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| Archives: Gig Journal Entries |
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Note: The Gig Journal entries are primarily links to the respective photo albums, but occasionally I have posted a review as well. All journaling is now done on the BAGeL Radio Blog. Birdmonster/ Boyskout/ The Blacks Pink Mountaintops/ Darker My Love/ The Morning Benders BAGeL Radio Presents...[RockScene] BAGeL Radio Presents...[RockScene] The Grates @ BAGeL Radio + Bon Savants @ BAGeL Radio + BAGeL Radio Presents...[RockScene] Bon Savants (CMJ 2006) Bears/ Portastatic (CMJ 2006) Decemberists (CMJ 2006) Silversun Pickups/ Darker My Love (CMJ 2006) The Grates/ Starlight Desperation (CMJ 2006) Swearing At Motorists (CMJ 2006) Chris Garneau (CMJ 2006) Division Day/ Snowden (CMJ 2006) Birdmonster (CMJ 2006) BAGeL Radio Presents... A Particularly Vicious Rumor/ The Holy Kiss Cold War Kids BAGeL Radio Presents... Lemon Sun/ Half-handed Cloud [the] caseworker This was [the] caseworker's first show with new guitarist Geoff Diesel and they sounded good. They often sound better when they can't hear themselves...I wonder why that is? I also wonder why is it that I love bands that tend to shoot themselves in the foot -- for the second time this week I saw a band I love fail to play their current single, in this case the title track to [the] caseworker's second album, "When I Was A Young King." Geoff competently played all the parts previously played by Monte Vallier, with a hint of first-night jitters. [the] caseworker embark on a 20-city tour this weekend -- I expect that will cure those jitters. The Vacancies/ Street Dogs Punk rock is alive and well? Who knew? The 'punk rock' being shoved through the mainstream channels is fake. Almost everything I've heard that trying to pass itself off as punk rock during the past 15 years has been boring faux-grunge Xerox Rock. Homogenized = the punk rock I'd been hearing. Energized, raw, lyrically observant = the punk rock I heard last night. The bands at Bottom of the Hill were actually good. They both had a Clash meets Black Flag vibe...in the best possible way. The Vacancies (from Cleveland) have actual songs, not formula structures based on DOOKIE and TEN; Street Dogs (from Dorchester, featuring Mike McColgan of Dropkick Murphy's) were even more derivative, kinda like early Clash covering Black Flag with some Stiff Little Fingers, but they admit their influences (one wore a Radio Clash t-shirt, plus they covered a Black Flag song), and both bands have something to say. Most refreshing. BAGeL Radio does not play much new punk rock, but as soon as the Vacancies A BEAT MISSING OR A SILENCE ADDED arrived, that began to change as "Radio Revolution" and "Hey Man!" were added to rotation almost immediately. Now if only the kids hanging out at Hot Topic would start buying this stuff instead of that Yellowcard crap... BAGeL Radio Presents... The new Get Him Eat Him material sounds better than the previous releases. I am looking forward to their new record. Evangelicals were...challenging, shall we say. Lots of screaming and screeching vocals, sometimes to the point that the vocals overwhelmed the rest of the band. I'd been looking forward to seeing The Living Blue since first hearing "Tell Me Leeza" and "My Serrated Friend" earlier this year. They did not disappoint, although it would have been nice to hear their best song, the aforementioned "Leeza." The Coup Full, great show...is The Coup the most important hip hop act making the rounds at the moment? I am not an authority on the subject, so suffice it to say that they are my favorite hip hop/ funk/ soul act going. Death Cab For Cutie/ Spoon/ Mates of State Seeing Death Cab For Cutie reminded me of why, finally, after listening to their latest album, PLANS, DCFC was admitted into my personal favorite Top Ten Bands of All Time list. And it was Ben's 30th birthday. Spoon was good but not as interesting live as on record; even worse, we completely missed Mates of State completely, except when they joined DCFC on stage for one song. Sad. David Bazan/ Micah P. Hinson Micah P. Hinson is the 21st Century Johnny Cash. The Raconteurs The Warfield could use less advertising and more air conditioning. Jack White seems to love being on tour (The Jack-On-Tours, anyone) and seems to the freedom afforded him by having a full backing band. He was playing some gi-tar. Leads like Jimmy Page. Solos like...well, solos like he's not allowed to do in his other band, the White Stripes, since in that band he is responsbile for pretty much the entire song. The Flaming Lips/ Ween Having been blown away by The Flaming Lips a couple of times in the last two years (Coachella 2004, SXSW 2006), Misty & I arrived at the Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley on a gorgeous Saturday evening excited to see them again. The only hesitation was due to the fact that Misty had just returned to San Francisco that morning from 3 weeks away, the last two in Hong Kong and Seoul. Her internal time zone was a little off. In need of caffeine, we went to a concession stand for an iced tea. We were approached by a warm an considerate fellow with dark rimmed glasses, shoulder-length light brown hair, and a full beard. " Would you guys like to dance on stage tonight with the Flaming Lips?" he asked. "You're kidding, right?" I replied. "No, you'll be a santa, and she'll be an alien." It was at that point that I tapped Misty on the shoulder and asked, "Do you want to dance on stage with the Flaming Lips tonight?" She needed to think about it, and while she thought about it, I thought about it. I thought: I am not a dancer. I am not a party person. I am not one to get up on stage in front of 8800 people under any circumstances. At the same time, with Misty ready to crash at any moment, I was thinking that one way to make sure she remained conscious and into the event was knowing that we would get to see the show from on-stage for a song or two. When she agreed to do it I was both relieved and mortified. We met backstage at the designated time where we were informed that we would be on stage, in costume, not for a song or two, but for the entire Flaming Lips performance. Here is some photographic (and video) evidence of the silliest evening of the year. So far. Birdmonster Palace Family Steak House/ Society of Rockets/ Skiffington/ Helium Bar/ Parker Street Cinema The Lilys/ Human Television/ LSD & The Search For God BAGeL Radio Presents...The California Homegrown Music Series: Band Of Horses Who needs cowbell? Reverb, reverb, and more reverb. Cold War Kids/ Apollo Sunshine/ Backyard Tire Fire Radiohead/ Deerhoof Radiohead played two nights at The Greek Theatre in Berkeley. I went to the Saturday show with several people who were also there on Friday, all of whom agreed that the Saturday I have seen Radiohead about a half dozen times and this was one of the better ones, either #1 or #2. I was completely sober -- planned on psychedelics, but ended up being the driver. I can't Radiohead played about 7 songs I'd never heard before, I assume they were all new, and were all more rock-y, less glitch-y, than KID A-era Radiohead. The first new one they played sounded a bit like The Doors. The next new one sounded a bit like Happy Mondays. The one after that sounded a bit like Happy Mondays covering The Doors. To me these are all good things. The last new song they played may finally replace "No PS-The Thom Yorke solo album, THE ERASER, is all beats and glitches and Autechre-y, which should keep KID A-era Radiohead fans happy. The Ark/ Mon Cousin Belge Hedwig And The Angry Ark. The Twilight Singers Mark Lanegan's name was on the actual physical ticket this time (The Twilight Singers featuring Mark Lanegan) but he didn't make it out onto the stage until halfway through the encores. That kinda sucked. Other than that a strong show by Greg Dulli and company. Tapes 'n Tapes/ Cold War Kids/Figurines The Mountain Goats Even sick and miserable, John Darnielle managed to put on an entertaining and moving show. Film School/ Silversun Pickups LA's Silversun Pickups will break out this year. Debut album CARNAVAS out on Dangerbird records 7/25/06. BAGeL Radio Presents...The California Homegrown Music Series: The BAGeL Radio Living Room Sessions featuring: Misty's younger sister, niece, and nephews visited us in San Francisco. Misty wanted to take the kids to their first rock show, but there were no interesting all-ages shows scheduled, so we hosted our own. In our living room. Over brunch. Hijack The Disco and Dino of Serene Lakes were kind enough to drop by with acoustic instruments and provide the kids with their first-ever live rock experience. Click the band names to check out video of the performances. Arctic Monkeys/ We Are Scientists Silversun Pickups Silversun Pickups = the Afghan Wigs and Pixies on stage together, slightly drunk and a little angry, covering Smashing Pumpkins' SIAMESE DREAM. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness/ The Rogers Sisters Hijack The Disco/ Cloud Cult The Fall/ Birdmonster (day two) The Best Fall ever. Yes, a bit better than last night, which was previously The Best Fall ever. Tonight they closed the set with my first favorite Fall song, "Mr. Pharmacist," which is actually a cover of a song by The Other Ones, but I did not know that when I first heard it so to me it will always be a Fall song. Long live Mark E. Smith and The Mighty Fall. The Fall/ Birdmonster (day one)
The songs were some of the simplest from the humongous Fall catalog, with bridges removed to simplify them further, and the band played them with an energy and cohesiveness that belied the circumstances. Even though squinty old Mark is starting to look an awful lot like Mr. Magoo, he still has a firm grasp on that idiosyncratic, annoying, combative, menacing, droning whatever-the-hell-it-is that has kept people coming to Fall shows for 30 years now. John Vanderslice/ Laura Veirs/ Division Day Nine Black Alps/ Send For Help Irving BAGeL Radio Presents...The California Homegrown Music Series: Art Brut/ Birdmonster I love Art Brut. Coachella 2006 Day Two (part two) Coachella 2006 Day Two (part one) Highlights of the day: Art Brut, Wolf Parade, and The Go! Team. Coachella 2006 Day One Highlights of the day: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! and Wolfmother. The Otherside/ Society of Rockets I had not seen The Otherside in some time and had forgotten how good they are -- imagine if the Stone Roses had remained in their dark, Jesus And Mary Chain early mode when they recorded songs like "I Wanna Be Adored" and "Made Of Stone." Their debut album, DEAD TREES is very good but doesn't quite to the band justice. Looking forward to hearing more from these guys and seeing them again. Birdmonster/ Sabrosa Purr/ Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin This was Birdmonster's CD release show for their debut full-length, NO MIDNIGHT, and it was typical BIrdmonster. Not the greatest set I've seen them do (that would be this one at SXSW), but still better than just about any other band I've seen this year. I can't believe it was nearly a year ago that I saw these guys for the first time. I can't believe that after seeing them nearly 20 times I still look forward to every show. I can't believe I am gushing quite this much yet still not saying anything. OK, so Sabrosa Purr kinda messed up by paying way too long, and the club totally messed up by letting them thereby delaying the headliner until past midnight (NO MIDNIGHT, my ass! ), but taken on it's own, Sabrosa Purr's set was a screaming, searing, thrilling reminder of the power, majesty, and anger of Jane's Addiction and early Smashing Pumpkins. [the] caseworker BAGeL Radio Presents...The California Homegrown Music Series: Wolfmother/ Parchman Farm Ummm, holy shit, Wolfmother are going to be HUGE. The melding of AC/DC with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, and then there's "White Unicorn" with an intro that might as well be STYX covering a Pete Townshend song circa 1969. Awesome. We Are Scientists/ Foreign Born The National/ Mark Eitzel/ Talkdemonic/ Division Day The Heavenly States/ Audrye Sessions Silversun Pickups/ Cold War Kids/ Street To Nowhere I loved the Silversun Pickups debut EP, Pikul, and have been looking forward to their debut full-length since last summer. After th is show that feeling has advanced to 'anxiously awaiting.' SSPU simmered, smouldered, and at times seemed to combust on stage. They kinda ruined my favorite song from the EP (and favorite song of 2005) "Kissing Families" -- they played it too fast which removed the tension and release builds that make that song so great -- but more than made up for it with that last song which I'd never heard before and is clearly the lead single that will raise Silversun Pickups from being the darlings of Silver Lake to being the darlings of the indie rock/college radio world. Feist/ John Vanderslice/ Youth Group (no photos because Bimbo's doesn't allow cameras) Lesley Feist has a beautiful voice, star-quality stage presence, plus so much humor and grace that she can turn severe technical difficulties into a performance asset. In other words, mondo charisma. The person writing this grew up falling asleep listening to "You're So Vain" and "Caronina in My Mind" in the back of the family car many Sunday evenings during the drive home to Queens from visiting cousins in Connecticut At various points during Feist's set, I would not have been surprised to hear such Carly Simon or James Taylor songs covered. More important disclosure: the person writing this tends to dislike music created after punk rock that in no way references punk rock. Leslie Feist's set tonight in no way referenced punk rock. Strike one. The reason I stayed at Bimbo's after Youth Group (who weren't as good as their record, more like a poor man's James, but even a poor man's James is quality) was not that I wanted to see Feist, nor even the excellent John Vanderslice, but because an old friend was back in town and I wanted to hang out with her. Feist's first two songs were very strong, which let my friend off the hook for having kept me at the unnecessarily strict "stay in the designated areas and don't you dare snap a digital photo, that's not included in the $18 ticket price" Bimbo's venue instead of letting me head off into the foggy night towards other, more laid-back Noise Pop venues. Then came the third song, "Gatekeeper," which I played on my show last June. For three weeks. Listeners who complained then: you were absolutely right and I apologize. Live, "Gatekeeper" made me think I was on the Lido Deck of The Love Boat back in the day when women apparently found Bernie "Doc" Koppel hott. The flügelhorn was the least "adult contemporary" thing about it, and you can't get much more adult contemporary than the flügelhorn. Strike two. The fourth song had me thinking "70s corportate comb-over rock," so when later in the set the PA cut out and Feist deftly handled the nightmare technical difficulties situation, I still couldn't stand what was going on. Stee-rike three, grab some pine, boy. What did I expect from someone whose best song is a Bee Gees cover? Finally I gave up and my old friend and I headed for the bar room away from the concert hall. Just as we exited the concert hall Feist announced the addition of Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene to her stage troupe, but at that point even his appearance and the possibility of a post-punk influenced song could not keep me in the room. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!/ Birdmonster Band of Horses/ Peter Walker Tapes 'n Tapes White Rose Movement/ Bellavista/ Sky Parade Serena Maneesh/ 14 Mission/ Tiny Power Art Brut/ Gil Mantera's Party Dream/ Crystal Skulls South By Southwest Music Festival 2006 Day Four: South By Southwest Music Festival 2006 Day Three: South By Southwest Music Festival 2006 Day Two: South By Southwest Music Festival 2006 Day One: Goblin Cock La Rocca/ The Standard Matt Pond PA Citizens Here and Abroad/ Vervein/ The Stevenson Ranch Davidians BAGeL Radio Presents...The California Homegrown Music Series: Robyn Hitchcock/ The Minus 5 Robert Pollard/ The High Strung The Wedding Present/ Tim Fite Goblin Cock/ The Ex-Boyfriends Hijack The Disco/ Lemon Sun BAGeL Radio Presents...The California Homegrown Music Series/ Tokyo Gold Lake Trout/ Benzos The Elected/ Minipop BAGeL Radio Presents...The California Homegrown Music Series:
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