Last night I was treated to the sounds of Beausoleil at the ARK, a music club in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They are great. Now my brother-in-law wishes he had kept up with his accordian lessons, now that he knows there is more to it than Lady of Spain! Traditional and modern French folk music from southwest Louisiana, they are two brothers and assorted friends that have been playing together for 20 years. Tho the club was pretty packed, some of us managed to find some room for dancing the entire second set! See or hear this band as soon as you can! So, the point of this item is....Who have you seen lately?91 responses total.
I recently say They Might Be Giants and bareNaked Ladies in concert. Two very excellent and most entertaining bands. not to mention both use the accordian!! Tell your bro-in-law there's hope!!!! I recommend seeing either of these groups. both provided lots of great music and the band members themselves in both bands are really funny just talking. I also heard, although not sure of the spelling, paula "Kohl/cole/ sp? She's kinda a mixture of Tori Amos, natalie merchant, etc. Lots of piano, and some cello and bass, then a drummer. She's an excellent singer with a beautiful voice an neat twist of words to some of her songs!
I was lucky enough to see Paula Cole (correct spelling) in concert back in June, during a huge five-act concert including Sarah McLachlan. I had never heard anything by her before, and was blown away by her presence and performing abilities. TMBG, I haven't seen since 1994. I need to get on the Web and find out when they're due here on the current tour.
I am currently in Atlanta, and in a few hours, will see Luscious Jackson and the Eels in Concert. First concert of this size i have been to in months!. Ihope i have fun.
Luscious Jackson, I'm jealous, they are supposed to be great in concert. Do you have their most recent album? If so how is it?
So, how was the show?
I reecently saw and am going to see again the Newsboys, who have in my opinion the best nonstadium rock show. It greatly depends on the eperson watching, though, but their live stuff is just terrific. And they tour nonstop... they're one of the hardest working bands in music. They just don't get the publicity of, say, R.E.M.
Luscious Jackson was great, The Eels were great! and i stayed sober thru the whole concert (I seem to be EXTREMELY drunk at lallapooza events) I wish i was giong to be in town for US, but oh well.. maybe someday!
This is more a recommendation than a review but I thought I'd mention that self-proclaimed "King of the Surf Guitar" Dick Dale is going to be playing a show at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor this coming Sunday, April 6. I saw him at the Majestic Theater in Detroit last year and he put on quite a good show -- normally I don't like to go to the Pig much because of the noise, smoke, crowds, and poor view of the stage but Dale is an energetic and talented performer and I would generally recommend checking him out if you like surf music at all..
Saw the Netherlands Dans Theater at the Power Center the other day. Very cool stuff--both dance-wise and musically. They performed to everything from Bach to Stockhausen, though with varying degrees of success... I was startled to see, though, that some of the pieces they 'changed'--they added additional sounds, including chanting, clapping, dragging chairs across the stage, etc. Some of their additions were minor, but in one case, while performing to the aforementioned Stockhausen piece, their chanting added strict rhythm to a piece that had none. Kinda weird--I don't know what I think about it. On the one hand, if Stockhausen had *wanted* a steady beat I'm sure he would have put one in. On the other hand, what does it matter what Stockhausen thinks? He's not the one choreographing the dance...
Yesterday I went and saw the Jayhawks. Great wonderful copncert, course now i am deaf in my left ear =) (it was worth it) They were opened by a band called Blue Mountain (another terrific band and they are from Mississippi) Only problem i had was they opened the doors so late, and started so late. And they had Bell's Oberon! good stuff!
Oh darn! I had forgotten that Blue Mountain was the opener!!
and I was moderately interested in seeing the Jayhawks.. oh well...
where did they play?
They played at the Blind Pig, and i was glad i got the tickets instead of mziemba cos it was a sold out show!!!! (though i think we got great seats and weren't too much of the packed sardines that was up front....)
Seats? At the Blind Pig?!? One of the reasons I didn't buy tickets for the show (or for a couple of others that've been there lately) was that the Pig is my least favorite place to catch a show in town. Usually there's effectively no seating, lots of smoke, and often there's a crowd near the bar who are drinking and talking loudly through the whole show <grrrr..>
well, since we got there early enough, we actually had time to grab seats. on the left side of the band that was a stair step higher. However, we were three people from the speaker, so some of us lost our hearing. The smoke was horrid, and so was the pot smokers in front of us... who were REALLY getting into the music (or the pot). If i ignore the smoke and the pot it was a decent show. I was glad not to be part of te packed sardine crowd.
Recent shows attended --
5/23, St. Andrews -- Bettie Serveert. Good show, at least what I caught
of it (note to self: "'doors open at 7' isn't always a ploy to get people
to drink more at the bar..") Although I'm not terribly familiar with the
band's albums and didn't get as much out of the show as the fan I went with
I quite enjoyed the show and would recommend future dates to anyone who likes
the Betties' sound.
5/30, Magic Stick -- Yo La Tengo / Magnetic Fields. Although I was there
to see headliners Yo La Tengo (one of my favorite currently-active bands..)
IMHO the show was stolen by opening act Magnetic Fields. Songwriter Stephen
Merritt's songs were so good I just had to buy a couple of his albums at
the show and I've listened to "The Charm of the Highway Strip" three times
since returning from the concert last night and it's *still* growing on me.
As much as I like Yo La Tengo I have to admin that "Charm.." far outshines
their current release ("I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One") Lest I give
the impression that I was unhappy witht the YLT portion of the show, I should
note that they played a good set, mostly material from their current album
and "Painful" (along with a couple of odd cover choices in the encores.
"Borstal Breakout" and "Sheena is a Punk Rocker Now"? What can I say, they
were in a loud mood last night..) Also nice was the fact that they hung
around the T-shirt table and chatted with fans members for quite a while
before the show began and seemed like a really nice bunch of people...
The high-point of the show was an extended jam on "Blue Line Swinger" from
their "Electr-o-Pura" album -- definitely a track that works better live.
Anyways, on the strength of the show and album listens I strongly recommend
the Magnetic Fields album but give the current Yo La Tengo a mixed review.
YLT beginners are advised to start with "Painful" or "Electr-o-Pura" instead.
Tuesday night the Ark had a free concert by Capitol recording artist Jeb Loy Nichols and despite (or perhaps because of) my busyness with schoolwork lately I decided to take a break and go to the concert. I found it pretty enjoyasble, well worth my time and more than worth the cost of admission :-) I'm not sure I'd ever be a really big fan but the music worked well in the small club setting and the performance was worth seeing.
Went to see Celia Cruz at Hill Auditorium tonight. Billed as
"the Queen of Salsa" Cruz is definitely one of the superstars
of latin music.. Although I'm not overly familiar with the genre
the show was great -- high energy and a crowd-pleaser. Kudos,
also, to the opening act, Jose Alberto ('El Canario') and his
orchestra -- they were really very good.. Well worth the $10
I paid for a ticket this morning, the show was undersold and
the University Musical Society was dumping tickets at a substantial
student discount. I'm going to have to be on the lookout for
similar deals in the future..
Just got back from my second Super Sugar show in the past week (I recently saw them for the first time on Halloween night in a tiny bar in downtown Gainesville). They played the Brick City Music Hall tonight, and as they did on Halloween night, they rocked! I've never heard anything so funky. Really! They were kind of a combination of Parliment funk, Curtis Mayfield funk, and Beastie Boys funk, although this description can't *begin* to describe their sound truly accurately. The $6 price was very much worth it. You simply cannot listen to these guys and sit still. They will move you. The makeup of the band is guitar, electric bass, drummer, percussionist (bongos, congas, cowbells, etc.), electric organ, baritone sax, alto sax/flute, and a guy scratching on two turntables (no, he didn't have a microphone). Everyone but the guy on the turntables and the guitarist sang (incredible harmonies). The first time I saw them, they did two covers (that I recognized), _Jungle Boogie_ and _Frankenstein_ (their version of _Frankenstein_ completely blows away Edgar Winters' version in my opinion). Tonight, they ended the show with _Frankenstein_. I'm still perspiring. Can't wait to see them in two weeks, when they return to The Brick.
The Ann Arborite feels so left out.... Do they have any albums out, that you know of?
Yes, Dan, as a matter of fact. At both shows, they were selling copies of their first ( and only so far ) album. As soon as I have some money, I'm getting a copy. But from what I've heard, Dan, the Ann Arbor music scene is chocked full of wonderful live music. They have a web page up with a little info on the group, including dates (none, that I'm aware of in the Michigan area, I'm afraid).
Yeah, we've got great live music, but I'd still like to hear this group...I'll keep an eye out.
Well, tonight starts a three night stand for Super Sugar at two different Gainesville clubs. I'll give a review of all three shows over the weekend, Dan.
I saw "Squirrel Nut Zippers" in Pontiac last night. It was a really good show. They started a little sloppy but played so much enthusiasm that most of the people on the packed Cluth Cargo dance floor were dancing. I guess you could say they are retro brassband/dixeland, but they don't play with the siffness that so many retro groups seem to fall prey to. It was really fun and they had the whole club stamping their feet for an encore. They eneded with an early (1919) New Orleans brass band song that all members of the band took wild solos on.
I haven't seen anyone lately, but just so everyone knows, on June 7th (the day before my birthday) the Majestic Theatre will feature Projekct Two with Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, and Trey Gunn. Enough advance notice? Maybe a grexpedition? Don't know the price, just saw the ad in the Metro Times.
Wow, I'm interested!
Hmmm.. Sounds interesting, though you never know what you're going to get when Fripp's involved.. I can envision that show involving really intricate, enjoyable guitar compositions played by three very skilled guitarists (about 90% likely) or I can see it being a long and painful experimental Frippertronics-style guitar feedback fest (about 9% likely..) About the only thing I can't see it being is ordinary and un-noteworthy. Still, I'd really rather see the former show than the latter.. If anyone finds any information what they're up to on this current tour I'd like to know.
Belew and Fripp are both great, and Trey Gunn is...er...great by association if nothing else. I'll bite. A grexpedition is definitely in order.
OK, who is Trey Gunn, and what makes this different than King Crimson Mark Whatever?
Trey Gunn is one of the people they tacked onto the side of the '80s King Crimson to make the current incarnation. Him and Pat Someoneorother. (not his real name) I think the difference is that only half of them are there. Who knows...
Trey Gunn started participating in Fripp projects as a member of Fripp's "League of Crafty Guitarists" and has been associated with several subsequent projects, including the latest King Crimson lineup, besides doing his own solo albums on Fripp's record label. He can usually be found playing a guitar-like instrument called the Chapman Stick (or just "stick".) Drummer Pat Mastelotto was the other addition to the latest Crimson lineup. My guess is that what will chiefly distinguish this from a King Crimson show is that it's likely to be a different style of music -- Fripp likes to keep his various projects compartmentalized under seperate names even when they consist of mostly the same musicians..
King Crimson itself seems to be the one exception to that, having been the title for bands with heaps of different styles. (Although I remember hearing that the 80s incarnation was originally called Discipline instead of King Crimson, which would make sense)
The two Fripp incarnations I saw were League of Gentlemen, and the Discipline-era band. Ack, that was a long time ago.
What was League of Gentlemen like? Heard _of_, but never _heard_ them.
They were a *dance* band, if you can believe it.
Kind of odd.. Hard to describe.. I think their music sounds quite dated now, in that unflattering way that much of the stuff made in the early 80s tends to do..
Oh dear...oh dear...
I have seen 2 really good concerts in the last week. The first one was Kristen Hersh. She used to sing with the band "The Throwing Muses," now she sings solo with an acoustic guitar. Her performence at the Ark was superb her voice and sinig were right on and she played for over an hour and a half non-stop. She played with her usual fine muscianship switching fluidly from flat picking to finger picking to strummimg, and her voice soared. All this was aided by the Arks clear well mixed PA. I had seen her in Pontiac last year and it wasn't as enjoyable because the sound system was muddy. The second show I saw was Poingnt Plecostomos with 3 middle eastern oud and percussion players. The interaction between Plecostomos anf the oud players was intense they exchanged modal riffs back and forth and would flow from klezmer to middle eastern to Irish music without sounding forced. Keep an eye on Plecostomos they shall famous some day.
Wow. I've seen some great live music recently. About three weeks ago, at the Covered Dish in Gainesville, I saw The Rebirth Jazz Band. These cats are from New Orleans. All acoustic. They've got a guy wearing one of those marching band bass drums...the other drummer is wearing a snare drum with cymbol attached...they've got a tuba player, two trombonists, two trumpets, and a bari sax. These guys could have marched all around the club while they were playing. They played the fattest, sickest, grooviest, ass shaking funk I've ever heard. I have *never* heard anyone play tuba anything remotely like that. They are a New Orleans staple, and regularly play two different clubs in that town. If anyone is ever in the N.O. area, I *highly* recommend checking them out. Another good show I saw just last week was a kind of impromptu jam session at The Market Street Brewpub. This is the only place in Gainesville (a rather large college town), where you can hear straight ahead jazz (bebop, hard bop, modial, etc.). Three UF music professors and a friend of theirs performed for the second time ever together (I missed the first time). They played about 3-4 hours of straight ahead jazz versions of tunes from musicals, icluding stuff like: the title song from Alice in Wonderland, _My Favorite Things_, and _Something's Coming_ from West Side Story. They say they might start doing this regularly, and I'll be there (especially when there's delicious Market Street Porter to drink).
Saw two good shows this week...:) First one was Three Men & A Tenor at the Power Center....GREAT SHOW!!!! They are furst of all great to listen to on tape, but they just have so much fun on stage, you just have to sit there and laugh and enjoy yourself...they were very funny, sang incredibly well, and knew how to deal with their audiance....:) The second show I saw was Metallica....I don't know if theis scares me or not, but...:) It was pretty good....I'm not a huge fan of Metallica, but other then that I really enjoyed myself. :)
Well, went to Jonathan Edwards at the Ark on Sunday the 12th. Was very good -- he has great stage presence, and a bunch of charisma, with a self-deprecating wit. The songs were surprisingly varied -- he does a fantastic a cappella "This Island Earth" and several of his songs were with a nineteenth-century flavour, which is refreshing in a modern singer-songwriter. His fans are very loyal, and I can see why. Much more to this man than "Sunshine". ,
Hey, I was there, too. I was the one feeding him lines from the front row.
Ah HA! Grin. I was the person selling memberships. So, what did you think of the concert?
I always like his shows; I've seen him 5 or 6 times. This one was extremely mellow. I enjoyed it a lot, but was hoping for a bit more fun.
Wahoo! I just found out that Medeski Martin and Wood are coming to Gainesville in December. This is the concert I've been waiting my whole life to see. I -will- give a detailed review after the show. See you in December (possibly sooner, though).
I saw Liz Phair at Clutch Cargos tonight. it was great. I was about 15 feet away from the stage, I did have earplugs luckily. She did a really cool show. Great versions of some of my favorate songs. damn that was cool.
Oh... live music... well, I got to see the Tannahill Weavers about a week and a half ago, and Dick Gaughan on Wednesday, and I'll be seeing Greg Bown tonight, and Archie Fisher on Sunday... and that's it for a while... Until the 20th of Nov, I think.... As for the concerts so far --- they were good. The Tannahill Weavers were just fantastic, very energetic and fun, although I spent most of the show trading gossip and such with the flute player's wife. (And some of that was pretty funny and fun.) Dick Gaughan played two of my favourite songs of his -- "52 Black Vincent" and "The Snows they Melt the Soonest" as well as told stories and was generally charming and informative about Scottish history. I like him more and more each time I see him.
he's a guitarist, right?
Plays guitar and sings.
Gaughan's guitar playing tends to go somewhat under-noticed, I think. On album, I believe he played most of the really yummy guitar-as- bagpipe parts on the old Five Hand Reel LPs from the late 1970s. He hardly touched an electric again for years, near as I can tell; he played the Ark with an electric back a few years ago, and he played some electric guitar on some of the tune sets on the Clan Alba album. He's done one pure instrumental acoustic guitar album, COPPERS AND BRASS, which was reissued in a middling quality edition on Green Linnet.
oh...i think i have a performance of his on one of my green linnet comps...."Song for Ireland" ? if so he's a powerful fingerstyle player.
Wow, I have a lot of reviewing to do for all the shows I saw this summer. I'll do them short, and in chronological order. Moody Blues, 6-19-98 okay, I'm not a huge fan, and got the tickets for free, you could tell they had aged.. but they sounded pretty good. Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, 6-25-98 Wow. That sums it up, this was a great concert, the second time I've seen them perform live, but this time I was a little older and more able to appreciate it. Ani DiFraco, 6-29-98 This show is in competition with HORDE fest as being my favorite show of the summer. I loved it, and that's about all there is to say about that w/o writing pages. Third Eye Blind/Eve six, 7-5-98 I liked this show a lot more than I thought I would, I went with my sister, who *really* wanted to go, but ended up really enjoying it myself, they put on a really good show (both bands), and I was planning on seeing them when they came to A2 recently, but didn't. Lilith Fair, 7-8-98 I wasn't too impressed with Lilith Fair, Tracy Bonham, Me'shell Nedegacello (botched spelling), Natalie Merchant, and Sarah Mclaghlan played the night I went, Sarah Mclaughlan was good, Natalie Merchant was good considering I don't usually like her music. HORDE festival, 7-19-98 EVERYTHING about this show was awesome, Alana Davis was wonderful, Ben Harper as well, Blues Traveller (who I'm generally not crazy for) were great.... and the Barenaked Ladies.... My favorite.. I finally got to see them live, and were certainly not a dissapointment (tremendously understated). What made everything even better, we had row M seats...
Went to go see Mary Jane Lammond last night....WONDERFUL!!!! ,-She sings only in Scots Gaelic, has a great sense of humour, and had a wonderful rocking backup band, that included a young lady by the name of Wendy Mac Issac (Ashley Mac Issac's cousin), that fiddled like a dream. :) All in all a sonderful concert, even though the seats were maybe half filled. :(
Well, back to me, then....:) Hath nobody seen a concert? Last night I went and saw Cry, Cry, Cry at the Ark. For those of you who have ignored the rest of my cheerful ranting on them, it is a trio formed by Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplansky, and Richard Shindell. Opening for them was Cliff Ebberhardt...and what an opener he was!!! Just him and a guitar, completely rocking. Would very much go see him in concert agin. :) Cry, Cry,Cry started out kinda slow (a little depressing since it means that they botched a little the very first song, which is one of those that is great, or awful), But the energy picked up as they went. They played everything off their album, plus a few others, including Auld Lang Syne, and one by each songwriter. :) Once again, I am reminded that Dar behind a mic comes out sounding like an entertaining flake....but there were some GREAT talks between songs. Next month's review: Solas. :)
Darn. I wanted to go see that show -- I got the album, and it's FANTASTIC. I've seen Dar alone live, and she's okay, but the three of them together, at least on the album, are rocking.
The song that they started with, that wa a bit botched, was Running with the Devil....the Leslie Smith Song....I was kinda bummed. But you did miss a really good concert...it was also, however, sold out.
Well, I was waiting a few days to see if Mark stuck something in here, but since he hasn't, I'll od it. :) Went and saw Solas in concert on Monday night. EXCELLENT concert!!! (For those of you who don't know them, they are an Irish band...good stuff!) Their music ran from reels to jigs to airs and stuff with singing, and everything inbetween. :) Their singer has a wonderful voice, although I think that she might have had a cold....she was coughing a bit in the middle sof songs. (The concert was also origionally scheduled for last Friday, and then was changed at the last minute...we think that might have been why.) They re-did a Woody Guthrie song (Pastures of Plenty) in such a way that Woody would probably have never done (and boy was it great! :) We were sitting extreme stage left (On the left hand side of the left side of the stage), so all we really got to see was Seamus Egan (banjo, flutes, whistles), and Mick McAuley (some flutes, mostly concertina). It was amazing...I don't think tht I've ever seen anybodys fingers move so fast, and just the thought of making mine move that fast makes them hurt. :) The rest of the band was Karan Casey (the singer...great voice :), John Doyle (Guitarist...he was standing in green light at one point, and bobbing up and down, and I thought htat he looked like a moving piece of broccoli! yike!), and Winifred Horan (fiddle - Moved just as fast as everybody else....just WOW!) Definately looking forward to their next concert, but in the meantime, I've got one of their albums, have to find the other two, and my boss has them, plus she has their live video. Like Irish music? DEFFINATELY find this stuff!!! I realize this wasn't much of a review, but oh well....:)
Oh, well, actually, they had booked accidentally here and in Philadelphia for the original night. I'm bummed that I missed them, although I do have two of their albums already.
I missed Solas? Darn. I have to pay more attention. Argh. (eeyore, I love your reviews, please keep bringing them to us!)
well, wait until April...then you get Christine Lavin and Great Big Sea, plus whoever else we manage to see...We're thinking about Ceili Rain (even though we've never even heard of them...but with a name like that, how could we go wrong!! :) and maybe Lucy Kaplansky & Susan McKeowan...that will depend on if I can afford to go. :) Oh, and probably Suzanne Westenhoefer and Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women. The people that I've been going with want to see them, so...well just make it a weekend at the ark. :) (those two are April 29th and 30th, and Great Big Sea are on May 1st. :) Happy Ark-going Meg. :) Twila: Do you have their newest? (My favorite of the bunch), and they also had a live video for sale...so far, I've only seen the first bit, but it's pretty good. :)
((Ceili Rain have a CD in the listening bins at Borders, if I remember correctly. I think it's back along the "Rock - A" section.))
Hmmm...may have to see if I can get there to check it out....:)
Yeppers, I'm pretty sure it is -- "The Words that Remain".
I rechecked at Borders and confirmed that the play-station copy of the Ceili Rain disc is in the "Rock- B" section, right near the Boo Radleys. I listened to some of it again and confirmed my previous impression: I like their instrumental settings, but I can't stand the singer; his voice is somewhat high and thin.
Last night, I saw Negativland at Clutch Cargo in Pontiac. They were set up
in the lower floor. My friends and I grabbed some couch space, which was
fortunate since the band (are they a band or a group of perfomance artists?)
asked everyone to be seated. Once everyone sat down, the concert began.
I loved the mix of film loops, sound samples, video images and music blended
into a wonderful wall of sound. I particularly loved the songs aimed at
commercials, especially the Pepsi song ("I got fired from my job. PEPSI.")
They also did a bizarre remix of "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music.
("Wild geese wrapped in blue satin noodles. Wild young girls tied up with
string. These are a few of my favorite thing.") I hope that appears in a
future CD release. "This sentence is false" was another great blend of words
and music that I hope to hear again.
The concert had 2 sets and an encore. The first set began with the "Christian
testimonial." The second set began with a bizarre Christian puppet show led
by Pastor Dick, who talked about the evils of secular Hawaiian music and
nitrous oxide.
Their encore was very fun. They pulled out a projector and had the audience
read along to Casey Kasem's soundclip used in "The Letter U and the Number
2."
Overall, this is one of the best concerts I've seen in a while. The concert
was technically brilliant. The performance was memorable. I'm going to buy
more of their CDs now, so I can enjoy them more often.
Tuesday night I saw longtime favorites Yo La Tengo at the Showbox, a mid-sized concert venue in downtown Seattle. Earlier in the day the temperature had reached a sweltering 90 degrees in a city which doesn't normally have to cope with a lot of that kind of weather, so the inside of the theater was a bit hot and stuffy. The concert was good, though I've seen them do better (this is the fifth time I've seen them..) Part of the problem may have been me -- I may have been put off by a foul day at work and the heat in the theater. Certainly they did a fine job on most of what they played. Considering that they'd just returned from England's Glastonbury festival and then, flown straight to Seattle, I'm willing to forgive a less-brilliant-than normal performance from them. Nevertheless, based on this and past performances, I'd recommend their live performances to anyone interested in the band -- they typically put on a good show, have an excellent rapport with the crowd, cover a substantial selection of both new material and back catalog, and traditionally wind up the show with a couple of encores' worth of obscure covers and crowd requests. [for the record, their obscure cover this time around was "The Shape of Things to Come", which I believe is from the movie "Wild in the Streets" and was anthologized in the "Nuggets" collection.. Last time I saw them they covered the song "Love Power" from "The Producers"(?)]
Last night was a free Sloan show at the Tastefest in the New Center area of Detroit. I've been a long time semi-fan of Sloan. I've always liked the stuff I've heard on the radio, and the little other stuff of theirs that I had heard. In spite of this, I've never ventured to the CD store to pick up any of their stuff. the concert was excellent. I suspect that about 1/2 of the people at the concert didn't really know much about Sloan, or had never heard them, as no one seemed especially enthused at the begining. I almost felt bad for the band since they were having a hard time geting people to clap and all that other jazz. By the end of the concert they pretty much had the audience, everyone was clapping and yelling and having a good time. One of the people I was with had seen them 9 times before... some people are die-hard Sloan fans, and now I can see why. They played a wide variety of material, a lot of their older stuff, a good mix of radio hits and other album bits. Sloan comes highly recommended by me.
I see the Sloan name on urinal valves quite a bit.
I've flirted with the idea of buying a Sloan album for several years now but have never gotten around to it. You hear a fair amount of their stuff on Canadian radio but they've got almost no fan base in the States, at least away from the border.. What was the Sloan song they were overplaying on 89X for years? "Underwhelmed"?
I never noticed it getting overplayed, but youre probably thinking of the same song.
Well, overplayed in the sense of "I sure wish they'd choose something else by this band rather than play the same song every time.."
(that's the song.)
We went to the Ark a few weeks ago to hear the Stick people. Chapman, that is. Some pretty cool stuff. Started with a 3pc group whose name escapes me, very good lead guitar, zen drummer and stick player, followed by Greg Howard, one of the best in the midwest. There were gasps from the audience during his performance. Amazing what can come out of a 10 string instrument. He was followed by the Michigan Stick Trio, local guys. While waiting for the next band to play, Steve Osborne treated us to the Star Spangled Banner, played on a theramin. We clapped anyway. CD3 followed, with their jazzy kind of music, to my feeling more European style than American. To finish the show, all nine workshop participants got on stage at the same time(setting a record for 'most strings on the Ark stage at one time', 100 I believe) and played a piece composed during the last half hour of the workshop. Very melodic and fun. My wife came home from work the other day and told me she had picked up tickets for Asleep at the Wheel for Saturday night. I can hardly wait!
Two concerts in two nights. First, Queensryche/Iron Maiden (and Halford, but we missed it). Price: FREE... we got company passes through a friend. Value: Worth free. Heh. Seriously, it's been a while since we've been to the Knob, and I remember why. Concessions are excessively geared to booze, the concerts now start well before sundown (so light shows are dull). The bands were all right, but there wasn't a lot of interaction with the audience. Which brings us to... Cowboy Mouth wsg Angry Salad and Leisure McCorkle. I have yet to figure out where Fred LeBlanc gets his energy. He's drummer, lead singer for most of the songs, and general cheerleader, and the only band member who doesn't seem to take water or rest breaks. He's right there, out in front with his drum kit, yelling at the audience for two hours to keep up the noise or he'll stop playing... an utter madman, even for a drummer. And the music is excellent -- better-tha-average when recorded, much more spirited pop-rock colored with New Orleans jazz.
stupid Grex killed two lines at the end... >the music is excellent -- better-tha-average when recorded, much more spirited >live. The opening bands, as before, were adequate (I'd seen Cowboy Mouth some >time back wsg Everything), but cowboy Mouth makes the show. (The style is >pop-rock colored with New Orleans jazz.)
(Angry Salad... I believe they played NMU last year.)
Had a fab time at the Ark last Sunday for the Asleep at the Wheel show. Leader Ray Benson played a great guitar, the rest of the the six piece band really cooked. Even played 'Hot Rod Lincoln' with a Carlos Santana like solo. Mentioned something to the effect that "carlos is a 'good old boy', but he can't sing". I picked up a cd from the early days at the table in the back. It features a pretty long interview w/ Ray about the history of the band. Even got his autograph on it and the cover from an old cassette I brought along.
resp:74 -- What exactly is a "zen drummer"? <avoids 'one hand clapping' jokes>
It's a shiny plastic thing with large buttons on it. It uses MIDI to trigger various drum/percussion sounds. Straps on like a guitar, I think.
Ah. Like the thing "Future Man" of the Flecktones plays?
I think it's the same thing, yeah.
Pretty close to the same thing, tho the zen drum doesn't have a neck of any sort. The zen drum is an 'off the shelf' type of thing, whereas future man's instrument is of his own creation, with LOTS more stuff in/on it.
Marlee MacLeod, Crazy Wisdom Bookstore & Tea Room, April 27 2001: My expectations were vastly exceeded. I was a bit worried, because on her recordings Marlee plays mostly electric guitar with a standard rock band, but for this show it was just her and an acoustic guitar. But her guitar picking was consistently interesting, and her voice, I just fall into it. (She's originally from Georgia, maybe it's the accent.) In some senses it reminded me of a Richard Thompson acoustic show, hearing all these band songs in stripped down versions. Mostly she played the songs from the new album, and I almost might have liked them better this way. For Jim Roll (the Ann Arbor musician who brought the PA) and me, she agreed to tackle her song "Mata Hari Dress," one of her loudest rockers, which she doesn't usually do in the solo shows. "The drum solo goes here!" she said, thumping on the acoustic guitar a bit. I also learned that the song "Geronimo," from her out-of-print album VERTIGO, was originally written by The Dashboard Saviors, who I had never heard of before. Ah, what a voice; what soaring, what a sustain. I'm still flying. This was such an unexpected treat; I only found out about this show less than 24 hours before it happened. Thanks to Tim Ryan for coming out and joining me.
sounds awesome ken!
(and Rye/mspiggy tells me she was sitting right in front of me and I didn't recognize her...)
bummer.
i was at the detroit electronic music festival this weekend. some good stuff. saw mogwai and bardo pond last week. excellent show. concert i want to see more than anything in the world and cant: in london, this july: beck is opening for radiohead. aaaaaahhhhh..if only.
I got to hear about seventy-five seconds of the DEMF while stopped at the traffic light near Hart Plaza. After grilling me re: what, who, etc, I promised my 9 yr old we'll go next year. (We were heading to the zoo, and didn't think grandma would have been into it)
personally, i wouldnt take a kid. unfortunatly. maybe for awhile during the early part of the day...lots and lots of raver kids on drugs, some fights... i had fun, and the music was great, but i know i wont be taking my kid down there anytime soon. (she's 8)
Well, duh! I wouldn't take myself at night. But a few hours during the day might be cool. And Very sober.
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