The Feelies @ The Cat's Cradle.

Nikon D90, 18-105mm

Mercer & Million & Demeski.

Nikon D90, 18-105mm

Million.

Nikon D90, 18-105mm

Mercer & Weckerman .

Nikon D90, 18-105mm

Sauter.

No opener. Two sets of a dozen-ish songs each. Four encores (almost all covers). They played from 8:30 till midnight. No songs from "Crazy Rhythms" until the very end of the last set.

They literally did not say a single word to the audience until after the fifth song; and that word was "Thanks". Not sure anyone but the bass player even smiled, ever. But they totally rocked. Somehow they chose most of my favorites. And when they started to get into their more improvisational, free-form stuff, at middle of the second set, they totally blew the place away. Most impressive.

My ears are still ringing, and my hearing is noticeably diminished. Million's amp didn't seem that loud, but... well, I guess it must have been. Plus, it was that super high-end jangly Feelies guitar sound.

Total blast.

Woohoo!

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I finally got to check the Pixies off my list of bands to see. And, through the magic of the internet, I ended up with front row seats (not counting the three rows in the little "pit" area in front of the front row, ahem) !

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They played all of Doolittle, in order, which was pretty great. That's not my absolute favorite Pixies record (Surfer Rosa), but it's certainly a solid one, and it was even better live. In addition, they played a half-dozen B-Sides from the Doolittle era (all of which, I believe, can be found on their Complete B Sides compilation): Manta Ray, Weird At My School, Into The White, the slow acoustic version Wave Of Mutilation, etc.. And to finish off, they played a few early songs, including Gigantic - which meant Kim got to sing two songs (Gigantic, Into The White)!

Plus, the giant LED screen thing they had in back, showing groovy Dali-esque clips, funky 8-bit space-warp stuff, etc. the whole time, was really sweet.

So, complete success IMO.

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Frank Black / Charles Thompson / Blackie Francis / Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV or whatever he goes by these days, sounded exactly as he did on those records - his voice hasn't changed a bit in 20+ years. He didn't back down from any of it and every scream, rasp, growl, note was exactly as how it was recorded. Very impressive.

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For the most part, they did the songs completely straight - no rearrangements, no tempo changes. So, except for a bit in Gigantic, where they "brought it down" so Kim could say goodbye to everyone, the only moment of spontaneity was during Vamos, when Joe Santiago attacked his guitar with a white face towel, and his shoe, and one hell of an angry overdrive pedal.

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Nonetheless, t'was a great show. Very glad I finally got to see them. Now, if the Talking Heads would just reunite...

Surfer Blood opened, and they were pretty good. Kind of an updated Pixies feel. They did something I don't think I've seen an opening band ever do: they arranged their set list to put their better songs towards the end, so that more people would hear them. Or maybe it wasn't intentional. Either way...

@ The Carrboro Arts Center

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He's still at it. Still playing those songs from the 1920's and 30's. His voice is still great, he's still a fine whistler, and he still plays guitar better than I could ever hope to.

The show was pretty short, and a lot of it was spent goofing around: chatting, joking, telling and re-telling stories. I didn't count, but I'd be surprised if he played more than a dozen songs - and some of those were abbreviated. When I last saw him, six years ago, he did a much longer set.

He, and his fantastic pianist, did play "Harvest Moon", "If We Never Meet Again This Side of Heaven", "Ain't Misbehavin'", "Big Time Woman", "The Sheik of Araby" and "Marie" (all from his first two records), among others. So we got what we went there to see/hear.

It was good to see him again. I wish he would've played a bit more.

Last time I saw him, what I noticed about the crowd was the remarkable number of Hawaiian shirts. This time, it was white hair. Time marches on.

@ The Haw River Ballroom.

Holy Sons started out. I'd never heard of them before, and wasn't in the mood for an opening band. But, their unique blend of jazzy, bluesy, psychedelic stoner-rock won me over. Not sure what it sounded like in the audience, but up close, it was thunderous.

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There's a little Fender Twin amp peeking out of the right side of that picture. But it wasn't just a normal Twin; it was a '65 Twin Custom™ 15. Instead of 2x12" speakers, it had a single 15", and made a huge sound. Loud as fuck. Took me about a millisecond to regret not bringing earplugs.

Still, a good set.

Then, Stephen Malkmus...

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... and The Jicks ...

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... played their set.

Much to my dismay, that little un-Twin amp did not exit the stage with the Holy Sons, but instead rolled a little to the right and turned directly at my face, for the Jicks' guitar/keyboard player to use. Joy. My ears are still ringing.

Malkmus was fun to watch: funny and goofy. Maybe a little drunk. He forgot some lyrics, had some guitar troubles, lamented not being able to play at the Cat's Cradle, etc..

I couldn't stop thinking that the bass player was actually actress Sarah Chalke.

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They played a lot of stuff from their (excellent) new album. Just a couple of things from older SM/SM&J's records, and nothing from Pavement. Some songs worked better than others. They were loose and a bit sloppy at times, usually due to Malkmus', err, freewheelin approach to playing. Of course there are degrees of sloppy. Pavement was sloppy. In fact, Pavement was so sloppy, live, as to be almost unlistenable. Even the live songs they've officially released for sale can be a hot mess. But, The Jicks are a much better band than Pavement, and generally keep it together while Malkmus does his stuff.

As usual, the sound from the stage wasn't great. So, after spending most of the set up front, I went to the back and hung out by the sound guy for a bit. Sounded much better, there. But, I wasn't really feeling it, so I bugged out a few songs early.

Thursday: Leon Redbone.

We saw Wilco last night.

Nick Lowe opened for them. I don't really know most of Lowe's stuff, except for his really big songs, so a lot of his set was unfamiliar. If I had to describe his style it would be "simply-arranged, early-mid 60's country/pop/rock ballads" - think Orbison, Glen Campbell, Burt Bacharach; a bit like Elvis Costello's ballads, but warmer. It wasn't until he got to "Peace Love & Understanding", (E. Costello's) "Alison", and "Cruel To Be Kind" that I finally recognized the songs and could appreciate that his voice hasn't really changed much since his commercial heyday. He's still got a great, rich voice, and I liked his songs enough to go buy his latest record, "The Old Magic".

Wilco played a bunch of songs off their new record. But since that record was released yesterday morning, nobody in the audience knew the songs. Tweedy got a couple of chuckles out of that. But, the new stuff fits right in with their older stuff, so t'was nothing shocking.

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They played a pretty good set, lots of songs, short and long. Lots of long, freakout feedback solos, a couple of new arrangements on old songs, etc.. Good stuff.

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Jeff Tweedy

Nick Lowe came out for the encore and did his "I Love My Label" (which is included on Wilco's new record as a bonus track) and Jim Ford's "36 Inches High" (which Nick Lowe covered on his 1978 debut).

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Nick Lowe + Wilco

Nice night for an outdoor show. $39 for two beers and two sandwiches is a bit much, though. And the camera police are really damn annoying - making me take blurry pix because I'm too afraid to hold the camera up long enough to get steady: fuck you.

Saturday, Malkmus & The Jicks.

At the Durham Performing Arts Center.

No shit, forreals, Blondie! They're touring again.

There are three original members left: Debbie Harry (of course), guitarist Chris Stein, and drummer Clem Burke. And they've added a lead guitar, bass player, and a keyboard (and keytar!) player.

To answer the obvious questions:

1. Yes, she can still sing.
2. Yes, she still looks good - for a 66 (!) year old.
3. Yes, she did the rap section in "Rapture".
4. Yes, she still wears those big black sunglasses and black mini-dresses.
5. Yes, she's probably had some work done.

It was a quick show: maybe an hour, plus two encores. Which was fine. They played all their hits: "Dreaming", "Call Me", "Atomic", "Rapture", "One Way Or Another", "The Tide Is High", "Heart Of Glass". They played a lot of new stuff that we didn't know but which was good, and sounded like it could have come from their early records; after all this time, they've stuck with their core sound. The only old non-hit that I recognized was the opener, "Union City Blue"; I don't think there was anything from their first two records. I could've stood to hear more old stuff - maybe a little "Accidents Never Happen" or "Living In The Real World" or "Rip Her to Shreds". Their loud, fast, punk side never seemed to come through in their hits - well, except for "One Way Or Another".

Highlights:

1. "Rapture" - not only did she do the rap section, she did it well; and they transitioned it into an abbreviated version of the Beastie Boys' "Fight For Your Right To Party".
2. Drummer Clem Burke deserves a lot of credit for their sound. He was, and still is, a great high-energy drummer.
3. Debbie Harry is funny, and entertaining, and not above flicking a few "motherfuckers" into old lyrics, here and there. "Heart of Glass" :
   

   Lost inside
   Adorable illusion and I cannot hide
   I'm the one you're using, please don't push me aside
   We could've made it cruising, yeah
   Cruise, motherfuckers!

4. The sound was surprisingly muddy. It probably wasn't the venue: DPAC is no smokey club, it's a brand new posh concert hall. I think the problem was the bass player. There was no definition at all in his notes, just a big muddy rumble. But, Debbie Harry's voice cut through it nicely. We were wondering if maybe she has some digital assistance on the high end, since it's a little surprising that she can still sing some of those songs as well as she did. I didn't hear any obvious digital glitching, so maybe not.
5. A few of the old songs felt kinda sloppy, while others were tight and snappy. Not sure what that was about.

Great to finally see them. I was a big fan of their albums, but far too young to see them live, in their heyday.

Cell phone pic. I hate not being close!

In a strange bit of synchronicity, the singer for the db's, and former REM tour guitarist, Peter Holsapple opened for them. He works at DPAC.

Carrboro Arts Center.

"Stick Men" is Chapman Stick and bass legend, Tony Levin's (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, just about everybody else), latest band. The other two Stick Men are Markus Reuter who plays something called a "Touch Guitar" (which he co-invented); it looks and is played a lot like a Stick, but seems to be strung in the guitar range; it has a really wide fret board and is played by tapping. And behind them sits drummer Pat Mastelotto (Mister Mister, King Crimson, many others). They play heavy, intricate stuff which sounds a lot like latter-day King Crimson; it's very dense, very loud, and melody usually takes a back seat to eye-popping technical complexity and power. They did a set of a half-dozen songs, and finished up with four parts of Stravinsky's "Firebird" suite. Wild.

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Tony Levin + Stick

Then the latest iteration of Adrian Belew's Power Trio came out.

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Julie Slick, Adrian Belew

They have a different drummer, this time around. Drummer Eric Slick, who was with them the last two times through the area has been replaced by the awesome Tobias Ralph. Mastelotto, who's no slouch, hits very hard, plays with a lot of power, but Ralph barely seems to be working at all, yet plays with blazing speed.

They also did a set of about a half-dozen songs, heavily weighted towards Belew's more recent heavy, complex instrumentals: "e", "Beat Box Guitar", etc.. He did sing on a couple of songs, though: "Young Lions" and a louder/heavier version of "Future Vision". Crushed em all.

Then, since Belew, Levin and Mastelotto are the only three members of King Crimson actively playing these days, they came out and started a set of all King Crimson tunes - except for "Red", all were from the Belew era: "Three Of A Perfect Pair", "Frame By Frame", "Dinosaur", "Indiscipline", "One Time", etc.. I've seen Belew do most of these songs a few times, but seeing them with Levin on Stick and backing vocals is something else.

Through the course of that set, the other members of the groups came back on stage. So, by the time they got to "Red", all six of them (two drummers, two bass/Stick, two guitar) were up there, recreating the last King Crimson "double-trio" setup - making one hell of a racket. Of course, they're all so fucking good that it's a very tight and intentional racket. Incredibly tight. The two drummer's double-solo (during the start of "Indiscipline, IIRC) was pretty damn incredible.

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Markus Reuter, Julie Slick, Adrian Belew

We ended up with "VIP" tickets (because I bought them early, not because I'm special), so we got to watch their sound check, and do a little meet-n-greet with them before the show. That was fun. Got the three KC members to sings my "Vroom" CD. Got pix with Belew and Levin. Dear Sweet wife - one of very few women in the audience - got her picture with Julie Slick.

Twenty-five-plus years ago, when my uncle first played "Discipline" for me, Belew and Levin (and Bruford and Fripp, obvs) were like gods. And I finally got to meet them. And they were nice!

Tonight, Blondie.

We were supposed to be in upstate NY this weekend, to attend a wedding party for my father. But, by Thursday it was obvious the hurricane was going to screw that up - we'd be able to get there just fine, but coming back would be a problem. So, we cancelled that trip.

About the same time, the hurricane forced Gillian Welch to cancel a show she was scheduled to play on Saturday in the Wilmington NC area, and opened a new one, three hours inland, in Saxapahaw NC. The show was at the Haw River Ballroom, a newly-renovated former cotton mill, set up on a hillside overlooking the Haw river. Capacity 700: which makes it large enough to hold half the cute town of Saxapahaw. The show sold out, but not before we got our tix.

This was the seventh time I've seen them (five as "Gillian Welch", two as "David Rawlings Machine" - thus beating tying Robyn Hitchcock as my most-seen act), but it was the smallest venue, and the first time we've been able to get up to the front of the stage: close enough to hear their guitars without amplification. Very cool. Rawlings' ancient Epiphone guitar looks even more creaky up-close than it does on film.

They (Gillian and David) have a strict "no photographs" policy at their shows, so I was going to be discreet about getting a shot or two. But we forgot to pack a memory card for the camera. So, no pictures. That's probably for the best, though. Just before the lights went down, a woman shoved herself in front of me, with two SLR cameras around her neck and a giant camera bag. When the show started, she started taking pictures. And after the first song, David Rawlings, guitar in hand, walked over to her and told her knock it off. She didn't seem entirely convinced, but after some people around her in audience started yelling at her, too, she packed up and got out of there. So, yeah, having no memory card was probably a good thing for us.

Instead, here's a picture from Merlefest 06:

Nikon D100, 70-240mm
(repost)

A somewhat different set from what we saw them do a few weeks ago: no "Revelator", but "My Morphine". No "Caleb Myer", but "Orphan Girl". No "White Rabbit", but "Lover's Prayer". Great versions of "I'll Fly Away" and David's "To Be Young". A couple of covers: "Dusty Boxcar Walls", Neil Young's "Albuquerque". They played all of the new record except for one song, I think. Set list.

Good show! You really need to go see them, if you get the chance.

We saw (the band called) Gillian Welch last night, on a hot and sticky night much like the hot and sticky August night that we saw them on last time around. It was, if anything, a bit hotter. Or maybe we just had more wine this time. Hard to tell.

This time, it was just Gillian and Dave, doing their thing as the band called "Gillian Welch" - as opposed to when they do a slightly different thing as the band called "The David Rawlings Machine" - though they did a couple of DRM songs last night, too.

Awesome show. Fantastic. Their new record is quite mellow and has taken a while to grow on me, so I was expecting a little bit of meh. But, live, the new songs really shine. The older songs were great too; they did a bunch of those dark minor-key old-timey things that I love from their first record ("Caleb Meyer", "Rock of Ages", etc.). "Revelator" was exceptional. "Miss Ohio" was a big sing-along. And being able to watch Rawlings do those solos and fills is always a treat. Gillian actually did a little bit of dancing during one of the songs, too. Crazy-time!

They're always great live. Catch em if you can.