Top concerts - 2008

2008 turned out to be another awesome year for me in terms of concerts that I was fortunate enough to attend. Though they were all a pleasure to be in person for, these are five that made the biggest impression on me in no particular order.

Treasure Island Music Festival - September 21st, Treasure Island

Imagine having 14 bands playing in back to back to back slots, 35-55 minutes each, with names like Okkervil River, Tegan and Sara, Vampire Weekend, Fleet Foxes, John Vanderslice and the Rancetours. Imagine walking between two stages across an island with the San Francisco skyline in the background with no gap between the performances. Imagine this happening on a beautiful fall day with beer available for purchase. Yes, this did indeed happen and was as fun as you could possibly imagine. Here are a handful of bands that I enjoyed seeing:

John Vanderslice

The last time time I had seen him performing on his own, he was leading off the night for Neko Case at Bimbo's 365. He only had a drummer, his guitar and some sort of gadget for playing everything else. This time he had a full band, though he mentioned that he was worried about one of his band-mates being there as he had come in on a delayed flight that morning. But all was well and they put on a nice set, moving through many of his "Emerald City" tracks. His nearly-late band-mate added a nice violin as he crooned through his politically-charged melodies.

Port O'Brien

Many of the bands that I had not heard before, such as Dr. Dog, The Dodos, etc weren't as fun for me and most of it I attributed to not knowing their songs. Port O'Brien could have been in the same category, but I ended up enjoying them immediately, which is a great sign for liking a band. The two-part harmony produced by the lead members was easy on the ears and I enjoyed the expressive nature of their lyrics. I'll be looking forward to more from them.

Okkervil River

This was probably the band I looked forward to seeing the most and they didn't disappoint. Frontman Will Sheff playfully led his band through parts of the Stage Names and Stand Ins. We were impressed by one of the lead guitarists, a female who was responsible for many of these songs' familiar riffs for the afternoon. I really enjoyed the very limited time they had to perform and will keeping an eye on i-calendar for a full show.

Vampire Weekend

If I had to pick the best performance of the day, I think it would be these preppy Ivy-Leaguers that you would swear were out of place as they took the stage. In between songs, their lead singer politely said "thanks" in his collared shirt and khaki pants. Chris made the comment that it almost seemed like they were performing at an after school event for their parents. This says nothing about the way they played though as they drove tightly through each song on their debut album. There has definitely been a buzz around them this year, as there was on Treasure Island that day, and well deserved. These guys are for real.

Tegan and Sara

As darkness was suddenly settling in, these teenage-looking twins lit up the island with a terrific set, primarily pulling songs from The Con. Interjecting laid back humor in between frenetic, heart felt numbers, they showed a big stage presence that was exciting to take in. After a long day of rocking, they were very much worth waiting for.

Memorable Numbers: White Dove, The Tower, Kookaburra (John Vanderslice) Lost Coastlines, Unless its Kicks, Girl in Port, Starry Stairs (Okkervil River) Oxford Comma, Cape Cod Kassawassa, M79 (Vampire Weekend), Soil Soil, Dark Come Soon, The Con, Nineteen (Tegan and Sara)

Great Lyric:

the sky was filled with vaporized dust, raining,
White on White
Like streamers of dirty confetti
White on White
The Chrysler building disappeared

Kookaburra - John Vanderslice

R.E.M., The National, Modest Mouse - June 1st, Greek Theater, Berkeley

Going into the concert, my two main reasons for being there were The National and Modest Mouse, which turned out to be a lot of money to be shelling out for a couple of Indie bands. R.E.M has a few familiar songs from the 90's that I like, I had heard they sound great live and it's been said that they were one of the original "Indie bands" that were able to make it big. That was enough for me to give them a shot.

The National played a bunch of their songs from Alligator and Boxer, enough to make an enjoyable set. As for Modest Mouse, I'm most familiar with The Moon and Antartica, which they didn't seem to play anything from, so they were fun, but could have been a lot better for me. Both bands didn't seem as exciting as they should have been though, with the outdoor Greek Theater barely populated and people strolling in and out for refreshments. Also, The sound system didn't seem to be set at full tilt for them. They deserved much better than to be treated like lame cover bands.

As for R.E.M, they made up for this by blowing me away. They put out a great mix of familiar favorites with chunks from their new album and stuff I hadn't heard before. Michael Stipe played well to the crowd and his voice was in great form. In the background, they added a colorfully dazzling light and video effects, which complemented their music very nicely. I think what I was most impressed with though, was the musicianship of the band, which shouldn't be too surprising given the amount of time they had performed together and the success they've enjoyed. The guitarists that flanked Stipe were not only great players, but also had sweet voices that harmonized well with him. When listening to a CD, I some times wonder how much of the production is hiding the quality of the musicians. There didn't seem to be any smoke and mirrors around these guys, which was evident when they moved to a more acoustic set up for a few of their new songs. These guys could really rock.

Memorable Numbers: Mr. November, Fake Empire, Racing Like a Pro (The National), Orange Crush, Losing My Religion, Stand, Daysleeper (R.E.M.)

Great Lyric:

I'm Mr. November, I won't fuck us over.

Mr. November - The National

Jackie Greene, April 10th, The Fillmore

It was only a few years ago that I was able to watch this musical prodigy from Sacramento perform for free on numerous occasions to a growing audience. On Memorial Day weekend of 2006, I finally contributed money to his efforts, which felt very strange, but it was well worth it as he put on an amazing two hour show at Nicassio Ranch while I munched on a BBQ lunch on a late spring afternoon. It was a concert that would have easily sat at the top of my list for that year (had I decided to compile one), but he upped the ante even higher at the Filmore in 2008. Two horn players enhanced the already strong band that surrounded him at Nicassio and the performance was punctuated with the last few numbers getting a hand from the Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh. Yet he was still the same old Jackie Greene, with or without

the endorsement, dazzling his audience with his instrumental genius, a booming voice and hauntingly poignant lyrics

.

Memorable Numbers: Like a Ball & Chain, Don't Let The Devil Take Your Mind, Prayer For Spanish Harlem, Uphill Mountain, Honey I Been Thinking About You, Never Satisfied, So Hard To Find My Way, Mexican Girl, Sugar Magnolia

Great Lyric:

now i don't really care about your hot-blooded sister
i'm sure theres a man for to love her and miss her
i didn't mean nothing, i just happened to kiss her
but honey i was thinking about you

Honey I Been Thinking About You

The Decemberists, November 25th, The Warfield

I had a chance to catch this wonderful band for the third time at The Warfield and while they were just as charming as the other two times, we were blessed with our best seats, being in the first row of the balcony, towards the middle of the theater. I had a chance to see their front man Colin Meloy at the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz earlier in the year, which was a treat in itself, but didn't compare to seeing him with his full band. They're all extremely talented and he seems to have more energy and fun playing with them. Part of the fun was when they engaged with the Warfield audience, leading us in a "Yes We Can" - "Yes We Did" call-and-response in the middle of "The Perfect Crime" (they actually played for Obama at a rally in Portland this year). There was also a great scene when Colin asked the audience on the floor to put their arms around their neighbors, which they did, and he remarked how no one ever does this for him, except in San Francisco. Back to the performance (lest I forget), they came with a great set, picking a lot of my favorite songs from their collection of albums. The first time I saw them, my friend Dan remarked how "tight" they were as players and I thought of this as they dazzled me with their high degree of professional play.

Memorable Numbers: Here I Dreamt I was an Architect, July July, Valencia, The Perfect Crime, On The Bus Mall, Mariner's Revenge, Valerie Plame, Sons & Daughters, The

Engine Driver

Great Lyric:

and here in spain I am a spaniard
I will be buried with my marionettes
Countess and courtesan
Have fallen 'neath my tender hand
When their husbands were not around
But you, my soiled teenage girlfriend
Or are you furrowed like a lioness
And we are vagabonds
We travel without seatbelts on
We live this close to death

Here I Dreamt I was an Architect

Grainy camera phone shot of The Decemberists from the Warfield balcony


Frightened Rabbit, November 1, Bottom of the Hill

This was my fourth visit of 2008 to The Bottom of the Hill (Mountain Goats, Laura Veirs and Boat were visits one, two and three). This has given me great appreciation for the Potrero Hill /Goat Hill area, which has some very cool little bars, restaurants and shops if you're willing to give your calves a work out and put your emergency breaks to a true test. This time I made a second pre-concert stop at Goat Hill Pizza, downing a slice of pie, some minestrone soup and a pint of Anchor Steam beer while taking part in some people watching at their window side seating. I highly recommend a stop there.

All of this fun aside, Frightened Rabbit was probably one of the most highly coveted concerts for me having enjoyed their Midnight Organ Fight album that they released this year. What's funny is that they weren't even the head liner for the night (Spinto Band was), so I was able to hear them earlier in evening than I thought I would. The band was a little rough around the edges as you would expect from one just starting to tour, but it was very enjoyable to hear them play through their break through album. Front man Scott Hutchinson sang his beautifully morose lyrics with heart felt conviction. He harmonized well with his brother Grant who played behind him on drums and there was a lot of guitar and keyboard switching being done with his other two band-mates. I'm hoping that their 2008 success is the start of something special from these gents from Scotland.

One of the cooler moments of the night was when I was catching the first few songs of the headlining Spinto Band. Directly to my left, sipping a beer and bobbing his head was Scott Hutchinson himself, the same guy whose Scottish-accented voice I had heard more than any other that past month, continually running Midnight Organ Fight from my ipod. Sweet.

Memorable Numbers: Modern Leper, Head Rolls Off, My Backwards Walk, Keep Yourself Warm, I Feel Better

Great Lyric:

i'm working on drawing a straight line
and i'll draw until i get one right
it's bold and dark girl, can't you see

i done drawn a line between you and me

My Backwards Walk


Honorable Mentions

One of the highlights of my trip to Ireland was a Musical Pub Crawl starting from the Gogarty Bar in the Temple Bar area of Dublin. It was great fun to get a history lesson on traditional Irish folk music and hear some samples. The two gentlemen that led the crawl were as delighted to entertain as we were to be entertained.

Brandi Carlile was one of my rolls of the dice this year as I was more sure about the venue of the Rio Theater than the performer herself. I was treated to a fun night as her band played through a set that alternated nicely from country to indie rock. I was also surrounded by young women, so I had absolutely nothing to complain about as I left the theater.

Another grainy shot from floor level of Brandi Carlile in the Rio Theater

Fun in the Fall in Wisconsin

I recently made a trip to Wisconsin, courtesy of IBM, for a recruiting trip to one the finest towns in all of the world, Madison. Here are some of the highlights of that trip.

Night run out to Picnic Point

Picnic point is a mile-long (at least if feels that long) peninsula that juts out from the southern shore of Lake Mendota. I've walked, biked and ran out there many times during all hours and all seasons and still get a charge heading out there. This time I tried a night run, which was challenging, given there are points where its hard to see your hand in front of your face because it's heavily wooded. But the reward lies in the view you get of the state capital that's lit up at night. I sat on a tree trunk that stretches in that direction and just let the gentle waves splash against the soles of my running shoes. Great time.





Music at Mickey's Tavern

After my night run out to the point I decided to check out the Madison music scene, following a recommendation given by a local section in the Onion. The recommendation for the night was the God Damns, who were playing at Mickey's Tavern (day shot below). When I got to the tavern, the place looked stuffed, even for the cover band, who I could hear quite well from the outside. I decided to wait them out until entering, which was kinda fun because I found that the tavern was right off of a bike path, which led to people riding up on their bikes to lock up and catch the show. Super cool. When I went into the tavern, I found the place to be more spacious than what I saw when peaking in. It took the real meaning of "pub", which is public house, to heart, having a little living room, rec room and outdoor patio along with its bar, which had a meandering shape to it. The band itself, wasn't quite my cup of tea being a little too hard rocking, but I had fun nonetheless. Some girls in the crowd heckled them and I took them to be close friends.
















Midsummer Night's Dream at the American Player's Theater in Spring Green

It had been since High School that I had made a trip to Spring Green, which lies just to the west of Madison, for a play at the American Players Theater, a very pleasant outdoor theater. I took my parents to a showing of Midsummer Night's Dream and we had a blast. 90% of the crowd were students on a field trip and we were amazed at how well behaved they were, but concluded that this was due to the quality of the acting, which we thought captivated everyone's attention along with ours. After the show we went down town for a bite to eat and noticed a lot of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture. He lived a good portion of his life in Spring Green, having his Taliesin school there.



Love Like Fire at the Frequency

Having an itch to continue my education of the Madison music scene, I gave the Onion's recommendation another shot for the night, which led me to the Frequency bar, a dive that was just a block off of the capital. The recommended band was Love Like Fire, who had received some praise from Death Cab for Cutie and had a lead singer that had been compared to Bjork. I deposited my 5 dollar cover charge and took my spotted cow into the musical area of the club and caught the last half hour of the cover band. I leaned up against the wall with a couple interesting-looking characters, one being a tatooed, tall drink of water with shaved head and dark rimmed glasses and the other being a Chinese girl with a white t-shirt and black tights. It turned out they were half of Love Like Fire, which I suspected, and were from San Francisco of all places. They put on a really fun show, the highlight being when the drummer's parents walked near the stage and started dancing. It turned out the drummer was from Wisconsin and I chatted with him afterwards, letting him know I had come all the way from Mountain View to see them. :-)

Farmer's Market on the Capital Square

One of the finest farmer's markets occurs on Saturdays around the state capital building. We picked up some scones from one of the bakers and loaded up on honey crisp apples while taking the loop around the square. There were plenty of cheese curds and organic goodies to be had. It was also nice to see some tables set up with Obama supporters, encouraging people to vote. It was a beautiful 70 degree day, and with the colder weather approaching, we figured there wouldn't be many more of these days left this year.

















Bike Ride half way around Lake Monona

My dad and I rented bikes at the Machinery Row Bike Shop on Williamson and took a ride half way around Lake Monona. I wanted to try the path that went by Mickey's Tavern to see where it led and it turned out to be part of a path around the lake. Our ride took us very close to Olbrich Botanical Gardens a place I've taken a few visits to this year, one in the dead of winter and one in the summer. We then circled back to Monona Terrace and took a ride along John Nolen Drive, one of the prettiest stretches in Madison (see the video below). We were pleasantly surprised at how quiet the neighborhoods were along the way to the terrace, allowing us to cruise along without any traffic. Note, if you're going to rent a bike in Madison, I'd recommend Williamson Bicycle on E. Washington. This company used to be where Machinery Row is now and they definitely rent out better bikes (New Marins vs Beat up Gary Fishers) at cheaper prices ($15 per day vs $20).




Afterwards I took some pictures of some parts of the ride, including a shot down the Yahara river and a girls soccer game against the backdrop of the lake. I always love the idea of playing sports with natural beauty in background.









It reminded me of playing basketball at James Madison Park on Lake Mendota, which led me over there for some more pictures. I was delighted to see the beginnings of an Obama rally, one where it looked as though they were going to incorporate some a giant game of twister. It was nice to take in the liberal flavor that Madison has such a nice taste of.








Babcock Ice Cream on Mendota Terrace

Of course no trip to Madison is complete without some ice cream from Memorial Union. I had to get a sugar cone scoop of Blue Moon and sit out on the terrace for a little while before taking the drive back to West Bend to spend some time with the rest of my family. It was beautiful day for ice cream and lake watching.
















Hike up Dundee Mountain in the Kettle Moraine

Ok, so it isn't exactly a mountain in the altitude sense, but there's a beautiful hiking area in Dundee, WI that's part of the Kettle Moraine a preserved area that is home to many glacial features that are remnants of the ice age. The trail we took was lined with wild flowers, a look which is typically only familiar to me during the California spring. I took the hike to the peak, which isn't strenuous, but does lead to some beautiful views of fall foliage and of Long Lake. At the top I received a reward in the form of a little apple from a tree that was filled with them. It was a tasty treat that accompanied my gorgeous overlook.






And that was my awesome trip to Wisconsin. Here are some more pictures of the trip.

Brandi Carlile at the Rio Theater June 23rd

On a whim I decided to head down to Santa Cruz on a Monday night to take in a Brandi Carlile concert at the Rio Theater, which is turning out to be one of my favorite venues. I caught Colin Meloy there a couple months ago and was hoping to find another appealing act so I could make another visit. She turned out to be the one.

I heard her for the first time on sirius radio when I was down in Arizona in a rental car. It was the song Turpentine on their "Coffee House" channel and I made an effort to remember her name so that I could at least grab that song off of i-tunes. I really liked the sound of her voice and accompanying harmony. Despite the fact that she has a little bit of a "country" tag, she also has a lot of folk and rock in her repertoire, enough to hook me in. I decided to give her a shot.

As I came into the theater to the last half of the opening act, a giggly wisp of a girl named Priscilla Ahn, I wondered what I'd be in for. I was somewhat hoping that she had at least a couple band mates. Colin Meloy had held up well on his own, but Laura Veirs, who I saw at another show, would have faired better with some company. With an act named "Brandi Carlile", it was hard to tell what that meant, though I was encouraged by seeing several guitars on stage with a drum set.

Ahn finished out her set, which wasn't too bad despite having to listen to some banter in between songs that could have been shortened a bit. She also had this laugh that could have easily made a Seinfeld episode (Jerry dates a girl that is perfect with the exception of a grating laugh. Wackiness ensues.). What was interesting about her is that she almost seemed to mature 10 years when going from talking to performing, having a fairly rich voice and some respectable musical talent. As far as opening acts go, she did pretty well.

Back to Brandi...Her band surprised the hell out of me. She came out in jeans and a boy scout shirt greeted by a predominantly female audience, which was also very young, especially those standing up in the front. I felt like I was at some sort of feminist sit in. Soon afterwards the rest of her band came out, which included a lead and bass guitar, cellist and a drummer. They launched right into a rock oriented number that played pretty well.

Compared to Brandi and the rest of the band, the two guitarists looked out of place with trilby hats covering their shaved heads and tattoos of snakes and vines wrapped around their arms. I could picture them in a heavy metal or punk band, but not performing something like The Story or Turpentine. But it's best not to judge a book by its cover as I heard the band fluctuating between folksy ballads, bluesy country and what might be called alternative rock. These guys, who I realized later were identical twins, harmonized well with Brandi's vocals. With her acoustic guitar in the middle of their electrics, they made a nice trio. The cellist added some nice strings, especially with the stripped down songs and the drummer seemed more than adequate. Both of these guys seemed around the college age and like Brandi, looked like they could be your next door neighbors, but again, best not to judge a book by its cover.

Brandi herself evoked thoughts of a female Jackie Greene. She's probably not quite the instrumental prodigy that he is, but she held her own on guitar and piano and exhibited a rich and booming voice, surprising for someone so diminutive in stature. She also had a lot of charisma and was willing to take chances on an eclectic mix of music that she had put some nice words to. I was smitten.

The set included a lot of their new songs, which were very pleasing, ones I'll be looking forward to on an album that comes this fall. She did Turpentine and The Story of course, which were fun to hear, but these songs did not end up being a crutch or an exclamation point for the performance. Probably my favorite number was an unplugged version of a new song where she ditched the microphone (asking if people could hear her in the back) and the twins pulled out acoustic guitars. It sounded beautiful. They also did three nice covers: Creep from Radio Head, an Elton John song called "We All Fall in Love Some Times", stripped down to only piano and cello and they finished with Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues. It was a gorgeous set.

I came away feeling very happy that I had made the trip down to the Rio Theater again. I'll definitely be looking forward to more music and shows from Brandi Carlile.

Movie Review: Reprise

After looking through the latest movie ratings on metacritic, I decided to take a shot at Reprise. Since I had to head up to San Francisco to see it at Embarcadero one, I decided to make a nice Sunday out of it by combining it with a scenic run along the Marina.

Reprise is a Norwegian film, which I think is the first I've ever seen of that Nationality. It takes place in Oslo and focuses on the literary and life aspirations of two friends played by Anders Danielsen Lie and Espen Klouman-Høiner in their early 20's who are joined by a common interest in literature and writing, finding heroes in Norwegian authors and driven towards finding company among them.

The film begins with them standing in front of a mail box with their first novels packaged in yellow envelopes, both standing with hesitant feelings knowing that dropping their work down the slot will have a major effect on their young lives. At this moment in the film and as the film progresses, it's clear that the prospect of rejection is much more benign than the realization of fame.

For one, it's the latter that occurs, leading to time in the spotlight, which becomes much too bright when combined with the onset of mental illness that follows a turbulent romance. Whether this mental decline is brought on by the pressure and attention that accompanies his newfound fame or his relationship with his new girl friend (Kari, played by Viktoria Winge), that remains unclear. What does seem apparent is that the joy of writing is gone for him as he struggles to reconnect his life.

As for his friend, he is relieved to have his novel rejected, allowing to him continue living as he was. In this way he's not as tempted to make any drastic changes to his life, which he does question subtly as he lives at home and spends time with friends and a girl friend who provide support, but do not challenge him.

The most compelling theme of the movie is the friendship between the two young writers, whose support and sympathy for each other overcomes their quiet competition and the repelling angst brought on by the mental and emotional problems faced by one of them. As the movie switches gears between tenses, it's clear that their relationship is meant to be lifelong.

I enjoyed the dark humor of the movie, which had me laughing at various points. I also liked the theme of following one's bliss despite the odds and challenges that accompany that philosophy. It was not hard to relate to the characters and life styles despite the foreign setting. If you're looking for sense of what Oslo is like, this is probably not the movie for it as I left feeling as if it could have been set in Minnesota as far as I saw.

Colin Meloy at the Rio Theater 4/29

Tuesday night I took a trip with some friends down 17 to Santa Cruz to take in some music from Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, who was on the tail end of a solo tour. I had seen him a couple times at the Warfield with his band in tow, but was very excited about the idea of seeing him on his own in a more intimate setting.

The Rio Theater turned out to be that intimate setting that I was hoping for. It's a basic movie theater with roughly the first 15 rows removed from the front, creating a mini-Warfield with seats in back and some open space to stand in front of the stage. Since I had bought the tickets to get closer to the action, I took a b-line to the stage as I walked in and was able to find a spot that was about 15 feet from the mic. As my friend Jim noticed, I had trouble containing the giddiness I was feeling about being in the spot we were in. "I can't believe we'll be this close to Colin Meloy", I said.

He came out around 9 PM and launched right into "California One" on his 12 string, appropriate since the song's subject was probably a mile or two from where we stood. So we took the long drive with him and right away I was enjoying the proximity, getting a better appreciation of the effort he puts into his vocals and playing. He sounded awesome.

He followed with another familiar song, one which I can't remember right now, then addressed the audience, "Hi, I'm Collin. Did I say that yet? No? Sorry, I'm Collin" He sipped a glass of wine that had an accompanying bottle next to it and lamented that he was really lacking sleep. The talk of sleep deprivation reminded me of how I had felt 9 days earlier, coming into this same Santa Cruz at the end of The Relay, a 199 mile team-oriented race from Calistoga to the Boardwalk.

Despite his exhaustion, he had no trouble cruising through some favorites, including "The Apology Song", which he explained was written for "practical purposes" to use on a call to a friend who was in Oxford. He played "The Sporting Life", which he said was semi-autobiographical, taking him back to a soccer field in Montana, back in 1982. He played "Ocean Side" in honor of the day in Santa Cruz, then played "Cautionary Song" to address the upcoming Mother's day.

After these crowd pleasing ditties, he decided to give us a peak into some of his new stuff, which he claimed was in "an embryonic stage", but would be part of a new album that they wanted to record in the summer (hoorah!). Similar to The Crane wife, the song he belted out was of the multi-part, multi-voice variety, sounding like another masterpiece in the making. At some points he seemed to move into a hard rock mode, passionately making long single strums on his guitar. I could almost see the Decemberists around him, as he may have been imagining, assisting in bringing the number to its peak. There were some funny moments during the song where he had to pause for a moment to remember the next set of lyrics, but this didn't affect the continuity of the song. When he finished he said, "Well, this is a work in progress" . To me, the song seemed about ready to record.

In between sets he talked about how he had met Johnny Marr by chance in an Ikea in Portland. He said that he expected to run into him at some point by an overlap of their circles, but never imagined meeting him in a Swedish furniture store. He said he had two long throw pillows in the cart he was pushing.

That topic was inspired by another he then spoke about, which related to his "Colin Sings" EPs (typically 5 cover songs for one artist) that he does in conjunction with his solo tours. He had done a Morrissey EP for a previous tour, which covered songs of Marr's former band mate of The Smiths.

This led to his next song in which he brought Laura Gibson, his cover act, onto the stage to perform "Cupid" (part of his current Collin Sings Sam Cooke set) with him. We had caught 3-4 songs from her previously and had a neutral reaction to her, agreeing that she appeared to lack some self esteem on stage, being perhaps a little too self deprecating. Her songs also seemed a little too melancholy overall. She redeemed herself in this duet though, which I thought was one of the highlights of the night. They both gave the recognizable song a pleasing flavor. As well as Colin Meloy does on his own, I could have heard a few more duets and would have been very happy.

He then said it was time to move from "make out" songs to ones of cold blooded murder. So he played the Shankhill Butchers and Valencia from The Crane Wife. I could hear someone rattling their keys for the first one, which he didn't seem to notice.

The encore included Billy Liar, Odalisque (which he played on request), and ended with one of my favorites, Mariner's Revenge. For the part played by the song's protagonist's mother, he enlisted the help of the audience, which adequately, though comically, accommodated him. I was impressed by the number of people that knew the words. He tried to get us to simulate the death of this mother by falling to the ground, but I had the feeling that everyone was about as stiff as I was from standing. I knew that once I went down, which was one challenge, I'd have a tough time getting back up. Just like at the Warfield, where he finished with the same song, he had us scream at the point that the whale shows up in the song (His lead guitarist actually wore a whale costume at the Warfield). It was a great song to end the night with.

Overall, the experience was the one I had been hoping for as he put on a great show. I'll be looking forward to more music at the Rio Theater, which turned out to be a nice little venue (and ended up being packed, which surprised me when I turned around at the end). We also found a pretty good taqueria down the street called Taqueria Santa Cruz II

For additional reading, here's a nice article from a Madison site on his tour: http://www.madison.com/tct/entertainment/stories/282650

One funny footnote...One thing Colin Meloy calls attention to is that when he tunes his guitar, he stands on his tippy toes for some reason. He said that it might be mentioned in his wikipedia entry, which it wasn't until the next morning (check out the footnote...and no, it wasn't me). :-)

My first Spring Training experience

This past weekend I had the fortune of making a trip down to sunny Arizona to take in some spring training baseball for the first time. A few of my sports-loving friends had told me about this experience encouraging me to do it. My friends Frank and Dennis made plans to do so this year and were kind enough to invite me along for the ride. How could I resist?

We flew down Friday morning to Phoenix, with the plan of renting a car and b-lining to A's - Giants game in Scottsdale. On the shuttle bus to the PHX rental center, there were a small group of guys that looked to be in their mid twenties, talkin' baseball. I didn't catch a lot of the conversation, but they used terms like OPS and WHIP, which is hard core language, often used by fantasy players. A friend had told me that I'd see mostly the die-hard fans down at spring training. This was a taste of that.

After grabbing a quick lunch at Cousin's subs (hey, that's a Wisconsin chain!) we went to the game at Scottsdale Stadium, a nice little park where we had bleacher seats down the third base line. It was a beautiful day for baseball, though it actually felt a little warm with the Arizona sun beating down on us. Thank goodness for Dennis's sun screen. It was definitely sun burn weather.

The game itself was a little boring, with not a lot of run production. The only A's names I recognized were Dan Johnson, who did homer, Jack Cust, and Alan Embree. Just some of the few spared by the Billy Beane house cleaning. Despite the lack of offense and name recognition, it was fun to kick back with a beer and check out some baseball. A nice feature of the Scottsdale stadium, which I think is true of other ball parks, is that there's a nice grassy hill (a little too big to be called a "knoll") behind the outfield fence where fans can graze and take in the action.

After the game, we headed to where our beds would be, in Tucson with our friends. It took us roughly an hour and a half to get to my friend Dan's with only some small patches of slow rush hour traffic. My nuvi did the trick on finding his place. "You have arrived at Casa de Dano." :-)

Dan was prepared for our growing appetites and took us to Zachary's Pizza, a place he had claimed to have gone to for 20+ years with lots of good memories. As we walked to our table, I scanned the draught beers on a chalk board where my eyes stopped on Left Hand Milk Stout. One pint please. Delicious.

Speaking of, Zachary's deep dish was wonderful. Dan recommended that we limit our topping choices to 1 or 2 (he even said that cheese would be just fine). He was right, we got a lot of pizza that was piled thick on rich crust. Three pieces later and I was stuffed. I washed that down with my second pint, this time some Ace Pear Cider that was just as good as the stout. I even enticed Dan's non-beer-drinking girl friend into a pint after giving her a sip. She now has a great alternative to water at Zachary's.

The next morning Dennis, Frank and I went on a mission to burn off that pizza and beer with a run in Sabino Canyon. We followed the Bear Creek trail for about an hour before turning back, getting a very scenic run in that included several creek crossings. Having not gone to Death Valley for the first time in 8 years, I was happy to be getting some desert canyon running in, especially while it was still cool and water was flowing. We saw lots of hikers and a couple runners sharing the morning with us at Sabino.

After the run, Dan took me to another haunt for lunch, this time for some sandwiches at Bison Witches on 4th street. Tucson doesn't really have much of a down town, but 4th street is where a lot of the charm and fun appears to be, with lots of shops and restaurants inside colorfully painted old buildings. It reminded me a bit of the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco. As for the lunch, I went for the "Tucson", trying to be appropriate, with a little bread bowl potato soup. Yummy. The place definitely had a college feel to it with some young-looking faces having some lunch and beer.

Afterwards we checked out the Giants and Sox at Tucson Electric Park, a spring home that the Sox share with the Diamond Backs. I preferred this stadium to Scottsdale, actually, because of the single seats (much easier on the back). The Sox led off with a familiar face in Nick Swisher, who I was happy to see double down the left field line. It was certainly strange to not see him wearing A's green and yellow, but fun to watch him play again. Again, I was glad to be offered some sunscreen, this time by Dennis's friend. The day started overcast, but the clouds were gone by the third inning and all the sun had left to burn was our skin. It wasn't terribly uncomfortable, but I was definitely not acclimated to summer weather yet.

That night, I had some fun playing some poker at Casa de Dano with a small group of his friends. He has two tables and lots of chips, many of which are customized with Dano Poker on them. I was amazed at how quickly everyone at the table was able to play and able to carry on conversation, often deriding each other, while I was focused on figuring out how to survive the game. I got knocked out 3rd, which I was actually happy about, given the experience in the table. I thought of the line from Rounders of "The first thing you do in Poker is spot the sucker at the table. If you can't spot the sucker, you are the sucker." That was me.

The third day of our trip led us to Kartchner Caverns in the city of Benson, roughly an hour south of Tucson. This living cave was discovered in 1988 by a couple of spelunkers from the University of Arizona. Having seen a few caves ruined by garbage and graffiti, they decided to keep the cave a secret until 2002, when word was beginning to spread and they had their hand forced by a member of the local media who had learned about the location of cave's entrance. They confided in the Kartchner family, who shared their feelings on conservationism, and eventually sold their land and the underlying cave that to the State of Arizona.

Well, the State of Arizona should be proud of what they've done with this national treasure because the tour was incredible. We took the Big Room tour, which led us along a nicely paved and railed path through the caverns. Our tour guide, an older man who beamed with enthusiasm and pride for the cave pointed out many of the cave's stalactites (hanging down from the ceiling), stalagmites (coming up from the ground) Helectites (going any direction they want), soda straws (the soda straw-thin fetus of the 3 mentioned features) and many others which had taken between 70 and 200 thousand years to form using single drops of water. The cave is still "living", which means these lime stone sculptures are still growing as I write this. The sights in the cave were breath taking, even without knowing their history, which boggles the mind. What a treat it was to be walking around in something of this magnitude. Despite all of the fun I was having watching baseball and eating great food, this was probably the highlight of the trip.

That afternoon it was back to baseball, this time trying a couple of new teams in the local favorites of the Diamond Backs and the Seattle Mariners. I was a little disappointed to not see Ichiro in the line up, but was consoled by the fact that Eric Byrnes led off and Brandon Webb was on the hill. It's fun to see Byrnsie play, as he was one of my favorite A's and still does a lot of filling in for Bay Area sports radio. My friend Dean met him in an airport a few years ago and said he's just as friendly in person as what you see on T.V. He's a refreshing character among a game of exposed villains. The game itself had a lot of offense and the temperature was in the high 60's. I had finally hit the sweet spot of baseball viewing. Ahhhh...good stuff.

That night, Dan, Debbie and his friend Sloodge took me to La Parrilla a Suiza, his favorite restaurant in Tucson. I had a #15, which was a combination of two soft tacos filled with sauteed chicken with green peppers, onions and a little bacon along with some chicken quesadillas and refried beans. This was one of Dan's favorites and I could tell why. It played well with my taste buds and I washed it down with a tasty frozen margarita. It was a perfect last meal in Tucson.

The next morning Dennis, Frank and I reluctantly made our way back to Phoenix, to fly back to the Bay Area. Before going to the air port, we hit the South Mountain Park for a scenic drive, climbing to the summit for a gorgeous view of Phoenix and the mountainous desert landscape that surrounded it. Yellow wild flowers were sprinkled on both sides of the windy road that we took to get there. It was well worth the ride.

Of course I must mention lunch one more time, as we decided to make a preflight stop at Veneto Trattoria in Scottsdale. Dennis had found this one on the internet of the top lunch spots in the Phoenix. We all had panninis with vegetable puree soup along with a glass of wine each for Frank and me. Our waiter sounded like he had an Italian accent, which was a great sign, and it was, everything was delicious, especially the bread.

So that was my spring training and Arizona experience. Pictures coming soon.

Favorite Concerts 2007

In 2007 I was lucky enough to attend a lot of wonderful concerts, primarily in San Francisco, which is loaded with terrific venues that play just about everybody. At first I was planning on ranking the concerts, but with second thoughts, I just didn't think it was right to do that, since I had a lot of fun at each of them. However, I would like to like to point out 5 of them that stood out for me, with a couple honorable mentions. These are in no particular order:

The Weakerthans at Slim's

This was probably the biggest surprise for me and a very pleasant one. When I see the words "Reunion Tour", the thoughts of "We need money" or "We're feeling nostalgic" pop into my head, which doesn't always lead to a great concert. I don't have much of a feel for how this band performed prior to their reunion, but I thought they were awesome in the present. Their style is very subtle compared to the cathartic outpouring I've seen with many other bands on stage (see The Mountain Goats, The Hold Steady), but they're still powerful. I think this is due mainly to the compelling quality of their song lyrics, but I also thought that they had great chemistry on stage and came with a nice balance of crowd pleasing numbers from "Reconstruction Site" and some nice new tracks from "Reunion Tour". The sly smile from front man John Samson at the end of each set seemed to radiate a thought that his audience still gets it and his band has still got it.

Memorable numbers: Reconstruction Site, Sun in Empty Room, Psalm for the Elks Lodge Last Call, Benediction, Our Great City, Plea From A Cat Named Virtue

Great Lyric:
Buy me a shiny new machine
that runs on lies and gasoline,
and all those batteries we stole from smoke alarms,
and disassembles my despair,
It never got me anywhere
and never once bought me a drink.

The Frames with Marketa Irglova at Regency Grand Ballroom


As much as I loved the movie Once, which starred Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, I was even more pleased to take in a live performance by these two, along with some Frames players at the beautiful Regency Grand Ballroom. After enjoying a delicious meal from Citizen Cake, my friend Frank and I just caught the start of the concert, which started with Glen Hansard on stage behind his holey guitar (It actually has big holes in it!), belting out Say It to Me Now. His lovely co-star joined him on stage soon after for a couple more songs from their hit movie, and then three more Frames members (a guitar, cello and violinist) entered to complete the group. What fantastic musicians they are. I felt some chills as they performed "Falling Slowly", especially when Hansard encouraged us to help with the chorus and was blown away by his solo performance of "Leave". Irglova is his secret weapon, sitting primarily at piano, but also taking his beat up guitar from him at times and coyly stepping into the spotlight. I loved her rendition of "All the Way Down". Hansard was hilarious and engaging between songs, describing the background of each one, some times rather clumsily, which made it all the funnier. While making references to Joyce and Wilde, as proud Irishmen tend to do, and interacting with a fairly Irish audience, I felt as if I was transported over seas to an enormous and elaborate pub. The concert itself was an enormous and elaborate treat.

Memorable numbers: Falling Slowly, If You Want Me, Lies, Leave, All the Way Down, Once, Star Star

Next time I hope they play: Everything they played the first time

Great Lyric:

Star, Star teach me how to shine, shine
teach me so I know what's goin' on in your mind
- Star Star

The Hold Steady at Slim's and The Mezzanine,

I received two doses of this Brooklyn based (yet heavily Twin Cities laced) band. The first was at Slim's and the second at the Mezzanine. They were supposed to play at The Warfield the second time, but I suspected that they hadn't quite built the fan base for that venue yet. Whatever the real reason, I was not disappointed in the move as I think they belong in a bar, performing for an intimate, standing crowd while knocking down a few cold ones. They perform at 100 MPH bringing a hard rockin', guitar slaying style to the Indie pop scene mixed with colorful lyrics from front man Craig Finn who mouths his lyrics on the side after spouting them into the microphone, both times at a fevered pace. The Mezzanine was an interesting new place to see a show, especially with their movie projector shining live footage of the band superimposed on different settings (e.g. on a beach at night) onto a wall to the right of the stage. Finn and his band mates ended both shows dripping in sweat and calling attention to the the joy they were feeling being able to do what they do best. You couldn't help but get caught up in the fun. Both times I felt as spent as the band looked as they staggered off the stage.

Memorable numbers: Stuck Between Stations, South Town Girls, Chips Ahoy, Chill Out Tent, First Night

Next time I hope they play: Arms and Hearts

Great Lyric:
There was a stage and a PA up in western massachussetts.
The kids came from miles around to get messed up on the music.
- Chill Out Tent

The New Pornographers at The Warfield

I was happy to see this Canadian band come south for a tour, fresh off of their new album Challengers, one which I enjoyed at first listen and even more so after frequent takes. Yes this will sound so cliche', but they sounded much better live, much more so than I could have imagined. Fronted by an amazing vocal trio of A.C. Newman, Neko Case and Kathryn Calder they tore through most of their latest album's best along with familiar favorites. Dan Bejar of Destroyer, who contributed to 3 Challengers tracks, added a nice change up to their repertoire. His cryptic lyrics and androgynous nature meshed beautifully with the pornographers leading to what I thought were the most fun parts of their set. Combined with Newman's lyrical magic and Case's astounding vocals, it wouldn't be hard to label them a "supergroup". There was a moment after their first couple of songs where Newman stared into the two-tiered audience and said something to the effect of "It's weird to be putting on a rock concert...Does this mean we're rock stars?" Yes, I think you are.

Memorable Numbers: Challengers, My Rights Versus Yours, Unguided, Myriad Harbor, Entering White Cecilia, Mutiny, I Promise You, Spanish Techno, Letter From an Occupant, Testament To Youth In Verse

Next time I hope they play: Adventures in Solitude

Great Lyric :
Complex notes inside the chords,
on every wall inflections carved
Deep as lakes and dark as stars
Remember we were the volunteers
- My Rights Versus Yours


The Mountain Goats with Pony Up! at The Independent and Bottom of the Hill

The Mountain Goats were probably my first Indie Pop crush, having heard an interview on NPR with them followed by performances of Love, Love, Love and Dance Music. After making a wise and important move of borrowing a couple big chunks of my friend Chris's CD collection (loaded with Indie Pop), my eyes grew wide when I saw four albums magic markered with their name. I was hooked. Soon afterwards I had the treat of seeing them at "The Bottom of the Hill" and vow to see them whenever they appear there. I received back to back doses of them in 2007, the first being at the Independent, which was a great show, but not quite like at the place front man John Darnielle calls his "second home", where I could lean up against the bar, with beer in hand and stand within 15 feet of the stage, caught up in the nostalgia of their music. Darnielle plays with his heart on his sleeve, nasily crooning his distinct lyrics almost seeming to relive the moments he's recounting, wide-eyed, seeming to be amazed at his own intensity. Side kick Peter Hughes is more subtle, strumming base guitar and providing some vocal harmony at times. They added drummer Jon Wurster to their 2007 tour, which I think was nice move. Though I saw them in 2006, I couldn't leave the Mountain Goats off of this list, definitely one of the more satisfying evenings for me in 2007.

I mention Pony Up! because I think they may be the best cover band I've seen. These four girls (check their ID!) from Montreal were a lot of fun. Part of the advantage of the back to back concerts for me, was that it gave me a chance to get familiar with their sound and songs, which I really appreciated. The two lead vocals complement each other well and the band seems to have a nice balance of taking their music seriously, but not themselves.

Memorable Numbers: Dance Music, Broom People, Palmcorder Ganja, Wild Sage, Get Lonely, Maybe Sprout Wings, Boys are Back in Town (cover of the Doobie Brothers)...Pony Up!: Dance for Me, What's Free is Yours, Truth About Cats and Dogs (is that they die)

Next time I hope they play: Linda Blair was Born Innocent and The Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton

Great Lyric:

Ghosts and clouds, and nameless things
squint your eyes and hope real hard,
maybe sprout wings
- Maybe Sprout Wings


Honorable Mentions:

The National at Regency Grand Ballroom - They backed up their wonderful album Boxer with an awesome performance, mixing in songs from this album with ones from Alligator. Matt Beringer's haunting yet melodic voice is surrounded by talented band mates that put on a great show to a receptive audience.

Tori Amos at The Paramount (Oakland) - My only "big name" concert of the year didn't disappoint. She was probably the most talented musician that I saw, some times playing two pianos simultaneously while using a beautiful voice to weave through an anthology of songs. The Paramount is a gorgeous, art deco styled venue, which almost made having no beers on tap forgivable.