Oct 182010
Clean living!
Have you seen anyone in concert lately? Tell me about it.
Over the weekend I had to give up my tickets to see Nick Lowe, a show I’d been looking forward to seeing for months, so that I could, uh…maybe you don’t want to know what came between me and seeing Lowe. Allow me to live vicariously and add to my recent regrets. Thanks.
WHOA! Check out this show coming this Thursday night at NYC’s Lakeside Lounge: The Kippington Lodge Social Club, with Friend of the Hall, Martin Belmont, Graham Parker, Steve Goulding, Bob Andrews, and Jeremy Chatzky.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=135906473122185
I’ve got to see if I can wrap up work early and hop up to New York. If I can’t, this is EXACTLY the kind of show I hope someone around here can brag about seeing and make me feel bad about having missed it.
Oh, poor Mod. I recognize those delightful pharmaceutical products…You’re giving away your age.
And I also recognized the excellent songs that Teenage Fanclub did last week! They were the shit! The sound was good, and the band was tight. There were no Carlos Santana faces. But it was a bit weird to hear those familiar songs and then look up and see faces that look a wee bit older. They did many of their best, older numbers, but also quite a bit from the new album. I hadn’t really liked the new record, but the new stuff sounded even better live. The show was well worth the aching knees and mid-week sleep deprivation.
Superchunk at the Trocadero a few weeks ago. My first time seeing them live. Great show! And Joe and I got to hang with “That Johnny Wurster Kid” before the gig too.
Mod, Have you been to the Lakeside Lounge? Unless it’s changed, I don’t see how they can even fit all those people in the place. It is smaller than the Fire. The stage is about a five inch riser and we could only fit about half the band on it.
That being said, it is the coolest bar in NYC. It’s owned by Eric Ambel and the jukebox is stellar. Loaded with old ska, honky tonk, r&b and soul, with a smattering of Iggy and 70’s punk. Mr Ambel told me that he “built the bar around the jukebox.”
Note: my information is about 10 years old so things may be different now.
I also got to see Fanclub a couple of weeks ago in the same club they played in ’94. I lost touch with them after “Northern Britain” but things sounded pretty good. I’m pretty sure I spotted townsman Tvox in the crowd as well.
Not exactly recent, but i saw Sir Paul at the WF Center. I’d never seen him before. It was wonderful. I cried during I’ve Just Seen a Face. I never saw it coming. He played Let Me Roll It, which is my favorite song he ever wrote. The band was dope. Paul actually played a few guitar solos and killed them. SO FUN. My mom won the tickets at work. There’s no way i would ever pay $100 to see anyone.
Before that, I saw Chris Isaak at Longwood Gardens. It was a blast. I spent the day looking at flowers with my wife, then saw a great show. I’ve seen him about 5 times. He’s a lot of fun. However, since the firing of John Calvin Wilsey in 1994, I couldn’t give a fuck about his recorded output.
Shortly before that, I saw Melody Gardot at the Keswick. She was INSANE. Really sexy, quasi-crippled ghost of a chanteusse who killed it on the piano. Her band, upright, drums, and sax/flute, were ungodly talented. At the time of the show, she had the #1 selling album in France, but could barely sell out the Keswick in her home town.
startling.
This Thursday, I’ll be seeing Dylan for the 11th time. Looking forward to it. Will give a report later.
TB
Indeed, that Fanclub show at the Troc is tied with the Superchunk show from the previous week as the two best of the year. Mad fun.
I’ve never been there, cdm. I had no idea it was Ambel’s place. Thanks for the tip. I wonder if his friend and Friend of the Hall Andy Shernoff will be there as well?
Although, the Neko Case show at the Keswick was alarmingly wonderful, too.
I was also at that Teenage Fanclub show at the Troc. My first time seeing them. It was pure joy for me. They played almost all my favorite songs. I think whenever I’m in a bad mood, I’ll think of that show.
Continuing the ’90s theme, tomorrow I’m seeing Greg Dulli and Craig Wedren at Johnny Brenda’s.
I did see Nick Lowe, and you missed a really good show. I also was home early enough to catch the last four innings of you later commitment, so there. Lowe always had that persona of being merely a “basher” and, while he doesn’t do anything too astonishingly difficult while thrumming his acoustic guitar and crooning his songs, the ease and elegance with which he carries it off IS astonishing. He hit a varied selection of stuff from old to new and his band, especially Geraint Watkins, the piano player who also opened with a solo set was very good. Everytime I see him do “I Knew the Bride…”, I think about how misguided the direction of our intellectual property and copyright law trends are. Artists are supposed to steal!
I also saw Van Dyke Parks a few weeks back. I know that the guy doesn’t get a lot of love around here (I’m looking at YOU, Mr. Mod), but he really is something. He played with Clare and the Reasons, which is a little chamber pop group fronted by Geoff Muldaur’s daughter. I always like his arrangements on other folks records and he produced Ry Cooder’s debut album, one of my favorite sounding records of all time, so I’ll give him a pass if Song Cycle is a little pretentious. Anyway, in many ways, the highlight of the show was a Harry Nilsson song called “He Needs Me”. It’s a ragtimey song and Parks piano playing was out of this world, totally varying style and approach from moment to moment in a very cool way. It was also nice that it was in a small intimate setting, with Parks playing a spinet piano with violing, bass and cello accompaniment only. Totally cool.
Not immediately recent, but the last live show I saw was Flight of the Conchords at the greek in Berkeley. You know, “New Zealand’s third most popular folk comedy duo”. A good show, including an apparently brand new song with what I find to be exactingly clever comedic wordplay. Which fortunately someone caught in reasonable fidelity at another show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEJvzhXgufg
I didn’t know Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney had a new record out under her own name. Has anyone heard this stuff or seen her live? It looks like she’s playing in Philadelphia next week, although I’m hoping to be at a World Series game that night. Just in case, this could be a back-up plan.
http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/music/20101022_And_a_band__and_a_new_album___quot_1_000_Years__quot_.html
Here’s one you haven’t missed!
I learned Thursday night that Tony Joe White was playing in this crummy little bar in New Haven on Friday night. Special early show at 8:00 because there was some other band at 10:00.
Although in downtown New Haven, Cafe Nine is like a neighborhood bar. They regularly have live music, although 7 times out of 10 it is local music and a lot of the rest are acts I’ve never heard of. But every once in awhile there’s a name act. But it’s a crummy venue no matter the act. Small, terrible acoustics, and generally a very noisy crowd
I can’t recall ever seeing that TJW was touring in my neck of the woods so I couldn’t pass up the chance and I’m glad I didn’t. TJW and a drummer, set slightly over an hour, and just a great performance. Swampy enough to make John Fogerty seem arid. Polk Salad Annie and Rainy Night In Georgia. The show ended, he went out the door, and he was gone.
And, Mr. Mod, he’s playing tonight at World Cafe Live. I know you have other plans, but think about it. If the Phils lose, then do you really want to watch? And if they win, tomorrow’s what matters, right?
Philly contingent, do yourselves a favor and get to World Cafe tonight.