I have been a fan of Sloan for years. I had never seen them live until about a year and a half ago. And it was an excellent show.
So how great was it that they were coming back so soon and with a brand new (and fantastic) album called 12.
This time Sarah said she wanted to come with me, which was super fun. She had never been to Boot & Saddle before and she loved it as much as I do.
There was some construction on the highway so we wound up arriving just a few minutes before the band went on, but it was enough time to get a secure spot not too far back.
At the previous show, I was in front of Jay Ferguson (guitar, vocals and sometimes bass). This time we were in front of Patrick Pentland (Guitars and vocals). As last time, Chris Murphy (bass, vocals and drums) was front and center and Andrew Scott was on drums in the back and vocals and guitar (in the front).
The last show was a 20th anniversary of One Chord to Another, but this show was all about the new album (they played 10 of 12 songs) with 26 songs in total spread across two sets. (more…)
Back in the 90s when Calexico first came out, I had no interest in their blend of alt rock and countryish music. I never really gave them a chance (that was before you could freely listen to music and determine exactly what things sounded like).
Then a couple of years ago, Sarah bought me their then new CD Algiers and I loved it. Their new single, “Under the Wheels” is wonderful (albeit too short). So when I saw that they were playing at World Cafe Live, I decided to grab tickets right away.
I didn’t really know what to expect and what I got was a delightfully life affirming set of fun songs, great musicianship and a tremendous amount of diversity.
I don;t really know that much by Calexico as it turns out (no surprise really). And it was a bit of a bummer that they only played one song from Algiers. But they played a lot from the new album and (if the crowd reaction is accurate) a whole bunch of old favorites. (more…)
I hadn’t heard of Ryley Walker before this show. I walked in just as his set was starting and it was Ryley in the center of the stage, another guitarist to his right and an upright bassist on his left.
And basically, they were jamming some cool electric guitar solos.
I found out that the bassist was actually Calexico’s bassist Scott Colberg. (more…)
I saw Joseph on a video from the Newport Folk Festival a few years back and I loved the way the three sisters of the band sounded singing together. The power of their voices and the harmonies they sang were just stunning.
Natalie, Meegan and Allison Closner are Joseph. The band name, Joseph, is a real problem, at least if you are trying to find them on the internet. (They are apparently named for their grandfather or their father or the town they are from or something).
I had put them on my list of bands I wanted to see, so I was pretty excited to see that they would be playing in Sellersville Theater. But I had a weird experience by the tickets. I first saw a notice about the show listing in January. I immediately grabbed tickets up close. And then all notice of the show seemed to vanish. It wasn’t on the band’s website. It wasn’t on the Sellersville theater website. It wasn’t listed anywhere. I kept checking to see if the show was cancelled, but there was no word at all.
And then about a month and a half later the show was officially announced again and my ticket was good. (more…)
I hadn’t heard of Becca Mancari before this show. So when Becca’s pedal steel player came out and sat at the instrument, I wondered if this is what she looked like and what she played.
Well, after a minute or so of pretty, trippy, soaring pedal steel (which Sarah said reminded her of Sigur Ros), Becca came out in a jump suit and goggles and started playing her guitar. I have no idea if this outfit is typical.
The first song was rather serious, so I was surprised that after the first song, she started chatting with us and was very funny and quite silly.
This was my third time seeing Built to Spill. I had seen them as a five-piece and a three-piece. And this show was another three-piece set up.
I thought it was strange that the drummer’s drums were set up off to the right of the stage instead of in the middle, but that was how they left them. And, indeed, that’s how they played at Stone Pony with drummer Steve Gere off to the right and bassist Steve Albertini to the left.
The two guys don’t do a ton–that’s not their job. They are there to anchor whatever Doug feels like doing. And it’s amazing the way they can adjust to whatever he decides to do–jam, change tempo, whatever. They’re an amazingly tight band,
My friend Al knows the members of Overlake and he thought he might be attending this show. I was bummed he wasn’t there (and even moreso when I tried to text him to see if he was there and realized that I didn’t have his cell number, gah).
I wound up getting to the show really early and parked literally against the stage. I was fascinated that at the start of the show all three drum sets were set up. And how fascinating that Overlake (the opener) was right in the middle.
I looked up the band before the show and the description of the band sounded like I’d really like them:
Overlake is a three-piece band from Jersey City, comprised of Tom Barrett (voice, guitar), Lysa Opfer (Bass, voice), and Nick D’Amore (drums). When they’re not incessantly waxing philosophical about the musical merits of both MBV and GBV … Overlake is busy honing their own unique brand of noisy dreampop, drawing from such stalwart influences as Dinosaur Jr, Slowdive, and Yo La Tengo.
Rituals of Mine was a band I hadn’t heard of. They were opening on the co-headlining Afghan Whigs/Built To Spill tour. I don’t know why Built to Spill played this one-off, solo headlining show in Asbury Park, but I was super thrilled to see them alone. I do really like Afghan Whigs, but it didn’t seem like a double bill I wanted to attend. Rituals of Mine came along with Built to Spill to Asbury Park.
I looked up Rituals of Mine and learned that they used to be called the worst band name ever: Sister Crayon. They even released an album as Sister Crayon and have since re-released it as Rituals of Mine.
Before the band came out, the stage was covered with drums. And Rituals of Mine’s drummer was off to the left. When the lights dimmed, a strobe light started flashing in the bass drum, which was kind of cool. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC-“The Hamilton Polka” (2016).
Lin-Manuel Miranda has declared his love and respect for “Weird Al” on many occasions. So it makes perfect sense that he would ask Al to contribute to the online Hamilton project known as HamilDrops. The Decemberists’ “Ben Franklin’s Song” is amazing too.
But seriously, how could Al parody a more or less biographical story of a historical figure (that’s two hours long)?. By not parodying it at all.
Rather, he makes one of his polka mashups which he’s been doing hilariously since his second album. They are often a highlight of each new album. This song compresses (almost) the entire musical into 5 minutes.
“The Hamilton Polka,” provides what’s essentially a CliffsNotes-style run-through of the musical’s hooks and highlights — just enough to get the entire musical stuck in your head all over again.
I love the way in the original, the third sister, poor Peggy, is sort of musically dissed whereas Al is just explicit about it. And of course, how could he refuse to include some actual gun shots for “Not Throwing Away My Shot?”
So they cram in quite a bunch of melodies (and aside from the “bastard” line in the beginning, manage to keep it clean. Although I do wish he’s added at least one Hercules Mulligan line
Alexander Hamilton
Wait For It
The Schuyler Sisters
Yorktown
You’ll Be Back
The Room Where It Happens
Guns and Ships
Washington On Your Side
Non-Stop
History Has Its Eyes On You
My Shot
And Al can really sing and rap some of those lyrics quickly. It’s a really fun mashup.
[READ: January 11, 2018] Alexander Hamilton: The Graphic History of an American Founding Father
Before the musical, most people’s familiarity with Alexander Hamilton probably came from this (awesome) commercial (even if none of us could remember what it was ultimately for).
Actually, my father worked for (and owned for a time) Alexander Hamilton Printing in Paterson, NJ, so Alexander Hamilton has always been a part of my life. Although I had no idea why. Not really.
There’s a new reason why people know about Alexander Hamilton (can you even say his name without singing it?).
And I’m sure that reason has something to do with the creation and publication of this book. But Hennessey is not just jumping on the Hamilton bandwagon. Well, maybe he is, but he has two other historical graphic novels out already: The United States Constitution: A Graphic Adaptation (2008) and The Gettysburg Address: A Graphic Adaptation (2012). He also has books called The Comic Book Story of Beer, and The Comic Book Story of Video Games so he’s not all stuffy.
The musical is far more catchy than this book–far more steamy. But this book is really chock full of details that the musical skips (for various reasons, obviously). The book is a lot less interested in the romantic dalliances of the founding father, although it certainly does acknowledge them.
Indeed, the book is 176 fully illustrated pages jam-packed with information. It reads a little, if not dull, then certainly more academic. That’s because there’s a lot of text and a lot of history. (more…)
I had never heard of Bit Brigade, but I saw an ad in Johnny Brenda’s for a band who would be playing music from The Legend of Zelda and I was very intrigued.
Clark and I have been to see Symphonic Zelda twice, so I thought it would be interesting to hear a rock version of it.
But as I investigated, I saw that they also had a “Player One” who played the game while the band played. What was going on here?
It turns out that, as bassist Luke Fields explained to us:
Noah is going to play The Legend of Zelda as fast as he can. And we are going to play the soundtrack as loud as we can.
I have been a fan of Sloan for years. I had never seen them live until about a year and a half ago. And it was an excellent show.
I Just Read About That... 