Stars concert and stuff

Things have been going well around the life of Flenker lately. I guess I should say as well as they can go when the Hawkeyes aren't playing very well, my ceiling occasionally leaks water, and the nation headed towards an election that somehow is still so close that it makes me really nervous.

(Obligatory note: If you are the legal age to do so, please please please make sure you are registered to vote. If you're a college student away from home, make sure you change your registration site or vote absentee. If you've moved recently, update your information and find your polling place. The election is less than a month away now, so time is running thin. And please, make an educated decision, read up on the candidate's stances, and VOTE!! There will be more to come. . .)

So in spite of all of that crap, I've been doing pretty well. I've only spent one night at home in the past 2 weeks, just hanging out a friend or two, getting dinner, watching TV, going to see Michelle Obama speak, and went to see Stars!

My friend Dominique and I went to the show, hitching a ride to Lawrence with a couple of friend who were heading there to see the Dandy Warhols. The venue's website just listed a time of 7 for the concert, so I assumed that was when doors opened (especially since it was a Friday night in a college town), and thusly decided to join up with friends for dinner. We ended up getting to the Granada around 8:15, just in time to see the beginning of the second song by Stars, having totally missed BellX1. Kind of a bummer. I think this was probably the most prompt show I've ever been to. The show was excellent, though, almost all of my favorite songs were played (the only one I was hoping to hear but didn't was "The Night Starts Here," and that could have before we got there).

The place wasn't packed, but there were a lot of people there, mostly couples. Definitely glad that I went with someone, otherwise I would have been the one lonely dude there. I take that back, there was another guy there by himself. We could have been lonely together. Thankfully, I had company.

The band put on a good show, throwing roses out into the crowd between most songs (of course they would, have you heard them? They definitely fit the "melodramatic popular songs" genre listed on their myspace.) Lead singer Torquil Campbell introduced a song (one I didn't know, so I can't recall the name) as being about "fucking yourself and your lover to death." Pretty intense. Later Amy Millan cutely prefaced "My Favourite Book" as being "just a love song." There was a little talk about the presidential debate that was taking place at the same time, with Campbell saying "Obama is giving his plans for change, and McCain is scaring everyone." Good stuff.

A good time, though, with great music, in a pretty good venue. I hadn't been to the Granada for over 8 years, when I drove down from Ames to see Weezer.

Ok, I just a quick search and found the setlist for this show. And wouldn't you know it, "The Night Starts Here" was in fact the first song they played. Dammit. Here's the list:


Taken from the flickr page from the concert, found here.

So yeah, it was fun. We were out a little after 10, but our friends' concert didn't finish until nearly midnight. So Dom and I had a lot of time wandering around Mass in Lawrence. For it being Friday night before a football game, the town was freaking dead. I guess these Kansas kids don't know how to do it up like Iowans. But we still had a good time people watching.



ugh, I've spent too long on this post, and am still not completely happy with it, but oh well. I don't know what I don't like, but whatever. It'll have to do. I'll put a better effort into the next one.

Francois Virot and Ramona Cardova

I'm up very late on a Monday night, but it was worth it. I went down to visit my friends at Skinless Gallery (ok, so I kinda know one of the guys there, through Charczuk, but I think I can still call him my friend), since there was a show being played there, and I need to go out and be social on occasion.

Opening was Alex Niedt (myspace), a local kid playing (I think) his first show. He was good, has a great voice, and good show (in spite of his"jitters," which he claimed he had, but I never saw).

Next on deck was Francois Vidot (website | myspace). I had only heard his stuff in the background, last time I was at the gallery, so I wasn't too familiar with his stuff. But when he set up on the side of the stage, to perform without any amplification on his guitar or mics for his vocals, I was intrigued. Then I was amazed by his performance. Here's a sample, in a little bit of a different setting, but you'll get the idea.

Francois Virot - Say Fiesta

His vocals are definitely unique, but they fit his style so well, are so emotional (without being emo), and, even though he was in the midst of losing his voice during the performance tonight, sounded so great to me. To top it off, he's a super nice guy. I talked with him a while, about his tour and the Midwest, and about speaking French.

The third and final act of the night was Ramona Cordova (website | myspace). Another great guitarist and vocalist. His songs were touching, his voice touching, and guitar parts complemented the setting perfectly.

Ramona Cordova - Heavy on my Head

He was also struggling with his voice, I guess they camped out in Arizona a week ago, and the dry air got to their throats. It didn't hurt the performances too much, though, even when the singers couldn't quite complete the verse before a fit of coughs came on, it didn't detract from the song, and they still gave it their all.

I was sooo glad I came to this show. It turned out to be one of the more impressive shows I've seen in a long time, and a genuinely good time. If they're coming to your town (I'm looking at you, Minneapolis friends - Wednesday at a place called New Pines, check either of their myspace pages for more info), I'd really recommend going to see them, support them, chat with them, because they're great guys, great musicians, and definitely worth your while.

Consider my ass rocked.

To paraphrase a line from an email I just sent, the WHY? show tonight was worth every penny of the $7 at the door, every mile driven, and every second of sleep lost. Just to see them perform "Gemini (Birthday Song)" in person made it worth it in my mind. I won't lie, the venue may have been a little dusty, my eyes got all watery during the song. They played just about every song I could have asked for, including "These Few Presidents," "Rubber Traits," "Fatalist Palmistry," and "Crushed Bones," among many others. There was one song that I didn't recognize, but for all the rest of them, I was belting out the lyrics. My throat hurts now. Worth it. Even if rules 1, 2, and 7 were bent. (Although, I don't think I've ever been to a show with as many tall dudes as there were tonight. It was like the KU basketball team was celebrating their championship by going to the Jackpot Saloon, and got there early enough to stand in front of everyone.)

The opening groups were alright. The first guy was DJ Blunt Object, or something like that. He just stood up there with his laptop or something, and played remixed songs, including "Sexy Back," and I think an Animal Collective song. There were a couple of good loops, but overall, I wasn't that impressed. Sorry dude. Good effort, though. The band that followed him, something about a sleepyhead (that's not their name, all I remember is that it had the word "Sleepyhead" in it), was a little better. It was kind of like indie frat rock, though. Like if (insert name of crappy frat rock band here) started using kind of tech guitar parts. And they kept talking about the Jayhawks. I'm sure they were excited about it, but at a show, you can get by with maybe mentioning it once. Not saying after every other song that "the next one is dedicated to Mario Chalmers."

WHY?, however, rocked me in a way that I haven't been rocked for months. (Lead singer) Yoni Wolf was funny, interacted with the crowd well, and kept the band sounding tight all night long. I think their show tonight catapulted them into my Top 5 performances I've seen in person (along with Jeff Tweedy, The Mountain Goats, Eric Johnson [of the Fruitbats], and Loney, Dear. Good company, indeed!). Hopefully they'll do another tour of the US after they head overseas in the early summer. If they come to your neck of the woods, I strongly encourage you to see them. And, if you like them, support them by picking up a shirt or a CD. I got one of each, the shirt is powder blue (2nd post in a row I've mentioned that color. I tell you, I look like the money in it), the CD is the "Rubber Traits" album, the only one they had there that I didn't already own. And at $5, it was a heckuva deal!

Well, it is quickly approaching 3 am. I need to be at work in 5 hours. Good night all, and have a splendid Friday!

In a Fog. . . (yeah, that's the best I could come up with right now. deal)

Wow, it's been a whole week since I last posted. I wish I could say it's because I was out doing all sorts of fun, wild stuff. But really, I've been lazy. I went bowling, which almost caused both my thumb and arm to be torn off. It was fun, though. I had some issues with my bank and getting my check deposited, so that was frustrating. It's all straightened out now, thankfully. I did go out last night with some people from work, sang karaoke to "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," as performed by the Temptations. Good times. That's about it, though. Sorry.

Tonight should be a good time, WHY? is playing in Lawrence. I guess that's about 45 minutes from here, show starts at 9. There are 3 bands playing, I'm hoping WHY? goes on early, otherwise it'll be a long day at work tomorrow. Totally worth it, though, to see the group responsible for one of my all-time favorite songs, "Gemini (Birthday Song)." Plus I really like their new stuff. Win-win!

Also coming up on Saturday will be my first Royals game of the season! It's Billy Butler powder blue jersey giveaway day, I'm pumped up. I look good in powder blue. Plus, the team has been playing well of late, always a good thing.

Last thing for today will be some music.

Fog, as their myspace page says, is a band from Minneapolis, MN, USA that plays experimental rock and roll music. I don't know if I'd call the stuff I've heard "experimental," but it's not exactly straightforward rock and roll, either. It's a mishmash of sounds that work really well to create a fresh sound. Yeah. They've worked with the likes of WHY? (that's how I first heard of Fog), Andrew Bird, Low, Notwist, etc. And I think elements of each group kind of come through in their music. So check 'em out. I wouldn't lead you astray, would I? (I do prefer the original songs to the remixes they have posted, but I think all are worthwhile.)

I'll try to back tonight with a review of the show, as long as I don't get back too late. I don't want to be cranky all day tomorrow, now do I? Maybe I'll have to take some cranky medicine in the morning. Oh, and I'll try to do a Friendly Mutton update soon. Again, there's not much to report about there, but I'll try to give running updates on the beauty as it grows.

Exciting times ahead!

Though I still have yet to make a trip to the lovely city (unlike some people. . .), I had some of the best Louisiana-style food last night, at a place called Jazz. It was great. I had a lot of food. My main dish was crawfish etouffee. This was after the table split some appetizers - fried pickles, and crawfish. And we all did some sharing, I had tastes of blackened shrimp and chicken, fried oysters, a scallop that melted in my mouth, some cheesy grits, and a piece of cauliflower. I liked it a lot.

Things really haven't changed too much. I'll be getting my first paycheck tomorrow, which will be very welcome. The baseball season starts in full over the next few days, so all will be well. On April 10, WHY? is going to be in Lawrence, later on in the month the Kids in the Hall will be performing in KC, then sometime next month They Might Be Giants are going to be in town. I'm kind of impressed with the amount of shows that are coming through here. I just found out that Matt Pond PA was here last night, not that I really would've been able to afford it, but who knows. The Appleseed Cast played here last night, too. Ingrid Michaelson will be here on Tuesday, and The Walkmen will be playing with Spoon on Wednesday. RJD2 is on Wednesday, the 16th. Then the first weekend in May could be an Iowa musician weekend for me. William Elliot Whitmore is playing on the 3rd, Greg Brown will be playing, along with his daughter Pieta.

You know what? I will make the artists of Iowa my recommendation for the week or so.

Here's Whitmore's Daytrotter Session.

Here's a link to Greg Brown's site with some mp3's you can listen to. Check them both out!

I think there may be something that I'm looking forward to even more. At work, a few guys and I have talked about it, and decided to make the 5th month of the year Mutton May. We're going to try to get all of the guys in the Overland Park location to grow mutton chops during the month. Not just normal chops, though. No. We're going for the friendly mutton. I'm not sure how it came about, but a couple of guys were talking about Civil War-era facial hair, and it all just came together. So, at least the men on the 3rd floor have decided to do it, and we're going to try to get the girls to be judges for the best chop. And most of us have decided to start now. I'm going to need the month-long head start to have any chance, but you can be assured that I'll keep a photographic log of how things progress.

A couple of last items. First off, apologies to those up north. From the sounds of it, there's going to be some nasty weather for the next day or two. Secondly, I've been watching the movie Stardust while I've been watching it, and enjoying it very very much. It's an action/adventure movie that doesn't take itself too seriously, has a good-looking Claire Danes, and an enjoyable plot. This, and the surprisingly good Simpson movie that Charczuk and I watched last night, and it's been a good weekend for watching movies.

I hope everyone else's weekend has been as productive and fun and delicious!

PJ,PJ, F&M, OMG!!

Just got back from the Project Jenny, Project Jan and Fujiya & Miyagi show with my socks barely intact. It was great. PJ,PJ put on such an energy-filled set, lead singer Jeremy Haines was all over the place, and the results were well worth the effort. The duo had a projector set up, displaying videos to accompany the music, changing images at a pace as upbeat as the tunes. These guys put on one of the best shows I've seen. I know I probably say that about every other band that I see, but I really mean it. I'm extremely glad Jad had reviewed their album a few weeks ago. That man knows his music!

The headlining band, Fujiya & Mitagi, were pretty incredible, I gotta say. They were a lot more tuned-down than PJ,PJ, but it didn't take anything away from the atmosphere. The trio launched into song after song, staying tight the whole time, playing some great music. The highlight, however, had to be when a member from the crowd jumped on stage during one of their songs (I wish I was more familiar with their tunes, so I could give you a name, it was the one that has the lyric "I've got a slow, slow metabolism," if that helps) and stood around behind the band for a second, then went into this epic dance. He definitely had some mad moves for a tubby white dude (best part of the dance - the guy pointing to his belly when the aforementioned lyric about metabolism was said).

Both of these bands would be worth seeing on their own, the fact that they played together was almost too much for me to handle. Worth every bit of the $12 I paid, and then some.

What ever happened to suburban rhythms?

I just wanted to elaborate on Friday night's show a little more, I feel like I didn't do it justice. The crowd was huge, we got over to the stage about 20-30 minutes before they came on and it was already getting packed. It seemed like a lot of them were younger, which always sucks at concerts, especially when the younger crowd acts like they've never been to a concert, or only know the new songs. (yes, I've become one of those old codgers that say stuff like "I've been listening to these guys for 10 years" or use the phrase "old codger". It happens. I'm learning to accept it.) I was kind of the opposite, I only knew their older stuff, as I didn't really know they were still around as a band, and probably hadn't listened to any of their stuff since 1998's Why Do They Rock So Hard. I was a little worried that they'd play a lot of their newer songs, and leave me in the past. Luckily, right from the beginning, they played a number of their older songs, starting off with "Trendy" (which KP correctly predicted would be their opening song about 20 minutes before their set), then going into another older one, possibly "She Has a Girlfriend Now" or "Everything Sucks," but I could be wrong. I'm not necessarily that great at remembering the setlist of a show unless I write it down. I'm not that guy yet, but I may be soon. Maybe KP will remember and comment on it. . .

The crowd was good for the most part, aside from the youngsters, the drunk frat-boy moshers who were just there to run into people and maybe cop a feel, the high school couple that have probably already broken up by now but at the time were madly in love and going to be together forever, the couple that was probably in their mid-20's going about 2 bills apiece and wanted nothing to do with moshers even though there were standing directly behind the "pit" and would give angry looks to anyone who came near them, the girl with the kid that definitely wasn't alive when Keep Your Receipt came out in '95, and this large girl that stood directly in front of me, skanking most of the time, stepping on my feet and throwing 'bows like it was going out of style and taking ska along.

But honestly, the energy was good, the crowd was into it, and it was a really great time. I was one person (the aforementioned girl) away from the front, but to the side enough that I wasn't getting the crap beat out of me. KP was going wild, occasionally he'd stop over to say something or to put his shoes back on, but otherwise he was out in the pit causing havoc. There were a few times I would have liked to have joined in, but I was trusted with keeping Eric's camera safe, and I was fine with that.

The show was awesome, even if it it was slightly abbreviated by the rain. I heard most of the songs I wanted to hear, and was entertained for the entire night, what more could I want? Of course they ended the night with their super hit "Sell Out" which I could have actually done without, but didn't figure that they would not play it. The band sounded tight, which is the best thing a ska band can do.

Anyways, here's a couple of their videos for you to watch and hopefully enjoy, as they take you back to the mid- to late-90's!

One of my favorites, "Beer"



And one of their first videos, "Everything Sucks"



Now if you think that's the last you're going to hear about ska here on tPoL, well, you're wrong! In the next week or so, there should be a very special ska post, one close to my heart. Until then, I say Jah!

edit: ok, so I put the wrong video up for "Beer". The one that was up was "Suburban Rhythms", sorry about that. It should be all fixed up now.

Animal Collective 2 - The Show

Show last night: awesome. My roommate and I headed down around 5-ish and got a wrist band, which assured us of a ticket. Which was good, apparently they ran out of the wrist bands pretty soon after we got ours.

The opener was alright, Sir Richard Bishop. He played mostly guitar instrumental songs, at least one by Django Reinhardt, and was pretty good. He did sing for a couple of songs, but I wasn't quite as into those. They were kind of funny, but I prefered the guitar playing. The song he played that I liked the best was a medley of "Over the Rainbow" from Wizard of Oz, and The Beatles' "Nowhere Man." He called it "Nowhere Over the Rainbow." It actually worked pretty well as a medley. I thought it was clever.

Animal Collective rocked pretty hard. (Though I do wish I would have brought some ear plug, or some sort of ear protection. . . We were about 7 feet from a speaker. My ears are still ringing.) They played a lot of new stuff early, and then ended with some of their older songs. The crowd was into the show the whole time, and supplied deafening applause after the last song. Maybe it was just deafening to me, seeing as how I had spent the last 2.5 hours taking an aural beating. But it was well worth it, the show was great, if anyone reading this is in or near a town where they're going to be playing soon, I'd strongly recommend you go see them. The band is full of energy, and it comes through in their music. Definitely something you don't want to miss. I'll try to find some photos or movie clips from the show last night, if I can steal them from someone.