Wednesday, July 30, 2003
what I'm listening too Right Now: Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited - Desolation Row
---------------------
Go to the Strokes Fan page and find July 2, 2003. Listen....hell watch "Vitaman C" do her cover version of "Last Night." (I saw this on theModernAge)
----------------------
Hardglitter has the best Siren pics i've seen yet. (for some reason it makes my Opera crash, so I had to open it in IE.)
And in honor of her great Siren pics I offer up the rest of my Siren pics. I'm also calling this Part 3 of the New York trip since it covers what happened when the Nellie McKay thing messed up my whole night. But it turned out REALLY awesome though. Read on.
On Saturday, July 19, 2003, I rode the Greyhound up to NYC. Walked around a lot. Saw some bands perform. Saw some comedians perform. Stayed awake for 24 plus straight hours and then rode the Greyhound back home.
Here are some photos from that day (photos will open in same window and are posted in chonological order):
Self Portrait Look how happy and excited I am. I don't usually have such a big double chin.
Soho Deli I liked the "bush lies" graffiti so I took a picture.
Mulberry Street A street where Beautiful People walk.
Playground These Kids were playing in the water. People were reading on benches.
Tompkins Dog Run Dogs played and ran around.
Siren Festival: The Kills This is what you see if you go to the Siren Festival. Those specks way up front are singing and playing guitars. Trust me.
Siren Festival: The Dirtbombs The Dirtbombs ROCK!!
Coney Island: Freak Show This is the freak show I talked about in the July 24, 2003 post on my blog
Coney Island: Cyclone Look closely and you'll see the train is centered perfectly.
Hipsters Drawing I was walking along at Siren when I saw these people drawing. I think they were sketching other people they saw walking by. I turned around and discretely snapped this picture.
Hipsters Watching !!! These are some hipster types who were waiting for !!! to bore, bore, bore. Really great dance rock=Liars, Crap=!!!! (note fourth exclamation point)
HA! Comedy Club The upstairs room where I saw Rick Shapiro. We even talked afterward for a little bit. The rumpled piece of paper on the stage is his notes. He dropped them near the end. I picked them up and was going to keep them. But he was standing outside and I asked him, "Do you mind if I keep your notes?" But I guess he minded, because he took them back and stuffed them into a notebook. Literally stuffed them into. The notebook was filled with loose leaf sheets of paper, but they were all balled up instead of smoothed out.
He told me I looked "alternative" and asked if I was an artist. I told him that I was building websites for the army. It depressed me to admit it. He then asked me how I ended up at a comedy club in Manhattan at 3 in the morning. When I told him that I was going to FEZ to see Nellie McKay, his eyes got big. He knew exactly who I was talking about. He said, "My manager Lach is always telling me, 'You gotta check out this girl'" Rick Shapiro and Nellie McKay are both big in the antifolk Sidewalk Cafe scene in New York. He said that Nellie was at his "hour thing" which I assume means his hour long show. He also said "Hey, if you see Nellie tell her we were meant to be together." So Nellie if you stumble onto this site. Rick said you were meant to be together.
There was this other comedian who was Philippino. He was a writer for Crank Yankers which I don't really care for, but I did care for his stand-up act. He was the funniest guy there. Very well written, timed. Smart Comedy! I don't remember his name, but he was GREAT!
Back on the Bus Here is the same pose as the first Self Portrait above, but after
New York City has had it's way with me. I look as tired as I felt. Again I have to state that I don't really have a double chin.
Wore Out but Back Home Here I am when I just barely walked in the door. I slept the whole 8 hours on the bus so I wasn't as tired as I was in the previous picture. You can see that I don't really have a double chin. I also don't usually wear my glasses, except when I'm traveling. The glasses are a good three years old and lopsided from falling asleep in them to many times.
Corner of My Living Room I was trying to finish off the roll and I took this picture. I like it now. In 20 years I'll look at this picture and remember a lot about who I was back then. It says a lot about my hopes and dreams, and in 20 years I'll know whether I've achieved them.
The brown vinyl chair is special to me. I was a military kid so I moved a lot, and the only thing that was a constant in my life was this chair. It's been with us everywhere we ever lived. My dad finally upgraded to a nice green leather recliner about two years ago. So I took ownership of the Brown Beast and now it's mine.
I don't sit in it much because of the layout of the living room, but I always set my guitar in the chair. So I can pick it up whenever I feel inspired, and I won't have to go in the spare bedroom to play.
I keep my CD's in that shelf over there, and there is my old computer sitting by the chair, forgotten and waiting to be discarded. And there are some pictures on the wall.
Shaq the Dog This is the family dog. His name is Shaq. I named him that because when he was a puppy he had the biggest feet. And Shaquille O'Neal had just joined the NBA and there was a lot of talk about his size 22's. It's a really great dog name too. Sorry Shaquille.
---------------------
Go to the Strokes Fan page and find July 2, 2003. Listen....hell watch "Vitaman C" do her cover version of "Last Night." (I saw this on theModernAge)
----------------------
Hardglitter has the best Siren pics i've seen yet. (for some reason it makes my Opera crash, so I had to open it in IE.)
And in honor of her great Siren pics I offer up the rest of my Siren pics. I'm also calling this Part 3 of the New York trip since it covers what happened when the Nellie McKay thing messed up my whole night. But it turned out REALLY awesome though. Read on.
On Saturday, July 19, 2003, I rode the Greyhound up to NYC. Walked around a lot. Saw some bands perform. Saw some comedians perform. Stayed awake for 24 plus straight hours and then rode the Greyhound back home.
Here are some photos from that day (photos will open in same window and are posted in chonological order):
Self Portrait Look how happy and excited I am. I don't usually have such a big double chin.
Soho Deli I liked the "bush lies" graffiti so I took a picture.
Mulberry Street A street where Beautiful People walk.
Playground These Kids were playing in the water. People were reading on benches.
Tompkins Dog Run Dogs played and ran around.
Siren Festival: The Kills This is what you see if you go to the Siren Festival. Those specks way up front are singing and playing guitars. Trust me.
Siren Festival: The Dirtbombs The Dirtbombs ROCK!!
Coney Island: Freak Show This is the freak show I talked about in the July 24, 2003 post on my blog
Coney Island: Cyclone Look closely and you'll see the train is centered perfectly.
Hipsters Drawing I was walking along at Siren when I saw these people drawing. I think they were sketching other people they saw walking by. I turned around and discretely snapped this picture.
Hipsters Watching !!! These are some hipster types who were waiting for !!! to bore, bore, bore. Really great dance rock=Liars, Crap=!!!! (note fourth exclamation point)
HA! Comedy Club The upstairs room where I saw Rick Shapiro. We even talked afterward for a little bit. The rumpled piece of paper on the stage is his notes. He dropped them near the end. I picked them up and was going to keep them. But he was standing outside and I asked him, "Do you mind if I keep your notes?" But I guess he minded, because he took them back and stuffed them into a notebook. Literally stuffed them into. The notebook was filled with loose leaf sheets of paper, but they were all balled up instead of smoothed out.
He told me I looked "alternative" and asked if I was an artist. I told him that I was building websites for the army. It depressed me to admit it. He then asked me how I ended up at a comedy club in Manhattan at 3 in the morning. When I told him that I was going to FEZ to see Nellie McKay, his eyes got big. He knew exactly who I was talking about. He said, "My manager Lach is always telling me, 'You gotta check out this girl'" Rick Shapiro and Nellie McKay are both big in the antifolk Sidewalk Cafe scene in New York. He said that Nellie was at his "hour thing" which I assume means his hour long show. He also said "Hey, if you see Nellie tell her we were meant to be together." So Nellie if you stumble onto this site. Rick said you were meant to be together.
There was this other comedian who was Philippino. He was a writer for Crank Yankers which I don't really care for, but I did care for his stand-up act. He was the funniest guy there. Very well written, timed. Smart Comedy! I don't remember his name, but he was GREAT!
Back on the Bus Here is the same pose as the first Self Portrait above, but after
New York City has had it's way with me. I look as tired as I felt. Again I have to state that I don't really have a double chin.
Wore Out but Back Home Here I am when I just barely walked in the door. I slept the whole 8 hours on the bus so I wasn't as tired as I was in the previous picture. You can see that I don't really have a double chin. I also don't usually wear my glasses, except when I'm traveling. The glasses are a good three years old and lopsided from falling asleep in them to many times.
Corner of My Living Room I was trying to finish off the roll and I took this picture. I like it now. In 20 years I'll look at this picture and remember a lot about who I was back then. It says a lot about my hopes and dreams, and in 20 years I'll know whether I've achieved them.
The brown vinyl chair is special to me. I was a military kid so I moved a lot, and the only thing that was a constant in my life was this chair. It's been with us everywhere we ever lived. My dad finally upgraded to a nice green leather recliner about two years ago. So I took ownership of the Brown Beast and now it's mine.
I don't sit in it much because of the layout of the living room, but I always set my guitar in the chair. So I can pick it up whenever I feel inspired, and I won't have to go in the spare bedroom to play.
I keep my CD's in that shelf over there, and there is my old computer sitting by the chair, forgotten and waiting to be discarded. And there are some pictures on the wall.
Shaq the Dog This is the family dog. His name is Shaq. I named him that because when he was a puppy he had the biggest feet. And Shaquille O'Neal had just joined the NBA and there was a lot of talk about his size 22's. It's a really great dog name too. Sorry Shaquille.
Tuesday, July 29, 2003
what I'm listening to Right Now: Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
SCOOP: I might be one of the first to have this info. Not that it's very interesting info. In fact, why was I excited to tell you? Why did I think I had a scoop?
Anyway, Luke Kaven, the president of Smalls Records, tells me that Geoff Emerick is producing Nellie McKay's first album. He's worked with this group called the Beatles.
If you or someone you know, say they don't like the Beatles, they obviously have never heard the following songs, which comprise tracks 3-30 on my Winamp:
Do You Want to Know a Secret?
I Should have Known Better
She's a Woman
Tell Me Why
Love Me Do
I Saw Her Standing There
Here Comes the Sun
Norwegian Wood
Baby You're a Rich Man
Blackbird
Dear Prudence
Get Back
I Am The Walrus
Lady Madonna
Michelle
Octopus' Garden
Rocky Raccoon
The Ballad of John and Yoko
Helter Skelter
Yesterday (acoustic)
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Taxman
Love You To
Here There and Everywhere
She Said She Said
For No One
You're Gonna Change or I'm Gonna Leave (whoops that's a Hank Williams Number)
In fact, as I look at my Winamp right now the order goes:
Beatles (30ish tracks), Hank Williams (25ish tracks), Yeah Yeah Yeahs (whole Fever to Tell), Von Bondies (whole Lack of Communication), French Kicks (5ish tracks), Soundtrack of Our Lives (whole Behind the Music), White Stripes (whole Elephant), Barcelona (3ish tracks), Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers (5ish tracks), Lou Reed (Vicious, from Transformer), Velvet Underground (whole "Banana" and various Loaded), The Who (8ish), CCR (5ish), Bob Dylan (a surprisingly low 20ish tracks from early/mid sixties), Bob Dylan (whole "New York" Blood on the Tracks), Uncut Magazine Punk - Various Artists, Beth Orton (12ish from various albums), Bob Dylan (Live at the Gaslight, October 1962), Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (15ish tracks), Madonna (whole Immaculate Collection), Nellie McKay (live at WFUV), Longwave (whole Strangest Things), Interpol (NYC), Modest Mouse (3 tracks), and the Black Keys (4 tracks).
That adds up to 271 tracks. Of course I have SO MANY MORE mp3's, but this is what I've been into lately.
SCOOP: I might be one of the first to have this info. Not that it's very interesting info. In fact, why was I excited to tell you? Why did I think I had a scoop?
Anyway, Luke Kaven, the president of Smalls Records, tells me that Geoff Emerick is producing Nellie McKay's first album. He's worked with this group called the Beatles.
If you or someone you know, say they don't like the Beatles, they obviously have never heard the following songs, which comprise tracks 3-30 on my Winamp:
Do You Want to Know a Secret?
I Should have Known Better
She's a Woman
Tell Me Why
Love Me Do
I Saw Her Standing There
Here Comes the Sun
Norwegian Wood
Baby You're a Rich Man
Blackbird
Dear Prudence
Get Back
I Am The Walrus
Lady Madonna
Michelle
Octopus' Garden
Rocky Raccoon
The Ballad of John and Yoko
Helter Skelter
Yesterday (acoustic)
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Taxman
Love You To
Here There and Everywhere
She Said She Said
For No One
You're Gonna Change or I'm Gonna Leave (whoops that's a Hank Williams Number)
In fact, as I look at my Winamp right now the order goes:
Beatles (30ish tracks), Hank Williams (25ish tracks), Yeah Yeah Yeahs (whole Fever to Tell), Von Bondies (whole Lack of Communication), French Kicks (5ish tracks), Soundtrack of Our Lives (whole Behind the Music), White Stripes (whole Elephant), Barcelona (3ish tracks), Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers (5ish tracks), Lou Reed (Vicious, from Transformer), Velvet Underground (whole "Banana" and various Loaded), The Who (8ish), CCR (5ish), Bob Dylan (a surprisingly low 20ish tracks from early/mid sixties), Bob Dylan (whole "New York" Blood on the Tracks), Uncut Magazine Punk - Various Artists, Beth Orton (12ish from various albums), Bob Dylan (Live at the Gaslight, October 1962), Ted Leo and the Pharmacists (15ish tracks), Madonna (whole Immaculate Collection), Nellie McKay (live at WFUV), Longwave (whole Strangest Things), Interpol (NYC), Modest Mouse (3 tracks), and the Black Keys (4 tracks).
That adds up to 271 tracks. Of course I have SO MANY MORE mp3's, but this is what I've been into lately.
Monday, July 28, 2003
Oh, and I have my Siren Pics in digital format. I'm still using the free blog stuff now, so I can't post pictures to the blog. But I'll link them over to my old college site.
Check out the Dirtbombs the way the real-world sees them: dirtbombs.jpg
and the Kills: kills.jpg. (trust me, it's them.)
See, this is "Rock-n-Roll in the Real World" and this is how us in the "real world" see our favorite artists. The Dirtbombs especially.
and here is what I look like after an 8 hour bus ride, 24 hours and 24 miles of walking New York's streets, the W train round trip, Rocking and Rolling at Coney Island, getting lost in Greenwich Village for 2 hours, NOT seeing the Nellie McKay girl, but instead seeing a guy get knocked out in a group fight, then seeing the 1:15am comedy show at HA!, talking with Rick Shapiro for a few minutes about the world, turning down a 50-some-odd-years-old lady who wanted to know if I wanted to "party," being roused by the cops for napping on the Port Authority floor, and another 8 hour bus ride back home.
Good trip though. I have a few more pictures I might post later, but I'm headed home now to my no internet house.
Check out the Dirtbombs the way the real-world sees them: dirtbombs.jpg
and the Kills: kills.jpg. (trust me, it's them.)
See, this is "Rock-n-Roll in the Real World" and this is how us in the "real world" see our favorite artists. The Dirtbombs especially.
and here is what I look like after an 8 hour bus ride, 24 hours and 24 miles of walking New York's streets, the W train round trip, Rocking and Rolling at Coney Island, getting lost in Greenwich Village for 2 hours, NOT seeing the Nellie McKay girl, but instead seeing a guy get knocked out in a group fight, then seeing the 1:15am comedy show at HA!, talking with Rick Shapiro for a few minutes about the world, turning down a 50-some-odd-years-old lady who wanted to know if I wanted to "party," being roused by the cops for napping on the Port Authority floor, and another 8 hour bus ride back home.
Good trip though. I have a few more pictures I might post later, but I'm headed home now to my no internet house.
what I'm Listening to Right Now: Nellie McKay, July 05, 2003 Live at FEZ - Respectable Members of Society
Hello all. Well my I-net's been down all weekend so I didn't post my Nellie McKay story over the weekend from part 3 of my New York trip. I wanted to do it here at work, but I was too busy to write it up till after my anti-terrorism class. But I got back to my desk and found out that www.nelliemckay.net is online as of right now. Well, there I went over there to check it out.
I guess I should just tell you that I didn't get to see Nellie McKay in New York like I wanted to. FEZ was shut down all weekend. I'll tell you all about it when I vomit out Part 3 of the New York thing. But I had to tell you that part of it now, because I've never heard anything by her except the songs I stole from the WFUV radio show.
A nice fella who runs Smalls Records emailed me to tell me that I had some of the song names wrong too. If you go down to July 18, I talk about a few Nellie McKay songs I was putting on my portable MP3 player. Well the song I called "Sorry" is actually "Sari" and the song "Total Guys (Oh We Oh)" is actually "Toto Dies" ("Oh We Oh" from the "Wizard of Oz", heh. Pretty clever Ms. McKay).
And on that Nellie McKay site I downloaded the MP3's of Nellie playing live. So I'm listening to them now. I don't know how I feel about it yet. I'm not as impressed as I thought I'd be. But it's early to be making big judgements on her. If you want to check them out though, they are there.
Hello all. Well my I-net's been down all weekend so I didn't post my Nellie McKay story over the weekend from part 3 of my New York trip. I wanted to do it here at work, but I was too busy to write it up till after my anti-terrorism class. But I got back to my desk and found out that www.nelliemckay.net is online as of right now. Well, there I went over there to check it out.
I guess I should just tell you that I didn't get to see Nellie McKay in New York like I wanted to. FEZ was shut down all weekend. I'll tell you all about it when I vomit out Part 3 of the New York thing. But I had to tell you that part of it now, because I've never heard anything by her except the songs I stole from the WFUV radio show.
A nice fella who runs Smalls Records emailed me to tell me that I had some of the song names wrong too. If you go down to July 18, I talk about a few Nellie McKay songs I was putting on my portable MP3 player. Well the song I called "Sorry" is actually "Sari" and the song "Total Guys (Oh We Oh)" is actually "Toto Dies" ("Oh We Oh" from the "Wizard of Oz", heh. Pretty clever Ms. McKay).
And on that Nellie McKay site I downloaded the MP3's of Nellie playing live. So I'm listening to them now. I don't know how I feel about it yet. I'm not as impressed as I thought I'd be. But it's early to be making big judgements on her. If you want to check them out though, they are there.
Thursday, July 24, 2003
what i'm listening to Right Now: Bob Dylan, May 9, 1965 Royal Albert Hall London (Bootleg from 1965 Revisited) - Talking World War III Blues
Disclaimer: This is Part 2 of 3 of my NY trip. I realize I've been rambling these last few days. Only one more installment to go. I pride myself on being an interesting writer, but I've been typing at work, whenever I can find time, so it's not as structured as I'd like. Kind of stream-of-conscious isn't it? Stay tuned though, because after I finish up with the NYC thing I'm going to be talking a blue streak about Nellie McKay. But I'm holding off on it until I tell you about the Nellie McKay show that I "went" to in New York. On with today's post.
---------------------------------------
BREAKING NEWS: Good Gravy!!! Look what I just read on Glorious Noise. I quote the end of the article: "In an exclusive Glorious Noise email interview, Matrix manager Sandy Robertson told us, 'The Matrix have cut 3 tracks with Mooney Suzuki already. They will be co-writing and producing their whole album when MS get off Lollapalooza.'"
The MATRIX!!!! I don't know how to feel about this! At first I feel shock, but now that a few minutes have passed since I saw it, I feel excited. Should be interesting. I'll wait to hear it before I pass judgment, but I hope the Matrix doesn't kill our Mooney’s.
Anyway, picking up on where I left off yesterday, I was just catching the train to Coney Island. It is a long train ride out there but it goes above ground after a while and that was kinda neat. But finally, and I do mean finally, we made it. Crowds made their way out onto the streets. Siren has two stages, the "Stillwell Stage" on Stillwell ave, and the "Main Stage" on Surf ave. Here was the schedule.
The subway comes out on Stillwell Ave. and I can see the stage up ahead; however, it was 2:15ish by this time and the Kills should still be on stage. So I kick into high gear, down the street to find Surf Ave. and the "Main Stage." I was singing to myself the "Cat Claw" song (but I don't know the words so I was actually just singing gibberish like "Its time to stand on da fingers from the bell, Tell sugar no how you found him come on sugar..." Come to think of it, I might have the words right.) and then I rounded the corner and there the Kills were, and they were singing that exact song!! Weird coincidence.....Unless I was subconsciously hearing the song off in the distance and that's why I was singing it. But I do like that song, so maybe it was just a coincidence.
I had to go to the bathroom after the train ride, so I waited in line as the Kills finished up. I sure was parched so I went out in search of cool beverage. One thing I wish was that there were more places to get a hot dog on Coney Island. O.K. that was sarcastic. There was no shortage of greasy hot dog stands there. Now I live just over the river from Virginia Beach and we have a boardwalk and beach that looks a lot like Coney Island, but Virginia is run by the Morality Nazis. Coney Island on the other hand...You could buy beer at the food stands and carry it around the boardwalk with you! I've never seen that since I lived in Europe! In Virginia you can't even carry a beer around Busch Gardens! The same Busch Gardens that is owned by the beer company!
Now this Coney Island beer story explains another theory that I have about New York. NYC is the most liberal place I've ever seen. Not a very far reaching conclusion but true none the less.
So I was sightseeing the boardwalk, and there was this freak show. I remember a worm eater girl, a snake girl, and a big fella that lies on a bed of nails. The barker guy who was trying to sucker us all into the theatre cast a magic spell over all of us. He made us all children for 2 minutes. Wow. Guess what! That means we get in for the children’s price!!! At least for the next two minutes. I enjoyed my two minutes of child status to pants the guy next to me as payback for all the crap I put up with the first time I was a child.
I headed back to the "Main Stage" to find out what's the deal with this !!! band. I didn't know anything about them. I came down from the boardwalk and leaned up against the chain-link fence along stage-left. The stage is full of guys. One has a saxophone, two or three on percussion, and some keyboardists. They're late getting started. One of the reviews I read of last years Siren praised the fact that everything went off on time. I don't know what happened but it was getting close to 3:30 and they were only just getting started. Then right in the middle of the first number the lead singer guy starts saying how the cops need everyone to move off the sidewalk. Some kinda safety thing where they have to have to have a walkway along the sides. Well the Dirtbombs were supposed to go on at 3:30 at the other stage! What am I supposed to do? I've never seen the Dirtbombs live and I already know I like them, so I split. So I didn't see the whole !!! show, but what I heard was very disappointing. But I can't make up my mind yet on them, but If I want to dance to some RocknRoll I'd think of the Liars first.
I made my way over to the "Stillwell Stage" for the Dirtbombs. I was excited to see them the most, and they did not disappoint!! They had a chick bass player too. In case you didn't know, they have two bass players and two drummers on two drum kits. The sound sure sucks at the Siren Festival. I don't know what it is, but it's not very good. The Dirtbombs are still Awesome. The scenesters where too caught up in the hype of !!! and Sahara Hotnights to walk over and check out one of the best bands at Siren.
Sahara Hotnights were next. I wasn't too excited to see them. Why? Because I've listened to the album. It's not that good. "Alright, Alright" rocks, but lots of bands rock, so why should I care about these girls. If I was a girl, I'd probably LOVE them, but I don't love them. Now because of the !!! issues, the Main Stage was late by about 30 minutes. This means that the Main Stage bands were going on at the same time as the Stillwell bands. So I left Sahara a smidge early to go see this Northern State. That was excruciating. Painful to watch. Again, if I was a girl, I'd think this was the coolest thing, but come on. Chrissie Hynde, Sleater-Kinney, even Lucinda Williams. They are chicks that are doing it right. Those three (and there's more) would be awesome if they were chicks are not. YYY's, Sleater and the von Bondies were at Siren last year. I'm starting to think I was a year late for the good Siren.
Things started to get crowded. I was glad I saw a bit of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. By this time I had to get back to the city. I don't make it to NYC often enough and there was still some sightseeing I wanted to get in while it was still light out. I knew the subway would be a while, so I split after them. I REALLY wanted to see Modest Mouse, but since they were playing the Norva in Norfolk the following Monday I didn't feel to bad (although I missed them there because my car stopped working).
When I got back to the city, the real fun began. But I'll tell you about it next time.
P.S. I wrote by best song ever today, and I think I'm going to upgrade this site so I can post music and pictures soon.
Stay Tuned!
Disclaimer: This is Part 2 of 3 of my NY trip. I realize I've been rambling these last few days. Only one more installment to go. I pride myself on being an interesting writer, but I've been typing at work, whenever I can find time, so it's not as structured as I'd like. Kind of stream-of-conscious isn't it? Stay tuned though, because after I finish up with the NYC thing I'm going to be talking a blue streak about Nellie McKay. But I'm holding off on it until I tell you about the Nellie McKay show that I "went" to in New York. On with today's post.
---------------------------------------
BREAKING NEWS: Good Gravy!!! Look what I just read on Glorious Noise. I quote the end of the article: "In an exclusive Glorious Noise email interview, Matrix manager Sandy Robertson told us, 'The Matrix have cut 3 tracks with Mooney Suzuki already. They will be co-writing and producing their whole album when MS get off Lollapalooza.'"
The MATRIX!!!! I don't know how to feel about this! At first I feel shock, but now that a few minutes have passed since I saw it, I feel excited. Should be interesting. I'll wait to hear it before I pass judgment, but I hope the Matrix doesn't kill our Mooney’s.
Anyway, picking up on where I left off yesterday, I was just catching the train to Coney Island. It is a long train ride out there but it goes above ground after a while and that was kinda neat. But finally, and I do mean finally, we made it. Crowds made their way out onto the streets. Siren has two stages, the "Stillwell Stage" on Stillwell ave, and the "Main Stage" on Surf ave. Here was the schedule.
The subway comes out on Stillwell Ave. and I can see the stage up ahead; however, it was 2:15ish by this time and the Kills should still be on stage. So I kick into high gear, down the street to find Surf Ave. and the "Main Stage." I was singing to myself the "Cat Claw" song (but I don't know the words so I was actually just singing gibberish like "Its time to stand on da fingers from the bell, Tell sugar no how you found him come on sugar..." Come to think of it, I might have the words right.) and then I rounded the corner and there the Kills were, and they were singing that exact song!! Weird coincidence.....Unless I was subconsciously hearing the song off in the distance and that's why I was singing it. But I do like that song, so maybe it was just a coincidence.
I had to go to the bathroom after the train ride, so I waited in line as the Kills finished up. I sure was parched so I went out in search of cool beverage. One thing I wish was that there were more places to get a hot dog on Coney Island. O.K. that was sarcastic. There was no shortage of greasy hot dog stands there. Now I live just over the river from Virginia Beach and we have a boardwalk and beach that looks a lot like Coney Island, but Virginia is run by the Morality Nazis. Coney Island on the other hand...You could buy beer at the food stands and carry it around the boardwalk with you! I've never seen that since I lived in Europe! In Virginia you can't even carry a beer around Busch Gardens! The same Busch Gardens that is owned by the beer company!
Now this Coney Island beer story explains another theory that I have about New York. NYC is the most liberal place I've ever seen. Not a very far reaching conclusion but true none the less.
So I was sightseeing the boardwalk, and there was this freak show. I remember a worm eater girl, a snake girl, and a big fella that lies on a bed of nails. The barker guy who was trying to sucker us all into the theatre cast a magic spell over all of us. He made us all children for 2 minutes. Wow. Guess what! That means we get in for the children’s price!!! At least for the next two minutes. I enjoyed my two minutes of child status to pants the guy next to me as payback for all the crap I put up with the first time I was a child.
I headed back to the "Main Stage" to find out what's the deal with this !!! band. I didn't know anything about them. I came down from the boardwalk and leaned up against the chain-link fence along stage-left. The stage is full of guys. One has a saxophone, two or three on percussion, and some keyboardists. They're late getting started. One of the reviews I read of last years Siren praised the fact that everything went off on time. I don't know what happened but it was getting close to 3:30 and they were only just getting started. Then right in the middle of the first number the lead singer guy starts saying how the cops need everyone to move off the sidewalk. Some kinda safety thing where they have to have to have a walkway along the sides. Well the Dirtbombs were supposed to go on at 3:30 at the other stage! What am I supposed to do? I've never seen the Dirtbombs live and I already know I like them, so I split. So I didn't see the whole !!! show, but what I heard was very disappointing. But I can't make up my mind yet on them, but If I want to dance to some RocknRoll I'd think of the Liars first.
I made my way over to the "Stillwell Stage" for the Dirtbombs. I was excited to see them the most, and they did not disappoint!! They had a chick bass player too. In case you didn't know, they have two bass players and two drummers on two drum kits. The sound sure sucks at the Siren Festival. I don't know what it is, but it's not very good. The Dirtbombs are still Awesome. The scenesters where too caught up in the hype of !!! and Sahara Hotnights to walk over and check out one of the best bands at Siren.
Sahara Hotnights were next. I wasn't too excited to see them. Why? Because I've listened to the album. It's not that good. "Alright, Alright" rocks, but lots of bands rock, so why should I care about these girls. If I was a girl, I'd probably LOVE them, but I don't love them. Now because of the !!! issues, the Main Stage was late by about 30 minutes. This means that the Main Stage bands were going on at the same time as the Stillwell bands. So I left Sahara a smidge early to go see this Northern State. That was excruciating. Painful to watch. Again, if I was a girl, I'd think this was the coolest thing, but come on. Chrissie Hynde, Sleater-Kinney, even Lucinda Williams. They are chicks that are doing it right. Those three (and there's more) would be awesome if they were chicks are not. YYY's, Sleater and the von Bondies were at Siren last year. I'm starting to think I was a year late for the good Siren.
Things started to get crowded. I was glad I saw a bit of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. By this time I had to get back to the city. I don't make it to NYC often enough and there was still some sightseeing I wanted to get in while it was still light out. I knew the subway would be a while, so I split after them. I REALLY wanted to see Modest Mouse, but since they were playing the Norva in Norfolk the following Monday I didn't feel to bad (although I missed them there because my car stopped working).
When I got back to the city, the real fun began. But I'll tell you about it next time.
P.S. I wrote by best song ever today, and I think I'm going to upgrade this site so I can post music and pictures soon.
Stay Tuned!
what i'm listening to Right Now: Beth Orton, Daybreaker - Thinking About Tommorow
Hey cool link on the Velvet Underground.
Hey cool link on the Velvet Underground.
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
(I'm starting a new feature today. Since I'm always listening to my Winamp when I write, I've decided to start every post with the title, artist, and album (in the format Artist, Album - Title) of the song I happen to be listening too while I'm posting.)
what i'm listening to Right Now: Longwave, The Strangest Things - Tidal Wave
The Greyhound was late. By an hour. It's not the most comfortable sleeping position, and the man next to me had his stinky shoes off. But I did have my secret weapon, an inflatable horseshoe that fits around your neck. There would be no jello-y head bobbing this trip. I slept surprisingly well, and it was an uneventful trip. I got as much sleep as a could because I had a big day ahead.
My chronology follows:
8:00am Arrive at Port Authority bus terminal on Manhattan Island. Find 9th ave.
--There is a phenomenon that I discovered on previous trips to NYC. I call it the "Wipe Out." If you ever go surfing, or body boarding, or just swimming in the ocean when a big wave crashes down on you, and you're underwater being tossed by the wave, and you don't know which way is up. This is what happens in New York. You plan your trip out weeks in advance. You've studied your map religiously; daydreaming about which neighborhoods you want to visit and see (so you can later daydream about which neighborhood you want to live in if you ever make it to NYC). You know which subway's to take to get to the places you want to go. But sure enough, you'll come out of the subway, and have no earthly idea of which way is North, which way is South, etc. This same thing happens at the Port Authority so I have to be careful which way I exit the building. I'll get the ole New York Wipe-Out later in the day.
8:30am hit 9th ave, and turn left. This is according to the map so I felt confident. Before I left I used the internet to look up a breakfast place. I decided on the Cheyenne diner, 33rd and 9th ave. It is an one of those train car type diners and it was delightfully uncrowded with delicious food. I think that food in New York is the same as Virginia only a little bit fancier. For instance, I ordered my classic one egg, over-medium, bacon, grits, and wheat toast. Well, this is New York and not Virginia so they don't have grits. The give you potatoes. But these are nicer than regular diner potatoes you get some places. They have tomatoes and peppers in them. Yum! And the bacon was thick and meaty, not all flimsy and fatty like they have every where else. And delicious coffee! I had four cups to get me ready to tackle the city. I tipped an extra big 30% for good karma.
9:00am Go to Greenwich Village to watch it wake up. I thought it would be a cool thing to go down to "the Village" and watch it come to life in the morning. It wasn't that cool. Except it was DEAD. Even as late as 10:30am, New York City was dead! Hardly anybody on the streets, hardly any cars. That part of it was fascinating. Being the only person in Greenwich Village.
10:00am Go to East Village and see Sidewalk and Tompkins Square Park. Check out hipsters. Instead the F,V line breaks down and gets rerouted onto the A,C line so I decide to get out in SOHO and see some beautiful people. Get "wiped-out" when I follow the sign that says "NW corner." (Spring and Varick I think it was). So I think, "NW Corner" plus Spring St. goes East/West equals I'll go right and I should be going east, into SOHO. Instead I see the Hudson River and take a four block round trip detour to get back on track. On the plus side, I do see beautiful people. Lots a Lots of beautiful people.
11:00am See Little Italy and the street Martin Scorsese grew up on. I've been walking and walking and walking and I'm having a great time. I stop and get a picture of a wonderful playground at Spring and Mulberry. Dough-eyed children playing on colorful dinosaurs and beautiful people reading their dog-eared novels. I'm still walking and I make my way up to "Alphabet City" and Tompkins Square Park. Watch the dogs play, and dab a little sun-screen on.
12:00am Find some food. I was planning to head down to the Siren Festival on Coney Island in time to see the Kills at 2pm. So I needed to eat and find the train because I knew it would be a while to get to Coney. I decided I wanted sushi, because I like sushi, but no one I know here in VA does, so I never get to eat it unless I go alone. So since I was alone, and every third store seemed to be a sushi restaurant, I decided to look for sushi. But none of them opened until 3:30 or later. So I decided to go to Time Cafe which is where I was going later that night to see Nellie McKay in the Fez Nightclub which is right below Time. But when I got over there to Time, it was shutdown. There was a sign on the door that said "We regret that we had to shutdown, come back Monday" or something to that effect. I can only hope the Fez show is still going on tonight. I didn't want to think about it so I kept walking trying to find a place to eat. I ended up taking the subway down to SOHO thinking that they would have good food down there. Too touristy/pretentious. I walked all the way back up Broadway to NOHO/Village area and a bunch of blocks out of my way to finally stumble into a crappy, yuppy place that was serving "Brunch." I was boring and just got the cheeseburger. But, NYC being true to form (remember, the food in NYC is the same as Virginia, only a little bit fancier), the burger was served on an english muffin, and banana bread was served before the meal. I left another big tip to keep up my karma level.
1:00pm get on the W train to Coney Island.
------------------------
Thus ends the first installment of my NYC trip. More to come. Hope it isn't too excruciatingly detailed, but I wanted to make sure that this time next year, when I go back and read this, I'll remember everything that happened. If I'm being too long winded Email me and tell me. Or if you like the detail please let me know. I welcome healthy criticism.
P.S. Jinners thanked me for linking her!! Pretty cool!
what i'm listening to Right Now: Longwave, The Strangest Things - Tidal Wave
The Greyhound was late. By an hour. It's not the most comfortable sleeping position, and the man next to me had his stinky shoes off. But I did have my secret weapon, an inflatable horseshoe that fits around your neck. There would be no jello-y head bobbing this trip. I slept surprisingly well, and it was an uneventful trip. I got as much sleep as a could because I had a big day ahead.
My chronology follows:
8:00am Arrive at Port Authority bus terminal on Manhattan Island. Find 9th ave.
--There is a phenomenon that I discovered on previous trips to NYC. I call it the "Wipe Out." If you ever go surfing, or body boarding, or just swimming in the ocean when a big wave crashes down on you, and you're underwater being tossed by the wave, and you don't know which way is up. This is what happens in New York. You plan your trip out weeks in advance. You've studied your map religiously; daydreaming about which neighborhoods you want to visit and see (so you can later daydream about which neighborhood you want to live in if you ever make it to NYC). You know which subway's to take to get to the places you want to go. But sure enough, you'll come out of the subway, and have no earthly idea of which way is North, which way is South, etc. This same thing happens at the Port Authority so I have to be careful which way I exit the building. I'll get the ole New York Wipe-Out later in the day.
8:30am hit 9th ave, and turn left. This is according to the map so I felt confident. Before I left I used the internet to look up a breakfast place. I decided on the Cheyenne diner, 33rd and 9th ave. It is an one of those train car type diners and it was delightfully uncrowded with delicious food. I think that food in New York is the same as Virginia only a little bit fancier. For instance, I ordered my classic one egg, over-medium, bacon, grits, and wheat toast. Well, this is New York and not Virginia so they don't have grits. The give you potatoes. But these are nicer than regular diner potatoes you get some places. They have tomatoes and peppers in them. Yum! And the bacon was thick and meaty, not all flimsy and fatty like they have every where else. And delicious coffee! I had four cups to get me ready to tackle the city. I tipped an extra big 30% for good karma.
9:00am Go to Greenwich Village to watch it wake up. I thought it would be a cool thing to go down to "the Village" and watch it come to life in the morning. It wasn't that cool. Except it was DEAD. Even as late as 10:30am, New York City was dead! Hardly anybody on the streets, hardly any cars. That part of it was fascinating. Being the only person in Greenwich Village.
10:00am Go to East Village and see Sidewalk and Tompkins Square Park. Check out hipsters. Instead the F,V line breaks down and gets rerouted onto the A,C line so I decide to get out in SOHO and see some beautiful people. Get "wiped-out" when I follow the sign that says "NW corner." (Spring and Varick I think it was). So I think, "NW Corner" plus Spring St. goes East/West equals I'll go right and I should be going east, into SOHO. Instead I see the Hudson River and take a four block round trip detour to get back on track. On the plus side, I do see beautiful people. Lots a Lots of beautiful people.
11:00am See Little Italy and the street Martin Scorsese grew up on. I've been walking and walking and walking and I'm having a great time. I stop and get a picture of a wonderful playground at Spring and Mulberry. Dough-eyed children playing on colorful dinosaurs and beautiful people reading their dog-eared novels. I'm still walking and I make my way up to "Alphabet City" and Tompkins Square Park. Watch the dogs play, and dab a little sun-screen on.
12:00am Find some food. I was planning to head down to the Siren Festival on Coney Island in time to see the Kills at 2pm. So I needed to eat and find the train because I knew it would be a while to get to Coney. I decided I wanted sushi, because I like sushi, but no one I know here in VA does, so I never get to eat it unless I go alone. So since I was alone, and every third store seemed to be a sushi restaurant, I decided to look for sushi. But none of them opened until 3:30 or later. So I decided to go to Time Cafe which is where I was going later that night to see Nellie McKay in the Fez Nightclub which is right below Time. But when I got over there to Time, it was shutdown. There was a sign on the door that said "We regret that we had to shutdown, come back Monday" or something to that effect. I can only hope the Fez show is still going on tonight. I didn't want to think about it so I kept walking trying to find a place to eat. I ended up taking the subway down to SOHO thinking that they would have good food down there. Too touristy/pretentious. I walked all the way back up Broadway to NOHO/Village area and a bunch of blocks out of my way to finally stumble into a crappy, yuppy place that was serving "Brunch." I was boring and just got the cheeseburger. But, NYC being true to form (remember, the food in NYC is the same as Virginia, only a little bit fancier), the burger was served on an english muffin, and banana bread was served before the meal. I left another big tip to keep up my karma level.
1:00pm get on the W train to Coney Island.
------------------------
Thus ends the first installment of my NYC trip. More to come. Hope it isn't too excruciatingly detailed, but I wanted to make sure that this time next year, when I go back and read this, I'll remember everything that happened. If I'm being too long winded Email me and tell me. Or if you like the detail please let me know. I welcome healthy criticism.
P.S. Jinners thanked me for linking her!! Pretty cool!
Tuesday, July 22, 2003
WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!!!
I'm destroyed! Physically and Mentally! I must have walked 25 miles!!
My legs aren't working anymore. The backs of my thighs. The top of my calves. My ankles are swollen.
I saw a guy get knocked out in a gang fight, got asked if I wanted to "Party" by a 50 year old lady at 4 in the morning on 42nd street, and found out that my beloved Hipsters are kinda selfish.
I can't write about it now. Too much happened. I need to recover. I stayed up over 24 hours in New York City!!! That alone is wild enough, but throw on all the stuff I did and saw, and....WOW!! WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!
In the meantime, cause I know you're excited, here are some NYC bloggers who have pictures of the bands and such:
jinners This site is cool. She checks out bands every night of her life!! Good bands too. Cause she lives in NYC. This the whole point of my blog. Those of us who live in the "Real World" don't have it as good. But good for her, and THANK YOU jinners for letting me live vicariously through your GREAT website!
drewbacca He has cool pics. Click on the Siren Festival link. I like his pictures the best of the blogger sites I saw today. Mostly of him and his cute girlfriends hanging out on the beach. And his band pictures are not from the press pit ala Jinners so you get to see the crowd’s perspective. PS The Dirtbombs were AMAZING, and so is Marissa. He has nice pictures of both.
divestar Lots of the bands close up.
I’m Losing my Edge Couple of good shots of the bands, and a little review of the show.
Garage Dream Great write up of his Siren experience.
Alright that's enough to hold you over.
Oh, yeah, I wanted to post this cute thing I saw on yper-sound's blog: Lucas, the world's youngest rock journalist, interviews the white stripes.
I'm destroyed! Physically and Mentally! I must have walked 25 miles!!
My legs aren't working anymore. The backs of my thighs. The top of my calves. My ankles are swollen.
I saw a guy get knocked out in a gang fight, got asked if I wanted to "Party" by a 50 year old lady at 4 in the morning on 42nd street, and found out that my beloved Hipsters are kinda selfish.
I can't write about it now. Too much happened. I need to recover. I stayed up over 24 hours in New York City!!! That alone is wild enough, but throw on all the stuff I did and saw, and....WOW!! WHAT AN ADVENTURE!!
In the meantime, cause I know you're excited, here are some NYC bloggers who have pictures of the bands and such:
jinners This site is cool. She checks out bands every night of her life!! Good bands too. Cause she lives in NYC. This the whole point of my blog. Those of us who live in the "Real World" don't have it as good. But good for her, and THANK YOU jinners for letting me live vicariously through your GREAT website!
drewbacca He has cool pics. Click on the Siren Festival link. I like his pictures the best of the blogger sites I saw today. Mostly of him and his cute girlfriends hanging out on the beach. And his band pictures are not from the press pit ala Jinners so you get to see the crowd’s perspective. PS The Dirtbombs were AMAZING, and so is Marissa. He has nice pictures of both.
divestar Lots of the bands close up.
I’m Losing my Edge Couple of good shots of the bands, and a little review of the show.
Garage Dream Great write up of his Siren experience.
Alright that's enough to hold you over.
Oh, yeah, I wanted to post this cute thing I saw on yper-sound's blog: Lucas, the world's youngest rock journalist, interviews the white stripes.
Friday, July 18, 2003
Tonight I Ride! My trusted steed: Greyhound Bus Lines. I hope I have a good time. I hope I have a safe time. If I don't make it back, please know I sacrificed for the Cause. The Cause: ROCK AND ROLL!!!!!!
P.S. I figured out how to burn Nellie McKay's (pronounced "MicKai") songs from the WFUV radio show to MP3 and I loaded it on my old school portable MP3 player (1st Generation RCA K@zoo, 32mb + 64 Meg MMC card = VALUE). I also figured out how to make WMA files which are smaller so I can fit more onto my player.
My Playlist (In order):
Nellie McKay, Live at WFUV (MP3):
Sorry
I Want to Get Married
Inner Peace
Total Guys (Oh We Oh)
Manhatten Ave.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fever to Tell (WMA):
Rich
Date With the Night
Man
Tick
Black Tongue
Pin
(I didn't put "Cold Light", or "No No No" because of space, and they're the weakest tracks)
Maps
Y Control
Modern Romance (there is a hidden track as part of this too)
Longwave, The Strangest Things (WMA):
Wake Me When it's Over
Everywhere You Turn
Pool Song
I Know It's Coming Someday
Meet Me at the Bottom
Can't Feel A Thing
Tidal Wave
The Ghosts Around You
All Sewn up Exit
Strangest Things
Day Sleeper
Beth Orton, various tracks (MP3):
Feel to Believe (2nd album "Central Reservation")
Thinking About Tomorrow (3rd album "Daybreaker")
She Cries Your Name (1st album "Trailer Park")
Sweetest Decline (2nd album "Central Reservation")
Bobby Gentry (B side to "Concrete Sky" single)
Anywhere (3rd album "Daybreaker")
Liars, They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top (MP3):
Mr. You're On Fire Mr.
Velvet Underground, Loaded: Fully Loaded Edition (WMA):
Sweet Jane (full length version)
Oh! Sweet Nuthin'
Keep me in you prayers, and I'll tell you all about it when I get back.
P.S. I figured out how to burn Nellie McKay's (pronounced "MicKai") songs from the WFUV radio show to MP3 and I loaded it on my old school portable MP3 player (1st Generation RCA K@zoo, 32mb + 64 Meg MMC card = VALUE). I also figured out how to make WMA files which are smaller so I can fit more onto my player.
My Playlist (In order):
Nellie McKay, Live at WFUV (MP3):
Sorry
I Want to Get Married
Inner Peace
Total Guys (Oh We Oh)
Manhatten Ave.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fever to Tell (WMA):
Rich
Date With the Night
Man
Tick
Black Tongue
Pin
(I didn't put "Cold Light", or "No No No" because of space, and they're the weakest tracks)
Maps
Y Control
Modern Romance (there is a hidden track as part of this too)
Longwave, The Strangest Things (WMA):
Wake Me When it's Over
Everywhere You Turn
Pool Song
I Know It's Coming Someday
Meet Me at the Bottom
Can't Feel A Thing
Tidal Wave
The Ghosts Around You
All Sewn up Exit
Strangest Things
Day Sleeper
Beth Orton, various tracks (MP3):
Feel to Believe (2nd album "Central Reservation")
Thinking About Tomorrow (3rd album "Daybreaker")
She Cries Your Name (1st album "Trailer Park")
Sweetest Decline (2nd album "Central Reservation")
Bobby Gentry (B side to "Concrete Sky" single)
Anywhere (3rd album "Daybreaker")
Liars, They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top (MP3):
Mr. You're On Fire Mr.
Velvet Underground, Loaded: Fully Loaded Edition (WMA):
Sweet Jane (full length version)
Oh! Sweet Nuthin'
Keep me in you prayers, and I'll tell you all about it when I get back.
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
I've purchased Longwave's "The Strangest Things" the other day. And I picked up this Greatest Hits of Madonna thing called "The Immaculate Collection" and it is REALLY good.
Madonna was the coolest back then. And every song on this CD is good. Pick them both up at your local store. See, what will happen is this: You'll be deep into the "L's" because you're looking for Longwave, and then you'll notice that the "M's" are right there, so you might as well pick up Madonna. That's how it happened to me.
Update on NYC trip: I have ticket reservations waiting for me to see Nellie Mckay (pronounced "MicKai"). I'm going to try to score a CD of her music when I'm up there. I'm jealous of her lyrics. Very clever stuff.
"In High School, it was cool, to say 'You look funny'; 'You're a retard dummy'; 'A retarded dummy', 'Yeah you suck, out a luck'" from her song Inner Peace.
"I wanna get married, yes I need a spouse. I want a nice Leave It to Beaverish, Golden Retriever and a little white house. I wanna get married. I need to cook meals. I wanna pack cute little lunches for my Brady Bunches, then read Danielle Steele." From I Want to Get Married.
And there are some clever political references strewn about, and fun use of phrasing. At least in this VERY little bit that I've heard from her, she certainly seems to reward the listener for listening. It makes you hang on every word. We'll have to see how I feel this time next week, after seeing her live.
Madonna was the coolest back then. And every song on this CD is good. Pick them both up at your local store. See, what will happen is this: You'll be deep into the "L's" because you're looking for Longwave, and then you'll notice that the "M's" are right there, so you might as well pick up Madonna. That's how it happened to me.
Update on NYC trip: I have ticket reservations waiting for me to see Nellie Mckay (pronounced "MicKai"). I'm going to try to score a CD of her music when I'm up there. I'm jealous of her lyrics. Very clever stuff.
"In High School, it was cool, to say 'You look funny'; 'You're a retard dummy'; 'A retarded dummy', 'Yeah you suck, out a luck'" from her song Inner Peace.
"I wanna get married, yes I need a spouse. I want a nice Leave It to Beaverish, Golden Retriever and a little white house. I wanna get married. I need to cook meals. I wanna pack cute little lunches for my Brady Bunches, then read Danielle Steele." From I Want to Get Married.
And there are some clever political references strewn about, and fun use of phrasing. At least in this VERY little bit that I've heard from her, she certainly seems to reward the listener for listening. It makes you hang on every word. We'll have to see how I feel this time next week, after seeing her live.
Friday, July 11, 2003
Well, I did it. I bought the Greyhound ticket yesterday night. I'm going to NYC! Sure should be a fun time.
In honor of the trip, I added a link to jinners site. She has the site (and the life) that I want. I hope she doesn't mind my linking her. I can't recommend it enough. It's good.
I'm hoping to catch the Nellie McKay show! "Who is that?" you might say. Well I'm proud to be one of the first (outside of New York) to recommend her. In fact, I know nothing about her except what is on her antifolk site. I listened to the radio show they reference and was VERY impressed with her songs. She is a little too cutesie-wootsie when she was talking. She kept stuttering, and saying "Ohhh, Thhhank youuuu, that's so sweeeeet" over and over again. She was probably just nervous, and she's only 19 so I shouldn't pick on her. Sorry Nellie.
If you want to listen to the radio show, you have to go to this site and click on "WFUV archives." Then go to the drop down box (it says "Choose a Show") and look under "Friday" for "Whole Wide World w/ Rita Houston." Select it, and click the "Go" button. Look for the May 19th show and start listening. You cannot fast forward the show. You have to listen. Thats crappy I know, but it's worth it. It's good music though. That Sidestepper sounds cool. She comes on about an hour in. It's worth it.
I need something to do in the city after the Siren Festival is over, and I thought that I might be RockNRolled out after 9 straight hours, so I was looking for some music that would contrast, yet compliment my 9 hours of hipster rock. Nellie plays the piano, from what I understand. And this place, Fez, looks cool. She just signed with Columbia so be on the lookout.
In honor of the trip, I added a link to jinners site. She has the site (and the life) that I want. I hope she doesn't mind my linking her. I can't recommend it enough. It's good.
I'm hoping to catch the Nellie McKay show! "Who is that?" you might say. Well I'm proud to be one of the first (outside of New York) to recommend her. In fact, I know nothing about her except what is on her antifolk site. I listened to the radio show they reference and was VERY impressed with her songs. She is a little too cutesie-wootsie when she was talking. She kept stuttering, and saying "Ohhh, Thhhank youuuu, that's so sweeeeet" over and over again. She was probably just nervous, and she's only 19 so I shouldn't pick on her. Sorry Nellie.
If you want to listen to the radio show, you have to go to this site and click on "WFUV archives." Then go to the drop down box (it says "Choose a Show") and look under "Friday" for "Whole Wide World w/ Rita Houston." Select it, and click the "Go" button. Look for the May 19th show and start listening. You cannot fast forward the show. You have to listen. Thats crappy I know, but it's worth it. It's good music though. That Sidestepper sounds cool. She comes on about an hour in. It's worth it.
I need something to do in the city after the Siren Festival is over, and I thought that I might be RockNRolled out after 9 straight hours, so I was looking for some music that would contrast, yet compliment my 9 hours of hipster rock. Nellie plays the piano, from what I understand. And this place, Fez, looks cool. She just signed with Columbia so be on the lookout.
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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