Art Brut is in town!...or at least will be until this Friday, June 5th :o) So you should run (it’s ok, I’ll wait) and get yourself some tickets for their gigs at Mercury Lounge. You’ll probably have to look in craigslist since I think all nights are sold out, but it’ll be worth it – you won’t have a funner time at a rock show this year.
…the above paragraph has pretty much ruined any suspense this blog entry might have had, seeing as I’ve just instructed you all - all two of you: thank you loyal readers ;o) – to head out to see them. Dammit! I need to build up to it like my 12th grade high school teacher instructed.
But they were great all around. The audience started hooting before they’d even made the stage…which wasn’t so hard seeing as they all had to walk through the audience in order to make it on to the stage – for those who haven’t been, Mercury Lounge is pretty small.
Eddie Argos, the lead singer, takes the mike wearing his long trench coat and his fabulous eyebrows and starts by telling us all about where we could find more info on Art Brut.
H – t – t – p - : - / - / - w – w – w . - m – y – s – p – a – c – e -. – c – o – m - / – a – r – t – b – r – u – t
Yep, he spelled it all out, complete with hand gestures for the dashes and all. And then he started to spell it out again, but stopped after a couple of letters ;o)
They started out with their new single Alcoholics Anonymous which was just a blast of fun to begin with.
And of course the energy only increased through the night, along with the size of my hair – it was a very humid night ;o)
The crowd was an interesting mix and I was glad to see some ‘oldies’as my concert buddy of yore affectionately refers to them, i.e. anyone over 45, really enjoying themselves and getting into it. Just as sometimes the younger NYC crowds can be a bit apoplectic, so can the oldie contingent in an audience – the whole ‘I’m-going-to-just-stand-as-still-as-humanly-possible-and-not-even-acknowledge-that-I’m-in-a-rock-venue-surrounded-by-sweaty-people’ vibe. But not this group – pretty much everyone around me was getting into Art Brut. And how could they not? They’re freaking infectious ;o)
Eddie introduced Moving to LA by dedicating it to his cousin who’s a pilot (who was supposedly at the show)…and who lives in Palo Alto, which was the closest Eddie could get in a song ;o) He tried to point in the right direction – LA’s direction – and got mixed responses as to what the correct direction would be. Decided to stick with the direction he had chosen and said that for the following night he’d change it.
During Modern Art, Eddie decided to come out and meet us plebes, which isn’t that hard to do in a venue like the Mercury Lounge – ‘oh, look,let me just step off this wee stage, and there I am in the audience’. He came out and told us a rambling story about going to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam [alfacinha heartily recommends it btw – kick ass place] , all whilst moving about within us…well, as well as he could giving the short leash he was on, i.e. his mike cord. At some point the mike gave out (as it had earlier in the evening, when Ed their poor sound guy had gone through a few malfunctioning mikes and eventually had to tape the wire to the mike stand just to get it to work), and Eddie tried in vain to yell out the remaining bit of the explanation. He ended up getting back on the stage and yelling out the rest from there, with so-so results – I imagine the people in the back didn’t quite manage to get the gist of it ;o)
And if they didn’t already appeal enough to all us geeky folk…before introducing DC Comics and Chocolate Milkshake, Eddie mentioned how he’d visited the actual offices of DC Comics and had had a great time. When I sent this song’s lyrics to a good friend, he remarked that itwas his new anthem…except it’d be Marvel Comics instead ;o)
Eddie extolled the joys of transport and introduced The Passenger -‘like the Iggy Pop one’ - by saying how rubbish LA mass transit is and how much better the ‘NY tube or metro or whatever it’s called’ is.
He also ended up introducing quite a few songs by saying how most of them were about him being naked - ‘Here’s another song about me taking off my clothes’.
Earlier in the evening, one of the opening bands – Mystery Murder - had spotted a guy who had come to the previous night's show as well. At some point during the gig, Eddie turns to this same guy and lets him know ‘that the set list for every night was going to be the same – the songs were just going to get louder.’ :o)
They also played at least one cover, the Ramones’ The KKK Took My Baby Away, although they introduced it as a little song they had just written up that day, so they might be a little off in playing it ;o) It was a blasting cover, full of energy and fun.
They also played Direct Hit, Pump Up the Volume, My Little Brother,Twist and Shout, Emily Kane, Bang Bang Rock and Roll, Bad Weekend, Nag Nag Nag Nag, Formed a Band, and Demons Out. I’m surely missing quite a few songs, but these were the ones both me and my boy could remember afterwards.
As has become customary during Formed a Band, Eddie told all of us to, well, to go form a band. He also told some of us that we were now in a band, and a very select individual few that they were a band.
I had an amazing time and my boy was doubly excited about now being in a band ;o)
P.S. I have to mention how much I liked the first opening band's last song – Les Sans Culottes’ cover of My Sharona (in French!). I was really sorry to have missed the beginning of their act.
P.P.S. Murder Mystery, the second opener, started out really well with a couple of lovely songs which reminded me a bit of Andrew Bird, but then quickly fell into some more bland ‘American rock’ sounds, reminiscent of some warmed-up Beach Boys stuff. I was really disappointed, given their great beginning. But they redeemed themselves in the end, first by bringing out a cello player as well as a couple of violinists and a trumpet player for a lovely song – at that point, they looked like an American version of Belle and Sebastian on stage :) But their final song was even lovelier, with the singer’s sister (and resident band drummer) taking the lead mike and singing a great ditty.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Rhett Miller @ Maxwell's - 12.12.08
So I made this big to-do about how I was going to change my ways come the New Year...and then crickets.
I don’t post for months.
I don’t catch up and write about the couple of shows I actually managed to go to during the latter part of the year, nor do I show signs of life of any sort.
My bad.
Well, any of you lot that actually check my blog know that I’m not the promptest of persons. But I’m forever trying to improve – you gotta give me credit for that ;o)
But back to the music catch up.
I couldn’t post on any new shows without mentioning some kick ass relatively recent ones I’d been to such as the great show put on my Mr. Rhett Miller, he of The Old 97's.
He came to the little burb of Hoboken to a place called Maxwell’s, who for those not in the know is a bar/restaurant with a space out back for shows...the size of most people’s family rooms. It’s teeny.
I’ve only had the chance to catch a couple of acts there so far, but it’s always fun – the sheer proximity to the artists is a blast.
So I saw that Rhett would be playing and I managed to drag a Brooklyn friend along with me – thanks L! – to Hoboken.
It was an early show, so we just trekked on over from the PATH after work and got there on time for Rhett to take the stage.
He was lovely as always – a total charmer and funny to boot. Oh and he’s pretty too :o)
As always at a Miller show there were funny bits galore. After singing a Christmas song, he said that ‘Christians are mean, Jews are nebbish and Atheists are verbose – which pretty much encapsulates Western Civilization’.
There was an old Steve Martin joke that completely bombed – bless him – and then this one that I liked:
He got himself some hostages, put them in a gunny sack and ran them up a flagpole. He then asked for 3 demands.
1. A million dollars
2. A getaway car
3. To remove the letter M from the alphabet.
‘Cause you should always have one crazy demand, so that later on you can claim insanity (laughter all around)...Getaway car – nuts. :o)
At one point he also told us that he couldn’t chat too much, since his was the early show. And so that at the end, we should leave and then pay again to come back in and that’d be the most rock’n’roll thing to do this season ;o)
He talked about how he’d made someone’s grandma into his fictionalized girlfriend for a song...and how that was just a bit wrong.
Rhett’s great at salesmanship – he said that after the show he’d be signing stuff at the merchandise booth, mainly b/c they made great Christmas presents...in that we’d pay him money and then he’d exchange that for gifts for his kids.
The encore exemplified all that is ridiculous about encores b/c of the venue’s smallness. He stepped down and stepped back up – there’s no back stage at Maxwell’s and he’d have to come through the packed crowd in order to actually go off and back.
After the rocking show during which he treated us to quite a few faves as well as some great new songs (apologies for the lack of song names – I didn’t write them down and my memory doesn’t reach back that far), he did stick around for autographs. And he was kind enough to sign my CD as well as a CD for my friend M. Even flirted a teeny bit with my concert date for the evening :o)
All around excellent gig – if only all of them could be like this. Can’t wait to see him again :o)
I don’t post for months.
I don’t catch up and write about the couple of shows I actually managed to go to during the latter part of the year, nor do I show signs of life of any sort.
My bad.
Well, any of you lot that actually check my blog know that I’m not the promptest of persons. But I’m forever trying to improve – you gotta give me credit for that ;o)
But back to the music catch up.
I couldn’t post on any new shows without mentioning some kick ass relatively recent ones I’d been to such as the great show put on my Mr. Rhett Miller, he of The Old 97's.
He came to the little burb of Hoboken to a place called Maxwell’s, who for those not in the know is a bar/restaurant with a space out back for shows...the size of most people’s family rooms. It’s teeny.
I’ve only had the chance to catch a couple of acts there so far, but it’s always fun – the sheer proximity to the artists is a blast.
So I saw that Rhett would be playing and I managed to drag a Brooklyn friend along with me – thanks L! – to Hoboken.
It was an early show, so we just trekked on over from the PATH after work and got there on time for Rhett to take the stage.
He was lovely as always – a total charmer and funny to boot. Oh and he’s pretty too :o)
As always at a Miller show there were funny bits galore. After singing a Christmas song, he said that ‘Christians are mean, Jews are nebbish and Atheists are verbose – which pretty much encapsulates Western Civilization’.
There was an old Steve Martin joke that completely bombed – bless him – and then this one that I liked:
He got himself some hostages, put them in a gunny sack and ran them up a flagpole. He then asked for 3 demands.
1. A million dollars
2. A getaway car
3. To remove the letter M from the alphabet.
‘Cause you should always have one crazy demand, so that later on you can claim insanity (laughter all around)...Getaway car – nuts. :o)
At one point he also told us that he couldn’t chat too much, since his was the early show. And so that at the end, we should leave and then pay again to come back in and that’d be the most rock’n’roll thing to do this season ;o)
He talked about how he’d made someone’s grandma into his fictionalized girlfriend for a song...and how that was just a bit wrong.
Rhett’s great at salesmanship – he said that after the show he’d be signing stuff at the merchandise booth, mainly b/c they made great Christmas presents...in that we’d pay him money and then he’d exchange that for gifts for his kids.
The encore exemplified all that is ridiculous about encores b/c of the venue’s smallness. He stepped down and stepped back up – there’s no back stage at Maxwell’s and he’d have to come through the packed crowd in order to actually go off and back.
After the rocking show during which he treated us to quite a few faves as well as some great new songs (apologies for the lack of song names – I didn’t write them down and my memory doesn’t reach back that far), he did stick around for autographs. And he was kind enough to sign my CD as well as a CD for my friend M. Even flirted a teeny bit with my concert date for the evening :o)
All around excellent gig – if only all of them could be like this. Can’t wait to see him again :o)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Morrissey @ Webster Hall - 03.25.09
I’m forever amazed at all of the various subcultures that co-exist on a daily basis. One goes about one’s day without ever encountering another fan of a particular band one likes and thinking you’re the only sad fuck who thinks they’re great and then BAM! they come to town and you’re awash with fans selling out multiple venues. And so it was with Moz. Now don’t get me wrong. I’m fully aware that the Smiths were a phenomenon and that there are tons and tons of fans out there. It’s just that I don’t tend to run into any of them in an everyday situation…well, apart from my friend, the uber-fan. So it was with a warm fuzzy feeling that I turned the corner from where we’d been eating a not so great cheapie Chinese meal and encountered the never-ending line.
The line that went down the block, around the corner and then around yet another corner. It was long.
Longest line ever...ok, maybe not, but it was very long :o)
And even though it was surprisingly chilly (damn you springtime, when will you come to us! (springtime rant over)) and I was tired from having been ill, it still made me feel good to get to a gig and have to line up.
I’d gotten tired of getting to gigs either right when the main act began or even a few songs into their act, so this was refreshing. Made me feel like it was 8 years ago when I was in the throes of my live gigs overload.
Getting closer, can almost make out marquee...almost.
But back to the show.
Well, we still have a bit more to let out before the show begins. Please indulge me.
Ok, this next bit is to the staff of Webster Hall. Your bouncers, i.e. guys who check IDs and such are lovely. Sweet, friendly guys. Thanks for hiring people who know how to deal with the public.
Your General Manager? An ass. Actually I take it back as I’d be insulting asses all over the world. He’s just a jerk.
Why am I maligning this guy?...
So my concert buddy and I enter the venue after having lined up outside for a bit and it’s still early, so we don’t pop upstairs right away. Instead we walk around the t-shirt stand and do some browsing. She’s just walking along, about a foot away from the wall when suddenly a door opens (from said wall) and hits her full on on her right arm. I should point out that this door was painted the same color as the wall and there was no warning that it was opening. She winces, the guy gets out and sort of grabs her arm in the most ‘hey look how I seem concerned yet haven’t apologized’ way. She just backs away and I guess gives him a dirty look...which hey people do when they’ve just been hurt. This gentleman of gentlemen then barks ‘You should watch where you’re going’. Great. Now it’s our fault that we didn’t anticipate that a seemingly permanently shut door would suddenly pop open with full force.
So my friend, not very surprisingly, called him an asshole. She didn’t yell at him, didn’t chase him, didn’t touch him – she just called him an asshole. Ok, I’m thinking that’s it. He’s fucked up, she’s barked at him, that would’ve been the end of it with most normal people. But no. Because this guy apparently had power trip issues.
He (all 6 foot plus of him) comes back at my friend and starts threatening to evict her. ‘Would you like to continue this outside?’ er… what’s going to happen then? Was he planning on physically assaulting my friend? ‘I’m the general manager here. You know I can have you thrown out.’ Meanwhile my friend is just saying, ‘You hurt my arm.’ And he’s continuing to just belittle us, using the fact that we obviously want to see the show to just abuse his power.
First off – way to go you jerk. You successfully managed to intimidate two short women. I wonder if you would’ve done the same if we had had our boyfriends/husbands with us. And really, what the hell were you going to do if she took you up on the offer to go outside? Were you seriously contemplating assaulting a woman who called you a bad word? A woman who was more than a foot shorter than you? Wow – you’re quite the man. So thanks so much for just being a despotic jerk with delusions of grandeur (and a really thin skin).
But it wouldn’t be a gig at the Emmanuel Lewis Hall (as an acquaintance put it) if some shitty thing didn’t happen. Have I mentioned before how much I loathe Webster? Bah. But musicians I love, choose to play there so I trek on over thinking the next time will be better. Sigh. When will I learn?
After we recoup a bit from the jerk-in-authority from hell, we make our way upstairs. It’s not quite a packed house yet as Morrissey is only due to go on at 10 pm and it was only about 8:30, but it’s still pretty full. We made our way over to the right side of the stage, near the archway to the bar...yeah, that wasn’t a good spot ;o)
Moz is not due to start for ages and yet people are already being really rowdy and disruptive – ‘Whoa! You’re stoned man.’ Actual words said by those behind us. And hey, if you feel like getting stoned at a Morrissey show more power to you. I don’t quite see the appeal, but then again, I guess I’ve always been a square ;o) when it comes to things like that. But my tolerance stops when you keep on bumping/hitting me and my friend repeatedly because you’re doing some sort of crazy ‘high’ dance with your pals. Sigh.
So before the show even begins we’ve already had to move due to annoying people. But hey such is the life of a concert goer :o)
Around 9ish, the opening band went on – The Courteeners – who all had fab haircuts (lead singer resembled god knows how many different singers – cross between Liam Gallagher and oh, about 15 different indie bands’ lead singer) and all well, sounded like 15 other bands. They played well and the singer’s banter was nice enough – the one thing I completely understood was ‘We’re from Manchester and it’s an honor to be supporting Morrissey.’ Oh and that the Webster Hall was only their 3rd gig in NYC, and their 2nd with Morrissey.
They were capable enough, but honestly, after about 15 minutes, I was mentally willing them to leave the stage. It just all sounded like a pastiche of every band that’s come out of the UK for the last couple of years. Catchy, bouncy music, but awfully derivative.
I spent most of the time they were on stage staring at their backdrop cloth where they’d had their name projected on, trying to figure out how the lettering had been done…I don’t think that’s a particular good sign vis-à-vis one’s interest in the band that’s playing ;o)
Fascinating lettering that had me enthralled...yeah, i might have ADD or something ;o)
They stop playing around 9:40ish and then we wait for a bit for Morrissey to come on. Gave me and the concert buddy a chance to look around – Webster Hall has had a face lift since we were there last. The zodiac signs and bas reliefs are gone, replaced with the more tasteful (?) non-descript gold decorations…oh, and a whole south of France cabana vibe, complete with an awning in the balcony.
And now that the backdrop cloth to the opening band is gone, we get to see Morrissey’s backdrop – a gigantor b+w photo of a young sailor flexing his muscles while munching on a cigar. I heart Morrissey :o)
'This backdrop will be muy macho, right?' ;o)
Anywho, pretty much at 10 on the spot (which the bouncers had announced would be his start time) Morrissey comes on to the screams of the crowd. Started out strong with one of the three Smiths’ songs he was to play that evening, This Charming Man, which had everyone happily singing along. The other two he played were Ask and How Soon is Now. I was happy with the mix of songs, some new, some older, some Smiths, but then again I’m only a fan-Lite ;o) unlike my friend who, has I mentioned, is the uber fan. She thought he overlooked far too many albums and felt that he should’ve had at least one song from each solo outing.
He went on to play some great songs from the new album - I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris - as well as two of my new favorites, Shame Is the Name, and damn-this-song-is-good, Something Is Squeezing My Skull, which addresses the peddling of and overmedication of us all by the lovely folks at the pharmaceutical companies.
He addressed the crowd quite a few times, but I didn’t quite catch everything he said, for one, I had to have my ears all plugged up with tissue paper, to avoid having my eardrums being blown out by the ridiculously loud shriekers/screamers right next to me, and two, well, he doesn’t always enunciate ;o)
One of Morrissey's many costume changes...ok, shirt changes.
I did catch one thing towards the end of the gig. He came out and introduced the band by their, well, names, and then when he came to himself he said ‘And well, I’m a myth.’ :o)
In between all this, there were quite a few costume changes, i.e. stripping of the very sweaty button down shirts, which left the women and young men behind me in quite a tizzy. I believe there was quite some talk about Morrissey’s sweaty titties and what could be done to alleviate it, i.e. wear a lighter colored shirt, etc. Yes, mental giants all behind me.
He also played Irish Blood, English Heart which has become a big fave of mine, particularly b/c of his mention of disowning Oliver Cromwell, as I’ve been reading up on British history of late...so now I get what he’s talking about there :o)
Yes, Morrissey, i too am touched by your music :o)
They finished up and came back for the encore – The Last of the Gang to Die - which my friend spookily predicted… Ok, not so spookily since she’d seen him already at the Welmont Theater in Montclair – apparently he’s not really changing the set at all.
All in all, notwithstanding the boorish behavior of some crowd members (but such is always the way at Webster) and the really inexcusable behavior of certain staff members which will remain nameless - only b/c I don’t know their name - I’m talking to you, Webster Hall General Manager ;o) – this was quite a good show. Morrissey is still coming out with great new material, topical and catchy. I certainly hope to see him again soon...just not at Webster Hall ;o)
The line that went down the block, around the corner and then around yet another corner. It was long.
Longest line ever...ok, maybe not, but it was very long :o)And even though it was surprisingly chilly (damn you springtime, when will you come to us! (springtime rant over)) and I was tired from having been ill, it still made me feel good to get to a gig and have to line up.
I’d gotten tired of getting to gigs either right when the main act began or even a few songs into their act, so this was refreshing. Made me feel like it was 8 years ago when I was in the throes of my live gigs overload.
Getting closer, can almost make out marquee...almost.But back to the show.
Well, we still have a bit more to let out before the show begins. Please indulge me.
Ok, this next bit is to the staff of Webster Hall. Your bouncers, i.e. guys who check IDs and such are lovely. Sweet, friendly guys. Thanks for hiring people who know how to deal with the public.
Your General Manager? An ass. Actually I take it back as I’d be insulting asses all over the world. He’s just a jerk.
Why am I maligning this guy?...
So my concert buddy and I enter the venue after having lined up outside for a bit and it’s still early, so we don’t pop upstairs right away. Instead we walk around the t-shirt stand and do some browsing. She’s just walking along, about a foot away from the wall when suddenly a door opens (from said wall) and hits her full on on her right arm. I should point out that this door was painted the same color as the wall and there was no warning that it was opening. She winces, the guy gets out and sort of grabs her arm in the most ‘hey look how I seem concerned yet haven’t apologized’ way. She just backs away and I guess gives him a dirty look...which hey people do when they’ve just been hurt. This gentleman of gentlemen then barks ‘You should watch where you’re going’. Great. Now it’s our fault that we didn’t anticipate that a seemingly permanently shut door would suddenly pop open with full force.
So my friend, not very surprisingly, called him an asshole. She didn’t yell at him, didn’t chase him, didn’t touch him – she just called him an asshole. Ok, I’m thinking that’s it. He’s fucked up, she’s barked at him, that would’ve been the end of it with most normal people. But no. Because this guy apparently had power trip issues.
He (all 6 foot plus of him) comes back at my friend and starts threatening to evict her. ‘Would you like to continue this outside?’ er… what’s going to happen then? Was he planning on physically assaulting my friend? ‘I’m the general manager here. You know I can have you thrown out.’ Meanwhile my friend is just saying, ‘You hurt my arm.’ And he’s continuing to just belittle us, using the fact that we obviously want to see the show to just abuse his power.
First off – way to go you jerk. You successfully managed to intimidate two short women. I wonder if you would’ve done the same if we had had our boyfriends/husbands with us. And really, what the hell were you going to do if she took you up on the offer to go outside? Were you seriously contemplating assaulting a woman who called you a bad word? A woman who was more than a foot shorter than you? Wow – you’re quite the man. So thanks so much for just being a despotic jerk with delusions of grandeur (and a really thin skin).
But it wouldn’t be a gig at the Emmanuel Lewis Hall (as an acquaintance put it) if some shitty thing didn’t happen. Have I mentioned before how much I loathe Webster? Bah. But musicians I love, choose to play there so I trek on over thinking the next time will be better. Sigh. When will I learn?
After we recoup a bit from the jerk-in-authority from hell, we make our way upstairs. It’s not quite a packed house yet as Morrissey is only due to go on at 10 pm and it was only about 8:30, but it’s still pretty full. We made our way over to the right side of the stage, near the archway to the bar...yeah, that wasn’t a good spot ;o)
Moz is not due to start for ages and yet people are already being really rowdy and disruptive – ‘Whoa! You’re stoned man.’ Actual words said by those behind us. And hey, if you feel like getting stoned at a Morrissey show more power to you. I don’t quite see the appeal, but then again, I guess I’ve always been a square ;o) when it comes to things like that. But my tolerance stops when you keep on bumping/hitting me and my friend repeatedly because you’re doing some sort of crazy ‘high’ dance with your pals. Sigh.
So before the show even begins we’ve already had to move due to annoying people. But hey such is the life of a concert goer :o)
Around 9ish, the opening band went on – The Courteeners – who all had fab haircuts (lead singer resembled god knows how many different singers – cross between Liam Gallagher and oh, about 15 different indie bands’ lead singer) and all well, sounded like 15 other bands. They played well and the singer’s banter was nice enough – the one thing I completely understood was ‘We’re from Manchester and it’s an honor to be supporting Morrissey.’ Oh and that the Webster Hall was only their 3rd gig in NYC, and their 2nd with Morrissey.
They were capable enough, but honestly, after about 15 minutes, I was mentally willing them to leave the stage. It just all sounded like a pastiche of every band that’s come out of the UK for the last couple of years. Catchy, bouncy music, but awfully derivative.
I spent most of the time they were on stage staring at their backdrop cloth where they’d had their name projected on, trying to figure out how the lettering had been done…I don’t think that’s a particular good sign vis-à-vis one’s interest in the band that’s playing ;o)
Fascinating lettering that had me enthralled...yeah, i might have ADD or something ;o)They stop playing around 9:40ish and then we wait for a bit for Morrissey to come on. Gave me and the concert buddy a chance to look around – Webster Hall has had a face lift since we were there last. The zodiac signs and bas reliefs are gone, replaced with the more tasteful (?) non-descript gold decorations…oh, and a whole south of France cabana vibe, complete with an awning in the balcony.
And now that the backdrop cloth to the opening band is gone, we get to see Morrissey’s backdrop – a gigantor b+w photo of a young sailor flexing his muscles while munching on a cigar. I heart Morrissey :o)
'This backdrop will be muy macho, right?' ;o)Anywho, pretty much at 10 on the spot (which the bouncers had announced would be his start time) Morrissey comes on to the screams of the crowd. Started out strong with one of the three Smiths’ songs he was to play that evening, This Charming Man, which had everyone happily singing along. The other two he played were Ask and How Soon is Now. I was happy with the mix of songs, some new, some older, some Smiths, but then again I’m only a fan-Lite ;o) unlike my friend who, has I mentioned, is the uber fan. She thought he overlooked far too many albums and felt that he should’ve had at least one song from each solo outing.
He went on to play some great songs from the new album - I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris - as well as two of my new favorites, Shame Is the Name, and damn-this-song-is-good, Something Is Squeezing My Skull, which addresses the peddling of and overmedication of us all by the lovely folks at the pharmaceutical companies.
He addressed the crowd quite a few times, but I didn’t quite catch everything he said, for one, I had to have my ears all plugged up with tissue paper, to avoid having my eardrums being blown out by the ridiculously loud shriekers/screamers right next to me, and two, well, he doesn’t always enunciate ;o)
One of Morrissey's many costume changes...ok, shirt changes.I did catch one thing towards the end of the gig. He came out and introduced the band by their, well, names, and then when he came to himself he said ‘And well, I’m a myth.’ :o)
In between all this, there were quite a few costume changes, i.e. stripping of the very sweaty button down shirts, which left the women and young men behind me in quite a tizzy. I believe there was quite some talk about Morrissey’s sweaty titties and what could be done to alleviate it, i.e. wear a lighter colored shirt, etc. Yes, mental giants all behind me.
He also played Irish Blood, English Heart which has become a big fave of mine, particularly b/c of his mention of disowning Oliver Cromwell, as I’ve been reading up on British history of late...so now I get what he’s talking about there :o)
Yes, Morrissey, i too am touched by your music :o)They finished up and came back for the encore – The Last of the Gang to Die - which my friend spookily predicted… Ok, not so spookily since she’d seen him already at the Welmont Theater in Montclair – apparently he’s not really changing the set at all.
All in all, notwithstanding the boorish behavior of some crowd members (but such is always the way at Webster) and the really inexcusable behavior of certain staff members which will remain nameless - only b/c I don’t know their name - I’m talking to you, Webster Hall General Manager ;o) – this was quite a good show. Morrissey is still coming out with great new material, topical and catchy. I certainly hope to see him again soon...just not at Webster Hall ;o)
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Another year....
New Year's Resolutions…are always crap. You make all these silly promises to yourself on 12/31 and then comes the new year, which is just a Thursday like any other, and you don't follow through and then Bam!, you feel bad, which stresses you out, which leads to chest pain, which gives you a heart attack and then there you are dead before the first week of January is even over….Ok so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but resolutions are still pretty bad and even BBC news agrees with me ;o)
Having said all that (and by now you might be wondering what the hell this has to do with live music blogging), if I was going to have any New Year's resolutions, they would be pretty much wholly related to this blog, i.e. actually post on shows within a few days of seeing them, instead of waiting upwards of two months before finally getting around to writing up anything. And then the other closely following resolution would be to actually go to more shows. There was once a time that if I went to 3 shows a month I'd be disappointed. Heck, I sometimes went to 3 shows a week! I'm hoping that last year was an anomaly and that I'll be soon heading out to shows a few times a month once again.
But don't quote me on that ;o)
So, back to the music…
I have a few shows I never did post about and at least a whopping 2 or 3 readers that would like to read about them, so I'm going to do my best to catch up this week. Stay tuned for individual posts on British India - a young upstart band from Australia that kicks ass, We are Scientists show over at Irving Plaza (lalalalala, I refuse to call it by it's new name – Fillmore my ass!), and the wonderful Rhett Miller's set at Maxwell's.
p.s. British India and We are Scientists posts will probably show up on the blog before this one, so look backwards for them :o)
Having said all that (and by now you might be wondering what the hell this has to do with live music blogging), if I was going to have any New Year's resolutions, they would be pretty much wholly related to this blog, i.e. actually post on shows within a few days of seeing them, instead of waiting upwards of two months before finally getting around to writing up anything. And then the other closely following resolution would be to actually go to more shows. There was once a time that if I went to 3 shows a month I'd be disappointed. Heck, I sometimes went to 3 shows a week! I'm hoping that last year was an anomaly and that I'll be soon heading out to shows a few times a month once again.
But don't quote me on that ;o)
So, back to the music…
I have a few shows I never did post about and at least a whopping 2 or 3 readers that would like to read about them, so I'm going to do my best to catch up this week. Stay tuned for individual posts on British India - a young upstart band from Australia that kicks ass, We are Scientists show over at Irving Plaza (lalalalala, I refuse to call it by it's new name – Fillmore my ass!), and the wonderful Rhett Miller's set at Maxwell's.
p.s. British India and We are Scientists posts will probably show up on the blog before this one, so look backwards for them :o)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
British India @ The Borderline - 9.19.08
British India – I didn't unfortunately make any notes when I saw them back in September (damn I'm late!), but I wanted to make sure I wrote a little something about them, as well as posted a few photos and hopefully (if the blogger gods of video uploading acquiesce) a bit of video as well.
They played a smallish venue in London (alfacinha's first international gig – Whoo-hoo!), of comparable size to NYC's Mercury Lounge. The boy and I got there uber early. He'd checked out the starting times, but I guess London gigs work like Bowery gigs, times are only a mere suggestion, and nowhere close to reality. We hung about for an hour or so and managed a pretty sweet spot a few people away from the stage.
The crowd seemed to be made up of quite a few friends, possibly of the band. Everyone seemed to know each other, except for us and some people behind us. The band is made up of some very young guys from Australia. Really young :o)
dig me the great young River Phoenix tee - brought back some teenage memories :o)
They were great though. Really threw themselves into their craft and played their hearts out…unfortunately their amps didn't follow along. They'd played maybe a third of their set, when they realize that one of the amps didn't work at all. They tried to cope and hung about on stage for a bit, but eventually the lead singer went offstage to leave their roadie to figure things out. Have I mentioned that this was their first London gig? :o) But hey, it's rock'n'roll. It wouldn't be much fun if everything always went right. We were left to stare at broken amps and the people who care for them for quite a bit - probably almost an hour or so if I recall correctly.
But they eventually managed to jerryrig something together and continued playing. Their energy was fucking amazing. To compare them to the Sex Pistols and the Clash is a bit trite, but they've certainly got that early punk sensibility. Songs were incredibly catchy, they were very passionate, and unlike other bands I could think of (but won't name), they didn't just pussy out when something went wrong. They did the best they could with what was available and kept on going, not wanting to disappoint their fans.
I'd recently fallen for them through my boy's advice, but seeing them live and watching how much they put of themselves into their performance, I became a complete convert and try to push them on to anyone who'll listen. Thanks for a great show guys and I hope to see you in NYC very soon!
They played a smallish venue in London (alfacinha's first international gig – Whoo-hoo!), of comparable size to NYC's Mercury Lounge. The boy and I got there uber early. He'd checked out the starting times, but I guess London gigs work like Bowery gigs, times are only a mere suggestion, and nowhere close to reality. We hung about for an hour or so and managed a pretty sweet spot a few people away from the stage.
The crowd seemed to be made up of quite a few friends, possibly of the band. Everyone seemed to know each other, except for us and some people behind us. The band is made up of some very young guys from Australia. Really young :o)
dig me the great young River Phoenix tee - brought back some teenage memories :o)
They were great though. Really threw themselves into their craft and played their hearts out…unfortunately their amps didn't follow along. They'd played maybe a third of their set, when they realize that one of the amps didn't work at all. They tried to cope and hung about on stage for a bit, but eventually the lead singer went offstage to leave their roadie to figure things out. Have I mentioned that this was their first London gig? :o) But hey, it's rock'n'roll. It wouldn't be much fun if everything always went right. We were left to stare at broken amps and the people who care for them for quite a bit - probably almost an hour or so if I recall correctly.
But they eventually managed to jerryrig something together and continued playing. Their energy was fucking amazing. To compare them to the Sex Pistols and the Clash is a bit trite, but they've certainly got that early punk sensibility. Songs were incredibly catchy, they were very passionate, and unlike other bands I could think of (but won't name), they didn't just pussy out when something went wrong. They did the best they could with what was available and kept on going, not wanting to disappoint their fans.I'd recently fallen for them through my boy's advice, but seeing them live and watching how much they put of themselves into their performance, I became a complete convert and try to push them on to anyone who'll listen. Thanks for a great show guys and I hope to see you in NYC very soon!
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