14 posts tagged “music”
I woke up again with a song in my head, and this is it. I have a morning ritual that involves stretching, making myself breakfast, and reading news online. Some days, sitting in my listening room with a song can be more relaxing and energizing than stretching or a hearty breakfast.
I first saw Emily Haines play at Cafe du Nord last year. The show was great! They played their songs in time with a movie projected behind them. The movie was actually clips of a director's work, chosen to accompany each song. Each song began with its title projected on the screen, and made for an interesting blend of mellow music and old-timey silent film.
This album was my soundtrack for the whole of last year. While my recent playlists have been more up tempo and lighter in subject matter, some days nothing can get my spirits up than an awkward dirgy little number from this album.
I'm in charge of blogging our tour.
Check it out at the blog on Randit's myspace:
Update:
Full Tour album here: http://picasaweb.google.com/randitbandit/RanditSummerTour2007
The tour went well. Fillmore and Ventura have wonderful music scenes. Our show on Saturday was billed with the Art Walk, a thrice-yearly art phenomenon in which businesses in the downtown cultural district showcase local artists and musicians.
One artist in particular caught my eye. In a small art gallery beneath Zooey's cafe, a small three-panel piece captured my attention. I wish I had my camera, 'cause all I can muster is a description: all the panels had a sunset backdrop, and the figures in each were all silhouettes. The first panel on the left had a trapeze swinging freely, as if someone had just jumped from it. The second panel had a man in a suit flying to the right with arms outstretched toward the third panel, where a woman in an evening dress, hanging by another trapeze, had her arms outstretched to catch the man.
I just searched around for the information on the guy's name, but I couldn't find it. Rest assured that if I do find it, I'll post his name and hopefully his website here.
I also found out about a harpist named Xocoyotzin Moraza who plays in a group with a drummer. You can check out their myspace page here, but unfortunately they don't have a lot of their songs up.
"What the hell, Dayv?" you might ask. "You don't blog for months and now you're plugging yourself playing live shows?"
Yes. Yes I am.
Things are busy. I've once again thrown myself into a lot of projects, some of which I won't write about until they're out because I'm a firm believer of jinxing things I set out to do by talking about them.
So I'm playing with a guy whose stage name is Randit.
You can check out his myspace here.
You can listen to one of his songs below:
8/14/2007 Tuesday
7:00 PM
Melstone Cafe
Ventura st. suite "A"
Fillmore, California 93015
w/ Butterfly kings & The Current Sea
8/15/2007 Wednesday
8:00 PM
Coastal Roasting and Fireplace
546 East Main Street
Ventura, California 93001
8/16/2007 Thursday
8:00 PM
KCSB 91.9FM "5, 4, 3, 2...fun!" Radio Show
University of California
Santa Barbara, California 93107-3401
8/17/2007 Friday
8:00 PM
Record Outlet
1489 E Thousand Oaks Blvd
Thousand Oaks, California
w/ Anidiom & Hellkite
8/18/2007 Saturday
4:00 PM
Buffalo Records Art Show
105 S. Oak Street.
Ventura, California 93001
..so say a whole bunch of bands who contributed recipes to a band-themed cookbook.
So if you were wondering what culinary delicacies are being cooked up by such artists as Death Cab, M. Ward, Devandra Banhart, and SF locals Roots of Orchis, I guess you could pick up this book.
If you're on last.fm, you must, must, must check out the events page.
If it wasn't for the local last.fm users who faithfully post their fave upcoming concerts I totally would've missed Cornelius tomorrow! And Björk next month (provided that I can scrounge up enough cash for those tickets)! And Kristin Hersh.. and Gotan Project.. and Bebel Gilberto..
It's too bad that I can't afford a rock n' roll lifestyle that allows me to see all of this music.
If your friends are also hip to the eventsyness, you can see what events they're attending as well!
I just got such a call. Here I was at the computer, no music on, sorting and backing up files, when out of nowhere:
Don't break down, let's go, forget about yourself.
This is such a loaded line, and can mean anything, especially when taken out of context with the rest of the song.
Regardless, I took it to resemble the sentiment a missionary might feel when going out into the world to spread the gospel. I'm hardly a practicing Christian, and haven't been to church in years. But I grew up going, and met quite a few missionaries. All speak of surrendering their lives to God, hearing His call to go out into the world, and having the balls to heed that call. That heeding is no small deal. Protestant, Mormon, whatever, it's no trivial act to put your own life and its associated desires on hold, and venture into territories that are spiritually hostile. Or worse, apathetic.
One such missionary was only a few years older than me. Taking time of college, she decided to go to the Czech republic. One summer, she came back to teach a Vacation Bible School class. I was her assistant. She told me of the area, a far cry from the safe streets of our home town. I remember the VBS heads in charge modified the theme a bit to work in a few of her stories and sermons. The sight of this woman, not a few years older than me, giving a sermon put things in perspective. She was so good at snowboarding that she had secured a scholarship, but instead of trying to make a career of it (the X-Games had just been proposed), she decided instead to go back to the Czech republic.
That perspective obviously didn't keep me going to Church, but it did leave an impression on me. Every so often I find myself living as if I was at war with the world. I wake up, see a beautiful day, and want to go to Marin to take a hike, then I remember that I have to work. I do this work begrudgingly, cursing both it and the world that imposes it for making a drudgery of a day that would have otherwise been fun.
I've since found a virtue in the notion of surrender as a way of life. Not as a white flag that I throw up to let the world take me hostage, but more like a ceasefire and a peace summit in Switzerland, A resolution of conflict through understanding and compromise, rather than imposing sanctions or demanding reparations. In order for such a resolution to take place, both sides must swallow their pride and lower the priority of their ambitions. Peace is never guaranteed, but the possibility of peace rests upon this mutual surrender.
Putting aside yourself, and your glorious plans, to make way for a peace that is worth more.
This may not be at all what Mr. Stevens had in mind when he penned this line. But such is the magic of lyrics open to interpretation. Open for inspiration.
This whirlwind weekend has left me beyond beat, but it was worth it.
Me and my old roommate drove down to San Luis on Saturday and immediately went to the house where our band used to practice. Jeremy, the man of the last entry, lives there now. We happened in on the end of a day-long potluck with the jam room in full effect. Jeremy had gotten a few more resonator guitars and a new Mesa Boogie bass head which is always a joy to play through.
There was not nearly enough time that night nor the day after to fit in all the things we wanted to do in our old college town, But the few things we did do were great reminders of how the central coast played such a huge part of our lives. Jeremy's house. Swing dancing at Mother's Tavern. Coffee shops at which hours and hours were spent studying and cavorting. Los Osos Valley Road. Bubble Gum Alley. The Frog & Peach.
And Jeremy's benefit. The number of people who came and supported Jeremy was incredible. Not only did much of Jeremy's family come, but everyone that I ever knew in San Luis Obispo seemed to be there. A multitude of artists even donated some really beautiful pieces for a silent auction, including this beautiful life-size metal sculpture of a man playing a cello. Masseuses from town also came in to donate massages.
The event was organized mainly by Grateful Family productions, founded and run by the man who brought our band together, as well as introduce me to Jeremy. Grateful Family promotes live concerts in and around the central coast, typically of the jam band variety, and it's under this company that we played most of our shows. This company sparked a fire around which a small music-loving community formed. People would watch their emails for the next show, and people otherwise busy to make time for meeting with friends would find that time at the bars (or their back porches) to reconnect with friends. It is this very same community that came out to support Jeremy in his time of need.
Sunday nights are hardly ever the best time for live music. People have to get up for work in the morning. But the entire time we were there from 6pm to our last note at 11:30pm, the dance floor was never less than half full. The video here is a dimly lit example of the wild and wooly dancing that happens at a Grateful Family show, and last night's was no exception.
We were sad that we couldn't stay to bask in the afterglow of the event. We had to be up in northern California that night. In saying our goodbyes to Jeremy, he couldn't stop saying how lucky he felt. How so many in his very same situation would have maybe a handful of people to stand with them as they live what are quite possibly last years of their life. It's a testament to San Luis Obispo's community, he said, that such an event could happen. What he didn't say, though, that this event is also a testament to the amazing person that Jeremy is.
this is a week late, but the weekend before last with my college buddies in l.a. was really awesome. though we did some growing while living apart, we didn't exactly grow apart.
the wedding itself was amazing! the theme was brown, so both the bridesmaids and the groomsmen wore brown, and they pulled it off beautifully, set in the backdrop of a huge church (lakeview avenue church in pasadena, I think it was) with these awesome branches fastened to the aisle-side of the pews made to resemble cherry blossom trees. (I changed the site layout to give you the approximate idea of the shade of brownness, you'll have to imagine the soft pinkness of the cherry blossoms and the soft flickering yellow of the electric lights encased to look like paper lanterns hung from the branches -- I can't stop thinking of how craftily diy awesome it was) It was also a short ceremony, which was a plus.
After looking at the innovative handmade wedding program, one of us decided then and there to make his wedding program a flip book.
Said friend lived in Santa Barbara, and we drove down and back together. We discovered that we are badass nerds and were still able to sing melody and harmony to the entirety of Cake's Prolonging the Magic. While he was disappointed that I didn't bring TMBG's Flood, we were still able to whip out a few selections from memory, belting them out unashamedly with windows down at the top of our lungs in stop and go traffic. On one song, we forgot how the second verse started, so he called is equal-or-lesser-value-of-geekness sister and was about to ask her how it started, when I remembered how it started and we sang out the rest of the song. But then I noticed that he was still on the phone with her.
"Holy crap, the stuff your sister takes from you."
"Oh, she liked it. She was singing along."
Said friend is also half Brazilian, and was able to help translate some of what is, I have decided, the best album of driving music EVER. It's a compilation of Brazilian songs, and while samba makes a strong presence, the musical gamut is run from Seu Jorge (of Life Aquatic fame, and who, by the way, rocked the hell out of his set at Coachella last year) to a funk-a-la-Breakestra tune that sounds like the forbidden tropical love child between Herbie Hancock's Chameleon and Tower of Power's What is Hip. I played this album to keep me keep me awake to get back to Santa Barbara, and I also let it play when I left for the bay the next morning. I listened to it twice in a row. That hardly . ever . happens . in cars in which I have control over the stereo.
The song order is superb. While Beck may have said in that Wired article a few months back that "the album is dead," I believe that the art of arranging a set of songs to have a sensible flow will always be appreciated by both clubbers and musicophiles. The song order couples with a near uniform tempo that is carried throughout the album, so if you're the kind of person who requires changeups of tempos for both enjoyment and awakeness while driving may disagree with me. But if you've seen Michel Gondry's video for Chemical Brothers' Star Guitar and thought, "Hey, that guy stole my idea!" Then this album is definitely for you. The second volume in the series is of electronic based songs. I haven't gotten around to picking that one up yet.
Audio: Show us cover art or share a track from the first band or solo artist you flipped for.
Submitted by Red Pen.
I admit it. I really, really like Sarah McLachlan.
Right around the time that I was thrashing my headbanging and mock-moshing with friends to Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden in our bedrooms, I would go home and fall asleep to Sarah McLachlan's Fumbling Towards Ecstasy.
From beginning to end, this album is a masterpiece. Forlorning themes of yearning for lost love and helplessness in situations out of your control are tempered with testaments of inner strength to cope and keep moving forward. When I found this album (or when it found me), I had been going through a dark period of my life (as dark as the average high school kid's life can be), and I found solace in the exquisite expression of feelings I felt myself. (Solace, the name of the studio album previous to this, was also a solace.)
Most of Sarah McLachlan's early albums are filled with songs that are depressing. I won't deny that. This album's penultimate song, Fear, was a culmination of sorts. Ghostly "doot-doots" herald the song's entrance and cello parts that could have easily inspired the entire Requiem for a Dream Soundtrack act like gale-force winds in what can easily be felt as a chaotic storm of emotions, finally dissipating anticlimactically with neither hope nor resolution.
Anyone with a melancholy disposition can tell you that motivating and/or inspirational words mean nothing if they come from someone who's never known sadness, or at least their own personal brand of sadness. The album is populated with songs that unfold like heart wrenching stories in Wait, Good Enough and Ice. But Sarah essentially sums up the album with a song that breaks ranks with its depressing predecessors (excluding Ice Cream and Elsewhere) and says "everything's going to be alright." And for the first time in a long time, I believed it. To me, each song felt like a conversation between confidants, clearly honest and personal -- brutally honest -- the kind of honesty that just isn't pretty.
I got the opportunity to see Sarah McLachlan perform live at Berkeley's Greek Theater with Paula Cole and Suzanne Vega. It turned out to be the trial run of Lilith Fair. It was an amazing performance in which she played with pared down ensemble that consisted of her, bass player Brian Minato, and soon-to-be husband, drummer Ashwin Sood. She played a beautiful cover of Joni Mitchell's Blue. In a fit of illogical enamour, I bolted up to the stage and gave her a ring that I had gotten in Europe.
And you know what? She bent down and took it from me (sure there was a security guy between us that had to hand the ring up to her, but in my mind she took it out of my head) and said "Thank you!" (That "thank you" part really did happen.)
So today's her birthday. And sure the music she's put out since Fumbling Towards Ecstasy never touched me the way Fumbling did, but that music had such a powerful effect on me, that her birthday is ingrained into my memory.
The fact that it's exactly one month after my own birthday is purely coincidental to my amazing feat of memory.
Two eL's just posted up the lineup for Coachella. Though it doesn't quite top the lineup from last year, Björk, The Coup, Gotan Project, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE(!), Air, Decemberists, Peaches, Travis, Sparklehorse, Stephen Marley, WILLIE NELSON..
..wait, this is a damn good lineup.
All's I gots to do now is to rally the troups so's we can stake out a goodly chunk of land on the campground.
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