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REVIEW: Estradasphere @ 2nd Story Nightclub (Bloomington, IN – – 10/6/06)
Estradasphere‘s show last night at the 2nd Story Nightclub in Bloomington, IN was PHENOMENAL.
I arrived in Bloomington and about crap my pants with how crazy the traffic and people in town were… apparently it is a HUGE Lotus World Music Festival this whole weekend… oy… anyway, I grabbed grub at the excellent veggie restaurant ROOTS (mushroom-patty burger, fried tofu cubes with homemade sweet plum sauce, cinnamon-or-ginger-spiced sweet potato fries, and a fresh (I saw him make it) orange and carrot juice). I was too stuffed for dessert. If I ever bring the wife to Bloomington, we’re totally hitting up ROOTS again.
Anyway, I head to the venue by about 9:30pm. The band hasn’t showed up yet. They were supposed to be there at 5pm to set up. Ru’ Ro’. I lie down on the couch in the venue, and by 10pm the band finally shows up.
The 1st opener (Das Trio) starts around 10:20pm. They had some skills (at least the bassist), but they were very muddy as a group… and the songs and vocals were not memorable. I’ve seen worse bands, but I’ve seen better. I apologize if they do a google search for their name and come upon this review. They showed potential, but the songs just seemed generic.
After Das Trio’s set, I walked around town again to kill time. I got what might have been the best double shot of espresso ever. Seriously. It was so flavorful. I totally recommend the Crystal Parrot in Bloomington. Wow. Yummy.
The 2nd opener was playing by the time I got back to the venue. Floating Hand was a three-piece, growly, death-metal slow-grindcore type band. I thought they were fantastic. Unfortunately, since Estradasphere showed up sooo late, E-sphere was setting up behind Floating Hand… which caused some ill-will (to say the least) between the bands later on in the evening (FH heckling loadly during E-sphere’s first few songs — even after E-sphere publically apologized and thanked FH for their music).
Anyway, after Floating Hand, I walked around in the cool air again… came back by 1:10am and Estradasphere was finally getting ready to start. For those who don’t know Estradasphere, they’re a sibling band (shared members) to the Secret Chiefs 3, which is a sibling band to Mr. Bungle. Anyway, they’re middle eastern-influenced progressive, jazzy, gypsy-folk, classical-tinged, insanity-for-compositional structure metal band from the San Francisco Bay area. There are 6 members in this incarnation of the band… Timb Harris on violin, trumpet and good-looks; Kevin Kmetz (aka God of Shamisen) on guitar, keyboards, and most notably the Japanese banjo-like instrument, the shamisen; Jason Schimmel on guitars (electric, acoustic, flamenco), banjo, and keyboards (including melodica); Lee Smith on drums (fast, too); Adam Stacey on accordion, keyboards & synthesizer, rhodes and melodica; and Tim Smolens on contrabass (aka upright bass) and electric bass.
The near-hour long 1st set (again, starting at around 1:10am) was seemingly mostly covers and/or new compositions. They (Estradasphere) have three full-length albums (and 2 live albums with add’l material) prior to their most recent release this year, Palace of Mirrors; yet they didn’t play anything from those albums. Odd choice, but regardless, it was fantastic to see and hear. World music with some pep.
The 2nd set, after a (literal) 2-minute break, was allegedly Palace of Mirrors in its entirety. I say allegedly, because for those tracking time, it was probably close to 2:15am when the first set ended. I had a two+ hour drive ahead of me (didn’t want to stay in a hotel — too busy this weekend to get home later). I left after the halfway mark of the album… basically after the whirlwind, violin & shamisen metal-in-your-face attack(!) of the standout track from Palace of Mirrors, “Smuggled Mutation.” I’m bummed I had to bail, but I think the club (or the police) might have shut them down anyway if they passed “bar closin’ curfew.” Sweet glory… almost an hour and a half of wonderful live music (not including FH’s great opening set).
I strongly recommend Estradasphere to anyone who likes world music, and also likes (or tolerates) harder music… but, really, the harder edge is drastically out of their live show (and album) when compared to their earlier stuff (like on Its Understood or Buck Fever).
http://www.estradasphere.com/
http://www.myspace.com/estradasphere
~Dan
TRIPLE-REVIEW: Tori Amos, Radiohead, Over the Rhine (3 cities in Ohio – – Aug 2003)
(originally posted to the old Over the Rhine Actwin list)
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Ohio is great for concerts… triple show review (8/24/2003)
Not every week do you get to see 3 of your Top 5 Artists. This was one of those weeks for me…
Tori Amos, Radiohead, and Over the Rhine.
Here’s a triple review of OHIO shows this past week…
I. Tori Amos
II. Radiohead
III. Over the Rhine (bookstore show)
I. TORI AMOS & Marc Broussard
PromoWest Pavilion, Columbus, OH (just barely outside of downtown)
Wednesday, August 20th, 2003
HIGHLIGHTS: The opener was good. Strong voice. Tori was great… there were some technical problems partway through the set, but she handled it well. Her dress ripped, too… the resulting song that came out of that one was great. :) Song highlights were: Sweet Dreams (a Winter b-side), Mr Zebra, Caught a Lite Sneeze, Mary (another b-side), I Can’t See New York, Hey Jupiter, Bliss, A Sorta Fairytale, China, Liquid Diamonds, Girl, Precious Things, Space Dog, and Cornflake Girl… a lot of great tunes. Plus a birthday number was fun, too… apparently this was her last show before turning 40. She seems to be cool with that. :) Hanging out in Columbus’ Short North was great the next day, too. Magnolia Thunderpussy (awesome music selection), Monkeys Retreat (cool Simpsons collector stuff), and coffee for me; jewelry and art shops for Margarita… lots of glass in the Cow Town. Seemed like the shops fancied it. We some some excellent Chihuly pieces… my credit card wouldn’t handle purchasing them ($32k to start). Oh, maybe next time.
BUMMER: Ben Folds not being there was the biggest bummer. This was one of the two shows that he wasn’t going to co-headline. I didn’t find that out until *after* I bought my tickets and booked the hotel. Another bummer… she seemed to play too much from To Venus and Back (4-5 songs, ugh). Oh well, she played enough other material to make up for it… :)
OVERALL: Great show… my 8th time seeing Tori, and the setlist was been vastly different every time. That’s what I love about her touring… from day-to-day, it’s a different show.
II. RADIOHEAD & Steve Malkmus and the Jicks
Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, OH (just outside of Akron)
Thursday, August 21st, 2003
HIGHLIGHTS: There There (with Ed on mini-drums and Jonny on mini-drums, keys, and guitar), Paranoid Android, Exit Music (For a Film), Lucky, Idioteque, Morning Bell, 2+2=5, Punchup at a Wedding, Wolf at the Door. They seemed to stick with the newer stuff, which is fine. But it seemed when they played any older stuff (Paranoid or Exit Music), that they were phenomenally tighter, and/or those songs lent themselves better to the live show. The Kid A stuff didn’t seem to lend itself as well (it did last time – 2 years ago). My favorite played was probably Paranoid Android. We moved up to the right side of the lawn, away from the crowd, after about 5 songs. We could see and hear (and breathe) way better. A nice breeze cooling us off, comfy grass to sit on, a beauty on my arm, and a great band flaoting through the air… ’twas a good time. Oh, and finally finding the only Indian restaurant in the Akron/Cuyahoga phone book was a blessing.
Different korma than our usual haunts (yummy as hell), and Strawberry Lassi (yum).
BUMMER: No My Iron Lung, Fake Plastic Trees, or Street Spirit (unless they had a 2nd encore that we missed)… also, the song “Kid A” was icky in the live performance (with a side of ICK sauce). Steve Malkmus & the Jicks were quite boring and lame. There were 2 or 3 Jicks’ songs near the middle-end that were *decent*. That’s about it. Oh, another bummer… Blossom’s parking is, like, miles and miles and miles from the venue. A 30 minute walk post-show is a drain. Oh, plus when we tried to check-in to our B&B at 3pm *no one* was there. We walked in, and *no one*. We eventually found a room with an A/C and napped until 5:30 until the proprietor finally showed up. It was surreal, at best. Quite disorganized B&B, but a KILLER house (O’Neill House in Akron) and a killer breakfast… yum.
OVERALL: Great lights, Thom’s a spaz, Jonny hates his guitar, Radiohead put on a great show again.
III. OVER THE RHINE and tons of books
Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, OH (just outside of Kentucky)
Saturday, August 23rd, 2003
HIGHLIGHTS: Hometown (Norwood) Boy, Suitcase, Anything At All, Show Me, Fever, Ohio, trivia break (Drew Vogel, aka D.V., won a framed poster), The Seahorse, and Summertime. They also had What I’ll Remember Most, Changes Come, and Bothered on the setlist, but didn’t play them. Suitcase was great.
Show Me was better than what I’d heard prior, and Fever was stunningly sexy (as usual).
BUMMER: I didn’t have my OHIO CDs from Paste yet. I didn’t even have them by the time I got home late Saturday night. I had K&L sign my Paste Order Confirmation email instead. I crack myself up sometimes.
OVERALL: Great set, sound was a bit off, but it was a really fun time. Song highlights were… all of ’em. It was good to see them in a nice intimate bookstore venue.
My wife (Margarita) somehow puts up with all of the driving to concerts… yay, I picked a winner! :)
Ohio traveller,
Dan
written in parts throughout the day, so…
pp: bela fleck & the flecktones – ten from little
worlds
pp: living sacrifice – reborn
pp: madonna – ray of light
pp: the magnolia soundtrack
np: sarah masen – carry us through
REVIEW: Over the Rhine @ Bogart’s (Cincinnati, OH – – 3/21/01)
(originally posted to the old Actwin list)
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rev: OtR – bogarts.
thurs, march 22rd/th/nd.
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fabulous set. mostest funnest for a while.
loved it. totally. echo megan & bink’s revs.
set. order not particular.
the world can wait.
if nothing else.
fairpoint diary.
no toy. no piano.
i radioheadven.
birds.
holy crap. loved it.
don’t be bothered. don’t be, i said.
well done. differentish.
something that (apparently) (isn’t) goodbye.
but i’m not so sure. or am i?
sleep baby jane.
it wasn’t my idea. it was karin’s first.
my love is a fever.
by firelight… hush.
all i need is e.
“crank the ‘e’ and let’s begin.”
(name that tune?) .5000 dollars if right.
faithfully dangerous.
give me strength. wild banshee mix.
aka album version. not acoustic.
moth. jesus was surprised.
when i go.
anywhere but down. name might be wrong.
the body is an escalator of skin.
escalator temporarily stairs.
little blue river/4 score & 7 yrs.
latter days.
like i said. awesome show. best in yrs.
they changed their setlist. they had fun.
standy bogart’s or not. it rocked.
did they do whatever you say? bruce? they didn’t do whatever i say, did they do whatever you say?
i still miss terri. brokenheart.
moth and e, mainly.
( :::|::|::: ) might fix it. temporarily.
jakc rocks. jack does too.
linford sticks up for him.
karin is beaut. always.
chris and dale, cool mofreekas.
nighty-nite.
someone snerdley,
Dan
np: wonderful thoughts
~ Dan Temmesfeld – dtemm@yahoo.com ~
~ zesenzestig sinaasappel schillen ~
REVIEW: Over the Rhine @ Canal Street Tavern (Dayton, OH – – 6/23/00)
(originally posted to the old Actwin list)
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They played a lot of new stuff and/or older stuff that they haven’t pulled out too often… the first set was shock full of the newer stuff, and the second stuff had some of the OtR staples…
It was a really good show overall… and it’d been since December since I’d seen OtR. Good stuff. Oh yeah, it was a three-piece (K&L and Jack). Nikki Buehrig opened.
Karin’s new hair-style…she needed to be wearing a big script “L” on her shirt. :) Sorry, but that’s just the first thing that came to my mind when they came on stage…
They played a tune that Bruce said that Jan’s been requesting forever (see setlist below), but they’ve never played it for her… so maybe their next Chicago show, you’ll luck out Jan…
Setlist:
SET 1-
When I Go (K&L)
I Let It Go
Goodbye
Anyway
Show Me
Green Clouded-Tail Butterfly
If Nothing Else
It’s Never Quite What It Seems
Cast Me Away
Little Blue River
Who Will Guard the Door (K&L)
Suitcase (K&L)
Fairpoint Diary (K&L)
SET 2-
And Can It Be
June
Moth
Jacksie
All I Need is Everything
I Will Remember
Now I Know (Cowboy Junkie’s tune)
Lucy
Circle of Quiet
Latter Days
ENCORE-
Faithfully Dangerous
Go Down Easy
Somewhere in SET 2, Jack and Linford did a little jam session… I forget in between which songs. It was fun. As for SET 1, I don’t remember hearing “Cast Me Away;” so maybe they didn’t play it, or maybe I fell asleep…
The three new ones in a row Show/Green/Nothing were cool. Jack’s guitar tone on several of them were what Bruce referred to as “porno guitar.” Twas humourous. They were good songs anyway. The first two new songs at the beginning of the SET 1 were good, too… but kinda mellow. They were nice, though.
Ah… I think this show made up my mind that I’m gonna try to make it to the Sunday show in Columbus…
Have fun everybody at the Kent gig!!!
save the erf,
Dan
np: bt – movement in still life
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
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