A Vacation That Is Not
Posted on August 10, 2005 at 8:16 am | No Comments
The two shows we played last week made my days off a sort-of rocking-vacation, but now I’m nearing the end of a very different working-vacation. And right here at home in Boston.
It’s my company’s annual users conference, a couple thousand of our clients and staff in town for some quality face-time, presentations, meetings, food, drink, and touristy action. My co-workers and I have been on duty for the whole thing, spending lots of team-building time together, working from early Saturday straight through this afternoon.
Boston-bound tourists take note: The Westin and Copley Fairmont hotels are totally dog-friendly. I had no idea, and it’s made the days so much better. The posh Fairmont even has their own lazy ‘lobby dog’ named Catie, a pudgy black lab with a tail that’s quick to wag, especially when Nina shows up. Yup, Amie & Nina are staying down here with me, a king-size bed, hotel pool, and health club at our disposal. Yeah, we may live in Boston, but the hotel room was a necessity due to very-early conference set-up times and the need for constant availability.
Needless to say, it’s been pretty surreal time, experiencing Boston in a completely different way from my day-to-day ritual. Apart from rock practice last night, I feel like I’ve been living some other guy’s life for the past five days. Waking up 16 floors above the center of the city, a northern view overlooking the Hancock building and Copley Square, hanging out in the Fairmont while using the Westin as home base. Daily hotel-supplied meals, dinner out each night, a top-notch gym when time allows. Best of all, Amie & Nina are sharing it with me.
So that’s where I’m at, writing now from the basement of the Fairmont hotel, snagging some brief downtime to freshen up the ‘Nac a bit. No time for new mp3s at the moment, so I’ll keep the focus on last week’s offering for now.
Here’s a bunch of links for ya. I’m in a rush, so this’ll be quick…
A couple of online video finds that I’ve never seen: A great MK12-produced video for Guided By Voices‘ “Back To The Lake“, and an very cool mostly-animated clip for American Analog Set’s “Come Home Baby Julie, Come Home” over at Lumen Eclipse.
Speaking of American Analog Set, this is absolutely amazing. It’s a mashed-up version of AmAnSet’s “Hard To Find“, mixed with Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone“. I don’t know who’s responsible for it, but whoever it is… well done, I say. Well done, indeed. For now, let’s call it “Since U Been Hard To Find“.
Erasing Clouds give us an excellent (and entirely accurate) review of Colin Clary’s latest solo disc “Sweater Weather or Not These Are the Songs I Got“. The writer totally understands where Colin, and his perfect little pop songs, are coming from.
Speaking of talented friends, did anyone catch Mr. Neil Cleary behind the drum kit last night on Conan O’Brien? He was backing up Erin McKeown on one of her new songs. You can check out a repeat of the show today at 7pm on CNBC. Oh, and do yourself a favor by grabbing Neil’s solo records. Great songs abound.
If you’re an Emusic subscriber, or haven’t yet signed up for your initial free batch of mp3s, here’s something cool you can grab: An entire live recording of Mary Timony’s show at Schuba’s in Chicago this past May.
Great interview with Nada Surf singer/guitarist Matthew Caws over at Unfinished. Their new album, “The Weight Is A Gift“, is out next month.
Looks like the schedule for this year’s Boston Film Festival is due out soon, according to this blurb on Boston.com (scroll down a bit). Also mentioned is Ben Affleck’s planned adaptation of the Dennis Lehane novel “Gone Baby Gone“. Boston is as much a character in that book as Patrick and Angie, so if it’s not filmed here, that’d be a crime.
News on another personal favorite fiction series coming to the screen: The movie version of the first book in Phillip Pullman’s magical “His Dark Materials” trilogy finally has a director, and it’s Anand Tucker (Hilary & Jackie, Shopgirl). Here’s what Pullman has to say about it. For the latest, check the best HDM site out there, A Bridge To The Stars.
I have no idea how the play this freaky game, but it’s cool looking enough to make me wanna learn.
Finding out that my friend Dave Norton (of Victory at Sea) and his roommates were the victims of a Watertown apartment fire over July 4th weekend was like a punch to the heart… those who know me well know why. Needless to say, I’m glad that everyone got out ok, and I’m looking forward to finally seeing Dave at this weekend’s Elm Street Benefit at the Middle East Downstairs. Lots of great bands (Victory at Sea, Helms, Certainly Sir, Prime Movers, Madman Films, Dirty Holiday, Dorkbot, Tramps Like Us, Modelo ’78, Tiny Amps, Wild Zero, & Fragile), and all the proceeds are going to the victims. The night kicks off at 6pm on Saturday.
One week later there’s another Boston-area benefit well worth your time and meager dollars: Erin McCabe is in the middle of a battle with leukemia, and her friends and friendly bands have put together a night of music to support her. Performers include Anushka Pop, Mercury Charm Offensive, The Collisions, Anna Freitas, Heavy Stud’s Melissa Gibbs with Andrea Gillis, Jonny Pape from License, a Shine reunion, and some surprise guests. It’s on Saturday, August 20th, 8pm at the Abbey Lounge in Somerville.
Always glad to see a new like-minded Boston-area music blog: meet Drive Blind.
Another fine blog that recently made my radar: The London-based Everything’s Swirling. And I’m not just sayin’ that ‘cuz Andy blogrolled me.
The two gents behind the best Red Sox fan blog out there, Surviving Grady, will be stopping by the best comic store out there, Comicopia in Kemore Square, this Friday night from 6-7pm (then heading to the game, ‘natch). They’ll be signing copies of their every-fan-should-own-it collection of Red Sox writings that AiT/Planet Lar recently released. It perfectly captures the entirety of last year’s spectacular season, all the ups and downs and ups and big-time downs and unbelievable ups from a couple obsessed points of view. Loved it. So catch ’em Friday night, or on Sunday, August 28th from 1-2pm and 5-7pm (unless the game goes long, of course).
I’ve been so preoccupied with work that it hasn’t really sunk in that we’re opening for Smog tomorrow night, right after Feathers. I’m gonna have to dig deep for the energy to make it through the rest of this ultra-weird week.
I wonder if Bill Callahan (aka Mr. Smog) will remember staying at Club Fub back in 1994, staying up all night fighting AT-AT Walkers on our Super-Nintendo. He Is Star Wars, after all.
If you end up at the Middle East tomorrow night, say ‘hey’, willya?
Mp3s: A Long, Live Weekend
Posted on August 4, 2005 at 2:19 pm | No Comments
My six day break sadly over, I’m back at work playing catch-up. My ears are still filled with the sounds of the two shows we played, thanks to the merch-table discs I snagged and the live recordings I’ve been editing down to share.
Picastro, The Broken River Prophet, and LOOK IT in Brooklyn on Saturday, A Northern Chorus and Sianspheric back here in town two days later. Charlene played both nights, and there wasn’t a let-down among the lineups.
I taped everyone on Saturday night at Williamsburg’s Trash Bar except Brian Bonz (they were last, and I was loading out), as well as a new sorta-super-groop called LOOK IT. They were up first, and I was too preoccupied setting up to tape it, which I regretted almost immediately. It was their very first show, and they’ve got a nifty pedigree: Cindy Wheeler of the Caulfield Sisters on guitar/vocals, Andrew Deustch (singer/guitarist of Home) on keyboards/vocals, unmistakable flutist Suzanne Thorpe from Mercury Rev, and Dave Janick from Company on drums. Seems this is a little side project for Cindy until the Caulfield Sisters return to action in September, so who knows if we’ll hear more from ’em.
Next up was The Broken River Prophet, and captain Adam Brilla’s (he also of Lockgroove) rotating cast of collaborators keeps helping take his songs to greater heights. I say this having been one of them, making me not just an ex-BRP member, but a current-BRP fan. As much as I miss playing on the songs, I’m infinitely glad I get to stand in the audience and simply enjoy ’em. Adam & Co. need to get some recorded output together right now… I cannot wait to hear the stuff get a studio treatment.
Until then, here’s the two songs that ended last Saturday’s set. I believe these are BRP’s first available recordings, aside from a demo over at their site…
(files removed on 10/1/05)
The Broken River Prophet – December Wolves (live)
(at the Trash Bar, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC 7/30/2005)The Broken River Prophet – Chemical Solitaire (live)
(at the Trash Bar, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC 7/30/2005)
Charlene played right after BRP, but the recording is, shall we say, less than stellar. While we played well, I thought, the mix to my little microphone was fairly funky. So I’ll spare you until later on this post…
Toronto’s Picastro was up next, and I was in the perfect mental place to take them in, coming down from our set. Sparse, mellow, occasionally off-kilter songs anchored by an acoustic guitar and the haunting voice of Liz Hysen. As hard as I’m trying to avoid using the words ‘Cat Power‘, and as sick as Liz probably is of hearing it, it’s kinda unavoidable. Here’s their entire mesmerizing set, and if you know the names of the two I don’t, lemme know in the comments…
Picastro
live at the Trash Bar
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NYC
Saturday, July 30th, 2005(files removed on 10/1/05)
01. No Contest
02. All Erase
03. Dramaman
04. Unknown Title 1
05. Unknown Title 2
06. I Can’t Fall Asleep
07. Sharks
After a Sunday drive back to Boston, and not enough sleep that night, it was over to the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge for another show on Monday. Charlene was in the middle of a Canadian sonic sandwich, with A Northern Chorus opening up, and Sianspheric closing things out. This was the last night of a short east coast trip for those two bands, with ANC supporting their latest disc ‘Bitter Hands Resign‘, and Sianspheric offering up their brand-new DVD/CD release, ‘RGB‘.
I’ll save myself some writing, and just agree with what Frank over at Chromewaves had to say about seeing the two bands earlier this year: “Comparatively, if A Northern Chorus were the sonic equivalent of a gentle rainshower, Sianspheric were a tidal wave.“
So, first, the cello-colored rainshower…
A Northern Chorus
live at the Lizard Lounge
Cambridge, MA
Monday, August 1st, 2005(files removed on 10/1/05)
01. Prisoners Of Circumstance
02. Costa Del Sol
03. Subjects & Matter
04. Fragile Day
05. The Shepherd & The Chauffeur
06. Louder Than Love
The Lizard Lounge is so small that I was worried some of our Charlene songs would overwhelm… I mean, we’re not exactly an all-out rock band, but sometimes Matt’s guitar noise and my snare hits can threaten the ol’ eardrums. We actually had free plugs at the merch table just in case, and they hopefully saved some unprepared patrons a good ringing. (That said, we were like church mice compared to Sianspheric.)
It’s been a loooong time since the release of Charlene’s self-titled debut disc back in late 2002, so these two live tracks will hopefully ease the wait for the in-the-works follow-up…
Charlene – Ripoff (live)
(at the Lizard Lounge, Cambridge, MA 08/01/2005)(files removed on 10/1/05)
Charlene – The Way of Things (live)
(at the Lizard Lounge, Cambridge, MA 08/01/2005)
The studio version of ‘Ripoff‘ (which you can download here) appears on that debut (although you’ll notice the original’s drum machine is replaced with, um, the far-less-precise me), but ‘The Way of Things‘ is new and unrecorded. Hopefully you’ll hear a studio version of it, along with a whole bunch more, before too long.
If our set didn’t have people breaking out the earplugs, then Sianspheric’s sent them scrambling. Seriously, I had some hi-tech plugs in, and it was still loud as hell. But in the best way. The layers upon layers of guitar wash, the cymbals and buried vocals (try to make them out here… good luck), the rolling bass lines… it all combined perfectly. The influence of their foot-pedal forebearers abound: Echoes of Slowdive, MBV, Spacemen 3, the fuzz of Flying Saucer Attack… I was more than impressed with the aural assault.
Supposedly there was a massively deafening thunderstorm outside while the band played on, but honestly, there’s no way any of us would have known.
So here, for you, is their tidal wave. It’s an absolute miracle that it didn’t overload my little microphone…
Sianspheric
live at the Lizard Lounge
Cambridge, MA
Monday, August 1st, 2005(files removed on 10/1/05)
01. Audiophone
02. To Myself
03. No Space
04. The Skids
05. Tous Les Soirs
06. All On Standby
07. Rave On, Full On
08. The Stars Above
09. I Like The Ride
It inspired me enough to pick up that ‘RGB‘ CD/DVD, which just came out last week, and all of the songs from their set save one can be found on it. As I was starting to pull together this write-up, today’s Chromewaves post appeared in my RSS reader. Who’s it about? Why, Sianspheric, of course. Mystery & Misery also reviewed RGB a couple days back, too. So head over to those fine music blogs to read more.
More photos over at my flickr space. Big thanks to Petrina over at WZBC for putting together Monday’s show. A memorable night if ever there was one.
(A little Almanac reminder: Posted live tracks remain up for at least a couple weeks, sometimes longer, depending on server space. If any of the artists shared here have issues with the posting of their live recordings, just let me know. My email addy is over in the left column.)