So I might as well review this Fall feast of music. Crazy how this happens, where all these great bands, plus 2 more shows i wanted to see (My Bloody Valentine, Sigur Ros) but passed up, in such a short span. Now we’re back to famine .
Let’s start with last week and go backwards…
A very rare and special show with Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe, and Jim Keltner. For those not in the know, not only are each of these guys legendary in their own right, this was the rhythm section for one of the greatest roots rock albums ever, John Hiatt’s ‘Bring the Family.’ Then they made an album together called Little Village in 1992. This ‘thrown together’ trio they just called Guitar-Bass-Drums. Anyway, Keltner is one of my favorite drummers, and he rarely plays live shows anymore. I’d seen him once with Bill Frisell but it was in the cavernous Masonic Auditorium and was hardly inspirational. I took Kate to this show, and this time we got to see and hear him up close and personal in my favorite venue in the world, The Great American Music Hall.
The show was a benefit, and the surprise guest was Elvis Costello! So that was cool. He did a couple of songs duo, and then joined the trio for their encore.
The show was as expected, a little loose and thrown together, but totally amazing. They pulled songs from all over the map, Nick did a lot of the singing, very very cool.
Also last week at the Great American… Deerhoof! One of the greatest bands of the … well, ok maybe that’s a bit much - one of my favorite bands, and undoubtedly one of the most important, original, and prolific bands of the last decade. I hear them as Led Zeppelinesque melodic riffage meets Brian Eno quirkiness, with Satomi’s amazing broken-English poetry over the top hinting at Japanese noise bands. Sooooo consistently good. They were just kicking off a huge tour for their 9th album (not including EP’s and live albums!) They were all over the new material and sounded great.
Then there was Calexico at the Fillmore. A band I used to love love love from their first 3 albums. There last 3 albums though have really lost me musically though. They’ve tried “branch out” and not pigeonhole themselves in the “border” sound they do so well, but the result is more mediocre indie-rock sounding stuff. I realized you could see it coming: when the bass player was on the upright bass, the song was going to be good; when he picked up the electric bass, you could head to the bar or bathroom. They put on a good show, but I’ve kind of given up on hearing the great stuff they did early on.
Back up to the week before… two nights in a row at the Fillmore with my friend Adrienne. We had planned on going to The Silver Jews to celebrate 1 year of being friends, but I made a last minute decision to get tickets to the last of the 3 night stand of SPOON. I called a guy on Craigslist who was selling in my work hood, and after I got him on the phone, we realized we worked in the same building! Clearly, it was meant to be.
(that’s the only one that’s not my photo) Spoon is an indie pop band from Austin that is at the top of their game right now after some great albums. I figured it was a not miss show, and it was fantastic, even if the audience was about 80/20 fans/posers.
The Silver Jews were pretty much as expected. Awesome, awkward, and understated. He is such a quirky songwriter and his personality totally matched, i.e. rarely looking directly at the audience… what a weirdo, haha. The band was all Nashville guys. Hardcore fans of the band, we saw one guy writing down the set list in between rocking back and forth like Rain Man. It was a nice show and again kinda rare as this band doesn’t tour a lot.
I shouldn’t complain about “famine” now, there is always something interesting going on here… and THAT *is* why I live here. I have an actual gig next week too, shock! Nothing big, just a benefit show with Tom Heyman. Time to work on some holiday travel plans I think.
ONE of the reasons why I moved and live here - the CRAZY amount of amazing music shows that plow through the Bay Area in the fall. I swear last fall was the same.
So we started off with Radiohead/Beck/Manu Chao a month ago. It was ok, but I have completely tired of “festivals.” Not worth the masses, sound problems, and short uninspired sets.
But in the next TWO weeks we have: The Silver Jews, Calexico, Ry Cooder/Jim Keltner/Nick Lowe (oh my), and rounding it out with Deerhoof. Also tempting me with tickets on Craigslist are Spoon this week and Sigur Ros next week. That’s just ridiculous… in a span of two weeks!
The cost of all this entertainment I’ve purchased thusfar… bout $530. I’m thankful I can afford it and hopefully will be worth every penny. I’m also glad I can be a jaded musician and still be a rabid fan.
Considering how crappy my spring was, summer 08 was a nice improvement. Work was a bit stressful there for a while, but I survived the major migration and have more responsibility now. I’ve played very little music, but I’ve been super busy socially and made a lot of new friends this summer which was needed. I ended it with a great Labor Day weekend (always a nice, sunny, and quiet weekend in SF) that included yoga (my first class with the famous Rusty Wells, was amazing), a hot day on the beach (SO rare), bbq’s, and buying a new car!
This new car thing was getting to be a thorn in my side. I’d been working on it for months trying to make the best decision. Finally I was out of time as my registration was expiring, and the computer died on my damn Jeep so I couldn’t pass the smog test.
My new car is functional, fuel efficient, and SEXY! How sexy??? watch this:
The newly redsigned Subie Forester. It’s less like a wagon now and more like a sporty SUV. So much so in fact I caught a Porsche Cayenne owner checking it out the other day! So here’s the real deal, as I was driving it off the lot:
Travel plans… Hmmmm. No idea, other than Ecuador is still simmering in my head, and I have an invite to Iran. yes, Iran… for a wedding, rather soon, too soon in fact considering the red tape and possible problems with getting a visa there. Which reminds me I need to renew my passport as my 10 years is up on my current one.
The parents are coming for a visit this week. It will be their third visit to SF since I’ve been here. Going to do a day of wine tasting for sure, and possibly my first ever trip to Alcatraz! wooohooo a tourist in my own city!
…especially when you are escaping the arctic wint-, errrr, arctic, foggy summer of San Francisco! I headed south for a long weekend of sun, football, and friends.
I’m not a big lover of the City of Angels, and it’s over-abundance of automobiles, but I usually head down once a year or so for whatever it’s got in store for me. It treated me well this time around. I have to say again - PRICELINE dot com RULES for hotels. 4 star hotel ($200+ room) for $90 a night.
Mainly, at the risk of outing myself as the severe football geek that I am (to those who don’t already know it,) I went to see the Dallas Cowboys training camp in Oxnard. Mah Team, gearing up for a big season, so close to home makes a nice getaway.
This is how close you get to watch them practice :
I also got to spend some time with my Dallas/SF/LA friend Leslie Marie, and my percussionist friend Erin. Funny enough, we realized I was introduced to Erin exactly 2 years ago by her sister last time I went to Oxnard. Leslie and I ran around Echo Park and downtown LA, as well as seeing the Cowboys on Saturday. Erin supplied my first visit to the very mellow burb of Pasadena, which I had no idea it was so close to downtown! I also hit up Hoagie Hut in Ventura on the beach in between Monday’s practices. Now I’m watching for myself on HBO’s series Hard Knocks
On another subject… it’s so weird how 35 has been this turning point for my body. Never had many health issues until this year and well… let’s just say this year has been “the year of realizing I’m old.” Despite taking care of myself, I realize I have to take even BETTER care of myself. check it out.
Things have been crazy busy, and crazy in life… as you could probably tell.
So busy recently in fact I’ve had to resort to wash ‘n’ fold laundry service for the first time. 22 bucks for someone else to do 2 loads of my laundry?!?!? Holy shite. I need a girlfriend. Oh wait, those are waaay more expensive.
So what the hell has been going on? My last (crysis) blog post has my friends calling me ‘emo.’ Hah! I’m not emo, I’m just embracing my dark side.
In May I went through some pretty dark and difficult times. I was not myself at all. Some of you know, some don’t, I’ll leave it at that. I got out of this all by basically turning my life upside down and inside out for an entire month. All the normal stuff I would do I didn’t feel like doing anyway. I just listened to and bought new music, did some reading, hung out with close friends, left dating on the shelf for a while longer, went back to therapy, and replaced several addictions with my new addiction - yoga.
A big part of this credit goes to Kate, who when I was at the end of said difficult time, told me to go with her to yoga class. This bhakti flow class was incredible, i was drenched in sweat, and the teacher Andrea was amazing. Her mellifluous voice both talking and chanting was that of an angel. It became Sunday morning church. I was so incredibly focused I was kind of shocking myself. I had better balance on one foot than a lot of other people around me, and did really well considering my lack of experience and my current state. At several points I found myself fighting back tears, but I guess that’s what the kleenex boxes are there for. Two weeks later I told Andrea it was a life changing experience for me.
I had tried yoga maybe 3 times in my life before, but I was kind of resistant to the idea of it, the hippie vibe, exposing your workout and your body in such close quarters… the whole thing. But my heart and mind was needing something new, something profound. I’ve been going ever since. After 1 and a half months there’s such a huge difference in myself physically and emotionally.
Don’t get me wrong though… I’m not walking around flaunting my yoga mat, and NOT becoming a hippie.
In June I went home to host my parents 40th wedding anniversary with my sister. Things went really well, everyone had a great time, and it made me thankful to have my family and old family friends all there and healthy. My mom told me the day before she’d never had a party thrown for her, and if there’s one person who deserves a party it’s my mom.
At work, things are good but crazy busy also. The last few weeks I had to overhaul our company network (140 people, over 300 network devices) pretty much single-handedly. This past weekend was the big changeover. I’m exhausted. I’m not complainin, I like a challenge, and as I told a friend, I like to be the hero sometimes.
Socially things have been a lot better than in the past few years as well. Lately even on nights when I have nothing going on, or have someone flake on me, I’ve had someone else pop up and be like, “wanna grab dinner?” That’s really all I ever wanted.
On getting old… heh. I went to the doctor yesterday. Long story short, I need to lose 10 (more) pounds and get my blood pressure down. But I don’t have to stop drinking to do this. $1000 in insurance money and 3 trips in for various tests to find out this valuable information I already knew. Thanks doc.
All in all, considering the things I’ve seen going on in the world around me, things are looking up.
When doing my research I’d kinda gotten the impression this WAS a slightly off-the-beaten path destination. That was part of the attraction, and it was the off season at that. Rough Guide had it covered so I felt good. I knew it was a good choice.
The cool thing about it is, it IS the REAL caribbean. Not an island that’s been converted to a European playground.
But I guess it wasn’t quite the adventure I expected. Asia or India excitement it’s not. Tourist friendly it’s not. That’s ok if you’re ready for that, but I don’t think it’s for everyone. It might be a good Caribbean stop for a round the world traveler because it’s not too expensive, but it’s as expensive as the US. It would be a good destination for a couple looking for the kinds of nature excursions and non-crowded areas Tobago offers. But by myself, it was a little too quiet. And that’s saying a lot coming from me.
Trinidad is pretty darn developed. Unfortunately I did not go too far from Port of Spain so I can’t give big insights other than what I read in Rough Guide. That was if you go further out, you’ll get more Indo-Caribbean focused cities, lots of great hiking and waterfalls.
Tobago is really beautiful, and small. The diving was excellent. It would be easy to rent a car to get around here, but you can also do what i did and take buses, and in one case, hitchhike like many of the locals. It’s a trip but very normal.
The people, while friendly, are a little guarded and… i don’t know, jaded towards tourists, like other westernized countries. They are proud and protected of their home I guess. Apparently there are some problems with violence still, but it’s getting better, and it’s generally not targetting tourists (like it was in Guatemala.)
Sorry this is kind of a lame wrap up. In short, it was totally cool, I wish I had gone with one or more other persons. I decided next trip can’t be alone… I got too comfortable with that. I probably won’t go back as there are so many other dive spots to check out in the world.
You know, I have not made it a habit of posting my innermost “whatever” feelings… personal life and thoughts since I’ve launched this blog. I mean, they clearly are scattered all over what i’ve written here. you know, it’s just not what it was about. Call it inspiration, lack of someone to talk to, or cleaning house but I think that may be about to change.
Lately, things have been, well… I don’t know what’s going on with me. It’s like there’s an incredible knot in my brain that’s unraveling little by little.
There *WAS* a recent event that triggered all this, but I’m not going to talk about it… yet.
I’ve had a lot of time to reflect lately. Lots, at times you don’t even expect. Just last night, after playing my first improv set of music in years with old friends, while watching Carla play with Fred Frith, (a member of one of my all time favorite bands) their amazing musical noises wafting over my ears sent me on a yet another mind trip.
I also find myself amazed when i run into people i haven’t seen in years and you have to summarize “what you’ve been up to.” It’s funny because, often times I feel like shit and want to say “nothing much,” and “no i’m not in any bands” but then I’m like, “oh yeah, in the last 5 years i’ve done…”
Sometimes I can’t believe the last 4 years of my life. Seriously. The last 4 years have been the most tumultuous, amazing, dark, exciting, lonely, eye-opening, confusing, lucky, deceptively stable, years of my life. It’s contained the highest highs and the lowest lows - making great music, touring with one of my musical idols playing for tens of thousands of people, sadly ending the longest relationship of my life, happily ending the longest job of my life, watching all the hard work I’ve put into my music career slowly fade away, confusion over my ‘other’ career, starting therapy, putting myself in impossible situations, and visiting 17 countries.
I *should* be happy. right?
And then you think - these aren’t REAL problems… poverty, disease… Why am I whining when other people aren’t nearly as fortunate? ugh.
I AM learning a lot about myself. that’s for damn sure. i just can’t make any sense out of what i find.
Sometimes I think about a change of scenery. But what does that accomplish? a self made kick in the ass?
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