Back in early April, I did as I have done many times for over a decade: I found info on a live show that I wanted to attend, I bought tickets way ahead of time (and on this occasion, also paid for a hotel room with room for me + 3), and then let all my concert-going friends know, so they would (hopefully) join me.
The tickets were for the All Points West Music & Arts Festival in Liberty State Park, across the harbor from New York City, and the hotel room was in a Doubletree Hotel, a one-mile walk from the park. We wouldn't have had to worry about parking or public transport (subway and/or ferry), and we'd have been spending each night in luxury! An advantage over my Woodstock '99 experience is that for this 3-day festival, each day begins at noon and ends at 11 pm sharp (no sleepover mayhem to worry about, and plenty of time each morning to enjoy breakfast, not to mention a shower), featuring each night's headliner: Beastie Boys, Tool and Coldplay.
Now, I have no interest in Tool, and I was planning on leaving before Coldplay's set on Sunday night to beat all the traffic, but the rest of the festival's line-up is amazing. If I had been able to go, today was going to be unreal. Granted, Beastie Boys sadly wouldn't be able to play after all (Jay-Z stepped up graciously to replace them, which was cool, and is probably going to be fantastic), but I would still have been able to see Fleet Foxes, The National, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Carolina Liar.
On Day 2 (tomorrow), seeing one of my all-time favorite bands, My Bloody Valentine would have fulfilled a dream I've had since college. Plus, I would have been able to hear a lot of current bands live that I might normally not have any (or just a passing) interest in (Gogol Bordello, Arctic Monkeys, The Ting Tings). And on Day 3 (Sunday), I would have gotten to see minor 80's icons Echo & The Bunnymen, current favorite Ghostland Observatory, and (I hadn't even noticed until today), a band from one of Christopher's recent album reviews, Akron/Family. How cool would that have been?
Anyway, the point of this story is this: I will never again shell out money for concert tickets, no matter how excited I am, until I have travelling companions already lined up. Unfortunately for this ill-fated excursion, Brian didn't like enough of the line-up, Gavin has Depeche Mode tickets for tonight (and has been travelling nearly every weekend this summer to boot), Rob is renovating a house, and Jay is too busy with work. All very good reasons not to go. And for the record, while I am disappointed, I would never be ridiculous enough to carry any ill-will toward my NLM bretheren. Thankfully in this case, I was fortunate enough to get my money back for the $360 hotel room (which was non-refundable, because it was booked so soon at a "locked-in" price). A girl who needed a last-minute room took it off of my hands (thanks Monica!) in an amazing "overnighted money-order" and "transfer the reservation name" operation. Sadly, as you can see by the photo, I was not able to recoup the $222 for the tickets. An expensive lesson, but one well-learned.
Hopefully, next year's line-up will have more appeal to (and better timing for) my Not Lame Minus cronies, and I'll be able to enjoy a 3-Day revel once again!
Blind Pilot reminds me of Page France who reminds me of Neutral Milk Hotel who DON'T remind me of Blind Pilot. Funny how that works. '3 Rounds and a Sound' is a nice sounding, simple and agreeable indie-acoustic effort. The music, however seems slightly fettered by an unwillingness on the part of its creator to let it reach heights of expression that it so seems to want to. Where a melody could (and perhaps should) extend its motive, it often withdraws and resorts to heavy phrasal repetition. It's certainly worth a listen or two, and the recording sounds great, but there isn't a whole lot to entice much repeat listening. Obviously, simple music is often the best kind, but this is not simple music at heart, and it is not content to be simple; it has loftier ambitions that it can't quite reach. 5/10
Last night a handful of Oakmont Regional High alums made their way into enemy territory (Gardner High was our school's rival) to plan a 20th reunion (Class of '90), and listen to a couple of friends rock the house.
My sister Sarah & her husband Jon and I all arrived at The Gardner Ale House just before seven for dinner. We grabbed Chair City Pale Ales (very good, though I've had better) and Sarah had a mohito, while we waited for our table. When it was ready, Jon and I went to eat dinner, while Sarah joined several of her classmates in the back room for a reunion planning session.
We started with the fried calamari, which was amazing, and switched to the Oak-aged Facelift IPA, which was not. There must have been something in the oak, because it was the worst IPA I've ever had. Not bitter at all, and quite toothless (no bite). For the main course, Jon had a steak (which he enjoyed), and I got the Big Chair Cheeseburger. The burger was overcooked, the bun was stale, and the fries were limp and mediocre. I was very disappointed, especially because the place wasn't that busy, and it was a Friday night (Hello, 'best foot forward', maybe?). Next time I will opt for seafood for dinner, because the calamari had been perfect. Thankfully, Chuck, Luc (Kris Lucander, bass player extrordinaire), and Jay (Jason Sharron, drum wizard & accoustic guitar god) all came over at various times during the meal to distract me from the horrible food with their conversation.
A little before nine, Jay & Luc headed over to set up, and after we were done eating, Jon & I headed back into the bar area to wait for the music to start, and the reunion meeting to end, so we could hang out with Mitch and Sanford. Chuck and his wife Pamela managed to snag a table, and then old pal Jim Clark (major local sports guru) walked in. We shot the breeze for a bit over a beer (I switched back to Chair City Pale Ale for the rest of the night), and when it opened up, we grabbed the table in front of Chuck's in order to have a better vantage point for the music, and a place for the reunion planners to sit when they were done. Jay & Luc played a rousing first set, featuring covers of Joe Jackson, John Mayer, The Eagles, and Jethro Tull, among others. Sarah came back from the reunion meeting, with Mitch, Sanford and Ralph in tow, and the drinks and rowdiness increased to appropriate "Friday Night Out" levels. When the second set was in full swing, Pamela had the guys play a song for Chuck for their one year anniversary ("Happy Anniversary" sung over the "William Tell Overture"), and the duo covered tunes from The Beatles, Dave Matthews Band, Fleetwood Mac, and others. People took turns buying rounds as necessary, and over the course of the evening, I handed out wooden nickels to everyone in attendance for future revels. Plus, Brad Penny and the Red Sox beat Baltimore 3 to 1 (five-game skid ended!). When the guys were done for the evening (around 11:30), a female friend of theirs (Lee Villaire, who had sung on a few of their songs earlier in the evening) did a short solo set, which was a nice finale to some awesome music. All in all, it was a great night out, with kick-butt music played by old friends, decent local beer, and the fantastic opportunity to see a bunch of old chums all in one place...
Ah, Day Two: the first full day of music. Because my musical taste didn't line up with that of the girls (Scott & I had a lot of overlap, but they all preferred hard rock & mosh pits to peace & love), I spent the bulk of the three days alone (in a crowd of 200,000 - nice trick) at shows the others had no interest in seeing, but which had been some of my main reasons for attending.
After a leisurely morning, and a breakfast of pretzels, a big apple & water, I wanted to see G-Love (who replaced Sugar Ray last-minute) at the East Stage, but he didn't start 'til a half-hour later, so I headed off to the West Stage with the rest of the group (vodka & cranberry juice bottles in hand) to see Oleander, one of Scott's favorite bands. They were pretty decent, and it was an enjoyable set.
When I finally left the others to head over to G-Love, I got distracted by the music coming from the Emerging Artist Stage (in a converted airplane hangar). I found myself at the Bijou Phillips show, and was enjoying the music (and my booze buzz) so much, that I volunteered to get up on stage to dance with her. Thankfully, she chose three other dudes instead, for she had them strip down to their skivvies, and today was the one day I had on colored briefs (brick red, if you care) instead of boxers. So they hammed it up for her, she sang her ass off, and I danced in the crowd and got a bit pickled. Fun was had by all.
It was SO hot and humid mid-afternoon that I spent the next ninety minutes in the movie tent next door, watching "The Mask", catching my breath, guzzling water, and keeping still in one of the few (relatively) cool spots at the entire event. The film was as funny as I remembered, and it was good to get out of the press of humanity for a bit. After the movie, and stops to fill my empty bottle with water from the fountain, eat a couple of five-dollar hot dogs (meat goooood!), and buy a cool silver ring, I finally made my way to the East Stage, just in time to meet up with Scott & Lisa to see Live (who were very good), and then Sheryl Crow, who was fantastic. The three of us had seen her at The Orpheum in Boston back on May 5th with Semisonic, and she was just as good today as she was back then, but in a different way (more raw & powerful, and more playful too). We spent part of the time watching from the middle-back of the crowd, and the rest watching her on the big round screen off to the side, so we could breathe, and make it out quickly after her set. Plus we got tired of all the meatheads bellowing "Show us your tits!" at her between songs. Weak. Highlights included "Favorite Mistake", "Everyday is a Winding Road", and "Sweet Child O'Mine".
On the way back to the tents we stopped at the Emerging Artist Stage again, and caught a bit of then "It-Kid" Ben Lee. He sucked. Maybe it was the heat (mid-nineties and high humidity all day), maybe it was his music (probably a combo of both), but none of us really cared for his voice, and we headed off to our campsite slightly deflated. When we got back to the tents, we all compared notes for a bit, and the other five all headed back out into the mob to the East Stage to see The Offspring and then Korn perform. Personally, I was wiped out. So I drank a lot of water, had another apple, popped out my contact lenses, and read part of the book ("Master and Commander" by Patrick O'Brian) I had brought for any downtime I might have. After about a hundred pages, and George Clinton playing off in the distance on the West Stage, I was out like a light (circa 9:30 pm!). I wound up sleeping for twelve straight hours. What a first day!
"Bitch & Moan" Excuses #3 and #4 Spoiled: T-shirts were $30, and I didn't think that was a good deal, so I didn't buy one (in contrast, the silver ring with imbedded black salamanders all around it was worth the $25 to me). And sure, the hot dogs were five bucks each, but we had brought plenty of food with us (apples, pretzels, sports bars, etc...), and by planning aheadyet again, we weren't "forced" to pay the high vendor prices unless we chose to.
Akron/Family's last album 'Love Is Simple' had some songs I really enjoyed, but it didn't hold together enough to keep me interested in the album as a whole. The musicianship left a little to be desired, and on several occasions threatened to collapse under the weight of its own earnest ambitions. With 'Set 'Em Wild...' they make a decided step forward in all elements of their presentation--tighter playing, more cohesive continuity--providing firmer support for their lofty ambitions, and (thankfully) shedding a little of the neo-hippy semi-improvisational approach (a la Feathers and Devandra Banhart) that flavored much of 'Love Is Simple.' It's still there a little bit, but a more controlled experimental, studio production aesthetic takes center stage on 'Set 'Em Wild...', Akron/Family's best album to date. 7/10
Notes: ☼ Various tour dates, in addition to the ones we list under "Upcoming Events", can be found on each artist's page.
Not Lame Minus
What is worse than being lame? Being lame minus™. A term coined by us awhile back, and gaining slow (but sure) usage in all kinds of social situations. We shall ever strive to ensure that our adventures or pursuits are never classifiable under the dreaded heading of...
