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4/23/2009

This tour was the first time Throbbing Gristle had played the U.S. since they had first broken up in 1981. When I first heard of it, I was excited and thinking of going because I had listened to them before, and they were influential, and I thought it would be a freak show. I can't remember who mentioned this first, but Aram basically agreed and I bought tickets. We got to the show and there was less of a freak show than I had expected. I thought I'd be seeing many people in costume, but very few were. The crowd definitely skewed older. Once the band started, they kept many of the white house lights up. They were in front a velvet red curtain. Cosey played guitar in a black dress. Genesis was in an orange house frock, and occasionally played violin. The other 2 guys were in back with their MacBooks on what appeared to be a folding table. There were very little theatrics, except for Genesis. He's made himself into a woman who I'd describe as looking like Carol Channing. He seemed quite into the show. It was loud. Towards the end we were standing in the back of the venue and they had one of those sounds that wash over the crowd and it echoed on the back wall against us. Everyone standing back there had a thrill and looked laughing to the others to see if they shared it. At one point Genesis invited his completely normal looking teenage daugther to the stage. That was quite a shock. They did the hits, such as "Hamburger Lady" and "What A Day". I have to say that overall, while a good show, today I feel a little let down by the show. It was much less of a spectacle or a statement than I expected. I think I was looking forward to being blown away, but in the end I only saw a great show.

4/15/2009

We got there as Vetiver was already playing. Which was a shame, since I really liked the songs. I'll have to keep my eye out for them. I'm not sure, but I don't think that Fleet Foxes played any new songs. However it was a great set. It was good to see them now that I've heard their records (the first time I saw them is what introduced me to them). It's clearly the singer's band, since there were a few songs in the middle which the rest of the band left the stage while it was just him and his acoustic guitar. I don't remember that the last time I saw them. The thing is that this guy can carry a room as big as this by himself. Great songs and a great voice. He even did one at the front of the stage without a microphone. At times during the show I was really excited by how good they are at what they do. Since they are only about 24, I hope to hear stuff from them for a long time.

4/13/2009

The show was to start promptly at 8 PM, without any openers. So we gathered in a nearby park near Lake Merritt to have some Zachary's Pizza and wine beforehand. We got in, found our fine seats. Since there was no opener, and a prompt start time, they allowed drinks into the theatre. Leonard Cohen came out in his trademark black suit and hat. He sounded wonderful. He sang many of his older songs with his older self's lower voice. He would often drop to one knee while singing. After songs, he'd take off his hat to acknowledge the audience. His band was very good. He had backup singers who had wonderful voices. He only played a selection of his songs, and the set was nearly 3 hours long! He told fun self-deprecating jokes about his age. I really liked "Halleujah", "Everyone Knows", "First We Take Manhattan", and "I'm Your Man". He introduced the band twice, and after each set (and before the encores) he'd skip on and off stage.

4/7/2009

Jeff's band played as a three-piece this time around. They sounded great in the small space. As I was reminded by a friend who had met Jeff before, but never had seen him play, Jeff becomes a different person on stage. He growls, screams, and generally becomes the characters in his songs. I really like the band, and how the drums and the keyboards fill out the songs. They did about 3 shows in 2 weeks in the area (which is a lot); hopefully they play more regularly in the meantime! My favorite song intro of the night was "This is a song about zombies."

3/30/2009

This was another great Will Oldham show. Compared to when I saw him play about six months before, this was a rock band. Jim White was on drums, for crying out loud! There were two electric guitars, and the fiddle player with the beatutiful voice was there as well. Will Oldham played guitar most of the time, so there was less odd dancing. He also had shaved his beard off. Compared to many times I've seen him, I recognized the songs no matter how much the arrangement had changed from the recording. They even went out to the oldies, and played "No More Workhorse Blues." All I can say is that he puts on one of the best shows you'll see. You really need to go.

3/12/2009

I went with a few of friends from work to see this show. We got there just as the band started. The crowd was full of people who were practically kids. It was dancy music. Twice they had computer problems. Once a song took forever to start, and another time the song ended early. Often many people in this band were not playing anything while there was music going on. The highlight for me was the guitarist doing his best Sonic Youth Lee Ranaldo impression with a drumstick jammed in his guitar. However it was dance music, and no guitar was to be heard.

3/6/2009

I really enjoyed this set by Lambchop. I can't really determine what made it seem better than the others I've seen, but I sure enjoyed it. Towards the end of their set, they were playing an energetic song. I admit there are few of their songs I know. I started to notice that he was singing as if he were an evangelical minister. So thereafter I was surprised to realize it was a Talking Heads cover! Loved it.

Days Off In The Last 33 Days: 2 (3/4/2009)

I've still been really busy, and seemingly unable to write up my last day in Kaua'i. I will do that, but until then I have three interesting links.

Up and down Market and Mission Street in San Francisco, you see these Ben Davis signs with a gorilla like head. They look hand-painted and a little worn for wear. Lots of hipsters wear these clothes. They are fine. I had no idea that: 1) Ben Davis is based in San Francisco 2) Ben Davis was a real person 3) Ben Davis passed away last month.

It's not a recent article, but I sure as hell enjoyed reading it. In it David Byrne writes about his opinions and ideas about the music business. And check it out, he speaks (there's audio) to both Brian Eno and Mac McCaughan from Merge Records (and Superchunk!). I love serendipity like that.

Last and not least, this guy put his cat in a box and smoked weed through the box. There's even pictures. He did it to calm his cat down, apparently. It's funny to me because among a few of my friends, my cat Chip is a big old stoner. #

Days Off In The Last 20 Days: 2 (2/19/2009)

Some interesting links from the last few weeks:

Here's an actual interview with Will Oldham. It's interesting to see a little on the inside. He's coming again to The Fillmore. I'm looking forward to it despite the terribly designed and ugly Live Nation tickets I got for the show.

I've seen two great movies. A Swedish vampire film, or is it a movie? called "Let the Right One In". It's not like most vampire films, as it's not easy to decide if it is a B-Movie or not. But it is like most Swedish movies, in that the dialogue is in Swedish. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The second one is "The Wrestler" with Mickey Rourke. It feels really gritty, and Rourke is damn good. It's by the director of "Pi", a movie I didn't like, so count me as surprised. It's a movie about the perception of you by others and how that reflects upon your perception of yourself.

The last item is the last story on this page, in particular the very last image. It just seems to make the world really small. #

South Side Travels (Kaua'i Day 8) (1/25/2009)

When I wake up, it is a perfect morning, matching the previous perfect evening. I make breakfast out on the beach again. I make some coffee, and share it with the balding Rainbow Gathering Hippie from Ohio next door. While we're there a guy, whose name I cannot remember, stops by. We talk with him for a bit. It winds up I've heard of this guy. Peter had mentioned a guy writhing and yelling in the bathroom two nights before. Peter had decided this guy was messed up on something, and soon enough was being taking away in an ambulance. So this guy is now telling us why he was in such pain; he had a kidney stone! He had called the ambulance for himself, since he didn't have enough money to put enough gas in his car to get to the hospital in Lihue (about an hour away). He was a self-confessed drunk and said that he had the stone since he wasn't drinking enough water. So while talking to us, he says he used to be in prison, and he also had the low-down on how much the tiny red shells would go for per canister. He figures picking shells was roughly making $10 an hour. So he asks for some coffee, and I offer him some of my own. It was weak after making 3 cups, and the guy was not happy about the coffee I was giving him. As I was packing up to leave, he gave me advice on the right way to make coffee, as apparently I clearly had no idea what I was doing, and this guy did!

As I pack up to head south on the island, I give my last goodbyes to the family. We take a group picture. Then I head to Po'ipu. After getting there, I realize I'm so glad I did the north shore first and for most of my trip. This area is quite touristy and crowded. And I sure as hell don't think the beaches are nearly as good.

While I'm at Po'ipu beach, I sit in a shelter just off the beach to keep out of the sun while I eat lunch. An older gentleman in a hat eating a hotdog sits down near me in the shelter. We talk about the chickens everywhere. He asks me with a southernly drawl where I'm from. I say San Francisco. He says he's from Oklahoma. After a pause, he says "Some people in Oklahoma think San Francisco is a bit strange." I want to say "The Flaming Lips are from Oklahoma, so I KNOW Oklahoma is strange!" But for some reason, I was raised to respect my elders in polite conversation, so I deflect it by saying how it takes all types, and then try to focus him on how beautiful the Bay Area is. In hindsight, I should have said what was on my mind.

I drive down the road a little more to check out Sprouting Horn, which is actually kind of cool. It's basically a hole in the rocks, where the sea has worn through via all sorts of channels over the millennia.

I keep driving up the coast to the west side of the island. I was scheduled to stay at Salt Pond County Beach this evening so I stopped by. It's a small miserable exposed beach compared to those up north. When talking with other campers during the week, I had been warned it wasn't very nice and had territorial locals as well.

Since I wasn't impressed, I decided to head to the other end of the road. I was going to see if I could stay at Polihale State Park, but it was closed. You couldn't even drive in! Apparently the storms the week before had made the dirt roads a mess and impassable. Then I decide to check out Barking Sands beach at David Holloway's suggestion. But it is on the missile base here, and after 9/11 you can't get on without prior approval. Oh well.

There's much more farming here on the south part of the island, lots of seed testing plots for corn, which surprised me. There's also some sugar cane and apparently coffee too. It's much flatter down here as well.

With my options dwindling, I decide to head up the Waimea Canyon. It's beautiful. It's basically a much greener Grand Canyon. But not nearly as big. It's unfortunate you see quite a few tourist helicopters flying below you. It's noticably cooler up here as well.

Eventually I get to Koke'e State Park. I've very happy to see it has a car camping ground. I had forgotten about that, actually. It's still odd; you are supposed to register in advance in Lihue. I decide to go for it and beg forgiveness if anyone showed up. No one did, so I camped for free (well, I had paid for Salt Pond already, but whatever).

Before setting up camp, I first drive out to the end of the road in the mountains and I get an incredible overlook to Kalalau Valley, which is where the back country trail from Hanakapi'ai beach continues towards.

I head back to camp. It is quiet, calm, cool, and getting dark fast. I set up and go to take a picture of my camp. This was when I realized that I had broken the LCD viewer on my camera somehow since being at the overlook not 30 minutes before. So all my shots after that one were taken blindly through the viewer; thankfully they turned out all right.

It's nice and cool up here (I'd guess 60 or less at night) so I sleep with my sleeping bag zipped up for the first time this trip. One odd part was that during the night I heard a few wild boar chomping really close to my tent. I could hear them breathing and chewing and digging. I couldn't believe that it was the middle of the night and they at breaking sticks and making a huge racket. It must be nice to have no predators around. There is hunting allowed up here in the park, however. It's kind of funny to think here I am not wanting anything to do with them really, and here they are. It makes me wonder what the hunters really have to do to get these boars. #

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