ah stumbling across the internet never ceases to amaze. Some roundabout surfing, due to finding some old friends on facebook led me to… some of my old college handiwork.
It is called Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz by the band Mr. Bungle. Transcribed and arranged by me for percussion ensemble, Magnolia High School performing it… a few months ago!
I spent many late nights in 1996 on this very involved percussion ensemble arrangement, but by my third year of North Texas and my 5th year using Finale, I was in the zone with doing this kinda shit. It’s funny it was one of the last things I did before I left school and never REALLY heard it performed well, only sightread once.
So to see a HIGH SCHOOL ensemble, especially one this big, tear it up and have fun with it, is really really cool. You can buy my arrangement here, although I get no royalties .
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.
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