bböp

Aw, man. I literally just found out now. What a loss. I mean, it's better that he isn't suffering anymore, but he was such a giant.

I feel fortunate to have been at that free performance at Trinity Church a few weeks ago that Nels referred to in his eloquent note on his Web site. I'm pretty sure it was Mr. Hill's final public appearance because I know he had canceled a couple of scheduled live tapings at Birdland at the end of March. And I also feel so fortunate to have been able to see that show at the SF Jazz Festival last year where Nels and his group opened for Andrew and his group. Sensational.

Kudos to Nels for drawing more attention to some wonderful music with his tribute project. And of course...RIP, Mr. Hill.

Musically conscientious??? Turn it up! I'd been trying to work out what the hell Nels was thinking at 4:18-4:20 in Impossible Germany, and I came to the conclusion that he must have thought, hmm this song is sounding really good.....think I'll just play some atonal garbage for a few seconds and nobody will notice. In fact some pompous twits might even lap it up, interpreting it as some moment of musical inspiration that the unsophisticated simpletons won't be able to comprehend. Now I know he was just being "musically conscientous".

 

What makes you think all cock-rock guitarists are/were any less sincere about what they do than Nels is? What a ridiculous assertion.

 

You're coming across as such a Nels aplogist that if he farted on the strings you'd probably argue there was artistic merit in it and pore over it searching for some non-existent metaphor and meaning to it.

You seem a bit angry about Nels.

Or maybe you're just mad at Hixter.

I dunno about the record because I've only heard it once (conscious decision), but in the live arrangement, which I have to think is the same as the studio version, it's Nels who has the initial solo and then Jeff and Pat come in with the counterpoint later.

www.brooklynvegan.com is hinting at a Brooklyn show the following night. No mention of where the rumor originated, though.

I haven't read the BV post(s), but I would think maybe the McCarren Pool series is a possibility if they're really gonna play Brooklyn. Don't they pack at least a couple thousand people in there?

I'm pretty stoked for Los Campesinos!

Hey Dave--

Happiest of birthdays, my friend! Hope we get to see each other in June, if not sooner...

In the meantime, I raise a glass of (insert something good here) to you!

Cheers.

Paul.

I would say Muskie's, but it's not there anymore. The site of one of the first big VC meetups, I believe.

Duck Walk is a pretty good Thai place just around the corner from the Vic.

ha! were you there?!

 

(i am discreetly hidden by the blond man just to KS left. )

for the record, i was nowhere near this show!

 

We've already begun planning our Quad Cities highlights tour!!!!!

I hear there's an abbey there (no, not the Abbey Pub). And speaking of Abbys, Laura, do you think Ms. V could be coerced into venturing back toward the homeland?

Hope you have a wonderful (minor holiday) birthday, Judes!

I raise a pint o' Guinness to you!

as great as Friday's show was, Sunday's show took it by the neck, and tossed it off the top of the Hancock.

...and then gave it about three elbow drops and a head butt.

Thanks for putting that up!

 

I would like to point out that it was written by STERRY BUTCHER! (Paul, Uyen, Evonne ... I'm lookin' at you guys.)

I love it! Sterry Butcher of the Big Bend Sentinel gets the freelance gig for No Dep...

And speaking of Marfa, the Liberty Music Hall made it into this month's Esquire --as the best small music venue in America (or something like that). For Heidi, 9:30 was Esquire's overall best venue. Good taste.

How many others of you are out there are intentionally skipping out on the now readily available "Sky Blue Sky?" I guess I'm either ridiculous or an old traditionalist. To me there's still something very exciting about physically going out the day a favorite new album comes out and taking it home to really sit down with it, on a stereo, and not via an mp3 or online stream. It just seems impersonal to me. I'm sure record labels wished there were more folks like me out there, but I know I'm in the minority here. so, who else out there in VC world is with me?

Hey Greg, I'm definitely feeling you. I've sort of had this personal policy of waiting to listen to stuff ever since YHF. That was a unique case, of course, because we weren't really sure when it would officially come out. But listening to that record so much before it came out kind of took away some of the excitement and freshness for me. I mean, I still love it, but somehow it just wasn't the same as hearing something for the first time on release day.

Now I admit that, in this day and age, it's unrealistic to expect stuff not to leak early. And I have listened to SBS once through.

But that's it for me 'till May 15.

10. Jesus Etc. (with Erin on violin)

I'm assuming this was somewhat pre-planned, but I'm sure it was very sweet.

All general admission

 

If you go here to Eventim, you will be able to purchase tickets even as a forgeigner. I buy all my tickets with them, and I've never had a problem. If there is any problem, let me know, and I will gladly help you out

Thanks for the tip! I just bought mine.

I hope you can do a little road trip, even if just to Berlin! We will work out the logistics...

We bought tickets for Cologne, Berlin and Hamburg (not that I'd know if I can get off work yet )

 

Paul ?

I'm planning on it, Dunja. The timing works out. Just need to find myself a plane ticket. (Hoping I can still take advantage of my small remaining time left as a student!)

Question: Are all those shows you got tickets for general admission, or are they reserved seating?

It doesn't look like we can buy tickets for any of the Euro shows yet, except ATP and the the Barcelona fest...

Dunja, is your tour offer still good?

Here's my advice: Go the Schuba's party at Yard Dog, hang out until Neil Young shows up and then be in the background of the picture the Austin Chronicle takes of him.

No, actually, the main insights I gleaned from last year were to avoid bands that just seem to be getting a little too much hype, really try and focus on seeing acts that you might not otherwise get to see and, above all, don't sweat it (because there's no chance you're even gonna be able to see a fraction of what you plan to see)...

Can't believe it's already now been more than a week since 2/17/07. I miss you guys!

He calls 'em as he sees 'em. And he's right on.

Thankfully, the Stardog is not always right on. At least with the knees.

In all the recent excitement over that band and its potential shows and record releases and such, I just looked at Nels' Web site and saw that he's doing a whole week in NYC! I hadn't seen that posted anywhere around these parts, so I figured I'd give it a plug...

Here's the schedule:

MAR 26 | JAZZ STANDARD | NYC

The Jeff Gauthier Goatette

(Gauthier/Alex Cline/David Witham, Joel Hamilton, NC)

MAR 27 | JAZZ STANDARD | NYC

Scott Amendola Band

(Amendola, Jenny Scheinman, John Shifflett, NC)

MAR 28 | TBA | NYC

Myra Melford

MAR 29 | JAZZ STANDARD | NYC

NC & Friends play the music of Andrew Hill

(NC, Bobby Bradford, Ben Goldberg, Andrea Parkins, Devin Hoff, Scott Amendola)

MAR 30 | JAZZ STANDARD | NYC

NC & Friends play the music of Andrew Hill

(NC, Bobby Bradford, Ben Goldberg, Andrea Parkins, Devin Hoff, Scott Amendola)

MAR 31 | TBA | NYC

Bennie Maupin Group

APRIL 01 | TBA | NYC

Bennie Maupin Group

Those two shows in support of his awesome Andrew Hill tribute are really worth seeing. And the Jazz Standard is a really cool venue with tasty BBQ. Incidentally, I just went there recently for the first time -- to see a set by the Charles Tolliver Big Band -- and who happened to be sitting like two seats down from me on the right? Rolling Stone's David Fricke, he of IATTBYH fame. It all comes full circle doesn't it?

Also, while I'm at it, I gotta put a plug in for Mike Jorgensen's project, Pronto, which has a weekly residency coming up in March in Brooklyn. (The name of the venue is escaping me now, but Mike mentioned that he had just set up a MySpace site for the band which you can probably find by searching for Mike Jorgensen and Pronto.)

I know Mr. F. Yinz would agree with me when I say that anyone around NYC in March should get out and support both Nels and Mike. They do some really great non-Wilco stuff as well...

.......which makes me hope even more now Jeff, if you're reading this: Paul so needs to do some serious sightseeing in Cologne with a personal tourist guide

Yes, definitely! I've never been to Germany, so I'm hoping for some summer dates there.

Actually, I'm really hoping to do the whole "low countries" tour--Holland and Belgium as well. Maybe I can even get someone called Gwen to come along.

One can always hope for some German dates

I'm totally hoping for some, Dunja! I would so be there...

I was gonna go with, "Who is that scarved man?"

Paul, didn't we get a Dave Mirabella vocal on this one?

I think that was mostly a Jeff and Dave vocal affair, which I will edit my setlist to note. Things were beginning to get out of hand, in a great way, by that point. But it started to get hard to keep track of who was doing exactly what...