The Swamp

govmentchedda wrote:Mann is great. She's pretty funny on twitter too, mainly busting Jon Wurster's balls.

Potential unpopular opinion: I loved Magnolia.

She was better in The Big Lebowski.

BSF21 wrote: I adore Jonathon Coulton. "Ikea" is a great tune, as is "Code Monkey". He also wrote much of the music for the Portal series of video games, including "Still Alive".

I have to admit that I had no idea who he was before last night. He had some really great songs, that were both funny and touching, about things like his wife's tattoo and how having kids "ruined his life in the most amazing way".

And, he was genuinely funny in his stage banter.

Randomly got to see Craig Finn last week in Baltimore.

DaveInSeattle wrote:

BSF21 wrote: I adore Jonathon Coulton. "Ikea" is a great tune, as is "Code Monkey". He also wrote much of the music for the Portal series of video games, including "Still Alive".

I have to admit that I had no idea who he was before last night. He had some really great songs, that were both funny and touching, about things like his wife's tattoo and how having kids "ruined his life in the most amazing way".

And, he was genuinely funny in his stage banter.

NPR loves him.
They interviewed him about his business model (was not traditional sign with a label)


He was supporting Mann at NPR's tiny Desk Concert this week (musicians come in play 3 or so tunes in their office---back catalog is really good).
http://www.npr.org/series/tiny-desk-concerts/

He is also the house musician for NPR's Ask Me Another (Brooklyn based trivia show that is not as funny as Wait Wait don't tell me but better pub trivia style questions).

Saw a great show by Ryan Adams Friday night at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. He didn't talk much to the crowd, then at one point he said something like, "I'm really enjoying playing tonight and so I haven't talked too much. So, we aren't going to stop and then come back for an encore - we are just going to keep going until we hit the curfew." Which he did. Played for two hours, twenty mins and only stopped then because he hit curfew and they shut him down. Beautiful weather, great sound, perfect seats. Nice.

Lucero announced a fall tour including a date in downtown Reno in mid-September. Perfect excuse for a trip up there for a weekend.

Just got floor tix for Arcade Fire in September. I'd rather this was the Neon Bible tour, but it'll do.

govmentchedda wrote:Just got floor tix for Arcade Fire in September. I'd rather this was the Neon Bible tour, but it'll do.

Yeah, I got tickets for their show in Vegas. Going to be weird to see them in an arena to be honest.

Luckily the Tampa show is at the USF Sun Dome (basketball arena). It only holds just over 10k for basketball, and my guess is with an end stage it'll only be 6-7k. That's much better than the other local options.

govmentchedda wrote:Luckily the Tampa show is at the USF Sun Dome (basketball arena). It only holds just over 10k for basketball, and my guess is with an end stage it'll only be 6-7k. That's much better than the other local options.

As best as I can tell (USF alum here) the Sun Dome only holds about 1200 people, tops.

Are they making you wear a tux?

Doesn't Win Butler routinely put up triple doubles in the celebrity game during ASG weekend?

Seeing Mountain Goats tonight, in a really small venue. Should be fun.

EnochRoot wrote:

govmentchedda wrote:Luckily the Tampa show is at the USF Sun Dome (basketball arena). It only holds just over 10k for basketball, and my guess is with an end stage it'll only be 6-7k. That's much better than the other local options.

As best as I can tell (USF alum here) the Sun Dome only holds about 1200 people, tops.

1,200? Everything I see is just over 10k, and that seems right to me, having been there a million times.

govmentchedda wrote:

EnochRoot wrote:

govmentchedda wrote:Luckily the Tampa show is at the USF Sun Dome (basketball arena). It only holds just over 10k for basketball, and my guess is with an end stage it'll only be 6-7k. That's much better than the other local options.

As best as I can tell (USF alum here) the Sun Dome only holds about 1200 people, tops.

1,200? Everything I see is just over 10k, and that seems right to me, having been there a million times.

I'm guessing he never attended a game that had more than 1200.

A_B wrote:

govmentchedda wrote:

EnochRoot wrote:

govmentchedda wrote:Luckily the Tampa show is at the USF Sun Dome (basketball arena). It only holds just over 10k for basketball, and my guess is with an end stage it'll only be 6-7k. That's much better than the other local options.

As best as I can tell (USF alum here) the Sun Dome only holds about 1200 people, tops.

1,200? Everything I see is just over 10k, and that seems right to me, having been there a million times.

I'm guessing he never attended a game that had more than 1200.

If that was a joke from EnochRoot, it was a good one, and flew right over my head.

govmentchedda wrote:

A_B wrote:

govmentchedda wrote:

EnochRoot wrote:

govmentchedda wrote:Luckily the Tampa show is at the USF Sun Dome (basketball arena). It only holds just over 10k for basketball, and my guess is with an end stage it'll only be 6-7k. That's much better than the other local options.

As best as I can tell (USF alum here) the Sun Dome only holds about 1200 people, tops.

1,200? Everything I see is just over 10k, and that seems right to me, having been there a million times.

I'm guessing he never attended a game that had more than 1200.

If that was a joke from EnochRoot, it was a good one, and flew right over my head.

He also likely blacked out attending any Syracuse games there, as those always sounded like a home game for the visiting squad due to the retirees and people wanting to travel someplace nice in the winter.

Yeah, it was a joke. I went to probably a couple dozen USF games during my matriculation at USF. I was there when Chucky Atkins hit the buzzer beater to beat then ranked FSU back in '93...Pretty sure the place was near capacity...To be honest, a lot of their games were pretty well-attended back in '91 too...But they were headed to the tournament and played like it all year (and drew Alonzo Mourning in the first round)...But USF basketball's story is told in the general indifference of the sparse crowds they usually draw because they're usually one of the worst D-I teams year in and year out.

Saw Chance the Rapper last night. Not really a rap show at all. There were way more white people in attendance than I expected. The opener was two shitty rappers and then about an hour and a half of DJ Oreo, who was much more like playlist Oreo, as all he did was play current-ish rap hits with a few throwback jams. The mostly high school aged crowd ate it up, but it really wasn't my thing.

You like music too? Come play at our fest!

I'm headed up to this festival Thursday..

Ryan Adams was so damn good last night.

Didn't know Bread & Puppet did stuff anymore. Fantastic memories of those events.

It was a great weekend. A little too family-friendly for my tastes, but whattayagonnado. The wife and I walked through Sol LeWitt's exhibit. Now that's some exercise in spatiality.

An in the moment review: The Lumineers constant call and answer thing is much less annoying/affected live.

DaveInSeattle wrote:Ryan Adams was so damn good last night.

Yeah. I really enjoyed seeing him recently, too.

I had never seen U2 live before, so I can't judge what I saw last night against any earlier experience, but the band sounds great. Bono's voice seemed to get stronger as the night went on, and he's obviously well aware of what he can and can't do. The giant fucking screen they had behind the band and the accompanying videos they had made for the Joshua Tree portion of the show were impressive. Speaking of JT, I guess I was expecting a tour named after that album, where they were performing the album in full, to start with "Where the Streets Have No Name" and was a little disappointed when that didn't happen. They did move to the main portion of the stage, after opening on a small, Joshua Tree shaped stage in the middle of the floor, and started fully utilizing the aforementioned giant fucking screen when they started with the album. The show appears to be identical to the one they put on at Metlife Wednesday, except they swapped out a brand new song they played Wednesday for Mysterious Ways last night, which I'll take as a win, and performing Ultraviolet (Light My Way) as a celebration of all women was cool. I'm an Achtung Baby over JT guy, so if they do something similar for that album four years from now, I would probably be back.

rass wrote:I had never seen U2 live before, so I can't judge what I saw last night against any earlier experience, but the band sounds great. Bono's voice seemed to get stronger as the night went on, and he's obviously well aware of what he can and can't do. The giant fucking screen they had behind the band and the accompanying videos they had made for the Joshua Tree portion of the show were impressive. Speaking of JT, I guess I was expecting a tour named after that album, where they were performing the album in full, to start with "Where the Streets Have No Name" and was a little disappointed when that didn't happen. They did move to the main portion of the stage, after opening on a small, Joshua Tree shaped stage in the middle of the floor, and started fully utilizing the aforementioned giant fucking screen when they started with the album. The show appears to be identical to the one they put on at Metlife Wednesday, except they swapped out a brand new song they played Wednesday for Mysterious Ways last night, which I'll take as a win, and performing Ultraviolet (Light My Way) as a celebration of all women was cool. I'm an Achtung Baby over JT guy, so if they do something similar for that album four years from now, I would probably be back.

U2's problem was they got too full of themselves after Joshua Tree's success. Rattle & Hum was excessive in its celebratory nature, sure...but Achtung Baby was a paradigm shift into banality. Nothing integral came from that disc, or rather, nothing worthy of U2. Zooropa only got worse. They'd have been better off taking a break after JT and have Bono do a solo LP like a lounge singer or something, then regroup a few years later anew. Instead, they reinvented themselves and attracted fans that really weren't U2's base. Worse, it forced fans to look the other way while it was happening.

(Old man done yelling at clouds)

I could literally not disagree with you more about Achtung Baby. (If for "One" alone.)

brian wrote:I could literally not disagree with you more about Achtung Baby. (If for "One" alone.)

Eh. That's a decent song. And so is "Until the End of the World" if you can get past how over-produced it was. I stand by my statement though: they left a lot of credibility as artists on the table when they took off in that new direction. I mean, they almost broke up over the direction they were taking. Dunno the deets on that though.

I'm not sure how they lost credibility as artists by going in that direction and releasing what is widely heralded as one of their best albums. Of course, they could've just kept putting out the same exact music over and over which would somehow lend them more credibility as artists?

I could understand if you wanted to use Pop as the example here, but you're in the vast minority I'm suspecting when it comes to Achtung Baby.

Giff wrote:I'm not sure how they lost credibility as artists by going in that direction and releasing what is widely heralded as one of their best albums. Of course, they could've just kept putting out the same exact music over and over which would somehow lend them more credibility as artists?

I could understand if you wanted to use Pop as the example here, but you're in the vast minority I'm suspecting when it comes to Achtung Baby.

Half of U2 almost quit the band over the direction Bono, and subsequently "The Edge" were taking the band when they got into the studio to record Achtung Baby. The paradigm shift occurred right there, not once they furthered down the road of banality with 'Pop'. It's like they performed a legit concert, the 1980s, and then just turned the lights on for some gigantic encore ever since.

As for being in the minority? So be it. But I suspect there are those who apply a revisionist history to their own experiences when it comes to the Amnesty International-inspired, Soweto awakened U2 they grew up listening to..You know, where they kinda learned how to give a shit about the world.

At least Peter Gabriel was honest about it when he sang 'Big Time' haha...

I kind of literally legit don't know what your beef is. Are you upset that Bono tried to use whatever influence he has to try and help feed African kids or cure AIDS? I mean that's a weird hill to die on.

Oh no! A band almost broke up 26 years ago, so obviously the music that the almost-kinda-sorta-broken up band produced around that time and ever since is SO BANAL!

Jeez, why don't you two go kiss Bono?

mister d wrote:Are they making you wear a tux?

Sooooooo ... http://www.brooklynvegan.com/arcade-fir ... ones-more/

Is there a more hipster name for a site than "Brooklyn Vegan?" Unless they're using it ironically, which I guess would make it even more hipster.

Not gonna kill them too much. A record release party is a little different than a concert. I presume (but don't know for sure I suppose) that it was by invite only or essentially invite only. If you invite someone to a party and ask them to dress a particular way then someone can just choose not to attend the party. You can't (or shouldn't at least) wear a tuxedo T-shirt to a wedding.

C'mooonnnnnnn ...