Is This is Mii?

Hii hii hii! (Mii Generator)

You got Simpson-ized!

Thanks to Hannah for the link.

The White Stripes @MSG, July 24th

I had been feeling cranky about the White Stripes in recent months; I missed out on their itty bitty Irving Plaza show, and forgot about their presale for pit tickets. I didn't feel like coughing up the steep $70 per ticket price to sit far away at the imposing Madison Square Garden, so I decided I'd take my chances and see if I could perhaps snag a last minute choice ticket. Then, I found out that Nick Cave's side project, Grinderman was slated to open, so that really motivated me to go. I ended up grabbing a very nice pair at cost on e-bay in Section 71, putting me right next to the stage in the Loge level. I convinced Wawa to accompany me, in spite of his reluctance to spend such money and concern that the audience would be similar to the last time we saw the Stripes at Keyspan, where the abundance of frat boy douchebags annoyed the fuck out of us. Would the show feel different where we'd be sitting on the side versus my usual spot of standing dead center in the front? Section 71 was awesome, providing a very excellent elevated view of the stage without the elbowing and stink of the crowd.

We arrived just in time for Grinderman. I had caught them the night before on Letterman singing "Honey Bee." They stuck to songs from Grinderman, which was fine, tho it would have been nice to hear Nick dip into some of his other stuff. I think the dark dramatic music of Grinderman would have been better suited to a smaller venue, where Nick's baritone wouldn't get so muddied in the soundmix, but nonetheless, it was thrilling to catch such an opener.

Now, as mentioned above, I did previously see the Stripes play at Keyspan two years ago (and I thought they were great, but the crowd sucked ass), and prior to that, at Roseland. I guess playing (and filling) MSG is a big milestone in any music act's career, and tonight was Meg and Jack's turn, and they filled it well. I knew them to be a stellar act and had great expectations for them tonight, and they were stupendous. For nearly two hours ending just before midnight, they held the crowd captive with a constant drive forward. (See the setlist here.) Everytime I see them, I think the same thing -- how do just two people on the stage manage to energize the crowd and get them going the way the White Stripes do? Fuckin' amazing!

The stage looked like a red playground, with different kinds of instruments set up and several microphones stationed all over. Jack ran around the stage in bringing us on his musical mystery tour and showed why he works hard for the money.

Here's a video of them performing "We're Gonna Be Friends":

I love the White Stripes without reservation, and they are never to be missed live.

Here's the last song of the evening, "Boll Weevil":

*****

A funny side note. So, as a condition to Wawa coming tonight, I promised him I'd go with him to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in two weeks at Webster, even though I said to myself I'd never go to that sweatbox again in the summer months after seeing Sleater-Kinney and The Roots there last August and hating every drippy moment. After Grinderman finished their set, I spotted a tall lanky figure sit right in front of us and joked with Wawa that it was David Fricke of Rolling Stone, who I swear is stalking us because he seems to be at every show we're at, but instead, I realized it was actually Brian Chase of the YYYs, only because right next to him was Nick Zinner.

So yeah, like wow, 2/3s of the YYYs right there in front of us (with a dark-haired girl who looked like a stand-in for Karen O.). During the White Stripes' set, the guys sat the whole time, and sent an awful lot of text messages. I don't think I saw either of them clap once. Maybe they were taking notes on the competition....

I was pleased as punch, however, when sometime during the Stripes' set, who else should sit down in front of us, but none other than Nick Cave himself. And yes, he did clap, with his red right hand.

I did see someone else who might have been Moby (but who cares), and someone else I briefly thought was Michael Pitt (of Dawson's Creek fame), but it actually just turned out to be a chick who resembled him. Gnarly!

"Once"

Last night, met up with Sucheela after work and caught a lovely little film, "Once," starring Glen Hansard of The Frames and Marketa Irglova, his bandmate in his side project, The Swell Season. It is a basic tale of boy meets girl and falls in love with her and can't have her, but the execution is by no means simple. While the dialogue is somewhat sparse (which may be a godsend given the accents of the Irish Hansard and Czech Irglova), through the use of beautiful music, they manage to tell a tale full of emotion, romance, friendship and longing without hitting you over the head with it.

The film reminded me a lot of a favorite film of mine, "Before Sunset," which focuses on two main characters as they rekindle or perhaps more accurately, find a new romance between each other while simply walking through the streets of Paris. There is little reliance on plot points. The movie just breathes. The tension between the two is palpable, and as the viewer, you find yourself rooting for certain things to happen.

I walked out of the theatre a wee bit melancholy for the main characters, admiring the restrained passion they felt for each other. Upon reflection, I also decided the movie suggests that sometimes people come into our lives for a short while, and however limited and brief their interactions with us may be, they cross paths with us for certain reasons, and it's important to keep our hearts and minds open for those beautiful moments. Hansard's character in the movie may have not gotten the girl in the end, but she helped push him forward and compelled him to make more beautiful music for the world to hear.

Hansard and Irglova and the rest of The Swell Season play songs from "Once" next week at the Blender Theater at Gramercy. I might have to dig up a ticket to this sold out show. I was supposed to have seen them opening for Damien Rice in December at the Beacon, but alas, work kept me. D'oh!!!

Fuck Off, Moz!!!

(PHOTO CREDIT)

Morrissey cancelled his postponed MSG date. Now I'm truly "Disappointed":

Our unsleepable friend
Gets the message on an ill wind
All your friends and your foes
Would rather die than have to touch you
To say the least: I'm truly disappointed

Truly, truly, truly, oh...
Drank too much
And I said too much
And there's nowhere to go - but down

Young boy - I wanna help you
See these lines ? : truly disappointed

Truly, truly, truly, oh...
Don't talk to me, no
About people who are nice
'cause I have spent my whole life
In ruins
Because of people who are nice
Oh, this world may lack style, I know
Each bud must blossom and grow, oh...

Young girl, one day you will be old
But the thing is, I love you now
Mmm ...

This is the last song I will ever sing (yeah!)
No: I've changed my mind again (aaw...)

Goodnight

And thank you.

Built To Spill / Cat Power @McCarren Pool, July 7th

Julie1 and I grabbed some ice cream cones with chocolate dip and then moseyed on up to the front of McCarren Pool quite easily for Cat Power. This was my third time seeing Chan Marshall, having previously seen her first at Town Hall over a year ago, and then five months ago at Hiro Ballroom. As we all know, seeing Cat Power can be a mixed bag; she can be brilliant, or just plain ol' infuriating. Today, Chan seemed to be all business. Gone were the prolonged moments of awkwardness and rambling and goofy storytelling. She spent hardly any time on banter. Perhaps it was the awareness that she was not the main act and was operating under a time constraint. Perhaps it was the summer sunlight flooding the stage. Perhaps it was the lack of intimacy in this concrete venue. Whatever the reason, Chan kept her cool and played a confident, polished set with her small backing band, the Dirty Delta Blues Band. She kept her nervous tics and hair chewing to a minimum. Happily, they barely touched her last album, The Greatest. While I love that album, one of my tops for 2006, (a) I felt nothing could top seeing her run through those songs with the Memphis Rhythm Band, and (b) I was ready to hear different songs. She sounded good this time around. Solid, if not dazzling.

Unfortunately, after Cat Power exited the stage, the assholes aka fratboys seemed to shove their way out of the woodwork for Built To Spill. I think they must have loaded up on beer during the Cat Power set. Looking around the Pool, it was interesting to see what a diverse fanbase Doug Martsch & Co. have. The fratboys were the most prominent, however, and they ended up right next to us. Julie1 and I debated whether to sacrifice our positioning and head for the back, but we decided to simply move away from them a little bit, which ended up being the right thing to do.

Coincidentally, this was also my third time seeing BTS -- last time was just over a year ago in San Francisco at Slim's during my trip out to the West Coast for Radiohead at Berkeley. While I thought BTS were quite brilliant at the small Slim's club show, their multiple guitar layering was perfect for an outdoor venue like McCarren. As I've noted before, the guys are low frills and all business about their music and demeanor. They moved through their songs swiftly, well, as swift as songs with long guitar jamming can be. Their performance was so good, it made Julie1 and me forget about the assholes who surrounded us.

Unfortunately, we missed the opener, Bob Mould, but seeing Cat Power followed by Built To Spill was definitely an interesting coupling that worked pretty well for me, much like last year when I saw Sonic Youth followed by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at McCarren. Cool beans.

The New Pornographers @Battery Park, July 4th

Just like last year's 4th of July celebration with Belle & Sebastian, I wanted this year to be another fun gathering of friends, food and fireworks. We were almost thirty people strong, mostly from two of my worlds, concerts and kung fu. A bunch of us got there earlier to secure some prime real estate in front of the stage, and we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon only slightly marred by rain.

This was my third time seeing The New Pornographers -- I saw them two years ago with The Sadies and Stars at Prospect Park, and last year at the Nokia Theater opening for Belle & Sebastian. They play solid power pop that is ideal for an outdoor crowd -- you needn't be hugely familiar with their accessible music to have a good time. They maintain an energy that is upbeat and reminds me of The Cars at times. I thought the sound where we were was a little muddy, but at least we had a great view of Carl Newman and Neko Case and their flaming red hair:

(Kathryn Calder kinda has red hair too, I think!)
The New Pornos entertained us with a good mix of the old -- a lot from their last smashing success, Twin Cinema -- and some new from their upcoming release, Challengers. I particularly liked "The Bleeding Heart Show" with its chorus of Hey Las.

After the show, we lost a few and then ambled our way to a bar for a stretch, and then headed to the FDR Drive for the fireworks spectacular. At that point, it was raining harder and we were feeling chilly, but it was all good times. Hooray!