It was wet and cold out so...

i put it back in. haha. [that was today's joke]

Then I did this at great expense.

Mark Kozelek is not a bad songwriter. I have heard his recordings and they are nice. Maybe when you listen to stuff on a cd because you are doing other things as well you don't notice stuff that become obvious in a club setting like where he stops a song when people come back from the toilet. Granted the Troubadour toilets entrances are next to the stage and everyone was sitting respectfully so it was obvious when people came back to the room after he had started the song. But really mate, harden up.

Then the AC fan above the stage was annoying him and he asked if it could be turned off. I'm pretty sure to do this the AC in the whole room was turned off cause it started getting real hot about then. He also complained about the spotlight but i don't think anyone heard him. It stayed on.

So he and his friend played a few songs for us and to be honest I don't know his work so I can't say if they were old, new, whatever. People received them pretty much the same; a round of polite applause. They all sounded pretty much the same. The guitar sound was good so you could hear every single fucking note. And there were a lot of them, all different to the one before it but each destined to be repeated many times before the night was over. His voice was less discernible under the reverb and sounded like he was phoning it in from the back room. I understood a few words but have no idea what the songs were about but I assume they involved yearning for something. This is a pastime I have not had the luxury of indulging in for about 35 years now so I'm not a good person to ask really.

After 40 minutes of this I longed for a strum. Television did a whole album and there may very well have been not a single strum but Verlaine and Lloyd didn't play the same lines the whole way through.

The sound guy who knows me and who is with Mark on this tour spotted me on the way in and asked me not to record the show and I was happy to oblige him. From where I was standing and given the vocal sound it would not have come out very well anyway. I needed to be a lot closer but the floor was covered with reclining people. Many of them were females.

You ask why then did I go there if I obviously have a problem with singer songwriters. Actually I don't; just most of them. Last year I saw David Kilgour at the Zoo and he was on his own with a second mic with a delay effect and it was probably one of the best musical experiences I have had ever.

Maybe if Mark sang a song called 'I Wanna Fuck A Man With A Beard' it might have picked up a bit. As it was I didn't make it to the end.

Then I did this for free

So I went over the street to Ric's where it was cool as in not hot. And I listened to The Legend! [Everett True] backed by half of The Young Liberals who did sing a song called 'I Wanna Fuck A Man With A Beard'.

In a performance ranging from blues to acapella renditions of Television Personalities songs with all sorts of DIY and garage sounds in between together with stories of his encounters with famous people set to often improvised music from the guitar and drum of Ben and Dan, this was the perfect antidote to what I had just endured. Hear for yourself.

The Legend! - Live @ Ric's - 24 July 2008 52MB

I had a great time. Spot the improvisation that is actually one of my favourite Pink Floyd songs.

Maybe

I'm just too old for this shit.

Tonight I took my wife along to QPAC Cascade Court to see Tex Perkins. Supports were Fi Claus and Mike Noga & The Gentlemen of Distinction. Unfortunately a lot of other people had the same idea. They must have been there since the afternoon. Even I don't think Tex is that good. It's the free entry effect. A bit like the competition winner effect that struck the Grates surprise party on the Island. Lots of people who wouldn't be there if they had to pay which somehow lowers the fun levels. I mean I would pay to see him but I just know most of the people there wouldn't, you can just tell. And so much grey hair. If I want to hang out with old people I'll go to church.

I'm not looking for comfort, just to see and hear the show. So anyway we ended up sitting at the top of the cascade above and behind the stage and got to not see Fi Clause at all but to hear Fi Clause twice, about half a second apart courtesy of the glass wall of the concert hall 50m in front of the stage. After Fi had finished I told her my wife that 'no, her set had only taken 35min at most, not an hour' as she thought. She described the evening thus far as akin to a school concert in which none of your own kids were appearing. So we came home.

New Rule for free concerts; leave the wife at home and go real early or real late.

A Mixed Bag [if i could write good i wouldn't be an accountant]

Last night at the Troubadour. Missed No Anchor but did see SPOD, the raddest man/band alive, and Children Collide who i knew nothing about. Now I know something.

Children Collide - Live @ The Troubadour - 18 July 2008 (90.81 MB)
Spod - Live @ The Troubadour - 18 July 2008.mp3 (62.82 MB)

Not Quite So Loud But Fast

Last night Violent Soho launched their excellent CD 'We Don't Belong Here' with Reptiles [Melb] and locals Side Effects. I liked em all and here are headliners and Reptiles.

Reptiles - Live @ The Troubadour - 12 July 2008.mp3 (57.7 MB)
Violent Soho - Live @ The Troubadour - 12 July 2008.mp3 (95.77 MB)

Slow and Loud. Reeealy Loud.

Night One of Slow and Loud sees me at Ric's for Ur and Del Toro. Del Toro has a new HOG and Adam gets to try it out.

Del Toro - Live @ Ric's - 10 July 2008 (93.18MB)
Ur - Live @ Ric's - 10 July 2008 (88.13MB)

So night two of the slow loud rock celebrations went off at The Globe. No, I have no idea what Roshambo is doing there either but it is a nice break. Candlesnuffer played as well but I missed most of it so didn't record. I finally have a decent No Anchor set. Other times I have tried but the room or the mix just didn't work. This one does. The Grey Daturas really should be listened to with buds. I'm still not sure the full experience can be captured anyway. I think their live experience relies on the physicality of the sound.

No Anchor - Live @ The Globe - 11 July 2008.mp3 (47.48 MB)
Roshambo - Live @ The Globe - 11 July 2008.mp3 (59.54 MB)
Secret Birds - Live @ The Globe - 11 July 2008.mp3 (62.15 MB)
The Grey Daturas - Live @ The Globe - 11 July 2008.mp3 (82.61 MB)