FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

So, last night’s show could have been presented by “Keep Portland Beard.”  Every member of both bands sported beards (which, to be fair, had some dual members).  I think beards and indie rock are like eye shadow and goth.  Except at least the women of indie rock don’t have beards (not that I know of at least).

I drove by the venue around “doors” time… and the line was part way down the block.  Yikes.  As I parked my car and walked to the venue, I spotted David Bazan and some of his posse hanging out by the nearby burrito cart.  He was on his mobile; so I opted not to bug him.

After a delicious hummus plate washed down by a McTarnahan’s Amber, SAY HI started… I found my seat at the awesomely cozy Mississippi Studios.

Say Hi is a trio, and they played what I’d call “power pop indie rock.”  I mean, that’s my best explanation… very catchy, hooky – yet retaining that gristle and DIY charm of a touring group of guys.  While Say Hi didn’t have the one-two writing & vocal punch of Neil Gust & Elliott Smith’s Heatmiser, I think Heatmiser is my closest comparison to Say Hi.  Great pop songs in a rock setting, definitely enjoyable.  They played about 40 minutes and, unfortunately, it flew by.  But… they’re from Seattle; so they’re totally on my “auto notify” Pollstar radar now.

After a very short set break (5 minutes, maybe)… David Bazan (plus band) hit the stage…

The first time I saw David Bazan (December 2003 with Over the Rhine) was the only time I’ve seen him with a “band.”  Even that time, it was a stripped down Pedro the Lion set with just David and T.W. Walsh (drummer).  The singer of Say Hi joined David on guitar, the Say Hi bassist traded bass duties for guitar / keyboards / percussion.  Blake Wescott joined on guitar, there was a new drummer, and David took care of bass (and guitar during the encore).

The set was a heavy David Bazan “solo albums” set, as expected.  I’ve really been digging his latest album, Curse Your Branches; so I picked it up on vinyl last night.  Most of the set was CYB stuff and Fewer Moving Parts material.  He did throw in a few expected Pedro the Lions and Headphones songs as well…

Setlist: about 90 minutes

• Hard To Be
• Please, Baby, Please
• I Do (Pedro the Lion tune)
• Bless This Mess
• Q&A #1
• I Never Wanted You (Headphones tune)
• Magazine (Pedro the Lion tune)
• Heavy Breath
• Q&A #2
• Cold Beer And Cigarettes
• When We Fell
• Lost My Shape
• Curse Your Branches
• Q&A #3
• Fewer Broken Pieces (aka Fewer Moving Parts)
• Bearing Witness
• Q&A #4
• Keep Swinging (Pedro the Lion tune)
• How I Remember
• In Stitches
• Encore (David solo): Priests and Paramedics (Pedro the Lion tune)
• Will You Still Love Me In December (Julie Doiran cover)
• Q&A #5
• Harmless Sparks

Best David Bazan line of the night… “Infants are necessary, but they’re kinda bullshit.”

I loved David with a band.  I think the highlight of the night for me, though, was Say Hi.  I usually don’t expect to like an opener, and I like being pleasantly surprised.  I didn’t have enough coin to get some Say Hi music last night, but I plan to in the near future.

Another highlight… David’s Q&A sessions are also usually a fun aspect of his shows – it really makes a Bazan show more personal and intimate.  Most of the questions surrounded his recent “coming out” as an atheist-leaning agnostic after many years in the Christian indie rock scene.  I always loved his candor and questioning of things in religion, even when he considered himself to be a Christian and I had moved out of that camp.  I, honestly, don’t think his lyrical themes changed all that much.  His Q&A answers last night were more along the lines around around tolerance, regardless of religious beliefs or non-beliefs.  Personally, I’m glad to have him in the more doubtful camp.  However, above that, I’m glad that he’s not trying to be divisive with things like faith and his “falling from faith.”  We should move towards being different than the prior generations who don’t know tolerance.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• David Bazan’s Site
• David Bazan on MySpace
• Pedro the Lion on MySpace
  
• Say Hi’s Site
• Say Hi on MySpace
• BrooklynVegan’s NYC 10/18 Review
• Fan videos from the Chicago show: video #1 – video #2
• Mississippi Studios
  

Check out more tour dates below.

~Dan – np: Lowell Brams, Sufjan Stevens & Bryce Dessner – Library Catalog Music Series: Music for Insomnia

DAVID BAZAN & SAY HI PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Recent/Upcoming Tour Dates

• 10/01 – San Francisco CA – Independent
• 10/02 – Costa Mesa CA – Detroit Bar
• 10/03 – San Diego CA – Casbah
• 10/04 – Los Angeles CA – Troubadour
• 10/05 – Tucson AZ – Solar Culture
• 10/07 – Austin TX – Mohawk
• 10/08 – Denton TX – Dan’s Silverleaf
• 10/09 – Memphis TN – Hi-Tone Café
• 10/10 – Murray KY – Lovett Auditorium / Murray State
• 10/11 – Birmingham AL – Bottletree
• 10/13 – Orlando FL – The Social
• 10/14 – Atlanta GA – Drunken Unicorn
• 10/15 – Chapel Hill NC – Cat’s Cradle
• 10/16 – Washington DC – Black Cat
• 10/17 – Philadelphia PA – Kung Fu Necktie
• 10/18 – New York NY – Bowery Ballroom
• 10/20 – Cambridge MA – TT the Bear’s +
  
• 10/21 – Montreal QC – Il Motore
• 10/22 – Toronto ON – Lee’s Palace
• 10/23 – Pontiac MI – Pike Room
• 10/24 – Chicago IL – TBA
• 10/25 – Champaign IL – Highdive
• 10/27 – Madison WI High – Noon Saloon
• 10/28 – Minneapolis MN – Turf Club
• 10/29 – Iowa City IA – The Picador
• 10/30 – Lawrence KS – Jackpot Saloon
• 10/31 – Omaha NE – Slowdown
• 11/01 – Denver CO – Hi Dive
• 11/02 – Salt Lake City UT – Kilby Court
• 11/05 – Vancouver BC – Media Club
• 11/06 – Portland OR – Mississippi Studios
• 11/07 – Seattle WA – Neumos
  House Shows
• 12/9 – Detroit, MI – 8pm – tickets available on db.com
  
• 12/10 – Cleveland, OH – 8pm – tickets available
• 12/11 – Columbus, OH – 8pm – SOLD OUT
• 12/12 – Indianapolis, IN – 5pm – tickets available
• 12/12 – Indianapolis, IN – 8pm – SOLD OUT
• 12/13 – New Haven, IN – 5pm – tickets available
• 12/13 – Ft. Wayne, IN – 8pm – SOLD OUT
• 12/14 – Goshen, IN – 8pm – SOLD OUT
• 12/15 – Lansing, MI – 8pm – tickets available

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

There must be something about the Icelandic landscape
that yields such magnificent music.

I got into Múm (pronounced “moom”) via Sigur Rós.  In fact, it may have even been a direct email from Sigur Rós about Múm right around the time Finally We Are No One (aka Loksins Erum Við Engin) was coming out in 2003.  Both bands are from Iceland, both bands have quirky, sometimes ambient songs.  Where Múm differs from Sigur Rós is that they tend to be less ethereal and have more electronic, glitchiness going on with their music.  They came through Portland a couple of years ago on their last album, Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy, but I was not able to make it to the show.  Ever since hearing their albums, I have been curious how they’d pull it off in a live setting.

After a delicious vegan dinner at the new Irvington Blossoming Lotus restaurant (represent!), I got to the Aladdin right as doors were opening (a little after 8pm) and got a seat right up front.  Yay!

The first opener Hildur Guðnadóttir is one of Múm’s vocalists and did a 20-minute instrumental set.  She came out and played an initial song with just her on cello and laptop accompaniment.  The next song, she was joined by Sin Fang Bous’s drummer, and Múm’s bassist and trumpet player.  Her trumpeter played mostly what I’d call “empty notes” – a lot of wind and sputtering through the horn.   On Hildur’s second song, I thought, “there must be something about the Icelandic landscape that yields such magnificent music.”  The song was utterly gorgeous, flowing, almost glacial.  Her next two songs to wrap up her set were also gorgeous, but, wow, that second song really made me want to visit Iceland.  Her debut solo album is called Without Sinking and is available here.

Up next, Sin Fang Bous is a side project from Sindri Sigfússon of Seabear.  They played a 30 minute set that started off OK, but not all that that great.  BUT… by the end, I was really digging it.  The music was much louder than Múm & Hildur, and Sindri was also quite mumbly.  He was speaking in English, but when he announced song songs early on it was all a mash.  Near the middle of the set, his humor came out, which definitely helped me warm up to them.  “How come no one is sitting up there? (looking at the box seats)  Is that for the King of Portland?“

Later on he also announced that he had CDs, t-shirts… and little vials of blood for sale at the merch table if we wanted something to drink on the way home.  Silly.  I think my favorite song was “Clangour and Flutes” (from the Clangour album available here).  Anyway, it had a nice hook and some nice instrumentation.

Múm went on just before 10:30.  I had never seen them before; so I had no idea what to expect.  Several of the people up on stage had already been up there before (Hildur as the opener, the keyboardist/trumpter as Hildur’s back-up, their guitarist was also Sin Fang Bous’s guitarist).  It was like a little Icelandic traveling family.  When Múm came on, the front area without seats quickly filled up… so I got out of my seat and got a spot right at the stage.

Múm’s set was a lot of newer songs (of which I hadn’t heard) – happy, electronic with ambient / chamber music elements.  I had no idea they had multiple singers (Hildur, another woman, and a guy who also played keyboards, guitar, etc).  Don’t ask for names… it’s too difficult to remember or even research.   With two keyboardists, Múm’s electronic sounds came through in the live setting… definitely not as lush as the studio versions, but definitely commendable for a live setting.  I think, not as expected, the vocals were the primary flavor in the live show.  Hildur and the other woman singer were definitely passionate and singing their lungs out.  Here’s what the played (any help on missing / incorrect info is appreciated)…

Setlist: about 85-90 minutes

• Illuminated
• Marmalade Fires
• Húllabbalabbalúú
• Blessed Brambles
• If I Were A Fish
• Nightly Cares
• A Little Bit Sometimes
• maybe The Last Shapes Of Never
• Show Me
• unknown… sweeping, operatic, lots of “la-las”
• Dancing Behind My Eyelids
• unknown… kazoos near the end
• Prophecies And Reversed Memories
• Sing Along
• Encore: Green Grass Of Tunnel

I picked up their new one, Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know.  I look forward to spinning it later today.

I left about midway through the last song, as I had a 2 hour drive, a hard week already, and an early meeting in the morning.  All in all, it was a GREAT show.  It wasn’t as monumental / mind-blowing as the first time I saw Sigur Rós, or anything like that, but it was a really great band playing really great music.  I’m glad that they’ve been through twice these past two years… I look forward to another trip from them in the near future.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Múm’s Official Site
• A Múm Fan Site
• Múm on MySpace
• Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Official Site
• Hildur Guðnadóttir on MySpace
• Sin Fang Bous on MySpace
• BrooklynVegan’s NYC 10/24 review
• Aladdin Theater

Check out their U.S. tour dates below.

~Dan – np: Frog Pocket – Come On Primates Show Your Teeth!

MÚM, Hildur Guðnadóttir & Sin Fang Bous PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Their 2009 U.S. Tour Dates

• Oct 21 the Somerville Theatre Somerville, Massachusetts
• Oct 22 First Unitarian Church Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Oct 23 Black Cat Washington DC, Washington DC
• Oct 24 Le Poisson Rouge NY, New York
• Oct 26 Le National Montreal, Quebec
• Oct 27 Phoenix Concert Theatre Toronto, Ontario
• Oct 28 Logan Square Auditorium Chicago, Illinois
• Oct 29 McGuire Theater Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Nov 01 Marquee Room Calgary, Alberta
• Nov 02 The Venue Nightclub Vancouver, British Columbia
• Nov 03 Showbox at the Market Seattle, Washington
• Nov 04 Aladdin Theater Portland, Oregon
• Nov 05 The Independent San Francisco, California
• Nov 06 El Rey Theatre Los Angeles, California
• Nov 07 Yost Theatre Santa Ana, California

 

I think deep down, we all knew this was the case… here’s Sufjan Stevens from a recent Guardian article…

“I have no qualms about admitting [the Fifty States project]
was a promotional gimmick.”

Oh well… I’ve heard some of his new stuff, and it’s delightful.  So, regardless of statehood, I’m looking forward to more Sufjan.

~Dan – np: Peter Mulvey – Letters from a Flying Machine

I got into Regina Spektor right around the time that Begin to Hope came out (thanks to my apple peeps Luc & Nic!).  I really haven’t had a chance to see her until now, as she played near me in Ohio right around the time I was moving to Oregon.  Her newest album, Far, is really good.  I’ve been “studying” it a lot this past week, and really dig just about every song.

The Roseland Theater show was sold out at least a week in advance.  Things didn’t work out to bring my wife, friends, back-ups of friends, couchsurfing hosts, or CS friends to the show… sigh.  Oh well, I sold my extra ticket out front.  Bah, no cameras again for this show.  I attempted to contact RS’s management, but got no response after a 3 week attempt.  Oh well… this is my major dissappointment with the Roseland: metal detectors, a fervid security staff, and the near impossibility to get my camera in without pre-approval… argh.

Anyway… on to the show…

The opener Jupiter One was really good.  I had only heard of them a few hours prior.  They are from New York and seemed to have that “NYC rock vibe.”  I’ve seen several bands (usually openers) who have “that vibe.”  Jupiter One were more impressive than most.  They are a four piece and were smushed to the left of Regina’s piano (which was oddly moved over after their set – which would have given J1 more room).  They had a nice groove, and played multiple instruments (violin, flute, etc) in addition to the traditional rock gear.  They only played for about a half of an hour, and didn’t really announce many of their song names.  I was looking out for one of them (“Platform Moon”), but I don’t know if they played it…

Regina went on a little after 9pm to immediate screams and applause.  She had a violinist and cellist (whose names I didn’t get) with her, and Matt Chamberlain was on the drum kit.  I’ve seen Matt many times with Tori Amos, and his self-titled solo album from 2005 on (Secret Chiefs 3 & Mr. Bungle) Trey Spruance’s label Web of Mimicry is the bomb – it’s quite a non-traditional “drummer solo album” (check it out).

The first half of Regina’s set was pretty bouncy and fun.  I think once it got to her solo acapella and definitely the guitar stuff, well, it wasn’t her strong suit if you ask me.  She played a lot from Far, but also mixed in some material from her older albums – especially at the encore…

Setlist: about an hour and 40 minutes

• The Calculation  *a fave of the night*
• Eet
• Folding Chair *a fave of the night* (nice use of strings)
• Ode to Divorce
• Riot Gear  *a fave of the night*
• Machine
• Laughing With *a fave of the night*
• One More Time With Feeling
• Two Birds
• Blue Lips
• On the Radio
• Dance Anthem of the 80s 
• Silly Eye-Color Generalizations (acappella)
• Bobbin’ for Apples (Regina on guitar)
• That Time (Regina on guitar)
• Apres Moi  *a fave of the night*
• Poor Little Rich Boy (Regina playing piano and a drum)
• Human of the Year
• Man of a Thousand Faces
• Encore: Samson  *a fave of the night*
• Us  *a fave of the night*
• Fidelity  *a fave of the night*
• Hotel Song
• Love, You’re a Whore

I had a lot of fun, but I’m bummed some people who wanted to see it couldn’t for various reasons.  It was a sold out show; so if that’s any indictation, if she keeps touring, I’m sure she’ll be back through Portland.  She seemed to have a good stage presence and was more full of mirth than, say, Fiona Apple, yet more grounded than, say, Tori Amos.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Regina Spektor’s Webpage
• Regina on MySpace
• Jupiter One’s Webpage
• Jupiter One on MySpace
• Roseland Theater

Check out more tour dates below.

~Dan – np: John Zorn – Femina

Remaining U.S. Tour Dates

• Mon 11/02/09 – Vancouver, BC – Orpheum
• Tue 11/03/09 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
• Fri 11/06/09 – Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue
• Sat 11/07/09 – Denver, CO – Fillmore Auditorium
• Tue 11/10/09 – Houston, TX – Verizon Wireless Theater
• Wed 11/11/09 – Austin, TX – Stubb’s Bar-B-Q / Waller Creek Amph.
• Thu 11/12/09 – Grand Prairie, TX – Nokia Theatre At Grand Prairie
• Sat 11/14/09 – Kirksville, MO – Truman State University
• Mon 11/16/09 – Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
• Tue 11/17/09 – Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
• Thu 11/19/09 – Louisville, KY – Louisville Palace Theatre

“We believe that the easiest way to
change people’s behaviour
for the better is by making it fun to do.
We call it the fun theory.”
- TheFunTheory.com

Stairs temporarily a piano.
Sorry for the convenience.

~Dan – np: Tegan and Sara – Sainthood thainthood

PS- The Bottle Bank Arcade and World’s Deepest Trash Bin videos are also on the TFT site above…

So, Glen Phillips (a frequent subject on this blog) just posted a FREE 8 song sampler with a mix of material from his post-Toad the Wet Sprocket days.  Click it and enjoy!

http://glenphillips.bandcamp.com/album/free-glen-phillips-sampler

Seriously.  Free music. Free good music for free download.  It’s free.  Download it.  DO it.

~Dan – np: Ahleuchatistas – Of the Body Prone

Sigh… I’ll miss the Fanfarlo Fall 2009 North American Tour due to vacation.  Boo…   Their record, Reservoir, is great!  I’m bummed I’ll miss their Portland show, but all things considered this year, I can’t really complain much about a “lack of shows.”

Fanfarlo’s Fall 2009 Tour Dates

• Schubas Tavern, Chicago IL – November 09, 2009
• Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis MN – November 11, 2009
• Moes, Englewood CO – November 13, 2009
• The State Room, Salt Lake City UT – November 14, 2009
• Knitting Factory, Boise ID – November 16, 2009
• Crocodile Cafe, Seattle WA – November 17, 2009
• The Media Club, British Columbia – November 18, 2009
• Doug Fir Lounge, Portland OR – November 19, 2009
• Great Basin Brewing Company, Sparks NV – November 20, 2009
• Rickshaw Stop, San Francisco CA – November 22, 2009
• The Echo, Los Angeles CA – November 23, 2009
• The Casbah, San Diego CA – November 24, 2009
• Muddy Waters, Santa Barbara CA – November 27, 2009
• Club Congress, Tucson AZ – November 29, 2009
• Sante Fe Brewing Co, Santa Fe NM – November 30, 2009
• The Independent , Austin TX – December 02, 2009
• The Loft, Dallas TX – December 03, 2009
• Walter’s On Washington, Houston TX – December 04, 2009
• The Bottletree, Birmingham AL – December 06, 2009
• Metro Gallery, Baltimore MD – December 09, 2009
• Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia PA – December 10, 2009
• IOTA Club & Cafe, Arlington VA – December 11, 2009
• Brillobox, Pittsburgh PA – December 12, 2009
• Majestic Cafe, Detroit MI – December 14, 2009
• El Mocambo, Toronto ON – December 15, 2009
• Il Motore, Montreal QC – December 16, 2009
• T.T. The Bear’s, Cambridge MA – December 17, 2009
• Webster Hall, New York NY – December 18, 2009

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Incubus guitarist Michael Einziger likes experimental music.  And I like that he likes it.

He just posted on MySpace that he’s performing a new piece of music at an event in Los Angeles on November 21 at the Disney Hall.  Here’s some info about the concert.  The piece is entitled “Forced Curvature of Reflective Surfaces.”  Apparently, he’s not even finished with it yet (as of 10/28/09)!

Forced Curvature was inspired by a combination of the physical appearance of the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Einziger’s studies in the philosophy of quantum mechanics.

The music was written for 12 electric guitars (played with a slide), 12 strings (violin, cello), and is based on the glissando. The instruments have been orchestrated in terms of corresponding high and low registers, that reflect each other as though being viewed through a mirror. The exterior shape of Disney Hall informed the shape of the sounds created and by necessity, was first drawn visually in the form of architectural-like renderings, before being committed to paper in the form of a hand-written score.

“This building is obviously a solid, immobile structure”, Einziger says of the Disney Hall. “But it looks like a series of reflective waves that have been frozen in a specific state at a specific place in time, and I wanted to try and imagine what it might sound like if that idea were to be expressed as waves of sound. Adding a 4th dimension of time to the picture would force the structure into a Minkowskian space-time manifold, and it would therefore become directional. It would be as though time itself were forcing the curvature of the reflective material in a forward-motion, because time appears to be directional.”

The piece has no apparent formal structure and has been through-composed. All of the instruments will be fused together, forming 2 distinct ‘mirror images’. The strings and guitars combined will not sound like separate groups of instruments, but rather as dense units of a single instrument uncharacteristic of entirely one or the other.

Einziger conceived of the piece at Harvard University where he is currently a student, and has studied the history and philosophy of physics with physicist/historian, Dr. Peter Galison.

~Dan – np: Fred Frith – Freedom in Fragments

“The Mission,” from the forthcoming Puscifer digital EP…

I like Meats Meier, but I think this “little CGI Maynard” theme in his videos are getting a bit tiring to me.  Oh well… good song.  The C is For… -EP- comes out Nov 10th.  Check out tour dates below…

• 10/29/09, Las Vegas, NV (The Pearl, Palms Casino)
• 10/31, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/1, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/4, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/5, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/7, Stockton, CA (Bob Hope Theatre)
• 11/10, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/11, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/13, Vancouver, BC (Centre For the Performing Arts)
• 11/14, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom) *I’ll be at this one*
• 11/16, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom)
• 11/17, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/18, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/20, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/21, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/24, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/25, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/27, Houston, TX (Jones Hall for the Performing Arts)
• 11/28, San Antonio, TX (Majestic Theatre)
• 12/1, El Paso, TX (Abraham Chavez Theatre)
• 12/3, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)
• 12/4, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)

Yay, I get to see Maynard up close at Roseland (for $20+ extra, I opted for the Caduceus wine meet & greet, too).  I’ve only seen him in a big arena for Tool or a big theater for A Perfect Circle.  Should be fun…

~Dan – np: Regina Spektor – Far

PS- I’m gonna pass 100,000 hits on the blog either today or tomorrow.  Yippie… thanks for all of you who visit and read frequently via the RSS feed.

Not that I need to add anything to the U2 internet coverage rockpile… but the fact that they’re playing a PacNW date (in 2010) is happiness for me…

• 6 June, 2010 – Anaheim, CA – Angel Stadium
• 12 June, 2010 – Denver, CO – Invesco Field
• 16 June, 2010 – Oakland, CA – Oakland Coliseum
• 20 June, 2010 – Seattle, WA – Qwest Field
• 23 June, 2010 – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – Commonwealth Stadium
• 30 June, 2010 – East Lansing, MI – Spartan Stadium
• 3 July, 2010 – Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Rogers Centre
• 6 July, 2010 – Chicago, IL – Soldier Field
• 9 July, 2010 – Miami, FL – Land Shark Stadium
• 12 July, 2010 – Philadelphia, PA – Lincoln Financial Field
• 16 July, 2010 – Montreal, QC – Venue TBA
• 19 July, 2010 – New York, NY – New Meadowlands Stadium

~Dan – np: Kneebody – Kneebody

Seattle jazz band Reptet has a new 7″ vinyl out called Agendacide.  It’s available in vinyl/mp3 and mp3-only versions via the Reptet website, CDBaby, or (I expect eventually) the Monktail Creative Music Concern’s webpage.  They’re headed out on a West Coast tour (that I won’t be able to catch this time, unfortunately):

• October 29, 2009 Cottage Grove, OR The Axe & Fiddle
• October 30 Chico, CA The Coda Cafe
• October 31 South Lake Tahoe, CA The Divided Sky
• November 1 Placerville, CA The Cozmic Cafe
• November 2 San Francisco, CA The Make-Out Room
• November 3 Sacramento. CA The Shady Lady
• November 4 Davis. CA The Delta of Venus
• November 5 Oakland, CA Café Van Kleef
• November 6 Reno, NV The Zephyr Lounge
• November 7 Los Angeles, CA Molly Mallone’s
• November 8 Santa Barbara. CA Live Culture
• November 9 Glendale CA JAX
• November 13 Olympia, WA The Eastside Club

They’ve got a new blog going on, too: http://reptet.wordpress.com/

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

SInger-songwriter Glen Phillips tweeted last week about a mashup video of his “Spirit of Shackleton” and OneRepublic & Timbaland’s “Apologize,” and the 1961 film The Phantom Planet.  Behold “Spirit of an Apology“:

~Dan – np: Flight of the Conchords – Flight of the Conchords

George Hrab puts out the best almost hour of new content each week via his Geologic Podcast.  As of late, he also tweets roughly 10 jokes a day, too (amidst working on his 6th studio album, Trebuchet).  His tweets are usually quite punny… which means… awesome!

Some of my starred feeds from him:

• Owls make great census workers.
• I wonder how frogs describe it to each other when they hear someone died.
• If Al Green where Indonesian, I think he should have sung “Let’s Satay Together.”
• Both Philip and Ira’s faces momentarily lit up when they saw the sign for “Glass Blowing.”
• When I was your age my idea of X-Box was what I used for break dancing.
• You ever hear the one about the Eskimo who didn’t like making igloos?  He just wasn’t that Inuit.
• I would love to watch Frank Gehry and I.M. Pei play Jenga.
• Chunky peanut butter: appealing. Chunky regular butter: not so much.
• Personally, I’d rather think outside the envelope and push the box.
  

Well, Geologic Podcast #137 (link) has a special feature where it mostly consists of the Twitter Concerto #1 – his reading of some of his tweets over some improv music.  It’s funny.  (Warning: not for kids – there is some dirty language).

George Hrab – Geologic Podcast #137 (Twitter Concerto #1)

• Check out his Podcast
• Follow Geo on Twitter
• RSS for the Twitter feed
• Be-friend him on Facebook

~Dan – np: Flight of the Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky

More than a year ago, I asked if there was going to be a DVD release of the great Andy Barker, P.I. show.  Well, today I got an email and… yay, it’s up for a November 17th release…

(pre-order on the Amazons)

~Dan – np: Floratone – Floratone

Photos from Tuesday’s show are now posted… go to…

REVIEW: Nellie McKay at
Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley (Seattle, WA – 10/20/09)

~Dan

Ani DiFranco is one of my favorite artists.  The fact that she’s as prolific as an apple slicer at a pie factory doesn’t hurt my need for new music from her.  I’ve posted many times before the “stats” behind her release schedule (it is both ridiculous in her velocity and my tracking of said velocity).   This last span of time between 2008’s excellent Red Letter Year and, well… no new album is quite uncharacteristic of her.  Based on the amount of new songs in the setlist, I expect a new album is right around the corner.

For this recent tour, I got to the venue a little late, as I had to drive in from Portland (I’d been up in Seattle on Mon & Tues for work, and Portland on Wednesday).  I couldn’t miss Ani, though.  No photos this time around, as cameras weren’t allowed in the venue.  I did snap one via my iPhone (below).

Opener Anais Mitchell was good.  She seemed kind of shy, but also playful.  While I don’t think her sound really set herself apart from the many singer-songwriters out there; she just completed a folk-opera, Hadestown, based on the myth of Hades and Eurydice.  Ani appears on it, and it’ll be out on Righteous Babe, I’m sure.

(the sole crappy iPhone shot of the night)

Ani and her band came on around 9pm.  Her band this time was Andy Barger on drums, Mike Dillon on percussion (who I’ve seen play with Skerik & the Dead Kenny G’s), Todd Sickafoose on contrabass (who I’ve seen many times with Ani).  They started out with, as acknowledged by Ani, a very schizophrenic set of songs.

Setlist: just shy of 90 minutes

• Fuel *a fave of the night*
• Paradigm
• Manhole
• Modulation
• Swan Dive *a fave of the night*
• Red Letter Year
• Coming Up
• November 5th, 2008 (new song – formerly known as “November 4” - free live download)
• Albacore (new song)
• Unworry (new song) *a fave of the night*
• Way Tight
• God’s Country
• Napoleon
• Splinter (new song) *a fave of the night*
• Which Side Are You On? (new song – 30’s tune by Florence Reese, reworked by Ani – free live download)
• Mariachi (new song)
  
• Both Hands *a fave of the night*
• Encore: Little Plastic Castle *a fave of the night*
• Barroom Girls (Gillian Welch cover with Anais Mitchell and Animal Prufrock)

Thanks for the setlist corrections, francoapple.

A great show, followed by a drive back up to Portland for work.  I think of the new songs, “Splinter” is my favorite – - followed by “Unworry” (with a great chorus “facts are pretend anyway” ).  Both of those songs are a bit more poetic than the rest.  I had “November 5th” from a free download back last fall, and while I like Obama and was happy on November 5th, the song seems kind of cheesy.  Same thing goes for “Which Side Are You On?“  It’s available for free via the link in the setlist above (note: there may be a limited opportunity for the download).  While I agree with its premise/lyrics, I think Ani’s done better, more poetic political songs.

Oh well, I guess with her output, there’s bound to be some songs I don’t like as much.  But all in all, a great show.  It was good to see her with a band, as usual.  Maybe next time, with Mike Dillon’s influence, she’ll bring Skerik along for some horns.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Ani’s record label - Righteous Babe Records
• Ani DiFranco on MySpace
• Anais Mitchell
• Anais Mitchell onMySpace
• McDonald Theatre

~Dan – np: Erik Friedlander – Grains of Paradise

Ani DiFranco Fall 2009 Tour Dates

• Sep 11 2009 – Kalamazoo State Theatre – Kalamazoo, Michigan
• Sep 12 2009 – Krannert Center Guitar Festival – Urbana, Illinois
• Sep 13 2009 – Paramount Theatre – Aurora, Illinois
• Sep 15 2009 – Mayo Civic Center-Presentation Hall – Rochester, Minnesota
• Sep 16 2009 – DECC Auditorium – Duluth, Minnesota
• Sep 18 2009 – Fargo Theatre – Fargo, North Dakota
• Sep 19 2009 – Burton Cummings Theatre – Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Sep 20 2009 – First Avenue – Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Sep 22 2009 – Riverside Ballroom – Green Bay, Wisconsin
• Sep 23 2009 – The Vic Theatre – Chicago, Illinois
• Sep 25 2009 – Michigan Theater – Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Oct 10 2009 – Lobero Theatre – Santa Barbara, California
• Oct 11 2009 – Grove of Anaheim – Anaheim, California
• Oct 13 2009 – Rio Theatre – Santa Cruz, California
• Oct 14 2009 – Tower Theatre – Fresno, California
• Oct 20 2009 – Arcata Community Center – Arcata, California
• Oct 21 2009 – McDonald Theatre – Eugene, Oregon
• Oct 23 2009 – Crystal Ballroom – Portland, Oregon
• Oct 24 2009 – Moore Theatre – Seattle, Washington
• Oct 25 2009 – PAC Concert Hall – Bellingham, Washington
• Oct 27 2009 – Centre for the Performing Arts – Vancouver, British Columbia
• Oct 28 2009 – Royal Theatre – Victoria, British Columbia
  
• Nov 13 2009 – State Theatre – Ithaca, New York
  
• Nov 14 2009 – Zeiterion Performing Arts Center – New Bedford, MA
• Nov 15 2009 – Calvin Theatre – Northampton, Massachusetts
• Nov 17 2009 – The Egg – Albany, New York
• Nov 18 2009 – Ridgefield Playhouse – Ridgefield, Connecticut
• Nov 20 2009 – Electric Factory – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Nov 21 2009 – The Town Hall – New York, New York

…but I’m gonna love you anyhow.

Thank you again for the music.  I wish you didn’t have to go so soon.

xo

~Dan

Um… kick ass… Faith No More is planning a U.S. Tour as I type this… as reported on BrooklynVegan, here’s a repost of bassist Billy Gould’s tweet…

Stoked,
~Dan

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

So, I had tickets to see Ben Folds with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra at Benaroya Hall last night.  I hemmed and hawed and finally decided to sell my ticket on craigslist to go see Nellie McKay instead.  I dig both of them as artists, and the main reason for the hemming and hawing was the whole symphony aspect (I mean, I’ve seen Ben Folds Five or solo a half dozen times already… so the symphony take on it was my main draw).  Ah, but… Nellie totally has my heart when in a piano/vocalist celebrity deathmatch with Mr. Folds.  She’s quirky, cute, writes and sings both silly and political songs, has a passionate love for animals (she’s a vegetarian with a stance on animal cruelty that makes me proud), and… you rarely know what to expect from her musically on any given night.  I’ve seen her twice prior, and both times were fantastical suprises.

Sorry, Ben.  Next time?

As a consolation for the Ben Folds fans, there’s a free mp3 stream (or download if you do some research, i.e.- “view source”) from the Huffington Post of the Ben Folds collaboration with author Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, etc).  It’s a jab song at the ex-fiance of ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol… from the HuffPo, I present you ”Levi Johnston’s Blues.”

Speaking of the HuffPo… here’s a recent article / interview with Nellie McKay by Michael Giltz.

Oh, so Nellie’s latest album, Normal As Blueberry Pie, is all about Doris Day (a total of 14 Doris Day tracks in the recording session, and one Nellie original).  Two of the 15 session tracks are more difficult to get ahold of, unless you want to buy both the “exclusive” Barnes & Noble bonus track version and the iTunes bonus track version.  Have I mentioned that Universal Music Group’s tactics suck!? Anyway, the album is great (special track tactics notwithstanding).  The album lacks some of the bite and wit of Nellie’s prior 3 (and a half) solo albums.  But, I love it all the same.  It’s got Nellie trademark nostalgia / campiness, as evidenced by the photos surrounding the release (see to the right).

OK… on to the review of the show…

I really dig Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley.  It’s small and intimate (but large enough for the room to breathe).  Also I like the idea of making an experience out of the show – a fantastic meal, great atmosphere, and an attentive audience makes for a wonderful evening.  Oh, and free parking in downtown Seattle is like the cherry on top.  This was only my second time here (Hiromi in June was my first), but it is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues in the PacNW, if not ever.  I just wish it wasn’t so far away from me in Eugene all the time.

Nellie went on around 7:40pm with her backing band, The Aristocrats.  This was my first time seeing Nellie with a band.  They were excellent.  They were all younger than I was expecting.  I mean, this wasn’t her studio backing band… but as hired guns solely for touring, they really worked well with Nellie in a fun & playful way.  The band was Nellie McKay (piano and ukulele), Howard Fishman (guitar), Charles Schiermeyer (sax), Ben Bynum (drums), Scott Litroff (violin and flute), and Daniel Policar (keys).

Setlist: just shy of 90 minutes

• If I Ever Had a Dream
• Close Your Eyes (Doris Day cover)
• Sentimental Journey (Doris Day cover)
• Send Me No Flowers (Doris Day & Burt Bacharach cover, Nellie on Uke)
• Do Do Do (Doris Day cover) *a fave of the night*
• Mean To Me (Doris Day cover)
• Dig It (Doris Day cover, Nellie dance-off) *a fave of the night*
• The Very Thought of You (Doris Day cover)
• A Wonderful Guy (Doris Day cover)
• I Remember You (Doris Day cover)
• “I Killed Larry David and I Liked It” / Grunge Song *a fave of the night*
• Crazy Rhythm (Doris Day cover) *a fave of the night*
• Black Hills of Dakota (Doris Day cover)
• A-Tisket, A-Tasket (Ella Fitzgerald cover)
• The Dog Song *a fave of the night*
• Encore: Zombie (with Gary Danielson on sax)
• I Wanna Get Married (Doo Wop Version, with Gary Danielson on sax) *a fave of the night*

So, yeah, holy crap… Nellie just keeps on getting better each time I see her.  I thought I’d be slightly bummed by a mostly Doris Day set (as I really like Nellie’s original songs a lot), but the Doris Day material was really fantastic in a live band setting.  The addition of a jazz combo behind her really made the songs gel, and her interaction with the others was really fun.  She’s kinda of a nutty person (or maybe as corny as Kansas in August)… but I wouldn’t want her to be any other way.  I didn’t get a chance to meet her after the show, but I had a fun night regardless.  Nellie and the Aristocrats are playing a second night (Wednesday, October 21st) at the Jazz Alley.  If you go, drop me a line with your thoughts on Night 2.

Some of the best lines of the night by Nellie…

“I still can’t go back to Olympia, because I have overdue library books.”

“There’s hashish in that music… that was a score!” (really funny in context)

The Jazz Alley’s description of Nellie as a “martini cool chanteuse” was kinda of spot on.   If you don’t have her newest one, get it… it’s fun (and out on vinyl, too):

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Nellie McKay’s Official Site
• The Fan Site with Forum
• Nellie McKay on MySpace
• Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley

~Dan – np: Erik Friedlander – Topaz

NELLIE McKAY PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Higher Resolution (12 pics)

Limited to 1200 pixels wide or tall (49 pics)

Large ZIP file (12.9 Megs)
includes all of the pictures above

CLICK HERE FOR ZIP FILE (right click, save as)

…

Vegetarian S’mores Pouches
…

So, as many vegetarians know, marshmallows are not vegetarian due to the use of gelatin.  Well, for this month’s Vegetarian Supper Club in Eugene, OR, I attempted to make homemade vegetarian marshmallows.  I used a recipe (that shan’t be linked to), followed it to the letter… and failed.  I mean, it tasted like marshmallows, but it never solidified and was basically unusable sugar-goop.  Oh well.  However, I had a backup plan for my s’mores pouches: marshmallow fluff…

Ingredients:
serves however many (i.e.- it’s easily scalable)

• puff pastry shells, phyllo dough… or crescent rolls (i.e.- the easy route that I took due to expediency, 1 canister of crescent rolls = 4 pouches)
• chocolate chips (any variety you like… 20 chips / pouch)
• marshmallow fluff (the standard 7 oz. jar = 8 pouches)
• graham crackers (any variety you like, 1 large cracker = 4 pouches)
• cookware: a muffin pan… or two.

Directions (see assembly pictures below):

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
2. Combine two (2) crescent roll triangles into one ball, roll out into a flat floured area.  Place inside greased muffin pan (I made about 8 in each 12-slotted muffin pan).
3. Add crumbled up 1/4 graham cracker
4. Add roughly 20 chocolate chips per pouch.
5. Add 2-3 Tbl of marshmallow fluff per pouch and close up / twist them off at the top.
6. Cook for 15-17 minutes or until brown (a little but more than the crescent roll recipe to ensure cooking throughout).  If you use puff pastry shells or phyllo dough, your cooking time and temperature will likely vary.
7. The pouches tend to open up exposing the marshmallow.  If you don’t want this to happen, figure something out for step 5… I didn’t mind them opening up a little bit.
8. Let cool… and enjoy!

 For a variation, if you have a crème brûlée torch, you could toast the marshmallow fluff a bit after cooking in the oven… yum!

For the calorie counters… it’s about 400 calories, 15g fat, 60g carbs, and 4g protein.  Um… it’s a dessert; so, yeah… hit the elliptical for 40 minutes to offset it completely.

This is a mainly music-based blog.  If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes, like vegan biscuits & gravy, spiced biscotti, vegan cactus chili, vegan bananas foster, mushroom dumpling stew, strawberry cornbread muffins, fruit spring rolls, and grilled coconut-rum pineapple at THIS LINK.

~Dan – np: Sufjan Stevens – The BQE

creme brulee

So, I was skeptical of the Radiolarians: The Evolutionary Set for the three great jam/jazz albums that I already had, until I saw what Medeski Martin & Wood were offering in the boxset… all three CDs, a remix CD, a live album, a double vinyl with choice cuts, and a DVD…

(click for larger)

(click for larger)

Plus… pre-order by 11/10/09 and get 20% Off retail price and be entered to win 2 Free Tickets to an MMW concert on their Nov/Dec tour!  Pre-order by 11/30/09 and get a Free T-shirt from their “Free Tee Department.”

Find out more at MMW.com’s store HERE.

Let’s just say, “I listed my current Radiolarians on Amazon for sale used”…

~Dan – np: Piano Magic – Ovations

Rarely do elements of the Cincinnati music scene tromp through Oregon.  I got the opportunity to see Bad Veins about 5 weeks ago up in Portland, and now they’re back through Oregon, but this time in my lovely city of Eugene.  They received a nice write-up in the 10/15/09 Eugene Weekly, too…

We showed up late but before anyone started yet; so we moseyed over to One Cup for some delicious coffee.  On the way back to Sam Bond’s, we could hear the opener (Blue Horns from Portland) blaring through the door & windows… and we were about 2 blocks away.  “Oh, crap, I forgot my earplugs!“  Blue Horns were a good rock band.  Really loud, though (and I don’t think it was their fault).  They had a nice vibe, but it was hard to tell what the guy was singing most of the time.  Listening to them on MySpace now, they’re kinda jangly & bouncy indie rock.  Maybe I should write a letter to SB’s soundguy to turn it down from 17 to 11.  I mean, come on…  11 is enough.

Bad Veins got all set up and ready to go by 11pm… based on the poster (above), they seem to be the main band for this Daytrotter sponsored tour (I ♥ Daytrotter), yet they went on before The Subjects.  This was fine with me.  Nothing against The Subjects, but I was done after BV’s set.  Tired after a long week’s work and ears practically in tears.

Sebastien and Benjamin rocked us out for about a half hour.  As they like to say in the industry, Sebastien was “killing the fuck out of his drums.“  OK, maybe they don’t say that in the “industry.”  He was doing it regardless.  Maybe his drums slept with his girlfriend or ate the last breakfast burrito… or… or… both.  Regardless, he was going nuts.

After about the first song, we moved outside to help shelter our ears (again, Mr. Soundman… 11 is loud enough).  I was able to find a good spot on SB’s patio and watch through the window.  No pictures this show, as I rarely get any good shots at Sam Bond’s (even with a good camera).  For recent Bad Veins concert photos, check my last month’s review (click picture below)…

Setlist:

• Found
• Gold and Warm
• Crosseyed
• Afraid
• Dry Out
• Falling Tide
• The Lie

Their set was identical to the time prior, and my wife made a good comment… “well, they use that reel-to-reel so they have to keep things in the same order.”  Duh on my part.  Anyway, it was still a really good set, despite the extreme loudness of it all.  I think Sam Bond’s is not the place to see rock music (prior to this, I’ve only seen Skerik/ jazz, Talkdemonic/ acoustic post-rock, and various singer-songwriters).  Hopefully The Subjects got better sound treatment.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Bad Veins Official Webpage
• Bad Veins on MySpace
• Blue Horns on MySpace
• The Subjects on MySpace
  
• Sam Bond’s Garage
  

~Dan – np: Foo Fighters – In Your Honor

Well, had you asked me at the beginning of the week, “are you going to see Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt?,” my answer would have been “um… no.”  My wife had seen Lyle Lovett a few years ago open for Sting and loved Lyle’s music, but I wouldn’t say we were seeking out going to this show.  However, some friends of ours who had tickets ended up with a conflict and gave the tickets to us (thanks J&M!).

For me, Lyle’s music is a touch too close to country to seek him out, and I had never even really heard of John Hiatt.  Regardless of that prejudice and ignorance about their music, I had a lot of fun.  Lyle and John came out around 7:45pm and immediately started talking.  This would kick off the format – a lot of talking and each person trading off songs.

They were both great storytellers through their songs, and I was glad that they weren’t too twangy (really my only big gripe with country music is the twang).  It’s actually hard to say which part was more entertaining, their songs or their banter.  After about an hour, they’d only made it through 8 songs, and their songs aren’t generally long. They really seemed to be good friends who let us into their living room to watch them shoot the shit and play some songs for each other.

Setlist: two and a half hours

• Drive South [JH]
• Fiona [LL]
• Walk On [JH]
• LA County [LL]
• Thunderbird [JH]
• Home Is Where My Horse Is [LL]
• Tennessee Plates [JH]
• I Will Rise Up [LL]
• Always Movin’ On (new) [JH]
• South Texas Girl [LL]
• Have a Little Faith in Me [JH]
• Choke My Chicken [LL]
• Crossing Muddy Waters [JH]
• North Dakota [LL]
• Memphis in the Meantime [JH]
• Her First Mistake [LL]
• Through Your Hands [JH]
• My Baby Don’t Tolerate [LL with JH guitar solo]
• Ain’t No More Cane [LL & JH]
• Encore: Thing Called Love [JH & LL]
• If I Had a Boat [LL]

Overall, it was a great show.  They were both great storytellers and quite humorous.  They seemed to be very well paired and play off (and with) each other well.  Thanks again J&M for the tickets!

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Lyle Lovett’s Official Site
• Lyle Lovett on MySpace
• John Hiatt’s Official Site
• John Hiatt on MySpace
• The Hult Center
  

~Dan – np: Nellie McKay – Normal As Blueberry Pie: A Tribute to Doris Day

Yet again, Glen Phillips is releasing stuff at the end of the year via the Bandcamp website.  Heck, if this year ends up like last year (with the fantastic Plover and RemoteTreeChildren records), I’ll be happy to drop some more coin for some more Glen.  Here is his latest, silly ditty:

http://glenphillips.bandcamp.com/track/little-bunny-foo-foo

Go get this song now… it’s only $1 and well worth the cost of admission.  You can via PayPal, too… i.e.- totally convenient, foo foo.

~Dan – np: Eisley – Fire Kite -EP-

OYG!  The headlining line-up for this coming year’s Portland Jazz Festival is rad.

Thursday, February 25, 7:30pm, Hilton Pavilion Ballroom, Luciana Souza
Friday, February 26, 7:30pm, Newmark Theater, Mingus Big Band
Friday, February 26, 9:30 pm, Norse Hall, In The Country
Saturday, February 27, 3:00pm, Norse Hall, Trygve Seim & Frode Haltli
Saturday, February 27, 7:30pm, Newmark Theater, Dave Holland Quintet
Saturday, February 27, 9:30 pm, Norse Hall, Christian Wallumrød Ensemble
Sunday, February 28, 3:00pm, Newmark Theater, Pharoah Sanders
Sunday, February 28, 7:30pm, Crystal Ballroom, Dave Douglas Brass Ecstasy

I’m definitely going to the Dave Douglas show… and the other bold shows are definitely good possibilities.  More acts to follow in the coming months.  The festival runs February 22-28, 2010.

Tickets go on-sale October 27th at TicketMaster (or October 14th – 10am if you are a PDX Jazz member).

Find out more at:

• http://www.pdxjazz.com
• PDX Jazz Fest on Facebook

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A totally unrelated sidenote… Texas band of rock siblings Eisley just released a new EP called Fire Kite (digital only, out Oct 9th).  Album cover looks Jebus-y (or at least it’s geometrically-inclined with potentially religious ambivalence)… DL’ing now… we shall see…

~Dan – np: Megadeth – Endgame

As Family Guy’s Peter Griffin would say… Nellie McKay’s latest is frickin’ sweet.  It came out on Tuesday (10/13/09), and its 13 tracks are great!  You can hear a glimpse streaming over at nelliemckay.com.  Here’s a promo “making of” video (click picture):

Normal As Blueberry Pie is Nellie’s Doris Day tribute album with the quite cute album cover.  You can also get some cute (and quite campy) wallpapers over on her official page:

Slight gripes… I bought it on CD & vinyl and then found out that Barnes & Noble’s version of the CD has a bonus track (“I Want to Be Happy“) and the album only version on iTunes had a different bonus track (“I’ll Never Smile Again“).  Eff me!  I hate you, big label Universal Music Group (you suck)!

~Dan – np: Alice in Chains – Black Gives Way to Blue

As reported on TOOL’s website, Maynard James Keenan is releasing a digital only Puscifer EP on November 10, 2009…

~Dan -  np: McTuff on Jazz NW 10/11/09

Puscifer Tour Dates:

• 10/29, Las Vegas, NV (The Pearl, Palms Casino)
• 10/31, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/1, San Diego, CA (Spreckels Theatre)
• 11/4, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/5, Oakland, CA (Fox Oakland Theater)
• 11/7, Stockton, CA (Bob Hope Theatre)
• 11/10, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/11, Seattle, WA (Moore Theatre)
• 11/13, Vancouver, BC (Centre For the Performing Arts)
• 11/14, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom) *I’ll be at this one*
• 11/16, Portland, OR (Roseland Ballroom)
• 11/17, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/18, Salt Lake City, UT (Capitol Theatre)
• 11/20, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/21, Denver, CO (Paramount Theatre)
• 11/24, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/25, Dallas, TX (McFarlin Memorial Auditorium)
• 11/27, Houston, TX (Jones Hall for the Performing Arts)
• 11/28, San Antonio, TX (Majestic Theatre)
• 12/1, El Paso, TX (Abraham Chavez Theatre)
• 12/3, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)
• 12/4, Phoenix, AZ (Orpheum Theatre)

Nuno Bettencourt (of rock band Extreme) is starring in a music video with Jason Segel for the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Known for their love affair with “songs that are awesome,” HIMYM have re-created the famous Extreme video “More Than Words.” Other cast members including Neil Patrick Harris, Cobie Smulders, Alyson Hannigan and Josh Radnor will also appear in the video.

The episode airs tonight (Oct 12th) on CBS at 8/7c.  Here’s the behind the scenes video:

Official video from the show:

~Dan – np: Explosions in the Sky – All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone (Remixes)

One of my favorite rock bands around right now is dredg.  I’ve seen them twice this year, and their 2009 album The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion is at this time the easiest pick for album of the year for me.  Easiest.  It’s fantastic.  The aforementioned album is a concept album inspired by Salmon Rushdie’s “Imagine There’s No Heaven: A Letter to the Sixth Billionth Citizen.”

Well, SPIN just put out an article with a review, live videos, and music downloads from a joint performance by dredg & Salmon Rushdie at Manhattan’s Housing Works’ Bookstore Café (click the picture below).

The videos included are Salmon reading his essay and then dredg performing “The Pariah,” “The Ornament,” and”Information.”  Also available for download on the site are mp3’s of three dredg songs:

DOWNLOAD (free music):

• “The Pariah”
• “Lightswitch”
• “Information”

~Dan – np: Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters

Photos from Tuesday’s show are now posted… go to…

REVIEW: Aimee Mann @ Aladdin (Portland, OR – 10/6/09)

~Dan

So, as reported at the BBC, there’s a new musical instrument on the scene, eight years in the making…

There’s also another video on the BBC link above.  It totally puts the keytar to shame.

Find out more about it at Eigen Labs.

~Dan – np: Flat Earth Society – Isms

Ed O’Brien confirmed to NME that Radiohead will indeed be making a new album this winter to release in 2010.  Read more over on At Ease…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Zero 7 are also on the move, with a new album Yeah Ghost and a tour.  I won’t be able to make it to their Portland stop, as it’s the same night as my work holiday party.  Bah humbug! 

No Tina Dico or Imogen Heap this time around.  Zero 7’s live show features singer Eska (who appears on Yeah Ghost) and folk collaborator Olivia Chaney as well as long time band members Eddie Stevens, Robin Mullarkey and Tom Skinner.

The album can be pre-ordered via the Amazons:

North American Tour Dates:

• 11/26/09 Thu 9:30 Club Washington, DC
• 11/27/09 Fri Terminal 5 New York, NY
• 11/28/09 Sat House of Blues Boston, MA
• 11/29/09 Sun Theatre of Living Arts (TLA) Philadelphia, PA
• 12/02/09 Wed Club Soda Montreal, QC
• 12/03/09 Thu Phoenix Concert Theatre Toronto, ON
• 12/04/09 Fri Metro Chicago, IL
• 12/05/09 Sat Epic (formerly the Quest) Minneapolis, MN
• 12/07/09 Mon Ogden Theatre Denver, CO
• 12/08/09 Tue Belly Up Aspen, CO
• 12/11/09 Fri Wonder Ballroom Portland, OR
• 12/12/09 Sat Showbox at the Market Seattle, WA
• 12/13/09 Sun Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, BC
• 12/15/09 Tue The Warfield San Francisco, CA
• 12/16/09 Wed Orpheum Theatre Los Angeles, CA
• 12/17/09 Thu House of Blues San Diego, CA

~Dan – np: Five O’clock People – Blame Taker EP

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

I got into Aimee Mann after several promptings by my friend Bruce, and then eventually via her quite powerful role in the P.T. Anderson movie, Magnolia (1999).  Her spot in that movie and her pervasiveness on that soundtrack made me pay attention.  I’ve stuck with her through some great albums, including a doozy of  holiday album (but I don’t blame her, I blame the general holiday music content).  Her albums are always pretty damn consistent… consistently good.  I just never got the chance to see her until now.  I happened to be up in Portland for work; so I naturally found my way to the venue.

I really like the Aladdin Theater… it’s a classy theater, and every show I’ve seen here has been great (Jude and Yael Naim), and I plan on hitting the Aladdin at least 2 or three more times this year (Múm, the Swell Season, and maybe Stryper… but mainly for the humor aspect of that show).

The opener was Nick Lowe, who I didn’t know.  Apparently I knew some of his songs, specifically “(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding” (he wrote for Elvis Costello, and I’ve heard the A Perfect Circle version).  Nick played about 50 minutes, and probably 15 songs.  He had some very good, short pop songs.  I can see why people like him.  I mean, he kinda blended into the background to me, but he had a charm and lyricism that I can admire.

Aimee Mann came on around 9:20pm with two keyboardists.  Throughout the set, they both swapped around many instruments… mainly keys, but also guitar, shakers, drums, recorder.  She played a short 40 minute pre-determined set before breaking out into the audience request portion of the show…

Setlist: 2 hours

• The Moth
• Nightmare Girl
• Momentum *a fave of the night*
• Build That Wall
• Par For The Course
• Amateur *a fave of the night*
• This Is How It Goes
• Wise Up *a fave of the night*
• Save Me [false start - see comments below]
  ———————
• Real Bad News [start to the audience requests]
• Long Shot
• Looking For Nothing
• Freeway *a fave of the night*
• Jacob Marley’s Chain
• 4th Of July
• Mr. Harris
• Video *a fave of the night*
• Ghost World
• You Could Make A Killing *a fave of the night*
• Red Vines
• Invisible Ink
• Susan
• One (Harry Nilsson cover)
• Encore: Save Me *a fave of the night*
• Voices Carry

So, the first attempt at “Save Me” got an odd response from a few ladies… almost like the cheering as you’re going up a rollercoaster.  Aimee pointed that out and countered it with how depressing and co-dependent-y the song was.  Then she went into some really depressing (but funny) new lyrics for the song… which led into the giggles; so she couldn’t even finish the real version of the song.  She came back to it later for the encore.

Aimee was really fun… much more fun than I thought she’d be.  I mean, her songs really meander on the line of depressed, melancholic disappointment; however, she was quite bubbly, and giddy in spots.  Her three-piece band really worked well together in a pinch.  Great, long show… check her out if she swings by!!!  She’s only a short West Coast tour this fall; see the remaining handful of dates below…

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Aimee Mann’s Site
• Aimee Mann on MySpace
• Nick Lowe’s Site
• Aladdin Theater

~Dan – np: Finger Eleven – Finger Eleven

Aimee Mann West Coast Tour 2009

• 10/2/09 UC Santa Barbara CA
• 10/3/09 Santa Cruz, CA Rio Theatre
• 10/4/09 San Francisco, CA Hardly Strictly Bluegrass FREE
• 10/6/09 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater …with Nick Lowe
• 10/7/09 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre with Nick Lowe
• 10/8/09 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom
• 10/10/09 Coeur D’Alene, ID The Kroc Center
• 10/11/09 Boise, ID EgyptianTheatre with Fountains of Wayne
• 10/12/09 Salt Lake City, UT The State Room with Fountains of Wayne
• 10/14/09 Boulder, CO Boulder Theater with Fountains of Wayne
• 10/16/09 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern with Fountains of Wayne

AIMEE MANN & NICK LOWE PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Higher Resolution (7 pics)

Limited to 1200 pixels wide or tall (24 Aimee pics, 6 Nick pics)

I mentioned the Asthmatic Kitty Records‘ Library Catalog Music Series back here (yeah, buried amongst 8 other music stories).  Anyway, 900X’s will likely not be my only multiple-spinnable one (sidenote: I just got the 900X album on vinyl… yay!).

Coming out in December are three more in the all-instrumental series…

• Lowell Brams: Music for Insomnia
• Yuuki Matthews: Music for Savage Tropical Imagery
• Roberto Carlos Lange: Music for Memory

Bryce Dessner (of The National) and Sufjan Stevens are all over the Lowell Brams: Music for Insomnia release.  Find out more on the AK webpage.

PS- Aimee Mann at Portland’s Aladdin Theater tonight.  Yay!  Look for a review (and hopefully photos) later this week.

~Dan – np: Finger Eleven – Greyest of Blue Skies

I got the SF Jazz Collective’s Live 2009 CD in the mail the other day. It’s a smokin’ hot remembrance for me of the show they put on at The Shedd in February of this year.  The SF Jazz Collective features Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, Miguel Zenon, and many more great musicians.  The new SFJC CD set put my Dave Douglas 2009 music count up to 7 ¾ hours… that includes the excellent Brass Ecstasy Spirit Moves CD, the BE: On Stage Live series, the Masada Book Two’s New Masada Quintet (with Joe Lovano) playing Stolas, and the SFJC Live 2009.

Well, yesterday I logged in to my Greenleaf Music Subscriber page (as it’s a new month, and I wanted to see if they had any new treats), and they had some samples of the new Dave Douglas A Single Sky CD.  I checked my email, and “bam!” there’s an email notifying me of pre-order status of the new album – due out October 27th (I must have been sleeping).

It features Jim McNeely and the Frankfurt Radio Bigband.  The collaboration offers three new Douglas compositions alongside four works from the Douglas songbook reimagined by McNeely.  Find out more HERE.

~Dan – np: Dave Douglas – “The Presidents” from A Single Sky

You’ve heard of re-tweeting, right?  Well, here’s my re-posting of the lovely YouTube documentary unfolding real-time surrounding Peter Mulvey’s Long Haul Bike Tour.  Re-Peteing, as it were.  The original blog (with words and video edited by Kathy Wittman):

Peter Mulvey: Comeback (Kathy’s blog)

Peter’s tour route was HERE (map).  He rode with his show opener Brianna Lane.  Check out Peter’s new record, Letters from a Flying Machine:

Keep up with Kathy’s road blog at:
http://www.kathywittman.com/mulvey/long_haul_blog/
Or via RSS at:
http://www.kathywittman.com/mulvey/long_haul_blog/rss.xml

~Dan – np: SF Jazz Collective (Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, Miguel Zenon, etc) – Live 2009

So, I got into Melt Banana (aka MxBx) when they put out a 5″ vinyl / 3″ CD split with Mike Patton’s Fantômas back in 2005 called “Animali in Calore Surriscaldati con Ipertermia Genitale / Cat in Red” on Italian label Unhip Records.  MxBx are the Japanese noise metal cousin of Fantômas; so the split single as a marketing tool worked… I was hooked on Melt Banana.

They’ve got a new 3″ CD / 7″ vinyl coming out called “initial t.” on Init Records.  Three songs were recorded in early 2008, and it allegedly picks up where their 2007 album Bambi’s Dilemma left off.  The CD is packaged in a 3″ cardboard jacket.  The vinyl’s first pressing is limited to 1,000 copies (200 on blue marble vinyl, 200 on mixed vinyl, 600 on black vinyl) and includes a download card for MP3’s of the record.  Artwork on both the CD and vinyl is in “stunning full-color” by Aaron Horkey.  It is expected to be available for pre-order from the Init website as of today, 10/1, and it ships in late October.  They’re currently list as “coming soon”… so, if you’re one of the ones who wants to get a blue marble vinyl, keep your clicker finger warmed up.

CD: GO HERE
Vinyl: GO HERE

They’ve swung through Eugene once since I’ve lived here, but I was unluckily out of town.  Well, they’re playing Portland in December; so I’m there.  Here are the rest of their US Tour dates for MxBx Lite (vocals guitar & drums):

• 10/29 Visalia, CA at Cellar Door
• 10/30 San Francisco, CA at Slims
• 11/01 San Diego, CA at Casbah
• 11/03 Tucson, AZ at Plush
• 11/04 Phoenix, AZ at Hollywood Alley
• 11/06 Denton, TX at Haileys
• 11/07 Austin, TX at FFF Fest
• 11/08 San Antonio, TX at Rock Bottom Bar
• 11/09 Houston, TX at Walters
• 11/10 New Orleans, LA at Republic
• 11/11 Pensacola, FL at Sluggo’s
• 11/12 Birmigham, AL at Bottle Tree Cafe
• 11/13 Athens, GA at 40 Watt Club
• 11/14 Gainesville, FL at Common Grounds
• 11/15 Tampa, FL at Crowbar
• 11/16 Orlando, FL at Back Booth
• 11/18 Columbia, SC at New Brookland Tavern
• 11/19 Chapel Hill, NC at Local 506
• 11/20 Washington, DC at Rock and Roll Hotel
• 11/21 Baltimore, MD at Ottobar
• 11/22 Philadelphia, PA at First Unitarian Church
• 11/23 New York, NY at Bowery Ballroom
• 11/24 Boston, MA at Middle East Downstairs
• 11/25 Hamden, CT at The Space
• 11/27 Buffalo, NY at Mohawk Place
• 11/28 Detroit, MI at The Pike Room at Crofoot Ballroom
• 11/29 Cleveland, OH at Grog Shop
• 11/30 Chicago, IL at Bottom Lounge
• 12/01 Minneapolis, MN at 7th Street Entry
• 12/02 Madison, WI at High Noon Saloon
• 12/03 Iowa City, IA at Picadur
• 12/04 Sioux Falls, SD at Nutty’s
• 12/05 Omaha, NE at Waiting Room
• 12/07 Denver, CO at Bluebird Theater
• 12/08 Salt Lake City, UT at Urban Lounge
• 12/10 Missoula, MT at Badlanders
• 12/11 Seattle, WA at Chop Suey
• 12/12 Portland, OR at Dante’s
• 12/15 Pomona, CA at Glasshouse
• 12/16 Los Angeles, CA at Troubadour

~Dan – np: SF Jazz Collective (Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, Miguel Zenon, etc) – Live 2009

The few websites that aren’t RSS feed-able that made it to my “must check every day” list… Daytrotter is great, and they hit us on Monday with a live in the studio session with David Bazan (of Pedro the Lion)… it’s his second live session with Daytrotter…

Go here for the free music:
http://tinyurl.com/bazan-daytrotter2

1) Hard to Be 2) Curse Your Branches 3) Bless This Mess

Past Daytrotter Sessions I’ve blogged about and dug (links and free music not guaranteed on  these old blogs): Copeland, Bad Veins, Nellie McKay, Clare and the Reasons, My Brightest Diamond #2, Damien Jurado, Talkdemonic, Aimee Mann, Ani DiFranco, Bad Veins #1, Kaki King, Holy Fuck… and David Bazan, My Brightest Diamond, Erin McKeown.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Nellie McKay’s upcoming album on Verve, Normal As Blueberry Pie, finally has an album cover…

(out Oct 13th, 2009)

Cute! It’s out on vinyl as well as CD (and digital copies).  But with something out on vinyl, why settle for crappy lossy mp3s?

She’s also hitting the road.  Dates are trickling in… she’s playing Seattle’s Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley the same night as Ben Folds with the Seattle Symphony (Oct 20).  I’m up there for work, too.  I’m totally in a quandary.

~Dan – np: Fear Factory – Obsolete

So, Thom Yorke (of… duh… Radiohead) just blogged on deadairspace about getting a band together to rehearse the Eraser tunes to play a couple of gigs in Los Angeles.  Flea (of… duh… Red Hot Chili Peppers) is part of the live Eraser band.

??????

hi

in the past couple of weeks i’ve been getting a band together for fun to play the eraser stuff live and the new songs etc.. to see if it could work!

here’s a photo.. its me, joey waronker, mauro refosco, flea and nigel godrich.

at the beginning of october the 4th and 5th we are going to do a couple of shows at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.

we don’t really have a name and the set will not be very long cuz ..well …we haven’t got that much material yet!

but come and check it out if you are in the area. we’ve also got locals Lucky Dragons playing.

all the best

click here to get to get tickets>

10/04

10/05

Cool…

~Dan – np: Farmers Market – Surfin’ USSR

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

Works Progress Administration

I’ve been a fan of Glen Phillips via Toad the Wet Sprocket since back in my “high school days”… Toad is one of the few artists to make it out alive from that period, remaining a cherished part of my collection.  Glen’s voice is so evocative and honest and personable… it’s hard not to love just about everything he does.  In fact, last year, he pulled a doozy, releasing two albums under different band monikers (without much warning) under Radiohead’s In Rainbows “pay what you want philosophy.”  Both the Plover and RemoteTreeChildren cracked my Top 5 albums of 2008.

Well, this time, Glen decided to let us know about his new band and let some buzz build up… the Works Progress Administration (aka W.P.A. / WPA) is more or an Americana effort that is at its core made up of the trio of trio of Glen Phillips, Luke Bulla (from Lyle Lovett’s band), and Sean Watkins (from Nickel Creek). The Eugene show was with the extended band, not just the core trio of Phillips/Bulla/Watkins.  It also included Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), Greg Leisz (Joni Mitchell, Bill Frisell), Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek), Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing), and Don Heffington (Lone Justice… and I remember seeing him play with Over the Rhine at one point).

The first opener, Ehren Ebbage, put on a quick 20 minute set, four songs.  He hails from Seattle.  He was pretty good – he has the pop singer-songwriter vibe going on.  He seemed like a good soul, funny personality.  He got a opening slot due to “begging for it.” We didn’t walk out with his CD, unfortunately; but if he swings back through Eugene, I’ll give him another listen.

The second opener, Molly Jenson, stomped on the stage shortly after Ehren.  I say “stomped,” as she had these killer heels with jingles fixed to them (see pictures below).  Her first song in her 20 minutes, 4 song set was a song that showed that playing guitar, singing and stomping your foot in heels is probably more than I’d be able to handle physically.  It’s gotta be much harder than patting your head and rubbing your stomach.  Molly was pretty funny, she joked about the disco ball (and had the light guy turn it on).  She also talked about how she and Sara Watkins rolled around the hall’s floor that afternoon in their rollerskates.  Her sound was more in the country/folk singer-songwriter mold.  She ended her set with “You Are My Sunshine.”

Molly Jenson released her Webisode #13 that included footage from the WOW Hall show.  Check it out on YouTube.

WPA hit the stage around 9pm and jumped right into material from their new album.  “Always Have My Love” is such a good lead-off track to their live show (and CD).  It really features all aspects of this huge band.  WPA overall is really hard to pigeonhole.  They definitely fit in the folky genre, but they have many aspects of bluegrass, pop, rock.  Lots of violin, steel guitar, great vocals.  Vocal duties were shared by Glen, Luke, Sean and Sara.  They played mainly songs from the debut CD, but they also played songs from each of the singer’s “main gigs / solo albums.”

Part way through the set, they invited Alex & Tatiana Hargreaves on stage. I had never heard of them, but they were well received by the crowd.  They are both young and are quite the fiddle phenoms.  They jammed on two songs with Sara, Luke & Sean – one instrumental and one with Tatiana singing lead on a song from her recent album.

Here’s what they played…

Setlist: 90+ minutes

• Always Have My Love (Glen on vocals) *a fave of the night*
• End This Now (Glen on vocals)
• Paralyzed (Sean on vocals)
• Cry For You (Luke on vocals)
• Solar Flare (Glen on vocals) *a fave of the night*
• Rise Up (Glen on vocals) *a fave of the night*
• I Feel the Blues Movin’ In (Luke on vocals) *a fave of the night*
• I Go to Sleep (Sara on vocals) *a fave of the night*
• Already Gone (Sean on vocals)
• Not Sure (Sean on vocals)
• Drive By (Glen on vocals) *a fave of the night*
• Pink Triangle (Weezer cover, Sean on vocals) *a fave of the night*
• Garfields (with Alex & Tatiana, instrumental)
• Sugar Babe (with Alex & Tatiana, Tati on vocals)
• Somebody More Like You (Sean on vocals)
• Remember Well (Luke on vocals)
• Long Hot Summer Days (Sara on vocals) *a fave of the night*
• Good As Ever (Glen on vocals)
• A Wedding or a Wake (Glen on vocals)
• Encore: The Price (Glen on vocals)
• You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome (Bob Dylan cover, Sean on vocals) *a fave of the night*

Fantastic show.  It’s amazing to see so many great musicians on the stage at the same time.  They honestly looked like they were having a ball, too.  It was also good to see Glen playing guitar again (after his pretty nasty glass table accident last fall).  Luke Bulla and Nickel Creek, while already on my radar, made my list of “I should see them if they come through again.”  Fantastic players all around…

I picked up the debut WPA CD at the show.  It came out a week ago, but I wanted to wait until I saw them in person – you know, to make sure they got all the money, not shipping or some distribution middle-man like Amazon.  You can order it directly from the WPA site (click the photo):

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

Always Have My Love (live on WNCW)

Introducing W.P.A.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Works Progress Administration Official Site
• WPA on MySpace
• Glen Phillips Official Site
• Glen Phillips on MySpace
• Sean Watkins on MySpace
• Luke Bulla on MySpace
• Tatiana Hargreaves Online
• Alex Hargreaves Online
• Molly Jenson Official Site
• Molly Jenson on MySpace
• Ehren Ebbage Official Site
• Ehren Ebbage  on MySpace
• WOW Hall
  

~Dan – np: Faith No More – Album of the Year

WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

WPA’s tourdates:

• Sun 08/16/09 – Schwenksville, PA – Old Pool Farm
• Tue 08/18/09 – Exton, PA – Eagleview Concert Series
• Wed 08/19/09 – New York, NY – Joe’s Pub
• Thu 08/20/09 – Londonderry, NH – Tupelo Music Hall
• Sun 09/06/09 – Yosemite, CA – Camp Mather
• Wed 09/16/09 – Columbia, SC – White Mule
• Thu 09/17/09 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre
• Fri 09/18/09 – Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle
• Sun 09/20/09 – Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic
• Fri 09/25/09 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
• Sat 09/26/09 – Seattle, WA – Crocodile Cafe
• Sun 09/27/09 – Eugene, OR – WOW Hall
• Tue 09/29/09 – Chico, CA – Manzanita Place
• Wed 09/30/09 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent
• Sat 10/03/09 – Ventura, CA – The Lodge
• Mon 10/05/09 – Los Angeles, CA – Largo
• Thu 11/05/09 – New York, NY – High Line Ballroom
• Sat 11/07/09 – Pittsburgh, PA – Diesel Club Lounge
• Sun 11/08/09 – Charleston, WV – Cultural Center
• Tue 11/10/09 – Annapolis, MD – Rams Head On Stage
• Wed 11/11/09 – Vienna, VA – Barns At Wolf Trap
• Thu 11/12/09 – Fairfield, CT – StageOne
• Fri 11/13/09 – Cambridge, MA – Passim Folk Music & Cultural Center
• Sat 11/14/09 – Northampton, MA – Iron Horse Music Hall
• Sun 11/15/09 – Fall River, MA – Narrows Center For The Arts
• Tue 12/01/09 – Cedar Rapids, IA – CSPS / Legion Arts
• Wed 12/02/09 – Minneapolis, MN – Cedar Cultural Center
• Thu 12/03/09 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
• Sat 12/05/09 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark
• Sun 12/06/09 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School Of Folk Music

FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

(the new Alice in Chains)

So, I could have seen Pearl Jam, but since I’d seen them (and they put on a freakin’ great live show) and I had never seen Alice in Chains.  So, AiC won out in the battle of who to see tonight.  Regardless of the lack of Layne Staley, I really dig guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell and the new lead singer (William DuVall) sounds pretty good.  So, I’ll have to hold off on seeing Pearl Jam for a 2010 tour (?).  This Alice in Chains show was billed as “An Evening With,” which makes me happy.  Openers at rock/metal shows are usually for sucks.

Due to crappy Duck Football traffic, it took forever to get to Portland.  I got to the Roseland Theater around 8pm, and the band hit the stage just after 8:30.  It was a packed crowd, but I was able to move around a bit.  No cameras again.  Blerg.  I’ll have to contact some people before Regina Spektor & Puscifer in this same venue to see if I can get photo access.  We shall see.  I took some iPhone photos, as that wasn’t expressly disallowed (like it was announced as prohibited for the Porcupine Tree show last week).

Jerry Cantrell was always a big part of their sound, on both guitar and vocals.  He did quite a bit of vocals, and William really pulled off “the Layne sound.”  It’s difficult coming into a band with a solid career and trying to replace a very distinct vocalist.  While I wouldn’t say that William “has his own voice” with regards to the band, he’s definitely helping them carry on and make great music in the wake of losing Layne.  Hopefully William’s own voice shines through on the upcoming record (out 9/29).

Here’s what they played…

Setlist:

• Rain When I Die
• Again
• Check My Brain *a new one – it was OK*
• Them Bones
• Dam That River
• A Looking In View *a new one – pretty good*
• We Die Young
• Nutshell *a fave of the night*
• Love, Hate, Love
• God Am
• Acid Bubble *new one – I’m kinda “meh” on this one for now*
• Angry Chair
• Man in the Box *a fave of the night*
• Would? *a fave of the night*
• Encore: Sludge Factory
• No Excuses *a fave of the night*
• Rooster

A great show… again, William does a great job filling Layne’s shoes.  Jerry and the rest of the band were as tight as ever.  Their setlist covered their career nicely.  I’m looking forward to their new album, Black Gives Way to Blue, showing up on my doorstep (I ordered it with the new Megadeth & Nellie McKay).  You can pre-order it below (it comes out on Tuesday):

Since my photos are only (subpar) iPhone photos… here are some professional photos from the Seattle show by Savoia Digital Concert Photography:

TONS MORE at Savoia’s Facebook photo album

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Alice in Chains dot com
• Alice in Chains on MySpace
• Roseland Theater

~Dan – np: Fantômas – Fantômas (aka Amenaza al Mundo)

ALICE IN CHAINS iPhone PHOTOS
(sorry in advance for the lower quality)
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

David Cross is on a little fall tour to promote his new book, I Drink For a Reason.  You may know him from Mr Show with Bob & David, or as Tobias Fünke on Arrested Development (i.e.- the best television show of all-time), or his stand-up specials, or a glut of parts in television and movies.

(David Cross as Tobias Fünke was one of the best character pieces with laugh-out-loud antics in about every moment he was on screen).

I was just at the Newmark for another comedian, Patton Oswalt.  Unlike the Patton show, though, this show wasn’t general admission.  Yay!  We got to our seats ( fairly close up).  The show began not too long after.

The opener was Todd Glass.  He only did about 15 minutes, but was pretty damn funny.  He jumped around a lot in material, but I guess with only 15 minutes, you have to get as much in as possible.

David came out around 8:45pm and started off with a song about tearing Portland a new asshole that morphed into the jokes he was going to tell us, which wouldn’t involve any cosmonaut jokes… which, of course, ended with a cosmonaut joke.

David, of course, touched on religion, politics, and drugs.  My favorite bits were scattered all about.  His mom making yogurt… from yogurt was pretty funny.  The bit on the horror porn was hilarious.  He did make a good point – what’s the reason for horror porn?  To scare the cum out of you?

One of the better parts of the night was when he called out a sign language guy for signing words that didn’t exist.  The “deaf guy interloper” was part of the show, a friend of David’s; however at first, the audience didn’t know.  When David said “Gallileo,” the guy signed the motions for looking through a looking glass.  It looked so odd that David said it again about 3 times… then David started saying words like “ridonkulous” to see what the sign language would be.  It all ended with David calling him out and telling him to leave (“deaf guy” showed up later as a “live blogger interloper” during the set).

The bit about Scientology and Mormonism was also pretty funny.  We’ll see how that goes next week in Salt Lake City.   Some of his other humor was a little bit over the line (re: hassidic jews, etc), but that’s what you get with David Cross.  He ended with a joke on crazy things to buy (i.e.- SkyMall crap).  The  focus on the “time mug” was pretty hilarious.

After 90 quality minutes David left the stage… but then came back out shortly for a quick movie encore… he played 3 and a half minutes (all that was legally allowed) of his upcoming UK television series directed by Spike Jonze, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret.  It looks pretty damn brilliant.  Anytime you have Spike Jonze involved, it’s got good potential.  Arrested Development alum Will Arnett was also in it.  We’ll likely not get it on this sided of the pond, until it hits DVD.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• David Cross’s Wiki (including Filmography)
• Todd Glass on MySpace
• Newmark Theatre / PCPA

~Dan – np: Faith No More - The Real Thing

David Cross’s Tour Dates

September 2009
24 & 25 – Portland, Ore. @ The Newmark Theatre
27 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Vancouver Comedy Festival
28 – Salt Lake City, Utah @ In The Venue
29 – Denver, Colo. @ Paramount Theatre
30 – Kansas City, Mo. @ Midland Theatre

I Guess I’m Floating have a new live-captured Sufjan Stevens song “There’s Too Much Love.”  Snag the free mp3 here:

Sufjan Stevens – There’s Too Much Love {external link mp3}

Or watch the video here:

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Swell Season, comprised of Glen Hansard from The Frames and Marketa Irglova, is releasing their new album, Strict Joy, on 9/29.  They’ve got a U.S. Tour on the map.  I got my Portland tickets in the mail the other day…

November 2009
1 – Milwaukee, Wisc. @ The Pabst
2 – Indianapolis, Ind. @ Clowes Memorial Hall
3 – Toronto, Ontario @ Massey Hall
4 – Montreal, Quebec @ L’Olympia de Montreal
6 – Boston, Mass. @ Berklee College of Music Performance Center
7 – Providence, R.I. @ Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
8 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Merriam Theater
9 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
12 – New Orleans, La. @ House of Blues
13 – Houston, Texas @ Warehouse Live
14 – Dallas, Texas @ Palladium
15 – Austin, Texas @ Paramount Theatre
17 – Mesa, Ariz. @ Mesa Arts Center
18 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Wiltern
20 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Paramount
22 – Seattle, Wash. @ The Paramount
24 – Portland, Ore. @ Crystal Ballroom
25 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts
27 – Boise, Idaho @ Egyptian Theatre
28 – Salt Lake City, Utah @ Jeanne Wagner Theatre
29 – Denver, Colo. @ Ogden Theatre
30 – Kansas City, Mo. @ Uptown Theater

December 2009
3 – Chicago, Ill. @ Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University
4 – St. Louis, Mo. @ The Pageant
5 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ State Theatre

~Dan – np: Failure – Fantastic Planet

In Cincinnati, we got to see Raquy Danziger, Liron Peled, and the rest of the Cavemen about twice a year due to the large tribal bellydance scene.  Well, luckily, Raquy’s sister lives in Eugene; so we get a visit roughly once a year.  They always put on a great show, full of wonderful percussive world rhythms.

I’d never been to Joe’s Bar & Grill… if I get a chance, I hope I’ll choose not to go again (or at least on a Thursday). You see, last night, besides the four different sources on the web with different start times and openers listed, was “ladies night.”  So, during Raquy’s set, we got a nice dose of “two drunk ‘ladies’ shouting too loudly over the music.”  One girl was literally explaining in a PhD dissertation-length exchange about how her phone was ringing, that she was going to pick it up, that she did pick it up, that she was going to talk on it, and then the volume didn’t decrease much when she was talking on it.  It must have been listed as “classy ladies night” in the local paper.

Despite prior interweb research, the Ruins of Ooah (a local band) was not the opener, but rather the last band.  We didn’t stick around for them, but I’ll try to catch them at another venue around town.  Up first was Mood Area 52 (a local bohemian/gypsy-style band).  They usually have a larger band, but last night was just accordian/vocals, cello, and double bass.  The cellist, Amy Danziger, is actually Raquy’s aforementioned sister who is Eugene-local. I’ve seen MA52 several times, but usually in a more “secondary” setting… meaning, they happen to be playing I stop by for a few songs during a Saturday Market, art walk, or coffee shop visit.  They played about 6 songs over 30 minutes.  They weren’t mic’ed at all, but it didn’t seem to matter.  They missed the loud lady convention that seemingly descended on the venue during Raquy’s set.  MA52 was quite delightful, and I recommend them if they’re playing and you’re in town.

Raquy and the Caveman hit the stage around 9:45 or so.  This time it was sans Nezih (only a Raquy & Liron duo band).  We had caught their long-ish soundcheck, and due to it being a “school night” only stuck around until about 10:30 for their main set.  They started out with several dual dumbek / dumset* songs… mostly fast, showing off both Raquy’s and Liron’s insane percussive skills.  We left shortly after their song that featured Raquy on kemenche (a Persion stringed instrument) and Liron on a Liron-custom 11-string guitar (stringed and tuned with a saz in mind).  A great performance by both of them… we wished we could have mustered up enough to stay longer.  Next year, we shall!

*-The “dumset” is a small set-up by Liron with a dumbek set up to a kick pedal, a dumbek in hand, cymbals, riq, etc.  It’s played like a regular drumset.

Raquy & the Cavemen’s fifth album, Bewitched, is out now.  We picked it up at the show, and I look forward to spinning it today.  Click the picture for more information on the new release:

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Raquy and the Cavemen’s Official Site
• Raquy and the Cavemen on MySpace
• Mood Area 52
• Mood Ares 52 on MySpace
• Ruins of Ooah
  
• Ruins of Ooah on MySpace
• Joe’s Bar & Grill
  

~Dan – np: Explosions in the Sky – All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone

You’ve heard of re-tweeting, right?  Well, here’s my re-posting of the lovely YouTube documentary unfolding real-time surrounding Peter Mulvey’s Long Haul Bike Tour.  Re-Peteing, as it were.  The original blog (with words and video edited by Kathy Wittman):

Peter Mulvey: 7 more (Kathy’s blog)

Peter’s tour route is HERE (map).  He is riding with his show opener Brianna Lane.  Check out Peter’s new record, Letters from a Flying Machine:

Keep up with Kathy’s road blog at:
http://www.kathywittman.com/mulvey/long_haul_blog/
Or via RSS at:
http://www.kathywittman.com/mulvey/long_haul_blog/rss.xml

~Dan – np: Failure – Fantastic Planet

Brilliance defined…

~Dan – np: Explosions in the Sky – How Strange, Innocence

You’ve heard of re-tweeting, right?  Well, here’s my re-posting of the lovely YouTube documentary unfolding real-time surrounding Peter Mulvey’s Long Haul Bike Tour.  Re-Peteing, as it were.  The original blog (with words and video edited by Kathy Wittman):

Peter Mulvey: Vermont (Kathy’s blog)

Peter’s tour route is HERE (map).  He is riding with his show opener Brianna Lane.  Check out Peter’s new record, Letters from a Flying Machine:

Keep up with Kathy’s road blog at:
http://www.kathywittman.com/mulvey/long_haul_blog/
Or via RSS at:
http://www.kathywittman.com/mulvey/long_haul_blog/rss.xml

~Dan – np: Orange Tulip Conspiracy – Orange Tulip Conspiracy

OK, so Tori Amos is putting out a holiday album.  I really don’t like holiday albums.  I can count on one finger-based peace sign how many contemporary artists’ holiday album that I like (Over the Rhine’s Darkest Night of the Year & Monk’s How Like a Winter).  I say “contemporary artists’ holiday album” because I think Vince Guaraldi’s falls into a different category whatsoever.  With other artists I like, they tend to end up crap (Aimee Mann’s was dreadful) or bordering on boredom (Sufjan Stevens’ was passable and original but not something I’m pulling out a lot, Nellie McKay’s was in a similar bucket… the list could go on…).  But it’s usually not the artist’s fault, it’s usually the material.  Christmas music is just so laaaaaame most of the time.  I don’t know…

With Tori Amos, I think it has the potential to go either way.  I think she could maybe write some great original pieces, a la Over the Rhine, but she could also pile on the schlock a la Aimee Mann.  My guess is that it’ll be middle of the road a la Sufjan & Nellie.  The cover art looks cheesy as hell (see press release below).

Release date is November 10th.  It’s available for pre-order over on the Amazons.  So, we shall see soon enough…

Here’s the Official Press Release…

After nearly two decades writing and recording some of her generation’s most emotionally powerful music, Tori Amos will release her first seasonal album, Midwinter Graces, on November 10 via Universal Republic. A follow up to Tori’s critically acclaimed studio album, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, Midwinter Graces will find Tori reworking and expanding on classic carols as well as developing some of her very own seasonal tracks.

Midwinter Graces is an album that has been in the making for the past 40 years. Raised in the Baltimore area under the watchful eye of her Methodist minister father, Tori grew up playing holiday carols at Sunday services and Christmas Day celebrations in her father’s church. These were the songs that gave a young Tori her first taste of music, and now almost 40 years later Tori gets her own chance to reimagine the classics.

Tracklist:
What Child, Nowell
Star of Wonder
A Silent Night with You
Candle: Coventry Carol
Holly, Ivy, and Rose
Harps of Gold
Snow Angel
Jeanette, Isabella
Pink and Glitter
Emmanuel
Winter’s Carol
Our New Year

(click for larger)

So, yeah… we’ll see, eh?

~Dan – np: Soulsavers with Mike Patton – Broken

(all photos: Rebecca Blissett, from Vancouver show)

I saw Sunny Day Real Estate in Oct 2000 on the Rising Tide Tour (Bogart’s in Cincinnati), which would ultimately be their last.  I had a few chances to see Jeremy Enigk solo or The Fire Theft, but the shows never meshed with my schedule.  Seeing as I count the 2000 SDRE show as one of my favorite shows of all -time (Top 25 at least), I was soooooo stoked when it was announced that they were getting back together for a tour.

This was only my second time at McMennamin’s Crystal Ballroom.  The room was packed with tons of Music Fest Northwest (MFNW) people; so I’m hoping the hardcore SDRE fans got in.  The venue was set-up like most Portland venues with the odd barrier between the drinkers and the youngins’.  This was one of the rare shows of late where I don’t think I saw anyone younger than 25.

The opener, The Jealous Sound, were pretty good.  I listened to them on MySpace before the show and they seemed like a pretty good power pop/rock band.  At the show, the sound was a little muddled, but I could still get a good feel for their groove.  Maybe like a slightly less hooky Heatmiser?  I don’t know… they’re definitely worth checking out.

No cameras were supposed to be allowed in the venue last night (I asked).  Yet, when I get in (without my camera), I see a few people with cameras.  Damn me for asking.   Anyway, Rebecca Blissett’s photos from Vancouver will suffice as my pictorial show of the reunited SDRE…

Click to enlarge

SDRE’s set went by blisteringly fast.  They played a solid hour plus before leaving for a short break before their 3 song encore.  Jeremy’s voice was on top of its game, yet as indecipherable as usual.  I think he ranks up their with Karin Bergquist of Over the Rhine as misheard lyric contributor.   The rest of the band seemed really tight.  The “muddliness” of the opener’s set seemed to be cleared up.  And while Sunny Day haven’t been a cohesive unit for 8-9 years, they sure seemed like one tonight.  It seems like they didn’t miss a beat at all.

Click to enlarge

Setlist: 80+ mins

• Friday
• Seven *a fave of the night*
• Red Elephant
• Song About An Angel
• Grendel
• Shadows
• Inscarabaid
• 47
• Theo B
• “New Song“
• 48
• Sometimes
• Encore: In Circles *a fave of the night*
  
• Spade & Parade
• J’Nuh *a fave of the night*

They only played material from their first two discs at this show (they have played at least “Guitar & Video Games” off of How It Feels to Be Something On on this tour), which was kind of odd.  And I know, this may be heresy, but I really love their last album the best (2000’s The Rising Tide).  It’s probably just a factor of when I got into them as a band.  So, as far as the only downside, that was it.  But the fact that they wrote a new song as recent as a week or so ago… well, that bodes well for future album(s) & tour(s).

Click to enlarge

Sunny Day Real Estate’s Diary & LP2 (aka Pink) have been remastered and re-released by Sub Pop in 2009 (click pictures for info).  No word on a remaster of How It Feels to Be Something On, though… hmm…

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Sunny Day Real Estate’s Official Site
• Sunny Day Real Estate on MySpace
• Jeremy Enigk on MySpace
• The Fire Theft on MySpace
• Spin’s SDRE – Vancouver Review (2nd reunion show, 9/17)
• The Jealous Sound
• The Jealous Sound MySpace
• Crystal Ballroom
• Music Fest NW

SDRE on Jimmy Fallon (9/29/09)
 

~Dan – np: Pearl Jam – Backspacer

no free download or torrent available here

SDRE Reunion Tourdates

09-17 Vancouver, British Columbia – Commodore Ballroom
09-18 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom (MusicFest NW)
09-20 Murray, UT – Murray Theater
09-21 Denver, CO – Ogden Theater
09-23 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
09-24 Chicago, IL – Metro
09-25 Detroit, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall
09-27 New York, NY – Terminal Five
09-28 Boston, MA – House of Blues
09-30 Washington, D.C. – 930 Club
10-01 Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero
10-03 Atlanta, GA – CW Center Stage
10-05 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
10-06 Houston, TX – Warehouse Live – Ballroom
10-07 Austin, TX – La Zona Rosa
10-09 Tempe, AZ – Marquee
10-10 Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
10-11 Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theater
10-13 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
10-15 Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
10-16 Seattle, WA – Paramount Theater

Well, I got into Wynton Marsalis from Ken Burns’ (long ass) JAZZ documentary.  I had heard of him, but never really heard him, and he was featured heavily in the movie.  I came to find out that he was the artistic director & co-producer of the documentary series.  Anyway, I love trumpet (Dave Douglas & Steven Bernstein being top of my other Top 3 living trumpeters).  This year, I’ve had a chance to see all three of them… Yay!

I like the Hult.  I saw Wynton’s brother Branford at the Hult around this time last year.  I like the Hult this week in particular (due to it being a 4 concert week): I like that the show started early (7:30pm), ended on time (9:25pm), and I got home at a reasonable time.  Double Yay!

Wynton and his near-double octet hit the stage after a short introduction.  Wynton was position at the top center of the bandstand and went directly into announcing the first song…

Setlist:

1st set – 40 mins

• Free for All (Art Blakey) *a fave of night*
• Peace (Horace Silver)
• I Like to Take My Time (Mr Rogers)
• Itsy Bitsy Spider
• Up from Down (Gardner) *a fave of night*

2nd set – 45 mins

• Weary Blues (sextet band, ragtime tune) *a fave of night*
• Joe Turner’s Blues (septet, Wynton sang impromptu)
• Tattooed Bride (Duke Ellington)
• Portrait of Mahalia Jackson (Duke) *a fave of night*

The first set started off with “Free for All” which had some great solos… sax, trombone and trumpet.  The entire night was filled with some great solos, and “Free for All” kicked it off right.  For the second set we moved to some open seats near the center… right by the very energetic soundman.  He was humorous.  While I dug the first set a lot, the second set was smokin’ hot.  More ragtime and New Orleans street jazz in spots versus the more held back, big band vibe from the first set.  The first two songs of the second set were a stripped down cast (sextet and the septet before the rest of the band re-joined them for the Duke tunes.  I think my favorite tune of the whole night was “Weary Blues, ” which was really hoppin’.  Seem ironic that the entire crowd (of largely white hair) was just idly sitting in their seats.

All in all, a great evening of great jazz.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Wynton Marsalis’ Official Site
• Wynton Marsalis on MySpace
• The Hult Center
  

~Dan – np: Fima Ephron – Soul Machine

Rarely do two bands you like happen to tour together.  Porcupine Tree is touring with King’s X on this U.S. Leg… well… ok, starting in a week in Ohio.  This West Coast leg, though gets That1Guy (another musician I like a lot).  I’m bummed I’m missing a KXC/PT show, but That1Guy is a fun live act as well.

I guess I’ll have to get used to the Roseland, as I imagine I’ll be seeing more and more shows here over the years.  It’s an “OK” venue… a basic stand-y rock club.  They do have a nice food menu, though… and I got as Zappa veggie dog (I heart the PacNW).  The band had a ban on cameras, outside of the officially selected photographer for the Incident tour blog; so no photos from me this time.

That1Guy played a short set.  Pretty much the same set as the last time I saw him in Feb, but just cut short. I was kind of bummed that he didn’t play “Buttmachine” or “Mustaches.”  Maybe he was trying to be “more serious” for the prog fans.  I don’t know.  I think “Buttmachine” is one of his catchiest songs, regardless of its ridiculous lyrics.  Watch the video here.  Overall his set & jams were a bit redundant / repetitive, but he’s still fun to watch.

Setlist: about 40 mins

• Intro Jam
• Jigsaw
• Weasel Potpie leading into Instrumental Jam
• Heaven or Heck
  
• Dig (with the magic boot)
• Outro Jam (T1G’s credit card jam with snippets of “Smoke on the Water”)

That1Guy’s 2007 album, The Moon is Disgusting, aged well.  I’m still digging it a bunch, and wish he would have played more off of it outside of “Jigsaw” and “Dig.”  You can listen to samples of the album HERE.

Next up, Porcupine Tree, whose new album, The Incident, arrived to my earbuds last weekend (thanks to Demonoid) but also hit my hands in a the lush limited edition on Tuesday.  Wow… it’s freakin’ excellent.  Great packaging in the deluxe edition.  I think the limited edition is sold out, but the standard CD is available worldwide now.

Porcupine Tree hit the stage around 9:15 and played a first set entirely made up of The Incident’s 1st disc.  They didn’t stray from the album in scope or sound.  It was very great being in the same room as Steven again.  He’s truly a great musician and songwriter, which is a hard moniker to assign to a progressive rock musician (most of them can’t write a song to save their lives).  Their set…

Setlist:

• The Incident (in its entirety)
  I – Occam’s Razor
  II – The Blind House
  III – Great Expectations
  IV – Kneel and Disconnect
  V – Drawing the Line
  VI – The Incident
  VII – Your Unpleasant Family
  VIII – The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train
  IX – Time Flies
  X – Degree Zero of Liberty
  XI – Octane Twisted
  XII – The Séance
  XIII – Circle of Manias
  XIV – I Drive the Hearse
  2nd Set
• The Start of Something Beautiful
• Buying New Soul
• Anesthetize Part 2
• Lazarus
• Strip the Soul
• .3
• Bonnie the Cat
• Encore: Way Out of Here
• Trains

Great show for their fantastic new album.  They played right around 2 hours total.  The Incident is easily the best album they’ve done since In Absentia, IMO.  This was only the 2nd show of their tour, and it didn’t really show.  I mean, they were on top of their game.  Steven mentioned that they were a little nervous at the Seattle show the day prior.  Somehow I’m skeptical of that.  They probably roll out of bed and could play these songs blindfolded.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• PorcupineTree.com
• The Incident on Tour (official blog)
• Another Portland 9/16 Review (by Mark Colman)
• Porcupine Tree on MySpace
• That1Guy & the Magic Pipe
• That1Guy on MySpace
• Roseland Theater
  

~Dan – np: Patton Oswalt – My Weakness is Strong

Further U.S> Porcupine Tree Tour Dates (as of now)

Tue 15 Sep SEATTLE, WA MOORE THEATER [opener: That1Guy]
Wed 16 Sep PORTLAND, OR ROSELAND [opener: That 1 Guy]
Fri 18 Sep SAN FRANCISCO WARFIELD [opener: That 1 Guy]
Sat 19 Sep LOS ANGELES CLUB NOKIA [opener: Big Elf]
Mon 21 Sep CLEVELAND, OH HOUSE OF BLUES [opener: King's X]
Tue 22 Sep CHICAGO, IL VIC THEATER [opener: King's X]
Thu 24 Sep NY, NY TERMINAL 5 [opener: King's X]
Fri 25 Sep BALTIMORE RAM’S HEAD [opener: King's X]
Sat 26 Sep PHILLY ELECTRIC FACTORY [opener: King's X]
Sun 27 Sep BOSTON, MA HOUSE OF BLUES [opener: King's X]
Tue 29 Sep MONTREAL METROPOLIS [opener: King's X]
Wed 30 Sep TORONTO QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE [opener: King's X]

So… I’ve heard the new CD from Sufjan Stevens, called The BQE.  (Thanks Asthmatic Kitty for the pre-release download.)  Wow. No vocals, but very much a Sufjan album, though.  The instrumentation borders on classic Sufjan instrumentals from Illinoise and Michigan (specifically the flute trills) mixed with more conservative chamber music (piano, strings, horns, tympani, et al).  It also jumps into a very Enjoy Your Rabbit moment with “Movement IV – Traffic Shock.”

AK DOWNLOAD: Sufjan Stevens – Movement VI–Isorhythmic Night Dance with Interchanges (FREE MP3)

The BQE tracklist

1. Prelude on the Esplanade (2:56)
2. Introductory Fanfare for the Hooper Heroes (1:07)
3. Movement I–In the Countenance of Kings (5:19)
4. Movement II–Sleeping Invader (4:34)
5. Interlude I–Dream Sequence in Subi Circumnavigation (3:33)
6. Movement III–Linear Tableau with Intersecting Surprise (4:09)
7. Movement IV–Traffic Shock (3:24)
8. Movement V–Self-Organizing Emergent Patterns (3:45)
9. Interlude II–Subi Power Waltz (0:28)
10. Interlude III–Invisible Accidents (0:54)
11. Movement VI–Isorhythmic Night Dance with Interchanges (3:17)
12. Movement VII (Finale)–The Emperor of Centrifuge (3:51)
13. Postlude–Critical Mass (2:59)

I think it fits very well within Sufjan’s oeuvre.  A fan of his instrumental tunes interspersed within his State’s records should truly enjoy The BQE.  The limited edition, which is on order for me, has presumably a lush packaging with a full-color booklet accompanying the vinyl.  I can’t wait to crack it open…

It’s available for pre-order from Amazon and Asthmatic Kitty (and other eTailers):

Amazon CD/DVD ~ LINK
Amazon limited edition vinyl ~ LINK
AKitty CD/DVD ~ LINK
AKitty limited edition vinyl ~ LINK

~*~*~*~*~

And a complete side-note, Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt is planning releasing a Nick Drake-ish acoustic solo album (Blabbermouth link).  Man, I love music.  Seriously.  Frank was right.  It’s the best.

~Dan – np: Sufjan Stevens – The BQE

no free downloads or torrents here