'2010' Dates
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Faith invited me to this show. Sea Wolf really had a Wilco-esque vibe to me. I liked the cello. The Album Leaf had many people on stage. Their songs were atmospheric. I was really wanting it to pick up the pace and rock out sometimes. I think this was a result of me being quite tired this evening. I was hoping for some rockers to keep me going.
This was another show I had to see because she's a living legend. Deerhoof put on a great opening set. I don't think the crowd that was there for the Yoko fest was totally ready for them. There were seats in the entire theatre, which is unusual. I actually had pretty OK seats. Yoko's set started out with a 15 or so minute film that was her biography, I suppose. It was pretty good since she's done so many interesting things over the years. It was a little grandiose, but I think we can forgive her for that. Her band was really young, and made up of Cornelius and her son Sean. Sean was the band leader for the evening. He'd introduce most of "Mom's" songs. I enjoyed it; I even enjoyed some of the longer songs which in general can get to be too long in a live setting. Yoko sure had lots of energy for a 77 year old. She even was doing some sort of yoga at one point. They played the song and film "Fly" which is a fly crawling over a very naked Yoko. This was before Sean was born. All I could think of was how odd it must be to be playing your Mom's music 40 years later, and there's a film of her naked behind you. I'm certain this is not something I'll ever experience. For a couple songs, Jaron Lanier of VPL (virtual reality pioneer) played with the band. Sean introduced him, saying that he had met him years ago. For the end of the set, they played a film that was the "I Love You" one. The one thing that I like about Yoko is her incessant postive attitude. Sure it can come off as naive at times, but I really admire her consistency and determination. They gave away tiny flash lights that were specific to the event as well. Afterwards, when Aram was trying to get a set list, I saw Lanier on stage. I yelled up to him "Hey I used your VR stuff back in 1990!" He responded sarcastically, "Sorry!"
I didn't know anything about this band. Faith had played me some before, but it hadn't stuck with me. I enjoyed this show more than the previous show I saw at The Great American Music Hall. The band was engaging and rocking enough. The strangest thing about this band? Sometimes they had two flutists playing on the stage at the same time. I have never once seen that before. Another personal observation is that many of their songs remind me of heavy metal ballads, but without the heavy metal vibe.
The was a small show I read about and somehow got tickets. It was in a small space, and Will Oldham was playing 4 times over 2 nights. It was a wide open stage, and they both played unamplified, which was pretty damn cool. There was some grilled food outside, which was also the outside of a very nice looking restaurant. J. Tillman came out and told about his solo camping road-trip adventures while getting to Oakland. It was just him and his guitar, and he sounded great. He's very personable on stage as well. I wasn't sure what "The Cairo Gang" was going to be. It is a guy who plays guitar very well while Will Oldham sings. They set out two chairs for their set. Will was all over the stage and so was the guitar player. He had a nice voice too. They played lots of songs I didn't know (I think they did an old one at the end of the set). After buying the CD there, I've realized they pretty much played the entire album. Will was his wonderful odd self on stage. He was all over the place, moving in odd ways and making odd remarks. I really enjoyed this show. The night before the guy at the ice cream place was playing Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. I asked if he was going to the show; he said it was sold out and tickets were expensive online. I told him the way they sold these tickets online was that you couldn't have given your tickets to someone else anyways. I hope to see more shows like this one.
Faith had bought tickets to this show awhile before. It was sold out. We got there a little late, so we only saw about 3 songs of The xx. The crowd was really into them. The crowd was pretty young. The xx sound pretty 1980s alternative rock, before people used that term regularly. Hot Chip had a pretty big band. Faith did not like the way they sounded; I did not have enough experience with them to say one way or the other. I will say that the one song of theirs I've heard, "Over and Over," sounded pretty great.
This show started at 9 PM, which felt late for a Friday night for a dude who's nearly 40. I think I drank a late coffee or Coke to help out. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my local neighborhood rocker was in Thee Oh Sees. They put on a great set of retro rocking. He doesn't use the telephone microphone; but he does put many effects on his voice. The bass lines were all played on a guitar, instead of a bass. I was very happy to be seeing a complete Yo La Tengo set in a proper venue. The last two times I had seen them was at festivals, which isn't the very best way to have a great show experience. Of course the band sounded great. I still can't believe their rhythm section. I love how they mix up noise, quiet, and pop over the course of their sets. I even enjoyed their longer guitar-spaz parts this time around.
It's always fun to see a band you haven't seen play in 12 years once again. Especially when they are really great, like Hum. The venue is gorgeous. The weather was perfect. The vast numbers of old friends to see was wonderful. What was the show like? Knowing this band, I knew they were going to sound great. I knew they were going to play lots of songs I like as well. Matt, the singer, said at one point after a song, "I'm not that angry anymore." I don't know the song titles, so I can't elaborate on which song caused his reaction. Nevertheless, I know what he means. I saw so many friends for far too short of a time. It felt like a wedding in that way. In the end, I really think I went to this show for the friends. I love the band, and loved the set, but in the end it was the friends. I think I saw a friend I also haven't seen since about 1998, and seeing her brought back all sorts of interesting memories.
So Aranya is some sort of a death metal / punk rock / witch band from Portland, OR. I do not know what to make of it, but I've seen lots of shows, and this was not like another. First off, the diminutive singer had what I'll call an altar in front of the stage. While the first song was warming up (with a didgeridoo droning in the background), she lit a candle and some incense while chanting something incomprehensible. Then she drank a potion, and smeared ashes on her and her band members' noses. Then she got out her viola. And then sang. While wielding the viola's bow like a dagger. All while wearing a metal-studded black dress. She yelled screamed sang. And rocked a clear plastic axe-shaped guitar. Towards the end she was shaking and waving a large stick which was adorned with feathers and ribbons. I simply haven't seen anything like them. That was a tough act to follow. The Tunnel do not have a large stick. But they have a new bassist. They seemed so much more powerful and loud than the last time I caught them. Jeff's vocals are still nice and twisted. Where's the Jeff I know? I loved the sound of his guitar in particular this time. Lots of reverb and nice and loud!
My friend Trevor played this show as well, but he played first so unfortunately I missed him. I got home from work and had to have dinner. By the looks of things, I arrived just after he finished up. Thankfully I stuck around to see the other two guitarists. The first played a couple acoustic songs and a couple electric guitar songs. For each he'd loop what he had played back onto itself with some gadgets he had. The pieces invoked Robert Fripp style repeats. Next up was an amazing finger picking style guitarist. I asked him afterwards, and most of his songs were his own compositions. He first played on a nice small guitar, and the second half of the show was on a 12-string. How I'd explain finger picking style is like John Fahey or those records of Jim O'Rourke's where he's clearly influenced by Fahey. It was so great to see it played live; it would take years for me to ever get there. Watching both of the guitarists play was a highlight for me. Trevor plays again next week, so I hope to catch him this time.
I think this should have been called the inevitable reunion tour. It was a great show. We got there a little late. According to the Internet, they opened with what as far as I know is their only hit, "Cut Your Hair". The stage was nice and stark, I couldn't imagine Pavement having over-orchestrated set decoration. So they sounded great and played lots of the hits. The crowd was totally into it. Since we arrived a little late, we sort of found and snuck into a pretty darn good spot. The band was at eye-level, and the sound was good. Erika's friend Angel had snuck tequila in that was poured into a fake pair of binoculars. When we took swigs, it looked like we were looking at the band with our chins. So the tequila made for an even more interesting show. I had heard from Aram (who worked this show and the night before in Stockton) that the original drummer Gary was going to play with them tonight. A few times during the set, someone who I correctly assumed was Gary would wander on and off stage. He was wearing what I'd call a "New Mexico themed" shirt. Sometime before the encore, a bystander asked us to shut up. That hasn't happened to me in awhile. Just before the encore, Gary came up to play drums. They actually played "Box Elder"! They then left for the encore. For the encore, I had predicted "Two States" and "Summer Babe", and I was correct. It was wonderfully fun. This band has great songs I still love to hear. It was great to hear them again.
This was a record release party for an album called "Beyond Berkeley Guitar". I still have to get the album. I'd describe it as many local guitarists inspired by the tradition of folk steel guitar from the 1960s, in the vein of John Fahey. I'm sure that description doesn't do anyone here justice. I really enjoyed all the performers I got to see & hear. They only played about 10 minutes or two pieces each. This only gave you a small feel of what they could do. During the beginning of the show, I could see the guitarists hands more, so I enjoyed that portion more. Basically I got to see lots of guitar playing it will take me years to ever come close to.