living in a den of theives
So, I've been putting this off for weeks because i'm lazy or otherwise occupied. But herewego!
Okay, so a few weeks ago, I went to a show at the outdoor stage of Revolution in Ft. Lauderdale, with my sister Anna, her friend Ayelet, and her sister Leore. The headliner was the guitarless, post-Coldplay Britpop band Keane. They were good, if a bit samey. But they were not the reason we were there. That reason was my new favourite singer-songwriter (yes, she's displaced Aimee Mann and Mark Everett). Her name is Regina Spektor. She's a Russian-born New Yorker, a classially-trained pianist, a quirky and talented woman, and she is the most mesmerizing performer I've ever seen.
She was actually the second perfomer on the bill: the first was The Crimea, on odd British indie-rock band with psychedelic nonsense lyrics. A sample of these, from "Opposite Ends": "You look so good I want to see hundreds of thousands of you/Crawling though the dirt like a crusade of half-dead blue bottles".
I'm sure you see what I mean. But they were pretty good and I ended up getting their EP, Lottery Winners on Acid, which they actually signed: I ran into them at the merch table right before Keane's set. Nice lads, those guys.
Anyhoo, to the point! After them was her majesty Regina. And I honestly am not sure I can express just how much of an impact she had on me. Yes, it was hot and crowded, and the microphone failed once, and there were a couple of jerks in the back, but I didn't care one bit. She would just sit there and play and sing her songs, laghing any problems of, rsponing to the shouts of "We love you Regina!" from those of us in front with just her sweet smile and a modest "Thank you". The whole while I couldn't take my eyes off her, couldn't help but sing along to songs like "Us" and "Back of A Truck". I felt like she had me in the palm of her hand, simply by sitting at her piano and singing in that incredible voice of hers.
For the first time, I think I can understand how Anna feels about Rufus Wainwright. Yes, she affected me that much.
Aaaand...we have pictures! And I apologize for some people's heads being in them. It was crowded, and neither Anna nor I are very tall.
The Crimea's singer/acoustic guitarist
Their bassist, who's almost freakishly tall.
A not-so-good one of Tom Chaplin, Keane's singer.
My signed Crimea CD insert.
Oh, and Anna wrote about the same show here (including most of the same pictures), and more pictures of Regina from that show are here. Additionally, both Regina and The Crimea are on Myspace, so if you have one, check them out.
And finally, I leave you with 3 Regina songs (one from each album):
"Ghost of Corporate Future" (from Soviet Kitsch)
"Samson" (from Songs)
"Back of a Truck" (from 11:11)
and a Crimea song:
"Lottery Winners On Acid"
Okay, so a few weeks ago, I went to a show at the outdoor stage of Revolution in Ft. Lauderdale, with my sister Anna, her friend Ayelet, and her sister Leore. The headliner was the guitarless, post-Coldplay Britpop band Keane. They were good, if a bit samey. But they were not the reason we were there. That reason was my new favourite singer-songwriter (yes, she's displaced Aimee Mann and Mark Everett). Her name is Regina Spektor. She's a Russian-born New Yorker, a classially-trained pianist, a quirky and talented woman, and she is the most mesmerizing performer I've ever seen.
She was actually the second perfomer on the bill: the first was The Crimea, on odd British indie-rock band with psychedelic nonsense lyrics. A sample of these, from "Opposite Ends": "You look so good I want to see hundreds of thousands of you/Crawling though the dirt like a crusade of half-dead blue bottles".
I'm sure you see what I mean. But they were pretty good and I ended up getting their EP, Lottery Winners on Acid, which they actually signed: I ran into them at the merch table right before Keane's set. Nice lads, those guys.
Anyhoo, to the point! After them was her majesty Regina. And I honestly am not sure I can express just how much of an impact she had on me. Yes, it was hot and crowded, and the microphone failed once, and there were a couple of jerks in the back, but I didn't care one bit. She would just sit there and play and sing her songs, laghing any problems of, rsponing to the shouts of "We love you Regina!" from those of us in front with just her sweet smile and a modest "Thank you". The whole while I couldn't take my eyes off her, couldn't help but sing along to songs like "Us" and "Back of A Truck". I felt like she had me in the palm of her hand, simply by sitting at her piano and singing in that incredible voice of hers.
For the first time, I think I can understand how Anna feels about Rufus Wainwright. Yes, she affected me that much.
Aaaand...we have pictures! And I apologize for some people's heads being in them. It was crowded, and neither Anna nor I are very tall.
The Crimea's singer/acoustic guitarist
Their bassist, who's almost freakishly tall.
A not-so-good one of Tom Chaplin, Keane's singer.
My signed Crimea CD insert.
Oh, and Anna wrote about the same show here (including most of the same pictures), and more pictures of Regina from that show are here. Additionally, both Regina and The Crimea are on Myspace, so if you have one, check them out.
And finally, I leave you with 3 Regina songs (one from each album):
"Ghost of Corporate Future" (from Soviet Kitsch)
"Samson" (from Songs)
"Back of a Truck" (from 11:11)
and a Crimea song:
"Lottery Winners On Acid"