Trashcan Sinatras House Party

A few weeks ago I got the rare privilege of seeing one of my favorite bands of all time play a house party in my hometown of Las Vegas. I fell in love with Trashcan Sinatras back in 1990. I was a proud subscriber to one Sassy Magazine which had a monthly column called "Cute Band Alert." One month Trashcan Sinatras was the "cute band" and I immediately bought their debut album, Cake. I have been a loyal Trashcan fan ever since. Although they never broke big in the U.S. they do have a strong cult following of which these house parties were born. You can read about the first house party they played in Portland, OR here. When I heard through their official band newsletter that TCS would be playing a Vegas house party, I didn't balk at the $100 price tag, but instead looked at it as the opportunity to see for the first time a band I've loved for twenty years in an intimate and unique setting.

Now that I have had the experience I would have paid double that. I arrived an hour before the show start time with a dozen cupcakes from Retro Bakery and a case of Stella Artois. Yes, this party was pot luck and byob. The first thing I noticed as I came through the door was lead singer Frank Reader wandering around the house talking on a cell phone!!! I introduced myself to the few people in the room and then stood quietly, sipping a beer, and trying not to appear as excited as I felt as I noticed other band members mingling about.

The show itself consisted of two stripped down sets. Stephen Douglas played on a limited drums/percussion setup, Paul Livingston played an electric guitar, Frank Reader and John Douglas played acoustic guitars. They used no bass guitar. Lee Grant, our party host, was invited to play his own piano with the band on one song, A Coda. The forty-five or so guests stood or sat in folding chairs in a semi-circle around the band. The band was friendly, surprisingly funny, and seemed genuinely pleased to be playing for us all.

There was a break after the first set and I went onto the back porch where I had a smoke and some conversation with John Douglas and was soon joined by Stephen Douglas and Paul Livingston, who bummed a few drags off my cigarette. I offered him his own, but he only wanted a few drags off mine, if that was all right. It was. We shared a smoke. We all talked about their tour, which was ending soon, about Scotland (where Stephen and John still live) and L.A. (where Paul and Frank now live) about Las Vegas, and about music of course. Paul Livingston said the first concert he ever went to was The Smiths (!) in '85 or '86. There was then much discussion about Johnny Marr as a guitarist and how it seems that he's never been able to shine as much as he did with The Smiths and why don't they just get back together already! I eventually got up the courage to explain my discovery of them through Sassy magazine, which Stephen laughed at and said he actually remembered, although he would have called them scruffy back then rather than cute.

After a longer second set where the ease and comfort between band and audience grew to a level that really brought home to everyone what a special and unique experience this really was, the night ended. The band started tearing down their equipment but were also very happy to sign posters, t-shirts, or anything else you might want them to sign, and take pictures with people. They also sold flash drives with the audio of concert we had just witnessed burned to them. They are trying to make a bit of money after all. I bought a poster, had each band member sign it, bought a flash drive, and a t-shirt that reads, Trashcan Sinatras - Legendary Scottish Band. How awesome is that?

Here's the setlist followed by photos of the show and a video of Lee playing piano on A Coda with the band:

First Set
Easy On The Eye
All The Dark Horses
Wild Mountainside
Only Tongue Can Tell
The Safecracker
Easy Read
I Wish You'd Met Her
I Hung My Harp Upon The Willows
How Can I Apply?
Hayfever
Unfortunate Age

Second Set
Got Carried Away
Send For Henny
In The Music
Prisons
Earlies
Drunken Chorus
To Sir With Love
Weightlifting
I See The Moon
I've Seen Everything
Oranges and Apples
People
A Coda
Obscurity Knocks
The Best Man's Fall

Trashcan Sinatras: Legendary Scottish Band

From left to right: Stephen Douglas, Paul Livingston, Frank Reader, John Douglas

Lee Grant at piano, John Douglas

Mr. Frank Reader

Sharing some beers and smokes at intermission. That's me smiling all goofily at Paul Livingston.

Frank signing my posters.  I'm probably saying something very gushy and ridiculous.

Me and Paul Livingston, he was super sweet.  They all were.

Interpol - Live at The Joint - 10/22/2010

Interpol live at The Joint (photo by me)

October 22, 2010

This was my fourth time seeing Interpol live. Two of the three previous shows were absolutely spectacular with fantastic energy, eye popping light sequences, and pure crowd love. One of the previous shows was a short set, two days after they had played Coachella, a quick stopover as they essentially "tried out" some of the tracks for their forthcoming album and it felt exactly like what it was: a practice run. It was a letdown.

I was a little worried going into this show because their new self-titled fourth album is not really doing it for me. But I shouldn't have let my worries get the best of me. This is a tight band that knows how to put on a good show. They are also one of the few bands that seem to truly enjoy playing Vegas and lead singer Paul Banks is vocal in letting us know it. In addition I was a little concerned about Carlos D leaving the band. Would the lack of his prescence be noticeable? He was such a striking figure, a true individual character in a band with plenty of character as a whole, not to mention his throbbing bass lines that provided the crux of so many of their songs. But honestly, his absence did not affect the band's performance. I've always enjoyed watching guitarist Daniel Kessler's manic on stage movement the most anyway. He glides back and forth and side to side on his quick feet until you are suprised that he can move like that and play at the same time!

Overall the setlist consisted of five songs from their first album Turn on the Bright Lights, six from their second breakthrough and most popular album Antics, only one lonely song from their third outing Our Love to Admire, and a full six off their new self titled fourth album. I will first say that the songs off the new album sounded much better live and actually made me want to give the album more of a chance. Secondly, hearing live seven songs from their latter two albums and eleven songs from their earlier two albums ultimately reveals the difference between the two parts of their career so far: their early work contains a palpable energy, propulsion, and ROCK that their latter work is lacking. It's not that there new work is not as good as their older work, but it is decidedly different to my ears and I prefer the raw intensity of their first two albums to the rather lanquid unfolding of their last two.

But Interpol is a very smart band. They obviously know that my opinion is the same opinion as a lot of their fans and they rewarded our loyalty by playing a setlist that consisted of over 60% older songs.

And I thank them for it.

Setlist (for those of you into that kind of thing):
Success (Interpol)
Say Hello to the Angels (Turn on the Bright Lights)
C'mere (Antics)
Memory Services (Interpol)
Rest My Chemistry (Our Love to Admire)
Summer Well (Interpol)
Narc (Antics)
Evil (Antics)
Untitled (Turn on the Bright Lights)
Barricade (Interpol)
Lights (Interpol)
Slow Hands (Antics)
PDA (Turn on the Bright Lights)
Try it On (Interpol)
Not Even Jail (Antics)

Encore:
NYC (Turn on the Bright Lights)
Take You on a Cruise (Antics)
Obstacle I (Turn on the Bright Lights)

A concert I wish I attended. . .

The Last Waltz of The Band, November 25, 1976

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - from raw and sexy to cold and boring.

In March of 2004 Phillip and I drove from Las Vegas to Tucson, AZ to see Yeah Yeah Yeahs play at a little place called Club Congress. We were madly in love with the band’s album Fever to Tell which had come out the April before as well as their early self titled EP. They weren’t coming to Vegas but we had to see them! We still remember that road trip to Tucson as being one of the greatest of our relationship (so far). The show itself was moved outdoors to the courtyard of the The Hotel Congress and during the opening act I spotted guitarist Nick Zinner hanging out. I approached him, said hello, and asked why Vegas had been left off the tour. He told me they would never play Vegas, they hate Vegas, they’d had a disastrous show there once and would never go back. Well ok then. By the time Yeah Yeah Yeahs were set to take the stage, the small crowd was in a frenzy waiting for Karen O and when she finally appeared it exploded. YYYs went on to perform one of the sexiest, raw, crazy, and rocking shows I’d ever seen! Back then Karen O was wild on stage, she was all over the place, smiling crazy at the audience the whole time, chugging two beers at once, spilling most of it all over her body, jumping, screaming, writhing, amazing! All in a shimmery leotard-like body suit. I’d never seen anything like her before. In the audience, the boys loved her and the girls WORSHIPPED her.

Jump ahead to September of 2009. Two albums later, the band has evolved into something a little less rock n roll. I still like their music, but none of it has the raw sexuality and pure rock n roll heart that their first album had. YYYs are set to play The Pearl at The Palms. I guess Nick’s statement about never playing Vegas just didn’t hold true now that they are a bigger act. Phillip and I had never been to this venue in Las Vegas before and tickets were fairly reasonable so despite the fact that we don’t like their new music as much as their old music we decide to go to the show. The Pearl is nice, small, intimate. We don’t have standing room only floor tickets; the floor is really small. We have seats and they are good: dead center, about 10 rows up. Wow. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs sure put on a different show from the last time I saw them! Karen O still moves all over the stage, but not wildly. In fact she is so controlled now that it actually comes off as contrived and rehearsed. The crowd really got excited when she would crash her foot down on a pedal onstage and colored paper confetti would shoot out at them! Really, confetti is exciting? The stage itself was very impressive with a large bullseye that lit up in multiple colors and a huge round eyeball in the center. But it felt to me like YYYs have simply lost their soul. They are cold and controlled and play too many ballads and not enough rock n roll. I miss their dirtiness. I miss their rawness. I was bored. Oh and they played for just over an hour including the encore.

That’s just lame.

Here are a few shots I took at the show. You can’t see the band really, but you can see the eyeball.

Kings of Leon - The Joint - August 19, 2009

Saw Kings of Leon, a sold out show at the new Joint last Wednesday with my friend Shanda. Not only was it sold out, some of the security were complaining that it was OVER SOLD, and we could tell, it was ridiculously crowded. It took us forever just to maneuver the line to get in the damn place. Once we got in the first band, The Whigs (never heard of them, didn’t really get a chance to get a sense of what they’re all about), were already playing so we immediately hit the long line for beer. Only had one beer all night because after making it through the line once, there was no way I was ever getting back in it!

There was an interesting crowd at Kings of Leon, now that the band has broken through to the mainstream and become a "boy band." There were lots of girls dressed in next to nothing with ridiculously high heels. Really, why would anyone go to a three hour long, standing room only show in four inch heels? Even more odd, there was also a lot of straight boy love for KOL. There were pockets of frat-like "bros" so super psyched for the show that they were dancing emphatically (that’s the best way I can describe it), shouting towards the band, throwing their arms around each other, really, REALLY into it!! I pegged them as boys raised on hip hop and pop who didn’t know rock and roll could be like this. It was like they heard Kings of Leon on the radio and suddenly their penises reacted primally to the sound and they were converted to rock and roll. Those boys were hysterical to watch! Not surprisingly a lot of the crowd was there strictly for the radio hits and once Sex on Fire was played they cleared out. No loss there.

The band put on a great show as usual. This was my fourth time seeing them live and they are always top notch. You can tell that they have more money now because their production design is really cool with lots of video screens and lights. Lead singer Caleb Followill did have a bit of a hissy fit during the show when it appeared that his monitor wasn’t working. At one point he slammed down his mic stand after a song and had some very heated words with the stage crew. He went on to sincerely apologize to the audience making sure we understand that when he gets angry at technical issues it’s because he wants to ensure we have the best experience possible. I thought that was quite nice.

They played a good mix of new and old tracks, the highlight for me being Four Kicks, a great song to dance to! There were a ton of people taking pictures and even filming the show. I’m posting all my photos here (taken with my iPhone) and also various video I could find on youtube. Enjoy!


















Slow Night, So Long:


Revelry:



Caleb chatting: “The best fans in the whole world”:


More Caleb chatting: “Want you to have the best experience”:


Milk:

50+ Bands/Artists I Have Seen Live

Test your memory and your love of live music by listing 50 artists or bands (or as many as you can remember) you've seen in concert. List the first 50 acts that come into your head. An act you saw at a festival and opening acts count, but only if you can't think of 50 other artists. Oh, and list the first concert you ever saw.


Yes, it's probably showing off, but I just went until I coudln't remember any more. Oh and I left off local bands completely unless they broke big (like The Killers). Otherwise, this list would have been insane.

In completely random order, except for the first one:

1. New Kids on the Block (first concert ever)
2. Wilco
3. Mazzy Star
4. The Jesus & Mary Chain
5. Pixies
6. No Doubt
7. Mighty Mighty Bosstones
8. Pavement
9. Van Morrison
10. Neko Case
11. R.E.M.
12. Kings of Leon
13. The Strokes
14. The White Stripes
15. Loretta Lynn
16. Stevie Nicks
17. Sting
18. Rufus Wainwright
19. The Violent Femmes
20. Travis
21. Blur
22. Joan Baez
23. Aimee Mann
24. Michael Penn
25. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
26. Elliot Smith
27. Grandaddy
28. We Are Scientists
29. The Stills
30. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
31. Dance Hall Crashers
32. Squirrel Nut Zippers
33. Interpol
34. Paul Simon
35. Brian Wilson
36. Bob Dylan
37. CSS
38. Cub
39. Dixie Chicks
40. Le Tigre
41. Modest Mouse
42. Rilo Kiley
43. Everclear
44. Morrissey
45. Blitzen Trapper
46. L7
47. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
48. The Killers
49. Tori Amos
50. Green Day
51. Built to Spill
52. The (International) Noise Conspiracy
53. Vampire Weekend
54. Pearl Jam
55. Mudhoney
56. Rocket From the Crypt
57. Flight of the Conchords
58. The Specials
59. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
60. Sebadoh
61. The Like
62. Live
63. Counting Crows
64. Death Cab for Cutie (Snoozie)
65. Coldplay
66. Berlin
67. Dave Matthews Band
68. Perry Farrell
69. Porno For Pyros
70. Rollins Band
71. Voodoo Glow Skulls
72. Face to Face
73. Let's Go Bowling
74. The Honorary Title
75. Cherry Poppin' Daddies
76. Natalie Portman's Shaved Head
77. Placebo
78. The Apples in Stereo
79. Beck
80. The Breeders
81. Grant Lee Buffalo
82. Minus the Bear
83. The Helio Sequence
84. Left Standing
85. Ani Difranco
86. Jet
87. Liars
88. Nada Surf
89. Eagles of Death Metal
90. Reverand Horton Heat
91. The Shins
92. Snow Patrol
93. Ben Folds Five
94. Voodoo Glow Skulls
95. Blink 182
96. Macy Gray
97. Catherine Wheel
98. Primal Scream
99. Dramarama
100. Jenny Lewis
101. Lucious Jackson
102. Pennywise
103. Reel Big Fish
104. Natalie Merchant
105. Brian Setzer Orchestra

Loretta Lynn is Divine

My mom has always been big into country music. I can remember as a kid listening to Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, The Oak Ridge Boys, Crystal Gale, Anne Murray, Johnny Cash and of course, Loretta Lynn. I’ve maintained an appreciation of country music as I’ve grown older and although there are a few modern artists I enjoy, I have a greater affinity for these classic country stars. So when I discovered Loretta Lynn would be playing at the “Dallas Events Center” at the Texas Station Hotel & Casino I immediately bought two tickets and invited my older sister to join me. There was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to see an icon like Loretta!

I was quite surprised to find that the "Dallas Events Center" is in all actuality a convention area ballroom. It’s not a real theater or showroom, but the same ballroom where the company I work for has had our Christmas party and all-employee meetings! I really feel Las Vegas could have done better by Loretta (no offense to the Texas Station, of course!). My friend Kevin runs sound for the Texas and he came out to welcome my sister and me to the show and let us know that he had the pleasure of meeting Loretta backstage and she was as sweet as could be but was suffering from an upset stomach. Uh oh. The show started up and again to our surprise the first person to come out and sing was Loretta’s son, Ernest Ray Lynn. The whole evening was a family affair because after Ernest Ray sang a few songs, Loretta’s daughter Patsy Lynn came out and sang as well. She was named after Loretta’s dear friend Patsy Cline and she honored her namesake by singing Walking After Midnight. Finally Patsy introduced the reason why we were all there, Miss Loretta Lynn. Dressed in a gigantic turquoise beaded gown, she was as cute as a button and all smiles despite not feeling well. She was really honest about “feeling poorly” and asked us if we minded if she sat down. We of course chorused no and she quickly took a seat in a chair so that her voluminous skirts puffed out all around her. The woman is 74 years old and our show was the last night on a three week tour so it was easy to forgive her for being a little tired and under the weather. Her voice was unaffected as were her spirits.

She sang hit after hit: Hey Loretta, You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man), Honky Tonk Girl, Don’t Come Home a Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind), Fist City (my favorite!!), Coal Miner’s Daughter, When the Tingle Becomes a Chill and others. In a stroke of genius she turned One’s On the Way (written by the fabulous Shel Silverstein!) and The Pill into a medley. So first she’s singing, "I'm glad that Raquel Welch just signed a million dollar pact, and Debbie's out in Vegas workin' up a brand new act, while the TV's showin' Newlyweds a real fun game to play, but here in Topeka the screen door's a bangin', the coffee's boilin' over and the wash needs a hangin', one wants a cookie and one wants a changin' and one's on the way" and then she went straight into "All these years I've stayed at home, while you had all your fun and every year that’s gone by, another baby’s come. There's a gonna be some changes made right here on nursery hill, you've set this chicken your last time 'Cause now I've got the pill! This old maternity dress I've got, is goin' in the garbage. The clothes I'm wearin' from now on won't take up so much yardage, miniskirts, hot pants and a few little fancy frills, yeah I'm makin' up for all those years since I've got the pill." It was played so seamlessly by the band that I didn't even notice until she had sang a few lines from The Pill that that was what she had done! It was so perfect and was probably my favorite part of the night!

I think people forget that for such a backwoods country girl Loretta really wrote some great feminist anthems! She was pretty radical for her day – especially in the conservative country music world. She's always been very sassy and straightforward about how she feels as a woman, as a wife of a husband that cheats, and as a mother. You can't help but love her for it.

At one point during the show she told us about how she started out, how she pestered DJs around Nashville to play her record. Then she said that the first DJ to put her record on the air was at the show tonight and she made him stand up and give a little bow. He was a tiny old man, wearing a bolo tie and fancy sport coat. The whole audience roared for him and Loretta beamed at him from the stage. She told lots of funny stories between songs about her family and recording career in that adorable, distinct, Kentucky twang she has. She had great rapport with her band too. They were all men including the backup singers and they were very obviously taking care of her onstage. When they could see her go through a spell where she felt a little worse, they would take over and sing a song on their own, or suggest a duet, so she could sing less.

Towards the end of her set she went all patriotic and religious on us and sang her anti-war ballad Dear Uncle Sam and some of her gospel songs which is where the night got a little weird for me. I’m not used to the audience at a country show. They got very vocal with their political and religious views in response to her stance. There was a lot of supportive cat calling to put prayer back in the schools and the Ten Commandments back on the court house lawns! WTF?? The other weird thing about the audience at such a small country show? They would walk right up to the stage and hand her flowers and gifts and take pictures of her! It was very distracting but my sister says it’s common with the country crowd.

There was a good number of young people in the crowd and I think that stems directly from when Jack White of The White Stripes produced Loretta’s 2004 album Van Lear Rose which won several Grammys. It is a spectacular album with many wonderfully personal songs encompassing her entire life: stories about her mother, her children, and the death of her husband. I was very disappointed that she didn’t perform any of the songs from that album and I imagine a lot of young people in the audience were disappointed too. Her set was very short due to her illness, but I wonder if she had played longer if she would have sang any of them? Maybe they are too personal for her to perform? In the end, it was lovely getting to see Loretta Lynn live despite the small disappointments of the overall experience. I hope she comes back through this way before she stops performing altogether.

I didn’t take any pictures during the show. I couldn’t bring myself to be like the others and just walk right up to the stage and snap a shot! It seemed rude to me! But I wanted to share some Loretta here, so I found some great youtube clips. I hope you will watch them!

Here she sing’s One’s On The Way on The Muppet Show (squeee!):



Here she performs my favorite Fist City (look at that hair!):



And here she is with Jack White doing their duet Portland, Oregon:

Wilco Live at The Joint - A Review (plus an inadvertent restaurant review)

Last Friday I had a date night with Raymond, one of my nearest and dearest. We bemoan the fact that we don’t see enough of each other so when I bought two tickets to Wilco but had no one to go with, he was quite happy to take the ticket despite not being very familiar with the band. Since the concert was on me, Raymond bought dinner. I thought we were just going to Mr. Lucky’s the "diner" in the Hard Rock Hotel, but last minute Raymond decided he wanted sushi so we hit Nobu instead. I was very pleased to be treated to high end sushi but I have to express my disappointment. DO NOT EAT AT NOBU. It is absolutely not worth the money. It’s not bad, but it’s not anything special either. When Phillip and I go to our favorite sushi spot, Kai, where the sushi chefs, Yun and Milton, who we have been loyal to for 10 years, treat us like dear friends, we can get a salmon sashimi plate with about 18 large pieces of salmon for $20. At Nobu, Raymond and I ordered the sashimi dinner which was about twelve pieces of assorted fish - some sliced into tiny "stylish" pieces - for $55. Ridiculous. We did have a hot plate of rock shrimp with a butter ponzu sauce that was excellent and their special of the night, tempura battered crab claws with a chili cilantro sauce, was also very good. I guess if I were ever to go to Nobu again, I would only order off the hot menu and skip the sushi altogether. I love Raymond and I am extremely thankful that he treated me to such an expensive meal where we were able to sit and chat and catch up and laugh. I just wish the restaurant had lived up to its reputation foodwise.

I first saw Wilco at The House of Blues in March of 2002. That show had the most incredible energy, building and building and building until by the end the crowd was in a complete frenzy and we all left the venue kind of dazed and stumbling. I saw them again in September of 2003 as the opening act for R.E.M. at the Thomas & Mack Center. That show did not have the same energy as the HOB show because most people were not there to see Wilco and, being the opening act, they played a small set and people were trickling into the venue the entire time which was distracting. So suffice to say, I had high expectations for this headlining show at The Joint. And of course Wilco were tremendous. Their new album coming out at the end of this month, Wilco (The Album), is the first time in the history of the band that the members are exactly the same as on the last album, Sky Blue Sky, and you can tell. They are happy to be playing together, they get along, and they are tight and sound terrific. There is something about Wilco crowds too: a camaraderie, an energy, a shared knowledge that we are seeing something special, that adds to the overall experience and this crowd was no exception. United we were eager, raucous, bouncy, ecstatic.

They opened with the first single off the new album, Wilco (The Song), which is a perfect opener and lets the audience know exactly what kind of band they are and what we are all in for, "Oh this is a fact, that you need to know, oh, oh, oh, oh Wilco, Wilco, Wilco, Wilco, Wilco will love you baby!" From there they immediately went into, A Shot in the Arm, one of their bigger hits off the sentimental favorite Summerteeth (still my favorite Wilco album, I think. Wait no, maybe I like Yankee Hotel Foxtrot more. But then again, Being There is pretty righteous. Oh, nevermind.) It was smart of them to play an oldie sing along song like A Shot in the Arm to remind people that yes, as a band they’ve gone through many changes, experimented with their sound endlessly, and maybe even lost some fans over the years because of it, but they know that some of us have been loyal since the beginning and so here ya go! Happy now? Yes! Yes I am!

I was surprised that over the course of the night they did five songs off the polarizing album A Ghost Is Born. I am the first to admit that I didn’t quite "get" that album, I prefer the more accessible tracks off it, and I hardly ever listen to it. Hearing the five songs played with aplomb live and met by the audience with as much reverence as anything else has made me want to revisit the album. That’s what a great live show can do: show you something about a band that you may have missed before.

Wilco had played nearly two hours when they left the stage. We of course knew an encore was coming and I expected two or three songs. They played nine!!! Opening the encore with the bouncy, nostalgic, summer anthem Heavy Metal Drummer was perfection, "Shiny shiny pants and bleach blonde hair, a double kick drum by the river in the summer, she fell in love with a drummer, another and another, she fell in love." I was also happy to hear a few more tracks off Sky Blue Sky which I think is an underrated album. Especially Hate It Here, with it's Beatles-esque riff into the chorus, was fun to hear live even though it's actually a terribly sad song. Being in Las Vegas, Jeff Tweedy early on teased the crowd saying, "You probably want to hear Casino Queen, but isn’t that too obvious?" It was fairly dismissive and I figured it was the last thing we’d hear about it. The two times I’ve seen them here they have NOT played Casino Queen and although yes, playing a song about gambling and losing all your money in the world capital of exactly that, does seem fairly obvious, I don’t think it can hurt to give your audience what it wants. So when they busted out with it as the 8th song of their encore set it was pretty exciting! "Casino Queen, my lord you're mean. I've been gambling like a fiend on your tables so green." And as they say, the crowd went wild!

Now here’s where I give a shout out to the awesomeness that is Nels Cline, the 53 year old current Wilco lead guitarist. The man can SHRED. Nels was so rocking that I could barely take my eyes off him in order to gaze adoringly at the precious Jeff Tweedy. Overall the show was incredible with a wonderful mix of songs from the band’s history, even including two songs off their Woody Guthrie collaboration with Billy Bragg, Mermaid Avenue Vol. 1. If I had the time and the money I would absolutely follow this band on tour like they were The Grateful Freaking Dead.

And for people who are into things like this, here’s the set list which I filched off http://wilcobase.com/index.php:

1. Wilco (The Song)
2. A Shot in the Arm
3. I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
4. At Least That’s What You Said
5. Bull Black Nova
6. You Are My Face
7. One Wing
8. Handshake Drugs
9. Side With The Seeds
10. Box Full of Letters
11. Jesus, Etc.
12. Impossible Germany
13. California Stars
14. Sonny Feeling
15. Misunderstood
16. Spiders (Kidsmoke)
17. Hummingbird

Encore
18. Heavy Metal Drummer
19. A Magazine Called Sunset
20. You Never Know
21. Hate It Here
22. Walken
23. I’m The Man Who Loves You
24. The Late Greats
25. Casino Queen
26. Hoodoo Voodoo

I was able to take some photos of the show with my iPhone. There were lots of people taking pictures and recordings at the show and security didn’t really do anything about it, which was nice.

Firstly, our tickets! Yay!

Next, this is a picture of one of the video screens at the venue so you can see a shot of the AWESOME long haired, mustachioed, fringed-caftan-wearing, bongo player for the opening act.

Now some shots of Wilco!!

CSS and a mob - not THE mob, just A mob

I went to see CSS on Tuesday night at a new club venue at the Hard Rock called Wasted Space with Kate and Cam. Unfortunately we started out the night kind of annoyed and cranky. Per the tickets, the show started at 10pm. For us 8-5 workers, 10pm on a Tuesday night is kind of late. Then when 10pm turns out to be the time when the doors open, not the start time, suddenly you see your life flash before your tired eyes. It's going to be a looooong night. What annoyed me about this place is that because it's a "club," even though we had tickets we still had to wait in a line behind a velvet rope like loser jackasses while the bouncers spent all their energy making sure all the people on the "list" got in first. I call bullshit! I have a ticket that I paid for right here in my hand! Let me in so I can get to the bar already dammit! We didn't get in the venue until after 10:30 and then the opening band didn't start until 11:00. Waaah, I'm getting sleepy!

The opening band was Natalie Portman's Shaved Head. Yes, that is their name. It consisted of 4 boys and a girl not one of which appeared to be older than fifteen years of age. I can't even describe their sound – it was kind of bouncy, rock n rolly, rappy, chorusy, keyboardy stuff with lyrics I couldn't really hear because the sound technicians in that place did a bad job. Those kids had some mega energy though which did help to wake me up a bit. They finished their set at 11:30 and then came the excruciating wait during the stage setup change. It was about this time that the mob of skinny gay boys that had been hanging next to us started to get on our nerves. Don't get me wrong, I love a skinny gay boy as much as the next person, but when you get a mob of them together, they can get unruly. These ones were dancing non stop like there was no tomorrow AND as if they were in their own bedrooms with plenty of space for asses and elbows to fly in every direction. While in this chaotic state they failed to appreciate that they were actually in a tiny music venue with crowds of people around them that did not appreciate getting assed and elbowed over and over again. Once CSS finally started around 12:15 they only got worse. By the band's second song I felt slightly violated by the ass rubbings and was bruised by the flying elbows. I started to get vocal and physical, pushing the elbows away and shouting, "Dude! Elbows!" and then the skinny mob would sheepishly smile at me, mouth an apology and continue dancing in the exact same fashion only a few inches further away. Ugh.

CSS were lovely though. They would have been even better if the sound guys had turned up Lovefoxx's mic just a tad bit. Lovefoxx was wearing a bodysuit of a crazy brown and white Aztec-y design, a feathered headdress and a short, blunt, Siouxsie-like black wig. She's awesome and so super cute and all ass and elbows just like the skinny mob of gays only she had an entire stage on which to throw them about. The band played an equal mix of songs from their first album and the new one which made me happy because I prefer the older songs. They ended just after 1 am with the song I had been waiting all night to hear, "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above" and so I was able to sufficiently rock out, ending my night on a high note.

The song ended and we sprinted out of that club faster than you could say Alala and drove our tired asses home.

The Stills, We Are Scientists, Kings of Leon - Woot!

I went to this show last weekend with Kate, Shanda, and Chris. First off, I call bullshit that The Stills played first! No offense to you We Are Scientists fans out there, but I prefer The Stills! They only played for half an hour!!! Booo! I despair that The Stills will ever grow a big enough fanbase to headline a show in Vegas. I've seen them twice now and both times, they opened for Kings of Leon. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

The show was sold out so getting a cocktail was difficult. When We Are Scientists started their set I decided now would be a good time to hit the bar. I was wrong. I waited in line for half an hour. Two thirds of their set! So then when I did make it to the bar, I had to buy two cocktails and be a double fisting lush for a while, because there was no way I was ever getting back in that line again.

Right before Kings of Leon came on I made a quick jaunt to the bathroom and had a really fun, surreal trip back. First outside the bathroom, about to get on the elevator to the VIP section, there was The Stills! I praised them and voiced my disappointment in their short set, telling them to come back soon and headline. Tim Fletcher seemed appreciative despite that fact that this drunk redheaded girl is just yelling in their faces, and he thanked me! So then I dash back inside the venue and am picking my way through the crowd, when I bump into this guy, and we do that dancey thing where he tries to go one way around me but that's the same way I try to go, so then we both try to go the other way - you know. I look up at him and realize that it's Jason Sudeikis of Saturday Night Live! He looks at me too and he sees the recognition break over my face so he pre-emptively smiles and says, "Hi!" with this little wave of his hand. I ridiculously laugh "HA! HA!" in his face and then we both finally move on and away from each other. Pretty cool, huh? But then I got to thinking. . .hey, it's Saturday night, and it's about 10:45pm, shouldn't he BE somewhere??? It's Saturday Night Live isn't it??? Well my questions were answered when I got home later that night and Phillip told me that SNL had been a rerun.

Kings of Leon went on soon after that madness and they were rocking. I've seen them live three times now and they are always really tight, and have lots of energy, which infuses the crowd with energy. Plus it was sold out which always helps. Vegas crowds can be hit or miss. Vampire Weekend's audience sucked. This one was awesome. Lots of group sing alongs and noise and smiles. It's been interesting seeing KOL evolve as a band too. The first time I saw them they were all long haired, skinny jeans and t-shirt wearing Southern boys. Now they are super glammy leather jacket wearing rock stars. Only Nathan still sports the long hair. Mmmmm, Followills. They are all pretty hunky.

After the show we met up with some other people at Griffin. Not much went on there except I inadvertently insulted Chris Cook when we were observing the beginning of a menage: two girls on either side of a dude, getting frisky. I was looking at them and before I could stop myself, I said to Chris, "That guy isn't even that good looking, so there's some hope for you in scoring two chicks!" It was a zinger that could have hit anybody, Chris just happened to be next to me! I apologized, but he didn't care. Chris is my friend, he's cool. He was actually a little bit proud of the funny I made.

Vampire Weekend on a Monday Night!

Ahhh Vegas, no rules, don't care what people think, we will have shows on a Monday night! So of course this Mon-Fri 8-5er had to take tomorrow off because I am way too old to stay up past midnight and work the next morning. Especially after lots and lots of bourbon.

So went to see Vampire Weekend at the Joint tonight. First off there was an awful lot of kids at this show. And when I say kids I don't mean kids in their early twenties like I normally mean. I mean kids. Like twelve and thirteen year old kids!!! And yet they didn't give out wristbands for the over 21 year old drinkers and they didn't card me! Hmmm??

So the doors opened at 7pm, opening band (White Williams? Never heard of them. . .) went on at 8pm and VW at 9:15 and yet there were a couple dozen of these kids in line at 6:30! Ha! (meanwhile Phillip, Kate, Allison and I went for dinner at Mr. Lucky's at 7:30!) But oh, don't you remember being that young and your parents dropping you off super early for you to get in line, so you can be the first ones in the door and beeline straight for the space right in front of the stage and stake it out for the next THREE HOURS until the band you came for comes on??? I do. Watching these kids made me smile with nostalgia, but still not wish to be back in their shoes. . .

So Vampire Weekend were pretty cool. Lots of energy, cute in their preppy New England, Ivy League looks, danceable, tight. The lead singer guy (sorry I have no idea what his name is) was very endearing with his asides to the audience, very funny actually, but struck me as maybe the slightest bit of an elitist fuck. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, me neither. . .

Bed now. Maybe. Water first.

One thing I definitely can flaunt over those kids - I could get tanked at the show and they CAN'T!!

Interpol and Canadians

I went to see Interpol on Monday night with Phillip and my friend Shanda. I was a little leery because friends of mine who had seen them the Friday before in Portland had reported a lackluster showing by the band and no encore. No encore?!? The thought was mortifying!

Lucky for us (sorry Jill and Frank) they were UH-MAY-ZING!!!! After two mediocre live shows in a row they completely restored my faith in live music.

This is the third time Phillip and I have seen them. The first time was September 19th, 2005. Phillip literally remembers this as one of the most perfect shows he's ever seen and I tend to agree with him. That night they played every song we could wish to hear, had a gorgeous light show that accompanied the music, and were tighter than tight with their musicianship. The second time we saw them was last April and it was a warm up show a few months before the release of their new album "Our Love to Admire" and it felt like that. Almost like the audience was just watching band practice: short and sweet set, no special lighting nor attempt to utterly please the audience. Not really very rocking. Well this past Monday night was thankfully a companion show to that first one. Long set, spectacular and atmospheric stage setup with columns of light and projected images, and perfect playing. You know how the layers of sound that a band can capture on a record sometimes can not be replicated on stage? That just isn't true with Interpol! They are so tight – every bit of that nuanced, cavernous sound from their albums comes through in their live shows. It's incredible!

Here is the set list from memory, so not necessarily in this order or complete:

Pioneer to the Falls
Obstacle 1 (these were definitely songs 1 & 2)
Slow Hands
Rest My Chemistry
Not Even Jail
Lighthouse
Scale
Evil
Heinrich Maneuver
No I in Threesome
Say Hello to the Angels
Narc

And our encore (in order):
Specialist
Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down
PDA

Phillip and I already knew that they would play "Pioneer to the Falls" first because it's just the perfect opening song and from most reports they've been opening with it on this tour, but we took bets on what song would be second. I guessed "Evil" but Phillip triumphed with "Obstacle 1." The encore was incredible. The first song they played we weren't familiar with and my friend Dave informed me later that it was an early b-side. Phillip feels like he summoned Stella because he was shouting it out like freaking Brando throughout the entire show. He had such a great time, Shanda and I were laughing at him because he was so into it! During PDA when that extended pause in the song occurs, the band held it for about 30 seconds too long while the whole audience screamed. Paul and the boys were absolutely playing with us, building our anticipation level up to that nice breaking point, and then they crashed back in with the music. It was AWESOME. If I had money I would follow this band around on tour.

During the show I met a random boy at the bar. He was from Canada, this was the first time he had seen Interpol and he was blown away. Before the show ended I ran into him again and invited him and his friend to come with us to the Double Down Saloon after the show for a drink. Since they were from out of town and it was a Monday night I figured they'd be happy to join us and they were. Their names are Rhys and English and they run a bar in Toronto called The Underground Garage and they are super cool people. They were excited to see a real Vegas bar and not another club on The Strip which is all they had seen of Vegas prior to this. Our buddy Ben (DJ Rex Dart) was spinning and our friends Dameian (DJ Standing 8) and Nicole met us for drinks too. The Canada Boys bought us round after round (although I was driving, so quickly switched to water) and we talked and talked and talked. We then decided to take them to downtown Las Vegas, which they had yet to see. They are truly music lovers and when we played The Stills in the car they were impressed that we would be fans of such an obscure Canadian band. We then exposed them to Neutral Milk Hotel who they had never heard before. We hit The Griffin, one of the coolest bars we have, and they fell instantly in love with it and played about a dozen songs on the jukebox. English is the drummer in a band (My Psycho Ex) and I wish him much luck. I hope we will stay in touch with these guys because I want to visit Toronto and drink in their bar now.