first of the burrs

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?