Explore the Musical Space…
Posted on September 7, 2004 at 1:59 pm | No Comments
Got that new Walking Concert disc in my headphones, making the day go down real easy. Standout songs… Studio Space (clockin’ in at one forty-six, aww yeah), The Animals (so rockin), Hands Up! (Not about arm-stretched enthusiasm, but an ih-home robbery), Audrey (so poppy), Calypso Slide (so smoooove), hell, most of the songs are keepers. Go out n’ get it.
is fillin’ up the kitchen,
but they’re not helpin’…
no warm plastic superhero treatment”
– walking concert, “hands up!”
Amie, my own little shining light, won us two free tickets to see a special acoustic Snow Patrol set at ZuZu next Monday. Just sixty people. How cool is that? Gonna try to record that sucker, I am I am.
Between this Walking Concert disc, the new Twilight Singers covers cd, Rilo Kiley’s stellar “More Adventurous”, and the heartbreaking final Elliott Smith album, my ears are running on overload. So, so sonically spoiled.
I’m having a real tough time listening to the Elliott Smith record… it’s like spending time with a ghost, maybe reading too much into lyrics that probably mean exactly what they say. So painful. “From a Basement on the Hill” is an amazing collection of songs, but then again he rarely wrote anything I disliked, so that’s no surprise. But the added, nearly unbearable, weight that his loss adds to it… well, if you’re an Elliott fan, you get it. If you’re not, I sound like a melodramatic sap. Either way, I’m so glad we’re all getting to hear this… and I’m gonna miss him, and a lost lifetime of his new work, like hell.
The album will be released on October 19th. Until then, visit Some Songs, a newish repository of Elliott’s live performances.
Rilo Kiley‘s website has been relaunched with the release of the new record, and they’ve put their kinda-cute new “It’s a Hit” video up there to mark the occasion. Reminds me, I still have to get tickets to their October 5th show here in Boston… it seemed so far away, now, not so much. Oh, and look, live acoustic performance (audio & video) on KCRW here.
And yet another thing I have to buy tickets to… The Twilight Singers are coming back, hitting the Middle East on October 15th. Another sell-out, fer sure. But their live show makes the late-night squeeze worth suffering through. Now that’s entertainment.
Tickets, tickets, and more tickets… the Boston Film Festival just put all of theirs on-sale through Fandango (which I usually shy away from on principal… stoopid ads. Rahhrrr!). I’ve already picked up a couple to see Silver City. John Sayles and Chris Cooper last teamed up on Lone Star, and that’s one of my favorite films… no way I’m missing another one of their team ups. Cooper plays Dickie Pillager, fictional Colorado gubernatorial candidate. Gotta love fake promotional websites… there’s even a MeetUp link. Aces.
PopFest! New England 2004 has just posted a list confirmed bands, if not a complete schedule, and it’s lookin’ pretty good. My Favorite, Baskervilles, The Smittens, The Consultants, Shumai, Pants Yell!, superfallingstars, Colin Clary & the Magogs, The A.V. Club, Spanish for Hitchiking, Snoozer, Cannonball Jane, The Metric Mile, Brasilia, and My Teenage Stride. And that’s just half of the lineup expected for the early November Northampton, MA fest. I’m just hoping it won’t only be a celebration of pop music, but of a brand new president. Wouldn’t that be somethin?
Now Entering Autumn …
Posted on September 7, 2004 at 9:37 am | No Comments
My favorite time o’ year is pretty much here, and thankfully my many-days journey to and from a sickly hell is mercifully almost over. From doin’-just-fine to a shivering-husk-of-a-man, then back again. The digital thermometer topped out at 102, and the fever nearly broke me before it broke itself. (No, even more cowbell didn’t help). What was my body became a mass of interconnected aches and pains that are finally fading. To quote Martin & Murray: “I don’t know what the hell that thing was!”
I’m still not quite myself, but if I’m not healthy enough to type on a computer, then I should probably be laying down… and I’ve had just about enough of that.
There are a few “holy crrrap!” style blog-bites that I must shout out…
The Wedding Present are BACK!
Well, it’s not as if Cinerama‘s live shows hadn’t morphed into what was the Wedding Present at it’s (george) best, and it says as much in the article, but still… I couldn’t be more excited. One of my favorite bands of all bands returns. Gedge had never proclaimed them history, but I never assumed they’d be back. I’m doin’ the happy dance.
Pixies Boston tickets on sale tomorrow!
Well, not technically Boston, but as near as they’re going to get. One big night, December 1st, at Lowell’s Tsongas Arena, about 30 miles outta town, hardly an intimate evening. I was hoping for a few nights at a smaller venue, rather than 8,000 people in a big honkin’ auditorium, but hey, I’ll take what I can get. Been looking forward to seeing them again, listening to the live recordings of this tour, for far too long to be ruled by my arena-rock aversion. Internet pre-sale tickets available Wednesday morning.
Walking Concert’s Debut Disc Out Today
Since the first time I heard Quicksand‘s Slip, I’ve been a Walter Schreifels follower. Whatever he does, I’m there. I loved 2001’s Rival Schools record, and waited for a followup that never came. Three years later, Walter’s back with this new band and another debut called “Run to Be Born”, and it’s rocking me mightily. 14 songs, just over 30 minutes, the songs get in, do their thing, and get the hell out (check out the first track, What’s Your New Thing?). Really digging it, and can’t wait to pick up the non-mp3 version this afternoon. Tour dates abound, but nothing in Boston yet. Eyes are open.
Netflix and TiVo Team Up?!?
Ok, there’s something I’ve been waiting to hear. Throw a movie in my Netflix queue and have it waiting for me on my TiVo when I get home? That’s so damn easy that it’s almost frightening. If we can’t have flying cars, I’ll take that in the meantime. Given the legal loopholes that must be jumped through, though, I’m not holding my breath. Hell, I’m just waiting for the long-since-announced TiVo-To-Go to arrive. That January press release says “this fall”, so here’s hoping it’s almost here.
More later, lots more…