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6/29/2010

This was a record release party for an album called "Beyond Berkeley Guitar". I still have to get the album. I'd describe it as many local guitarists inspired by the tradition of folk steel guitar from the 1960s, in the vein of John Fahey. I'm sure that description doesn't do anyone here justice. I really enjoyed all the performers I got to see & hear. They only played about 10 minutes or two pieces each. This only gave you a small feel of what they could do. During the beginning of the show, I could see the guitarists hands more, so I enjoyed that portion more. Basically I got to see lots of guitar playing it will take me years to ever come close to.

6/25/2010

I think this should have been called the inevitable reunion tour. It was a great show. We got there a little late. According to the Internet, they opened with what as far as I know is their only hit, "Cut Your Hair". The stage was nice and stark, I couldn't imagine Pavement having over-orchestrated set decoration. So they sounded great and played lots of the hits. The crowd was totally into it. Since we arrived a little late, we sort of found and snuck into a pretty darn good spot. The band was at eye-level, and the sound was good. Erika's friend Angel had snuck tequila in that was poured into a fake pair of binoculars. When we took swigs, it looked like we were looking at the band with our chins. So the tequila made for an even more interesting show. I had heard from Aram (who worked this show and the night before in Stockton) that the original drummer Gary was going to play with them tonight. A few times during the set, someone who I correctly assumed was Gary would wander on and off stage. He was wearing what I'd call a "New Mexico themed" shirt. Sometime before the encore, a bystander asked us to shut up. That hasn't happened to me in awhile. Just before the encore, Gary came up to play drums. They actually played "Box Elder"! They then left for the encore. For the encore, I had predicted "Two States" and "Summer Babe", and I was correct. It was wonderfully fun. This band has great songs I still love to hear. It was great to hear them again.

6/24/2010

My friend Trevor played this show as well, but he played first so unfortunately I missed him. I got home from work and had to have dinner. By the looks of things, I arrived just after he finished up. Thankfully I stuck around to see the other two guitarists. The first played a couple acoustic songs and a couple electric guitar songs. For each he'd loop what he had played back onto itself with some gadgets he had. The pieces invoked Robert Fripp style repeats. Next up was an amazing finger picking style guitarist. I asked him afterwards, and most of his songs were his own compositions. He first played on a nice small guitar, and the second half of the show was on a 12-string. How I'd explain finger picking style is like John Fahey or those records of Jim O'Rourke's where he's clearly influenced by Fahey. It was so great to see it played live; it would take years for me to ever get there. Watching both of the guitarists play was a highlight for me. Trevor plays again next week, so I hope to catch him this time.

I Wish I Was This Patient (6/15/2010)

My brother created an entire painting. He does that all the time, but he doesn't record a video of the entire process. And then he also edited it down to a great video sped up about 300 times. It's great to watch. #

6/10/2010

So Aranya is some sort of a death metal / punk rock / witch band from Portland, OR. I do not know what to make of it, but I've seen lots of shows, and this was not like another. First off, the diminutive singer had what I'll call an altar in front of the stage. While the first song was warming up (with a didgeridoo droning in the background), she lit a candle and some incense while chanting something incomprehensible. Then she drank a potion, and smeared ashes on her and her band members' noses. Then she got out her viola. And then sang. While wielding the viola's bow like a dagger. All while wearing a metal-studded black dress. She yelled screamed sang. And rocked a clear plastic axe-shaped guitar. Towards the end she was shaking and waving a large stick which was adorned with feathers and ribbons. I simply haven't seen anything like them. That was a tough act to follow. The Tunnel do not have a large stick. But they have a new bassist. They seemed so much more powerful and loud than the last time I caught them. Jeff's vocals are still nice and twisted. Where's the Jeff I know? I loved the sound of his guitar in particular this time. Lots of reverb and nice and loud!

5/31/2010

It's always fun to see a band you haven't seen play in 12 years once again. Especially when they are really great, like Hum. The venue is gorgeous. The weather was perfect. The vast numbers of old friends to see was wonderful. What was the show like? Knowing this band, I knew they were going to sound great. I knew they were going to play lots of songs I like as well. Matt, the singer, said at one point after a song, "I'm not that angry anymore." I don't know the song titles, so I can't elaborate on which song caused his reaction. Nevertheless, I know what he means. I saw so many friends for far too short of a time. It felt like a wedding in that way. In the end, I really think I went to this show for the friends. I love the band, and loved the set, but in the end it was the friends. I think I saw a friend I also haven't seen since about 1998, and seeing her brought back all sorts of interesting memories.

This is Mine to Share as I Feel Fit (5/16/2010)

So I've had this web site for a long time: 12 years, before they were called blogs. For all intents and purposes, this is a blog. I don't like calling it that however, since I was doing this before that word came about.

So I post stuff here that I'm not afraid for the internet to digest and have forever. But I create, write, and edit it with the knowledge that it will probably be around for a long time on someone's server somewhere. Just imagine if you're a Twitter user who hasn't really edited what they say for posterity. All of Twitter is now going to be in the Library of Congress. What will historians learn from this fountain of knowledge?

I waited awhile to get onto Facebook. The turning point was when the Champaign-Urbana 1993 Revisited show was happening. Friends were on Facebook putting up old pictures of us all, that I just had to see. Facebook can be pretty fun, but I find it's also a huge time sink.

I've also found myself worrying I update Facebook with some things that I'd normally put up on my own web site. You can see that the rate I update this site has slowed down since I joined Facebook. There's lots of reasons for the slow down, but I think Facebook is a part of the reason.

I also have no idea how to archive what I've put onto Facebook. The stuff I put here on my own web site is all for me. I can do all sorts of stuff with it, since I also write the code that makes this entire site.

I've thought about future ways I can just have Facebook update with a link back to my site, so I still have my archive of what I mention on Facebook. However, at the rate I update the code for this site, I think this may happen by 2015.

So I found it interesting to find this article this morning about the closed nature of Facebook. #

Neighborhood Story (5/16/2010)

Anyone who's been to my house knows about this excellent looking home at the end of the block. I call it the gingerbread house. But it has an official name, "The Nightingale House" (sorry about the all Flash link. Here's a Google Maps link).

So I learned a little more about the previous owner (who I unfortunately didn't have the pleasure to meet) since this has been up for sale. She was an eco artist who had founded the artist in residence program at the San Francisco dump, due to all the trash she'd find outside her home on the sidewalks. I can attest to the fact that there still plenty of trash blowing near her home. I guess it's the nature of the neighborhood and the geography? #

4/28/2010

This show started at 9 PM, which felt late for a Friday night for a dude who's nearly 40. I think I drank a late coffee or Coke to help out. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my local neighborhood rocker was in Thee Oh Sees. They put on a great set of retro rocking. He doesn't use the telephone microphone; but he does put many effects on his voice. The bass lines were all played on a guitar, instead of a bass. I was very happy to be seeing a complete Yo La Tengo set in a proper venue. The last two times I had seen them was at festivals, which isn't the very best way to have a great show experience. Of course the band sounded great. I still can't believe their rhythm section. I love how they mix up noise, quiet, and pop over the course of their sets. I even enjoyed their longer guitar-spaz parts this time around.

4/16/2010

Faith had bought tickets to this show awhile before. It was sold out. We got there a little late, so we only saw about 3 songs of The xx. The crowd was really into them. The crowd was pretty young. The xx sound pretty 1980s alternative rock, before people used that term regularly. Hot Chip had a pretty big band. Faith did not like the way they sounded; I did not have enough experience with them to say one way or the other. I will say that the one song of theirs I've heard, "Over and Over," sounded pretty great.

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