Saturday, December 17, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Suck It and See
Oh, an abundance of lewd puns won't stop spinning around in my head on this one. But all I can say is that I don't have to think of any clever ways to expend the english language because we have Alex Turner to do that for us and that, my dears, is one of the grandest things about this, the Arctic Monkey's 4th album. Released six months ago, I hurry to write the review so it can be at least current to the year and I wish I had listened to the album earlier quite frankly. I have always enjoyed the Arctic Monkeys (particularly fond of Flourescent Adolescent and Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not)but it is this latest album that truly sent me under the spell of the Sheffield gents once and for all.
Black Treacle is simply perfection and is smartly the second song on the album just after She's Thunderstorms. One of the reasons why it took me so long to fall under the hypnotic voice of Alex and the magnetic pull of the Arctic Monkey's music is because the lyrics are so male-centric. You know, men waxing on about their frustration, obsession and tribulation surrounding the female sex. It was Man's Music.[insert beer propelled burp here] I admit that John Mayer's "Your Body is a Wonderland" is a good song, for example, but I don't want to listen to it. I know my body is a wonderland and I'm glad you find it mesmerizing, as it should be. A song about it is nice but really, not necessary. Mayer's "Daughters" is a thoughtful and poetic description of a certain woman's state and it goes even further by declaring a deep truth about women in general that is rarely seen in a pop song. It's beautifully done but really, I don't need to peer into the sometimes perplexing window of a womans' psyche because, well, I am a perplexing window, I mean (cough, cough)...a woman myself. Again, this is for others not me. I bring that up because She's Thunderstorms, although very different in an Arctic Monkeys kind of way, is similarly a poetic metaphor waxing on about the female psyche, something that other men,confirmed bisexuals or frustrated lesbians could certainly form entire Psychological Associations on trying to understand. And considering John Mayer's track record with women, he doesn't understand very much at all. But my disinterest in the entire subject is perhaps point proof that I am inherently heterosexual.
Having said all that, Black Treacle's lyrics are the best lyrics I have heard in a single song in years. It's an art putting together good lyrics and Turner may hitherto be called the Master of Metaphor as far as I am concerned. The listener is simultaneously baffled by and yet completely understands his metaphors, case in point being the first three described in just the first stanza.("Lately I've been seeing things...bellybutton piercings, in the sky at night when we're side by side.And I dont mean to rain on anybody's cabaret, one of those games your gonna lose but you wanna play it just in case.") And that's just the first stanza, people! Even the title of the song is genius. The word 'treacle' immediately summons up the conversation between the dormouse and Alice in Lewis Carroll's masterpiece, one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite books of all time. Whenever else do you hear the word 'treacle' used in everyday language?
I have understood over the years that there are great melody makers (Paul McCartney, for example, is certainly this) and there are great lyricists. The two gifts aren't usually manifested in the same person or, unfortunately, even in the same band. "It is now to time to make it unclear" Cobain confessed in his song 'On a Plain' because sometimes the unclarity of it is what makes the lyric mysterious and compelling. Fortunately, Cobain never muddled the meanings enough for it to get annoying and I consider him one of those rare artists who was both a great lyricist and melody maker, a rare combination of gifts shared by only an exclusive few musical geniuses the world has had the pleasure to serve up, such as Lou Reed, John Lennon [all bow] and now Alex Turner. On the other hand, if you're really lacking, and you can't at all wow them with beautiful and compelling lyrics , you can always confuse the listener with sheer indecipherability. This is lame, of course, something Brad Pitt would do in Guy Ritchie movies to make up for the fact he can't do a British accent worth donkeyshit. I am laughing right now and if you have seen 'Lock, Stock and Two Barrels,' then I am sure you are laughing too. All I can do is echo the famous line, "You can fool some of them some of the time, but you can't fool all of them all of the time!"
Another beloved lyric on the Arctic Monkey album that I just have to mention because it is a favorite is "I heard the news that you're plannin', to shoot me out of a cannon" from Piledriver Waltz, track 9. This is an overall great song with unforgettable imagery and metaphor. I have to laugh with glee every time Turner sings it. I think I'm in love.
Another track which finds a special place in my heart is "That's Where You're Wrong" because it could have been made in the 1980's during the New Wave era and no one would be the wiser. It's a fantastic and perfect New Wave tune that brings me straight back to art student collegiate days where despite looking like the missing fifth member of Bauhaus, I was actually a very happy goth once I was with my friends and properly medicated. My friends and I would listen to The Church, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order and Modern English...bands that this song reminds me of immediately. All of a sudden I'm 20 again...and that's a wonderful thing in small bytes.
In short, ladies and gentlemen, the LP is a true classic despite having the built-in anti-promotion feature of a seriously unspeakable title. I can't exactly run around town yelling "Suck It and See!" now can I? Despite this, it is indeed one of those albums where every damn song on the entire disk is a winner. Like the first time I heard The Strokes 'Is This It', The Libertines 'Up the Bracket'or every Beatles album that ever existed. If you don't own this CD, you should.
The band has matured and it's a beautiful thing. What other gems are forthcoming from these epic troubadours, pray tell? I bask in the possibilities. But meanwhile, I am quite happy to gaze up at the black treacle...as long as the Arctic Monkeys are playing in the background. [end]
Black Treacle is simply perfection and is smartly the second song on the album just after She's Thunderstorms. One of the reasons why it took me so long to fall under the hypnotic voice of Alex and the magnetic pull of the Arctic Monkey's music is because the lyrics are so male-centric. You know, men waxing on about their frustration, obsession and tribulation surrounding the female sex. It was Man's Music.[insert beer propelled burp here] I admit that John Mayer's "Your Body is a Wonderland" is a good song, for example, but I don't want to listen to it. I know my body is a wonderland and I'm glad you find it mesmerizing, as it should be. A song about it is nice but really, not necessary. Mayer's "Daughters" is a thoughtful and poetic description of a certain woman's state and it goes even further by declaring a deep truth about women in general that is rarely seen in a pop song. It's beautifully done but really, I don't need to peer into the sometimes perplexing window of a womans' psyche because, well, I am a perplexing window, I mean (cough, cough)...a woman myself. Again, this is for others not me. I bring that up because She's Thunderstorms, although very different in an Arctic Monkeys kind of way, is similarly a poetic metaphor waxing on about the female psyche, something that other men,confirmed bisexuals or frustrated lesbians could certainly form entire Psychological Associations on trying to understand. And considering John Mayer's track record with women, he doesn't understand very much at all. But my disinterest in the entire subject is perhaps point proof that I am inherently heterosexual.
Having said all that, Black Treacle's lyrics are the best lyrics I have heard in a single song in years. It's an art putting together good lyrics and Turner may hitherto be called the Master of Metaphor as far as I am concerned. The listener is simultaneously baffled by and yet completely understands his metaphors, case in point being the first three described in just the first stanza.("Lately I've been seeing things...bellybutton piercings, in the sky at night when we're side by side.And I dont mean to rain on anybody's cabaret, one of those games your gonna lose but you wanna play it just in case.") And that's just the first stanza, people! Even the title of the song is genius. The word 'treacle' immediately summons up the conversation between the dormouse and Alice in Lewis Carroll's masterpiece, one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite books of all time. Whenever else do you hear the word 'treacle' used in everyday language?
I have understood over the years that there are great melody makers (Paul McCartney, for example, is certainly this) and there are great lyricists. The two gifts aren't usually manifested in the same person or, unfortunately, even in the same band. "It is now to time to make it unclear" Cobain confessed in his song 'On a Plain' because sometimes the unclarity of it is what makes the lyric mysterious and compelling. Fortunately, Cobain never muddled the meanings enough for it to get annoying and I consider him one of those rare artists who was both a great lyricist and melody maker, a rare combination of gifts shared by only an exclusive few musical geniuses the world has had the pleasure to serve up, such as Lou Reed, John Lennon [all bow] and now Alex Turner. On the other hand, if you're really lacking, and you can't at all wow them with beautiful and compelling lyrics , you can always confuse the listener with sheer indecipherability. This is lame, of course, something Brad Pitt would do in Guy Ritchie movies to make up for the fact he can't do a British accent worth donkeyshit. I am laughing right now and if you have seen 'Lock, Stock and Two Barrels,' then I am sure you are laughing too. All I can do is echo the famous line, "You can fool some of them some of the time, but you can't fool all of them all of the time!"
Another beloved lyric on the Arctic Monkey album that I just have to mention because it is a favorite is "I heard the news that you're plannin', to shoot me out of a cannon" from Piledriver Waltz, track 9. This is an overall great song with unforgettable imagery and metaphor. I have to laugh with glee every time Turner sings it. I think I'm in love.
Another track which finds a special place in my heart is "That's Where You're Wrong" because it could have been made in the 1980's during the New Wave era and no one would be the wiser. It's a fantastic and perfect New Wave tune that brings me straight back to art student collegiate days where despite looking like the missing fifth member of Bauhaus, I was actually a very happy goth once I was with my friends and properly medicated. My friends and I would listen to The Church, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order and Modern English...bands that this song reminds me of immediately. All of a sudden I'm 20 again...and that's a wonderful thing in small bytes.
In short, ladies and gentlemen, the LP is a true classic despite having the built-in anti-promotion feature of a seriously unspeakable title. I can't exactly run around town yelling "Suck It and See!" now can I? Despite this, it is indeed one of those albums where every damn song on the entire disk is a winner. Like the first time I heard The Strokes 'Is This It', The Libertines 'Up the Bracket'or every Beatles album that ever existed. If you don't own this CD, you should.
The band has matured and it's a beautiful thing. What other gems are forthcoming from these epic troubadours, pray tell? I bask in the possibilities. But meanwhile, I am quite happy to gaze up at the black treacle...as long as the Arctic Monkeys are playing in the background. [end]
SUCK IT AND SEE review.
Ah, that Alex Turner. He's laughing all the way to the bank at this one. But this album is so doggone good, I feel morally obligated to write a review about it. It's in the works now. So Check Back and See.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
The Strokes fourth album "ANGLES" in stores now!
As is the pattern, Angles, the Strokes' fourth album, is the farthest departure from their debut lp, "This Is It," which riveted the hearts and ears of millions when it was released in 2001. Most of us consider "Is This It" their 'defining' album and "Room on Fire," First Impressions of Earth," and "Angles" as follow-ups to their initial masterpiece. We fans hang on like a devoted spouse, looking back at the honeymoon with reverie and longing because we're not sure who it is we are with anymore.
On the other hand, isn't it unfair of us to call "Is This It" their defining album when the Strokes have clearly been trying to slip out from under this style brand like an ox trying to slip out of its burdensome yoke? Furthermore, a band can hardly define itself with one album. The Formula** is to produce four albums minimum that sound more-or-less the same in order to firmly define a 'signature sound' [the public are slow learners] and in the interim, conquer the entire world from Katmandu to Kuala Lumpur where I am sure there is a guy right now wearing an AC/DC t-shirt.
Like confused tourists, The Strokes drive right by the Taj Majal and stop at a greasy spoon three buildings past, not realizing the greatness that had been right there before them. But if you were on court-ordered house arrest in the Taj, even that would feel like a prison. In other words, perspective is reality. And that's all each of us has to go by.
" Under Cover of Darkness " is the best song on the album in my opinion but I can't shake the image of Julian thinking placatingly, "Let's just put this track on Angles to make all those "Is This It" junkies happy." What is it about the fan base that makes us want to hear just more of the same? Do we have one track minds because we are mindlessly myopic or because we appreciate the subtle nuances of a focused study? Can you imagine Monet if , after the first couple waterlily paintings, he said to himself," Bah humbug with the waterlilies," and henceforth decided to paint a different piece of furniture with each subsequent painting until the end of his time? My feeling is that although this may have fulfilled some unnamed artistic personal mission, it would have surely plunged him into obscurity. Part of the beauty of his body of work is in the disciplined study of recapturing the same thing; the commitment and dedication to the capture itself. It's like when I saw the Who in Maui in 2004 and they were playing "My Generation" and the other same songs that they've been playing for 40 years. I thought to myself, "They must be so doggone sick of playing these songs. How do they do it?" But there was obviously such love in the work, meaning, the love for the fans and all the rewards that go with it. We all went absolutely wild. It was such sweet satisfaction. "Give the people what they want!" as Red Skelton, The Kinks and even Jimmy Cliff have famously said. But not everyone wants to play the Super Bowl......or do they?
The first track on Angles is Machu Picchu and might be described as a song with an 80's feel accompanied by flourishes. Track 3, Two Kinds of Happiness, starts out sounding a bit like a Cure era song but quickly launches into a Tom Petty sort of groove and then switches rapidly again into yet more metamorphosis. I even caught a few nuances of The Cars in both the chords and crooning in this song. The song could aptly be described as a very interesting journey. Your'e So Right and Taken for a Fool , tracks 4 and 5, follow the same line of experimentation and display Julian's breadth as a vocalist with Taken for a Fool being the better of the two. This good song somehow retains a nice consistency within the varied melody and styles. I loved their performance of this on David Letterman March 30. You can check it out on new.thestrokes.com. Awesome performance. Games, track 6, is an emo song hybrid, wrought with drum machine and synthetic sounds reminiscent of the 80's when artificial music was the thing. Call Me Back, track 7, has a Church/Bauhaus forlorn quality to the intro which is really interesting and surprising but then it switches abruptly and goes in another direction entirely, becoming much more complex. I really like Albert's art piece on the new.thestrokes.com website which accompanies this song. Very beautiful film short for this track. Gratisfaction, which has a Queen influence, feels like something Paul McCartney might have done post Beatles after finishing the 12 studio albums he did with the boys in eight years. Like a goat finally let out of its pen, there's something very Wings about this self-affirming celebratory jam. If Julian and the rest of the band are trying to prove their versatility as musicians, well then they've done that. And I can't help but compare the songs on Angles to other bands because if they're searching for an identity for themselves, then I am too. Especially if they haven't fully established, accepted or recognized their own. I have never felt compelled to do this with any of their other albums.
Metabolism is the least listenable song on the album. Can you even imagine this song ever being played on the radio? But clearly, that is not the end goal for The Strokes. I guess not everyone who can have it necessarily wants wax figures of themselves in Madame Tussaud's Gallery. I personally think it would be kind of cool.
"Life is Simple in the Moonlight" sounds just like themselves doing a bossa nova song. Different and definitely unusual.
DO go buy this album. It's worth it although don't expect to find a brick shaped confectionary in this Pez dispenser. If you're like me, you don't mind if the outside changes color and themes (it's fun to collect them all! ) , but you want the inside to look and taste pretty much the same. There's comfort in familiarity. You may ask the valid question, "How can there be familiarity in "Is This It" and "Room on Fire" -- that's only two albums in their colossal 'four album repertoire.' " The answer is that you play the songs over and over again hundreds of times, something I have done with their first two albums.
In other words, will Garfield eat something different you hand him after you've already introduced him to lasagna? Maybe. Maybe not.
I believe that this band's fan base has never even come close to reaching the full potentiality that it really deserves nor has it musically ever reached the heights of Music World acclaim that it has the ability and talent to pull off. Whose fault?To quote Gregory MaGuire from his best-selling novel 'Wicked,' " Perhaps every accidental cluster of people has a short period of grace, in between the initial shyness and prejudice on the one hand and eventual repugnance and betrayal on the other." Historically, that time frame for rock bands has been eight years on average. After that, you can fire Colonel Tom Parker and get as 'out there' artistically as you want. But let's face it, you can't fire The Colonel if you never even knew him. [end]
**see Elvis, Green Day, REM, the Cure, The Who, Van Halen, and countless other wildly successful and legendary bands....yes,even the Beatles whose first 4 albums, (1) Please Please Me, (2) With the Beatles, (3) Beatlemania! With the Beatles and (4) Introducing...The Beatles sound nearly identical in style.
On the other hand, isn't it unfair of us to call "Is This It" their defining album when the Strokes have clearly been trying to slip out from under this style brand like an ox trying to slip out of its burdensome yoke? Furthermore, a band can hardly define itself with one album. The Formula** is to produce four albums minimum that sound more-or-less the same in order to firmly define a 'signature sound' [the public are slow learners] and in the interim, conquer the entire world from Katmandu to Kuala Lumpur where I am sure there is a guy right now wearing an AC/DC t-shirt.
Like confused tourists, The Strokes drive right by the Taj Majal and stop at a greasy spoon three buildings past, not realizing the greatness that had been right there before them. But if you were on court-ordered house arrest in the Taj, even that would feel like a prison. In other words, perspective is reality. And that's all each of us has to go by.
" Under Cover of Darkness " is the best song on the album in my opinion but I can't shake the image of Julian thinking placatingly, "Let's just put this track on Angles to make all those "Is This It" junkies happy." What is it about the fan base that makes us want to hear just more of the same? Do we have one track minds because we are mindlessly myopic or because we appreciate the subtle nuances of a focused study? Can you imagine Monet if , after the first couple waterlily paintings, he said to himself," Bah humbug with the waterlilies," and henceforth decided to paint a different piece of furniture with each subsequent painting until the end of his time? My feeling is that although this may have fulfilled some unnamed artistic personal mission, it would have surely plunged him into obscurity. Part of the beauty of his body of work is in the disciplined study of recapturing the same thing; the commitment and dedication to the capture itself. It's like when I saw the Who in Maui in 2004 and they were playing "My Generation" and the other same songs that they've been playing for 40 years. I thought to myself, "They must be so doggone sick of playing these songs. How do they do it?" But there was obviously such love in the work, meaning, the love for the fans and all the rewards that go with it. We all went absolutely wild. It was such sweet satisfaction. "Give the people what they want!" as Red Skelton, The Kinks and even Jimmy Cliff have famously said. But not everyone wants to play the Super Bowl......or do they?
The first track on Angles is Machu Picchu and might be described as a song with an 80's feel accompanied by flourishes. Track 3, Two Kinds of Happiness, starts out sounding a bit like a Cure era song but quickly launches into a Tom Petty sort of groove and then switches rapidly again into yet more metamorphosis. I even caught a few nuances of The Cars in both the chords and crooning in this song. The song could aptly be described as a very interesting journey. Your'e So Right and Taken for a Fool , tracks 4 and 5, follow the same line of experimentation and display Julian's breadth as a vocalist with Taken for a Fool being the better of the two. This good song somehow retains a nice consistency within the varied melody and styles. I loved their performance of this on David Letterman March 30. You can check it out on new.thestrokes.com. Awesome performance. Games, track 6, is an emo song hybrid, wrought with drum machine and synthetic sounds reminiscent of the 80's when artificial music was the thing. Call Me Back, track 7, has a Church/Bauhaus forlorn quality to the intro which is really interesting and surprising but then it switches abruptly and goes in another direction entirely, becoming much more complex. I really like Albert's art piece on the new.thestrokes.com website which accompanies this song. Very beautiful film short for this track. Gratisfaction, which has a Queen influence, feels like something Paul McCartney might have done post Beatles after finishing the 12 studio albums he did with the boys in eight years. Like a goat finally let out of its pen, there's something very Wings about this self-affirming celebratory jam. If Julian and the rest of the band are trying to prove their versatility as musicians, well then they've done that. And I can't help but compare the songs on Angles to other bands because if they're searching for an identity for themselves, then I am too. Especially if they haven't fully established, accepted or recognized their own. I have never felt compelled to do this with any of their other albums.
Metabolism is the least listenable song on the album. Can you even imagine this song ever being played on the radio? But clearly, that is not the end goal for The Strokes. I guess not everyone who can have it necessarily wants wax figures of themselves in Madame Tussaud's Gallery. I personally think it would be kind of cool.
"Life is Simple in the Moonlight" sounds just like themselves doing a bossa nova song. Different and definitely unusual.
DO go buy this album. It's worth it although don't expect to find a brick shaped confectionary in this Pez dispenser. If you're like me, you don't mind if the outside changes color and themes (it's fun to collect them all! ) , but you want the inside to look and taste pretty much the same. There's comfort in familiarity. You may ask the valid question, "How can there be familiarity in "Is This It" and "Room on Fire" -- that's only two albums in their colossal 'four album repertoire.' " The answer is that you play the songs over and over again hundreds of times, something I have done with their first two albums.
In other words, will Garfield eat something different you hand him after you've already introduced him to lasagna? Maybe. Maybe not.
I believe that this band's fan base has never even come close to reaching the full potentiality that it really deserves nor has it musically ever reached the heights of Music World acclaim that it has the ability and talent to pull off. Whose fault?To quote Gregory MaGuire from his best-selling novel 'Wicked,' " Perhaps every accidental cluster of people has a short period of grace, in between the initial shyness and prejudice on the one hand and eventual repugnance and betrayal on the other." Historically, that time frame for rock bands has been eight years on average. After that, you can fire Colonel Tom Parker and get as 'out there' artistically as you want. But let's face it, you can't fire The Colonel if you never even knew him. [end]
**see Elvis, Green Day, REM, the Cure, The Who, Van Halen, and countless other wildly successful and legendary bands....yes,even the Beatles whose first 4 albums, (1) Please Please Me, (2) With the Beatles, (3) Beatlemania! With the Beatles and (4) Introducing...The Beatles sound nearly identical in style.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Great interview: Paul McCartney interviewed by Pete Doherty
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/oct/14/popandrock5
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Lollapalooza 2010
LOLLA Day 1:
So I was up at 6am and by 8:30am, I was walking over to Grant Park. By 9am, I was in the box office line (about 11th in line) and made friends with this skinny, extremely white , blond guy sitting next to me who reminded me so much of Michael Cera that for a minute I thought it was him. Once we got to be friends, I made fun of his "moon tan" and he concurred that getting a tan was pretty much a pointless exercise in frustration for him. He was from Hot Springs, or so he said, and since I know Hot Springs, I quizzed him on it and he was totally from Hot Springs. But he was a clone of Michael Cera, I tell you, so I immediately liked him as I am a pretty big fan. We hung out and kept each other mildly entertained with conversation until we finally got our 3 day bracelets and could move over to the next line. At that point, I lost him as I bee-lined over to the Main Entrance as fast as my little legs, which surprisingly swung back into their confident urban swagger almost instantly, could carry me.
This is where it got really fun. Some hilarious , extremely nerdy looking guys ( I didn't ask but they completely looked like IT guys or perhaps college students studying HTML) who were clearly major rock-n-roll fans decided to start a "5-4-3-2-1 CLAP" ritual to count down the time until the Main Gate opened at 11am. By the time it was 10:45am , I reckon there were about 100 people in line participating. As you can imagine, there were many jokes about the "other" clap. The 4 guys who started it all kept saying crazy things such as "That time I clapped my balls!" and other really silly things that, in other situations, probably wouldn't have been funny at all but in this one were hilarious. If one guy made a comment then the other 3 guys would make dry witticisms on that initial comment made and it just went on and on. What made it riotous was that they looked like complete conservative nerdy guys incapable of shouting out spontaneous dialogue to a massive crowd of what ended up being about 1,000 people but of course we all know that looks can be completely deceiving. These guys were total extroverts, heckling the girls in the crowd and anyone else that they deemed a worthy target but always with a tone of voice that was completely understated; they could have been asking for copy machine toner. It really made the time fly--they were so entertaining. And it was all in good fun.
At about 10:55am, to make the last 5 minutes go by quickly, the 4 unlikely "rock-n-roll maestro IT guys," who looked about 22 years old on average, decided to start the crowd singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. They insisted that we all knew the lyrics because we were at Lollapalooza and anyone who paid to be here clearly must know the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody. (There were quite a few "queens" in the queue, now that I think about it, [see photos upper left] and I imagine they bee-lined for the Lady Gaga stage) It was amazing...EVERYONE...young and old alike....knew the entire first chorus and stanza to Bohemian Rhapsody. I had no idea that song could be so fun but when you are yelling out the lyrics at the top of your lungs with a hundred other random rock-n-roll fans on Michigan Avenue, it is downright raucous. I thanked the rock-n-roll maestros who introduced themselves with the alias' Guillermo and Nacho, before running through the gates like an 8 year old out to recess.
My destination was the Budweiser Stage where I knew all the coolest bands were playing, climaxing with the Strokes (NPI) at 8:30pm. I ran across the lawn towards the stage hoping very few would be there and luckily, there were only 6 people there. Of course they were positioned at front row center so I quickly made friends with them as it was paramount that I be in front row center for the Strokes. My allies in music obsession were Drew, Andrew and Sam from Missouri (all very polite) and two girls from NW Indiana, Sarah and Tieg who is attending Loyola. The sixth person was Mike and he was friends with Sarah and Tieg. Everyone was really cool. We hung out, protected eachother's stuff and played UNO, the longest game of UNO I think I've ever played in my entire life.I lost because I was talking smack and its a universal law: you always lose when you talk smack. We had LOTS OF FUN.
I went backstage while waiting around and it was surprisingly easy to walk back there. It was even easier to get into the Strokes' personal trailer, essentially I just walked into the door that said 'Band Only' and no one stopped me so WTH?. Sadly, the band hadn't arrived yet and I was disappointed. However, I felt every bit like Nancy Allen's character 'Pam Mitchell' in Robert Zemecki's/ Stephen Spielberg's classic 1978 comedy film "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." If you haven't seen this movie and you consider yourself a serious lover of rock-n-roll or contemporary music in general, then shame on you! This is required watching, people. You don't know anything until you've watched this little gem.
I ended up mimicking a lot of Nancy Allen's moves in the hotel room scene which is the greatest scene in the entire film except for maybe when 'Richard,' played by Eddie Deezen, pulls out the piece of lawn from under his bed. ~ and you will find out more about that in the next post. To be continued................
So I was up at 6am and by 8:30am, I was walking over to Grant Park. By 9am, I was in the box office line (about 11th in line) and made friends with this skinny, extremely white , blond guy sitting next to me who reminded me so much of Michael Cera that for a minute I thought it was him. Once we got to be friends, I made fun of his "moon tan" and he concurred that getting a tan was pretty much a pointless exercise in frustration for him. He was from Hot Springs, or so he said, and since I know Hot Springs, I quizzed him on it and he was totally from Hot Springs. But he was a clone of Michael Cera, I tell you, so I immediately liked him as I am a pretty big fan. We hung out and kept each other mildly entertained with conversation until we finally got our 3 day bracelets and could move over to the next line. At that point, I lost him as I bee-lined over to the Main Entrance as fast as my little legs, which surprisingly swung back into their confident urban swagger almost instantly, could carry me.
This is where it got really fun. Some hilarious , extremely nerdy looking guys ( I didn't ask but they completely looked like IT guys or perhaps college students studying HTML) who were clearly major rock-n-roll fans decided to start a "5-4-3-2-1 CLAP" ritual to count down the time until the Main Gate opened at 11am. By the time it was 10:45am , I reckon there were about 100 people in line participating. As you can imagine, there were many jokes about the "other" clap. The 4 guys who started it all kept saying crazy things such as "That time I clapped my balls!" and other really silly things that, in other situations, probably wouldn't have been funny at all but in this one were hilarious. If one guy made a comment then the other 3 guys would make dry witticisms on that initial comment made and it just went on and on. What made it riotous was that they looked like complete conservative nerdy guys incapable of shouting out spontaneous dialogue to a massive crowd of what ended up being about 1,000 people but of course we all know that looks can be completely deceiving. These guys were total extroverts, heckling the girls in the crowd and anyone else that they deemed a worthy target but always with a tone of voice that was completely understated; they could have been asking for copy machine toner. It really made the time fly--they were so entertaining. And it was all in good fun.
At about 10:55am, to make the last 5 minutes go by quickly, the 4 unlikely "rock-n-roll maestro IT guys," who looked about 22 years old on average, decided to start the crowd singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. They insisted that we all knew the lyrics because we were at Lollapalooza and anyone who paid to be here clearly must know the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody. (There were quite a few "queens" in the queue, now that I think about it, [see photos upper left] and I imagine they bee-lined for the Lady Gaga stage) It was amazing...EVERYONE...young and old alike....knew the entire first chorus and stanza to Bohemian Rhapsody. I had no idea that song could be so fun but when you are yelling out the lyrics at the top of your lungs with a hundred other random rock-n-roll fans on Michigan Avenue, it is downright raucous. I thanked the rock-n-roll maestros who introduced themselves with the alias' Guillermo and Nacho, before running through the gates like an 8 year old out to recess.
My destination was the Budweiser Stage where I knew all the coolest bands were playing, climaxing with the Strokes (NPI) at 8:30pm. I ran across the lawn towards the stage hoping very few would be there and luckily, there were only 6 people there. Of course they were positioned at front row center so I quickly made friends with them as it was paramount that I be in front row center for the Strokes. My allies in music obsession were Drew, Andrew and Sam from Missouri (all very polite) and two girls from NW Indiana, Sarah and Tieg who is attending Loyola. The sixth person was Mike and he was friends with Sarah and Tieg. Everyone was really cool. We hung out, protected eachother's stuff and played UNO, the longest game of UNO I think I've ever played in my entire life.I lost because I was talking smack and its a universal law: you always lose when you talk smack. We had LOTS OF FUN.
I went backstage while waiting around and it was surprisingly easy to walk back there. It was even easier to get into the Strokes' personal trailer, essentially I just walked into the door that said 'Band Only' and no one stopped me so WTH?. Sadly, the band hadn't arrived yet and I was disappointed. However, I felt every bit like Nancy Allen's character 'Pam Mitchell' in Robert Zemecki's/ Stephen Spielberg's classic 1978 comedy film "I Wanna Hold Your Hand." If you haven't seen this movie and you consider yourself a serious lover of rock-n-roll or contemporary music in general, then shame on you! This is required watching, people. You don't know anything until you've watched this little gem.
I ended up mimicking a lot of Nancy Allen's moves in the hotel room scene which is the greatest scene in the entire film except for maybe when 'Richard,' played by Eddie Deezen, pulls out the piece of lawn from under his bed. ~ and you will find out more about that in the next post. To be continued................
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Day 1, part 2
There were two doors on the trailer, one that said 'Band Only' and the other I can't recall. Only because the 'Band Only' sign was lighting up in hot pink neon, blinking and making a high shrilled alarm sound. Ok, in reality it was just Courier script on a piece of typing paper, but that's beside the point. It may as well have been. So upon entry, I was surprised to see a rectangular card table (the kind you see at rummage sales) with a laptop computer on it and a fax machine. I did see the Guest List on the table and , wasting no time, added my name on the list immediately before moving onto the next and, hopefully, more interesting room.
The place was nicely air-conditioned and the central room had a lovely red contempo couch, 2 side chairs and a coffee table that featured a basket with some decorative red wicker balls in it. I noticed the gigantic grey billowing curtains behind the couch and filed that in my memory as 'significant' before moving onto room #3 which had another Courier script sign on typing paper reading: "Rehearsal Room.'
Now this is where my 'Pam Mitchell' moment comes in because there on a guitar stand was a gleaming electric guitar and I knew that it had to be Nick Valenti's....or possibly Albert Hammond Jr's. It was the golden color of beer. I know I should have taken note of the make and model, etc....and if I was a guitar player I'm sure I would have, but instead...I simply reached over and stroked the strings with the breathless words, "This is the guitar Nick (or Albert) plays. He makes Strokes music with this guitar. Wow." A real Strokes' guitar is nothing less than a magic talisman for me because the music that comes out of it on Is This It, Room On fire and First Impressions on Earth makes me so happy. It actually has the incredible alchemistic ability to completely change my mood from down to up, from cynical to hopeful, from pessimistic to optimistic, from feeling old to feeling young and from feeling tired to feeling completely energized.How? I don't know. But really good music just does that. Plus, the way I see it, the drumbeat of a band is the heartbeat and the vocals is the soul. So the guitar(s) is everything else...and well, that's an awful lot of anatomy. It definitely determines how sexy the band is. As I've said before, and I'll reiterate, a good band has got to have sexy guitar. Absolutely imperative.
I had to chuckle to myself, because this exact thing happens in Zamecki's movie when 'Pam' (Nancy Allen) touches the strings of Paul McCartney's guitar in the Beatles' vacant hotel room only she has an orgasm at some point (was it when she was drinking out of the Beatles' water glasses left on the hotel coffee table?) and I am sorry to report that, unfortunately, that did not happen to me. I did, however, get to check out Fab's drum set and even contemplated taking the sticks but upon further thought, decided against it because what if that was the only pair available and he needed to warm up before the show? B-a-a-a-a-a-a-d. So I decided against it.
I went back into the lounge and hid behind the curtains as I considered my next move. If I waited there, I knew I would eventually meet the Strokes. Guaranteed. It would inevitably happen. I knew I would have to wait at least 2 hours before they arrived. I also knew that I would do what I always do when I play hide-n-seek: start giggling uncontrollably as people got near my hiding spot. Then I would probably roll out from my hiding spot and at that point , the only reasonable thing to do would be to sing a stanza of "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" by the Beatles as I did so. This would be funny in a relaxed atmosphere but it occurred to me that 40 minutes until concert time might not be the most relaxed atmosphere particularly in lieu of the fact that it was to be the first time the guys would be playing together as the Strokes in years. So this means I would have to wait until AFTER their set in this cramped little quarters which would add another 90 minutes onto my waiting time. It took me about 10 or so minutes to process all these thoughts and by this time, I was so cramped and uncomfortable I was ready to spring my escape from behind the iron curtain. There is not a chance in the world I could last back there for 3 and a half hours let alone another ten minutes. I was just about to spring my escape when I heard a noise and realized it was someone entering the trailer.
He was alone. He dug around in a crafts bag for snacks about 3 feet from my curtain and at that point, I almost burst out laughing. It was everything I could do to tell my brain to not allow my mouth to laugh. "Don't do it. Don't laugh. Puh-leeez don't laugh!" I managed to stifle any audible giggles and he left the trailer. I exited my hiding spot and looked out the window. It wasn't a Stroke at all. I nonchalantly left the trailer and cheerily said "Hi!" to the guy that had just exited the trailer, thinking he could somehow get me to the Strokes. Turned out he was a Brit named Brian and he was their guitar tuner. I tried to find out where the Strokes were going to party that evening after the show but he knew nothing. What a loss for the Strokes. It would have been myself, Tieg and Sarah, the three most beautiful girls at Lollapalooza, not to mention the coolest. Brian DID hit on me, ask me out and tried to get me to meet him after the show for drinks. I discreetly turned him down on all 3 counts but agreed to try to find him after the show so that "we could party with the Strokes." I could barely contain my excitement. I showed him the locust I had befriended. It had landed on me and it was really beautiful, glimmering black and green and purple. It flew off into the blue as we spoke. An ancient Egyptian symbol of rebirth and resurrection. The Egyptian locust/beetle/scarab symbol ends up being a recurring theme so pay attention.
Because this was actually the second time I had gone backstage, the first time I returned from this netherworld to join my friends in the front row, Mavis Staples was finishing off her set. The entire crowd was singing blues and what sounded like gospel music. It was clear that Chicago adored this woman and it wasn't until later that I found out that Mavis, aside from being an award-winning musician and former member of the widely acclaimed 1960's group the Staple Singers, is an icon in Chicago. She was close with Martin Luther King Jr. (one of my abiding heroes) and was a musical and spiritual voice of the civil rights movement at that time. She is also a longtime good friend and collaborator of Bob Dylan, another abiding hero of mine. I was in the presence of an amazing woman.
The Black Keys came on promptly at 6pm and Tieg and Sarah went nuts. The literally let their hair down, danced the entire set and sang every lyric of every song. Dan Auerbach must know on some level that he is a lucky dude. There's no way that can't be gratifying to a male; to look downstage and see the prettiest girls in the crowd front row center mouthing your every word and going insane. I personally was not into Dan Auerbach because I tend to be pulled toward either very urban (London or Manchester, England/New York, generally) type music or West Coast type music. (Pearl Jam, Nirvana) I am sure there are exceptions but I can say definitively that I have never been so much as tempted to purchase a John Mellancamp, Alabama or Leonard Skynyrd album, for example. I am a Strokes/Libertines/Clash/Beatles/Lou Reed/ Bad Brains kind of girl. 100%. Of course, I like hawaiian music too. Its my island roots music. But hawaiian is really a very different genre than rock-n-roll.
The Strokes came on 15 minutes late which feels like an eternity when you have been waiting in the hot Chicago August sun for 12 hours. But it was great seeing the original five playing original Strokes music. It was the Strokes being the Strokes playing the Strokes. What else could you want? Never mind that the acoustics sounded like crap; I don't think anyone cared. It was a good call, opening the set with New York City Cops. Julian seemed happy and stoked to be there, which made me stoked. He even said that Lolla was "his new favorite place to play," which conveyed to me that he was really enjoying himself. [see sidebar at right for exact set list] However, it got so inaudible near the end of the set that I could only tell what song was being played by trying to make out a word or two spilling from Julian's mouth and then figuring out the lyric. It was seriously that bad. I don't recall any sound checks happening between performances and that can really make a huge difference. Brian went around and tuned things but there was no sound check per say.I want to emphasize the poor sound quality did not have anything to do with the band's delivery but everything to do with some weird acoustics settings that were going on. From where I was in the front row, there was distortion going on through the second half of the set that was actually making the songs sound like they were being played in the wrong keys. Was it the acoustics AND the extreme condition of 10,000 screaming fans yelling out the lyrics directly behind me? Probably. I can't be sure but by the last few songs, all I could hear clearly was Fab's drumming. There's also the possibility that my eardrums had simply been blown out for the night seeing as how I had been standing near the Budweiser Stage amplifiers for over 8 1/2 hours. Regardless, it was fantastic seeing them all performing together and I am glad I did. If it weren't for the Strokes, I wouldn't have travelled 4,000 miles to come and see Lollapalooza. It was all about them. It did, however, require some unpleasantries which I had anticipated well in advance:
#1) Jeapordizing one's physical well being. Did I mention I was in the front row? There were roughly 70,000 people at Lollapalooza and thousands of these people were pressing up against me. So there were thousands of people, the steel barricade and me in between these two entities. There were moments where I couldn't breathe. I was bruised and endured a red welt on my knee. My only mantra to keep me going was the thought, "This could be their Candlestick Park 1966!" until I finally was pulled out from the crowd by security so that I wouldn't pass out from the heat, the excitement, the exhaustion, the starvation, the pressure of bodies, etc. I was about the 11th person that got "rescued" --there were people getting pulled out roughly every 4 minutes-- so I think I got to be front row center at least half the 75 minutes that they played.
See photos above for battle wounds: Silver dollar sized red welt on left knee that turned into a couple scabs a day or two later, assorted bruises on legs and linear welt across my chest from the steel barricade [not pictured] Ouch! Love hurts!
I forgot to mention Wavves who played at 12:15pm. They were prompt and I really thought Nathan Williams had a lot of charisma and great stage presence. I also enjoyed the bassist, Stephen Pope,who reminded me a bit of Jack Black and since I am a fan, I couldn't help but like him. Nathan and Stephen were so different but clearly friends; it worked somehow. I liked their sound which had a punk edge to it (always appreciated) and I think seeing their set has inspired me to check them out more fully on iTunes. They're essentially the fresh faced generation's San Diego punk/skate band or so was the feeling I got. I thought they somehow pulled off being interesting and fresh even though its been done before. Let's face it, that's what Lollapalooza is for-it forces you to check out new music. The other bands I thought worthy of checking out further (no, not the New Pornographers and no, not Dirty Projectors) was Spoon and Temper Trap. But I think Wavves ranked first in the "havven't heard them before but must download more and listen" category.
AND THAT CONCLUDES DAY 1 of LOLLAPALOOZA. STAY TUNED FOR DAY 2.
The place was nicely air-conditioned and the central room had a lovely red contempo couch, 2 side chairs and a coffee table that featured a basket with some decorative red wicker balls in it. I noticed the gigantic grey billowing curtains behind the couch and filed that in my memory as 'significant' before moving onto room #3 which had another Courier script sign on typing paper reading: "Rehearsal Room.'
Now this is where my 'Pam Mitchell' moment comes in because there on a guitar stand was a gleaming electric guitar and I knew that it had to be Nick Valenti's....or possibly Albert Hammond Jr's. It was the golden color of beer. I know I should have taken note of the make and model, etc....and if I was a guitar player I'm sure I would have, but instead...I simply reached over and stroked the strings with the breathless words, "This is the guitar Nick (or Albert) plays. He makes Strokes music with this guitar. Wow." A real Strokes' guitar is nothing less than a magic talisman for me because the music that comes out of it on Is This It, Room On fire and First Impressions on Earth makes me so happy. It actually has the incredible alchemistic ability to completely change my mood from down to up, from cynical to hopeful, from pessimistic to optimistic, from feeling old to feeling young and from feeling tired to feeling completely energized.How? I don't know. But really good music just does that. Plus, the way I see it, the drumbeat of a band is the heartbeat and the vocals is the soul. So the guitar(s) is everything else...and well, that's an awful lot of anatomy. It definitely determines how sexy the band is. As I've said before, and I'll reiterate, a good band has got to have sexy guitar. Absolutely imperative.
I had to chuckle to myself, because this exact thing happens in Zamecki's movie when 'Pam' (Nancy Allen) touches the strings of Paul McCartney's guitar in the Beatles' vacant hotel room only she has an orgasm at some point (was it when she was drinking out of the Beatles' water glasses left on the hotel coffee table?) and I am sorry to report that, unfortunately, that did not happen to me. I did, however, get to check out Fab's drum set and even contemplated taking the sticks but upon further thought, decided against it because what if that was the only pair available and he needed to warm up before the show? B-a-a-a-a-a-a-d. So I decided against it.
I went back into the lounge and hid behind the curtains as I considered my next move. If I waited there, I knew I would eventually meet the Strokes. Guaranteed. It would inevitably happen. I knew I would have to wait at least 2 hours before they arrived. I also knew that I would do what I always do when I play hide-n-seek: start giggling uncontrollably as people got near my hiding spot. Then I would probably roll out from my hiding spot and at that point , the only reasonable thing to do would be to sing a stanza of "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" by the Beatles as I did so. This would be funny in a relaxed atmosphere but it occurred to me that 40 minutes until concert time might not be the most relaxed atmosphere particularly in lieu of the fact that it was to be the first time the guys would be playing together as the Strokes in years. So this means I would have to wait until AFTER their set in this cramped little quarters which would add another 90 minutes onto my waiting time. It took me about 10 or so minutes to process all these thoughts and by this time, I was so cramped and uncomfortable I was ready to spring my escape from behind the iron curtain. There is not a chance in the world I could last back there for 3 and a half hours let alone another ten minutes. I was just about to spring my escape when I heard a noise and realized it was someone entering the trailer.
He was alone. He dug around in a crafts bag for snacks about 3 feet from my curtain and at that point, I almost burst out laughing. It was everything I could do to tell my brain to not allow my mouth to laugh. "Don't do it. Don't laugh. Puh-leeez don't laugh!" I managed to stifle any audible giggles and he left the trailer. I exited my hiding spot and looked out the window. It wasn't a Stroke at all. I nonchalantly left the trailer and cheerily said "Hi!" to the guy that had just exited the trailer, thinking he could somehow get me to the Strokes. Turned out he was a Brit named Brian and he was their guitar tuner. I tried to find out where the Strokes were going to party that evening after the show but he knew nothing. What a loss for the Strokes. It would have been myself, Tieg and Sarah, the three most beautiful girls at Lollapalooza, not to mention the coolest. Brian DID hit on me, ask me out and tried to get me to meet him after the show for drinks. I discreetly turned him down on all 3 counts but agreed to try to find him after the show so that "we could party with the Strokes." I could barely contain my excitement. I showed him the locust I had befriended. It had landed on me and it was really beautiful, glimmering black and green and purple. It flew off into the blue as we spoke. An ancient Egyptian symbol of rebirth and resurrection. The Egyptian locust/beetle/scarab symbol ends up being a recurring theme so pay attention.
Because this was actually the second time I had gone backstage, the first time I returned from this netherworld to join my friends in the front row, Mavis Staples was finishing off her set. The entire crowd was singing blues and what sounded like gospel music. It was clear that Chicago adored this woman and it wasn't until later that I found out that Mavis, aside from being an award-winning musician and former member of the widely acclaimed 1960's group the Staple Singers, is an icon in Chicago. She was close with Martin Luther King Jr. (one of my abiding heroes) and was a musical and spiritual voice of the civil rights movement at that time. She is also a longtime good friend and collaborator of Bob Dylan, another abiding hero of mine. I was in the presence of an amazing woman.
The Black Keys came on promptly at 6pm and Tieg and Sarah went nuts. The literally let their hair down, danced the entire set and sang every lyric of every song. Dan Auerbach must know on some level that he is a lucky dude. There's no way that can't be gratifying to a male; to look downstage and see the prettiest girls in the crowd front row center mouthing your every word and going insane. I personally was not into Dan Auerbach because I tend to be pulled toward either very urban (London or Manchester, England/New York, generally) type music or West Coast type music. (Pearl Jam, Nirvana) I am sure there are exceptions but I can say definitively that I have never been so much as tempted to purchase a John Mellancamp, Alabama or Leonard Skynyrd album, for example. I am a Strokes/Libertines/Clash/Beatles/Lou Reed/ Bad Brains kind of girl. 100%. Of course, I like hawaiian music too. Its my island roots music. But hawaiian is really a very different genre than rock-n-roll.
The Strokes came on 15 minutes late which feels like an eternity when you have been waiting in the hot Chicago August sun for 12 hours. But it was great seeing the original five playing original Strokes music. It was the Strokes being the Strokes playing the Strokes. What else could you want? Never mind that the acoustics sounded like crap; I don't think anyone cared. It was a good call, opening the set with New York City Cops. Julian seemed happy and stoked to be there, which made me stoked. He even said that Lolla was "his new favorite place to play," which conveyed to me that he was really enjoying himself. [see sidebar at right for exact set list] However, it got so inaudible near the end of the set that I could only tell what song was being played by trying to make out a word or two spilling from Julian's mouth and then figuring out the lyric. It was seriously that bad. I don't recall any sound checks happening between performances and that can really make a huge difference. Brian went around and tuned things but there was no sound check per say.I want to emphasize the poor sound quality did not have anything to do with the band's delivery but everything to do with some weird acoustics settings that were going on. From where I was in the front row, there was distortion going on through the second half of the set that was actually making the songs sound like they were being played in the wrong keys. Was it the acoustics AND the extreme condition of 10,000 screaming fans yelling out the lyrics directly behind me? Probably. I can't be sure but by the last few songs, all I could hear clearly was Fab's drumming. There's also the possibility that my eardrums had simply been blown out for the night seeing as how I had been standing near the Budweiser Stage amplifiers for over 8 1/2 hours. Regardless, it was fantastic seeing them all performing together and I am glad I did. If it weren't for the Strokes, I wouldn't have travelled 4,000 miles to come and see Lollapalooza. It was all about them. It did, however, require some unpleasantries which I had anticipated well in advance:
#1) Jeapordizing one's physical well being. Did I mention I was in the front row? There were roughly 70,000 people at Lollapalooza and thousands of these people were pressing up against me. So there were thousands of people, the steel barricade and me in between these two entities. There were moments where I couldn't breathe. I was bruised and endured a red welt on my knee. My only mantra to keep me going was the thought, "This could be their Candlestick Park 1966!" until I finally was pulled out from the crowd by security so that I wouldn't pass out from the heat, the excitement, the exhaustion, the starvation, the pressure of bodies, etc. I was about the 11th person that got "rescued" --there were people getting pulled out roughly every 4 minutes-- so I think I got to be front row center at least half the 75 minutes that they played.
See photos above for battle wounds: Silver dollar sized red welt on left knee that turned into a couple scabs a day or two later, assorted bruises on legs and linear welt across my chest from the steel barricade [not pictured] Ouch! Love hurts!
I forgot to mention Wavves who played at 12:15pm. They were prompt and I really thought Nathan Williams had a lot of charisma and great stage presence. I also enjoyed the bassist, Stephen Pope,who reminded me a bit of Jack Black and since I am a fan, I couldn't help but like him. Nathan and Stephen were so different but clearly friends; it worked somehow. I liked their sound which had a punk edge to it (always appreciated) and I think seeing their set has inspired me to check them out more fully on iTunes. They're essentially the fresh faced generation's San Diego punk/skate band or so was the feeling I got. I thought they somehow pulled off being interesting and fresh even though its been done before. Let's face it, that's what Lollapalooza is for-it forces you to check out new music. The other bands I thought worthy of checking out further (no, not the New Pornographers and no, not Dirty Projectors) was Spoon and Temper Trap. But I think Wavves ranked first in the "havven't heard them before but must download more and listen" category.
AND THAT CONCLUDES DAY 1 of LOLLAPALOOZA. STAY TUNED FOR DAY 2.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Day 2 Lollapalooza 2010 "Well, ain't that just special, people." ~ Mike Ness
Saturday, my sister, who had been ill the day before, was feeling better.(right,Clara...tee hee) We got out of bed at the crack of noon, had a nice lunch and watched too much Showtime 2. Got to the venue by 6:15pm, after downing a Kuma burger and a filafel, just in time to catch most of Social Distortion's set. Mike Ness was every inch a pro. You can just tell he has 20 years of stage experience behind him as he completely owned the stage, comfortably cavorted with the audience and belted out songs in excellent form. The acoustics were flawless. When you've been doing this for as long as Ness has, there is a confident swagger to your walk onstage and he definitely had that. You can just tell when someone doesn't have anything to prove. Let's call it the " I really don't give a f*ck what you think," attitude. Social Distortion just IS and ALWAYS WILL BE cool. Period. I also appreciated his casual banter between songs. The first song we heard him perform was 'Don't Drag Me Down' from the White Heat, White Light, White Trash lp. It was so good to see him still rocking because the last time I saw Social Distortion play live was in the mid 80's as a young and enthusiastic teenager and I first became a fan in 1984. He really struck a chord with me and, I must admit, I couldn't help but scream out like a deranged fan, "Hell yeah! I remember THAT!' when he introduced his next song by saying, "I wrote this back in 1983 when being a punk rocker was truly dangerous."
If you were there in the 80's when punk was a true fringe youth movement and not just a commercialized fashion style sold at Forever 21, then you know exactly what he is talking about. It was a different world back then, of course, and punk was truly the edge. It was the real deal. Great memories, is all I can say. Then he ripped into Mommy's Little Monster. I couldn't stop dancing! This was too friggin' amazing! He introduced the next song, Sick Boys, as a great "drinking sing-along." Amen to that! It was perfect. EVERYONE was dancing and cheering. Even the 60 year old guy standing next to me who admitted he had never heard of Social D. before declared, "These guys are great!". Part of my joy may have been not being squashed like a sardine in the front row. I don't know. The overall experience, however, was just second to none. These guys, after all these years, could still bring home the goods. As I recall, SxDx (a pseudonym) were one of the forerunners of American punk and the ones who invented that now familiar punk sound of wanging out really fast power chords repetitively and changing them with a heavy slide, backed by a really solid jumpy drum beat. That's Social Distortion.
To watch these guys play on a stage with the Field Museum to their left and the Museum Campus Tower building on their right, gleaming in its steel and glass magnificence, was pretty hard to beat. It was a beautiful day and here I was watching Mike Ness do a 'Pete Townshend' jump with this guitar (sweeeeet!) and then keep on rolling with Reach for the Sky. But it was about to get better.The next number was the ultimate highlight of their set at least as far as I am concerned. Only because "Ball and Chain" rules. In my opinion, its the best song Ness has ever written. It's been covered by many bands including the Replacements. There is something about that song. Without any choice in the matter, my vocal chords sang along to the song , my fist pumped at every chorus and my feet, with a will of their own, jumped up and down. It's a beautiful heartfelt song that pretty much says it all.
Next was 'Highway 101' and then 'Sometimes I Do' with the off-the-cuff intro, "You don't have to be Irish to love this song but it sure helps." The set was finished off with Still Alive and then Ring of Fire, before which Ness tipped his hat to the African American community by saying, "Let's face it people. Without good black music, there wouldn't be good white music. And that's why this man is my hero." I assume he was talking about Johnny Cash who was of course far from black unless you are referring to his attire. Cash has been called "The Man in Black" and even "The Father of Punk." As I recall, when he passed in 2003, the entire aging punk community went into mourning, myself included. My Dad introduced me to Cash when I was in elementary school by reverberating Ring Of Fire through the house at deafening decibels. He did this with Gregorian chant, too, but that's a different story.
Cash's daughter, Rosanne Cash, has stated, "The song is about the transformative power of love." What I found out from Social Distortion's performance, however, is that I never left the Ring of Fire to begin with. For me, its about the enduring power of love. I grinned, fully satisfied at the end of the set, as the newly converted senior by my side said, "I'm going out and buying some of this music." Transformative works, too.
IT AINT OVER UNTIL THE FAT LADY...err,umm...I MEAN ARCADE FIRE SINGS> STAY TUNED FOR DAY 3Lollapalooza to be posted shortly
If you were there in the 80's when punk was a true fringe youth movement and not just a commercialized fashion style sold at Forever 21, then you know exactly what he is talking about. It was a different world back then, of course, and punk was truly the edge. It was the real deal. Great memories, is all I can say. Then he ripped into Mommy's Little Monster. I couldn't stop dancing! This was too friggin' amazing! He introduced the next song, Sick Boys, as a great "drinking sing-along." Amen to that! It was perfect. EVERYONE was dancing and cheering. Even the 60 year old guy standing next to me who admitted he had never heard of Social D. before declared, "These guys are great!". Part of my joy may have been not being squashed like a sardine in the front row. I don't know. The overall experience, however, was just second to none. These guys, after all these years, could still bring home the goods. As I recall, SxDx (a pseudonym) were one of the forerunners of American punk and the ones who invented that now familiar punk sound of wanging out really fast power chords repetitively and changing them with a heavy slide, backed by a really solid jumpy drum beat. That's Social Distortion.
To watch these guys play on a stage with the Field Museum to their left and the Museum Campus Tower building on their right, gleaming in its steel and glass magnificence, was pretty hard to beat. It was a beautiful day and here I was watching Mike Ness do a 'Pete Townshend' jump with this guitar (sweeeeet!) and then keep on rolling with Reach for the Sky. But it was about to get better.The next number was the ultimate highlight of their set at least as far as I am concerned. Only because "Ball and Chain" rules. In my opinion, its the best song Ness has ever written. It's been covered by many bands including the Replacements. There is something about that song. Without any choice in the matter, my vocal chords sang along to the song , my fist pumped at every chorus and my feet, with a will of their own, jumped up and down. It's a beautiful heartfelt song that pretty much says it all.
Next was 'Highway 101' and then 'Sometimes I Do' with the off-the-cuff intro, "You don't have to be Irish to love this song but it sure helps." The set was finished off with Still Alive and then Ring of Fire, before which Ness tipped his hat to the African American community by saying, "Let's face it people. Without good black music, there wouldn't be good white music. And that's why this man is my hero." I assume he was talking about Johnny Cash who was of course far from black unless you are referring to his attire. Cash has been called "The Man in Black" and even "The Father of Punk." As I recall, when he passed in 2003, the entire aging punk community went into mourning, myself included. My Dad introduced me to Cash when I was in elementary school by reverberating Ring Of Fire through the house at deafening decibels. He did this with Gregorian chant, too, but that's a different story.
Cash's daughter, Rosanne Cash, has stated, "The song is about the transformative power of love." What I found out from Social Distortion's performance, however, is that I never left the Ring of Fire to begin with. For me, its about the enduring power of love. I grinned, fully satisfied at the end of the set, as the newly converted senior by my side said, "I'm going out and buying some of this music." Transformative works, too.
IT AINT OVER UNTIL THE FAT LADY...err,umm...I MEAN ARCADE FIRE SINGS> STAY TUNED FOR DAY 3Lollapalooza to be posted shortly
On Exhibit at the Field!
if you're Hawaiian Hapa or just plain hapa, you will love this book. The preface is by Sean Lennon. First time I saw it at a hapa girlfriend's house here in Hawaii, we laughed and laughed at the comments as they were such familiar and up til now seemingly isolated thoughts. The photos and journal entries of hapa people everywhere are priceless. Yes, I'm 100% HAPA people! And I love it
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Day 3
Must mention before I get started on Day 3 , that last night (Day 2) as we floated 5 feet off the ground after SxDx, Spoon wafted over to us from the Budweiser stage and just pulled us in a like a monster magnet. I liked Britt Daniels' voice and heard some energetic guitar riffs that made me want to dance. I couldn't check them out more as I was yanked by the collar in the direction of the exit at this time. But from what I heard, they definitely deserve more of a listen which I will get to sooner or later on iTunes.
Truth be told, the morning of Sunday was spent wandering through the Field Museum. We just needed a break from the crowds, the heat, the sweat, the general cow-herd scene. At least the Field is airconditioned. I was immediately drawn to the dinosaurs ( I have a son that is eight years old and if I didn't bring him back some dinosaur photos and stuff from the Sue Store, it was going to be mutiny) and the Egyptian collection. Interestingly, the Egyptian collection was loaded with talismanic scarabs and beetles and I couldn't help hunting for them all over the place looking for symbolic descriptions and meanings on the placards. Between the mummies, the sarcophagus, the Eyes of Osiris and the scarabs, the hours flew by. But it wasn't the last time I was to come face to face with the magical scarab in Chicago.
After a lingering dinner with libations, we meandered over to Lollapalooza. As we got within auditory distance of the Budweiser Stage, I panicked as I heard 'Time to Pretend' being played. Then my panic turned into a dorky delirium (that song is one of those happy-dorky-delirious songs) as I tried to run/walk (ever try to run but look like you are walking?) to MGMT as that is one of the most epic songs on Oracular Spectacular. I had already missed Pieces of What, Brian Eno, Electric Feel ( SOOO love that song) , Flash Delerium, Of Moons, Birds & Monsters, It's Working, The Youth (excellent song), Song for Dan Treacy, and Weekend Wars. I cringe to think of it but between the jetlag,muggy weather, battle wounds from the Strokes and everything else, it really was nice to just recuperate and chill for a while. Time to Pretend, a satirical portrait on the life of rock stars, is just so clever, zany and rocking that the combination makes it irresistably likeable. And the 3 adjectives of 'satirical, zany and rocking' sum up just about all MGMT's songs ...although you can substitute 'satirical' with 'spacey' on a good deal of them but hey, that works too. If you don't believe me that these guys are cool, would you believe Paul McCartney? He handpicked these guys to tour with him--literally, sought them out and called them up. Next, they played Destrokk, The Handshake, I Found a Whistle, Kids (love it!) and Congratulations. The crowd was a sea of bandanna-wearing Andrew V wannabe's. It was really funny. Andrew V was wearing a polka dotted shirt with the collar flipped up Elvis-style (now that I think of it, Julian Casablancas was trying to emulate Elvis a little also) and these oversized squarish sunglasses, giving him this 70's almost Elton-y vibe. And I appreciated Ben breaking out with the green frog hand-puppet which he held up to the mike and made dance or something.
A little Henson-esque goofiness is always appreciated.
After it was obvious that they had played their last song and had thoroughly rocked our faces off, we said our final farewell to Lollapalooza with Arcade Fire. Whether we like it or not, all good things eventually come to an end and all good endings need a Funeral. They actually played every song off that lp except for Une Annee Sans Lumiere, Neighborhood #4, Haiti and Back Seat. They played Ready to Start, Empty Room,The Suburbs, Rococo , Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains),We Used To Wait and Month of May off their newly released (August 2, 2010 to be exact) album The Suburbs. And they also played No Cars Go, Intervention and Keep the Car Running from their 2007 release Neon Bible. It was a perfect way to end the three day extravaganza and more than a little poetic as Arcade Fire is "bittersweet" personified. That's what I like about them; they have such a unique sound.
I just became an Arcade Fire fan earlier this year and it was the Funeral lp that won me over. I find their sound haunting in an achingly sincere way and I just love that I never know exactly where the melody is going. It somehow always manages to go somewhere that makes sense on an aesthetic level. Win Butler's voice has the raw, sweet emotion reminiscent of Black Francis from the Pixies and you can read more about that in the review below. [scroll down to the very end] Ditto goes for Regine, Win Butler's wife, and if you don't believe me then just listen to her sing 'In the Backseat' on Funeral.
Anyways, as I left the show good and ready to take a nice shower, the city was overrun by Lollers. They were all spouting out superlatives, 'awesome,' I guess, being the one I heard the most. Its funny walking in the city. It's like being the anonymous observer of random tweets of people you don't know. They whiz past and you get little snippets of conversations only with the added visual snapshot to go with the tweet. Such as a snapshot of a guy in a green mohawk talking to his girlfriend who looks like Janeane Garofalo or the CPA looking guy striding down Dearborn Street with his mother. I mean, you don't really know the story at all because you're just getting a little 2 second snippet of an image and an audio bit as you walk by in the opposite direction but it is intense getting dozens of these little bits of binary code non-stop when all you want to do is just get to your hotel room and not think about anything at all. I kind of miss the palm trees.
Oh, one last thing. A couple days later as we stood in front of Forever 21 and I joked that this is something someone would do in a Cougar Town episode, we decided to go in because they had NYU t-shirts and its impossible to get NYU t-shirts in the state of Hawaii. Impossible. Since I have a brother and cousins in Manhattan and a Dad that works in New York, I have always wanted a shirt that a New Yorker might wear. So we go in and as I wait in line to pay, something winks and twinkles at me from a display. I knew the second I saw it that I had to have it. Dainty, silvery and simple, I pulled it from its display and purchased the necklace on the spot, only later to discover upon closer inspection that it's a scarab holding a tiny faux diamond.
Whenever I wear it, it will remind me of the Strokes show and Lollapalooza. Oh, what a time we had.
Truth be told, the morning of Sunday was spent wandering through the Field Museum. We just needed a break from the crowds, the heat, the sweat, the general cow-herd scene. At least the Field is airconditioned. I was immediately drawn to the dinosaurs ( I have a son that is eight years old and if I didn't bring him back some dinosaur photos and stuff from the Sue Store, it was going to be mutiny) and the Egyptian collection. Interestingly, the Egyptian collection was loaded with talismanic scarabs and beetles and I couldn't help hunting for them all over the place looking for symbolic descriptions and meanings on the placards. Between the mummies, the sarcophagus, the Eyes of Osiris and the scarabs, the hours flew by. But it wasn't the last time I was to come face to face with the magical scarab in Chicago.
After a lingering dinner with libations, we meandered over to Lollapalooza. As we got within auditory distance of the Budweiser Stage, I panicked as I heard 'Time to Pretend' being played. Then my panic turned into a dorky delirium (that song is one of those happy-dorky-delirious songs) as I tried to run/walk (ever try to run but look like you are walking?) to MGMT as that is one of the most epic songs on Oracular Spectacular. I had already missed Pieces of What, Brian Eno, Electric Feel ( SOOO love that song) , Flash Delerium, Of Moons, Birds & Monsters, It's Working, The Youth (excellent song), Song for Dan Treacy, and Weekend Wars. I cringe to think of it but between the jetlag,muggy weather, battle wounds from the Strokes and everything else, it really was nice to just recuperate and chill for a while. Time to Pretend, a satirical portrait on the life of rock stars, is just so clever, zany and rocking that the combination makes it irresistably likeable. And the 3 adjectives of 'satirical, zany and rocking' sum up just about all MGMT's songs ...although you can substitute 'satirical' with 'spacey' on a good deal of them but hey, that works too. If you don't believe me that these guys are cool, would you believe Paul McCartney? He handpicked these guys to tour with him--literally, sought them out and called them up. Next, they played Destrokk, The Handshake, I Found a Whistle, Kids (love it!) and Congratulations. The crowd was a sea of bandanna-wearing Andrew V wannabe's. It was really funny. Andrew V was wearing a polka dotted shirt with the collar flipped up Elvis-style (now that I think of it, Julian Casablancas was trying to emulate Elvis a little also) and these oversized squarish sunglasses, giving him this 70's almost Elton-y vibe. And I appreciated Ben breaking out with the green frog hand-puppet which he held up to the mike and made dance or something.
A little Henson-esque goofiness is always appreciated.
After it was obvious that they had played their last song and had thoroughly rocked our faces off, we said our final farewell to Lollapalooza with Arcade Fire. Whether we like it or not, all good things eventually come to an end and all good endings need a Funeral. They actually played every song off that lp except for Une Annee Sans Lumiere, Neighborhood #4, Haiti and Back Seat. They played Ready to Start, Empty Room,The Suburbs, Rococo , Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains),We Used To Wait and Month of May off their newly released (August 2, 2010 to be exact) album The Suburbs. And they also played No Cars Go, Intervention and Keep the Car Running from their 2007 release Neon Bible. It was a perfect way to end the three day extravaganza and more than a little poetic as Arcade Fire is "bittersweet" personified. That's what I like about them; they have such a unique sound.
I just became an Arcade Fire fan earlier this year and it was the Funeral lp that won me over. I find their sound haunting in an achingly sincere way and I just love that I never know exactly where the melody is going. It somehow always manages to go somewhere that makes sense on an aesthetic level. Win Butler's voice has the raw, sweet emotion reminiscent of Black Francis from the Pixies and you can read more about that in the review below. [scroll down to the very end] Ditto goes for Regine, Win Butler's wife, and if you don't believe me then just listen to her sing 'In the Backseat' on Funeral.
Anyways, as I left the show good and ready to take a nice shower, the city was overrun by Lollers. They were all spouting out superlatives, 'awesome,' I guess, being the one I heard the most. Its funny walking in the city. It's like being the anonymous observer of random tweets of people you don't know. They whiz past and you get little snippets of conversations only with the added visual snapshot to go with the tweet. Such as a snapshot of a guy in a green mohawk talking to his girlfriend who looks like Janeane Garofalo or the CPA looking guy striding down Dearborn Street with his mother. I mean, you don't really know the story at all because you're just getting a little 2 second snippet of an image and an audio bit as you walk by in the opposite direction but it is intense getting dozens of these little bits of binary code non-stop when all you want to do is just get to your hotel room and not think about anything at all. I kind of miss the palm trees.
Oh, one last thing. A couple days later as we stood in front of Forever 21 and I joked that this is something someone would do in a Cougar Town episode, we decided to go in because they had NYU t-shirts and its impossible to get NYU t-shirts in the state of Hawaii. Impossible. Since I have a brother and cousins in Manhattan and a Dad that works in New York, I have always wanted a shirt that a New Yorker might wear. So we go in and as I wait in line to pay, something winks and twinkles at me from a display. I knew the second I saw it that I had to have it. Dainty, silvery and simple, I pulled it from its display and purchased the necklace on the spot, only later to discover upon closer inspection that it's a scarab holding a tiny faux diamond.
Whenever I wear it, it will remind me of the Strokes show and Lollapalooza. Oh, what a time we had.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Yahoo! A match made in heaven?
So I HEAR that the Strokes got together with Neil from Babyshambles and created a few songs. This could be interesting given that the Libertines and the Strokes are my favorite two bands of the last decade.(2000-2010) Hmmmmmm.....hmmmm..... (and yes, I know that the Libertines are not Babyshambles but I am open-minded to this marriage of musical entities!)
Friday, June 18, 2010
TEETH
English Teeth, English Teeth!
Shining in the sun.A part of British heritage
Aye, each and every one.
English Teeth, Happy Teeth!
Always having fun.
Clamping down on bits of fish
and sausages half done.
English Teeth! HEROES' Teeth!
Hear them click! and clack!
Let's sing a song of praise to them -
Three Cheers for the Brown Grey and Black
written by the late Irishman, Spike Milligan
Shining in the sun.A part of British heritage
Aye, each and every one.
English Teeth, Happy Teeth!
Always having fun.
Clamping down on bits of fish
and sausages half done.
English Teeth! HEROES' Teeth!
Hear them click! and clack!
Let's sing a song of praise to them -
Three Cheers for the Brown Grey and Black
written by the late Irishman, Spike Milligan
Arcade Fire Pixies Kings of Leon John Lennon Kurt Cobain Flaming Lips
Arcade Fire (of Montreal) is great and somehow reminiscent of the Pixies.I really love their bass lines, general overall sound and moodiness. The passion in the singing and how it melds with the heartfelt lyrics makes this band truly great. I ,for one, am not a big fan of Kings of Leon and I know this is a crime for many (they won a Grammy in 2008) but I think it boils down to the fact that there is something about Anthony Followill's voice that reminds me of Sammy Hagar! Just too Ultra American for me. I tend to prefer voices that are unique and a bit off kilter rather than a voice that might hit all the right notes and impress as far as vocal range goes. To me an imperfect voice that has more raw emotion and uniqueness (think of how John Lennon's voice cracks when he sings "In My Life" on the Rubber Soul lp) expresses the lyrics more perfectly. Lennon's voice , I think everyone would agree, is perfect because it is has a nasal quality; he is so human ~ we can all relate with him. His voice conveys a simple honesty in its imperfection. When someone sounds too "trained" it somehow loses that sincerity. Another great example of a voice just charged with raw emotion that we all love for its sincere imperfection is Curt Cobain (his voice cracks in so many songs that I don't have time to list them all here). I hate to say it but I think with a different singer, I would actually like Kings of Leon but the smarminiess of Anthony's voice just kills it for me. One last side note: there are LIMITS to the imperfection that the voice can have. For example Wayne Coyne on most occasions WAY crosses over that line which is why, although I do occasionally enjoy listening to them, I still don't own a Flaming Lips CD....LOL!
Friday, May 21, 2010
NME got it right on the top 2 picks beyond a doubt
1। The Strokes – 'Is This Libertines – 'Up The Bracket'3। Primal Scream – 'XTRMNTR'4. Arctic Monkeys – 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'5. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – 'Fever To Tell'6. PJ Harvey – 'Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea'7. Arcade Fire – 'Funeral'8. Interpol – 'Turn On The Bright Lights'9. The Streets – 'Original Pirate Material'10. Radiohead – 'In Rainbows'11. At The Drive In – 'Relationship Of Command'12. LCD Soundsystem – 'Sound Of Silver'13. The Shins – 'Wincing The Night Away'14. Radiohead – 'Kid A'15. Queens Of The Stone Age – 'Songs For The Deaf'16. The Streets – 'A Grand Don't Come For Free'17. Sufjan Stevens – 'Illinois'18. The White Stripes – 'Elephant'19. The White Stripes – 'White Blood Cells'20. Blur – 'Think Tank'21. The Coral – 'The Coral'22. Jay-Z – 'The Blueprint'23. Klaxons – 'Myths Of The Near Future'24. The Libertines – 'The Libertines'25. The Rapture – 'Echoes'26. Dizzee Rascal – 'Boy in Da Corner'27. Amy Winehouse – 'Back To Black'28. Johnny Cash – 'The Man Comes Around'29. Super Furry Animals – 'Rings Around The World'30. Elbow – 'Asleep In The Back'31. Bright Eyes – 'I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning'32. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – 'Show Your Bones'33. Arcade Fire – 'Neon Bible'34. Grandaddy – 'The Sophtware Slump'35. Babyshambles – 'Down In Albion'36. Spirtualized – 'Let it Come Down'37. The Knife – 'Silent Shout'38. Bloc Party – 'Silent Alarm'39. Crystal Castles – 'Crystal Castles'40. Ryan Adams – 'Gold'41. Wild Beasts – 'Two Dancers'42. Vampire Weekend – 'Vampire Weekend'43. Wilco – 'Yankee Hotel Foxtrot'44. Outkast – 'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below'45. Avalanches – 'Since I Left You'46. The Delgados – 'The Great Eastern'47. Brendan Benson – 'Lapalco'48. The Walkmen – 'Bows and Arrows'49. Muse – 'Absolution'50. MIA – 'Arular'
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