UPDATED: More from Deerhunter/Atlas Sound "Secret Show"

[New (better) photos added below, mostly of Knyfe Hyts]

Took lots of photos from Friday night's showplex at the "Market Hotel" in Bushwick proper. This "secret show" was about as ridiculously New York/Burg "cool" as it gets--it was announced only last Friday and tickets were only available for purchase (cash only) from the Cinders art gallery in Williamsburg. Umm. Yeah. Best of all, as it was a "secret show", this meant that not only was it announced late and to little fanfare, but, best of all, the venue was to be a secret as well--we were asked to leave our email addresses at Cinders so the location and time of the show could be sent to us the night of the show via cryptic Todd P message. At 6:00 last night the details were sent to us, including the lineup of Deerhunter (rather than Atlas Sound, other band of lead singer Bradford Cox, as advertised), AIDS Wolf, Knyfe Hyts and another (shitty) band.

Yes, one band was called AIDS Wolf (or, in the words of Todd P "Wolf with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome"). They were, thankfully, as bad as any band called AIDS Wolf should be. The first band was pretty "ungh" but, despite Doorknobs's complaints, I really liked Knyfe Hyts (ex- "Ex Models"). Deerhunter though were truly awesome. In town recording their new album, they came out in essence to play it straight through for an audience. I'd never seen them before or really even heard them--I'd only listened much to the Atlas Sound side project--but they really spoke to me and sounded great.

I'll post pictures of the other bands later, but unfortunately, the battery on the nice camera I was using died after I grabbed two shots of Deerhunter, so I can't retrieve the photos yet, but here's a few of Deerhunter I took on another camera I borrowed.

I've added the photos I took with "my" nice camera so the photos below are a mixture of those I took with that camera and those taken on the second borrowed camera (the last four):

"Pre-game"


Matt, moments before he sprung from his seat and flipped the table over


Doorknobs wondering whether or not the J train will ever come

The Rings


Second band The Rings, who we could pretty much do without


The Rings guitarist grrrrrrllll pwwwrrrring it

Kynfe Hyts (pron. "Knife Hits")


Knyfe Hyts singer/guitarist/bass player, in full


You know it's good when the heads go back and the guitars go up.


This man has so much hair that Doorknobs thought, from far away, that it was all fake.


Knyfe Hyts brought on this strange English footie hooligan looking "rapper" and coolster companion. Not good.

AIDS Wolf


The makeshift Market Hotel bar--they charged me $1 for a tiny cup of OJ


E-bad and Doorknobs argue over who deserves more the opportunity to stab the singer of AIDS Wolf in the throat with a guitar string


Glitz and Glitter of the rooms of the Market Hotel

The main event: Deerhunter / Atlas Sound


Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox, a sight to behold.


Beginning the show with a Pylon cover

[camera change]










Covered in sweat, but wide awake at 3:15 am


That's it for photos, but here's also are a few tracks for you to check out:

Deerhunter - "Calvary Scars (Daytrotter session)"

Atlas Sound - "Activation" [I'm obsessed with this track]

Knyfe Hyts - Running Free (Iron Maiden cover)

Week 14 NoDrugs: "Healthy Living" concluded

So last night I concluded a week legitimately free of all non-doctor prescribed drugs. Minus one single half-gulp of Pepsi on Wednesday night, I went the entire week without imbibing in caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol (or anything else). Making this week, in a weird way, one of the most successful weeks of Hyperliving I've had so far; and I like the fact that the premise was so simple.

Surprisingly (or maybe not), holding off on cigarettes was by far the easiest thing of all. Despite smoking for many years, I think I've managed to maintain a decent relationship with cigarettes by only smoking them when it's actually fun to do so. Never in a perfunctory fashion, never in the morning, and rarely even with habit or ritual except in the most general sense (summer night outside on a porch or in a backyard, during a set break at a concert, after a gigantic meal at a restaurant), and almost always (terrible periods of "life breakdown" excepted) in moderation. Maybe i'm "addicted" (I put that in quotes to annoy friends/family members/non-smokers) but it feels like I still have that one under control. There were a number of times this week where I felt like I wanted or "would enjoy" a cigarette, but often I think this was due to the fact that I would be in an environment/situation where I'd also want caffeine and/or alcohol, and so my desire for cigarettes was more of a flailing out for stimulants than any specific cigarette-related need; either way, it wasn't particularly difficult to hold off.


Sunday morning near-return to "normal living" (minus Vegan-week required replacement of milk with Soymilk)

Abstaining from caffeine, on the hand, was a bitch. As a man who, as I've repeatedly explained and documented, hardly sleeps at all, I rely on caffeine to keep me going throughout the day. And this week I learned that I rely on it a lot more than I've realized. Basically everyday this week except last Sunday, I had a splitting splitting hammer-on-forehead headache take over my life sometime between the hours of noon and 3pm. This was almost shocking because I basically never get headaches for any reason, and I imagined that caffeine-migraines were more the domain of eight cups-a-day HyperCoffeeDrinking Queens like the Sweeetheart and E-bad. Well, unless it had something to do with the additional lack of nicotine in my body, I was pretty wrong, either about who gets headaches or how much caffeine I really intake on a daily basis.

Alcohol is kind of an "eh". During most of my week I don't even really think about alcohol, but I definitely got a reminder this week about the degree to which alcohol is inscribed into the regular socialization behaviors of urban twentysomethings. I wasn't in many situations during the work week where I thought too much about alcohol either way, but Friday and Saturday evening were pretty much in-your-face confrontations. Friday I went to a 'Burg bar with friends specializing in fancy, tasteful international beer and then went a four-band show in a Bushwick loft that run until 3:30 am. Saturday I climaxed the week amusingly by attending a party with over fifteen kinds of beverages, literally every one besides water containing alcohol or caffeine. Obviously it really doesn't matter, and I spent most of the each night taking photos (and getting lessons from Ben D Saturday on how to improve my indoor phototaking), but it was definitely interesting to note how firmly rooted our behaviors are that many of us reflexively grab drinks when the sun goes down on weekend nights. It was nice though to open my wallet this morning and see that it still contained almost as many dollars as it had in it on Friday afternoon.

It was an interesting week. I still haven't had a cigarette yet, though I'm sure that will change before I go to sleep tonight. I have had already four cups of coffee. I am curious whether the insights gathered this week will disappear immediately, or if I'll hold onto anything. Probably not disappear, but sit in the back of my non-implementing mind memory.

Onward.

Deerhunter....fin

pretty amazing. Played all new album. Encore is wild. 3:15 am. I am living within a cloud of burned tobacco. I need liquid and there is only beer.

Deerhunter....finally

it's 2:15 and maybe Deerhunter is gonna go on... Maybe? "Anybody that wants to help us with this bass situation, please!

Week 14 NoDrugs livebllllog: 1:30am and going...

1:30am and Deerhunter still not on. AIDS Wolf (no joke) is playing. Wolf with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. I feel as if i'm living inside of a cloud of cigarette smoke (none of which belongs to me).

Week 13 No Drugs Live Blog: DEERHUNTER SECRET SHOW

Above, the Knyfe Hyts. Weerrdness word. Everyone drinking/smoking/drugging. Not me.

Continuing exploits of "The Heart Beats." - I Heart Yoko

We went to the studio last night to record some stuff for The Heart Beats. and laid down a few more tracks for the "EP". Things are coming along well, albeitly slowly (an unfortunate problem of making music when you aren't very good at playing music).

The final tracks I think will be finished next week after Imanant and I can record the rest of the vocals, but here's one for fun now, a track we laid down as the last of the evening, called "No Pussy Blues (Ode to Yoko)". I could explain it but it'll be more fun if I leave that for later.

Enjoy (or don't):

The Heart Beats. - "No Pussy Blues (Ode to Yoko)"

Week 14, Day 4 No Drugs liveblog: The oopsssssss

So I just accidentally broke the rules.

We are in the studio recording more trax. Hungry, we got some pizza and I reached for the pepsi and took a sip and thought, "this is great..." and then realized my mistake.

Week 14, Day 3: Dreams of Candycane Tobacco Leaves

Not sure how to report on this week. Not a lot to say other than that I feel tired and antsy and have been "getting headaches" each of the past two days. Which is odd mostly because I pretty much never get headaches for any reason, so obviously I am curious if they are related to the deprivation of caffeine and nicotine from my system. All day at work I yearn for cups of coffee and all night I yearn for cigarettes and maybe a beer.

Returning to the point I brought up in my post yesterday, here's a funny anecdote from a friend:
[ED. NOTE, after the fact: SAID FRIEND HAS CORRECTED MY MEMORY AND REMINDED ME TO INCLUDE THE INFO BELOW IN RED THAT I LEFT OUT THE FIRST TIME.]

"Two things about my dad: 1)he is kind of OCD, and 2) he has a gluten allergy. However, despite his allergy--which he has had his whole life--he loves pasta, beer, bread and other things he isn't supposed to eat. When I was growing up, he would occasionally decide to have an evening of eating these foods, for the love of the game; this would then result in him spending two hours that night in the bathroom, before finally exiting and leaving the room smelling as if someone just relieved themselves of a giant, decomposing rat carcass.

"Finally, after years of these increasingly sickening shenanigans, my dad's doctor said to him, 'You have to stop this, seriously. NO MORE GLUTEN.' So my dad finally stopped. After a little while, he slowly began to find ways around his allergy--rice beer, wheat-free pasta, etc. But even after much searching, there was still no solution to the fact that you can't have wheat-less bread. What's hilarious is that before he had fully committed himself to a lifestyle of "living right" and seeking for healthy alternatives, he DIDN'T EVEN LIKE BREAD. But once he wasn't allowed to have it, he became OBSESSED with the idea that he needed to be able to eat bread and began a quest to find bread that he could digest. Obsessed. He even drove six hours away to enroll in "Gluten-free Baking Program" at a culinary school. I could see a look in his eyes that said everything about how badly he thought needed to eat bread (while somehow still "not breaking the rules"). I thought of you when I read your blog post and began imagining seeing the same look in your eyes."

One reason I decided to have this week begin Sunday after I woke up rather than Saturday night at midnight (and have the week run until I wake up next Sunday) was because I wanted to avoid what would I imagine would have been an otherwise pathetic experience of midnight hitting and me lighting up a cigarette. This was fun and cute after a week of not listening to music--which, trust me, was WAAAAAY harder than this--but I'm self-aware enough to understand that this would just be sad.

On related topics, I've been mulling over the thought of quitting smoking (don't get too excited yet, mom). I haven't really reached the point yet where I actually want to never smoke, but it seems sort of silly/crazy that I've been smoking as long as I have, and I feel like i'm beginning to reach the endpoint where anyone will believe me when I assure them that I'll be able to quit "when I'm ready" (my "ultimate end" is always "when the baby is on the way", but at the pace i'm at now, who knows when that's gonna be). This past fall I had gotten to a point where I was as close to quitting--only one or two a week--as any point since my year of quitting six years ago, but since then things have gone back to the way they were, and here I am now. Wishing I could break some rules.

LATE ENTRY Week 13, Day 4 Concert Going: Beach House at Bowery

Yeah yeah, this is late. I wanted to write a whole thing up on it, but I really just don't have the time so i'll just leave you with a brief recap and my mediocre photos, video snippet, and a few mp3s.



The sold-out show took place on Wednesday night at the Bowery and I brought the Ice Princess along for her birthday present. We went to get Vietnamese ahead of time in hopes of missing the first opener entirely, but we arrived midway through the first set of the opener Luke Temple.


You don't need to see anymore of these guys than what you can see here.

I know the photo above is terrible (thanks, Kodak/unsteady hands), but Luke Temple defined the term "nothing to write home about". Despite performing as a full band, they all play under the name of the lead singer. His voice was "weird" but stuck strictly within a four-note range. The music, I think I commented at the time, managed to pull off the rare feat of being "interesting yet boring." I think I would accept on my computer/iPod one single defining track by this band but absolutely no more. Sorry Luke, but I think you need to keep looking for Solo Hahn before you're getting off the ground.


This photo is shitty too. Argh.

The second band to play was Papercuts, who I thought I had heard Doorknobs play previously and which I enjoyed. However, upon hearing them, I struggled to recall what I that thought I'd heard, because it wasn't at all what I'd thought it would be.

Commenting on Papercuts is rough, because I can't say anything bad about them--I may have even liked them--but I just didn't want to hear them when they came on. Their music was very slow and sleepy sounding and it was already so late. I think I may have dug them if they had been the only opener, or perhaps if I'd seen them alone, but as the middle of three slow bands on a cold, sleepy Wednesday night, it was too much.



Beach House, though, was GREAT. I really love this band and have been playing their most recent album, Devotion, nonstop since I first picked it up at the end of February. They play a kind of strange and beautiful serene Hawaiian dream music, and are absolutely "something to write home about." A sister and brother duo (supplemented by Papercuts singer/guitarist on drums for the tour), they play keyboard and slinky guitar, sharing vocals. The bro sings a bit more on their s/t first record, but sis's vox dominate Devotion (and even more so live).

Basically, you should go out and get this record and start listening right now.






Beach House at Bowery Ballroom, April 2 2008 from Jeffrey Beaumont on Vimeo

Some mp3s to sample:
Papercuts - John Brown
Beach House - Wedding Bell
Beach House - Some Things Last a Long Time (Daniel Johnston cover)

Week 14, Day 2: Where are my cigarettes?

just stepped outside the office and spent 2 min rummaging my bag for cigarettes until I realized i'd taken them out for this week. Habits!

Week 14, day 2: no drugs

i want coffee more than anything right now, which is funny because i don't even drink coffee many days a week due to laziness or lack of desire--but now i want it badly.

i think that for me, having "boundaries" is really the issue. even with music, which i do run all day long, i don't mind forgoing sometimes, but when i'm "not allowed to" then it's like my existence becomes cruel death.

I will attempt to explore this notion further as the week progresses.

LATE ENTRY Week 13, Concert Going Day 5 (Thurs): Ratdog Recap

Sorry for the delay, but here's my recap of Ratdog last Thursday--


Ticket and backstage pass

First things first--I live-blogged last Thursday about a lot of what happened during the show, but since the links are buried below now, here they are:

#1 WORD
#2 Terrapin Station (Not)
#3 iko iko
#4 Set Break Death
#5 Hot as a Pistol
#6 mule time
#7 Birds
#8 Fin

Now, the rest of the story:

While most of my plans for shows last week just seemed to fall into place, I wasn't sure wanted to do for Thursday. A quick glance at Oh My Rockness! (a great primer for daily events) revealed little, so I sent an email around to friends soliciting thoughts. Of course, with many helpful friends both fans of music and also "in the business," I had some immediate replies, including some from a few folks who posted entire calendars of events for each day of the week.


Bob, meditating on a barre chord (photo not mine)

However, even after being made aware of the extended possibilities, I still wasn't too thrilled with Thursday's offerings. The one item that caught my attention was a show by the band Ratdog at the Beacon Theatre.

If you are unfamiliar with Ratdog, you might be thinking that they have probably one of the worst band names you've ever heard (which means that you are probably also unfamiliar with just about every other jamband--many even more poorly named--in existence). Ratdog is the band of the Grateful Dead's "other guitarist", Bob Weir, began in 1995 in the wake of Jerry Garcia's passing on August (I can't really say "untimely", can I?). At one point Ratdog shows were made up of a mixture of Ratdog originals and Dead "Bob songs"--meaning Dead songs sung/written by Bob Weir, as opposed to those sung by Jerry--but over the years, as the waves of nostalgia-demand have beaten on his door, Bob began to slowly relent and submit to the demands of his new and old fans looking for a piece of the fading magic, playing not only more and more Dead songs but also including songs by the godhead.

I haven't been really looking to recapture any kind of "magic" of old, but I was once a big fan of the Dead and the thought of going to see a member out on the road seemed like a neat idea since I somehow haven't yet seen any of them before (have passed on many opportunities to see Ratdog or the bands of bassist Phil Lesh and drummer Mickey Hart). Unfortunately, tickets for the show ran $40-$60, which was more money than I was willing to spend on a band I was only hoping to take a flyer on [sidenote: I regret not having obsessively recorded all of the many Hyperliving expenses I've incurred this year, as I'm sure the total amount would be interesting/horrifying]. Thankfully, when I shot out my high interest/low $$$ situation back across the email chain, my friend Mikey Greenhaus, a writer, associate editor & podcast producer for jamband-focused music magazine Relix stood up and said, "Ok, you all you had to do was include the words 'jam' and 'blog' in the same email--I can hook you up with one of our Relix tickets and we can go together."

This fortuitous turn of events impressed me as it not only filled in an otherwise gaping hole in my week, but it demonstrated to me once again how the success of the Hyperliving project has been significantly increased due to the constant and ever-present contributions of the great many people in my life. I feel blessed to know so many smart, creative and active individuals, and all of this would be a far less interesting exercise if not for the expansion that their skills, motivations, and world-access have offered it.

I immediately got stoked for the show and began thinking about how crazy it was that not only had I never been to see any Dead shows, but that I've also never seen a show at the Beacon, a venerable NYC institution (now, unfortunately, owned by the Dolan empire's MSG Entertainment).

I met Mikey outside the venue around 7:30, at which point I was reminded of how different jam band shows are from all the other shows I tend to see. First of all, when I go to a show at, say, the Bowery, the only timeframe I'm usually given s a "Doors Open at...." time. So it ends up working out that with a group like Beach House, for example, tickets will say "Doors at 8pm", meaning the first opener goes on at 8:30, the second at 9:15-9:30 and then finally Beach House goes on at 10:30-11, 2.5-3 hrs after the "doors open". And that's when things are running on a good timeline, as they sometimes get later and sloppier. Ratdog, on the other hand had a stated showtime of 7:30 (doors opening a bit before that) and began exactly on time. And unlike Beach House or anything else that I see, Ratdog, like most jambands, don't have a opening band because they play two 60-90 minute sets for a total show of 2-4 hrs. It's funny, because I used to see Phish, the Allman Brothers, and many other similar bands "back in the day", but I seem to have gotten so far from those times that I can't even remember the habits and rituals that defined them.

What I didn't forget about these kinds of shows, however, were the fans. The crowd for Ratdog was much more similar to my experiences with the Allmans brothers than any other contemporary jamband, as it was made up of a mixture of grizzled baby-boomers, thirty somethings reliving their own late-phase band glory and young kids looking to connect with a newly discovered hero. Thankfully, there seemed to be less of the "Lot Wookies" who usually hang around outside, but that could have just been because it was NYC and not Star Lake, PA.
The fans at the show seemed normal/nice, outside of a few assholes near me who threw beer on a woman after she asked nearby security to make them go back to their seats. Largely, the audience was filled with people who just seemed thrilled to be there, which is a refreshing change from the sea of disaffected stares I often see filling the room at Cakeshop or Mercury Lounge.

And so what of the show?

It was pretty swell. My live-blog entries tag out best how I was feeling as the show went on, but I basically had a great time. I wouldn't try to make an argument to many of my friends why it would be in their interest to check out Ratdog (68-72 Dead is pretty much all I'll ever recommend to anyone, if at all), but to anyone who's ever really cared about the Dead, I'd be happy to convey to them that Bob still sounds great and that he's playing with a band that seem to know and love the material well and do a great job continuing to flog new life and out of some of the most played-out tunes on earth.

Here's some really LQ Treo photos from the night:


Mikey, as a backstage ghost


Somehow Bob Weir literally glowed like an angel all night long. This was NOT an effect on my camera.


This is the the stairway I fell down and almost died on--the same that put Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun in a coma, leading to his
eventual death.



Beams of light.

Also, make sure to check out Mikey's music blog, the Greenhaus Effect, for his entry on our evening and more. As a full-time music writer, Mikey makes my Hyperliving show activities seem pedestrian as he goes to shows nearly every day of the week. Lately his been trying to notepad what he's seen and I'm certainly envious of the access he gets.

All-in-all, it was a solid victory of an evening in my book and I'm glad I had a chance to experience everything. Thanks Mikey!

Oh, also, I saw music-scribe godhead David Fricke for like the 53rd time since I've been living in New York, waiting in line for the show.

[To celebrate the culmination of this experience, I have just listened to a forty (!!!) minute version of You Enjoy Myself from Halloween '95. Erm. I probably may not do that again anytime soon.]

Week 14, Day 1: Drugless

So i'm still lazily working on wrap-ups of shows this week, but today I got started on a week of "natural living" (minus of course the doctor prescribed concentration medication).

Why did I choose this week?

I live relatively healthily (erm), but I could do better. These are my habits at this point in my life:
- nicotine (smoker, 1-4 cigarettes per day, occasionally none)
Began smoking in April 1996. Have gone through many phases as a smoker, beginning with a few cigarettes a day and working up toward nearly a pack a day into college. Quit for basically an entire year from September 2001 to October 2002 (minus one or two). Began smoking again with increasing frequency, going up beyond a pack a day until spring 2004, when I began a gentle decline that continued until to the point where I've basically been for much of the past four years of one to four cigarettes a day (making a point to rarely smoke before the workday is over). Throughout 2007 I cut down to only two or three cigarettes per week, but over past few months that number has gone back up again to "normal" levels. I will attempt to argue to you that I am still "Not Addicted to Smoking" after all these years.

- caffeine (coffee drinker, 1-3 cups per day)
I have been drinking coffee daily since 1995 as a morning ritual. I've never really gone through a period where I "drank coffee all day", though for years in high school and college I would drink multiple evening cups at diners and at home. Since moving to New York in 2004, coffee drinking during the week is roughly confined to a single cup in the morning with maybe another cup during the day. Weekends I have a few more. With coffee, the ritual certainly matters a lot. Right now I am depressed thinking about leaving the house.

- alcohol (1-2 drinks occasionally on weeknights; "going out" on weekends)
I began "drinking" in the same way as most teens--via liquor/beer swiped from parents and friends of parents. I've never been much of a drinker, though since graduating college and moving to New York I've developed steady behavior patterns of drinking beer or wine regularly with dinner and going out on Friday/Saturday night and having a few more drinks, sometimes getting drunk. In the past few months, I feel that both of these behaviors have increased slightly. My main concern with drinking alcohol is simply that it is expensive; a Friday or Saturday night out in New York can empty a wallet. Unlike smoking or coffee, I don't think I'll have any problems/difficulties not drinking alcohol, but it is certainly a little strange to go out in the evenings with friends and realize you may be the only one not drinking.

-------------------------

We'll see how it all goes. I felt kind of depressed yesterday and maybe that was connected to a lack of caffeine/nicotine (smelling coffee in the morning certainly made me feel shitty), but it might have just been the cold/darkness. I'll certainly be able to test the strength of my nicotine addiction this week at least.

-JB

Week 13 Concerts LIVEBLOG: Wolf Eyes

at Cakeshop. Very very very weird shit.

Week 13, Concert Going Day 6: Blue Album Group Recap

This man made me happier than just about anything.

Last night I saw the second performance of the Blue Album Group, and it nearly brought me to tears. Conceived as a sort of "live through this" glance-back at an epochal touchstone of Young American life in the 1990s, the Blue Album Group Project carried not only a of significance for me, but also (of course) for their leader Imanant, as a sort of summation of a lifelong journey.


Channeling the DGC spirit

I hesitate to call the Blue Album Group a "tribute band", because there is something magical and special about what they do that runs in contrast to the common trappings of rote tribute band emulation. These boys, or men, or whatever, were not copying, mimicking or imitating Weezer; they channelled them, fed off of them, loved them. Seeing them perform last night was a certain type of ultimate postmodern experience: while seeing them move about the stage in practiced unison, I realized that at that moment I would far prefer to see Imanant and co. "doing Weezer" than Weezer themselves (which, it's worth noting, in 2008 would certain amount to no more than Weezer "doing Weezer" anyway). It's a strange thought in this age of approximation, archivalism, and extended memory, but one worth evaluating when imagining our lifegoals going forward. In any event, they were fun and made me feel good about everything in my life up until that point.


"What's with these homies, dissing my girl? Why do they gotta front?"


Tonight, everyone hears you.


Mark's solo was nearly a lifetaker.


No one was having as good of a time though as this guy down low.


Jay and I debate whether or not they should have played an encore.


Channeling something else: "Don't fuck with me, Beaumont."

Week 13 Concerts Day 6 LIVEBLOG Blue Album: only in my dreams

I somehow feel vindicated 13 years later for wearing that Weezer t-shirt in high school even though dudes said it wasn't cool.

Week 13 Day 6: BLUE ALBUM GLORY

workers are going home, that other guy got off the stage.

Teenage rock!

Week 13 Concert LIVEBLOG: blue album#2 the most annoying man

This man is terrible. He is supposed to be reading a poem. He is AWFUL.

Week 13 Concerts Day 6: Blue Album #1

Cleveland, get ready to rock. This is where life begins.

Week 13, Concert Review Day 2: The Dodos

i don't have much time or patience to say much about the Dodos. i saw them in Williamsburg at Sound Fix for free on Monday night and I liked them. These are the notes I typed into my telephone at the time:

San Francisco (reminds me of people i know there and sounds/bands I have heard there)
Skittering metallic drumrim beats that sound like outro to "Videotape" (Radiohead)
>>sometimes alternating with same beat on floor toms

cleantone guitars (no distortion ever)
melodic tones
bells
chants

Here are some very poorly taken photos from my definitely LQ camera:






This dude with the crazy "haircut" came over to give thanks and prayers after their set...


But how do you give prayers and thanks with a "haircut" like this and your jacket around your waist without ALSO getting a high five?

Overall I would say that I liked the Dodos. They are woodsy, nice meshing sound that made me think of San Francisco and surfer woodspeople. There was also a nice rhythmic drone quality to their tunes that I appreciated. Not sure if it was anything to write home to mom about (you know how she likes to jump up and down for a good time), but I will explore the band and their music further.

Here's a Dodos tune:

The Dodos: "Jodi"

end of a show

People go home.

Week 13, Concerts: LIVE BLOG/RATDOG--Fin

And it's over. homeward bound we go. i'll post the chinsy phone photos and a recap when I get home (in probably two silly hrs).

--JB

Week 13, Concerts: LIVE BLOG/RATDOG--Birds

bird song.
just had my first lost-my-blog-entry answering a text. some revelatory shit too.
had a hilarious moment with a girl who stood next to me tellingme that the last time she saw Warren Haynes at the Beacon she "was in high school and tripping on acid up in the balcony."

on another note, with Bob's yr uncle, I hope to god Bob Weird is still touring in 19 yrs so I can take my (arbitrarily-aged) 11 year old to see him and explain what life was like before they began implanting wi-max touch screen devices in our forearms and nothing is secret.

unknown blond woman came out and sang with Turn On Your Lovelight. everyone cheers. fun times.

----

holy shit batman talk about 80s ref weirdness--"Touch of Grey"!! talk about weird moments of accidental cultural convergnce tipping points (when the single dropped in what, '84?). aww jerry, I feel you, you're HERE WITH ME RIGHT NOW! (seriously)

Week 13, Concerts: LIVE BLOG/RATDOG--mule time

warren haynes guest now. "Sugaree". GREAT. better than Loggins Herring for sure.

Week 13, Concerts: LIVE BLOG/RATDOG--#5 Hot as a Pistol

now playing "He's Gone" (aka song with lyric "steal your face").

near certain guarantee that >374 people have leaned over to each other in the past five minutes to say, "Dude, seriously--JERRY IS HERE RIGHT NOW. I CAN FEEL HIM!! HE'S --NOT-- GONE!"

I'd stake a midtown halal cart cheesesteak on that one.

also, for disclosure's sake, it's worth noting that I am singing along to every word of this song (including "Steal Your Face" lyric).

Week 13, Concerts: LIVE BLOG/RATDOG--Set Break Death

Second set just started. During the break we went to the backstage area and met some dudes. on the way there though I literally fell down the treacherous verticle stairway that, I found out a few min later, is the exact same stair that deceased Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun fell down in 2006, triggering a worsening of health that ultimately led to him moving onto the next world. umm yeah. also, I had the weird experience of meeting ertegun (with Henry Kissinger of all people) for a work gig in Turkey in 2006.

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Flash forward 20 min. jam through Franklin's Tower, an oldtime fave of mine as one of the great feel-good songs of the late 70s era Dead. unfortunately all a lil less enjoyable due to the ushers somewhat hilariously attempting to get people to go to their actual seats. "New venue, new rules," they say (Cablevision/MSG bought the venue recently)-- apparently no one gave Jim Dolan the memo that seated jamband shows apparently have their own set of rules where "having a seat" means "having the privilege of standing wherever The Flow takes me." hilarious.

another thought (irrelevant to anyone who's never cared about the Dead in any fashion): I would rather see/hear Bob Weir right now than any Dead from the late 80s. gross drug use, awful synths--brent mydland!! (3rd keyb to die). What the fuck happened to America in those dark days? does anyone remember the horrible '86 collabo single of heroes Bowie and Jagger on what is easily the most atrocious version "Dancin' In the Street" ever (save maybe a G Dead Fall Tour '89 version? don't have a Deadbase handy to verify). [don't I wish I could be ref ref hyperlinking this up right now??]

speaking of ref ref ref ref, Jimmy Herring is the 90s/00s jamscene equivalent of Yacht Rock Kenny Loggins (do you know what I mean? link me up scotty!)

whew. serious moonlight we've got here (bowie, what the fuck!!!)

hyperlinks and tim cayne in major necessitude. would an iphone have helped?

Week 13, Concerts: LIVE BLOG/RATDOG--iko iko

the song recognition never ceases. I feel like i'm at a high school reunion I never planned to go to but then did, but then figured I wouldn't remember what anyone looked like but then did, and then ultimately figured I that regardless I wouldn't have any fun (but then did).

bobby sounds truly great still. gotta hand it to him. he looks like a spiritual liberation svengali, up then in a free-flowing white shirt. yeehaw.

Week 13, Concerts: LIVE BLOG/RATDOG--#2 Terrapin Station (not)

Bird Song. Ryan Adams fave. what is wrong with me? jimmy herring looks like Uncle Zeke the truckdriver from Treadwell NY (google "treadwell" and "photography").

i've never had so many 43 yr olds try to pass me joints in my life. But on this I am more Hil-Clint than B-Obamas, making me and Mikey G the Benefactor the only sober ones here.

quote from MG, on Jimmy Herring: "He's so fluid, it's like silk".

and on the topic of MG, bro did us right. 8th row orch center. VIP backstagers. MG + Relix=unexpected greatness. looking forward to some VIP backstage setbreak free beer.

Week 13, Concerts: LIVE BLOG/RATDOG #1--WORD

word duuuuuuuuuuuuuuudes. at ratdog. on phone. jam > shakedown > born crosseyed > queen jane approximately > the deal > the wheel. seriously. the fact I know this stuff STILL kinda scares the crap out of me.

special guest just came out. debbie harry?!?!? holy cow!

oh. no. jimmy herring, post-Dead band dude guitarist extraordinaire. weird tertiary levels of sub-stardom.

anyway in words of steve malkmus, rad action.

Week 12, Rock and Roll--TRACK #1: 'Umm' Don't Mean 'I Love You'

So no concert-going tonight, but my evening was very Hyperliving-driven, as Imanant and Jay Greene came over to record vocals for and mix the songs we cut on Saturday. At the end we still were only able to complete one song, but complete it we did: I am proud to announce that we have finished the first track of The Heart Beats. and it is now available for you now.



Click to listen or right-click to download and save.

The Heart Beats. -- 'Umm' Don't Mean 'I Love You'
Lead and Double Vocals, Bass: Jeffrey Beaumont
Lead Guitar: Imanant
Rhythm Guitar: Jay Greene
Drums: Hot Doorknobs
Backing vocals (outro): Jeffrey, Imanant, Jay, and E-Bad

We have studio time booked next Wednesday night to record the last song and finish the vocals for "Red Robin". More updates to come.



Harmonizing the outro.


Trying to finish some slice n' mix editing