nycdilettante

The Heartless Bastards are going back on the Road!

May 13  Beachland Ballroom w/ The Hold Steady  Cleveland, Ohio

May 15  Magic Stick w/ The Hold Steady  Detroit, Michigan

May 16  Intersection w/ The Hold Steady  Grand Rapids, Michigan

May 17  Miramar w/ The Hold Steady  Milwaukee, Wisconsin

May 18  Orpheum Stage Door w/ The Hold Steady  Madison, Wisconsin

May 20  Sokol Underground w/ The Hold Steady  Omaha, Nebraska

May 22  Ogden Theater w/ The Hold Steady  Denver, Colorado

May 23  Urban Lounge w/ The Hold Steady  Salt Lake City, Utah

May 24  Neurolux w/ The Hold Steady  Boise, Idaho

May 27  Tractor Tavern  Seattle, Washington

May 28  Crystal Ballroom w/ The Hold Steady  Portland, Oregon

May 31  Aquarium  Fargo, North Dakota

Jun 1  400 Bar  Minneapolis, Minnesota

Jun 2  Record Bar  Kansas City, Missouri

Jun 8  Exit Inn  Nashville, Tennessee

Jun 9  Red Light  Atlanta, Georgia

Jun 11  Handlebar  Greenville, South Carolina

Jun 12  Cat's Cradle  Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Jun 13  Rock and Roll Hotel w/ Earl Greyhound in, Washington DC

Jun 15  North Star  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Jun 16  Bowery Ballroom  New York, New York

Jun 18  Higher Ground   Burlington, Vermont

Jun 19  The Green Room  Montreal, Quebec

Jun 20  El Mocambo  Toronto, Ontario

Jun 22  Mickey Finns  Toledo, Ohio

Jun 23  Belmont Art and Music Festival  Chicago, Illinois

Aug 5  Lollapalooza - Grant Park   Chicago, Illinois

Sep 15  Austin City Limits Festival  Austin, Texas

Sonar

Sonar is awesome.  It's the 9:30 outpost in Baltimore.  Went last night to see the HB's for the second time since their new album was out. 

Great show.  Great space.

Sonar reminds me of the old 9:30.  You know...the one with the smell.  I had a blast and got awesome pictures of the band.  They are opening on some dates with Lucinda Williams.  Check them out if you have a chance.  Here are their remaining dates:

TONIGHT!  Mar 21  Maxwell's Hoboken, New Jersey

Mar 23  Radio City Music Hall w/ Lucinda Williams New York, New York

Mar 24  Orpheum Theatre w/ Lucinda Williams Boston, Massachusetts

Mar 25   Calvin Theatre w/ Lucinda Williams Northampton, Massachusetts

Mar 27   Hart Theatre (The Egg) w/ Lucinda Williams Albany, New York

Mar 29   Barley's Tap Room   Knoxville, Tennessee

Mar 30   Ryman Auditorium w/ Lucinda Williams Nashville, Tennessee

Heartless Bastards

Tuesday night I saw The Heartless Bastards at Iota.

My friend Steve gave me STAIRS AND ELEVATORS at the same time he gave me SMOKEWAGON'S CD and it was STAIRS AND ELEVATORS that really captured my imagination.  (No offense to Smokewagon)  Goober that I am I put in a search to myspace and added The HB's as one of my "friends".  And I watched that page for tour dates.

And lo, the tour dates were posted and the HB's were playing IOTA down in Clarendon.  So...I shot out an e-mail to Don and Steve and we have been saving the date for some time.  If you're in Philly...they are at WORLD CAFE LIVE show tonight.  A free show so HB's website says. I think it's a private event b/c it's not on the venue website.  The HB's play Southpaw in Brooklyn tomorrow and for those of you in NYC...get thee out there.  I've alerted my friends in KY that the HB's are playing THE DAME on the 22nd.

And lo, you should travel like the wise men and catch these guys show. 

The HB's consist of Erika Wennerstrom (songwriter/vocalist/guitarist), Kevin Vaughn (drums/percussion) and Mike Lamping (bass) and they are currently on Fat Possum Records.  I was really stoked for the show since I've been listening to STAIRS AND ELEVATORS & ALL THIS TIME for a few months now and I've really connected with the music and lyrics.  Bands don't have to be huge to be good.  (The Black Keys are another case in point on that.  As well as Danko Jones).

Iota is a bar that I used to frequent back in the 90's when it was Amdo Rodeo...or something along those lines.  It was a dive...cold in winter...but with excellent beer and an awesome jukebox.  Times changed...Amdo became something else.  Its sister bar, Roratonga Rodeo, became Galaxy Hut (a short jog down Wilson from Iota) and the huge bar that Amdo and it's sister bar became - Bardo Rodeo (further down Clarendon towards Courthouse) has changed into something else now.  (Bardo was pretty huge...it started it's life as a car dealership and morphed into a micro-brewery/bar/dive/art performance piece.  It also had a killer jukebox that was the back end of a Cadillac I think.  Good times, good times.  It's now called Dr. Dreamo's Taphouse.  That location may disappear as the plot of land the bar is sitting on is set to be developed.)

I love to catch shows at Iota.  They turned a divey bar into a great venue...music space on one side...small eatery on the other.  A surfboard bar separates the two...but through the opening connecting the bar to both eatery and music venue...you can hear the music.  As Steve and I ate (yummy crispy catfish wrap sandwiches) we were treated to an AWESOME sound check by the HB's.  I was yammering on (as I do) and I would just drift off listening to Erika sing.

I love Iota for the food, the vibe...and the fact the door guy comes to your table, asks if you're here to see the show and takes your money right there.  Excellent!

I got down to Arlington early and as I walked down towards Iota, striding towards me was Erika W...lead singer and woman who I have heard is very shy.  I did my NYC famous people nod (yeah I know you but don't sweat it...I'm not gonna accost you) and strode past her.  I saw her a couple times during my walks around the block waiting for Steve.  I think she is a bit shy or perhaps b/c she is the singer and songwriter she stays out of the limelight a bit b/c the attention is intense.  The rest of the band (as well as their "sound man") sat in the booth (yes THE ONE BOOTH they have on the venue side) watching the opening band play.  I think I was the only person who realized who they were.  I was standing relatively close to the booth during the opening band and looked over and sort of noticed...hey that's the band.  Except for Erika.  She appeared as Beaten Awake ended their set and zoomed up front before anyone noticed her.  Most of the crowd was moving forward in anticipation of the HB's set and didn't seem to be aware the blond in the black jacket was the lead singer.

Erika's voice and lyrics are a big part of why I like the HB's.  Her voice is raw and expansive and her lyrics are the same (music columnists compare her voice to Janis Joplin and Robert Plant).  Mike and Kevin are excellent musicians as well.  The three of them are tuned in to each other and each song is tight.  I read that Erika said somewhere she knew all her life she wanted to be a performer.  You wouldn't expect that.  She's not a person who seems to draw off the oxygen from everyone when she's in a room.  She has a stage presence but really...it's her music and lyrics that arrest you.  She reminds me of Michael Stipe in that regard.  He spent the early years in REM hiding under his hair.  It took time for him to really step into that "lead singer" kind of vibe.  And still...he's a laid back dude who is all about the art, the music of what he does...not the egomania you expect from a "lead singer".

I have read a lot about who is worthy of being 2006's top bands...Leafblower went out to music bloggers and asked for their top picks recently...and the bands I dig are never there.  I'm not sure if that means I'm too old and my musical tastes aren't relevant or if I'm just standing up and saying...yeah...I like these guys and I don't really care about Clap Your Hands Say Yeah so much or the Arcade Fire or the Firey Furnaces. 

Several commenter's have noted "hipsters bleck" on Leafblower's site.  I think that to a point and yet, I pay attention to those hipsters, so who am I to bleck them?  Hipsters used to be called "the cool kids" or the "preps" when I was in school.  Hipsters are the 21-st century name for a group of people that we (the masses/the unwashed/hoi polloi) pay attention to.  And usually...they are wearing clothes from a thrift store or really expensive clothes that just LOOK like they came from a thrift store (Prada, American Apparel, Marc Jacobs).  No more.  No less.  Why the hate?  Why the jealousy?

Because frankly...we all want to be the cool kids.  We all want to be envied.  And there is no way we can all be the big fish in the small pond.

I've been struggling in my mind with blogging.  When I was in NYC I read a group of blogs that I like to imagine were the cutting edge bloggers (callalille, tien mao, rachelle, bluejake, gothamist).  I always wanted to join in and met those guys...but I never went to a gothamist birthday party or Movable Hype.

I am the kid who likes to observe people.  Dream up a story about them.  Pontificate to myself.  Meeting everyone and being a part of the "cool kids" isn't me.  I read a zillion blogs and never comment.  I don't consider myself a "lurker" (although clearly I fit the definition) but rather someone who keeps to myself.  I do my NYC nod and keep going.

And who can argue w/the NYC nod?

Otis

 

I've always loved music.  I can remember the first album I ever listened to as a kid and I swear it was ST PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND.  I have this nagging feeling though that in reality the first album I ever heard was by Peter, Paul and Mary.  Anyhow...saying the first album I remember hearing was the Beatles ST PEPPER'S is cooler than saying the first album I remember hearing is Peter, Paul and Mary.

I went to three different high schools and at each one I picked up some new music information.  When I went to Orange County High School I really learned a lot about new wave and punk music. I got into Elvis Costello, Blondie and the Clash.  I also secretly listened to Billy Joel.  And...I thought the Romantics were punk.  I know.  I'm ashamed of that admission.

In college...we loved a wide variety of stuff.  Joy Division.  The Jam.  The Smiths.  Depeche Mode.  None of these guys were hardcore.  I thought punk music WAS hardcore.  I really got obsessed with REM and at my first REM concert (FABLES OF THE RECONSTRUCTION) I saw the Minuteman.  I'd have to say they were a lot more hardcore than any other bands I'd seen before.  I was nuts about NRBQ. I thought I was pretty cool musically.  But when I started dating the love of my life, my musical horizons opened more.  He had two older brothers and his youngest brother was in a band.  We listened to Kiss (Sam was pretty obsessed with them for some reason.  Sometimes Deuce just drifts into my head and I think...SAM!)...we listened to a lot of the rock bands coming out of Athens, Georgia.  Love Tractor.  The B-52's.  After we broke up and I moved back home I started to chart my own musical territory.  I started going out in Richmond listening to local bands there.  I fell in love with Camper Van Beethoven.  House of Freaks.  Still nuts about the Q.

Then I moved up to DC to go to grad school.  At my 9 to 5 job, I met D. I consider him one of my closest friends. D happened to like hardcore music.  He might not even realize this BUT...I was only partially into hardcore music when we started hanging out.  Like I said...I thought punk WAS hardcore.  I didn't even know who Black Flag was.  I'm so ashamed to admit that. 

I digress.

Knowing D liked hardcore...I had more of an opportunity to listen to bands I wasn't exposed to before.  Everyone in DC was crazy about Fugazi.  Bad Brains.  We used to sit around and listen to  records.  I have zillions of cassette tapes that he made for me.  Dag Nasty - SuperChunk - Pennywise.  I still love Dag Nasty.

We went to the 9:30 Club.  The ORIGINAL 9:30.  I'd try and get a crew of people to go out to shows.  We almost got tickets to see Smashing Pumpkins but we were too slow with the scalper guy.  One night a bum broke off the antenna on D's car because we wouldn't give him money when he hassled us.  We saw Everclear before they got big big.  We saw Cracker, the band that David Lowery started after Camper broke up.

Now that we are older...getting a crowd together to go to the 9:30 doesn't happen so often.  Now a crowd consists of D, D's best friend Steve and myself.  Last year we went to see Clutch at the new 9:30 Club.  We go to Iota now and then.  We bitch about how we have no clue what music is cool or how kids get into music now. 

Steve is the super guru when it comes to music.  He's always introducing us to bands we've never heard of but are awesome.  He picked up a disc somewhere along his travels by a band called Otis!  It was their first album...self titled.  He played it for D and their crew of friends down at Nags Head one fall during their annual golf trip.  It was some sort of mythic event.  Then that particular disk was stolen from Steve's Jeep.  Steve always said about that was what bugged him the most was that whoever stole that disc proably had no clue what they had.  He imagined them tossing it aside.  Since then D and Steve have been talking about Otis.  That first album was like the Holy Grail.  D even said...it's better than NEVERMIND. But no one could find it at any CD store, it was like it vanished.  Steve looked a couple times but couldn't come across it on-line even.

I'm not sure what got into D...but all of a sudden...he started looking all over the internet for it.  And he found it by contacting the label that put the disc out, by getting in touch with the former singer of Otis, Kev-O Matic.  Finally...he was able to track a copy of the disc (from a place in TN that people sell CD's they don't want anymore to) and so last week, we all got together to listen to it.   

I had no clue if this mythic CD would hold up to the passage of time.  Would it still be better than NEVERMIND?  And I must say...Otis rocks.  D and Steve were duly impressed that it sounded as good in reality as it did in their memory.  And in my head, repeating over and over, is the guitar line from LITTLE PINK, which I think is the first song on the disc.

Otis is no more as a band.  Now Kev-O plays in a band called Smokewagon that is based out of Brooklyn...my old stomping grounds.  I've loaded Otis and Smokewagon on my ipod and I'm listening while I work out.  Smokewagon has a myspace page with all sorts of comments and messages.  YOU GUYS ROCK.  There is an awesome picture up of the band standing on a roof with the KENTILE FLOORS sign in the background.  I heart them just for that.  Anyhow I added them to my list of friends.  I also "added" Heartless Bastards...which at the moment is my new fav band.  They're another band Steve introduced me to.  I heart them.

I feel like I'm letting Kev-O down.  Fear not Kev-O...I'm still connecting with Smokewagon.  But...I do love Otis.  Catchy stuff that.

For those of you who are looking for the holy grail...OTIS's first self titled album is awesome.  Heartless Bastards have caught my fancy.  Smokewagon is growing on me.  The next time they hit town...D, Steve and I will be there to show some love for them.

Flashback

Last night my friends and I had a CD listening party.  This album was stolen from a friends Jeep years ago and we finally found it on-line.  It's always nice to act like you're 16 again.  Although I didn't lay on the floor like I did as a teenager when I had listening parties...

We were AMAZED that itunes lists the songs on OTIS!...we thought we'd have to type all that in.  And you don't.  Which is awesome.  I really hate having to type in the song names when I download an album that a friend has ummm...burned for me.

At any rate, I've loaded OTIS!, Smokewagon and Heartless Bastards on my itunes to motivate me during my workouts.  This week I've had a week away from the gym...I needed some breathing room. 

Tomorrow I'm back at the gym working out...but tonight I'm going to do some watch the Disney channel until 9 PM when I watch Monk and Psych.

I know...it's amazing to think no one has snapped ME up with all the excitement I stir up! 

Punk Rocks

I'm watching a documentary on the Ramones right now.  I didn't know...but Joey Ramone had OCD. This documentary is the coolest thing...makes me wish I had been around in the dirt and grime of NY of the 70's...although it had to be really hard to be there.  I'm much too soft...

They thought that the only band that competed with them were the Clash...everyone else was shit...they also thought the Sex Pistols were complete asses and they almost ruined punk.  Funny.

Great stories are being told about all the guys.  Dee Dee Ramone and his girlfriend Connie...both were heroin addicts.  Connie was a prostitute and apparently they fought very intensely.  In fact she stabbed him in the ASS once.  Can you imagine?  Intense...

..."probably the oldest people there"

I was reading the blog of Jimmy Legs...a 20-something in Clinton Hill this morning and I got a twinge of...I don't know...anger.

Now...there is nothing wrong with Jimmy Legs.  He puts up a fine blog.  It's just reading his interpretation of some "old people" at the Mission of Burma show at the Bowery Ballroom got me to thinking.

Espically since I am older now than I used to be.

Here is his basic comment and note...there is nothing wrong with it.

The audience was hilarious. The most energetic members were also probably the oldest people there. The best ones were this pair of Scandinavian dudes with long blond hair, one of the sporting a jacket with a crudely homemade Jam logo. Another guy was sporting the "I'm still cool" ponytail to distract the eye from his totally bald head. Why do guys think this look works? At any rate he was pogoing around like a high schooler (which he probably was the last time he saw Mission of Burma).

Why judge these "oldersters"?  Why even be amused by them?  I mean...he was at the Mission of Burma show.  Is he saying they are stuck in a time warp because they still dig this band?  I mean...what's the point? 

And then...I remember that I am not 25 to 28 any more.  When I was I thought people in their 40's were old and ancient.  I was generally amused by older people because for some reason in your 20's you don't realize...AGING IS HAPPENING TO YOU.  All the time baby.  All the time.

So one of the guys was wearing a jacket with a homemade JAM logo on it.  What...DIY is UNCOOL?  F that my friend.  F that.  All the great NYC bands were DIY.  Warhol was DIY.  So we did it ourselves and to HELL with being marketed to.  We'll punch a safety pin through our cheeks and go on with our bad fecking selves.  Tatto artist, piercings.  In the 80's we did it ourselves and there you have it.

When Jimmy Legs is 40...he'll be wearing shirts with a homemade MOTICO logo on it...and he'll be proud of it.  And some 20something will be amused by him.  Amused. 

I'm sorry Jimmy Legs.  You'll understand why I'm pissed when you hit the big 4-zero.

Until then...don't be amused by us 40 year olds who still are cool enough to come out to shows and kick some 20 something ass.  RESPECT baby.  That's what we want and deserve.

Back to the Crossroads

One thing...among many, really...about being back in an area that you lived 15 years in is knowing the lay of the land.  Knowing the lay of the land in NYC is somewhat different.  I got to know parts of Park Slope and the LES pretty well...but so much of Manhattan intimidated me.

Now that I'm back in the DC area I can track out to places and feel...comfortable.  At home completely.

In the city...I would venture out places on my own but I never found the consumate concert buddy there.  Here...I have my concert buddy and it's great.  We go...listen to bands and even if I'm not totally into a band...I'll go and hang out.

I have to give props to DM b/c he is a man who likes hardcore music and he went with me to see a much more alternative band on Saturday.  It was a fun time...and reinforced my decision that DC is where I need to be at the moment.

That's not to say I don't miss the city.  So far I returned for New Year's Eve and will be going up again next month for the Christo installation.  It's good to know you can go back...and have money to do so.

Best Name for a Band that I will never use (so help yourself)

Tom Strickland's Chickens

I think that is an excellent name for a punk band.

Happy Day before Christmas Eve...unless you don't like/celebrate the holiday...and in that case...enjoy Thursday!

Downloading

Since I got my ipod...I have spent nights downloading my old CD's onto this device.  I am totally obsessed with this device.  You DO feel like your life is a soundtrack with your headphones on.  It's very compelling.

I have to say winning this ipod not only was cool BUT it has opened up my music collection to me.

Now I just need the car kit so I can listen to my ipod LEGALLY in the car (and not by using my headphones...which is dangerous). 

MP3 devices always seemed complicated to me...Apple products are really my speed.  Easy to learn and uncomplicated.

I bow down to the power of the ipod.