Austin City Limits 2008, Day 2: Fleet Foxes, break-dancing kiddies, fashion tally
Today we got to the park and headed straight to see Fleet Foxes suffer for fashion in what I'm pretty sure was flannel. They must have been nervous--between songs, they talked about their hot feet, someone's cousin getting married, WaMu and what would happened if all of the band members were attacked by bees. It was unfunny and uncomfortable, but the music saved the set--their live harmonies are as stunning as the recorded ones, and they're all so good at their instruments! ... read more
Austin City Limits 2008, Day 1: Mates of State, Jamie Lidell, Patty Griffin
This morning I chatted with Mates of State about adding instruments to their live shows and touring with kids--they bring their baby June and four-year-old Magnolia everywhere they go. They needed something to protect the baby's ears during shows and couldn't find mini-headphones at a music store, so they had to buy some for June at a firing range! A baby in headphones is one of life's cuter things. ... read more
Austin City Limits 2008, Day 1: M. Ward, The Swell Season
If there's one thing I have in common with the fourteen-year-old indie girls of America, aside from the inability to properly apply eyeliner, it's that I can credit Zooey Deschanel's involvement with She & Him with introducing me to the duo's inarguably more musically established half, M. Ward. His dreamy, bottom-of-a-deep-dark-well crooning on "You Really Got A Hold On Me" and "I Should Have Known Better" on Volume One gave me the long-overdue push to explore his solo catalog. It's proved to be an absolute revelation but also a never-ending source of guilt for not listening sooner. I've been actively... read more
Austin City Limits 2008: It begins! Mates of State, Dan Dyer and more
First of all, a note to anyone who saw us nearly passed out on the VIP couches at our ACL kickoff party at Emo's last night: We were not drunk. We were not even drinking, minus the one beer each we imbibed around 9:30. Rather, we both were besot by sinus-crud related exhaustion. See, unlike here in Austin, fall arrived on schedule in Atlanta last week, and bestowed upon us one of the great gifts of this fair season: The nasty head cold. Unfortunately, this meant we spent the better part of last night's festivities sprawled out in various ladylike... read more
Low vs. Diamond tour diary - Cleveland
just getting going here in bed at a hotel in cleveland. Yesterday was beautiful blue-skied windy ohio day. we played some songs for Rock the Vote at Case Western. It was a pocket-sized turnout to say the least. we gotta get em to VOTE VOTE! vote... We played the house of blues here last night and it was great. It was Santi's b-day which always makes a show more fun. We have today off, I don't know what we are going to do yet... maybe I'll get a Browns hat or something. Clevland gets a bad RAP but I like... read more
Sacred Harp in a strange setting
No one has done more to help revive Sacred Harp singing among a younger generation than two of the men at the Earl in East Atlanta this past Monday night—filmmaker Matt Hinton and musician Tim Eriksen. Hinton's film Awake, My Soul traces the history of America's oldest original musical tradition and the way it's thriving in pockets of the South. The original soundtrack features traditional renditions of old Sacred Harp (also called Shape-Note) tunes. But the Earl showcase was a release party for the second album associated with the film, this one featuring a variety of artists (Richard Buckner, Doc... read more
Reeperbahn Festival Day 1: Sleepless in Hamburg
I was born in Munich back when it was still called West Germany, just after Kraftwerk had released their first album. My dad had taken a job there, but we moved back to the States before my second birthday. The only things that hinted at a European genesis for me were an early love of Gummi Bears, a set of rubber Schlumpf figurines before friends had ever heard of Smurfs, and later on, a hatred for crappy American beer. It took me more than 30 years to return to the country of my birth.... read more
Fantastic Fest - Day Three - Girls Rule!
I hadn't intended to focus on films about powerful, independent women but that's how it turned out on Day Three of FF. Barely made it into the first film in time to see an extended trailer of Disney's new animated film Bolt. It reminds me a bit of The Incredibles with its fast action and secret agent type adventure. Curious if the rest of the film is as good as the clip.TERRAA peaceful race of aliens receive an unexpected invasion from earth in this animated tale. With voice talents from a lot of folks like Evan Rachel Wood who played main character Mala, plus Luke... read more
Best Fist-Pump Anthems of '08 ... so far.
When listening to a song and I can instantly visualize myself at the concert, pushing through to the front of the crowd, beer in one hand, the other arm vigorously pumping in the air, while screaming the lyrics at the top of my lungs ... this song gets added to my Fist-Pump Anthem playlist. read more
All Tomorrow's Parties 2008: Day 3
[Above: His Holiness Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine]A new flyer went up around Kutsher's late on the second day of All Tomorrow's Parties' New York debut. Earplugs would be available, for free and in large quantities, for everyone. Smart people (like me) had already brought their own: the unofficial reports from My Bloody Valentine's London shows was that they were reaching 132 decibels during their set, which is just slightly softer than a jet taking off.... read more
The Story of the 2008 Presidential Election in Song: A Playlist (Part 1)
In honor of this Friday night's presidential debate between John McCain and Barack Obama (the first of three)—and my obsession with politics as full-contact sport—I've compiled the following playlist to tell the story of the 2008 election so far. Whether you're red, blue, independent or other, enjoy.Part I: The Primaries “Changes” - David Bowie The Thin White Duke sings about what us young (and old) Americans want in Washington this year. ... read more
The Story of the 2008 Presidential Election in Song: A Playlist (Part 2)
Part 2: The Conventions/The General Election Begins “Nearly Lost You” - The Screaming Trees A blistering grunge-rock anthem for the almost-barred Michigan and Florida delegates, who—after much heated debate—were finally seated at the Democratic National Convention. Nearly lost you - Screaming Trees... read more
The Story of the 2008 Presidential Election in Song: A Playlist (Parts 3-5)
Part 3: The Media “You’re The Best” - Joe Esposito CNN claims it’s got “The Best Political Team on Television,” while Fox News claims it’s got “The Best Political Team Ever.” With slogans this superlative, how come the coverage sucks so bad? Youre the Best Around - Joe Esposito... read more
David Byrne - Atlanta, GA - Chastain Park Amphitheatre - 9/20/08
Photos taken at Chastain Park Amphitheatre by Jordan Warren.... read more
All Tomorrow's Parties 2008: Day 2
[Above: Thee Silver Mt. Zion]Day 2 of ATP began with a scare: there was a rumor, spread over Blackberries and touch-and-go Internet access, that Kutsher's and the surrounding Catskills hotels near the festival site had severe bedbugs infestations. It was hard to determine which was scarier: the idea of carrying bedbugs back to our homes, or standing too close to the stage during Les Savy Fav's set.... read more
TV Detail: Fringe review. Episode 3—The Ghost Network
Fox has paired its new show Fringe on Tuesday nights with House, and each show's best character is a somewhat misanthropic doctor. Both are played by foreign actors—Dr. House by Englishman Hugh Laurie and Dr. Bishop by Australian John Noble. Laurie's character is among the surliest anti-heroes on TV since E.R.'s Dr. Rocket Romano was abusing everyone he came in contact with. His bedside manner can best be summed up by words like "mocking," "cruel" and "uncaring." But even he never implanted human test subjects' blood with a metallic compound that would years later intercept transmissions through a biological communications... read more
Fantastic Fest - Day Two - Pig with Rice, Not Lipstick
Tim League of the Alamo Drafthouse joyfully serves as ringleader of the festival. If he's not introducing a film he's out in the lobby chatting with fans and filmmakers. Inspired by the world premiere of Seventh Moon League came strolling into the theater as a Chinese monk and blessed the film with sacred incense in one hand and a can of Foster's in the other. Accompanying him was a roast pig. A real roasted pig, similar to what was seen in the film. Director Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project) and much of the cast, including the beautiful Amy Smart (Road Trip,... read more
Birdmonster tour diary - Well, sure. But I still love The Secret of N.I.M.H..
I'm always conflicted before a long tour. While most of me is overjoyed at the prospect of trundling across America with my three closest friends, playing music nightly, and clogging our arteries with all manner of regional grease, there's that other part that hyperventilates over the loose ends and responsibilities I'm leaving behind. Have I saved enough money for rent? Why hasn't my absentee ballot come? Should I get that fungal bloom behind my ear checked out? These are the important issues.And so I began the perfunctory week-before-tour last Friday. Uncharacteristically, I'd made a list of to-do's, a two page... read more
Gary Louris and Mark Olson perform at Americana Music fest
More of Louris meeting Olson As a general rule, in latter-day Jayhawks lineage Mark Olson has been the one playing stripped down, loose-limbed shows, while Gary Louris has hewed closer to pop hooks and full-band polish. And they’ve each done it without the other. But recently, they’ve dipped their toes into writing and playing together, and their new part-acoustic, part-ragged folk-rock duo album, Ready for the Flood, will soon be out overseas. Which means European audiences are getting a tour promoting the new album, while we have slim pickings on this side of the pond. (That will be remedied in... read more
Where Is The Prog Love?
It's gotta be the shimmering robes. Once again the Prog wing (Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Jethro Tull, and if we're feeling rationally self-interested, Rush) has been snubbed by the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame.Granted, Rick Wakeman (the keyboard player for Yes pictured here) is the poster child for Modern Elfwear, not for the snarling adolescent rebellion for which rock 'n roll is known and loved. And yes, it's hard to imagine Galadriel and the Hellcats. But still ... those bands made a lot of great albums and played a lot of great shows. No, really. And it's... read more
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