PoOPlist » Live Shows

Radiohead live at Roseland Ballroom – New York, NY 2011-09-28

Mark Zip — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 05:36:27 +0000

Radiohead live at Roseland Ballroom – New York, NY 2011-09-28 – Core News.

Via Core News. Not Thomas’s usual fare, but might be of interest to the mystifyingly large number od Poopsters who are fans. I have not listened to it, so I cannot speak to the quality. And who knows if it will still be up by the time they see this.

Robyn at Radio City Music Hall – Feb 5 2011

Mark Zip — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 02:38:27 +0000

Robyn - Radio Ciy Music Hall Feb 5 2011 Pic by brooklynvegan.com

Robyn at Radio City Music Hall – Feb 05 2011
The crowd was absolutely fabulous. There were light-up swizzle sticks in the overpriced drinks. As Will said, the Gentlemen’s Lounge was probably the gayest place in town this night. When I came out of the stall I wanted to scream “enough with the skinny jeans, boys!” And at least one of them seemed to appreciate the prospect of a bit of upstate rustic rough. I was flattered, but I think he was pretty far gone already.

Robyn had two drummers and two keys and nothing else. They were definitely voice tracking for the chorus and there was little or no vocal improv. She had no back-up singers but I agree that she had the balls to pull it off. Lighting was minimal, high tech and only occasionally overwhelming. Sound was good, I was on the second mezzanine and it was a little muddy in the upper mid-range, but not bad. Bass was good when it needed to be. Little to no distortion overall. I did not have to use my earplugs.

The show was tightly scripted and well paced, with carefully chosen peaks and valleys. I was a little surprised that she did “Dancing on my own” so early in the show, using it as the first peak. There were also somewhat more songs from earlier in her career than I might have expected. “Hang with me” was a highlight, as we knew it would be. She did “You should know better” without Snoop. Second encore included “Konichiwa Bitches” and a weird and fun intro to “Show Me Love” using compatriots ABBA

The crowd was happy and upbeat and most stayed on their feet for the whole show. Robyn held the stage well and distributed her charisma well. She had one slight fall (the 4 inch platform Timberland-style boots can’t have helped) and the crowd roared when she got up without missing more than a beat. I think that she would benefit from formal dance lessons. But OTOH the gawkiness of her dancing (again with those boots!) was really endearing. Endearing too was her obvious pleasure in seeing huge crowd in such a great venue “This is the largest crowd I’ve ever pulled on my own”

There are pictures and a full setlist here: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2011/02/robyn_played_ra.html

Live review – Ari Up Punky Reggae Birthday Party Benefit Memorial at Brooklyn Music Hall – Jan 16 2011

JimF — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:35:15 +0000

Contributing PoOPster Jim Finnigan writes:

Jan 17 2011 – Brooklyn – What a great time was had by all at the Ari Up Punky Reggae Birthday Party Benefit Memorial at Brooklyn Music Hall last nite! Big Up!

Right from the start I could tell it was going to be good. The DJ was playing classic On-U (Breaking Down the Pressure, Autobiography of the Dread Operator, Can’t Take Su Su Pon Dread) and other reggae (Baby I Love You So, King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown). I caught Joly by the merch table and presented him with a copy of Neil Taylor’s Document and Eyewitness: An Intimate History of Rough Trade, wherein Joly is interviewed extensively in chapter 6 (and isn’t it always like this – the people who provide the content aren’t given a copy by the publisher and somebody else has to do it). Joly had 3 Ari Punkcast DVDs for sale (different from the 2 or 3 I already had) in addition to special Birthday Party t-shirts and 2 posters – profits going to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, as were the profits from the show, at the request of Ari’s family. And they must have made a nice chunk of change last night – the house was packed! (On the other had, a lot of the performers would wander in the audience when it wasn’t their turn to be on stage, so maybe there were a lot of comps).

I didn’t catch all of the names of the performers, so I’m going to have to guess at names for some of them – hope they don’t mind – or maybe Joly can supply names if he knows them. Also, I’m recreating this list from memory next morning so caveat emptor:

Professor Vivian Goldman started the party by reading messages from Viv Albertine and from Boy George. The Punk Professor stood just off stage right for most of the program, occasionally making comments or “teaching” us about somebody’s punk credentials.

Backing for most of the show was by the True Warriors – Ira Heaps large and in charge and barefoot as usual, with a neatly trimmed beard tonight (and his daughters (?) on the side of the stage next to Vivian for most of the evening). It was good to see Julia Nichols from Olivebridge back with the gang, but I didn’t get a chance to say hi as she would rush offstage when it wasn’t her turn to sing.

First up was an imposing Jamaican lady singing a decidedly punky-reggae version of World of Grown-Ups. This lady sang a couple numbers later on, including Instant Hit, and I Heard It Through the Bassline, and she played bass on some numbers.

I think Baby Mother was next, or was it Me Done, by I think Honeychild Coleman, an excellent singer who said that she was keeping up the tradition of making costume changes during the show, but not costume changes inna Ari style (Ari would just change right on stage).

Actually I don’t think I’m going to be able to re-create the setlist in order, so I’ll just go into random comments mode:

Queen of the Bass Tessa Politt played bass and sang backing on quite a few numbers. Bruce Smith (Pop Group, Rip Rig & Panic, PiL) played drums on about a quarter of the songs.

Another Jamaican lady who said she was Ari’s God-daughter and who lived with Ari in Jamaica sang Bashment and told a story about how even after they’d be arguing politricks all afternoon (Ari for Hillary vs. her God-daughter for Obama), Ari would soon show up in the God-daughter’s room in her party outfit and say it was time to go out for Bashment. Whereupon everybody on stage showed off their party shoes unless they weren’t wearing any.

Holly Cook proved to be quite a good singer and did good versions of Some Love, Fade Away, My Guiding Star, and other songs.

Angela Jaeger, vocalist from a late version of Pigbag, talked about some of her memories of the Slits early gigs, and sang Adventures Close to Home (which I recall as being a Palmolive song but what the hey – it’s a party).

Tiny Anna Ozawa from the “Japanese Slits” sang very good lead vocals on Love Forever and Observe Life, and she sang backing and played melodica for a good portion of the show. You can find her on Facebook and Myspace.

Flyboy in the Buttermilk Greg Tate was supposed to do a reading or something, but instead showed up with about half of his band Burnt Sugar and did a pretty good punk / free jazz version of So Tough.

Irish Boston refugees Judy Nylon and Michael Patrick McDonald did some readings. Judy’s talk, about half read and half extemporized, was about her remembrances of Ari, Chrissie Hynde and herself hanging out together at early Sex Pistols and Clash gigs, and about Ari’s vibrant take no prisoners personality, and importance as a role model for women in music. Judy said that Ari, Chrissie and herself took Nico to be their role model, and wished that Nico had been younger so she could have been a punk and wouldn’t have been so alone in her endeavors. She also talked about how Ari, Little Annie and herself had all been “the women of On-U”, and reveled in the multi-cultural atmosphere there (but she didn’t include Vivian Goldman, who was standing right there…probably just an oversight). McDonald read from one of his books (which Vivian Goldman said she teaches to her students) about going to a Slits sound check one afternoon and talking to Ari, and about how he then hid in the drop ceiling of the bathroom until the doors opened that night for the gig. Actually, I learned that trick years ago too – that is, going to a venue in the afternoon for the soundcheck, to talk to a musician, not the part about hiding in the drop ceiling. McDonald also did a dramatic reading of the lyrics to Trapped Animal.

The Band Droidz, a three-piece punk/reggae band from Harlem, did an excellent three-song set and the bass player, also the soundman at Irving Plaza, talked about Ari’s “futuristic” performance at a Nina Hagen show there.

Subatomic Sound System played four unreleased Ari Up recordings: a cover of a Lee Perry song I’m gonna call Underground Roots (something from the Roast Fish & Cornbread or Return of the Super Ape era), a version of Dennis Brown‘s Revolution re-fashioned into Slits Revolution, a slightly more punky version of World of Grown-Ups with backing by Dubblestandart, and an excellent song called Life Partner that talked about her relationship with Jamaica as if it were her life partner, and about how she lived more than half her life there.

Joly showed a bunch of videos: the last (so far) Slits video Lazy Slam, and three that he said hadn’t been shown anywhere before: a Slits rehearsal of a pretty good song I’m gonna call Dancehall Queen, Ari & the True Warrior’s excellent version of Police & Thieves from a Joe Strummer memorial concert (this one had Ira Heaps kinda entranced), and Ari & Wilton (?) singing Don’t Say Nothing Bad About New York from the post-9/11 benefit at the Lone Star Cafe (I think I’ve seen that one before…or maybe I actually saw them doing this song at a Wetlands Preserve gig.) He also showed some interviews with Ari, including a very good one where she talked about her philosophy, and which also included references to her having only a limited time left on Earth to complete her Mission, which was for as many people to hear her as possible – not necessarily to like her, but to at least hear her.

The finale (or so I thought) was for the True Warriors to return to the stage (augmented by Gary Lucas on dub-effects guitar) to provide backing for Neneh Cherry‘s versions of Newtown and Man Next Door. Neneh also talked about how Ari affected every aspect of her life. Neneh & Bruce’s daughter, Pearl (I think), talked about her “auntie Ari” and how much she loved to dance. Pablo, Ari’s son (one of the twins on the cover of Foundation Steppers, now about 6 and a half feet tall) thanked everybody and said that he thought that his mother would have loved the party.

But the party kept on going. Everybody was so upbeat and in a great mood that I couldn’t blame them. Good vibes all around. Unfortunately for me, if I wanted to get home at a reasonable time and before the temperature dropped to below zero (Fahrenheit) I had to leave to catch the train home. Good memories. I’m sure that some good things will continue to be heard from the Slits gang in the years to come.

Are you feeling precious? Belle And Sebastians Holiday Spectacular : NPR

Mark Zip — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 14:51:02 +0000

Holiday listening with your favourite chamber-pop bourgie-bohemians

Belle And Sebastians Holiday Spectacular : NPR

Captain Beefheart – A PoOPster remembers

JimF — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 07:00:51 +0000

An obit from the Guardian, UK Captain Beefheart, who has died aged 69, was provocative and unpredictable | Music | The Guardian

Our fellow PoOPSter, Jim Finnigan, sent along this fine remembrance of the famously prickly Don Van Vliet

From: Jim Finnigan

Subject: My Captain Beefheart experience
Date: Friday, December 17, 2010, 11:39 PM

I saw Captain Beefheart perform 4 times but I met him once.

It must have been in the fall of 1976, I hitchhiked from Albany to Poughkeepsie on a beautiful autumn day to meet a friend who lived in Po-town and catch a show by Beefheart at Frivolous Sal’s Last Chance Saloon. I arrived at the Last Chance a couple of hours early – it was a bar and it was already open as usual. I sat at the bar, had a beer and a burger, and ended up talking to Denny Walley who was also sitting at the bar. Denny and I talked about the gig, about how it was a warm-up for a gig in New York City in a couple of days where they’d be playing for some Capitol Records execs, to whom they were trying to sell the Captain’s new album, Bat Chain Puller. Denny said that he knew Beefheart and Zappa from high school – they all sat in the back row in class (alphabetical seating, remember?) and were always getting in trouble for horsing around or for throwing spitballs at the girls in the rows in front of them, and so on. After awhile Captain Beefheart came out from behind the stage with a large pad of paper and sat down at one of the tables. Denny said, there he is now, would you like to meet him? I said yes, and Denny said, be careful and don’t call him Captain, he only likes to be called Don.

So we went over, Denny introduced me and Don invited me to sit with him at his table. I of course said how much I liked his music, and we talked about which ones I liked and so on. We talked about some other things and I found Don to be very friendly and pleasant. Don also talked about this gig, how his band was all new, and how it was a warm-up for playing to the Capitol Records guys. At one point, either Jeff Morris Tepper, or maybe it was Gary Lucas, came over and sat with us. Don asked me if I’d like to PLAY with Jeff (or Gary), and if I thought that it would be fun to PLAY with his band, and other questions all involving an emphasis on the word PLAY. I thought, ok, now here’s where Beefheart’s weird side was starting to come out. Jeff (or…) excused himself and went backstage, and soon the club announcer came on and introduced the opening act, Chicago blues piano great Sunnyland Slim. At this point there were only about a dozen people in the audience.

Sunnyland played some numbers solo, and then a couple of young white guys came onstage and started playing with him. I think Sunnyland had the biggest hands I’ve ever seen, and after every number he would hold his hands up to acknowledge the applause. Beefheart and I were still talking when Sunnyland started to play, but then Beefheart said “shhh – this guy’s great, I want to listen to him, we’ll talk later.” Beefheart then opened up his sketch pad and started making these sketches that were obviously of Sunnyland. He drew very quickly and soon had made 3 or 4 full-page sketches, which I thought were all very good. Then he made a sketch that didn’t look like Sunnyland, and I thought that the sketch wasn’t as good as the others. Sunnyland ended his set – I think he was very, very good that evening.

Don then flipped through his sketch pad and asked me what I thought of his sketches, and I said that I thought they were pretty good, and then he turned to the last sketch. I said that I didn’t think that one was as good as the others, and Don said, “too bad, because that’s a sketch of you, and I would have given it to you if you liked it.” Well, the thought quickly went through my mind to say “No! No! I like it!” or whatever, but, being young and pig headed (or whatever), I decided to hold my ground and said “No, I don’t like that sketch as much as the others”, and Don said, “Well Ok, nice meeting you, enjoy the show”, got up and went backstage.

The Magic Band came onstage one at a time and started pounding out the opening number bit by bit. Robert Arthur Williams must have been sitting down low behind his drums, because he all of a sudden slithered up into view with a very snake-like motion and sat down at the drums, which kinda startled me. I noticed that The new Magic Band members included Sunnyland’s backing musicians. This is something I don’t think I’ve ever seen referenced anywhere – Sunnyland Slim & The Magic Band. I do recall that, in his book, Drumbo mentions that Beefheart and Sunnyland shared managers for awhile. For the second show, the other half of The Magic Band were Sunnyland’s backup band.

Anyway, Beefheart & The Magic Band played a good set, including new material, and stuff from almost all of his albums except Unconditionally Guaranteed and Bluejeans & Moonbeans. I recall that the rhythm of Bat Chain Puller reminded me of the Rolling Stones’s Hot Stuff – not one of the Stones more critically acclaimed numbers. One of the versions on the Dust Sucker semi-bootleg reminds me of the version they played that night. The audience was now up to forty or fifty people, and were hootin’ and hollerin’ along. One table of young ladies all prettily dressed in disco frilly shirts kept requesting Happy Love Song. Finally Beefheart said that this new band didn’t know that song, but he offered instead to do another song off of Unconditionally Guaranteed, I swear Upon the My-O-My, but Beefheart ‘experts’ that I’ve spoken to swear that he never did any of those songs after the tour with the Bluejeans-era band. Whatever. I remember what I remember.

Anyway, that’s my encounter with Beefheart. If he saved his sketchbooks, somewhere in the one with his sketches of Sunnyland Slim, is a sketch of me. Sigh.

Jim Finnigan

Belle and Sebastian show to be webcast

Mark Zip — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 03:30:07 +0000

December 21st. On the NPR and Guardian.co.uk websites. The show starts at 9pm (GMT) and 4pm (EST) Barrowland Webcast | Belle and Sebastian

The Grand Slambovians @ Bearsville Theater, Saturday, Nov 27 9pm

MikeJ — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 05:33:27 +0000

Fresh ‘n feisty from triumphantly advancing their contagious and quirky Americana from Glasgow to Penzance in ye olde UK, alt-roots DIY’ers Gandalf Murphy & The Slambovian Circus of Dreams bring their haunting signature songs and sincerity back to the Hudson Highlands from whence it originated.

But myth is a must in the mind-space of Slambovia, and Woodstock’s Bearsville Theater is pleased to loudly premiere the advent of “The Grand Slambovians” which is both the band’s latest reincarnation and the title of their new soul stirring CD. Manically melodic, the bold new songs stitch to the band’s classics like an old paisley patchwork quilt wrapped around a very large family. Thus a Thanksgiving weekend performance promising that ‘Grand’ family of friends and fans a ‘Slambovian’ feast like never before!

Tickets: $20.00 General Admission

Doors open 8pm

The Grand Slambovians

Saturday, November 27, 2010 9pm

The Bearsville Theater

291 Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY

(845) 679-4406 www.bearsvilletheater.com

The Trapps

MikeJ — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 03:32:58 +0000

Saturday, November 13, 8pm $10

Howland Cultural Center

477 Main

Beacon, NY 12508

914-474-7758

For information and tickets, please visit www.howlandculturalcenter.org

Handicapped accessible.

Limited seating.

Geo-thermally heated & cooled.

New Paltz’s nationally recognized roots band

returns to rock the Grand Hall at Howland!

Review – Little Annie & Baby Dee at Joe’s Pub New York

JimF — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 23:22:46 +0000

Caught Little Annie & Baby Dee at Joe’s Pub New York on Sunday night 26 September. Good show. Annie was in good voice (and need I mention also nattily attired in a black pantsuit)(and the same shoes she’s wearing on the cover of Genderful) and even managed to go mezzo for a couplea bits – especially her soulful take on Stevie Wonder’s Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer. Other classic covers included Yesterday When I Was Young and her take on Tina Turner’s (+ Dire Strait’s) Private Dancer featuring some new herky-jerky dance moves. Annie’s take on these modern cabaret tunes always strikes me as being tenderhearted yet tough, sentimental yet not maudlin, funny but not cruel.

Buncha new songs probably written with Baby Dee, as I guess she’s shedding some of the Paul Wallfisch repertoire. One song mentions going to prison in Valhalla, but Annie’s quick to point out that she doesn’t mean Valhalla in Asgard, but rather Valhalla, NY, home of the Westchester County prison (Annie’s from nearby Yonkers don’t forget). Annie’s interaction with her new accompanist is a bit more… catty and whimsical than her repartee with the more prim and proper Mr. Wallfisch. I also should mention that the audience at Joe’s Pub was almost a full house, which was quite different from some of the other times I caught Annie and Paul playing in some out-of-the-way places in Brooklyn for instance (Annie always puts on a good show even if there’s only a half-dozen people in the house). After a good night like this, Annie can probably pay off her credit card bill for those shoes.

Before Annie came onstage Sunday, Baby Dee sang and played harp on a half-dozen of her unique artsongs (Brother Slug Sister Snail being the audience’s favorite) with her usual violinist and cellist. Anything I have to say about Baby Dee won’t do justice to her performance – so see for yourself by checking out her Youtube videos for The Dance of Diminishing Possibilites (on piano) and Clouds (on harp).

Uh – I wonder what Sherwood would do for Baby Dee?

Jim F

Brooklyn Record Riot, Sunday Sept 26th

Mark Zip — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:24:52 +0000

at Warsaw
261 Driggs Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11222

Hours: Noon-8 PM

$3.00 regular admission
$20.00 early admission from 10 am-noon

Beer!
Traditional Polish food.
Eight massive DJs led by Phast Phreddie (yup, Phreddie who used to work at Rhino)

50plus tables of merchandise from 30plus cool dealers hailing from the USA and Canada.

Public transportation: Warsaw is located near the L and G trains. The L train has a Bedford Avenue stop (the first stop in Brooklyn as you leave Manhattan). Exit on the Driggs Avenue side and make a right on Driggs and walk toward McCarren Park. Warsaw will be on the right, about a ten minute walk. The G train stop is on Greenpoint Avenue. Use hopstop.com for information on both trains.