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: 

Johnny Handlebars The Musical (with Valley Young) at King's - 04/10/11

If you are looking for answers, you will find answers. If you are looking for an excuse, you’ll find one. If you’re desperate to find meaning, you will find enlightenment in everything you see.  These are true for all things except love; if you are looking for love, it will elude you.  That’s what they say, anyway. (Fuckin’ “they.”) ANYWHO, if you are looking to be entertained, you will be entertained. If you walk into a show with an open mind and an eager ear, you will hear what you need to hear. Thus was my experience Sunday night.

I keep stumbling into these last minute excursions, (and I certainly don’t mind by the way,) where someone cancels out on a show and has an extra ticket or gets a wild hair and says “Hey, you wanna?” and they know to call me. I always wanna. Live music – yes; I wanna. Jay asked me about Johnny Handlebars, something I had thought about doing anyway, and I only needed the gentlest of shoves and I of course, went. And it was one of those rare and pleasurable instances where I went totally alone (Jay was with his GF) and I sat alone and was able to completely focus on what was in front of me; I had no one to keep up with, to check in with or to split a tab with… nice once in a while.

First off, let me tell you Daytime!Kings is weeeeeeeeeird. I know they’ve had day functions and shows before, but I’d not experienced it before. It felt so wrong, like… digging in your mom’s underwear drawer wrong. Like that horrible feeling the first day of class in college when the teacher says "This is Buttscratch 101, make sure you're in the right class." and you have that awkward stumble out of the room being all "damn I was supposed to be in math for total idiots" and EVERYONE IS LOOKING AT YOU. You shouldn’t be able to see King's people in direct sunlight. I think it's a rule somewhere. If it's not a rule, I'm making a rule right now. It's like seeing your fifth grade teacher at the gay bar. It's a total “something isn’t right here” feeling. This is the dumbest paragraph I've ever written but look at me go! I ain't erasing it! Long to short: King's in the daylight is bizzarro.

So for the second time ever, (first being Ed Schrader,) perhaps attributed to the fact that I was alone and sober, I actually took notes on a performance. But as I said in the beginning of this post, if you are looking for magic, you will find it. And I had had a magical/loving weekend so far and when Valley Young took the stage this early evening, as I was not actually expecting a musical act, I was already surprised. And I LOVE surprises, good or bad, so I was already having the happies.

I had never heard of Valley Young. They announced three facts, the only three facts I can confirm for you now: They are from Tennessee. They opened the last time Johnny Handlebars was performed. They were only two of a larger outfit band. One guy, one girl. Later introductions, gushings, and business card exchanges later I discover another fact that somehow amplified my already blossoming crush on this duo, and if this doesn't convince you to check them out I don’t know what will: Their names are Artemus and Annabelle… ARTEMUS AND ANNABELLE! I shit you not! That is the cutest thing I have ever heard in my whole life. Their names might as well have been BABY PANDA and PILE OF KITTENS.

Silly intros aside, let me tell you about Valley Young... (Maybe I just have a thing for bands with the word 'young' in them?) I loved it, maybe I was just in that magic happy open minded lovey dovey mood, but I think anyone who was there early enough and paid attention heard what I heard. It was pretty much one of my favorite new things I've heard in a really long time.

These are my actual iphone notes:
-Valley Young - East Tennessee - CHARMING!
-When she sings, I like her voice best, but then he sings and I like his voice best, but then those harmonies! Delicate, gentle, and comforting. Almost hymnal. Her chord progressions are angelic. Something more spiritual than folk, more depth than alt-country, grittier than gospel.
-Sounds like driving the Blue Ridge Parkway in spring with the windows down. Reminds me of family. Makes me miss Granny and Poppa. But a good missing. Bittersweet. Reminds me I was lucky to love & be loved by granny and poppa.
-Cried during song they just announced "ink wasn't dry on yet" - ask what the name of this song is! (Note: I forgot to ask – hey Valley Young, if you see this, record that song asap and send it to me! It was the second to last song?)
-Really hope they have merch. I need this music on my ipod stat so I can lay in the yard on the grass and clear an afternoon for daydreaming asap. So good!

After their set, I literally raced downstairs to have a smoke and call J9 and tell her about what I had just heard. It was the first time in my whole life that I wished I had my own label because I would honestly pursue these two. As I was raving on the phone, they started their load out and I hung up on J9 to have a quick chat (see above re: card exchange, etc.) Even now, listening to the handful of songs they have their MySpace; I can feel myself tearing up. So beautiful. It's so amazing what you find when you don't even know you're looking. 

I honestly didn't mean for the main event, aka Johnny Handlebars to be a side note in this review. I hope that everyone involved with its production understands that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was like... “The Sad True Story of Everyone at Jackpot Ever Kinda Starring Everyone That Ever Worked at Jackpot or Slims. Written and Produced by Everyone Else in Raleigh You've Ever Known.” I don't want that at all to sound smarmy or contemptuous, it is meant in the "holy-crap-every-single-person-that-walks-out-on-the-stage-is-someone-I-have-known-and-seen-around-forever-and-this-is-cracking-me-up-oh-holy-god-Brad-is-too-much-and-I-think-David-Mueller-just-gave-me-a-coronary" way.

I can’t give you any sort of history or facts about this show. What I can tell you, obviously, is about my experience. I had no idea what to expect. Johnny Handlebars is a Raleigh Legend, one of those things that I think you have to experience to say you are truly a Cap-City-Kid; (other required experiences: Drunk waffles at Hillsborough IHOP any time between the hours of 3 and 5am, Have sat in the parking lot stalking the “Hot Donuts Now” sign at Krispy Kreme on Person Street, Barfing somewhere in [or on] Slim’s, ‘Serious’ grocery shopping at or around 3am at Hipster Teeter in Cameron Village, Have attended at least one Goth Night at Legends, Would rather die than live OTB, hooking up with someone at the Lassiter Mill waterfall, Have hooked up with someone at the Rose Garden, Have attended and/or gotten blisteringly stoned at an Amateur’s show, Have lost the inability to survive without Cup A Joe coffee, Have attended and thoroughly enjoyed a show at Sadlack’s that you never intended to attend in the first place, Barfing in [or on] Jackpot, Attended at least 2 or 3 “omg Jackpot is closing” night parties, Have road tripped post-midnight to Acid Park, etc…)

The story of Johnny Handlebars is pathetic and sad and almost too true, like uncomfortably true. As in, we all know a Johnny Handlebars; a down on their luck, perpetually drunk, forever alone, heart of gold awkward antihero that’s always at the bar. The plot is simplistic I suppose (loser meets girl, takes a chance on love, heart gets broken, makes the right choice in the name of [unrequited] love, the end.) But what makes it are the songs, Lisa’s badass voice, and the cast of ridiculous characters. I guffawed, LITERALLY GUFFAWED, several times, and since I can’t hear shit I was sitting kinda up front under the speakers, so I know everyone must have thought I was an asshole, but whatever. I wasn’t patronizing anyone, I was honestly that amused. Been thinking about it a lot the past few days and I really can’t decide if it was the story, the lines, or the people that amused me quite so much.

I hope they do this show again, so I can convince more people to come with me next time.

Gray Young with Grandchildren - Slim's - 03/27/11

First off, I am not at home, so I can't upload pics of Grandchildren, but let me tell you they were amazing. (I might go back in later and upload some, but they are on my laptop at home and this is the 3^rd day in a row I’ve forgotten it, so I give up.)

Grandchildren at Slim’s was pretty much the best thing ever: there were 28 people in this band (I might be exaggerating) and they were all squished into this 5x5 stage (exaggerating again maybe) and had no less than 3,922 instruments on stage (exaggerating) and they all played all of them randomly (not exaggerating that one). During the songs, after the songs, one of the guys stood up and switched with someone else and played something incredible. Jay and I spent the majority of their set looking at each other mouthing “THIS IS AMAZING” and “I KNOW RIGHT?!” –When I told people I was going to see Gray Young and “this band, grandchildren” play at Slim’s everyone was all “Oh, Grandchildren, they are getting some buzz!” and I was all; whatever, whatever gray young. But HEY! Grandchildren was pretty fantastic. They confirmed during their set that they had been invited to play Hopscotch 2011, (aside, I am so embarassed/proud that I am under the '10' in the hopscotch header. hah!) so I am requiring you all to go check them out. Also, HEY! 2 confirmations of Hopscotch acts! (Swans was announced yesterday… FREAKIN SWANS, YOU GUYS! OMFGaaaa!) So yes, when Grandchildren play Hopscotch, unless they are playing at the same time as someone un-missable (I heard a rumor about Kate Bush… oh Jesus I am mad at myself for even kidding about that. I can’t even imagine.) Then I will definitely be seeing them again.

NOW: I have been writing this blog for almost 4 months now as a show blog, and have reviewed Gray Young no less than 37 times. I am completely exaggerating again, but I have reviewed them a lot. I have much more to always say about them, and I probably always will but I want to keep this interesting for you all, so I did this instead. (btw, in case it's not abundantly clear, this was an incredible show and I love seeing the boys at Slim's.)

GRAY YOUNG COMIC TIME!

(click pics to embiggen)

At the Free Electric State show a week or so back Dana had asked if I was going to make “Gray Young Caring Club” t-shirts covered in kittens, a reference to a post I made a while back about how the GY superfans are actually all really nice, sweet people. Apparently it has been decided in-band/in-house that it should be Army. I don’t think the guys appreciated the softness of merely calling it a “club.” Also apparently Kittens have become the central theme. So may I present DRAFT ONE OF THE IMPENDING T-SHIRT DESIGN:

Things to ponder: I stole a set list from this show as well. It is handwritten on a napkin and therefore will be infinitely more valuable. Also I have spoken to Chas twice now, but it was only to order a coffee so I am deciding it doesn't count because I made the rules to this game. IT DOESN'T COUNT, CHAS. Also, I didn't have to judge Mike for not being there, because he was totally there. Also, I am once again wondering if anyone thinks I'm half as funny as I do.



EDIT: oh, ps roo: Naps played, too. I missed Naps. Oops.

I Was Totally Destroying It - LBLB - Tir Na Nog - 03/24/11

You sick of IWTDI and Gray Young reviews yet? TOO BAD. I WARNED YOU.

I know I've done several entries in a row that were intensely personal, almost like diary entries, but again... I WARNED YOU. maybe this is why people aren't really turning to me for true show reviews; just my friends seeing what I had to say. and maybe all this will turn into some fucked up memoirs for a book one day... "A Year in the Triangle Music Scene, Durrr" by Karla Anne... Sounds good to me. It's certainly not full of journalistic integrity so far, is it? Just a lot of me rambling about personal growth and art for art's sake. That's how I do. and if you want the real technical review of the shows, look to the right for the Blogroll.

Digression aside, more personal confessions instead of technical perspectives ahead: One of the things I like best in life are surprises. I LOVE SURPRISES. In any capacity. Surprise parties, a postcard when you weren't expecting it, a cute puppy coming around the corner who is dying to be your new friend; on any and all levels: I love when life isn't what you expected it to be. And in the same vein, what i *really* love is when someone isn't what you expected them to be, and more importantly when someone has a place in your life and in your heart you never expected them to hold.

One other thing I love in life: recognizing signs and coincidences, taking absolutely nothing for granted and relishing every second, (even the terrible and boring ones,) of this life as a gift. I sometimes dub myself "Queen of Perspective". I love putting the pieces of my life together. I love playing the six degrees of separation in events and people and moments that brought me and my friends and lovers together. I love recognizing and appreciating the butterfly effect of my precious moments on this earth that lead me to the ones I have chosen to share these moments with. I love life; the sacredness, the fragility, the urgency, the shitstorm, the gift.

That being said: 1) I met James the day before I met James. 2) And when I met James he was not the person James actually is... IWTDI did the U2 show at TNN and I met James and then the very next night I met James at Whiskey. When I first officially met and spoke with him, I pegged him as a hippie but then I got to know him and he's someone so complex that it defies a label. He's somewhere between a hippie/missionary/radical/egomaniac/shit stirrer/lionheart/asshole/saint; other than myself, he's probably one of the more fucked up, complicated, beautiful people i've known in my real life. I don't carry a flame for James, I carry an inferno... One of those crazy damn oil well fire hurricanes like in that John Wayne movie "Hellfighters." I love James. but that's the thing; EVERYONE loves James. but this isn't the James Hepler Fan Club, I'm just trying to partly explain why every time IWTDI plays, I see IWTDI.

Ok, Now THAT being said: Through my getting to know James, I got to know the rest of the gang. I got to know the well oiled machine of IWTDI. The dynamics. The heartbeat. the drama... I got to know the songs so well. I got to know the reasons and the meanings and I found myself getting songs stuck in my head. I found myself recruiting more and more people to check them out; dragging friends to shows, etc. I am beyond proud of this band, I know too well that very soon they are going to be huge. HUGE.

This show was probably one of my more favorite shows... random reasons; I was in a great mood, the new songs are so good, it was the kickoff of their tour, i was with the right people, the sound guy was on point, I was seeing one of my favorite bands. The crowd around us were a little tame, but the room was packed. I didn't notice really because i was dancing my ass off and having a blast. Roo had to tell me later that most people "weren't even moving". I didn't notice, because I was. A lot.

So as I said, the new songs, off the new album Preludes, they are on a whole different level from what we've heard from them before. The first couple releases are good, yes. This is something different. Preludes is hitting that point of depth and fullness that I absolutely need to devote myself to a sound. If i had walked in, note unheard, to this show at TNN and never heard the band before, didn't love them the way I do on such a personal, completely biased level, I would have told you the same thing: this was one of the best sounding shows I've heard/seen in months. and the funny thing is I heard the new songs live at the Redress, but there was some sort of energy and perfection to this performance. Maybe they were riding high after the SXSW trip, but I really think IWTDI has found their moment. I am only expecting them to come home superstars.

So they just released a new video for Fight/Flight, as I briefly mentioned last week. This song, as I said, I'd heard it live once or twice before, took on a whole different personality for me Thursday night. There was an intensity, a heartbreak, a fire under it's belly. It was one of those rare instances when seeing a show live where an otherwise non-weepy song hit me in just the right way and I got the goose bumps and my eyes welled up. It was during this song I knew, i knew... my friends are rock gods. my friends are amazing. I cant even being to describe to you how much they deserve it and how much i love them.

Hellfighters, baby.

Free Electric State - King's - 03/19/11

I don't want to do it, and i try not to do it; but i worry about my "rep". Everyone does it. How am i perceived by my peers? I've had a wild, heartbroken year that has lead me down many precariously, spontaneously treacherous paths and only recently do i feel like i am walking into the bright light of clarity that was only a glimmering spark too far in the distance for so long. I have known all along the person that I am and the person I wish people saw me as, but I know too well the person I present to you all.

You see me out at the shows or at the bar and I am wild, I am drinking, I am flirtatious and spontaneous... This is the girl I should have been in my 20's that I never let run free, and now I am 33 and I wonder if I am past the point of this being... okay. I am a late bloomer. The past few times I have been out with friends and I feel that numby, silly, 3rd PBR feeling in my mouth I start to hear myself repeating "there has to be a better way, there has to be a better way..." If I don't go out, I won't meet someone new. And I want to meet someone new. But the someone new I will meet will meet drunk, "going out" me. This has happened several times, I meet someone and I flirt, maybe kiss and then i wonder why nothing came of it. Nothing came of it because no one wants to fall in love with the funny wild drunk girl with the "look"; they just want her to want them and then go home with the girl next door. I will never be the girl next door. Unless you live next door to me (Amos), in which case, you know I can be just as ridiculous at home.

There are people that have had bad shit happen in their lives and lived through terrible traumas or searing heartbreaks and been able to, I dunno, go for a run? go to church? throw themselves into a project at work? ... and get through it. I think I was out the day they handed out coping skills. I live in denial, I taught myself to drink (even thought it was only January of last year, at age 32 that i got drunk for the first time in my life,) I ramble incessantly on blogs and journals and i write bittersweet love songs. But mostly I drink and I focus on the music. Your music. By the way; Dear local (and not so local) bands of the triangle, thank you for keeping me sane and keeping me alive this past year. I honestly don't know what I would have done some days if I didn't have you to look forward to.

I was during this show, Free Electric State, that I had this moment of clarity. I spent the entire next day (Sunday) on my couch nursing a hangover and coming to the Divine conclusion that I am ready to be someone different. Or rather, I am ready for you all to see me the way i see myself. I want to be respected, I want to be a good friend, I want to be recognized as a true artist, I want to be reliable, I want to be admired, and I want to be kind. No more hiding behind beer cans and elaborate gestures. No more climbing on top of bar stools and dive-bomb kissing band members... I'm not the party girl, I never really was. I was trying it on like a new pair of shoes; I walked around in it for a bit, I stretched them out, but this is so last season. I want to be who I am now. And here's the irony, I'm nice. I'm really nice. And before my body changed so drastically, I used to think that being told I was "nice" was the kiss of death, the most banal and socially redundant way you could describe someone. The fat girl never wants to hear "nice", she wants "pretty" and "sexy" and i suppose I spent the past 2 years tyring to prove to myself I was more than nice. And I guess i did "pretty" for long enough, now I really want people to remember that I'm nice.

I support my friends and family in whatever they need, I am loyal to the point of absurdity. I stop for animals in the road, I am exceedingly kind to the elderly and I love children. I will help you carry heavy things, I will give you my last dime, I will cry with you if you need me to. I don't want people to look at me as see the flailing drunk girl in the corner anymore; I want them to see the me that I see, that my very best friends see. I want the world to see me the way J9 and Roo see me; and I haven't quite figured out why I was keeping her a secret from all of you, I was ashamed, I had low self-esteem, I was lazy. But It was at this show, Dear sweet Free Electric State with your blazing hot rock 'n' roll, melting my face off with the same kind of intensity and purity that keeps me going back to see you over and over again, you were the one that turned on the light.

This might be the kindest, most appreciative review I've ever done, although to the average joe it may seem like the most obscurely unwarranted and totally left field... I hope the band gets it... This was the show were I finally had the epiphany my friends and I have been dying for me to have. It was FES's music that turned on the light. The new songs, no I didn't know them, but my ears were throwing a party. (My facebook status update for this show was: "Actual text to Roo: "Free elec state is having raunchy sex with my earholes") My face ached from smiling... I loved it. And I knew I wanted to give Shirlé, Nick, David and Tony the respect of my total adoration that their music deserved, I hope it showed all over my face. I had seen FES several times before, but this time was different, this time was reverent and life changing. I can chalk it up to timing, fate, or the hand of God, but I'm gonna give you guys this one: Free Electric State changed my life.

love you guys... until next time!
and trust: there will be a next time! xoxox

Sharon Van Etten with The Tender Fruit and Ava Luna - King's - 03/11/11

So sometimes I go to shows because I get swept up in the hype. I’m not ashamed to admit it. If there is a show coming of an artist or performer that everyone is losing their shit over, by god I am going to that show. Maybe I will lose my own shit. I’m down with shit loss in the name of good music. Hey, also sometimes I go to shows to support causes I am down with (Redress or Moving Island) and in this case, this was a combo of both; everybody was pooing all over the place over Sharon Van Etten, so I grabbed tickets. Then I find out it’s for Hopscotch, so yeah I’m definitely down with pouring my money into anything related to that. I didn’t go into this show a Sharon Van Etten pro, I only listened to a few songs online and assumed it would be one of those instances where I would get into her once I saw her. Also Tender Fruit was opening and I love Christy Smith’s voice so much I was completely willing to pay the cover just for them. 

And then what really happened was this: I had bought the tickets for myself and J9, (my married mommy bestie who never comes out on school nights and rarely stays out past 10, so you’ve not heard much about her.) But I wanted her to enjoy a show out and SVE was a Friday. At dinner, last moment-ish, she starts dropping “oh, I’m just so tired, it’s been a long week” hints, so I gave her the out. She took it, of course! I invited Roo along, but as he had a couchsurfer staying with, we had to ensure 3 tickets instead of just my two. When we got to the door, it was sold out. I passed my ticket off to Varani instead; who was down at Neptune’s earlier, while Roo and the couchsurfer barhopped a little. (Varani is a Minnesotan transplant and sometimes Neptune’s Dj of whose last name I have been known to sing to the tune of Dean Martin’s “Volare”.) We promised to find Roo later.

btw, this happened:

WASN'T EVEN PLANNED.

In the ticket shuffle I missed Tender Fruit… FFS.

BUT! NEXT! A band I had never heard of, but as soon as they hit the stage, I felt myself hotstepping with joy! …Ava Luna! WORTH EVERY PENNY. This was one of those shows where during and after every song I find myself turning to everyone around me saying “Are you hearing this shit? IT’S AMAZING!” It’s like I have to validate my aural processes. Maybe I am delusional? But no, everyone around me is bobbing heads and shuffling around and gaping up at the stage with big dopey grins because none of us were expecting this much incredible this close to our faces! At one point Varani and I even did a shuffle jitterbug dance across the front of the stage at Abby, that’s how riled up Ava Luna got us!

coming for yooooou!

Ava Luna – what to say? The first thing I will say is whatever anyone tells you that you are going to see when you see them is not going to be good enough. And then when you go online and listen to songs and watch youtube videos, please know; NOT GOOD ENOUGH. It’s not until those three sassy girls are doowopping on the side of the stage, that one cute guy is flinging himself all over his keyboards and the lead singer is having david byrne-ish spasms all over the stage to some of the funkiest rock/soul/electro skiffle shit ever, then that is when you will understand what I am talking about here. This was FUN. F-U-N. I am mad at myself for wandering off and forgetting to hit the merch table because not only did I want the music, but I wanted like, tshirts and stickers and bff heart necklaces with everyone in the band, that’s how much they blew my mind. 

jesus h tap dancing christ!

I am really hoping that since this show was a part of the Hopscotch team, they get invited back in September. I’m really bummed Roo didn’t get to see this happen. It was like a revival. I felt like I was at the Triple Rock Church and Rev Cleophus was asking me if I see the light. It was like, every good idea for every band ever all mooshed together into one band of extreme fun and good tunes. I really, really hope I get to see them again.

i don't care that this is blurry. 

One day I will show my grandchildren and they'll be all like 

OMG YOU MET THAT GUY.

And then you know what happened? After all that excitement and wildness, Sharon Van Etten couldn’t hold my interest. I watched 2 songs and then went to Landmark. I might regret it later when she is THE BEST THIGN EVER OMG BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ, but I don’t know, for now, I feel totally okay with the band that I did see. I think part of the problem with losing interest in SVE was that I wanted to share it with J9, and she wasn’t there. and also I had lost Varani in the crowd, as is pretty standard with us when we hit shows together, and I was standing around by myself and I was literally standing in between a guy I dated for a second and whose heart I may have broken and not 5 feet away on the other was a guy who killed me a little. It seemed no matter where I went, I was surrounded by awkward. Too bad I let real life interfere with show life, but it happens sometimes. I'm sure it was an excellent set and I'm sorry I couldn't hang. next time?

Oh well, I got to see Roo before I went home, anyway.

Astronautalis with Sims and Mr. Invisible - King's - 03/09/11

I Carpe Diem so hard sometimes I leave fire trails like a DeLorean. I find myself living life to the utmost expressively intense level at all times. Why? Why. See below for the ultimate digression. This review is almost a personal journal entry. If you want to see just the review of the show, skip below the line.

If I bring up Freud, everyone’s first instinct is to do the whole “Tell me about your mother… haw haw!” thing and assume everything the man had to say was about sex. Not entirely true. I’m not having the easiest time finding any sort of reference here, but I know what I’m talking about; he once said something about how our entire development is shaped by the intense first personal experience of either sex or death, and whichever one you experienced first, this is who you become. For most people it is sex; (spin the bottle, finding dad’s playboys, playing doctor.) For me, it was death. (Side note, I’m not all PBRs and rock shows, I get a little too introspective sometimes and this is a hellacious digression to get to a show review, but bear with me.) I didn’t have the most traumatic experiences, never saw anyone kill themselves or anything, but I have several experiences, one in particular that propelled me recklessly into what Freud called the “Death Drive” as opposed to his theory of the “Pleasure principle” (Miss Jackson if you’re nasty, right?).  Rather than seek outlets of ‘pleasure’ (sex, for most people) I seek repetitive behaviors that perpetuate my intense denial of my own mortality (falling in love too soon, blowing my entire paycheck before rent’s due, etc…)

When I get into this deep of an expository level, trying to explain who I am, I feel even more narcissistic. And that’s the thing that people forget, not all narcissism is standing in the mirror saying “hey, I look hot”, it’s mostly being completely and utterly obsessed with your own existence and mortality. This is what the Death Drive does to me. I, stemming from sometime in my early childhood, manipulated myself into being completely unable to plan or envision my own existence any further than, say, oh 15(ish or so) minutes into the future. Sure, I make plans and I buy plane tickets and, but I never assume I will be alive to enjoy anything… SO. Long digression short: I live life full steam ahead because I am overly conscious of my own mortality at all times. AT ALL TIMES. It’s exhausting and extremely self destructive, but as I get older, I feel somehow proud of it, of me. I feel most comfortable in the extremes. I would rather feel EVERYTHING than nothing. I make poor decisions, but I also make extremely beautifully romantic decisions sometimes. I’ve kissed the wrong boys, but I’ve also blown off work to sit in the yard and watch the robins and write poetry before.  I worry I’ll never find anyone to love, appreciate and enjoy this side of me, sometimes I could care less.

This all has a point… eventually. This intensity, this lack of foresight, has lead me into some precarious situations, but has also sent me blindly groping, blissfully, into the dark fantasy worlds of others. Maybe I shouldn’t say fantasies, (I’m sure that sounds pervy. But try and remember that fantasy does not always imply sexuality, k?) I am addicted to passion. I am addicted to other people’s extremes. If I see someone I always see break from the mundane and lose their minds with joy or grief or confusion or whatever, I totally get off on that. Sometimes it’s just a dream somebody has to do something out of the ordinary. For example: you want to try Ethiopian food for the first time, call me, I want to experience this with you. Your mom had a stroke, your favorite band is in town, or you found the cutest cross stitch pattern… Anything that is going to turn you into someone I haven’t seen before in you. Something that makes you sit up straight in your chair and talk too fast, tell me about that thing! Share it with me! This is my drug. I may not know anything about it (football?) or care anything about it (definitely football, or all sports really) – but if you can explain it to me passionately, I will love it for you. I could probably care less that your kid took a crap or your boss liked your spreadsheet, but if your eyes get big and you start throwing those hand gestures around, I’ll be enthralled. Because I love love. And I love passion. And I love people passionately committed to things they love, regardless of my involvement or understanding. (This all coincides with my obsessive thoughts and defense of the theory of “art for art’s sake” – if you say it is art and I can see you bleed it, I will respect and love it. And you.)

So abrupt change of subject, but it somehow in my mind all segues beautifully; In the mid to late 80’s/early 90’s when all my friends were listening to White Lion, Poison and Guns ‘n’ Roses, I was somehow oddly, deeply immersed in this RnB, hiphop world. I couldn’t care less about hair metal, sure there was a few pop songs I liked and I ain’t gonna lie, I loved my Paula Abdul cassingles, but I was all about some Public Enemy. I was listening to a lot of De La Soul, Queen Latifah and EPMD. This is very strange, considering I was a chubbo redhead quirkyalone who hid in the bushes during recess with my headphones and diary, writing screenplays (I promise you I did this kind of thing until high school. Wait. No, I still do this now. Except I’m not a redhead anymore. And I feel fat at the moment, but it might be water weight. But I mostly always feel fat because I am a woman.) It wasn’t long after I hit high school I fell in with the freaky flannel wearing, Chuck Taylor grunge scene kids and discovered Siouxsie and Morrissey and that was that. I was an “alternative music” nerd for a while, but then I realized I was being pretty much a douchey idiot, ignoring all these other types of music and remember very vividly making the decision to “like good music, no matter the genre” – and so I did.

Many years since my Fear of a Black Planet cassette has bit the dust, I find myself only very rarely connecting with and enjoying Hip Hop. It’s mostly the beats I am drawn to; the rhymes are secondary. (You may feel free to judge me on that.) I do not follow or know Hip Hop more than the average 30-something white girl. This is to say, I don’t know much. Yes, it’s true; I lost my shit when I finally got to see Public Enemy at Hopscotch last year:

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

I hadn’t been to a hip hop show in a bajillion years. Wait, I lie… Snoop a couple times (does that even count?) and Outkast (again? Count? This is like white people safety rap.) I have been known to see many a show, in the same vein as described above, that I was not emotionally invested in but gleaned excitement from the persons dying to attend said show. For example: Reba Macintyre? Kiss? Black Sabbath? Sure. I’ll see anyone, but only if you’re REALLY into it. So there it is with Sims and Astronautalis. I didn’t have any driving need to see this show, but Roo did. So I followed.

A while back there was a Doomtree group show at the 506 that Roo and I attended. I knew practically nothing about any of the performers; I just knew Roo was psyched. So I went. It was pretty much amazing. Then Sims, one of the Doomtree Family members that we had seen that night, announced a show at King’s with Astronautalis, and Roo, once again, called it. So I followed him gladly, skipping after him like he was the pied piper, leading me to his passion! 

If you were looking for WhiteBoy Rap, a la Eminem, you were in the wrong place. These guys are on some higher plane, a level where spoken word meets a good hard BPM. It almost seems coincidental at times there is music over the words, in all performers this evening, there was a depth beyond bitches and hos. Something more akin to dying to defend your dreams, taking chances on true love; existentially philosophical shit I can really get down with.

I really can’t tell you specifics… I know the first group, Mr. Invisible tore shit up. When Roo and I walked in; the dj, probably the nerdiest bespectacled gingery whiteboy I’d ever seen was playing such hard beats I almost tripped over myself trying to get up there faster. They had a fierce vibe, excellent sound and amazing toys. I completely enjoyed it.

Sims was next and instantly went right into the crowd to do his set. It was charming. It was magic. It was something I would do if I could do what he does. And the thing about this show was; no it wasn’t even close to selling out, but the people that were there REALLY WANTED TO BE THERE. And they knew every flipping word. And they were so happy Sims was in the crowd with them. The rhymes were stellar, the energy was out of control and the crowd was ecstatic. What more could you ask for?

I never heard of Astronautalis before this evening. He was somewhere between hip-hop, spoken word, total improv, orator, spokes model, rock star, performing monkey, something else that blew my mind. The people I spoke to said he was performing differently that the albums sound. That’s probably the best thing about having no preconceived notion or idea before walking in; it was all awe-inspiring to me.

Here is a quick aside about the Astronautalis Superfans that I asked Roo to help me remember:

“From the stage Astro told a story about how a few years ago before he was really known at all, he ended up playing a gig at some dive bar on Long Island. He didn't expect anyone to come because it was an off night in the middle of nowhere. When he got there, there were not many people there, but five guys had driven from somewhere in NC to see him play this show because it was the closest they could get to. They knew every lyric to every song and it was one of the most important moments in his life. He said he had told the story on stage at least 30 times since then, and last night was the first time since that he had seen them.”  ---I love these guys, btw:

Oddly amazing truth in life: if the first time you ever hear a band or artist is when they are playing live, you will think they are the greatest thing in the universe.  And then no album will ever be as good as the first time you heard them. Always. And you know why? It’s the superfans. It’s the people down front who wind up bruised and aching the next day from rocking out so hard. The ones who miss work the next day because they drove 3 hours out of town to see a 45 minute set. So after explaining my passion-obsession, do you see now why I seek out the Superfans? Why I always want to find them and document them and know what their favorite song is or why they came? I love their love.

Dear Superfans across the world: Keep going to shows, keep rocking out, keep supporting the artists you love and I will keep supporting you!

Gratuitous Friend Promotion, We love I Was Totally Destroying It!

My incredibly talented, beautiful and courageous friends, I Was Totally Destroying It, have released the official music video for their (my favorite so far) song, "Fight/Flight" off of their new album Preludes (Out 4/12/11 on Greyday Records - available now for pre-order!) IWTDI is now on a whirlwind tour across the country promoting the new album - definitely check them out if you get the chance!

Visit Under the Radar to see the video NOW!