Happy Mardi Gras everyone! Laissez le bon temps roulez!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Recent Shows
Gainesville not being a hotbed of live entertainment, I jumped at chances in the last couple of weeks to get to see some biggish names live. Last week it was the great Jonathan Richman who played solo with his drummer (as I think he has been doing for the last 25 or so years) and last night was Evan Dando, late of the Lemonheads. Both shows were at Common Grounds here in Pigville, which is about as good as this town can do for a live venue bringing in national acts.
Jonathan was his usual oddball self with his unique delivery and ironic sincerity. He's very much the entertainer, cracking jokes, making up songs as he goes along, stopping to sit on the stage and talk to the audience, singing in Spanish and Italian, etc. He's also a surprisingly good guitar player.
I was pleased to see that Dando has aged as much as we have, though he's still got the hair. He did a straight-up acoustic set with some of his solo stuff, a few Lemonheads chestnuts (Stove, My Drug Buddy, Down About It), and a couple of covers by Gram Parsons, Townes, whoever originally did 'Long Black Limousine'), and then it was over. He said nary a word to the audience, and I couldn't help feeling like the songs were rushed through. So all in all it was better than another night in front of the tube, and he was in good voice, but I would much rather see him with a band and giving a shit.
I also saw Bill Callahan a couple of weeks ago, but that was so boring it hardly bears mentioning. I should also note that there were a LOT of cute girls at the Dando show and LOT of balding professorial types at the Richman show.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
Girls (I Wrote This Post. All of It)
Had I been aware of Album immediately following its September release, it would most likely have made my 2009 Best Of List, alongside The Xx, Visqueen, Tinted Windows (shut it), Heartless Bastards and Jarvis Cocker. But alas, it is only very recently that I have discovered Girls. (Wait, what?) This must be terrible news for Christopher Owens - the songwriting half of the group - but I'm sure he'll find a way to struggle through and make some sense of this cruel, indifferent world ...
Yes, it would have made my list, but Girls's first LP would have taken a rather circuitous path getting there. Just like Transference, something about Album kept tugging my sleeve, and I would find myself listening to it again just when I thought we were done. This went on for at least two weeks before I finally, begrudgingly acknowledged its greatness.
The New York Times describes Girls's sound as a combination of Elvis Costello, Buddy Holly and The Beach Boys, but I would also throw in a favorable comparison to Sonic Youth ("Morning Light," at least) and Jesus & Mary Chain. Oh it's pop alright, but the production - courtesy of the other half of Girls, Chet "JR" White - lovingly wraps these sweet confections in a blanket of shimmery reverb, making them sound (to me, anyway) oddly familiar.
I am required by The Elders Of The Internet to mention that Owens grew up in the Children of God cult, striking out on his own when he was 16. There is, in fact, a thoroughly fascinating interview with Owens at FAQMagazine about this very topic, which you can find here.
So even though you can't Find Them Purely by searching Google, you should still check them out.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Friday, February 05, 2010
Thursday, February 04, 2010
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Cocaine's Still A Hell Of A Drug
From The Commercial Appeal:
Autopsy results released this morning in the death of Memphis musician Jay Reatard reveal that he died from “cocaine toxicity, and that alcohol was a contributing factor in his death,” according to Shelby County Medical Examiner Dr. Karen E. Chancellor.Here's part one of a recent interview with Pitchfork. Part Two is here.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
More Good Stuff From the Volunteer State
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Harold Ford Jr. | ||||
| ||||
Fortunately he's been pawned off on New York.
Monday, February 01, 2010
The spork of the electronic consumer goods world
Charlie Brooker, who writes for the Guardian's culture section, has the best take I've seen on the iPad.
"At first glance it resembles an iPhone in unhandy, non-pocket-sized form. But look a little longer, and . . Nope. You were right first time.
Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. Apple excels at taking existing concepts – computers, MP3 players, conceit – and carefully streamlining them into glistening ergonomic chunks of concentrated aspiration."
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