DA BOOPA DA BOOPA
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Can You Feel It?
Collage: jESiO
Pics: jESiO and the internet
Lucero at Jewish Mother
The only band I know tonight is Lucero. I heard Micah from ELT and a couple of guys who work at Alpha were in Augustine but I didn’t know what to expect. Never even heard of Glossary.
Augustine starts. It’s country…but I’m not squirming? What’s this? I thought I was allergic…Essentially, Augustine is the Claritin for all of us ailing from this affliction with the CMT crowd. So drawn to Nashville yet so loathe contrived music.
And there’s a Fender. Being played well. These guys have a great stage presence and write and perform exceptionally well—especially when it’s not their full time job. The steel lap guitarist was fun to watch. His shoulders were popping and bobbing and weaving. He was played metal in his head, I think.
I recommend anyone check them out at a larger venue. Jury is still out on bar-size venues like Hell’s Kitchen. Apparently they’re playing with Long Division soon at 37th and Zen, but I can’t find the band’s website anywhere, so no links and no pics.
Glossary played next. They’re from Mufreesboro, TN, which to anyone into live music, you will know this is the nearest town to Bonnaroo. I like them based on this. Check out their Myspace and decide for yourself. The songs and stage swagger wasn’t bad. It also was nothing original or particularly inspiring. I was somewhat reminiscent of The Black Crowes.
Lucero you are my hero…Shit, that doesn’t rhyme. Guess that’s why I’m not the songwriter and rather the fan/critic. This was such a great night for Rock. That’s right Rock, not rock. These guys aren’t the loudest I’ve heard or the rowdiest…but whatever they did to that crowd at the Jewmom last Sunday, they brought the rock show kids out in full force.
There was a bottle of red wine being passed through the crowd. There was crowdsurfing! I hadn’t seen that in a decade! Sweet! Until they almost broke the light rig…one can was dangling for a while there.
During “Can’t Feel A Thing” the entire throng of bodies was fist and/or beer and/or girlfriend in the air, everyone singing along. It’s the moments like this that make rock concerts the best ones to go to. Yeah, you can feel claustrophobic at times. Yeah, your shoes are usually gross and your hair’s stuck in weird positions by the end of it. Sometimes you have that hangover whiplash thing going on for three days. Sometimes agresso-dudes are bogarting the dance floor. But…the communion of a sing-a-long for a non top 40 song is momentous. It’s you realizing you are experiencing the exact same emotion as everyone else in the room. It’s fun.
They had wind instruments. It wasn’t a jammy-jazzy vibe, though. It was Percy Sledge interludes with the best in today’s Tennessee scene, just really good south music. Metal horns and pickup trucks and fine art…something like that anyway.
I like Lucero records but after this, I’m converted. They were so good live that even if I go back and listen to their albums (which I previously thought were hard to define and thus mildly uninspiring), I’m going to know what they look like on stage and what they do to their audience and I’m going to like them more effortlessly.
Lunch
pic: jESiO
Waaaayy too much natural light in the window, but you get the idea. It was freezing outside, yet sunny. Let's pretend we're on a patio in Capri for a minute...Alas, it was just my dining room :(
Take A Picture It Lasts Longer
I just discovered HereNorth Photography out of New Jersey.
The pallete is subtle and mundane in the best way--the way that makes you see seventeen shades of beige.
Or make you think you've been there before.
Maybe you have. Photographer Adriana Cruz uses a lot of items from her daily life (including her sister as a model and the homes of friends and family for setting).
The comfort level she has in her surroundings shines through in the photography. It's warm and familiar.
Check her out here.
Art of a Different Color
pic: lastheplace.com
pic: dsusa.org
Normally this blog pertains to music and art...a hodgepodge of colors or brainwaves that inspire me. Today's inspiration is a little different.
I had lunch with a friend on 37th and Hampton. I live on Colonial and New York. AKA: Not Far.
Over a $22 lunch, I complained about a few things in my life and she did the same. We weren't "woe is me," however, there was some self pity peppering the pita chips.
I walked over to Muddy Paws and bought my dog some treats. Ahh! Sunshine in the city! Walked back to my car and a kind sir pointed out my front tire was flat. Grr...
There was a gas station with an air pump on the same block. I cautiously drove there and realized I had no change. No cash even. Across the street was a Bank of America. Five dollars in ATM fees and two precarious trips crossing Hampton Boulevard during lunch hour later, I'm back at the air pump working on my tire. I'm frustrated.
I drive home and flip through radio stations. Commercial. Commericial. Commer--- The Heath Calhoun 400 coming to Richmond International Raceway!
Wait. What?
For those of you who don't know, Heath is an Army Vet whom I've known since childhood. Same church youth group. Same high school. Etc. I haven't seen him in years, but childhood friends generally don't leave the memory. I remember doing this hybrid hanglide/skydive thing with him at King's Island and the adrenaline rush lasting for what seemed like forever.
He joined the Army and went to Iraq. He lost his legs. He's one of the most successful people I know despite all of this. I'm not a good military writer and won't do justice to what great things need to be and have been said about him, so I'll post some links at the bottom of this if anyone's interested in specifics.
Anyway, the point is this: Inspiration often comes in the forms of art, music, movies. The next time you're blessed to break down directly between a bank and a gas station, five blocks from home, on a warm sunny day, with legs to get you to the ATM and back, after dropping more than some people spend in a week on a salad, don't complain.
I live here in this military town but don't hang with a lot of miitary people. I don't go to their mall, their movies, their bar. Don't mingle, basically. So today I'm just stopping and taking a second to say THANK YOU. REALLY. Check out the links below for some great feelings.
