Fake it till you make it

Times New Viking
Wordless Music Series
June 27, 2008
Lowery Gallery of the Whitney Museum
NYC

It was way too crowded to get anything approaching a good shot of the band, so instead I offer a closeup of Beth Murphy's keyboard, specifically the electric green gaffer's tape scrawled with the words, "David Kilgour was here." Supercool. Possibly acquired during the last run of Yo La Tengo Hannukah shows where both Times New Viking and The Clean were openers.

Despite the fact that the show was put on by the Wordless Music Series, vocals were indeed uttered during the songs, although whether they were made up of actual words or fuzzed-out nonsensical wails is unknown. It was my first time seeing a musical performance at the Whitney and the venue was not acoustically ideal, especially for such a packed engagement. So it's hard to remark on exactly how the show sounded, however I can vouch for the extremely good-looking nature of the crowd. It was like a stylish young hip person convention in there!

ACME opened, performing selections from the string quartets of Jefferson Friedman.

The Devolution Will Not Be Well-Attended (But Will Still Be Awesome)

Devo
June 26, 2008
Mccarren Pool
NYC



The Tom Tom Club was the 2nd opener.


Tina Weymouth is just about the hottest woman ever.










And Dan Deacon played first.

The Brothers Unconnected

Alan & Richard Bishop: A Tribute to Charles Gocher & Sun City Girls
June 22, 2008
Knitting Factory

My First Wedding

Oneida
June 13, 2008
The Kitchen
NYC

Oneida performed their album, The Wedding, in its entirety. They were accompanied by pianist Emily Manzo (of Social Registry duo Christy & Emily) and a string quartet directed by Brian Coughlin, who wrote the string arrangements for the LP. It was a true multi-media affair with light show by the Mighty Robot AV Squad.

Wadada Leo Smith

Vision Festival
June 13, 2008
Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center
NYC

Headed over to the Lower East Side after the Oneida show to check out the Vision Fest, a week-long celebration of avant garde music. I had recently been entranced by a short film called Vertical Air featuring the music and performance of free jazz trumpter Wadada Leo Smith during the MoMA's jazz score series. So I had to go check him out when I saw he was playing at the Vision Fest. Smith's band consisted of Vijay Iyer on piano, John Lindberg on bass, Famoudou Don Moye and Pheeroan akLaff on drums.

Kidd Jordan

Vision Fest
June 11, 2008
Clemente Soto Velez Center

Fred Anderson (ts) / Kidd Jordan (ts) / William Parker (b) / Hamid Drake (dr)

Oh, Louis!

Lou Reed recently joined Bob Dylan to become a DJ of his very own radio program on satellite radio. For the occasion, Louis sat down with New York magazine for a brief, but chock-full-of-awesome interview in which he:
-discusses being enamored with the radio ("I think the radio is amazing") and bemoans the loss of real DJs who turn people on to "some really good shit"
-states that all the good new music comes from Brooklyn
-and in response to the reporter's query into whether he owns stock in Sirius, responds:

What are you, a fucking asshole? I'm here telling you the truth about music and you want to know if I have stock in the fucking radio? You fucking piece of shit. What did I do to deserve that?

God bless you, Lou.

Clinic + Bang on a Can

Saturday, May 31, 2008

I started off the night by catching British band, Clinic at the Bowery Ballroom.

The band looked like gay porn stars in their get-ups, which consisted of surgical masks covering their mouths and Hawaiian shirts.

Afterwards, I headed over to the World Financial Center for the Bang on Can Marathon. Another all-night concert!

So Percussion


Dan Deacon