10/31 Ghost: Cold Shower Gets Warmer
Posted: November 3, 2009 Filed under: Concerts, Listening | Tags: deep thoughts, Festival 8, Ghost, phish Leave a comment »
I downloaded 10/31/09 of Phish’s Festival 8 run last night. The price was certainly right: four and half hours of music for 10 bucks.
Today, I listened to a couple of numbers from the three sets: “Backwards Down the Number Line,” “Fluffhead,” and “Ghost.” The guys sure are sounding crisp. I hope it holds up until December.
“Ghost” is an interesting song. Live, I guess the band tends to take it deep into jam territory. They certainly did this Halloween. Listening to the tune whilst riding along on the Metro this evening, I was reminded of something that a friend and I used to talk about in high school – a jam is a bit like taking a shower. Sometimes you feel the hot water start to run out, but you stay in the shower anyway, hoping that maybe it’ll get warmer.
At one point in the 10/31 Ghost jam, I felt the water start to get a little cold. But then the boys managed to heat things up again.
Eno on Bono: “His ego allows him to be humble”
Posted: November 2, 2009 Filed under: Artists, Concerts, Technology, Uncategorized | Tags: A380, Brian Eno, Festival 8, REM, vegetarian 2 Comments »- Pitchfork has a nice interview with Brian Eno. On Bono’s “enormous” ego:
His ego allows him to be humble, if you see what I mean. People who are very confident in themselves aren’t hurt by criticism.
- The L.A. Times writes up Festival 8.
Indeed, the band’s first night rarely disappointed, with the 26-year veteran delving into its back catalog to render favorites such as “Prince Caspian,” “Wolfman’s Brother,” and “Down With Disease,” with a rubbery danceability — the Polo Field at times looking like a fluorescent wave of bobbing heads, twirling glow sticks and flailing limbs.
- No relation to music: NPR on writer Jonathan Safran Foer’s vegetarianism.
“If our next-door neighbor kept a dog in the conditions that well more than 90 percent of pigs are kept in, we would call the police. We wouldn’t just be offended. We wouldn’t just think it was wrong. We would be compelled to take action,” Foer says.
- Distantly related to music: GlobalPost “hitches a ride on Air France KLM’s first A380.”
Among the plane’s features are six bar areas and an arts and culture lounge area with screens featuring works of art thanks to a partnership with the Louvre Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. Seats are equipped with slots for electronic memory sticks where passengers can download materials such as music, city guides to their destinations and games. The first-class cabin includes a changing room with high-end beauty products for men and women. First-class passengers receive pajamas during long haul flights. Plush seats recline into beds. Hand-held devices allow passengers to electronically chat with one another even if they are seated far apart.
- A friend writes: “Do you like REM? check out their new live disc. It’s great.”
More Swedish Hooks
Posted: October 16, 2009 Filed under: Artists, Listening | Tags: Built to Spill, Festival 8, Friska Viljor, New Releases, phish, Tim McGraw, Wall Street Journal Leave a comment »- Via Jambase today, I came across Friska Viljor, who have a new record out this week. Some nice hooks on there, judging by stuff they’ve got up on MySpace. May have to check it out.
- Speaking of new music, I downloaded Built to Spill’s new one last night, “There is no Enemy.” I can’t say the music is bowling me over thus far, but I guess you have to give a record a few listens before you really know how how you feel.
- In the humongous pop star category, WSJ reports that Tim McGraw is now managed by the same outfit that manages Phish. Six degrees.
- Speaking of Phish, the band appears to be pulling out all the stops for its forthcoming festival out in Indio, CA.
Right at the entrance to the concert field is an elevated area partially covered by spectacular Olympic Peak Tents that looks out onto the lush concert field. Here at the Overlook you’ll get the chance to enjoy a particularly bloody mary at the Bloody Mary Bar, a movie area showing vintage Halloween classics, archival Phish video, (not to mention The World Series and NFL games), a massive 100 foot Ferris Wheel and an internet cafe (though wi-fi will be provided throughout the site).
Sometimes, I wish I lived in Southern California.
Will the Lamb Lie Down in Indio?
Posted: October 5, 2009 Filed under: Artists, Concerts, Listening | Tags: Festival 8, Genesis, Mr. Miner's Phish Thoughts, phish, The Cinema Show 6 Comments »
Phish is playing with their fans’ minds again. This time, it’s with this nifty countdown of album candidates that the band might don as their musical costume Halloween night out in Indio, CA. Each day, a record gets axed, literally.
For now, “Lamb Lies Down on Broadway” is still in the hunt, although I think the odds of its survival are low. Who knows, though. Crazier things have happened.
Mr. Miner’s Phish Thoughts has more on this topic.
If I had my druthers, I would have nominated “Selling England by the Pound” – I think Phish could go to town with “The Cinema Show.” Damn. They could even hook Mike Gordon with a double neck.
