Spend a Couple Hours »Free Children’s Concert at McGolrick Park

Music, Puppets, and Sidewalk Chalk

As is in evidence in the above photo, the seeds of Van’s rock and roll dreams made have been planted thanks to one Mike Messer of The Dirty Sock Funtime Band.

Today’s Free Concert for Kids at McGolrick Park featured the singer as well as puppets and chalk drawing.

The park and the Open Space Alliance are making great efforts to make the lovely park more involved in the community and especially the local kids and hope to have more events like this in the future.

A similar show is scheduled at Cooper Park June 15th.

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Posted on May 18, 2012

Spend a Couple Hours »Little Rock-its By Frolic!

at the Music Hall of Williamsburg

When Frolic! Opens in the spring it should be pretty awesome: a little kid fun zone with play rooms and interesting classes.

To say hello to the neighborhood and celebrate the holidays, they hosted a rocking concert at the Williamsburg Music Hall last night.

There was a free Santa photo corner, music that was refreshingly not obnoxious for kids (the class will be called little rock-its), a fake snow storm, a friendly environment and beer for the parents!

After my first exclusion for having kids (boo hiss Gutter – a bowling ally, in the afternoon no less) it was great to be in such a welcoming place for little ones.

Van was head banging to I Love Rock and Roll and learning a few new moves from his pal Lauryn.

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Posted on December 5, 2011

Albums »Marvin Gaye Live in Miami

by Marvin Gaye

I was excited to broaden my horizons with Spotify. Friends know that give or take a few artists I am hopelessly ignorant of most new “cool” music (LCD Soundsystem, Beirut, Animal Collective… the list goes on and on and on).

I also have a lot of catching up to do with bands from the past (was curious to finally give a good listen to XTC, Husker Du, Mission of Burma… again the list goes on and on).

So what do I do with the few hours of work time I have to discover a new album? Spend it grooving to Marvin Gaye Live in Miami. What can I say, I know what I like and may just be stuck in my ways more than I’d like to admit.

I can’t find much information about these performances which seem to be cobbled together from several dates. Even the year is unclear, though a very touching medley sung for Tammi Terrell indicates its after her tragic death in 1967.

The recordings themselves are not very professional, they’re noisy and muffled but Gaye is vibrant, charming, and heartfelt.

He ends Let’s Get It On with a plea to turn the lights off and get busy that aches with sexed up desperation and woos the crowd by taking breaks to sip honey tea and asking women from the audience to dance with him.

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Posted on September 12, 2011

Albums »Unleashed in the East

by Judas Priest (1979)

“Down on your knees and repent if you please!” – Judas Priest‘s Unleashed in the East begins with the highest point of the live set with an exciting “Exciter“. Not that the rest is “down hill” but it’s almost impossible to top the opening number, though Sinner and The Ripper (possibly my favorite Priest song depending on the day) come pretty close. In fact, the whole set, recorded during their 1979 live show in Tokyo is incredibly rocking and sounds great… perhaps too great?

Nicknamed “Unleashed in the Studio” by sceptics, many claim this can only be called “live” in the loosest terms. Holford, after years of denial even admitted that some vocals were re-recorded in a concert like setting. But really, who cares. It’s fun to listen to, it’s exhilarating and showcases the band at the height of their popularity in front of an adoring audience.

 

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Posted on April 2, 2011

Albums »Raphael Saadiq Live at SXSW

at NPR

Having not found a babysitter (and honestly, being ok not leaving Van with a stranger) we probably do not have a Raphael Saadiq concert on our horizon (though fans, take note! – he will be playing Webster Hall May 10th).

Lucky for us NPR came to the rescue with this SXSW set that includes rocking tunes from the new album Stone Rollin, some from his breakout solo hit Instant Vintage and a couple from that loveliest of soul revival albums, The Way I See It.

The showmanship is lively, exciting and perfected. Do enjoy!

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Posted on March 24, 2011

Albums »Big Time

by Tom Waits (1988)

Seeing Tom Waits live is like the Holy Grail for me. After a couple years of fulfilling my live in concert dreams (Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac, Britney Spears, Nick Cave, Grace Jones, and R. Kelly) he’s the only big one left. It’s a rare occurrence, with the last tour being a couple years ago. Fortunately for all of us, his previous concert film, Big Time is available to stream from netflix even as DVDs are difficult to track down.

Theatrical with a German expressionist meets vaudeville vibe, it’s a joy to watch, especially for long time fans. Waits performs some of my favorite songs from Rain Dogs, Frank’s Wild Years and Swordfishtrombones and charms the audience with piano side monologues about pregnancy, erotica, and strip clubs.

His wife Kathleen Brennan, who sparked Waits’ gravely, strange and fantastic turn by introducing him to Captain Beefheart was the co-creative behind this performance.

The album, which was released after the video, is a great listen even with out the visual accompaniment.

Click here for the rest of Big Time

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Posted on December 23, 2010

Albums »The Doors in Concert

by The Doors

I have a bunch of friends that hate The Doors. On one hand, I simply do not understand but on the other, if you’re really big on the contemporary, sensitive and overly modest indie rock man style, I can see there would be more than a little resistance to the shirtless leather panted swagger of Morrison and co with their drugged up poetry and out of control sexual confidence. If you count yourself among these haters, you should definitely avoid The Doors in Concert. If you think he’s got the bluster of an high school senior talking the pants of every girl he meets on record, you should listen to him ask “wrap your legs around my neck” followed by “it’s getting hard” live. As full of high school hormones the innuendo is, god help me, it still works on me like gang busters.

As an adult, I might be snide about the equivalent sexual pop stars of kids today. The silly antics and puffed up machismo or bravado, but the same things make me tingle with delight here. It helps that the music is genuinely dynamic, exciting, and classic and never more so than when the band is performing at their best. And they’re at their best in phenomenal, angry versions of the epic When the Music’s Over – perhaps my favorite Doors song (it makes me want to scream along “We want the world and we want it now!”) as well as the equally epic The End and the jangly Roadhouse Blues.

There’s so much youthful exuberance and this is exactly the kind of album that makes me feel like I really missed out by not living through the sixties then wonder how everybody’s parents turned out so square and republican regardless.

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Posted on March 21, 2010

Spend a Couple Hours »Jon Brion at The Largo

366 N La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA

Our good friend Matthew  made sure that one LA experience we had was a Jon Brion show, so I felt absolutely horrible when Jim, Laura and I began dozing off early in the performance!! In our defense: we were totally jet lagged, it was warm and dark, and Brion was playing soft, Aimee Mannish piano tinkles that could easily be released on a collection of lullabies.

But things got wildly entertaining and even the most tired of us perked up when Brion began a mind-bending and mind-blowing cover of Tomorrow Never Knows complete with a Maria Callas video loop, his own looped drumming and guitar, and video of a great looking George Harrison. The rest of the evening consisted of more audience-requested covers (though none of mine took: Sex in the Kitchen, Pony, Thunder Road…) including a xylophone and audience participation version of Don’t Stop Believing, a trippy Wish You Were Here and a straight forward acoustic rendition Gigantic. It was invigorating and amazing to watch: every element of the songs he performs is created right in front of you. He’ll start on the piano, then drums, loop them then add guitar, loop that, they play around with video and voice… it’s totally amazing.

I had no idea what I was in for: admittedly a dunce when it comes to the modern soundtrack scene of Paul Thomas Anderson, I figured Brion was a comedian or something, but in fact he’s the highly respected genius behind not only the (PT) Anderson soundtracks, but the production of Aimee Mann, Rufus Wainwright, Elliott Smith, Kanye West, and Fiona Apple records!

At the new Largo location, the show seems to be almost monthly and sells out quickly; be sure to arrive on the early side to get pick up your tickets if you desire up close seats.

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Posted on February 28, 2010

Songs »Reba

Phish at UNH 5.8.1993Phish, live at the UNH Fieldhouse May 8, 1993

Phish has never been an easy band to love, it takes hard work and an extremely specific social context for the music to take hold – but once it does, once it becomes the official soundtrack to youthful good times, it never fully leaves the lives of its long-time listeners.

The concept is pretty straight forward: stoned nerds meet up in the late ’80s in the Burlington, VT area. Channeling the sounds of the Grateful Dead and Frank Zappa, they become the ultimate bar band on acid, then they cross over to playing colleges. Over the next ten or so years they produce some of the most popular and enduring music of the ’90s (yet never really appear on MTV or FM radio) with a serious bent towards goofiness and a penchant for mind-bendingly intricate musicianship. Constantly touring, they close the decade out as one of the world’s highest grossing live acts.

What’s so appealing about this music is that it’s always in good spirits – it’s always ready to affect your mood in a positive way – and the song I’ve selected here is a prime example of the band at their finest… or, more accurately, phinest.

If you spent any time at all around a high school parking lot or university hacky sack green in the early to mid 1990s, you’re probably familiar with the refrain ‘Bag it, tag it, sell it the butcher in the store’. If not, I’m sorry because you totally missed out.

Reba is comprised of three distinct movements (and a parenthetical fourth: the final, whistled refrain), the first, which includes the lyrical portion of the song, tells the children’s booky tale of an over-eager cartoony home-chemist (kind of betraying Trey’s roots as the son of a woman who wrote songs for Sesame Street); the second portion sounds like what you might expect if an early 1960s eastern European master of animated film commissioned an avant garde jazz quartet to score an unfinished film he created based on the first part of the song (the narrative of Reba mixing all these crazy ingredients in her bath tub); finally, at around the 6 and a half minute mark, the song opens up and… well, you really ought to hear for yourself.

Click here for the rest of Reba

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Posted on December 6, 2009

Spend a Couple Hours »See Phish

Phish at MSG 12.3.2009Fall/ Winter 2009 Tour

There’s a real difference between armchair analysis and actually being a part of the crowd, and when Dan and I saw Phish at MSG the other night, the experience differed, as you can probably imagine, rather tremendously from listening to a bunch of MP3s on Nugs.net.

I hadn’t seen a Phish show since Astrid and I went our during our last year of school – practically another life: this was back before the Providence Civic Center was re-christened Dunkin’ Donuts Center – so I was a bit out of step and a couple things struck me right away.

First of all, the music is front and center – for hours. Without a cluttered desktop full of stuff to do, Outlook’s auto-receive scheduled for every 3 minutes and, of course, coworkers, there are relatively few distractions (though there are definitely a few distractions) and the takeaway isn’t in the details (obviously you can’t scrub back to that amazing moment at 12:39), but the entirety of the experience.

Ebb and flow, tension and release, lighting effects and glow-in-the dark-bracelet-throw-cues; the whole thing kind of melds together, laying bare the structure nearly every song adheres to and the band’s truly unique sound-vision. Absolutely no other rock act so successfully fuses what is essentially contemporary jazz, good old fashioned crooning, traditional rock blues, tone-based alien landscapes, overly ambitious college-level compositions and unadulterated white, duct-taped-brimmed embroidered collegiate cap funk. After a couple of hours the distinct aural experience becomes more than familiar.

‘Precocious’ may seem like an unusual descriptor for someone who’s a well established virtuoso, but the personality of the playing, which I can best sum up as kind of a nerdily frustrated musical theory major (they’re just not teaching what I want to learn, dude) who happens to be super into showing off (which I guess probably isn’t all that unique a character combo), makes for alternately sublime and confounding music.

The continual escalation, the nearly infinite ratcheting up of every song, results in one ‘Can you believe I’m even playing this?!’ moment after another. This can go one of two ways: it can blister and ultimately kind of numb, like the incredibly intense David Bowie that closed the second set, or it can truly wow, like the breathtakingly necessarily over-complicated Fluff’s Travels, which was just absolutely stunning to behold as the band navigated its way through what felt like dozens of sound-scapes drawn in cartoony broad-strokes, literally turning on a dime several times a minute.

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Posted on December 6, 2009

Spend a Couple Hours »Eccentric Soul Review

eccentric soul reviewAt the Williamsburg Hall of Music

A concert is never more enjoyable than when the performers seem to be having just as much fun as the audience, and I’ve never seen and more mutual enthusiasm than at The Eccentric Soul Review at the Williamsburg Hall of Music. Several one-time soul artists who peaked in decades past were there to share the stage with each other and today’s voice of soul from Chicago, JC Brooks and The Uptown Sound.

Both Brooks and Eccentric Soul will be familiar to regular readers of this blog, so of course I was quick to get a ticket. Also, as I may have mentioned before,  a great friend of mine (since my long ago elementary school days) plays guitar and masterminds the Uptown Sound; it’s always a delight to see him strutting around the stage.

The show, which was quite crowded with eager, hip faces, began with my favorite act of the night, Renaldo Domino, who’s signature pleading song Not Too Cool to Cry is still playing in my head. Next out was Harlem rapper Miss Missy Dee who slammed through a brief performance with her MC and was once a rare female voice during the birth of hip hop.

The Notations, a white suited four man band who had a pretty big hit with the song I’m Still Here, came next and wowed the audience with their charisma and me especially with some impressive a capella.

JC Brooks, who really has a dynamite presence on stage, along with the band, which backed all the acts, delivered some particularly electric performances.

Syl Johnson was the headliner of the night, though, and he was one wild cat. Seemingly drunk, though I’ve since been assured that his rambling exuberance is simply his signature performance style, he sang many of his oft sampled hits, occasionally repeating just who sampled him (the words Wu Tang clan came up again and again).

The finale was a rousing rendition of You Can’t Always Get What You Want featuring everyone back on stage. It got the crowd so psyched that the artists had to return for one last song: The Tighten Up, originally by Archie Bell.

Click here for the rest of Eccentric Soul Review

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Posted on November 15, 2009

Spend a Couple Hours »Grace Jones

This is how I felt back on July 27th:

We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones!

See images at RC.

RUNNERS UP:
Richard Avedon at ICP
Fleetwood Mac Live
William Eggleston at the Whitney
Odds Costume Rental Sale
Daniel Kitson
Japas 27

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Posted on November 2, 2009

Spend a Couple Hours »R Kelly

We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!! We are seeing R Kelly live!!

God help me but I do love him.

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Posted on October 12, 2009

Spend a Couple Hours »Britney Spears Circus Tour

We're going to see Britney! We're going to see Britney! We're going to see Britney! We're going to see Britney! We're going to see Britney! We're going to see Britney! We're going to see Britney! We're going to see Britney! We're going to see Britney! We're going to see Britney! We're going to see Britney! We're going to see Britney!?I hope she does something a little crazy. I hope she plays all my favorite songs from Blackout. I hope Jim still loves me when it's over.

I also hope the Pussycat Dolls don't go over long.

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Posted on August 24, 2009

Spend a Couple Hours »Grace Jones

We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones! We're going to see Grace Jones!

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Posted on July 27, 2009

TV Shows »Who Put the M in Manchester

who put the m in manchester morrisseyWho Put the M in Manchester? Clearly the answer is Morrissey. Performing on his forty-fifth birthday (“I can't believe I'm 29” he quips to the audience, as charmingly as ever), Morrissey seems to be paying homage to fellow crooner Elvis Presley's 1968 comeback special with the stage set consisting of his solely his name, huge in lights.

Experiencing a comeback of his own at the time of the concert, Morrissey begins the show with my favorite song from his career altering album You are The Quarry (First of the Gang to Die). He also performs several songs from the excellent Viva Hate. You can watch the entire performance on instant Netflix.

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Posted on July 13, 2009

Spend a Couple Hours »Judas Priest Live

judas priest on tourJim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest! Jim is seeing Judas Priest!

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Posted on July 6, 2009