Lost in GroVont : a blog

My iPod is not a recording device.

I'll admit that I'm a big fan of the free booze at The Job especially before I head to a music venue with over-priced drinks. And Nob Hill is much closer to North Beach than The Mission, so it seemed perfectly logical to sit in the bar for an hour between work and the New Pornographers show.  Fortunately, my level of sobriety allowed me to deal with the security guard who started hassling me while I was playing games on my iPod in a calm manner. (Background info: I was also confronted by security at the Stars show also at Bimbo's. I was not so accommodating during the encounter.) Note to Bimbo's Security: If I was adjusting a recording device, I would (1) not be obvious about it and (2) not stand at the stage. I've never recorded a show before and even I know better than to stand at the stage where the sound is not optimal for recording. (This is true. The sound in my little corner of the stage was not great that night.) He had me check my bag but he let me keep my cell phone, which unlike my iPod, I can actually record images and video.

The New Pornographers and Friends night at Bimbo's 365! Part One.

The night began with Immaculate Machine who are another one of the many Canadian bands produced by John Collins & Dave Carswell. (The New Pornographers and Tegan & Sara are also best friends with JC/DC.) Three part harmonies? The combination of electric guitar, keyboards, and drums? I wasn't blown away by their set. Their Mint Records debut, Ones and Zeros, is fun, Canadian pop, but no one does Canadian pop better than The New Pornographers. Expectations are set too high for anyone else to match. The set ended with "So Cynical" a song I not only remembered but really enjoyed. As this young band matures, I predict they'll release one or two brilliant tracks but never have a solid album.

Dan Bejar is Destroyer. He played with John Collins and the New Pornographers' drummer. Destroyer is definitely an acquired taste. He has a unique vocal style, which is a nice accent to The New Pornographers' songs but can be overwhelming with other sounds. He released an ep of songs which he recorded with Frog Eyes, Notorious Lightning And Other Works, which I really like so I was interested in hearing more from him but was disappointed Tuesday night.

Author's note one: I will post about the rest of the night later today. I even found a setlist.

Author's note two: I did not make it to the Thee More Shallows show last Saturday.

Probably uses the metric system

It's Friday and I'm not doing anything. Two jobs makes for a long work week so I appreciate having the night off.

Next week will be busy. The New Pornographers on Tuesday at Bimbo's 365. The Fiery Furnaces on Friday at my new favorite SF venue, Cafe du Nord. Plus the usual sixty hours of work.

This week's highlights are few and far between.

The SFist rants about the BART/MUNI commuters on escalators. I'm always rushing around the city for no reason other than the need to move, so I loathe the bottleneck at the Powell street escalators. Unable to determine the volume of my voice over "Time Running" coursing through my ears, I will first whisper "Excuse me."  A second later, I will repeat the phrase with a bit of urgency and louder. Occasionally, I will raise my voice without concern for volume. Please stand to the right and walk on the left. Please don't make me shout at you.

Advertising along Valencia has become more amusing. The billboard above Zeitgeist for Nicolas Cage's new movie, Lord of War, now features the current President's face. And I'm tired of seeing Elijah Wood every other block on posters for two different movies. (In less than a day, his face is usually adorned with a mustache and devil horns.) In junior high, I had a crush on Elijah Wood. (Did you see Paradise?) But I find his post-hobbit movie roles annoying.

If you haven't already, please take a listen to DeVotchKa. I heard their set on one of KEXP's live podcasts and immediately fell for their sound. Segue appropriate comment: DeVotchKa's song, "How it Ends," plays throughout the trailer for the new Elijah Wood movie Everything Is Illuminated based on the book I have yet to read.

I'm hitting Hotel Utah tomorrow for the Thee More Shallows show.

Sarah has a beautiful ear.

Updated with setlists for all bands.

After waiting in line behind an asshole who provoked the homeless for his own amusement. After being searched. I entered the Warfield[1] for the first time. It is a beautiful venue. But far larger a space than I like to see a rock show.

Opening up was the Bell Orchestre, an instrumental band featuring members of Arcade Fire. The opening song was great with more than a little resemblance to the Arcade Fire sound. Sarah Neufeld is energetic on the violin bouncing all over the stage for both the Bell Orchestre and Arcade Fire sets. Trumpet. French Horn. Drum kit. Upright bass. The songs varied from sonic bliss to sonic mush with the drums taking over at times. Fortunately, the cd doesn't disappoint. Recording A Tape The Colour Of The Light won't be officially released in the US until November but I picked it up at the show.

Ah, Wolf Parade. I can't wait to see them in a smaller venue. A nice set but they couldn't fill the room. (Unlike, Arcade Fire who had no problem possessing the entire venue.) The songs I loved were played a little faster than on the EPs, with "I'll Believe in Anything" outracing my ability to lip-synch along. A few songs I didn't recognize, but loved, which makes me long even more for the full length release in a couple of weeks.

Starting with "Wake Up", Arcade Fire took over the stage and the entire venue for the next hour and a half. (And Owen Pallet was there on stage right playing his violin with Sarah!) With the exception of a few comments from Win Butler about how grateful he was to be playing in front of an appreciative audience instead of "30 people in the pit on cell phones", there was little banter. From my bird's eye view, I could see the supporting cast laughing and teasing each other in the background. It was fun. Regine played drums for a few songs. Everyone traded instruments.

After some sound trouble to begin the encore, the group nailed "Tunnels" with so much force I was speechless, which was good prep for the more Funeral-esqe closer "In the backseat". At the end, Win and Owen fell into the crowd and disappeared. But as I made my way back out on to Market Street to catch BART back to the Mission, I found a huge crowd surrounding Win and Owen who were still playing acoustic guitar and bells respectively. How incredible!

Advice from one dead president.

At few weeks ago, I hit another Monday night reading at ACWLP. Chuck Klosterman was in town on August 22nd to read a section from the recently released Killing Yourself To Live: 85% of a true story.

I expected him to be arrogant and narcissistic, but he was funny and narcissistic. I can deal with that.

I finished reading the book earlier this week.

Killing Yourself To Live started out as an "epic" article for Spin magazine about the geographical locations where rock-n-roll personas died. The book is really about Chuck. On the long road trip from NYC to Seattle, Chuck becomes self-reflective and interweaves his past and present with the people and places he encounters along the way.

The end of the book is disappointing only because it leaves us without closure on Chuck's relationship. (If I had read the book before attending the reading, I would have been able to inquire about the outcome.) It is, however, a reminder that life doesn't come with closure built in to the program. Sometimes it just ends. Thankfully, the book ends with an in-depth Index allowing me to easily find my favorite little anecdote to quote for you:

Thomas Jefferson is history's coolest president because of the advice he gave Meriwether Lewis and William Clark before they explored the northwest Territory in 1804. One of the many things that Jefferson warned Lewis and Clark about was mastodons. "You dudes need to watch out for potential mastodon herds," he told them (I'm paraphrasing). "If you see any mastodons, make sure you tell me about them, because I need to know."

My second favorite part was his in-depth analysis of Radiohead's Kid A. (Kid A is without a doubt my favorite album--ever.) Chuck describes Kid A as the soundtrack to the events of 9/11 even though the album was released almost a year prior. Spooky? Or coincidental? I'll go with the latter. If not Radiohead, some other music writer would have declared a different album by another band as a portent of the tragedy.

Since he actually compares his book to Elizabeth Wurtzel's books, I feel okay in agreeing with him.

I'm currently finishing up Chuck's earlier pop-culture book: Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs.

 

Quoting Weevil.

In my day-planner under goals:

1. Blog more.

2. Sleep more.

3. Read more.

One is conveniently being fulfilled with this (cough cop-out cough) list.

Two also happens to be the number of jobs I have. Extra sleep is not possible.

Three. Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself To Live has been keeping my attention for a week.

The fall television season is upon us. I go through phases with my tv viewing habits. The invasion of bittorrents has increased the number of shows I watch but allows me to watch on my own time. (I do not have cable or Tivo. I only recently purchased a dvd/vcr combo device for my 12" screen.)

Very little about the new season interests me. "Veronica Mars" and "Battlestar Galactica" are the only must sees for me.

"Weeds" on Showtime with Mary Louise Parker premiered several weeks ago and has managed to keep me interested. Every thing Parker does is usually pretty good. If you haven't seen "Angels In America" add it to the top of your Netflix queue.

Over the past week, I have been entranced by season one (via bittorrent) of "House, M.D." A special division of a teaching hospital led by miserable, yet brilliant Dr. House takes on a rare medical case of the week while dealing with the oddities of his team--three damaged doctors too young and pretty to actually be a part of this special medical team. Season two premieres this Tuesday on FOX.

On my calendar for the week is the aforementioned Arcade Fire/Wolf Parade double header on Sunday.

A longer post than I anticipated. Helium's Dirt Of Luck has been in pretty heavy rotation in my head lately. "Oh the wind and rain" was the song of the day yesterday.

Not unlike an obtuse sentence you said

"Twin Cinema" should, geographically, be my favorite song on the New Pornographers latest release. Carl Newman calls out my neighborhood in the chorus, but "The Jessica Numbers" is one of the best songs they've ever written and you don't even get to it until half-way through the album. The intro gets my attention. Followed by the male/female vocals harmonizing throughout the track. Then the upswing in tempo to the outro with an acoustic guitar and whiny-electric guitar.

The New Pornographers will never release a bad album. Even a mediocre album by Newman and co. will be significantly better than 90% of the music out there. Twin Cinema is not a let down but it's not as solid as Electric Version. I find the slower songs too slow; and other than "Jessica Numbers" no song stands out to me. The expectations are insanely high for this band. Unfortunately, the Broken Social Scene release next month (October 4th) will also face the challenge of being too great for their own good.

The New Pornographers are playing at Bimbo's 365 on 27 September 2005 with Destroyer and Immaculate Machine.

Broken Social Scene are at the Grand Ballroom on 09 November 2005. Tickets go on sale Sunday.

For more info about Twin Cinema read the New Pornographers' bio at Matador Records here.

Crack Panda says...

Scott Bateman is posting an animated film a day for a year on his Bateman365 website. In the wake of current events, he has been using sound bites from politicians and adding his own commentary.

Bateman is a political and pop culture cartoonist. He has a cynical, "What the fuck?" view of the world that at times is relatable and other times I think "What the fuck?" Either way, he is worth checking out.

He updates his livejournal daily and posts a weekly music chart on Sundays.

all the birds that you saw in your kitchen television

It's cold and foggy this morning in The Mission. I can't decide if Chin Up Chin Up's debut full-length fits the mood created by the weather or not.

"it's all been a lie since 1996"

We Never Should Have Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers paints pictures of life. The mundane day-to-day is transformed by the busy instrumentation--keys, guitars, percussion, "sound creations" and cello--into something more. Jeremy Bolen sings of kitchens, television, tumbleweeds, the treadmill, et al. and it's relatable and the music is beautiful.

"Virgina, Don't Drown" is the stand out track on the album. Download it via the CU CU website.

RIYL: Modest Mouse.

In other news, Okkervil River's Will Robinson Sheff guest posts on one of my favorite mp3 blogs, Said the Gramophone.

And gorilla vs. bear has an early look at the new Metric album here.