From the StarTribune
Last update: July 14, 2005 at 11:37 AM
Ed Ackerson: Producer, rocker, everyman
Published July 15, 2005
One of the few things lying around Ed Ackerson's studio last week that did not pertain to the recording process was the new issue of Magnet magazine, featuring a cover story on Hüsker Dü, the Replacements and "the rise and fall of [Minneapolis'] '80s scene."
The magazine proved to be a good talking point for the Polara leader, who's quoted inside. Back then he was a bright-eyed Stillwater teenager immersed in the music community. These days, he's 39 but no less involved.
"I got so much out of the scene when I was a kid," said Ackerson, who plays his first Polara gig in two years tonight for the 24-hour Day of Music.
"So many people were supportive and gave me a chance," he said. "It gave me this halcyon dream of what the Minneapolis scene can be. I'd like to think I provide that kind of help to some of the people coming up now."
Fittingly, Ackerson's Flowers Studio -- housed in a former Uptown flower shop -- played host last week to some yesteryear rockers and one of today's most buzzed-about new bands: Golden Smog and Missing Numbers. The Smog clan has been in and out of Flowers for the past two months, laying down enough great tracks to fill two albums, Ackerson said.
Missing Numbers, meanwhile, is one of about a dozen younger bands Ackerson has produced over the past year. Others include the Melismatics, Astronaut Wife and Mood Swings, all of whom release their CDs on Ackerson's record label, Susstones. (Yep, he's a record mogul, too.) He also has worked with acts so far off the radar that I had to fact-check their names, like Beight ("bait") and So It Goes.
"Some of the best records I've worked on are ones nobody's ever heard," he said.
Ackerson hasn't gotten rich producing albums by little-known rock bands -- certainly not rich enough to afford the kind of equipment at Flowers. The studio was paid for, in large part, with the money Polara got for signing a couple of big record deals in the '90s, with Interscope and then Palm Pictures.
"Instead of paying $250,000 at somebody else's studio, I figured, 'Let's just buy our own place,' " he recalled.
Probably his biggest studio job so far was working with "The Wall" producer Bob Ezrin on the Jayhawks' "Smile" record. Jayhawks bassist Marc Perlman remembered the two studio wizards making a good pair.
"One of Ed's best assets is his ability to combine his intellect with simple feel and instinct," said Perlman, who, by the way, is Polara's new bassist. "Like Bob Ezrin, he's stayed on top of the technology without sacrificing old-school recording techniques."
Over the past year-and-a-half, Ackerson and Jayhawks frontman Gary Louris have produced several albums together, including the recent debut by Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion, plus upcoming albums by Ohio songwriting great Tim Easton and L.A. rock band Limbeck. Rumors that Ackerson and Louris will soon be working under the Neptunes-like producers' acronym G.O.D. (Genius on Demand) are unfortunately untrue.
Unlike a lot of musicians turned producers, Ackerson genuinely doesn't seem to regret becoming more of a behind-the-scenes guy.
Polara will be doing more shows this year besides tonight's (10 p.m. in Peavey Plaza). The band -- also including keyboardist Jennifer Jurgens and drummer Pete Anderson -- just finished another new EP to go with the recently released feedback-rouser, "Green Shoes + 4." But Ackerson doesn't hold out any dreams of his group becoming more renowned.
"I never believed the hype about us being the American Oasis or the new Smashing Pumpkins, and in a lot of ways I'm happy that didn't come true," he said.
"I'd rather be here doing this -- making these great records that I believe in -- instead of having one big hit in 1998, and now we'd be playing the Taste of Omaha or wherever."
Friday, July 15, 2005
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Review: Alejandro Escovedo - 7/8/05 - First Ave. - Minneapolis, MN
Alejandro Escovedo brought his expanded "Texas Orchestra" to First Avenue for a truly memorable show on Friday night. He mentioned that he first played at the club with Rank and File in 1982, so he's closing in on a quarter century of Twin Cities shows. I've seen him here a bunch of times over those years, including the aforementioned early R&F show and one a couple of years later when the '80s "cowpunk" movement was in full swing, aka the birth of the modern "alt-country" era. I've also seen him once in Madison, 3 times in Chicago and twice in Austin, and, unlike others who have slipped off his bandwagon in recent years, I always look forward to seeing him again. He looked and sounded great, and was genuinely moved at the very warm reception he received from the reverential crowd of 800 or so. During the first several songs, the ovations were really quite special; there's no doubt that a lot of his fans were thrilled to see him back in action for his first Twin Cities appearance in almost 3 years.
Besides playing shows outside of Texas for the first time in a while (he evidently has sworn off extensive touring, so we're left with the occasional "special" show, like those he's done earlier this year in Seattle and Chicago), the other big news was Alejandro's teaming up with his former True Believers cohort, Jon Dee Graham. Jon Dee opened up the night with a 45 minute solo acoustic set that featured several new songs, along with some choice cuts from his 4 albums. The last two of those albums were recorded for New West, which Jon Dee pointedly referred to his as "former" record label. There clearly has been a parting of ways and, judging from some oblique comments onstage, the divorce was a messy one. He even said at one point, "I'm legally prevented from talking about this," which, of course, was followed by some talking about it! He did solicit fans to buy a new homemade CD of his (on the "Freedom" label - yikes! shades of Prince in his "slave" period?) which features acoustic renditions of some new songs. One of the new songs is called "Betrayed." For a variety of personal reasons I'll leave the lyrics to someone else, but suffice it so say that its unbridled, very personal vitriol -- along with a scathing "thank you" on the back of the CD -- insures it a place alongside other classic record label "love" songs like the Pistols' "EMI" and Graham Parker's "Mercury Poisoning." The irony of all of this was that Jon Dee played a fine, at times powerful, set to the largest TC crowd of his career and they totally ate it up. And, of course, this was all before he wowed the punters with his six-string prowess during the headline set. Bottom line: there are a hell of lot of more people who know about JDG now than before the show.
I've been lucky enough to have seen Al with a variety of rock and "country-rock" combos, as well as the "string quartet" line-up, but the 7 piece band he had for this performance brought the best of both worlds. Long time cohorts Bruce Salmon, Susan Voelz and Hector Munoz were joined by a cello player I don't think I've seen before (Al stuck close to him much of the night for cues and stuff), Mark Andes on bass (from Spirit; he's played with JDG before) and JDG himself, who brought a whole dimension of rock that I hadn't seen since those very cool, long-forgotten Buick MacKane shows back in '97. It was great to see some actual twin electric guitar fireworks at an AE show again on songs like "Crooked Frame," "Everybody Loves Me" and "Put You Down." For most of the set, JDG kicked it Hendrix-style on the lap steel. BTW, the lap steel is a funny instrument to go nuts on - it was more than a little funny to watch Jon Dee writhe around and "get into it" all the while sitting in a chair! Talk about ants in your pants...
The setlist had a handful of new/new-ish songs and a whole bunch of familiar titles, largely from the Ryko era. For the first time in memory, there was no Iggy. No "Castanets" either. However, given that Al's setlists change at a rather glacial pace, I don't think there were many complaints, especially since there were 3 bona fide new ones, 4 if you count "Deerhead." The real revelation, though, was in the power and complexity of the arrangements. Despite the familiar look of the setlist, this was not more of the "same old same old." With the expanded line-up - particularly Jon Dee's smoking electric gtr and lap steel contributions - many of the songs you've heard a million times before were shaken and stirred, allowed to breath, or just plain restructured. "Sex Beat" began with a really cool synth intro that slowly transformed itself into a pulsing electronic rhythm that only became recognizable after a few minutes. "Everybody Loves Me" started out with Bruce Salmon slicing and dicing a GWB speech on his laptop, the loops cascading into a wash of echoes until it all segued into a blistering rock intro. For those perplexed by this tie-in to our clueless leader, the "everybody loves me / but I don't know why" couplet eventually hammered the point home - a brilliant piece of cultural linking for sure. On the other end of the sonic scale, "Rosalie" was especially fetching - despite the expanded line-up it seemed more fragile and delicate than ever, punctuated by beautiful violin and lap steel solos.
There were no new covers in the encore, but they were both satisfying in a comfort food kinda way. No AE show is really complete without a tip of the hat to Ian Hunter and "Sway" was picture-perfect -- sadly beautiful and heartbreaking, perhaps the finest reading I've ever heard Al give this lost Stones classic.
After the show, Al sat at the merch table chatting and signing for what seemed like forever. He literally stayed until the last dog was hung - a class act all the way. Intriguingly, he mentioned a gig in Austin in early September which will feature a full blown True Believers reunion with his brother Javier on a bill also featuring Los Lobos. What will make this particular show special is that these two kingpins of the mid-80s "roots" movement will be hopping into the way-back machine by playing only material from 1985 setlists
Before the show, I ran into my old friend Terry Katzman, longtime Mpls scenster, Oar Folk employee and former owner of the much-missed Garage d'Or record store, and we talked a good long while about Al's many memorable local appearances, including 3 wonderful in-store / picnic / keggers at Garage d'Or. Talk about your good times. With Al's new lease on life, let's hope the good times continue to roll.
Alejandro Escovedo
First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN - 8 July 2005
Baby's Got New Plans
Way it Goes
Five Hearts Breaking
Deerhead on the Wall
Notes on Air (new song, from "13 Ways to Live" comp)
Everybody Loves Me
Sex Beat >
dub interlude >
Crooked Frame
Rosalie
I Died a Little Today (new song)
Avita's Lullabye (new song)
I Was Drunk
Velvet Guitar
Put You Down
ENCORE
All the Young Dudes
Sway
(110m)
AE: acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica, lead vox
Jon Dee Graham: electric and lap steel guitars
Mark Andes: bass guitar, bg vox
Bruce Salmon: keyboards, laptop, bg vox
Susan Voelz: violin, bg vox
Matt "The Hoople" Fish: cello
Hector Munoz: drums, percussion
Besides playing shows outside of Texas for the first time in a while (he evidently has sworn off extensive touring, so we're left with the occasional "special" show, like those he's done earlier this year in Seattle and Chicago), the other big news was Alejandro's teaming up with his former True Believers cohort, Jon Dee Graham. Jon Dee opened up the night with a 45 minute solo acoustic set that featured several new songs, along with some choice cuts from his 4 albums. The last two of those albums were recorded for New West, which Jon Dee pointedly referred to his as "former" record label. There clearly has been a parting of ways and, judging from some oblique comments onstage, the divorce was a messy one. He even said at one point, "I'm legally prevented from talking about this," which, of course, was followed by some talking about it! He did solicit fans to buy a new homemade CD of his (on the "Freedom" label - yikes! shades of Prince in his "slave" period?) which features acoustic renditions of some new songs. One of the new songs is called "Betrayed." For a variety of personal reasons I'll leave the lyrics to someone else, but suffice it so say that its unbridled, very personal vitriol -- along with a scathing "thank you" on the back of the CD -- insures it a place alongside other classic record label "love" songs like the Pistols' "EMI" and Graham Parker's "Mercury Poisoning." The irony of all of this was that Jon Dee played a fine, at times powerful, set to the largest TC crowd of his career and they totally ate it up. And, of course, this was all before he wowed the punters with his six-string prowess during the headline set. Bottom line: there are a hell of lot of more people who know about JDG now than before the show.
I've been lucky enough to have seen Al with a variety of rock and "country-rock" combos, as well as the "string quartet" line-up, but the 7 piece band he had for this performance brought the best of both worlds. Long time cohorts Bruce Salmon, Susan Voelz and Hector Munoz were joined by a cello player I don't think I've seen before (Al stuck close to him much of the night for cues and stuff), Mark Andes on bass (from Spirit; he's played with JDG before) and JDG himself, who brought a whole dimension of rock that I hadn't seen since those very cool, long-forgotten Buick MacKane shows back in '97. It was great to see some actual twin electric guitar fireworks at an AE show again on songs like "Crooked Frame," "Everybody Loves Me" and "Put You Down." For most of the set, JDG kicked it Hendrix-style on the lap steel. BTW, the lap steel is a funny instrument to go nuts on - it was more than a little funny to watch Jon Dee writhe around and "get into it" all the while sitting in a chair! Talk about ants in your pants...
The setlist had a handful of new/new-ish songs and a whole bunch of familiar titles, largely from the Ryko era. For the first time in memory, there was no Iggy. No "Castanets" either. However, given that Al's setlists change at a rather glacial pace, I don't think there were many complaints, especially since there were 3 bona fide new ones, 4 if you count "Deerhead." The real revelation, though, was in the power and complexity of the arrangements. Despite the familiar look of the setlist, this was not more of the "same old same old." With the expanded line-up - particularly Jon Dee's smoking electric gtr and lap steel contributions - many of the songs you've heard a million times before were shaken and stirred, allowed to breath, or just plain restructured. "Sex Beat" began with a really cool synth intro that slowly transformed itself into a pulsing electronic rhythm that only became recognizable after a few minutes. "Everybody Loves Me" started out with Bruce Salmon slicing and dicing a GWB speech on his laptop, the loops cascading into a wash of echoes until it all segued into a blistering rock intro. For those perplexed by this tie-in to our clueless leader, the "everybody loves me / but I don't know why" couplet eventually hammered the point home - a brilliant piece of cultural linking for sure. On the other end of the sonic scale, "Rosalie" was especially fetching - despite the expanded line-up it seemed more fragile and delicate than ever, punctuated by beautiful violin and lap steel solos.
There were no new covers in the encore, but they were both satisfying in a comfort food kinda way. No AE show is really complete without a tip of the hat to Ian Hunter and "Sway" was picture-perfect -- sadly beautiful and heartbreaking, perhaps the finest reading I've ever heard Al give this lost Stones classic.
After the show, Al sat at the merch table chatting and signing for what seemed like forever. He literally stayed until the last dog was hung - a class act all the way. Intriguingly, he mentioned a gig in Austin in early September which will feature a full blown True Believers reunion with his brother Javier on a bill also featuring Los Lobos. What will make this particular show special is that these two kingpins of the mid-80s "roots" movement will be hopping into the way-back machine by playing only material from 1985 setlists
Before the show, I ran into my old friend Terry Katzman, longtime Mpls scenster, Oar Folk employee and former owner of the much-missed Garage d'Or record store, and we talked a good long while about Al's many memorable local appearances, including 3 wonderful in-store / picnic / keggers at Garage d'Or. Talk about your good times. With Al's new lease on life, let's hope the good times continue to roll.
Alejandro Escovedo
First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN - 8 July 2005
Baby's Got New Plans
Way it Goes
Five Hearts Breaking
Deerhead on the Wall
Notes on Air (new song, from "13 Ways to Live" comp)
Everybody Loves Me
Sex Beat >
dub interlude >
Crooked Frame
Rosalie
I Died a Little Today (new song)
Avita's Lullabye (new song)
I Was Drunk
Velvet Guitar
Put You Down
ENCORE
All the Young Dudes
Sway
(110m)
AE: acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica, lead vox
Jon Dee Graham: electric and lap steel guitars
Mark Andes: bass guitar, bg vox
Bruce Salmon: keyboards, laptop, bg vox
Susan Voelz: violin, bg vox
Matt "The Hoople" Fish: cello
Hector Munoz: drums, percussion
Sunday, March 6, 2005
Slobberbone, we hardly knew ye...
"Well I've seen you hanging around for awhile,
And I wish that you'd just go away
Cause I've been stuck in this old town for awhile,
And this town has seen it's better days"
(Slobberbone - "I'll Be Damned")
SLOBBERBONE @ THE 400 BAR - MINNEAPOLIS, MN - 3/5/05
Well, that was fun.
Slobberbone's au revoir to the Twin Cities was everything I would want a farewell gig to be - loud, joyous, emotional and, mo' definitely, rockin'. Hell, that's what I wanted every 'bone gig to be. To their credit, they usually rose to the occasion. Last night they delivered in spades. I'm happy to report that there were no fistfights or long faces. The crowd was just one big drunk, happy family - peace and happy vibes seemed to rule the moment. People loudly cheered each fave song and I saw so many people singing along that I was moved to ponder why bands break up when they have such a devoted fan base, no matter what the size. Well, maybe I just answered my own question...
I'll admit to be a bit anxious after hearing about what apparently was an off nite in Chicago; those damn Internets. But after over 2-1/2 hours of drunken revelry at the 400, the exhausted crowd - and band - knew that they had just participated in something special. Brent gave a couple special shout-outs to the packed house - changed the lyrics in "Lumberlung" to "we headed up towards the land of 10,000 lakes" and offered up a "this town has always been our favorite place to play" hosanna that seemed more genuine than boilerplate - but the long, long show was basically just a whole lot of what they've always done best. I wouldn't have expected anything less - or more, for that matter.
A couple statistical observations: this was about twice as many people as I've ever seen at a S-bone show in MN, dating back to The Turf Club in 1997, and they played about twice as long as I've ever seen them play up here. It figures - I was just kvetching about them never doing "marathon" sets in MN and, bam, that's exactly what they do. Maybe I should've bitched about them not breaking up enough.
The band seemed to be in fine spirits all night; if there are any underlying "issues" amongst the boys, they weren't on obvious display. Speaking of spirits, "drinking breaks" occurred at regular intervals during the set as a steady succession of shots, drinks and beers made their way to the stage. During other intervals, Brent solicited questions from the audience and offered several heartfelt "thank yous" to the increasingly soused punters who were depleting the 400's always shaky booze inventory at an alarming rate. To say that this was a "drinking crowd" would be a severe understatement.
I'll leave the setlist details to the historians, but they played some things I've never experienced in person and/or haven't been played regularly since the last century ("Front Porch," "Get Gone Again," a nice "trio" version of "One Rung" while Jess fixed a string). And, much to my surprise, they finally played friggin' "Some New Town," a song Brent said he used to hate playing - in spite of all of the requests, which he said he hated even more - but now has grown to enjoy doing live. He said something about "the distance of time" having a healing effect, a statement that rung more than a little poignant on this particular night.
Like a giddy fanboy, I kept thinking during the show, "wow, this has to be my _favorite_ S-bone song ever - cool." Thankfully, this happened several times: "Billy Pritchard," "Lumberlung," "Barrel Chested," "Your Excuse," "That is All," etc. "I'll Be Damned" was especially memorable with the crowd roaring along during the chorus like a bunch of drunken soccer hooligans. Lots of requests from long-time fans went unfulfilled: "Tilt-a-Whirl," "Meltdown," "Josephine" - and "Placemat Blues" was kinda conspicuous by its absence - but after a sweaty 2-1/2 hours I didn't hear anyone complaining.
The encore was a 1-2 punch of special covers. Soul Asylum's "Cartoon" was first, only the second time I've heard them violate the "motherland rule" up here. Brent once said that MN is the "motherland to all that is good and true about rock 'n' roll," a testament to his love of bands like SA, The Mats, Jayhawks, etc. Anyone familiar with Slobberbone's rich history of great covers has probably heard winning renditions of "Martin's Song," "Can't Hardly Wait" or "Cartoon" at some time over the last 10 years. Brent had steadfastly resisted requests for those songs during their many visits here, citing the "motherland rule" each time, until they finally fell off the wagon on one of their last visits, which, I guess, was something of an omen. Speaking of Soul Asylum, Brent was jumping for joy when my friend Caffeine Zombie gave him a SA boot after the show ("Platinum Punks" I think) that sported a cover of "Free Bird," a song that S-Bone has also butchered in the past.
The night started out with a Neil Young cover ("The Days That Used to Be") and it ended the same way. "Big Time" is just one of many Neil songs in the 'bone arsenal, but some of the lyrics seemed tailor-made for the occasion and hit home like a ton of bricks: "I'm still living the dream I had / For me it's not over." And, on this night, they tore it up in a manner that woulda made the master proud.
After "Big Time," Brent and Brian - clearly not wanting to leave - spent several minutes on stage "performing" a feedback jam that I suppose you could say was a "cover" of the "migraine" segment of Wilco's "Less Than You Think." Brent was crouched over his guitar on the floor while Brian was fiddling with his bass perched atop the bass amp. Eventually, Brian went to the front of the stage, stretched his arms out and slowly fell into the crowd. I was then shocked to look up and see a cadre of fans literally running full steam towards the back of the club while carrying Brian high in the air. It was truly one of the damnedest things I've seen at a rock show in ages.
For the entire show, well over 150 minutes, I stood in one place - right smack in the middle of the crowd - wanting to soak up every last bit of Slobberbone I could before their existence was consigned to fading memories and digital artifacts. They were every bit as good as I've ever seen them, maybe even better, which made the whole experience even more bittersweet and maudlin than I could've imagined.
After the show, the boys "worked" the crowd just like at a funeral, only this one was their own. My wife and I spent a few minutes giving our best to Brent as we reminisced about good times past, mutual friends in Texas and Neil Young. As we turned to leave, my wife hugged Brent and gave him a kiss on the lips. He then suddenly grabbed me and did the same, which, given the circumstances, seemed strangely appropriate. Talk about being "touched" by a performance!
My lasting visual image of the whole night is one that is rather fitting given the subject matter of many of Brent's best songs. After the crowd cleared out, the floor of the 400 looked like a bomb had gone off. I've never seen so many beer bottles littering a small club; it was actually hard to walk, and there were more than a few people who were already having trouble in that department. I took a quick pic of the debris with my cell phone cam. In the future, when I'm feeling nostalgic, I'll look at that pic as I crack open a beer and put on "Barrel Chested," feeling that happy/sad tingle that fans know all too well after one of their faves decides to walk that long walk.
And I wish that you'd just go away
Cause I've been stuck in this old town for awhile,
And this town has seen it's better days"
(Slobberbone - "I'll Be Damned")
SLOBBERBONE @ THE 400 BAR - MINNEAPOLIS, MN - 3/5/05
Well, that was fun.
Slobberbone's au revoir to the Twin Cities was everything I would want a farewell gig to be - loud, joyous, emotional and, mo' definitely, rockin'. Hell, that's what I wanted every 'bone gig to be. To their credit, they usually rose to the occasion. Last night they delivered in spades. I'm happy to report that there were no fistfights or long faces. The crowd was just one big drunk, happy family - peace and happy vibes seemed to rule the moment. People loudly cheered each fave song and I saw so many people singing along that I was moved to ponder why bands break up when they have such a devoted fan base, no matter what the size. Well, maybe I just answered my own question...
I'll admit to be a bit anxious after hearing about what apparently was an off nite in Chicago; those damn Internets. But after over 2-1/2 hours of drunken revelry at the 400, the exhausted crowd - and band - knew that they had just participated in something special. Brent gave a couple special shout-outs to the packed house - changed the lyrics in "Lumberlung" to "we headed up towards the land of 10,000 lakes" and offered up a "this town has always been our favorite place to play" hosanna that seemed more genuine than boilerplate - but the long, long show was basically just a whole lot of what they've always done best. I wouldn't have expected anything less - or more, for that matter.
A couple statistical observations: this was about twice as many people as I've ever seen at a S-bone show in MN, dating back to The Turf Club in 1997, and they played about twice as long as I've ever seen them play up here. It figures - I was just kvetching about them never doing "marathon" sets in MN and, bam, that's exactly what they do. Maybe I should've bitched about them not breaking up enough.
The band seemed to be in fine spirits all night; if there are any underlying "issues" amongst the boys, they weren't on obvious display. Speaking of spirits, "drinking breaks" occurred at regular intervals during the set as a steady succession of shots, drinks and beers made their way to the stage. During other intervals, Brent solicited questions from the audience and offered several heartfelt "thank yous" to the increasingly soused punters who were depleting the 400's always shaky booze inventory at an alarming rate. To say that this was a "drinking crowd" would be a severe understatement.
I'll leave the setlist details to the historians, but they played some things I've never experienced in person and/or haven't been played regularly since the last century ("Front Porch," "Get Gone Again," a nice "trio" version of "One Rung" while Jess fixed a string). And, much to my surprise, they finally played friggin' "Some New Town," a song Brent said he used to hate playing - in spite of all of the requests, which he said he hated even more - but now has grown to enjoy doing live. He said something about "the distance of time" having a healing effect, a statement that rung more than a little poignant on this particular night.
Like a giddy fanboy, I kept thinking during the show, "wow, this has to be my _favorite_ S-bone song ever - cool." Thankfully, this happened several times: "Billy Pritchard," "Lumberlung," "Barrel Chested," "Your Excuse," "That is All," etc. "I'll Be Damned" was especially memorable with the crowd roaring along during the chorus like a bunch of drunken soccer hooligans. Lots of requests from long-time fans went unfulfilled: "Tilt-a-Whirl," "Meltdown," "Josephine" - and "Placemat Blues" was kinda conspicuous by its absence - but after a sweaty 2-1/2 hours I didn't hear anyone complaining.
The encore was a 1-2 punch of special covers. Soul Asylum's "Cartoon" was first, only the second time I've heard them violate the "motherland rule" up here. Brent once said that MN is the "motherland to all that is good and true about rock 'n' roll," a testament to his love of bands like SA, The Mats, Jayhawks, etc. Anyone familiar with Slobberbone's rich history of great covers has probably heard winning renditions of "Martin's Song," "Can't Hardly Wait" or "Cartoon" at some time over the last 10 years. Brent had steadfastly resisted requests for those songs during their many visits here, citing the "motherland rule" each time, until they finally fell off the wagon on one of their last visits, which, I guess, was something of an omen. Speaking of Soul Asylum, Brent was jumping for joy when my friend Caffeine Zombie gave him a SA boot after the show ("Platinum Punks" I think) that sported a cover of "Free Bird," a song that S-Bone has also butchered in the past.
The night started out with a Neil Young cover ("The Days That Used to Be") and it ended the same way. "Big Time" is just one of many Neil songs in the 'bone arsenal, but some of the lyrics seemed tailor-made for the occasion and hit home like a ton of bricks: "I'm still living the dream I had / For me it's not over." And, on this night, they tore it up in a manner that woulda made the master proud.
After "Big Time," Brent and Brian - clearly not wanting to leave - spent several minutes on stage "performing" a feedback jam that I suppose you could say was a "cover" of the "migraine" segment of Wilco's "Less Than You Think." Brent was crouched over his guitar on the floor while Brian was fiddling with his bass perched atop the bass amp. Eventually, Brian went to the front of the stage, stretched his arms out and slowly fell into the crowd. I was then shocked to look up and see a cadre of fans literally running full steam towards the back of the club while carrying Brian high in the air. It was truly one of the damnedest things I've seen at a rock show in ages.
For the entire show, well over 150 minutes, I stood in one place - right smack in the middle of the crowd - wanting to soak up every last bit of Slobberbone I could before their existence was consigned to fading memories and digital artifacts. They were every bit as good as I've ever seen them, maybe even better, which made the whole experience even more bittersweet and maudlin than I could've imagined.
After the show, the boys "worked" the crowd just like at a funeral, only this one was their own. My wife and I spent a few minutes giving our best to Brent as we reminisced about good times past, mutual friends in Texas and Neil Young. As we turned to leave, my wife hugged Brent and gave him a kiss on the lips. He then suddenly grabbed me and did the same, which, given the circumstances, seemed strangely appropriate. Talk about being "touched" by a performance!
My lasting visual image of the whole night is one that is rather fitting given the subject matter of many of Brent's best songs. After the crowd cleared out, the floor of the 400 looked like a bomb had gone off. I've never seen so many beer bottles littering a small club; it was actually hard to walk, and there were more than a few people who were already having trouble in that department. I took a quick pic of the debris with my cell phone cam. In the future, when I'm feeling nostalgic, I'll look at that pic as I crack open a beer and put on "Barrel Chested," feeling that happy/sad tingle that fans know all too well after one of their faves decides to walk that long walk.
Saturday, February 5, 2005
New Polara EP is out!
Just a quick reminder that the new Polara EP, "Green Shoes + 4," is now available for sale. The first new music from Ed Ackerson and crew in 3 years, this EP picks up right where "Jetpack Blues" left off. Full of the trademark progressive noisepop that Polara is famous for, this new EP is phase 1 in Polara's 2005 resurgence. Highlights include the roaring fury of the title song (currently being played on 89.3 / "The Current"), "30 Seconds" (which sounds like an unholy alliance between My Bloody Valentine and Big Star), "Teapot Tempest" (a deliciously catchy scorcher that rocks as hard as anything Polara's ever done) and "Time Slips Away" (a wistful ballad that sounds like it was unearthed from some long-lost 1966 Stones session).
Twin Citians can buy the Polara EP at the Electric Fetus and several other local independent outlets. It's also available on-line through the Susstones Shop: http://www.susstonesshop.com/
This is a limited edition release; when they're gone, they're gone. Look for more "teasers" in the coming months, as well as Polara's much anticipated return to live action.
More info: http://www.susstones.com/sussnews.html , which includes a link to a MP3 from the new EP.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
"New" Dylan archival recording unearthed?
Amongst Dylan geeks, "Minnesota Party Tape" has always referred to a May 1961 session at the Mpls. apartment of one Bonnie Beecher, one of many women who fell under Bob's spell in his formative years (note how I'm not using the word "groupie"). Recent mentions of the May '61 "Party Tape" session in reference to a newly donated tape at the MN History Center are clearly in error.
The "new" tape in question appears to be very similar to this one:
http://www.punkhart.com/dylan/tapes/60-sep.html
although the published tracklisting of the "new" tape reference a few songs that haven't appeared on any previous tracklistings of this session. Clinton Heylin dates this session to September 1960 and places the location at "Hugh Brown's apartment - Minneapolis" (presumably this is the apartment in Dinkytown, about 2 miles from where I'm typing right now, referred to in recent articles). Like the May '61 "Party Tape," this 9/60 session - referred to in some circles as the "Minnesota University Tape" - is in circulation. If the "new" tape everyone is talking about is in fact from the 9/60 session, the rarity ascribed to it by pundits in recent days has been vastly overstated.
This article:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050113/cgth041_1.html
offers this tracklisting of the "new" tape:
Blues Yodel No. 8 (aka Muleskinner Blues)
Come See Jerusalem
San Francisco Bay Blues
I'm a Gambler
Talkin' Merchant Marine
Talkin' Hugh Brown
Talkin' Lobbyist
Red Rosey Bush
Johnny I Hardly Knew You
Jesus Christ
Streets of Glory
K.C. Moan
In Heylin's reference book, he lists 9 of these songs for the 9/60 session, omitting "Come See Jerusalem," "San Francisco Bay Blues" and "Talkin' Lobbyist." His list includes "Talkin' Inflation Blues" and "Talkin' Columbia," which aren't on the above list (note: the titles of many of these Woody Guthrie "talking blues" songs are a confusing mess).
Whether this "new" tape is an upgrade - in quantity and/or quality - of the 9/60 "University" tape or something completely different remains to be heard. I'm gonna try and head over to the MN History Center next week and find out for myself. To me, it seems rather unlikely that two informal sessions from the same timeframe would be virtually identical, save for a few song titles.
One thing I can tell you, a lot of these informal Dylan sessions took place here in Mpls in 59-62, many of them recorded semi-professionally on high quality reel-to-reel recorders that seemed to be ubiquitous in folk circles back then. Some of them have leaked out over the years (one of the very first rock boots, "Great White Wonder," featured a big chunk of the Dec. 61 "Minnesota Hotel Tape") while others remain tucked away in shoeboxes and attics. When I worked with Tony Glover (old Dylan pal, local radio DJ and one of the leaders of the '60s folk/blues revival) back in the early 80s, he spoke of literally hundreds of hours of stuff from this period that was stashed away. He would be one to know; he taped a lot of it himself, including the aforementioned "Hotel Tape."
The "new" tape in question appears to be very similar to this one:
http://www.punkhart.com/dylan/tapes/60-sep.html
although the published tracklisting of the "new" tape reference a few songs that haven't appeared on any previous tracklistings of this session. Clinton Heylin dates this session to September 1960 and places the location at "Hugh Brown's apartment - Minneapolis" (presumably this is the apartment in Dinkytown, about 2 miles from where I'm typing right now, referred to in recent articles). Like the May '61 "Party Tape," this 9/60 session - referred to in some circles as the "Minnesota University Tape" - is in circulation. If the "new" tape everyone is talking about is in fact from the 9/60 session, the rarity ascribed to it by pundits in recent days has been vastly overstated.
This article:
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050113/cgth041_1.html
offers this tracklisting of the "new" tape:
Blues Yodel No. 8 (aka Muleskinner Blues)
Come See Jerusalem
San Francisco Bay Blues
I'm a Gambler
Talkin' Merchant Marine
Talkin' Hugh Brown
Talkin' Lobbyist
Red Rosey Bush
Johnny I Hardly Knew You
Jesus Christ
Streets of Glory
K.C. Moan
In Heylin's reference book, he lists 9 of these songs for the 9/60 session, omitting "Come See Jerusalem," "San Francisco Bay Blues" and "Talkin' Lobbyist." His list includes "Talkin' Inflation Blues" and "Talkin' Columbia," which aren't on the above list (note: the titles of many of these Woody Guthrie "talking blues" songs are a confusing mess).
Whether this "new" tape is an upgrade - in quantity and/or quality - of the 9/60 "University" tape or something completely different remains to be heard. I'm gonna try and head over to the MN History Center next week and find out for myself. To me, it seems rather unlikely that two informal sessions from the same timeframe would be virtually identical, save for a few song titles.
One thing I can tell you, a lot of these informal Dylan sessions took place here in Mpls in 59-62, many of them recorded semi-professionally on high quality reel-to-reel recorders that seemed to be ubiquitous in folk circles back then. Some of them have leaked out over the years (one of the very first rock boots, "Great White Wonder," featured a big chunk of the Dec. 61 "Minnesota Hotel Tape") while others remain tucked away in shoeboxes and attics. When I worked with Tony Glover (old Dylan pal, local radio DJ and one of the leaders of the '60s folk/blues revival) back in the early 80s, he spoke of literally hundreds of hours of stuff from this period that was stashed away. He would be one to know; he taped a lot of it himself, including the aforementioned "Hotel Tape."
Saturday, November 6, 2004
Review: Paul Westerberg - Pantages Theater - Mpls, MN - 11/5/04
... a great, great show... it far exceeded my expectations which were, after a couple years of progressively less exciting solo performances, somewhat dampened. Pauly was focused and serious for his first concert appearance with a band since 1996. Early on he mentioned that some local "buttfucks" were already using the "Painkillers" moniker so they were trying to come up with a new one. On stage suggestions included "Kevin Bowe Works Blue" and, my fave, "Paul Westerberg and His Only Friends." Surprisingly, Paul played a lot of the leads as Kevin Bowe, Jim Boquist and Michael Bland ripped thru 100 minutes of highlights -some predictable, some quite surprising - from the PW / Mats catalog. BTW, Bowe is a longtime Mpls singer/songwriter/guitarist who, with his long-forgotten Mpls band The Dads, played with the 'Mats at one of their very first gigs, according to PW. Nothing resembling a low spot and the time seemed to go by in a flash. The boys seem to be very well rehearsed (definitely not one of Paul's strong suits in recent years) and looked to be having a blast. Anyone who didn't crack a smile watching Boquist strut and stromp around is probably a Republican.
Highlights for me: a powerful, emotional "My Dad," "Let the Bad Times Roll," "What a Day For a Night," "As Far As I Know," virtually all of the 'Mats songs. Even the Partridge Family song seemed to fit in (it was, FWIW, a "straight" rendition - no goofing around). There were so many great songs that weren't played that tonite and Sunday have the potential for even more excitement. A few weeks ago, I was worried that two nights might be one too many. Now I'm very much looking forward to going to all 3.
Paul Westerberg and the Painkillers *
5 November 2004
Pantages Theater - Minneapolis, MN
* = Kevin Bowe (guitars, vocals), Jim Boquist (bass, vocals), Michael Bland (drums)
Waiting For Somebody
Final Hurrah
Kiss Me On The Bus
My Dad
AAA
Achin' To Be
Mr Rabbit (Kevin Bowe on mandolin)
Making Me Go
Let The Bad Times Roll
As Far As I Know
Little Mascara
Valentine
High Time
new song ?? (solo electric)
Sadly Beautiful (solo acoustic 12 string)
Crackle & Drag (solo acoustic 12 string)
If Only You Were Lonely (solo acoustic 12 string)
Lookin' Up In Heaven (acoustic w/ band)
What A Day (For A Night) (acoustic w/ band)
Love Untold (PW on electric 12 string)
I Will Dare (PW on electric 12 string)
I Think I Love You (Partridge Family cover)
Alex Chilton
Left Of The Dial
ENCORE
MPLS (PW on blues harp)
I'll Be You
Folk Star / Jingle
Only A Hobo (Dylan cover)
Can't Hardly Wait
Highlights for me: a powerful, emotional "My Dad," "Let the Bad Times Roll," "What a Day For a Night," "As Far As I Know," virtually all of the 'Mats songs. Even the Partridge Family song seemed to fit in (it was, FWIW, a "straight" rendition - no goofing around). There were so many great songs that weren't played that tonite and Sunday have the potential for even more excitement. A few weeks ago, I was worried that two nights might be one too many. Now I'm very much looking forward to going to all 3.
Paul Westerberg and the Painkillers *
5 November 2004
Pantages Theater - Minneapolis, MN
* = Kevin Bowe (guitars, vocals), Jim Boquist (bass, vocals), Michael Bland (drums)
Waiting For Somebody
Final Hurrah
Kiss Me On The Bus
My Dad
AAA
Achin' To Be
Mr Rabbit (Kevin Bowe on mandolin)
Making Me Go
Let The Bad Times Roll
As Far As I Know
Little Mascara
Valentine
High Time
new song ?? (solo electric)
Sadly Beautiful (solo acoustic 12 string)
Crackle & Drag (solo acoustic 12 string)
If Only You Were Lonely (solo acoustic 12 string)
Lookin' Up In Heaven (acoustic w/ band)
What A Day (For A Night) (acoustic w/ band)
Love Untold (PW on electric 12 string)
I Will Dare (PW on electric 12 string)
I Think I Love You (Partridge Family cover)
Alex Chilton
Left Of The Dial
ENCORE
MPLS (PW on blues harp)
I'll Be You
Folk Star / Jingle
Only A Hobo (Dylan cover)
Can't Hardly Wait
Monday, November 1, 2004
8 days a week - a concert diary
Finally catching up on some sleep after an intense string of live shows here in the Twin Cities. I was out 8 nights in a row and saw some of the best live music I've seen all year. If I would've gone to the Interpol and Badly Drawn Boy shows on the 19th and 20th, that would've made 10 nights in a row, a run my body, wallet and wife probably would've objected to. It was a hell of a ride and I only missed two shows of consequence: Two Cow Garage (who were up against Centro-matic; they seem to be snake-bitten when it comes to scheduling conflicts in these parts) and David Thomas.
10/21/04 - ROCK FOR KARL BENEFIT @ THE QUEST. Much has been written about this historic night, a "special" occasion that for once actually lived up to the hype and even, at times, exceeded it. You know it's been a good night when a Paul Westerberg solo set is close to the least exciting thing on the whole bill (and who woulda thunk the highlight of his set would be "Kentucky Rain?"). Paul later redeemed himself nicely with a gloriously unkempt version of "Dead Flowers" with the Louris-less "Golden Smog" ("if me, Gary or Danny is missing, it ain't Golden Smog" - Kraig Johnson, 10/19/04), a performance that perfectly evoked the spirit of those drunken cover-fests 15+ years ago at the Cabooze, Uptown Bar and 400 Bar (original version). The "GS" set ended on a high note with a furious Iggy cover sung by KJJ ("Knocking 'em Down,' from "Soldier"). Then it was time for the Gear Daddies reunion, a set I quite enjoyed in spite of what can only be described as the "ugliness" of a large portion of GD "fans" (way too many rude, fucked up, frat-boy, backwards-baseball-cap-wearing mooks).
The most historic moment of the night, of course, was Grant Hart popping up on stage during Bob Mould's blistering solo electric set for two songs. While later reports from those in the know indicate that it might be premature to say that 16 years of acrimony have finally ended, it was nonetheless a powerfully emotional moment. And the man of the hour? Well, Karl sounded great on stage during SA's well-received, rockin' set and looked surprisingly chipper considering he was essentially nearly roasted alive during his extremely aggressive radiation treatment just a few months ago. Bad news? Well, it almost goes without saying that this benefit was at the wrong club in DT Mpls - the Quest is a horrible, wretched place, even by Clear Channel standards - but it's a testament to the power of the event itself and abundant good vibes that the severe shortcomings of the venue were overcome for a good cause.
10/22/04 - SARA LEE GUTHRIE & JOHNNY IRION / THE OLD 97s @ FIRST AVE. The 2 most recent New West signings on a very strong double bill. I mentioned in an earlier post my total pleasure at seeing Woody's granddaughter and her hubby backed by a couple of Jayhawks + Dave Boquist; suffice it to say that you should really try and catch them live if you can, especially if this expanded line-up ever hits the road (KYFC). Their new studio album, produced by Gary Louris at Ed Ackerson's Mpls studio, is a remarkable accomplishment and contains at least one song, "Gervais," that is destined to be a classic (comes out 1/25/05).
Like many here, I'm somewhat lukewarm about the recent 97s album, but their show was a crowd-pleasin' hoot damn near from start to finish. All phases of their recorded history were mixed in nicely, fondly evoking memories of the their 90s shows when they played to considerably smaller crowds here (there were well over a 1000 at this show). Throw in a smart cover or two and a truly impressive expenditure of energy, and you've got one sweat-drenched, deliriously happy crowd at the end of the night. Nice guys, too - hung around till the last cell-phone camera portrait was snapped.
10/23/04 - "ROCK FOR DEMOCRACY" @ THE TRIPLE ROCK. Started the night out early at yet another benefit (Summer 2004 in Mpls will definitely be remembered as "The Summer of Benefits") over at the Triple Rock catching my friends The Mood Swings, a "fuzz-pop" power trio led by Ashley Prenzlow, who are currently recording an album for Susstones. This was a very strange night, the concept being to alternate hip-hop and rock bands on one bill (The Melismatics, another fine Susstones act, were the headliners). I didn't stick around too long since I had to head over to...
10/23/04 - "WELLSTONE MUSIC DAY" @ THE TURF CLUB. About a zillion acts on this one, including local music scribe Jim Walsh, who helped plant the seed for this event last year. Jim used to front a local band back in the day (Laughing Stock, whose career highlights include one long-lost LP, a string of shows with the Replacements, and opening for Billy Bragg at one of his very first US shows when he played to about 50 people in the 7th St. Entry in 1985) and is currently dabbling with writing new music. Ya all know the drill: writers wanna be musicians who wanna be writers who wanna be actors who wanna be musicians... Grant Hart, Curtiss A and Slim Dunlap were the big draws and by 2am everybody was in a drunken, giddy mood, a fairly typical occurrence for a Saturday night at the Turf. The festivities ended with a now seemingly obligatory cover of "What's So Funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding," but the highlight for me was Curtiss A jumping up during Slim's set, Jameson in hand, for a never more pertinent reading of his scathing early Twin/Tone classic, "Land of the Free."
10/24/04 - LIANNE SMITH / RICH MATTSON @ THE TURF CLUB. Speaking of Twin/Tone, Lianne used to be in local Rockabilly cats, Safety Last, who, near the end of their run, also featured a young Gary Louris, right before he hooked up with Mark Olson in the Jayhawks. Lianne currently lives in NYC and is jumping back into the music scene after an extended absence. It was just her and an old Tele, with her former bandmate in Safety Last and The Tanglewoods, Jim Tollefsrud on drums. Nice set, with shades of Rosanne Cash and Jill Sobule evident and lots of promising songs. Rich Mattson is from Ol' Yeller, a cool local band who've put out 4 solid albums. For my money, he's just about the most underrated talent in town. He's a hard working guy with great stage presence and he seems to have the ability to pop out good songs at will. This was an acoustic set accompanied by one of his bandmates and featured lots of brand new songs, some being a dramatic departure from the rootsy Americana of Ol' Yeller. The night wound down earlier than I thought, so I hopped on I-94 and headed towards DT Mpls to catch...
10/24/04 - THE CRAMPS @ FIRST AVE. When I was planning out my concert schedule a few weeks ago, this was a show I thought I'd miss. As it turns out, I saw the whole shebang and ended up drinking way more than I planned on to boot, probably in reaction to the unrestrained campy decadence of Lux, Poison Ivy and crew. It had been two decades since I'd seen these sick weirdos and they were every bit as good as I remembered them. Maybe even better. The years have been surprisingly kind to these two (although, up close, I noticed Ms. Ivy had on a *lot* of make-up) as they've cranked out album after album of their patented brand of "psycho-billy" junkie rock. A week early for Halloween, although you never woulda known it from the crowd. I haven't seen so many freaky punk outcasts in one place since 1983, and that was probably at a Cramps show, too.
10/25/04 - WILCO (NIGHT 1) @ THE ORPHEUM THEATER. I'll admit I didn't have high hopes for this one since I was profoundly underwhelmed the last time I saw them in this space (July 2002) - I believe I used the word "snoozefest" to describe that show. The new expanded line-up, however, has opened up a whole new chapter in the band's history, something I've become increasingly aware of as I've listened to a big pile of 2004 Wilco live shows in recent weeks. In retrospect, it now appears that the fault line for Wilco fans will turn out to be the Summer 2001 live shows, aka The Jay Bennett Farewell mini-tour. This is the demarcation between the eclectic alt-country/Americana/whatever-you-wanna-call-it of the "old" Wilco and the "new" Wilco, who probably are more inspired by the Velvet Underground and Neu than Gram Parsons or Neil Young.
Personally, I was absolutely blown away by this new edition of the Jeff Tweedy Band. What Wilco plays these days resembles "rock" music but is probably closer to some conceptual high-art version of "rock" (I heard a local musician after the show refer to them as an "American Spiritualized," and that was meant as an extreme compliment). I'll admit, I'm a sucker for the "symphonic noise" and unabashed experimentation they are now so obviously fond of. Having said that, I can easily understand how some (many? most??) long-time Wilco fans now feel that their heroes have jumped the shark. I know how awful it can feel when a band you love gives up the ghost (I've still never forgiven Strummer and Co. for sacking Mick Jones). After witnessing this, the 23rd Wilco performance I've seen in MN, it's easy to see how one person's "beautiful noise" can be another person's "pretentious wankery." Wilco seemed particularly intense and driven on this otherwise uneventful Monday night; it was 49 minutes before Tweedy said a single word to the audience (I happened to be running my stopwatch, a carryover habit from my old taping days). Predictably, the bulk of the setlist was from the last two albums, but even the older material was affected by Wilco's new directions and strategies, which are explained nicely by Mikael Jorgensen (aka "Laptop Guy," although he actually is quite competent on a variety of keyboards/doo-dads in the current live line-up) in the appendix of the new "The Wilco Book." Case in point: the new noisy middle section of "Via Chicago," which, IMO, expands exponentially the disturbing creepiness and sadness of this song, resulting in a chilling listening experience. This is the same noisefest that Karla so mercilessly derided; I thought it was one of the highlights of the night - go figure. The line clearly has been drawn in the proverbial sand and I fear those who are jumping off the bandwagon may never catch up with it again.
10/26/04 - WILCO (NIGHT 2) @ THE ORPHEUM THEATER. Intensity level was dialed down a few notches for this show; not as many skronk-fests and journeys to inner space. Tweedy was more affable and engaged with the audience, and the encores were a bit more palatable to fans of the "old" Wilco. Monday night we were sitting in the front of the balcony so we had a birds eye view of the amazing Mr. Kotche. On Tuesday I was down in the 6th row so I was able to pay more attention to the Nels Cline (who, literally, brings the noise to this band) and Pat Sansone, who does a fine job as the resident multi-instrumentalist (Leroy who?). Some welcome setlist variations for night 2 - another big change from the early post-YHF shows - including "Hell Is Chrome," "Less Than You Think" and "Magazine Called Sunset." "Spiders" worked well as the main set finale; both versions I saw were superb, the metronomic intensity building to dizzying heights. Definitely becoming a big crowd fave, at least for fans of the "new" Wilco. Like I said, the line has been drawn... FWIW, I'm also a fan of the earlier, non-Krautrock live versions of "Spiders," although it's essentially become a different song now. As he did the night before, Tweedy gave his political stump speech (he and most of the band went to a John Edwards rally earlier in the day at the U of M) before a very powerful version of Bill Fay's "Be Not So Fearful" to end the show. I left the second night suitably awed and anxious to see this line-up again, a drastically different feeling than I had after the last few times I'd seen the band.
Milled around for a bit after the show (saw Alan Sparhawk from Low - who's no stranger to conceptual methods - in an intense discussion with Tweedy; don't be surprised if Wilco go all "slow-core" on the next album...heh, heh), but not for too long since it was time to walk down Hennepin Ave. a few blocks to see...
10/26/04 - CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN @ FIRST AVE. This show apparently wasn't selling well - Tweedy announced from the stage earlier in the night at the Orpheum that a Wilco ticket stub + $5 would get you in to see CVB. After the Wilco show I noticed a few First Ave. employees actually giving away comps to the people exiting the theater. Regardless of the price, it was surprisingly good show for a long-dead band, especially considering that their equipment just got jacked a few weeks ago. Much to my delight, they played a ton of material from their "Santa Cruz" years, along with a big chunk of the new album and a very entertaining batch of covers ("White Riot," "Pictures of Matchstick Men," etc.). A large contingent of Wilco members and friends were in attendance, gaining admittance only after Marc Perlman and I patiently explained to the door person that these people weren't just coming from the Wilco show but they _were_, in fact, Wilco (First Ave. was co-promoting the Wilco show and someone was supposed to have left word at the door). At one point, I exasperatedly asked the cashier if she couldn't just change my media credentials from "plus 1" to "plus 11," which didn't quite get the reaction I was hoping for.
10/27/04 - DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS @ THE ELECTRIC FETUS. An afternoon acoustic in-store set that featured 2-3 songs from Hood, Cooley and Isbell. Words, melodies and finger-pickin' took center stage for this performance in front of the box set section. It all came off surprisingly well considering the absence of their usual triple electric guitar roar. It's becoming increasingly evident to me that Jason Isbell is the real deal; he's an amazingly accomplished songwriter and guitar player for such a young whippersnapper. Hopefully a proposed solo project is on the fast track.
10/27/04 - CENTRO-MATIC / DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS @ FIRST AVE. Another strong double-bill and an impressive crowd for the Trucker's first big room show in MN. Centro played an hour set that seemed to last about 15 minutes and were just friggin' awesome. It was also cool to see Jason Isbell provide some atmospherics on a few songs. All of the Centro guys are amazing musicians - their command of mood and dynamics is absolutely masterful. Will J.'s almost becoming a regular around here - he did an opening solo set at the Triple Rock a few weeks ago and will be back there in a few weeks for another solo set, opening for the reformed American Music Club. I chatted with him for a few minutes during the Truckers and he couldn't have been nicer. Definitely one of the "good guys" (John Stiratt belongs in that category, too).
The last few Truckers shows I've seen were largely uneventful, but they sure kicked ass from the git-go this time; they were as hot as I've ever seen them. Several of the songs off "The Dirty South" have grown on me in recent months and they played nearly all of those in the first 90 minutes. This was fortunate for me since I had to take off to pick up my wife a few blocks away at the Loon bar. She had just come in from the airport on our new billion dollar LRT choo-choo train and was having a drink while watching the Red Sox complete their stunning curse reversal. Usually 90 minutes will get you an entire concert; for the Truckers, that's about half a show!
10/28/04 - JOHN CALE @ FIRST AVE. Pitifully under-attended show, considering this man's CV and influence on modern rock music - back in the early and mid-60s, he was exploring (helping to invent?) some of the very avenues that Tweedy and Co. are traveling these days. On the surface, there are more than a few similarities between Cale and the "new" Wilco - both share a penchant for songs featuring lilting melodies and light passages interspersed with blasts of the avant-garde. Cale is touring with a very competent 3 piece band in support of last year's "Hobo Sapien" album, his first release in a long time. Stylistically, Cale and his band were almost ridiculously diverse - everything from delicate, whimsical ditties to long, loud segments of sampled noise and distortion (hmm...sound familiar?). Highlights included "Fear is A Man's Best Friend," "Cable Hogue," "Leaving It Up To You," a radically revamped, very disjointed "Gun" and a long jam version of the immortal "Pablo Picasso." All in all, a superb show, even though he didn't play a whole slew of personal faves ("Big White Cloud," "Guts," "Amsterdam," etc.). Cale alternated between his keyboard/sampler, viola and acoustic & electric guitars and showed he's still the shit, well into his 5th decade of involvement with some of the best music created in the modern era.
10/29/04 - HOME. Spent some quality time in front of the TV and computer. Had the strange sensation that I was missing something, somewhere...
10/21/04 - ROCK FOR KARL BENEFIT @ THE QUEST. Much has been written about this historic night, a "special" occasion that for once actually lived up to the hype and even, at times, exceeded it. You know it's been a good night when a Paul Westerberg solo set is close to the least exciting thing on the whole bill (and who woulda thunk the highlight of his set would be "Kentucky Rain?"). Paul later redeemed himself nicely with a gloriously unkempt version of "Dead Flowers" with the Louris-less "Golden Smog" ("if me, Gary or Danny is missing, it ain't Golden Smog" - Kraig Johnson, 10/19/04), a performance that perfectly evoked the spirit of those drunken cover-fests 15+ years ago at the Cabooze, Uptown Bar and 400 Bar (original version). The "GS" set ended on a high note with a furious Iggy cover sung by KJJ ("Knocking 'em Down,' from "Soldier"). Then it was time for the Gear Daddies reunion, a set I quite enjoyed in spite of what can only be described as the "ugliness" of a large portion of GD "fans" (way too many rude, fucked up, frat-boy, backwards-baseball-cap-wearing mooks).
The most historic moment of the night, of course, was Grant Hart popping up on stage during Bob Mould's blistering solo electric set for two songs. While later reports from those in the know indicate that it might be premature to say that 16 years of acrimony have finally ended, it was nonetheless a powerfully emotional moment. And the man of the hour? Well, Karl sounded great on stage during SA's well-received, rockin' set and looked surprisingly chipper considering he was essentially nearly roasted alive during his extremely aggressive radiation treatment just a few months ago. Bad news? Well, it almost goes without saying that this benefit was at the wrong club in DT Mpls - the Quest is a horrible, wretched place, even by Clear Channel standards - but it's a testament to the power of the event itself and abundant good vibes that the severe shortcomings of the venue were overcome for a good cause.
10/22/04 - SARA LEE GUTHRIE & JOHNNY IRION / THE OLD 97s @ FIRST AVE. The 2 most recent New West signings on a very strong double bill. I mentioned in an earlier post my total pleasure at seeing Woody's granddaughter and her hubby backed by a couple of Jayhawks + Dave Boquist; suffice it to say that you should really try and catch them live if you can, especially if this expanded line-up ever hits the road (KYFC). Their new studio album, produced by Gary Louris at Ed Ackerson's Mpls studio, is a remarkable accomplishment and contains at least one song, "Gervais," that is destined to be a classic (comes out 1/25/05).
Like many here, I'm somewhat lukewarm about the recent 97s album, but their show was a crowd-pleasin' hoot damn near from start to finish. All phases of their recorded history were mixed in nicely, fondly evoking memories of the their 90s shows when they played to considerably smaller crowds here (there were well over a 1000 at this show). Throw in a smart cover or two and a truly impressive expenditure of energy, and you've got one sweat-drenched, deliriously happy crowd at the end of the night. Nice guys, too - hung around till the last cell-phone camera portrait was snapped.
10/23/04 - "ROCK FOR DEMOCRACY" @ THE TRIPLE ROCK. Started the night out early at yet another benefit (Summer 2004 in Mpls will definitely be remembered as "The Summer of Benefits") over at the Triple Rock catching my friends The Mood Swings, a "fuzz-pop" power trio led by Ashley Prenzlow, who are currently recording an album for Susstones. This was a very strange night, the concept being to alternate hip-hop and rock bands on one bill (The Melismatics, another fine Susstones act, were the headliners). I didn't stick around too long since I had to head over to...
10/23/04 - "WELLSTONE MUSIC DAY" @ THE TURF CLUB. About a zillion acts on this one, including local music scribe Jim Walsh, who helped plant the seed for this event last year. Jim used to front a local band back in the day (Laughing Stock, whose career highlights include one long-lost LP, a string of shows with the Replacements, and opening for Billy Bragg at one of his very first US shows when he played to about 50 people in the 7th St. Entry in 1985) and is currently dabbling with writing new music. Ya all know the drill: writers wanna be musicians who wanna be writers who wanna be actors who wanna be musicians... Grant Hart, Curtiss A and Slim Dunlap were the big draws and by 2am everybody was in a drunken, giddy mood, a fairly typical occurrence for a Saturday night at the Turf. The festivities ended with a now seemingly obligatory cover of "What's So Funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding," but the highlight for me was Curtiss A jumping up during Slim's set, Jameson in hand, for a never more pertinent reading of his scathing early Twin/Tone classic, "Land of the Free."
10/24/04 - LIANNE SMITH / RICH MATTSON @ THE TURF CLUB. Speaking of Twin/Tone, Lianne used to be in local Rockabilly cats, Safety Last, who, near the end of their run, also featured a young Gary Louris, right before he hooked up with Mark Olson in the Jayhawks. Lianne currently lives in NYC and is jumping back into the music scene after an extended absence. It was just her and an old Tele, with her former bandmate in Safety Last and The Tanglewoods, Jim Tollefsrud on drums. Nice set, with shades of Rosanne Cash and Jill Sobule evident and lots of promising songs. Rich Mattson is from Ol' Yeller, a cool local band who've put out 4 solid albums. For my money, he's just about the most underrated talent in town. He's a hard working guy with great stage presence and he seems to have the ability to pop out good songs at will. This was an acoustic set accompanied by one of his bandmates and featured lots of brand new songs, some being a dramatic departure from the rootsy Americana of Ol' Yeller. The night wound down earlier than I thought, so I hopped on I-94 and headed towards DT Mpls to catch...
10/24/04 - THE CRAMPS @ FIRST AVE. When I was planning out my concert schedule a few weeks ago, this was a show I thought I'd miss. As it turns out, I saw the whole shebang and ended up drinking way more than I planned on to boot, probably in reaction to the unrestrained campy decadence of Lux, Poison Ivy and crew. It had been two decades since I'd seen these sick weirdos and they were every bit as good as I remembered them. Maybe even better. The years have been surprisingly kind to these two (although, up close, I noticed Ms. Ivy had on a *lot* of make-up) as they've cranked out album after album of their patented brand of "psycho-billy" junkie rock. A week early for Halloween, although you never woulda known it from the crowd. I haven't seen so many freaky punk outcasts in one place since 1983, and that was probably at a Cramps show, too.
10/25/04 - WILCO (NIGHT 1) @ THE ORPHEUM THEATER. I'll admit I didn't have high hopes for this one since I was profoundly underwhelmed the last time I saw them in this space (July 2002) - I believe I used the word "snoozefest" to describe that show. The new expanded line-up, however, has opened up a whole new chapter in the band's history, something I've become increasingly aware of as I've listened to a big pile of 2004 Wilco live shows in recent weeks. In retrospect, it now appears that the fault line for Wilco fans will turn out to be the Summer 2001 live shows, aka The Jay Bennett Farewell mini-tour. This is the demarcation between the eclectic alt-country/Americana/whatever-you-wanna-call-it of the "old" Wilco and the "new" Wilco, who probably are more inspired by the Velvet Underground and Neu than Gram Parsons or Neil Young.
Personally, I was absolutely blown away by this new edition of the Jeff Tweedy Band. What Wilco plays these days resembles "rock" music but is probably closer to some conceptual high-art version of "rock" (I heard a local musician after the show refer to them as an "American Spiritualized," and that was meant as an extreme compliment). I'll admit, I'm a sucker for the "symphonic noise" and unabashed experimentation they are now so obviously fond of. Having said that, I can easily understand how some (many? most??) long-time Wilco fans now feel that their heroes have jumped the shark. I know how awful it can feel when a band you love gives up the ghost (I've still never forgiven Strummer and Co. for sacking Mick Jones). After witnessing this, the 23rd Wilco performance I've seen in MN, it's easy to see how one person's "beautiful noise" can be another person's "pretentious wankery." Wilco seemed particularly intense and driven on this otherwise uneventful Monday night; it was 49 minutes before Tweedy said a single word to the audience (I happened to be running my stopwatch, a carryover habit from my old taping days). Predictably, the bulk of the setlist was from the last two albums, but even the older material was affected by Wilco's new directions and strategies, which are explained nicely by Mikael Jorgensen (aka "Laptop Guy," although he actually is quite competent on a variety of keyboards/doo-dads in the current live line-up) in the appendix of the new "The Wilco Book." Case in point: the new noisy middle section of "Via Chicago," which, IMO, expands exponentially the disturbing creepiness and sadness of this song, resulting in a chilling listening experience. This is the same noisefest that Karla so mercilessly derided; I thought it was one of the highlights of the night - go figure. The line clearly has been drawn in the proverbial sand and I fear those who are jumping off the bandwagon may never catch up with it again.
10/26/04 - WILCO (NIGHT 2) @ THE ORPHEUM THEATER. Intensity level was dialed down a few notches for this show; not as many skronk-fests and journeys to inner space. Tweedy was more affable and engaged with the audience, and the encores were a bit more palatable to fans of the "old" Wilco. Monday night we were sitting in the front of the balcony so we had a birds eye view of the amazing Mr. Kotche. On Tuesday I was down in the 6th row so I was able to pay more attention to the Nels Cline (who, literally, brings the noise to this band) and Pat Sansone, who does a fine job as the resident multi-instrumentalist (Leroy who?). Some welcome setlist variations for night 2 - another big change from the early post-YHF shows - including "Hell Is Chrome," "Less Than You Think" and "Magazine Called Sunset." "Spiders" worked well as the main set finale; both versions I saw were superb, the metronomic intensity building to dizzying heights. Definitely becoming a big crowd fave, at least for fans of the "new" Wilco. Like I said, the line has been drawn... FWIW, I'm also a fan of the earlier, non-Krautrock live versions of "Spiders," although it's essentially become a different song now. As he did the night before, Tweedy gave his political stump speech (he and most of the band went to a John Edwards rally earlier in the day at the U of M) before a very powerful version of Bill Fay's "Be Not So Fearful" to end the show. I left the second night suitably awed and anxious to see this line-up again, a drastically different feeling than I had after the last few times I'd seen the band.
Milled around for a bit after the show (saw Alan Sparhawk from Low - who's no stranger to conceptual methods - in an intense discussion with Tweedy; don't be surprised if Wilco go all "slow-core" on the next album...heh, heh), but not for too long since it was time to walk down Hennepin Ave. a few blocks to see...
10/26/04 - CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN @ FIRST AVE. This show apparently wasn't selling well - Tweedy announced from the stage earlier in the night at the Orpheum that a Wilco ticket stub + $5 would get you in to see CVB. After the Wilco show I noticed a few First Ave. employees actually giving away comps to the people exiting the theater. Regardless of the price, it was surprisingly good show for a long-dead band, especially considering that their equipment just got jacked a few weeks ago. Much to my delight, they played a ton of material from their "Santa Cruz" years, along with a big chunk of the new album and a very entertaining batch of covers ("White Riot," "Pictures of Matchstick Men," etc.). A large contingent of Wilco members and friends were in attendance, gaining admittance only after Marc Perlman and I patiently explained to the door person that these people weren't just coming from the Wilco show but they _were_, in fact, Wilco (First Ave. was co-promoting the Wilco show and someone was supposed to have left word at the door). At one point, I exasperatedly asked the cashier if she couldn't just change my media credentials from "plus 1" to "plus 11," which didn't quite get the reaction I was hoping for.
10/27/04 - DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS @ THE ELECTRIC FETUS. An afternoon acoustic in-store set that featured 2-3 songs from Hood, Cooley and Isbell. Words, melodies and finger-pickin' took center stage for this performance in front of the box set section. It all came off surprisingly well considering the absence of their usual triple electric guitar roar. It's becoming increasingly evident to me that Jason Isbell is the real deal; he's an amazingly accomplished songwriter and guitar player for such a young whippersnapper. Hopefully a proposed solo project is on the fast track.
10/27/04 - CENTRO-MATIC / DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS @ FIRST AVE. Another strong double-bill and an impressive crowd for the Trucker's first big room show in MN. Centro played an hour set that seemed to last about 15 minutes and were just friggin' awesome. It was also cool to see Jason Isbell provide some atmospherics on a few songs. All of the Centro guys are amazing musicians - their command of mood and dynamics is absolutely masterful. Will J.'s almost becoming a regular around here - he did an opening solo set at the Triple Rock a few weeks ago and will be back there in a few weeks for another solo set, opening for the reformed American Music Club. I chatted with him for a few minutes during the Truckers and he couldn't have been nicer. Definitely one of the "good guys" (John Stiratt belongs in that category, too).
The last few Truckers shows I've seen were largely uneventful, but they sure kicked ass from the git-go this time; they were as hot as I've ever seen them. Several of the songs off "The Dirty South" have grown on me in recent months and they played nearly all of those in the first 90 minutes. This was fortunate for me since I had to take off to pick up my wife a few blocks away at the Loon bar. She had just come in from the airport on our new billion dollar LRT choo-choo train and was having a drink while watching the Red Sox complete their stunning curse reversal. Usually 90 minutes will get you an entire concert; for the Truckers, that's about half a show!
10/28/04 - JOHN CALE @ FIRST AVE. Pitifully under-attended show, considering this man's CV and influence on modern rock music - back in the early and mid-60s, he was exploring (helping to invent?) some of the very avenues that Tweedy and Co. are traveling these days. On the surface, there are more than a few similarities between Cale and the "new" Wilco - both share a penchant for songs featuring lilting melodies and light passages interspersed with blasts of the avant-garde. Cale is touring with a very competent 3 piece band in support of last year's "Hobo Sapien" album, his first release in a long time. Stylistically, Cale and his band were almost ridiculously diverse - everything from delicate, whimsical ditties to long, loud segments of sampled noise and distortion (hmm...sound familiar?). Highlights included "Fear is A Man's Best Friend," "Cable Hogue," "Leaving It Up To You," a radically revamped, very disjointed "Gun" and a long jam version of the immortal "Pablo Picasso." All in all, a superb show, even though he didn't play a whole slew of personal faves ("Big White Cloud," "Guts," "Amsterdam," etc.). Cale alternated between his keyboard/sampler, viola and acoustic & electric guitars and showed he's still the shit, well into his 5th decade of involvement with some of the best music created in the modern era.
10/29/04 - HOME. Spent some quality time in front of the TV and computer. Had the strange sensation that I was missing something, somewhere...
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Review: "Hail to the Chefs" Fundraiser - 9/27/04 - Modern Cafe - Mpls, MN
Quite the event -- superb food, great people-watching and some really excellent music. MC was local Mpls music legend Chris Osgood and the restaurant was staffed by all kinds of volunteers, including a fair number of familiar local musicians.
Music at the late show started out with local folk/country singer Wendy Lewis & her trio (who offered up the first of 3 Neil Young covers played last nite -- "For the Turnstiles") and then Trailer Trash's Nate Dungan, who turned in a nice solo set highlighted by a brand new, topical original ("Foreign Policy") and a hopefully- not-topical-anytime-soon reading of Gram Parson's "My Uncle."
Next up was essentially a scaled down version of Golden Smog: KJJ, Marc Perlman, Danny Murphy & Jessy Greene. Their 7 song set was dominated by a whole lot of "bummer" tunes sung by Kraig -- an interesting, to say the least, counterpoint to the racous, celebratory mood that prevailed amongst the political/food/music junkies that were in attendance. Nothin' like a coupla "junk" songs to go along with your slow-cooked salmon, spinach puree and chevre tart! Everyone sounded pretty damn good in spite of the crude set-up -- the "stage" was a hunk of plywood elevated with milk crates in the corner of the restaurant and the PA was about as basic as you can get.
"Mini Golden Smog"
(Johnson, Perlman, Muprhy, Greene)
"Hail to the Chefs" Fundraiser
Modern Cafe
Minneapolis, MN
9/27/04
SETLIST
-- On the Beach (nicely colored by Jessy's violin)
-- Signed D.C. ("my soul belongs to the dealer")
-- Ill-Fated (sung by Danny, of course, very nice to hear again)
-- Making Waves (rarely played over the last 5 years -- harmony vox by Jessy)
-- Losing My Religion (yes, the R.E.M. song, first verse sung by Danny, Kraig sang the rest; complete with that catchy Mandolin riff, courtesy of Perly)
-- Yesterday Cried (another one that rarely shows up)
-- The Losing End (Neil cover #3, dedicated to GWB)
Music at the late show started out with local folk/country singer Wendy Lewis & her trio (who offered up the first of 3 Neil Young covers played last nite -- "For the Turnstiles") and then Trailer Trash's Nate Dungan, who turned in a nice solo set highlighted by a brand new, topical original ("Foreign Policy") and a hopefully- not-topical-anytime-soon reading of Gram Parson's "My Uncle."
Next up was essentially a scaled down version of Golden Smog: KJJ, Marc Perlman, Danny Murphy & Jessy Greene. Their 7 song set was dominated by a whole lot of "bummer" tunes sung by Kraig -- an interesting, to say the least, counterpoint to the racous, celebratory mood that prevailed amongst the political/food/music junkies that were in attendance. Nothin' like a coupla "junk" songs to go along with your slow-cooked salmon, spinach puree and chevre tart! Everyone sounded pretty damn good in spite of the crude set-up -- the "stage" was a hunk of plywood elevated with milk crates in the corner of the restaurant and the PA was about as basic as you can get.
"Mini Golden Smog"
(Johnson, Perlman, Muprhy, Greene)
"Hail to the Chefs" Fundraiser
Modern Cafe
Minneapolis, MN
9/27/04
SETLIST
-- On the Beach (nicely colored by Jessy's violin)
-- Signed D.C. ("my soul belongs to the dealer")
-- Ill-Fated (sung by Danny, of course, very nice to hear again)
-- Making Waves (rarely played over the last 5 years -- harmony vox by Jessy)
-- Losing My Religion (yes, the R.E.M. song, first verse sung by Danny, Kraig sang the rest; complete with that catchy Mandolin riff, courtesy of Perly)
-- Yesterday Cried (another one that rarely shows up)
-- The Losing End (Neil cover #3, dedicated to GWB)
Monday, July 19, 2004
Review: Golden Smog & Jayhawks - Rock For Democracy - 7/18/04 - First Ave. - Mpls, MN
THE JAYHAWKS
(Louris - Perlman - O'Reagan - Grotberg)
Rock For Democracy
First AVe. - Mpls - 7/18/04
1. One Man's Problem (w/ Jim Boquist = ac gtr/bg vox)
2. Pray For Me (w/Jim Boquist = ac gtr/bg vox) For some strange reason i don't feel like doing any “research” right now, but I think the last time they played this, Bill Clinton was in his first term.
3. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (Hollies cover; Tim = lead vox; w/ Jim Boquist = ac gtr/bg vox) One of many songs last night that were perfectly in sync with the vibe of the event. Beautifully sung by Tim, just breathtaking. Man, what an underrated singer. Hell, what a singer, period!
4. Tailspin (w/ David Poe = elec gtr/bg vox) Dedicated by Gary to "GW." Biting political commentary? Wishful thinking? One of the best damn pop songs in recent memory? Answer: D) all of the above.
GOLDEN SMOG
(Louris - Johnson - Murphy - Perlman - Peter Anderson)
Rock For Democracy
First Ave. - Mpls - 7/18/04
1. Starman (Bowie cover; Gary = lead vox, Jim Boquist = bg vox) Live debut - yet another excellent choice from the cool cover stockpile. Pssst: the boys recorded a killer version of this song this summer - don't tell anybody.
2. That's When I Reach For My Revolver (Mission of Burma cover; Dan = lead vox, Ed Ackerson = elec gtr, bg vox = all) Another debut. Dan dedicated this to MN guv "Tiny Tim Palewnty" in the wake of a lot of recent hoo-haw in these parts concerning gun control legislation.
3. Powderfinger (Neil cover; KJJ = lead vox, David Poe = gtr/ bg vox, Dave Pirner = bg vox). Smokin'. Don't think they've pulled this one out since the '96 glory days.
4. Do Anything You Wanna Do (Eddie and the Hot Rods cover; Dan = lead vox) Another '96 blast from the past. An early punk anthem (1976) that fit in well with the spirit of the event.
5. The Dream is Never Over [tentative title] (brand spankin' new; Gary & Dan = lead vox, Blake Hurlbert = percussion). Very catchy little bugger, also recently hammered out in the studio. A new Smog song is obviously welcome news, especially if there's more where this came from. Should be in a car commercial or something.
6. 18 (Alice Cooper cover; Dave Pirner = lead vox; Ed Ackerson = elec gtr; Jim Boquist = elec gtr) Took a while to get this "train wreck" going - two false starts. Very Smog-ish moment indeed. This and the next song definitely evoked the drunken, murky joy of the earliest GS live shows back in the '80s at places like the Cabooze, Uptown Bar, 400 Bar (original version) etc.
7. Shooting Star (Bad Co. cover; Dave Pirner = lead vox) The set ended like it started - with a "star" song. Pirner at his finest. Think i actually saw a few lighters up in the air.
Bunch of other guys played, too.
(Louris - Perlman - O'Reagan - Grotberg)
Rock For Democracy
First AVe. - Mpls - 7/18/04
1. One Man's Problem (w/ Jim Boquist = ac gtr/bg vox)
2. Pray For Me (w/Jim Boquist = ac gtr/bg vox) For some strange reason i don't feel like doing any “research” right now, but I think the last time they played this, Bill Clinton was in his first term.
3. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother (Hollies cover; Tim = lead vox; w/ Jim Boquist = ac gtr/bg vox) One of many songs last night that were perfectly in sync with the vibe of the event. Beautifully sung by Tim, just breathtaking. Man, what an underrated singer. Hell, what a singer, period!
4. Tailspin (w/ David Poe = elec gtr/bg vox) Dedicated by Gary to "GW." Biting political commentary? Wishful thinking? One of the best damn pop songs in recent memory? Answer: D) all of the above.
GOLDEN SMOG
(Louris - Johnson - Murphy - Perlman - Peter Anderson)
Rock For Democracy
First Ave. - Mpls - 7/18/04
1. Starman (Bowie cover; Gary = lead vox, Jim Boquist = bg vox) Live debut - yet another excellent choice from the cool cover stockpile. Pssst: the boys recorded a killer version of this song this summer - don't tell anybody.
2. That's When I Reach For My Revolver (Mission of Burma cover; Dan = lead vox, Ed Ackerson = elec gtr, bg vox = all) Another debut. Dan dedicated this to MN guv "Tiny Tim Palewnty" in the wake of a lot of recent hoo-haw in these parts concerning gun control legislation.
3. Powderfinger (Neil cover; KJJ = lead vox, David Poe = gtr/ bg vox, Dave Pirner = bg vox). Smokin'. Don't think they've pulled this one out since the '96 glory days.
4. Do Anything You Wanna Do (Eddie and the Hot Rods cover; Dan = lead vox) Another '96 blast from the past. An early punk anthem (1976) that fit in well with the spirit of the event.
5. The Dream is Never Over [tentative title] (brand spankin' new; Gary & Dan = lead vox, Blake Hurlbert = percussion). Very catchy little bugger, also recently hammered out in the studio. A new Smog song is obviously welcome news, especially if there's more where this came from. Should be in a car commercial or something.
6. 18 (Alice Cooper cover; Dave Pirner = lead vox; Ed Ackerson = elec gtr; Jim Boquist = elec gtr) Took a while to get this "train wreck" going - two false starts. Very Smog-ish moment indeed. This and the next song definitely evoked the drunken, murky joy of the earliest GS live shows back in the '80s at places like the Cabooze, Uptown Bar, 400 Bar (original version) etc.
7. Shooting Star (Bad Co. cover; Dave Pirner = lead vox) The set ended like it started - with a "star" song. Pirner at his finest. Think i actually saw a few lighters up in the air.
Bunch of other guys played, too.
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Review: Kraig Johnson & The Program - 7/8/04 - Red Carpet - St. Cloud, MN
Here's a mini-review of The Program show last Saturday.
===================
The Program played their first show after their Spanish tour in St. Cloud, MN last Saturday. The absence of David Poe (who will be at the upcoming Mpls and Chicago shows) and the requirement of two 1 hour sets provided the necessary ingredients / inspiration for an experiment that prodded the boys dangerously close to “jam band” territory. Not that there’s anything wrong with that...
The Program's first show as a "power quartet" turned out to be truly enjoyable and memorable, with some positively sterling instrumental work from Mssrs. Anderson and Ackerson. About half of the songs got stretched out and, for the most part, sounded great.
Their recent trip thru Spain with the Jayhawks has evidently done wonders for their set. They’re obviously itching to play, as anyone who saw the energy they were radiating by the end of the second set can attest to.
Along with the regular Program songs, several cool covers were played: a couple of Neil Young songs, the Velvet’s “What Goes On,” and a scorching version of The Stooge’s “TV Eye” which, strangely enough, Wilco saw fit to cover a few years ago in Amsterdam.
There were also two certifiable moments of “Smog-ish” behavior, as in Golden Smog. Kraig, of course, is a founding member, Peter Anderson filled in on drums at the semi-secret, Tweedy-less GS show two summers ago at the 400, and Jim Boquist and Ed Ackerson are “honorary members” who’ve appeared both in the studio and on stage with GS. So everyone on stage had suitable GS credentials. The first set saw The Program debut of “Spooky” - long a GS live staple - and it clocked in at damn near 15 minutes! And, in what easily was peak of the night for me, T. Rex’s “Buick MacKane” - one of the highlights of every ‘96 GS show it appeared in - also made its Program debut, rocking like nobody’s business.
And so it went - another great Program show in St. Cloud in front of just about the strangest damn crowd you can imagine.
===================
The Program played their first show after their Spanish tour in St. Cloud, MN last Saturday. The absence of David Poe (who will be at the upcoming Mpls and Chicago shows) and the requirement of two 1 hour sets provided the necessary ingredients / inspiration for an experiment that prodded the boys dangerously close to “jam band” territory. Not that there’s anything wrong with that...
The Program's first show as a "power quartet" turned out to be truly enjoyable and memorable, with some positively sterling instrumental work from Mssrs. Anderson and Ackerson. About half of the songs got stretched out and, for the most part, sounded great.
Their recent trip thru Spain with the Jayhawks has evidently done wonders for their set. They’re obviously itching to play, as anyone who saw the energy they were radiating by the end of the second set can attest to.
Along with the regular Program songs, several cool covers were played: a couple of Neil Young songs, the Velvet’s “What Goes On,” and a scorching version of The Stooge’s “TV Eye” which, strangely enough, Wilco saw fit to cover a few years ago in Amsterdam.
There were also two certifiable moments of “Smog-ish” behavior, as in Golden Smog. Kraig, of course, is a founding member, Peter Anderson filled in on drums at the semi-secret, Tweedy-less GS show two summers ago at the 400, and Jim Boquist and Ed Ackerson are “honorary members” who’ve appeared both in the studio and on stage with GS. So everyone on stage had suitable GS credentials. The first set saw The Program debut of “Spooky” - long a GS live staple - and it clocked in at damn near 15 minutes! And, in what easily was peak of the night for me, T. Rex’s “Buick MacKane” - one of the highlights of every ‘96 GS show it appeared in - also made its Program debut, rocking like nobody’s business.
And so it went - another great Program show in St. Cloud in front of just about the strangest damn crowd you can imagine.
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