I Blog What I Hear

Its just any other Monday in New York, a city whose cultural magnitude is 2nd only to that of Jersey City, NJ.  The workday has ended, and I have retired to my abode to work on some music, when I get a text message from Web Master T Bone.  Apparently Nels Cline is playing at The Living Room sitting in with Jim Campilongo, you know, just some random stuff.  So, my plans adapt.

Campilongo plays every Monday night at The Living Room on the Lower East Side.  There is no doubt that he is a straight up virtuoso, unrivaled by about 96.5% of guitar players on earth.  I took a lesson with him once, and he certainly knows his stuff, and is a flawless player.  Having said that, he just isn’t my thing.  I cant explain it, but it just doesn’t connect with me, lots of notes and bending.  Nels Cline on the other hand, well, we know how I feel about Nels.

Nels In The Greatest Suit Ever

This show was clearly the place to be on this particular monday, many notable NY musicians were in the crowd, it was standing room only, the one waitress could not nearly get to everyone.  In recent years, as my twenties have passed the halfway point, I find myself getting less and less excited over my childhood guitar heroes.  I don’t know what it is, maybe its just harder to be enthusiastic as we get older.  In my early days I would go to a show hours early to get right up front and do the guitar dude thing…ya know, checkin’ out the pedals…but these days, I feel more comfortable in whichever seat has a good view and is not surrounded by loud people.  That all kind of went out the window when Nels walked in, I felt like a kid hanging around his favorite pro athlete or something.

Anyhoo, the Campilongo trio went on, and um, as their name indicates, they played for a loonnnnng time (sorry, had to do it) before Nels came on.  The first few songs were entertaining, full of virtuosity, clearly a tight band.  But after a while, the crowd thinned out a bit…I saw one dad and his kid leave around 11:30, the kid looking clearly disappointed he did not get to see Nels play.  I mean, its a monday man, come on.

Eventually, preceded by a long disclaimer about how they were ill rehearsed…Nels came to the stage.  Some ridiculous hippy looking kids in the front row just completely lost their shit. Screaming, headbanging, fist pumping, just going nuts.  In this one instance, I’ll forgive them, because this shit was just crazy.  Well, the first song The Beatles’ “Yer Blues”  was a little sloppy, but really, who cares.  Its supposed to be sloppy.  Next, a cinematic sounding western instrumental standard I do not know the name of, featuring a tasteful solo by Camilongo, followed by a short one by Cline…and they closed with Third Stone From The Sun by Jimi Hendrix (not to be confused with 3rd rock from the sun, the John Lithgow comedy classic)

That’s pretty much where it all exploded.  Nels was just hanging in the crowd looking antsy before he came up, and he seemed to let it all out on this tune.  They did a short noise improv intro, in which he picked up some type of mini megaphone and would scream into the guitar pickups, sending feedback throughout the tiny club.  The bass and drums segued into the classic Hendrix rhythm section riff, and they took off from there.  Campilongo just got out of the way musically, and Nels took over.  I’m fairly sure he began to levitate, as his guitar shot out flames of psychedelic fire, covered in diamonds, towing a trailer full of centaurs each playing their own flying V made of solid gold.  Yes, that’s exactly what it was like.

All completely accurate descriptions aside…It really did feel like watching a player with no equal.  Sure, anyone could play the same notes (well, not anyone)  But you instantly know it was Nels style.  I imagine this is what it was like to watch someone like Hendrix play.  He inflicted such emotion into everything he did, If he had spontaneously combusted on that stage, I would have completely understood, left, got a crepe, and gone home.

In this day of whatever the fuck passes for popular music, its very reassuring to know that there are still masters of their craft alive and well.  Nels may be in his fifties (although he looks about 35) but no one is playing stuff like that, past or present.  He had some weird cheapo Danelectro type guitar, played through a few pedals into whatever the house guitar amp was, so it’s clearly not any specific gear that makes his sound, he could have picked up an ESP Screaming Skull through a Mesa Triple Rectifier, and would still have sounded like himself.  The question that comes up these days, is why did it take until he joined Wilco in 2004 for the world to discover him?  Not that I was at all ahead of the curve, The first time I heard his name was about his 8th show with the band at Irving Plaza.  But if it took Jeff Tweedy to bring the world a guitar hero, I’m fully ok with that.  What I want to know, is when will they release his signature video game?

Sure, it might be unfair for me to write anything about Wilco, I’ve seen the band many times, and usually have some type of superlative to describe it.  Well, this time will be no exception, though I do believe this particular show has set the bar higher in some degrees than I could have imagined.  Lets just come right out and say it, the set was 3 hours long with no break, 37 songs were played, with an acoustic set in the middle.  Seriously, top that….anyone?

The Wellmont is Bowery Presents newest venue, in the unlikely location of Montclair NJ.  Home to Montclair State University, former home of the Bloomfield ave Cafe, and rumored home of Stephen Colbert.  That really all I can say about this town, lets keep moving.  My previous experience at this venue was to see Ray Lamontagne, a flawless musical performance, yet a mess of a crowd.  Lots of Frat Dudes yelling out songs, general rudeness.  But the sound….yeah, the room was built for that type of music.  It looks like the Beacon Theater, but doesn’t sound all boomy and terrible.   Wilco though in recent years has been primarily a blaring electric monster truck of fury, sometimes including an acoustic guitar, but not so much centered around it.  So I was interested to see what would happen in this room.

They removed the seats from the orchestra, so it felt like a more traditional rock show, and Wilco pretty much had 6 bands worth of gear on the stage.  It was mildly hilarious.  2 full keyboard rigs, probably 30 guitars on the wings of the stage, tons of amps, tables full of effects pedals, dream-theater-esque acrylic drum kit complete with a full orchestral gong, there was not much joking around.  This tour it was announced there would be no opener, and was billed as “an evening with”  so I guess they pulled out all the stops.

check out the SG Jr/Special/whatever it is!

The show began with the microsoft computer voice giving instructions not to take photos, but to please exhibit general merriment.  I really do wonder what this was about.  Further in the show, Jeff Tweedy even called out some guy for taking pictures…I can understand sans flash, but they were completely anti-photography.  Im guessing he’s feeling self conscious in his old age.  Anyhoo, the computer voice made a reappearance, announcing each band member during the breakdown of “Wilco The Song”  which confused and delighted pretty much everyone.

I took this off flickr, I didnt take it, relax Tweedy.

The set chugged along with the standard electric Wilco classics, lots of Sky Blue Sky, at one point Tweedy also called out someone for requesting “Impossible Germany” when giving out a free dinner…yeah, i don’t know, they gave out 2 free dinners.  Anyway, he was all “way to waste a request dude, like we weren’t gonna play that one?”  So it was standard electric fare.  Midway through though, during a particularly noisy outro to “poor Places”  The crew came out with an entire 2nd set of instruments, mini drum kit, 2 more keyboards, upright bass, new acoustic guitars, complete with old school living room style lamps, and set up as the band faded down.  Without so much as a breath, they went into the most mentally refreshing version of “Spiders” I have ever heard.  Occasionally when done electric, it gets a bit stale, with 14 minutes of noise rock jamming, it gets to be a little much.  They changed some of the chords, toned it waaaaay down, and let the song itself come out.  Several Bro Dudes behind me commented how it was a waste of a song…whatever, go see nickleback.  Spiders was followed by “More Like The Moon”  a buried gem from the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot outtake sessions which was never released.  Let me just say, as fanatic as I am, there are a few songs I have never heard performed, and this was one.  I think the whole crowd was in the same boat, you could hear a pin drop.  I dont even know what to say, it was fucking beautiful.  Lets just move on, Im getting too emotional.  You just couldn’t stop this acoustic set.  “Forget The Flowers”, followed by “Someday Some Morning Sometime” followed by a kick ass “Laminated Cat” as true to the original as possible, complete with the modular synth making some buzz type sounds.  They closed it out with “Airline to Heaven”  in the same fashion…the song started, the crew pulled off all the gear, and the band went into full on electric mode. Impressive.

There was no stopping this set, it just went on forever!  I mean, I truly enjoyed every minute of it, but the friends I went with did not enjoy it so much.  If you aren’t familiar with a band, you dont want to be repeatedly smacked in the face by them for 3 hours.  1 hour, sure, but 3 can get excessive.  They took no set break either.  What was that Phish?  Yeah, thats what I thought.  A friend also commented that Tweedy didn’t even take a sip of water the entire show, and I think this is true.  He had some type of big denim jacket on, he just fucking blasted through every song.  I’ve been trying to figure out the psychology behind this.  They have fanatical fans who love everything they do, so it’s not like they have anything to prove, they’re a very widely respected independent band.  All I can think of, is that they really just want to play a ton of music.  If you were at their stage of career, wouldn’t you too?  I mean, in an ideal world, where you’re not jaded by the industry or whatever, its just about playing every night, and I have endless respect for that.  Its like in that documentary from last year “It Might Get Loud”  with Jimmy Page and The Edge.  Even at their age and level of success, particularly with Page, you could just see that he loved every minute of playing, like a kid.  Is Wilco Led Zeppelin?  Yes.  Really?  Sure, why not?  Just deal with it already, ok?  This is my blog, you’re going to have to go along with whatever shenanigans I pull here, its in the user agreement.

In an effort to encourage people to donate to the relief effort in Haiti, Wilco posted 2 shows on their website in exchange for a donation (its the honors system, they link to a few charities, don’t screw your karma here!) Of course, we shouldn’t need incentives to help those in need…but a few live concerts is a nice touch. One of the recordings is this summers show from Keyspan Park in Coney Island. It was a beautiful summer evening, outdoor small stadium, free ice cream trucks in the parking lot, Nathans hot dogs, Feist and the dude from Grizzly Bear sat in, all good things. But listening back, as is often the case, the energy doesn’t translate as well. A live album is a tricky and mysterious thing. For every “Live At Budokan” there are hundreds of “Kiss Alive XXVII”.

In my earliest days of audiophile aspirations, I traded cassettes of live shows. This was in the early days of the Internet, we still mailed cassettes, CD burners were not commercially available…and you could barely send a jpeg…UPHILL IN THE SNOW BOTH WAYS! Recently when my parents moved from their house, I found all these original cassettes in the basement in several racks. There were hundreds of them. Sometimes you would get lucky, as in the case of The Black Crowes, i believe it was the Palace Theater, in Syracuse 1996. Someone leaked a soundboard recording of the show, I still remember the insert card on the case, it was bright pink photocopied, with some Fillmore style text on it. Even on that crappy inconsistent speed of the cassette, probably 9th generation, you could feel the incredible multiple drug infused energy of this band at their peak. On the other hand, pick any one of thousands of Grateful Dead tapes from XYZ Arena, and you have the opposite effect.

As far as official live releases go, the classic AC/DC life is pretty near flawless.  The Stones live classic “Get Yer Yayas Out”  Is a perfect picture of a sloppy burnt out bunch of English rockers at their best, just about to fall apart and create a masterpiece in the studio.  It seems like back in the day, more thought was put into a live album, since so much preparation had to be taken in order to make it happen.  With remote recording rigs so readily available, I would venture to say that most larger bands record nearly everything they do. Sometimes they all get released- as is the case with the Live Phish series, as well as current Black Crowes shows. Others, as in the case with Wilco, they filter the releases a little more. The Keyspan Park show probably suffers in the technical mix a bit, maybe we were just distracted by the beautiful surroundings of Coney Island at the time, who knows. But in some cases, I think my new philosophy will be to live in the moment as far as shows go, and not seek recordings after the fact.

Today dear reader, lets take a journey together. A journey into uncharted territory. I will now attempt to liveblog a Lady Gaga Album.

Who is Lady Gaga? Chances are you know better than I do. I have no idea. Her name is thrown around by pop culture fanatics and esoteric hipsters alike. She apparently is the new Madonna? I don’t know, you don’t come here to hear about Lady Gaga. In all this hubbub, I feel the need to be in on the action. Steps have been taken to clear my mind of all preconceived notions, I’ve done some stretching exercises, my subscription to Lala.com has been created (this site seems absolutely kick amazing, thanks to Eric Tarn for the recommendation). I will listen to 30 seconds of each song from whichever album I find first, then do about a minute of stream of conscious writing. Ok, the album will be Fame Monster. Ready? GO.

BAD ROMANCE: This seems like the opening of a meatloaf album. I feel like some giant guy is going to descend from the ceiling in a cage carrying a red rose and pluck a woman from the top of the empire state building. After that fog will fill up the stage and various scantily clad dancers will come out until suddenly the action stops and that song “Ya’ll Ready For This!” comes on and Lady Gaga appears in an 18th century ball gown, which is being carried at the ends by various doves, all dyed different colors and glowing in the dark. NEXT SONG.

ALEJANDRO: Ok this one i had to extend to 35 sec since the first 30 is all intro. She puts on a french accent, some violins are playing. We’re on a dark street corner (not an actual corner, but some type of film set) and the fog machines are once again blasting. Meatloaf, who is still in the cage from the first song is the subject of her desire, after a wardrobe change, she makes various hand gestures, maybe in Kabuki style makeup perhaps? When she tells our beloved Loaf that she just can’t be with him anymore, the cage explodes in a fantastic pyrotechnic explosion of glitter, and Loaf is now her dance partner, in some type of tuxedo with a rose in his teeth. Lady Gaga is in some type of S&M getup (ok, shes basically Madonna, even after 1:05 of music I have come to this conclusion) and various backup dancers each dressed as a different historical figure shadow their every move. There is Napoleon, Einstein, Patrick Ewing, and Andy Warhol…NEXT!

MONSTER: How is it that every song so far fits into my idea that Meatloaf is a constant character on this album? Meat is now back in a different cage…a jail cell! He has been re-incarcerated after his glittery escape from captivity, at least he got to enjoy a night on the town with his lady, Gaga. He sobs, as she looks on longingly, yet with an heir of confidence, that her life will now be free and easy without a giant Meatloaf/gorilla shadowing her every move, preventing her from getting in taxicabs, things like that. As the auto tune of “He Ate My Heart” comes in, the prison guards turn out to be her backup dancers, the dramatic lighting kicks in, you know where it goes from here.

SPEECHLESS: Oh my god, its a meatloaf album. Seriously, this song is like Rocky Horror Picture Show. Loaf remains in the cell as Gaga has run off, and left him a single red rose. A spotlight appears and a piano is rolled out next to him. As the power ballad drums come in, he dramatically switches back to tuxedo, the single rose in a vase atop the piano. I’m only listening to 30 seconds of each song, but I’m willing to wager that this one ends with a dramatic piano/vocal outro, which in our imaginary live Broadway production, Loaf would remove the rose, give it a dramatic sniff, and a single tear would run down his cheek. (again, the fact that Lady Gaga is singing is irrelevant, this song clearly belongs to Jim Steinman and Meatloaf)

DANCE IN THE DARK: Gaga now begins her dark descent into the seedy underworld as her one true love has been taken away. The intro carries her through various back alleys, with our trusty fog machines working full force (they really are helpful with this album) She becomes more and more disheveled as these first 30 seconds of the song continue. By the end she looks like one of those heroin chic models from the mid 90’s, with that crazy black eyeliner. Shes in a bad part of town with a sketchy clientele as the music kicks in, and the various vagrants once again become her backup dancers. When this goes to broadway, we’ll save a lot of money by just using the same 5 backup dancers, but dressing them as prison guards, historical figures, homeless junkies, you get the idea.

TELEPHONE: She is in the midst of embracing her 2nd act life struggles. Shes in the club, as the lyrics state, blocking out memories of one Meat Q. Loaf, remaining alone in captivity, for reasons we do not yet know or understand. The lyric “I Got No Service In The Club, Sorry I Cant Hear You I’m Kinda Busy” is clearly a metaphor for her running away from her problems and embracing a life of crime and substance abuse. She has various visions of scary things, maybe theres even a guy in some type of demon suit (a la that scene in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in the hotel lobby) Yet in the midst of all this, there is a sure to be classic dance sequence on the club floor. This will rival both Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and Jackson in Thriller. I’m willing to bet the next song will be some type of ballad….lets see.

SO HAPPY I COULD DIE: Ok, i should really look at titles before I predict the next song. But this is truly live, no preparation or extra time has been taken. Lets call this one Conflict Resolution. Shes getting her life back together. This could be where the Training Montage comes in, various scenes of her becoming independent and powerful, taking life by the horns. Buying expensive clothes, having high powered meetings, volunteering with young children, shes on the path for success. She passes by some of her old associates on the street who are not doing well, she doesn’t even stop to look. She has business to attend to. And that business sang Paradise By The Dashboard Light. NEXT!

TEETH: Man, Whats with this last track? It just doesn’t make sense with the rest of the album. There is no conflict resolution, no final romance, no triumphant ending (well at least in the first 30 seconds) I Hate to leave this unfinished, so maybe we can come up with some type of ending? Maybe its a really artsy film where the end doesn’t have to make sense? Or like Kubrick where he says “you won’t understand this for 20 years” I don’t know. Gaga, I mean, its a catchy track, but you’re really not working with me on this one. Mabye Jim Steinman who seems to have wrote most of the previous material we have discussed took a lunch break, and while he was having a sandwich she finished up the album. That’s what I’m sticking to.

Whew! Well that was grueling. I guess after a look back (I made no edits, that was truly live) this was less of a live blog and more of a “Live Dramatic Interpretation.” As a closing thought, I would agree with the Madonna comparisons that are so present in her media criticism. But I really think they’re missing the boat with her Meatloaf influence. The obviously put on drama, the introductions, its all there.

Wow, where did my blogging go?    Ok, we don’t have time for that now, much to discuss.  Well, not that much, but some.

There will be some upcoming shows, which will then be reviewed, all of which I am very excited about.  The first will be Tuneyards, Feb 5th at the Bell House.  If you read my original tuneyards review opening for the Dirty Projectors, you understand that this is a significant event.  I believe it is their first large headlining New York show, and I expect nothing less than pure genius, 100% mind blowing ukulele jams.

The next will be Wilco at the Wellmont Theater in Montclair.  If you know me personally, you know of my great love for all things Jeff Tweedy, so this will be an important day.  But like any true obsessed fan, I’m just as ready to denounce anything new in favor of the old which will never be recreated.  In other words, I’m just a loose cannon, accept me for me, thank you.

Then, Nada Surf at Music Hall of Williamsburg.  This is a band I am not that familiar with, but I have been encouraged to check out by a trustworthy source, so its on.

Also, if you’d like to take a listen to the Bad Plus New Years Eve broadcast, as written about in a recent post, it has now been posted here.  Although I did not take this photo, John Rogers did, this was our view the entire evening.  Also notice the ghetto sound foam we gaff taped to a mic stand next to the drums.

Much has been happening in the music world recently.  Our band continues to record various demos, and the results are overwhelmingly positive.  We’ve gone head first into the Logic world.  My goal for this project is to never be tainted by the evil of Pro Tools for as long as the songs exist on a hard drive.  We’ve overdubbed shakers while fighting the heinous bleed of a drummer practicing out of time lame ass fills in the rehearsal room next to us, we’ve eaten many a box of Entemans mini cookies, the bridge pickup is dying on both my SG and Telecaster, we’ve triumphed in the face of adversity.  And I still don’t know how to punch in using Logic, so nearly everything has been one complete take.

In Addition to band recording, I took part in a film scoring session last night for a documentary on that guy in the question mark suit who tells you how to avoid paying taxes or something, I’m not even going to google his name, because I was told he is one of the least trustworthy people in America.  Anyway.  We were emulating the classic 70’s guitar sound, and it was the perfect opportunity to break out the seldom used, often secretly desired, Wah Pedal.  Now dear reader, I’m about to blow your mind with the eternal secret of guitar tone.  Are you ready?  Sit down, have your feet on the ground, and relax.  Take a small amp, we used a 50’s Danelectro, turn it to 10, plug in a phaser, and turn on the wah.  Thats it. You’re done.  You might as well burn everything else you own.  I have no doubts this tone will never be recreated again,the battery on the phaser was nearly dead, and as we all know from esoteric message board posts, that is essential for the sound and is as elusive as the white rhino and giant squid combined.  You know what?  Don’t even try it.  I take it back.  Lets leave it mysterious.