Category: Legacy

Posts from the old site.

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Desaparecidos @ Northsix

All week long, all I’m thinking is that I’m going to see the Desaparecidos. For those of you that have been living in a cave, this is a huge deal. The first time we ran into Conor Oberst’s new band, they were opeing for Sorry About Dresden & Curisve at the Knitting Factory last year. At the time they were still working on their first record and we had no idea what to expect. The show was less than good, it really seemed like a one off kind of thing to indulge the parts of Conor that weren’t being fufilled by Bright Eyes.

How things changed when Read Music, Speak Spanish was finally released. Easily one of the best albums I’ve heard in a long time, it’s one of those things that I have to school myself not to listen to every day. I was disappointed to hear that they were opeing for Jimmy Eats World all summer, playing venues that I’d never go to… until I randomly saw on pollstar that they were doing a warm up show at North Six the night before their Roseland gig in the city.

North Six is really the epitome of the new Williamsburgh and we’d never been, so that was going to be a bonus as well. Turns out that it could be one of the best places to see a show in the city – it’s set up very well, probably holds ~500 people and has a good (but really loud) sound system. I liked the bar & the people were really into what was going on.

Rilo Kiley opened, and they were great. Keyboards, yes, but enough guitars to keep me interested. North Six is set up so you can stand at the bar & be close enough to the stage to be engaged, without having chatters bother you (the sound system, again). As their set was finishing I was really worried that J was going to miss the start of the Desaparecidos – it was only 10:30 & I told her to show up @ 11. I didn’t know it, but there was another band playing second.

The Miracle of ’86 kicked my ass. Possibly the best emoish punk I’ve heard live (at least by accident) in a long time. I remember the first time I heard the Old ’97s live, I had no idea that people could have that much fun playing music that I wasn’t prepared for. This was exactly the same thing, he even emotes like Rhett, and I really thought I was seeing the start of something really special, a band that I’d want to see over & over again. AND they were based in Brooklyn. This was a Good show.

The Desaparecidos were, quite honestly, ok. This is a studio band. Conor’s voice just doesn’t work that well live (it does better in Bright Eyes), and he’s not the best guitar player in the world. They’ve replaced a few of the younger members since we saw them last (constant debate during the show about whether the lead player was the same guy much older or not), but still just ok. I’m sure their next will be another of my favorite disks, and I’ll always go see them live, but I wish they had the power & beauty that they manage to pull off in such a raw way on the album.

As for the openers… everything they put out on CD is only OK. Juliet says the first rule of music is that you must rock harder live, this is the first time I’ve run into to such an extent.

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Siren Festival @ Coney Island

Jon & I had been kicking around going this year because he came with us last year & had a good time. It turns out that Saturdays are his biggest days in the new job, so no Jon this time. The wife had to work, too, so I went alone.

The Shins, The Donnas, Pretty Girls Make Graves, along with Sleater-Kinney headlining. Even after having an only marginally decent time last year (rule #1 – don’t drink beer when there are only 10 portable restrooms for 10k people), I couldn’t pass this up. I got there in time to catch some of the Shins, but really couldn’t get close enough to the stage to hear them. For some reason they insist on having this in a little side-street, so people are really stuffed in. I decided to go get a corn dog & beer on the boardwalk instead.

I walked back for enough of the Donnas to confirm what I’d always assumed about them – pretty boring. I watched from the side of the stage, through a fence inside one of the amusement parks. That was enough for me – back to the boardwalk for some sausage & peppers

I’d resolved to get something out of the day, so I pushed a little further than I was comfortable into the crowd for S-K. I was only about a quarter of a mile away when they came on. We’d seen them play a couple of months ago at the Warsaw, where they were great on the old stuff & made me wish they’d stopped putting out new stuff a couple of albums ago. The new songs just didn’t rock. They weren’t even fun in a funky way, they were just bland. I was pleasantly surprised that everything sounded much better this time. Even with distance & a very distracted crowd there was lots of energy. It would have been a good show even if it had cost money.

I took the camera along, and took some pictures. Of course I hadn’t charged the batteries, so only a few pics.

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A Slobberbone Weekend

Southpaw’s a brand new place, owned by the same guys who own Maxwell’s in Hoboken, and if it draws anywhere near the talent that Maxwell’s gets it’s going to be great having in Brooklyn. From here it’s only 6 blocks away and will still be an easy subway ride from the new place. The acoustics are good, and it’s just the right size. The bar’s set up close to the stage – good for being close to the beer & bad for being close to the ever present socializers. For some reason the only bathroom is out big gym-doors which are right next to the stage. For quiet shows, like Grant last week, that means constant slamming as people come & go. For shows like this that’s not a problem.

Unfortunately, they forgot to adverttise that there were two opening bands, so I was there an hour before I should have been. I really hate it when people do that just to sell more beer. I like getting there at the right time, and I feel tricked when they don’t tell me what’s really going on. Yes, I played right into their hands. Both opening bands were horrible – generic country band started & generic Brooklyn emo band was next – I was ready to give up & go home at around 11 but somehow managed to stick it out. Good choice

From the opener, Lumberlung, to the end of the set there was nothing but pure, fun, rock. The guys looked like they were having lots of fun, and the crowd was really into it. Slobberbone has groupies! How very strange.

I was dragging the next day, but decided to go into town for the next show anyway. I missed the first few songs, but caught enough to see that it was basically a similar set. Evenly distributed through the four albums, including the new one that’ll be out in September. The new songs sound good – much in the same vein as the older stuff. I’m perfectly happy if they just keep writing good songs the same way, at least for another album or two.

No encores on the first night, but Friday they did an incredible cover of Free World. It would be hard to screw that song up, but it made seeing the show twice worth it.

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Different ways of growing older

Grant’s been touring solo lately – after many years of never leaving the cities – playing old Nova Mob, Husker Du, & solo stuff. Somone on the sugarlist compared him to the future Bart in the episode where Lisa’s president, & the comparison seems valid. The music’s still good, and he’s in good voice, but having seen him twice this year doing the same set makes me wish there was some new stuff.

Clint hasn’t really done much musically since MOB broke up. The reunion tour prompted a new band, & the new s/t album is one of the best I’ve heard this year. It’s beautiful music, and rocks quite a bit. Live, they added more energy to all the songs, and played a few new songs that make me look forward to the next album. All in all a very enjoyable show, made even more so by the fact that Jon came along & seemed to enjoy the whole experience.

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World Cup

Damn, why doesn’t this thing mail me when someone submits a story? I’ll have to look into that. Anyway, Dave I’m sorry. This was great. For the record, I’ve given you admin rights, so you can post stories yourself by going here – Matt

A very detailed schedule to the US television broadcasts from soccertv.com will help you sort out which matches you should watch live on Univision or catch as an afternoon replay in English. Unfortunately, I have been unable to solve the problem of how to watch a 5AM EDT live broadcast while remaining ignorant of the outcome of the 2:30 AM EDT match pending the tape delay rebroadcast. Salon has some decent short analysis of the prime team and match basics, but their feature article is a little weak.

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Episode II

It’s way too late for me to get back to what I was thinking after I saw this. I’ve been shocking people by telling them that I put it somewhere above Jedi & below New Hope. Maybe I’ll give it another shot when I get the DVD.

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The biggest check I’ve ever written

It looks like this is going to actually work, so maybe I’ll write a little more about it.

It’s a 720 sf one bedroom in Brooklyn Heights, in a large (140 unit) building on Clinton Street. We were only marginally looking for a place, and had pretty much decided that we were going to wait another year to buy. Still, we were going to see one or two places a week and that picked up a bit after we realized that our rent was going up another 20% this year.

The location’s great, the building’s ok, & the apartment’s good. We got (what we think is) a good deal, and are really excited. It will be nice to finally have a PLACE, and not have to constantly worry about a crazy landlord or schlepping laundry around, or a tiny kitchen.

As of now (7/21), everything’s set with the loan & we’ve put the application into the co-op board. Once we have their approval we’ll be able to close. We’re going to re-do the floors, and hope to move in at the end of August.