Saturday, January 28th, 2006
Hang Out With Intelligent People
Rob Dickinson, who put on quite a stellar show at The Horseshoe last October will be back for a show at Lee’s Palace on March 7 in support of Fresh Wine For The Horses, which is turning out to having a surprisingly long shelf life for me. I wonder if he’s still doing the acoustic with band configuration or if he’s amping it up for the larger venues? Considering some jackass stole all his gear and personal belongings in Portland a few weeks ago, maybe not (though if you want to donate some money or deodorant, you can contatct him via MySpace for a mailing address).
The Los Angeles Times talks to Rob about life post-Wheel and So Much Silence saw Rob in Scottsdale a few nights ago and recorded the show. He’s got about half the show up right now, and more are coming. Nice to see “Eat My Dust You Insensitive Fuck” make it into the set list – Happy Days is the one album I almost never listen to (yes, even less than Wishville) on account of it straying a little too close to metal-ish territory for my tastes, but I forget there are some great tunes on there as well. I should revisit.
And some more shows – The Two Koreas, Final Fantasy and Gentleman Reg will be at Lee’s Palace February 15 for an Images Festival party and The Stills will be at the Berkeley Church (I think that’s a church on Berkeley) with current love-em/hate-ems-du-jour Morningwood and Interpol’s Carlos D will also be along for the ride providing… moral support? That’s on March 8. Old 97 gone solo Rhett Miller will be at the Horseshoe on March 14 and Jamie Lidell’s Motown-tronica is at Lee’s on April 21 ($15.00). And in bad news/good news, Field Music have postponed their March 11 show at Sneaky Dee’s – bad because, well, they’ve postponed, but good because they might reschedule on a night that I can go!
Soulshine pays tribute to one of Canada’s unofficial poet laureates, Leonard Cohen. Not that you need a reason to salute the man. He’s Leonard Cohen. And The Calgary Sun and Canada.com catch up with another of our national treasures, Neil Young, at Sundance where his new documentary Heart Of Gold debuted. I’ve been lucky enough to get passes to a sneak preview of the film so I’ll be reporting back on it in a couple weeks.
The Fader reprints their recent cover story on Cat Power. Via For The Records. I just picked up The Greatest yesterday – my first new album purchase of 2006, if you can believe it. And it’s a good start. The digipack is shiiiiiiny.
Lou Barlow announced on his website that he’s going into the studio very soon to work on a new Dinosaur Jr album. I really have no idea what to expect from that.
Stylus takes another desperate and unfortunate step towards becoming Pitchfork Jr with their Worst Albums Of The Week feature. Satire is fine, but not if it’s not funny. And this just isn’t funny.
Emory Wheel looks at the persistant appeal of vinyl in the digital age. Via Coolfer.
np – Maryrose Crook with The Renderers / Ghosts Of Our Vegas Lives
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1/28/06 9:44 am
I had no idea Field Music was even touring N. America–now I learn they’re playing Chicago–thanks for the info.
1/28/06 9:47 am
Okay, I just read that Stylus piece, and I must agree with your sentiment–just mean-sprited and snarky–every stereotype these rags should actively strive against. And horrible grammar, too. Third stereotype.
1/28/06 3:47 pm
that cat power disc is my first one of the year too – and i also dig the shiny-ness.
1/28/06 5:11 pm
Thanks, Frank. I’ve got the rest of the set ready to roll for Sunday, with "Crank" and "Black Metallic" and "Future Boy." In all, six of his 12 songs were Catherine Wheel tracks. Man, I didn’t he got gear jacked; I shoulda bought a T-shirt.
1/29/06 2:46 am
the stylus thing, ESPECIALLY the part about issac brock, was unfunny and unecessary. i can’t believe they wasted bandwidth space to slag the bands they exalted last year, and really the only interesting thing on their blog anyway. besides "playing god." they’ve turned into a bunch of pretentious twits.
1/29/06 2:47 am
the bands they slag, being the only interesting thing on their blogs, i meant.
1/29/06 2:47 am
only interesting things on their SITE, i meant. gosh darnit!
1/29/06 5:59 am
27.50 for billy bragg tickets! so steep!
1/29/06 10:31 am
yeah, that’s not cheap but for what it’s worth, Billy puts on an awesome show. So I’d still say it’s worth it.
1/29/06 10:37 pm
I saw the Stills at the Phoenix on thursday for a cbc tv show taping along with the constantines and ron sexsmith. The Stills really impressed me. They seem to have matured, progressed or something cos their new tunes seem WAY more musical. Really cool organ and guitar playing. Lots of playing.. Right on.
1/30/06 1:36 am
the constantines played too!?! fucking hell i rsvped but got caught up at the last second, i thought it was just the stills and some matt mays fellow.
1/31/06 12:26 am
You’re being too tough on Stylus. That particular piece wasn’t stellar (I never like that Dom guy’s contributions), but I still think Stylus is interesting for it transatlantic perspective. And for a site that’s primarily about indie rock, it covers a lot of unexpected terrain. I can’t remember the last time Pitchfork did anything that surprised me.
1/31/06 12:52 am
Well I like Stylus, which is why I’m a little disappointed in some of the choices they’ve made of late, like the rather bland redesign and the snarky attitudes. I’m not writing them off by any means, but I hope it’s not a trend that’s going to become more prevelant.