Al Green, Bob Mould, Erik Cole -- all the greats
Al Green still has it, and he couldn't give it away! The Reverend lived up to all my expectations and then some seeing him last week at Memorial Hall on the UNC Campus, he had a big band (not sure what some of them were doing), two slightly disinterested dancers that appeared in new togs every few songs, his daughter on backup vocals, and a table-full of roses that were distributed to the ladies, the ladies. As Al himself pointed out during the show, listing off a few of the hits that he WASN'T going to play -- Call Me, Take Me To The River, etc -- he could be singing 'til next week if he sang everything we wanted to hear, but the hits were out in full force, as was some old-school showmanship and a side of corn. Mainly however, there was The Voice, and i was pleasantly surprised to find that it's still there in all its range and power. Loved it. Here's a review of the show from Creative Loafing.
then Sunday hockey returned to NC with the first Hurricanes preseason game, vs the Caps, and we brought our 4-yr old daughter to her first hockey game (since she was an infant)...i think she thinks sports names are interchangeable (on the way over she called it baseball, basketball AND football) but seems to get the general idea and while the horn that blows when the 'Canes score is too loud she was chanting "let's go 'Canes" at the right times with no cue and the match itself was a good one, the 'Canes winning in OT on an Erik Cole goal, his second of the game. hopefully a good portent for the season to come...
Monday i went up to DC for the latest iteration of the Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit, they do great things for artists and make sense of confusing issues related to digital music, intellectual property rights, etc... i was on a "State of the Union" panel with David Bither of Nonesuch, attorney Rosemary Carroll, Zomba co-founder Ralph Simon, and Bob Mould. sitting next to Mould was pretty surreal, and i didn't even bother to get into what a huge Husker Du fan i was -- i probably don't need to since the first Superchunk record rips them off so hard. maybe he never heard it! anyway those panels are always more fun than i think they're going to be. i think what we arrived at by the end is that good music is good and that fans of it will buy it. Also, that i hate ringtones and can't believe that they have something to do with my job.
in rotation since i've been back:
Orchestra Baobab "A Night at Club Baobab"
Bishop Allen "& The Broken String"
Sparks self-titled & "Angst In My Pants"
The Blue Nile "Hats" and "A Walk Across the Rooftops"
posted by Mac at 11:27 AM
5 Comments:
whoa, i haven't thought about the blue nile in ages!
Looks like Bob Mould is a pretty big Mac/Merge fan as well. His comments from his blog (modulate.blogspot.com):
"It was good to see Mac from Merge (and Superchunk) as well. Merge has had great successes over the past few years, and that is another encouraging sign for labels who develop artists who build long careers by releasing well-crafted ALBUMS and excellent live shows (Arcade Fire, Spoon)."
Funny you should mention the blue nile. I've also recently listened to hats and walk across the rooftops and man, it's sure pretty stuff. They managed to perfectly walk the fine line between unabashed sentimentality and sappiness. The last two albums weren't quite as sharp but 2 masterpieces makes that forgivable.
i ate dinner at an ethiopian place called the blue nile. they served what looked like alpo on top of a pancake with a boild egg in the center. i had a horrible hangover, but ate the damn thing rolled up like a burrito. the owner made the kitchen staff come out and laugh at me. i put both my arms up in victory. fuck you, horrible alpo burrito i said under my breath.
i kept it down, but haven't thought of the blue nile since. i'll go again.
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