Good friends Screaming Js, the house band at MoDaddy’s, needed a poster to help with some promotion. So they asked me to put something together, and this is what I did. I tweaked the type (I used Blackmoor) and stole the piano from the 1902 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue. They liked it, I liked it and I think it represents their music pretty well.
You can catch them, and often me, tonight at MoDaddy’s and every Wednesday. They put on a kickin good show, and you owe it to yourself to catch these guys. And it’s free. See you there!
I’m very excited to have my Andrew Bird tickets (Orange Peel, $25) already purchased. He is one of my absolute favorite musicians and songwriters out there right now, and his live shows are spectacular displays of his musicianship and uniquely melancholy heart, proudly bruised and bandaged in esoteric words that make me reach for a taxonomic glossary. His lyrics recall the most flowing lines of Tennyson’s work, without the classical allusions. I saw him in 2007 with Reese, who played with him briefly in the early 2000s in the Squirrel Nut Zippers, and I got to shake his hand and speak to him briefly, but in rare form I was star struck and couldn’t think of a single bit of conversation. I’m not familiar with the opening act — has anybody seen St. Vincent?
He’s just as good live as in the video. I’ll see you at the show.
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!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
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.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I posted a few others — you can find them here > Transfigurations Bootlegs
Don’t know the original? Check it.
One more time. Ahhhhhh… Sunday.
I always try and keep Sundays free from too much economic activity or social obligation. It is a big help to my mental health to be able to sit at home and accomplish personal tasks, catch up on domestic work, practice music, or just relax with a book. And now that the semester has ended for me, I feel particularly light in spirit on this December Sunday.
I should start with yesterday. Yesterday morning I drove to Tryon, worked for my favorite clients and made good money before going to my grandparent’s to socialize and work on my grandfather’s new iMac. Awesome computer, really fun and easy to use and work on. Then I drove home, changed into a festive red and black get-up and went to MoDaddy’s to hear a band that I met last March. The Two Man Gentleman Band, from New York City played two killer sets while I drank whiskey and sang all the words I knew. I love their CDs, and the guys (Andy and Fuller) are great people and very talented musicians as well as snappy dressers (knickers!). I had promised them entertainment of the musical variety and afterwards we went to my friend Woody Pines’ house for a party populated almost entirely by musicians. Woody has an awesome old upright that has a great action for honky tonk and blues, and I sat down at it and kept it hot for nearly 3 straight hours. Sometimes I questions my musical ability, but not last night. I killed it for three straight hours, with only the brief of whiskey breaks. It felt awesome. Like most people, I have a lotof musical potential; it’s nice when it breaks through the clouds once in a while. And the clouds have been breaking more and more often lately.
The past two Sundays I have taken myself out to the Dripolator Coffeehouse, purchased the New York Times and ate a nice big brunch of huevos rancheros with my usual double Americano and Emergen-C. I try and look my best (not always easy after a busy Saturday night) and be sociable with the other Sunday brunchers, and I always leave feeling like a million bucks. It’s a really great way for me to begin the end of my week.
I’ve had lots of new beginnings and milestones these past couple months. Lost an old friend/lousy roommate. New roomate Henry (of the Firecracker Jazz Band and Squirrel Nut Zippers) is an incredible musician and wants to play music all the time at the house. There is so much I have to learn from him. On Thursday, I finished my penultimate semester in my soon-to-be decade-long pursuit of an Associates degree. Probably have 1 A (Music Theory I) and two Bs (Literature Based Research and Cultural Anthropology). Not bad, but probably not enough to bump me up to a 3.0 GPA, which I desperately need to keep my UNC-A hopes alive.
I’m also launching a new business and slowly getting out of the in-home computer biz. Not going to be a lot of long-term money in that, but I’m glad to pick up some random service as it’s usually easy-money. My new business will hopefully launch January 1. I’m really excited about it — I feel it’s the beginning of something really big for me.
Oh and somebody threw their shoes at President Bush today in Iraq.
