The Pelican's Perch » Live Shows

Guest Concert Review: Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar live at the 9:30 Club

Kevin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:15:08 +0000

One Fast More or I’m Gone, the collaboration soundtrack by Gibbard and Farrar for the new movie about Karouac, is pretty dang good. So, when Michelle told me she saw the recent NPR concert and asked I I would want her to write a guest review, I answered with a definite yes. So, without further adou, here’s her review. I recommend listening to the NPR stream at the link below in its entirety. It’s great…especially when they play “Couches in Alleys”

In support of their collaboration Benjamin Gibbard and Jay Farrar hit the stage at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. to play the One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Kerouac’s Big Sur soundtrack. NPR recorded the show so watch for the downloadable podcast version soon for now you can stream it here.

Rather than make the show about themselves it was a tribute to the influence of Jack Kerouac. I really enjoy listening to this album and couldn’t pass up the opportunity when I found out they added a tour date playing in Washington. The real standout was Mark Spencer (Son Volt) on the steel guitar for most songs. “Breathe our Iodine” and “Voodoo Candle” were really spectacular. The whole show was so well orchestrated and executed, watching the guitar switches and Benjamin and Jay take turns on the piano for various songs with minimal banter kept the show about the music and the writings that inspired it.

So for one night a piece of 1960’s Big Sur, California shone in the greyest of places, Washington, D.C.

Here’s the setlist:

SETLIST:
“California Zephyr”
“Low Life Kingdom”
“City And Sur (Willamine)”
“All In One”
“These Roads Don’t Move”
“Big Sur”
“One Fast Move Or I’m Gone”
“Final Horrors”
“Couches In Alleys” (from Styrofoam’s Nothing’s Lost, 2004)
“Sea Engines”
“The Void”
“Breathe Our Iodine”
“Voodoo Candle” (from Jay Farrar’s Stone, Steel & Bright Lights, 2004)
“San Francisco”
ENCORE:
“Absolutely Sweet Marie” (Bob Dylan cover)
“Old Shoes (And Picture Postcards)” (Tom Waits cover)

The Tom Waits cover as the closing encore song is worth the wait.

side note: I saw Ben Gibbard’s wedding ring up close, sorry Kellen.

Ben Folds live with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra

Kevin — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:15:56 +0000

Ben Folds’ upcoming album comes out in September I believe, and you can bet I’ll be all over that release, but in my excitement today upon receiving some new Ben Folds’ news, I looked up some youtube videos randomly and found these beauties. Where the heck have I been and how did I miss the fact that Ben Folds played a show with a full orchestra. That’s something I’ve always dreamed of him doing. Well, I guess earlier this year he did exactly that. So, without further adou, here’s the few videos from that performance that I could find.

Zak and Sara
[youtube Z8jW2qHnqrI]

So, I got a little carried away and ended up finding most the videos from the Ben Folds and WASO: Live in Perth DVD. Good ‘ol Youtube. I may have to look into this dvd. I’m loving what I’ve seen so far, which I’m guessing is most of the dvd. I’m sure there’s some Ben Folds fans amongst you guys that will appreciate this post a lot.

Buy the DVD!

EDIT: I guess this wasn’t earlier this year, but March of 2005. I was WAAAAY off.

Perch Exclusive! – New Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s Songs Live at Randy Bacon’s

Kevin — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:37:35 +0000

And in terrible audio too! I doubt this is too much of an exclusive, since they’ve gone on a stop or two since I saw them live last Tuesday, but if you can decipher the song from the bass filled crappy audio, then you’ll have an idea of what some of the new songs from the upcoming Margot cd are going to sound like. I should’ve moved back some, but I’d rather trade off getting bad audio on the video in order to be in the front row watching Margot do their usual amazing live set. The new songs are pretty rockin, no doubt about that, but I got a few of my favorites from the debut album filmed too, so enjoy those as well. I’ll get the other new song up as soon as it gets done processing on youtube. Also, Cameron McGill and What Army, look them up, because they were just as good, maybe even better than Margot opening for them that night. Three part harmonies that were spot on, crazy fun energy, and a lead singer in McGill that you couldn’t help but laugh at as he hopped back and forth from the guitar to the piano like a madman. Loved it.

New Song
[youtube C8TGaiaH9lA]

LemonDrop Record’s first Dropcast!

Kevin — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 21:03:11 +0000

The label’s about to really take off, with the Verbs and Spacetones albums both getting close to being done. We’ll have huge CD release parties for both. We also had our big hip hop party last Saturday night that went really well. You can check out pictures here. The first half of the night was a big party, with DJ’s spinning, a live painter, a giant board to sign, two Nicolas Cage movies playing simultaneous in our “Cage Match”, and then there were Charlie’s trippy visuals being projected onto the backdrop as everyone performed. The second half of the night was the main show with Jimmy Spits coming from Columbia, MO to co-headline with the Spacetones. All in all it was a great night and it resulted in Jimmy Spits joining the LemonDrop gang.

For our first Dropcast, we’re featuring a freestyle Jimmy did with Tommy P. of the Spacetones. We’ll have a Dropcast once a week so this is just the beginning. The excitement is building and everyone at LemonDrop can’t wait for everything to really get rolling. Enjoy the first ever LemonDrop Dropcast and look for more to come. By the way, if you’re in Springfield, I’m opening for the Verbs and Spacetones Saturday night at the Outland Ballroom. I’ll have Joe on drums, but after that my band, which will consist of me, Joe on drums and guitar, Chris on lead guitar and drums sometimes, and Jackson Hunt on keys. That’ll most likely be the core of Honest Artist (I think that’s the name we might go with). We’ll learn my songs at first, with Chris and Jackson both taking turns opening for the band when we have shows, then down the line we’ll just start writing songs as a band. I can’t wait. Make it tomorrow night if you can’t. And…sigh…if you don’t want to miss the Mountain Goats w/the Bowerbirds, you know I understand that. But having a show is a good trade-off to missing the Mountain Goats, even though it’s at Randy Bacon’s again. A place Darnielle has specifically claimed he loves to play, which means he rambles even more when he performs there. That show is Saturday night as well, so catch one or the other. Doesn’t really matter much to me since they’ll both be great for different reasons and you’ll win no matter which show you see. Now go check out the Dropcast!

Dropcast #1 – Jimmy Spits and Tommy P. freestyle at 2am (NSFW by the way)

First Live Shows in a Long Time

Kevin — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 20:31:22 +0000

I wrote this for the LemonDrop blog and am too lazy to write a separate one for the Perch. I did add videos you can watch though since I’ve got the video plug-in on my site that the LemonDrop one doesn’t have yet. And as for the video Tiffany sent me and I posted, the feedback has been great. Couldn’t ask for better readers and I appreciate all the kind words. I just wanted to embarrass her for her romantic stunt and let the Perch readers know I have a life outside this blog, and lately it happens to involve a really cool girl. But I’m not one for sappiness and talk about girls, I just felt that video needed it’s own post. Now go watch my live videos and let me know what you think.

——————————————————

This last week I played three times over the course of three days. I hadn’t played a live show since last semester, so it felt great finally playing some live shows again. The first show was on Thursday when I played at Potter’s House. It went really well and that’s what the majority of these videos are from. Friday, Chuckmo and I played sets back to back and I got to play with a drummer. Definitely a first for me, but now that I’ve got Joe as my drummer, Chris will be on guitar/bass/whatever, LaComa on piano, and then possibly some horn and string players, my live shows are about to get a whole lot more interesting. Hopefully I can get a little Sufjan troop behind me for most of my shows. That would be amazing. But these videos are from Thursday and Friday’s shows. If you’ve only heard my low quality demos, then this should give you a better idea of how I sound live. Hopefully I get the band together a bunch here in the next month so we can start playing LemonDrop shows.

Enjoy!

(videos after the jump)

Potter’s House live videos

The Pier (techno version)
The Metaphor
Nothing Like This
The Strangest Habit
Worth the Wait

Rescue Me (ft. Chris on the beatmaster 5000)
[youtube Md4V_EXcHZo]

Your Mom Fest (with my new drummer Joe!)

Epiphany
Nothing Like This
[youtube BWpKwclsQiQ]

Saturday was another Songpull, which I absolutely love attending, and Chris and I played Rescue Me with the Beatmaster 5000. The best part about songpull is the songwriter’s crowd. Meaning, if I tell them there’s Sha la la’s here and hand claps here, all 25 or so of the people there will follow my lead and clap where they’re supposed to and sing Sha la la’s with me. It’s really pretty surreal to sit there and have a room full of people clapping and singing along like you’d always imagined, but most times it never happens. Both last month’s songpull video of me playing “Worth the Wait”, and Saturday’s song pull with “Rescue Me” should be up sometime soon and I’ll be sure to post those videos right after they’re posted. Hope you enjoy my music!

Busy Again / Show Update / Novi Split Revisited

Kevin — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 19:57:26 +0000

It seems like every 10 days or so I’m apologizing for not posting enough due to me being super busy. Setting up your own record label will do that to you. So, today’s another one of those days. Head over to the LemonDrop blog and see a picture of our sweet new business license, then if you’re in the Springfield area, try and catch one of my two shows:

Show #1: Potter’s House – Thursday, Oct. 4th – 9:30pm
Show #2: Your Mom Fest – Friday, Oct. 5th – At the Mo State Bear Paw – 2-3pm

I won’t leave you today without posting some good music though. I’ve recently gotten back into Novi Split and found that my love for his album Pink in the Sink is still as strong as ever. Such a great album. Chickity check it out.

Leaving It

California Skies

You Got Served
[youtube ewLFv9XcIbc]
Official Site / Myspace

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone on Daytrotter

Kevin — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:33:40 +0000

I’ve been a fan of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, aka Owen Ashworth, for quite some time. I always enjoyed his lo-fi style playing everything on his little Casiotone keyboard. Drumbeats and all. Then, his newest album found him expanding a little adding real drums, but keeping the Casiotone keyboard the main instrument. For his latest tour though, the band The Donkeys is acting as his backing band and their impact is heard immediately as we notice the difference a full band can make to Ashworth’s songs. The keyboard is still there, but the addition of real drums, jangly guitar, and bass add immeasurably to the songs.

They stopped by Daytrotter back in May and I really enjoyed listening to this live set since it sounds so different from the album versions. I’m going to have to check them out live on tour if they come around here this summer and I suggest you do the same. Head over to Daytrotter to hear the songs below.

Jeanne if You’re Ever in Portland
Tonight Was a Disaster
Bobby Malone Moves Home
Cold White Christmas

John Vanderslice with St. Vincent at Randy Bacon’s (finally)

Kevin — Tue, 22 May 2007 19:49:37 +0000

I thought I’d posted about this concert a while ago, but realized I just posted the video of JV performing in the middle of the street, then have been talking about St. Vincent ever since. So, here’s all the videos I took that night. I was incredibly impressed with St. Vincent (Annie Clark), and finally seeing John Vanderslice after waiting for four albums was well worth it. Enjoy!

St. Vincent (not sure of the song)
[youtube AfFUuZWEZFI]

St. Vincent #2
[youtube gSG6w5hrZbE]

John Vanderslice – Exodus Damage
[youtube eTAZSCUwg6g]

Numbered Lithograph (new song from the upcoming album Emerald City)
[youtube YL64l_jmeqY]

White Dove (another one from Emerald City)
[youtube 8GL_Ohl0FRs]

JV’s set was just great, with him talking to the crowd the whole time, keeping us laughing and captivated the whole time. But it was his last two songs that really made the night. First, he announced that he needed as many people as possible to come up on stage and sing the chorus with him on “Me and My 424″, which a bunch of kids did. Then, after that song ended, we figured that was the last song and clapped thinking what a great show and getting ready to leave. Then, JV announced that he wanted to go play outside in the middle of the street. So that’s exactly what he did. We all filed outside, then huddled in a tight circle around him in the middle of College street as he played “Nikki Oh Nikki” acoustic style with Annie Clark on backup vocals and his drummer with a lone bass drum sitting on the ground. I know you’ve all seen that video before, but it’s well worth another viewing. Check below for more info on JV’s new album Emerald City and more tour dates.

Me and My 424
[youtube WgSPV0lBaEc]

Nikki Oh Nikki
[youtube lxc52xRqb7U]

Emerald City
Release Date: July 24, 2007
Barsuk

1. Kookaburra
2. Time To Go
3. The Parade
4. White Dove
5. Tablespoon Of Codeine
6. The Tower
7. The Minaret
8. Numbered Lithograph
9. Central Booking

I realized I just lied to you. His tour ended on May 10th. Sorry for getting your hopes up. Hopefully these videos help ease the pain of not getting to see him a little.

Menomena at the Empty Bottle

Dylan — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:16:04 +0000

My first live Menomena experience couldn’t have gone any better. We arrived during Field Music’s set, I got a 312 for my fiance and myself, and we chilled with the rest of our group while the band kept moving things along. I hate to say it, but Field Music’s performance was not very impressive. Nothing bad, but absolutely nothing that would grab one’s attention.

The inside of the Empty Bottle was a great venue for Menomena. A small place with just enough character to put the band in a familiar looking environment. Menomena really knew how to rock it, switching instruments all the while, they never let things get boring.

first time I’ve ever been to a sold out show at the Empty Bottle, so this was packed to the brim. I’ve seen Voxtrot and Architecture in Helsinki here before, but it didn’t even come close to how packed this place got last night for Menomena.

With stars and saxophones hanging all over the place, Menomena also shined as they delivered songs from Fun Blame Monster and Friend and Foe with raw creative muscle. They played two extra songs for an encore, but even after an hour of the rock, we all wished that it would never have ended.

Links and the Sort

Kevin — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 20:47:27 +0000

Whew boy, did I have a heck of a time fixing my blog yesterday. Long story short, the icons to add pictures and other nifty shortcuts disappeared completely and forced Dylan and I to write posts using only html and we both know nothing about that so I had to go in, update wordpress, then manually go in and fix a .php file to get them to show up. Needless to say, I knew about as much as you about .php files before, so fixing code in them was quite an adventure. But I think we’re good to go now. I have nothing for you because of that though, so I’ll just sift the net and see what I come up with.

My most recent review for Annuals Be He Me for my school’s paper. And no, I didn’t choose this title either. “A big hit with me!” C’mon, all that’s missing is a cheesy smile and a thumbs up picture of me. I liked how the review turned out though. When they barely edit it, I know it was a good one.
Newsday examines the new payola settlements between radio stations and independent labels.
Dallas Morning News‘ favorite SXSW moments
Explosions in the Sky, Eluvium, and Paper Chase live thanks to NPR
Apollo Sunshine live at Langerado Music Festival 3/10/07
GvB SXSW Recap
New Voxtrot song “Kid Gloves“!