It was a good week
You know, really, collectively, it was a good one.
Aside from the obvious, too.
I got some decent hours at work, which is always nice. I'm finding out more and more how necessary I am, even if I'm not constantly needed.
But that's hardly the big part of it.
Wednesday night I went to the Uptown Bar to see Mel Gibson and the Pants and Building Better Bombs. By some awkward coincidence, neither band was able to be there in its entirety. They started the show with an instrumental set by members of both bands. The highlight, however, was the set that was supposed to be the MGatP set. They were all there except for J.R., their rapper. So it was the full band, just without anybody to rap with them. On the other hand, Stef (P.O.S.) missed the BBB set, but was able to show up later in the show. And it was a free show, so nobody was particularly upset about the changes of plans.
So, what we ended up with was Mel Gibson and the Pants playing their music, with P.O.S. and Cecil Otter (who apparently wasn't busy and was willing to fill in) rapping over them. And it was fantastic.
I mean, there were times when it didn't work. They said the whole thing was arranged in about 45 minutes or so, and it showed. But there were times when it was fantastic. P.O.S. did some freestyling that was pretty good, and Cecil seemed to have a good idea of how to fit his raps to completely new music. There was like 20% of it that was pretty weak, but the other 80% was a fantastic show of musicians working with what they know to make something excellent.
I'm still a little disappointed about not seeing MGatP (I've only seen them once before), but it was something that probably won't ever happen again, and for that, it was worth it.
That same night, I picked up the new Bon Iver and Andrew Bird, along wih a couple other albums. To this point, I'm not totally impressed with the Andrew Bird Album, but I think it'll grow on me. As for Bon Iver, I think "Blood Bank" is at least as good as anything on For Emma, Forever Ago, and probably better, but the rest of the songs don't really jump out at me.
Also, on a less related front, I got a 6 pack of Bell's Hopslam and a couple 4-packs of Surly Coffee Bender. Both are delicious, semi-rare beers. The Coffee Bender, especially, I had to work to find. Neither is overwhelmingly spectacular, but both are good enough that I'd be disappointed if I hadn't gotten my hands on them.
This afternoon, I went with my parents to see Slumdog Millionaire. At this point, it has to be my favorite for Best Picture at the Oscars. Granted, it's the only one of the Best Picture nominees I've seen to this point, but of the others, Milk is the only one I could see myself liking to nearly that same extent. I'd also love to see it win for director and screenplay, at least. Danny Boyle has been a favorite of mine for year, probably since when I first saw 28 Days Later. He's done a lot of fine work, and it seems that any time he has good material to work with, he puts out an excellent film. Millions, Sunshine, and 28 Days Later have all been exemplars of their respective genres, and Slumdog Millionaire is gorgeous and constantly interesting. It's not a new story by any means, but it's told in a fresh way, and it makes the most of its environment.
Tonight, I went to the Cedar Cultural Center to see Aby Wolf, Black Blondie, and Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles. It was spectacular.
Lucy Michelle put on a damn good show. I bought their album, which I know some of you like, and I think they were better live than they were on the album. I loved the instrumentation (cello and accordion and a fair amount of ukulele). I loved the vocals, which were reminiscent of Regina Spektor. The whole affair was quite good. The highlight had to be their cover of "Not in Nottingham" from Robin Hood (the Disney one). I didn't really have any memory of the song before they played it, but it was still easily the standout moment of their set.
Black Blondie was fantastic as well. I had only heard them before by way of Myspace, since I get the impression that they have yet to release any albums or anything of the sort. That said, I think they're really interesting and Samahra is a fantastic singer. I've been looking to hear more from them for a long time, and I was not disappointed.
And last up was Aby Wolf. It was her CD release show, which seemed to me to be long overdue. I had been looking forward to seeing her for a long time as well (I can recall that I had planned to see them both last year, and then it happened to take place on the same day as Kevin's going away party). She's another fantastic vocalist, and while it was occasionally overly folky, there were some fantastic moments where she did some totally unique things. She did a couple songs involving some looping of her vocals, including one that was a capella, just her looping like 8 bars of vocals, over and over. It was pretty amazing what she did with that.
And aside from that, it was my first time seeing a show at the Cedar, and I approve. It's a nice place, especially for this kind of show.
Aside from the obvious, too.
I got some decent hours at work, which is always nice. I'm finding out more and more how necessary I am, even if I'm not constantly needed.
But that's hardly the big part of it.
Wednesday night I went to the Uptown Bar to see Mel Gibson and the Pants and Building Better Bombs. By some awkward coincidence, neither band was able to be there in its entirety. They started the show with an instrumental set by members of both bands. The highlight, however, was the set that was supposed to be the MGatP set. They were all there except for J.R., their rapper. So it was the full band, just without anybody to rap with them. On the other hand, Stef (P.O.S.) missed the BBB set, but was able to show up later in the show. And it was a free show, so nobody was particularly upset about the changes of plans.
So, what we ended up with was Mel Gibson and the Pants playing their music, with P.O.S. and Cecil Otter (who apparently wasn't busy and was willing to fill in) rapping over them. And it was fantastic.
I mean, there were times when it didn't work. They said the whole thing was arranged in about 45 minutes or so, and it showed. But there were times when it was fantastic. P.O.S. did some freestyling that was pretty good, and Cecil seemed to have a good idea of how to fit his raps to completely new music. There was like 20% of it that was pretty weak, but the other 80% was a fantastic show of musicians working with what they know to make something excellent.
I'm still a little disappointed about not seeing MGatP (I've only seen them once before), but it was something that probably won't ever happen again, and for that, it was worth it.
That same night, I picked up the new Bon Iver and Andrew Bird, along wih a couple other albums. To this point, I'm not totally impressed with the Andrew Bird Album, but I think it'll grow on me. As for Bon Iver, I think "Blood Bank" is at least as good as anything on For Emma, Forever Ago, and probably better, but the rest of the songs don't really jump out at me.
Also, on a less related front, I got a 6 pack of Bell's Hopslam and a couple 4-packs of Surly Coffee Bender. Both are delicious, semi-rare beers. The Coffee Bender, especially, I had to work to find. Neither is overwhelmingly spectacular, but both are good enough that I'd be disappointed if I hadn't gotten my hands on them.
This afternoon, I went with my parents to see Slumdog Millionaire. At this point, it has to be my favorite for Best Picture at the Oscars. Granted, it's the only one of the Best Picture nominees I've seen to this point, but of the others, Milk is the only one I could see myself liking to nearly that same extent. I'd also love to see it win for director and screenplay, at least. Danny Boyle has been a favorite of mine for year, probably since when I first saw 28 Days Later. He's done a lot of fine work, and it seems that any time he has good material to work with, he puts out an excellent film. Millions, Sunshine, and 28 Days Later have all been exemplars of their respective genres, and Slumdog Millionaire is gorgeous and constantly interesting. It's not a new story by any means, but it's told in a fresh way, and it makes the most of its environment.
Tonight, I went to the Cedar Cultural Center to see Aby Wolf, Black Blondie, and Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles. It was spectacular.
Lucy Michelle put on a damn good show. I bought their album, which I know some of you like, and I think they were better live than they were on the album. I loved the instrumentation (cello and accordion and a fair amount of ukulele). I loved the vocals, which were reminiscent of Regina Spektor. The whole affair was quite good. The highlight had to be their cover of "Not in Nottingham" from Robin Hood (the Disney one). I didn't really have any memory of the song before they played it, but it was still easily the standout moment of their set.
Black Blondie was fantastic as well. I had only heard them before by way of Myspace, since I get the impression that they have yet to release any albums or anything of the sort. That said, I think they're really interesting and Samahra is a fantastic singer. I've been looking to hear more from them for a long time, and I was not disappointed.
And last up was Aby Wolf. It was her CD release show, which seemed to me to be long overdue. I had been looking forward to seeing her for a long time as well (I can recall that I had planned to see them both last year, and then it happened to take place on the same day as Kevin's going away party). She's another fantastic vocalist, and while it was occasionally overly folky, there were some fantastic moments where she did some totally unique things. She did a couple songs involving some looping of her vocals, including one that was a capella, just her looping like 8 bars of vocals, over and over. It was pretty amazing what she did with that.
And aside from that, it was my first time seeing a show at the Cedar, and I approve. It's a nice place, especially for this kind of show.
posted by Mike at
3:01 AM
2 Comments:
My parents took me to the Cedar a lot when I was a kid. It would be cool to go back with a new appreciation. I love hearing about your concert experiences, cause you clearly really like going, so it's like always having a good time at a show. :)
I saw Milk on Friday and it was really good. I expected to be disappointed because of all the hype, but it made me cry without making me feel like a sap (which I am a sap, so that's hard to do.) I don't think Josh Brolin is as good as Heath Ledger, though, as far as Oscars go.
Write what you think of it when you see it - and Slumdog Millionaire is next on my list. But at this rate I'm seeing about 2 movies a year, so...it might be awhile.
By
Allison, at 9:57 AM
Yeah, I'm not exactly seeing a lot of movies these days either, at least in theaters. I imagine I might not see Milk until it comes out on DVD. That's how it usually goes. I'll definitely get to it eventually though.
By
Mike, at 2:05 PM
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