Someone's got to do the culling of the fold. (The Decemberists/Laura Veirs & Saltbreakers - The Long AND the Short of It, 10/28 AND 10/29 @ the Vic)

Really, someone does. Because at this rate, The Decemberists will be playing stadiums in a few years, and how the hell will they decide what to pull out of their bottomless hat after one or two more albums?

I got home well over an hour ago from parte deux of the launch of The Decemberists ambitious "The Long and the Short of It" tour. (Note to self: research why so many artists kick off tours in this city. Is it a treat or the shaft?) And now I shall attempt to synthesize two nights of revelry into a few short paragraphs.

First, Laura Veirs.
I randomly first heard this woman in Boston in the fall of 2002. I was there on a business trip, and met up for a drink with an old college aquaintance. It went so well that we got together a couple nights later and went to hear another friend-of-a-friend/fledgling musician play at the the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge. And I remember that it was enjoyable enough. I even remember liking one song "Black-eyed Susan" quite a bit.

Fast forward a few years and a few albums (and me falling in love with and moving to Boston for aforementioned college friend, but that's as personal as I'll ever get in this blog and beside the point anyway) and Laura Veirs is hot stuff. Despite her unrefined, shy voice, she has broken through some sort of barrier. I had forgotten about her, but when she started surfacing in Paste magazine and NPR with the release of Year of Meteors I remembered that lonely cowgirl I saw in Cambridge, and I started paying attention.

Although "Meteors" was probably a bigger breakthrough, Saltbreakers has secured Laura a degree of sustainability. There were probably only 100 people at Schubas the night she and Saltbreakers launched their tour their in May, and the show was pretty flawless. And now she's sharing a six-week bill with some genuine rock stars at some of the most established music halls in the country. I had been pushing maximum density on my October concert calendar when the Decemberists announced this special fall tour. I was tempted. Then I was sold by two things. A) the concept and B) the Laura Veirs.

Here's the two night review in a nutshell, now that I've given you 10 pages of background. They need some time. The sound at the Vic can be pretty awful at times, and was probably at it's worst during her Sunday 10/28 set. On top of that, her drummer is out with a bad back. Some of the obvious favorites from her last two albums were missing both nights (Galaxies, Don't Lose Yourself, Cast a Hook in Me, To the Country) but they made a good effort. The Decemberists' John Moen sat in for drummer Tucker Martine the first half of the set both nights, and really showed his mettle on songs he'd just learned.

During the portions sans drums, we were treated to some oldies that I didn't expect to hear. Last night it was "Black-eyed Susan" and tonight it was "Jailhouse Fire."
We sat in the balcony both nights, and so while at small places, I love to see Laura and the band rock out on tunes like "Wandering Kind" the way the vocals sounded up there took away a lot. But, I still loved almost every minute of her geeky presence, and the highlight was tonight, when they played "Riptide" from Carbon Glacier, Steve Moore's trombone was a perfect fit, and the song just soaked into the audience and the peeling-paint atmosphere of the Vic.

And now the Decemberists...
I received a copy of Picaresque as part of a 30th birthday gift from my friends David and Orly (in 2005.) I listened to it a couple times, then stopped. But then, last winter, I started listening again, and when The Crane Wife came out, and I went to see them at the Riviera this past April, I was hooked. By the time they played their free show in Millenium Park in July, I was a true fan, and knew most of their songs.

And that can be a curse when you go see a band live.

But I'm okay. I'm not like that boy crying "free bird." (or that guy my age crying "trapeze swinger" at Iron & Wine for that matter.) I'm just happy to be present, and watch these people work.

The Long
Opened with the full "Crane Wife." Closed with "The Mariner's Revenge." In the middle, we heard "The Island" and a few others, but the climax was "The Tain." The same piece that lost a lot of audience members on that wet night in July, was complete success last night. There was rolling around on the stage, there was dancing, there was melodica.

I was really sleepy, and even though it was an early show, I found myself drifting off in the midsections of some of those epics. Especially during their cover of Pink Floyd's "Echoes." Lulled to sleep, not out of boredom, or even exhaustion, just relaxation. But then, they would switch to a harder-rocking movement, and I'd be awake again.

The Short
Back for round two, and boy was I excited. And it was great. They opened with "Oceanside" and closed with "After the Bombs" Everything in between was great. There were a few forgotten lyrics, but other than that, you wouldn't know that they don't play all of these songs all the time.

I almost jumped out of my seat when they played "The Culling of the Fold." For some reason, that had become my favorite Decemberists song this past week, and Colin Meloy chose this piece to fly his freak flag. Stroking the heads of audience members, sprawling on the the floor like a cat, and wrapping the mic cord around his neck like he wants to die like Michael Hutchence...and it's a fucking amazing song anyway.

Quite a bit of audience participation took place. Meloy can make the people do just about anything. But it's not just him. This band has this synergy that can't be topped. Every player is so talented and unique. Colin's talent is in his voice and writing more than his playing - but everyone else has his or her own thing too. Chris Funk switches effortlessly from mandolin, to guitar, to hurdy gurdy and back again. Nate Query can play his upright bass upside down, and lying down (and he's hot) John Moen make drumming look like breathing (and he's a pretty good jester, too) and Jenny Conlee: Jenny is a shining example of when a nerdy prodigy realizes she can be a superstar too. As if accordion and singing isn't enough, watching her stroke and tickle that organ during the last few pieces was almost enough to make me raise up my hands and repent.

The last encore tonight was "After the Bombs," and they threw in a tiny cover of a portion of the Smiths', "Ask." I think maybe in another post I'll get into analyzing the lyrics to both of those songs in relation to the crazy times upon us. ("If it's not love than it's the bomb that will bring us together.") But that's for another time.

Last night I was satisfied and ready for sleep. Tonight, I was left wanting more. Wishing they'd played a few more of my favorite songs. Left wishing I'd been down on the floor with the kids who jump and dance and clap with abandon. And left wondering if maybe I should buy a ticket to go see them in Milwaukee later in this tour.

But they'll be back. And they'll be just as good, because that's their job.

P.S. A special shout out to Jill and Dr. Sideburns for joining me tonight, to my neighbor Trevor for coming along last night, and to Dave for soldiering through both nights. I think he had more fun that I did.

And Rocktober is over! I'm going to sleep for a couple weeks now.

Sad songs, cold-filtered four times - Aimee Mann for The Craft @ the Park West - 10/23

I love the bass lines in some of Aimee Mann's songs, especially on The Forgotten Arm. Sometimes when I'm sitting at my desk, and one of them comes onto my little ipod, I'll find myself drifting off, listening to that one line, dipping and grooving its way into the song.

Although I've never listened to WXRT, I'm on their mailing list, specifically for things like this. I've been a fan of Aimee Mann since Magnolia caught me by surprise in 1999, and although Lost in Space took a while to grow on me, The Forgotten Arm had me pretty quickly. But somehow, I've never managed to catch her live, so I was overjoyed to get to attend this taping of Aimee for The Craft, a project of the the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, sponsored by some beer company.

(Here's a link to where you will eventually be able to view clips from last night's show: http://www.mgd.com/craft/home.do)

We sat at a table right down on the floor, and the camera was swinging over our heads all night, so I imagine they got some pretty good shots. She opened with "Little Bombs" a favorite of mine, followed by a new song "Little Tornado" I noticed a contrast right away in how she played the two. She looked a little bored and hurried for the first song, and although it sounded great, I missed the feelings that I get from the recording of that song. The new song though, wow. It was amazing to watch her really lost and focused on how it sounded, because she knew we were hearing it for the first time.

And she actually talked a little about that. See, this wasn't an ordinary concert. In between pieces, she would sit and chat with Warren Zanes about her writing, performing, creation and collaboration, and even boxing.

I won't go into the details, because you'll be able to see them yourself on the Web, but I liked a lot of the things she had to say about: writing music for films, see your music in films, playing new songs vs old songs, why she likes playing with dudes, who she goes to first when she writes a new song.

She didn't really make it sound easy either. In fact, she talked about deliberately going to music school because she didn't have any talent, but she want to learn some skills. She said that music seemed like magic to her - and this has always been a sort of assumption of mine too - that if I haven't figure out how to write songs or play bass by now, I never will, because I don't have that magic. But maybe I just have to buy a book.

Warren Zanes is pretty good at interviewing these folks - since he's a musician himself, but with Aimee - it was even cooler, because he was able to take her back to 20 years ago in Boston, when they were both struggling in the same scene, even sharing bills.

Speaking of Boston, one of her new songs she preface by saying something to the effect of "this song is about living in boston and - surprise - being depressed." What is it about that city, anyway?

Her new album promises to be a little more lighthearted. Called Smilers, it should be out in March. And although I wasn't fond of how she described the cover art, I liked the story she told about it. It's not a concept album like the last one, so the songs are more independent of each other, and she claims that they're not as dark. I liked what I've heard so far, especially "Little Tornado." and "Freeway."

It was a cool experience, and I'll look forward to re-watching it when the beer people post it online.

And really - I've got to start carrying that notebook. I was trying to formulate my thoughts for this when I was running tonight - but if I had actually been taking note during the show, I might have been able to write this when it was still fresh in my head.

Still learning, I supposed.

As you know, October is coming to a close. As you may have noticed, October has been Rocktober around here, and I'm a little ready for it to close too. I'll be taking in the Decemberists double header on Saturday and Sunday, and I've got a ticket for The Mountain Goats next month. But otherwise, I'm trying hard not to make any plans.

But, if you should happen to come across free tickets to something, I can usually be swayed.

They ought to pay me

So, I must have watched this trailer 15 times over the weekend. I think I'm going to buy a calendar just to start counting down the days until it's released. It's no secret though that I love Michel Gondry - so I would watch an instructional video on how to paint country stencils of geese on your kitchen walls if he directed it.

http://www.bekindmovie.com/

New Pornographers @ The Metro - 10/18

There wasn't enough time to give this a proper review. I went from the show to playing pinball at the gingerman to jumping in Julie's car for a 4-day trip down memory lane. Forgive me. I spent the weekend with the class of 1997 at Knox college, so what happened at the metro on Thursday is ancient history.

Benjy Ferree: shows promise. Will possibly do some research, since we missed most of the set.

Emma Pollock: First number was good - downhill from there.

New Pornographers: awesome. I love seeing this alter ego of Neko Case. The rock chick wearing no makeup and dressed like a 21 year old hipster boy. The rest of the band was great too - not sure yet who's who, but I do know that the one guy drinks too much beer. Also, nobody puts baby in a corner. The girl who's not Neko has a lot of talent too, but doesn't get much spotlight.

Did I mention that they used the A-Team theme as their walk-on?

I don't have to review every movie I see, do I?

So, as part of my relaxing South Bay weekend, I watched Knocked Up with Erin, Jon and a couple of their friends on Saturday night. It was actually a pretty perfect evening. We had a few beers - including Naja's cask-conditioned smoked chipotle porter - but before that we played a little pinball.

Then we went back to their place, procured some pizza and watched the movie. It was funny. I'm glad I'm not in my twenties. I liked that he was wearing one of my favorite t-shirts, but that's about all I have to say about it.

Snow Cake - a little dvd review

I kept seeing the preview for this movie on other DVDs and something about it intrigued me, and it was the perfect movie to watch Friday night. I was exhausted when I crawled into bed with my laptop and my headphones.

Alan Rickman blew me away as a random person with shady past dropped by circumstance into the tiny town of Wawa, Ontario. I haven't followed his career or anything, but he fit the role so well, I think that maybe it was the role he was born to play.

Rickman's Alex Hughes had picked up a young hitch hiker, and just before they arrive in her hometown, they're hit by a truck, and the girl is killed. Driven presumably by his own demons, Alex feels compelled to stick around and pay his respects to the mother, Linda. Sigourney Weaver plays Linda, the autistic mother coping with the death of Vivienne, who was both her child and companion. I don't know if I've ever seen or even heard a story about an autistic adult, so this was really refreshing, and I didn't find it predictable or cheesy at all. I'm not sure I bleieved too much in Carrie-Ann Moss as the seductive neighbor, but Alan Rickman's reactions were great.

If you haven't figured it out, I liked dramas that take place is cold, isolated places. So, this fits that bill. It also sounded good - with a lot of songs and scoring by Broken Social scene and conspicuous inclusion of TWO Welsh rock bands, Stereophonics and Super Furry Animals.

And if anyone finds a recording of the Japanese folk song,"Notteru Ondo" that's featured in a couple scenes of the film, let me know.

I really do just want someone to eat cheese with. Is that so wrong?

Oh, I shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition? Maybe they should have called the movie "I want someone to eat cheese with, bitch."

Anyway - it (I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With) was okay. It's always nice to see chicago on the big screen, and there were three or four moments where I laughed very loudly. And only one of these was due to Sarah Silverman's irreverancy. I think the others were all in dialogue between the main character and his best friend.

The weirdest part was when the two guys are leaving the movie theater... and it's The Music Box, which is where I'm sitting watching this movie. And the one guy says "Do you wanna get something to eat?" and I actually whisper to Julie, there's a Dairy Queen up the street (because I could have gone for a Blizzard at the moment) but they didn't go to the DQ. It was just odd though, because even though this film has major distribution, it's all Chicago, and even though it wasn't that great, it was probably pretty true.

John Vanderslice/Bishop Allen - The Empty Bottle - 10/6/2007

I keep forgetting to bring earplugs with me, but I decided that I need to start taking preservation of my hearing a little more seriously, so last night was first show I went to "plugged" in a while. It took a little while to get used to it again, and I kept pulling them out to make sure I wasn't getting cheated.

I've been a Bishop Allen fan for a while since I first heard "Things Are What You Make of Them" in the preview for Mutual Apprciation. And I know they play in Chicago quite a bit, but I always seem to have something else going on. So when I found out that they were opening for John Vanderslice, I was pretty close to overjoyed.

Bishop Allen was fun. Every lead has his/her own stage presence, and Justin Rice's is twitchy and piercing. His eyes have a little deer-in-headlights look to them when he plays, and boy does he sweat. The rest of the band seemed to be having fun too.

John Vanderslice. I was immune to him until "White Dove" showed up on a Paste Sampler a couple months back. Apparently he's got a but of a cult following - and although the club wasn't sold out, there were quite a few people there who were excited abou "JV" as they call him. Good set - the bass player's dancing cracked me up. In the midsection, JV dismissed one player at a time, until it was just him bringing on a barreling version of "Numbered Lithograph" one of my favorite tracks from Emerald City. They played well on the catchy songs like "White Dove" but I was also excited to see the passion that they put into less-accessible tunes like "tablespoon of codeine."

Both Bishop Allen and JV mentioned numerous times how happy they were to be in Chicago. I was starting to thing that JV's stage banter was a bunch of bs when he started singing about having a dance party after the show. But he wasn't, and in lieu of an encore, he and the band jumped down into the audience for a sing-along of one of their songs that everyone in the place save me, Jill, and Chris knew the words for. And then they turned on some hip hop and busted a move with the fans. Pretty unexpected and fun.

When it's time to change - How do you like the new Reader?

I had heard about it a few weeks ago, but had put it out of my mind, so the first time I saw it was when Joe and I were leaving the metro after Voxtrot on Thursday. Although I whined about it all the way home, I still haven't opened the paper yet to really evaluate the change. I already know I'll miss the sections. I had just gotten used to the four-color and the reduction to three sections. This change is huge, because a good portion of The Reader's character was in its unique design and layout. But, I'll probably be able to adjust eventually.

Here's a link to their own page about it, complete with a lot of consumers sounding off. I'll let you know what I think later. http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/redesign/

Thanks for using me

Well, If anyone talked to me on Monday, they would remember that I was excited about The Blow show, and about having free passes to The Darjeeling Limited. In the end, we didn't get to the screening soon enough, which was fine. So, I waited, and caught an early show after work last night.

I've always had mixed feelings about Wes Anderson's films. There are certain things I love about them, but I do always want just a little bit more. A little bit more of what, exactly, I'm not sure. Rushmore is still by far my favorite. But, I think the Darjeeling Limited might be sneaking in just ahead of the tenenbaums for the number two position.



There weren't quite as many laughs as I wanted, but it was beautifully shot. And I liked the characters, especially Adrien Brody's Peter (he's not too hard on the eyes, either.) I feel like there's quite a bit missing in the implied "way they were raised," but I like the dynamic between the three brothers, and I appreciate that the serious midsection of the film where the boys find themselves in a small village, where language prevents them from saying the stupid things they probably normally would in that situation, was pretty genuine.

And let's just face it. I absolutely love trains.

I love Rock and Roll (Voxtrot,The Little Ones and too much beer at the Metro - 10/4/2007)

I may have been the only one to buy advance tickets for Voxtrot when the went on sale back IN JULY. Okay, so maybe that was a little premature. Especially considering that the afternoon of the show, the Metro was sending out free tickets via email. But I was still glad to have the comfort of those three paper tickets in my back pocket as we walked down Clark Thursday evening.

We arrived at a perfect time. We had missed the Sleeping States, but we knew we would. the Metro was still pretty empty. So we got some beers and took our places leaning on the railing in the balcony (my new favorite Metro vantage point.) Maybe I was just reeling from having served up a perfect little dinner and taking a walk with friends in the "unseasonably warm" night air. Or maybe it was the wine. But I was so happy, and When The Little Ones came on, you couldn't take the grin off my face.

I've been listening to the same five tracks of theirs that I have on my computer for the last 10 months, but never had the chance to see them. They are great performers. I forgive them their tiny jeans (and unlike my friend David-not-Pitz, I really didn't have a problem with the bass player's red pants)because their vocals sounded great, and the were so bouncy and happy. I've never seen a rock band smile so much. They effortlessy switched instruments, transitioned to tambourines, handclaps and shouting, and still managed to sound crisp. I was stamping my feet and smiling along with them.

Fast forward to Voxtrot. Someone kept handing me beers, and we were joined by some acquaintances of one my friends, and I got distracted, and a little too drunk to give this band as much attention as I wanted. I know they were also a lot of fun to watch, and I like the synergy between Ramesh Srivastava and Jason Chronis. I'm going to keep an eye on the calendars though, because I'd like to catch them again, that time while drinking coffee so I can concentrate more on the sound.

(I'm leaving out the part about the afterparty in the balcony, where I gushed and babbled to Ed Reyes about how great their set was; spilled free beer on Joe and David, and somehow walked away with an LE Mile 44 poster, with some indecipherable voxtrot autographs on it. It's better that way)

Khaela Maricich is a (hot) spaz (The Blow @ The Empty Bottle, 10/1/2007)

I think it's the Empty Bottle's M.O. to start shows like 45 minutes after the published time. Which is why we found ourselves suffering through one interesting/okay opening act (high places) and one maybe they're good, but I can't stand the sound act (videohippos) at 10....10:30..... 11:00....last night. And all this on a Monday night.

I'm 32 for cryin' out loud, and maybe if I wore a hipster bandana around my neck, I would have the superhero stamina to withstand this sort of thing, but, when it was 11:10, and no sign of the headliner, I was about to pack it in.

So glad I didn't. The Blow is nerdslut pop at its finest. It was so much fun watching her bounce around the stage, sometimes miming, sometimes singing to her imaginary partner. And the best part of it is that she's just this normal-looking dork with a pretty voice and a knack for intelligent lyrics. I even caught her holding hands with some chick and looking pained as she shoved bits of paper towel in her ears during videohippos set.

Apparently, this tour is the last time she'll be performing the songs from Paper Television, so catch her if you can.