In honor of Halloween, I present a photo the wife took of me getting
dressed for a costume party. Yes, I was
changing out of my everyday elf outfit and into my special occasion
Snow White outfit. That's how I roll.
Another lost photo from our cross-country drive in March 2008:
Came across this spot while
driving Highway 95 across Utah en route to Natural Bridges National
Monument. I re-
member Chelsea was asleep in the passenger's seat and woke up as I
pulled over...her desire to nap was stronger
than her desire to see the sight. For the record, this is an
amazing stretch of highway.
Speaking of vacations, excitement abounds in the household as we made
christmas break vacation plans to Costa Rica.
Given the rate at which I work, expect to see those photos sometime
around 2016.
Last time Telekinesis was in town, it was
for Merge XX. I missed that show, but was told that Ivan Howard
of local
faves the Rosebuds sat in with the band on bass. I guess the
partnership worked, because Telekinesis came back a
few weeks later to prepare for an upcoming European tour with the
Rosebuds where Ivan would be playing in both
bands. Luckily for us local music fans, the new version of
Telekinesis needed to play a couple of warm-up gigs to
work out the kinks, which is how I ended up at Tir Na Nog on a Monday
night.
For those not familiar with Telekinesis, they're actually not that
dissimilar from some of the Rosebuds earlier upbeat
tracks (think "Kicks in the Schoolyard"), maybe mixed with a little
Thermals...and since the singer is also the drummer,
let's add a comparison to The Romantics as well. It's simple,
catchy, upbeat pop songs, nothing Earth shattering but
the sort of music that is instantly recognizable and brings a smile to
your face. This was the second show of this
version of the band, but they sounded great - no screw ups that I
noticed, Ivan and fill-in guitarist BJ seemed to be on
top of things despite the short window for learning the songs.
There was even an ELO cover - "Can't Get You Out of
My Head" - that I actually recorded with my new fancy camera but the
damn file is 300MB and I have no idea what to
do with it. Anyways, given the last minute nature of the gig, I
was surprised at how many folks were there for the per-
formance...though it probably didn't hurt that it was free.
A brief note on openers Motor Skills - they were quite
the spectacle. I started out a little hesitant about them, but
was converted to a full-on fan by the end of their set. They
walked a fine line between straight-forward indie rock and
"electronica" (does anyone even use that word anymore?). The
songs were good but made better by a front man
with boatloads of charisma. I was really warming up their sound
when on the last couple of songs they totally flipped
the scene and turned hip-hop. And I'm not talking regular ol'
bitches/money/hoes hip-hop...this involved songs about
tickle parties. It blew my mind, and just reminiscing about their
performance has me checking their website to see
when they play again.
Another great
free show at Tir Na Nog.
I had been meaning to see Max Indian for quite some time and would have
surely arrived just before they started playing had a friend not told
me to get there early enough to catch the opening
band. They were
called Mount Weather, yet another entry
in the long list of bands named
"Mount" that I've noticed
lately ("Mount" being the new "Wolf",
apparently). To say they reminded me of the Psychedelic Furs would be
an
understatement - it's all I could think about their entire set. The
again I love the Psychedelic furs, so I didn't see this as
a problem.
The songs were catchy in that way where they sound like old friends
from the first listen. It's always a good
sign that you really liked a
band if you look up their website when you get home so you know when
you can see them
perform again.
On a completely
unrelated note,
I feel it my personal responsibility to point out there was a guy at
the show that looked
just like Ted McGinley
circa "Revenge of the Nerds", minus the alpha Beta letter jacket. Just
think about how friggin'
awesome it must be going through life looking
like someone who had starring roles on "Married With Children",
"Happy
Days", and "Love Boat"...
All of the buzz
I've seen about Max
Indian has involved the words "alt-country", but after
seeing them play
live I just
don't hear it. This is a band playing "smart pop" as I like
to call it, sounding more akin to Elvis Costello, modern Wilco, maybe even a little
Pernice
Brothers on a couple of songs. It was instantly obvious that this band
was
extremely talented, but unlike openers Mount Weather, their songs
were not instantly catchy or recognizable. At the
same time, I was
definitely motivated to pick up their album and listen to these songs a
lot more, because I could
tell the tracks were the sort that I would
want to live with and ruminate upon and really get to know. Which in
turn will
make the songs quite recognizable next time I see them.
"I'm a
recovering crackhead, this is my retarded sister that I take care
of. I'd like some welfare please."
Ghostface Killah - Supa
GFK. It's Ghostface, it's awesome, that's all you need
to know.
Heavy Metal Kids - Ain't
It Hard. I'd heard hipsters name drop this band for
years before I ever got around to listening
to them. This is a great song, but their overall body of work
doesn't really warrant the hype I heard.
These three tracks were from some random power pop comp whose name I've
already forgotten. Outside of these
songs, the rest of the album was pretty crap, which is probably why I
forgot the name... Red Dye No5 - Hope. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Good
Morning Girl. The Sleazy Beats - Phil
Spector's Birthday Song.
The Dodos - Fools.
One of the best pop bands working today, and it seems like no one pays
them any mind. You're
missing out doofuses!!!
Bonus: Red And Purple.
Bonus: The Season.
Torche - Grenades.
I have nothing interesting to say about Torche other than they
rock.
Bonus: In Return.
West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band -
I
Won't Hurt You. Love as Laughter covered this song,
but until I
heard this original version I assumed it was one of theirs...it sounds
so much like their type of song.
Wilco - ELT
(Demo). Couple of demo tracks from a bootleg of Wilco
demos from the Being There/Summerteeth
era...aka a couple of the best records of the last 20 years.
Bonus: Tried And True (Demo).
