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Oct. 18th, 2003 08:46 pmIt's been one of those weeks, so this is a kind of powerskim of an update.
What Victorian Heroine are you? Was pleased to see how many people on my friends' list took this; I found it at a potentially nifty community -- violet_whispers, about the female characters of Victorian novels. So join already, some of you.
Last Sunday R. and I saw Yo La Tengo at the Bowery Ballroom. It's really difficult to describe a YTL concert to non-fans, except to say that I've never seen a band do so much with so little -- three members, very down-to-earth stage show, and yet in one concert, the music will range far and wide, from quiet harmonies to feedback driven raveups, from conventional melodic structured songs to experimental rock improv. Nobody else's music actually pulls me out of myself in quite that way. The Sun Ra Arkestra opened -- improvisational sometimes nonmelodic freeform jazz, with the schtick that the musicians are actually not from around these parts (slogan: "Space is the Place!") and wonderful Afrocentric/Egyptian/sequined stage costumes. And how lovely to be at the Bowery Ballroom for the first time since the smoking ban kicked in; the one place smoking bothered me most was in the sorts of music clubs with no seating (usually the best places to see bands), since everyone's standing so crowded together.
Ira announced that this was YLT's last show, after which they were retiring from live performances. A friend had told me a couple of years ago he'd heard this was being contemplated, so I'm crediting it -- if so, at least we were at their last show. Hey, the band members are in their 40s, two of them are married to each other, and touring might well be something they're not willing to do anymore; they're all likely to get production work and I could imagine the band staying together to do film scores and such; they've done some of that already. OTOH, Ira's got a very deadpan sense of humor, so it's not impossible it's, uh, not true. R. and I have been searching the web and mostly finding stuff from last spring's album release; no comments or laments on the retirement.
What Victorian Heroine are you? Was pleased to see how many people on my friends' list took this; I found it at a potentially nifty community -- violet_whispers, about the female characters of Victorian novels. So join already, some of you.
Last Sunday R. and I saw Yo La Tengo at the Bowery Ballroom. It's really difficult to describe a YTL concert to non-fans, except to say that I've never seen a band do so much with so little -- three members, very down-to-earth stage show, and yet in one concert, the music will range far and wide, from quiet harmonies to feedback driven raveups, from conventional melodic structured songs to experimental rock improv. Nobody else's music actually pulls me out of myself in quite that way. The Sun Ra Arkestra opened -- improvisational sometimes nonmelodic freeform jazz, with the schtick that the musicians are actually not from around these parts (slogan: "Space is the Place!") and wonderful Afrocentric/Egyptian/sequined stage costumes. And how lovely to be at the Bowery Ballroom for the first time since the smoking ban kicked in; the one place smoking bothered me most was in the sorts of music clubs with no seating (usually the best places to see bands), since everyone's standing so crowded together.
Ira announced that this was YLT's last show, after which they were retiring from live performances. A friend had told me a couple of years ago he'd heard this was being contemplated, so I'm crediting it -- if so, at least we were at their last show. Hey, the band members are in their 40s, two of them are married to each other, and touring might well be something they're not willing to do anymore; they're all likely to get production work and I could imagine the band staying together to do film scores and such; they've done some of that already. OTOH, Ira's got a very deadpan sense of humor, so it's not impossible it's, uh, not true. R. and I have been searching the web and mostly finding stuff from last spring's album release; no comments or laments on the retirement.
