After seeing Richard Thompson back in 2016 (three times in a short span) I decided I could take a break from seeing him a bit. Although when he announced an electric trio tour I was really excited to check it out. Sadly, I couldn’t make that show. But when he announced another show at McCarter (I believe his 20th show there?) I figured it had been four years and was time to see him again.
This was my tenth time seeing Richard Thompson (first time in 1997). I tend to focus a lot on the songs that Richard plays at every show. I’m sure I’ve seen “Beeswing” and “1952 Vincent Black Lightning” ten times. But in this set he played 13 songs that I hadn’t seen in at least the previous two shows and that’s pretty awesome.
We had some amazing seats (center stage about eight rows back) and we could see his fretwork absolutely clearly. (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: ROBERT SCHNEIDER-“Reverie in Prime Time Signatures” (2009).
Robert Schneider is the lead singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer of The Apples in Stereo. He also received a PhD in mathematics from Emory University in 2018.
So he seems like the perfect person to write this complex score (even if he wrote it before he got his PhD).
In the back of the book, Schneider explains in pretty great detail how he chose to write what he did.
He also says that the music was written and and first performed at an experiemntal reading of the original script at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton on Dec 12 2009. Schneider played synth along with cellist Heather McIntosh and clarinet Alex Kontorovich. The musical score is included in the book and you can hear it here
The piece is two minutes with harpsichord and a lead cello and flute with a synthesizer underneath.
It is mournful and quite pretty.
For a song that is all about odd time signatures, it somehow doesn’t feel awkward or choppy. I don’t know enough about time signatures to even tell where the different parts are–I can’t hear it at all. But I find the piece to be quite nice. And it is reasonable to think that the victims could have the melody stuck in their heads.
[READ: June 19, 2019] Prime Suspects
Raise your hand if you want a graphic novel (illustrated by Robert J. Lewis) that is a CSI-styled investigation but is actually a pretty thorough look into higher mathematics.
I have a hard time summing up what this book is all about because I didn’t get all the math that’s going on here. But the story itself is pretty fun and easy to follow.
The book opens with two cops finding a dead body in a tunnel There’s also a documentary crew filming everything for the show MSI: Mathematical Science investigation.
A man in a hat and trench coat welcomes us to his world–a world where you don’t have to understand everything to know something. Where a legendary mathematics professor became the subject of a documentary.
That professor is Professor Gauss. His assistant Mr Langer is in the precinct with Gauss to talk about what hey have found.
Langer is a formally educated student. A bit uptight and stuffy. One day in Professor Gauss’ class a young woman with a ring in her nose and unique fashion sense came in. Her name is Emmy Germain and she proves to be incredibly smart. But she is self-educated–an abomination to Langer. But she turns out to be a delightful surprise to the documentary crew that is inexplicably filming Guass’ class. (more…)
I’m with Her is something of a folk and bluegrass supergroup made up of Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz and Sara Watkins. I knew each of them from previous Tiny Desk Concerts and knew I’m With Her from a Tiny Desk Concert as well.
I was pretty excited to see them as both Sara and Sarah were on my list of artists that I wanted to see live (I was otherwise unfamiliar with Aoife). One thing that always come up is their name–did they name themselves after the Hillary Clinton campaign? In fact, no, the three got together and named themselves before Clinton used the slogan for her campaign. Technically the band came first, but the Clinton campaign didn’t take it from them either, evidently–coincidental naming. The band says that the exposure certainly didn’t hurt–but if it had been the other side’s campaign, they definitely would have fought it.
But on to the music. The women sing in absolutely gorgeous harmony. Individually, their voices are wonderful, but as they add one and then a second harmony…swoon. They also switch instruments constantly–fiddle, mandolin, ukulele, guitar, banjo. Everything sounds a little different. (more…)
I had never heard of Billy Strings before this show. But when he was announced, the crowd was really effusive about him, which led me to think that he was well-known. And I gather he is. He has some 40,000 fans on his Facebook page, which is no small thing. (Interestingly, headliners I’m with Her have only 22,000).
So Billy Strings came out and I swear I thought he was 18 (he’s 26). He said a friendly “Hi, folks” and proceeded to absolutely blown me away with his guitar playing. He opened with Brown’s Ferry Blues a folk song from around 1930 and proceeded to play the heck out of his guitar. He also sang the rather amusing lyrics in a good ‘ol drawl (he is from Michigan).
Then he surpirsed me even further by playing a Jethro Tull song (which made S. and I quite happy). It was a rather fast-tempoed version of “Thick As a Brick” and it was wonderful. The song segued into a guitar workout called Fishin’ Creek Blues.
He then played “Tom Dooley,” a song I never expected to hear, well, ever. (more…)
I saw Gabriel Kahane open for Punch Brothers about four years ago. I was really impressed by his piano playing and songwriting. So when he announced a new album I was on board to see him right away. I got a ticket for him at a small bar call Bourbon and Branch in Philly. But I wound up with other plans so I couldn’t go. Then I saw that he was playing a show at Princeton!
The show was titled 8980: Book of Travelers and was supposed to come with a video of some sort documenting his Book of Travelers album. I was really curious about this (and pretty excited too, as there were only two locations on the tour where he was going to include the video). There was no video at our show. On a message board I was able to find out why not:
There is a version with video and we had originally planned to present it last night. Ultimately, the more personal, direct, Gabriel at the piano seemed like a better fit for our space so we made a change.
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 knew I was overbooking myself this particular week (this was my third concert in three days), but how could I pass up Jeff Tweedy playing in Princeton? He’d never played here before. Who knew when he’d do it again. And I could get seats by walking right up the box office.
After seeing Wilco live I knew I’d want to see them again. And while Wilco is much more than Jeff Tweedy, Jeff Tweedy by himself is pretty great. Especially if you’re in Row E.
I came to Wilco pretty late in their existence. I didn’t want to know about any alt-country bands back then. Who needed to add -country to alt- music? Well, then I heard “Via Chicago” live and I was hooked. I have retroactively enjoyed all of their releases.
So how awesome was it that he opened with “Via Chicago” just for me? (more…)
I was slightly disappointed to find that Jeff Tweedy had an opening band as I was hoping for “an evening with” the Wilco frontman. When I looked up OHMME, really the only thing I learned from them was that they were once called HOMME. But I’m not sure why they changes the name.
So I didn’t really know what to expect when two women came out on stage. They each had a guitar and a microphone.
And then proceeded to play the most interesting duo rock that I’ve heard in a long time.
Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham (I’m not even sure who was who) played a vast array of styles and sounds (often within the same song) using just two guitars (and a violin) and their voices. It was fantastic. (more…)
[ATTENDED: May 21, 2016] An Evening with Todd Rundgren
I was astonished to learn that I’ve gone most of my life not knowing that Todd Rundgren wrote “Hello, It’s Me” and “Bang the Drum All Day.”
How did I not know this?
Indeed it turns out I didn’t know much about Rundgren. I knew he was in the band Utopia and that they played weird prog rock. And I also thought he was kind of a control freak. But I didn’t realize he had those huge hits (which might explain how he makes so many weird albums–and he has a lot of weird albums).
I don’t even know what made me get a ticket of this show. I had recently been hearing a bit about him. I had looked him up on line or some reason (that’s how I knew he wrote those songs) and I recognized the photo to the right, an iconic photo from Something/Anything (which was used as the backdrop for the show). When I saw that he was playing at McCarter, I decided it was time to check him out. Now, I was going to see a show the night before and normally I don’t like to do two nights in a row, but since this show was so close by (and I knew I’d be home by eleven) I decided to go. And I had a great time.
The blurb for this show started: “The classic rocker Todd Rundgren may be 67, but he shows no signs of slowing down.” And that’s very true.
I managed to score a seat in Row J, which was so close to the man I could see him sweat (ew). The only problem was the very tall man sitting in front of me (I should have asked him to switch seats with his tiny wife).
While I was waiting for the show to start, a woman sat down next to me with her husband and some friends. She was super friendly (and a bit drunk) and we started talking. She asked how big a fan I was of Todd. And I had to admit that this was my first show. She told me that she first saw Todd when she was 16 (or 19 who can remember) and has seen him every tour since then (she’s in her 50s). She said he tours constantly and she will see him twice a year sometimes.
Normally I’m not much of a talker during a show, but I enjoyed having her next to me to occasionally guide me through what I was hearing. Unlike the louts at the end of the row who were talking really loudly and making jokes throughout the show (and getting up to go to the bar every couple of songs). They were big fans I could tell (they knew every song), but such disrespect I’ve never seen.
The lady (whose name I never got) told me that Todd makes a new playlist for each show and decides what he’s going to play an hour before he goes on. That was pretty cool. She told me a few other things that were interesting about him (he has a house that he built in Hawaii but he never goes there because he is always touring). And that, amazingly, she’d never actually met him after all these years.
And then the lights dimmed and the band came out. Followed by Todd. And the crowd went berserk! It was especially amusing because it was practically like a Tom Jones show, with women throwing themselves at him (my seatmate remained remarkably composed). These women (mostly) stood and applauded after each song, waved their arms and were so utterly into it, I was amazed. (more…)
A few months ago I wrote about Avi Avtal’s Tiny Desk concert. I had never heard of him, but his mandolin playing was amazing. And then about three days later I saw that he was going to be playing in Princeton. Well, I immediately got tickets.
And today we saw him and he was even more amazing in person.
In the Tiny Desk show, he played solo. But in this show (and tour) he played with two people accompanying him: Ksenija Sidorova on accordion and Itamar Doari on percussion.
The only complaint I had about the show was that there was no progamme, so I had to look up everything online to know what we had just seen. Fortunately I was able to find a setlist, because I never would have remembered what he told us.
Anyhow, in this show, titled Between Worlds Avital and company explore the borders between folk and classical music. What that means is that they play music from classical composers, but also some very traditional folks songs from around the world.
Mandolin doesn’t seem like the instrument of choice for classical music, but Avital, who has been playing since he was little is amazing at the instrument–playing incredibly fast and clear and managing all of those Bach notes like nobody’s business. (more…)
After seeing Richard Thompson back in 2016 (three times in a short span) I decided I could take a break from seeing him a bit. Although when he announced an electric trio tour I was really excited to check it out. Sadly, I couldn’t make that show. But when he announced another show at McCarter (I believe his 20th show there?) I figured it had been four years and was time to see him again.
I Just Read About That... 