Birds & Arrows CD Relase Party with Justin Robinson & The Mary Annettes and Gray Young - Local 506 - 05/07/11

Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is! - Anne Frank

This quote has been in my mind a lot lately. Longtime readers of this blog (hey j9) know my big love and reverence for Anne. I relate to her little heart so much and sometimes when the right feelings, circumstances, events and people align in my life and in my soul, I think of her; her joy, strength, passion, and gifts, and I thank God that she exists. That’s kinda where I’m at in life at the moment; things are going pretty good. I feel really happy and loved, I feel inspired and encouraged, and I feel challenged and rationally fearless. Opportunities present themselves and I have weighed options and made good decisions and had some great experiences in the past couple weeks; up to and including the following: I took the initiative to seek help for a medical issue I had been ignoring for a long time and I feel very mentally and physically relieved. I spent some quality alone time with several close friends and had good long discussions (the existentially and theologically deep kind that I really like.) I met a really groovy guy who seems to be on the same page with me and is treating me pretty damn well. I got a big chunk of my finances in order. I took the initiative to change certain factors in my life that left me feeling insecure and neglected professionally. And I got to see one of the best shows I’ve probably ever seen at Local 506.

Last Thursday evening, I was iffy about LBLB as I was unfamiliar with any of the bands in tow. I was still riding high from my Steve-o encounter earlier in the evening and was trying to bail, but Roo insisted I drop in at least to see Justin Robinson and the Mary Annettes. He had seen them somewhere else not long before, Durmah perhaps?, and assured me that I would probably love them. He was right, I did.  I had missed the beginning songs of the set and therefore didn’t feel it was fair to do a review on a partially attended show, so I deferred to Roo. Then, after their performance and all out dance party up front at Tir Na Nog, I spoke with the band briefly and found out they would be playing along with (dun dun DUNNNN) Gray Young at the Birds & Arrows CD Release party… A show I was not fully committed to attending, as I had originally planned to spend the last weekend in DC. However, a wicked sinus infection that kept me out of work for a few days intervened. I wasn’t able to take the time off work to visit the capital, so I stayed in town… kinda. I went to Carrboro Saturday night.

Something I noticed about this show, not nearly as many wild “Here’s me with THIS friend!” arm-reach self-portraits. Could be because I was barely drinking, due to the antibiotics. Could be I am kinda losing interest in the whole, like, “drunk” thing. I have this feeling that I tried it for a year and I’m bored now. (Those who know me know full well how entirely possible this “bored now” concept is.) Could be because this was a show I had a little reverent respect for and wanted to give my full attention to. Who knows? Either way, I filled my camera flashcard at this show. I got some of THE best show pics I’ve ever taken. I have figured something out… if you just keep taking pictures, eventually one of them will turn out pretty okay…. PS I AM A PHOTOGRAPHY EXPERT NOW.

First up in this incredible line-up were Justin & the crew… Justin is a statuesquely enigmatic and beautiful front man. His depth and kindness not only present themselves so passionately through his songs and lyrics, but also through his movements and his eyes. He loves what he does. The girls, Kyra and Sally, love what they do. Josh loves what he does. This band is four sweet souls playing something you’ve never heard before, breaking the hell out of your heart and changing your life a little. The reason you’ve possibly heard of Justin Robinson and the Mary Annettes is because he was originally part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Let this be the reason you go see them, Let this be the reason you talk your friends into coming with you, but drop your guard and leave your expectations and gruff exterior at the door. You will hear something you never expected and it will be beautiful and it will be enchanting and it will be something you talk about to all your friends for days. Throughout their set, there were moments where I found myself thinking …. “Okay now, this was the song during the show Thursday where I *thought* I was feeling this way, let’s see if I was right…” and then sure enough… there it was.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, sorry to tangent, but I keep wondering if everyone, and I really hope this is true; If everyone has something in their life that keeps them going, gives them hope and fills them with meaning the way music does for me. Yeah, yeah, everyone likes music, I know this, but the way I experience, the way I need it, the way it feels to me, the level of intensity that I have attached to certain bands or songs or artist or NOTES for Christ’s sake… I hope everyone has that thing that means as much to them as writing this blog, seeing these bands, hearing these sounds, has meant to me.

To further my point in this vein of thought, let me continue telling you about JR&MA; the sound they create feels a little different than just about any live act I have seen in the past year or so, (probably with the exception of Valley Young.) And it’s not just the fact that they veer a little more “folk with a synthesizer beat” genre, (which, by the way doesn’t exist,) but mostly due to the fact that there is a lot of heart on stage with these songs. There is a BIG love in this sound. This is the sound of persecution, awkward first kisses, desperate midnight phone calls, strength, joy, something. This was my second time in a week seeing this band perform and Roo and I will be going to see them again this weekend, I am thrilled and honored to participate. One of my favorite moments from this set was watching the heads turn to each other all around me as people’s eyes and ears were suddenly opened to what was happening in front of them, the murmuring buzz I could just barely hear behind me, “who ARE these guys?”

A few months back I was in a dark place, we all know how to find them; some of us get lost in them and never find their way out. I know the secret; it is the music. You have to hear just the right song at the right time, you have to hear the saddest damned pop song you can tolerate about 14 times in a row until you say, “Enough!” and you claw your way out of the sadness. I have been known to put the weight of the world on my bony ass shoulders and my overactive heart and let myself get real low down. It is always the music that brings me back. Bono, Moz and Byrne have saved my life about a million times each. I can very vividly remember driving back from Cup a Joe on a weekday evening, twisting my way back towards Cameron Village and this slow, bittersweet small chord starts playing on WKNC. Suddenly a woman’s voice, clear and strong filled with love and longing; a breathy strength. The right kinda lyrics that I needed at the right kinda moment… “In a place so old with the light so new; it was always you…” and the choke, that instant little sting in the eyeballs when you know you’re hearing *your* love song, you know it will always stay with you and it will always mean that one (wo)man at that one right moment. I stayed a little too long at the stop sign to pull up the 88.1 playlist and get a screen cap; Birds and Arrows – Honeymoon Song. Thus was my introduction to the band.

Birds and Arrows, for those not in the know, consists of Andrea (guitar) and Pete (drums), a married couple, and Josh (cellist.) So I’ll admit it right now, I am a sucker for a cello. It’s almost a guarantee if you throw a cello on just about anything I am going to eat it up; it is probably one of my favorite sounds, followed closely by the oboe and practically any song written in Eb minor. I am stating this up front because I don’t want any of what I have to say about ‘the couple’ to detract from the essential element that Josh brings to each b&a song; it is necessary, it is lovely and it is perfection.

I was during their performance that I began chastising myself for not owning or knowing more songs. I suppose the point of this show, as it was a cd release party, was *NOT* to know the songs, as they were all new. But I had that nagging anxious feeling I get when I feel like I may have showed up a little too late to the party and I already missed the piñata… I’m not ashamed to admit I like knowing first. Who doesn’t? I’m mad at myself that it took me actually being at the show to come to the realization that THANK GOD I WENT TO THIS SHOW. Of course my original draw for this show was Gray Young, (let’s not fool ourselves here,) but I remembered that lonely night and my first kiss with Birds and Arrows, I knew I would like it, I just wasn’t prepared for how much.

So, hey, I am a crier. I’m a weepy, sentimental person. If I am happy, mad, in love, in pain, confused, see the right little bird bouncing across the sidewalk in the right light, it’ll bring a tear to my eye… Birds and Arrows got me very emotional *several* times with some of these new songs. These songs sounds like we got a special invite into the Connollys’ bedroom and lucky us; we get to watch them falling in love! Yeah, that potentially sounds dirty, but think of it on a more communal John & Yoko level… we are invited to fall in love along with them, with the very best of intentions. There were several instances where I was irritated with myself and completely embarrassed when Roo or James turned to tell me something and I had to quickly wipe my eyes. (Bad decision on my part to wear my contacts, by the way.) When you are open, observant and in love with love, you see it all around you, you hear it in everything. These songs are some of the clearest examples of the truest love I have heard in almost ever, in person.

When I think of my "Heavy Hitters", my big bands, my go-to’s when someone asks about my favorite artists, they are mostly men. There is an unfortunately small drop of envy that cautiously limits me form liking female leads too much. I want to do that, so in an effort to boost my own ego, I neglect more than what I should. Only a few essentials usually sneak through; Sinead, Kate, Judy, even Whitney Houston. However, as I have never seen any of these ladies perform live, I can truly say with no hesitation that Andrea Connolly has the best, strongest and most appealing lead vocals of any female I think I have ever seen live. I absolutely LOVE her voice. And the more the night went on, the more I fell in love with it. I want to take her voice to a nice hidden bistro covered in vines and sit on the patio telling stories about trips across Europe. I want to drink wine with her voice by a creek in autumn. (Apparently I want to take her voice on a date to Caffe Driade?) Several times throughout the performance I heard Roo or James or myself say “I have *never* heard a voice like this in person.” absolutely magical.  After Justin Robinson, I wasn’t sure anything was going to touch my heart in such a personal and delicate way the rest of this night, I was very touched. I was truly honored to witness this performance. I am a fan for life. Already got the next couple shows on my calendar. I have no idea why I would have ever doubted that I would like them as much as I did, given that they are such good friends with the gray youngs.

Speaking of…

I was already in a super sentimental mood, I was feeling warm and fuzzy and loved and happy. There was a voice in the back of my head telling me that I needed to keep an eye open for whatever opportunity presented itself to give me the “shtick” I needed to write YET ANOTHER gray young review. Honest to god, not two seconds of the guys getting on stage I had already decided, no shtick; only love. And my God you guys have you really not figured this out yet; I love Gray Young. I don’t feel like joking about it today, I feel like telling you more about why.

 I love Gray Young because I am addicted to the sound of Gray Young; the feeling their music evokes in me. I do not simply like Gray Young because they are my friends, they became my friends by proxy. I do not like Gray Young because I have a crush on Chas. I do not have a crush on Chas because he is a rock star. I have a “crush” on Chas because he is a huge awkward dork that I used to see at the coffee shop and the irony of his shy awkwardness compared with the person I see when he is on stage amuses the hell out of me. It is entirely coincidental that this guy is the LV for my favorite local band. Therefore, let’s be honest here people, I don’t have a crush on a guy, I have a crush on the whole band. I am courting this band; I am in love with them. I feel giddy when I see a show announced like I got asked to the prom. I worry that the “joke” about how much I love Gray Young has eclipsed the root of the root & the bud of the bud: I love the music. Everything else is entirely adventitious. I go see Gray Young every chance I get because I feel entirely blessed and lucky every time I get to see Gray Young, not unlike the way I feel entirely blessed and lucky to see U2 live. And you guys, that is some HEAVY SHIT coming from me. Do you see?

GY played last in this set, not unlike the last time I got to see them at Slim’s where they played after the headliners, essentially rounding out the show. I don’t know why this keeps happening, but I don’t mind. It allows me to perpetuate the myth in my own mind that GY are always the headliners. Although, you know, now that I think about it, I never really have paid attention to any sort of crowd at a Gray Young show; my eyes are closed like, 80% of the time, like I just dropped acid at a Dead show or something, so I am oblivious. I am enraptured by the sound. I couldn’t’ tell you who was around or behind me at any point of this show apart from James Hall or Mike G, (essential attendees as the Army must always represent!) so if there were 6 or 60 people in the audience at this point, I have no idea, but they played their hearts out for us. They always do: Reason #349 why I love them.

Highlight moment: GY and B&A are good friends. I believe, if am remembering correctly, the gorgeous GY shirt I proudly sport about town was in fact designed by b&a; The more I think about it I think the only way the lineup could have been better would have been like, Bonn and Edgers showing up to do an acoustic set out of nowhere or something (ps also I would probably never recover from that). Anyway. So, to close the show, Birds and Arrows joined Gray Young to perform one of my personal favorite songs, “Tilling the Wind.” A song that, as I have already confessed to you once in this blog, brings me to tears every time anyway; but after the big-smile-face busting, good-love, big time happyheart night of music I had just had, it felt like the crescendo of bliss my night needed. It was probably one of the most incredible things I have ever heard, despite my wavering envy that a girl was singing a Gray Young song on stage *with* Gray Young and this girl was not me, and was, in fact, singing one of my very favorite songs. The fact that it was Andrea is completely allowable, however. This was beyond perfection, it was transcendence. I cried like a bitch and I didn’t care who saw.

 

 Love you guys, no joke.

Posing in front of Gray Young like I am posing in front of the Grand Canyon. Brilliant!

EDIT: the next damned day: dude dumped me.... never. fucking. mind.

Saturday Adventures - Valient Thorr @ Neptune's, Yacht @ Cat's Cradle, The Big Pic @506

You’ll rarely you’ll never see a review posted the day after or day of a show on this blog. (If that ever happens I promise you all a handshake and a smile.) I need time to think, I need time to be inspired. I absolutely refuse to let this become just an informative blog. The blogworld is already full of “information” and “facts” and “true things” that “make sense” about “events” that have happened in the “real world”. I keep trying to tell you folks, if you want band bio and a set list, look to your right. Maybe scroll down a little, I don’t know how your resolution is set.

Yesterday I was blabbing with The Hills about how it suddenly feels like I am doing everything I ever wanted to do with my life all in one; seeing live music, discovering new music, making cool friends, dressing beautifully and fixing my hair just right and then getting to write it all down in a public forum. In retrospect, I think even my most elementary diaries were intended for public use. (I think I read and fell in love with Anne Frank too soon. That may be a bad analogy, but it makes sense in my noodle. Lighten up.) I’ve always been writing for you people, you just didn’t know it yet. So Hillary said something to the effect of “But you actually *update*, there is a relevant currency with your blog.” YES. THAT. I may not get it to you super fast, but there is no show I won’t tell you something about. Have you guys figured this out yet? I go to a lot of shows. I LOVE to go to shows. I love live music. A lot.

Anyway. This past Saturday was so many things I wasn’t even sure where to start. How to start. 3 different... venues, bands, and cities? Road trips and day drinking, playing wingman, bar hopping and avoiding exes… where do I go with that? Here is my advice for writers; Just Wait. Hey, some people wait for years for inspiration. I can’t help it I’m so magnanimously brilliant that I get inspired literally within days of a show, this is my gift to the world. Lucky you. But I do wait, sometimes it’s a few hours, usually it’s a day or two. It has to sink in, I wait it out and I am patiently open to suggestions of inspiration from the universe.

Here is how my inspiration for this post reared its lil head… every day I go to the same coffee shop downtown and I get the same coffee; sometimes hot, today it was iced. (I mixed it up a little) and I had narrowly missed an afternoon showerburst. I got my drink and talked a table wipe down out of the Times folks and sat down with my old standby; the Viking Library Portable Dorothy Parker. Sometimes when I’m feeling all feminist-y and sassy, she calls to me. (ps – I am a nerd. I love to read! I’m a ‘classics’ whore. Throw a penguin classic at me and I devour it. One of my particular weaknesses is Parker; she’s up there with my Brontë sisters and Woolf in my “I don’t need no man” mindset of classic cravings.) I was perusing the poetry parts and peeped this particular passage:

 On Cheating The Fiddler

 "Then we will have tonight!" we said.

"Tomorrow- may we not be dead?"

The morrow touched our eyes, and found

Us walking firm above the ground,

Our pulses quick, our blood alight.

Tomorrow's gone- we'll have tonight!

I instantly thought of my dear Jonny Tunnell and my friends in The Big Picture. This sums up so eloquently exactly how I feel when I see them play out…. Joy, recklessness, perfection, happiness, kindredness, kindness, impermanence, and transience. And there was my inspiration; there was my gateway to this review. This was my process.

Saturday began at Neptune’s. Valient Thorr had sent out a call for “hot chicks” et.al. to show up between 3-6pm to be background for their newest music video. Hey man, I’m a hot chick, right?? Or at least, I play one in the scene. I’m real good at assuming. Also, I wanted to check it out and be in a video with my friends. So I went. I did not, however, take any pictures of the shoot because I wanted to respect the vision of the band and the production staff; it’s their baby – no spoiler alerts! I will tell you this, the song was awesome, I smooched on Herbie a little (of course,) and it was incredibly fun. I met some really awesome people. I really only knew the bar staff, the band and Matt. Before I left I was besties with a couple girls that rocked my world. However, apparently after I left, Snoop Dogg showed up? This is too ridiculous for me to comprehend. 

Hillary picked me up and we jetsetted out to Carborro. I had tickets for Yacht, Who I had seen in Paris in 2008 at La Maroquinerie where he opened for Architecture in Helsinki back when it was just Jona, a jewfro and a macbook. We hit ‘lunch’ at Acme, stopped in for the show and I found a new comrade.

 Fuck those fried green maters.

 ARMY REPRESENT!

I was pretty coherent, despite the fact that I had, at this point, been drinking for approximately 5 hours straight. So it was completely understandable that Jeffrey Jerusalem, (part of Yacht’s new backing band, Straight Gaze, who opened solo,) BLEW MY EVERLOVING MIND. He was all over the place.

 

 

Then hell, I don’t know what happened. I got led astray to the OCSC by Hillary and ½ of “the lovers”.  The other half met us later at local 506, whereupon we saw and had our minds blown by The Big Picture.

 

I don’t even know why it surprises me to say that every time I see TBP they become more and more my favorite thing on earth. Is it because I adore them on such personal, friendly levels? Is it because the feeling that comes out of their sound is so all-encompassingly …. Photophilous and amatory. The music, the feeling, the sound, the vision, the good intentions... There is something all kinds of magical about these guys. Something giving and kind, like a communal garden or a soup kitchen, they want to share this experience with you, not just the sound. When they play for you, they are playing FOR YOU. They have no ulterior motives or intentions; they are a group of good people making good music, sharing it with their friends. The Big Picture is the sound of Carpe Diem.

 

 

 

To summate, I will share with you a quote from Hillary, who texted me during their set: “Is it just me or you feel bass in your uterus as well?”

Indeed. Uterine Bass; this is the Zen of The Big Pic.

Later, I apparently drunkenly orated in the street about my ex. That’s always classy. I don’t remember much else other than lamenting the fact that I didn’t go pee before we left Carrboro. When I got home, I peed. I peed so good.

Faute De Mieux

Travel, trouble, music, art,

A kiss, a frock, a rhyme-

I never said they feed my heart,

But still they pass my time.

(Dorothy Parker)

Old Bricks CD Release Party with Nests and Wild Wild Geese - King's - 04/16/11

I'm not sure how rational, normal people react to deceit, disappointment and tornadoes; but this is how I do it: Go see an amazing show with a majority of the people you love and trust the most and then PRETEND TO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THEM.

this post is extremely picture heavy but i promise you, it will be worth it. Well, I hope it will be worth it. I can only assume this will be another one of those instances where I am amusing myself and alienating anyone who ever comes here looking for actual "journalistic" or "musical" "integrity."

I had wandered downstairs to prowl around Neps when I got this text, (which I can only assume is absolute TRUTH.) So I HUSTLED:

IT MUST BE TRUE.

This was the second time I got to see Nests play live, and each time seems to get better. I definitely think the sound was clearer and a bit more... stabilized than the last time I saw them at Tir Na Nog. If you are not in a deeply introspective, semi-melancholy, ethereal mood before Nests plays, then you will be once they start. This is in no way a bad thing. (Melancholy breeds inspiration; pain makes art, etc...) I like to describe Nests as "the sound of a dying cowboy, counting his regrets"... Earlier in the evening, during the storm, Benny lost both his home and his car to the tornado. I am having trouble accepting this just yet and my heart goes out to him entirely. During this set, our collective pain for him hovered over us all and definitely set the mood for this sound. However, they announced a new song, the last song, which was fully upbeat and featured the drums and my god; people DANCED.

It was somewhere around this time when the tornado anxiety, heartbreak of another failed attempt at a relationship, alcohol consumption, and security of some closest friends turned some wild switch in me and I raged. I blame Hillary. We posed for a sparring pic, which swiftly turned into the theme of the evening.

I asked Roo what he thought of the show: “I only stayed for Nests. I wasn’t in a show mood, but I didn’t realize it until I got there… so everything was kind of un-enjoyable for that reason. I will say their (Nests) sound was much better than at LBLB because their volumes were where they needed to be. I understood the role of the saw better this time.”

Hillary does not approve. And I do not approve of the lackluster approach to her disapproval. I show her how to make it count!

I asked N'abney what she thought of the show, BUT THEN DIDN’T EVEN GIVE HER A CHANCE TO RESPOND.

I showed my sympathies and appreciation for the set to benny with a loving CHOKEHOLD:

Selma and I had a full battle. When I asked her later to give me a quote for the review, she said “No one looks good in loafers without socks?” (the question mark was hers, btw)

We are such good friends!

In between the Nests/Wild Wild Geese set, it seemed only appropriate to gang up on Juan Huevos. When I asked him later how it felt to get his eggs scrambled, he said “I was so drunk (your) fists felt like pesky gnats. But the bruises were very real.” Or “karla. she hits like a girl.”

"pretty sure old bricks was awesome, but what with all the brawling going on it was hard to be sure"

 

"i was at a show?"

"was i the only one getting turned on by all this?"

Wild Wild Geese! This was the second time I got to see them play, and this time, even despite all the rampaging going on, I did actually get to pay better attention to them this time! And I have to tell you I really am starting to like these guys a lot. I think I texted Roo at one point and said “It is the rarest of the species, I think the superfan of WWG is the bass player! He is going wild!” His excitement got me excited! Too fun!

I SHOWED MY APPRECIATION BY BEATING THE SHIT OUT OF HIM.

After their set, I took a toddle down to Neps to beat up Sarah and Jonny from The Big Pic!

Then back upstairs and I spied Abby:  
“So there was this fucking tornado, and I’d been wandering the earth for many hours charging my devices and so I end up at this rock and roll show, and Karla comes over and punches me in the face, and I’m just thinking, “Bad timing, Crazy Woman!” In other news, Benny’s house is fucked and Old Bricks blew my mind with their intense double drumming.”

She then instructed me to beat up Grayson and Tina. Only Happy to oblige!

"The Hopscotch Lineup this year is incredibleeeeeeeeee!"

Speaking of Old Bricks Intense Double Drumming! YES! Absolutely one of the best things I’ve seen in a while. Old Bricks was a duo, I thought? But then I see parts of Motor Skills on stage, so I can only assume magic is happening. I'm not sure if this was a special occasion line-up, but i heartily approve! I think on any other day, from what I’ve heard before, Old Bricks is pretty mellow; like an almost ambient-folk experimental thing. Could be because it was the CD release party, but this set was certainly high energy (mostly).Thanks guys! See Youse at Hopscotch!

 ("this song goes out to benny!" xoxoox)

Jeninan-itorial:

"With the stealth of a puppy at the park, I crept into Kings and set my ears at the ready. I surveyed the scene. Old Bricks were a few strands away, tuning up for tornadoes. Indie expatriates grazed on beer like all too fine gazelles in the African veldt. Had my supersonic skills safely shielded me from the arrows of outrageous hipster fortunes? Umm. No. Boot to the head. A punch from the left in 3/4 time by a pixie in plaid. Back to the soundboard for me. Restrain, restring, retune. Next time, my amp will be on."

 
Text conversation between Hills and I on Sunday evening:
Me: "Hey, you wanna add any quotes to my review?"
H: "I don't think so. Cock Guac was the highlight."

"Goodbye, lovers!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please support the recovery efforts of the recently abused Juan Huevos by checking out this new single, a collaboration with our dearly beloved Heads on Sticks: