Saturday, October 16, 2004

Couple of people asked for feedback on the Concrete Blonde show, so I actually tried to take some notes.  That meant trying to hold a notebook and a can of High Life in one hand while scribbling shorthand in the dark, but I'm actually able to make out at least half of what I wrote...

Got to the Cradle in time to catch the last 3 or 4 songs from the opening band - four-piece from Charlotte called Belaraphon or Beaucatcher or Badfinger or something.  I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to book a band with a female lead singer to open for CB - there's no way she was going to do anything but suffer by comparison and she, uh, didn't disappoint.  It usually works the other way around, but I think in this case these guys are probably a much better studio band than a live act - they seem to have the chops but need to work on the delivery a bit.  Little too emo for my taste.

The guy soundchecking the mics during the break sounded like Homestar Runner - no lie.  If he'd said "Games" or "E-Mail" I'd've shit my pants.  If you have no idea what I'm babbling about, go here - http://www.homestarrunner.com/main4.html - and play around a little bit then come back.  No, that's okay, we'll wait.  Really.  [Whistles tunelessly, absently kicks at the carpet, plays a couple of hands of Solitaire]  Back?  Isn't that a hoot?

Concrete Blonde came on about 10:15 - crowd was surprisingly small (about half the house I'd say) but very enthusiastic (more people did show up later - if you haven't been to many shows lately, Frank's not kidding about starting shows earlier than everybody used to).  For those that really want a mental picture - Jim Mankey on the right in black shirt with bolo, Johnette in long denim skirt, white t-shirt and Yoko Ono hair covering both sides of her face for most of the show.  Had some bad sound problems to start and a couple of times later in the show - I kept hoping Mike Beard would show up and make it all okay.  There was an open cord causing some pretty nasty feedback during the opener and the beginning of the second song, which just happened to be God Is a Bullet (ack!) but the sound guy finally tracked it down and all was well in time for Johnette to change her litany of senseless gun deaths to "John Lennon - Dr. King - bring the troops home - they're dying for goddamn nothing!"  Jim Mankey is a hell of a damn guitar player.  I kinda knew that, but it bears repeating.  And Johnette plays a pretty mean bass, too.  The fourth song was a cover of Ghost Riders in the Sky which was about the time that voice in my head started popping up at irregular intervals to exclaim 'My GOD that woman has a voice!".  And she managed to keep it up for a straight hour and a half without a break, without an instrumental for a rest and without letting up.  Other than God is a Bullet, they started off with some of the slower stuff but by the end of the set they were rocking with Days and Days, Bloodletting (The Vampire Song) and The Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man.  After a 5 minute break, they came back with Mexican Moon, something I didn't recognize and (naturally) Joey as their closer.

Overall, I thought it was damn fine, tight show, despite the sound problems.  Sorry, Lex, they didn't play Still in Gastonia Hollywood, and there were a couple of other tunes I would liked to have heard, but they did work in some of their new material and it sounds just as good as ever.  Roxy (a tribute to Roxy Music) and Take Me Home (where she sounded the most Chrissie Hynde-ish) from Group Therapy were both dynamite live.  If you haven't checked their catalogue lately, they've got a live 2CD set called Live in Brazil that I'll be picking up that looks like it covers a lot of the same material.  Bottom line - if you get the chance to see them, don't miss it!

Thursday, October 14, 2004

10:00PM: "No child left behind is really a jobs act," says Bush. Of course. And Social Security is really a missile defense program. And Federal Highways funding? Actually a part of the Metric Conversion Office. And clean coal legislation helps you make soup.

Keith Olbermann scored it like a boxing match:

9:57 p.m. ET
Round twelve: Bush receives on what Schieffer says was the most emailed question: illegal immigration. Which is it: societal, security, economic issue? Bush says it's everything. Minus one point for answering "all of the above." Bush introduces "temporary worker card" allowing workers and employers to "mate up." Can the OB-GYN's be far off? Straying from the conservative base here; I can hear Pat Buchanan screaming in Tempe all the way here in New York. Bush opposes amnesty and talks about line crowding. Schieffer has to tell Bush time's up. Minus one point for red light foul. Now Kerry's voice strains as he swings to gap between incomes at the ends of the spectrum. Says president broke promises on immigration reform. Says borders are leaking more than 9/11 and connects solidly. One point to Kerry. "It's against the law to hire people illegally." Minus one point to Kerry for tautology. Bush responds saying Kerry doesn't know the borders. Swings hard, but says the borders of Texas are tighter now then when he was Governor. Oops. Minus one point to Bush. Kerry rebuts evenly.
Round, Kerry, 0 to -3.

and Fafblog live-blogged it after the fact:

Freedom also GROWS in Afghanistan! Those aren't just poppies, Giblets. They are poppies of democracy. Bloom on, sweet opiates of liberty! Bloom on!

Compassion is on the march too as George Bush is pointin out. We now have "armies of compassion." This isn't your wimpy, pussy compassion, Fafnir. This is compassion with guns. This is a KILLIN compassion!

But which is stronger Giblets? Compassion or freedom?

Freedom could totally smoke compassion in a fight. Better armed, more superior firepower, an just a whole lot nastier an stronger. I hear compassion has lost over a thousand troops in Abu Ghraib alone.

I think I'm just glad they're over with and that Kerry dominated Bush like a BIG SLAWBERRIN' DAWG!!

Posted by Tony @ 08:45:00 pm |

 

Carolina Football - Week Six

I can't comment on the "did he score-didn't he score?" controversy - all I've got to go on is the replays on the news that everyone else can see.  All I know is that it's pretty damned freakish awesome that they were in a position where that call actually mattered.  I'll admit to expecting them to be behind State by a couple of TDs by then - not hanging on to a lead.  The Heels still seem to be playing true to form to some extent - State grabbed almost 600 yards of total offense and twice as many 1st downs as UNC did.  But despite all of that, they're still 3-3.  At this point, it's not beyond belief to think they could end up with a winning record (which I'll admit to having been sure was out of reach before the season started).  Two of the three teams I thought they had a shot at beating are still to come (WF and Dook) and Virginia Tech in Kenan Stadium is winnable if the team that played Louisville and Virginia stays the fuck home.  On the other hand, I still think the chances of Dad getting his $5 are pretty damn slim.

Posted by Tony @ 08:25:00 pm |

 

Just loverly!

I don't even have anything funny to say about this one.

Courtesy The Saucy Librarian.

Posted by Tony @ 08:20:00 pm |

Monday, October 11, 2004

 

And we're back...

Excellent little mini-vacation to Manteo and the Outer Banks - like most of the best vacations, there's not much really to say about it other than it was much fun!  Walked on the beach (always good for my soul), took some pictures, ate way too much food (all of it very good), got some rest (except when the alarm clock went off in the empty room next to us as we were falling asleep last night and it took a couple of hours to track down the manager to get it shut off), walked a lot (but fell behind on running) and didn't spend any time watching debates, reading about campaign speeches or thinking much about elections.

As far as the food goes, the fact that we have trouble finding enough meals to eat at all our favorite restaurants out there is pretty funny, given that our first trip out there together in 1986 nearly ended in divorce since the only thing most restaurants out there offered my vegetarian spouse was applesauce.  I was convinced that there had to be something for her somewhere and we drove up the beach road for a few miles with me promising that if nothing turned up in the next few minutes we'd go home.  About that time we came upon a little place called Gandalf's with a MG Midget in the front with vanity tags saying "Bilbo" and we knew we were safe.  Gandalf's is long gone (a raw bar called Tortuga's Lie inhabits the space now) but since then there has been a huge change in the mix of restaurants out there.  Now while we might be disappointed to go out and find a favorite like Millie's Diner or Red Sky or Merriam's is closed, we seem to find a new place to replace it each time we go out.  My current favorite is Chilli Peppers, home of both the best food and the best t-shirts on the beach.

Picked up a book at Manteo Booksellers called Dixie Lullaby: A Story of Music, Race, and New Beginnings in a New South by Mark Kemp of the Charlotte Observer.  I heard a few minutes of an interview with him on "The State of Things" on WUNC a couple of weeks ago and it sounded like an interesting read - from the interview it was clear that we are Southern boys born in the same year and share a lot of life experiences but it's also clear that we took some pretty different roads.  The kinda fun thing from just a quick flip through the book is that we were definitely at some of the same shows and I'm betting he was even one of our customers at the club - I'll have to e-mail him when I've finished the book and ask him.  I haven't read it yet, so this isn't a recommendation - in fact, if anyone has already read it, let me know what you thought!

Posted by Tony @ 09:00:00 pm |