... at the Carrboro Arts Center.
Another solo acoustic show. As always, he played Glass Hotel, Queen Elvis and One Long Pair Of Eyes. He also played some stuff I'd never heard him play before: Wax Doll, Flesh Cartoons, Dylan's She Belongs To Me and a set of songs on piano which included Flavour Of Night and The Man Who Invented Himself. So, success.
It was, I think, the eleventh time I've seen him. And he still sounds great.
Local singer Django Haskins opened. He was very good.
... at the Carrboro Arts Center.
Tenth time seeing him! First time was in March, 1997.
This set was mostly requests that he took on Facebook. So it was a lot of stuff I'd never heard him do live before: One Long Pair Of Eyes, The Ghost Ship, I Want To Destroy You, A Skull, A Suitcase.... And, he picked one of my suggestions: Luminous Rose. In addition, he played almost all of my favorites: Guilford, Glass Hotel, Briggs, etc.. If he had also played Chinese Bones, he would've completed my top five. He also played a lot of songs from his (very good) new record, which all sounded great done with just an acoustic guitar.
Local singer, Skylar Gudasz, opened with a set of excellent tunes - minimalist and intimate in the style of Cat Power or Joni Mitchell at her best. Worth checking out.
Three weeks till Paul Simon.
Nine times. I've now seen him nine times. And six of the shows, like last night's, were at the Cat's Cradle.
This was a good set. He played a few of his standards ("My Wife And My Dead Wife", "I'm Only You", "Queen Elvis") a few things I've never seen him do live before ("Linctus House", "Balloon Man", "52 Stations") - plus a couple I've never heard ever but which sound like his more recent stuff, so I assume they're new. Singer Emma Swift came out to help out on harmonies for his last three songs. So, very nice.
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He played for about 45 minutes. Then, comedian Eugene Mirman ('Gene' from 'Bobs Burgers') did a set.
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Very funny, and unusual - he did a bit where he asked his Amazon Echo silly questions.
And then they did about ten minutes together, talking, before Robyn closed with one more song.
Robyn submitted to doing pictures with fans, finally. Last time I asked for a picture, I got a polite No.
Saw Robyn last night at Kings in Raleigh. And I think this was the 8th time I've seen him. Dude plays a lot of shows.
Though he has a new record out, he didn't play any songs from it. He made a point to tell us that he wasn't going to play any from it and that he didn't have any copies for sale but that his record label is just down the road so we could just ask them for copies. Odd.
He did play a very diverse set, though. There were a few standards (ex. "Glass Hotel", "I'm Only You"), some newer things (ex. "Ole Tarantula"), some old stuff (ex. "The Lizard"), many things I'd never heard before, the rare "Victorian Squid", and a couple of covers (one from Dylan and one from Neil Young). All solo and acoustic.
He was in good form.
Local legend Chris Stamey (founding member of the dBs) and his band opened. They did a bunch of Stamey songs, which I didn't know, and a few fun covers ("Hey Bulldog", "Draggin The Line", "September Gurls", etc.). And, they joined Robyn at the end of his set for a few more covers ("Happiness Is A Warm Gun", "Dear Prudence" and "Lay Lady Lay").
Good time.
I have audio of Happiness.
Last night we saw Robyn Hitchcock, yet again, at the Cat's Cradle. They built a new smaller space next to the main club, and Robyn is doing two nights there. It's a nice little room, with a small balcony and a few seats along the walls. They also have a full bar, so they fall into NC's ridiculous "private club" category which says that if if a place doesn't serve food but does serve mixed drinks it has to be a member's-only club. What this means in practice is that you pay a fee (in this case, the ticket price) to become a member, and then you get a card and you just flash your card when you come back. So dumb.
He did a shortish set, starting with a bunch of his newer tunes - from Tromsø, Kaptein and the Venus Three records - and then going back through earlier solo stuff (ex. "Sometimes a Blonde"), some Egyptians stuff ("My Wife & My Dead Wife", "I'm Only You", "One Long Pair Of Eyes", etc.) and all the way back to the Soft Boys' "Queen Of Eyes". Lots of 'banter'.
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It was just him, no band or accompaniment. And, it's been a while since I've seen him like that. So that was cool. I could've stood to hear a few more songs, though.
At the end of his set, he walked out into the audience and found a guy who had been standing next to us on the balcony earlier, brought that guy on stage and asked for a second microphone. The sound guy wasn't expecting this, so there was a frantic scramble to make it happen. After that was sorted, Robyn and this guy did a ten or fifteen minute set of ... banter? stand-up? riffing? They just talked. And this guy, who's name I didn't catch was amazingly able to keep up with Robyn's stream-of-consciousness riffing. Obviously someone who was comfortable on stage. They talked about Florida, and how Robyn won't go to Colorado because CO was the first state to ban public smoking, and the police, etc.. It was unexpected, and a bit puzzling - we kept thinking they might do a song? - but they were funny. At the end, Robyn said he'd be joining that guy at the end of that guy's show in the main room of the Cat's Cradle the following night (tonight).
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We were puzzled.
So, today, I looked it up. "That guy" is comic Eugene Mirman. You might know him as the voice of Gene on "Bob's Burgers". And he was standing next to us and we didn't know who he was. Missed opportunity!
Here's Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (performing as The David Rawlings Machine) doing Robyn Hitchcock's "Luminous Rose", Feb '07.
OK, looks like this audio thingy works. Yay!
Cornish game hen: if you're willing to work as hard as if you're eating lobster, you are rewarded with the exotic taste of chicken.
Whose stupid idea was that ?
Also: Suzanne Vega & The Grateful Dead once covered Robyn Hitchcock's "Chinese Bones":
This also makes no sense.
The acoustic version of this on his Obliteration Pie record might be my favorite RH song, ever. It's either that, "Glass Hotel" or "No, I Don't Remember Guilford" (both from Storefront). Theme: solo, acoustic, crystalline.
Bored.
I like this one, too.
4/8/09, Cat's Cradle
And, just for fun, here's a vid of them doing "Beautiful Queen". The sound is awful. Man, do I wish camera makers would give their cameras mic's that can handle loud volume.
Saw Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3 at the Cat's Cradle last night. This was the (1,2,3,4,5...6?) sixth time I've seen him, and the fourth time I've seen him at the Cat's Cradle. I suppose that means I'm one creepy smile away from getting a restraining order. It was another great show.
The Venus 3 are Scott McCaughey, Bill Rieflin and Peter Buck - all of whom play, in various capacities, with some band called R.E.M., and another called The Minus 5. There were a surprising number of people in line who had only a passing familiarity with Hitchcock, and were there to mostly see Peter Buck. Nothing wrong with that of course; Buck's kind of a legend, and I was all gushy over seeing him last time they came to town.
And Robyn Hitchcock remains Robyn Hitchcock: still as funny and clever and musically interesting as ever. Who else could make a crowd sing along and pump their fists to a line like "Fuck me baby, I'm a trolley bus!" ? (OK, maybe Malkmus)
This time around, they played mostly songs from the two R.H. & V3 albums, with a few from Robyn's Egyptians-period (including an acoustic "Lady Waters", by request, which he said he hadn't played since the mid 80s), a couple of Soft Boys' songs, and just a couple from Robyn's many solo-acoustic albums (typically my favorite). But, they're a good enough band that it all sounded great. The new stuff I especially liked live - the songs seem a little too polished in the studio.
They played Matt Pond PA's "Last Light" album on a loop, before the opening band came on. I'll just go ahead and assume that the Cat's Cradle staff reads this blog. Kidding, of course. Matt Pond PA played there last year. And I didn't go, because I'm lame.
There was a silent auction for miniature traffic cones that Robyn had doodled all over. My $50 bid was immediately trumped. I'm not sure how much they eventually went for. Instead, I bought a giant print of a double-decker bus with "Goodnight Oslo" (title of their current album) printed on its side. They were numbered prints, and I got number "200/200". I don't know if that means I got the last one they had, or just the last one printed, or if it doesn't mean anything. Anyway, Buck and Hitchcock signed it for me.
Robyn and Scott McCaughey were both playing these funky-lookin Airline guitars. Retro-hipsters!
The opening band, Durham's Erie Choir was quite good, too. It was the first time I'd seen anyone play a wooden box, live.
Saw Neko Case the night before, and I left the Cat's Cradle last night at 12:45AM, with a 40 minute drive home - in a car reeking of BBQ. Fuck I'm tired.