Posted in Asbury Park, NJ, Christine Bougie, Lydia Persaud, Stars, The Stone Pony Summer Stage on September 28, 2024| Leave a Comment »
[DID NOT ATTEND: September 18, 2024] Stars / Lydia Persaud
I have been a fan of Stars since about 2004. Seeing them live in 2022 was amazing. And I couldn’t wait to see them again.
But since they were playing at Union Transfer, there was no way I was going to the Stone Pont Summer Stage to see them. Frankly, that sounds like a terrible place to see an intimate band like Stars.
Lydia Persaud opened again. I didn’t really like her last time.
Posted in Christine Bougie, Lydia Persaud, Philadelphia, PA, Stars, Union Transfer on September 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: September 21, 2024] Stars
I have been a fan of Stars since about 2004. I finally got to see them on their Christmas tour of 2022. Singer Torq said that they would definitely be back for a Christmas tour the following year (they weren’t) and they didn’t do one in 2024 either. But instead they did this: a 20th anniversary of Set Yourself on Fire, the album that introduced me to the band and which I love. So yes, I was going to this one, too.
No surprises in the setlist then.
Instead it was a great band playing a great album
Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell sounded great and their onstage rapport is always amazing together–like (sometimes jilted) lovers (although they are not).
The rest of the band has remained the same for 20+ years. Last tour I learned that bassist Evan Cranley and guitarist Chris Seligman are the main composers of Stars’ music. They repeat a riff or tune until something develops, and then Campbell and Amy Millan write lyrics. (This according to Wikipedia).
Drummer Pat McGee and lead guitarist Chris McCarron were joined by a violin and sax player for some of the songs. (more…)
Posted in Christine Bougie, Lydia Persaud, Philadelphia, PA, Stars, Union Transfer on September 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: September 21, 2024] Lydia Persaud & Christine Bougie
Back in 2022, I saw Stars for the first time (on their Christmas tour) and loved them. The opening act was Lydia Persaud (& Christine Bougie).
I believe that they both play together in a lot of things. Lydia has been a member of The Soul Motivators, The O’Pears and Dwayne Gretzky and she and Christine are part of the the Queer Songbook Orchestra.
They played a jazzy set of remarkably sad music.
When Stars announced this new tour for Set Yourself on Fire, I was super excited. And, they announced some interesting opening acts along the way (including Dears, a band I could have seen before the pandemic but missed them and they haven’t been back since). (more…)
Posted in Christine Bougie, Lydia Persaud, Philadelphia, PA, Stars, The Foundry on December 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: December 3, 2022] Stars
I have been a fan of Stars since about 2004. I have wanted to see them for a really long time. I thought I’d be able to see them last year on their Christmas Together Tour. It was at LPR in New York (which is just too much of a pain to get to) and at World Cafe Live. But it happened to be on the same night as our holiday party, so I couldn’t swing it. I never guessed they’d do another one. So this year I made sure to get tickets and schedule our party around this show.
The show came around and it was cold and I didn’t really feel like going out, but oh I wanted to see them. So I drove out to Philly.
Turned out there was a wedding in the Fillmore main floor so parking was free (yes!). I even wound up talking to some nice people around me and we had an enjoyable time waiting for the band. There was a little girl (maybe ten) who was bouncing with excitement over seeing Amy Millan. She couldn’t wait to meet her and get her autograph. I was so curious about this! How did this little girl get excited about this (relatively) obscure band from Montreal that sings about relationships and breakups? (I’ll never know). (more…)
Posted in Bahamas, Christine Bougie, Lydia Persaud, Philadelphia, PA, Stars, The Foundry, The Weather Station on December 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »
[ATTENDED: December 3, 2022] Lydia Persaud & Christine Bougie
I have been a fan of Stars since about 2004. I have wanted to see them for a really long time. I thought I’d be able to see them last year on their Christmas Together Tour. It was at LPR in New York (which is just too much of a pain to get to) and at World Cafe Live. But it happened to be on the same night as our holiday party, so I couldn’t swing it. I never guessed they’d do another one. So this year I made sure to get tickets and schedule our party around this show.
I didn’t know who would be opening. Technically, the opening act was just Lydia Persaud, but since it was just Lydia and her guitarist Christine Bougie, (and I’d never heard of either before) I’m listing them both here.
Lydia was speaking for herself, but I believe that they both play together in a lot of things. Lydia has been a member of The Soul Motivators, The O’Pears and Dwayne Gretzky and she and Christine are part of the the Queer Songbook Orchestra.
They played a jazzy set of remarkably sad music. (more…)
Posted in Kevin Devine, Philadelphia, PA, Stars, World Cafe Live on December 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »
[DID NOT ATTEND: December 11, 2021] Stars / Kevin Devine
Back The Montreal band Stars, whom I loved in the early 2000s and would love to see live, announced plans to play some Christmas shows in New York. I knew I couldn’t go–logistically there was no way.
Then I saw that they also announced a show at World Cafe Live. Yes!
But it was the same day as our holiday party. There was no way I could get to this one either. I held out hope that our party might end early, but again, the logistics were not in my favor.
Kevin Devine, whom I love and whom I have seen live a few times was opening. I would love to see him again as well. It really was a perfect bill. But sometimes timing doesn’t work out.
So Stars, please come back to Philly or NJ. I will cancel everything else for you.
Posted in Le Poisson Rouge, Lloyd Cole, New York City, Shamir, Stars on December 8, 2021| Leave a Comment »
[DID NOT ATTEND: December 8 & 9, 2021] Stars / Shamir [was Lloyd Cole]
Back in the early 2000s Stars was one of my favorite bands. They write clever, thoughtful pop with gorgeous harmonies from Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan.
Stars doesn’t come around all that often and I really wanted to see this tour. When I heard that Lloyd Cole was opening, my mind was blown. I didn’t Lloyd Cole was till making music–that’s pretty cool.
These shows were at Le Poisson Rouge which I learned last time I Went there, is a super duper pain in the ass for me to get to. And these shows were midweek. I just don’t know how I would have managed it. So when they announced that they were going to play World Cafe in Philly, well that made everything all better.
It also transpired that Lloyd Cole had to cancel at the last minute. He was replaced by Shamir, another artist I would love to see live. But it just hasn’t happened yet.
So Stars, please don’t be gone for too long, I’d love to see you. (Especially since your set was 24 songs!)
Posted in Alessandro Baricco, Guido Waldman, Morality, Romance, Short Books, Silk, Stars, Translation, Travel on November 19, 2014| Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: STARS-Heart (2003).
I found out about Stars with their second album but I like their debut quite a lot too. There’s a few songs that i don’t love, but overall the album is really solid.
The opening synths belie the beautiful guitar (and nice bass work) of “What the Snowman Learned About Love.” Singer Torq’s voice is low and muted while other singer Amy Milan has gorgeous harmony vocals. “Elevator Love Later” features’ Milan on lead (for some verses)–the album really comes to life with this song. It’s got a great chorus and a cool bass line that elevates the song above typical pop fare.
“Heart” has a melancholy piano riff (something Stars excel at) and some wonderfully poignant lyrics: “Sometimes the TV is like a lover, singing softly as you fall asleep.” And yet it, once again, has a really catchy chorus (with lots of “All rights”). “Woods” is mildly orchestral and has a plaintive vocal line and a sampled spoken word section (which I can’t identify).
“Death to Death” is one of my favorite Stars songs. A slinky discoey song with Torq’s cool verses and Milan’s sultry “I am destroyer I am lover” chorus. I love the sound of the next song (synthy flutes and the very clear guitar) that play throughout “The Vanishing” even though I don’t love the song.
“Romantic Comedy” surprises with its baritone guitar sound (instead of the sprightly synths), but the chorus is once again super catchy. There’s some great lyrics in this song as well: “You’re not bad, but you were just badly raised,” and the chorus “don’t walk away then turn and say I love you anyway.” “Time Can Never Kill the True Heart” is a beautiful song with a lovely sentiment. “Look Up” is a pretty Amy Milan sung song. I love the way the chorus’ words don’t pause for breath even though the song itself is not very fast. “Life Effect” is pretty song sung by Torq (I really like when the guitars come to the fore even though I think of Stars primarily as a synth band).
“Don’t Be Afraid to Sing” is the final song on the album,. It’s a simple ballad, and once again the bass line is great–nothing fancy but it’s a great melody behind the guitars and vocals. It’s got a great ending of an album sentiment: “We all come to an end / And we all end together.”
There’s a “bonus” track on my version of the album (cleverly hidden about 20 seconds after the previous song). It has a with a great hidden bonus track title–“The Comeback.” It actually sounds perfect with the album–an instance where a bonus doesn’t really feel tacked on. It’s a nice addition if you can’t get enough of the band.
Incidentally, the American version has the reddish cover above, while the original cover is this black and white one down here.
[READ: November 17, 2014] Silk
I enjoyed Mr Gwyn so much that I wanted to read more by Baricco. And when I saw that many of his books are so short, it was easy to grab them and devour them.
I didn’t know anything about Silk–somehow I missed it when it came out. It was even made into a movie, so it must have been a big important book (and it was a huge best seller). So imagine my surprise to see that the book is 91 pages and that each chapter is basically one page (sometimes half a page). And Baricco creates this beautiful, taut story that is really compelling, in what is really only about 70 pages of text.
I’ve admired Baricco’s ability to write gorgeous novellas, and this must be where it all started (his earlier books are somewhat longer than this). The fact that none of his stories are about similar things is also pretty amazing.
This story is about a Frenchman who makes his fortune buying silkworm eggs and the lengths and distances he is willing to travel for them. But it is also about something much more poignant. (more…)
Posted in A Tribe Called Red, Alessandro Baricco, Ann Goldstein, Art, Books about writers, McSweeney's, Morality, Short Books, Stars, Translation, WXPN 88.5 FM--Philadelphia, PA on November 13, 2014| Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: STARS-No One is Lost Tour EP (2014).
Stars are back with a new album and this downloadable 5 song EP. There’s something about Stars’ aggressive pop sensibilities that I just love. It’s the dual vocals, the big choruses and I’m sure to a certain degree it’s the darkness in the lyrics that compliment the poppy music so much.
The EP has five songs, “No One is Lost” and “From The Night” are from their new album. “Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It” is from their previous album The North. There’s also two exclusive tracks: “Blue Is The Colour” and “From The Night” (A Tribe Called Red Remix).
“From the Night” has simple, keyboard note-driven verses which are obliterated by the dancey and even discoey chorus. Surprisingly at the 4 minute point, it adds a third fast part which segues back into the catchy chorus. “No One is Lost” opens with Amy Milan speaking French before the keyboards wash in. It has a slightly faster pace than their usual fare. But despite the bouncy music in the chorus, we get the twisted lyric: “put your hands up coz everybody dies” (that’s Stars in a nutshell).
“Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It” is less dancey (perhaps less discoey sounding is more accurate). It’s got a real Stars feel to it (when Milan comes in at the chorus it is really angelic), and showcases Stars’ previous album very well.
The two new songs include the Tribe Called Red remix of “From the Night.” I’m not that big a fan of remixes, but this one is pretty good. I like the way they stripped the big chorus of the music and left it spare–which makes their catchy vocals seem kind of sinister. I actually expected a bit more of Tribe’s signature sound put into the song, but that’s not really what remixes are all about, so I guess it’s no real surprise they didn’t.
“Blue is the Colour” is a dark sounding song as well, until the chorus comes in with some poppy keyboards and slinky guitars. It’s very electronic sounding which I love in contrast to Torquil’s mellow vocals. But at 6 minutes long, this song has many sections up its sleeve, and the twist at 4 minutes really turns the song into something else, with an almost epic feel.
It’s a great sample of Stars more recent work. This link takes you to WXPN from which you can download the EP from NoiseTrade.
[READ: November 5, 2014] Mr. Gwyn
I loved this book. It has been one of my absolute favorite books in years.
The premise is fairly simple. A successful writer (Mr. Gwyn) has had three books published to much acclaim and financial success. But one day he wakes up and decides that he is done writing. He crafts a list of 50 things he will never do again, and one of them is write a book which he publishes in the newspaper. His agent thinks it is a great marketing scheme, but Gwyn is quite serious.
Gwyn then disappears from society for a while. Only his agent is able to fin him (Gwyn and the agent are very close).
After a series of small incidents, Gwyn’s agent tracks him down at the laundromat. He has sent his new employee, a young woman named Rebecca, to give him a phone through which they can talk. Rebecca is respectful and Gwyn is fascinated by her. Over the next few months, he and his agent only communicate via Rebecca.
One day, in order to avoid a rain storm, Gwyn ducks into an art gallery. He has never really understood art. But he becomes fascinated with the portraits there. And he decides that his new “job” is that he is going to create portraits with words. He calls his new occupation, “copyist.” Obviously his agent freaks out about his–no one even knows what “copyist” means. But Gwyn is determined.
He spends the next few months getting ready–he rents a studio, buys furniture and specially ordered light bulbs. And then he is ready to work. But who will he his first portrait be? He finally settles on Rebecca–someone he knows a little and feels comfortable enough to ask to pose for him. And this is where the story became fantastic. (more…)
Posted in Canadian Content, Canadian Music, Drinking, KEXP 90.3 FM--Seattle, WA, Marriage Trouble, Matt Lennox, Short Story, Stars, The Walrus, Violence, War on October 23, 2012| Leave a Comment »
SOUNDTRACK: STARS-Live at the Triple Door, July 8, 2010 (2010).
KEXP broadcast this concert from the Triple Door in Seattle (they have a free feed of all of these great concerts from the Triple Door). Stars are a great Montreal alternapop band. They sing songs that are kind of downbeat and sad lyrically and yet gorgeous and poppy musically.
This show takes place on the day that their 2010 release, The Five Ghosts, came out. I really like Stars although I wasn’t that excited by this disc, so I never picked it up. And yet most of this set is from this album and I think the set is great, so maybe it’s time to pick up the album after all.
Torquil and Amy sing beautiful harmonies (and Amy’s voice is gorgeous on th e song she sings solo).
What’s a little confusing about this set is that they play 7 songs. So it’s a short set. And yet the Triple Door is a rock club and they say they’re playing later on that night as well. So, maybe this is a n album release party? Or a KEXP show? Whatever, it’s still a good set.
The band has a relaxed and chatty attitude onstage, with Torquil claiming that the DJs at KEXP having “Serious taste” for playing their music. The two singers have a disagreement about which song they’re going to play (Oh, it isn’t called “Fixed”?). And there’s a funny moment when Amy says she was thinking about George Jones and his career being over and Torquil saying “Does anyone know what Amy is talking about”). And Torquil, who has the gentlest voice (and is the most polite front man ever) curses during the last segment and then says, “I just swore on public radio. That’s okay, Republicans don’t listen to it anyway they’re too but filling their hearts with hatred.”
[READ: October 8, 2009] “A Speaking Engagement”
This story was fascinating to me because it was about a Canadian military lieutenant on leave. I can’t think of too many stories about the Canadian military (I’m sure there are many, I’ve just haven’t encountered them).
Paulie is home for six weeks on leave. As part of his time home he gives speaking engagements to high schools and (on this date) to a senior center. He has a slide show in which he shows the audience what they were doing in overseas–in this case helping the citizens with infrastructure. He says the high school students and seniors react mostly the same way (respectfully) and ask a lot of the same questions, although the seniors never ask if he killed anyone.
On his way to the senior center (in full uniform) he runs into Amy, a girl from his high school class. He always felt she was out of his league, but she seem genuinely excited to see him. They chat briefly in the convenience store and make plans for later.
They have dinner later that week and catch up. Amy tells what she’s been up to since school–not going to med school, having a baby by herself (with her mom’s help), starting her own care business and generally running around like crazy. Paul talks a little about the army experience, but defers what he actually did there for “another date.”
That other date doesn’t come though because they go back to Amy’s house (her daughter is at her mother’s) for a nightcap. Which leads to Paul staying the night. (more…)
I Just Read About That... 