sonic youth. united palace theater, nyc.

a nice 4th of july holiday was made even nicer by catching sonic youth's set at the united palace friday. c. and i were captivated by the hall's striking beauty. this "delirious masterpiece" was laden with gold fauna of all sizes and stripes.

SY's show featured nearly every song off their latest. there was a handful of older songs as well, but not recognizing anything from the only album of theirs i own, nothing sounded too familiar. the new tracks were alright. "anti-orgasm" is quite the number. compared to other SY shows i've been to in the past couple of years, this one seemed considerably more scripted. i know they can play with a pretty, polished sound (relatively speaking). and there's nothing wrong with a scripted set: i just didn't realize it was in the band's vocabulary.

after the show, we jetted down to the village to see our good friend d. play drums with the fabulous eliza neals. lots of fun going from sonic f'n youth to neals's sexy rock and roll. tons o' fun, just like the last time.

zappa plays zappa. bardavon 1869 opera house, poughkeepsie, ny.

last night, i trekked with the simmer twins to POK to see zpz. quaint little theater, and it proved to be a delightful setting for the show.

if you haven't gotten the memo by now, you never will.

notes:
- the show started with a barebones "apostrophe (')". dweezil looked like he was wrestling with his sound early in the song, but came back with some marvelous soloing.
- on "montana", we were introduced to new singer ben thomas, who did a very good job capturing frank, napoleon, and many of the other singers in the zappa band throughout the years.
- i become a bigger fan of jamie kime's playing with every show. he grabs your attention with supremely tasteful playing and these insane solos that move at a million notes a second, but not before he tops it off with subtle, bluesy licks.
- "king kong" was long, but tremendous. nice to see that on the setlist. and was that "purple lagoon"?!
- dweezil's soloing encompassed several of his dad's guitarisms. his solo on "inca roads" was a fabulous journey through his dad's riffs and licks, which turned into a searing barrage of finger-tapping runs that zappa the elder would've never pulled off.

some new developments worth discussing:

- i was unaware that aaron arntz left the band. without a dedicated keyboardist, the band's sound is a lot grittier. i was amazed to look over and see dweezil and kime playing some of the keys riffs on guitar. scheila, now the primary keys player, clearly knows what she's doing and she handled several big parts more than adequately. but i hope dweezil installs a new full-time player soon. after reflecting on the incredible keyboardists to grace the zappa catalogs, it seems that scheila is being spread very thinly. while it's a nice party trick to play keys and sax simultaneously, it's not an easy venture, much less with this insane music. i could clearly see the tremendous effort that this takes written on scheila's face. i wonder how long she can last in such a taxing role. but on the bright side, i gained even more respect for her sax playing: the sax is her secondary instrument, boys and girls!
- ben thomas handled his parts very well, but it was weird to see someone on a zappa stage doing vocals and not much else (great jew's harp solo notwithstanding). it was even odder to see some emoting over fz lyrics like that. you wish him well, but i suspect thomas will endure LOTS of criticism as this tour wears on. hopefully he's up to the challenge. (note: the zpz blog has a fabulous account of the circumstances that lead to thomas's hiring. let's just say, "boo, ray white!")

mahler 8, featuring ny phil, et al. avery fisher hall, nyc.

i was at the intense ny philharmonic concert friday night (thanks to the outstanding s.), where mahler's 8th was given a good, solid performance.

the piece, which came in at a respectable 84 minutes, had its dynamic highs and lows. the 300+ plus musicians shook the walls when they had to but were just as capable of bringing it down in short order. the assembled chorus (same groups as in "war requiem" a few weeks back) once again did a splendid job attaining all their colors. it's unfortunate, however, that several of the soloists were mostly swallowed up by the hall. bass/bari jason grant and soprano nancy gustafson were especially tough to decipher in that godawful box. and when the horns and chorus entered together? forget any hope of hearing the intricacies of the piece. i was happy to hear the young soprano jeanine de bique clearly nail her lines, but that's because she was way up in the 2nd tier.

as for the maestro's penultimate performance, maazel juggled his conducting rather well between 3 choral groups, the orchestra in front of him and in a 1st tier box, and 8 soloists. it's unreasonable to criticize him for lacking flair when he's got so much information to dole out. and however vanilla his conducting might've looked, there was nothing vanilla about what could be heard. and it was a nice touch to see him at the finale looking at the balcony players with arms wide open as if begging for them to bring it. in that part, bring it they did. the long ovation at the end for him was well-deserved.

avery's crappy acoustics make me almost regret that i subscribed to see LSO/haitink, rotterdam/nezet-seguin, and LA with dudamel.

errant text messages in three parts (non-music post)

two weeks ago, i received several text messages from an unknown girl trying to find out if her buddy was going to the senior prom. "stefff", the texts began. "plz let me no if u wana rid limo". figuring that she didn't want to send her texts to a man twice her age, i called to tell her she had a wrong number. i thought i was doing her a favor until she snippily replied, "naw...i don't think it's a wrong number, but whateverrrr...". i was a little annoyed but i shrugged and laughed as i hung up the phone. next day, i concluded she was history and presumed that she realized her mistake.

oh was i wrong. here's the last 24+ hours of text messages, all from the same girl.

****

6/24, 2009 12:19:18 AM GUESS WHOS BACK!!!???? Itsss laurennn girlies... My phone went for a dive in dahls pool but I've replaced it and added u all... Love you always gorg grads <3<3

6/24, 2009 5:04:39 PM Heyy guyss I need people in my limo its 50 bucks I need It today for prom... Anyone need a ride or r intrested

6/24, 2009 5:42:55 PM worried about what youre doing after graduation? obviously jen grabers got ur back... after grad party by chavy.. go to her backyard.. TELL ALL HAFTR SENIORS!

6/24, 2009 5:43:53 PM worried about what youre doing after graduation? obviously jen grabers got ur back... after grad party by chavy.. go to her backyard.. TELL ALL HAFTR SENIORS!

6/24, 2009 5:44:28 PM worried about what youre doing after graduation? obviously jen grabers got ur back... after grad party by chavy.. go to her backyard.. TELL ALL HAFTR SENIORS!

(at this point i texted that this was a wrong number and asked to be removed. non-sarcastic tone- "please" and "thank you" included.)

****

6/24, 2009 10:44:36 PM Sorry girlsss party at chavysss was made up by jen graber txt if anything comes up

6/24, 2009 10:47:53 PM GRAD PARTY AT CHAVYS comeeeee it was not a lie I repeat not a lie ;)

(i texted again: "Stop texting me. This is a wrong number.")

6/24, 2009 10:49:26 PM At 11:45 be thereeeeee

6/24, 2009 10:52:50 PM Calm the fuck down

6/24, 2009 10:58:55 PM (address omitted)

6/24, 2009 11:45:18 PM Dnt park near the house come 2 backyard

6/25, 2009 1:07:00 AM Heyy guyss what's going onn now??

6/25, 2009 2:31:29 AM Go to beach

****

6/26, 2009 1:08:03 AM Thanks a lot guys thought we were all friends I'm missing $260 dollars

6/26, 2009 1:36:21 AM Guys...my camera is gone.I'm sitting here crying. I really don't understand y someone wud do this to me..people in my grade. Like y? I don't care who it was I r

6/26, 2009 1:37:39 AM From michelle

****

(to be continued)

drucker, correction

much thanks to blog commenter s. for pointing out that stanley drucker wasn't shirking his duty as the world's greatest octogenarian clarinetist friday night. from my vantage point, someone sorta-kinda-maybe matching drucker's description sat at the far end of the clarinets in the main orchestra and didn't move much. i thought it strange that he was seated there in the first place and even more bizarre that he wasn't playing. and since they weren't facing us, i didn't bother looking at the chamber players. but lo and behold, that's where he was, "playing vigorously", as assured to me.

i sort of feel like... ms. constance riley!!

drucker, etc.:

britten's "war requiem", featuring ny phil, et al. avery fisher hall, nyc.

best moments of friday's "war requiem" performance? the three F major chords sang by the large, combined chorus: 1) end of the requiem aeternam movement, 2) end of the dies irae, 3) the finale. incredibly dramatic, and it rang so true and gorgeously. i'll be wearing the memory of those chords for a while.

i was little surprised to read james r. oesterich's tepid account of the thursday performance. although he found "nothing wrong", he concludes that "it's just that you realize that the work had the potential to be so much more." he might be right, but friday was on fire. while the chorus(es) won my heart with their mastery of F major triads, they were actually terrific all-around. things got slightly murky in the libera me section, but with everyone onstage blowing up like they did, i suspect that may have been britten's design. vale rideout and ian greenlaw were excellent and particularly chilling during their duet near the end. soprano nancy gustafson held onto the walls during one section, looking like she was holding on for dear life. it sounded like every note she sang could've been her last. and the orchestra was spotless, as expected.

one weird observation: was stanley drucker not playing? from where i was sitting (first tier, far end) it looked like he was just sitting there. i can't imagine why he wouldn't be playing if he was sitting there, but unless my eyes were playing tricks on me (a possibility), it looked like he sat still for the duration of the performance.

killer stuff, all around.

marriage of figaro. amato opera, nyc

i witnessed the penultimate performance of the amato opera saturday night. the news of the company's closing broke hearts in january. i thought it wise to catch a glimpse before it was too late.

the tiny theater, a few doors away from the former cbgb's, is a rickety, well-worn house. getting to my seat required some improper form of limbo dancing. the fake chandeliers hung unevenly. the AC broke down the night before, so the heat was stifling. and somehow (!!), they fit a balcony into this place. within minutes of arriving, i turned to c. and said, "it's a damn shame it took us to the next-to-last day to discover this place."

like the house, the performance of "figaro" could be described similarly- beautiful but creaky. i was slightly disappointed that the overture was from a recording, but without strings in the pit, a live rendition was sadly out of the question. i also sensed a touch of disappointment in the audience when the first lines were sung in english. while i wish the octagenarian director had been more old-schooled about language selection, i understand the importance of accessibility and wasn't bothered at all by the english.

the cast's performance was truly lovable. elizabeth fagan (susanna) was terrific despite rushing some of her parts. i wish figaro (mark freiman) had made more eye contact with the lower-seated portion of the audience, but his voice was solid. toby newman stole the show with her hilarious cherubino. she was born for that role, with her amazing lucille ball facial expressions and frantic manner. also wonderful was mark w. bentley as the gossip-whore basilio. he looked sort of like a bob hope caricature in a wig and was off the wall funny.

one singer whose performance puzzled me was that of nanette norwood (marcellina). i enjoyed her tremendously, but it seemed like she was struggling mightily. she wasn't very loud, and the muddy vibrato made her lines tricky to hear. and i could feel the pain in her throat as she strained for higher notes. if she was sick, she deserves props for toughing it out and making her last gig at the theater. norwood's recordings (readily available on the internets) would support an illness theory. if she wasn't sick, then i wonder if she did it deliberately for comedic effect. regardless, i rooted for her as much as i did for everyone else.

my worst regret? not staying for the whole opera!! i was severely conflicted about leaving at 2240 as act 4 was commencing. however, i had an 2322 train to catch (with time of the essence). c. and i frowned to each other because we knew it was time to go. someone hissed "this isn't a full intermission!" as we got up. without pre-wedding festivities in CT on my plate, i certainly would've joined the packed house in the rousing ovation the amato company deserves.

notes on "abnormally attracted to sin"

listening to tori's latest album over the past week, i've had a roller coaster of extreme reactions. some days, i think it's on par with "from the choirgirl hotel", my favorite of tori's works exclusively with a band. other times, i find it hard to believe that this was released with straight faces from the responsible parties.

my favorite song is the wacky "police me". everything i love about tori happens in 3 minutes and 55 seconds: thunderous grooves, massive hooks, and superior musicianship. the chorus contains a dizzying array of meter changes (3-4-3-5-2-3-2) that scream "datura" or "carbon". that they breeze through such nasty trickeration without ever forcing the issue is one of the many, MANY reasons that tori roolz. "strong black vine" is another champion. the "kashmir" intro (i wasn't alone in picking this out) is in your face and the guitar sounds like a snake. it's clearly the nasty bitch in tori's catalog. lyrically, a pair of lines quickly caught my eye: "whose god then is god? they all want jurisdiction", from "flavor". also, this line from "curtain call" hints at any number of things: "by the time you're 35, i must confide, you will have blown them all".

of note is how much she sounds like other artists on certain tracks. more than ever, different names come to mind. the opener "give", with its lazy tempo, sounds like a portishead b-side. tori dives deeply into electronica-era madonna on "flavor" and the title track. there's even hints of peter gabriel in "fire in your plain" and "500 miles". love it or hate it, be warned.

speaking of hate, the middle pickup of the strat-tone (sacrilege!) and psuedo-world groove of "not dying today" was something i really regretted. it has a david byrne vibe that doesn't belong. "maybe california" is an updated rehashing of the proven formula that spawned "1000 oceans" and "jackie's strength", 2 songs that make me froth at the mouth.

"maybe california" also highlights an interesting shift in tori's songwriting. the same artist who chilled and thrilled her early audiences with "silent all these years" and "me and a gun" has essentially turned into a reporter. there's a personal touch that's seemingly lacking. in 2009, tori's tackling issues that may or may not be her own, and that feels weird and uncomfortable. i can't expect autobiographies on every song nor do i want spoon fed answers, but this cold extreme isn't much better. tori's life experience- and its attendant trials and tribulations- resonated fully with scores of fans who may have felt and lived similarly. this honesty and integrity that tori once forged makes lyrics like "i don't know when i stopped making him smile" hollow and impersonal. tori's seems content to walk a dangerous tightrope exploring conceptual relationships (e.g., religion, power, etc.) that may have nothing to do with her. how this translates remains to be seen.

also alarming is how little piano there is on the album. there's tons of synth action, but i don't remember the piano itself ever having such a limited role. what relatively little blobs of chords remain has no dexterity and she uses more right pedal than should ever be allowed. it's ironic that i'm complaining because i've always preferred band-tori over "girl and her piano" tori. i just never expected to question the purity of her sound. here the guitar gets some serious face time. there's pounding rock (aforementioned "strong black vine"), brian may harmonies ("welcome to england"), and all sorts of textures ("starling"). it's not y kant tori read- except for the overblown "lady in blue"- but mac aladdin's guitar is an interesting development, at the least.

all this guitar work makes me wonder what status it will have on her next tour. since the departure of steve caton, tori hasn't been all that committed to the guitar. she's toured as a trio (which i found tears-boring), had her husband make random appearances, and then added dan phelps midway through her 2007 tour. if there's no permanent guitar chair on this tour, many of tori's newest songs will sound amputated. listen to "welcome to england", and then check out how lame it sounds on her most recent jay leno appaearance, and perhaps you'll see what i mean.

(and yes, that leno clip is lame lame lame. if that's what tori's going to sound like on tour, ho man.)

i think some of the EWFs from my yesterdays will cry "botox!", if they even bought this. more recent discoverers of the redheaded piano girl might be more tolerant of the curious journeys on this album. i will probably write a post later next month about how awful this album really is, and then come back a week later with a post in which i declare it album of the year.

allen toussaint. village vanguard, nyc.

had the pleasure of catching allen toussaint's 3rd set at the vanguard on saturday. he was in town promoting his latest album, the excellent "bright mississippi".

from the opening note, it was apparent that toussaint and his band were in peak form. trumpeter christian scott, with his dizzy trumpet, casually shifted his tone from fuzzy and breathy to crisp at the drop of a dime. clarinetist don byron stole the show, both with his dazzling reed work (tenor sax, even!) and humorous in-song commentary. early in the set, scott played a gorgeous run aimed at a lady in the front, who shyly smiled back at the trumpeter. out of nowhere, byron sforzandoed with "yeah, that's right- he played that for YOU!!" i was curious to see how marc ribot- the free jazz titan that he is- would fit under such relatively confined musical boundaries. but all he did was prove that he can play anything. and well. david pilch kept a solid, soulful bass that was neither drowned in the mix nor blaring. and everyone's favorite drummer jay bellerose only had his incredible sense of taste and time to gently nudge the set along. with him in the drum chair, toussaint's music had a super-swinging feel akin to driving a cadillac convertible to the beach on a gorgeous sunday afternoon. nothing forced, nothing hurried. all wonderful.

as for the star of the show, toussaint's sweet-like-butter touch on the piano has been documented here and elsewhere. every note he played- even the wrong ones- were so perfectly placed. the connectivity of his runs and musical ideas are a powerful sonic tapestry that makes his sound unmistakable. imagine glenn gould without the mentalisms (and a lot funkier), and you'd get somewhere close to toussaint. saturday, he weaved without barely saying a word, until he suddenly whipped out steve goodman's "city of new orleans". as he played the introduction, he declared that "when i sing, i like songs with lots of words in them, whether they're hillbilly tunes...or polkas". midway through the song, he sensed the audience's surprise at his song selection. "in the vanguard...who would've thought you'd hear this!" once i picked my jaw up from the floor, i joined in the crowd's rousing approval. he also sang a truly blue "long, long journey" off the new album that was as in the pocket as "in the pocket" can be.

the other vocal performance of the night was album producer joe henry's tasteful "st. james infirmary". the grit in his voice wasn't overpowering, but he captured the vibe that was laid down by his bandmates.

when the lights went up around 0230, i was disappointed that the end of a wonderful set had befallen me, and wished a 4th set was in the cards.

cheetah chrome. europa club, brooklyn.

snuck out to brooklyn last night to catch the one and only cheetah chrome do a blistering set in greenpoint. cheetah was his glorious, loud, sloppy, and fierce self. he lead the band through an hourlong set that reviewed his career output. the audience- which featured a dee dee ramone-lookalike, a barefoot videographer, and a roller derby team- saved their best for the dead boys songs (e.g., "i want lunch", "what love is", and "sonic reducer"). they went nuts at the end, and cheetah didn't disappoint.

also on the bill were two other bands: kissy kamikaze and sister anne. i only caught the last couple of songs from kissy kamikaze, which i sort of regret. sister anne was lead by the fiery kitana, who clearly has a future in the business. she was high-energy and charisma that i don't see enough of in young bands. i thought some of their songs were too long (7-8 minute opener? come on!), and the band behind her wasn't terribly impressive, but she'll be on tv someday- i'm pretty certain of that.