That was not entirely accurate.

The Arbor

2011-03-20T22:32:00.004-05:00

What has prompted me to blog after over a year's absence this time? One of those films that I knew next to nothing about going in, but was completely absorbed by. I've probably mentioned before that I love the Gene Siskel Film Center's European Union Film Festival for the broad selection of European films it offers - ones that may or may not get picked up for regular theatrical runs in the US. I'm so wrapped up in work lately, that I hadn't made it to any screenings since the festival opened a couple weeks ago, and I don't know if I will make it to any more. But, I'm glad I saw this one. View the trailer here.

Clio Barnard's The Arbor transcends any style, weaving together documentary, oral history, writing, cinema and theatre together with some brilliant acting to tell the story of one family and one rough neighborhood in a way that I've never seen before.

Critically acclaimed English playwright Andrea Dunbar died at 29, in a local Pub in Bradford, leaving behind three young children and the community that that was the centerpiece of her short writing career. Barnard's film, built mainly from actors lip-syncing to actual interviews of Dunbars children, family and neighbors, gives a fresh look to what could have been portrayed as just another story about the vicious cycle of poverty.

It seems much longer than its 90 minutes, but even though I was a little skeptical at the beginning, we learned so much about the family in that short time. I thought the acting was phenomenal. It's hard to imagine how one becomes a character to match a recorded voice. It almost makes me think about actors voicing animation, and I wonder if it's a similar process.

Although a lot of the actors are well-known in British TV and film, the only one I recognized was (that dreamy) Jimi Mistry, yet he seemed the most out of place in this movie - looking suave and intelligent, yet playing an abusive, illiterate deadbeat dad.

I don't know if this will get theatrical distribution here, but I won't be surprised if it does. In any case, it's made me want to seek out the actors as well as Andrea Dunbar's work, and wait to see what Clio Barnard will do next.

Favorite Live Music of 2009

2009-12-31T11:57:00.005-06:00

Rounding out my year-end listmaking is my live music recap. Enjoy.

Top FIVE Shows

1)Loud & Rich (Loudon Wainwright III & Richard Thompson) - the Vic - 29 October
2)The Hold Steady - House of Blues - 15 January
3)Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - Empty Bottle - 30 October
4)Andrew Bird - Schubas - 6 August
5)Blind Pilot - Lincoln Hall - 25 November

Honorable Mentions to Neko Case, AC Newman, Heartless Bastards, John Vanderslice, Loney Dear, David Bazan, Beirut, Mountain Goats and Liam Finn

Most Pleasant Surprises
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park - 24 August
The Cave Singers - Schubas - 12 September
Nellie McKay - Schubas - 6 December

Most Disappointing
Blitzen Trapper - Empty Bottle - 19 Feb

My Decade in Music

2009-12-31T10:14:00.006-06:00

It's the time of year when many a music lover sits down and tries to identify the "best" albums of the year. Although I find these lists interesting, I also recognize that as tuned in as we might like to think we are, we all have fairly narrow scopes when it comes to considering all of the genres. So I just make lists of my favorites. Over the last few weeks, I've been working on a year-by-year list of my most enjoyed albums. I'm sure I missed a few, but, well that really doesn't matter.

Then, I picked out 15 that I think represent what I've enjoyed most throughout the decade. That's what you'll see first, followed by the yearly shortlist. My apologies to anyone who cares if I got any of the years wrong.

Norah's Favorite Albums of the 2000s - TOP 15
John Hiatt - Crossing Muddy Waters
Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks - Beatin' the Heat
Joan Osborne - Righteous Love
Rufus Wainwright - Poses
Amy Ray - Stag
Patty Griffin - 1000 Kisses
Le Tigre - Feminist Sweepstakes
Mason Jennings - Century Spring
Kathleen Edwards - Failer
Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

Norah's Favorite Albums of the 2000s - Yearly Shortlist

2000
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
Cat Power - The Covers Record
Steve Earle - Transcendental Blues
Bebel Gilberto - Tanto Tempo
Rickie Lee Jones - It's LIke This
Southern Culture on the Skids - Liquored Up and Lacquered Down
Mason Jennings - Birds Flying Away
Erin McKeown - Distillation
John Hiatt - Crossing Muddy Waters
Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks - Beatin' the Heat
Richard Shindell - Somewhere near Paterson
Keb Mo - The Door
Joan Osborne - Righteous Love
Various Artists - O Brother, Where Art Though
Jeb Loy Nichols - Just What Time It Is
Teddy Thompson - Teddy Thompson
Ani Difranco - Revelling/Reckoning
PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Dusty Trails - Dusty Trails
Paul Simon - You're The One
Richard Buckner - Since
Kirsty MacColl - Tropical Brainstorm
Allison Moorer - The Hardest Part
Emmylou Harris - Red Dirt Girl
Patty Larkin - Regrooving the Dream

2001
Amy Ray - Stag
Grant-Lee Phillips - Mobilize
David Byrne - Look into The Eyeball
Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
Rufus Wainwright - Poses
Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire - The Swimming Hour
The Be Good Tanyas - Blue Horse
Jay Farrar - Sebastopol
Le Tigre - Feminist Sweepstakes
Lucinda Williams - Essence
Paris Combo - Living Room
Edith Frost - Wonder Wonder
Jonatha Brooke - Steady Pull
Ryan Adams - Gold

2002
Mason Jennings - Century Spring
Patty Griffin - 1000 Kisses
Steve Earle - Jerusalem
Various Artists - I Am Sam Soundtrack
Aimee Mann - Lost in Space
The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee

2003
Lucinda Williams - World Without Tears
Gillian Welch - Soul Journey
Kathleen Edwards - Failer
Erin McKeown - Grand
Deb Talan - A Bird Flies Out
Belle and Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress

2004
Patty Griffin - Impossible Dream
Lhasa - The Living Road
Various Artists - Garden State Soundtrack
Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier
PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her

2005
Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Animal Collective - Feels
Iron and Wine and Calexico - In the Reins
Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
Page France - Hello Dear Wind
Richard Buckner - Meadow
Amy Ray - Prom
Andrew Bird - and The Mysterious Production of Eggs

2006
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
Erin McKeown - Sing You Sinners
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
My Brightest Diamond - Bring Me the Workhorse
The Blow - Paper Television
The Kooks - Inside In / Inside Out

2007
Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers
Various Artists - Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack
Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
The New Pornographers - Challengers
Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Radiohead - In Rainbows
John Vanderslice - Emerald City
Voxtrot - Voxtrot
Liam Finn - I'll be Lightning

2008
Various Artists - Juno Sountrack
Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers
Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Vampire Weekend -Vampire Weekend
Tift Merritt - Another Country
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
Blind Bilot - 3 Rounds and a Sound (But I didn't listen to this until 2009
Erran Baron Cohen Presents: Songs In The Key Of Hanukkah

2009
David Bazan - Curse Your Branches
Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
A.C. Newman - Get Guilty
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns
Laura Veirs - July Flame (Not out until 2010 officially, but I've been listening to it nonstop since October.)
Various Artists - Dark Was the Night
Micachu - Jewellry

DECADE

2009-12-18T18:02:00.001-06:00

I'm considering making one of those lists of my favorite movies and or music of the decade. CONSIDERING. Don't hold your breath.

10 by 11 - My adventures at the Chicago International Film Festival and Beyond (Part ONE)

2009-10-26T11:11:00.002-05:00

Flash back to two/three years ago, and I was working my way through my Netflix queue at warp speed, watching obscure films from all over the world at a rate of three or four a week. Then Netflix added instant viewing, and suddenly, there were hundreds of movies available for me to watch with the simplicty of a single click, including many from my beloved Film Movement.

But, sadly, I haven't been watching. I'm not sure what has or hasn't happened in my life to change my habit, but now I'm lucky if I even watch one disc per month, and I almost never take advantage of the instant viewing. I have several theories about what might be causing this - but, I realized I really was missing a lot of great foreign and independent films.

So - this summer/fall I renewed my membership for the Siskel Center, and then decided to take things one step further and bought a pass (and a gala pass to boot) for the Chicago International Film Festival. After a few warm-ups at the Siskel, which I won't go into here, in the interest of keeping things current, I embarked on an 11-day, 10-film wild ride. Below is a day-by-day account of the undertaking.

Saturday 10 October
I started at the Siskel with Majid Majidi's The Song of Sparrows. It wasn't part of the festival, but provided a good starting point. I enjoyed watching the story of Karim and his family members, which the other Majidi films, centered on story of a very good person encountering one minor tragedy after another, (i.e. life). I like the complexity of the main character, and the simple beauty and use of color, water and nature, throughout the film.

Then on the the festival proper for my old favorite, Ken Loach's newist offering, Looking for Eric. Although some people will dismiss the story as too far-fetched, I really enjoyed seeing depressed postman Eric, conjure up his personal hero, footballer Eric Cantona, to act as his therapist to help him get his shit together. Not as predictable as one might expect.

Monday 12 October
I went to the Gala screening of Lars Von Trier's new monolith, Antichrist. I did my best not to read anything about the film in advance, and went almost solely based on my near-obsession with Charlotte Gainsbourg. It was a very difficult film. The opening sequence is beautiful and dreamlike, and a lot of that beauty carries through the rest of the film, but the hard parts were so difficult to watch, I came away with the idea that I would never recommend it to anyone.

This unnamed couple loses their child, and when conventional methods don't seem to be pulling the mother out of her grief, her husband decides to take matters into his own professional hands. I think that one can make this film as simple or as difficult as one would like in interpretation. I essentially took it as a story of a guy who thinks he can fix his wife, but in the middle of it all, realizes that her problems might be a lot more serious than he initially thought - however, I think her realizes this too late, and before he figures out how to abort his mission and take her back to civilzation, all hell breaks loose - and I really mean that.

The Q & A with Willem Dafoe afterward was really helpful in terms of giving some insight to Von Trier's motivations and process, and also in giving us permission to interpret the film in our own ways, like any artwork.

Coming Soon

2009-10-05T21:32:00.003-05:00

Just in case anyone's reading this - I've got a very full plate for Rocktober 2009, which includes a handful of concerts and two handfuls of movies, thanks to buying a pass for the Chicago International Film Festival. So, if there aren't at least five new posts here by the end of the month, well, I don't know why you bother checking.

I spent several weeks in Europe this summer, and tried out Pitchfork when I got back. I don't think I'll feel like I need to go next year. The Flatstock portion aside (where I finally tracked down that Diana Sudyka mermaid poster from the Laura Veirs/Liam Finn Show last spring), it's not really my scene. I did get to catch a special Pre-Lollapalooza Andrew Bird show at Schubas in August and that was amazing. I saw The Rural Alberta Advantage in the park for free, and took unplanned trips to Schubas for The Cave Singers and to The Green Mill for Astral Project last month. I had an adventure chasing Sufjan Stevens tickets all over two states and one province and never did catch a one - though I was in Montreal at the same time as him AND the Dalai Lama.

What does The Wonderful World of Fall have in store for Nobo? We shall see. Stay tuned.

Magpies & Other Birds (Andrew Bird @ Civic Opera House 4.10 and Neko Case @ Chicago Theater 4.24)

2009-05-31T14:13:00.002-05:00

Once again I've fallen too far behind to write meaningful reviews. Maybe now that I'm on twitter, I can just post my genius thoughts DURING the shows for you all to read. Because there are so many of you, dear readers.

So - the birdman: It was such a treat to be in the radiance of the opera house, and to sit and be civilized. Bird played a lot of pieces from the new album, as well as several from the last two - and nicely surprise us with a few pieces from The Swimming Hour and beyond. I think playing for the hometown crowd, he knew he'd please some folks with that, especially on night two. He brought Nora O'Conner out for the older bits, and I whispered to my friend my prediction that we'd see her onstage with Neko Case in a couple of weeks.

And I was right. Two weeks later, we sat in the similarly opulent Chicago Theater - the opened, Crooked Fingers, was enjoyable, but didn't play any of the tunes that I'm familiar with. It was nice to see Miranda Brown for the second time in a month, since she was such a treat playing with AC Newman at Logan Square earlier this spring.

The stage set for Neko was spectacular - An owl wrapping its wings around the screen, on which were project film and animation throughout the show. We heard mostly from Middle Cyclone, so there were not the knock-you-on-your backside vocals from some of her past shows, but there was a quiet beauty to behold. Especially on Middle Cyclone itself. As always, the banter between Neko and Kelly Hogan could not be topped, and there was a tiny bit of Nora O'Conner as well. Hogan cranks a mean custom music box too.

The highlight for me was "Red Tide." I love all of the marine and nature references on Middle Cyclone, and hadn't really dug any deeper on any of the lyrics of the songs. Neko said that this one was about breaking up with a town - and either she or Kelly mentioned that Seattle was the "bitchy town in question" for this case. Then they launched into it - and it made me want to be in rainy Seattle, even though I've never been to the Pacific NW.

I will one day sleep with all of you - Mountain Goats AND John Vanderslice @ the Portage Theater - 1 April 2009

2009-04-09T23:59:00.004-05:00

Sometime, I would like to see both John Darnielle and John Vanderslice play with big giant bands including strings and keys. Their recordings keep getting more orchestral,and I want to see that onstage. But, I knew this "Gone Primitive" tour was to be solo acoustic, so I was prepared for bare boned Johns.

That said, I was very pleased with both sets at the Portage. Initially, this show was supposed to the at Epiphany, one of the Empty Bottle myriad venues, but then it was moved to the Portage. My new favorite venue. You can buy popcorn and wine. And you get to sit down.

Both of them worked great with the crowd. I got the feeling most people were not there to see JV though, but the theater seating lended to them generally behaving. He was great though. Even "Trance Manual," which I've always been sort of lukewarm about, moved me.

But John Darnielle - he needs the energy of the crowd, and by the end of the set, he had everyone on their feet and in the aisles. He spazzed out and barked into the darkness, sure to play a lot of favorites, including closing with No Children, sending us all home happy. (After telling us good night and promising that he would one day sleep with all of us. Nerd alert.)

Bloc Party @ the Aragon - 28 March 2009

2009-04-09T22:29:00.003-05:00

...and I hadn't been to the ARAGON since November 15th, 2004. How do I remember the date? I'm pretty sure that was it, because it is my sister's birthday, and it was my first day of work at Rotary. I went with Andrea and Mari to see the Pixies. And to this day, I regret not really being in the moment. I think I was still just too overwhelmed with being back in Chicago to really take in the beauty that is the Aragon.

So, I think when I agreed to go to Bloc Party with Nicki and company I may have thought it was at the Riv. So when I heard it had been moved to the Aragon, I was pretty psyched.

Due to a certain Pitt/Villanova game, we were waylaid at T's, arriving at the Aragon after Longwave finished. That's good, since I don't know who the f*&k they are anyway.

And bloc party was fine. I still think all their songs sound the same. But the Aragon is beautiful, and we had a perfect vantage point up in the balcony, stage right. When a couple of people hauled out the umbrellas in the encore, spinning them over their heads, I almost cried. And then... and then... when the show was over, they played "I've Had the Time of My life" and I flashed back to my 7th/8th grade dances, all was well with the world.

A.C. Newman @ Logan Square Auditorium - 25 March 2009

2009-04-09T22:11:00.002-05:00

I hadn't been to the LSA since a post-Thanksgiving Andrew Bird show in 2006. They've spruced up a bit. It even smelled like paint, and reminds me a bit of Turner Hall in Galena.

Hanging out at Dunlay's with my friends caused us to miss the Broken West, but that's okay. I've listened to them a bit, but nothing's every really stuck.

I was so happy with this show. I'd been looking forward to it for quite some time. I discovered Newman's first solo album a little over a year ago probably, and knew it was probably time for a new one soon. So when I hear about Get Guilty's impending release, and Neko Case's new album, I put two and two together and correctly predicted that they'd both be doing solo tours this spring.

When you have two albums of short-ish pop songs, it's pretty definite that you'll play almost all of your songs at a show, and they did. Since it was a solo tour, I was a little apprehensive, thinking they might be bare-bones, so I was pleasantly surprised by the huge band, including violin and and ultra-peppy guitarist. They delivered almost exactly what's on the albums.

The icing on the Carl Newman cake was the array of limited edition silkscreened posters for sale. They were only $10 each, but I held back... didn't buy the submarine one, or the gun, or any of the others leftover from the pevious stops on the tour. I just bought the Chicago bridge poster. And it's still rolled up on the dining room table, waiting for me to get my shit together and frame some stuff already.

Shiny Happy Swedes - Loney Dear w/ Anni Rossi @ Schubas - 1 March 2009

2009-04-09T21:17:00.002-05:00

I love Schubas. And I love going to shows with my friend Joe. But even both of those combined didn't really put me in the mood for this Sunday night. What can I say? This has been a rough winter.

Anyway, when this Anni Rossi got on stage, I thought, oh great, who is this Andrew Bird wannabe with a damn viola? But, she was actually pretty intriguing. It's been 6 weeks now, so I don't remember exactly why, but I'd go see her again.

And Loney, Dear.... well they were just fun. I love the awkwardness of Swedish pop, and I really enjoyed the banter in between songs. It was nice to see them play these songs on actual instruments, when the recordings sound a little more digital. I did not get to hear "I am John" which is the song that drew me to them in the first place, but I heard all my other favorites.

It was a short set, but, as Emil Svanängen himself said before the encore, "after all, it is Saturday, and tomorrow you have to go to your works." So, maybe he gets his days mixed up, but he's adorable, and I had a big smile on my face when I left.

Getting too old for this...Blitzen Trapper with Alela Diane @ the Empty Bottle - 19 Feb 2009

2009-04-09T19:43:00.002-05:00

Detours to Enoteca Roma and the California Clipper made us a little late for the opening act, Alela Diane. Reminiscent of Stevie Nicks and or young Emmylou, she was a nice little surprise when we did catch the last half of her set. On the other hand, the main thing I learned from that night is that I need to draw the line when it comes to bands I don't know well who are playing 10:00 shows on weeknights. I liked Blitzen Trapper based on two songs: The older Pink Padded Slippers and the newer Furr. However, the bulk of their southern frat rock was not my cup of tea. And they didn't play the former, anyway.

It was fun watching the frat-cult following, and the random dude in the bear hat really getting into the show, but it definitely sunk quickly to the bottom of my list of rock shows for the 2000's.

The evening's highlights included: California Clipper, Playboy Pinball machine at the Empty Bottle, and "Every Path" by Alela Diane.

Heartless Bastards @ Martyrs' - 31 Jan 2009

2009-02-07T10:18:00.003-06:00

I think that the song "All This Time" was an eMusic Daily Download once, and it was one of those songs that had me hooked from the first couple of lines. I couldn't stop listening to it. It reminded me of all the good parts of female classic/psychedelic rock vocalists - a little Janis, and little Nico, a little Grace Slick. Not really in line with most of what I've been listening to these days, but intoxicating nonetheless.

So, based on that song only, I automatically got excited when I heard they were playing down the street at Martyrs'. I like that place. It's smallish - I never feel too crowded, and.... there's a pinball machine! That's where you can find me if the opening band sucks. Especially if I'm there alone. But neither if the two were true last Saturday. I was there with a couple of friends, and the opener was one of those flannel clad bands of young men from Brooklyn, The Subjects.

It was pretty late when little Erika Wennerstrom and her band took the stage - and the crowd was pretty liquored up. It was an interesting crowd too - a little like I might find in one of my hometown Galena bars... varying ages all sort of drinking and grooving in their own way. Wennerstrom definitely drives the band. We couldn't see her guitar playing from where we were, but her voice is huge. They played a lot of songs from the last two albums, "Stairs and Elevators" and "All this Time" as well as some from the new album "The Mountain," which, recorded with a new band,took a little bit of a jam-band turn (in the cover art as well) which I'm not sure if I like as much.

So many "indie" female vocalists these days are sort of annoying me with their soft pretty little voices. So it was nice to hear someone really belt it out - and all the more amazing since Wennerstrom is such a petite woman. I do worry that her days might be numbered though - I see vocal polyps in her future. There wasn't enough banter - I would have liked a little more chatter, especially in such a small space. And they never played "All this Time." All in all - I don't know that I would go out of my way to see them again, but it was definitely a good show, good music, and a good place to be a little warm whiskey haze in this coldest of winters.

Nobo vs. the Dudes - The Hold Steady w/ Tom Morello @ HOB - 15 Jan 2009

2009-02-06T08:12:00.003-06:00

So, my first show of 2009, and I found myself one of about 100 women in the entire sold out House of Blues. Showing up fashionably late with a friend, I thought I might have missed a good chunk of The Nightwatchman's set. But, in true rock and roll style, it had started quite late, and by leading with our breasts we were able to push through the crowd of testosterone to secure a nice vantage point along the railing, stage right.

Not knowing much of Morello's music, I was a little lost, but it was still a great set, all of his self-comparisons to Barak Obama aside. He played acoustic and electric. He played guitar with his teeth. He covered AC/DC and he covered Woody Guthrie, and had everyone singing along to This Land is Your Land.

The Hold Steady. Now that was a wild ride. Akin to the mountain goats in the telling of tales of drug and alcohol soaked nights, their songs are never about people with whom I can really identify. On of the things that sets Craig Finn apart from, say, John Darnielle, is that somehow you believe that his characters might actually survive. There's a little more hope in his stories. That said though, a lot the Hold Steady's songs sound a lot like one another, and it's sometimes hard for me to tell one from the other. It was a top-notch live show though, and I enjoyed raising my fist and wailing along with their stadium-rock choruses as much as the next guy. And the next guy, and the next. And those few ladies, who were mostly leaning against dudes looking bored.

I have a theory about why The Hold Steady is a man's band. I think women tend to like men with beautiful voices. How many women do you see swooning over Tom Waits? Finn's vocals are very conversational - staying a short range with not a lot of variation in melody.

So, I'm back to blogging? Perhaps. Time to go to work now, but maybe this weekend, I can write chapter two of January, which ended with Heartless Bastards. I've got at least five more shows lined up in the next couple of months - so, the momentum should keep me going.

2 Aug 2008 - Lollapalooza (De Novo Dahl, The Postelles, Mason Jennings, Devotchka, Okkervil River)

2008-12-26T17:48:00.013-06:00

De Novo Dahl
A prefect start to a nice sunny day - this band greeted the morning in bright orange and yellow rompers, which stood out nicely against the walls of the band shell. I'd never heard of them before, save for one song that I'd downloaded from the Lollapalooza site, but they kept me occupied and glad I'd gotten up early and made it downtown.

The Postelles
Next up was another group of fresh young faces. The crowd wasn't too big - they had a solid performance, and they really seemed to be enjoying themselves. I kept listening to their catchy little pop songs for several weeks after the show.

Mason Jennings
I've seen Mason several times since I first "discovered" him 9 long years ago. It's been interesting seeing his style, lyrics, fan base and band members change. I enjoyed Robert Skoro as his bass player for a few years, but since then haven't noticed anyone of consequence in his band. That sort of hints to me that he might be a pain to work with, but what do I know? He has a woman playing bass now, and that's cool in my book.

Devotchka
This is a band that has come a long way since I first saw them as a random opening act when I was living in Denver back in 2000. They were fun, and I'm glad that a band with sousaphone, accordion and theremin can get invited to play such large venues. ah, the power of indie film, because I don't know that they'd have had so much exposure without Little Miss Sunshine and the like.

Okkervil River
And finally, I worked my way to the front for Okkervil River. I'd seen them once before, but being right against the rail was much more exciting than being in the balcony at the Riv. The whole band has such a great energy, and seemed to really be enjoying the day, (except for the lone female, sort of absently playing guitar off to the side.) I had fun playing with my new camera while they performed. "The President's Dead," and "For Real" were standouts, but "Westfall" blew my mind.

1 Aug 2008 - Lollapalooza (Yeasayer, Gogol Bordello, Mates of State, Cadence Weapon, The Cool Kids, Stephen Malkmus, and just a smidge of Radiohead)

2008-12-26T10:27:00.016-06:00

Here it is Boxing Day, and I'm attempting to update ye olde blog. I figure I'll start where I left off, and see how far I get.

When we last spoke, I had just returned from the mega-festival that that takes place in beautiful downtown Chicago: Lollapalooza. When I first bought my three-day pass, I thought for sure one of my friends would join me for at least part of it. But, alas, I was flying solo, left to navigate to sea of pot smoke and sunscreen on my own.

Even though I got down there pretty early on Friday, the time I'd planned to spend listening to Rogue Wave was spent waiting in line instead. When I finally got in and made my way to the stage where #2 on my list (Yeasayer) was playing, I was starting to feel pretty old and uncool compared to all of the teenage hipsters surrounding me.

I couldn't get very close for Yeasayer, and that was a bad moment. I wondered if I was going to spend the next three days craning my neck to see bands that I liked, but didn't love. I couldn't imagine that that many thousands of people were there to see Yeasayer, who I didn't think had garnered such a following yet. Eventually, I got into the flow of things - learned some of the tricks to getting closer to the stage - and became thankful that I was there alone, and could follow my own agenda.

I'll just provide a few words on each act I caught, and throw in a couple of pictures where appropriate. More for sake of my own documentation than for your enjoyement, but if you like it, awesome.

Yeasayer
I was too far away to really get anything special from their live performance. After listening to their album, I was expecting to see some more interesting instruments (steel drums perhaps?) Chris Keating was a bit of a diva - refusing to take off his jacket despite the 90s temps. It was just okay, from my vantage point.

Gogol Bordello
If I had moved to the front after Yeasayer, I probably would have been able to get a great spot for this set. They sounded great, and put on a good show visually, complete with dancing ladies. Eugene Hütz really connected with the audience, and helped to put me in the mood for the rest of the weekend of rock.

Mates of State
Major disappointment here. I'd been listening to them sporadically for the last couple of years, and thought it would be neat to see them live. But, really they didn't bring anything new to a live performance than a recording. The keyboard and drums were about as far away from each other as possible on the stage, and, with Kori's head always hanging down (see below photo) there didn't seem to be any connection between them.

Cadence Weapon
Finally, I got was just a couple rows back from the stage for this young Canadian's set. Despite being afriad that the bass was going to change the direction of my blood flow or make my eyeballs implode, I had a lot of fun. I took a few mediocre pictures, but I liked what happened to this one when I started playing around with it.

The Cool Kids
Now, despite living in Chicago, and hearing the name before, I'd never heard The Cool Kids, so their hometown energy was a nice treat. I didn't stay for the whole set though, because I'd had enough life-changes bass for one afternoon, and I wanted to catch Stephen Malkmus.

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks
I felt a little more in my element watching them - I recognized a few of the songs from Real Emotional Trash, had a relatively good view for showing up halfway through the set, and I was among my peers, so therefore didn't feel old and uncool. I liked that he had so many women playing real instruments in his band. After it was over, I listed a little to Radiohead as I left the park. I was probably more than a quarter mile from the stage, and I'd had enough for the day.

Lollapalooza - review coming soon.

2008-08-04T02:11:00.004-05:00

Well - I survived my first Lollapalooza, and it was okay. The highlight for me was getting to the front row on Saturday for Okkervil River. Other fun bits included Gogol Bordello, the Postelles, and Cadence Weapon. I'll try to give you a little bit more of a review somtime in the next couple of weeks, and I'll post some more photos.

Until then though, I posted a whole mess of photos on my facebook page. So, if you partake in the facebook, check them out there.

Boban Marković Blows (The Boban i Marko Marković Orkestar - Martyrs', 21 July)

2008-07-22T00:42:00.004-05:00

Imagine a mariachi band, oompah band, drum and bugle corp and punk band, rolled into one. Now cast a Danny Devito doppleganger with the voice of Mario Lanza and some serious horn skills, and you've got Boban Marković and his band of merry men.

Coming off a weekend of Chicagoland performances that included the likes of the Pitchfork Festival and the Evanston Ethnic Arts Festival, this troupe wrapped up their stand in our city with a raucous set at Martyr's on Lincoln Avenue. The sold-out show started (over an hour late...) with a couple of instant crowd pleasers, including a rendition of Hava Nagila before moving into even more crowd pleasers, that continued to please the crowed even more and more as the evening wore on. The played for a couple of hours, working the crowd into a soggy frenzy with each number. The finally ended just after 11 with the barreling "Kalashnikov," which had the entire audience, from 70-year-old Serbian men to world-music-savvy token hispters clapping and dancing along.

If you like loud brass and watching musicians who love their jobs, this band's for you, partiularly if you can catch them live. The Boban i Marko Marković Orkestar is a blast, and even though I don't know what the heck they're saying, everyone around me did know, and they were elated about it, so I was too.

Meanwhile, Back at the Manse.... (Shearwater with Frog Eyes and Evangelicals @ The Mansion - 24 June)

2008-07-17T21:21:00.005-05:00

After a nice bike ride down to my old stomping grounds in Logan Square, my friend Joe and I enjoyed a bite at El Cid (featuring a new upstairs tequila lounge and too-loud music on the patio - gone are the days of the plum tree dropping rotting fruit around the strolling guitarist, I suppose) before peddling down to "The Mansion." Located just north of Fullerton and Kedzie, this venue is a former "asylum" of the masonic organization, the Knights Templar. Hence, I think "the asylum" would have been a better name than "the mansion," but who am I?

We arrived two songs from the end of the the Evangelicals' set. They may have potential, but I can't really judge them on that brief performance.

Frog Eyes was just awful. I've listened to a few of their tracks, and though that maybe, like Animal Collective, they were something that would grow on me... but no such luck. I've tried, but apparently it's not my thing. I do not like Frog Eyes, Sam I Am. And after an insufferably long soundcheck that had the vocalist warbling and wailing into the microphone ad nauseum, I was almost regretting the trip down there.

I was glad when Shearwater came out. They have a strong sound, and that guy (I don't feel like looking up his his name right now) has an amazing voice. The first two songs - with banjo and a nice rhythm were good, but then I think more of their longer pieces suffered from the sketchy acoustics in the room. It's got these really high ceilings, and this tiny little stage, and I don't think too much though has gone of what this combination does to the sound yet. So, I felt a little cheated out of the Shearwater experience, and will wait patiently for their next engagement, and hope that it's at Schubas.

mismatched pair - Jennifer O'Connor and Jamie Lidell @ The Abbey Pub, 4 June 2008

2008-07-17T20:50:00.003-05:00

I had heard good things about Jamie Lidell. And I'd been wanting to see Jennifer O'Connor live for quite some time. However, the Abbey being a little out of the way, I often forget it's there. And when I read about this show, I kind of thought about going, but then changed my mind... until, my friend Shannon suggested going, and I marched right over to her cube and DEMANDED she buy the tickets right away.

It was a funny coupling. Jennifer O'Connor - a normal looking singer-songwriter, who can really rock out when she wants, and Jamie Lidell.... the British soul sensation, who has been riding easy on the Grey's Anatomy gravy train ever since one of his songs ("Multiply") was featured on a soundtrack.

There was no question that everyone was there to see the latter. Jennifer almost had the audience at the beginning. She and her band started with a couple of her sophisticated rock tunes, but then she made this fatal mistake of playing quiet slow songs from her forthcoming album. That might have succeeded if she were headlining at Schubas (which she did earlier this week, but I didn't go) but when you're opening for a character like Jim at a late late show, you've got to bring it a little more. Everyone was talking over her, and by the time she finished, I was pretty relieved.

Jamie on the other hand, had he crowd eating out of his goofy palm. He had a full band, which is apparently a treat for him, and I particularly liked the pants-less sax player, who could play two saxes at once. I had a stomach ache. I was exhausted from working long hours, and it was really warm in there... but I still had an awesome time, and I hope to catch him at Lollapalooza, though I don't know who he's up against there.

That's what it's all about.

2008-06-03T23:23:00.002-05:00

So, I paid my ten bucks, and I went to the Death Cab show in Millennium Park. I enjoyed it, being pretty familiar with a lot of the music, and having a a few songs that I definitely love.

I was in a bad mood most of the day though, and during the show I was very happy. After a terribly rainy day, the weather was beautiful - you couldn't tell there the fog stopped and the fake fog started. But then it was over, and I was back to my sour disposition, but I suppose that sort of happiness in sadness is what "emo" is all about, even though I still sort of refuse to recognize that word.

Whatever.

(probably my worst concert review ever, but being so far away and given the remote (yet beautiful) orientation of the Great Lawn to the actual stage, it's the best I can do. Maybe tomorrow's will be better.

Schubas x 2 (Teitur on 5/14, Laura Veirs and Liam Finn on 5/15)

2008-05-19T22:11:00.002-05:00

Someday I'll understand the science behind the phenomenon that causes all the bands I want to see to to book gigs in Chicago on back to back evenings. Until then, I'll just enjoy one marathon after another of live music at my favorite venues.

After the last 6 weeks have taken me to places like the Vic, Metro and Riviera, I am reminded of why Schubas is my favorite. The music room is perfectly small, and the sound is generally fantastic. After hearing good bands sound terrible in the larger classic venues, I can go to Schubas, where everyone sounds great. Well, maybe not everyone, but almost.

A few months ago, when I noted that Teitur was coming to town, I bought a pair of tickets right away. I'd been pretty much in love with his song "Louie Louie" for about a year. So, after I bought the tickets, I downloaded the rest of the album "Stay Under the Stars" from emusic. And I was a little embarrassed that I'd gotten so excited over him. At first, I kind of thought it sucked. With lyrics like:

"Umbrellas in the rain
Pop up in the windows
Because we’re not together"

And repetition of certain lyrics, seemingly just for repetition's sake, his songs struck me as awkward. It must be strange though, writing songs in a second language. And though he speaks English fluently, the poetry ends up a little askew.

In anycase, most of the album ended up growing on me.. And I downloaded the new single from his new album, and it was okay too...but I still wasn't looking forward to the show. But, apparently Teitur loves Schubas as much as I do, as the new song "Catherin the Waitress" was apparently written about a encounter at the very spot. So, that added an extra element of excitement, and it was an enjoyable little show.

His band was made up of young Nordic men and women grinning, blowing horns, playing xylophones and clapping hands. I think it was exactly what I needed to cure my grumpiness. Later, as my friend Dave and I sat at the bar, the band was drinking up the night's pay, and when Teitur leaned on the bar to order another round, I engaged him in a bit of conversation. Then he made me taste his bandmate's margarita, because he insisted that it tasted "like swimming pool."

The next night, I found myself back at the corner of Belmont and Southport for round two. This time it was Liam Finn and Laura Veirs. Laura was a known factor, and although I still enjoyed it, it wasn't one of her better performances. It was the second show of the night, and you could tell she was pretty tired. I did really like the spare treatment of "Shadow Blues" and for the first time, I listened deliberately to "Spelunking," which I now have a new fondness for. LV showed off her banjo skills on "The Cuckold Hen" and finished up with a couple oldies, ending with one of my favorites, "Blackeyed Susan."

The highlight of the evening though, was my first live taste of the wunderkind offspring of Crowded House frontman, Neil Finn - Liam Finn. I'd been listening to his album "I'll be Lightening" all spring, and was a little worried that he wouldn't do it justice live. But, boy was I wrong. This was rock and roll, and I want more. He played almost every song from the album, and the creative looping, switching intruments, and hopping all over the stage was unpredictable and exciting. And he's got this great versatile voice. It's definitely got some similarities to his pop's, but I think he strethes it a lot more. And, although it took me a while to warm up to her, his sidekick EJ was a nice compliment. He's a pretty young guy - so it will be interesting to see where he goes.

Ape-Rock-Recap

2008-05-01T21:44:00.005-05:00

Here is it May 1st, and I find my self at least 3 blog entries behind, 4 if you count the play I went to on Saturday. So, just to make myself feel complete, I'll give some abbreviated commentary on the last week and a half. And I'll try to be better about this stuff in May.

Colin Meloy @ Park West, 21 April
Once again, I enjoyed my relaxing spot in the balcony, but felt a little detached from the action and energy on the floor. Colin holds an audience on the end of a sting, and pulls them along. They'll do anything he says, even if his performance isn't that great. It was a nice show, but I did miss the band. Although he writes the songs, he didn't seem complete without the rest of them. Laura Gibson did a nice little opening set, and I did find the highlight to be Colin and Laura's special duet rendition of Sam Cooke's "Cupid."

Iron & Wine with Califone @ the Vic, 22 April
Wrapping a three night stand, I actually did find myself nodding off a bit during one of the more extended, trancy numbers... luckily, this was when Joe elbowed me to ask me if the drummer had three arms. Both bands were fascinating to watch, and to hear, remodeling songs that had become familiar on their albums into new creatures. But I liked it best when it was just the pair of vocalists - Sam Beam and the woman I believe to be his sister.

Half-handed Cloud @ think/dance collective @ the church that I can see from my doorstep - 24 April
Interestingly enough, Berry United Methodist Church, which sits on the corner of Leavitt and Giddings, is home to the Lincoln Square Arts Center, which presented this little-publicized, but enjoyable low-key event last Thursday. Half-handed Cloud, is John Ringhofer, a normal looking guy, with a squeaky cartoon singing voice, and an endless catalog of tiny little songs. His songs are quirky and fun, and although they're full of christian references, they're mostly of the type you would expect to find in a claymation bible story. The dance group was good too - I forget how much I enjoy that sort of thing. I also feel compelled to mention that I've joined the CSA that delivers to this church on Saturdays, so I suppose in some way or another, it's going to be part of my new life in Lincoln Square, but probably never on Sunday.

And, well, I did see a play on Saturday Night. "Speech and Debate" at the American Theater Company, was a refreshing look at what my life could be if I were in high school RIGHT NOW. Thank goodness we didn't have the internet when I was in high school. We didn't even have caller ID back then, so lonely nerd remained lonely nerds without their blogs and podcasts, but we had a better speech team that the kinds in this show.

It was a unique production - lots of elements of recorded sound and video, made it a little more multi-media than most plays, and a few songs, without it committing to being an actual musical were just right. I have to say though, I did find the very last scene almost too abruptly cliche, and although I had been enjoying it as a completely original story, I almost groaned out loud at Solomon's testing the waters in the gay chat room with the "is anyone out there?" Reminds me that I do need to go to more plays though, so I'm glad my roommate magically produced these tickets. I still owe him $20.

-Neko +Okkervil River = pretty good show (New Pornographers @ Riviera 4/20)

2008-04-20T23:31:00.003-05:00

This was my second date with A.C. Newman's rock machine, and it wasn't as hot as the first one. And, it actually had nothing to do with the absence of Neko Case (who broke her ankle and had to leave the tour last week.) I just think that after last October's show at the Metro, my hopes were a little too high.

I love watching this band. I love A.C. tight little stomp-and-pivot style of cranking out each song. I love Kathryn Calder's nonchalant posture at the keys. But I like being a little closer to them, and from the balcony at the Riv, they just looked, and most of all sounded a little too far away.

I think the Riviera suffers from some sound issues. This was my third time there, and I don't think I've ever been too impressed with the acoustics. And tonight, during both Okkervil and NPs, there were a lot of issues with feedback, and fuzzy muffled vocals.

I still enjoyed myself though, and it was nice to be more familiar with the new album, (Challengers), than I was at the show in the fall. "Adventures in Solitude" and Myriad Harbor (with Okkervil's Will Sheff filling in for Bejar) her highpoints of the show, as well as, I thought "Sing Me Spanish Techno," which I didn't care for much until recently. But that's funny how sometimes a song takes a year or more of play before it finds the right spot in your ear. They did fine without Neko - all they were missing really were her vocals, her tambourin-ing, and her glow - but that gave us all a chance to focus more on the rest of the band. Who knew the drummer had such a nice falsetto. Kathryn Calder was a little more centerstage this time too, and held her own on all the female vocal lines.

Another highpoint, was their performance of what has to be the perfect cover song for the New Pornographers. One thing this band has mastered are the Ooohs, aaahs, hey-aahs, doo-das, and the like, and during their encore, the busted out a flawless version of ELO's "Don't Bring me Down." I was pretty impressed.

Okkervil River itself was fine. I wish I'd had a chance to see them at Schubas last year... this place ws too big for me to enjoy them for the first time. It was good to hear a handful of familiar tunes off the new album, and I was quite satisfied that they closed with "Westfall," since that was the first of their songs I ever heard, and it remains my favorite.

So, my final word on NP, take two is that while I missed the energy and intimacy of the Metro show, this one was still enjoyable. And I'm still wanting more. I just read on NME that they'll be at Lollapalooza. So far, I haven't heard that rumor anywhere else yet, so I won't hold my breath. But that would make me a very happy gal.

How I Spent My Summer

2008-04-19T09:53:00.004-05:00

I know. I'ts not summer yet, but I just wanted to make my summer project official. This started as an idea of a an adventure to go on with another live music afficianado who was possible moving at the end of he summer. Now, he's not moving, so it's no longer time sensitive or linked to him. But, still plan to visit all of the music venues in Chicago that I never have. But, I am going to cheat, because I'm not necessarily including jazz or blues clubs. But, it could happen.

But no I realize, I think I've been to most of them. I'd better make a list. And this is all I came up with:

House of Blues
Congress Theater
Charter One Pavilion*
Reggie's Rock Club
Ronny's
Kinetic Playground
Old Town School (I've only need here for square dancing)
Hideout (I've only been here for live band karaoke)
Double Door
Cobra Lounge
The Wild Hare
Phyllis'

I may have forgotten one or two, so I'll add to them if necessary. BUT, that's like one a week for 3 months, so a totally realistic goal in my opinion.

*Although you'll see a few large venues on this list, I don't plan to extend this to suburban monstrosities, like the Allstate Arena.

Friends with Benefits (Scotland Yard Gospel Choir in residency at Schubas)

2008-04-18T22:52:00.002-05:00

Before April gets out of hand (and it's about to, and fast) I thought I'd better share my thoughts on my most recent trip to Schubas. Every monday this month, local band, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir is headlining their hand-crafted showcase of music, chatter, and various sundry features, with proceeds going to a handful of charities with local roots. I went to the first installment, and was treated to the cringe-inducing comedy of Jena Friedman, a too-long, but really funny story on Mayor Daley's speech oddities by WBEZ's Ben "too pretty for radio" Calhoun, and some music.

The opening band was Cabin, a band from Kentucy. They were okay. They played well, but I don't think they've found their own sound yet. SYGC's Elia Einhorn claimed that they were "Sufjan Stevens' new favorite band." I think he made that up.

SYCG itself was a lot of fun. A nerdy hybrid, showing influence of the Pogues, Belle & Sebastian and the like, they seem to have a lot of fun on stage. They're all pretty normal looking folks too. I had heard them at first on a Bloodshot Records sampler on eMusic, and so I was glad that they opened with that very song that had lured me there. "Aspidistra" is obviously one of their more polished tunes.

Their onstage banter is pretty good, and I particularly liked guitarist Mary Ralph's verbal catalog of tha nation's many varieties of generic Dr. Pepper.

A few of the songs are a little TOO referent to Belle & Sebastian in a sorty of gender-ambiguous, hopeless unrequited love sort of way, but pieces like "Aspidistra" and "Everything You Paid for" stand on their own, and I hope the band sticks together long enough to put out another album.

I'm going to plan to go back for their last offering on the 28th, if I'm not too exhausted after next week's music marathon. So, if you're reading this, you should join me. You can even by a nifty poster of a bunny humping a skunk for 5$. I did.

GOOD NIGHT.

F is my favorite letter as you know... (Kathleen Edwards w/ Luke Doucet and the White Falcon @ Metro 4/5)

2008-04-10T07:18:00.004-05:00

Night two of female country/rock singer-songwriter weekend was everything I'd hoped for. I hadn't seen Kathleen Edwards live since she played a free show at Schubas to support her first album in 2003. Since then I wore out her first two albums and was well on my way to doing the same with the third. Her repertoire is a good split of sad songs and f-you rock songs (and she dropped quite a few of those f-bombs at the metro Saturday night too.)

She plays the crowd well, her banter isn't completely flawless. She babbled about Wilco, the Cubs, and how much she likes Chicago. She was genuinely happy with the nearly full house and kept telling us. She rocked on older favorites like "Six O'Clock News," and "In State" as well as the new, fun tunes "The Cheapest Key" and, finally, after hearing drunken fans yelling "Marty McSorley!!!" 10 or 12 times, "I Make the Dough..."

And drunken fans there were a plenty. Groups of men in their 30s-50s seem to love this woman more than anyones else, and are not shy about it. She must have psycho-stalker fans at every show. Her husband is in the band, and after on particularly bold solo, she told one of her suitors in the front row "That's guitar for 'stay the fuck away from me.'"

As she says in "The Cheapest Key," she does have a softer side. And it's not just for love songs. Once she got the band to leave the show, and the crowd to stop yelling out random song titles (I swear I heard a "Free Bird" in there. Don't people know that's just not funny anymore?) she was able to play the quiet, "Alicia Ross" and "Scared at Night" from her new album "Asking for Flowers." The former is a haunting first-person re-visioning of the murder of a young Canadian in 2005, and the latter combines her own memories with her fathers' exploring family bonds and life and death - and her voice did this beautifully. I was very happy with this show.

Fellow Canadian Luke Doucet opened. I liked a couple of his songs, and though his Band, The White Falcon was really impressive. I also found myself thinking though, that some of his work falls into my category guitar rock for men. And he had his band of drunken hockey fan followers who had trailed him down from Minneapolis to prove it. But, the were fun to watch, and I would definitely go see them again.

Tift Merritt w/the everybodyfields @ Schubas, 4/4

2008-04-05T15:02:00.005-05:00

It was sort of a tradeoff, that a friend would go to Kathleen Edwards with me tonight, and I would go to Tift Merritt with him last night. Similar genre: young female songwriters oft-compared to Lucinda, Emmylou and the likes. Seemed like an even deal.

The everybodyfields were nice. I've been listening to them for a few weeks, and it's good, cry your eyes out, sobbing music. They seem to have that mastered, but I'd like to see what else they can do.

Now, the real thing:

So, although I'd been seeing and Tift Merritt banner ads some time, I'd also been ignoring them, and it wasn't until tickets were in hand for this show that I downloaded her latest album from eMusic.

If you've read any reviews of Another Country, you know they've been pretty lukewarm - identifying a couple good tracks, but mostly saying it was a disappointment follower to her previous work. Well, I'd never heard her other stuff, so I couldn't say that, but initially I didn't like much of it. It had a sound that was a little too perfectly produced. I didn't quite buy it. A few tracks grew on me pretty quickly though: mainly "Broken" and over all, "My Heart is Free." But, I still wasn't convinced, and wasn't sure how this big sound was going to fit in a little place like Schubas.

Well, not too worry, because Tift's tiny, with a comfortably awkward onstage banter, and so instead of being a diva, she kind of seemed more like your best friend putting on the most kick-ass karaoke performance in your favorite bar. She's fine on guitar, but stands out and seems at home when she's playing piano with all of the bounce and groove of Jo Ann Castle or Marcia Ball.

And maybe some of her songs are inspired by elders. Lots of comparisons have been made, but mostly to other female country vocalist. Going back to my favorite song from the album though, I hear Vietnam war-era rock influencing what is obviously a song about the battlefield. But where I'm hearing CCR and Jefferson Airplane, the song itself is about and previous-generation cousin of Merritt's dying in WWI France. An interesting parallel though, for a time when we are facing yet another overseas war.

So, while I went prepared for something nit quite my style, I really enjoyed myself, and would definitely catch her again sometime. Seriously though, watch out. Out of frustration at one point, she pitched a bum harmonica into the audience without quite enough warning. Luckily a very tall man to my right reached up and caught it with his freakishly long arms, or someone could have a nice little scalp lac.

Home Electronics Flashback

2008-03-30T12:53:00.002-05:00

Several times in recent years, when chatting with friends or colleagues about techonologies of the past, such as the VHS cassette, I have said something about what we just called "discs" when I was little.

Ineveitably, each time, someone has said, "Oh yeah, LaserDiscs..." and I have had to try to explain, no, not those. Just video discs. And for some reason, nobody I talk to about this seems to remember the things. In fact, some people seem to think it doesn't exist.

So anyway, I thought I'd consult my friend the Worldwide Web, for some proof. Here is a link to the Wiki article on CED discs, and a little demo on how it works. See, I wasn't making it up after all.

The Glass is Already Broken

2008-03-26T23:30:00.003-05:00

Tonight's post was meant to be a an advance review of the new documentary "Young at Heart" but since the screening was seriously oversold, and even showing up at 6:17 didn't get us into the 7:00 screening. Nonetheless, I had a nice night at the Duke of Perth with some nice people. As Rocky Dennis once said, "these things are good."

So, instead, I'll talk a little bit about the last few films I've seen.

No Country for Old Men
I never want to see it again. I don't care what happened to the money. But I loved it.

EU FILM FESTIVAL, PART I
Now that I'm finally officially a memeber of the Siskel Center, I hope to go more often that my usal 3-4 times per year. So, I hope to get down there at least one more time before what is officially may favorite film festival closes for the year next week. But, just in case I don't, here are my reviews of the two films I did catch last week.

It's a Free World
For some reason, I've always been a fan of the gritty social realism of Ken Loach, Mike Leigh, and a handful of other British directors. Ken Loach in particular. Although his last feature The Wind that Shakes the Barley was a bit of a departure, it only bolstered my appreciation of his work, so I was more than excited to see his newest film.

I was a little disappointed. Why? I can pinpoint a few reasons, none of which are legitimate. I wasn't buying the female protaganist... I think he works better with the male lead... AND, although his stories often center around innately good people doing questionable things for honorable reasons, Kierston Wareing's Angie was pretty void of redeeming qualities.

I also don't think that the improv Loach has his actors do was as successful in this film has it has been in the past, coming across more as just unscripted floundering in a few parts.

What is this movie even about? Well, Angie is canned from a company that's recruiting and exploiting Eastern European workers, and starts her own company to do the same thing. But, the blatant disregard for humanity she and her associate show baffles me.

Anyway, enough on that one, except to say that I really think my favorite character was the bumbling pub owner. Or maybe the son.

Saturno Contro
Really, I just saw this, because I figured, while I was downtown, I might as well make a night of it, but I ended up loving it. With the English title of "Saturn in Opposition," accomplished Turkish-Italian director Ferzan Ozpetek's story of a close-knit group of friends dealing with their own issues with the backdrop of the sudden illness and death of one of the friends was refreshing and mournful.

A cast of well known Italian and Turkish actors create some memorable characters, and just when I thought it was going to end, we got another good 30 minutes of learning more about them. I wasn't even quite ready to say goodbye when it was over.

It was beautiful, and I recommend seeing it on the big screen if you can. It will be good on DVD, but not as special.

My sweded review of Be Kind Rewind - it's only 33 words long.

2008-03-11T22:50:00.002-05:00

In the interest of getting it done, I present a short form review of my most anticipated film of 2008. I'm just too tired to write more.

Gondry's imagination never fails to captivate me. Who would think of magnetic urine? Jack Black was still pretty much Jack Black, but Mos Def's character was fresh - no one we've ever seen before.

Winter DVD Roundup - or, A Fistful of Netflix

2008-02-26T21:20:00.007-06:00

So, I haven't been watching quite as many films as I was at this time last year, but I still have quite a few that I've watched in recent months and not bothered to talk about. So here are some brief thoughts on some of them.

Margot at the Wedding
10 x the cringe and 1/2 the humor of Baumbach's last film. Interesting characters, great acting, and beautiful, but sometimes I wonder if every story really must be told.

In the Valley of Elah
Good performance by Jones, not as predictable as I expected. I thought the ending pushed it a little bit, but this was Paul Haggis, after all.

Reign Over Me
Don Cheadle plays a dentist looking for a life outside his wife, kids, and job. He's on the edge of finding it in the mouth of lonely patient, but instead takes on Adam Sandler's Charlie, a 9/11 widower who proves to be more than he can handle. Good story, small surprises here and there.

Introducing the Dwights
Yet again, another movie with Brenda Blethyn as a domineering mother. But she does it so well. This film from Australia was cute at the same time that is was tough, but I didn't really buy the girlfriend's character - a little too clingy and neurotic for him really to fall that much in love with her.

When Will I Be Loved?
Most of my peers on Netflix pretty much trashed this picture, but Roger Ebert gave it a glowing review, which is why I rented it. Ebert likened it to jazz, with Neve Campbell as the soloist. Well, I think he's right. But consider the fact a lot of people don't like jazz. Generally, I think jazz is usually okay.

Respiro
Last month you may have read my review of Emanuele Crialese's more recent film, Golden Door. While this didn't reach the same level of magic, I am still left with some vivid images, and I want to visit Lampedusa. Interesting note on oral fixations: Both films open with boys holding foreign objects (e.g. rocks or birds) in their mouths.

Cautiva
A believable, well told story from Argentina. A teenager struggles with identity after learning that the people who raised her are not her birth family and in fact may have had a hand in her parents' deaths.

Clean
Somewhat disappointing story of a woman's struggle to kick the needle when her rock-star husband ODs and her in-laws get custody of her son. I think I liked all of the characters except the protagonist. And I didn't think her music was so great.

Rocket Science
Funny, awkward. You think you know where it's going, but you don't.

The Feast of Love
Hmm... I remember really liking the book, but the movie just didn't do it for me. It was full of stereotypes of love, both good and bad. Portland was pretty, and Morgan Freeman was soothing and wise as usual as the narrator, but the rest of the characters were shallow and undeveloped - a result of poor adaptation, I think.

Something the Lord Made
Over the past year, I have developed growing fondnesses for both Mos Def and Alan Rickman. That enough might make me watch this again and again. I do always like the hidden historical dramas, and this one is pretty cool, because we realize that this wa s pretty recent history, so we're able to reflect on issues of race, ethics, and science and how things have changed in 50-60 years.

The Motel
As if being a fat adolescent isn't hard enough. This kid doesn't have a dad and lives in a hot-sheets motel. Pretty neat little indie flick.

Princesas
How does a middle-class woman become a prostitute? And then what does she do when she falls in love? Sad story with some happy moments, and a lot of good music from Manu Chao and others.

Beyond the Gates
Another Rwanda story, but this one from the point of view of a young, idealistic British teacher. No matter who is telling the story, I always cry my eyes out.

Un Air De Familie
I was hoping for the bright, quirky joy that I've seen in Cédric Klapisch's more recent films, but this one was a bit of downer most of the way through. I did really like Agnès Jaoui as Betty though, and it made me want to drink whatever she kept ordering.

Hawaii, Oslo
Truly unique story taking place over a brief summer night, day, and night again in Oslo.

Rescue Dawn
I liked seeing Steve Zahn in a serious role. I'm not sure he was any good at it though. Christian Bale was good - almost the grown-up super-version of the survivor he played in Empire of the Sun.

Hard Eight
Here's a ranked listing of PT Anderson Films from my favorite to my least favorite.
1)Magnolia 2)There Will be Blood 3)Boogie Nights/Hard Eight (tie) 4)Punch-drunk Love

This Is England
One of the best movies I've seen in the past year. This kid was good.

The Girl from Paris
Have I mentioned I want to live on a farm? Make that a farm in France.

normal lives on the big screen

2008-02-22T07:24:00.003-06:00

So, thanks to a friend who knows my appreciation for the cinema, (thanks Alyna!) especially the free variety, I scored some free tickets to see pretty much any movie I wanted from Fandango. So I picked one that I'd been wanting to see for months, but hadn't yet pursued.

The Savages was a genuine story of two people caring for and dealing with their dying father, even though they've got their own shit going on. Hoffman's Jon and Linney's Wendy are both sort of stuck. Jon's stuck in his comfortable college-professor/writer career, which is so much his focus that he lets the love of his life leave the country with hardly a blink. Wendy temps, steals office supplies, writes plays, sleeps with a normal-looking married man with a dog, and tells a few not-so-little lies to make her life sound more exciting.

Their estranged father's common law wife passes away, and her family leaves him high and dry in Sun City, AZ. So Jon and Wendy bring him back to Buffalo to a nursing home, and with for him to die.

If this were a predictable film, they would get to know their father more, become better siblings to each other, and become fast friends with all of the nursing home's staff and residents. But it's not, and it's full of little unexpected bits, that are completely genuine and believable.

Visually, it was believable too. From the surreality of the Arizona desert, to the messy reality of a Buffalo winter, to the messy clutter of apartments, houses and nursing homes, I felt like I was watching people and places I knew.

The Savages shows that even when you are not close to someone, it's still a hard decision to surrender to the fact that you can't care for them, and that a nursing home is a necessity. There's still guilt and resistance and a million other feelings. And experiencing these is ultimately what Jon and Wendy need to nudge them out of their ruts and get on with things.

soak them in ice water for 10 minutes a day

2008-02-14T20:38:00.002-06:00

We all know I average about a two-week delay on my movie reviews lately.

So, a couple weeks ago, I saw Persepolis. I had been eagerly anticipating its release for months since I read the books last fall. I was a huge fan of Marjane Satrapi's graphic novels, and I was excited about the story. But I was a little dubious that her simple drawings could translate into a feature-length film.

I was wrong. Her collaboration with the animators was brilliant, and added depth and character to the images. Speaking of character though, I did feel the film fell a little short in developing the characters from the books. But, that might just speak to my imagination as I read them.

I know that people have to make choices when adapting books to screenplays, and I wonder how they decide. Because one part that stood out as conspicuously missing from the film, was the friendship with the roommate in Vienna.

Anyway, it was a great story, a memoir of a different sort about family, identity, and home. I'm glad to see such a non-traditional film (cartoon for adults that is not from Japan) in so many theaters. And it's not as out there as The Triplets of Belleville.

Uma? Oprah? Whatever. (Enjoy my celebrity lookalikes)

2008-02-10T14:03:00.000-06:00

Lost in Translation

2008-01-28T23:08:00.000-06:00

With a beautiful title like Nuovomondo I think Miramax would have made out better if they'd stuck with the original Italian for Emanuele Crialese's story of a family's journey from Sicily to the U.S. Golden Door was a beautiful film, and deserved a nice round word like "Nuovomondo" to match its sensuality.

From the opening scene where I could almost feel the chalky rock in my moth as father and son climbed a mountain looking for an answer, the movie was filled with vivid pictures so rich I would almost feel them. Whether they were real, like the giant fish being hawked when the family arrived in the port city, or imagined, like the mammoth phallic carrot or the coins falling from the tree. Certain shots stand out too, like the pull out from the barren rocky terrain they call home at the beginning, to the awesome separation of the masses on the ships deck from the masses on shore as the ship departs.

As you know, I'm a big fan of the waif known as Charlotte Gainsbourg. She was an interesting pale contrast to the Italians on the boat, and I'm not completely sure I understand her character, but it was interesting.

One of the most unique features was pairing what I take to be Sicilian peasant music with a couple stellar Nina Simone tunes ("Sinnerman" and "Feelin' Good." The timing was really effective - which doesn't always happen when music from one time is injected into stories from another.

It's hard to imagine a life so hard that you would leave it for dreams of a land where rivers of milk flow for those who work hard. And we think we've heard every type of immigrant story, but this one is different in that it focuses not on the struggle to survive in the new world, but on the decision to leave and the journey itself. If you get a chance to rent this, I hope you like it, but it might be one of those bizarre tales that not everyone will find as beautiful as I do.

Do I need to report this to HR?

2008-01-28T22:14:00.000-06:00

No trip to L.A. is complete without a celebrity sighting, right? Well, although the plane ride back with several members of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy would have fulfilled the requirement, we had already made the grade in Santa Monica last Monday. My friend Joe and I were blindly wandering the promenade half listening to people trying their luck at reality TV's latest regurgitation, "The Moment of Truth," while we waited for Erin and Jill to finish up at Banana Republic.

Suddenly, Joe was talking to a stranger, and asking him to pose for a picture, which I of course was asked to execute. Here you see the result, and if you watch the Office, you should recognize the actor to the right. I didn't, because I've only seen the show a couple times. I won't say his name here in case that violates some copyright law - I didn't get him to sign a photo release after all - but enjoy it, if you enjoy him. He's the one on the right, by the way. The other one is Joe.

And there was...

2008-01-28T22:05:00.000-06:00

So I'm running a few weeks behind on my movie reviews. I caught an early Sunday matinee of P.T. Anderson's latest film, There Will Be Blood earlier this month. Although I often shy away from "historical epics" I am nonetheless always in pursuit of Paul Thomas Anderson, and Daniel Day Lewis. Neither of them disappointed with this film. Lewis was outstanding, even if he looked like Tom Selleck at times. Really one of the finest acting jobs I've seen in years. And there were some breathtaking shots, and the opening scenes, with their almost absent dialogue really drew me in.

I'll stop short of saying I loved it though, and it's because like Mr. A's other films (Magnolia being the exception) there was a point about 3/5 in, where I started to wonder if it was going to be too long... started to wonder if the movie was starting to take a turn for the bad and boring. This happened in Hard 8 and in Boogie Nights, and so I suppose I recognized the Anderson Fatigue for what it was, and accepted it. In the end, I found myself laughing at the absurdity of the story, and wondering how I got there, but all in all, it was a darn good flick.

I'm pretty behind on seeing movies too, and I know I have a lot of catching up to do. My goals this weekend are to see do my taxes, write my belated xmas thank-yous, and see Persepolis. Small goals, I know, and acheivable, but I have a way of letting the time slip by these days. Check with me on Monday.

Happy New Year

2008-01-11T18:01:00.000-06:00

Who the hell is Frank Langella? And how did they know he would be a perfect Leonard Schiller? Well - he's one of those actors who has played countless minor roles, and seems completely familiar because of it. But very few of us could tell you where we've seen him.

Starting Out in The Evening stars Mr. L. as a forgotten novelist who may or may not ever finish his next book. Lauren Ambrose plays Heather, a brilliant yet somewhat clueless literary criticism student, pursuing a teenage obsession with Schiller all the way to a thesis. She's smart and sexy, but is always going to be a little out of sync with the rest of the world. Her awkward persistence finally charms the old man, just in time for her to finish her project and slip out of his life. But that's okay, he knows he doesn't want it anyway when she orders beer when he obviously wanted to share a fine wine with her.

Playing along is Lili Taylor, charming as always, as the novelist's always-present daughter. There's history there and it's mentioned here and there. But mainly Ariel remains a genuinely believable contemporary woman, and we her and her partner Casey (Adrian Lester) continuing to grow up and learn from the father, even at 40.

Nice little movie - a look at people who may very well exist in real life, but who you won't probably ever meet because they're too shy. Pretty suitable for a quiet snowy New Year's Eve.

You're such a good friend, I have to break your heart. (Late review of Juno)

2007-12-11T18:59:00.000-06:00

You have to face it people. I'm hip and cool and always have tickets to the hottest shows in town or the advance screenings of the newest movies.

Really, this is just my hopeless insecurity and desire to be liked that sends me on my endless quest for things like passes to Juno weeks before its Chicago opening.(I saw this on December 4th, people.)

Since Jason Reitman's last feature, Thank You for Smoking, was such a breath of fresh (cough, cough) air, I was genuinely looking forward to this movie when I scored the passes online back in early November, but there had also been enough annoying bits in the previews, that I had some reservations. I don't generally care for Jennifer Garner, and Ellen Page is a little too perky. The quirky soundtrack sounded a little too contrived.

In the end, everything worked anyway, and I found myself laughing more than I have at anything in the theater in a good long time. I also found myself smiling a lot. But, I was also annoyed by Juno's confidence and pretentiousness. But then I remembered, she's 16. At 16, weren't we all a little bit like that? We covered up our insecurities with music or fashion that we thought marked us as different and cool? (Like chewing on a pipe, or listening to a lot ofSo I don't blame her for being annoying, I blame her age.

Each character had some admirable qualities - hmmm... except maybe Jennifer Garner's character. I can't even remember her name right now. I thought she was pretty irritating, and I won't spoil it for you, but the way it ends for her makes a lot of sense. I think that's the only way it could end for her.

I waited too long to write this, and I haven't been able to organize my thoughts very well lately anyway, so I think I'll sum it up with this. It's got some good animation, narration, and scoring. Some enjoyable characters. It's not extremely predictable - there are some elements of surprise. It's damn funny, and you know what? I think I'd see it again. I might actually see it again in the theater. This is rare for me to leave a movie feeling that good.

Some of that might have had to do with the friends I was with, the beautiful snowstorm that found when we left the theater, or the fact that I was on a mental high from a really good conversation I'd had that afternoon, but that good feeling lasted for three or four days, and I would like to think that the Juno had something to do with it.

Sidenote: In doing a little research, I learn that Jason Reitman is A) younger than I and B) the son of Ivan Reitman, who brought Meatballs and Ghostbusters. Meatballs is, FYI, one of my all-time favorites - so apparently this genius runs in the Reitman blood. But then we will need to expect Jason to make some turkeys, too, because his dad sure did.

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas

2007-11-23T17:41:00.000-06:00

Check out my friend's blog Big Rock Candy Mountain - he's started his annual tribute to all things bizarro in the world of holiday music.

i am gonna make it through this year if it kills me (Mountain Goats/Bowerbirds, Empty Bottle 11/15)

2007-11-19T22:07:00.000-06:00

From their own bio on their own Web site:

Many of the songs involve desperate characters who've found themselves in some trouble and want to moan about it a little before taking their lumps. The sexual tension between characters in your average Mountain Goats song could split the atom if the power could be harnessed, but it can't, so forget it.

So I'm sitting here trying to think of why I like this band so much. They make me uneasy. They make me itch. They make me want to throw up because I'm so scared for all these people who seem to be living so close to the edge of losing their minds, and then I wonder how close I myself am to that, or how far. Then they make me jump and sing along.

My first exposure was last summer or fall via one of those random samplers that emusic throws up (no pun intended) on their site for free download. This one was from Pitchfork, and included some crap, but a lot of good stuff that influenced my listening well throughout the next year. The song on the sampler "Woke Up New" was at first catchy and entertaining, and then I got tired of it, and knowing nothing about this band, wrote them off as nothing more than another group of geeky boys singing their frustrations to simple chords. (Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just troubled by the fact that I can't seem to get enough of that lately, but that I no longer tolerate the same from women.)

Over the next couple of months, I downloaded a few tunes here and there from some mp3 blogs... and at some point, I ended up with "Moon Over Goldsboro" and I think I was hooked. It haunted and still haunts me, for some reason conjuring up images of the times I returned to my hometown to heal after some failure or heartbreak.

There is a lot of small-town imagery in their songs, and perhaps that's part of the appeal for me. I haven't yet begun to scratch the surface of their career yet, but of the handful of albums I've aquired, I keep going back to The Sunset Tree. Maybe I just like John Vanderslice's production, (really looking forward to their next album for this reason) but I think that maybe it's becasue of how all the songs fit together as an album.

Anyway, about the show.

The Bowerbirds did their best, and played some of their fine tunes to an audience that was half listening, and half drunk and obnoxious. I think we will see more of them, and I look forward to what they do next.

As for the Mountain Goats, I was glad that I knew many of the songs they played. Having never been to one of their shows, I wasn't sure what to expect, especially considering that I don't know much of their music, overall. I don't think they played long enough, probably less than an hour, including encores, but since most of their songs are so short, they still fit in a lot of them, including a rocking, sing along, "This Year."

There is such thing as too much of a good thing though, so I suppose I should be glad they stopped when they did. I just found myself wishing I'd paid a little more attention, because to use another cliche, you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. I was drinking beer, watching people, singing along and cheering, and while I wasn't looking, it was over and I was thinking, but wait, I'm having too much fun. I look forward to the next time they come to town, and I want to be more attentive next time. I hope I don't O.D. on them before that happens, but I don't know if there's a danger of that.

Even I'm too young to REALLY remember Joy Division

2007-11-19T21:22:00.000-06:00

The Ian Curtis biopic CONTROL, brought to us by Anton Corbijn, who is best known for his rock photography and music videos, seemed to be a series of photos and music videos more than the story that I wanted. Although the acting was a good as they critics are saying it was, the blatant foreshadowing was a little too much, and I don't know that we got to care enough about the characters. Sam Riley's performance though, was physically convincing, and made me feel sad about how much we expect from our touring musicians. The fact that all of this took place when this kid was, well, a kid makes me skeptical. Where was the back story? What happened in his past that made him so depressed. Why don't we see more of his family? Maybe it's all a big mystery, and was even to his wife, from whose book this story came. I suggest waiting for the video. But I could be wrong.

Man Push Cart - DVD review

2007-11-06T22:46:00.001-06:00

There are certain things about urban life that vary from city to city - and one of them is street food. In chicago, we don't really have it in the downtown area, but are starting to see more of it in the neighborhoods (frutas, elotes, mayonesa, etc.) In Paris you'll see the crepes and the chestnuts. And in New York, you can get just about anything. In fact, there is even an annual competition (read about the dosa man who won this year here) for the best of the food vendors.

What you see most often though, are the shiny coffee carts, where you can get among other things, bagels, doughnuts, tea, and of course, coffee in NYC's blue & white greek-font cups. The best parts of Ramin Bahrani's tale of a formerly famous Pakistani pop star struggling to make ends meet in a coffee cart were the quiet moments.

The dialogue and acting at many points was strained and awkward, but the long, silent shots of Ahmad pulling his cart down the street at 3:00 a.m., lighting the gas burners, stacking the bagels - these were beautiful, and worth seeing.

There are many things left out of the story - why he's there, how his wife died, whatever happens with the girl, etc. so don't go into this looking for resolution. But, do enjoy the rare look at one of the people we see every day but don't know the first thing about. 3.5 stars.

imelda de la cruz @ uncommon ground 11/2

2007-11-04T11:04:00.000-06:00

I am always happy to go to Uncommon Ground. Especially in cool weather, when it's cozy and you can fully enjoy the soft lighting, music, and rich (and often local and/or organic) food and drink.

I had promised myself that I would keep to myself all weekend, and I have, except for that moment on Friday when I succumbed to the peer pressure of the Wesleyanites. Friend of a friend of a friend, Imelda de la Cruz was playing there, and since a) I was hungry, b) I always like being with Mary and/or Guy (and/or their friends) and c) that three-cheese pizza is amazing I decided to go.

I'm abstaining from alcohol for a couple weeks (just for fun?) and so I couldn't enjoy a glass of wine, but it was still a nice dinner, and I was able to walk away with more money in my pocket than I would have otherwise.

The first act of the evening was as wispy little thing from Minneapolis named Jenny Dalton. Heavily influenced by Tori Amos, her original songs didn't do much for me, but were a nice background for dinner - and I did enjoy her one cover tune, which was Neko Case's "Hold On, Hold On."

The room filled up quite a bit for Imelda (and here's a link to her Web site before I forget) and so the energy alone was enough to put me in a mood more receptive to new music.

During my book club meeting on Thursday, the conversation dissolved at one point into a discussion of the Thundercats. And so, Imelda's little opener invoking Snarf, Voltron, the Gummy Bears and many other staples of weekday afternoon cartoons from the 80's was a little uncanny.

I'm not sure if I'll follow up and become a true Imelda fan, but there were moments when I truly enjoyed her, and I would definitely go see her again, expecially at Uncommon Ground. I liked her Tuck and Patti style guitar with the soft jazzy vocals on things like "Too Late," and I liked the rumbling piano and Imelda's strong low register on "Champion" but I didn't care as much for the diva moments at the end of that song.

I like her goofy, awkwardly hammy stage presence, and strangely, one of the pieces I enjoyed most was one that she apparently wrote when she was quite young - I think she mentioned playing it at her first gig in a friend's basement in Staten Island in 1995. I can't remember what it was called, but I think was struck me about it was they lyrics and wondering if she could write something like that we she was that young, then she's probably capable of even better things now - and according to the article in Friday's Trib, she has only been back in the saddle for a couple years, so we'll see.

Thanks Alexis for the tip, and thanks to the Kern-Suesuntisooks for dragging me out.

Decemberists Cancel Remainder of Tour

2007-11-02T19:25:00.000-05:00

So, apparently we were the lucky few in Chicago, and those of you who didn't make it to the Vic earlier this week will never know what you missed.

The Decemberists were scheduled to continue their monumental "long and short of it" tour in New York last night and tonight, but have cancelled the rest of the dates. Here's a link to their own Web page, so you can read the official story, but it's due to one band member's illness.

While I'm on the subject though, I hope they get to reschedule, because they had some pretty amazing theatrical backdrops. I particularly liked the one for the long of it.

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)

2007-10-29T23:23:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-24T21:24:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-24T21:08:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-22T23:25:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-10-16T19:11:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-09T21:26:00.001-05:00

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?

2007-10-07T22:46:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-07T17:43:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-10-06T12:53:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-06T11:28:00.000-05:00

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)

2007-10-06T10:36:00.000-05:00

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)

2007-10-02T21:46:00.000-05:00

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.

when you do not know you know when you know you do not know (Mason Jennings, Lakeshore Theater, 9/28/2007)

2007-09-29T13:51:00.000-05:00

I remember the first time I heard Mason Jennings. When I lived in Grand Forks, we'd go see whoever came to town, because the chances were few and far between. Mason had me though, from the first time I heard "Confidant." The dipping of his voice, never quite landing where you think it will, was unique and endearing.

After a number of years though, I've seen him a number of times. He often plays the same songs, and plays them well, despite the rotating cast of musicians in his band (I still miss Robert Skoro on bass, but that's ancient history.) So, I was expecting the same type of show last night. But, this time it was different.

No band. Just Mason, his guitar, and on two songs, a reedy upright piano he found backstage. His angry "Crown" stands out as a highlight, but I lost my little scrap of paper with my notes (I know, I know, C. - you warned me, right?) so I don't really remember what else I wanted to write about. But, from the funny songs (Your New Man) to deep questioning (Jesus Are Your Real) to the swinging hammer of "Empire Builder" and the haunt of "Adrian" it was a nice departure from the live shows where it seems like half the audience is just a bunch of drunk Minnesotans hanging around waiting to hear "Better than That."

(Not that there's anything WRONG with that. At all. I like drinking, I like Minnesotans, and that's a really good song. It was just nice that he didn't play it for a change.)

go back to wrigleyville, fat kat

2007-09-26T22:05:00.000-05:00

So - tonight, an impromptu trip to the newest mark of uptown's thus-far gradual, yet probably soon to be runaway, gentrification: Fat Kat.

Somewhere between a bar and a restaurant, this place is apparently hoping to survive on the fact that they're the only new, straight, bar ad grill in the area, and that they have a prime location on the corner of Broadway and Gunnison. Non-descript decor, boring music so loud I couldn't hear my friend across the table ,much less the server, flaky staff... should I go on? Decent beer list, but nothing special. Drink menu looks good, but I don't want to drink a fancy cocktail in that atmosphere. There was also too much open floor space and a LOT of those flat screen tvs that seem to be plaguing the city. So, I suppose they're waiting for the cubs to make the playoffs so that all of the overflow from Crew can stand at Fat Kat to watch the games.

Like my friend Julie said to me on the phone, we all WANT to like this place, but it's just not special enough. It looks like every new place that has opened in Wrigleyville in the last 5 years. The food was good for bar food, but they're trying a little too hard with the presentation. It's fried bar food, even if you put it on little sticks.

my first cheese

2007-09-25T20:58:00.000-05:00

It was goat's milk queso blanco, and it was about the size of my fist. It was clean and white. I made it Saturday afternoon, and I've been nibbling on it, each time thinking I was eating some magical food that I conjured out of thin air. It wasn't particularly delicious, but it was good enough, and it had a perfect texture. I finished it tonight in a tomato salad. Since this was the first try, I went for one that didn't need any cultures. Just milk and vinegar. The hardest part was heating th milk to 188 degrees.

Note to self to take photos of things like this.

even heroin addicts are hotter when they've got accents

2007-09-24T21:08:00.000-05:00

I saw the movie Pure on DVD over the weekend. I cried a lot. I'm not sure if it was really that good, or if I'm just a sucker for little British kids taking on adult responsibilities. He locks his mother in her room so she can detox, and and he is able to stand his ground and not let her out, even when things get really bad, just to be lured away by the pretty girl who lets him feel her tits. I really wish there were even more scenes with the Scottish narcotics detective though. I love listening to him talk. I think I need some Scottish friends. Maybe I should hang out at the Duke of Perth more often. I don't mind eating all those peas.

Iron & Wine, Arthur & Yu - Metro, 9/23

2007-09-24T20:29:00.000-05:00

I was disappointed to find that the opening band was not made up of a talking aardvark and that girl from my summer camp, Jennifer Yu. They were good enough. i was ready for them to be done though. A little bit Mamas/Papas, a little Neil Young influence, no a lot. But,the gal, she just isn't a good fit, except on the one song "come to view." She sounds like she belongs in that one, but the rest of the time seemed like a pretty accessory.

As for the main course, I was pleased. I'm not a huge Iron & Wine fan. I have the EP with Calexico, and love that stuff. And I've listened to a handful of random bits here and there. Let it be known though, that this is probably the closest to a jam band I'll ever go.

For the first night of the tour, I thought they played pretty well together - especially since there were eight of them. There were a few things to iron out soundwise - but if you catch them later in the tour, I think it will be a pretty good experience.

We stood front and center in the balcony - a great vantage point, and at one point, I spaced out during one of the songs and was getting sad about something, and then found myself laughing, because I was looking down on this field of cellphone fireflies, blinking as people sent text and photos.

I know, I'm supposed to write about the music. Well - although the first single from the new album (out tomorrow, I believe) is relatively cheerful, a lot of Sam Beam's music chugs and races along in this slightly dark way - like the score of a film where the protaganist is making a mistake, like the person driving on their way to cheat on a spouse, or where someone is covering up an accidental death.

Are you still with me? All in all, I liked it. It was fun to watch the band - sometimes I couldn't figure out what sound was coming from where. I don't know my music terms, but I really like Beam's plunky picking on his guitar - but he would just confuse me even more when he would turn his back. Percussionist #2, I don't know his name, so I'll call him Animal, was pretty fun to watch. I swear he was like the guy on the Harlem Globetrotters cartoon who was always pulling shit out of his afro. I don't know where the guy was keeping all of those little bells and whistles (and blocks, bowls, chimes, rattles, and an one point, a lap-sized steel drum.)

I had no expectations, and I was very pleased. I was not, unlike one guy in the balcony with us, there JUST to hear "The Trapeze Swinger." About 2/3's through the show, his yelling for that song became a little excessive, and then at the end, he was in serious mourning, threatening a tantrum - I was really worried that he was going to throw himself off the balcony.

I was looking forward to a late dinner at Uncommon Ground after the show, but their kitchen was closed, and we ended up at the Raw Bar and Grill. Good wine, bad frog
legs, and really, really weird service.

I'm not doing very well with this succinct thing.

I still don't know how to play euchre, but I finally saw ANCHORMAN

2007-09-22T22:30:00.000-05:00

One of those movies that everyone is always quoting, but I never got around to seeing. I was waiting for some colleagues to buy some stuff at CVS on Thursday, and I was poking around in the bargain bin. I really don't think $6.99 for a Jody Watley CD is a bargain, but whatever. Anyway, Anchorman on VHS was $3.00 (I know, some of you are thinking: What is this "VHS?" I do no know this.)

I love Will F. and all, but somehow I was still expecting it would be funnier. I did laugh quite a bit though, but really, I don't know that the characters were well developed enough to really stick with me. I will say that it did contain one of my favorite scenes/lines of any movie ever, I think, and this was Steve Carell on the bear. I tried to find a photo of this to post on the blog, but all i found was this.

i'm hungry

2007-09-18T22:50:00.000-05:00

All the way through the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle I was torn between thinking Kingsolver's nonfiction writing is too flowery for her own good (with everything from asparagus to dead tomato plants to turkeys getting personified to death) so she should really stick to telling made-up stories and wanting to move to the country ASAFuckingP. This is nothing new, I've been thinking about goat farming for about 3 years now. I'm not saying this book changed my life or anything, but I have been buying a lot more local produce lately, and I bought a book on home cheesemaking. So I'm one and a half steps closer. Now I just need the sugar______ to help me pay off my student loans while I gather eggs and plant seeds.

zzzzz........

2007-09-17T18:00:00.000-05:00

One of the best things about Summer in Chicago is the variety of neighborhood festivals where you can often catch a number of bands for the "suggested donation" of $5. I'm quite ready for summer to be over, so when my friend suggested going the the Old Town Grape Crush, I was reluctant. But then I saw that Duncan Sheik was headlining, so I changed my mind.

I have a short fuse when it comes to drunk women with giant sunglasses though, and when I met Corrinne at North and Wells on Saturday afternoon, I could tell I was in for it. Everyone there had been out "tasting" wine all afternoon, and it was a pretty obnoxious scene. We poked around a bit, had a glass of wine, stayed in spice house as long as we could without sneezing, and then went for dinner at Adobo. Dinner was great,and thankfully were able to eat outside, because inside was more of the same. Loud, drunk, rich people who won't move to let you get to the restroom.

Anway, this is supposed to be about Duncan Sheik. Dinner was more interesting than he was. He knew he was playing to intoxication, and so I think he was determined to just play until the clock struck whatever so he could collect his check and go home. I'm not a huge fan, but when I was working at a radio station in 2000, we got a lot of play out Phanton Moon. And I've been looking forward to seeing Spring Awakening someday. After a boring first song, things started to pick up about halfway though Casanova... but then he played his "Barely Breathing" card. He had the handful of Trixies (Okay, I was trying not to, but I had to say it) who actually knew who was on stage wailing along with that one, but he lost me... I stayed 'til the end, tried to enjoy his string quartet, hoped for him to play "A Mirror in the Heart" and went home glad that I didn't spend any realy money on it. I'm glad Broadway's working well for him.

Don't get too old to make movies, Mr. Loach

2007-09-15T09:38:00.000-05:00

I first became aware of Ken Loach in 1996. I was living in Germany, and would cross the border to Strasbourg, France to see films in English. There was one big place that always had a few American or English films, and there was some other smaller, artsy place where you could see more obscure thing, often in series. There was a Ken Loach series at one point, and they were running Land and Freedom and Ladybird, Ladybird. I don't even remember if I saw those films there, so I don't how I remember what they were.

In any case though, by now, I've seen most of his films, and had been waiting all year to see The Wind That Shakes the Barley. Cillian Murphy was very convincing as a blue-eyed Irish doctor who gives up his medical career to fight for Irish independence with his brother and brethren. Ireland in 1920 is something I know nothing about, and I now want to know more. It's curious that an English filmmaker was telling this story. And the English characters were so extremely ugly in this, I found myself wondering if this was accurate, or if Loach was somehow making atonement or reparations for his forefathers.

I haven't cried so hard in a movie in ages. We know, because we hear, that war makes a person do unimaginable things. When someone's loyalty to a cause wins out over their bonds with family, this becomes even harder to understand. And like many war movies, it left me crying not only for the story, but in gratitude for my own privilege and freedom.

I'm glad I wasn't able to catch this in the theater earlier this year, because on the DVD is s short documentary called "Carry on Ken" exploring the director's work. Robert Carlyle, Peter Mullen and other actors from some of his best work, along with crew members and the man himself review the unique ways in which he works, and explain why they think his films are so unique.

I didn't realize it, but he forces his actors to use a lot of improv, which always intriques me in dramas. In fact, they talk specifically about the scene in Carla's Song when Robert Carlyle's character finds Carla in the bathtub. That was improv. The only instruction the actor got was to go to that apartment, find the key, and go in. Amazing stuff.

He's got a new one lined up for next year, I think it's called It's a Free World.

rave against the occupation

2007-09-13T07:26:00.001-05:00

There were no previews... we were eating now & laters and telling stories, when the lights dimmed, and a few hebrew titles appeared on the screen. Then, suddenly it was all shaky camera and military checkpoint chaos. And somehow I was rapt from the first moment. Eytan Fox already impressed me with his storytelling in Walk on Water , but I wasn't expecting as much from The Bubble. Alyna and I were discussing this as we were walking in. The slick sexy American look of the poster made it look kinda stupid, but really it was a look into a little bubble of modern young (queer) life in Tel Aviv. A few plot twists that I didn't see coming drew things out to make a longer movie than it probably needed to be, and really - I'm not so sure about that Shakespearean ending, but I did shed a few tears. I also enjoyed listening to the Hebrew, especially the names. It also had a pretty awesom soundtrack. Bebel Gilberto, Israeli covers of Tim Buckley, some Bright Eyes, Belle and Sebastian...Nada Surf...shall I go on? All good, evocative film music. Don't rush out and see it in the theater or anything, but it is pretty good.

first of the burrs

2007-09-12T06:13:00.000-05:00

Fall hasn't officially started yet, and what my dad calls the "first of the burrs" came and went on Labor Day weekend with beautiful weather. But, this week, the temperature dropped. And here I am thinking about winter squash, the smell of leaves, my halloween costume (octopus or bagpipes? what a quandary) and the ridiculous amount of live music I'll be taking over the next two months.

I kicked it off on Saturday with a trip to the Hideout Block Party. My pal Joe and I were waylaid due to the fact that we got lost. I know, I know. I hadn't been there in years, and he never had, and neither of us bothered to writed down the directions. So we walked and walked. We got our excercise, but we missed our first target, which was Dan Deacon's 4:00 performance. But, I'm pretty sure that he was the vision in baby blue we saw during Art Brut's set... Barbara, who met up with us, and I were admiring his costume (Russian circus strong man on holiday in florida ca. 1978?) and wondering if he gave mustache rides.

Despite our navigational errors, we had a great time. In addition to getting $20 and free food from Kia for test driving a car, we got to take in some great and not-so-great-but-still-fun performances. I think a lot of the musicians were sitting around drinking beer all afternoon, so some numbers suffered, but at least they were enjoying themselves. It was hard to hear Art Brut's funny as hell lyrics outdoors, and I think they were drunk. I hear Mucca Pazza can be fun in a small setting, but after they paraded up onto the stage, the got pretty boring pretty fast. The Blue Ribbon Glee Club prompted me to elbow Barbara and say "My four-year-old could paint that." Not that I have a child at all, but what I meant was that anybody could get a group of friends together to belt out off-key choral arrangements of pop tunes. Yeah, I know, we could, but we don't, which is why they have cornered the market.

Now, down to business. I don't know many of the Frames' songs, but I will say that they started out strong - totally connected and playing the hell out a few tunes. But then I think that afternoon of drinking took over, and things started to fall apart a little. They brought some local chicks up from the audience to sing that overplayed song from that overplayed movie. (I'm not saying it's bad, I'm just saying summer is over, and so I need a break from Falling Slowly... and from Young Folks, now that you mention it.) Bringing part of the glee club back up for a kick-ass cover of the Pixies' "Where is My Mind" was a good move though, and that was a fine way to end things.

Seriously though. I've caught Andrew Bird a handful of times, and after his last performance at the Riviera back in April, I'd decided that he doesn't do as well live as I'd like him to, and so I would probably take a pass the next time he came around.

I take it back.

He had an energy on Saturday that I've always wanted to see from him. I mean, some of those tunes are pretty rocking, and I've thought that he often gets too wrapped up in the recording and looping and instrument-switching. It's a laborious process, and I feel tired because he seems like he might be trying too hard. But this time, technology was on his side, and it was a pretty amazing set. His voice has matured so much since his Bowl of Fire days. He's a pleasure to listen to, and on this night, he looked so happy in his sweaty cloud of beats and bowstrings, he was a pleasure to watch, too.

Here's someone's video. But you really had to be there.

Okay. I promise I'll work on being more succinct next time, but how was that for my first review?

that's all over when we ride up troy's bucket

2007-08-02T00:12:00.000-05:00

Went to the Music Box for The Goonies tonight. There were far too few people in the theater, but boy do I love that film. First time I've seen it on the big screen since I was a wee goonie myself. So many great moments. I want to watch it again and again.

I'm totally pumped for the Paste Secret Show at Subterannean tomorrow. I can't believe they're keeing us in the dark about who's going to be there. Well, I know it's not Pearl Jam. And that's a relief in my book. I'm hoping for My Morning Jacket. Or Son Volt.

too much information

2007-07-30T22:26:00.001-05:00

I think I watch too many movies, and I think that dampens my enjoyment of the really good ones. I haven't been to the theater in a while, the last time being the screening of Eagle vs. Shark (complete with q & a with Taika Waititi and the leading lady) because every time I think of it, I guilt myself into "enjoying the weather" instead. Sometime that means sitting in my bedroom with my laptop, watching DVD's.

It's only fitting that Ingmar Bergman just passed away, as I've been watching a lot of movies from the Scannies these days. That's my own term, and I don't mean it to be insulting to my brethern from the Nordic region. I truly enjoy the time I've spent there. I just like the word Scannie.

So I can't give you actual reviews, I'll just give you some statements.

Together (AKA in Swedish: Tillsammans)
I gave this 4 out of 5 stars, just like I did the other two Lukas Moodysson films I've seen (I'm too scared by what I've read to see his most recent.) I don't know. Maybe I just like listening to Swedish. Maybe I just like the geeky teenage crush story. Or maybe I'm sentimental, and like watching these people build their own wacky family from what they've got.

Brothers
Danish - kind of shocking story how war forces two brothers to switch roles. I thought the acting (even the kids - loved the pancake scene) was pretty damn good, and if there's anything I like listening to more than Swedish, it's Danish.

I know, I know, "Danskerne taler med kartofler i munden." But I still think it's hot. Except when your PTSD is manifesting itself in the form of ripping apart your house and trying to kill your wife and kids, then it's as scary as English.

After the Wedding
I tried not to get nostalgic as father and daughter were sitting at one of the Tivoli Restaurants. What's this movie about. Choices, secrets, power, regret. Not sure why I liked it so much, but there's the Danish again. And every character was pretty flawed, so I guess that's kind of real.

The Secret Life of Words
I was loving the quiet quirkyness of life on the rig... just enjoying the movie for what it was and wondering what I could do to get a job cooking on one of those contraptions... then, when Hanna finally starts telling her story, they almost lost me. It was seeming so textbook for a while. But then I realized that what she was saying was so unimaginable, it's never going to seem real. I keep thinking about it, and it's been a few weeks, so it must have been good after all.

Summer in the City

2007-07-21T14:53:00.000-05:00

It seems like there's something to do at every moment.

This morning: 12 mile run

Last night: Awkward (because I wasn't drinking in preparation for said run and didn't know most of the people very well) pre-wedding party for colleague.

Thursday night: Live taping of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me at Millennium Park, followed by dinner at an Armenian restaurant. (Just in case anyone's wondering, this sort of activity would probably meet my expectations for a "perfect date" but it wasn't a date, because there were three of us.)

Wednesday: Self-procalimed holiday of "Decemberists Day." Spent the morning slaving over a stove. Lunch with other hooky-playing friends at Glenn's Diner, followed by picnic and slightly rainy Decemberists show in Millennium Park. A great day, but I was too tired and irritated by the drunk people who weren't listening to the music to really enjoy the show as much as I wanted.

Before that I was in Denver. Tonight I think I might head over to one of Chicago's neighborhood festivals to check out the Redwalls and Poi Dog Pondering. Old and new(er) denizens of Chicago's rock scene? Tomorrow there's talk of going to someone's place to play with the Wii. I hear it's a good time.

three in one, netflix dvd reviews

2007-07-02T12:55:00.000-05:00

fur
loved it. asking/answering the questions about how someone from a prim and proper background ends up documenting the seedy underbelly. the surreal lens, the colors, the fur, hair, sex, etc, were pretty awesome. I could barely stand to watch the shaving scene though. I don't even remember how I used to shave my legs.

gray matters
Piece of crap. Yes, people I know and like enjoyed it but well, I'm convinced that Heather Graham's character will stay single forever. Not that there's anything wrong with that. But see, she thinks it's because she's been chasing the wrong gender all her life... even though she thinks she gay now, she's still got the problem that she's fucking obnoxious.

slc punk
Well, I liked this. Though, I think there were probably a few anachronisms, and there was a clear lack of a plot, it was still a fun little essay of poser/punk coming of age in Salt Lake City. I was drawn to this after spending two weeks there on business recently. I like the actors though, and a did shed a tear when the one dude died.

Counting Backwards - Paris Je'taime and other stories

2007-05-26T18:18:00.001-05:00

Every time lately that I listen to something, see a film, or read a book, I want to talk to someone about it. But then I seem to forget some of the most important parts in the telling. And I think, myabe I should write this down.

Maybe I should, and maybe I'll fill in this blog with the backlog in my head, but maybe I should just start with last night.

My office building was evacuated, and not knowing quite what to do withourselves on a Friday afternoon, some colleagues and I ended up at a bar. Did you know that beer is more expensive before 5:00 in evanston?
After 1,2, then 3, it was only 6:30, and and apparently time to see a movie.

We were some of the youngest people in the crowded theater, surrounded mostly by over-60 couples. A bunch of little stories about Paris, and it's hard to pick out my favorite. Tom Tykwer's catalog of memories flashing through a young man's head when he thinks he's being dumped was a favorite, as was mime's story, and the story of Ana, a young mother who sings the same lullaby to her own child with such warmth only to vacantly sing for someone else's as her job later. The moment she wakes up in the dark stands out to me, the blue cups and saucers for a dying's man's coffee date, and Nick Nolte telling his little grandson to shut up. It was pretty cool.

The last story though, of the letter carrier from Denver, eating a sandwich in the park was so awkwardly real to me too. Feeling lost, ending up eating chinese food when she wants to experience paris, wanting some one standing next to her to say "Isn't this beautiful?" to. I have this loneliness when I'm travelling alone. And it makes me sad, but would it really be better if there was someone with me, I don't know.

Anyway, it's worth seeing, whether you've been to Paris or not, but I imagined all these couples sitting in the dark, reminiscing about their romantic trips there in their younger days. I did remember my stroll by the eiffel tour with the Johnson sisters from Idaho, and my lonely hours wandering and getting lost, and finding comfort in a nutella banana crepe.

I would want to see how this is done with other cities too. These stories were more about people than places, so they really could happen anywhere. I didn't like the vampire bit very much, but even that had its moments.

And just like they say about Chicago, Denver, Boston, and probably even Paris, if you don't like the weather here, wait five minutes.

Welcome to my new blog.

2007-05-03T20:45:00.000-05:00

How long will it last? Your guess is as good as mine. The title was inspired by the SNL sketch/video on sloths. in case you didn't hear the last line, the nature video was not entirely accurate.

Neither am I.

But I'm going to attempt to post some music, book, and film reviews. I'm going to attempt to not post a lot of personal information that I will regret, and then later delete.

In case you're wondering what happened to TronaPower, I decided that it was just a little too much information for me to be sharing with strangers. And WAY too much information to be sharing with family and colleagues.

In case you're wondering what happened to the stolenmusic project:

A) I got over it
B) I accidentally deleted all the postings while I was trying to clear out TronaPower.
C) Both of the Above

(The answer, like on many tests, is C.)