This Weekend: Boston Cal Robbins Benefit Shows
Posted on July 12, 2007 at 9:34 am | No Comments
Just in case you were wondering, your plans for Friday and Saturday nights are already taken care of. No need to make any decisions on your own this weekend, because the lineups for the two Cal Robbins benefit shows in Somerville should crush any of that pesky free will:
For those not yet aware, Cal Robbins is the infant son of musicians J. Robbins (Jawbox, Burning Airlines, and Channels) & Janet Morgan (Channels), who is in need of ongoing special treatment for his Type 1 Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). To help raise funds for that treatment, various benefit shows and a compact disc have been put together over the past few months, and this weekend the Boston area comes together to host a benefit of our own at PA’s Lounge in Somerville.
Organized by former Karate and current Glorytellers vocalist/guitarist Geoff Farina, the two-night affair starts tomorrow evening with sure-to-be-great sets from Neptune, Helms, Chris Brokaw & Geoff (as a duo), and fellow new daddy Drew O’Doherty.
The next night, Saturday the 14th, brings us a pair of extra-special returns: Not only is Ida coming back to the Boston area for their first live show since early 2005 (and hopefully showing off new songs from their almost-finished next album), but we’ll be treated to an unexpected (and likely temporary) reunion of The Secret Stars, the much-loved duo of Geoff Farina and Jodi Buonanno. As if that wasn’t enough, throw in sets from the Thalia Zedek Band and Mark Robinson (Flin Flon, ex-Unrest, ex-Air Miami, Teenbeat label), and you’ve got yourself one hell of a stellar lineup. I’d attend any show those four acts headlined alone, and the fact that we get them all on the same night is a real gift.
Doors for both shows are at 8:30pm, and admission is just $10 for each. Save some extra beer money for your own copy of the exellent “For Callum” double-disc benefit cd, which will be available there. Oh, and since there are no advanced ticket sales, and with PA’s capacity of a mere 150 people, don’t show up fashionably late… or you’ll be looking fashionable from the outside. These truly are the don’t-miss shows of the summer.
Mp3s: The Clientele at the MFA Boston
Posted on July 11, 2007 at 9:27 am | No Comments
London-based quartet the Clientele finished up their recent month-long North American tour with a show at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, and it was absolutely gorgeous. It had been far too long since I’d seen them, at JP’s Milky Way bowling alley in 1999, when they were a trio and playing their very first batch of U.S. shows.
While those reverb-washed early singles (collected on 2000’s essential “Suburban Light”) really grabbed me, I admittedly, and inexplicably, lost track of the band in the years since. The recent arrival of their “God Save The Clientele” album (as always, on Merge) remedied that, and loving the setting of the MFA’s Remis Auditorium, I was compelled to finally see them again.
While the set leaned heavily on the new album, a few old favorites were greeted with applause, and the TV-themed encore brought us covers of tracks by both Television (“The Fire“, off their sophomore 1978 “Adventure” album) and the Television Personalities (“A Picture Of Dorian Gray“, from their 1981 debut, “And Don’t The Kids Just Love It“). FYI, that Television cover will be available in studio form on a 7” release for the track “Bookshop Casanova“, which will also include another unreleased track. Look for that in September, when the UK edition of “God Save The Clientele” gets released.
The addition of keyboardist/violinist Mel Draisey last year has certainly helped the Clientele flesh out their live sound, giving them a way to at least partially incorporate the gorgeous string arrangements provided by their studio collaborator, French songwriter Louis Philippe. And on this final night of the band’s road trip, we got a special treat that even further rounded out some of the songs: Louis Philippe himself joined the band on stage for a few numbers in the middle of the set. Not sure if this was a regular occurrence on this particular trip, or if he made a special trip to Boston, but it made an already magical night even more so.
Here’s the night, in Mp3 form. Don’t miss the Clientele when they return to the U.S. this fall for a tour with Peter Bjorn and John (Boston: September 7th at Avalon), and be sure to pick up some of their work from Merge.
Live at the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston, Massachusetts
on Saturday, June 9th, 2007
01. Since K Got Over Me
02. We Could Walk Together
03. I Hope I Know You
04. The Queen Of Seville
05. These Days Nothing But Sunshine
06. Winter On Victoria Street
07. Somebody Changed
08. Louis Philippe intro
09. Here Comes The Phantom
10. band introductions
11. From Brighton Beach To Santa Monica
12. Bookshop Casanova
13. Dreams Of Leaving
14. My Own Face Inside The Trees
15. Reflections After Jane
16. Saturday
encore…
17. The Fire (Television cover)
18. A Picture Of Dorian Gray (Television Personalities cover)
19. (I Want You) More Than Ever
Some Clientele links…
Their official site, Wikipedia entry, MySpace page , and the band’s Merge Records page. Audio: Mp3s – I recently dug out and converted a cassette containing a 4-song session the band recorded for MIT radio station WMBR in 1999, so here it is: “Five Day Morning“, “Fear Of Falling“, “Joseph Cornell“, and “Driving South“. More Audio: Mp3 – “Bookshop Casanova“, from “God Save The Clientele”. Listen to a 2005 appearance the band did for KEXP. Stream a couple songs from each of their discs by visiting the band’s discography page and clicking the album covers. Over at Epitonic, you can download Mp3s of the tracks “Emptily through Holloway“, “Reflections After Jane“, “Joseph Cornell“, and “Five Day Morning“. Video: Try a Clientele YouTube search, and word from their official site is that we’ll see the first video from the new album soon. Check out video from when the band played a few songs at 89.3 The Current recently, as well as an appearance for Yahoo Music. Another of my photos from the show can be found here. Listen to all ‘Nac-hosted tracks on the Hype Machine.
the fine print… If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the ‘nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.