Thursday, July 10, 2003
OK, Whew! It's been a while, eh? I'm back from Chicago! I had some work stuff to catch up on this week. But now it's slowed down enough that I can sit here, listening to This American Life over the internet and tell you of my dreams.
First though, I want to say that I really liked the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on Letterman. They sounded great. Especially Karen's groan-y squeal that I thought was fuzzed up on record, but now I know she makes that sound all by herself! I told some co-workers and friends to check it out, and Karen scared them a little in a "somebody stick a spoon in her mouth, she's having a seizure!" kinda way. I dug it though, and was proud of them.
What else has been happening since I've been gone? Oh yeah, the Mutton Chops are lookin' SWEET! And I'm growing my hair out. I'm getting it trained to puff out in a basketball style fro. And I have a soul patch now too (check the link, A-).
Now onto RockNRoll. If you've been paying attention to this site, you know that I had tickets to see the White Stripes at the Aragon Ballroom. It was very beautiful old dancehall. When you look up at the ceiling you see twinkley stars. It looked like an old spanish town square. We found a nice spot to stand up in the right hand balcony. The balcony wrapped around three of the four wall of the hall. This means that we got very close to the stage, but we were off to the stage right area. I'd rather be up closer and off to the side, than right in the middle and farther back.
The opening band is called Whirlwind Heat. Here is their website. They consisted of a drummer, a bass player, and a lead singer who had a Midi controller keyboard (UPDATE: I went to their website and there is link for equipment, and it tells you what they use). Words cannot describe the experience of seeing this band. I'm not even sure how to feel about them. They were so......not different than other hipster bands, but just......not the same-old-same-old quality that I get from lots of bands. Can't say that I'll buy their stuff either, but it was quite a cool thing to experience. I'll keep on the lookout for them.
The Stripes come on, and they really surprised me with how un-bored Jack White looked. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me, but it did. He crawled onto the stage too. On his hands and knees, then he gets up and he puts on a great show. However, the show was marred by the HORRIBLE acoustics in the Aragon Ballroom. DO NOT pay money to see a show there. It was HORRIBLE. It sounded like a high school gymnasium. Boom-y and Echo-y. I don't live in Chicago, so it's not an issue for me. But to you Chicagoans out there. Don't support that crappy sounding venue! And to you artists, shame on you for charging good money for people to suffer in that echo chamber.
But other than the acoustics of the venue, the show was great and the White Stripes put on a good show.
Here is what's coming up:
1) Violent Femmes are coming to the Boathouse in Norfolk. But I can't go. I got family coming into town. But if you can go, you should go.
2) Next Weekend, July 19, is the Siren festival on Coney Island, NYC. Now, that's not local, and I like to keep this site as a local perspective of rock music, but, I'm planning (and it's just in the planning stages) to buy a Greyhound ticket. Sleep overnight on the bus. Get to the city. Subway to Coney Island. Enjoy the free festival (LOTS of cool new bands), and then sleep on the Greyhound home. I'll keep you posted.
3) White Stripes are coming to the Norva in Norfolk July 27th. I may end up going to this one too.
4) I'm going to buy Longwave's "Strangest Things" very soon. I can't escape that I like it, and I'm going to go out and SUPPORT my favorite bands and I'm going to BUY their record. Please do the same for your favorite artists.
5) I told you I would tell you of my dreams. Well, I had a dream about Beth Orton. My friend Lisa was turning me onto her, and she was playing it in the car on the drive home from Chicago (15 hours!) and I was sleeping and Beth Orten was in a coffee shop singing while playing this giant epiphone stand up acoustic bass. Don't know what that means, but I do know that I think I've fallen madly in love with Beth Orton. I've thought of little else but her in the last few days since the trip.
Oops, now I have some work to do. Talk to you later.
First though, I want to say that I really liked the Yeah Yeah Yeahs on Letterman. They sounded great. Especially Karen's groan-y squeal that I thought was fuzzed up on record, but now I know she makes that sound all by herself! I told some co-workers and friends to check it out, and Karen scared them a little in a "somebody stick a spoon in her mouth, she's having a seizure!" kinda way. I dug it though, and was proud of them.
What else has been happening since I've been gone? Oh yeah, the Mutton Chops are lookin' SWEET! And I'm growing my hair out. I'm getting it trained to puff out in a basketball style fro. And I have a soul patch now too (check the link, A-).
Now onto RockNRoll. If you've been paying attention to this site, you know that I had tickets to see the White Stripes at the Aragon Ballroom. It was very beautiful old dancehall. When you look up at the ceiling you see twinkley stars. It looked like an old spanish town square. We found a nice spot to stand up in the right hand balcony. The balcony wrapped around three of the four wall of the hall. This means that we got very close to the stage, but we were off to the stage right area. I'd rather be up closer and off to the side, than right in the middle and farther back.
The opening band is called Whirlwind Heat. Here is their website. They consisted of a drummer, a bass player, and a lead singer who had a Midi controller keyboard (UPDATE: I went to their website and there is link for equipment, and it tells you what they use). Words cannot describe the experience of seeing this band. I'm not even sure how to feel about them. They were so......not different than other hipster bands, but just......not the same-old-same-old quality that I get from lots of bands. Can't say that I'll buy their stuff either, but it was quite a cool thing to experience. I'll keep on the lookout for them.
The Stripes come on, and they really surprised me with how un-bored Jack White looked. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me, but it did. He crawled onto the stage too. On his hands and knees, then he gets up and he puts on a great show. However, the show was marred by the HORRIBLE acoustics in the Aragon Ballroom. DO NOT pay money to see a show there. It was HORRIBLE. It sounded like a high school gymnasium. Boom-y and Echo-y. I don't live in Chicago, so it's not an issue for me. But to you Chicagoans out there. Don't support that crappy sounding venue! And to you artists, shame on you for charging good money for people to suffer in that echo chamber.
But other than the acoustics of the venue, the show was great and the White Stripes put on a good show.
Here is what's coming up:
1) Violent Femmes are coming to the Boathouse in Norfolk. But I can't go. I got family coming into town. But if you can go, you should go.
2) Next Weekend, July 19, is the Siren festival on Coney Island, NYC. Now, that's not local, and I like to keep this site as a local perspective of rock music, but, I'm planning (and it's just in the planning stages) to buy a Greyhound ticket. Sleep overnight on the bus. Get to the city. Subway to Coney Island. Enjoy the free festival (LOTS of cool new bands), and then sleep on the Greyhound home. I'll keep you posted.
3) White Stripes are coming to the Norva in Norfolk July 27th. I may end up going to this one too.
4) I'm going to buy Longwave's "Strangest Things" very soon. I can't escape that I like it, and I'm going to go out and SUPPORT my favorite bands and I'm going to BUY their record. Please do the same for your favorite artists.
5) I told you I would tell you of my dreams. Well, I had a dream about Beth Orton. My friend Lisa was turning me onto her, and she was playing it in the car on the drive home from Chicago (15 hours!) and I was sleeping and Beth Orten was in a coffee shop singing while playing this giant epiphone stand up acoustic bass. Don't know what that means, but I do know that I think I've fallen madly in love with Beth Orton. I've thought of little else but her in the last few days since the trip.
Oops, now I have some work to do. Talk to you later.
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