CMJ wrap-up

The weekend started for me Thursday in Brooklyn at a decidedly non-CMJ event at BAM, a performance of Steve Reich's music accompanied by dance choreographed by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, and it was amazing. Lots of running, endless spinning, visual phasing effects, marimbas, drums, and some dancing. I'm not going to try to describe a dance performance beyond that because it would be silly, but i loved it.

Friday night's Portastatic show was at a bizarre "space" sponsored by Red Bull, CMJ, Paste Magazine, KCRW, and probably the US Army for all i know. but it was surprisingly intimate and fun -- i think with a rock band it would have been a nightmare, but solo acoustic it was kind of cool. This may or not be the right order of the set:

You Angel You (Bob Dylan)
You Know Where to Find Me
Dancing in the Dark (Springsteen)
Autumn Got Dark
Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) (Edison Lighthouse)
Guessing
Isn't That The Way
I Wanna Know Girls

Saturday night was the Merge show at Mercury Lounge, one of the best Merge nights we can remember. everyone played great, sound was good, crowd was rocking. The Portastatic lineup for this show included Ivan Rosebud and Margaret White, we had no rehearsals with the three of us so on some levels we were making it up as we went...

Spying on the Spys
When Love Breaks Down (Prefab Sprout)
Angels of Sleep
Your Own Cloud
Cunning Latch
Sweetness and Light
Noisy Night
I Wanna Know Girls

i even got to play guitar on one of my favorite Rosebuds songs, "Drunkard's Worst Nightmare," so it was a really good night.

ok on to the Grey Eagle in Asheville tomorrow night for the first of two Obama shows!
tickets (FREE!) can now be picked up at Harvest Records in Asheville.

photo credit: johnny leather