I had never seen either Beck or Jack White in concert.  I was familiar with Beck’s music fairly well… having all of his stuff.  I was completely unfamiliar with Jack White’s music – outside of some of the White Stripes and Raconteurs that I’d heard.  Needless to say, I was equally excited about both shows.

Beck in Bend was the tail-end of a nice “Bend Ale Trail” weekend for me… sampling some new places for me: 10 Barrel Brewing & Good Life Brewing.  Both highly recommended for their beer and their food!  Bend also had some lovely weather and some odd rainbows in the clouds…

(not photoshopped… photo taken near Deschutes Brewery in Bend, OR)

Metric was Beck’s opener… the Toronto indie rock quartet ripped through a dancey hour-long set.  Their fifth album, Synthetica, comes out on June 12, 2012.  If the way they had the Bend audience going is any indication, the new album should be a crowd pleaser as well.

Beck went on after a short set break… kicking the show off right with some Odelay goodness by way of “Devil’s Haircut.”

Among his two-hour long set, he bounced around his back and “recent” catalog (2008′s Modern Guilt) fairly well.  Every era got some great representation.  As mentioned, I had never seen him live before.  I was pleasantly surprised with the great mix, especially the songs off of Sea Change…

Beck’s Setlist: about 2 hours

• Devil’s Haircut
• Loser
• Black Tambourine
• Soul of a Man
• Hotwax
• Sissyneck
• The Golden Age
• Lost Cause
• Sunday Sun
• Think I’m In Love
• The New Pollution
• Modern Guilt
• Paper Tiger
• “Song for Bend” [Improv]
• End of the Day
• Tropicalia [partial]
• Jack-Ass
• Gamma Ray
• Minus
• Girl
• Where It’s At
• Encore: Soldier Jane
• Looking Back
• Mutherfuker
• E-Pro

Next, on to Eugene…

I missed Jack White’s opener, Quasi.  I’d heard of them before, and would have liked to have seen the show (I like Sam Coomes work with Elliott Smith).  Alas, driving back from Bend and personal commitments made it so we skated into the venue right as Quasi was ending their set… d’oh!

Jack White’s show… what to say, what to say?  Professional, yet muddy.  Loud, yet not necessary.  Thoroughly energetic, yet confusing.  Quite enjoyable, yet painful.

The man writes hooky songs, and plays guitar and piano very well… yet, the sound was cranked through the roof.  It lost so many of the lushness and subtlety that I think would have been suited for this show at the Hult Center.

Another thing that can’t go without mentioning, the “III” imagery abounding.  Sure, rockstars should have iconic imagery.  But a suffix namesake seems like an odd thing to so vehemently brand… unless you’re branding your ego or something.

Several times it seemed as if Eugene wasn’t stroking his ego enough… he quipped that if we didn’t want, they didn’t have to come back out (after their 45 minute initial set).  He tried to get the crowd to do a sing-a-long on one song, but it seemed as if the song had ended already, and it was more of a confusing thing (or so it seemed to me).

The loudness, was, again… unnecessary.  Fantastic musicianship and seemingly intricate things going on with fantastic players… completely lost in the brash, feedback-induced sound cloud.  So many subtleties lost.  So many subtleties lost.

Jack White’s Setlist: two sets, ~45 mins & ~35 mins

• any help on the setlist??

(pro photos from Eugene will be posted at jwiii.com)

The bottom line… I really enjoyed the Jack White show.  The flaws that I saw in the show are totally fixable.  Who am I to say what he should do anyhow? :)  I’m just thinking that something that shows off his musical chops, his writing prowess, his voice, his players, and his songs at the forefront – not clouded by sheer volume – could have been far, far, FAR more enjoyable… and probably far, far, far more enjoyable to more to others (not just me).

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Beck’s Site
• Beck’s Social Media Links (see below)
  
• Metric’s Site
• Metric’s Facebook / MySpace / Twitter
• Les Schwab Amphitheater’s Site / Facebook / Twitter1 / Twitter2
  - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
  
• Jack White’s Site
• Jack White 2012 Tour Photos by Jo McCaughey
• Jack White’s Social Media Links (see below)
  
• Quasi’s Site
• Quasi’s Facebook / MySpace
  
• The Hult’s Site / Facebook / Twitter

Next show for me… Emily Wells @ WOW Hall on 6/3.

~Dan – np: Sigur Rós – Valtari

Above Photos: Roger Waters ‘The Wall Live’ at the Rose Garden on 5/22/12
by Kevin Tomanka (more at Oregon Music News)

FYI… my PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

The spectacle, the brilliance that is Pink Floyd & The Wall Live… I sadly never got a chance to see Pink Floyd perform together, but seeing Roger Waters bring The Wall to us 30+ years later was still quite the treat.  It’s not my favorite album of theirs… I love Wish You Were Here, Dark Side of the Moon and Meddle a bit better, and before the show you’d have caught me saying things like “The Wall is quite overrated.”  Well, after the show, I still think the album is a bit overrated, but my opinion has definitely appreciated.

And the live show… holy smokes!  Amazing!!!

There was no opener; so the show started fairly promptly (8:15pm).  Wide stage with the start of the wall, a tape intro, then BANG… In the Flesh with fire, sparks, projected graffiti animation on the walls, an airplane flying in from mid-crowd ceiling crashing and bursting into flames just beyond the wall… whoa!  We were in for a SHOW!

The show featured several other blow up accoutrements… an evil schoolmaster during the school children song (local school children were used), a war pig, and another creature.  The imagery from the original The Wall movie was used in addition to a lot of modernized imagery and animations.  For “Mother,” Roger played with himself… a 1980′s Earl’s Court version of himself, that is.

The Wall went up slowly as the band went on… the second set, the band was primarily behind the wall, with Roger coming out to sing for a few tunes.  At the end… huge explosion and down it came!  They played The Wall in its entirety, no encore.

Setlist: just shy of 2 hours total

• Set 1: Outside the Wall [Tape]
• In the Flesh?
• The Thin Ice
• Another Brick in the Wall Part 1
• The Happiest Days of Our Lives
• Another Brick in the Wall Part 2
• Mother
• Goodbye Blue Sky
• Empty Spaces
• What Shall We Do Now?
• Young Lust
• One of My Turns
• Don’t Leave Me Now
• Another Brick in the Wall Part 3
• The Last Few Bricks
• Goodbye Cruel World
  <<25 minute intermission>>
• Set 2: Hey You
• Is There Anybody Out There?
• Nobody Home
• Vera
• Bring the Boys Back Home
• Comfortably Numb
• The Show Must Go On
• In the Flesh
• Run Like Hell
• Waiting for the Worms
• Stop
• The Trial
• Outside the Wall
  No Encore

Brilliant show!  Go go go go if you get the chance!  It’s a brilliant display of excess, but it also has good points about government overreach and the ills of war.  It’s a paradox and dichotomy.

Portland 5/22 The Wall photos:
(iPhone + 2 of Kevin’s pro shots)

Click to view slideshow.

Go to OMN for Kevin Tomanka’s pro shots

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Roger Waters’ Site
• Pink Floyd’s Site
• Roger Waters & Pink Floyd’s Social Media Links (see below)
  
• Rose Garden’s Site / Facebook / Twitter

Next show for me… Beck @ Les Schwab (Bend) 5/27 and Jack White @ Hult (Eugene) 5/28.

~Dan – np: Beck – The Information

Sigur Rós “Ég anda” video

pre-order Valtari here, and look out for the Mystery Film Experience
coming soon for the rest of the album’s videos

And this…

Radiohead – OK Computer and Kid A in 8-bit

OK 8-bit mp3 download here

Kid 8-bit mp3 download here

~Dan – np: Beck – The Information

Well done, kids!

~Dan – np: Storm Corrosion – Storm Corrosion

Also, as reported earlier, Ben Folds Five is working on new music, and they put out a PledgeMusic drive (similar to Kickstarter).  They’ve already met their goal, but you still have time to jump on the bandwagon and get the music before it gets released traditionally…

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/benfoldsfive

~Dan – np: Storm Corrosion – Storm Corrosion

*~*~*~*

A blogpost by Eugene-Oregon bottle shop & taphouse Sixteen Tons recently mentioned the great flavor combination of carrot cake and India Pale Ale. I immediately exclaimed, “by golly (radio edit)… I’m going to make some carrot cake IPA combo… somehow!!” And thus this recipe was born…

Ginger Carrot-cake Cupcakes
.

with IPA buttercream frosting

…

Cupcake Ingredients:
makes about 12 cupcakes

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups peeled, grated carrots
• 2 tsp peeled and finely grated fresh ginger

Frosting Ingredients:
makes about 12 cupcakes

• 2/3 cup Ninkasi Tricerahops Double IPA (or any other hoppy beer of your choosing)
• 4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 12 oz. low-fat cream cheese, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2-3 cups powdered sugar
• candied ginger for garnish

(click for larger)

Steps:

Cupcakes~

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Insert 12 cupcake liners into a 12-muffin tin.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, and ground cloves.
3. In a large bowl, stir together granulated sugar, unsweetened applesauce, and canola oil until thoroughly combined. Add 2 eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Add grated carrots and grated fresh ginger. Stir to combine.
5. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each liner about 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean, about 18 to 22 minutes. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on a wire rack.
   

Frosting~

1. In a saucepan, add the IPA and place over LOW-medium heat. Reduce the beer by half (until it measures approximately 1/3 cup). It will be a darker caramel color from the original beer.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the cream cheese and butter. Beat with a whisk attachment until light and fluffy.
3. Add in the vanilla, powdered sugar and beer reduction. Whip again until fully combined, and the finished product is light and fluffy.
4. Cover the bowl and chill for 1 hour.
5. If the frosting seems too thin when you remove from the fridge, add more powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it reaches desired consistency.
6. Frost when the cakes are at room temperature and garnish with candied ginger.
   Enjoy!

(click for larger)

Seeing as Ninkasi Tricerahops comes in a 22oz bottle, you still have about a pints-worth of the beer to pair with a cupcake… well, if you didn’t drink it while you were baking.

Speaking of cupcakes…

Just around the corner is the 2nd annual Eugene Beer Week, and one of the events on Thursday, May 10th is a beer & cupcake tasting (FB event). Join 16 Tons and Divine Cupcake at the Supreme Bean Coffee Company (2864 Willamette, Eugene, OR 97405) for this unique event. They’ll be serving up 5 different pairings with Divine Cupcakes and a great flight of specialty beers:

• Boneyard’s Hop Venom IPA with IPA frosting carrotcake
• Widmer’s Imperial Stout with Death by Chocolate
  
• Rogue’s Hazelnut Brown Ale with Salted Caramel
• Elysian’s Avatar Jasmine IPA with Tao of Green (matcha green tea cake)
• Elysian’s The Peste Chocolate Chili Beer with The Swizzle (Mexican Chocolate Cake)

Cupcakes served 5:30pm-10pm on Thursday, May 10th.  Free Entry, $3 per 3oz Beer + Mini Cupcake.  Free Widmer Glass to first 60 people.  Full Food, Beer, Wine, and Coffee Menu offered.  All ages welcome.

Bon appetit!

This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes at THIS LINK. For specific “cooking with beer” links, go here:

• Oakshire Overcast (espresso stout) Chocolate Pudding
• Flat Tail Pumpkin Stout Tiramisu
• Framboise Cranberry Relish
• Blue Moon orange sherbet float
• Oakshire espresso stout float

~Dan – np: O.S.I. – Fire Make Thunder

Podcaster George Hrab has been my favorite free entertainment for a LONG time.  Since late 2007 or so, when I got into his funny & insightful podcast called the Geologic Podcast, he’s been my favorite near-hour of entertainment that gets put out nearly every week.

An all around great chap, his latest podcast (#262) featured a few hilarious “old timey” songs performed by “Manfreedy Johnson and the Nineteens“…

No Cell Service

Web Browser

Facebook

Subscribe to the Geologic Podcast on iTunes.

Beyond being a funny guy, a skeptic, and a thinker, he’s also a professional musician and has six full-length studio albums out (GO HERE to LISTEN).

~Dan – np: Kim Taylor – I Feel Like A Fading Light

So, Digital Noise Academy/DNA (formerly Los Angeles Digital Noise Academy/LADNA) has been teasing us with new album promises way back since the MySpace days.  The collaborative led by one of my favorite musicians Ken Andrews (Failure, On, Year of the Rabbit, worked with Tool, A Perfect Circle, NIN, Tenacious D, Copeland, etc) is what brings me to the table, but the other members are tops, too… Sharky Laguana (Creeper Lagoon), Charlotte Martin (Herself), Justin Meldal-Johnsen (NIN, Beck, Air, M83), Fernando Sanchez (Lenka, Ben Jelen, Racheal Yamagata, Chris Cornell), and Jordon Zadorozny (Blinker the Star, Sam Roberts).

Well, now they officially have a kickstarter.  I think it’s a great project, and I sincerely hope it gets made.  Check out the first single they released two years ago (which will be on the album), then check out the Kickstarter page…

KICKSTARTER PAGE

They have already completed two songs “Melting Inside” and “Thursday Night Party.”  Both these songs are currently available for free download on their website www.digitalnoiseacademy.com. 

~Dan – np: DNA – “Melting Inside”

Ben Folds posted the following “airplane blog” last night on Facebook about the work they’ve done on the upcoming Ben Folds Five record… lots of news and insight…

About Ben Folds Five, the new album.

I’m writing this on a plane. I tweeted that I wanted to blog and most responses were – blog about the new album. Fine, I’ll start there. I won’t correct grammar or spelling so hopefully we’ll all deal. I’m typing as fast as I can… and I type damn fast if I do say so myself. I just screw up a lot….

The album started in January. We just started playing and recorded shitloads of stuff.

A way that I often wrote for us was to just sit and imagine what kind of sound, song, sentiment, arrangement I’d like to hear us do. It’s easy to imagine because we have a very distinct style of playing together that was pretty much writ in stone from our first rehearsal on. There were a couple of breakthroughs back in the day… Eddie Walker was one. We figured out some tonal stuff – the floor tom ride with lots of AAAHS and fuzz bass on the chorus was a defining technique for instance.

On the new album we’ve discovered quite a few new things like that. We’re tonally a few steps into the future. I remember when bands all had a ‘sound’. I know that sounds like a total old man thing to say, but hey if the orthopedic shoe fits… You know, a band that just set up their shit, played in the corner and just had a fresh sound. I’m not saying there’s no style today, just that plugging in and working with what you have makes you work hard to find a sound… okay. I’m rambling but that’s what I promised to do in the blog.

So we played hours of stuff on tape and it was inspired. Quite insane. I got little sleep for weeks as I had idea after idea on how to make these sounds into songs. I’d spend the mornings at the piano and then the guys would come in. It was a burst. We began on Pro Tools with the idea of moving off when we started recording ‘for real’ but we saw no advantage of moving over as we were only using the Tools as a tape deck anyway and were enjoying the freedom of being able to record more than a fifteen minutes of music at a time.

We set up in my studio in the same room with a little baffling, but without the interest in separation. In other words, for engineers, we welcomed bleed.

Lyrically it began to take shape quickly and we were much richer in ideas and material than any of the albums we did together. We were supporting each other, trying each idea instead of poo poo-ing each other’s creativity. It was a pretty amazing experience. UNTIL…

We ran out of time because I had stuff to do, Darren had a Hotel Lights tour and Robert’s son is too young to leave for too long. So we stopped and that’s where we are.

The lyric stuff. Loss of ego. That emerged as a theme. Ways to lose the ego. Funny thing is that I didn’t realize that each of those ego losing songs would be failures. I mean, each character who aspired to do so only succeeds for a short time and then the ego comes back. I guess that’s the way it works in real life. Anyway… for instance…. Being Frank. That’s a song on the album. It’s kind of historical fiction in a way. Certainly when Frank Sinatra died, he had a tour manager and let’s say that tour manager was with him his whole career. Decades. When Frank passed the tour manager might have realized that he’d spent most of his adult life setting the thermostat for someone else, eating his leftovers, essentially trying to think like Frank to anticipate his needs. Frank’s death would have been a crisis but an exciting one. How to be yourself when someone you’re attached to is gone. What kind of coffee do you like, who are you really? But then I started to realize that that tour manager would have wanted to take some credit for Frank’s career. He suggested THAT lyric or that TV show etc. Frank was really being HIM. Loss of ego, failure.

Other songs titles… Erase Me. Do It Anyway. The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind (that’s Nick Hornby’s lyric and my music). Sky High (beautifully written Darren song). We really spent quite a bit of production time on Sky High. It warranted it. You know that 10cc trick where they looped vocals, unison AHHHs and assigned each note to a fader on the console? Then they play the console like it’s a keyboard using the faders. We did that. Nobody does that and they should. It’s not “copying” 10cc… it’s recognizing that they invented an instrument. We play that instrument on Sky High. I’ll put up video of that. It’s kinda interesting.

What else… I’ve had a chorus that goes “If you can’t draw a crowd, draw dicks on the wall” for quite a while. Since Reinhold era. It had different melodies, but I always liked the idea. When someone wants attention and they don’t get it, often we do something really stupid or even destructive. The song is Draw A Crowd. It’s partially silly and partially deep. Many will latch on to the silly part and give me shit for it and maybe when they grow up they’re get the other part. If not, oh well. It’s okay. I like Kesha songs and some people don’t.

We’ll get back together in June. We kinda fucked up. We meant to finish the album and then do gigs. But we’re doing a few festivals and will be paddling ferociously between those gigs to finish our album. That’s alright. Deadlines are good.

I suppose the album should come out in September and we do not want to release it traditionally at all. I’m all into traditional record releases but for this one… I want to avoid ass kissing. It’s not healthy. I think we’re going to pass on radio promo and on most advance press. No sending it out for reviews etc. We’ll just let you know through Twitter and Facebook that it’s coming out. That’s the idea, and we’ll see how that goes. Maybe we’ll adjust our thinking. Just seems like such a musical experience I hate to be in the position of selling it to people who don’t care. I’d rather spend my time telling people who DO care and save the money and time. Sell fewer records probably to those who want it. That leaves more time to make new records and tour. Less ass kissing, more music and life. A good theory… we’ll see… lemme know what you think of that theory.

What else can I tell you. If you’re a Robert fan, you’ll shit. He’s better than ever and we’ve grown into knowing how to put him up front and letting him do what he does. Darren is playing lyrically as ever, like a fine jazz drummer – cymbals are gorgeous and he doesn’t give a damn so every once in a while he just makes a mockery of every drum fill you’ve ever heard but does it twice as crazy and makes it mean something. It’s quite damn amazing. Look out for what he does on a song called Michael Praytor. That song comes from a ‘rock this bitch’ partially. I’d always liked the melody but it comes to life with Robert and Darren in a way I never expected. Its a song about how some people just come back and back into your life whether you like it or not. You don’t choose them, they just show up.

There you go. I’ll do another blog now. The record pops out of the speakers and I’m finding myself wondering if we should tone it down. Nope. I think it’ll be just fine.

~Dan – np: Many Arms – Many Arms

You can pre-order the physical CD or mp3 version NOW.

~Dan – np: Storm Corrosion – Storm Corrosion

Mike Patton & the Ictus Ensemble is putting out Laborintus II in July 3, 2012, on Ipecac Recordings.  The cover art is below…

This is presumably taken from live recordings from Holland Fest 2010.  More news as it’s available.

Also, Mike Patton-related, if you missed the Record Store Day 2012 3-LP boxset from Tomahawk called eponymous-to-anonymous over the weekend, there are allegedly 5,000 copies floating around per Ipecac news; so you may have decent luck finding it this week at your local indie stores (or eBay).  Tomahawk’s 4th album is due out late Summer/early Fall 2012.

“Laborintus (Excerpt)“

Pre-order the CD

~Dan – np: Sufjan Stevens & Rosie Thomas – Hit & Run Vol 1

The new album comes out June 5th, 2012, and it marks the 2nd album since vocalist Burton C. Bell & guitarist Dino Cazares patched up their differences.  The new album also features Gene Hoglan on drums (the mega-monsterous drummer from Death, Testament, etc).

~Dan – np: Boards of Canada – High Scores EP

I got to the venue just in the nick of time as Jonathan Kingham was starting his opening set.  I had seen him about four years ago in Eugene with Glen Phillips.  I thought he was great last time, and he held up to that memory quite well on Thursday night.  I think he’s matured a little bit in his songwriting, and still quite the charmer on-stage.  Funny, witty, smooth voice, and slow jams.  He played some new tunes, some tunes about food, a tune called “Satisfied” (about a poodle?), a cover of Bobby Brown’s “Every Little Step” with an impressive improv rap, and ended the 45 minute set with “Grace” with Glen on backing vocals.

After a short break, Glen Phillips came out and dug right in.  He played the first handful of tunes unaccompanied, then Jonathan joined him on guitar and backing vocals for the classic Toad song “Walk On the Ocean.”  Jonathan stayed with him for the rest of the set, switching to piano partway through.

The things that draws me in to Glen are his voice and his poetic lyricism.  Whether it be with his solo stuff, his side-projects, or with his first band Toad – his humor, wit and joy for life shines through.  He played a great mix of songs throughout his career and even treated us to a couple brand new songs.  No word on if these new songs will show up on an upcoming solo album, collaboration album, or the rumored upcoming Toad the Wet Sprocket album.

Setlist: ~90 mins

• The Next Day
• Crowing [Toad the Wet Sprocket]
• Thankful
• End This Now
• Return to Me
• Blood Pressurize [RemoteTreeChildren]
• Walk on the Ocean* [Toad]
• The One Who Got Away
• Always Have My Love
• Released
• Whatever I Fear [Toad]
• True
• Finally Fading
• Windmills [Toad]
• new song “I could never be as strong as you”
• Solar Flare
• Fred Meyers
• All I Want [Toad]
• Rise Up
• Encore: Rare Bird (new song)
• Brothers on a Hotel Bed [Death Cab for Cutie]
  *J. Kingham guest on guitar for “Walk On the Ocean” through
  “Whatever I Fear” & on piano from “True” through “Rise Up.”
  

A great show from two fantastic, silken-voiced singer-songwriters.

GLEN PHILLIPS PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2012 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Glen Phillips’ Site
• Glen Phillips’ Social Media Links (see below)
  
• Jonathan Kingham’s Site
• Jonathan Kingham’s Facebook / MySpace / Twitter
• My Other Related Reviews~
  • Toad @ Bend Summer Fest (Bend – July 2011)
  • Toad @ Crystal Ballroom (Portland – July 2010)
  • W.P.A. @ WOW Hall (Eugene – Sept 2009)
  • Glen solo @ WOW Hall (Eugene – Feb 2008)
• Alberta Rose Theatre’s Site / Facebook / Twitter

Next show for me… Dan Deacon at the University of Oregon on 4/17.

~Dan – np: Boards of Canada – Twoism

Yesterday Sigur Rós announced their first few dates for their North American tour for the upcoming album, Valtari…

July 2012
30 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Skyline Stage at The Mann
31 – Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Prospect Park Bandshell

August 2012
1 – Toronto, Ontario @ Echo Beach at Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
3 – Montreal, Quebec @ Osheaga Festival Musique Et Arts
4-5 – Chicago, Ill. @ Lollapalooza
8 – Seattle, Wash. @ The Paramount Theater
9 – Portland/Troutdale, Ore. @ Edgefield Amphitheater
12 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Tickets willing, I’ll be at the Portland date!  Go sign up on sigur-ros.co.uk to find out when tickets go onsale.

~Dan – np: Tyler Fortier – Bang On Time

The last time I saw Radiohead was in a large outdoor amphitheatre (White River, Aug 2008), and I’ll say the move to indoors was much appreciated.  This was my first time to Key Arena.  Pretty basic arena… stage set up at end.  I arrived just as the opening band was wrapping up… the TicketMaster/Radiohead paperless ticketing was great from a no-scalpers perspective, but it took a bit longer to file everyone in timely.

Radiohead started off the set with “Bloom,” featuring the double drum set-up with both Phil Selway and touring member Clive Deamer (from Portishead) in addition to Jonny Greenwood on a small drum kit.  Jonny hit the mini-kit again (along with Ed O’Brien) for “There There” later in the set.

The light show was a LED wall behind the band with moving, suspended video screens (see photo above and slideshow below).  The moving video screens had been slowly coming down on the band until they were under an archway of lights by the time “Airbag” came around.  Ed make a half-hearted leap to hit the screen above him with his hand.

The band stuck to a lot of new stuff for this show, only digging into the first half of their catalogue a handful of times during their 23-song set.  Some highlights were the wall of Thom eyes during Thom’s piano close-up on “You And Whose Army?,” the grandeur of “Lucky,” the wild strobe and raucous “Idioteque,” the subtler / gentler piano-driven “Daily Mail,” and Jonny’s bowed guitar combined with the piano intro to “Pyramid Song.”  I’m still getting used to The King of Limbs, and while I don’t think the rockier songs worked (for me) live, the gentler stuff really hit the mark, especially “Give Up the Ghost” and the aforementioned “Daily Mail.”  “Little by Little” seemed a little off at the beginning, but other than that, no major disappointments…

Setlist: about 2 hours

• Bloom
• 15 Step
• Airbag
• Little by Little
• Myxomatosis
• The Gloaming
• Morning Mr. Magpie
• Pyramid Song
• The Daily Mail
• These Are My Twisted Words
• Nude
• Identikit
• Lotus Flower
• There There
• Feral
• Idioteque
• Encore 1: How to Disappear Completely
• Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
• You and Whose Army?
• Lucky
• Encore 2: Give Up the Ghost
• Reckoner
• Everything In Its Right Place

Soundcheck songs were Supercollider, 15 Step, Identikit and Meeting in the Aisle, but I was not in attendance for those…

A few iPhone shots from
Radiohead Seattle 4/9/12:

Click to view slideshow.

Matthew Lamb’s Pro-shot concert photos here on Key Arena’s FB page.:

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Radiohead’s Site
• Radiohead’s Social Media Links (see below)
  
• My Other Radiohead-related Posts~
  • The Universal Sigh (RSD 2011, PDF download)
  • White River Amphitheatre (Seattle-area – Aug 2008)
• Key Arena’s Site / Facebook / Twitter

Check out more RH tour dates below.

Next show for me… Glen Phillips (of Toad the Wet Sprocket) in Portland 4/12.

~Dan – np: Tyler Fortier – Bang On Time

Radiohead North American Tour 2012

February 2012

Mon 27 American Airlines Arena, Miami, FL, USA

Wed 29 St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, FL, USA

March 2012

Thu 1 Philips Arena Atlanta, GA, USA

Sat 3 Toyota Center Houston, TX, USA

Mon 5 American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX, USA

Wed 7 Frank Irwin Center Austin, TX USA

Fri 9 Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO USA

Sun 11 Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO USA

Tue 13 1st Bank Center, Broomfield, CO USA

Thu 15 Jobing.com Arena, Glendale, AZ USA

April 2012

Mon 9, Key Arena, Seattle, WA – USA

Wed 11, HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA – USA

Thu 12, Santa Barbara Bowl, Santa Barbara, CA – USA

Sat 14 Coachella – Indio, CA – USA

Tue 17 Foro Sol, Mexico City, Mexico

Wed 18 Foro Sol, Mexico City, Mexico

Sat 21 Coachella – Indio, CA – USA

“For Nothing“

Directed by Jimmy Ahlander

Threatening smoke, odd beings and glorified body parts, create dark poetry in this twisted, visual representation of OSI’s melancholic tune.

~Dan – np: O.S.I. – Fire Make Thunder

Fiona Apple — 2012 Tour Dates
6/19 – Ithaca, NY – State Theatre
6/20 – Baltimore, MD – Lyric Opera House
6/22 – Mashantucket, CT – MGM Grand Theater at Foxwoods
6/23 – Holyoke, MA – Mountain Park
6/24 – New York, NY – Governors Ball at Randall’s Island
6/26 – Washington DC – Warner Theatre
6/27 – Upper Darby, PA – Tower Theatre
6/29 – Danbury, CT – Ives Concert Park
6/30 – Boston, MA – Citi Performing Arts Center
7/1 – Portland, ME – State Theatre
7/3 – Montreal, QC – Olympia Theatre
7/4 – Toronto, Ontario – The Sound Academy
7/6 – Cleveland Heights, OH – Cain Park
7/7 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit
7/10 – Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre
7/11 – Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre
7/13 – Nashville, TN – The Ryman Auditorium
7/14 – St. Louis, MO – Peabody Opera House
7/16 – Minneapolis, MN – Orpheum Theatre
7/17 – Kansas City, MO – The Midland by AMC
7/20 – Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre
7/21 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kingsbury Hall at University of Utah
7/24 – Vancouver, BC – Orpheum
7/25 – Seattle, WA – Paramount Theatre
7/26 – Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
7/28 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
7/29 – Hollywood, CA – Hollywood Palladium

Finally, I’ll be able to check her off my “to see” list…

~Dan – np: Tyler Fortier – Bang On Time

Set in the world of Russian immigrants living in New York City, Downtown Express uses music to explore the clash of old world values against the lure and excitement of a new country. Under the watch of his loving but overbearing father, virtuoso violinist and Juilliard student Sasha (Grammy nominee Philippe Quint) prepares for a critical recital meant to launch his career.

Yet, he is increasingly drawn to the rhythms of the streets of New York, and when he meets singer-songwriter Ramona (acclaimed recording artist Nellie McKay), he joins her band, falls in love, and begins to lead a double life, careening frantically between two worlds. As his classical debut nears, Sasha must decide whether or not to break with his father, forging his own destiny.

And, per the film’s webpage…

[Nellie McKay's] fifth album is due this September.

Downtown Express opens April 20th 2012 at the Quad Cinema in New York City.

http://downtownexpressfilm.com/

~Dan – np: Radiohead – The King of Limbs

TRACKLIST:
01″Every Single Night”
02 “Daredevil”
03 “Valentine”
04 “Jonathan”
05 “Left Alone”
06 “Werewolf”
07 “Periphery”
08 “Regret”
09 “Anything We Want”
10 “Hot Knife”
(via Fiona’s FB page)

~Dan – np: Radiohead - OK Computer

British actor Martin Freeman [the new Sherlock, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Office] is poised to appear in the 8th Season Finale of NBC’s The Office as Tim Canterbury (reprising this character from the original BBC show).  Some key plot-points are TOP SECRET, but an immediate bonding with John Krasinski’s character Jim Halpert will not be maintained for long.

Executive producers and creators of the show, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, said this in an NBC press release:

It makes sense and, in a way, brings the story full circle.  Without giving away too much, [Tim] will wrangle Jim out of a job [early next season], which will open up a ‘Jim & Pam spin-off’ that we’re planning for 2014.

The Season Finale air date has yet to be announced by NBC.  Watch Season Eight “on demand” NOW.

~Dan – np: Tegan and Sara – Sainthood

What We Saw From the Cheap Seats
1. Small Town Moon
2. Oh Marcello
3. Don’t Leave Me (Ne Me Quitte Pas)
4. Firewood
5. Patron Saint
6. How
7. All The Rowboats
8. Ballad of a Politician
9. Open
10. The Party
11. Jessica

Regina Spektor and Tom Petty Tour Dates
April 2012
18/19 – Broomfield, Colo. @ 1 Bank Center
21 – Little Rock, Ark. @ Verizon Arena
24 – Albuquerque, N.M. @ Tingley Coliseum
26 – Wichita, Kan. @ Intrust Bank Arena
29 – Alpharetta, Ga. @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater at Encore Park

May 2012
1 – Estero, Fla. @ Germain Arena
3 – Orlando, Fla. @ Amway Center
5 – Austin, Texas @ Frank Erwin Center

The Atlanta (Alpharetta) date is convenient for a work trip of mine… yay!

~Dan – np: Ani DiFranco – Which Side Are You On?

Update 4/4/12 with cover art done by Jónsi’s sisters, Lilja and Inga Birgisdóttir (incidentally, Inga was the baby on the band’s first album cover, Von.)

As reported by Q, 24bit and Paste, Sigur Rós’ new album is called Valtari and due out on May 28th (Europe) or May 29th, 2012 (US).  At first, this looked like an elaborate pre-April Fool’s Day joke to me, simply based on this call out quote.  I bounced an email off of Peter at 24Bit, and he seemed to have vetted it a bit.

Simply based on the fact that I know Sigur Rós was in the studio working on new material, I’ll give my skepticism kudos but I’ll also give this news the benefit of the doubt.  Here’s what was reported on 24bit…

Following up a stunning solo LP and film score, Jónsi is back with the great Icelandic quartet Sigur Rós for a full-length successor to 2008′s Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust. Due out on May 28th and titled Valtari, the 7-track effort features “more electronic stuff than before,” bassist Georg Hólm told Q Magazine (via). “But don’t worry,” he added, “we haven’t made a dance record.”

Aside from track titles, the release date, and a few non-specific adjectives (“beautiful,” “dreamy,” “introverted,” etc.), Hólm and Jónsi offered their own differing images of what to expect:

Hólm: “…this I’d compare to looking at an old landscape painting.”

 Birgisson: “…like an avalanche in slow motion.”

It sounds like — as with most of the Sigur Rós oeuvre — we’ll have another cinematic set left gloriously open to interpretation. While we wait, the pair shared these track titles for cuts recently mixed with co-producer Alex Somers below:

Valtari Tracklist

• Ég Anda
• Ekki Múkk
• Varúð
• Rembihnútur
• Dauðalogn
• Varðeldur
• Valtari
• Flogur Piaro (?)

No official word on the Sigur Rós news page, but I imagine it’ll be forthcoming soon if true.

Nevermind… it’s legit!

introducing valtari, our new album sigur-ros.co.uk #sigurrosvaltari

—
sigur rós (@sigurros) March 26, 2012

Pre-order featuring exclusive merchandise coming soon!

~Dan – np: Skeleton Key – Gravity is the Enemy

SKERIK’S BANDALABRA PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2012 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Skerik’s Critter’s Buggin’ Site (no official Bandalabra site yet)
  
• Skerik’s Bandalabra on Facebook
• Skerik on Twitter
• My Other Related Reviews~
  • The Dead Kenny G’s @ Mt Tabor Theatre (Portland – Oct 2010)
  • McTuff @ Sam Bond’s (Eugene – July 2009)
  • McTuff @ Sam Bond’s (Eugene – Oct 2008)
  • Maelstrom Trio @ Sam Bond’s (Eugene – May 2008)
• Cozmic Pizza’s Site / Facebook / Twitter

Check out more tour dates below.

Next show for me… Ani DiFranco at the Roseland (Portland) on 3/31.

~Dan – np: Silver Mt. Zion – Born Into Trouble As the Sparks Fly Upward

Skerik’s Bandalabra Spring 2012 Tour Dates

• Thursday March 15 – Conway, WA @ Conway Muse
• Friday March 16 – Olympia, WA @ Olympia Ballroom
• Saturday March 17 – Seattle @ Nectar
• Sunday March 18 – Bend @ Players
• Monday March 19 – Welches @ Skyway
• Tuesday March 20 – Eugene, OR @ Cozmic
• Wednesday March 21 – Applegate @ Applegate Lodge
• Thursday March 22 – Arcata @ Jambalaya
• Friday March 23 – Sacramento @ Harlow’s
• Saturday March 24 – San Francisco @ Boom Boom Room
• Sunday March 25 – Los Angeles @ Bacchanal
• Monday March 26 – Los Angeles @ The Mint
• Tuesday March 27 – San Diego @ Winstons
• Thursday March 29 – Portland, OR @ Goodfoot

Jazzy, piano-pop songstress Nellie McKay just got done with a stint of tour dates for her death-row musical review I Want To Live! (double Oregon show review here).

Now she’s off with a new show entitled SILENT SPRING – It’s Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature, a tribute to trailblazing environmentalist, Rachel Carson (Nellie made up as Rachel to the right).

She is currently amidst her Silent Spring residency at Feinstein’s in NYC.  The show runs March 20 to 31, 2012.  No word on if Silent Spring will make it out of NYC for a tour, but this seems similar to the path that I Want To Live! took… so, who knows, maybe we’ll see Silent Spring out West in late 2012/early 2013?

Listen to Nellie’s version of the song “Rio de Lua (Moon River)” below:

Shara Worden / My Brightest Diamond has recorded a guitar-based version of “I Have Never Loved Someone” for a limited release (1000 hand-numbered copies) as a 7″ through Holland-based Nowhere Fast Records.  For the B-side, Shara has sung Leonard Cohen’s “Bird On A Wire” with guitar accompaniment by Marc Ribot.  The album is set for release on Record Store Day (21 April 2012), and it will be available in Europe, the UK and the US markets.

~Dan – np: Boards of Canada – Music Has the Right to Children

I have to be honest, part of me loves afrobeat due to it originating from my country of birth – Fela Kuti brought it to the forefront in Nigeria in the 1970s (I was born in Jos, Nigeria in the mid-70s as well).  Another part of me loves afrobeat due to how straight-up awesome that it is… blending and stirring folk, jazz, funk, rock, and world music into a brilliant, bubbling, oozing-through-your-pores musical and political form of expression.  It represents the struggle alongside the joy… and it’s got a funky beat I can dance to…

Sadly, I missed Femi Kuti (elder son of Fela) when he came through a few years back.  But I love the music, and didn’t want to miss that opportunity again.  I got into the style via NYC-based Antibalas.  When I saw that Seun Anikulapo Kuti was coming to Eugene, I had to go…

had. to.

The opener was California based instrumental afrobeat band Afromassive.  The crowd was sparse at first, but near the middle of the set, the WOW Hall was beginning to fill out…

They played a 45 minute set of instrumental afrobeat songs and a James Brown cover… definitely fun and danceable.  They were an 8-piece band on this tour – lighter on the horns than what was to come, but definitely a horn-centered funky vibe.

They were a perfect warm-up for Sean Kuti and the Egypt 80… The Egypt 80 was Fela Kuti’s band that Seun started singing in as a young boy.  After his father died in 1997, Seun took over the band when he was only 14!  Many of the members in this 15-piece (!) touring band were active in the band when Fela was alive and kicking.

The set kicked off with singer / trumpeter Muyiwa Kunnuji (in purple below) getting things going on vocals for “Giant of Africa.”  During this song, each member of the horn section got a chance to come out and show off their chops with a solo…

Sean came out during the 2nd song with backup singers/dancers and his sax in tow.  He took over the bulk of the lead vocals duties, but most of the band pitched in for the shouts and choruses…

The band played a spirited set of anthems with large swaths of stunning musicianship.  The band, presumably the same from the album’s liner notes (as the album photo appears to be the same people), was made up of the aforementioned Seun on sax & vocals, Muyiwa on vocals and trumpet, Bidemi Adekunle on baritone sax, Gdabe Okunade and Lekan Animashaun on trumpets, Oyinade Adeniran on tenor sax, David Obayendo and Gbenga Alade on guitars, Kunle Justice on bass, Ajayi Raimi on drums, Kola Onasanya on percussion, Okon Iyamba on shekere, Wale Toriola on keyboards, and Iyabo Adeniran and Yetunde Ademiluyi on backing vocals and dancing.

Setlist: 90+ mins

• Giant of Africa
• African Soldier
• Kalakuta Show [Fela Kuti]
  
• Zombie [Fela Kuti]
• African Problems
• Rise
• Mr. Big Thief
• The Good Leaf
• You Can Run
  No Encore (despite “Mosquito Song” listed)

  

Seun was drinking hot tea during part of the set… which couldn’t have helped with the heat on the packed stage.  His voice had been giving him troubles; so they ended their set without the listed “Mosquito” encore, despite the many cheers for an encore from the nearly-danced out crowd.  This was only the band’s fourth show on a 2-month long tour (full tour dates at the bottom).  I wish Seun rest and many large mugs of tea!

I picked up their most recent record, From Africa With Fury: Rise.  I dig it.  It’s available in CD or 12″ double-vinyl at the show… or over on the Amazons.  And next time a Kuti or other afrobeat band comes to town… get there.  You won’t be disappointed.

many more photos below

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Seun Kuti’s Site
• Seun Kuti’s Social Media Links (see below)
  
• Afromassive’s Site
• Afromassive’s Facebook / MySpace
• My Other Afrobeat Reviews~
  • Antibalas @ Berbati’s Pan (Portland – July 2010)
  • Antibalas @ Southgate House (mini-review) (Cincinnati – Apr 2007)
    
• WOW Hall’s Site / Facebook / Twitter

Check out more tour dates below.

Next show for me… well, as I write this, it’s in a few hours… Skerik’s Bandalabra @ Cozmic Pizza (3/20).  After that, it’s Dan Bern @ Cozmic (3/27) and Ani DiFranco @ Roseland (3/31).

~Dan – np: Seun Kuti and the Egypt 80 – From Africa With Fury: Rise

SEUN KUTI & THE EGYPT 80 PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2012 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Seun Kuti & the Egypt 80 – Spring 2012 U.S. Tour Dates
3/15 – SXSW – Austin, TX
3/16 – Neumo’s – Seattle, WA
3/17 – Mt. Tabor Theater – Portland, OR
3/18 – W.O.W. Hall – Eugene, OR
3/21 – Center for the Arts – Grass Valley, CA
3/23 – Moe’s – Santa Cruz, CA
3/24 – Mateel Cultural Center – Redway, CA
3/28 – Belly Up – Aspen, CO
3/29 – Boulder Theater – Boulder, CO
3/30 – Granada Theater – Lawrence, KS
3/31 – Englert Theater – Iowa City, IA
4/1 – House of Blues – Chicago, IL
4/4 – Variety – Atlanta, GA
4/5 – Duke Performances – Durham, NC
4/6- Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
4/7 – Club Helsinki – Hudson, NY
4/8 – Highline Ballroom – New York, NY
4/12 – UW Madison – Madison, WI
4/13 – Rhythm Foundation – Miami, FL
4/14 – The Cedar – Minneapolis, MN
4/15 – Coachella – Indio, CA
4/16 – Campbell Hall – Santa Barbara, CA
4/18 – UC San Diego – San Diego, CA
4/19 – Zellerbach Hall – Berkeley, CA
4/20 – UCLA Royce Hall – Los Angeles, CA
4/22 – Coachella – Indio, CA
4/24 – KTAOS Solar Center – Taos, NM
4/25 – Albuquerque Museum Amphitheater – Albuquerque, NM
4/27 – New Orleans Jazz Festival – New Orleans, LA
4/29 – Houston International Festival – Houston, TX
5/2 – House of Blues – New Orleans, LA
5/13 – Lake Eden Arts Festival – Black Mountain, NC

More photos, setlist and review of the show to be posted by Wednesday morning are posted here.

~Dan

all pictures (cc) 2012 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Of the songs I could identify… “Betty Ford,” “Polly Anna,” “Old Timer’s Disease,” “Margo and Harold,” and “Mercy Buckets.”

Drive By Truckers: SITE / Facebook / Twitter

Skip’s CD World: SITE / Facebook / Twitter

~Dan – np: The Blood Brothers – Crimes

Fourth time seeing Maynard James Keenan’s Puscifer.  Always a treat!  I opted out of the hassle of doing the photo pass on this 2nd leg, as I wanted to catch Carina Round’s set and not miss the intro video or any of the Puscifer set like I had to back at the 1st leg kick-off in Seattle in Nov 2011.  Thus… ALL PHOTOS posted on this review are from the official Puscifer photographer and/or Meats Meier (see FB photo album).

I did the VIP soundcheck & wine tasting again (I’m a sucker for that)… Soundcheck performance was again stripped down acoustic on both songs – “The Chain” [Fleetwood Mac] and the personal favorite “The Humbling River” (with Carina Round on banjo).

For the wine, this time we tried the Arizona Stronghold’s Mandala (2010) & Mangus (2010) and the Caduceus Cellars’ Nagual de la Naga (2010).  The Mandala was nice, had a very sweet and somewhat tart nose, but definitely a dry/balanced finish.  It’s still young, but was an interesting viognier white wine blend.  The next two were reds, and I liked them more.  The Mangus was very drinkable.  It was a “super Tuscan” primarily sangiovese blend – sweet, fruity, a little buttery in the mouth-feel.  My favorite of the night was the Nagual de la Naga.  It would have been perfect with a rich meal… this cabernet savignon, merlot, and sangiovese blend was only bottled a week before the tour started; so it was definitely a young wine.  Despite its age, it was full bodied and beautiful to drink now.

Carina Round opened the show.  She’s a great rocker singer-songwriter who also backs Maynard on vocals during the Puscifer set… she seemed more comfortable than the last tour go around.  Her band was made up of a majority of the Puscifer live band.  She had a lot of energy, and a high kick near the end of the set gave those of us in the front rows a special treat.  She left the stage, and shortly thereafter the video intro started with Billy D (played by Maynard), Hildy, Cherry Piles, Peter Merkin, and other odd characters.

The show started out the same as Seattle… with Maynard wheeling out a small airstream camper.  He set up some tables and chairs and talked about sustainability and what they’re trying to do with Puscifer (listen to the Fall 2011 monologue from NC).

The show overall was very similar to last year’s leg, which is fine with me… it’s a great set of songs, a fantastic light show, and a paradox of high technology with a stripped down feel.  The song selection was also quite similar, except for the middle of the set we got “Potions” and “Mama Sed” instead of “Polar Bear” and “Indigo Children”…

Setlist: about 90 minutes

• Maynard Monologue while setting up camper/stage
• The Green Valley
• Tiny Monsters
• Vagina Mine
• Dozo
• Toma
• The Rapture (Fear is a Mind Killa Mix)
• The Weaver
• Rev 22:20 [Carina Round on lead vocals]
• Potions
• Momma Sed
• Oceans
• Monsoons
• Horizons
• Conditions of My Parole
• Man Overboard
• Telling Ghosts
• The Undertaker
• Tumbleweed
  No Encore

This is a brilliant tour for a brilliant album.  The western feel also fits extremely well with the newer mellower songs… tumbleweeds blowing by, fake campfire, and a dazzling electrical storm…

Don’t have Conditions of My Parole yet?  I think you should go buy it if you haven’t yet.  It’s at the top of my pile for 2011 releases (by far).

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Puscifer’s Site
• Caduceus Cellars (Maynard’s wines)
• Puscifer’s Social Media Links (see below)
  
• Carina Round’s Site
• Carina Round’s Facebook / MySpace / Twitter
• My Other Related Reviews~
  • Puscifer @ Roseland #1 w/ wine tasting (Portland – Nov 2009)
  • Puscifer @ Roseland #2 (Portland – Nov 2009)
  • A Perfect Circle (Portland – June 2011)
  • Puscifer @ Paramount w/ wine tasting (Seattle – Nov 2011)
• PCPA/Arlene Schnitzer’s Site / Facebook / Twitter

Check out more tour dates below… the dates are winding down; so if you missed it, you’ll have to try next time!

Next shows for me… Seun Kuti @ WOW Hall (3/18) and Skerik’s Bandalabra @ Cozmic (3/20).

~Dan – np: John Zorn – IAO: Music in Sacred Light

Puscifer Winter Tour 2012

February
23  Austin, TX – Long Center for the Performing Arts
25 Baton Rouge, LA – River Center Theatre
26 Memphis, TN – Orpheum Theatre
28 Nashville, TN – Andrew Jackson Hall
29 Louisville, KY – Brown Theatre

March
1 Pittsburgh, PA – Byham Theatre
3 Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
4 Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre
6 Kansas City, KS – Kansas City Music Hall
7 Omaha, NE – Omaha Civic Auditorium
10 Edmonton, AB – North Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
11 Calgary, AB – Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
13 Vancouver, BC – The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts
14 Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
16 San Francisco, CA Palace of Fine Arts
17 Riverside, CA Fox Performing Arts Center
18 Escondido, CA – California Center for the Arts

Pear, Bleu Cheese & Walnut
.

Mini-Cheesecakes (no-bake)

…

Ingredients:
makes about 12 to 14 mini-cheesecakes

• 12 mini-graham crusts (they come in 6-packs, or make your own small or large)
  —–
• 8 oz. cream cheese or neufchâtel
• 4 oz. bleu cheese crumbles
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 can of pears (in their own juice – not syrup) with about 1/2 of the juice from the canned pears
• 1 small (4 oz) container of diced pears (for blending)
  Dole makes snack-cup sized diced pears
• 8 oz. heavy whipping cream
  —–
• 1 small (4 oz) container of diced pears (for garnish)
• candied walnuts (for garnish)
• arugula (for garnish)

Steps:

1. Combine cheeses, sugar, juices, extracts, and pears into a food processor or blender.  Mix until smooth.
2. Add heavy whipping cream and mix until fluffy.
3. Scoop filling into crust(s) and chill for at least 3 hours.
4. Garnish with extra diced pears, walnuts & arugula right before serving.  Enjoy!

Prep time: 15-20 minutes, chill 3+ hours
Nutritional Info (per serving): With Crust: 280 calories, Fat 17g, Protein 4g. Without Crust: 170 cal, Fat 12g, Protein 3g.

This recipe is surprisingly easy to make.  You can make your own crust, candy your own walnuts, etc – but there’s definitely no dire need.  These cheesecakes could easily be make into a larger cheesecake as well (just use a bigger crust, the filling would be the same).  It’s a beautiful mix of savory and sweet.

This is a mainly music-based blog (in fact my Puscifer Portland 3/14 review is coming shortly after their show). If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes at THIS LINK.

Happy Pi(e) Day!

~Dan – np: Stabat Akish – Nebulos

The first thousand digits of Pi… π = 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862 0899862803482534211706798214808651328230664709384460955058223172535940812848111745028410270193852110555964462
294895493038196442881097566593344612847564823378678316527120190914564856692346034861045432664821339360726024 9141273724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609433 05727036575959195309218611738193261179310511854807446237996274956735188575272489122793818301194912983367336244 0656643086021394946395224737190702179860943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132000568127145263560827785771342757789609173 6371787214684409012249534301465495853710507922796892589235420199561121290219608640344181598136297747713099605 18707211349999998372978049951059731732816096318595024459455346908302642522308253344685035261931188171010003137838752886587533208381 420617177669147303598253490428755468731159562863882353787593751957781857780532171226806613001927876611195909216420198

No word on when this will hit the US market, but Italian band Guano Padano is releasing their 2nd album, 2, on March 13, 2012 (today!).  It doesn’t show up in the US Amazon store (yet), but the whole album is streaming on Rolling Stone Italy.  The track “Prairie Fire” features Mike Patton on vocals…

~Dan – np: John Zorn & Bobby Previte – Euclid’s Nightmare

Adam Carolla had a busy weekend.  The most recently fired celebrity on Donald Trump’s NBC Celebrity Apprentice, the former co-host of Loveline with Dr. Drew, the former co-host of The Man Show with Jimmy Kimmel, and the #1 podcaster in the world (with the Guinness World Record to show for it) played Seattle on Friday night, Spokane on Saturday night, and Portland’s Newmark Theatre last night.

I don’t always agree with what he says.  He’s middle-of-the-road politically – not claiming alignment with any party.  He’s quite in favor of many good social issues (gay rights, sex education, women’s reproductive issues, etc), but he’s staunchly conservative on fiscal and immigration concerns.  But in all honesty, how many times do you agree with everything even your loved ones say?  While some people may have “something for everyone to like,” Adam may very well fit into having “something for everyone to hate” or at least “have issue with.”  Eh, I still fall into the “love camp”…

His sharp wit, funny stories and quirky-yet-still-grounded sense of humor make coming back to listen daily a treat.  His Monday to Friday daily podcast is one of my favorites and it quickly goes to the top of my queue (subscribe iTunes).  His ACE podcasting network is also growing and excellent things abound: Penn Jillette’s PennSundaySchool, Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend (the funny & charming news gal), Ace on the House (home improvement), CarCast (I’m not even a gear junkie, but this is a fascinating show), et cetera… all great!

I thought comedian/songwriter Josh Gardner was to open the show.  However, they played the title track to Mr. Stinkfinger via laptop and then Adam came out.  Josh’s comedy albums are available now… Mr Stinkfinger EP and Winter Bush:

Adam’s stand-up shows are basically 90-minutes.  They are sometimes free form, but this one seemed a little more planned, with a little thrown in as far as what happened to him this past weekend.

He walked out with an oatmeal cookie… with dried cranberries in it.  This opened up into a rant about the adding shit to shit and why we keep fucking good things up.  Next on his complain list was “Spring Forward,” and he went through a funny USA Today bit about what people would do with their extra hour (back in the fall).

He got off complaining for a bit to talk about a Leno show appearance with Queen Latifah.  She had been going on about “limin’,” which apparently is what they call “chillin’” in the Caribbean.  Adam’s bit after her was about children’s toys at Christmas, and how you need lineman dykes to cut the toys out of their boxes.  Apparently people got in a huff because they thought he was calling “Queen” a “limin’ dyke.”  Ah, good times.

Up next, a little bit about his NBC Celebrity Apprentice experience with a few clips from last night’s show (where he got fired).  Apparently Buick didn’t like his jokes.  Oh well… now once Penn Jillette gets fired, I can quit watching that rubbish.

Next he played a cartoon rendition of “Gay Eyes,” a made up movie that Adam worked up during a 2009 podcast with Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston.  I can’t find the cartoon-version on line anywhere, but I remember hearing it when it went down.  Here is the audio.

The next 45 minutes… what Adam is known for… more complaining.  No “what can’t Adam complain about” requests from the audience, but some pre-loaded hyper vigilance rants that hit on many topics: tagging the landscape in Los Angeles, buttons on car keys, shower handles in hotels, key cards in hotels, toys under sofas, custom shoes, WC Field’s smoking & drinking poster in the doctor’s office, L.A. ice cream truck, recumbent cyclists, Click-It or Ticket, auto flush toilets, the L.A. “river,” rescue dogs, and how Mexicans grieve.

He ended the show with a stroll through memory lane via his Social Security Statement.  From an astonishing $1k to $9k/year of earnings for most of the 80s to stardom in the mid 90s.  His “money can’t buy you happiness” was a nice, uplifting non-rant about applying yourself to work towards doing what you want to do.

Some of his stories were ones we’d heard before via the podcast or radio show… he was playing to his audience; so it was all good.  Adam is a busy guy… ever turning logs in the fire.  Keep up to date with him via the links below… and by all means, if you like to listen to podcasts, make room in your queue for what I consider to be one of the best / funniest ones out there.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Adam Carolla’s Site / the Podcast (iTunes)
  
• Adam Carolla’s Tour Dates
• Adam Carolla’s Social Media Links (see below)
  
• Newmark Theatre’s Site / Facebook / Twitter

Next show for me… Maynard James Keenan’s PUSCIFER on 3/14 in Portland.

~Dan – np: John Zorn – IAO: Music in Sacred Light

As reported and updated HERE as news comes in (updated as of 3/21/12), King’s X drummer Jerry Gaskill suffered a heart attack on February 26th.  This forced King’s X to cancel the planned tour that was to kick off at the end of March.  Jerry has been getting better and better every day, but as you can imagine, his medical bills are starting to pile up.  Here’s where you can help out… the album is $20, and there’s also info where you can send a check directly for Jerry’s medical bills as well.

See the press release below from Molken Music.

4/4/12 update video from Jerry…

~Dan – np: King’s X – Burning Down Boston: Live at The Channel 6.12.91

«°¤°» ¤ ¤ «°¤°»

Burning Down Boston: Live at The Channel 6.12.91 is a special MP3 download-only title out on Molken Music.  100% of the proceeds from this release will go directly to Jerry to help offset mounting medical expenses. A big THANK YOU goes out to everyone for the outpouring of concern and love.

This release was edited and mastered from a stereo front of house (FOH) recording. While the audio is far from perfect sonically, the performance documents yet another magical night on tour while supporting the Faith Hope Love album. While many of the song titles are familiar, the band expands many of the cuts featured here, including performances that are blistering (“Moanjam”), heavy and funk-laden (“We Are Finding Who We Are”), beautiful (“The Burning Down”), and truly transcendental (“Over My Head”).

A few songs from the show were omitted due to tape damage. However, we have included three bonus tracks (an additional 15 minutes) from the same show that were not presented in the main track listing.

All recordings previously unreleased.
14 songs. 89 minutes.
http://molkenmusic.com/store/shop/details.php?id=50

Dear Friends, in addition to the gift with this download, please let anyone who wants to further make a personal gift to Jerry to help him with his medical bills know that they can send a check made out to Jerry Gaskill. Mail it to: Jerry Gaskill, c/o World Entertainment Inc., P.O. Box 3095, Sea Bright, NJ 07760. 100% of your gift goes to Jerry Gaskill to help him defray his medical bills. Jerry Gaskill is an individual and not a charity. Any funds given to him would be a gift and no further tax deduction for charitable contributions would be coming from him. We appreciate your help.

Details:

Track Listing:

We Are Finding Who We Are (6:33)
Mission (4:17)
Far Far Away (4:44)
We Were Born to Be Loved (4:57)
It’s Love Intro (3:36)
It’s Love (5:28)
I’ll Never Get Tired of You (3:51)
Visions (7:27)
Over My Head (12:47)
Moanjam (10:19)
The Burning Down (9:53)
Talk to You (Bonus Track) (4:44)
Fall on Me (Bonus Track) (4:13)
Power of Love (Bonus Track) (6:02)

DOWNLOAD CONTENTS
MP3 – 320kbps – 219MB* (Very large file – please be patient)
Artwork (jpg): Cover art, credits
Promotional video commercial (MPG4)
Total Audio Playing time: 88:42

Each day or so, until presumably they’ve all been streamed, Midwest singer-songwriter Peter Mulvey is releasing tracks from his upcoming album, The Good Stuff.

Here’s the first one – “But I Do” a standard written by Bobby Charles & Clarence Henry:

For further streams, visit: http://www.petermulvey.com/

Pre-ordering of the album will be live the week of March 20th (and it comes out March 27th).  He’s in my “buy every time without question” club… a perpetual favorite.  Do yourself a solid and add him to your collection!

~Dan – np: John Zorn – Ipsissimus

STORM CORROSION, the hugely-anticipated new project from Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt and Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson, is releasing their debut album on May 7th.  The self-titled album, which comprises six compositions, is available now for pre-order…

The first option includes a double LP set of the self-titled album with exclusive artwork, etched into 180g black virgin vinyl in gatefold jacket. You’ll also get a digital download of high quality FLAC files of the album and a tasty 24″ x 36″ fold-out poster of exclusive artwork.

They also have a DVD/Blu-ray version… things take a step up with this package. You get all the contents of the Collector’s Edition Double-LP Set (above), plus a digital download of the album the day BEFORE release, 5.1 audio mix of the album, two exclusive demo tracks and five instrumentals, and the full album on CD – all in a package containing over 2.5 hours of music!

The artwork…

You can click here to pre-order these packages now.

Click here to find Storm Corrosion on Facebook.

~Dan – np: John Zorn’s Moonchild trio + Marc Ribot – The Crucible

Fiona Apple has a new album that’s about to pop (late June 2012 on Epic) - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw, And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do.  Here it is written out, presumably in her own pen, from her FB page…

So, hunch… we’ll just call it The Idler Wheel…

or… The Screw And Whipping…? ;)

Much like When the Pawn being adopted for the much longer named 2nd album - When the pawn hits the conflicts he thinks like a king what he knows throws the blows when he goes to the fight and he’ll win the whole thing ‘fore he enters the ring there’s no body to batter when your mind is your might so when you go solo, you hold your own hand and remember that depth is the greatest of heights and if you know where you stand, then you know where to land and if you fall it won’t matter, cause you’ll know that you’re right.

Some more new music news… Sufjan Stevens and Rosie Thomas are putting out a collaborative 7″ vinyl single for Record Store Day 2012 (4/21/12).  The A-side of the single is a re-imagined version of “Where Were You?,” a song from Thomas’s album With Love. On the B-side, Sufjan offers up an answer song called “Here I Am!”  Sufjan recorded and mixed both tracks, and both artists show up on both songs.

The new version of “Where Were You?” is streaming below:

~Dan – np: John Zorn – Moonchild: Songs Without Words

Yesterday, they posted a song from the release called “Museum Day,” a slow-building jam with some big, auto-tuned hooks from Sufjan.

Hear it below:

Yesterday also saw the release of the official music video for Björk’s “Hollow” (from Biophilia)…quite colorful and science-y… HD video below:

Talking about the video, Björk says:

It’s just the feeling when you start thinking about your ancestors and DNA that the grounds open below you and you can feel your mother and her mother, and her mother, and her mother, and her mother 30,000 years back. So suddenly you’re this kinda tunnel, or trunk of DNA… All these ghosts come up so it ended up begin a Halloween song and quite gothic in a way… It’s like being part of this everlasting necklace when you’re just a bead on a chain and you sort of want to belong and be a part of it and it’s just like a miracle.

Which is what we were all thinking, of course.

~Dan – np: John Zorn – Moonchild: Songs Without Words

I’ve seen Nellie McKay quite a bit since moving to Oregon.  She plays two-week residencies in New York on occasion (lucky!!), but she rarely hit the Midwest when I lived there.  Now that I’m here in the Northwest, I’m glad that she tried to swing by at least annually.  This time was for her new project, yet to be released officially in any form… I Want To Live! – a story of Barbara Graham, the third woman to be executed in the State of California (via the gas chamber at San Quentin).  It’s loosely based on the 1958 film of the same name.

This death row theme shouldn’t be a shock for fans of McKay.  She’s never been afraid to push boundaries – hitting political hot-button issues right out of the gate with her debut album, Get Away From Me (“Sari,” “It’s a Pose,” “Won’t U Please B Nice,” et cetera), and some of her non-jazz-standard followups Pretty Little Head (“Cupcake” and “The Big One”) and Obligatory Villagers (“Mother of Pearl”).

In person, though, she’s as lovable and jovial as some of her adorable, campy press photos suggest.  She’s also a great thinker, great interpreter of classics & standards, and a great artist in her own right.  She may have been “born in the wrong era” (her words), but she’s doing the best with her love of the classics by making a great mark and not giving in to the current trends in what a jazz/pop “woman and a piano” should sound or act.

The first hour of the I Want To Live! tour makes up the story of a woman who falls in with the wrong people, gets caught up in a crime, and – whether innocent or not – is found guilty of murder.  Nellie plays all of the emotions perfectly.  Love, mystery, joy, pain, frustration – all while weaving in standards and her own tunes to tell Barbara Graham’s story.  While she hints at Graham’s fervor for being innocent, Nellie leaves her opinion about guilt or innocence out of the musical.  She also leaves her opinion of the death penalty out of it, which – quite honestly – was shocking that she didn’t add some of her thoughts on it, specifically due to her past as being very politically opinionated.  Perhaps that will show up in the liner notes if this gets released as an CD or DVD some day…

I Want To Live! setlist: about an hour (both nights)

• Billie’s Bounce [Charlie Parker]
• Purple Haze [Jimi Hendrix]
• Swingin’ On The Reservation [Ella Fitzgerald]
• Please
• Pity The Downtrodden Landlord [Woolf/Clayton]
• April Showers [DeSylva/Silvers]
• Isn’t It A Lovely Day [Irving Berlin]
• They Say It’s Spring [Blossom Dearie]
• Some Other Spring [Billie Holiday]
• I Only Have Eyes For You [Warren/Dubin]
• Don’t Worry Be Happy [Bobby McFerrin]
• The Down Low
  
• Call The Police [Nat King Cole]
• Twinkle In Your Eye [Burl Ives]
• Song For Troy Davis
  
• I’m So Tired [The Beatles]
• There You Are In Me
  
• Small Day Tomorrow [Landesman/Dorough]
• Chelsea Bridge [Billy Strayhorn]
• Genius Of Love [Tom Tom Club]
• Ah! The Sweet Mystery Of Life [from Naughty Marietta operetta by Young/Herbert] (gorgeous operatic chops on Nellie for this one)
• Straight To The Top [Tom Waits]
  I think I got all of the cover tunes identified, if not, please comment& I’ll correct.

Eugene setlist, post-IWTL! (3/2): about 30 mins

• One’s On the Way [Shel Silverstein]
• Midnight Sun [Ella Fitzgerald]
• ¡Bodega!
• Clonie (audience request)
  
• Sari (audience request)
• Encore: A Wonderful Guy [Doris Day]
• The Dog Song

Portland setlist, post-IWTL! (3/4): about 30 mins

• The Dog Song
• In a Sentimental Mood [Duke Ellington] (with false start)
• Caribbean Time
• I Will Always Love You [Whitney Houston] (snippet)
• Encore: One’s On the Way [Shel Silverstein] (dedicated to Rick Santorum)
• Mother of Pearl (with Michele Bachmann tagline at end)
• I Wanna Get Married

Two wonderfully entertaining nights in Oregon.  Nellie and her band are excellent performers and entertainers.  Through wardrobe changes, police chases, drug addiction, and working in different musical genres – the band was on point.  At one point, the saxophonist mimics a crying baby simply with his mouth as the instrument, and it drives you mad how amazing he pulls it off without a talkbox or effects.

many more photos below

The Appropriate Linkage:

• Nellie McKay’s Site
• Nellie McKay’s Social Media Links (see below)
  
• My Other Related Reviews~
  • The Shedd full band (Eugene – Oct 2010)
  • Berbati’s Pan (Portland – Mar 2010)
  • Jazz Alley full band (Seattle – Sept 2009)
  • Doug Fir (Portland – Aug 2008)
  • The Shedd (Eugene – Oct 2007)
• The Shedd’s Site / Facebook / Twitter
• Alberta Rose Theatre’s Site / Facebook / Twitter

Check out more tour dates below.

Next show for me… Adam Carolla @ the Newmark (3/11) and Puscifer @ the Schnitzer (3/14).

~Dan – np: Steven Wilson – Catalogue / Preserve / Amass (live in Europe)

NELLIE McKAY PHOTOS
Eugene (53 pics) then Portland (32 pics)
all pictures (cc) 2012 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Nellie’s 2012 Winter/Spring Tour Dates (so far)

• 1/25 & 1/26 – Minneapolis, MN Dakota
• 2/9 – Lafayette, IN Duncan Hall
• 2/10 & 2/11 – Elgin, IL Elgin Community College Arts Center
• 2/12 – Louisville, KY Bomhard Theater
• 2/25 – Park City, UT Eccles Center
• 2/28 & 2/29 – San Francisco, CA Rrazz Room
• 3/2 – Eugene, OR Shedd Institute
• 3/3 – Kirkland, WA Kirkland Performing Arts Center
• 3/4 – Portland, OR Alberta Rose Theatre
• 3/7 – Chico, CA Laxson Auditorium
• 3/8 – Santa Cruz, CA Kuumbwa Jazz Center
• 3/9 – Hollywood, CA Catalina Jazz Club
• 3/20 to 3/31 – New York, NY Feinstein’s at Loews Regency
  ^^^^ “SILENT SPRING – It’s Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature”
  
• 4/26 – Alexandria, VA The Birchmere Music Hall
• 5/19 – Denver, CO Swallow Hill

More photos, reviews and setlists for both Oregon shows will be up by Tuesday early morning.

~Dan

I Want to Live!  a musical death row revue, conjures the life story of “a woman of dubious moral standards often a guest in seedy bars.”

New York Times’ Stephen Holden writes, “Inspired by the 1958 movie of the same name, I Want to Live! combines Nellie McKay’s virtually unlimited gifts as a singer, songwriter, actress, pianist, ukulele player, mimic, satirist and comedian into a show that is much deeper than its surface might suggest.  In the most lighthearted way they evoke a heartless environment of social injustice in which people who fall through the cracks are invisible to everyone else.”

“Pretty darned unique,” adds Michael Musto of the Village Voice.

“The McKay voice is a knife edged with honey. Which is good, because the words she writes are razor sharp beneath a homespun mantle.” – Tony Gieske

It’s a rare treat to have Nellie in our neck of the woods; so I’ll be at both the Eugene and Portland shows. :)

~Dan – np: TW Walsh – Songs of Pain and Leisure

Radiohead debuted two new songs at the U.S. The King of Limbs Tour kick-off in Miami last night.  You can listen/watch some fan videos of “Identikit” and “Cut a Hole” on the YouTubes.  The rest of the setlist…

01 “Bloom”
02 “The Daily Mail”
03 “Morning Mr. Magpie”
04 “Staircase”
05 “The National Anthem”
06 “Meeting In The Aisle”
07 “Kid A”
08 “The Gloaming”
09 “Codex”
10 “You And Whose Army?”
11 “Nude”
12 “Identikit”
13 “Lotus Flower”
14 “There There”
15 “Feral”
16 “Idioteque”
17 “Separator”
—-
18 “Airbag”
19 “Bodysnatchers”
20 “Cut A Hole”
21 “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”
—-
22 “Give Up The Ghost”
23 “Reckoner”
24 “Karma Police”
(via Setlist.fm)

I’m stoked for the Seattle show… 4/9 won’t get here fast enough…

~Dan – np: John Zorn’s Locus Solus

The six-minute track ”Museum Day” features Sufjan singing Auto-Tuned lines alongside rap verses from Serengeti.

The EP features vocal contributions from Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond on “If This Is Real“, while Doseone from Subtle & Themselves appears on the closer, “Octomom.”  Stevens and Serengeti collaborated in 2009 on a track for the Dark Was the Night compilation.

Beak & Claw Tracklist
1. Museum Day
2. Beyond Any Doubt
3. If This Is Real
4. Octomom

~Dan – np: John Zorn – From Silence to Sorcery

Earlier this morning (2/26/12), news surfaced on Facebook that King’s X drummer Jerry Gaskill suffered a heart attack and is currently in the ICU.  Keep him in your thoughts and hope he gets stellar medical supervision & help!

Obviously, no word on how this will impact the upcoming KX tour (that was to kick off at the end of March), but (tour canceled – see below) I know any KX fan would want him to get better versus over-exerting himself on the road!  His health is way more important, but we hope he’s healthy to hit the road after some rest & recovery.

From bassist/singer dUg Pinnick said on FB: “He was operated on and is in stable condition at the hospital. Were all waiting for more info.”  Then posted this on twitter…

jerry had a heart attack last night, they operated on him, is sedated and on a ventilator, will keep you posted.

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) February 26, 2012

Jerry’s drumtech Chris ‘JRAB’ Thomas has a post in this blog’s comments section.  Also stay tuned to www.kingsxrocks.com for add’l updates.

2/27/12 updates 1 & 2 from dUg…

Jerry woke up pulling chords out, hes fiesty! that's a good sign! thanks everyone for prayers and good vibes!

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) February 27, 2012

cords… chords… he’s a musician; so I’ll cut him some slack :)

Update, Jerry is the same, heavily sedated, things can only get better,

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) February 27, 2012

on FB (2/27/12) , he also added…
“heavily sedated and on the ventilator, they are going to
try to take the balloon pump out tomorrow”

2/28/12 update from dUg and Blabbermouth…

Jerry is still sedated on ventilator,but they took the balloon out, they have lowered the blood pressure meds 3 times!!

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) February 28, 2012

In light of Jerry‘s sudden hospitalization, all previously announced North American tour dates for KING’S X have been cancelled. Jerry will be taking the time to recover back to full health so that he can hopefully join the band behind the drums at some point in the future.

2/29/12 update from dUg…

Jerry still sedated on ventilator, he's moving in the right direction". He also has pneumonia in both lungs.

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) February 29, 2012

3/1/12 update from dUg…

Jerry is still sedated and no change, the antibiotics are working on the pneumonia. Dr. says these things will take time

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) March 01, 2012

also, a place to send flowers: Riverview Hospital 1 River Plaza Red Bank NJ 07701 For patient Jerry Gaskill. Since he is in ICU flowers are not accepted.

3/2/12 update from dUg…

Jerry is the same, but has developed new lung problem, they are doing an operation to help him breath better.

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) March 02, 2012

3/5/12 update from dUg…

Jerry is the same, and is recovering, He is strong!

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) March 05, 2012

There is a music event on March 28th in Austin, Texas for Jerry… JERRY JAM – Wednesday, March 28th @ the DIRTY DOG Bar – 505 East 6th Street – Austin, Texas.

FACEBOOK EVENT

$5 Donation at door

Special showing of the KING’S X “Live Love In London” DVD which starts at 7pm with Live music immediately following with: HONEYCREEPER, MARSHALL DYLAN, CRITICAL ASSEMBLY, and T.B.A.

FREE Pizza (with donation), Raffles ALL night and an Auction.

A PayPal account will be set up soon for donations for friends/fans that can’t make it.

Special Guests and more…come out and support Jerry to a speedy recovery and to help him out in his time of need!!

3/8/12 update from dUg…

Update!! Jerry is much better, he is awake, and getting stronger. Yay!!!

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) March 08, 2012

3/9/12 update from Molken Music & an update from dUg…

You can donate to Jerry Gaskill’s medical expenses and with a $20 donation, you get a download of King’s X in Boston June 1991… GO HERE.

jerry gave thumb up, recognize everyone.Is having some difficulty with breathing but overall looks sharp.

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) March 10, 2012

3/11/12 update from dUg…

Update!! Julie said Jerry was setting in a chair getting his hair washed, Hes breathing on his own also.

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) March 11, 2012

3/13/12 update from dUg…

Jerry has regular room.off ventilator.Had physical therapy assessment, next step rehab.Is doing well!!

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) March 13, 2012

3/20/12 update from dUg…

jerry will head home tomorrow!! were so glad he made it!!!

—
dUg pinnick (@69douglas) March 20, 2012

3/21/12 update… he’s left the building…

4/4/12 update video from Jerry…

~Dan – np: John Zorn – Parachute Years

He chops up the discs and turns them into whimsical animal sculptures. Some of his pieces use circuit boards, chips, and other recycled computer parts.

Avery states, “I blend many different man made materials together to make them appear strangely organic, with a distinct sense of movement.“

Gorgeous work, if you ask me!  View more at: http://seaneavery.com/

~Dan – np: John Zorn – Madness, Love and Mysticism

3/1 update: “Revival” from the same Look Sessions…

~Dan – np: Earth – Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 2

Conditions of My Parole is a brilliant record; so I think you should go buy it if you haven’t yet.  It’s at the top of my pile for 2011 releases (by far).  Last year’s tour was one of my favorite shows of the year… if they swing by you this coming month, go see ‘em!

Puscifer Winter Tour 2012

February
23  Austin, TX – Long Center for the Performing Arts
25 Baton Rouge, LA – River Center Theatre
26 Memphis, TN – Orpheum Theatre
28 Nashville, TN – Andrew Jackson Hall
29 Louisville, KY – Brown Theatre

March
1 Pittsburgh, PA – Byham Theatre
3 Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
4 Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre
6 Kansas City, KS – Kansas City Music Hall
7 Omaha, NE – Omaha Civic Auditorium
10 Edmonton, AB – North Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
11 Calgary, AB – Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
13 Vancouver, BC – The Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts
14 Portland, OR – Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
16 San Francisco, CA Palace of Fine Arts
17 Riverside, CA Fox Performing Arts Center
18 Escondido, CA – California Center for the Arts

~Dan – np: John Zorn – Godard/Spillane

The upcoming Moonchild record will be the first to feature lyrics that John Zorn has written for Mike Patton to sing.  Prior Moonchild albums have been trio affairs of noise/jazz metal glossolalia from Patton, Trevor Dunn (bass) and Joey Baron (drums) with a smattering of guests musicians like Ikue Mori, Jamie Saft and Marc Ribot.  The sixth (!!) Moonchild release is set for a 2012 delivery on Zorn’s Tzadik Records.  Based on info from Chippy (Tzadik’s art designer), the album name may very well be called Templars.

Here’s some more tidbits from the mixing/mastering crew:

John Zorn's new Moonchild CD was mastered today by @_ScottHull Expect amazing writing and (he even wrote lyrics for Mike Patton)! Incredible

—
Marc Urselli (@MarcUrselli) February 16, 2012

@_ScottHull what an amazing Moonchild release it is! John Zorn has outdone himself with amazing writing, even writing lyrics for Mike Patton

—
Marc Urselli (@MarcUrselli) February 16, 2012

Other related news… Trevor Dunn is also involved in the new stripped-down Melvins Lite band with the Melvins “core” members: King Buzzo and Dale Crover.  The debut album from this evolution of the band comes out in June 2012 on Patton’s Ipecac Recordings…

Source: Ipecac

Oh, Freak Puke… such lovely imagery…

~Dan – np: Celldweller – Soundtrack for the Voice in My Head Vol 2, Ch 2

David Bazan

He arrived about an hour late… first night of tour, and got stuck in traffic coming out of Seattle.  The good thing: hanging out in someone’s living room and kitchen sippin’ a beer is waaaaay better than hanging out at a stinky club playing LMFAO on loop.

After setting up his small cube amp, he kicked into his set…

Setlist: about 70 minutes

• Cold Beer and Cigarettes
• Wolves at the Door
• Hard to Be
• Q&A #1
• Priests and Paramedics [Pedro the Lion]
• Transcontinental [Pedro the Lion]
• Shit Talker [Headphones]
• Q&A #2
• Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box [Radiohead]
• Options [Pedro the Lion]
• Virginia
• Bearing Witness
• Q&A #3
• Strange Negotiations
  No Encore

A little shorter set than in the past, but I think that may have been due to running late.  The original “everyone needs to be out time” was 10pm, but he didn’t get going until 9:15pm.  So, for the rest of the living room tour, don’t judge the set length on Portland.  Despite the shorter set, I think it was a pretty good show… David was in a great mood and quite chatty as usual.

The somber take on “Wolves at the Door” was excellent… slower and a bit haunting compared to the version the band was belting out last year.  Another favorite was the return of the Radiohead cover that he played last year.  First three notes and goosebumps.  Such a great song.

There weren’t any new tunes played, which was a bit striking – as David is working on a new album, and it might even be done and to the label (Barsuk) by the beginning of May.  He said it could come out in August/September, but a lot of that depends on delivery to the label.

The Appropriate Linkage:

• David Bazan’s Site
• David Bazan’s Social Media Links (see below)
  
• My Other Related Reviews~
  • Sam Bond’s Garage (Eugene, OR – Dec 2011)
  • House Show (Eugene, OR – Sep 2011)
  • Sam Bond’s Garage (Eugene, OR – Mar 2010)
  • Mississippi Studios (Portland, OR – Nov 2009)
  • House Show (Eugene, OR – Jul 2009)
  • The Indigo (Eugene, OR – Dec 2007)

This was his first date of this tour… check out more tour dates below.

Next show for me… MEDGE (bellydancing) at Cozmic Pizza (2/17) and then post-rockers Talkdemonic at Sam Bond’s Garage (2/24).

~Dan – np: John Zorn’s The Dreamers – O’o

David Bazan – Winter 2012 House Show Tour

2/15 – Portland, OR
2/16 – Sacramento, CA
2/17 – Oakland, CA
2/18 – Los Angeles, CA
2/19 – Long Beach, CA
2/20 – Orange, CA
2/21 – Carlsbad, CA
2/22 – Phoenix, AZ
2/24 – Clinton, OK
2/25 – Denton, TX
2/26 – Dallas, TX
2/27 – Austin, TX
2/28 – Houston, TX
2/29 – Baton Rouge, LA
3/02 – Orlando, FL
3/03 – Jacksonville, FL
3/04 – Altanta, GA
3/05 – Nashville, TN
3/06 – Asheville, NC
3/07 – Charlotte, NC
3/09 – Charlottesville, VA
3/10 – Baltimore, MD
3/11 – Philadelphia, PA
3/12 – Brooklyn, NY
3/13 – Brooklyn, NY
3/14 – Boston, MA
3/15 – Buffalo, NY
3/16 – Cleveland, OH
3/17 – Three Rivers, MI
3/18 – Chicago, IL
3/19 – Madison, WI
3/21 – Minneapolis, MN
3/22 – Lincoln, NE
3/23 – Lawrence, KS
3/24 – Denver, CO
3/25 – Salt Lake City, UT
3/26 – Boise, ID
3/27 – Spokane, WA

Source: Tomahawk FB page

For those not in the know, Tomahawk is the super-group led by Duane Denison on guitars/songwriting (The Jesus Lizard, U.S.S.A., etc) that features Mike Patton on vocals (Faith No More, Mr Bungle, Fantomas, Mondo Cane, Moonchild, etc), John Stanier on drums (Helmet, Battles, etc), and Trevor Dunn on bass (Mr Bungle, Trio Convulsant, MadLove, Moonchild, etc).

Their breakout debut (Tomahawk out on Ipecac in 2001) is amazing… the other two vinyls in the RSD2012 set are Mit Gas and Anonymous… also great from the ever-evolving group:

Again, Record Store Day 2012 is April 21.  Find out about more RSD2012 releases HERE.

~Dan – np: John Zorn’s The Dreamers – O’o

Fire Make Thunder is slated for a March 27th release via Metal Blade Records. It’s available for CD pre-order on Metal Blade (US) and vinyl LP pre-order on Burning Shed (based in UK – only way to get the LP).  The CD is also available on Amazon.

Track listing:
1) Cold Call
2) Guards
3) Indian Curse
4) Enemy Prayer
5) Wind Won’t Howl
6) Big Chief II
7) For Nothing
8) Invisible Men

~Dan – np: David Bazan – Strange Negotiations

Possibly a rumor/fake, but this potential Bonnaroo 2012 line-up looks way better than Coachella, if you ask me.  Well, RHCP kinda ruins it, but Ben Folds Five reunion show more than makes up for the Chili Peppers…

Radiohead, Florence + the Machine, Bon Iver, BFF, the Shins, Feist, Rod y Gab, Mogwai, Childish Gambino, and more… wish I didn’t live across the country now…

So far the official response is “we cannot confirm or deny reports at this time.”  We shall see…

~Dan – np: Frank Zappa – Civilization Phaze III

legit… http://lineup.bonnaroo.com/