first, I had the press pass still, and although they're only supposed to let you in the pit for the first three songs, and I guess it was past that, I talked my way in. I walked into the pit, looked up, and didn't see Monsieur Franti on stage, despite hearing him and the band going nuts. Then all of a sudden I notice: he's right in front of me! He'd jumped off the stage!

Crazy. The end of his set was an amazing, high energy moment, with tons of dancers on stage, concluding with some yoga by Michael. Wish I had seen more of this. Backstage afterwards, Alec was interviewing a few of the lovely dancers when Evan's phone rang. At this point my work was nearly done. I had an interview with half (i.e. Ken) of The Crystal Method set up for Sunday, but plenty of time before Trey's set started Sunday. So I was feeling pretty good. Evan didn't recognize the number, and let it go to voicemail. Then the same number called my phone. That probably meant it was Rothbury-related, but I was too slow to pick it up. So Evan called back: it was Ken from The Crystal Method! They had to move their interview time because of a conflict with Sunday. They were negotiating a time, and finally settled on one that Evan sort of said out loud to make sure it was ok: 4:30 Sunday. The only time I was really conscious of all weekend had not occurred yet: 4:30 Sunday, when his holiness The Dalai Anastasio's set began. No! I said. So we set it up for that night at around 10pm or so. Whew. Right in the middle of The Dave Matthews Band, but what can you do. We saw some of Dave, but had to leave pretty early to set up the interview, the only band interview we did outside of the media tent. Because of the time change, we were able to talk to both Ken and Scott (after some drama trying to get backstage, and walking into the artist food lounge). They were both very humble, nice, and well spoken. One of my favorite interview moments of the weekend took place during this interview. We could hear Dave Matthews off in the distance. During the interview Dave started covering Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer. I could see Ken sort of moving to the music as Scott was talking, and I was too. (I was feeling so loose, knowing this was my last interview of the weekend.) Ken jumped in and said, "Is Dave Matthews covering Sledgehammer? Cool." It was cool, but Ken from the Crystal Method finding it cool made it so much cooler. It was such a nice synthesis of the musical vibe.

After the interview we saw the end of Dave's set, which was fine. Poor Leroi wasn't there because of an accident. Send good health vibes his way. Then we went to see A3's set. Much of the weekend was running around, seeing bits of this band and bits of that band. But I got to see every second of this set, and can say it was without question one of the highlights of the weekend for me. They have a Flavor Flav-type character, some amazing musicians, great songs, and energy that comes from who knows where. Well, I know where, but it's illegal. This is a great live band. M.O.R is fun to listen to (you can tell what it's called there!), but does not do their show justice. Then on the same stage after A3 was The Crystal Method, who had me dancing as hard as I danced all weekend until they had the plug metaphorically pulled at 4am. Saturday night was alright. Not for fighting, Elton; I don't care if you have your own ice cream now. Only Sunday left to tell about. Here's an A3 pic.

Cibelle

I'm Addicted to Music — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:12:44 GMT

I've known about this woman since 2006, when I heard her in a coffee shop in NYC, asked the guy behind the counter what they were playing, and he said, "Let me write it down for you. You're going to want to remember this." But I just watched this video today for the first time. And the second.

I've now also e-mailed The Moody Blues and the author of that NYTimes piece for info about the live album thing. Yes, I'm a nerd. Isn't that why you come here?

I was also turned on last night to this band by someone from Nebraska. She gave me more ideas; I'm following them up slowly.

I have got to work

I'm Addicted to Music — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:35:01 GMT

But this article helps even more.

Playing albums live

I'm Addicted to Music — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:27:26 GMT

I swear I'll finish the Rothbury thing. But I just found this and had to post it before I forget. This makes it seem like the concept was quite new (when the article was published on New Year's 2006). So did Phish make this popular or what? I've asked The New Yorker's music genius for help with no response yet. One of this blog's three readers said she tried to find out the answer via google and the first hit was this site! Not helpful to finding the answer, but funny.

Another interruption from the Rothbury files

I'm Addicted to Music — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:19:06 GMT

But this one is so worth it.

Watch this immediately.

Quick interruption

I'm Addicted to Music — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:01:57 GMT

I notice that the Pitchfork Music Festival begins tonight with Mission of Burma, Sebadoh, and Public Enemy performing albums in their entirety. I still don't have an answer to my earlier question, about what started this trend. I mentioned that Phish played a show in the summer of 1994 where the first set was Gamehendge and the second set was Hoist, and then formalized the album concept on Halloween 1994, the first of four times they played three sets with set two being an album by another artist. But when did it start? Anyone?

Friday at Rothbury

I'm Addicted to Music — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:23:01 GMT

I don't quite remember how the day started, exactly. I woke up at a hotel about 10 miles from the venue. After getting about one hour of sleep the night before, and staying up pretty late Thursday, I was exhausted. If I'm remembering correctly, it was a struggle to make it back for the first interview of the day (which wasn't mine) at 2pm. Sojorn, whose album I bought and who I was supposed to interview, stood me up. Please, dear readers, do everything in your power to ruin his career. Alec interviewed two guys from 311, who were very nice and thoughtful. I think my first interview of the day was with The Dresden Dolls.

This was one of the interviews that made me the most nervous, for a few reasons. One, I'm a fan. I think these folks are doing something very interesting with music, fusing it with art, and writing fun and challenging lyrics. Two, I assume they're on a higher artistic plane that I am, so keeping up would be impossible. So I read everything I could, listened to Nic's most recent interview with them on MBE, listened to their latest release, and entered my usual state of panic. But things had been going well, so what could go wrong?

Amanda and Brian come over to our tent, we say hello, we get them miked and all that stuff. I do the intro I'm supposed to do. "Hey this is Richard with Mimozine and we're here with Ben and Amanda from The Dresden Dolls."

"Uh, my name is Brian, not Ben."

Longest one second pause of my life.

I sort of recovered, jumping into questions that I hope made it clear that I knew who they were and knew about their music at something beyond a superficial level. It actually wound up being a fairly decent interview, considering the awful start. When we had basically run out of time, I said, "Well I am obviously f*&king nervous since I messed up the intro. Should we do that again so we have a clean take?" Brian asked what I was talking about. I don't know if the interview was interesting enough for him to have genuinely forgotten, or he was being nice. But in any event, Amanda playfully suggested I introduce him by his porn name, Dick Biglione. We joked about that for a second, I asked if we were ready to go, and I said it. "Hey this is Richard with Mimozine and we're here with Dick Biglione and Amanda from the Dresden Dolls." Fortunately everyone started laughing. Perhaps, though probably not, unfortunately, I never actually did get the real intro. Doubtful that's a make or break deal for the end product. Great two people, great band. If you don't know their stuff, buy some, and also watch their many free videos online.

At some point during the day, we had an interview added with Fiction Plane. (Have I made it clear I'm basically only talking about the interviews I did? I hope so. I am not talking about all of the additional interviews Alec did.) Thank goodness at the time I did not know I was talking to Sting's son, because that helped the interview be completely relaxed and nonchalant. Two guys were Brits but the third lived on the UES! Rivalry! My last scheduled interview of the day was with Tea Leaf Green. Frustratingly, I still haven't seen these guys live despite all the great stuff I hear about their shows. And no, I had no interest in seeing them a few days ago in these parts, because I am not a fan of Dark Star Orchestra. Anyway, there is some dispute about how this interview went. I'm told that Reed seemed slightly irritated by my questions, but not everyone agrees. One of the fun parts about this interview was that I was basically talking to two members, but a third kept jumping in and out doing weird stuff, including climbing under the tent. Hard to describe quickly at 1am when I'm exhausted, but trust me, it was cool. I should mention I was able to sneak away for a few minutes to see part of Snoop Dogg's set. This was off to the side of the stage (though this shot is from backstage after the set):

After I was done for the day and was getting a bite to eat, I noticed a familiar figure kicking a soccer ball around. A Saturday interview subject!

By the time lunch was over, it was around 7pm. Yes, you read that right. I could hear Yonder Mountain's set beginning, but the band I wanted to see at that time was elsewhere: Modest Mouse. So we hustled over to Sherwood Court, and their set was underway. It was darn hot, but worth it. They sounded great. I didn't know they had two drummers - is that only for live performances? They played Dashboard, and we only heard about three songs when the phone rang. Keller Williams, whose interview was scheduled for 8pm, was ready to go way early, and Alec, who was most excited about doing this one, was taking a shower at the hotel. What to do? We had to get the interview, so we ditched Modest Mouse, and literally ran back to the media area. I did the interview with Keller, who was very chill and nice. He balked at talking about politics, saying something before we got on camera about how Washington stuff should stay in Washington (makes no sense to me), but I got him to talk about recycling, so it all worked out. Another artist who I'm a huge fan of sat down and got interviewed by me! What a weekend.

After that was over it was time to focus on music. Friday night was two sets of Widespread Panic. Wow. I've seen these guys who knows how many times since my first show in 1990, but this was truly one of the best. With Jimmy on guitar now, this is a new band. And the first set prominently featured violin player Ann Marie Calhoun. Just awesome.

At set break I encouraged our crew to run over and see what we could of Of Montreal's set. Now, very loyal readers will remember that my very first post on this site offered some advice about this band. I hope you've all taken it. What we saw of their performance at Rothbury confirmed my admonition. This band is amazing, and amazing live. They tore up "The Past is a Grotesque Animal" and a few other tracks, they had some weird visuals above them on a screen, they had some costumed children and one adult... Words can't capture the energy of an Of Montreal show. I've told you before to go see them, and I don't like to repeat myself, but I will: go see them.

Then back for set two of Widespread. Their performance was among the best of the weekend. With Of Montreal sandwiched in between, Friday night was hard to top.

I chose to skip Thievery and go see Primus. Their set was good, but wasn't doing a ton for me. We went over to see Diplo, and we're not exactly sure what happened. Was that Diplo? Whoever it was spun some awful music, had technical problems, and then implored the crowd to have a glowstick war. I'd say strikes one, two, and three, but I'm probably going to see him this Sunday in Central Park if I can. But this was sort of the musical lowlight of the weekend.

But the night was not over. Yard Dogs Road Show was so very entertaining, a real treat. We saw a bit of Project Jenny Project Jan, which definitely did some damage to my ears, then started making our way to the car, via the very end of Bassnectar's set, which sounded great with a Siouxsie and the Banshees tease. And that's it for Friday! Still two more days of music. I'll leave you with some Yard Dogs pics.

Party of 5

I'm Addicted to Music — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:13:02 GMT

Many months ago, when the line up for Rothbury was announced, I reached out to a few friends as a music fan to gauge interest in getting a posse together to attend. Some folks expressed interest, but it seemed like the group would be a bit thin, and given the time and money commitment involved, I began to lean heavily towards the "no" column. When my Bruddy suggested, maybe two weeks before the event, that I go out there to help out Mimoco, I balked. It seemed like too big of a project to take on so close to the actual date. Mimoco had recently started putting out a Mimozine, and they needed help in talking to artists at the festival for their next issue. This would mean potentially talking to some of my musical heroes. After a not-at-all stern talking to that knocked some sense into me, I realized this was an opportunity of a lifetime. Thank goodness I decided to make it happen.

Lots of prep work was involved in advance. Contacting artists, trying to set up interviews, blah blah blah. By the time we left (Bruddy, Mrs. Bruddy, Mimoco's Director of Content, and this guy) we had around 20 interviews set up with musicians. We knew we also wanted to interview fans, installation artists, activists, salamanders, and basically anyone else who had something interesting to say. I bought lots of albums by the artists I was planning to interview, read up about them, listened to and read other interviews they'd given, and was getting pretty nervous. Alec and I boarded a flight at 7am in Newark on Thursday, and by the time we arrived at the venue, we had about an hour until our first interview: Mickey Hart.

I've seen The Grateful Dead in California and Vermont, in Illinois and North Carolina, and so many other places. I've seen Mickey Hart give a lecture at Northwestern, and organize a performance on the grounds of the Library of Congress with Tito Puente, Pete Seeger, and tons of others. I love this guy, although I've never met him. And I'm about to have to interview him! It was quite a way to start the weekend. But it turns out that Mickey Hart is a human being. An intelligent human being who is easy to talk to. So it was quite a way to start the weekend - casual chats with great artists about music, the environment, technology, the future, and whatever the heck else we wanted to talk about for 15 minutes or so.

As soon as the interview was over, the kind folks at Madison House told us that they were adding an interview to our schedule: George Porter Jr. and Steve Kimock, who are both currently touring with Mickey. I spent a ton of time preparing for interviews, but hadn't spent one second for this one. So it was so helpful to have my weekend start this way, with a hero I was quite prepared for, and two other legends I wasn't prepared for at all. Kimock had an acoustic with him he occasionally played during our chat, and, again, my interviewees could not have been nicer to talk to. Everything was going very well.

I think it was Thursday that I also interviewed Aron from The Disco Biscuits. We were joking around quite a bit; the interview was very informal and fun. I could be wrong, but I think that was it for the day for me. Then it was off to day one of the festival.

Thursday the first music we saw was from Zappa Plays Zappa, whom I had seen before at The Jammys (not this year's, but 2006, I think). Like most of the weekend, we were running around, and saw only part of the set, which included a weird South Park nod. Then all of Mickey's set. Well, I guess I should say on the way to Zappa Plays Zappa we walked by the Kyle Hollingsworth Band, and saw George Porter Jr. sitting in. Anyway, Mickey's set was fun, including a few songs we'd hear later in the weekend like Sugaree. After Mickey, we went back through the forest (yes, an actual forest) to see The Disco Biscuits. Everyone was pretty beat by the end, and this concludes the shortest day of the four day weekend. I think this was the night we made it to Tripolee Domes, saw a few seconds of EOTO's set, and saw some idiot climb the largest dome and damage it, but who knows. Here are a few photos. More to come!

Above, Alec on the plane. Below, Alec with Mr. and Mrs. Bruddy in the media parking area.

And the last of our crew, Scott a/k/a Speedy G.

Below are two shots of Sherwood Forest at night. This was an amazing area, complete with a "Secret Stage," hammocks, art, and people in various stages of mayhem. You had to walk through it to get between certain stages.

The last photo for now is of an amazing art installation that a still photo will not do justice. When on, this piece rotated and created the illusion that an ape was swinging around and eating a snake. Or something like that.

Next: Friday.

I forgot

I'm Addicted to Music — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:39:39 GMT

I have a crummy Liz Phair picture. Lots of great video up from Glastonbury. Massive Attack = good. I didn't really know them. I was reminded of Thievery quite a bit. The Raconteurs be a little crazy. I had to search my own site for Band of Horses to be reminded of what I'd said about them, and it's consistent.

Wow

I'm Addicted to Music — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 14:15:27 GMT

I watched Editors last night before trailing off, who did nothing for me. This morning I watched Jay-Z's set (I'd only read about it last night) and that man is the man. He is so obviously a legendary part of the hip hop pantheon. But I just watched The Gossip, and they're the ones that get the wow. Wow. I hope to be able to see that band soon, although it looks like Beth and the bunch are in Europe through August.

Wireless internet!

I'm Addicted to Music — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:13:13 GMT

I'm back, people! With crazy news, too. But first the past.

Let's start with One Step Beyond on May 30. We saw Switch with Van Scott. It was crazy loud, and there were some very strange elements in the crowd. Including us, I guess. Ran into one of my DC peeps, which was nice. People trying to save the world and do good do exist. A helpful reminder. My pictures of what this event looked like aren't as good as the ones on their web site, so I won't post.

Actually it was the day before the Natural History museum night that we went to see Cyro Baptista. I really like Cyro Baptista. Beat the Donkey played at Baltimore's Artscape one year, along with Thievery Corporation and a whole bunch of other great talent. Some in a party (no names) may have allegedly snuck back stage and talked briefly with Cyro. And of course I've seen him many times with Trey, and once with Jay-Z and Phish. And he always wears a hat. Always.

Except this night. I'm not perfect, alright Cho! The man was letting his follicles fly at Joe's Pub. Back in the days when it was in my backyard. Sigh...

Matisyahu performed with him for the opening song of his set, but only the opening song. Seeing this performance reminded me of something: I really like Cyro Baptista. A very enjoyable set, with a bizarre rap about cannibalism, an apparent dig at certain people in power (for not much longer), and other matters. Here's a shot from the iphone. Have I mentioned before that I'm over the junky camera on this thing? I have? OK, here's the pic.

Next, I'll mention The Breeders show at Webster Hall. I invited you all [GET NONEXISTENT WEBMASTER TO INSERT LINK HERE TO POST WHERE I POST REQUEST FOR ANY LIVING HUMAN TO TAKE ME UP ON OFFER BUT GOT NO RESPONSES BUT MAKE SURE TO DELETE THIS NOTE TO SELF LEST I LOOK LIKE A LOSER], and gosh darn it did you miss out! Fortunately I went with some new kid in town. Basically, I think Kim Deal is the most amazing thing in the world. I love her songwriting. I love her voice, her energy, her taste in other bands and her decisions to cover them, her sister who also performed stuff she penned... I just can't say enough. One of my favorite rock musicians is Kim Deal, and I got to see her again on June 10. Lucky me. We were kinda far back, sweating in the upper deck, so photographic evidence is spotty. I told you about the camera thing? What, don't yell at me! I forget!

I'll take this opportunity to randomly mention that I enjoyed what I heard of Feed the Animals. I also saw a different and good Dave Matthews perform at Wranglers. No links possible there, really.

Then Liz Phair. Not Liz Phair, really, but more accurately Liz Phair performing Exile in Guyville. Now, let's quickly talk about the "performing an album in its entirety" concept and the "important album in my life" concept. The performing an album in its entirety concept. Who started this? Can anyone answer this? The google didn't immediately help. Because we know it's as old as 6-26-94, when Phish played Gamehendge as the first set and Hoist as the second set, followed a few months later on Halloween 1994, when they played The White Album by, well, duh. Certainly many people had done it before then with many albums, their own or covers. Right? Originality didn't begin in 1994. Anyway, I give Phish a bunch of credit for popularizing it. I doubt anyone had done two albums in one show - although I'd love to be proven wrong - and it seems like lots of bands cover an entire album at shows now. I don't remember hearing about people doing it before 1994 with any kind of regularity. Enough about that for now.

The important album in my life concept. Without a doubt two of the most important albums in my life are Exile in Guyville and Loaded. Seeing Loaded performed in 1998 was an amazing moment for me. Music in general, but that album in particular, did save my life. Exile in Guyville served the same role. Both of those albums to me are filled with heartbreaking moments and ecstatic joy. Pure musical honesty. Amazing.

The collision of the performing an album in its entirety concept with the important album in my life concept occurred at Hiro on Wednesday, when Liz played the third of four shows where she's been playing this album. San Francisco, Chicago, then two here. I had tears. I don't think that any rolled down my face, but there was some welling. Exile on Main Street is also one of the greatest albums I've ever heard, but I wasn't even born when it was released. Yes, even me. And it can be hard for music to capture exactly the now when it was written under such different circumstances. Beethoven didn't write anything that really helped me think about casual sex in the early 90s the same way that Fuck and Run did. Or think about sexiness the way Mesmerizing did. And on and on. Different music has different impact, none of it bad or wrong. But Exile in Guyville is so consistently right. Here are a bunch of dudes reflecting on it: 3 minutes of dudes like Dave Matthews (real one, on whose record label the 15 year reissue is being released) and John Cusak. Anyway, I was really happy to be able to see it.

And now it's Glastonbury weekend. Jay-Z covering Oasis in an amazing comment about music (it's more complicated than you think if you don't know what I'm talking about), Amy Winehouse hard elbowing someone, the usual. I watched We Are Scientists (not my fave), Kings of Leon (good, and I wish there was more of it), Magic Arm (had never heard of them and enjoyed it - it's like the British took our indie rock and improved it), and now off to find something else there before fading out.

I nearly forgot (psyche): the big news I promised up front. No time to get into all the details now. For the moment, I will tell you to study carefully this festival. OK, one other clue. Soon I might be saying into a camera: "Signing off from Rothbury..."

The Yard

I'm Addicted to Music — Mon, 26 May 2008 23:55:59 GMT

This is going on all summer and into the fall:

The Yard

Do not go unless you are cool. Because this summer's first event seemed to be filled with pretty chill people, from the several dancing babies on up to the adults, with mostly people in between. It'd be nice if it stayed that way. We had perfect weather, good music, food with veggie stuff I didn't try, different drinks, and a peaceful spot with a nice dance floor and lots of trees. Next week is King Britt, whom loyal readers will know is below, although I probably can't go. But this is running until October, and even if the commute will soon be unfathomably long to get there, it can be accomplished. The photos below were taken well before the dance floor filled up.

Things to notice above: records being used as dance floor shields, vinyl on the chairs and elsewhere, the sweet space.

Things to notice above: Just look up! Although I will point out the merely three bathrooms. (The pirates did not use the bathrooms.) They need more than three bathrooms.

New mix tape set list

I'm Addicted to Music — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:25:28 GMT

Want a copy? Let me know, and I'll pretend like I care. Zing!

Love Me Tenderly    3:40    The Felice Brothers    The Felice Brothers
Amy    3:32    Mark Ronson Feat. Kenna    Version
Medley    5:11    Sam Cooke    Live at the Harlem Square Club
CockRing    2:00    Bare Minimalists    Two Turds
Fresh Feeling    3:38    Eels    Souljacker
Lover's Spit    5:06    Feist    Black Session
Willin'    2:47    Lowell George w/ Linda Rondstadt    1974-03-19 WHFS-FM Studio, Bethesda, MD
Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever    3:56    Rick Danko    1997-12-20 Bottom Line, New York, NY (Late Show)
Just The Smile    4:36    Rory Gallagher    1971-08-12 Paris Theatre, London, England
Time Is On My Side    3:52    Patti Smith    1976-03-10 The Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden
English House    4:41    Fleet Foxes    Fleet Foxes
She's Got A Way    3:08    Billy Joel    1977-05-06 Long Island University
summertime rolls    7:22    Jane's Addiction    2.20.89 Philadelphia, PA
Not Fade Away    7:20    Grateful Dead    1970-02-27 Family Dog At The Great Highway, SF, CA
If You Need A Fool    4:01    Phish    1998-11-11 Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, MI

Live music, recorded music, and recorded live music

I'm Addicted to Music — Tue, 20 May 2008 00:16:31 GMT

Friday was back to Music Hall of Williamsburg. Do I say the Music Hall of Williamsburg? Anyway, missed the first band, but saw all of The War on Drugs. Easy to enjoy. I don't have any pictures of the very long-haired guitarist who didn't get off his knees while facing away from the audience for a few songs. I said later that it seemed like they were losing the war on drugs. Or winning, countered L. Here are a bunch of pics. First, the guitarist's foot, since he couldn't keep it on the ground when he was singing. Did I mention the keyboard crash? Now I did.

A little double drummer action. There was some difficulty keeping the beat, but the novelty outweighed that triviality.

Then Bishop Allen, Brooklyn's own, way of, obviously to people that know Boston, Boston. It's some street up there.

But back to our story. These guys I know about because of internet radio trying to play similar songs to songs I told them I wanted to hear that day. I heard them, liked what I heard, and bought tickets when I found out they were coming to New York. That was maybe two months ago? I figured I'd just get them and forget about it, since stuff sells out way too often and early in this town. This plan resulted in an unfortunate situation (after a fortuitous one), when we started with three on our way there but with only two tickets, and it sold out day of. Annoying. I can tell you this, though. That still didn't dampen my mood after seeing a fun band with an unanticipated guest, and then having these guys come out and sound so in control. Smart lyrics. Playful instrumentation (yes, with the ubiquitous xylophone-esque instrument). Tight arrangements. Pretty poppy, but not in any way that diminished from the concert being fun. And I give kudos and props (not or! and!) for covering Friday on My Mind for the first song of the encore. This set really seemed to genuinely capture what was going on on Friday May 16, 2008 in Brooklyn in a creative, intelligent way. A great night of music. Photos follow; it's what you people ask for.

Mark was back for Friday's Authentic Sh*t show on eastvillageradio.com. So far so good. I got a bunch of Phish shows, including one of my personal favorites, 11-11-98. A great band in top form in songs two minutes long with aching lyrics and twenty-four minutes with words for which the label lyrics would be overly generous. Jumbles of words that may not have made sense when written and certainly do not now. What a fun night that was. Four of us, and I just sent a few tracks to one of the others. We drove from Ann Arbor to Grand Rapids. [Side note in Phish-speak: The Halley's will lift you out of your seat, but I strongly advise starting from set one, with the blazing PYITE and sweetly psychedelic Gumbo.] What else did I get? Jane's Addiction from Philadelphia in 1989. Love those guys. Part of The Grateful Dead's set on 2-27-70. Oh and Tenacious D from Red Rocks that I haven't listened to yet! Yes!

No concerts on the radar this week, really. Or next. Might I be taking a break? Might not be a bad idea. Rest.

Crazy kids

I'm Addicted to Music — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:38:50 GMT

Headed to Europa for the first time on Wednesday to see some music. We got there for the last few songs of Holy Hail. Crap. Then was The Death Set. I just recently watched something on MTV about how Manhattan sucks and the only thing good about New York right now is Brooklyn. Why was I watching it? I surfed my way over there somehow when the news was announced that the 21st season of The Real World will be in Brooklyn. Anyway, people interviewed for the segment kept talking about how the crowds in Brooklyn were way more active than in Manhattan. Based on my observations on Wednesday, they might have a point. The band set up not on the stage but in the crowd, and people were going absolutely nuts. It was a pretty cool scene, even if the music was nothing terribly unique. Oh, another song where you scream loudly? Got it. Then the headliners, who loyal readers will recognize from an entry many moons ago, Bonde de Role. They were totally fun, and people were going absolutely nuts, with the requisite people jumping on stage to dance and all the usual accoutrements of an indie rock show. The problem was, it was three singers and a DJ, with no live music whatsoever. Even calling that guy a DJ is being a bit generous, since he basically was a glorified play button, not doing anything to change the music from night to night, it seems. With that criticism out of the way, it was totally fun, since the energy was very high and I like their music. Some photographic evidence of my presence:

Finally, below, you can see one of the singers making her way back onto the stage.

Off to Bkln again tonight. Oh Manhattan, when will you entertain me again?