Hitting The Ground

Fried beyond all belief. When I woke up this morning I wasn't hung over at all... I was STILL DRUNK. A great way to start the workday. B'More John left this morning after his 28 day tear in NY... at least HE gets to sleep on the train.

Today's post is short and sweet, a medley of tunes I thought would be great considering the night I just had. Thanks again to the Peculiar Pub for such a great selection of beers to waste a Thursday night to! Seriously, I can't think of a bar with more of a beer selection.

Enough typing. The sunlight is melting my brain. Just skip to the music.

Download: Gordon Gano f. P.J. Harvey "Hitting The Ground"

Download: Ike Reilly "When Irish Eyes Are Burning Bright.mp3"

Download: LCD Soundsystem (by Joy Division) "No Love Lost"

Download: Joan Jett & The Blackhearts "I Love Rock n' Roll"

Enjoy! Now get some sleep!

Against Me! (Notice a Theme?)

One of my other favorite bands I "discovered" this year (late to the party, as usual) is Against Me! (Excalmation Point included!) I figured what with the lawsuit and such, I might as well continue my anti-establishment theme in style...

Up first, the most beautiful and poetic and insightful song of love lost between an anarchist and a hippie communist liberal. Funny as hell, nicely observed, and GREAT to drink big pints to. To quote another Against Me! songtitle, "Pints of Guiness Make You Strong."

Nothing makes you feel better than hearing about other people's problems, so why not follow it up with another great one from them, "Problems".

Then Just for Fun' we'll wrap it up with their single from their latest (and greatest) album "New Wave" with their song "Thrash Unreal" about a slightly aged, slightly used party girl who "still hears the rebel yell just as loud as it was in 1983"... good stuff.

Download: Against Me! "Baby, I'm an Anarchist"

Download: Against Me! "Problems"

Download: Against Me! "Thrash Unreal"

Again, if you like the intelligent Nihilism, go see them live (we just saw them open for Foo Fighters at MSG!) or buy their amazing albums!

Enjoy!

They're Out To Get Me!

Coming home late after a great Indian dinner at the Bombay Palace, I checked the mail on the way up to the apartment. A large envelope from a law firm loomed dark and dreary in the box. It would seem that last year's nightmare lawsuit is not only not OVER (as a nearly 12 month radio silence might have some people believe) but is proceeding full force, with the Evil Empire, er, I mean North Fork Bank (recently bought by Capital One) releasing the hounds once again on me.

The only difference between LAST YEAR and NOW is that while last year was right before my wedding (bad timing, huh?) THIS year is right when we have just recently (as in, 3 weeks ago) had to move our entire business. Actually, it's hard to believe, but I actually think THIS timing is actually far, far worse. I can't imagine how my business could continue in this point in time if judgement went against me and I owed the amount of money these chimpanzees seem to think I owe.

Alternating between tears and rage, I went out to walk Chalupa (see post #1) and set the iPod to shuffle, having NO idea what I was going to post for you guys on my (new) blog, MUCH LESS how to deal with impending financial destruction.

Shuffle saved the day. Guns and Roses. Live. 1988. The Ritz. "They're Out To Get Me" The first song out of the cannon. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't have PICKED a better song to hear at that moment. So I knew immediately I had to post.


Here's a link to hear "Out To Get Me" live from the Ritz, 1988... Take a listen, share my rage...

Download: Guns N' Roses "Out to Get Me"

Just a quick note about the show: forget the bloated corpse that GNR became by the 90's (all the marriages/divorces to supermodels, $70 million videos, playing with Elton John at the VMAs, etc) In 1988 these guys were living (squatting) in one vomit covered rat's nest room in LA, playing at night, boozing and wasted till dawn, then driving (crashing) a van on the way to the next gig. No exaggeration, these guys were the most destructive force Rock had ever seen. And this is a great gig... they are young, hungry, angry and belligerent, and the energy this gives off in their performance is still to this day unrivaled.


Here's the link to the entire show:

Download: Guns N' Roses Live at the Ritz Feb. 02, 1988

I may be in misery, but that's no reason you all shouldn't at least enjoy some rock! God knows it made MY night! F@ck Banks. Seriously. My next posting will be about Fight Club. Or from Prison. Or Both.

National treasure

So I know I'm late to this party, but Brooklyn's The National are continuously amazing me with each new nugget I hear from them. A favorite of blogs, festivals, hipsters and critics alike, I still managed to not hear them till well after their 4th(?) album "Boxer" was already on every critic's top ten pick.

Well if you are anything like me, and have put off finding them out, delay no further! RUN (do not walk) to the store and buy buy buy "Boxer." Then when you're done, buy their others as well. Then see them live. Then buy a shirt. Then tell your friends.

Their opening track "Fake Empire" is one off the most beautiful and moving songs I've heard in years, and standout tracks like "Start a War" and "Apartment Story" smack of 80s alt pop but with a remarkably mature, modern and edgy sound that doesn't the least bit sound derivative or cheezy. Simply put, these guys are smart.

Here's a link to hear "Fake Empire" from their album...

Download: The National "Fake Empire"

But the REAL treat for your listening pleasure is their 2008 Lollapalooza set, in pretty great audio quality. I apologize in advance that it's not cut up into separate tracks, but instead one looong mp3... but hey, beggars can't be choosers! Download it, listen to it, and leave a reply if you love it as much as I do (well, leave a reply even if you DON'T love it, too... I just want to know that someone out there is actually reading!). Here's the link:

Download: The National: Live at Lollapalooza 2008

As always, Enjoy!

(Nothing But) Clanking

Alicia, B'More John and I went downtown on this beautiful Sunday to see David Byrne's art installation "Playing the Building". Alicia has been wanting to go all Summer, and as it turns out, when we showed up at the Battery Maritime Building at about 3:00pm it was, in fact, the last day of the exhibit (already held over for 2 extra weeks)! Whew! We JUST made it!

Admission was free, but everyone entering needed to sign some form/waiver... it was not entirly clear to me WHY, but we dutifuly signed it anyway, then proceeded up the stairwell to the exhibit.

Immediately upon seeing the dark, unmaintained and just plain SCARY stairwell, we knew why Waivers were necessary! I have seen horror movies that had better looking facilities.

At the top of the stairs, there was a loooooong line, so again, we just started to stand in it... we could see a giant room up ahead, and figured it was the line to get in. An aide came by and said, however, that this line was for PLAYING the musiic only... if you just wanted to SEE or HEAR the exhibit, to continue into the room. We ditched the line and went in, to a cavernously big industrial room with a single organ and a TON of wires coming out of it to each of the peripheral walls and heat vents and pipes and windows all around the room.



As the user played each key, a certain trigger would go off around the room, from window latches to steam pipes clanging to heating units moaning to life. Some sounds were percussive, clanging over and over while the user held dowen keys, while other sounds were long and deep and would sustain a tone as long as the user was pressing. the Instrument itself was impressive looking, with a deconstructed and kind of scary bunch of wires, looking more like something from H.R. Geiger than a musical instrument.

Unfortunately, as interesting and impressive as it all was, it really underwhelmed when actually EXPERIENCED, because each person sitting down and subjecting the room to their "music" really were just pushing random keys... often just over and over and over. Sure, it's fun for the 4-year-old, but it's not so fun for the audience having to LISTEN to the 4-year-old. I think I might have been more impressed had there been a control/tour guide or demonstration of some sort... SOME kind of order or system to the Chaos would have gone a long way to making it more of an experience for everyone in the room, not just the single person pushing a key.

All in all, I don't regret going, and WAS duly impressed by the concept and the great idea... but just walked out mostly being happy that I didn't PAY anything for it! That's not what you want to feel coming out of an art exhibit, especially from someone as artistically influential to me as David Byrne. (Nothing But) Flowers is one of my favorite videos of all-time, directed by M+Co. and in particular Emily Oberman, now principal of Number 17 in NYC, with whom I teach After Effects and Design in Motion at The Cooper Union.



And, lest you think that I stoped posting downloads for you ALREADY (after only 3 x posts!) here is an AWESOME MP3 of one of my favorite bands, Guster, covering "(Nothing But) Flowers" live.

Enjoy!

P.S. Just to reinforce how scary this place was (in a cool way, but still) here is a picture I snapped on the way OUT, where someone had made in a far off, abandoned, darkened corner, a single noose... yeesh. There were 4 artists/photographers taking picture of it along with me!






Download: Guster: (Nothing But) Flowers by Talking Heads

Lucky Stars In Your Eyes...

Well, this is the first of what will likely be MANY Pearl Jam/Eddie Vedder posts in this blog's future (although I promised myself that I would try my best to give an interesting mix... After all, there are a MILLION (far superior) Pearl Jam-dedicated blogs already doing a fantastic job out there. But a few weeks ago Alicia and I had tickets to see Eddie Vedder on his East Coast Solo tour, mostly in support of his BRILLIANT Soundtrack to Sean Penn's film "Into the Wild."

Playing 2 consecutive nights (August 4th and 5th) at Harlem's United Palace Theater, we scored tickets to both nights, and while there were many songs that crossed over both night's sets, there were several rarities and standout tracks special to each night that definitely made a repeat viewer happy.

Although Pearl Jam (and Eddie Vedder in particular) have been completely gracious and approving of live taping/trading/bootlegging, for some reason these small club shows have been extremely difficult (to near impossible) to get a hold of, so while I would LOVE to get a 'boot of these 2 nights, I simply have not been able to so far.

However, this was leg-2 of the tour, the first leg being the West Coast in April, and I was able to scrounge up a 'boot from that tour, so I offer it to you in the hopes that someone reading this blog might have more that they are willing to share.

The setlist is fantastic, filled with rarities, a light and jokey Eddie, some laughing, some noisy drum-cirlce outside the theater that makes Eddie screw up a couple of times... political activism (he prides himself that the right wing media refers to him, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins as the "Activists of Evil" HA!) an urge to vote, the list goes on.

Standouts on the fantastic setlist are "Growin' Up" (Bruce Springsteen), "Millworker" (James Taylor), and an amazingly reworked and modernized "here's to the State..." by Phil Ochs, updated to skewer Cheney, Roberts, and Bush (the REAL AXIS).

Here's the tracklisting;

01 Introduction Music, Tuolumne
02 Walking The Cow (Daniel Johnston)
03 Around The Bend
04 I Am Mine
05 Talk: (Never went to school)
06 Dead Man
07 Talk: (You Think this is just music...)
08 I'm Open
09 Man of the Hour
10 Talk: (The Worst Fucking Drum Circle...)
11 Setting Forth
12 Guaranteed
13 No Ceiling
14 Far Behind
15 Rise
16 Millworker (James Taylor)
17 Goodbye
18 Talk: (West Memphis Three)
19 Satellite
20 Drifting
21 Youve Got To Hide Your Love Away (Beatles)
22 Talk: (Intro to Heres To The State)
23 Heres To The State... (Phil Ochs)
24 Trouble (Cat Stevens)
25 If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out (Cat Stevens)
26 Talk: (Now you guys shut the fuck up)
27 Parting Ways
28 Forever Young (Bob Dylan)
29 Porch
30 Talk: (Encore break and intro to Society)
31 Society (with Jerry Hannan)
32 Growin Up (Bruce Springsteen)
33 Lukin
34 Talk: (Intro to No More, Body of War)
35 No More
36 Arc
37 Hard Sun (Gordon Peterson)


Download: Eddie Vedder 2008 Solo ITW Tour, Berkley, CA

Blasts from the Past

I went Wed. night to see a triple bill at Webster Hall: Everclear, Soul Asylum and Cracker. The ticket price was fantastic, and being a longtime Everclear fan I simply couldn't resist. Alicia and I Met up with B'More John and got there early... the venue was small, a great place to get up close to the stage.

I have seen Everclear before, going all the way back to a Tower Records in stores appearance/signing for "So Much For The Afterglow" in 1997. Soul Asylum I had never seen, although I certainly had been a big fan of their songs all through High School and College, and Cracker I knew a few songs but was really looking forward to finally seeing live, especially considering the Camper Van Beethoven roots.

Cracker hit the stage first, and gave a relatively short but entertaining set. The singer didn't seem particularly interested in audience interaction or stage banter, but the Guitarist made up for that in spades, even taking over vocals on a song. His energy level and enthusiasm was through the roof, and it really helped to elevate their set.

Soul Asylum hit next, and gosh-darn it, just blew us all away. Their show was SO fun and performed with SUCH entertaining enthusiasm as well as technical prowess and unbelievable showmanship that I am now and forever a Soul Asylum convert. They simply should NOT be missed, under any circumstances. Their set was jam-freakin'-packed with hit after monster hit, many of which I forgot was even them, and hadn't heard for maybe 10 years. I was in 90s audio bliss heaven. A Wyclef cover (kudos to Alicia for calling it!) along with a long, jokey series of musical "stand up" style one liners (absolutely hysterical) followed by "Stand Up and Be Strong" joined onstage with their guitar techs! Ha!

Everclear finished the night, and what they lacked in Soul Asylum's technical musicianship (and light show) they made up for in fantastically catchy punk-alt-pop. Sort of out-of-tune (as always) but WAY LOUDER and WAY more distorted and jumpier, much to my delight they hung back on some of their older songs, not just radio hits like "I Will Buy You A new Life" but awesome rockers like "you Make Me Feel Like a Whore," "White Men In Black Suits," and even an AMAZING solo-acoustic "Strawberry." "Wonderful" was just that, and to close up the night (and in support of their newest album, a collection of cover songs) they pulled LITERALLY 30-40 girls and women from the audience up onto the (small) stage to sing along and dance with 8-6-7-5-3-0-9!!! A Weird, fun end to a crazy night.

Everclear is the type of band, who, through all of their popularity ups and downs, has always maintained a very tight connection to their fans, with Art personally maintaining the mySpace page and responding and reaching out to fans. This night, he said that after the show, the entire band will meet at the back of the room (they had some tables stet up) to meet all the fans, get pictures, sign things (no purchase necessary!) etc. We waited and got to meet and greet them, with each of the band members (Art in particular) being funny, gracious, conversational, and just plain NICE NICE NICE.

If you have never seen them, do yourself a favor and go! If you HAVE, but it's BEEN a while, go AGAIN... their catalogue is so deep that you're bound to have a great time, and with the price and location of a triple bill like this, you'd pretty much be crazy NOT to want to go!

Thanks again to all 3 bands for a great night, and Thanks again to Art and Everclear for going above and beyond to connect with your fans!

without further adieu, my posting: I couldn't find a 'boot of anything from this show (yet!) but I DID find a fantastic Show Soul Asylum did in May of this year (St. Paul, MN)... not the exact setlist, but similar enough, and the sound quality is great... take a listen... if you like it, go see these bands, and buy their albums! None of this "piracy" isn't really "stealing" crap!!! Hit Everclear up on myspace too! It really IS Art writing back to you!

Download: Soul Asylum: St. Paul, MN - May 3, 2008

And So It Begins...

my first post... sniff... I am so choked up.

After years of reading other (far superior) blogs, I finally decided to take the plunge into the interwebs.

If this is the beginning, I guess I should at least introduce myself.

My name is John, I am a Graphic Designer / Director in New York, one of the 2 principals of The String Theory, a multidisciplinary design, animation, 3D and visual effects studio in NYC.

I am a crazy music fan, and while I imagine this blog will mostly be of music and live shows, I figure design, animation, and general media should flow pretty frequently as well.

My grammar is terrible, my spelling even wurse. But unlike Playboy, I know very well that you dear readers are not exactly here for the articles... hopefully you're here because I've been able to supply and feed you with lots of cool live concerts, rare tracks, design tips and tricks, or maybe just the occasional laugh.

I imagine I'll mostly be spreading stuff I find on other blogs, so if that's the case I'll do my best to give credit (and immense thanks) where due. My collections span 15+ years, so in slow content periods I'll dig deep and try to bring some stuff up that maybe you haven't heard in a while.

Welcome aboard, and bear with me while I get things set up... I have to figure out now how to post zips... and pictures... and link to things... Thanks again, I can't wait to see what comes of this...