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2006:08:31:08:00. Thursday. NO!: CHARLEMAGNE (#143, AUG 23 2006).
Madison's final Charlemagne show -- at least until Carl Johns returns as a touring act in March -- ended with an apologetic whimper. The set closed with "(We Are) Making Light," and the crowd followed that with extended applause and calls for more; after a few moments Carl told us, sadly, that was all they had. I'd not recorded that song, expecting to record the encore that never came, so this track is all I have from Charlemagne's set. It's a good one, though -- as he dove into the beginning of this song, he stopped suddenly when the rest of the band didn't follow him. Instead they began to sing "Happy Birthday" and somebody brought him a shot. It was a nice, sweet way for him to go out, I think, and a good song to do it with.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:30:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: THE SUPER EIGHTS (#142, AUG 23 2006).
Now, I despise Texas as much as the next right-thinking American (that is to say, a lot), but when I first saw the Super Eights last fall, this is the song that stuck with me after the show. A lullaby based on "Deep in the Heart of Texas," this is maybe the group's sweetest song, and certainly their softest. It's an almost mournful tone given the song's subject matter -- all the expansive natural wonder that no longer represents a state dominated by energy conglomerates, big-money politicking and suburban sprawl. Texas isn't a whole other country anymore, it's Houston now, and it's been left behind in many ways by an American West that is remaking itself in progressive populism. Mourning it seems both odd and right as the prairie wind sound of this song passes through you.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:29:16:30. Tuesday. FOR THE WIN. What is the pathology that allows self-proclaimed conservatives that continue to rally to George Bush to do so? Glenn Greenwald today examines an interview with Richard Posner, a hero to the group that Norman Mailer calls "flag conservatives" for his support of unchecked executive power and the view that terrorism is such a novel existential threat to the United States that we must fundamentally remake ourselves in order to fight it. Posner's take on the nature of the Constitution is, and there's no way to put this any milder, diametrically opposed to the view taken by such arch-conservative jurists as Antonin Scalia. He calls the Constitution "flexible" and a "loose garment," arguing that we must reinterpret it to deal with problems the Founders couldn't have foreseen. The embrace of Posner's argument to support the radical conclusions of those like John Yoo -- the unitary executive theory -- is hardly the only bit of cognitive dissonance that flag conservatives have glossed over in the past few years, but it makes for a nice archetype. John Dean argues that these people are simply desperate at their cores to be ruled over, and so they support authoritarianism whenever they can, but I have a hard time seeing how that applies to them all. Sure, some of the more prominent flag conservatives may be opportunists, looking to project themselves to an audience (Rush Limbaugh comes to mind, as does noted glibertarian Glenn Reynolds), but think there's something else going on at a base level that neither of those two things explains. For this bunch -- fiery partisans, the sort of people who stormed the vote-counting sessions in Florida's 2000 recount -- 2003 was the high-water mark of their political influence and maybe the first moment of its kind since FDR's partisan political capital peaked. Republicans -- conservative Republicans, aided by a relatively small cadre of neocons -- could've done anything they wanted then. They got the war they'd been asking Santa for for years, but little else. Now that public opinion has reined them in somewhat, they're making a last ditch effort to finally win the game at all costs, to close things out once and for all before the Democrats are able to take the field again, by instituting a quasi-Constitutional monarchy. Very few of them will benefit in any way from this, and none of them will feel "safer," but all of them will feel like they won, and that they finally showed those goddamn liberals what America is really all about -- them and the stars on their bellies.
2006:08:29:08:00. NO!: THE SUPER EIGHTS (#141, AUG 23 2006).
2006 has been kind of vicious for the Madison rock scene, and there's still a third of it left. A number of high-profile bands have moved or just called it quits, and three venues have shut down. Add to that gas prices that make touring more dicey than ever and things start to look grim. So it was really nice, if this show had to be a wake of sorts, for the evening to be such a celebratory one. Shazy Hade, a new group formed by members of one of those that broke up, opened the show with just the right tone (though I confess I couldn't really get into the music), and the Super Eights' set brought it up a notch. We don't get many truly local showcase shows in Madison, so it was really awesome to be part of a packed house so clearly happy to have one last chance to hear these songs.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:28:08:00. Monday. NO!: THE SUPER EIGHTS (#140, AUG 23 2006).
Wednesday night's Carl Johns going-away show also marked the last show for local pop-rockers the Super Eights, for whom Johns played keyboard. I'd only seen them once before, and their bowing out was as much a draw for me to this show as Charlemagne. The Super Eights write songs about states, with the occasional country or city thrown in to shake things up. If you've never heard them before, it takes a few songs for it to sink in. You'll hear a song about Ohio, then one about Virginia, then this one about New Mexico, and you'll think to yourself, or out loud if you're drunk, "Hey, are these songs all about states?" Also, almost all of their songs are two-minute blasts of catchy guitar energy, and this one is no exception. It's a real shame that all they ever released was a 7" and some compilation songs.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:25:08:00. Friday. NO!: CHARLEMAGNE (#139, JUN 11 2006).
One of the impressive things about Charlemagne's live shows -- particularly when there are a dozen-plus people on stage -- is how well the songs from the stripped-down, mostly acoustic self-titled album translate to a full-band setting. Songs such as this one (or the one I recorded on Wednesday night, "How Could He?") sound as if they're being played in their original configuration, which says a lot about the pop core at the heart of even the most folky Charlemagne song.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:23:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: CHARLEMAGNE (#138, JUN 11 2006).
After nine years and several bands in Madison, Carl Johns is taking his act to Philly full-time this fall. His last show as a local is tonight at the High Noon Saloon. Also playing and taking their leave of existence are the Super Eights, who are left with a hole upon Johns' departure. Shazy Hade, presumably not playing their last show here, will open. Things get started at 9:00 and it's only $5, so show up for what may turn out to be a truly epochal event. If you don't, you will be sad.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:21:13:36. Monday. I'M BEING TOTALLY SERIAL! Glenn Greenwald deftly tackles two issues of urgent national importance in one post:
But the FISA ruling from Judge Taylor is of a much different nature. The question being decided by NSA cases is, effectively, whether George Bush and his top officials, along with those at the NSA following his orders by eavesdropping without judicial approval, are guilty of felonies.
... This has been the most bizarre part of the NSA scandal all along: the President got caught red-handed violating an extremely clear law -- he admitted to engaging in the very behavior which that law says is a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine -- and yet official Washington (the political and pundit classes) simply decided to pretend that wasn't the case. He goes on to connect this almost unbelievable fact of the NSA scandal -- and easily the most underreported implication of it -- to the general culture of mulliganism that prevails in Washington.
This is the same mindset that has placed off limits any real accounting for the abject disaster that our country has been lead into in Iraq. Official Washington won't accept any emphatic declarations of guilt over what happened because virtually the entire Washington establishment endorsed the invasion of Iraq, continued to defend the occupation, and is thus responsible for it. Thus, it's acceptable to offer polite and muted criticisms of those responsible, but they are not to be castigated or stigmatized in any way for their horrendous misjudgments and ongoing deceit.
... Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, Newt Gingrich, Dick Cheney and on and on -- all of them treated by the national media as Important, Wise, Serious foreign policy figures despite their being fundamentally and recklessly wrong about virtually everything with regard to our Iraq disaster. The one thing which the permanent Washington class does not want is accountability -- not for tragic errors, not for lawbreaking -- because being held accountable is the one real threat to their fiefdoms. There's not much to add, except to point that once criminal charges become a known and repeated part of this story, the Mulligan Caucus is going to become that much more desperate and vicious. If that coincides with the peak of the election season, things could become ugly on a historical level.
2006:08:21:08:00. NO!: CHARLEMAGNE (#137, JUN 11 2006).
Charlemagne is actually songwriter Carl Johns and a rotating cast of performers -- a trio on their recent tour, sometimes five or more. And sometimes over a dozen. This set at this past June's Marquette Waterfront Festival on the shore of Lake Monona opened with an invocation of political defiance, during which it became clear that the 12 or so people standing on stage -- including the kid with the guitar -- weren't going anywhere. The lot of them launched into a rousing version of their standard opener, "Pink and Silver," which got the lakeshore crowd up and moving. Even though the Waterfront Festival feels at times more like a backyard barbeque than anything else, the audience was clearly ready to get into the music.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:17:08:00. Thursday. NO!: OF MONTREAL (#136, AUG 7 2006).
I suppose it was inevitable that this song -- performed by somebody -- would wind up in my recordings this year. As the band themselves point out, it's the song of the summer, as inescapable as it is enthralling. And in the Barrymore, it kind of succeeded despite itself. As good as the song is, and as well as the band pulled it off, the acoustics in there threatened to derail the whole thing. Throughout the show, the band and their weirdly active but ineffective sound guy struggled to deal with how the room reflected their high-treble sound. The place is just not built for rock music, and definitely not the bright-sounding stuff Of Montreal brought in -- it's the same thing we heard during the New Pornographers show, and this time it seemed to be bad enough to actually move some people toward the back of the room and out into the lobby. I was happy with the band at this show, but I don't think I'm going back to the Barrymore anytime soon.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:16:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: OF MONTREAL (#135, AUG 7 2006).
Kevin Barnes went through three outfits during the show. This second one was a gold lame blouse that he said he got from an old woman who wore it to show off her "teetas" -- he later revealed that the woman in question was beloved comedienne Bea Arthur, of Maude and The Golden Girls. He makes good use of it while bouncing around to this dark, rhythmic tune from their most recent release.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:15:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: OF MONTREAL (#134, AUG 7 2006).
After the Minders, we were still beat, so we planned to stay seated. Our plans were thwarted, however, when Of Montreal's opening flag routine (yes, flag routine) caused the whole audience to stand up. The Barrymore had its usual coterie of security guys, so I tried to keep the camera hidden for this clip and wound up with some of the same problems as the New Pornographers clips had, but I think they're only really noticeable in this one. This tune is apparently something of an old favorite -- actually it's from 2002's Aldhil's Arboretum, their last record before their new electrified sound won them so much acclaim. It might be the best sounding of my clips, owing to its more traditional instrumentation in the Barrymore's ultra-trebley acoustics.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:14:08:00. Monday. NO!: THE MINDERS (#133, AUG 7 2006).
Here's a terrific idea for anybody who's got some time on their hands. Fly to the west coast. Stay there for a week, then come home on the redeye. After you get back to your house at about noon, sit around for seven hours and go to a big rock show. See if you feel like staying awake, let alone standing up at the front of the crowd. That's what we did last week and, unfortunately, the Minders weren't really up to keeping our attention. We sat in the middle of the theatre and had to fight against falling asleep for much of their set. It's too bad, because most of what I've heard from them is pretty decent material, but it's kind of light and unexciting. Their set, at least what I remember of it, reflected that. Hopefully they'll come back soon and play a smaller venue at a time when I'm not passing out.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:13:23:05. Sunday. THERE'S BEEN AN A. WHITNEY BROWN SIGHTING. The Daily Show has recently been playing clips from past shows in honor of its tenth birthday, and one a couple of weeks ago featured former contributor A. Whitney Brown. He's probably best known for his commentaries (called "The Big Picture," also the title of a similarly themed book by Brown) during the Dennis Miller-era "Weekend Update" on Saturday Night Live, but he's done very little since leaving TDS in the late 90's. After briefly seeing him discuss the constant presence of NAMBLA members at Disney World, I started looking around after him. Apparently he worked as a producer for Air America Radio, got fired for "insubordination," started a blog that lasted exactly two days and is now a semi-regular diarist at Daily Kos. It's kind of weird to see, because I think he was one of the best political humorists of the late 80's and early 90's, both in terms of message and style, and now he's part of a mass of what amounts to long tail political commentary. It'll be nice to hear something from him once in a while now, and maybe this is a stage that suits him. Two of my favorite bloggers, Digby and Billmon, distinctly remind me of his style, after all. Still, somebody, please, put him back on television. Everytime I think of A. Whitney Brown, I'm reminded of what a do-nothing punk Lewis Black is.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:11:16:48. Friday. THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BAY AREA. San Francisco was a pretty nice place to spend probably our only vacation this year, even if it was partially a working vacation. The weather was terrific, especially coming from our 100+ degree heat indices in Madison, and we spent a fair amount of our time there in jackets and long pants. I'm not sure I'd want to live there (and given the near-term effects of global warming, that may not be an option for much longer) but I hope we get a chance to visit again soon. Some good things: And a couple annoying things:
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:11:08:00. NO!: BLOC PARTY (#132, AUG 4 2006).
Of the new Bloc Party songs I've heard (both at this show and recorded from other shows), I think I like this one the best. It's got a sound that's a step away from that of Silent Alarm, but at the same time it's not tepid the way "Waiting For the 7:18" and "Two More Years" kind of are. It might also help that around the point in the show they began playing most of my favorites -- "Banquet," "Helicopter," "Like Eating Glass" -- so I'm anxious to hear how this one sounds on the new record.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:10:08:00. Thursday. NO!: BLOC PARTY (#131, AUG 4 2006).
They noted a couple times during the set that this was their biggest headlining gig ever, but I think their celebrating technique could use a bit of work. The first time they mentioned what a special night it was, and proceeded to have everyone shout, "Special!" The next time they had everybody do the wave a couple times, only they called it a "Mexican wave." A tip for next time: fewer crowd participation moments, more awesome new songs.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:09:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: BLOC PARTY (#130, AUG 4 2006).
By the time Bloc Party was ready to take the stage -- after a lengthy technical problem with singer Kele Okereke's monitor -- the venue had begun to show just how sold out it was. The upper seats and lawn, which had been sparsely used during the Mew and Two Gallants sets, were filled with late-comers, all the space around us on the floor had been taken as well. This set-opener was once of three new songs they played, and already seems to be well known among the band's fans. As they begin playing, you'll hear a noticable cheer of awareness. One of the band members noted later, that's the power of the Internet.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:08:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE (#129, AUG 4 2006).
The second opener was a two-piece Saddle Creek rock act called Two Gallants. They, let's say, didn't fit the show. I kind of liked their new album the first time I heard it, but since then I've soured on it and their set didn't help. Mainly, their guitar and drumkit combo didn't do much to fill the open-air amphitheatre, and I'm kind of wondering how Mates of State will sound when they play there this Friday. Next up were the much-loved Broken Social Scene -- all 10+ of them. I've never really been able to get into them, but this is one of their songs I like quite a bit. The title is apt -- it's probably the only pop single ever written in 7/4 time, though I don't know that for sure -- and it fits a piece of smooth contemporary rock for adults. I find that BSS's exploration often doesn't work for me, but songs such as this one and "KC Accidental" hit all the right notes.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:07:08:00. Monday. NO!: MEW (#128, AUG 4 2006).
In the middle of our week in San Francisco, we headed over to Berkeley with my sister, Sarah, to see Bloc Party and a coterie of opening bands. As it turned out, this was the only show we'd make it to during the trip. Once we parked and began walking down the steep hill from the parking lot to UC-Berkeley's Greek Theatre, we could hear Mew repeatedly soundchecking a song, "Am I Wry? No," which I'd put on a mix for Emily way back when. It took hearing that to really drive home why I'd liked them so much for a brief period of time, around the same time I was suddenly big on the Radio Dept. and the Dears. When I first heard And the Glass Handed Kites it didn't have that same resonance, but it does sound good live. They did a surprisingly good job of energizing a sparse, early crowd with often instrumental material, and I was glad for the chance to see them, if only for half a dozen songs. I realized in the middle of their set that I couldn't remember the last time I saw a European band live -- the only one ever may have been Spain's Aina opening for Burning Airlines and the Promise Ring -- so I'm glad that Bloc Party brought these guys over with them.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:05:10:45. Saturday. I CAN TELL YOU HOW THIS ENDS. Some scenes from the Bloc Party show:
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:04:08:00. Friday. NO!: MARGOT & THE NUCLEAR SO AND SO'S (#127, JUL 13 2006).
The opening act for this show was supposed to be a local power-pop act called the Roman Candles, but unfortunately for them, only the drummer and singer/guitarist Mark Hopper remembered to show up. They waited quite a while before going on, and eventually Hopper just played a solo set, while being clearly annoyed by his erstwhile bandmates. The So and So's set was ultimately cut short because of the delay, since Terrace shows have to end by midnight, but they promised to keep it going in the parking lot until the cops kicked them out -- whether they did or not is an open question.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:02:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: MARGOT & THE NUCLEAR SO AND SO'S (#126, JUL 13 2006).
There were maybe half a dozen people who were really into the band, and whom I assumed were part of whatever rising crest of popularity Margot et al. are on. One of those people led the charge to get the crowd to stand right up next to the stage, and then proceeded to dance all over the place, while introducing her friends to each other, talking to random strangers, getting phone calls, etc. She can be heard in this clip offering to "move her body." It seems kind of strange that the Terrace is feeling more and more like the Annex lately.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:08:01:19:24. Tuesday. MY HEART. Some things I've seen in San Francisco.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra |
