Thomas Dolby at the Parish

This past Wednesday, I had a second opportunity to see Thomas Dolby in less than a year. This show was originally slated for Lambert's, but was subsequently moved to the Parish, because of strong ticket sales. Both places are small, intimate venues, so I was very encouraged that the sound would not be an issue this time, unlike the last.

I originally found out about this show, because I subscribed to his mailing list several years ago, when he reemerged with The Sole Inhabitant tour, after almost 15 years away from the performance stage. In the interim, Thomas had moved to the Silicon Valley in the US, and launched a very successful Music/Technology company, Headspace, that had made the Beatnik plug-in for web browsers. In fact, wanting to work there, I had seriously contemplated trying to go have an interview Headspace, at one point.

About a month or so before the show, the mailing list had a message that if you replied with a copy of your ticket receipt, you would be put on a VIP list for an after the show Meet and Greet. So, of course I did that. In the end, it meant that I received a wristband, and was allowed to stay after the show and get an autograph. No pictures, though. (Not what I expected, but you get what you pay for ;)

The opener for the show was local, Austin band, Knifight. They sort of fit with Dolby, although I didn't find them too engaging, to be honest. Dolby went on just before 10PM and played close to 2 full hours. His band was very good, and the sound was excellent. I was unable to find the names of the musicians, but do know that it was supposedly the first gig for his bass player, who was fantastic, none the less.

I made a vain attempt to capture the setlist, but I am not familiar enough with his material after 1984, to immediately identify some of the songs, in his catalog. He had explicitly asked the crowd after saying that it was the bass player's first gig, whether we wanted him to play it safe or throw caution to the wind and play what struck him at the moment. The crowd said to go for it, so I'm not sure how close it was to this setlist, from the night before, in Boulder. Clearly, at least one Boulder fan has their shit better together, than I do ;)

All and all, it was a great night of music. I left having an even greater appreciation for Thomas as a songwriter, after the night was concluded.

Todd Rundgren at La Zona Rosa

Although not a huge fan in my younger years, Todd Rundgren grew on me as I matured. There are several reasons for this:

• When I joined Tom Limbaugh's band back in the late 80's, Tom had been working with Producer and Engineer, Chris Andersen, who had a long association with Todd, Utopia, and Roger Powell. I gained a different appreciation for Todd through this small degree of separation.
  
• I have huge respect for Roger Powell, Todd's old keyboard player. Roger Powell was a forward looking visionary, and adept programmer. He contributed to many innovations that we use today with the digital production of music.
  
• I had seen Todd perform on episodes 23 and 40 of Live from Daryl's House, and both were excellent.
  

As a result, I hemmed and hawed over going to this show for several weeks. Originally, I had planned on going to a Kings X show, and was thinking that this would be the second time I missed Todd in 2 or 3 years, coming through Austin. Fate intervened however, and the Kings X show was cancelled after their drummer had a heart attack.

An afternoon phone call from my friend Ron, got me thinking about the show again. So, I decided to go. This turned out being one of the most bizarre shows, that I've seen in a long time.

Todd's band included the following musicians:

• Jesse Gress
  
• Kasim Sulton
  
• John Ferenzik
  
• Prairie Prince
  

Although I don't know Jesse, I know of him, since his brother Drew, has played bass with my old piano teacher, John Esposito, on numerous gigs and recordings.

As they started the set, it was immediately obvious that Todd was sick, and his voice was shot. At the end of the second song, he says (paraphrased), You may have noticed that I'm not in the greatest physical condition to sing tonight. Before this is over, we will probably have a Karaoke show.

He did several more songs, before he actually did start looking for volunteers to sing a song. He went through 4 in all, with the first being rejected because she didn't know the lyrics. Of the remaining 3, only one was really able to almost sing in key. Todd then closed out the set with his band, trudging through it.

In hindsight, I think that this was a stretch of professionalism, and things would have been better if he had cancelled the gig and rescheduled it. I'm still considering whether I will attempt to see him again, should the occasion arise.

Which One's Pink?

I had noticed the ads for this show in the Chronicle a while ago, but didn't take any action. The band was a selection of local Austin, all-stars, and included my friend, Ulrich Ellison. Having recently purchased tickets for a Return to Forever show in September, with a bunch of Prog/Fusion fan friends, one of them just happened to mention, Hey, any of you interested in going to that Pink Floyd tribute show, this Saturday? Five of us said yes, and convened at the Ginger Man before the show.

It's a good thing that I went to this show. Having dilly-dallied a month ago, I had missed an opportunity to see the opening of the Fusebox Festival at the Seaholm. As it turned out, this was the last chance, as the City of Austin is beginning a multi-year, redevelopment project.

Arrival

When we arrived around 6:30PM, I was surprised to see that the stage was outside. It was a bit hot until the sun went down. During the After-Party, hindsight proved this to be the best choice. It would have been sweltering inside.

For contrast, I took these pictures of the plant's trademark smokestacks. Shortly after we claimed our seats.

Moving Matter

The show opened with a Jam Band, Moving Matter. They were good, but I'm just not that much of a Jam Band fan. They played for about an hour.

While the openers played, I ran into a few people I knew. One of them was Damon Lange from Nomad Sound. After talking to him a few minutes, I noticed that there were some additional speakers on tripods, behind the audience, as he was walking back to the mixing board.

Which One's Pink?

The main act, played two sets. The first set opened with Shine on you Crazy Diamond (Part 1) and then quickly went into the songs from the first part of the Wall, starting with In the Flesh? and ending with Goodbye Blue Sky.

This was really well done, and there were several surprises. For starters, the side-channel speakers I had noticed earlier, were used for surround-sound effects. The audience was swimming in a lake of sound, making it sound as if there were really helicopters descending as the Wall played. The other surprise was that they actually had a group of small school children as a small choir for Another Brick in the Wall.

There were 7 or 8 different vocalists during the show including Tony Scalzo from Fastball, Teal Collins Zee from the Mother Truckers, and the very impressive, Akina Adderly. All of the vocalists delivered great performances.

At the beginning of the second set, I took this second picture of the stacks. Throughout the show, lighting was projected on to the stacks to great effect, while the music played.

Here's a quick run-down of the songs that I can remember, in no particular order:

• Meddle - One of these Days, and maybe San Tropez
• Wish You Were Here - Shine on You Crazy Diamond, Have A Cigar, Wish You Were Here
• Dark Side of the Moon - Speak To Me/Breathe through Money, Eclipse
• Animals - Pigs (Three Different Ones), Sheep
• The Wall - In the Flesh? through Goodbye Blue Sky, Young Lust, Comfortably Numb
• Division Bell - Keep Talking

I'm sure I've forgotten some already. I must say however, that this show was very well done.

After-Party

At the beginning of the second set, they announced that there was going to be an After Party, and that everyone would get to see the inside of the Seaholm. This was a fun way to close out the evening, but as I said earlier, thankfully the show was outside.

Bottom line: It was great night of music, under the stars.

Austin Music People Launch at the Moody Theater

So I had the opportunity to go to the Austin Music People (AMP) launch at the Moody Theater, this past Thursday. A fun event, I'm hoping that AMP has more legs than Save Austin Music did ;).

The GA tickets were relatively cheap, and the lineup was fairly impressive. It included:

• The Bright Light Social Hour
• The Coveters
• Bavu Blakes
• Brownout!
• Alejandro Escovedo
• Court Yard Hounds
• Blue October
• Ghostland Observatory

I arrived late, and went on to the floor even though I had the more expensive balcony seats. I heard Bavu Blakes, Brownout, Alejandro, CYH, and the 1st song of Blue October's set. The sets were short, not really long enough to let the sound guy tweak the PA properly.

My only complaint was that the theater was totally sold-out, and they would not let me reenter the floor area, after taking a leak. A fun night regardless!

Brownout! (Groupo Fantasma's alter ego)

Alejandro Escovedo

The Dixie Chicks minus one (aka. Court Yard Hounds)

Update

Some photos from the ACL Live site.

Devo at the Moody Theater (ACL Live)

The Past

Right as I entered high school in 1976, the music world was being set on its ear. Album Oriented Rock (AOR) had dominated popular music for the first half of the decade. Once considered the music of rebellion however, Rock was becoming very commercialized and was now viewed as Main Stream.

Around 1975, something strange started bubbling to the surface. Popular music was bifurcating into two distinct poles. Two parallel rebellions were underway, against the status quo:

• Disco represented a resurgence of dance music with heavy Latin, Funk, and Afro-cuban influences. It originated in the urban, black, latin, and gay dance clubs of New York City. The Disco scene was opulent and hedonistic.
• Punk stood on the opposite end of the spectrum. It represented a return to Rock's garage roots. Simultaneously emerging from New York City and London, Punk held an anarchistic and nihilistic attitude; it evangelized a strong DIY ethos.

Of course, when this started happening, it was very important to pick a side. I felt more kinship with the Punkers.

Unfortunately, broadcast radio was not the best vehicle to listen to or discover new Punk bands. There were other venues, however. One of these was the then, still relatively young TV show, Saturday Night Live (SNL).

SNL had a musical guest every week, emphasized new artists, and had assumed the role of taste maker. Acts like Elvis Costello, and the Talking Heads, received a big boost after appearing on the show.

Most people my age, watched SNL religiously. However, even with all of this new music, nothing prepared me for the show that aired on October 14, 1978. On that night, Devo appeared on national television.

For the first segment of the show, Devo opened with their brilliant cover of Satisfaction. Ironically, the Rolling Stones were the musical guests, the prior week. For the second segment they showed a clip from their video, the Truth about De-evolution, then played Jocko Homo.

Of course, this was an amazing spectacle, clearly there was something subversive going on with this band. The following Monday at school, there were two reactions:

• WTF was that? - held by most of my classmates.
• I think we found our boys - held by me and my friends who were bummed about the Pistols falling apart.

It was only a short time later that all of us had a copy of Are We Not Men, We Are Devo and were wearing out the vinyl. As luck would have it, a few weeks later, tickets went on sale were for a show in Baltimore. I can honestly say that I will remember that first Devo show, as long as I live. All in all, I saw the band on every tour, for their next 3 albums:

• 12/29/78 - Painter's Mill Music Fair, Owings Mills, MD - they opened the show with 15 minutes of video, and Bob 1 had his wireless 2x4 guitar. (3 years before MTV!)
• 07/27/80 - Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD - an absolutely hilarious show, with Devo Muzak playing over the PA, as we entered the pavilion.
• 10/31/81 - Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY - a truly bizarre show on Halloween in NYC. The perfect counterweight to the Zappa show over at the Palladium, the same night. They wore plastic JFK hairdos, played all synthesizers, and performed most of the show on treadmills. (Ok Go - just a bunch of ripoffs. Devo's choreography was much better in 1981!)

The members of Devo by the way were Art Students who met at Kent State. And yes, they were there during the National Guard Incident. Their intent with Devo was to make video art. It should be no surprise then, that they were perfect for MTV.

They finally have their hit Whip It, when things start unraveling. Two more albums later, they changed drummers, and eventually broke up. Things stayed stagnant for 25 years. Post-breakup, lead singer Mark Mothersbaugh, had the only success, writing and producing music for TV and movies.

Fast forward to 2009. Rumors of Devo reforming were swirling around, when I discovered that they would be interviewed and perform at SxSW that year. During the interview, I discovered that Austin was swimming with Devo fans, and that there were two tribute bands in town. Attending their show at the Austin Music Hall restoked my interest in all of the Punk bands, that I used to listen to in my past.

I was supposed to have also seen the Spudboys from Akron, at Fun Fun Fun Fest 2010. But, guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh had nearly severed his thumb tendon the day before the show, and they cancelled. Which eventually led to the present day, and this show, at ACL Live.

The Opening Act - Octopus Project

For openers, Devo selected Austin Electronic Act, Octopus Project. I have seen them several times before, I can't say they're my cup of tea. I think that lack of vocals is a deal killer for me, with this band.

None the less, they are generally entertaining, and one of the band members is fairly accomplished on the Theremin.

DEVO

When Devo finally hit the stage, it was like a flashback to 33 years ago. You can see the setlist here. There was a good amount of material from Are We Not Men, and Duty Now for the Future.

The big surprises for me, were that they dared to play Mongoloid in this PC era, and Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA. I would have loved to have heard Gut Feeling, Come Back Johnny, and Space Junk, but it was not to be.

Here are some pictures I took with the phone. It doesn't do to well in this lighting.

Last but not least, no Devo show would be complete with the Spuds in the pit sporting their Blue and Red Energy Domes.

Needless to say, I've had the earbuds full of Devo for the past week.

Update

Here's some photos from the ACL Live site.

Asleep at the Wheel's 40th Anniversary featuring Willie Nelson

Asleep at the Wheel

If Austin has music ambassadors, then they undoubtedly are Willie Nelson and Ray Benson, leader of the band, Asleep at the Wheel. The Wheel moved to Austin in 1974, at the request of Willie Nelson, and they helped create the Austin music scene. They were fixtures at Armadillo World Headquarters, and they were the very first act to appear on Austin City Limits. Since their arrival, nothing has ever been the same.

Last night's show was a 40th anniversary celebration of Ray's 9 time grammy award winning band. The featured guest was, of course, Willie Nelson. I hemmed and hawed for several days about whether to go to this show, or the kickoff night of Fun Fun Fun Fest, with Weird Al Yankovic. The prospect of seeing some roots music, and more importantly, a legend, won out some time late yesterday afternoon.

In addition to popping my cherry for seeing Willie live, this was my first show at the Long Center. I arrived at 7PM, and it's a good thing because the show started promptly at 7:30. As it turns out, the early start was needed since the show ended just after 11:00.

At 49 years of age, I felt like a spring chicken in this crowd, with most of the audience much better dressed than a normal Austin crowd. So, mixed in with the Austin Opera patrons, there was a smattering of dance-hall cowboys, and outlaw, biker types. Your typical Willie Nelson crowd in other words.

Set One

The first set went well over two hours, with Ray and his current fiddler, Jason Roberts (Ray's musical director?), being the only constants on stage. The set was subdivided into sections, for each decade of their career, with a video segue projected on a drop down screen.

Ray announced that over 45 musicians were present, who were either presently in the band, or were members in the past. Several times during the show, I counted over 30 musicians on stage, at the same time. At various points they had 5 pedal steel players, 6 fiddlers, a 6 piece horn section, and 6 different piano players on stage at the same time. Although unlike the others, the piano players had to time-share between 2 full concert grands.

The highlights for the first set for me, were the first decade band with Leon Perkins, and Lucky Oceans, and Floyd Domino. Leon's song writing extends far outside of the sphere of the Wheel, and it's amazing how many hits the man has under his belt. Ray was lamenting how many hits they had made for other artists.

Other highlights, were the section with Chris O'Connell, and a special appearance by Leon Rausch, an actual member of Bob Wills Texas Playboys, who must be in his 90's now.

Intermission

At intermission, the band invited the entire audience out to the patio for a group picture, and free beer. In addition, they had a table with about 7 posters, and they invited everyone present to sign them. I thought this was a great personal touch, and explains why so many people love Ray and his band.

Set Two

The last set was all Willie and the current members of the Wheel for the most part. They played a combination of Willie's hits, and a generous helping of the songs from Willie and the Wheel, an album that I love. Ray also mentioned that they were working a second Willie and the Wheel album, which he jokingly called WW2.

I don't know what else to say, other than I was awe struck by Willie. What a performer! There's something real and genuine about the man, that just oozes from the stage. This is something that you can't fake. Perhaps next year, I will go to his 4th of July picnic, rather than punt like I did this year.

In closing let me say, I will follow other sites and update a complete list of musicians, and a setlist, if either materializes. And despite the no photos policy, I managed to get one shot at the very end.

It's that time of the year again

I cruised down to Zilker Park yesterday evening and picked up my wristband. Can't wait until Friday.

Jon Anderson at the Paramount

My history with Yes

I am one of those old timers, who was fortunate enough to have seen Yes multiple times. My interest in the band waned with the second departure of Bill Bruford, after the Union tour. Other than BB, I have not seen any other members of that band perform in almost 18 years.

I have great respect for the alumni of Yes. However, I had to pass on the chance to see them, on the Yes and Asia tours, this past summer. When my friend called about this show, it seemed like it would be more interesting than the standard State Fair stop. Like Bruford, Jon's solo career was actually noteworthy. In fact, the Jon and Vangelis albums are fantastic.

The Venue

I have seen many shows at the Paramount, and have never had a bad experience there. I knew we had Orchestra seats, but didn't realize they were in the front row. When we got to our seats, I knew that we were in for something special.

The stage setup was sparse, with two guitars on stands, a ukelele, a mountain dulcimer, and a piano. Jon came out promptly at 8PM and began playing guitar and singing. The acoustics and sound were perfect, and I estimate that he played for about 70 minutes.

The music

I don't think that I can find any words to describe how fantastic this performance was. The consensus amongst myself and my friends was that Jon blew us all away.

Several times during the show, it seemed as though the Paramount had disappeared, and that I was in someone's living room. The best description I can manage is that Jon presented "a musical Autobiography." It was intimate, frank, and real.

Set List

Although I am very familiar with Yes and Jon's solo material, much of it was presented in medley form. He also reduced the arrangement, so that he could deliver them on a single instrument.

Before leaving, I was able to go up to the edge of the stage, pick up Jon's set list and take a picture of it. I expect to see Jon again.

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Search Amazon.com for Jon Anderson

Robert Plant - Band of Joy at Stubbs

Line to get in

Although none of my friends seemed interested, I couldn't pass up seeing Robert Plant, after the great show he put on at ACL, two years ago.

As expected, people were lined up around the corner to get into Stubbs. The line went all of the way to the 35 frontage road.

Bettye Lavette

I situated myself in the pit, over towards the left side of the stage, about 10 rows back. The opener was Soul and R&B singer extraordinaire, Bettye Lavette. She was touring in support of her latest album, Interpretations: British Rock Songbook, where she performs covers of Classic, British Rock songs by Elton John, the Who, and Pink Floyd, just to name a few.

I was a little tentative about this act, after the lukewarm review she had gotten from the boys over at Sound Opinions. Any reservations I might have had, because of the shortcomings identified in their review were put to rest, as soon as she began singing. She is a very powerful performer, and is difficult to ignore.

I estimate that she started playing around 7:15 and played about 45 minutes. I will probably keep an eye for her in the future, since I would enjoy seeing Bettye headline.

Robert Plant and Band of Joy

The main event started sometime around 8:30, and I estimate it lasted about 2 hours. Since the Band of Joy album has not been released, I was a little unsure what to expect. I did anticipate that T Bone Burnett might be involved with this project, since he was involved with Robert's project with Alison Krauss.

Those suspicions were further raised when I noticed that Austin's very own, Patty Griffin, was touring and singing with Robert. Not very surprising actually, after seeing her also join Elvis Costello in a similar capacity, in another T Bone project. She is one of the usual suspects, as they say.

Although I was unable to find a setlist, this one from a Houston show two nights prior is a close enough approximation. This show went by way too fast, and it most definitely appealed to my tastes.

I am particularly fond of music that sits at the nexus of Country, Blues, and Rockabilly, and is sometimes tagged with the moniker, Roots Rock. Whoever put this band together, did an excellent job. They were fucking excellent, and I could easily go see this show on two consecutive nights, and not get bored.

The band members were:

• Buddy Miller - Acoustic and Electric Guitars
• Darrell Scott - Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin, Pedal Steel, Banjo
• Byron House - Electric and Upright Bass
• Marco Giovino - Drums
• Patty Griffin - Vocals

In closing, here's a few shots from the show:

The Protomen at Game Over Video Games

About a month ago, I was listening to the Wired Audio Playlist Podcast (one source I use for new music) and immediately noticed a cut called the Hounds. The production on this cut was exceptional, and had a very familiar vibe. I remember having to rewind the podcast later in order to find out that the band was the Protomen.

Finding their website and myspace pages, I listened to some more of their tracks and enjoyed them as well. I found out that Hounds was a track from their recently released, second studio album, Act II: The Father of Death. The songs all had a Meatloaf feel to them, mashed-up with some Peter Gabriel.

A little further research on the Internet and Wikipedia revealed that they had 3 albums total (1 live), the band was from Nashville, and the second album had in fact been produced by famed Meatloaf producer, Alan Shacklock. I noticed that I had missed them performing at this year's SxSW, chalking that up to bad luck.

The most interesting thing about this band the fact that they have conceptually based all of their music, on the Capcom Video Game for the NES, Mega Man. (Which I had played with my little brother about 20 years ago). Obviously, they have a small cult amongst the gamer crowd. Although not a gamer, I had already decided they were creative and great musicians, after listening to their material.

Fast Forward to Friday

Friday evening I noticed a tweet go by about the Protomen being on tour, and their Battle Wagon having broken down, in Texarkana. I went over to their website and discovered that they were scheduled to play in Austin, Sunday night, with two opening bands, at Game Over Video Games. I really don't get into video games, and am not that into All Ages shows, but decided to go anyway.

When I arrived at the venue it was obviously a congregation point for those on the nerdier side of the tracks. The store was in a strip mall near the corner of Anderson and Lamar, and is like a museum for video games and game consoles, going all the way back to the Atari days. The actual show was in an empty stall next door. About 30 people were already milling around waiting for the show.

An announcement went out that the band had arrived late, without the 2 opening acts, but that the show would be going on. When they finally let us into the empty stall, it was hot and loud. None the less, this 9 piece band (7 guys and 2 gals) delivered the goods. They have multiple vocalists, and every person was a first rate musician. In addition to synths, guitar, bass and drums, 2 of people also doubled on trumpet and violin. Their set consisted mainly of the Act II material, followed by a smattering of the songs from their first album, and a cover of Styx's, Mr. Roboto complete with Vocoder.

The lighting was insufficient to get a good picture, but these guys were fantastic. I would recommend you check out the samples on their website, and would go on to say that I would gladly see them again (hopefully in a better venue).

Veterinary Woes and What's Next

Recent Woes

The past month has been a little rough. The day after witnessing my Ravens lose their Divisional Round Playoff Game to that team from Indy, one of my two cats contracted Pancreatitis and Hepatic Lipidosis.

After a week in ER, and another 2 weeks with a feeding tube, I had little time for anything but work and taking care of her. Fortunately, she seems to have recovered nicely. The only casualty so far, has been my Lifestreaming experiment

Near Horizon

The forecast calls for lots of music. First, there's SxSW in a month, followed by a fantastic week in April, where I will get to see Porcupine Tree, Jeff Beck, and Chick Corea within a 4 day period. Can't wait.

Dweezil Zappa Plays Zappa at Stubbs

I saw Zappa Plays Zappa again after at Stubbs last night. Previously, I had seen ZPZ two times. Unlike those previous shows, I was a little tentative about this one. If I am to believe the rumors, all is not well in the ZPZ camp. There's squabbling with other Zappa Tribute Bands, special guests going AWOL, and musicians leaving the "core" band.

For this particular tour, there are no Alumni/Special Guests, the primary keyboard player, Aaron Arntz is gone, and there's a new lead singer, Ben Thomas. Ben was a very accomplished vocalist, but didn't have the extra umph and stage presence of a Napoleon Murphy Brock or Ray White.

The show started somewhere around 8PM, with Apostrophe and lasted approximately 2 hours, maybe 2 hours and 15 minute. Dweezil mentioned after the first song that there would be an Austin guitarist joining the band on stage, but didn't identify him at that time. I found the remainder of the show to be well done, but lackluster when compared to the two previous shows I had seen. There was some effort to play new material not covered on previous ZPZ tours, however they obviously avoided some songs.

Later, the special guest ended up being Eric Johnson. Once again, I listened to Eric's somewhat shaky blues improvisational skills. Now I like Eric just as much as the next fan, but jamming is not one of his strengths. This show confirmed what I had witnessed at a Robben Ford show a couple years back. Eric had the same problem then, although it was more obvious because David Grissom was also on stage. Fortunately, Dweezil helped keep this potential train wreck on the rails.

My remaining comments about the show: Sheila Gonzalez plays some absolutely awesome Saxophone (and Keys) during the show, and Billy Hulting on Vibes/Percussion, and Joe Travers were also impressive. This was however, the weakest of the 3 shows that I have seen. Then again, it's hard to top having Ray White, as lead singer.

ACL 2009 - The Quickening

It's that time of the year again. Friday 1100, be there, aloha!

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Living Colour at Emos

Living Colour is back! For about 2.5 hours, I saw this incredible band rise like a Phoenix, from the ashes, outside at Emos. To be honest, Emos seemed almost like an inappropriate venue due to its size. However, in hindsight, it was just fine.

The band covered material from Vivid, Times Up, Stain, and the latest effort, The Chair in the Doorway. Realizing that I don't have a copy of Collideascope, I'm not sure if they played any material from the album. (I just remedied that problem via the Amazon music store).

A highlight of the night was the band's cover of Crosstown Traffic to commemorate Jimi Hendrix. Ironically, this show occurred on the 39th anniversary of his death, 9/18/1970. The other highlight for me was getting to talk to Vernon after the show, and talk about our mutual friends, all associated with the late, great, Arthur Rhames.

In closing, let me say this was a great show, and I hope to see them again. Hopefully, next year!!!

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Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Edgar Meyer at the Bass Concert Hall

An eclectic, but interesting show. Bela Fleck, was accompanied by Tabla Master, Zakir Hussain, and Acoustic Bassist, Edgar Meyer. I've seen Bela 3 times within the past two years at ACL and SxSW, with the Sparrow Quartet and the Flecktones. It is also the second time that I have seen Zakir, who is incredible. This is the first time that I have ever seen Edgar play.

The show last night, consisted of two sets of approximately 1 hour, with a short intermission, and a single song encore. The acoustics were fantastic, with this trio being almost tailor made for the Bass Hall.

All I can say about this show is that it was a fascinating fusion of Indian Classical, Bluegrass, and American Jazz, by 3 masters. Plenty of room was left for improvisation by each musician. Any further attempts at a description would fall into the Dancing about Architecture category.

This trio did record a CD, The Melody of Rhythm which I highly recommend.

Declan MacManis and Sugercanes at Bass Concert Hall

Before continuing, I should mention that I have been a huge Elvis Costello fan, since my highschool days. However, I must admit that I had not been following his post-punk career until SxSW a few years back. He was a keynote speaker that year, and I saw him perform that week with the renamed version of the Attractions, the Imposters, at La Zona Rosa. I started digging into the vault, after that show.

Tuesday night, I had the pleasure of seeing Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes play for approximately 3 hours, at the Bass Concert Hall. This time around, he has genre jumped into playing a sort of American/Bluegrass variant. The new album and material was produced by T-Bone Burnett, so I was looking forward to seeing the show.

Upon arriving, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in the 2nd row. There's no need to say anything about the sight lines, or the acoustics, since both were exceptional. The Bass Hall appeared to be close to full capacity for this show.

For the new album and this tour, Elvis was accompanied by an acoustic string band consisting of the following people:

• Jeff Taylor – accordian
• Mike Compton – mandolin
• Dennis Crouch – double bass
• Jerry Douglas – dobro
• Stuart Duncan – banjo, fiddle
• Jim Lauderdale - harmony vocals

I was somewhat disappointed to discover that T-Bone himself, was not present, even though he plays on the album. Regardless, this band was awesome, and I'm happy to report that there was no tinnitus from this event.

Over the past few weeks, I had already given his new album several listens, and believe he covered most of the material during the show. Elvis also performed new versions of some of his older songs, including:

• (Angels Wanna Wear My) red shoes
• Mystery Dance
• Blame it on Cain
• Alison
• (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding?
• Everyday I write the book

After playing, for approximately 2 straight hours, Elvis and the band were called back out for 2 encores which ended up lasting almost an additional. During this time, they were also joined on stage by Patty Griffin. What a treat, and fantastic way to cap off a great evening of music.

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Tom and Bert for the 3rd and Final Time

After the house concert last Wednesday, I was invited by Suzanne Oleson's mother to the last house concert in Austin, on Mt. Bonnell. An excellent evening of music once again.

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Bert once again had pictures on his blog, as well. I'm glad he posted them, because the last picture I took with Tom, Bert and Suzanne with my iPhone, was too blurry to use. I can't wait to hear Tom and Bert's new CD to be recorded at the end of this tour, and am anxiously awaiting the return of CGT next spring.

My Daily Morning Lifestream Experiment

Starting on July 31, 2008, I began taking a picture off of my balcony, of the Walnut Park area. To do this, I used the iPhone application, Airme. I have archived this as a stream on Flickr.

As of today, the count is up to 374, so I have more than a year's worth of photos. Looking at the stream, it appears there was an initial period of flux, after which I settled in on framing a consistent shot every morning.

I'm not sure how long I will continue this task, but I am surprised I have been able to keep it up this long. I think I will try to buy one of more of those 802.11g based webcams, since I think some other interesting things could be done with that.

Extract Premier

I recently bought my SxSW 2010 badge and was entered into a contest for tickets to the World Premier of Mike Judge's new film, Extract. As luck would have it, I received an email last week that I had won a pair free tickets. (Of course, free ignores the price of the badge, but who's counting?)

The Premier was actually a benefit for the Austin Film Society, and Mike Judge and lead man, Jason Bateman were available afterwards for Q&A. It was held at the Paramount, and even though I was in Row R in the balcony, the screen was still visible.

I found it enjoyable, and would rate it as good, but not a classic like Mike's film, Office Space. I would still recommend it to people because it's certainly much better than the recent Terminator Movie or Harry Potter.

Other things of note were that I thought that I recognized that the exterior of the fictional company, Reynolds Extract, looked remarkably similar to Adams Extract on Rt. 35 south of Austin. Sure enough, one of the after show questions confirmed this. Many of the external scenes were filmed in and around Austin (Hutto), but all of the interior shots were done in LA.

Since I found the movie worthwhile, I won't post any plot spoilers. I will mention that my friend and I found the plot twist at the end with the neighbor, sick and twisted, but hilarious. I won't say any more than that.

Sonny Rollins at the Bass Concert Hall

When I noticed this show, I had to get a ticket. Sonny Rollins is a living Jazz legend. He was there when BeBop was born, and played with Miles, Monk, Max, and Trane (just to name a few). Now at 78 years of age, he is the last man standing... and still going strong.

The show tonight started promptly at 7PM, and as I entered, I was surprised to see a much denser crowd than the Five Peace Band. My seats were no where near as good as for that show either. I was almost in the last row, and my attempts to capture a picture at that distance were futile.

The band for tonight's show totalled six members:

1. Sonny Rollins - Tenor Sax
2. Clifton Anderson - Trombone
3. Bobby Broom - Guitar
4. Bob Cranshaw - Electric Bass
5. Victor Y. See Yuen - Congas and African Percussion
6. Kobie Watkins - Drums

The first number was an ostinato groove, with Sonny soloing all over the place. For the first 5 or 6 choruses, however, his sound was very low. This was remedied by a microphone replacement mid-song, during the Trombone solo. Sonny was greeted with thunderous applause, when the new microphone made his playing more audible.

I estimate the show lasted approximately 1 hr and 45 minutes, with a single encore. About 8 tunes in all, and two of which were ballads. Unlike Dizzy, Sonny still has the stamina to belt it out. I was particularly impressed with several long sustains, and his ability to draw upon every book of the Jazz Tenor canon.

From the band, the standouts for me were the 2 percussionists, and the Trombone player. I only wish that they had let the Trombonist solo more. I also enjoyed the several occasions, where he and Sonny played in unison.

At the end of the evening, Sonny went to the Mic and mentioned that it was the first time he had played in Austin, since playing Armadillo WHQ. Last but not least, he sang during part of the encore, a straight ahead Blues number.

Do I really need to convince you to try and see him? (I hope not).