I'm kind of busy tonight, but I really wanted to go to this months surfacing (I went to the last one). I went last month and it was awesome. I know I'm kind of late in posting this, but like I said, I have some stuff to do (weekdays suck man...) so you should go instead. It lasts until midnight, so go have fun.
Mercury Cafe
2199 California Street
Denver, CO
All ages, 5 dollars. 5 more gets you the veggie taco bar (they must know my secret...).
If anyone goes, leave a comment and tell me how it was! Thanks.
Showing posts with label gigs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gigs. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Caldera Lakes and Sonic Youth @ The Ogden Theatre 10/4/10
Someone told me that you only have a couple of life changing experiences. I gone though a lot, seen a bunch of concerts, done some crazy stuff, but I have never in my life seen something as morally satisfying as this. It is hard to scrape all the words off of the floor of my brain and try to make an accurate description of all of the noise that went on. Despite this, I will write a review that will do the bands that I seen on Monday justice and to give you a taste of what I felt on that evening In order to tell you how great everything is, I had to write a lot. If you thought my last concert review was long, call this one a novel.
So my Monday started with a E-mail from my friend "reminding me that there is this uber important gig later today. " I was still asleep kind of, so I just replied with a "Yeah, I'm covered, I can get there, I don't need a ride" sort of thing. After I got myself settled around how important (but not yet life-changing) concert would be, I got kind of excited for what was to come later in the day.
I was going to invite some of my wonderful friends that would have a "mild" interest in what was about to be thrown at the world, but as always, they declined. So, having an extra ticket with me, I brought my Mom with me. Why would I let a ticket with this much potential go to waste? Plus my Mom wanted to go ever since I bought the tickets as a late birthday gift to myself. My friend brought some friends of theirs, but I'll get into that later.
When I got home and did some of my homework, I left around 7'oclock and arrived at 7:30 ish so I could get some "prime seats" (or in my case, "prime standing area") Some nice older (well not that old, like 40 ish) flagged me and my Mom down and said "Come up here, its kind of elevated so you can see everything when they start to pack in here". He was right. I'm glad that I moved. After some mindless chatter with my Mom, the lights dimmed and the opening act came on.
Caldera Lakes
Crater lakes (or Caldera Lakes, whatever floats your boat) are pretty awesome (If you don't know what one is then here is some info). Crater lakes sound pretty awesome in an experimental kind of way. They were in fact so loud yesterday that I couldn't even find two similar bands in the band lexicon index in my brain. That my friend, is epic. So while I was thinking about this today, I made this analogy in my brain: "Caldera Lakes sound like what would happen if the Cocteau Twins had a run in with Bjork in Icelandic tundra with that annoying volcano doing what volcano do in the background." Caldera lakes has two members whose names that I don't remember right now, despite that, they picked their instrument weapons wisely; a "homemade" mixing board kinda thing, and a microphone. It is fresh, it is new, and I think that I see a trend starting to take place in Denver which is not quite the traditional experimental sound (if there is such a thing) that we are all used to. Caldera Lakes is half local (one member is from Denver, one from Portland) making them even more awesome.
When they unleashed their madness after the introduction "Hi, we are Caldera Lakes" then the Pandora's box of noise opened for all of us to enjoy. I was right in front of the speaker, and I can tell you that there was a wind, yes a wind blowing from the speaker. With every loud speaker vibration came a loud gust of wind. I have never felt music in that way. Ever. Congratulations Caldera Lakes, you are the loudest band that I have ever heard. You beat out Sonic Youth, and I'm sure that you might have beat My Bloody Valentine if I have not would have been sick whilst they were here. I enjoyed the opening act, and I'm sure with a little more practice, Caldera Lakes can be even that much better. I want to see more of this band, and I hope that they will play some more around town. I'll be sure to go.
After this, then there was a break between things and I tried so hard to talk to those people that I were about to invite, but some of them weren't answering there phone. In despair, I then broke out my camera on my android powered device (my phone for all you non techies out there) and started to take some test shots of the stage and everything. They didn't look too swell at the beginning, but I got used to the hitting the camera button on my phone (FYI, I'm like a vampire, I hate getting my picture taken. No, I don't sparkle...). By this time, the guitar and stage techs were getting everything set up and ready. I thought it would be a good time to take a tester picture.
So my Monday started with a E-mail from my friend "reminding me that there is this uber important gig later today. " I was still asleep kind of, so I just replied with a "Yeah, I'm covered, I can get there, I don't need a ride" sort of thing. After I got myself settled around how important (but not yet life-changing) concert would be, I got kind of excited for what was to come later in the day.
I was going to invite some of my wonderful friends that would have a "mild" interest in what was about to be thrown at the world, but as always, they declined. So, having an extra ticket with me, I brought my Mom with me. Why would I let a ticket with this much potential go to waste? Plus my Mom wanted to go ever since I bought the tickets as a late birthday gift to myself. My friend brought some friends of theirs, but I'll get into that later.
When I got home and did some of my homework, I left around 7'oclock and arrived at 7:30 ish so I could get some "prime seats" (or in my case, "prime standing area") Some nice older (well not that old, like 40 ish) flagged me and my Mom down and said "Come up here, its kind of elevated so you can see everything when they start to pack in here". He was right. I'm glad that I moved. After some mindless chatter with my Mom, the lights dimmed and the opening act came on.
Caldera Lakes
Crater lakes (or Caldera Lakes, whatever floats your boat) are pretty awesome (If you don't know what one is then here is some info). Crater lakes sound pretty awesome in an experimental kind of way. They were in fact so loud yesterday that I couldn't even find two similar bands in the band lexicon index in my brain. That my friend, is epic. So while I was thinking about this today, I made this analogy in my brain: "Caldera Lakes sound like what would happen if the Cocteau Twins had a run in with Bjork in Icelandic tundra with that annoying volcano doing what volcano do in the background." Caldera lakes has two members whose names that I don't remember right now, despite that, they picked their instrument weapons wisely; a "homemade" mixing board kinda thing, and a microphone. It is fresh, it is new, and I think that I see a trend starting to take place in Denver which is not quite the traditional experimental sound (if there is such a thing) that we are all used to. Caldera Lakes is half local (one member is from Denver, one from Portland) making them even more awesome.
When they unleashed their madness after the introduction "Hi, we are Caldera Lakes" then the Pandora's box of noise opened for all of us to enjoy. I was right in front of the speaker, and I can tell you that there was a wind, yes a wind blowing from the speaker. With every loud speaker vibration came a loud gust of wind. I have never felt music in that way. Ever. Congratulations Caldera Lakes, you are the loudest band that I have ever heard. You beat out Sonic Youth, and I'm sure that you might have beat My Bloody Valentine if I have not would have been sick whilst they were here. I enjoyed the opening act, and I'm sure with a little more practice, Caldera Lakes can be even that much better. I want to see more of this band, and I hope that they will play some more around town. I'll be sure to go.
After this, then there was a break between things and I tried so hard to talk to those people that I were about to invite, but some of them weren't answering there phone. In despair, I then broke out my camera on my android powered device (my phone for all you non techies out there) and started to take some test shots of the stage and everything. They didn't look too swell at the beginning, but I got used to the hitting the camera button on my phone (FYI, I'm like a vampire, I hate getting my picture taken. No, I don't sparkle...). By this time, the guitar and stage techs were getting everything set up and ready. I thought it would be a good time to take a tester picture.
 | ||||||||
| From The Sound Collection I kept checking my phone and was just trying to kill time and get my excitement under control before the gig started. I kind of just stood there for 10 minutes just watching the rodies or whoever they were, tune the guitars and plug them in. I guess my Mom heard all of my Sonic Youth rambling and correctly identified a Jaguar Guitar. "Hey, is that a Fender Jaguar?" "Yeah, I think so, It sure looks like one." "So is it one?" "It could be a Jazzmaster, I can't see the pickups." "Is that how you tell?" "Well, yes and no." "Well what kind of guitar is it?" "For your sake, its a Jaguar." "Ok :)" So while the sound check thing was going on, I did my routine eavesdropping on people that were around me. This one was kind of funny. "Dude, we have the same type of hat on." "Yeah! High 5!" "So I listened to all of the Sonic Youth albums that I could and I sure hope they don't play all of The Eternal" "Why man? At least they are playing it live." "If I wanted to hear Sonic Youth play all of The Eternal, then I could have just listened to all of it at home" "On what, your Stereo?" "You know it." I then looked around the crowd for a while. Like every other concert that I went to so far, the crowd make up is a good mix of Hipsters, Punks, and the "Hey, I just walked through the door, I have no idea who or what this band is" people. It was still kind of early when I looked around at the crowd population, but it was still the same when things got a little crazy later. Here is a picture of what things looked liked.
At this point, I was thinking "What are those "things that look like paintings" in the back of the stage? Must be art or somethin'" I didn't feel like thinking, so I looked at the mini bar that I was standing next to. I thought of the list of the songs that I wanted them to play and it looked like this.
After I got done looking at the prices of drinks at the mini bar, my friend and their friends showed up. At this point I was kind of tired from staying up for 15 hours straight, so I busted out the always classy, always formal "Nice to meet you." and to top it all off, I put a pretty ganster handshake to put the icing on the cake. They looked pretty cool, but I have a feeling that they were darkwavers in the 80's. Who would want to wear a blazer jacket to a gig other than a darkwaver? (just saying, just saying..) They got there just in time because right at 9:00 things started to get crazy. Sonic Youth. The lights dimmed, and there was a pause. Nothing happened. People started to clap and then a bright blue light shined down on the stage, just like we all hoped. Sonic Youth took the stage, and we all couldn't wait for things to get down. The band put on their guitars (or picked up their drumstick, or whatever) and after 4 count down clicks, Bull in the Heather started the crazy trip of noise. I had my eyes locked on the stage and the background wasn't helping me any. Sonic Youth was genius with that background let me tell you. At first, it was black, then it changed colors when something exciting happened, like when the symbols crashed at the right moment, or when Kim did a slide thing on her bass. How did those lights know? Was the light dude a genius with light transitions? I don't know. I do know that that song was pretty sick.
(Come on, look at the lights on the drums, look at those lights. It was prefect.) Honestly, I was semi-jumping so much, I just kind of forgot about the set list. But I can say that they played most of The Eternal, The good stuff off of Daydream Nation, Some classic EVOL tunes, one thing from Experimental Jet Set, and one from Sister. I just thought about what they played, and I came up with the "songs I know they played for sure" list. I want to say that this is the right order, but I disregarded the noise breaks. My friend "went to go find some place better to stand by the stage" and I was all like "Ok." Main Set
Around this point my friend "went to go find some place better to stand by the stage" and I was all like "Ok." Then I took a picture:
I'm pretty sure that the set list was done after Massage the History. Then they left the stage, the lights dimmed and it was over....We thought. Not even a minute or so later, they were back on stage and busted out the first of 2 encores. By the time they were back onstage for the second encore, my brain was on sonic overload. "How much more awesome can I take?" it said. I thought back "How 'bout two more encores?" We agreed (no, I don't have multiple personality disorder. How else can I illustrate my thinking pattern?) I'm trying to remember the first of the encores, but again I have an honest guess. Blame the awesomeness overload for making me forget Encore One Expressway to Your Skull with a longgg noise thing... In short, it made me want to get closer to the stage. When they were done, my face was like this O_O. Out of nowhere, my friend said, "I found some good seats, want to move?" and with my dazed face I said "Yeaah... Sure O_0" We all moved around this time to the "Tasty seats" weren't really seats at all and weren't really tasty. (hahah) Anyway, all 5 of us, plus 10 more people were blocking the fire exit, for the left side of the theater. Not a very good idea dear readers. The good out of blocking a fire exit was getting prime real estate reeealy close to the stage. Like this close: Encore Two I was sooo close to the stage. The funny thing was that I was standing next to this dude who looked like Jamie From Mythbusters. He had the black hat, mustache, white button up shirt, and even that "meh" look on his face. If that wasn't him, than I must have been inhaling too much second hand "magic" smoke. Encore Two was all about the Trilogy songs. I know they sang The Wonder because Thurston's voice on this song was in like a totally different key than normal and the song was slower normal, but it worked out for the better. Then, they did that merge thing into the 2nd Trilogy song "Hyperstation". Then it got even slower, and slower, and slower, and slower...Into tasty slow melting goodness. Then again they left. "Hey man, I think they are done." "Naah, One more song. I know it." "Oh your right" Encore Three. At this point everyone was screaming and clapping and stomping. They were just saying "thank you" without saying "Thank You". By this point, everyone in the band had that "Oh my god, its almost 11" on their face, but that didn't stop them from playing one last song, my personal favorite, "Shadow of a Doubt". I never knew this before, but according to Thurston, Sonic Youth first played this song in Austin Texas in like the 70's or 80's (can't remember, sorry). At this point, I was holding back tears of joy because I couldn't have wished for a better concert. Did I cry? Of coarse not silly. I don't cry. When the song was over, they went into a "lets hold our guitar against the amp and let it ring for a while" outro. Thurston, Lee and Mark were doing the "re-verb and feedback" thing, Kim took off her guitar strap and swung her bass in a circle, and Steve just went quiet for awhile then got loud. Whatever they did, it made the concert complete.
The guitars were placed back by the amps, the drumsticks were taken and the band left the stage. But they waved as they left the stage. They keep looking at me too in that "We read your blog, we know about you, please blog about us" sort of way. Even if they weren't they most likely played the best thing that I seen in my life. Yes, for those who wondering, that is how you put the word "Epic" into words. I have some videos that I took while I was there. If you want to see them, leave me a comment and I'll post them. Click here if you want to look at my 38 or so pictures that I took. |
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Almost there...
 |
| From The Sound Collection |
(The infamous guitars of Sonic Youth)
I'm not done with the epic blog post about the epic concert that went down last night, but I can say that I'm more than halfway done, and it is looking really nice right now. I'm pretty confident that I can get it done by the time I get home tomorrow, or before I go to bed tomorrow (thats around 10 ish). Just because I feel bad, I'm going to say that I have 3 pretty cool things that I can't wait to share with you all by tomorrow. You will be all like "What? Wow, that is awesome. I wish I was there, and even if I was there I wish it was that cool". Thats all for now. Check back here later.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Surfacing @ First Unitarian Church 9-11-10
If I had to sum this show up in one word, I would pick mind blowing. I found about this gig last Saturday when I was sill kind of sad that I missed out on this great metal/ punk gig at my favorite record store. So I though thought that I would go and check out 4 new "surfacing" bands at the local, and even international level.
So I left my house at 6:30 pm after eating some vegetarian nachos and some power drink that I found in the fridge. I looked under my bed and I found the 7 dollars that I needed to get in. I got there the usual way that I get to Denver, I took the highway and I got there in about 35 minutes. I went inside to pay my lucky $7.00 then I got my radial re entry sharpie star with dots where the points were. Did I mention that it was in Orange?
So they kicked everyone out to the stairs and sounding area because they were preforming a "top secret" sound check. I was standing on the wheelchair ramp right by the pretty cool glass window and I really didn't hear a thing. I thought that was strange because I really didn't hear anyone tuning any loud instrument. No drums being pounded on, no guitars tuned, no microphones being checked, no sound. So instead I was listening to the side conversations of the hip people. I can't tell you the whole conversations because I'm not that nosy, but here are some of the things that stood out:
This is my favorite:
What you aren't seeing is the the churches 4 bicycle racks full of these fixie hipster bicycles. I was going to get a shot of all of these bikes but I didn't want to get scoped out by the outrageous amounts of the "hip club" that was on the stone stairs. Even if I was, I'm pretty sure that they were too drunk and high to fight me anyway (why would I fight anyone? And why why would I fight someone at a church?)
So then I started to see a line form and I started to walk into the lobby. The guy in front of me had this pretty hip looking backpack with a super duper Batman and Robbin Pin, like the 60's one. But being the Batman fan that I am I kind of died inside because I knew that he only had that pin because it "Looked rad man" but who cares? So we went into the "Church" part of the Church and then I sat down in the 5 row right hand side isle seat. So then more waiting. I look around to find 2 hymn books and no bibles! That is my kind of church. Right when I close the hymn book, the presenter lady said her thing about their "musical collective" that they have every month. I like what they do, but I'll talk about that later. Then right after she closed her mouth the first band took the stage.
Pillow Garden.
Pillow Garden dropped a 20 minute set that was not mind blowing (like I tweeted) but more mind melting. So I was kind of sitting far back, and couldn't really see the stage, but what I did see was the guy (Jason Corder) playing this guitar and this girl (Sarah Chung) singing. They started off looping the vocal track and soon I was in awe. Then the gutiar started to loop in and join the girls vocals. Then they broke out this bird cage thing and I can just say that it did not sound like a bird cage. After that then, I just started to drown in the noise. They played the same song that is on their website and that son gigs only 3 minutes or so long. I'm not sure if it they started with same song and just rolled it out into 20 minutes, but whatever they did was pretty awesome. I fully enjoyed this. I hope you will too. Check out their website.
Pollination Population.
Pollination Population (Katherine Ersing) Took the stage and pressed the on button on one of her many tape decks that brought about the noise of rising drums and something that sounded like church bell. This went to another button pressed on another tape deck that started to talk to us about a conversation. More drums and bells followed. It looked like she had some trouble with a mixing box (that is just my guess on what it could be) and then this really high feedback noise was caused some pain to the some of the "hip kids". After that She started saying something like "I'm done. I'm done! I'm messing up." I enjoyed it anyway. Katherine did a good job regardless, but I wish she didn't quit halfway through it because the song was about to get good. If you go to the Myspace page and click on the "Live Set" you can hear the full song.Check out this Westword interview too.
After the folly, we took a 10 minute break. Being the Isle seat that I was, I seen just about everyone leave, and I'm guessing it was for a "home rolled" smoke break. I wasn't outside but then I'm guessing that they were smoking something, because that wasn't tobacco smoke. I know tobacco smoke (my friends at school smoke the tobacco and that other stuff). I made a mean joke in my head "I bet they applied for Medical Marijuana cards because they had premature aging and wanted to get a break for it." (If you are not a Colorado native, you should know that Marijuana is legal here if you apply for a medical card). I started to mobile blog a "sorry, I'm not doing a Saturday Friday Five because I can't right now" but then Voladores started warming up and I stopped everything that I did, because I didn't want to be a rude cell phone person. So I then waited for the hip people to come back from their "moonshine and smokes" break. I knew thats what it was, just believe me
Voladores.
"This band is so new, I can't find any links for them. So indie right?" (I guess if you wanted a link, you could check out Sin Desires Marie)-- Sorry, that was my inner hipster speaking, back to my real voice.This is a new super group with three members (Claudine Rousseau - Sin Desires Marie, Frieda Stalheim - Munly, Joseph Sampson Bad Weather California and Wentworth Kersey) So they got off to a good start, can't complain about that. The first song felt complete and done, but it just started to just... Stop. The hope didn't leave though. I'm kind of glad that I didn't say that Voladores had a punk-y vibe to their bass because I would have been hit with a tote bag by a hipster. But just listen to one of those Sin Desires Marie songs. I'm right, right? Ok, back to the gig. Second song: Drums kick in, here comes the violin, sounds pretty good. Bass joins in, I start nodding my head and keep time with my foot. Then the bass guitar runs away. Bassist talks and says "I'm soooo sorry. I just can't remember this song." So they try anyway. It starts off the same, sounds good, keeps going for a while, they finish early. I felt bad for them because they sounded so good, but ended too soon The other song that they managed to get done with was great. After the announcer lady says that they were done, Claudine goes back to the Piano and makes another attempt to play something. It took about four minutes to get it right. Regardless, I have hope for this band. Not Matson Jones yet, but have hope with me and I'm sure that they will get better. I love violin based indie rock music.
Then we went to another scheduled break so the one and only Kría Brekkan could have the kinda stage area set up the exact way that she wanted too. Then everyone bailed, like ran out of that place. I brought my friend along and we decided to talk for a little while this random person started to light some candles around the stage and plug in some white Christmas lights.
The door closed, the lights went out and the room went silent. I look around and then we see Kría dancing and howling her way down the isle to the kind of stage with no shoes in a yellow unitard with flowers on it. Well, it looked like a unitard, it could have been a jumpsuit though. There was a recorder and some guy was on the floor messing with it, so in my head I was thinking "Oh no, she is going to have to jump over him or or fall or something like that." but no, she kept on doing her song and dance and in a swift way she like leaped over the recorder dude, I have no Idea how she did this, but 15 seconds after that she was at the piano greeting us all and "thanking us for showing upp on this wonderful evening". Then she busted right to it on this 15 minute rendition that she later called her "warm up" for her left hand. The story was "I didn't really practice my piano ever since I came to the states, I've been playing soccer instead" My mind did a back flip when I heard that that was her "warm up". If you were there you would know that was in no way a warm up. That was just too great to be a warm up.
She then went to talk about "how her mom said to drink lots of water", just a normal thing to say right? But when she was done saying that, a guy handed her a pitcher of water, and she just downed a good quarter of the thing. She then did a quick vocal warm up and then merged into a pretty good Nat King Cole cover of I song that I heard before, but a name that I don't remember. After hopping off of the piano stool, she went into another story about how she "forgot her guitar back in Iceland and she had to borrow it from one of the other performers there. She played it, but she played it backwards, like a violin backwards. She plucked with her fingers right by her shoulder and fretted with her left hand in an awesome way. She then told us to "sing the chorus like a little choir." which was all "ooh" "ahh" and "oooh". Good effect though and I hoped that she was pleased with our singing skills.
Kría went back to the piano and told a little story on how she got the inspiration for this song from "looking out the window and seeing the snow fall" it was a pretty song, but she stopped and said "Do you like classical music or is it boring?" and we all nodded our heads. The song continued into a fifteen minute classical number by this composer who name escapes me. We all applauded, but she told us "not to" because she "wasn't done". I guess she was happy because she played us a song that she had never played before. She took another drink from her pitcher and then the "water boy" came back and gave her some sheet music. It was all crumpled and old, but it was a good song that entranced all of us. Everyone was very entranced with every note, and I was too.
I wish I took a picture of the candles reflections on the pipe organ, and the candles on the glass plate, but they told us "no flash on the pictures please, it kills the aura of the music" so, I took a picture of the recorder instead to just show you all what it looked like inside and how bright and powerful the music was.
Kría did a last song that was kind of short, and then we all clapped for a long time and she stopped us all and asked, "Can I play something else? You all have been a great audience." And we let her. She said it was kind of "morbid at first, but then became honky tonk and happy." I didn't know the name but it was one of the best things that I have heard in my life. I really wish I could have video taped this so you guys could feel the passion in the music. Another round of applause and then the lights were allowed to come back on. Announcement lady also said "someone is playing at the Marquis next Tuesday and Porlolo's playing next Tuesday too" then some random person stood up and announced "Yoga at the Mercury, we do yoga to Kate Bush and Bjork?? Please come, it's great!!"
I left after that, I wanted to stay but my friend wanted me to leave with them, so I did. I have to say that this is one of the best things that I seen in my life and I'm happy that I "didn't miss it for the world." Thanks for reading, I know it was long, but it was worth it right? Yes, this was a step out of my "safe zone"even if I do listen to almost everything and that I'm biased towards punk and Alternative. And the bigger leap was sharing the space with hipsters....That's another story though. I'll keep bloging about the goings on in Denver and the surrounding areas. Hope I see you soon, you know I have more.
So I left my house at 6:30 pm after eating some vegetarian nachos and some power drink that I found in the fridge. I looked under my bed and I found the 7 dollars that I needed to get in. I got there the usual way that I get to Denver, I took the highway and I got there in about 35 minutes. I went inside to pay my lucky $7.00 then I got my radial re entry sharpie star with dots where the points were. Did I mention that it was in Orange?
So they kicked everyone out to the stairs and sounding area because they were preforming a "top secret" sound check. I was standing on the wheelchair ramp right by the pretty cool glass window and I really didn't hear a thing. I thought that was strange because I really didn't hear anyone tuning any loud instrument. No drums being pounded on, no guitars tuned, no microphones being checked, no sound. So instead I was listening to the side conversations of the hip people. I can't tell you the whole conversations because I'm not that nosy, but here are some of the things that stood out:
"They stared this concert late! They said 7:00 its already 7:30. I want my $7.00 refund."
"Can I drink my Pabst in this church? It doesn't really smell like beer."
"Her girlfriend isn't as hot as her exes girlfriend. That is kind of an understatement"
"Where can I get more of those magic cancer sticks?"
This is my favorite:
"Aren't you having a house party today?"
"No, not today. I'm here duh."
"Well you should have one and it can be a "Sleepover house party slumber party."
"Totally rad."
"Hardcore."
What you aren't seeing is the the churches 4 bicycle racks full of these fixie hipster bicycles. I was going to get a shot of all of these bikes but I didn't want to get scoped out by the outrageous amounts of the "hip club" that was on the stone stairs. Even if I was, I'm pretty sure that they were too drunk and high to fight me anyway (why would I fight anyone? And why why would I fight someone at a church?)
So then I started to see a line form and I started to walk into the lobby. The guy in front of me had this pretty hip looking backpack with a super duper Batman and Robbin Pin, like the 60's one. But being the Batman fan that I am I kind of died inside because I knew that he only had that pin because it "Looked rad man" but who cares? So we went into the "Church" part of the Church and then I sat down in the 5 row right hand side isle seat. So then more waiting. I look around to find 2 hymn books and no bibles! That is my kind of church. Right when I close the hymn book, the presenter lady said her thing about their "musical collective" that they have every month. I like what they do, but I'll talk about that later. Then right after she closed her mouth the first band took the stage.
Pillow Garden.
Pillow Garden dropped a 20 minute set that was not mind blowing (like I tweeted) but more mind melting. So I was kind of sitting far back, and couldn't really see the stage, but what I did see was the guy (Jason Corder) playing this guitar and this girl (Sarah Chung) singing. They started off looping the vocal track and soon I was in awe. Then the gutiar started to loop in and join the girls vocals. Then they broke out this bird cage thing and I can just say that it did not sound like a bird cage. After that then, I just started to drown in the noise. They played the same song that is on their website and that son gigs only 3 minutes or so long. I'm not sure if it they started with same song and just rolled it out into 20 minutes, but whatever they did was pretty awesome. I fully enjoyed this. I hope you will too. Check out their website.
Pollination Population.
Pollination Population (Katherine Ersing) Took the stage and pressed the on button on one of her many tape decks that brought about the noise of rising drums and something that sounded like church bell. This went to another button pressed on another tape deck that started to talk to us about a conversation. More drums and bells followed. It looked like she had some trouble with a mixing box (that is just my guess on what it could be) and then this really high feedback noise was caused some pain to the some of the "hip kids". After that She started saying something like "I'm done. I'm done! I'm messing up." I enjoyed it anyway. Katherine did a good job regardless, but I wish she didn't quit halfway through it because the song was about to get good. If you go to the Myspace page and click on the "Live Set" you can hear the full song.Check out this Westword interview too.
After the folly, we took a 10 minute break. Being the Isle seat that I was, I seen just about everyone leave, and I'm guessing it was for a "home rolled" smoke break. I wasn't outside but then I'm guessing that they were smoking something, because that wasn't tobacco smoke. I know tobacco smoke (my friends at school smoke the tobacco and that other stuff). I made a mean joke in my head "I bet they applied for Medical Marijuana cards because they had premature aging and wanted to get a break for it." (If you are not a Colorado native, you should know that Marijuana is legal here if you apply for a medical card). I started to mobile blog a "sorry, I'm not doing a Saturday Friday Five because I can't right now" but then Voladores started warming up and I stopped everything that I did, because I didn't want to be a rude cell phone person. So I then waited for the hip people to come back from their "moonshine and smokes" break. I knew thats what it was, just believe me
Voladores.
"This band is so new, I can't find any links for them. So indie right?" (I guess if you wanted a link, you could check out Sin Desires Marie)-- Sorry, that was my inner hipster speaking, back to my real voice.This is a new super group with three members (Claudine Rousseau - Sin Desires Marie, Frieda Stalheim - Munly, Joseph Sampson Bad Weather California and Wentworth Kersey) So they got off to a good start, can't complain about that. The first song felt complete and done, but it just started to just... Stop. The hope didn't leave though. I'm kind of glad that I didn't say that Voladores had a punk-y vibe to their bass because I would have been hit with a tote bag by a hipster. But just listen to one of those Sin Desires Marie songs. I'm right, right? Ok, back to the gig. Second song: Drums kick in, here comes the violin, sounds pretty good. Bass joins in, I start nodding my head and keep time with my foot. Then the bass guitar runs away. Bassist talks and says "I'm soooo sorry. I just can't remember this song." So they try anyway. It starts off the same, sounds good, keeps going for a while, they finish early. I felt bad for them because they sounded so good, but ended too soon The other song that they managed to get done with was great. After the announcer lady says that they were done, Claudine goes back to the Piano and makes another attempt to play something. It took about four minutes to get it right. Regardless, I have hope for this band. Not Matson Jones yet, but have hope with me and I'm sure that they will get better. I love violin based indie rock music.
Then we went to another scheduled break so the one and only Kría Brekkan could have the kinda stage area set up the exact way that she wanted too. Then everyone bailed, like ran out of that place. I brought my friend along and we decided to talk for a little while this random person started to light some candles around the stage and plug in some white Christmas lights.
"Hey man, that tall chick kind of looks like your friend from Debate Team"So right when we closed my mouth this lady with black hair walked past my isle seat and to the piano which was 5 rows in front of me and to the left. She sat down and pulled this classical sounding masterpiece and started doing some vocal scales. "This can't be itt, I know there is more people than this here tonight." she said.
"Where?"
"In the front, by that lady who introduces everyone"
"Oh, yeah. How do you know about my Debate friends?"
"I don't know man, I just know who you hang with on Saturday."
"Creepy."
The door closed, the lights went out and the room went silent. I look around and then we see Kría dancing and howling her way down the isle to the kind of stage with no shoes in a yellow unitard with flowers on it. Well, it looked like a unitard, it could have been a jumpsuit though. There was a recorder and some guy was on the floor messing with it, so in my head I was thinking "Oh no, she is going to have to jump over him or or fall or something like that." but no, she kept on doing her song and dance and in a swift way she like leaped over the recorder dude, I have no Idea how she did this, but 15 seconds after that she was at the piano greeting us all and "thanking us for showing upp on this wonderful evening". Then she busted right to it on this 15 minute rendition that she later called her "warm up" for her left hand. The story was "I didn't really practice my piano ever since I came to the states, I've been playing soccer instead" My mind did a back flip when I heard that that was her "warm up". If you were there you would know that was in no way a warm up. That was just too great to be a warm up.
She then went to talk about "how her mom said to drink lots of water", just a normal thing to say right? But when she was done saying that, a guy handed her a pitcher of water, and she just downed a good quarter of the thing. She then did a quick vocal warm up and then merged into a pretty good Nat King Cole cover of I song that I heard before, but a name that I don't remember. After hopping off of the piano stool, she went into another story about how she "forgot her guitar back in Iceland and she had to borrow it from one of the other performers there. She played it, but she played it backwards, like a violin backwards. She plucked with her fingers right by her shoulder and fretted with her left hand in an awesome way. She then told us to "sing the chorus like a little choir." which was all "ooh" "ahh" and "oooh". Good effect though and I hoped that she was pleased with our singing skills.
Kría went back to the piano and told a little story on how she got the inspiration for this song from "looking out the window and seeing the snow fall" it was a pretty song, but she stopped and said "Do you like classical music or is it boring?" and we all nodded our heads. The song continued into a fifteen minute classical number by this composer who name escapes me. We all applauded, but she told us "not to" because she "wasn't done". I guess she was happy because she played us a song that she had never played before. She took another drink from her pitcher and then the "water boy" came back and gave her some sheet music. It was all crumpled and old, but it was a good song that entranced all of us. Everyone was very entranced with every note, and I was too.
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| From The Sound Collection |
I wish I took a picture of the candles reflections on the pipe organ, and the candles on the glass plate, but they told us "no flash on the pictures please, it kills the aura of the music" so, I took a picture of the recorder instead to just show you all what it looked like inside and how bright and powerful the music was.
Kría did a last song that was kind of short, and then we all clapped for a long time and she stopped us all and asked, "Can I play something else? You all have been a great audience." And we let her. She said it was kind of "morbid at first, but then became honky tonk and happy." I didn't know the name but it was one of the best things that I have heard in my life. I really wish I could have video taped this so you guys could feel the passion in the music. Another round of applause and then the lights were allowed to come back on. Announcement lady also said "someone is playing at the Marquis next Tuesday and Porlolo's playing next Tuesday too" then some random person stood up and announced "Yoga at the Mercury, we do yoga to Kate Bush and Bjork?? Please come, it's great!!"
I left after that, I wanted to stay but my friend wanted me to leave with them, so I did. I have to say that this is one of the best things that I seen in my life and I'm happy that I "didn't miss it for the world." Thanks for reading, I know it was long, but it was worth it right? Yes, this was a step out of my "safe zone"even if I do listen to almost everything and that I'm biased towards punk and Alternative. And the bigger leap was sharing the space with hipsters....That's another story though. I'll keep bloging about the goings on in Denver and the surrounding areas. Hope I see you soon, you know I have more.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Free show!
Yeah, so when one show closes, another show opens! Man am I happy to know that there is a free show this Saturday and it has a late start (at like 7 something). And I have no Debate duties to do (thank god!) so I'm down if I get done with my mandatory drivers ed practice and if I have the necessary energy drink!
Yeah, I know that I had to miss the other gig that I got invited to, but I talked to them and It was fine that I missed the gig. This time though I'm not going to miss this for anything. Yeah, I'll take my cell phone along so I can take some pictures, might do some mobile blogging and tweet my response. I might even video tape some of this gig post it on Youtube? It all just really depends.
So I'll try to make it though the week fine and I'll confirm to you guys if I'm going or not in this weeks "Friday Five". See you guys then.
Yeah, I know that I had to miss the other gig that I got invited to, but I talked to them and It was fine that I missed the gig. This time though I'm not going to miss this for anything. Yeah, I'll take my cell phone along so I can take some pictures, might do some mobile blogging and tweet my response. I might even video tape some of this gig post it on Youtube? It all just really depends.
So I'll try to make it though the week fine and I'll confirm to you guys if I'm going or not in this weeks "Friday Five". See you guys then.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Bad News, Good News.
Ok, I have some bad news and some good news for you trusty blog readers. I always put the bad news first so you'll say "Oh, that sucks! Why did she tell us that?" but then I always put the good news second so you'll say "Oh, well that makes me forget about the bad news!"
The bad news.
The bad news is that I overslept by two hours and I had to end up missing the gig ): Yes. I know your pain, because I really wanted to go too. I got up at 6:15 yesterday and was out 'till around noon and thats when I came back home to take a nap (how can you mosh if you are tired?). I went to bed at 1 in the afternoon and I got up around 3 and then realized that I was "late and there was no point in going if I was late." Anyway, I made it right at the end of the last set and was kind mad. But then I remembered.
The good news.
The good news is that I will (hopefully) be buying my secret tickets to a secret show soon and I should (hopefully) get in and have something eveen better to write about :)
Yes, I'm super sorry guys. The last thing that I wanted to do was fall out at a show that was hot to begin with and spend the rest of my Saturday in bed recovering from a slight heat stroke. Don't worry, I'll make it up to you this week. I promise.
The bad news.
The bad news is that I overslept by two hours and I had to end up missing the gig ): Yes. I know your pain, because I really wanted to go too. I got up at 6:15 yesterday and was out 'till around noon and thats when I came back home to take a nap (how can you mosh if you are tired?). I went to bed at 1 in the afternoon and I got up around 3 and then realized that I was "late and there was no point in going if I was late." Anyway, I made it right at the end of the last set and was kind mad. But then I remembered.
The good news.
The good news is that I will (hopefully) be buying my secret tickets to a secret show soon and I should (hopefully) get in and have something eveen better to write about :)
Yes, I'm super sorry guys. The last thing that I wanted to do was fall out at a show that was hot to begin with and spend the rest of my Saturday in bed recovering from a slight heat stroke. Don't worry, I'll make it up to you this week. I promise.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Gig Invite
I got an invite to a gig at one of my favorite record stores next weekend, and that should be a good thing (it is anyway) because it will provide for my first gig review! Get excited. I'll be taking mental notes, grabbing all of the free stuff I can find, and I will try to get some pictures to post. It serves for a good outlet from my first week of school (yuck). Hopefully there will be a mosh pit, nothing too extreme, because my shins are a mess right now. Ok, see you next week!
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