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Archive for the ‘Real Estate’ Category

Real Estate / Palm (Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA, April 22, 2020) [POSTPONED/CANCELLED]

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Cancelled, Coronavirus, Palm, Philadelphia, PA, Postponed, Quarantine, Real Estate, Union Transfer on April 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »

[POSTPONED: CANCELLED: April 22, 2020] Real Estate / Palm

indexI saw Real Estate open for Belle and Sebastian five years ago.  I enjoyed their mellow set and found them very pleasant.

Seeing as how they are from Ridgewood, NJ (about five minutes from where I grew up), I feel like I should like them so much more.

Mostly I like their sound in small doses–it’s a little too mellow for me.  But i do enjoy them.

Mostly, though, I was going to go to this show for openers Palm.  I have seen Palm twice, both times in small venues.  I would have liked to see them on a larger stage (although I can’t imagine a less comparable band for them to play with than Real Estate.

Whereas Real Estate plays pretty songs, Palm plays chaotic, untethered, truly original songs.  They are magnificent and I love watching them play their bizarre songs.

There aren’t too many bands where I’ve thought “I need to see them a lot more,” but Palm is one of those bands.

This show was postponed, although I am really not sure if Palm will be with then when it gets rescheduled.  We’ll see.

UPDATE: On May 19 the band formally cancelled the show/tour

With all of the uncertainty about when we’ll be able to play live shows again, we have no choice but to formally cancel all of our announced headline shows including the previously postponed dates.

Please know that this is devastating for us on every level, but we have no doubt that it is the right decision to make.

Stay strong everyone, we will be back!

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Real Estate (Radio City Music Hall, New York, June 10, 2015) [BELLE AND SEBASTIAN]

Posted in Belle and Sebastian, Death Cab For Cutie, New York City, Radio City Music Hall, Real Estate, Sloan, Stefan Knapp on June 11, 2015| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: June 10, 2015] Real Estate

relestateWe ordered tickets for Belle and Sebastian months and months ago (probably back in April before Sarah’s birthday).  We had no idea a) they would be playing in Philly as well and b) who the opening act would be.

In Philly the opener was Lucius, a band I like a bit, and who are quite dancey.  But at Radio City, the opener was Real Estate, a jangly pop band who I like better.

Real Estate’s previous album was selected on many 2011 best of lists.  Their new album I think may not be quite as catchy, but it has the same summery vibe.  (And the cover of the new album, Atlas, features Stefan Knapp’s mural that was on Alexander’s department store in Paramus–Real Estate are from Ridgewood, New Jersey, you see). (more…)

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Lydia Davis–“Not Interested” (Harper’s, April 2013)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Boredom, Ducktails, Harper's, Lydia Davis, Real Estate, Short Story on March 22, 2013| Leave a Comment »

HarpersaprilSOUNDTRACK: DUCKTAILS-“Letter of Intent” (SXSW, March 22, 2013).

ducktailsDucktails is a side project from the guy from the band Real Estate.  I liked some Real Estate songs, but this is the first I’ve heard of Ducktails.  The write up on NPR talks about them being an experimental  live band, so I was anticipating something wild.

But this proves to be a very sedate, kind of dull synth heavy track–the guitars are kind of tossed on there in a very 80s new wave fashion, and there’s very little beyond the washes of synths.  There’s really nothing here I’d want to hear again.

It’s available here.

[READ: March 19, 2013] “Not Interested”

I’m always mixed about Lydia Davis’ stuff.  She writes very very short pieces and most of them seem to be not so much stories as observations, ideas or even things that just seem to pass through her mind.  Some of them are amazing–insightful or funny–which convey a lot in a concise piece of writing.  And others seem just kind of flat.  This is one that I am utterly ambivalent about (which is maybe the point?).

It’s not often that you read something that starts, “I’m simply not interested in reading this book.” (more…)

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Derek Kirk Kim–Same Difference (2004) [reprinted 2011]

Posted in Death Cab For Cutie, Derek Kirk Kim, First Second :01, Funny (ha ha), Graphic Novel, Guster, Humiliation, Mythomania, Pho, Real Estate, Short Books, The Smiths, Tiny Desk Concert on March 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: REAL ESTATE-Tiny Desk Concert #202 (March 12, 2012).

I enjoyed some Real Estate songs, but i never listened to their whole albums.  I thought this Tiny Desk show would give me more sonic information about them.

This three song set is very pleasing.  The music is soft and nonabrasive, with a very smooth feel (as you can see they are dressed in sweaters and cardigans, so this is not really a shock).  It’s poppy without having any real hooks.  They remind me of a less catchy Guster or a less dramatic Smiths (“Green Aisles,” especially for the bass and guitar solo) or gentler Death Cab for Cutie (“Municipality”).

There’s nothing to radically distinguish these three songs (radical is not a word that would apply to Real Estate), although “Green Aisles” has a few more dynamic moments (mostly from the change in drum patterns).

This review sounds like I didn’t like the set, but that’s not true.  As I said, it’s very pleasant.  And sometimes pleasant is what you want.

You can hear it here.

[READ: March 11, 2012] Same Difference

First Second continues to publish some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking graphic novels around.  This is a republication of a story that first appeared in a collection (and proceeded to win an Eisner, Harvey and Ignatz Award).

The story is about Simon and his close friend Nancy.  It opens with them in a Vietnamese Restaurant in Oakland, CA.  The first scene of the book is wonderfully drawn–we look in on the characters through a fish tank–fish are practically littering the panels–it’s very cool.

The two of them are with their friend Ian and they are shooting the breeze, talking nonsense.  And then Simon sees a woman that he knew from high school.  She is sitting at the bus stop and Simon wants to, but can’t, talk to her.  Her name is Irene, she seems sad, eyes downcast looking at the ground.  And then Simon reveals that she is blind.

In high school, he and Irene were very close.  He helped her out, described films to her in class, and “rescued” her from bullies.  And then she invited him to a Sadie Hawkins dance.  He doesn’t like her that way, so he lied to get out of it.  She never found out about the lies, but it has haunted him for the last seven years.

Later, Nancy figured out the truth of the matter, and even though we the readers probably guessed it as well, it still hit hard when it was spoken aloud. (more…)

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Issac Newton–Letter to the Publisher (Philosophical Transactions, March 26,1672)

Posted in All Songs Considered, History, Isaac Newton, Philosophical Transactions, Real Estate, Senses Fail, Technology, Telescope, Titus Andronicus, Vivian Girls on September 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: REAL ESTATE-“Beach Comber” (2009).

I found this song through a fascinating series of clicks.  Yesterday’s song from Real Estate was a pick for Fall.  And next to it was a link entitled Ridgewood, N.J., Why Here? Why Now? I grew up right next to Ridgewood and I spent a lot of time there as a kid.  So it’s pretty exciting to hear that there’s a mini-music scene happening there.  With Senses Fail, Vivian Girls, and Real Estate coming from Ridgewood and Titus Andronicus coming from Glen Rock, Bergen County is totally hip (even my hometown of Hawthorne seems to be considerably cooler than it was when I left ten years ago–there’s a coffee shop!).

Back back to the song.  I don’t enjoy this track quite as much as yesterday’s song from their new album.  It’s missing a little of the fuzz that I really enjoyed from “It’s Real” (I find the picked guitar a wee bit too clean for my tastes).  Indeed, for me, “It’s Real” is a small change but a giant leap sonically.  Neverthleess, the verses and chorus are really quite pretty.  And yes, the song does feel very summery and beachy.

Because they’re from my neck of the woods, I’m giving them the very curious distinction of having their song paired up with a letter from Issac Newton.  Imagine the search results that will bring people here.  Imagine, crazier still, that an image search for this Letter from Newton could produce their album cover.  Woah.

[READ: September 15, 2011 (three hundred and thirty-nine years after publication!)] Letter to the Publisher

What better way to start off a Sunday than with a letter from Issac Newton?  Yes, this is really an article from Issac Newton.  And it’s available pretty freely just by searching for the title words, although JSTOR has a nice searchable version of it available.  (This is the final JSTOR article for a while, after this it’s back to the 21st century).

What I especially loved about this letter was that the “long s” is used throughout the letter (like the word Congrefs in the bill of rights–see right).  It makes it a challenge to read, but that is by no means the only challenge.  According to the introduction, this letter contains “some more suggestions about his New Telescope, and a Table of Apertures and Charges for the several Lengths of that Instrument.”

And if you think that the wording of that is ungainly, try reading the letter itself.  (more…)

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Anna M. Shih–“The Patented Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich: Food as Intellectual Property” (Gastronomica, Winter 2002)

Posted in All Songs Considered, Anna M. Shih, Food, Gastronomica, Law, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Real Estate, Slate.com on September 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: REAL ESTATE-“It’s Real” (2011).

Right from the start, the combination of the fuzzy guitar picking and the whacking drums was a major draw for me.  Finding out that these guys are from Ridgewood, NJ (a town away from my hometown) was a little icing.

This is a charming little pop ditty.  It propels along at a nice clip, it’s got a catchy chorus and it makes me feel warm and sunny.  And for all of that it’s not even three minutes long. That’s a nifty little trick.

Interestingly, in NPR’s discussion of the song, the guys play the song “Easy,” but for some reason the full length song is for “It’s Real.”  And I actually like “It’s Real” more, so good for the mix up.

[READ: September 15, 2011] “The Patented Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich”

I actually read this Gastronomica article before the other one, but this seemed like a good Saturday subject.  This article is the kind of thing I don’t normally write about.  I read a bunch of non-fiction and for the most part I don’t bother ever posting about it because, really what’s the point of summarizing a nonfiction piece.  Most of them I don’t have an opinion about, I just say hmm, interesting.  But since I’m doing some special articles that were pointed out to me from JSTOR, I’m going to include this one for historical amusement (even if unlike the hobo memoir, this article is less than ten years old).

Anyhow, this brief article looks at the patented Smucker’s Uncrustable Sandwich.  At the time, these were novel, but now they are ubiquitous.  Smucker’s had taken two discs of white bread, filled them with an inner casing of peanut butter and then stuffed the PB with a splooge of jelly.  It’s the shell of PB, which keeps the jelly from touching the bread and the crimping method to squish the breads together that really seal the patent.  And, I admit, that despite the mockery they received for patenting a PB&J, I think they did hit on some novelties and have earned their unique status.

But the article proceeds to tell how other companies tried a similar idea and were summarily sued.  So Shih unpacks the patent to see what Smucker’s has protected and how a lawsuit might be avoided (in short, Smuckers covered their bases really well (as you’d expect from a corporation), so it’s unlikely that a mom and pop PB&J machine will withstand the scrutiny).  (more…)

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