Joe Pug @ The Firebird

Sooooo......I haSoooo. I had never been to TheFirebird. But this last Saturday night they had one of my favorites Joe Pug into town.  I have seen him at least 5 times and despite his patently commercial name the guy writes fabulous, meaningful folk/rock.  I have been loving this guy seems I heard the song “Hymn 101”:

“And I've come to roam the forest past the village

With a dozen lazy horses in my cart

I've come here to get high,

To do more than just get by.

I've come to test the timber of my heart

Oh, I've come to test the timber of my heart

And I've come to be untroubled in my seeking

And I've come to see that nothing is for naught

I've come to reach out blind

to reach forward and behind

For the more I seek the more I'm sought

Yea, the more I seek the more I'm sought.”

NPR did a little piece just on this song:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95798312

This was my first trip to The Firebird.  Not for lack of trying.  They have brought a lot of good acts there over the years but I just… never made it.  It is right off of Olive kind of behind the old A.G. Edwards (whatever that is now) and though it fronts on Olive, parking is behind it and you really don’t notice it unless you pay attention (never a strogng suit).  It has been a long time since I really felt like I was “in a good room”.  The much lamented Mississippi Nights, despite everyone’s best intentions has never been really replaced.  We had lost Ciceros Basement sometime before that and there just was a void.  Off Broadway sucked and though it has improved there was still no place that was just…. a room.  The Firebird could be anyone’s suburban basement.  Just a big, flat room with a stage and a dance floor.  We were lucky enough to get some deating in one of the half dozen booths off to the side and we… had us a time.

He does a solo act and he also comes out with a band and in any case always puts on a great show.  Chicago is the home base but he tours nationally.  His last albumis from 2012 and is called “The Great Despiser”.  He had two prior EP’s and another LP called “Nations Of Heat”.  A nice bio can be found on his site:

http://www.joepugmusic.com/bio/

Each one of the releases has some brilliant songs on it.  One of the problems on all his albums is they are all of such an even, high quality that they seem kind of interchangable.

The same can be said for his live shows.  He has a very tight little three piece band and they fricking OWN his songs.  His voice in consistent and he has learned a lot in the last 4 years of hard core touring.  He works the crowd and plays a tight set frought with with nuance and meaning.  It is music to pay attention to and the crowd at the Firebird was respectful and quiet, almost eerily so for what was close to a full house by the time he went on.  

Anyway, check out Joe Pug (Pugliese) when you have a chance.  Whether life or on one of his CD’s it is what music is all about.

Enui, Or The New Laziness?

Sooooo.... it has been an interesting year. They all seem to be that way now. Taking stock as summer bangs down hard with some sweet weather. It is a morning in the office to be introspective and to avoid work...and the fucking phone. I think you all know I am a reasonably (or unreasonably) religious person but i have it on excellent authority (Beetle Bob) that in heaven there are no phones. No smart phones, dumb phones, fax machines, computers, iPads, think pads, game boys, X-Boxes, Play Stations or anything else that would allow (force) you to be interrupted from whatever we are supposed to be doing there (praising God eternally is, I believe the party line). I will not miss them. I hate them. When mine rings I flinch. This is most certainly true.

Yesterday I had a root canal. I am an incredible sissy as far as pain goes. This on a pain scale was not so bad (once you get the shots) but I did have my mouth wedged open for 1 ½ hours and I do not recommend that. Still, I was in pretty severe pain and now I am not. Still, there is something awful about being in that chair, having your mouth propped open and not feeling like you can close it, or pause, and hearing the whine of the drill. If heaven is a world without cell phones, that is probably hell. If it is not perhaps God could rethink it.

So yes, I digressed. A weird year. I cannot seem to read this year. Normally I would be about 15 books into the year but now when I go to bed I am good for about a page before I go to sleep. My discretionary (non-work related) reading is pretty limited to the Wall Street Journal and the New Yorker. I dislike the Murdoch paper’s hyper conservative agenda but their coverage world wide is better than the Times as far as hard news and catching up as to the arts. They have clearly surpassed USA Today (Highlights Magazine) as the daily of people who can actually read. The New Yorker is of course the opposite of the Journal with a bitter liberal bent that is whiningly become just as difficult to swallow. But the articles and in depth reporting is awesome. When they do a piece, you learn if you read it. Of course I cannot retain anything but that is neither here nor there. Bottom line is that I have not read any books this year that have really stuck with me. I also have stopped reading about 5 books because they did not ever grab me but it is hard to be grabbed when going about it at a page a day. I am taking my final mini-vacation and am thinking about buying 10-20 comic books (not graphic novels but actual comic books) to see if I can kick start an interest in fiction again.


I have seen a lot more live music lately and have not been blogging about it. Frank Black, the Old 97’s, the Decemberists, Joe Pug, Alejandro Escovedo, David Lowery, a couple of house concerts, Hayes Carll, Elizabeth Cook, James Mc Murtry, Chuck Berry (checking him off bucket list) and I am sure some others who have been lost already in the haze of middle aged memory. But, I seem to be losing touch for new music as it takes too much work, and time. Where did I find the time to listen to all that new music. Sift through the drech. Let the cream rise to the top through repeated listening. I am not even going to Lou Fest this year I do not think. I might change my mind at the last minute but while last year was chock full of bands I needed to see I can only recognize the names of a few and those that I do recognize, they are non-essential to see. The Roots? Surfer Bood? Really? I mean Cat Power might be interesting but only on an intellectual level. Her best songs are all someone else's, but I guess the point is that I am becoming intellectually lazy regarding my pursuit of pleasure.
This is troubling. This requires greater thought. This requires an expansion pack. I think the theory is that as i am ageing, I have less energy for frivolous stuff and the meat of life (which is sometimes hard, often annoying, rarely inspiring (with some exceptions for friends and family) is taking up more and more of my seemingly decreasing band width. Troubling times indeed my friends. More later but in the meantime, have a beer, go see some live music, or a movie or (gasp) even a play (though not a musical).

Concert Review: The Decemberists At The Pageant, St. Louis

Sooooo.... I had the opportunity to see The Decemberists twice on the same tour. Why? WHY? WHY? WHY? do you go see the same band on the same tour? A couple of reasons:
1. Dooling had an extra ticket for Omaha and I needed a road trip; and
2. I am a fan
That is right. My bad old hating, cynical self is a fan of the Decemberists and their pretentious little prick and genius, Colin Meloy. What happened to being a fan? rarely do people gush any more and when they gush at my age it is more likely to be about a red wine or a great deal on a flat screen screen TV. It is a little sad and I am certainly part of the problem berating other peoples taste when they are so bold as to put forth an opinion.

But the Decemberists and Meloy are at the top of their game. Off of a string or pretentious concept albums telling stories through a song cycle that owes more to Shakespeare than to Lou Reed. He is an awful, horrible, dark, talented writer and he is absolutely at the height of his powers. We all know from our prior reading that this type of talent has a shelf life. There are some that are great enough that they have three or four creative high spots in a long career but for most...you burst on the seen for a few years, spill a lifetime (up to that point) of angst... and then either disappear and retire (smart and classy and no one ever does it) or thrash around in irrelevance and eventually end up playing the Ameristar Casino for a paycheck.

So when you get a chance to see someone who is doing it, right now, you go. The new CD will be one of the 10 best of the year. It is a totally accessible CD veering towards being as alt-country as possible, (without a steel guitar) and it is frankly just a fun album with great lyrics.

So raise a glass to turnings of the season
And watch it as it arcs towards the sun
And you must bear your neighbor's burden within reason
And your labors will be born when all is done

I saw the band in Omaha 10 days before at a sit down concert at the Holland Center. It was one of the first shows of the tour and he was a little tight but he also could not create the requisite energy in a sit down venue. He in retrospect was clearly sturggling and every song had to end with a big finish that would go on for ever and the crowd would clap thinking he was done and then...he would jump again, freewheel with the guitar again and then finally... end. he was trying to put on a show but the crown could not hop up.

And now I was going to see him again because I had ordered the tickets a couple of months ago. On a classic note, I had Jon order the tickets and when I got home from work to go to the show... he could not find them. I go crazy about this type of stuff but he had his receipt for the tickets and was able to (after I had a brain hemorrhage) get the nice Ticketmaster (TM) people to agree to print some more for us at the will call window. Win, win....WINNING!

Once again we had Steve Earle’s son Justin Townes (Van Zandt) Earle open the show and it immediately was a more connected show. The crowd was attentive if not respectful and interacted with him as he told a few stories and sang pretty much the same set. Once again a great opener, warming the crowd up but not raising expectations too much. He really can play guitar, he writes a good song and I will make an effort to buy his new album and see him when he comes around with a full band.

He finished. I had another beer. We were able to stand on the floor about 20 feet from the stage. I was able to get a beer at the bar but could not take the beer on to the floor since it was an all ages show. This seemed a small price to pay and i was able to grab another beer between sets because I was dry as dirt. Once again the lights dimmed. I was once again treated to the alleged Mayor of Portland telling me to close my eyes...imagine myself in a Pacific rain forest (as he allegedly hovered in a large ship over the venue) as a group of strangers wandered through the forest towards us, and they are The Decemberists! Yay! The lights come up and they break into the set and start with “The Infanta” and then “Down By The Water” and I was worried he was going to replicate the Omaha show but then we got “Calamity Song” and I knew it would be a different show.

Meloy was working the crowd from the start and the band was even tighter having performed the show a few more times and they tore it up. I do not know whether the show was so much better because of the venue and being able to stand and stand close to the stage if you wanted, or whether it is because there was booze, or whether it was just better. But it was better. Much better. It was tight and it rocked and I liked the set selection more. He played “Don’t Carry It All” and as if just to piss my Omaha host off he played “The Sporting Life”. It was awesome. The whole set list is below:
The Infanta
Down By the Water
Calamity Song
Rox In The Box
The Engine Driver
The Bagman's Gambit
Won't Want For Love (Margaret in the Taiga)
The Crane Wife 3
The Sporting Life
January Hymn
The Rake's Song
Don't Carry It All
16 Military Wives
This Is Why We Fight
The Chimbley Sweep


Hr did a three song encore and that was that but it was great night at the Pageant and while I questioned seeing them twice on the same tour within ten days.... definitely not a mistake. The new album is powerful. Go buy “The King Is Dead”. Even this early it will be on a lot of ten best lists.

THE OMAHA POSTER!

Elizabeth Cook: Off Broadway

So what can I say about Off Broadway. The newest owners are doing right by me. Earlier show times are a huge, huge, blessing. I cannot recount the amount of times I had gone down there on a school night and got there for doors at 8 and waited... and drank... and waited... and drank...until the 9:00 show time came and went. Then at 9:30, like salvation the band came on except it was the opening band... so I frank... and the opener was ok. I watched them break down and then watched.... oh shit... another band that was not the headliner set up. It was already 10:30 by the time they go on and then they played their 45 minute set, broke down and somewhere around 11:30-11:45 the headliner would come on...getting me home around 1:00 A.M. drunk and tired and more importantly drunk driving AND drunk driving at that bad time of night when I feel like a target. So that was bad. A lot of great bands, a lot of good times.

But new management has made some changes. They cleaned the place up. I am ambivalent about the changes but they are good ones. They tore down all the kitschy crap. The wagon wheel light fixture that had graced the place, forever, gone. All the garbage on the walls, gone. The place is all cleaned up. The long bar left in tact. Everything else cleaned up, stripped down and hosed out. Awesome. They set a few chairs out and a couple of tables and what looks like a new dance floor. It all opened up. It is a prettier, better lit space with slightly better site lines...and a patio area you can easily access to smoke. Nice.

And show times are earlier. Caught an early show a few months ago and now they seem to be starting a lot of shows at 7:30 or 8:00 with doors at 7:00. This is brilliant for the old crowd and I think the old crowd is THE crowd as far as going out and seeing live music in a small venue. At least in our town. Anyway...

Showed up at 7:00 and there was an opening act called Porter Hall Tennessee. They were a surprisingly good trio with a chick and three guys playing drums bass and electric guitar. The bass player had a big old "dog house" bass and it was a very tight show. they sang nice alt country with the guitarist playing a style that reminded me a lot of Brent best from Slobberbone. A personal favorite of mine. The female lead was working the leopard mini and she had some nice pipes with a little trace of Lucinda as they did country gospel and bar room brawl. It was extremely satisfying for an opening act and set a nice tone.

Towards the end of their set a guy dressed in over-alls with slicked back hair game in looking like L'ill Abner with a little blond in fishnets, boots and a mini who was playing the roll of Daisy May. Interesting. The opening act ended and they set up, guitar, slap bass and acoustic guitar. No drum, no organ, no gimics. Elizabeth started to talk with her southern twang and we settled in for a nice set made up primarily of songs from her new CD "Welder". Sadly I heard of her through NPR (How sad is that) and she is one of 11 kids and has a pretty wild and varied upbringing with upbeat, true to life personal experience songs like "Heroin Addict Sister". She reached back and did some of her "old" songs like "Sometimes It Takes Balls To Be Woman" and pleased the crowd greatly.

A lot of unexpected pleasures for this show. First was just how authentic and rich her voice was. The songs were all pretty simple and paired down. The second was that her lead guitar player is evidently her husband. I was admiring his guitar which was really a little too good, almost distracting from her voice and songs. The she she said his name and it turned out Li'l Abner was Tim Carroll, an alt-country guy I have admired for years. he is a great song writer and singer in the Bakersfield style of a Robbie Fulks or Buck Owens. Really good stuff, nice harmonies and great guitar. The third was when they played one of his songs and she took off her boots and put on some taps for percussion. She explained to the crowd that it was not tap but "cloggin". "Tap is for rich people". She really put on a charming show and seemed very authentic.

this was their first show back in the States after a European tour and she said "God Bless America...so hard". I love that type of authenticity. She also said that Faith Hill was possible going to cover one of her songs and that "she would have to stop talking bad about her". The only disappointment was that she did not sing "Follow You Like Smoke" which might be the most nuanced song on "Welder". Show ended and they came out and did two encores. I got home by 10. I did not drink too much. I had a great night and she put on a great show.

Coming up....LOUFEST Preview: http://www.loufest.com/