Mountain Goats: All-in-One Post
I decided to move all the Mountain Goats media into one post. First, the pictures:
And now, the video. It was in the last post, but I thought it made more sense to put it all in one big Mountain Goaty clump!
I’m So Jealous, AKA Kristin Hersh at Newbury Comics
Bostonist brought me bad news today. After reading that Kristin Hersh was doing a free show at Newbury Comics, I posted the comment “NOOOOOOO!” I can’t believe I have to miss this gig, but luckily, there is Brad, consumer of all great Boston gigs, and he is always there with his trusty recorder and camera (when allowed, of course) to bring a version to those of us less fortunate. In a few cases, he’s recorded shows I’ve attended, and the quality is amazing.
Telepath, Raleigh Music Hall, 12/16/2006
I’ve been meaning to blog about this, but I wanted to be able to embed some tunes, so I took my time. Last Saturday, I saw Telepath at the Raleigh Music Hall. They were described to me as an instrumental dub/electronic/world music kind of band by Xopher, which honestly left crickets in my head. I couldn’t quite imagine it. It sounded like music my ex-husband (Hamilton) would really like, but I wasn’t so sure about me. I knew I liked dub because Hamilton used to listen to RDF, or Radical Dance Faction. Because I’m new in town, I’m basically going to everything I can to meet people and learn the Raleigh haunts. While this is definitely out of genre for me, I REALLY enjoyed them. I mean, I’m not a big action movie fan, but T2 was the bomb, and this was the same kind of thing. Anyway, I urge you to check out this band from Asheville. They are talented and innovative musicians, as well as really nice guys (I joined Xopher and the band for brunch the morning following the gig). Please take a listen. I especially recommend “Invisible Hero” (Track 1) and “Black Box” (Track 3).
This link streams the entire album. You will get hooked, and then you will want to buy it! You can buy tracks or the entire album directly from Telepath:
Mike & Michael
Curt
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Telepath Links:
A Little More About Life in Raleigh
I was mostly offline (except for my phone, which is limited in the sites it can access) for the last two days. It seems an eternity without my sweet, sweet internets! I’m in a cafe borrowing wifi to catch up on everything, upload pictures, etc. Here’s a view of what I’m seeing right this very second:
It’s really rainy out today, and the big news is that I’ve finally found a place to live. Yay! It’s a 6 month lease, too, so if I hate the part of town, come into a lot of money, decide I need to get back to Boston, get recruited to a foreign land, I’m not stuck in a year-long lease. I decided to take a place that is slightly out of the middle of town. The cool center of things is 5 minutes further than it would be if I’d done my normal thing of going with the hipper areas of town. But the last two times I’ve done that, I haven’t been as happy as I’d like to be. This place is quiet, wooded, and on a lake. I have a screened in porch that I know my cats will adore. And for the 650 sq ft (that’s NOT including the porch and outdoor storage closet), I’ll be paying $620 a month. What a deal! I move in on December 12th.
My first trip back to Boston is in a week (for Kristopher’s bday), and I’m going back again for New Year’s Eve. I know that once the new year starts, I will be starting to work and won’t have as much time to take off like this, so I might as well travel while the getting’s good!
This was written yesterday at Christopher’s house, where there is an extremely weak connection to some neighbor, but it wasn’t strong enough to get this posted: The last few days have been pretty interesting. I spent quite a bit of time at Helios Coffee House. It’s a great place to get coffee, food, and free wifi, and on Wednesday nights, they have a (really good) DJ and serve wine. It was quite a scene. I even approached a knitting circle (stitch ‘n’ bitch) and got their opinions about where to live in Raleigh. Hopefully, I can find the sock Anna got me started on so I can join next week. Last night, I met Christopher there, and we headed to Chapel Hill (of UNC fame) to see Dat Politics (“French Electronic Pop”), which was hard to comprehend when I was told about it. And it’s just as hard to describe. The gig was in this extremely groovy space. It’s a bookstore by day, but instead of having rows of books, then are on high shelves that line the room. On one side, there is a diner counter which serves food during that day. At night, the entire place becomes a venue for gigs. When we got there, another great DJ was spinning (how are there so many here?).
The kitchen was closed, but there was an Asian fusion place next door where we picked up some food that we brought back into the gig venue. The opening act was impossible to describe. It was just one woman who began by playing a guitar, but the guitar was fed through a synth so it sounded like a banjo. Her first song was mundane, boring. I thought, “oh no”, but then the whole thing went off in all directions. This plain jane of a woman has a thousand voices, a wicked sense of humor with her lyrics and musical gestures, and considerable skill in creating electronic dance beats on her laptop. The most amusing lyric was something along the lines of “I’m free of hygenic responsibility”.
Normally, I’d add more pictures and links to things, but I’ve been at this cafe for a few hours, and I’m HONGRY, and there’s leftover Indian in the fridge at Christopher’s house!
By the way, have you JP people seen Steve Garfield’s latest upload of old JP home movies? Facinating stuff!
Home movies from the Mutascio Family of Jamaica Plain, MA 1939-1963 Contains moving images of Centre Street, Horse Riding the Jamaicaway, Jamaica Pond, Sledding, a wedding, Franklin Park Zoo. Fleeting moments captured on film. Coutesy of Rick Minot Photography by Samuel Minot Video Transfer and Sound by Steve Garfield For the Jamaica Plain Historical Society
I Couldn’t Keep Out of this Stereogum Discussion of U2 vs. R.E.M.
Slate asked the question, “Who Was The Best Rock Band Of The ’80s?” Lots of interesting discussion on Stereogum, but I’ve gotta know the ages of some of these people. Here’s my response/walk down memory lane:
First of all, I wonder what Gary is thinking of when he said that U2 was “cringeworthy” in the 80s. How old is Gary? How old are most of the people in this thread? Boy and October were great albums. Unforgettable Fire was great, and even Joshua Tree had its moments.
All that aside, I’m from Atlanta, and I first saw R.E.M. when I was 12 at an all ages show at the Agora Ballroom in 1983. I’d first heard Chronic Town at my friend Molly’s house. Her sister was at UGA in Athens and had seen R.E.M. at a party. I knew all music had changed for me.
R.E.M. is stellar. I listened to each album 24/7 starting with the day it came out until there was a new one. I did this until about Green, seeing every concert tour they had through that time. They actually used to play 5 shows at the Fox instead of moving to the stadium sized venues (the Omni back in the day). I wouldn’t give that up for the world. I saw U2 twice in the 80s, and their shows were good, but they weren’t REM. Maybe because they were more local, more humble. I adored them.
I’m 36 now. I’m not judging retrospectively… not really. I’m judging from the perspective of someone who listened to both of these bands a LOT through the whole decade as they were evolving. Both were amazing and changed the face of music. Maybe because Bono’s ego was always in the way, and maybe because REM was local… I vote R.E.M.. How could I not? They shaped me.
