my good buddy gabe just bought a house out in the middle of nowhere in jersey and his one wish was to have a kickass housewarming party... in order for that to happen he needed one important ingredient: truck stop love ballads. and there's only one man in the world that can provide such an ingredient: dana monteith. so dana was called in special for the task. truck stop love ballads DELIVERED.
i was about 10 minutes from gabe's place when my phone rang- it was dana. "where are you???" "i have no fucking idea." "well, i'm waiting for you to get here before i start!" "ack!!!!! you're waiting for me???" "yeah, guppy, get here FAST! or i'm gonna drink even more!!!" "okay okay, i think i'm close--- have a cheeseburger and by the time you're finished i'll be there!"
i pulled into gabe's neighbor's driveway and parked (the place was packed- satellite parking was the only option!). gabe's house is huuuuuge and gorgeous! the yard was amazing and featured a giant vegetable garden!!! man, if only i wanted to live in the middle of fucking nowhere in jersey!!! damn!!! i had to wait for setbreak for the guided tour- which had about 15 other people on it... gabe should have gotten a megaphone for the full effect.
but rewind back to the music--- dana started off set I with unmarked trunk. a touching tale of the road and love lost and possibly my favorite truck stop love ballad of all time! i didn't keep a setlist, but through his 2.5 sets he went on to play some classic truck stop love ballads: self destruct button, on a dime, afterglow, slipping back, creamery rag... and some classic ominous seapods favorites: waiting room, hope i shall arrive soon, the old gp, jet smooth ride, bong hits and porn... there were more... in fact, gabe and g3 had printed out a whole bunch of seapods tunes from stretch's pink flamingo file and dana happilly obliged as best he could (a few of the tunes he had even rehearsed the night before!).
set 2.5 got a little "blue" and "messy" due to the "alcohol" and "darkness". but there was cake, coffee, and lovely cream puffy things... however, there has been a promise of a "downstairs bar opening" party that will ALSO feature truck stop love ballads this winter... and GUITARAOKE... sasso.com is going to set up a computer server that will spew out requested song lyrics and music for dana to please party goers with even the most discerning musical tastes. gordon lightfoot? no problem! johnny cash? no problem! michael bolton? NOW YOU GOT A PROBLEM!
i took some footage of dana rockin' out the backyard- please view it!
gabe's backyard housewarming hootenanny featuring truck stop ballads by dana monteith? 10 HUZZAHS! rock the sussex! THANKS GABE!!! your party was SUPERB!
to learn more about dana monteith and truck stop love ballads please visit dana's website: www.danamonteith.com
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Saturday, July 15, 2006
les claypool, 7/15/06, nokia theater, nyc
hey'all, this review finds itself delayed by a few days as i suffered a nasty bout of food poisoning this week. pasta primavera? not necessarily so safe. it's been quite an ugly week. so, here we go!
les claypool, 7/15/06, nokia theater, nyc
so, this time around i didn't get tickets for everyone in advance cuz last time i kinda got fucked. good call. for this show i flew solo as all my friends who said they might go bailed- no surprise. i however, had been looking forward to this show for months, and i wasn't gonna miss it. another reason i felt like i had to see it was because my friend teresa haire who passed away a couple of months ago would have wanted to see it. she was going to come to the les nokia show with me last october but her med school exams got in the way and she missed it because she was being a good-responsible-student. fuck, johnny fishwick would have had a good time there too, cuz it was les. so yeah. i felt like i needed to be there to enjoy the show for my homies too. haire & johnny 4 eva, 4 realz, yo. mad respek.
anyways, i rolled into the city conveniently in time to miss the opening band and get street parking. bought my ticket at the door and chugged my water that the security guard found and i couldn't bring inside. and as i came down the escalators at the nokia, les had just hit the stage and i listened and watched him on the big screen (I REALLY FUCKING LOVE THIS SETUP), ran into the bathroom and didn't miss a second of the music cuz it's pumped right in there (ahh, just like wetlands... except... bigger... shiny... and lit without a blacklight.). i made my way into the theater on the right hand side and it was pretty packed. i didn't feel like powering all the way up to the front, so i found a nice little nook next to the tapers on the main floor.
this was a great spot until some kid started hitting on me nonstop for like 5-10 minutes. i tried to be nice, then i tried to ignore him. it actually got to the point where he spoke through about 3/4 of a song and the lines he was throwing out there were getting worse and worse. he was either on e or drunk as hell... or both... or maybe he was just THAT enamored with me, i mean, i am fucking awesome. regardless i was missing this entire fucking song cuz he was yammering away- never mind the fucking taper mics we're standing next to- now he's not only ruining my time, but everyone who should have a clean recording of this show. finally i'd had enough.
RETARDED CHILD: you really are gorgeous
ME: you HAVE to stop hitting on me NOW.
RC: buh---
ME: NO- STOP. NOW.
after a couple of minutes he got uncomfortable enough to finally leave, but not before apologizing.
RC: i'm really sorry if i was making you uncomfortable
ME: (watching stage) no worries
RC: thank you for having the balls to tell m---
ME: STOP. NOW.
and he left. goddamnit. seriously guys, get the fucking hint. and if it seems like the girl is remotely interested in the actual concert that is going on, talking nonstop in her ear isn't gonna help your cause.
anyways, back to the music. les had the same lineup as last time i believe. drums, sax, sitar, percussion... they sounded great. it was a good mixture of new/old stuff. some of the spacier jams seemed a bit loose to me. the main point is that les is such a solid fucking performer, i really enjoy listening to his shows and experiencing the showmanship. however, why in 2006 is it still necessary to have an obligatory drum solo for 10 minutes no matter how long the set is? i realize everyone likes to take a piss, but i'm really losing patience with the prolonged drumz.
also, at the merch table on the way out (merch whore that i am) i picked up one of the new dvd's and a copy of les' first novel- he had done a book reading earlier in the day at a b&n in the village but i didn't know about it! lame! the book is called south of the pumphouse, and i haven't started reading it yet.
i don't see the show up on etree yet, but they do have the october 2005 show, here is the link: http://bt.etree.org/index.php?search=les claypool&cat=0
all in all- drag your asses out to see les, he's fun for fucksake. oh yeah- i just got a bulletin post from the les claypool myspace page announcing that there is a brand new official primus myspace page up, and to stay tuned because there will be some primus news announced very soon - so go add them to your friends (and we'll all get the good news together- aww, precious). methinks it's tour time! but getting back to les/nokia--- 8.5 HUZZAHS! les RULEZ.
les claypool, 7/15/06, nokia theater, nyc
so, this time around i didn't get tickets for everyone in advance cuz last time i kinda got fucked. good call. for this show i flew solo as all my friends who said they might go bailed- no surprise. i however, had been looking forward to this show for months, and i wasn't gonna miss it. another reason i felt like i had to see it was because my friend teresa haire who passed away a couple of months ago would have wanted to see it. she was going to come to the les nokia show with me last october but her med school exams got in the way and she missed it because she was being a good-responsible-student. fuck, johnny fishwick would have had a good time there too, cuz it was les. so yeah. i felt like i needed to be there to enjoy the show for my homies too. haire & johnny 4 eva, 4 realz, yo. mad respek.
anyways, i rolled into the city conveniently in time to miss the opening band and get street parking. bought my ticket at the door and chugged my water that the security guard found and i couldn't bring inside. and as i came down the escalators at the nokia, les had just hit the stage and i listened and watched him on the big screen (I REALLY FUCKING LOVE THIS SETUP), ran into the bathroom and didn't miss a second of the music cuz it's pumped right in there (ahh, just like wetlands... except... bigger... shiny... and lit without a blacklight.). i made my way into the theater on the right hand side and it was pretty packed. i didn't feel like powering all the way up to the front, so i found a nice little nook next to the tapers on the main floor.
this was a great spot until some kid started hitting on me nonstop for like 5-10 minutes. i tried to be nice, then i tried to ignore him. it actually got to the point where he spoke through about 3/4 of a song and the lines he was throwing out there were getting worse and worse. he was either on e or drunk as hell... or both... or maybe he was just THAT enamored with me, i mean, i am fucking awesome. regardless i was missing this entire fucking song cuz he was yammering away- never mind the fucking taper mics we're standing next to- now he's not only ruining my time, but everyone who should have a clean recording of this show. finally i'd had enough.
RETARDED CHILD: you really are gorgeous
ME: you HAVE to stop hitting on me NOW.
RC: buh---
ME: NO- STOP. NOW.
after a couple of minutes he got uncomfortable enough to finally leave, but not before apologizing.
RC: i'm really sorry if i was making you uncomfortable
ME: (watching stage) no worries
RC: thank you for having the balls to tell m---
ME: STOP. NOW.
and he left. goddamnit. seriously guys, get the fucking hint. and if it seems like the girl is remotely interested in the actual concert that is going on, talking nonstop in her ear isn't gonna help your cause.
anyways, back to the music. les had the same lineup as last time i believe. drums, sax, sitar, percussion... they sounded great. it was a good mixture of new/old stuff. some of the spacier jams seemed a bit loose to me. the main point is that les is such a solid fucking performer, i really enjoy listening to his shows and experiencing the showmanship. however, why in 2006 is it still necessary to have an obligatory drum solo for 10 minutes no matter how long the set is? i realize everyone likes to take a piss, but i'm really losing patience with the prolonged drumz.
also, at the merch table on the way out (merch whore that i am) i picked up one of the new dvd's and a copy of les' first novel- he had done a book reading earlier in the day at a b&n in the village but i didn't know about it! lame! the book is called south of the pumphouse, and i haven't started reading it yet.
i don't see the show up on etree yet, but they do have the october 2005 show, here is the link: http://bt.etree.org/index.php?search=les claypool&cat=0
all in all- drag your asses out to see les, he's fun for fucksake. oh yeah- i just got a bulletin post from the les claypool myspace page announcing that there is a brand new official primus myspace page up, and to stay tuned because there will be some primus news announced very soon - so go add them to your friends (and we'll all get the good news together- aww, precious). methinks it's tour time! but getting back to les/nokia--- 8.5 HUZZAHS! les RULEZ.
Monday, July 3, 2006
7/1/06, GRAB (and Phil Lesh), PNC (Garden State) Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ
you know what's great? i've noticed that less people read my concert reviews than read my inane ramblings. what's worse? what does that say about me? but more importantly, what does that say about YOU?
regardless. after picking up the affable lauren simms and forcing her to go to amish market with me, we headed down the parkway to exit 117- the (pnc) garden state arts center. once there, parked and baked in the hot hot sun. oh, and drank beers. some guys pulled into the spot across from us and proceeded to play God Street Wine's '$1.99 Romances'. it was a good spot. it was a really good spot.
we slowly made contact with the people we were meeting up with in various stages of travel. what made things a little difficult is that we just missed out on parking in the first lot- so i didn't get to park anywhere near: mattypie or 4dice. however, we were in the same lot as loughrey and we were able to snag the spot next to ours and reserve it for brett and his friend zeke. when they finally showed up (something about getting lost and ending up in camden- sounds fun, eh?) brett pulled a sandwich about the size of his forearm out of a cooler and ate the whole damn thing. for fun we put some meat on the pavement to see if it would frizzle. it started to sweat.
eventually loughrey lumbered over to us and... well, first we drank more... and then we motivated to walk over to the main lot, but by the time we got there everybody wanted to go in. unfortunately i didn't get to hear any of the benevento russo duo set, but i did see them at moe.down a few years ago and they were great. also, it doesn't hurt that both the guys are hot. joe russo actually kinda looks like mike ouweleen. dorks unite!
they were selling daquiris & margaritas for $8 and something called "the guitar" for $13. it looked like a twist of the two. i had a lemon italian ice for $4. we climbed up the stairs and found a nice spot on the lawn. phil lesh was playing. meh. joan osborne sang. that only made me angry. there were a *lot* of deadheads in the crowd. like, a **lot** of them.
but then, the set i went to see- GRAB. mike Gordon, joe Russo, trey Anastasio, & marco Benevento. i was really hoping to see a mixture of phish tunes, trey tunes, and sick jams. trey basically apologized upfront and said, "thanks for being patient with the new tunes". so, yeah, we got a nice tease for a little bit but i don't think he played any full phish tunes? i can't remember. mike sounded great. and the B&R were awesome too. they did some great harder jamming, they are definitely still learning to play together, but it was a fun set. some of the spacier trey tunes were a little lame- but altogether, way better than any of the trey solo shows i've seen in years. (the tsunami benefit doesn't count, that was a moe. show- trey was a special guest).
so, altogether- maybe 7 HUZZAHS? i dunno. i was somehow expecting more. to be blown away maybe.
regardless. after picking up the affable lauren simms and forcing her to go to amish market with me, we headed down the parkway to exit 117- the (pnc) garden state arts center. once there, parked and baked in the hot hot sun. oh, and drank beers. some guys pulled into the spot across from us and proceeded to play God Street Wine's '$1.99 Romances'. it was a good spot. it was a really good spot.
we slowly made contact with the people we were meeting up with in various stages of travel. what made things a little difficult is that we just missed out on parking in the first lot- so i didn't get to park anywhere near: mattypie or 4dice. however, we were in the same lot as loughrey and we were able to snag the spot next to ours and reserve it for brett and his friend zeke. when they finally showed up (something about getting lost and ending up in camden- sounds fun, eh?) brett pulled a sandwich about the size of his forearm out of a cooler and ate the whole damn thing. for fun we put some meat on the pavement to see if it would frizzle. it started to sweat.
eventually loughrey lumbered over to us and... well, first we drank more... and then we motivated to walk over to the main lot, but by the time we got there everybody wanted to go in. unfortunately i didn't get to hear any of the benevento russo duo set, but i did see them at moe.down a few years ago and they were great. also, it doesn't hurt that both the guys are hot. joe russo actually kinda looks like mike ouweleen. dorks unite!
they were selling daquiris & margaritas for $8 and something called "the guitar" for $13. it looked like a twist of the two. i had a lemon italian ice for $4. we climbed up the stairs and found a nice spot on the lawn. phil lesh was playing. meh. joan osborne sang. that only made me angry. there were a *lot* of deadheads in the crowd. like, a **lot** of them.
but then, the set i went to see- GRAB. mike Gordon, joe Russo, trey Anastasio, & marco Benevento. i was really hoping to see a mixture of phish tunes, trey tunes, and sick jams. trey basically apologized upfront and said, "thanks for being patient with the new tunes". so, yeah, we got a nice tease for a little bit but i don't think he played any full phish tunes? i can't remember. mike sounded great. and the B&R were awesome too. they did some great harder jamming, they are definitely still learning to play together, but it was a fun set. some of the spacier trey tunes were a little lame- but altogether, way better than any of the trey solo shows i've seen in years. (the tsunami benefit doesn't count, that was a moe. show- trey was a special guest).
so, altogether- maybe 7 HUZZAHS? i dunno. i was somehow expecting more. to be blown away maybe.
Friday, June 23, 2006
moe., 6/13/06, rumsey playfield, central park, nyc
mmkay! officially killling time at work and officially tackling this overdue review.
it was an early start, i walked into the park with melissa and mintz (a moe. virgin!) and immediately ran into mattypie, etc. standing right next to erika! that's what happens when your friends are alcoholics- you can always find them right next to the beer tent. we found lauren later on- she couldn't sneak out of work as early as i did. "but i'm leaving at 5... no... but i've been saying for 2 months that i'm leaving at 5pm today... i'm leaving at 5... really... i won't be here after 5." (didn't leave til 5:30pm, but still... principle of the thing).
the boys hit the stage at 6:31pm with some tuning and then she sends me. i was able to text message with hern, etc. but they had made their way up to the front on al.side immediately and i wasn't going to deal with that clusterfuck (just yet). this was a great outdoor show to officially kickoff outdoor concert season. very exciting. the first set was pretty good, but i felt they were holding back a wee bit. i was standing up front on chuck-side for a portion of it, but the monitor was really hot and popping every couple of seconds. *pop**pop**pop**pop**pop* my ears and brain couldn't take it anymore so i went and hung out in the back with my running crew.
set break, lovely. sun down. this is more like it. sundown in central park and moe.- can't go wrong. it was a romantic nyc moment. set II started off ROCKING, they were really busting out the harder jams and getting into it. i needed to pee. mintz scored a vip pass for us in the most random of ways so i got to use the vip portapotty. still gross, but no line. :) well, after that i went up to al.side and spotted babitz in all his jewness and that was happy- cuz then i got to see hern, 4dice, lisa... and rob... heh. well, the view from backstage kinda sucked my ballz, and i felt completely removed from my friends... so i decided to do something about it.
i climbed over the 4 1/2 fence. i almost didn't do it! i really almost didn't... i was like, no no, i'll walk around... i'll be good... then i was like, "what the FUCK am i talking about??? WALK AROUND??? who the fuck am i??? I AM LYNNFUCKINGGUPPY and if i can't climb over this fucking fence, then i'm officially OLD!!! AND I AM NOT TOO OLD TO CLIMB OVER THIS FUCKING FENCE!!!" so i climbed over it. hern and babitz originally tried to lift me over but i knew that was asking for trouble so i told them not to touch me- i hiked up the pants and went for it. and it worked out nicely! front row! and a perfect view of rob rippin' shit up. it's really not a moe. show for me until i can get my unobstructed view of rob laying it all down... dreamy. i know you're all about to vomit, but i couldn't ask for more!!!
though, there was a woman there with her 8-10 year old child who was obviously NOT enjoying himself- he was covering his ears and looking sad, and that was really sad. if you're gonna bring your kid to a show, buy them some fucking earplugs. if you're old enough to make the conscious decision to fuck up your own hearing, do what you want- but your child didn't ask to be there and have permanent hearing loss, and you're an inept fucking parent, you goddamn scumbag! oh, also very drunk girls swaying their arms around and being altogether obnoxious- we were relieved when we thought one of them had passed out on the barrier- but she hadn't, she was just resting. there's some in every crowd.
anywhoosits- awesome fucking show- AMAZING 2nd set- really- much better than the 1st (1st wasn't bad- 2nd set was way more ballz-out rockin' goodness). altogether, factoring in getting to see all my friends and enjoying the show with people i love: 9 HUZZAHS!!!
to download the show, go here: http://www.archive.org/details/moe2006-06-13.km184.flac16
it was an early start, i walked into the park with melissa and mintz (a moe. virgin!) and immediately ran into mattypie, etc. standing right next to erika! that's what happens when your friends are alcoholics- you can always find them right next to the beer tent. we found lauren later on- she couldn't sneak out of work as early as i did. "but i'm leaving at 5... no... but i've been saying for 2 months that i'm leaving at 5pm today... i'm leaving at 5... really... i won't be here after 5." (didn't leave til 5:30pm, but still... principle of the thing).
the boys hit the stage at 6:31pm with some tuning and then she sends me. i was able to text message with hern, etc. but they had made their way up to the front on al.side immediately and i wasn't going to deal with that clusterfuck (just yet). this was a great outdoor show to officially kickoff outdoor concert season. very exciting. the first set was pretty good, but i felt they were holding back a wee bit. i was standing up front on chuck-side for a portion of it, but the monitor was really hot and popping every couple of seconds. *pop**pop**pop**pop**pop* my ears and brain couldn't take it anymore so i went and hung out in the back with my running crew.
set break, lovely. sun down. this is more like it. sundown in central park and moe.- can't go wrong. it was a romantic nyc moment. set II started off ROCKING, they were really busting out the harder jams and getting into it. i needed to pee. mintz scored a vip pass for us in the most random of ways so i got to use the vip portapotty. still gross, but no line. :) well, after that i went up to al.side and spotted babitz in all his jewness and that was happy- cuz then i got to see hern, 4dice, lisa... and rob... heh. well, the view from backstage kinda sucked my ballz, and i felt completely removed from my friends... so i decided to do something about it.
i climbed over the 4 1/2 fence. i almost didn't do it! i really almost didn't... i was like, no no, i'll walk around... i'll be good... then i was like, "what the FUCK am i talking about??? WALK AROUND??? who the fuck am i??? I AM LYNNFUCKINGGUPPY and if i can't climb over this fucking fence, then i'm officially OLD!!! AND I AM NOT TOO OLD TO CLIMB OVER THIS FUCKING FENCE!!!" so i climbed over it. hern and babitz originally tried to lift me over but i knew that was asking for trouble so i told them not to touch me- i hiked up the pants and went for it. and it worked out nicely! front row! and a perfect view of rob rippin' shit up. it's really not a moe. show for me until i can get my unobstructed view of rob laying it all down... dreamy. i know you're all about to vomit, but i couldn't ask for more!!!
though, there was a woman there with her 8-10 year old child who was obviously NOT enjoying himself- he was covering his ears and looking sad, and that was really sad. if you're gonna bring your kid to a show, buy them some fucking earplugs. if you're old enough to make the conscious decision to fuck up your own hearing, do what you want- but your child didn't ask to be there and have permanent hearing loss, and you're an inept fucking parent, you goddamn scumbag! oh, also very drunk girls swaying their arms around and being altogether obnoxious- we were relieved when we thought one of them had passed out on the barrier- but she hadn't, she was just resting. there's some in every crowd.
anywhoosits- awesome fucking show- AMAZING 2nd set- really- much better than the 1st (1st wasn't bad- 2nd set was way more ballz-out rockin' goodness). altogether, factoring in getting to see all my friends and enjoying the show with people i love: 9 HUZZAHS!!!
to download the show, go here: http://www.archive.org/details/moe2006-06-13.km184.flac16
Saturday, June 17, 2006
lo faber, ace of clubs, nyc, 6/9/06
catching up before this gets out of hand...
it was pretty sweet, i got out of work in time to meet a friend and head into the ace of clubs on the lower east side. i had no idea it was the old acme underground, i once saw monopuff there. it was a bizarre night full of smoke and comedians who would get up and read monologues or spoken word over the music- the theme was "colors". it was absolute madness and i stood next to andy richter (glowing).
but back to last friday. lo faber! the set started at 8pm sharp, so we walked downstairs at about 10 of and the place was packed!!! wall to wall air! if you're a gsw fan and you live in nyc, you should be fucking ashamed of yourself for not getting off your ass and heading to this gig. show some fucking love. it's lo and he's awesome. so, we walk in and there are 3 other people in the room: the bartender, the sound guy, and lo... at the bar looking at his song options. "lo!" / "sweetheart!" (for those of you who don't know, lo is quite possibly my favorite person on the face of the earth). he hands me his song list- it's got about 40 songs to choose from in two columns, the paper folded in half and his setlist written on the bottom out of my view. "here, pick a song..." i immediately saw bbtn and shrieked. on the drive downtown i was thinking, "i wonder if he remembers bring back the news?". so, i chose that one... and like 4 others... and then asked him to play new eyes which will never happen but i love asking just to get "the look" and the explanation. and then 2 more people showed up!!! very exciting! so we talked about emergency contraception and frank zappa until...
the clock struck 8pm and lo walked up to the stage, we set up some tables and chairs in front of him and sat down to be entertained. he opened with bbtn which made me smile ear to ear, but the mic was shorting out so that was sad, but he played it strong and it sounded amazing. my friend had never heard lo or gsw before and he enjoyed himself and i think may have been taken aback at how good it was. cuz when you say, "i have a friend doing an acoustic set for an hour downtown..." i mean really-- that could be absolutely HORRIBLE. but it wasn't, it was lo. he played some lennon tunes, borderline, everyone's favorite rockstar, you know me best (quickly becoming one of my new favorites), nightingale, drive west... he forgot the lyrics to borderline:
"now a prophet without honor speaks and whiles away the lonely weeks, and knows that all his fellow men are laughing. so you wanna be a movie star, and drive a big red fancy car, and weave between the falling statues crashing..."
which is hysterical to me because i have a distinct memory of being at the red record release party at the tower records on 4th and b'way, and during the performance lo forgot the same fucking lyrics and came over to me and asked what they were. so, you see, he's still great.
anyways, it was just lovely. :) he finished up the show to the opening band's dismay (they told him to keep playing) and we hung out for a few minutes and said goodbye.
to learn more about lo faber and download some of his music, go to: www.lofaber.com
i give this show: 9.5 HUZZAHS. lo is my favorite rockstar and he changed my life. he rocks the acoustic guitar.
it was pretty sweet, i got out of work in time to meet a friend and head into the ace of clubs on the lower east side. i had no idea it was the old acme underground, i once saw monopuff there. it was a bizarre night full of smoke and comedians who would get up and read monologues or spoken word over the music- the theme was "colors". it was absolute madness and i stood next to andy richter (glowing).
but back to last friday. lo faber! the set started at 8pm sharp, so we walked downstairs at about 10 of and the place was packed!!! wall to wall air! if you're a gsw fan and you live in nyc, you should be fucking ashamed of yourself for not getting off your ass and heading to this gig. show some fucking love. it's lo and he's awesome. so, we walk in and there are 3 other people in the room: the bartender, the sound guy, and lo... at the bar looking at his song options. "lo!" / "sweetheart!" (for those of you who don't know, lo is quite possibly my favorite person on the face of the earth). he hands me his song list- it's got about 40 songs to choose from in two columns, the paper folded in half and his setlist written on the bottom out of my view. "here, pick a song..." i immediately saw bbtn and shrieked. on the drive downtown i was thinking, "i wonder if he remembers bring back the news?". so, i chose that one... and like 4 others... and then asked him to play new eyes which will never happen but i love asking just to get "the look" and the explanation. and then 2 more people showed up!!! very exciting! so we talked about emergency contraception and frank zappa until...
the clock struck 8pm and lo walked up to the stage, we set up some tables and chairs in front of him and sat down to be entertained. he opened with bbtn which made me smile ear to ear, but the mic was shorting out so that was sad, but he played it strong and it sounded amazing. my friend had never heard lo or gsw before and he enjoyed himself and i think may have been taken aback at how good it was. cuz when you say, "i have a friend doing an acoustic set for an hour downtown..." i mean really-- that could be absolutely HORRIBLE. but it wasn't, it was lo. he played some lennon tunes, borderline, everyone's favorite rockstar, you know me best (quickly becoming one of my new favorites), nightingale, drive west... he forgot the lyrics to borderline:
"now a prophet without honor speaks and whiles away the lonely weeks, and knows that all his fellow men are laughing. so you wanna be a movie star, and drive a big red fancy car, and weave between the falling statues crashing..."
which is hysterical to me because i have a distinct memory of being at the red record release party at the tower records on 4th and b'way, and during the performance lo forgot the same fucking lyrics and came over to me and asked what they were. so, you see, he's still great.
anyways, it was just lovely. :) he finished up the show to the opening band's dismay (they told him to keep playing) and we hung out for a few minutes and said goodbye.
to learn more about lo faber and download some of his music, go to: www.lofaber.com
i give this show: 9.5 HUZZAHS. lo is my favorite rockstar and he changed my life. he rocks the acoustic guitar.
Friday, June 16, 2006
pearl jam, 6/1/06, brendan byrne (aka continental) arena, rutherford, nj
mmkay, so to keep my brain from becoming less mushy i am going to start reviewing the concerts that i've seen... just like the good old days when i'd post to various mailing lists and start fights for saying things like, "man, that show kinda sucked!". and of course i made this decision a couple of weeks ago and got way too busy at work to actually keep up with it- so i'm 3 concerts behind and will post these reviews belated but separately.
what's different these days (ahh, the yesteryears...) is that i now bring musician's filters to shows because the ringing in my ears does not stop anymore. the first time my ears rang for 3 days was after a nirvana concert in DC when i was 15 years old ('93). it's gotten considerably worse since then, but i am pretty sure that i lost the most hearing at the 2004 mtvn non-denominational-holiday-party, cuz the ringing from that night definitely did not stop, and it's louder than the previous ringing. anyways, so back to the filters- i got these awesome custom filters and highly recommend them. they filter out exactly 15db from every frequency of the sound spectrum and they are fitted to my ears (they took a mold). they are about $150 and worth every fucking penny.
now... pearl jam, 6/1/06, brendan byrne arena, rutherford, nj.
so, not holding the traffic or weather or parking against the band. i missed the opener, "my morning jacket", which isn't too horrible cuz i think i've seen them open for 3 bands in the past year. i walked in during pearl jam's fourth song and they were definitely rockin' out (i don't have a setlist). i walked directly into some friends from my hometown (pr REPRESENT) and they were lovely enough to buy me a beer right before we walked up to the nosebleeds and chilled for a while. then i wandered down to a section behind the stage to find lowell and keren and watched the rest of the show.
the old tunes rocked, the new tunes rocked... eddie was sporting a giant bottle of wine... the pearl jam crowd kind of scares me. there was a lot of singing along and waving of the arms, and i wonder if this is what people think of me and my friends when they go see moe.? like, "who the fuck are these moe.rons"? i think the big difference is that the pearl jam fans kinda treat vedder like some sort of god... and moe.rons... well, when al. fell flat on his face at snoe.down while trying to look like a metal-god--- everyone laughed their asses off... pearl jam's fans just kinda felt more cult-like. at one point eddie picked up his electric guitar (he can't just be a lead singer, he's gotta play guitar a little too) and held it up above his head. the light engineer then focused and bounced one of the lights off of the electric guitar--- so the light was reflected perpendicularly onto the crowd. eddie proceeded to angle the guitar and rotate around 360' to "paint" the crowd in the light. as he did people reached in the air and tried to "grab" the light. people were really getting off on this shit and i couldn't help it but my immediate reaction was laughter. in fact i was laughing so hard i think i might have snorted and put myself in ten-club danger!!! DAAANGER!!!
they did stick it to the man and play about 25-30 minutes past the curfew- a few cover songs including 'teenage wasteland'. drunk eddie flailed and fell on his ass... and then limped for the rest of the show ("i think he really hurt himself" -dr. lowell gurey). it was fun seeing pearl jam in action. the arena eventually turned the lights on, but they did not turn the sound off. i'm sure the extra time cost them a pretty penny (if not substantially more--- i tried looking up how much continental charges for every minute past curfew but had no luck- anyone out there know a website that supplies this info? it can be up to $10,000+ for every minute over). stone gossard: STILL FUCKING HOT... the short hair--- yummy.
yes, i know many of my friends are devoted ten club pearl jam fanatics and it was a great show that they lost their shit at. i would have been happy paying $40 to see it... i paid more, but still, always awesome to see a great rock band play a great rock show. so- conclusion... out of 10 HUZZAHS (10 being the most HUZZAH-WORTHY): 6.5 HUZZAHS!
what's different these days (ahh, the yesteryears...) is that i now bring musician's filters to shows because the ringing in my ears does not stop anymore. the first time my ears rang for 3 days was after a nirvana concert in DC when i was 15 years old ('93). it's gotten considerably worse since then, but i am pretty sure that i lost the most hearing at the 2004 mtvn non-denominational-holiday-party, cuz the ringing from that night definitely did not stop, and it's louder than the previous ringing. anyways, so back to the filters- i got these awesome custom filters and highly recommend them. they filter out exactly 15db from every frequency of the sound spectrum and they are fitted to my ears (they took a mold). they are about $150 and worth every fucking penny.
now... pearl jam, 6/1/06, brendan byrne arena, rutherford, nj.
so, not holding the traffic or weather or parking against the band. i missed the opener, "my morning jacket", which isn't too horrible cuz i think i've seen them open for 3 bands in the past year. i walked in during pearl jam's fourth song and they were definitely rockin' out (i don't have a setlist). i walked directly into some friends from my hometown (pr REPRESENT) and they were lovely enough to buy me a beer right before we walked up to the nosebleeds and chilled for a while. then i wandered down to a section behind the stage to find lowell and keren and watched the rest of the show.
the old tunes rocked, the new tunes rocked... eddie was sporting a giant bottle of wine... the pearl jam crowd kind of scares me. there was a lot of singing along and waving of the arms, and i wonder if this is what people think of me and my friends when they go see moe.? like, "who the fuck are these moe.rons"? i think the big difference is that the pearl jam fans kinda treat vedder like some sort of god... and moe.rons... well, when al. fell flat on his face at snoe.down while trying to look like a metal-god--- everyone laughed their asses off... pearl jam's fans just kinda felt more cult-like. at one point eddie picked up his electric guitar (he can't just be a lead singer, he's gotta play guitar a little too) and held it up above his head. the light engineer then focused and bounced one of the lights off of the electric guitar--- so the light was reflected perpendicularly onto the crowd. eddie proceeded to angle the guitar and rotate around 360' to "paint" the crowd in the light. as he did people reached in the air and tried to "grab" the light. people were really getting off on this shit and i couldn't help it but my immediate reaction was laughter. in fact i was laughing so hard i think i might have snorted and put myself in ten-club danger!!! DAAANGER!!!
they did stick it to the man and play about 25-30 minutes past the curfew- a few cover songs including 'teenage wasteland'. drunk eddie flailed and fell on his ass... and then limped for the rest of the show ("i think he really hurt himself" -dr. lowell gurey). it was fun seeing pearl jam in action. the arena eventually turned the lights on, but they did not turn the sound off. i'm sure the extra time cost them a pretty penny (if not substantially more--- i tried looking up how much continental charges for every minute past curfew but had no luck- anyone out there know a website that supplies this info? it can be up to $10,000+ for every minute over). stone gossard: STILL FUCKING HOT... the short hair--- yummy.
yes, i know many of my friends are devoted ten club pearl jam fanatics and it was a great show that they lost their shit at. i would have been happy paying $40 to see it... i paid more, but still, always awesome to see a great rock band play a great rock show. so- conclusion... out of 10 HUZZAHS (10 being the most HUZZAH-WORTHY): 6.5 HUZZAHS!
Friday, May 19, 2006
i need a window again so i can will the empire state building to be struck by lightning.
well, it's been a while, but shits been crazy, so there ya go. let's catch up, while i kill some time waiting for notes- shall we?
i took a phatty dank vacation to british columbia where i skiied at whistler/blackcomb, and conquered the blackcomb glacier bowl as the fog slowly rolled in. it was one of those cool nature-experiences that will stick with you for the rest of your life. and i was lucky enough to be surrounded with good friends at the time even though i was nervous as hell. but then i kicked some major ass and even impressed the boys!!! hardcore, baby! there ya go! i can't wait to go back. after whistler, we (paul arranged the whole thing) took a ferry to vancouver island and went camping for a few days, did some hiking in a rainforest, took a boat out to some remote island to hike into some hot springs... you know, your typical vacation filled with orcas, bald eagles, seals, sea lions, cormerants, grey whales. no big whoop. ??? holy shit. GOOD TIMES! it left me thirsting for more outside time. i still consider relocating out there. it's a sickness.
here are some of my pics:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=l68vczl.wr8ezkd&x=1&y=-e7t25c
and paul's pics
have been suffering through the "back at work" slump for longer than i typically experience it (usually 2 weeks, now going on about 8 or 9) and that's kinda lame. but this weekend i am actually allotting time for creative outlet in the form of a kickass pitch that is going to make me rich and famous and make my friend lots of money too, which is gonna be awesome. totally fucking awesome.
i think i need to start sculpting again. i can corner the market on corrugated cardboard and glue gun work. feel free to hire me for your sculpting needs, i might be unemployed soon.
-ps- did my boy bubba crosby really strain his hamstring? nooo!!!! my bubba!!!!!
i took a phatty dank vacation to british columbia where i skiied at whistler/blackcomb, and conquered the blackcomb glacier bowl as the fog slowly rolled in. it was one of those cool nature-experiences that will stick with you for the rest of your life. and i was lucky enough to be surrounded with good friends at the time even though i was nervous as hell. but then i kicked some major ass and even impressed the boys!!! hardcore, baby! there ya go! i can't wait to go back. after whistler, we (paul arranged the whole thing) took a ferry to vancouver island and went camping for a few days, did some hiking in a rainforest, took a boat out to some remote island to hike into some hot springs... you know, your typical vacation filled with orcas, bald eagles, seals, sea lions, cormerants, grey whales. no big whoop. ??? holy shit. GOOD TIMES! it left me thirsting for more outside time. i still consider relocating out there. it's a sickness.
here are some of my pics:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=l68vczl.wr8ezkd&x=1&y=-e7t25c
and paul's pics
have been suffering through the "back at work" slump for longer than i typically experience it (usually 2 weeks, now going on about 8 or 9) and that's kinda lame. but this weekend i am actually allotting time for creative outlet in the form of a kickass pitch that is going to make me rich and famous and make my friend lots of money too, which is gonna be awesome. totally fucking awesome.
i think i need to start sculpting again. i can corner the market on corrugated cardboard and glue gun work. feel free to hire me for your sculpting needs, i might be unemployed soon.
-ps- did my boy bubba crosby really strain his hamstring? nooo!!!! my bubba!!!!!
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