Archive for the ‘music’ tag

David Bazan and his handsome bearded band

I moseyed on down to Tucson on Monday evening to see David Bazan. My last trip to Tucson was to see him, at the same venue, for a solo tour. However this time Bazan would be bringing a full band and I couldn’t have been more excited.
The opener was Say Hi, or Say Hi to Your Mom as they use to be called, I’m not a huge fan but they put on a great show. A lot of their music is backed by electronic synths and beats, which they didn’t use. It was all bass, guitar and drums, and sounded great. There were a couple slower songs that had the crowd singing along but the majority of their set was, by indie rock standards, pretty hard. I would have liked to see more synthesizers in their live show, but I did get to hear a lot of material from earlier albums I didn’t have.
Near the end of their set the frontman Eric Elbogen thanked the crowd and said to get ready for Bazan and his bearded band. He then looked over at Bazan, who was near the front listening with everyone else, and remarked on how handsome the band was and to be prepared for it.

Say Hi finished their set, Bazan and another guitarist took the stage… and then no one left the stage. The joke became obvious; Bazan’s band was basically Elbogen’s band. Sometimes you don’t realize how small a tour is until you see something like this. It really does makes sense to just use the same players for both acts. In the end Pedro the Lion was always Bazan and Say Hi has always really just been Elbogen, so why hire two sets of backing players? That’s just more people to have to fit in the van. The Solar Culture Club is not a large place, and its stage isn’t exactly huge, so five people on stage is a feat in of itself. Bazan’s guitarist was hilariously jeered for looking exactly like Jerry Garcia and the band played the new and old Bazan tunes very well. It was just a little funny to realize how frugal and indie the tour was.

Bazan played almost all of his new record, a few off of his solo EP and a couple Pedro tunes. There were no Headphones songs, which was a bummer. However the way the crowd erupted to the first new notes of “Magazine” off of Control made the whole evening worth it. I never got to see Pedro The Lion, and hopefully I’ll have more than a few more chances to see Bazan solo, but hearing a song like that with a full band was amazing.

I’d have grainy and mostly terrible cell phone video of the show but my damn iPhone wouldn’t jailbreak. I really had to use some will power to resist going out and buying a Flip Mino HD or similar camera for the show. The video that comes off my older iPhone isn’t great, that’s why you can’t officially shoot video with it, but it’s better than nothing.

Built to Spill has a new disc out, this post’s soundtrack is off of it. Go pick it up, it’s a fantastic release.

Hootenanny!

So, this last Tuesday I got to rock out with Weezer and it wasn’t just kinda cool it was a-freaking-mazing. They are doing a little tour called Hootenanny in which they pick out a tiny venue and have a local radio station invite a hundred or so fans. The only catch is that you have to bring an instrument.
As I’ve mention I’ve been doing some free intern work for The EDGE 103.9 lately and while we didn’t get to shoot the show like we thought, it was a ton of fun to be a part of.
Weezer (and us) played six songs which are going to be compiled into a live CD at some point. They also signed everyone’s song book which was a nice touch.
The EDGE‘s website has all six tracks, some photos and a bit of video.
Note: The above picture isn’t mine, you could kill a man with such a ridiculous vignette.

Speaking of The EDGE I shot a commercial for them and a local bar last friday. Shooting in an open bar with few lights and a small crew was challenging. We got all the footage we needed and then had a few beers, so all in all it was a good night. I’ll post the spot when I get it done later this week. It’s all handheld… and unfortunately it was my hand, so I get to spend more then a few hours doing some motion stabilization :|

I’ve started into my last leg of classes. I walked into Visual Effects I on wednesday and got syllabuses for the next 30 weeks. The teacher I’ve got from here on out is a great guy and really knows his stuff. I’m not really sure what I’m going to do in February but as long as I pay attention I’ll have a good shot at a roto job in LA. It’s a path that about a dozen recent graduates have taken…
But then again, why the hell would I want to goto LA?

I dunno, I’ve got a while to figure that out… I think,
David

The Grind

Working all day and going to school all night gets old pretty fast. A whole lot faster then I remember to be honest. A lot of things have changed since I last talked about my job, but it’s all changed for the better. The guy who hired me up and quit about a week later, and everything I had worked out with him went with. So I’m just freelancing for Mission E now, which is going to work out better anyway. I’ll still be making a decent amount of money but I’ll have some time off now and then. Which I’ve recently discovered, I need.

I went and saw The Visitor last saturday. It’s definitely the best movie I’ve seen so far this year. It’s about an older guy who’s life has gotten pretty plain. He is sent to New York for a conference and goes to the apartment he’s kept there for decades only to find an immigrant couple living there. He ends up befriending the man who teaches him how to play the Djembe. After a misunderstanding in the subway the man is arrested and since he isn’t a legal citizen put in an INS detention center. The man’s mother comes to New York and builds a relationship with the older man while they try to fight the man’s deportation. It’s playing in Scottsdale and I’m sure will be at The Flicks at some point, it’s a must see. Also, I swear that Steve Nash was sitting behind me in the theatre, even though the person I went with didn’t believe me :p

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin came to town on friday. I almost didn’t go to the show but I’m glad I did. I’m pretty sure that if the show wasn’t all ages the band wouldn’t have gotten in… they all looked straight out of high school. The set list was a combination of their first two albums and their encore was “I am Warm and Powerful” probably my favorite. If you haven’t heard em, check em out, they are a good time.

I saw this about a week ago and found it really interesting, not to mention that I love the way the interview was shot. (FYI: As always the linked video won’t show if you’re reading this on Facebook)

Summer is almost here and Tempe is once again quiet. ASU is now out for the summer and while that means that the streets are no longer gridlocked, it does mean that it’s not going to be in the 90s for much longer. It also means that I won’t get to see some good friends for a couple months. I’ve almost forgot what it’s like to have a summer vacation. I’ve moved past that I guess, although sometimes I think it would be nice… that is until I lookup my graduation date.

Take it easy, you know I will
David

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