Photograph by Lydia See
Transfigurations for me was all diamonds and no rough, and I only saw six of the acts. One of the highlights was being there last Friday at Diana Wortham Theater for Will Oldham / Bonnie “Prince” Billy, who played a long set with lots of rare gems, including this song written by Gayle Caldwell and recorded as the title track by Frank Sinatra on his 1968 Cycles LP. I’m going to be on the lookout for that on vinyl, but until then this will have to do. He introduced this as a ‘recession song.’
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Check out all the other recordings I made at Transfigurations. By the way, these awesome photos were taken by Lydia See. You should click on them and see her other work. You’ll like it.
Photograph by Lydia See
I’m desperately trying to figure out the name of this song. Any help? Thanks to @aidanz and @bentmatches for coming up with the title! It’s a Chris Knox cover called “My Only Friend,” performed by Bonnie “Prince” Billy / Will Oldham, and it’s going to be on a forthcoming compilation to benefit Chris after a stroke he had last month. You heard it hear first.
This was recorded at Diana Wortham on August 14, 2009 during the Transfigurations music festival.
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The Books recording didn’t turn out as well, but it is still very listenable. The audience made a lot more noise during the music than with Espers or Will Oldham, and the ‘third member’ of the band you can only glimpse aurally. That would be the footage they projected on a screen behind them that was incredible and jawdropping — really, I appeared like a troglodyte during the whole thing because my mandible was flapping with awe. Enjoy!
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Oh — and if you like these bootlegs, you should really buy the records from Harvest Records. Asheville should thank those guys for bringing such great music and presenting it so well. Thank them by spending money at their store.
Here’s the official video and the studio version of the song.
Photograph by Lydia See
And now a recording of Philadelphia’s psychedelic folk outfit Espers playing Blue Öyster Cult’s Flaming Telepaths. This bootleg was recorded at Diana Wortham on Friday August 14, 2009, during Harvest Record’s Transfigurations music festival. My friend Lydia photographed the entire festival, and she has some stunningly good shots.
By the way, an ‘esper’ is a person who is capable of telepathy, so it is fitting that they’ve chosen this song to cover.
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I posted a few others — you can find them here > Transfigurations Bootlegs
Don’t know the original? Check it.
In a rare solo performance, Will Oldham of Bonnie “Prince” Billy performed at the Diana Wortham Theater in Asheville, NC as part of Harvest Record’s Transfigurations music festival. Recorded with an iPod Touch and headphone mic. I’m not an audio wizard (yet) so you may need to turn up the volume.
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Damn, I love this town. Harvest Records is celebrating their 5 year anniversary with the Transfigurations music fest, and I’ve been able to attend the two performances at Diana Wortham. And with my new iPod and headphones with built-in microphone, I thought I’d test making some bootleg recordings. They turned out surprisingly well. After this post I’ll be posting some of the recordings. I’ve got some of The Books, The Espers and Bonnie Prince Billy’s Will Oldham. Enjoy!
P.S. I didn’t catch most of the names of the tracks. Help a guy out if you do!
For the past two years I’ve gone to the POP Asheville Festival, and I had an awesome time both years. I blogged about it, too.
The festival right now is in a little trouble — the money kind of trouble. Now, I don’t have any money to give but if I can support a great event by talking about it here, then I’m gonna do that. Please, Asheville, support this festival — it’s one of my favorite things about living here and gives such color to an otherwise grey January. I’ve discovered great bands, had an awesome time on LaZoom, and felt like I was stealing it because it was all so cheap. So yes, I would be willing to pay more. I’d pay $25 for two nights of awesome music and bus rides. I think it’s worth that.
Also, Congrats and Good Luck to my friend and former colleague Susanne Hackett of Pollinate Consulting on being named Director of the Festival.
