Lights That Flash in the Evening: Rogers Waters Plays The Wall @ Verizon Center, Washington, DC (10-10-2010)

My review of Roger Waters performing The Wall live is up over at The City Paper today. Photogs were allowed to shoot up to "Another Brick in the Wall" so I did manage to get the plane and the scary teacher props. Waters also brought on a bunch of kids (a local children's choir?) to sing the aforementioned. The photo pit was right in front of the stage so it was tough to get more of the full-stage shots like I wanted, but I did manage a few.

Additional photos can be seen here.

The video below is of the opening song, "In the Flesh," from Madison Square Garden a few days back.

Lights That Flash in the Evening: The Hold Steady @ 930 Club, Washington, DC (10-4-2010)

My lastest Washington City Paper review went live this morning, this time of Monday's Hold Steady show at the 930 Club. Read all about it here, and see additional photos here.

Lights That Flash in the Evening: Billy Bragg, Fitz & the Tantrums, Virgin FreeFest 2010

I recently started shooting/reviewing part-time for the Washington City Paper, which, if you don't know it, is the local free weekly scene paper here in DC. So as to not repeat myself, here are a couple of shows I shot/reviewed for them recently for your reading/viewing pleasure....

Billy Bragg and Darren Hanlon @ 930 Club, (9-19-2010) here
Fitz and the Tantrums @ Rock and Roll Hotel(9-20-2010) here
Virgin FreeFest 2010 @ Merriweather Post Pavilion (9-25-2010):
Day (Jimmy Eat World, Trombone Shorty, Yeasayer, Joan Jett) here
Night (Chromeo, Ludacris, Pavement, MIA) here

Lights That Flash in the Evening: Superchunk/Tommy Keene/Let's Wrestle @ 930 Club, Washington, DC (9-17-2010)

Superchunk came to town on Friday with the great Tommy Keene and Let's Wrestle, an English band on the Merge label. My Washington City Paper review is live (rest of the photos are here) but a few things I didn't mention in my City Paper review are...

-I have not been able to stop listening to "Brand New Love," a Sebadoh song which Superchunk covered Friday night and recorded on the Tossing Seeds: Singles 89-91 record. I then sought out the Sebadoh version and HOW. ON. EARTH. have I lived this long and not known the beauty of Lou Barlow's writing? His voice delicately plays these gorgeous words and then you're hit with the massive wall of feedback, which gets louder on the last go-round of the chorus. It's such an incredibly stunning dichotomy that I'm now on a mission to educate myself in all things Sebadoh.

-Whomever it is that is doing the lighting at the 930 Club as of late, I BEG you, enough with the red/yellow lighting already. You usually do such a great job and I never have an issue but the last two weeks, you're just killing me man. Thanks for your attention to this matter.

-Superchunk drummer Jon Wurster does a riotously funny tour blog (here). Apparently, if Superchunk vs. Bob Mould were head-to-head in a loudness battle, Superchunk would win. I knew it would be close but wowza (and Wurster should know being the guy who's making a fair share of said noise). Says he:

I’d forgotten this feeling. I’m lying in bed in my friend Phil’s apartment the morning after a New York City Superchunk show– a scene that’s taken place a hundred times since I joined the band in October of 1991. And true to form, I’m in pain.

My ears are howling from last night’s sonic assault. And I’m not talking about the dressing down I received from that cop before the show (when did this “no throwing garbage cans through store windows” law go into effect?). Though I’ve spent our nine years off the road touring with other musicians (The Mountain Goats/Robert Pollard/Ben Gibbard & Jay Farrar, etc) the Superchunk wall of sound is like none other. I’ve had the great pleasure of drumming with Bob Mould since ’08 and while those shows are LOUD I don’t recall waking up later with the sound of the world’s largest ocean (the Sea of Crete, if I’m not mistaken –someone please Wiki this) between my ears.(Source)

-I've always had a thing for drummers but awesome drummer + funny + cute as a button=I think I'm in love with Jon Wurster.

-Mac McCaughan, I just want to say that god bless you for showing that we older folks can still do a mean pogo. The man did not stay still the entire 90 minutes it was a great thing to watch. Oh, and Mac, "Learned to Surf" is probably one of the greatest power punk pop songs of all time.

-Tommy Keene's young nephew sat behind the drum kit for one song during Keene's set (as did Wurster). The best part? His nephew was sporting a Replacements t shirt from the cover of Let It Be. (If you don't know, Keene played guitar on one of Paul Westerberg's tours.I wish I had an uncle like Tommy Keene for reals...

-Let's Wrestle are super nice guys. I didn't get to see them at SXSW like I wanted, so it was great to see them here. And their stuff is on par with the catchy-as-hell "We Are the Men You'll Grow to Love Soon."

Give a Listen:
-Brand New Love-Sebadoh/Buy Smash Your Head on the Punk Rock

-Brand New Love-Superchunk/Buy Tossing Seeds (Singles 89-91)

-Save This Harmony-Tommy Keene/Buy You Hear Me: A Retrospective

-We Are the Men You'll Grow to Love Soon-Let's Wrestle/Buy In The Court of the Wrestling Let's

Roving Reports of Rock and Roll: SXSW 2010-Day 1 (3-17-2010)

I love attending SXSW-Music every year. Like a four-day summer camp, you get to catch up with people you only see once a year, stay up late, and learn new skills; at SX, that's usually geography (finding your way around downtown Austin), race-walking (getting from one venue to another on foot in the least amount of time), and the art of balance (writing legibly in a notebook, while holding a camera AND a beer). Unfortunately for me, the subtitle to this this SX was, "If It Can Go Wrong, It Will." (My direct flight had issues-not the flight itself, but rather my place on it. Fyi, that "check in online in advance" suggestion for Southwest Airlines is not a suggestion but the way you ensure you have a seat.) So while my travelmates arrived in Austin at 11:30 am, I didn't get there until 4:30 pm, making me effectively miss all of Wednesday's day parties (a primo way you can ensure that you catch all of the bands you hope to see at SX). Because Southwest Airlines reaaally wanted me to see Kansas City and the tarmac of Dallas/Ft. Worth, missing these parties also meant I missed Zeus, Freelance Whales, Cymbals Eat Guitars, and Real Estate, grrr. (However, the upside was that Southwest refunded my flight in full, so, partial win...)

As such, I was stressed out when I arrived, but all of that fell away the moment I walked outside. DC had been cold and rainy and gross when I left, so taking in that gorgeous Austin weather was an immediate spirit lifter from the get-go. When I finally started my stroll down E. 6th Street to my first band of the day/night, I let out a deep exhale and shrugged the day's irritants off; "rock and roll spring break" was about to begin!

1. Ivan & Alyosha at St David's Bethel Hall

It seems that the easiest way to listen to the 1,000 or so submitted mp3s of bands who are attending SX is as a torrent on an iPod. Not only is it the easiest, but also the fastest and most objective way to make cuts. As the music at SX spans the genres, you do hear a lot of stuff that makes you go "meh," so when you come across those gems in the midst that still have you listening beyond the 30-second mark, you know you have a keeper. And that is exactly what Ivan & Aloysha's "Easy to Love" did, as well as warming my ears and filling my heart.

The lead singer has a voice that put me in mind of Jeff Buckley, ethereal, yet powerful, and filled with emotion. Theirs is a swelling and soaring type of indie rock poetry set to music, with lovely harmonies, and singed with singer-songwriter lyrics.

But, also like Buckley's band, Ivan & Aloysha does rock in a touch-harder key just as well. Based out of Seattle, I truly hope they make the trek east at some point.

(More photos)
Sometimes the submitted mp3 is the best track a band has, with the rest more "filler." But live, Ivan & Aloysha, I'm happy to say, is full of aural amazements.
Give a Listen: Easy to Love-Ivan & Alyosha/Buy The Verse, The Chorus

2. The Walkmen at Stubbs
(Crowd watching The Walkmen at Stubbs)
I've tried to see The Walkmen live about three times now, and each time, for one reason or another, I've been unsuccessful. (They originate from DC, so I had to show some love.) When I saw they were playing SX this year, I was determined to finally make it happen between me and them. So I ran over to Stubbs, which was, as usual, packed. I thought it odd when an employee told me the photo pit was "upstairs;" turns out she'd sent me to the VIP balcony instead (God, how I love SXSW).


The Walkmen were energetic as a whole, their sound reaching the far back of the circle that is Stubbs' outside area. The lead singer was prone to leaning mighty far back to belt out notes, and oftentimes, I wondered if he might fall over.


And then they brought out a group of horns. I'm a girl who loves herself some horns so The Walkmen's graceful swaying sound paired with horns? Grand, just grand!

(More photos)

Give a Listen: Another One Goes By (live at KEXP 2006)-The Walkmen/Buy A Hundred Miles Off

And then I received the text telling me Alex Chilton had just died. The highlight of this year's SXSW, and something many of us were looking forward to, was to recognize and celebrate the pop beauty and contribution to such that was Chilton's band Big Star, complete with a full reunion show to close out SX on Saturday. And Chilton was only 59. So sad...

3. Broadway Calls at Headhunters

During SX, I've noticed band venues are often in the last place you'd expect: pizza places, Mexican restaurants, art galleries...or, as was the case of Headhunters, a two-story walk-in closet that came with a bar. Ok, not really, but I've honestly never been in a place so small. And Broadway Calls has a sound so big it could blow the doors off a huge venue, so believe me when I say that between the band's sound, and the massive swarm of kids amped up and moshing on the floor that they shared with the band, the sliding wood door to the place almost came off its hinges. How instruments and band members didn't get knocked over in the process is surprising because when I say they shared the floor, I mean, literally just that: that was no stage, no platform.



But the band seemed perfectly happy being part of the melee, clearly enjoying the chaos that their powerful punk pop invoked.


Me, toting my Nikon, I was glad to be engaged in it all from the safety of the staircase. But just being in the room allowed you to experience what a joyful and exciting noise it was, the perfect antidote to the sad news of Chilton's passing. Broadway Calls takes three chords to make some great fist-pumping pop punk, complete with sing-along choruses. Green Day, Broadway may be calling you to its Great White Way, but don't be surprised if Broadways Calls takes over the reigning punk sneer while you're gone.

(More photos)

Give a Listen: Midnight Hour-Broadway Calls/Buy Good Views, Bad News

4. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings at Stubbs

The Stubbs venue typically has the most popular acts during SX so the line to get in is typically long. But for Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings the line wasn't just long, it was loooong (and for a comparison, it wasn't like that for The Walkmen-sorry guys). It seems soul may be taking (back) over because I'm sure every SX attendee was at, or trying to get into, Stubbs for her set. I definitely think every single photographer was, given the supreme jam-packedness of the photo pit.

This makes the second time I've seen Jones and the Dap-Kings, and it's such a great experience, they are so utterly bad-ass live. Jones seems to be almost single-handedly exposing a whole new generation to that wonderfully big, deep, and raw sound that was Stax and Muscle Shoals.

The Dap-Kings just kind of hung back and let Jones lead the charge (I love the lead-in by the band, playing for a few minutes, then introducing Jones, like they used to with James Brown. No cape, though she did sport a dress that would have made Tina Turner and Grace Kelly jealous). And though Jones may front the band, it's never just her in the proverbial spotlight. The bass and horns play off her voice as her soulful and emotive timber weaves around them, and both sides connect in a way that only experienced musicians and long time band mates can achieve.



While Sharon Jones may have been 20 years older than the average person in the Stubbs crowd, she definitively proves that age is nothing but a number, and some things, like grace, style, and good music, are timeless and only improve over time.

(More photos)

Give a Listen: I Learned the Hard Way-Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings/Buy I Learned the Hard Way (out 4/6)

5. Findlay Brown at Galaxy Room

I'd heard a bit of the Brit, Findlay Brown, and his slightly-twangy and smooth "Wall of Sound"-esque style, and live, he holds up.


But only getting 90 minutes of sleep the night before, I was starting to falter a bit. Yes Mr. Brown, everybody does needs love, but what I really needed about then was a more driving sound to keep myself standing vertical, so I had to go. However, I will be sure to see you the next time you're through DC. PS: Love the Elvis 'do, btw...


(More photos)

Give a Listen: I Had a Dream (acoustic)-Findlay Brown/Buy Love Will Find You

6. We Were Promised Jetpacks at The Parish


The Parish is one of the bigger venues at SX and this year, it housed the Scotland Showcase. One thing I love about seeing Scottish/English/Irish bands playing in the States is how excited and supportive their country's ex-pat brethern get during a show. Maybe it's because it's a little bit of home or something, but whatever the reason, their enthusiasm is always so darn infectious. This was the definitely the case for the latest indie darlings, We Were Promised Jetpacks.


The Jetpacks' music is quick and pulsating, and the crowd's reaction made their playing sharper (or so it seemed). Many of their tracks put me in mind of Boy-era U2 in terms of drums and thick guitar sequences.


And it was good-for a few songs. But after a while I noticed a definitive pattern and honestly, it began to sound like the same song again and again. But you couldn't knock the crowd's excitement; it was probably the most psyched-up group I saw all SX.

(More photos)

Give a Listen: Quiet Little Voices-We Were Promised Jetpacks

7. Fitz and the Tantrums at Galaxy Room Backyard

I've been listening to the blue-eyed soul of Fitz & the Tantrums since December when I got the info that they were opening for Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings on New Year's Eve here in DC. I loved what I heard, so when I saw they were on the SX schedule, they were marked as a definite must-see. The Stax label, including its house band Booker T & the MGs, was heavily influenced by the British version of "blue eyed soul" or "white soul," so whomever did the pairing of Jones and Fitz together was genius.




The Tantrums definitely give the Dap-Kings a run for their money style-wise, as well, being one of the better dressed bands I saw while in Austin. More on the pop side of soul, as opposed to Jones and the Dap-Kings' R&B side, if the Tantrums can rock a tent this well, I'd love to see what they do in a true nightclub. Many of the songs have these incredibly-hooky choruses that you'll find yourself mindlessly humming days later (and I was).



Though it did start 15 minutes late, I was pleased to see that their live show definitely holds up to the recorded version. Both Fitz and the female backup singer, who did not stop moving the entire time, have pretty incredible voices you just have to hear. You want energy? You want to dance? You want joy? Do not miss Fitz & the Tantrums. They were one of the most enjoyable acts I saw over my four days in Austin, definitely falling within my top 5.

(More photos)

Give a Listen: Winds of Change-Fitz and the Tantrums/Buy Songs for a Breakup

My 1am hour was supposed to be with Surfer Blood. But their venue was an uber bad choice for a latest "It" band (the second floor of a bar, the access to which was to the left of the band playing and its crowd on the first floor. "Clusterfuck" only slightly describes it correctly). So I joined one of my travelmates for a band from Spain, The Right Ons, and boy, was I glad I did.

8. The Right Ons at Barbarella

What was most apparent to me about this band from Spain who played American rock and roll, in English, was that they didn't do it halfway. Even at 1am on a Wednesday (well Thursday actually), they were playing like their lives depended on it. A little bit of garage punk merged with a heavy dose of soul, The Right Ons are like Wayne Kramer got a mohawk and started playing with Sly and the Family Stone at school in Spain. No way I could fall asleep on my feet with this band.

(More photos)

It was so cool to see this band wind up a crowd to the point where every person in the place was dancing. Did I mention it was 1am on a Wednesday (ok, Thursday)? If they can achieve that in such a setting, imagine what a regular venue setting would be like? Moral of the story-a) catch The Right Ons if they're playing the States, b) rest up, and c) bring your dancing shoes. At the very least, let yourself pogo. And don't be surprised if the lead singer jumps into the crowd and pogos right along with you.

Give a Listen:

That´s New York - The Right On...

Roving Reports of Rock and Roll: SXSW 2010

Hello! I am back and alive (barely thanks to a head cold), but willing to tell the tales. Sorry I wasn't amongst those doing real-time postings...this year was great but also seemed to have the subtitle "SXSW 2010: If something can go wrong, it will." I'm working up the photos right now but some of the highlights off the top of my cold-ridden and exhausted brain (there will be others)..

Loved
-Ivan and Alyosha: awful name but wonderful band. Lead singer has a voice like Jeff Buckley but like an octave lower.

-Austin Hartley Leonard: wound up catching him twice, once acoustic with his banjo player, the other with his full band. Both times, awesome. He lives in LA so you kids with a more alt-country jones out there should check him out.

-Glossary: LOVED their sound and their musical timing...they change up tempos and do different types of hooks for sure.

-Street Sweepers Social Club: I haven't liked a rap-centered band since Public Enemy but good Lord was this good. The place was jam packed and the band's sound had everyone glued to the stage. (Although trying to shoot photos with mosh pits happening on either side of you is rough.) Met Tom Morello in the lobby of our hotel-really nice guy.

-Broadway Calls: Punk pop is back with a vengeance and this 3-piece is leading the charge. On same label as Gaslight Anthem so makes sense. Room sucked but the band was explosive.

-Superchunk: Four years in Chapel Hill, NC and I never got to see Superchunk play once (this was went they went into a bit of a hiatus). Eight years later, I can safely tell you: it was utterly magical. And fucking rocked my face off.

-Harlan T Bobo: Discovered this guy via the Memphis version of that "$5 Cover" show. Couldn't stay for the whole set as I had drinking to do with a KROQ DJ at the Hotel Driskill (and a drink, or five, at the Driskill had been on my list of things to do). But he's got this great sound and is quite the storyteller.


Wished I'd Seen:
-Surfer Blood: they played like 23 times over the four days and the first night I almost saw them but for bad location (they were put on a rooftop whose entrance was a tiny stairway next to the downstairs stage where another band was playing-quite the bottlenecked clusterfuck). From then on, it was just bad timing and I missed every other performance. (File under "bad timing").

-Cymbals Eat Guitars: file under "bad timing" and "Southwest Airlines is to blame"

More to come...stay tuned!

Earotica: Love at the End of the World-Sam Roberts Review

Sam Roberts is a committed songwriter, someone who understands that timelessness isn't something you strive for, it's something you achieve through forward thinking, championing human beings, and using art to do good. Roberts latest release, Love at the End of the World, is perhaps more memorable lyrically than musically, with songs that transcend the moment they were recorded in and in doing so, achieve a sort of timeless quality. And you get the feeling that Roberts is grappling with his exterior and interior worlds at the same time.

The tracks on LATEOTW feel like the product of an old soul with a decidedly modern production style. On tracks like "Sundance," "Detroit '67," and "Words and Fire," there is an urge, a longing to have been part of times when the struggles of the people became songs that meant something. Like Bob Dylan and John Lennon before him, Sam Roberts is a man who puts the politics of the soul and of the human condition into his music.

But LATEOTW also feels like the diary of a man alone. Try as he might to convince other people of love's healing power, he himself is more adrift. Gone are the third person declarations of hope and hippy sentimentality of his previous two records, this is Roberts alone and speaking straight from the heart. Dylan paraphrases like "Before I was your man/Now look at me I'm just young and old" on "Oh, Maria" lead to the general conclusion throughout LATEOTW that things could be better, but the answers to life's questions are maddeningly out of reach. "Life is for the taking" sings Roberts at barely a whisper, as if those words belong to long gone idealism of love and living that no one now seems willing to accept, the real world being too much in the way. You can see it with his denunciation of materialism on the record's title track and on "Stripmall Religion." Sad and hopeful all at once are most of the songs on LATEOTW, summed up in this phrase from "Them Kids": "The golden years are under attack/We're taking them back."

If I could level one criticism at this record, it would be that Roberts needs to let his band turn up to 11. His isn't a band with a history of being particularly loud, but 2006's Chemical City feels like Led Zeppelin II in comparison to this one. Thanks to the efforts of the Roberts' band, LATEOTW comes close to really rocking. On what is arguably the hardest song of the album, "Them Kids," Roberts becomes a prophet of rock's power to change: "We were apostles/They were the high priests/We lived the hustle/The keepers of the back beat." If that isn't rock's rallying cry, I don't know what is. He just needs to turn the guitars up a little louder, let his message reach more ears.

Granted, Roberts has his reasons for the subdued production. LATEOTW's message is more introverted and personal than raucous, almost as if to say "If you have something worth saying, you shouldn't need to dress it in distortion." But just the same, I would have liked a solo or two. By comparison, LATEOTW's quieter moments do work. Roberts' duet with Angela Desveaux is the sweetest moment on the album.

Overall, LATEOTW is practically ego-less, which helps its message work on the soul of every listener. The muted-rock feel slows down the album's second half, but it's worth sticking it out because it means hearing some of the record's most memorable lines ("I was too afraid to read the newspaper/Working in the basement of a skyscraper," from "The Pilgrim," as well as the album's apex, "Detroit '67" springs to mind.) If the rest of songs in Robert's catalog sound like a tribute to the music of the 60s and 70s, "Detroit" sounds like it fell out of a time capsule. With a driving dance piano, beat, and chord progression, it rings like the harbinger of positive change that kids must have felt in their garages in 1967, when real rock arrived to pick them up and give them some hope. "I'm just looking for some sounds/To ease the vice that squeezes us every day," sings Roberts. LATEOTW truly has a way with words and Roberts' music will change some lives for the better....the way music used to.

Earotica: Hold Time-M. Ward Review

M. Ward may be one of the few artists who truly understands the potential of a studio recording. Having long been regarded as something of a sonic loner – both in spite of and because of his friendship with Conor Oberst – Ward’s recordings started off sounding like bedroom angst recorded through a tin can. But with 2005’s Transistor Radio, the world at large began to see Ward had more to offer than his mournful crooning and virtuosic acoustic guitar picking. Finally on 2006’s Post-War, Ward burst from his shell with a collection of Jim James-produced pageantry, all production tricks and Roy Orbison-esque swagger. Last year’s release with Zooey Deschanel under the name She & Him had me almost convinced I was never going to get a proper M. Ward record again (Post War was great, but it sounded unevenly like the work of its producer more than Ward himself). And then Hold Time arrived and it all became clear. M. Ward hasn’t changed, he’s simply taken control.

On Hold Time, Ward and engineer/sideman Mike Mogis have figured out where to strike the balance between the glitz of Post War, the full band sound of She & Him, the lonesome sound of his first albums, and as always, Ward's truly inspired guitar playing. Hold Time feels like a man with total awareness of his powers, and it shows in his arrangements, his most endearing to date. The songs go from fast-paced feasts of layered guitars and thunderous percussion (“To Save Me”) to the quiet numbers that sound like they’re perpetually drifting down a lazy, autumn river (“One Hundred Million Years”). Like the perfect director, Ward makes a song feel like it sounds, complete with scratches, the compression, and the right amount of reverb. Listening to him trade guitar licks with himself on “Oh Lonesome Me," it sounds as assured and calming as a sunset, and he knows it. He can make a song sound 40 years old, like on “Stars of Leo," then melt the quiet and assure the song’s modernity. But the true power of Hold Time came through for me when “Fisher of Men” came on. Though “Fisher” sounds like a combination of every kind of song Ward has ever written, somehow it still sounds new and vital – post-punk meets the Grand Ole Opry.

He’s asked some heroes and friends to join him; Lucinda Williams gives a rousing ‘n raspy contribution to “Oh Lonesome Me”; so impassioned and fitting is her performance that it’s tough to decide who does the better job. His collaboration with Jason Lytle on “To Save Me” is just about the coolest damn thing a Grandaddy fan could ask for, and is, frankly, my favorite song of the last three months. Rachel Blumberg of the Decemberists and Norfolk & Western sits in again on drums (she played on Post War), giving things a backbone in that spunky way that only she can. I admit that I was prepared to dislike Hold Time based solely on Zooey Deschanel’s presence, but her collaborations do make two of his best songs ("Never Had Nobody Like You" and "Rave On") even better. Using Deschanel’s voice as backing instead of having it front and center was a wise decision; her voice sounds flawless behind Ward’s.

M. Ward albums have always been decently paced, but Hold Time goes by in the blink of an eye. Moving deftly from style to style, song to song, electric to acoustic, the 14 songs bleed into one another and pass through your eardrums like the soundtrack to a fleeting, idyllic daydream. Hold Time feels like the statement that Bright Eyes’ Cassadaga was supposed to be: the record of today, yesterday and tomorrow.

Leonard Cohen Tour Dates, New Live Record Out 3/31

Everything I've heard about Cohen live is it's a rather intimate show, and the enclosed smaller space that is the Beacon Theater is perfect for that. What will be interesting is to see how something like this works in venues the size of Coachella or Red Rocks.

Tuning up for a spring North American tour, Leonard Cohen played his first show on American soil in 15 years last night (Feb. 19) at New York's Beacon Theatre. The three-hour performance featured all of Cohen's classics, including "Suzanne," "Bird on the Wire" and "Hallelujah."

Cohen, 74, broke a 15-year hiatus from touring in 2008 with shows in Canada, Europe and New Zealand. His AEG-promoted North American tour will begin April 2 in Austin, Texas, and run through June 2 at Red Rocks outside Denver. He will also make a previously announced appearance on April 17 at the Coachella festival in Indio, Calif.

In what was just the second show at the newly reopened Beacon, Cohen dazzled the sold-out crowd with a career-spanning set, backed by an ace six-piece band and three female vocalists.

He frequently thanked the audience for its devotion, and the crowd ate up Big Apple references in songs like "Chelsea Hotel" and the funky "First We Take Manhattan."

Cohen was in fine, deep voice throughout, dropping to his knees to sing "Hallelujah" and dabbling in guitar and synthesizer throughout the performance.

Columbia will on March 31 release Cohen's "Live in London," taped last summer at the city's O2 Arena.

Set list from the 2/19 Beacon Theater show:

Set one:
"Dance Me To The End of Love"
"The Future"
"Ain't No Cure For Love"
"Bird on the Wire"
"Everybody Knows"
"In My Secret Life"
"Who By Fire"
"Chelsea Hotel"
"Hey That's No Way"/"Sisters of Mercy"
"Anthem

Set two:
"Tower of Song"
"Suzanne"
"The Gypsy's Wife"
"The Partisan"
"Boogie Street"
"Hallelujah"
"I'm Your Man"
Poem
"Take This Waltz"

Encores:
"So Long. Marianne"
"First We Take Manhattan"

"Famous Blue Raincoat"
"If It Be Your Will"
"Democracy"

"I Tried To Leave You"

"Whither Thou Goest"
"Heart With No Companion"
"A Thousand Kisses Deep"
"This Is a War"
"One of Us Cannot Be Wrong"
"That Don't Make It Junk"
"Passing Through"
"Waiting for the Miracle"
"Avalanche"
"Closing Time"
"Sisters of Mercy"

North American tour dates:

April 2: Austin, Texas (Long Center)
April 3: Grand Prairie, Texas (Nokia Theatre)
April 5: Phoenix (Dodge Theatre)
April 7: San Diego (Copley Hall)
April 10: Los Angeles (Nokia Theatre)
April 13: Oakland, Calif. (Paramount Theatre)
April 17: Indio, Calif. (Coachella Festival)
April 19: Vancouver (GM Place)
April 21: Victoria, B.C. (Save-On Foods Memorial Centre)
April 23: Seattle (WaMu Theatre)
April 25: Edmonton, Alberta (Rexall Place)
April 26: Calgary, Alberta (Jack Singer Hall)
April 28: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Credit Union Centre)
April 30: Winnipeg, Manitoba (MTS Centre)
May 3: Minneapolis (Orpheum Theatre)
May 5: Chicago (Chicago Theatre)
May 9: Detroit (Fox Theatre)
May 11: Columbia, Md. (Merriweather Post Pavilion)
May 12: Philadelphia (Academy of Music)
May 14: Waterbury, Conn. (Palace Theatre)
May 16: New York (Radio City Music Hall)
May 19: Hamilton, Ontario (Copps Coliseum)
May 21: Quebec City, Quebec (Pavillon de la Jeunesse)
May 22: Kingston, Ontario (K-Rock Centre)
May 24: London, Ontario (Labatt Centre)
May 25: Ottawa, Ontario (National Arts Centre)
May 29: Boston (Wang Theatre)
June 2: Morrison, Colo. (Red Rocks)

(Source)

Earotica: 49-Paul Westerberg Review

WARNING: DO NOT LISTEN WHILE OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE

THIS PRODUCT IS NOT FAULTY - ALL SOUNDS ARE INTENTIONAL AND VALID AS A WORK OF ART

As you may have read here Friday, Paul Westerberg was set to offer a group of new songs via a $.49 download here Saturday, "July 49" (or July 19 to you and me). Technical issues pushed it back until today. Now here at work where I downloaded it, I had to use headphones to listen to it but I highly suggest you do the same so as to catch some of the odder/cooler nuances.

Sans the tracks contributed to the movie "Open Season" a little while back, 49 is Westerberg's first release of new stuff since 2004's Folker. I'd heard that 49 is a collection of things Westerberg has worked on over the past year. If you're a casual Westerberg fan, I don't think you'll care for it, but for the more die-hard types, you'll love it. It's one 43:55 track filled with a couple full songs, song smatterings, smash edits of songs going in and out of each other, a couple covers (Paul doing "I Think I Love You" is pretty awesome), and what I think is Paul playing and singing background behind a child (his son Johnny perhaps?). There are no track listings. Musicially, it covers the gambit. I'd texted a friend about half way through and said "It's sorta alt-country," but then as soon as I hit the Send button on that text, it had morphed into more rock and then some real punk-style sounds. Again, you should listen to it with headphones to catch all the cool strangeness that runs through this.

Westerberg could run with any of the half-tracks and make them into great full-length songs. Maybe that's the reason for 49, to test things out, who knows. But like Tom Waits, Paul Westerberg could write a song about the phone book and somehow make the lyrics into something beautiful you'd want to listen to. 49 is a schizophrenic hot mess and something very few artists could put out without catching flack for it, but Westerberg is one of those few. Consider it like a 43:55 minute look into the mind of a great writer/musician without the need of an interviewer.

Earotica: Real Animal-Alejandro Escovedo Review

(Photo Credit: Bruce Fyfe)

If the first words that pop into your head after reading that title are "Who is Alejandro Escovedo?” then cross yourself you pagan and go directly to Itunes. Download this
(a seminal record to have if you love music at all and it’s oh so beautiful to hear), and his brand new one, Real Animal. I had the distinct pleasure of hearing a live version of all the “Real Animal” tracks in March at Escovedo's annual Sunday-night-of-SXSW show (since about 2000 he's played Austin’s Continental Club with whatever friends he decides to bring along; this year included Lucinda Williams and Tim Easton, among others).

Produced by David Bowie producer Tony Visconti, "Real Animal” is an aural “This is Your Life,” Escovedo passionately ruminating on the life he’s led, and the people who've come and gone along the way. I know, I know, you're saying, "Ok so how exactly is this record different from the others that detail one's life and the people encountered?" Because, my friends, Escovedo has lived a life you'd actually want to hear things about. It would take three lives of three people to top Escovedo's one; the man has lived more and done more and survived more in the past 40 years than anyone except maybe Keith Richards and Iggy Pop (who, fittingly, is Escovedo’s topic of the song “Real As an Animal”). "Real Animal" chronicles everything from Escovedo's seminal punk band, The Nuns (Nun's Song, Hollywood Hills, Chelsea Hotel ‘78), to his seminal cowpunk band Rank and File (Chip n Tony), to the Austin-based band True Believers that included his brother Javier and Tom-Waits-sound alike John Dee Graham (Sensitive Boys), and all the people and places that fell before, between, and after.

“Real Animal” is about a man paying appreciative tribute to those things and to those people who personally and professionally made him the person he is today. With a musical cocktail of punk, rock, and strings backing up the lyrics, "Real Animal" is about coming to peace with one's past in order to move forward into one's future. “To love in this moment/gotta let go of the past,” he says in the record's lovely closer “Slow Down." "Real Animal" is Escovedo sharing with us his past and by doing so, makes us better appreciate his talent from the past, and the present, and definitely, what's to come.

(Alejandro Escovedo is out supporting "Real Animal" currently and is playing the 930 Club here in Washington, DC this Saturday, July 12).

Download:
Always a Friend (From Real Animal)

Castanets.mp3 (From A Man Under the Influence)


One of the songs I love the most from the record is the opener, "Always a Friend." Here it is live with Bruce Springsteen during a Bruce show in Houston earlier this year.

Show Review: The Weather Underground @ Mercury Lounge, NYC (6-20-08)

(Click on any photo above to enlarge)

As you may tell from the things I’ve been reviewing as of late, my ears have been cocked westward to things coming from the Silver Lake/Echo Park music scene in Los Angeles for the last little while. For the most part, I hear many of these bands aren’t just great to listen to, but they also put on stellar live shows. One such group I’d heard this about was The Weather Underground; “Think James Brown fronting a punk band,” was what I heard specifically, which is one damn tall order. Thus, I blocked my calendar out when I saw they were playing DC last week.

Now, as I wrote, they were good and I definitely enjoyed their Rock n Roll Hotel show. But when I think of James Brown, I think of going to the bridge in a lavender cape, and a charisma and energy that bounces off the stage, into the crowd, and back. That wasn’t really The Weather Underground’s DC show. As I think I mentioned there were glimpses of it and the songs themselves were energetic, but you can’t feed off the energy of an audience if there really isn’t one (as was the case in the sparsely-attended DC show). So I thought hmm, why not catch the Mercury Lounge show in NYC that following Friday, maybe do a comparison and see? I mean, hell, it would be NYC, where folks go to shows even when it’s raining, on a Friday, on a bill of four bands with two relatively known (Band of Thieves and Parlour Mob), so there was bound to be more than 20 folks there. Plus, I knew that these boys, all proud Los Angelinos, would probably want to “represent” in this rival city to LA, and show the crowd that LA isn't all Motley Crue and "The Hills."

Thank you Lord for giving me good instincts because whatever it was, I was dead on, this was in no way the Bonaroo-weary-but-determined band I saw in DC. Energy radiated off that stage from the minute they tore into “Fight Songs of the Desajolos,” the opener. “Little Sparrows in Boyle Heights” followed, and by the time they hit the title track from their latest EP, Bird in the Hand, lead singer/songwriter/rhythm guitarist Harley Prechtel-Cortez was bouncing up on the balls of his feet, that baritone voice and soul-filled howl pouring forth flawlessly. His ability to maintain a long banshee yell on key in a single breath continually friggin’ astounds me.

It looked like the rest of the band had also gotten some rest because they too were right there with Prechtel-Cortez. During “Neal Cassady,” lead guitarist/keyboardist Soichi Bagley, who plays tambourine on this song, actually knocked it out of his own hand from the force at which he was hitting it, and drummer Diego Guerrero throttled the maraca with both hands, shaking it madly. Prechtel-Cortez sang their new song, “Letters,” with such passion and intensity, he looked almost surprised by it, as was the case during “Trainwreck.” This intensity carried through into a much more punk version of “Old Man Jude” than I'd seen in DC or heard on record even, and by its end, it was almost a punk/gospel sing-along. Well, for the band at least.

Sometimes you experience a show differently from the person next to you for whatever reason. Maybe the music struck me in a different way from the person next to me. Maybe the person next to him was having a bad day. Maybe the couple next to him was just biding time until Band of Thieves came on. But something made Prechtel-Cortez apparently feel that the audience, despite Weather Underground’s best efforts and a pretty scorching set, wasn't engaged because in addition to again dedicating "All Ye People" to his stepfather who passed away last year, he paused for a second and added, “Yeah, we’re almost done here folks.” Towards the end, “All Ye People” seemed to get through to the crowd though because I noticed that folks to my right stopped talking and folks to my left started clapping along.

Perhaps to capitalize on this breakthrough, the band did one more song, one I didn't know at all. Suddenly, Prechtel-Cortez came down into the crowd, still singing (this is something he typically does in the west coast shows I heard later). He then said, "A little bit of love and kindness is all you guys need," hugged the guy next to me, and returned to the stage after the chorus, apparently needing a short break....


...before the band went into a cover of The Beatles' "Dear Prudence" with gusto, complete with harmonica...




...and then they went back into whatever the previous song had been, to end the set. (Check out the picture stream at the top of this post where you can see the progression of things as they're shown in order. Alas, it totally escapes me now how Prechtel-Cortez wound up laying on the stage again playing guitar.)

So was it really “James Brown fronting a punk band”? Dunno if I'd go quite that far based on what I saw at this Mercury Lounge show last week, maybe that's an experience you only get by attending their hometown shows. But would I give them "Otis Redding fronting a punk band"? Yup, Otis, I'll give you, without question. Cause while Prechtel-Cortez may not don a lavender cape, he and his bandmates, like Redding, brilliantly synthesize the evangelical fervor of a church and the rambunctious vibes of rock 'n' roll. The Weather Underground is definitely a band with soul.