I have 3 extra tickets to see Meat Beat Manifesto this Tuesday at the Paradise Rock Club at 8pm. Contact me if you are interested.
concerts
Oh my god that was a fantastic show!!
But boy did the travel suck… I picked up Corinna at her work around 11:15a and we got on 90 and started cruising towards NYC. I decided to drop the car off in Hoboken so it would be a bit easier for me when leaving…. So we hit the Henry Hudson pretty much on time about 3.5ish hours later (which isn’t bad given we stopped for lunch) and I followed the signs to the Lincoln Tunnel… Unfortunately for me, those signs disappeared after awhile and I got a little mixed up…. Double unfortunately for me, that left me away from the Tunnel right around the start of rush hour (if I didn’t get mixed up I would have snuck into the tunnel just before rush hour). We got into Hoboken around 6:10, and we got on the PATH… Corinna went to visit her friends on the lower east side and I continued on to 14th St. I met up with Carol and then James, running only 5 or so minutes late (I was ‘sposed to meet them at 6:30p)… So we got on the will call line and stood around catching up for like an hour or so in the rain… I also started chatting with the bouncer at the door who was a pretty freaking cool guy. When he opened the doors, I walked in first, got swiped for metal, and waited in the front for the other two members of my party… James came thru, then Carol, and when she did she had 3 VIP passes that the bouncer gave us cuz we were so damn cool….
There is something to be said about watching a show from the pit, but there is also something to be said about watching it from the VIP balcony with members of the bands and other people like Merzbow floating around. It was freaking awesome… I got an amazing view of all the bands and I didn’t have to worry about fighting my way back to where I wanted to be if I went to the bathroom… Even the VIP area got a little crowded, but nothing compared to other parts of the club. I stood up on my chair and got an awesome, unobstructed view of everything. And there was a waitress, so I didn’t have to get up for drinks. :)
Trevor Dunn’s Trio Convulsant started things off with a 30 or so minute set… I love Trevor Dunn (Bassist for Mr. Bungle and Fantomas), and it was great to see him on Upright bass with a drummer and a guitarist… There stuff was abstract at times, but it was definately enjoyable (and as Carol said, there is something very sexy about an upright bass). After that was Isis, a Boston band, who was good, although not entirely my thing… Kinda plodding with growly vocals, at first I was turned off, but by the end of their set I was digging them a bit. The first highlight of the evening was a surprise appearance by Melt Banana, a Japanese punk band with female vocals… It was awesome…
I sat down at my table for most of the Melvins set… None of the 3 of us really got the Melvins, so it made me feel a bit better that I didn’t get anything out of them… But when Tomahawk hit the stage the crowd went nuts… It was amazing watching the floor and the pits that formed from the balcony… Tomahawk played a fantastic set, way outdoing their performance on Tuesday night… Mike had some equipment troubles, but was still able to make do… The band played a Sinatra cover “Angel Eyes” (which was written and performed by some other guy, but I always remember the Sinatra version), as well as an encore, which leads me to believe that they weren’t that into the Boston crowd or something… Anyway, it was a stellar freaking time.
Wow
The show was amazing last night…. James and I left my work around 6ish, and showed up at the Middle East about 20 minutes later. Since we were so early, we decided to grab something to eat, but as we were walking away, Jon Whitney and friends (Jessica and Ed) popped out of the club and said Hi. After some chit-chatting, we went to the (terrible, terrible, almost as bad as California) pizza shop and grabbed some chow. We then wandered down to this coffee house (1369, I believe) down the street. Jon must have bumped into like 20 people he knew on the way, and it took us like 30 minutes to walk 2 blocks. :)
We chilled outside the coffee shop for a while (I didn’t get anything, however), and we made our way back. When we returned to the club, the line was already around the side of the building, but Jon saw someone he knew and we cut into line.. :) This show sold out weeks ago, and there were lots of people trying to get in… I am glad I picked up the tickets when I did. We descended into the club and as we arrived the warm-up DJ (Rob Hall, I believe) was spinning, obscured by Matmos‘ equipment. This DJ was only ok, a few notches above annoying. :) Around 9pm, Matmos took the stage, and they were amazing. They did a cool thing: Facing their equipment towards the audience, and (sometimes) sitting with their backs to the audience. While this would be considered travesty at a normal rock show, it was cool being able to see them at work. They turned around and aside quite a bit, so you could tell that they were doing this for the show. Their new album is entitled “A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure”, and it is riddled with lots of disgusting medical samples and visions. Their opening number had Drew (i believe that is his name) pressing some kind of biofeedback probe into his skin (not breaking the skin or anything), and another guy followed the probe with a video camera, projecting it onto a screen. Their set was amazing, and they were the first people I have ever seen to use a metal rat cage as a musical instrument (and it sounded really cool too).
After Matmos left the stage, Russell Haswell took the stage, with his laptop and little other gear. His wall of sound lasted longer than any of the other artists… He was only OK, but he needs to learn some control. He had some really interesting stuff, and some terrible stuff, but in either case, he stretched it out way too long…
Finally, Autechre took the stage, and by this point, my heels were killing me. I was right up towards the stage, and my boots were starting to really hurt my feet (Note to self: buy some Dr. Scholl’s). Fortunately, Autechre has a stage presence that doesn’t really command viewing… I made my way to the back of the club (the bar, actually, where I obtained a Margarita) and met up with James.. We were both taken aback by what Autechre had to offer, they were simply mind blowing. They amaze me with their ability to come up with music that is completely alien yet still sounds great. They wrapped up their set around 12:10, which gave us little time to catch the last train. We didn’t have a chance to hang around, say goodbye to Jon and friends, etc. I wish the subway ran later, especially on weekends… Oh well, it was still a great night, and I am looking forward to more great concerts in the near future. In fact, Other Music was handing out flyers to a free in-store show next week… Free music is always a good thing. :)
James left around 7 this morning, and while in theory I was going to go back to bed for an hour or two, I decided to just come into work and get it done with. Today will probably be a long day, but after it is done, I can go home, get some sleep, and be normal for the rest of the week. :)
Wow… It’s now official…
I officially accepted the offer from Rovia today, sending back the letter signed and all. So I guess I am now committed to living with Massholes. :) I will make sure to watch alot of The Sopranos, however, so I don’t begin to develop some annoying accent. And also, never fear, a water fountain will never be a bubbler.
The letter said that my start date was May 1st, which I can stick to, but I will be busy these next few weeks finding an apartment and moving into it. I might live in Brighton near Adam and Rory, or perhaps somewhere else, but wherever it is, it will be near mass transit, since I don’t plan on having another car for awhile.
I am going to break Boston in right, though, by seeing a concert less than a week after I start work. :) I am going to go see Autechre at the Middle East, which I guess is actually in Cambridge, but whatever. I have been wanting to see these guys for a long time, so it will be cool to finally do so (and to see another concert, which is something I haven’t done since I saw Moby in Rochester). The concert is on May 7th, which is a Monday (odd, no?), and for those of you not in Boston, the 2 prior days they will be playing in New Jersey and NYC.