See you in 2010!
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elizabethandthecatapult.com ♥ myspace.com
The last time we mentioned Elizabeth and the Catapult, the song "Race You", went straight to the top ten on The Hype Machine. And it's easy to see why, the song is such a fun and cute pop song.
This Christmas song, "Christmas with the Jews", is also fun and cute (and not to mention quite short). But what you're thinking when you're listening to this song, is "er, aren't you forgetting Hanukkah?"
Maybe you can ask them if you see them live:
- 01/28/10 The Barn Clinton, New York
02/05/10 World Cafe Live Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
02/06/10 8x10 Baltimore, Maryland
myspace.com ♥ twitter.com
Maybe there was a problem with my download, but the MP3 track is 4:56, where the last 30 seconds of the song is complete and utterly garbage... it sounds like it was encoded in error and not part of the song. I've edited out the crap part for you.
The tour information they sent me is as follows:
- January 2010.
Fri 8 USA New York Terminal 5 w/Passion Pit.
Sat 9 USA New York Terminal 5 w/Passion Pit.
Mon 11 USA New York Union Hall.
Tue 12 USA New York Pianos.
February 2010.
Sun 21 Norway Oslo John Dee w/The Temper Trap.
Mon 22 Denmark Copenhagen Vega w/The Temper Trap.
Tue 23 Denmark Copenhagen Vega w/The Temper Trap.
Wed 24 Sweden Stockholm Debaser Slussen w/The Temper Trap.
Fri 26 Germany Hamburg Molotow w/The Temper Trap.
Sat 27 Germany Berlin Postbahnhof w/The Temper Trap.
Sun 28 Germany Cologne Gloria w/The Temper Trap.
March 2010.
Tue 2 Germany Munich Atomic Café w/The Temper Trap.
Wed 3 Germany Frankfurt Nachtelben w/ The Temper Trap.
themanchesterorchestra.com ♥ myspace.com
My favorite track is "One Hundred Dollar", you can simply hear the anger as singer Andy Hull asks to borrow $100. While the song is short and doesn't offer much explanation, you, as the audience makes up your own background to the song. Anyway, the song is from their latest album, Mean Everything to Nothing, they'll probably be playing loads of their new songs on tour:
- 01/29/10
Salt Palace Convention Center^ Salt Lake City, Utah
01/30/10 The Fillmore^ Denver, Colorado
01/31/10 The Black Sheep* Colorado Springs, Colorado
02/02/10 The Marquee* Tulsa, Oklahoma
02/03/10 Juanita’s Cantina Ballroom* Little Rock, Arkansas
02/04/10 New Daisy Theatre* Memphis, Tennessee
^ with Brand New
* with Harrison Hudson
siamusic.net ♥ myspace.com
Finally, we have Sia. This actually has nothing to do with Christmas, unless you count getting a new music video as a holiday gift. But just talking about the video for "You've Changed" isn't enough to warrant its own article, so I thought I might as well stuck her here.
Sia has always seem to me to be this child trapped in a grown-up's body. The latest video is wonderful, it features this weird stop-motion, "dress up" video-gamey feel to it. I don't know who's idea it was, I'll bet it's a combination of Sia's child-mind and director Dennis Liu of @radical.media, but it came together pretty great.
Be sure to watch the high-resolution video of it (you'll need it to read the song lyrics scrolling at the bottom).
12/23/2009 04:58:16 ♥ vu (
) ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com
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01/23/10 Ampere München
Discography
01/24/10 Studio 672 Köln 01/26/10 Magnet Berlin 01/28/10 Rocking Chair Vevey 01/29/10 Ziegel Oh Lac Zurich 02/01/10 Prinzenbar Hamburg 02/09/10 Thekla Bristol 02/10/10 Hare & Hounds Birmingham 02/11/10 Brudenell Centre Leeds 02/12/10 ULU London 02/13/10 Audio Brighton
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Straitjacket Escape ♥ photo by Dave
The straitjacket incident was obviously the most epic moment of the night, but the theatrics didn’t end there. There was interpretive dancing, rogue boomerangs, and a pretty intimidating box accordion. Throw in a picturesque stage setting and a watering can attached to the drum kit, and it wasn’t an average Webster Hall show. The band managed to take a spacious, relatively normal venue and shift the atmosphere to match that of the album: warm, enthusiastic, and frenzied.
Fanfarlo ♥ photo by DaveWith only one album, they had a limited supply of songs to play. My personal favorite, “I’m a Pilot,” drew from the band’s most appealing quality: their infectious camaraderie. This was most apparent during the encore, when they had run out of songs to sing, so they resorted to the obligatory cover, Low’s “Just Like Christmas,” featuring opening band, Freelance Whales. Anything holiday-related is instantly a cheese-fest, but throw in a cavalcade of instruments and a dozen earnest musicians and it becomes easy to suspend any cynicism.
(I really wanted to end this review by writing, “...and by the end of the night, you could say that the entire audience had shed an emotional straitjacket – and put on a fringed vest of love.” But I won’t. Swearsies.)
Photos by Dave:
Fanfarlo ♥ photo by Dave 
Fanfarlo
Fanfarlo
Fanfarlo & Freelance Whales
12/22/2009 00:12:42 ♥ kateg (
)
♥ fanfarlo.com
♥ myspace.com/fanfarlo
Thanks everyone for attending the Open House on Saturday! 
For those interested, here some classes that are still available...
#1005A/B - Introduction To Head Drawing A and B
Instructor: Mario Hernandez
Saturday, 10am-1pm
This course is an excellent opportunity for students to learn the craft of head drawing. It will provide each student with the necessary understanding and experience to draw the human head with authority. Each session will consist of a lecture or demonstration that will guide students step-by-step through the process of drawing from a live model. The traditional elements of life drawing will be emphasized including the structure and planes of the head, the values of light and shadow, edges, portrait composition and drawing techniques. The course will also include exercises and assignments aimed to help students greatly hone their portrait drawing skills.
#1002A/B- Head and Figure Drawing with the Reilly Method A and B
Instructor: Israel Martinez
Wednesday, 10am-1pm
This is an introductory figure and head drawing class, concentrating on the methods of Frank Reilly. You may see a broader explanation of Frank Reilly’s methods here . Using 6 simple lines as the starting point for drawing the figure, Israel Martinez will instruct and demonstrate how to simply draw a figure that is solid and proportional, having weight and balance. Your drawing will improve drastically and will have economy of line. The class will warm-up by drawing 5-minute poses, followed by instructor demonstration, and then 20 minute poses that will teach you to block-in structure quickly.
#2380A/B - Alla Prima Head/Figure Painting A and B
Instructor: Ignat Ignatov
Friday, 10am-4pm
This course will consist of painting demonstrations and lectures covering the important elements of painting such as value, color and edges, as well as composition and design. This class will also cover the limited palette and the amazing advantages that it offers. Each week the artists will paint from life a different model using the Alla Prima (wet into wet technique) and will receive individual instruction and critiques. The goal is to advance your skills in the direct painting method while applying the fundamentals to achieve a solid understanding of painting the human form in various light conditions and settings.
#2367A/B - Figure Painting A and B
Instructor: Joseph Todorovitch
Wednesday, 12pm-6pm
We will paint the figure from life and discuss choices for setting up the pose, composition, color harmony, lighting, pacing, and bringing the painting to a decent level of resolve. We'll also discuss the language of describing paint in order to better understand our mixtures. Joseph will explain his approach and demonstrate by painting along and illustrating his ideas about the approach. Pose lengths will vary from single days to multiple days. Previous drawing experience is highly recommended.
#1122 - Sketching the Figure (Quick Pose/Head/Figure Construction)
Instructor: Sergio Sanchez
Tuesday, 7pm-10pm
The student will receive study in drawing the head and figure, using quick-sketch and longer pose study of the figure and head. This is a broad overview of the many aspects of drawing the figure.
To view our whole schedule of classes, go to www.laafa.org/sessions/calendar . Or feel free to call us at, 818.708.9232. The Winter Quarter starts January 11th!
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The Zatoichi series ran 26 movies (1962-1982) and a television series ran for five years (1974-1979). Twenty years later, Takeshi "Beat" Kitano reinvented Zatoichi with his version of the character. This was easily one of my favorite movie at the time, I saw it at the independent theater twice in 2003 and ordered a region 3 release of the DVD as soon as it was available on import. Incidentally, to show support for the US market, I also bought the US edition of the DVD, which came with a bonus Sonatine movie (which was originally released in the states by Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder productions).
Considering the movie did quite well, critically and (I'm assuming) in sales, I was hoping for a follow-up movie by Kitano, but unfortunately there's no such plan. However, interestingly enough, one of my all-time favorite Japanese director, Takashi Miike* directed a stage adaption of Zatoichi for live performances in 2007.
I'm happy to report that, I saw a very good re-imagined of the familiar character, reinvented as a female protagonist, called Ichi. I wish the producers had kept the brand of "Zatoichi", as people who hear "Ichi" does not always associate the name with the blind swordsman. To be fair, Ichi is the original character's name. The term "zato" means low-ranking blind person (low-ranking in the Todoza guild). Logically, they could've named this movie Gozeichi, because Goze refers to blind musician women of that time period.
Anyway, beside my gripe about the Ichi name as the movie title, I also didn't like the idea that a model (Ayase Haruka) is playing the part of the protagonist. All that was really not worth worrying, because the whole movie is quite entertaining and enjoyable, and there is only once where Haruka is seen 'dolled up' for a music performance (most of the movie, she's covered from head to toe in dirty rags). However, there are at times when the director Fumihiko Sori choose to stay too long on Haruka's beautiful unblemished face. We get it, she's cute.
The story is uncomplicated, Ichi wanders into some town with an inept sword-drawing samurai Toma (the name is close to a slang "tonma" for idiot or fool). The town is in trouble from the Banki gang, and in Zatoichi fashion, Ichi and Toma saves the town. During the course of the film, there are the tried-and-true Zatoichi moments like slashing out the lights and Ichi triumph in complete darkness, the use of sound to throw Ichi off, and, of course, the Cho-Han Bakuchi dice gambling.
What made the film interesting, at least to me, is that the soundtrack is by Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard! So throughout the movie, you do hear that ethereal vocals, similar to her efforts on Ridley Scott's Gladiator. I suspect she only wrote the vocals, the credit I have for composer is Michael Edwards, who previously worked with Gerrad on her solo material. The soundtrack was a bit of a surprise to me, generally these J-movies' music and production team are usually kept inhouse. Although, having said that, the one outro credit song is by Korean J-Pop singer SunMin.
Ichi the movie will be made available in the US market via Bluray and DVD in two days (December 22nd), just in time for last-minute xmas shoppers. Hopefully those Best Buy tonmas will be smart and order some copies for their store (however, if it costs over $25, I'd rather order it online, or not own it at all - hey times are tough!).
* I love all three billion of his movies! Audition, City of Lost Souls, One Missed Call, Ichi the Killer, Fudoh, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Zebraman, Sukiyaki Western: Django, etc.
12/20/2009 02:06:34 ♥ vu () ♥funimation.com/ichi
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For this Christmas, I did buy myself Swords deluxe edition via my favorite store, amazon. It was a bit pricey for a CD/DVD combo ($23 vs $12 for the standard disc), but I'm worth it.
I actually have had a digital copy of the B-Sides compilation since late October, thanks to pen pal friend Mel, as it was a "bonus" if you had preordered tickets to see Morrissey in live in 2009. And of course, like most fans, we still buy the physical release anyway, so it's a bit of a win-win situation for everyone.
I'll briefly summarize Morrissey's history: he's a bit of a sensitive, indie songwriter with The Smiths. He went solo in "nineteen-eighty-hate" with some classic modern rock hits with "Suedehead" (aka that "I'm So Sorry" song) and "Everyday is like Sunday". He went a bit rockabilly with Your Arsenal (his previous album Kill Uncle was heading to this direction, especially with the B-Sides and singles from this era), and pretty much stayed in this "muscular" rock type music since. As I previously mentioned, I think this has to do with his musical collaboration with Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte.
If you're new to Morrissey, I don't think Swords would be a good starting point for you. I would recommend starting with Bona Drag, a weird mix of b-sides and oddities. Most of the songs on Swords were co-written by Alain Whyte, and there's a nice cohesive feel to each song as they have similiar song writing structure. When you do run into a non-Whyte song, such as "Sweetie-Pie", it just feels out of place. In fact, I think this is possibly one of the worst Morrissey song, right up there with "Michaels Bones".
There is one non-Morrissey-penned song, and it's a live recording of "Drive-In Saturday" (live at Omaha on 11 May 2007). Morrissey's music obsessions tend to be from the 60s and 70s era, so it didn't surprise me to hear him doing a David Bowie cover from the Aladdin Sane time period. But the two are friends, I know that Bowie showed up at a Morrissey show in Los Angeles in the early 90s to do a duet of a T.Rex's song for "Cosmic Dancer", and, of course, Bowie would later record a soul-ish version of Morrissey's "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday" in 1993.
Also, it seems in post-2008, Morrissey's songs have been about fatherhood and retirement. Just looking over his titles: "Good Looking Man About Town", "Don't Make Fun of Daddy's Voice", "Teenage Dad on His Estate", "Children in Pieces", that "constipated look" for Swords, and that controversially album cover for Years of Refusal ... you would think that he's married with kids. Maybe that's not a bad thing, with Morrissey's heath in question, maybe he should take it easy. We all can't be like James Dean, you know.
12/19/2009 03:47:04 ♥ vu () ♥itsmorrisseysworld.com ♥ truetoyou.com ♥ morrissey-solo.com
DOMINO? YOU MEAN DOMI-YES
dominorecordco.com
You know, I honestly don't know how Ryan does it, keeping up with the various 'tweets'. I personally think twitter become absolutely useless if you have more than 50 friends. There's also so much spam on twitter!
So, I mostly just have it filtered to reading our own twitter to discover new freebies. So below was sent out a few days ago:
weheartmusicWe♥Music
Check out the @DominoRecordCo Xmas Sampler - http://bit.ly/53Thv0 - Final Fantasy, Wild Beasts, The Kills, Franz Ferdinand & King Creosote.
11:49 AM Dec 14th from web
I also really dig Joker's Daughter (for non-comic book nerds, yes the Joker had a daughter - I think she mostly fought the 70s Teen Titans). I love "classic" pop girl-group sound, and this band has the vocals and melodies. Although the subject of Gremlins and "Bouncing Liquorish Bears" may be on the weirder side.
OF DOVES AND FISH
harveysidfisher.com
Dovecote Records gathered three of their recording artists to do a mini-tribute to Harvey Sid Fisher. While I don't know much about Fisher, based on hearing the three covers by Mason Proper, Tim Williams, and Trevor Giuliani, I have concluded that Fisher was a bit of a strange songwriter and has a bit of an interesting "older" man's vocals... each of the modern artists do try and emulate the singing style.
My personal favorite is Tim Williams' rendition. Nice backup vocals and the repetitive "hit another wall" refrain.
If you want to hear these songs for yourself - head over to dovecoterecords.com and click on the "Download Now" link. There's no catch either, none of that "give us your email" thing. Just a nice little free EP.
UPDATE 12/18/09: I misread the press info, the songs are all sung by Harvey Sid Fisher (doing covers of Dovecote artists). This would explain why all the songs sounds like an "older" man.
OLD WAVE MIXTAPE
nouvellesvagues.com
Cover lover band of approval, Nouvelle Vague, made a 10-track free mixtape at whenyouawake.com.
Most of the tracks are by American artists, some classic from Roy Orbison ("You Got It"), Louis Armstrong ("We Have All The Time In The World"), Johnny Cash ("Ring Of Fire"), etc. There are a few weird ones (weird as in didn't fit in) like Sufjan Stevens and Rolling Stones... however, I will admit tapping my feet when I heard the intro to "Let's Spend The Night Together". There is the token French artist Serge Gainsbourg on the mixtape for good measure.
While I'm not entirely sure about the legality of this free download, I think it's good promotions for the bands mentioned on the tape. Plus, it's a nice boost of ego, you know?
daffodilpublicity.com confirms these are their forth-coming North American tour dates:
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Friday, Jan. 22, Philadelphia, PA, World Café Saturday, Jan. 23, New York, NY, Webster Hall Sunday, Jan. 24, Boston, MA, Somerset Tuesday, Jan. 25, Montreal, PQ, Metropolis Wednesday, Jan. 27, Toronto, ONT, Opera House Thursday, Jan. 28, Detroit, MI, Crofoot Ballroom Friday, Jan. 29, Chicago, IL, Logan Square Monday, Feb. 1, Denver, CO, Bluebird Tuesday, Feb. 2, Salt Lake City, UT, Urban Lounge Thursday, Feb. 4, Seattle, WA, King Cat |
Friday, Feb. 5, Vancouver, BC, Venue Sunday, Feb. 7, San Francisco, CA, Regency Monday, Feb. 8, Sant Cruz, CA, Rio Theater Tuesday, Feb. 9, Los Angeles, CA, Henry Fonda Friday, Feb. 12, Dallas, TX, Granada Saturday, Feb. 13, Austin, TX, Mohawk Sunday, Feb. 14, New Orleans, LA, Republic Tuesday, Feb. 16, Miami, FL, Revolution Wednesday, Feb. 17, Orlando, FL, Firestone Thursday, Feb. 18, Atlanta, GA, Loft Saturday, Feb. 20, Washington DC, 9:30 Club |
YOU HAVE TO SPEND MONEY TO SAVE MONEY
I don't work for Best Buy, but I wanted to pass along this deal, since it is almost a crime to not buy it. It is $140 for HANNspree 23" HD LCD 16:9 Widescreen Monitor. That's cheap, considering the same monitor would've cost at least $700 a few years ago.
I did buy it and setup was very plug-and-play easy. It came with a disc for a Windows Vista driver, but if you just have XP, it would just recognize the monitor. Hooking it up on the PS3 using the HDMI cable (not included) was also easy - however I did not like the long pauses as PS3 auto adjust when it plays bluray discs (I suspect this has to do with determining that it's a compliant display since HDMI is notorious for anti-piracy junk).
Compare to the old CRT monster monitors, this 23" is superlight - even Mr Burns can easily move the monitor around. The product page lists 9.9lbs, but it feels like it's only one or two pounds.
The monitor does have built-in speakers, but it sounds tinny. Not exactly awesome audio, but for $140, that's just a bonus. I recommend buying monitor headphones and plugging it in the monitor for clearer audio. And speaking of audio, since this is marketed as purely a monitor - there is also no remote control access. If you need to turn down the audio, you have to adjust it on the monitor itself.
Despite my complaint, this is one of best image display I've own. It's native 1920x1080 is pretty sweet when I'm playing Dragon Age (since now I can have more items in the "quick" slots at the bottom).
* practically free
12/16/2009 11:25:14 ♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com
Greetings, dear readers. I hope you are well.
I had a couple of vertebrae fused last October, and so I've been away on a health sabbatical of sorts. The cold weather is not helping! I feel so odd saying that I will welcome some warm temperatures again, especially after we got some lovely snow in my home area last weekend. But when you have metal in your body, or nerve damage, or both, you start feeling the barometric changes more.
I wanted to take a moment to share some other music blogs I have been reading here at VOX. I promise I will be back with more music, including 2NU's last offering. (Who is 2NU? Stay tuned...) But until then, allow me to share some other blogs of interest, including a side project of mine.
(On a side note, it seems to me that many of the resources I looked at when writing reviews here seem to be very similar to what friends of mine looked at writing for university and college publications, or what they played for college radio. But I digress...)
Those that have followed my reviews here know that I'm a big fan of mashups and bastard pop. It's always been a satirical commentary for me, in some part, on how the commercial industry likes to come back to familiar hooks and "radio-friendly" licks-- how else can two or more songs, especially when they seem so radically different, come together? They can come together, all right, in a rather slick way that can express an entirely new idea that is different from the sum of the mashup's parts.
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The Dude’s Blog (Blog de The Dude) has a general focus-- nothing too specific, but that's fairly within the spirit of things at W♥M-- write about what you like. Obviously, his username is taken from The Big Lebowski, which was referenced by Vu in Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In). His latest post covers his album picks for 2009.
- Aurelio’s blog is a little more general than even that--"Un cocktail de musique, ciné, bouquins, bonne bouffe et rigolade" (A mix of music, film, books, good food, and comedy). He hosts Albums 2009, so some of his latest posts have also been about his selections of music in 2009.
- niggytardust writes in English and French, so if you don't speak/read/write French, you have an English option. More of a rock focus.
- Ground Countrol To Major Tom focuses on new artists and independent music.
- Music Is My Radar is written by moien
So there you have it. I'm probably just scratching the surface, but most of these bloggers and Vox Groups specifically mentioned (if not all) have contributed to W♥M in some form or another, so have a look around.
12/15/2009 23:56:22 ♥ jaklumen (
/ jaklumen.vox.com)#1010 - Beginning Figure Drawing
Instructor: Alex Alvarado
Sunday, 10am-1pm
This course is an introduction to the fundamental principals of sketching and drawing the human figure. Topics covered will include: Gesture drawing and the study of body movements and kinetics, the basic geometry of the human figure, the general proportions of the human head and figure, value studies and basic rendering technique. This class will start off with short 5-min poses and gradually advance to 2 1/2 hour poses.
EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT: Enroll by December 19th and get $25 off
#1001 - Basic Drawing Fundamentals
Instructor: Eric Pedersen
Saturday, 10am-1pm
This course introduces the fundamentals of drawing. How to hold a charcoal pencil, simple shapes, volumes, c-curves, s-curves, straights, edges, 4-value system, thumbnails, introductory composition, light sources, core shadows, reflective lights, are all covered in this course. This is an excellent course for students with little to no formal drawing training at all, or those wanting a refresher course in the basics.
#2223 - The Verdaccio Approach to Painting
Instructor: Brianna Lee
Wednesday, 7pm-10pm 
In this course students will focus on drawing the subject accurately, learn to transfer the drawing and how to prepare the Verdaccio under-painting for the final stages of glazing. Glazing can give luminous effects that cannot be achieved by direct painting. It is especially good for painting the translucent and luminous qualities of human flesh. This course is great for those who are new to painting because it begins with the drawing stage and introduces painting in a very methodical and simplified manner. This class is also suitable for intermediate to advanced students who are interested in learning how the Renaissance masters painted and how to make a painting glow. The course will consist of two 5 week paintings, one still-life and one portrait.
#2380B - Alla Prima Head/Figure Painting A and B
Instructor: Ignat Ignatov
Friday, 10am-4pm 
This course will consist of painting demonstrations and lectures covering the important elements of painting such as value, color and edges, as well as composition and design. This class will also cover the limited palette and the amazing advantages that it offers. Each week the artists will paint from life a different model using the Alla Prima (wet into wet technique) and will receive individual instruction and critiques. The goal is to advance your skills in the direct painting method while applying the fundamentals to achieve a solid understanding of painting the human form in various light conditions and settings.
#2800B - Alla Prima Impressionist Painting A and B
Instructor: Vadim Zang
Monday, 10am-4pm
This painting course will emphasize tonal construction of the figure, the light and shadow relationship, and science of color. Vadim Zang will explain limited palette technique, giving demonstrations to help the student in applying tonal knowledge to paint.Students will then progress on to full color, with control of paint application. Individual critiques and instruction will guide the student.
#2367A - Figure Painting A and B
Instructor: Joseph Todorovitch
Wednesday, 12pm-3pm 
We will paint the figure from life and discuss choices for setting up the pose, composition, color harmony, lighting, pacing, and bringing the painting to a decent level of resolve. We'll also discuss the language of describing paint in order to better understand our mixtures. Joseph will explain his approach and demonstrate by painting along and illustrating his ideas about the approach. Pose lengths will vary from single days to multiple days. Previous drawing experience is highly recommended.
The Winter Quarter starts January 4th. If you are interested in taking any of these classes, call 818.708.9232! To view a list of all our other classes, visit our website at www.laafa.org/sessions/calendar
Reminder: Open house Sat. Dec. 19th from 11am-4pm!
First thing I’d like to say is, if you really love a band and you get the chance to see them play in Adelaide, take that chance. I am now a firm believer the people in Sydney are at least seven times more rude than anywhere else.
So, Jarvis Cocker is about to wrap up his second solo Australian tour this weekend and I managed to see him at both the Metro in Sydney and the Gov in Adelaide. Now… both shows were equally as excellent musically, the sound was much better in Sydney, but the atmosphere in Adelaide was just so much more amenable to such an apparently accommodating chap such as Jarvis Cocker.
What do I mean by accommodating? Well he’s very generous with the chocolates (can’t say the same for the girl in Sydney who would only stretch as far as giving me half a square of a chocolate – I didn’t care that it was Jarvis’, I didn’t want to ruin your chances of selling it for $15 on ebay, I just wanted chocolate) and drinks (but hopefully not a nasty strain of Jarvicoccus Aureus – oh microbiology jokes, so hilarious) and quite amenable to having a good old chat with the audience.
One thing I was especially impressed with was that between the two shows, I can’t recall one thing he repeated saying. (Might have had something to do with the cheat sheet he had attached to his set list). Although, I am well known for being easily impressed.
All the tunes were there: Angela, Black Magic, Further Complications, Fuckingsong, Homewrecker and even You’re In My Eyes, the disco song, which I have professed to dislike intensely, but actually got me dancing. I must say, there’s something about the really loud parts of Jarvis’ songs, most notably in Black Magic, that just sends a shiver down ones spine. The man, again, lived up to all expectations (after two sneaky pretending-the-show-was-over-and-walking-off-stage moments), wrapping up the set with a lovely rendition of Running the World.
Aside from his witty banter about such profound topics as koalas and why they don’t just eat something else (because what they actually eat doesn’t give them enough energy to do anything other than sleep when they aren’t eating), being attacked by an emu and whoever’s birthday it happened to be on that day (someone had been doing their research), by far the greatest thing of all was Jarvis’ trademark dance moves. He must really have an excellent sense of balance, a lesser man would have been a pile on the floor if they tried to pull off some of the leg-flailing movements that Jarvis can do.
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Special mention also goes out to Martin Craft (you may remember him from the Australian band, Sidewinder); support act and guitarist within Jarvis’ crew. Talented guy; quite a musical contrast to Jarvis both within the song subject and the feel of the tunes. Slow, and wispy, a single acoustic guitar, a synth and a saxophone. Nice.
Brilliant.
(Thanks to Miss Kristen who followed the man around the country and took these pictures)
On a side note, I just wanted to
thank everyone who came to the Abercrombie hotel for britpop last week and want
to draw your attention to the Britpop Christmas party happening on the 23rd.
Could very well be the last one! Get there!
Sally
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