(no subject)
Finally got some good shows in this week. Three of them, actually.
Sunday 4/15 - Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer at the Beat Kitchen on Belmont.
So Abbey and I get to the venue and are walked up to the line. I'm pulling out my wallet from my purse when my comb pops out and falls to the ground. A young man picks it up and hands it to me. Who was it? Eric Seidelman! A former gradeschool classmate of mine, with whom I've been having some contact with over facebook recently. Neither of us had any idea the other would be there. That was very nice. After the show he drove me to the L. The show itself was very nice. The opener was not. His name was Noah Harris and he was drunk. He played the piano and all of his songs sounded exactly the same.
Then Denison Witmer came on and did a few songs by himself, which I enjoyed. And then Rosie, Denison and their friend Jeff took the stage and put on a top quality show. I felt bad for Jeff, because Rosie and Denison were telling all sorts of stories about the two of them and Sufjan and all of the silly times they had while recording Rosie's album, and Jeff's just sitting in the corner, turning his guitar...oh well. He seemed like a nice guy. I was in the front for this one. It was a very intimate venue, only a couple hundred people, but very crowded and I believe sold out.
Wednesday 4/18 - The Decemberists w/ My Brightest Diamond at the Riviera
I've been anticipating this show for awhile now, and it did not disappoint. My Brightest Diamond opened, and she was impressive, as usual. The Decemberists came on later and put on a wild, raucous, quite funny set. Jenny had a very cute dress on, with hot air balloons, which I liked. Anyway, there were a few bottles of wine on the stage, coupled with some wine glasses, so they were all in good moods, particularly the old drummer guy, and told stories and were silly. They played some good ones and ended the night with "The Mariner's Revenge Song" which turned into some kind of 15-20 minute epic complete with swinging around a piece of the drum set, somebody in a killer whale costume with red eyes, crowd participation in the form of wailing and screaming, all of the band members lying on the floor (after they had been eaten by the whale), and three members of the band crowd-surfing (the fat one getting dropped to the floor). I laughed a lot. It was nice to laugh really hard.
Friday 4/20 - Andrew Bird at the Riviera
This show as kind of spur-of-the-moment. We had known about it for awhile, but didn't decide to go until about 5:15, doors were at 7, and we didn't have tickets. We got there at about 6:30 and bought some tickets inside, five minutes before they sold out. Nicole got in free because she asked for a photo pass and they gave it to her. So Abbey and I were pretty up front to the right side of the stage, but next to some really obnoxious people. Worse than the drunk guys at the second sufjan show at ffm, if you're wondering. It was a group of about six people, the guy and girl right next to me wouldn't stop making out and dancing and stepping on me and falling on top of me. Plus, they all lighted up on some sort of drug halfway into the opener's set (it's 4/20, man!) , which also wasn't pleasant. So...after that set was over, Abbey and I pushed our way over to an acquitance from Concordia, who was front center, and watched Andrew Bird from there. We were directly in his line of view, which is a pretty sweet place to be. The sound wasn't as good as it could have been, but it was a very enjoyable show. He's quite the whistler/multi-instrumentalist, and charming to boot.
Good shows, all. I'm set to head back to Detroit to see Spoon at the tastefest this year, hopefully joined again by Blanche and the Great Lakes Myth Society. Also...
The Decemberists are playing a free show this summer at Millenium Park with an 83 piece orchestra. Anybody else want to go?
Sunday 4/15 - Rosie Thomas and Denison Witmer at the Beat Kitchen on Belmont.
So Abbey and I get to the venue and are walked up to the line. I'm pulling out my wallet from my purse when my comb pops out and falls to the ground. A young man picks it up and hands it to me. Who was it? Eric Seidelman! A former gradeschool classmate of mine, with whom I've been having some contact with over facebook recently. Neither of us had any idea the other would be there. That was very nice. After the show he drove me to the L. The show itself was very nice. The opener was not. His name was Noah Harris and he was drunk. He played the piano and all of his songs sounded exactly the same.
Then Denison Witmer came on and did a few songs by himself, which I enjoyed. And then Rosie, Denison and their friend Jeff took the stage and put on a top quality show. I felt bad for Jeff, because Rosie and Denison were telling all sorts of stories about the two of them and Sufjan and all of the silly times they had while recording Rosie's album, and Jeff's just sitting in the corner, turning his guitar...oh well. He seemed like a nice guy. I was in the front for this one. It was a very intimate venue, only a couple hundred people, but very crowded and I believe sold out.
Wednesday 4/18 - The Decemberists w/ My Brightest Diamond at the Riviera
I've been anticipating this show for awhile now, and it did not disappoint. My Brightest Diamond opened, and she was impressive, as usual. The Decemberists came on later and put on a wild, raucous, quite funny set. Jenny had a very cute dress on, with hot air balloons, which I liked. Anyway, there were a few bottles of wine on the stage, coupled with some wine glasses, so they were all in good moods, particularly the old drummer guy, and told stories and were silly. They played some good ones and ended the night with "The Mariner's Revenge Song" which turned into some kind of 15-20 minute epic complete with swinging around a piece of the drum set, somebody in a killer whale costume with red eyes, crowd participation in the form of wailing and screaming, all of the band members lying on the floor (after they had been eaten by the whale), and three members of the band crowd-surfing (the fat one getting dropped to the floor). I laughed a lot. It was nice to laugh really hard.
Friday 4/20 - Andrew Bird at the Riviera
This show as kind of spur-of-the-moment. We had known about it for awhile, but didn't decide to go until about 5:15, doors were at 7, and we didn't have tickets. We got there at about 6:30 and bought some tickets inside, five minutes before they sold out. Nicole got in free because she asked for a photo pass and they gave it to her. So Abbey and I were pretty up front to the right side of the stage, but next to some really obnoxious people. Worse than the drunk guys at the second sufjan show at ffm, if you're wondering. It was a group of about six people, the guy and girl right next to me wouldn't stop making out and dancing and stepping on me and falling on top of me. Plus, they all lighted up on some sort of drug halfway into the opener's set (it's 4/20, man!) , which also wasn't pleasant. So...after that set was over, Abbey and I pushed our way over to an acquitance from Concordia, who was front center, and watched Andrew Bird from there. We were directly in his line of view, which is a pretty sweet place to be. The sound wasn't as good as it could have been, but it was a very enjoyable show. He's quite the whistler/multi-instrumentalist, and charming to boot.
Good shows, all. I'm set to head back to Detroit to see Spoon at the tastefest this year, hopefully joined again by Blanche and the Great Lakes Myth Society. Also...
The Decemberists are playing a free show this summer at Millenium Park with an 83 piece orchestra. Anybody else want to go?