Nachos of Doom

England trip updates #2

2012-02-15T19:51:00.003-07:00

Now we're thinking of skipping Nottingham, substituting Bath intead, and figuring out a way to visit some non-touristy little towns. Rental car...assuming I win the lottery or something else improbable.

Lake District looks cool, but may be too far north.

...as you were...

Day 7, up there

2012-02-12T18:02:00.003-07:00

Best snow of the season yesterday at Loveland, even if that's not saying much. More coming tonight, and Tues - Wed night. And maybe a little next weekend. We can't exactly fall back to the "well, it's early in the season" bromide - no, it's halfway through the season and the Upper C basin is looking like 75%, and Animas about 78%. And yes, we know the big snow months of March and April are still ahead, but they'll have to be really big to make up for what's a lousy, even if improving, snowpack year.

Hate to sound grouchy, but it makes me grouchy.

Oh, and we're happy to report that our new boots (Dalballo Axion 9's) don't hate us. At least not as much as the Technica's did. They're Italian, so we have that pasta and decadent dessert thing in common.

Reviews 2/09/12

2012-02-12T17:11:00.005-07:00

Portland's Radiation City plys the kind of gauzy, girl-group-but-not-really alchemy that wanders into the empty ballrooms of lost torch songs and overheard radios playing out of moonlight convertibles. On the single "Find It Of Use", leading off their new EP Cool Nightmare, Lizzy Ellison's voice strikes a curious posture between melancholia and menace, and the low-fi arrangements manage to keep the reverb-drenched production from drowning the song's tender urgency. You can check out the band, at home, working through an arrangement of "Babies" (from last year's debut CD The Hands That Take You ) here. They come to Denver's Hi-Dive on 3/6.

Ambient artist Phillip Wilkerson has a new CD, The Stars and Afterward, combining a little Berlin School sequencer with his trademark drone work. Beautiful stuff, from an artist with a deep and growing catalog. Look out, Drone Zone.

Italian Horn is the solo project of New York writer Anthony Pappalardo, and his Red Affair 12" comes across a little like a Sonic Youth rehearsal recorded from down the hall - grey washes of electric guitar chords, supporting simple vocal melodies, kind of summoning the spectre of smoky Manchester clubs circa 1991. Check out the
"Red Affair" title track here.

The Lumineers were started in New Jersey by Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites after Fraites' older brother, and close friend of Schultz died of a drug overdose. The two played shows around NY, but it wasn't until they moved to Denver where they teamed up with Neyla Pekarek that things began to happen for them. They have a new CD coming out on April 3 on Dualtone Records, produced by Ryan Hadlock (Foo Fighters, Ra Ra Riot, Metric). We're enjoying the bouncy, popgrass grin of the thing. "Classy Girls" our fave off this one so far, "classy girls don't kiss in bars", and mostly true if we recall. April 7th at Shug's, we're going to try to get a piece in the paper on them.

Mother Nature's cruelty

2012-02-04T10:46:00.004-07:00

The big snow storm that dropped about 16" of snow in Boulder, and as much as 3 feet in some areas of the Front Range foothills, delivered a whole 4" to Loveland, and next to nothing on most of the upper Colorado Basin. Classic upslope.

The good news? Well, Most of Feb, all of Mar and Apr are still in play. Maybe there'll still be a runoff.

Really kicking myself I didn't hit more of it last year.

New video

2012-02-01T19:30:00.003-07:00

We've started on a new video production for SpiritBear, prairie cemeteries this time. Like the last one, I plan to do the music myself, and like the last one, I'll probably regret it.

We did manage to uncover an apparently undiscovered bug in Windows Live Movie Maker - the Morphological anti-aliasing setting on the 12.1 Catalyst drivers borks the workspace. Thought I had the Microsoft Live support staff stumped. But they found it. Another geek-triumph, deflated.

England in September

2012-01-22T12:54:00.003-07:00

We're in the early (very early) stages of planning a trip to the UK in September. A daunting proposition. Unsurprisingly, we're looking for history and lots of cemeteries, and hopefully some ghost-hunting opportunities.

And we find that, in England, there's a fundamental distinction between a cemetery and a "churchyard", and that at initial and post-initial blush, we are unable to find any evidence of a comprehensive online guide to either. Which means, destination by destination, we'll have to find them by province...or *shire, or...um, maybe asking around.

We did find a blog on London cemeteries, and we'll probably reach out to this nice lady at some point soon, although she has not been updating her site recently. We're planning to stay with Chris during our stay in London, and he lives (reckoning via Google maps) about six blocks from Old Brompton, one of the so-called Magnificent Seven of London's cemeteries.

So far, it looks like York, Cambridge, Isle of Wight, Stonehenge...and in London, the Tower and Westminster Abbey. Nine months away, of course, all this is subject to change. Including going at all, which may betray a sliver of sanity on my part.

What's up w/ SNOTEL?

2012-01-22T09:19:00.001-07:00

Just as the snows start falling this week, and those of us eager to see basin snowpacks recover from their anemic levels Dec-early Jan, SNOTEL looks like it's down.

Grrr....

Saying goodbye to the high?

2012-01-15T11:34:00.003-07:00

The stubborn dome of high pressure that has been send snowstorms north and around Colorado and Utah appears to be running out of juice - the good folks at snowforecast.com are promising heavy snows toward the end of this month.

Went up yesterday, only fourth day so far this season. Awesome weather, and for a thin-cover day, the snow was actually not too bad. Got in 23 runs, then came home to watch the Patriots dismantle the Broncos. Should have stuck it out for 24.

Permits

2012-01-15T11:21:00.003-07:00

Happy New Year - sorry for the prolonged absence.

It does appear that the Monticello BLM office has updated their website and their river calendar , both of which have benefitted from a refresh.

The only main difference I see in this year's San Juan application is the addition of a "minimum group size" on the app, basically suggesting that if you really just want to go with your spouse, and others are all "maybe's", you can apply for a minimum of two and increase your odds of a launch date. Presumably, this also is to weed out the applicants who end up scoring a permit for 20 and only launch 7, leaving small groups left without a launch. Nice idea, if those big parties actually play along.

The downside, as I see it, is that the BLM is likely to put more individual parties on the river and potentially produce a nasty bottleneck at the Slickhorns. After last year's ordeal of anemic flow and 25mph upstream winds all day long on our takeout date, this has me a little worried. To say nothing of actually getting a 2 person launch and gently (or not so gently) pushed into one of the slummier last-night sites, like Trimble (which basically doesn't exist anymore after 2010's flash flood) or Steer Gulch, which is a mucky bug swarm.

This is a feature we'll probably take advantage of this year, regardless.

Snow?

2011-12-22T17:23:00.004-07:00

Typical for the way this season has been going, Boulder got about 8" or 9" of snow overnight...and Loveland got 3", their first snow in a week. I'd go up tomorrow (Friday, two days before Xmas), but a) I have a Yonder story to do b) I still have Xmas shopping and c) it's supposed to be 8 degrees for a high temp. I am losing my shyness about avoiding stupid-cold weather.

After last year's riotous, snowpack-record-smashing La Nina (was it really La Nina, or maybe just a wet winter?), Upper Colorado is meekly clutching at 68% SWE, and Dolores/Animas at 79% thus far. Not quite calamatous, plenty of show season to go (oh yeah, Happy Solstice), but we are way behind where we were last year.

And the self-bailer thing? Eh...Sharon is sharply skeptical...so we'll hold off for now.

Xmas approaches. Enjoy, everyone...

Self-bailer?

2011-12-19T18:43:00.002-07:00

Well, we're toying with the notion of getting a self-bailer this coming year. They're not cheap (even decent used ones), but deep in the not-rafting-season, we're giving it some thought.

Boat. Frame. Oars. Trailer. Cha-ching.

We'll see.

Busy writing season

2011-12-14T19:13:00.003-07:00

Four pieces in five weeks, Leftover Salmon (who's recording a new CD in a few months, so I'm guessing my resolution to quit covering them is probably out the window), Mickey Hart, Trace Bundy and Greg Harris. Two more to do in the next couple of weeks.

And no, I'm not linking to them (bad blogger !!!). At least not yet.

Skyrim

2011-12-14T18:45:00.003-07:00

Sorry for the absence...but, yes, I've been lost in Skyrim.

The next installment of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series of RPG video games, Skyrim is based on the open-world, do-what-you-like-follow-the-main quest-whenever gameplay model that characterized its predecessors, Oblivion (ES4) and Morrowind (ES3). We'll skip the basics and cut to the chase:

First off, the developers completely rewrote the graphics engine from last time out (Oblivion came out 5 years ago), and the results are mostly impressive. The dungeons and the landscape are both meticulously drawn, and seldom exude the texture-pasting sameness of the predecessor games. It's a small thing, but it unquestionably evokes a much stronger sense of presence and realism in the game. My graphics and CPU horsepower are a few notches down from the top end (Intel quad 9550 / Radeon HD 6850), so I've had to trim down graphics detail to keep the gameplay smooth...and some of the detail blurs out at both distant and closeup views.

We've found that the leveling system still seems a little odd - melee battles seem to be either irritatingly easy or grindingly tough (I'm at Level 17 right now, and I've already walked away from three or four confrontations that were just too much trouble.)

Much of the world fairly crackles with activity - animals grazing or running through the woods, water cascading over rocks and cliffs, active and realistic weather, clouds drifting across distant, snowcapped peaks. (One early reviewer even comments about ants on the ground - I haven't seen this, either because the reviewer was on drugs, or my graphics resolution concessions washed them out...who cares, I hate bugs anyway...) Much of this was present in Oblivion, but it all seems to beat at a more relaxed, deliberate pace. It accomplishes alot without seeming to try too hard.

A few minor complaints. I don't think the soundtrack is quite as good as Morrowind's; not as much of the lonely melancholia that sepia-toned Morrowind's bleak dungeons and tundra-scapes and a little too much Nord-heroic chorales for my taste. The primary game menu is a bit cumbersome and sterile. Stability-wise, I've had but one CTD in 20 hours or so of playing, not bad, and the level load times are short - but you do need horsepower to enjoy the detail without chugging, and choppy gameplay is the quickest poison for a game as richly ambient as this.

Gamers are drawn, at a fundamental level, by different aspects of a game - action, tension, plot, gadgets, etc - I am generally disposed to good atmosphere and evocative ambiance, and Skyrim delivers this in spades, if you can compromise a shade for its stout technical demands. The combat is decent (being mostly melee, which is exceedingly hard to do well), and the writers serve up immense depth and lore for those who want it, and don't force it needlessly on those who don't.

It has sold squillions in the five weeks since it's been out, for good reason.

Musical media diaspora

2011-11-13T10:55:00.005-07:00

I've been toying with an idea that I should diagram out the current state of my music collection. The outer circle describing the entirety of music I own, subcircles for that which resides on vinyl, CD, tape and digital (some commonality there), then another layer of what's available on which device for playback (iPod, phone, PC, laptop...), with entangled and knotted subcircles there. Not even getting into WAV, MP3 and M4A formatting....

This is a lethally nerdy thing to do, and seriously who cares?

Still, I find myself drifting toward the player-specific singularity that tech observers have been predicting for a couple of years now. (This being, basically, everything will end up on the phone sooner or later.) I unlocked my Droid PowerAMP for about $5, seemingly fixed an annoying problem where the music would randomly fast-forward to the next track (hardly random, as it turns out - the app has a 'headphone control switch that allows for playback options controlled by headphone commands, which of course is something I have never heard of...anyway, I turned it off and it doesn't fast forward anymore.) and have started loading it up. I configured the EQ and now have at least one piece of music (U2's The Joshua Tree, which I cloud-purchased from Amazon and actually isn't as good as I remembered it...) that resides on my phone and nowhere else.

This shit used to be a lot less convenient, and a lot simpler.

And, of course, this is one reason I stubbornly refuse to even look at a tablet PC.

Roach clips

2011-11-13T09:16:00.003-07:00

I went ahead and ordered a couple of new Steve Roach CD's - SoundQuest Fest, which is a live recording made at his tribal-synth-New Age musical gathering just about a year ago in Tuscon, and The Road Eternal, a collaboration with Scandanavian guitarist Erik Wollo, who is a frequent co-conspirator with Roach in his various experiments trimming expansive synth excursions with more traditionally melodic instrumentation.

I'm about halfway through SoundQuest, it's not bad. We'll scribble a line or two about both when we get around to spinning them more thoroughly.

In doing a little search on the SoundQuest show (specifically, if this was going to be a regular event, and so so far it doesn't appear so) I came across a review of the SoundQuest "experience" (calling it a concert may be appropriate shorthand, but probably understates the vibe) by a writer for Sonora Review named Mike Powell. It's actually a two part piece, the second half is here , although I found Part 1 a better read.

If Powell strikes a somewhat ambivilent posture toward Roach's music, or at least the cheerful audacity of hosting an essentially melody-less, lyric-less concert of eight hours duration, he at least thoughtfully approaches and confronts the probably arcane distinction between ambient music and New Age music.

Structurally, both new age and ambient music are a rejection of time. They go nowhere by design. In ambient, I usually read the defiance as intellectual; in new age, it’s usually cultural—Steve Roach has talked about his music as a way of liberating its listeners from the “bondage of Western time.” One good way to do this is to get your friends together for a concert that lasts for eight hours (including dinner break.)

Steve Roach is 55 years old. He has released nearly 50 albums since 1982. Three of them are called Quiet Music; many of them have cover photos that document portions of the natural world so expansive that they look abstract. Steve Roach is a mini-deity to fans of music like this, and when he gets on stage to welcome us to SoundQuest Fest 2010, we clap, we hoot. We have worn breathable fabrics for the occasion because we are ready to sit for hour after hour and do absolutely nothing.

One complaint I might lodge is Powell's seeming implication that Roach straddles both New Age and ambience disciplines, applying the Brian Eno ethic of ambient music (“as ignorable as it is interesting”) to New Age's barbitual pleasantries and higher-power conceits.

The fact is that New Age music (if we're using the tag taped to record-store bin dividers) has a significant tradition in folk and classical underpinnings - you'd be challenged to find much relationship between Roach and the coterie of Windham Hill artists from 25 years ago, playing vigorously melodic and usually structured instrumental music on acoustic guitars and grand pianos - while the electronics sustaining Roach's music harkens back to the lengthy and largely improvised sonic forays of Tangerine Dream and (especially) Klaus Schulze of nearly forty years ago, both of whom staged brutally long shows of tonal abstractions coaxed from primitive sequencers and Moogs.

If you find musical comraderie between George Winston and Steve Roach, you may looking at both from too far away. A more deeply cynical observer might suggest that both music's ability to bore the average listener to stone reveals a common DNA - we're not sure if Powell hates the stuff that much, but he at least has the tact not to suggest it outright.

For me, I see Roach as more purely a product of the latter tradition - true, he borrows the ancient-culture/tribal influences like drumming and didgs reflective of the New Age lost-wisdom gestalt, but musically they usually seem to be textural dressing, secondary to the electronics.

Maybe it all seems a little different when experienced live - a lot of things do - and certainly a generous strata of gem-gazing New Agers at the concert likely influences the casual observer's perceptions of what they came to hear. For my part, while I like Roach's music and actually buy it and listen a lot to it, I don't care for all of it. The didg-'n-drumming thing usually doesn't do much for me. And whether or not I could sit through several hours of it, percussive or not, remains a speculation not likely to be tested in the near future.

Powell, at least, took a lengthy break to go home and fry up a couple of eggs. For now, all I need do is hit the Stop button on my CD player, and if whatever Roach is doing fails within that lamentably earthbound constraint, I'm not persuaded that it will be because I heard three hours too little of it.

Written words

2011-11-05T09:32:00.003-06:00

After a relatively slow November, we have pieces scheduled for Mickey Hart, Greg Harris, Leftover Salmon, Trace Bundy and the enigmatic Trombone Shorty coming up for December. Busy month coming up.

We were pleased that we managed to turn out a decent (well, at least my editor liked it) piece on Ginga for Boulder Magazine, the local sextet specializing in Brazilian samba. I had my doubts going into this assignment, but Greg and Francisco were expansive interviews and the band has this thing happening.

I can't say I'm a sudden convert to it....but I like the vibe of the stuff, and the players are true professionals. Hope the piece helps grease the skids a bit for them.

Welp...

2011-11-05T09:30:00.003-06:00

Second snow of this still-young autumn is melting reluctantly around town. Several ski areas are open, and I just brought my Head Monsters dow to Ski Deals for their annual tune.

At the risk of stating the obvious...I guess rafting season is over.

Not the End Of The World As We Know It

2011-09-21T18:30:00.002-06:00

REM calls it a day.

Lots of good live memories, interviewed Peter Buck back when they actually needed the press ('84 or '85), and learned a couple of tunes that we used to play with the band.

Astonishing run for a single-guitar, four piece band. One of the last bands that proved that decent hooks, modest charisma from the lead singer and a no-bullshit persona can actually take a band a long way.

Would an REM make it today? Probably not.

The Ibanez

2011-09-05T10:27:00.005-06:00

In yet another spasmodic twitch of retro-hobbyist compulsion, I brought my Ibanez electric (1975 Custom Les Paul copy) down to Robb's to get restrung and cleaned up. They did a very nice job - replaced the output jack (which has been crackly and loose as long as I've owned the thing) and tweaked the action a bit.

The amp is still in storage, but figuring now I may just capitalize on two offers of lessons to help me get back into playing.

Finding the time will be the real trick.

Hardware

2011-09-05T10:13:00.004-06:00

In a probably vain attempt to revive my interest in messing around with Reason - especially, and maybe inappropriately, for use in a jam setting - I pulled my old laptop out the closet where it's been sitting for two years and fired it up. It's a single-core Intel machine, 1.7 ghz, probably seven year old technology. I bought it three years ago for $200 from a Craigslist ad.

I used it to some decent effect for burning vinyl for use on my iPod, but going to see if it works okay with the midi stuff.

Once booted up (the battery light keeps blinking - I suspect it's deceased, but the thing runs ok on AC) - I found that the wireless is cranky and the thing is brutally slow. We picked up an i7 Asus machine last year, so I don't use this thing much. But the real revelation was Windows. No less than 96 updates. Downloading/installing now. Sheesh.

I also picked up dbPowerAmp - paid $36 for the license - and have used that to retro-convert some of my iTunes stuff from M4A to MP3, for use on my phone. The Verizon media software to transfer photos and videos to and from PC/phone is clunky and stupid, but I managed to wrestle it into submission. Go me.

Weird and sad news

2011-08-03T19:15:00.002-06:00

Saw on the Fox Theater's Facebook feed that Wendy Kale passed away today. She was 58, no word yet on COD.

Wendy was certainly a tireless promoter of the local music scene here in Boulder, and while she and I were not close, I did admire her breathtaking staying power and seemingless inexhaustible zeal.

I'm not sure if 58 is really "too young" - being only a few years behind, perhaps it's hard me for me to be objective about that - but I must in all honesty regard her as a peer music journalist in Boulder over the past two decades, and in that respect, I do find the news sad.

Hot in Cleveland

2011-07-21T06:42:00.003-06:00

Summertime pilgrimage to the Cleveland area for grandkid's birthday and Sharon's semi-annual grit-recharge....it's always muggy in Cleveland this time of year, but this year's "heat dome" seems to have made it even worse. Home in a few days.

Top 500 Albums?

2011-07-21T06:35:00.003-06:00

Rolling Stone, struggling as ever to remain relevant in the post-music rag age, just posted their Top 500 Greatest Albums of all time.

We're suckers for their little mini-reviews of fave albums, and we're always mining for good crit-speak nuggetry to steal, but apart from finding a way to infuriate each of the remaining 80 or so self-professed multi-generation music fans who actually subscribe to it, we're not sure what the point is.

Oh yeah, and Sgt Pepper's is number 1.

Nothin' doin'

2011-07-10T15:14:00.002-06:00

Still above 7K. We bagged the weekend, Cleveland trip starts Thursday. Guess we'll hit it when we come back.

grrrr.....

The flow

2011-07-06T18:42:00.003-06:00

After teasing us for a few days that the Roaring Fork might subside to marginally sane levels, the crik done spiked agin !!! Passed 8K before dropping in its usual day/night sine wave way. Cooler weather in store the next or so, we'll see what Thurs and Fri suggest.

I'm good at 5K, maybe a tad more. 6K ? Hmmm....

The Classic Rock season

2011-07-04T14:54:00.010-06:00

A few notes on the three old-fart shows we show in May and June.

The Moody Blues - tepid fan from BITD, the joke about the Moody Blues is that they've been playing the same set for 40 years, which is only partially true, since the set we saw included a fair number of their second-level hits from the 1980's. Justin Hayward's voice is still pretty strong at 61, and the band (Hayward, original members John Lodge and Graeme Edge, plus a handful of relative youngsters) found a way to breathe some life into chestnuts like "Question", "I'm Just a Singer" and, naturally, "Nights In White Satin", after which they seemed to kind of milk the predictable prolonged applause. Tacky, we thought. Almost as tacky as Lodge's 80's style big hair and rock-star posturing, which we found a little embarrassing given the guy's age. But...no harm, no foul. The band has been in business for 37 years, almost as long as the Rolling Stones, so they can do whatever they want. Scary, that.

Overall, fun set for the old farts, not bad musically, and long life to them. Edge (who is technically the band's only original member, from 1964) had just celebrated his 70th birthday - his drumming was polite and not much more than a token - their real drummer, Gordon Marshall, who has been playing with them since 1991, is a genuine powerhouse and a force of nature. Easily the most fun musician to watch.

Kansas/Jethro Tull - We were actually looking forward to seeing Kansas, one of the last arena-big Midwestern rock bands still in business. My college roommate sophomore year, a math guy from Missouri, was a true from-the-first-album fan, and made me a parttime believer in this outfit. I had a grudging respect for their ability to borrow some of the canoodling fun from the prog world but still craft catchy, hook-laden AOL hits, stradding the line between the former's garish excesses and the latters rote preditability. Plus they had a violinist, which was cool.

Anyway, their mostly-daylight set was tight, all business and surprisingly vigorous, framed as it was around their three big radio hits from the late 70's ("Carry On Wayward Son", "Point of Know Return" and "Dust In The Wind", the latter being every hyper-sensitive 70's girl's favorite pop ode to existentialism). I felt like these guys could have phoned in their set, but they played like they were still trying to win fans, and for a thirty year franchise, we liked that. We were actually very happy to hear "Song For America".

I'd seen Tull at least five or six times, extending back into the late 1970's, including the famous "stripper" show they played at McNichols in the late 1980's (ask me about it sometime), so I knew what to expect. (No riots this time...) Anderson's voice has aged somewhat oddly, with a far narrower range centered in the upper register, unlike most of his still-working contemporaries who eschew the higher notes by playing in a different keys, re-arranging the songs or handing off to background singers (e.g., Donald Fagan). This renders most of their aggressive material somewhat bereft of its trademark snarl. For classic-rock fans accustomed to the album versions, this has left some disappointed ticket holders - personally, we find his voice more interesting, and the songs more curious pieces of work.

And give then fact that Anderson and Barre and Co were delivering, on its 40th anniversary, the entirety of Aqualung, the results were...mixed. Anderson's flute playing and onstage antics were engaging as always, but much of the original music's oomph seemed a shade hollowed out. Which, of course, is probably an unfair observation, since neither Anderson nor his audience can snap their fingers can make 40 years vanish. Nor does it really matter, since most of this material is genuinely ancient anyway, and its performance onstge is merely a gift to classic-rock 50-somethings, rather than a genuine campaign to infuse them with meaning. Anderson has sung "Locomotive Breath" so many times, it's difficult to believe it carries much meaning for him.

But it was the stuff in between the radio staples we enjoyed the most. "Wond'ring Aloud" was a lovely bit of acoustic introspection..."Mother Goose", the menacing "Cross Eyed Mary" and probably my favorite Tull song "Wind Up" were all highlights as well.

And the non-Aqualung pieces - the full "Thick As A Brick", "Bouree", "Songs From the Wood" and the magnificent and heart-rending "Farm On The Freeway" (my favorite concert surprise all year) were all outstanding.

One odd thing - the Tull combo formed a surprisingly tight onstage configuration, almost clubbish in their proximity to each other, as if Anderson wanted to keep the show (despite the expansive Red Rocks environment) as if playing a pub. No pics, sorry - couldn't get a decent shot, despite good seats about Row 24 stage right.

We'll throw up our Peter Gabriel review soon.

All that water

2011-07-04T14:37:00.009-06:00

Historic runoff in Colorado this season has more or less grounded us. The Roaring Ford, which by now is usually in the 1000-2000 cfs range, is still pumping 7000cfs, which is a bit higher than I've done it before. Hopefully it'll come back to the 3-4K range by next weekend. Getting antsy to get wet.

Trip done

2011-05-30T16:16:00.004-06:00

And a little hard to believe on a certain level.

Bob Lowery dropped out due to a last minute medical situation (which, while unfortunate, thakfully happened the week before we were to drive out there, rather than on the river, which could have resulted in potentially life-threatening situation), so Carey joined up w/ us.

The drive-out Saturday morning (5/21), we found ourselves faced with a virtual blizzard on Vail Pass. After some scrambling, we decided on the southern route - Denver, Walsenburg, Alamosa, Wolf Creek Pass, Pagosa Springs, Durango, Cortez. Drive time was probably two hours longer, and of course, we left at least two hours later than we expected. We then planned to drive up to Moab in the morning of launch day (since we weren't driving through Moab on the way out) to pick the duckies up. That meant we couldn't run our own shuttle - no biggie, we called Jim Hardin and he accomodated us at the last minute.

Then we decided to scrap the duckies altogether - paid a deposit penalty, and loaded everyone on the two boats. Hands down, after two dozen weeklong trips, this was by far the heaviest I've ever rowed the boat. What a barge.

But no problem - the water would be coming up, right?

Eh, not really, We launched at about 1600 cfs. The river dropped to just over 1K on Day 3, recovered to about 1150 or 1200 on Government Day, then 1100 for takeout.

Odd thing - I spent a good deal of time (too much) worrying about Eight Foot. Low water, they all said, run tight on the right wall to miss the big rock, work back into the center aafterward. I have always run the thing on the left - when we got up there, I looked, saw a slightly scrapey but manageable route on the left side and more or less nailed it. Right side...ha !!!

I relaxed after that - figured the water would gain 600-800 cfs and Gov't would be a breeze. But it never really materialized. When we got down there three days later, we found a fast, boney, pillow-studded mess, with a single line threaded down the right-center.

Carey ran it well, not perfect. I hit my line at the top, whiffed a stroked and ended up taking the front of the boat over the nasty pourover sideways. No big consequence, but an ugly and disappointing performance. No excuses. The boat was heavy but I knew that....I saw the line and drifted off it....I had my strokes more or less memorized, but didn't execute. We'll post the video when we get it up on YouTube.

The row out was a trial....steady 12-15 mph headwinds, gusts to 30, absolutely relentless all day. We beached on three or four sandbars, which were difficult to spot with the heavily rippled water from the wind. What should have taken 4.5 hours from Slickhorn C took close to 8, pulling hard every inch of the way. My back is wrecked and my left hand has some very impressive callouses. I'm not sure if I've ever worked that hard over the course of a single day on the oars. We had spits of wind on and off every day out there, but this was all day. On no water. Left me wondering if I really need to consider an alternative for heavy duty dunnage trips. 16' self bailer?

But overall - the weather was warm to hot, barely two sprinkles of rain, great stars, tons of Bighorn Sheep, wild burros and horses...good company and great camping (for future reference: Chinle Main, Fossil Stop, Mile 37.7, Mile 54.2 and Slickhorn C...all excellent sites.) The kids worked their tails off, seemed to enjoy. Brian burned his feet and a few other minor injuries, but no equipment failures or premature provision exhaustion, even if we had exactly one beer when we hit Clay Hills.

Despite less than ideal conditions, we pulled it off. Glad to be away from the daily madness (back to it tomorrow), even if I can't honestly say the trip left me relaxed and tranquil.

If we're not careful...

2011-05-10T07:14:00.002-06:00

...we're liable to get net-obssesed with temperature, sun, cloud cover and runoff gradient at any number of USGS sites feeding into the San Juan.

So far...looks ok. Lots to come down, weather cool today and tomorrow, warming up pretty well in advance of 5/22 launch.

Supporting seven off two catarafts will still be a bit of a trick...

The rest of the Summer of Classic Rock

2011-04-18T20:13:00.003-06:00

...and we should note, tickets in hand for: The Moody Blues, Peter Gabriel (who I first saw in 1978 - maybe the longest stretch between two performances by the same artist ever for me), and Jethro Tull/Kansas. The latter two in June, the Moodys in a few weeks.

Sir Elton

2011-04-18T19:07:00.003-06:00

Hey - we're back!

Anyway, we packed up the jalopy and headed down to the Big City last week, on my birthday eve, to see Elton John at the Wells Fargo. He was in town doing a benefit for the Matthew Shepherd Foundation, and I suspect a good portion of the crowd was there at least to support the cause. That's a good thing...but we were there because Sharon is an unrepetent Elton fan and she had never seen him.

Sorry for the lousy snap - I am barely comforted by the long-distance, concert-lighting performance of my fanchy shmancy Droid 2 camera only by the fact it's better than the camera on my old phone.

Barely a bemused Eltonhead back in the day (meaning, the 70's), I will say few thing struck me about this performance - which was solo, a fact I noted with some dismay when we first got the tickets, but was ultimately okay with once the show got underway.

Foremost, I was left with the realization that this guy was probably (I mean, this is a hard metric to really validate, since it's in part chart positions, part sales and general subjectivity) the single biggest male artist of the 1970's. They call Michael Jackson the "King of Pop"...but as far as radioplay and chart-landing singles, Jacko couldn't wipe the shit off Elton John's shoes. Wikipedia tells that he's had "seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits." The guy played two and a half hours, all but four or five of the tunes were hits, and I walked out of there thinking of at least 6 songs I knew that he didn't play. The repetoire is frighteningly vast.

It didn't so much make a fan of me, as it did made me appreciate the breadth of success this guy had in the space of (mostly) just a decade, a level of success I doubt could ever really be matched again.

Secondly, his singing, which was once a marvel in its range and occasional just plain weirdness, has been compressed now to barely an octave and a half, baritone rather than tenor. We will note the man is 64 years old, didn't exactly treat himself very well for a couple of decades, and couldn't approach his former range at this age even if he had. But it lent a somewhat flat character to the entirety of the concert, and muted some of the music's original drama. It mostly worked...not quite entirely.

Thirdly, he is an impressive pianist and sailed off on two or three very extended piano solos, departing off his standard gospel-meets-Brahms style with finesse and vigor. I enjoyed the solos very much, although I suspect much of the crowd got somewhat fidgety during their length.

Fourth - his flamboyance is not entirely gone. He has thrown off much of his theatrics, but he still relishes the performance and the adoration. Obvious...and, okay.

Fifth - he's short, pudgy and appears somewhat bow-legged.

I enjoyed it. Some of the tunes are real gems ("Daniel", "Levon"), owing as much to Bernie Taupin as John himself; some (like "Crocodile Rock") are cheesy trifles the world would scarecely miss if erased from our collective consciousness, and John himself, in between songs, was candid and funny, and beamed genuine gratitude at the legion of fifty-something women who still adore him with all their might. He is also passionate about his causes, the MSF being one.

Glad we went.

SJ 2011

2011-03-17T18:46:00.003-06:00

Sharon managed to score a date-perfect launch date for San Juan this year - May 22nd. Putting together the trip details now, updates to follow.

Could we resist a little stoke? I think not....

Stan The Man

2011-03-17T18:20:00.006-06:00

Did a really good interview with Stanley Clarke a couple of weeks back. I have a vague recollection of getting him sometime back in the 90's, and my impression of him as a relaxed, self-effacing and friendly guy was fully borne out in this interview. Apart from the stuff we used in the piece, he expounded on RTF's early days, Weather Report, Jaco, Jeff Beck and Michael Vick. Haven't had an interview this fun or productive in years.

So, we caught his gig at the Boulder Theater last weekend. Victor Wooten and his band opened, and as much as I like Victor (interviewed him once or twice - nice guy), I was pretty disappointed by his set.

Lots of pointless noodling, showy theatrics from his band (including his brother, who can play keyboards with astonishing alacrity when he really wants to) and generally long on audience pandering and short on pure musicality. Now a fixture in the jamband legion, Wooten was playing to a crowd that was surprisingly heavy with his own fans, so no surprise. But to the extent that he felt he had to show up with chops a-blazin', in deference to the headliner, it didn't work for us. We're looking forward to the original Flecktones reunion, and the tour, if there is one.

Stanley's set was better, although likewise a bit heavy on the lead-bass firepower.

Like the RTF show we caught three years ago, Stanley's solos are too long. His new record has some great pieces on it, but between his and his drummer's solos, we heard too few of them. They did a very nice, if a little over-dramatized, read of Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", in addition to one or two cuts from the new CD. The clincher and redeemer for us was an utterly luminous read of RTF's "No Mystery", with Stanley on upright. Mainly acoustic, tight as a drum through the grueling head sections, the piece just bounded and danced throughout. Beautiful.

Clarke's Alembic electric bass, honed by many years of lead playing, is still a fearsome weapon, but we were intrigued by a few passages he did on upright - plucked, arpeggiated sections - that hint more promisingly at the deep musical affinity that Clarke has with the instrument...buried, to our ears, a little too deeply behind the solo firepower.

Still fun for a droopy old fusioneer, who despite a few complaints about the show, is nonetheless glad to have The Man still around and still workin' it.

Ramones get a lifetime Grammy

2011-02-13T13:13:00.004-07:00

I remember interviewing Joey Ramone back in the late 90's, he seemed puzzled by some award granted to his band in Japan, but was happy to be flying off to receive it.

He's dead now, of course, as is two of the three other founding members of the group. Pity we couldn't catch sight of the four sixty-ish street punks in torn jeans tearing through "I Wanna Be Sedated" at the Grammy ceremony, but we know it never belonged there anyway.

Catching up

2011-02-13T13:03:00.002-07:00

We've been remiss lately, and no excuses.

We did a nice interview with Davy Knowles a few weeks back, the kid has been flying high as the latest contender for blues/rock savior crown, now soiled and greasy from having been handed down through the hands of Beck, Clapton, Green, Gallagher et al. Unremarkably, he wishes people (like me, probably) would credit him for his songs, rather than his chops. But frankly, in case no one has told him yet, his chops are better.

DeVotchka keeps putting out soaring, redemption-heavy CD masterpieces, and their upcoming release 100 Lovers is likely to be regarded as one of their best, even if they have drifted fairly far afield from their Romani-campfire eastern euro roots into broad, sweeping, almost futuristic chamber rock. Nick Urata was hung over on Super Bowl Sunday, and our cell connection was just this side of miserable. But we managed a decent piece nonetheless.

Upcoming: Stanley Clarke (if his publicist ever stoops to replying to my email), Stockholm Syndrome and Dirty Dozen. Next three weeks busy.

RIP Cassie

2011-01-09T10:53:00.007-07:00

Our dog Casssie feel suddenly ill last week. Tuesday morning she was fine, happy and jumping around. Tues evening, subdued and a bit off center. We thought she had pulled a muscle romping round in the back yard, but when Sharon got home from work on Wed evening and saw her deep-red pee in the back yard, she immediately took her in.

She developed an extremely aggressive case of IMHA, an auto-immune disorder characterized by the relently shredding of red blood cells by natural antibodies. The vet said it was the worst case she had ever seen, and that as far as complications and extensions of this condition went, Cassie developed virtually all of them.

She had a stable and slightly encouraging night Wed - the vet called us around 6AM Thurs morning and said she seemed to be improving a little, after a course of steroids to jump start her red blood cell production. But she quickly turned far worse in a matter of hours, and by about noon, Sharon and I were saying our goodbyes, as the poor animal - semi-comatose and shockingly jaundiced - began having seizures. We had to let her go.

She was the first dog that I could ever call my own. Lovable, not too bright, eager to please, not a mean or sour bone in her body, and absolutely thrilled to have a family and a home...every waking minute.

We will miss her always.

Gerry Rafferty RIP

2011-01-06T19:18:00.004-07:00

I will have to confess a probably lifelong weakness for Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street", both as hook-addicted to that terrific sax riff by Raphael Ravenscroft, but also its particularly winsome, third-person reflection on aging and giving up the chase for buzz and women and glitter, in favor of solitude and peace and quiet and sanity.

It came at a particular time, too, the summer I worked as a none-too-responsible barkeep on a tourist ferry between Nantucket and Hyannis, a job that I parted ways with on mutually suspicious terms, right after stepping through a ship hold and landing, with full body weight, on the hatch's iron lip, driven pitilessly up into my scrotum. That was about 32 years ago, and it still hurts.

That experience - the job - did not end particularly well, but "Baker Street" conjures pleasant and reassuring memories of that time, in a way few songs or artists of that period ever could.

Anyway, RIP Gerry Rafferty.

Lennon on the BBC

2010-12-07T19:26:00.003-07:00

We caught a bit of the BBC special "Imagine: John Lennon" the other night, a documentary made up of bits of interviews and film clips of the mostly post-Beatles Lennon, including a lengthy and somewhat cringe-worthy bit on the whole 'Bed Peace' charade.

What struck me was how frankly pointless alot of what Lennon said really was. Apart from the whole 'world peace' and anti-materialist screes that Lennon became sainted for, the guy seemed so often like someone who tried to be profound and tried, in some ways, to justify the adulation that the world heaped on him, and yet failed. Much of what has come out about Lennon since his death in 1980 hasn't been particularly flattering - his narcissism, his selfishness, his sometimes appalling treatment of women. Some of that actually bleeds through in bits and pieces in this documentary, although not enough to really give the observer a sense of whether his personality flaws have been accurately portrayed or overblown merely to sell books - none of which, we'll concede, we've read.

He was desperately flawed in some ways, and seemed sometimes to hate being loved for being a Beatle, wishing he could be loved for something he couldn't really make himself be.

But the special was revealing, refreshingly free of interpretative analysis, and remains still one of the most cruely truncated cultural parables of the late 20th century.

He would have been 70 last October. Thinking about a 70 year old John Lennon is an achingly tantalizing exercise, isn't it?

John McLaughlin at BT

2010-12-07T19:03:00.004-07:00

A few things struck me about John McLaughlin's show at the Theater last Saturday night.

First off, some trivia: McLaughlin's accent seems to have drifted a bit off the French-professor patois we recalled from our phoner with him in 1986. A bit more of the original UK English, a little American, some lingering French. One never knows with this cat.

We're not sure we'd ever say this, but it was arguable that Johnny M was actually trying to keep up with his band, counter-intuitively. Gary Husband's keys were generally warm and created the right harmonic bed around McLaughlin's guitar, a must for any successful McLaughlin keyboardist. Generally fleet and informed, although occasionally drifting into staccato pointlessness (fusion is, believe it or not, an artform that thrives on subtlety).

But the life of the show was their stand-in drummer, Mark Mondesir, a cat McLaughlin first encountered when Modesir was playing with Zawinul's band a decade ago. Utterly unstoppable, one of the fastest riffers and between-beat craftsmen I've ever seen behind a kit, he absolutely propelled the band into thin air at times, and his duo with Husband (no slouch himself) was fun and breathtaking.

As for the maestro, he relied mostly on a medium-to-heavy fuzz solidbody sound, and his playing was generally excellent. It did occur to me that his mastery of tone and micro-harmonics is one of his least lauded skills, and frankly, as far as sheer firepower, any number of modern rock shredders (Buckethead, say, or even Morse) could probably wipe the floor with him at this point in his career, and that from someone who first saw McLaughlin thirty five years ago, and has always counted him amongst my biggest heroes.

I found the quieter sections generally more intruiguing - McLaughlin has always appreciated and nurtured space when he gives it to himself. But he still has a keen sense of dynamics and knows completely who he is. He is undeniably a musical treasure, and still plays like he owes no fusion-skeptic anywhere any apologies. We were pleased to hear "The Last Dissident", a seventies nugget from Electric Dreams, although it took us a few bars before we recognized it.

He was generally engaging with the crowd, tossing a few senior-moment jokes out, and having a good time. He obviously treasures this band, and it's hard to think of a better showcase for the Lion in late autumn.

This guy got better pictures than I did, being up in nosebleed balconyland. His review speaks for itself (uh...), but the pictures are very good.

Gary Husband

2010-11-28T18:44:00.004-07:00

Former Level 42 drummer, now sideman to John McLaughlin and a host of others, Husband has just released Dirty and Beautiful Vol 1, the first of a series of sessions he did with...get this...McLaughlin, Steve Hackett, Alan Holdsworth, Jerry Goodman, Jan Hammer, Robin Trower.

Not all in the same room (in case we got some Mahavishnu fans' blood pressure up momentarily there, sorry), spread across this quizzical disc as a kind of 70's-hero all star revue. Husband - accomplished drummer and keyboardist (kind of a fusioneer DeJohnette) - is likewise a decent composer, keenly attuned to the nuances of guitar-driven melodic fusion.

Full review coming soon, but as I wrapped up my McLaughlin story for the Weekly today, I thought it was time to actually spin this disc. It's already a favorite, and what in the world would droopy old fusionheads like me do without Abstract Logix?

Catching up

2010-11-28T18:35:00.004-07:00

We found ourselves skimming through handy dandy USB flash drive the other day - we use it for everything, and we're notoriously lax about cleaning it off at the appropriate time - and we found a review of the Rush show we caught at Red Rocks last August. It was intended for this site, can't remember why it never made it on, but here goes.

There was a guy we met on the stairs at Red Rocks last night, a gold medal Rush fan, fiftyish and a little bit lubed up on margaritas, who explained about the impressively tenured Canadian trio, "You either love 'em or you hate 'em..."

Interestingly, I countered, I felt myself an exception to that rule, being neither a fan nor a skeptic for as long as I've ever been aware of these guys, which extends back into the mid-seventies. For progheads BITD, like me, Rush was a bit like prog-lite - minimal on soaring, virtuosic keyboard indulgences, fantasy-rag imagery, the requisite bombast of Marshall-stack re-imagined neo-classicism. I was, back in those days, quite smitten by the rich drama of mainstream prog, and Rush always struck me as sort of cultish offshoot. I roadied for a band who covered 2112, but I never bought their records. I neither resisted it nor embraced it - it was always someone else's thing.

The only real point to all this self-professed agnosticism is that I personally felt myself in a somewhat unusual place - being immersed in a Red Rocks ceremony surrounded by thousands of fans - many of whom were seriously hardcore and/or long timers, and not really being one of them. My critic side tends to bristle a bit at hardcore fan devotion as a matter of professional necessity, but I started as, and remain, a music lover too, so I know about this on a personal level and understand.

Anyway...as far as the show goes, a few things struck me about the formidible trio and their three hour/two set show, the second in a two night stand at the Rocks. Impressive set and production design - the video feed was flawlessly timed and directed. The lights were very good, some pyrotechnics and yet another uselessly stationed fog machine on the always-breezy Red Rocks stage. Whatever.

The band itself was just shy of stunning - moving confidently from material as old as 35 years, and as recent as a few months (they have a new record coming out). Geddy Lee's uniquely stirring falsetto struggles just a bit at some of the higher notes (we suspect, although don't know for a fact, that some of the older material is now performed in a lower pitched key to accomodate Lee's voice). The second set featured the entire Moving Pictures album, which includes the single "Tom Sawyer", the one Rush single non-congregationalists are likely to know best. I actually found the album segment surprisingly short, if decidedly well received.

As far as the band goes, there is a certain sense of a forty-year tenured rock institution finding its way between providing its hits and what its fans came for, and keeping the show vibrant and alive. It's a tough thing for anyone (I ask bands about it all the time, and even if everyone has an answer to the question, as if they have answered it for themselves, no one ever seems to have a magic formula) - I've heard and read that the band typically peforms everything more or less note for note, but I did hear some passages (Lifeson's acoustic figure leading into "Close to the Heart" for example) where the band strayed a little from rote catechism, as well as some Lee-Lifeson interplay I suspect was genuinely improvised. But these guys are no jamband, their music can be spectacularly complex, and their fans don't expect jazz. They expect Rush. And I really don't think they struggle with this issue. One thing I can say about these guys; they know who they are and what they do, and always have. that's both a trivial observation and a profound one. Rush doesn't reinvent itself, and few of the prog bands they are compared to can make that statement.

I will say that I grew some admiration for their musical personality, a kind of relaxed athleticism that promotes measured but effective instrumentation aggression, broadly sweeping without succombing to posturing self-indulgence (they seldom let you forget they're actually a rock band, bred from the musical ethics and the aesthetics of the seventies) or showy preening.

Lee's bass playing is genuinely impressive, grounded in standard rock bass but accounting for a large measure of the music's melodic content - Lifeson, on the other hand, ostensibly the guitarist in a power trio, relies heavily on broad and textured chording, sweeping across the rumbling rhythm section, picking solos off here and there but generally painting a sonic landscape more than sketching details. He's a good player, not a virtuoso, and I do think the band's unique personality is due in large measure to his role as a guitarist. He's basically a rhthym guitarist in a rock trio, and quick, name two others. Hell, name one.

And of course, there's Neil Peart. Adherents will tell you he's the greatest rock drummer of all time. I could see a case for that, even if based on personal experience I'd probably land him near the top and no further. Still, he absolutely DID have the biggest kit I've ever seen, and I found his drumming both lithe and thunderous. He has an obviously acute sense of tonal character in his druming and uses that to great effect, building and relasing crescendos with colored runs and fills, and generally building surprising complexity into teh compositions. He could play forty percent less to sustain the material, but the material would suffer - his role is deceptively central to the band's musical personality.

His solo, duly and unapologetically seventies-indulgent, included a very cool big band interlude and a neat Afro-electro segment that I thought brought unexpected and welcomed depth to what could have been a mere display of chops...something Peart, even at nearly 58, still has in spades.

The mix, I thought, was 20% too guitar heavy - from decent seats near dead center of the venue, 43 rows up, I literally couldn't tell in places whether Peart was actually playing, and plenty of segments where I could see (courtesy the video screen) that Lee was playing but couldn't hear a note. I know getting the sound just right at the Rocks is often challenge, and I wouldn't scream for my money back, but yeah...too much guitar in the mix, both sets.

It'd be a litle preposterous to self-annoint myself a Rush fan at this point, but certainly I'd paid again to see this show - it is both a vestige of a brave and provocative rock world I used to know very well, if through different bands, and for all the critic complaints about band's growing and maturing and experimenting - God bless the ones who do - this is a band that has a unique formula, devoted fanbase and a great live gig, and has kept those things more or less the same for nearly forty years, and sorry, but that's a good thing too.

Motet redux

2010-11-20T21:50:00.005-07:00

We'd be remiss (actually, we have been remiss) not to mention the brawling, brash and utterly baddass Earth Wind and Fire trib that Dave Watts and Motet staged last Halloween weekend - we caught the Aggie show - see previous post....

With the three singers dressed as - what? wise men? pharoahs? - Watts led the 12 piece group through throwdown funk and jazz jam workouts with nimble turbulence. Watts' drumming, as always, was sharp and robust - the horns were excellent, if a little under-miked at times, and Jans Ingber stood out with hair-raising reach and fully hiphugging-bellbottom emotiveness. The guy is an absolute scary talent, fully at home in 70's soul both soloing and in conjuction with the other two.

Our first trip to the Aggie; the Ft Collins Halloween crowd was predictably weird and well-lubricated, and the theater itself has a rough, almost warehouse-like scruff to it that has a strangely charming appeal.

As for the picture, sorry about the idiot with the plastic light saber - this is the best of the four or five shots I managed to get with my crappy phone camera.

Motet

2010-10-29T13:54:00.005-06:00

We had a great chat with Dave Watts a couple of weeks ago, in preparation for what might be their Motet's most demanding and ambitious trib show ever - Earth Wind and Fire. Three nights - Aggie, Ogden and landing at the Fox for Halloween. Piece ran in the Weekly yesterday (Thurs).

Faced with an indifferently uncooperative Fox publicist (did I say something about the BT/Fox merger being basically invisible??) and an editor busy with his own job, I found myself suddenly without a GL spot for Sunday's Fox gig.

Called the nice girl from the Aggie (Cornelia - my new bff) and she slapped me on their list + 1 for tonight; no begging/pleading/'don't you guys have a laminate?' bullshit. To and from Ft Collins will be a bit of a pain, but this show I want to see,

Which...gave me an idea. We'll be following up on this soon.

I'm still a little perplexed how I got to the place where I have to compete for one night's use of a communal BW/Fox laminate, for a show I actually covered (led the section), in a paper I've written for for 16 years, about a band I've covered for a decade....with people who have never covered a Fox Show, ever, once. I swear I'm doing something wrong.

RIP T

2010-10-13T07:22:00.004-06:00

We just happened across the terrible news yesterday that keyboardist T Lavitz died last Thursday Oct 7 unexpectedly, in his sleep.

T was a breathtaking player, one of the few keyboardists bred from the soils of seventies fusion who could bind sheer firepower and uncommon warmth in the same bar. In the early Jazz Is Dead incarnations, T always struck me as the band's connective tissue, able to reach into the elusive soul of the original material and give it substance and challenge for the jazz-fusion players around him. Multi-lingual.

He always struck me as a friendly guy, a bit of a nerd and a reluctant virtuoso if there ever was one. One of the few guys at that level I never cringed over interviewing.

We were fortunate enough to interview him at least twice, and we'll include a paragraph from a 2000 piece we did on The Dixie Dregs, quoting T.

“But, you know what? Ever since I joined this band, when I was 22 years old, I have never, ever gotten tired of playing this music. There’s just something about Steve’s writing that makes this material so challenging and so much fun to play. It’s just incredibly orchestrated – I find that after a few days of playing a set, I know exactly how many seconds I have to change the settings on my keyboard for the next tune, how many seconds I have to towel off, scratch my nose, everything. Thing about this stuff, if you miss a bar someplace, you have to sit out a long time before you can jump in again, it all goes by so fast.. It’s fun, and it’s a workout.”

RIP man. Jeez, way too f-ing soon...

The Kids are OK

2010-10-09T08:38:00.007-06:00

In reminiscing about their Hamburg days, Paul McCartney once recalled to an interviewer that the Beatles used to hear shouts of "macht shau! macht shau!" ("give us a show!") from the drunken and cynical nightclubbers they played three two hour sets a night back to in the day, a call to do a little more than stand like rail-thin scousers and strum their Rickenbackers, and even if their career led them to places where the talent to make the same 60 songs entertaining onstage was ultimately shelved in favor of studio extravagance, they never really lost that sense of projecting charisma.

We're not ashamed to to admit that, as smitten as we've become with their videos recently, we had some reservations about what kind of a show OK Go was going to deliver at the Fox the other night. If video killed the radio star, broadband dances on his grave.

So, we were pleasantly surprised when the Chicago-founded quartet's first Fox appearence delivered onstage, and with barely a passing reference to their storied video artistry, a fun, solid and energetic set. Keenly tapping references from skinny-tie post-wave pop, techno-dance Prince channeling and indie-rock agita, OK Go bears its influences unapologetically twelve years down the road, having survived their early years dismissed by tastemakers like Pitchfork as lame Weezer-wannabes and maturing into sly popmeisters, balancing craft with spontenaiety, and showman's cheese with craftsman's beef.

We are more partial to thir later material - "This Too Shall Pass" and "White Knuckles" - but even their earlier material like "Invincible", "WTF" and "Here It Goes Again" (the latter sounding like an early Ocasek-Orr thing) came across with stout and confident resolve, with singer Damian Kulash up-front striking his best Doug Feiger poses, belting out post-slacker anthems of ennui and puny redemptions as if, holy smokes, he really means it. And yeah, they had a video feed running behind them, but no dogs and no Rubes and no treadmills, and after it was all said done, they could have delivered just as well without it. The confetti cannons and odd interludes (they did one piece, I didn't know it, straight a cappela, accompanied only by hand bells; a neat and deeply musical trick and an endearingly touching surprise) were unforced and well-timed.

For a band relatively unknown to the routinely insular Fox audience (the show didn't look sold out to me), they turned thier crowd into instant believers, and us too. My wife asked me what "indie rock" really meant as we were walking back to the car, and in the context of OK Go, I was more or less at a loss. Not on a major label? Not beholden to mainstream tastes? Who knows, because if these guys are the reigning poster children of indie-rock, they sure don't seem reluctant to become whatever indie is supposed to be a reaction to. They appear to be just hitting their stride and ready for their closeup, an ironic thing in a broadband world where careers are made and lost at download speeds.

Someone obviously keeep reminding them that just showing up isn't the point. It's "macht shau", isn't it?

Leon and Elton

2010-10-04T22:03:00.002-06:00

It was a little surprising hearing the lead track to Elton John and Leon Russell's new record, The Union on KBCO the other day. Just heard a little but may download the thing.

Anything to put a little of the soul back in Reg's singing, and anything that foists the Space Cowboy into the spotlight again, has got to be a good thing...the added benefit of T-Bone Burnett behind the dial probably helps. Neil Young, Brian Wilson and Booker T guest on it - sounds crowded, but like I said, it's always nice to hear from Leon.

And, I guess, Elton....

Game jones

2010-10-01T17:55:00.003-06:00

Been drifting into Diablo 3 news and vids of late. Also, although I hadn't been paying much attention, there's a new Fallout game coming, due on shelves in the US Oct 19th. May just jump on that.

Robert Plant won't go away

2010-09-21T16:41:00.003-06:00

I swear, you can't swing a dead cat these days without hitting Robert Plant somewhere or another, pimping his latest CD Band of Joy.

We appreciate anyone who covers Los Lobos ("Angel Dance", one of their better old nuggets), but haven't had much interest in the rest.

Honestly, the guy has been out there doing his Americana-roots shtick nonstop, interviews all over the place for the CD release, tapping into this thoughtful-elder pose about rediscovering Americana, blah blah blah. This is all following up on the unexpected success of his collaboration with country/bluegrass songbird Alison Krause, which was a decent record but arguably in spite of Plant, not because of him.

I think Plant in general has mostly lost his deep talent for re-imagining American roots music after the first Zeppelin record - when he was channeling Willie Dixon through Promethean post-psychedelia. What he and his band created back then was far more interesting and enduring than this kind of Tony Bennett-in-a-hayshed routine. And I'm not even much of a Zeppelin fan. That was at least him - this stuff fails as trib and mostly fails as interpretation. Talk about someone trying as hard as possible to be someone else.

Fine, he's 62 and rock 'n roll bores him. We got it. The problem is, most of the shit he's doing now bores the rest of us.

OK GO

2010-09-09T18:33:00.000-06:00

Coming to the Fox. Time to dust off and get back in the ring?

Break

2010-08-27T11:02:00.000-06:00

As in, taking one. Need it. Really.

Feeling...

2010-08-25T09:26:00.000-06:00

...shaken, definitely not stirred.

Michael Been

2010-08-22T09:24:00.003-06:00

Across the spread of rock music history, Michael Been will not be considered a milestone figure, but his band The Call enjoyed a notable shuffle through the limelight in the 1980's, with hits like "And The Walls Came Down", "Let The Day Begin" and "I Still Believe" - all of which I personally found compelling and surprisingly passionate offerings during a period where chilly detachment rules the rock singles charts. The band opened for notables like Peter Gabriel and Simple Minds.

Anyway, Been passed away of a heart attack a few days ago at a music festival in Belgium, where he was doing sound for his son's band, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. He was 60.

"I don't think there ARE any Russians/And there ain't no Yanks/Just corporate criminals/Playin' with tanks."

Indeed.

The critic as scorned diva

2010-08-15T08:02:00.005-06:00

How exactly do you signal your acute disappointment to a publicist, who insisted you were on a guest list to a Los Lobos show, that you were in fact NOT on any such list, that the cheerless twentysomethings at will call and walking around with iPhones had never heard of you and couldn't care less that you had covered their show and helped in some small way to contribute to their pittence, without sounding like a whining drama queen primadonna asswipe?

This is something I should have an answer for, but curiously do not.

And the same publicist for whom said critic has extended himself this whole summer, and who is now faced with a meager four days to produce a cover story based on two interviews said publicist has done little to facilitate, thus guaranteeing a last minute firedrill for which they will bear absolutely zero accountability.

It seems my careful parsing of language must now be devoted to bullshit. Something here is just not right.

RIP Richie Hayward

2010-08-13T10:28:00.001-06:00

Good guy, great band, and a monster of a drummer. I struggle to think of another drummer who just loved his gig as much as Richie.

Cancer steals another. mf

Little Feat in their 70's prime.

What took so long?

2010-08-11T11:38:00.003-06:00

Caught a flash of Michael Franti's latest hippie-carib hit song on a beer commercial last night. It sounded like...this is where it belonged, all along. Funny, that.

Letting go the Haight

2010-08-09T11:00:00.009-06:00

Saw this piece on MSNBC today, on the 15th anniversary of Jerry Garcia's death.

Joel Selvin was one of the last of a dying breed, a fulltime major city rock critic, and most of the time not a bad one. He certainly had the good fortune to write in San Francisco during and after the city’s great rock epochs, and as such, he is well qualified to be quoted as an expert on the Grateful Dead, who were, despite the broad reach of their repute well after the fact, favorite sons during a period when the city’s rock scene had its pick. Most critics, incidentally, dismissed the Dead with varying intensity levels of scorn.

So I wouldn’t begrudge Selvin’s claim to longtime scrutiny of the Dead, but I was a little disappointed to see the same inch-deep canonization about Jerry Garcia on the 15th anniversary of his death you could have gotten from anyone. This in particular really bothered me:

“Jerry turned out to be an enduring American archetype,” Selvin said. “He was one of the few people of his era who stayed true to himself and pursued a steady mission, undeterred by fame, fortune, marital problems, and all that kind of stuff. Jerry was about what Jerry was about in 1965 as he was when he died. And I think that’s the sort of consistent message that you need to have that kind of impact.”

In fact, I can think of any number of artists who, whether they got famous or not, stayed "true" to what they were, depending on what you really mean by that, or what they thought they were on the planet to do. Coltrane, Miles, Thelonious Monk, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard...even less artistically influential artists. Personal faves like Leo Kottke and Richard Thompson come to mind. Lou Reed. Pete Seeger, for chrissakes.

Garcia and the rest of the band lived a hippie lifestyle in the mid 60’s, but graduated to Marin County and BMW’s as wealthier grown men. Everyone is entitled to the comforts afforded by years of hard work, we don’t take issue with that, but it seems to me that much of the stodgy materialism and flat American conventions at the center of the bullseye of the hippie counter culture is based in precisely that. So it couldn’t be that the message was entirely one of rejecting some middle class comfort. What was it, besides 'have a good time and don't hurt anyone?' Because if it was just that, maybe his cultural influence is overstated. If it was ‘do what you do, regardless of what happens to you in the meantime’, we’re not sure that’s such a great idea.

If you're a Deadhead, you believe it's a virtue that a chubby, middle-aged guy keeps touring and keeps playing 30 year old songs despite failing marriages, lousy and deteriorating health, drug busts, etc. The music matters more than that.

It may be criminally uncool to suggest that it could be just as admirable for a guy to say, 'Hey, I'd like to have a life and a relationship and improve my health, and so I'm going to unplug for a while to rediscover those virtues.' Jerry did that a little, and went some distance to regain control of his body, but we don’t hear Selvin giving him credit for that. We’re not cheerleading for rehab or detoxification, but we’re also persuaded by landing epoch-topping garlands on people simply because they put their work – artistic or otherwise - above their own family and their own health isn’t necessarily the most generous application of life lessons. I’m not sure most Deadheads would reserve the same reverence for an insurance salesman who worked and partied himself to death at 55.

Musicians, in the main, are generally not particularly remarkable people, at least insofar as they often have limited skillsets with which to reinvent themselves. This isn't a slam - the fact is, fan worship tends to cast a lot of virtue onto artists that is often misplaced, and it can be challenging and sort of un-fun (even for a critic-fan like Selvin) to simply regard a virtuoso musical artist as being just that, without trying to turn them into cultural saviors.

And I would propose that the disciplines that make one a truly virtuosic musical artist in fact hinder one from personal reinvention. Concentration, self-criticism, deep immersion into one's artistic oeuvre, an enforced myopia. Reinvention, whether for good or ill, would comes more easily to someone who doesn't know who he is in the first place, or had lost faith with his primary mission. He may end up a better artist in the end, perhaps, but you can write off that cultural savior thing.

This quote also bothered me.

Garcia’s message, said Selvin, was largely one of “music for music’s sake,” which has been “virtually eradicated in the digital era.” Whether playing with the Grateful Dead, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, the Jerry Garcia Band or his bluegrass ensemble, Old and in the Way, Garcia played on, oblivious to the world of commercial music.

Please. The whole "digital era" in contemporary music wouldn't exist if it weren't for thousands of artists toiling in obscurity, playing "music for music's sake". Selvin seems to embrace this notion that there's the Dead, and there's Lady Gaga, and really not much in between relative to the machinery of contemporary music distribution, which has broken down to the point that those toiling in obscurity probably have never had it better in terms of reaching their fans and latent fans, if they know how to coax the technology. What a pity he was quoted like this, because as much as I'm liable to complain that Selvin suffers a bit of Dead-fan myopia, I cannot believe he believes Garcia is the only or nearly only guy in contemporary popular music who pursued a career resistant to commercial influence and its corrosive effect on artistic substance.

It may well be that a generation or two of American kids who were raised on commercial art, or least marinated in it, saw the Dead as the anti-rock star heroes; sure they were, but there were plenty of other anti-rock star heroes whose music was far less palatable to mass audiences and thus regularly escape critical canonization.

It also helped that the Dead matured and graduated more less intact from a chaotic and self-immolating psychedelic scene, with all the cachet of 60's cool and thankfully little of the narcissistic craziness that brought down many of their contemporaries. And as good as some of the Dead's songs were, and some of them are undeniably treasures, some of that was at least as much Hunter's work as Garcia's, in a lot of cases. Hunter gets mentioned here, but in passing.

From a critical standpoint, I've been personally assailed by Dead skeptics as being a "Deadhead", which was meant as an insult at the time that I didn't take as such, and I've been criticized by genuine Deadheads for "not getting it", or misunderstanding the community, the music, the message. I have always actually kind of appreciated being semi-loathed or derided from both sides.

My view of the Dead is this: perhaps surprisingly, I think a case could be made that the Dead are the greatest American rock band, in terms of longevity, resistance to commercial influence, stalwartness of its fan base and overall quality of the material. I'd argue that case on its merits, if not necessarily with much passion....

I also see them as a connection between what was primarily white, upper middle class kids to a kind of idealized 60's tribalism that resonated with them at a mythological level. Following the Dead around wasn't really an option if you were 18 and had to work at the factory to support your young family. Plenty of American youth, unfortunate enough to spend their lives on the harder side of certain economic and educational realities, were NOT plugged into the Dead phenomenon. They couldn’t be.

For all the deeply ingrained skepticism about materialism and middle class conformity that coursed through the Dead subculture, it was completely and entirely a phenomenon built on postwar prosperity, a kind of American paganism posed against the deities of suburban complacency and materialism. The fact that it cast a skeptical eye on the pillars of middle class values is irrelevant - hell, it would have to. As long as there's a culture, there has to be a counter culture. The Dead, quite unintentionally, benefited by the disillusion and indifference that a lot of children of relative prosperity had toward that prosperity - infuse some ancient American mythology, epic concerts, a tight weave of like-minded fans, plenty of recreational stimulants, pleasing iconography, and you've got yourself a new religion. Nice hymns, unobjectionable sacraments, high priests, little in the way of disconsonant resistance and an embracing community. There were believers, true believers, and adherents of convenience, stopping in for the party. A lot of those.

But I wouldn't credit Jerry Garcia with strategizing or even inventing all this, even if writers like Selvin credit him for presiding benevolently over it. He was a guitar player and songsmith of considerable import, a direct link to the yielding of 1950's American culture into the questioning and iconoclastic spirit of Kerouac and Ginsberg, the proto-hippie, leading a band very capably through good and bad, commercial indifference, many years of deeply insular woodshedding, and for all that he deserves great credit. His influence was significant, musically...culturally, I do see his success as a byproduct of the world he resisted and poked some gentle, good natured hippie humor at. He didn't take very good care of himself, and had a little trouble managing his own life. Lots of people do, especially people who spend many years doing little else than playing rock music and taking recreational drugs. Garcia was, to some extent, the ultimate Deadhead, and his sad demise in some ways belies the emptiness that a lot of cults ultimately mask.

His canonization was inevitable, and I won't complain too loudly about it. I liked his music but only saw the band twice. I think there actually IS a story about the Dead, and most rock bands from that day cannot really make that claim.

But I do wish the narative would grow a little, expand a little, and that those who spend so much time witnessing the Dead and writing about the Dead from the front row, could manage to put them into a broader context.

Yeah...work is work

2010-08-08T12:57:00.002-06:00

...but then there's

...and for a day at least, the universe smiles at ya.

Days off, and not really off

2010-08-08T12:48:00.002-06:00

Spent Friday between conference calls and paperwork for day gig, and assembling a piece on Jamie Janover for BM - the piece went okay, generally, although I struggled mightily for a lede and came up with something a little lame. I hope it flies, or at least comes back to me in time to rewrite.

Los Lobos today - somewhat garbled and typically lowkey interview with Steve Berlin on Wednesday. One of the things I like about these guys is their complete and pathological refusal to get real excited about what they do. Makes my life as a writer somewhat more difficult, but an admirable quality. We do what we do, we've been doing it for a while, we're glad a few people like it. Anything else?

Pretty sure

2010-08-02T17:38:00.003-06:00

...we're getting close to the end here. It bothers me that this should be so, but part of me also accepts it.

I mean, seriously. Isn't it time to yield to younger, more deeply passionate and articulate writers who attribute every quote and place their commas and ellipses properly?

OK

2010-08-02T09:30:00.002-06:00

Frisell piece went pretty well. Bill is one of those guys, and amongst those with careers as lengthy as his there aren't very many, who seems perpetually puzzled that people ever want to interview him.

Bill Frisell

2010-07-28T14:40:00.003-06:00

Chat with him tomorrow, small piece in advance of a fundraising gig at Unity Church. LAst minute request from Dave at BW.

I like Bill and his music, but never sure what an interview is going to be like.

Back

2010-07-26T11:28:00.003-06:00

The road back from Cuyahoga County was somewhat less grueling than I had feared, included an utterly amazing Iowa sunset Saturday night.

It was, however, somewhat shrouded in gloom as we got a phone call Thursday night that the neighbors had 'forgotten' to tend to the animals...who were left alone, unfed and unwatered, in the house for a week.

Hysterics, tears, anger, chaos all ensued, with the two dogs ending up at a 24-hour vet facility, and Cassie in critical condition. Blood work numbers all over the map, acute dehydration, etc. Doc said when the dog came in she looked half-dead. Bagoas, amazingly, was healthy. Cats appeared to be okay, Swasey being little more than very pissed off, and Smudge apparently (and thankfully) oblivious.

Seriously bad miss on the neighbors' parts - they are absolutely fired from any further pet sitting, and probably some beyond that.

Finished two stories while out there, pieces on Big Head Todd and Paper Bird. Pitched quickly on a Bill Frisell piece for next week, and a BM piece on Jamie Janover approaching.

More on the music stuff shortly.

Greetings from Lakewood, OH

2010-07-21T10:45:00.002-06:00

Utterly sweltering here in NE Ohio. Trip is okay so far - some timing and scheduling issues, didn't make it over to Pgh. Work is burbling - writing and day gig - and I'm spending way too much not-fun time in front of a PC screen. Not as bad as last year.

Behind on my sleep, and not looking forard to the journey home, or the brutal week that awaits just beyond. But...we're okay for now.

Last weekend before Cleveland trip

2010-07-09T10:40:00.003-06:00

Looks like rafting in the rain for Saturday (there's worse things), and not much else. Which is fine - vacation cramped with panic story assignments or acute day-gig drama are stressful and usually no fun, and I don't need that.

Curious I haven't heard from the Weekly - pinged them about BHT&M new CD coming out. David may be out this week or something - I'll hit them again next week.

Looks like the BM story on Jamie Janover is a go - Mary seems pleased, at least until I have to ask a few days indulgence on deadline. Some things never change.

Repent Walpurgis

2010-07-01T19:39:00.002-06:00

No idea why, but this musty old title from Procol Harum's first album popped into my head today. Pleased to see a decent 1971 video of a TV studio performance of it.

UM story in, cheerleading

2010-06-28T10:32:00.003-06:00

Did a great interview with Jake Cinninger from Umphrey's McGee last week, actually one of the few jam scene's veteran bands I find consistently interesting, probably due to their shameless progrock indulgences.

They're doing a show at the Rocks, twin bill with Galactic and the Wailers supporting.

Piece went ok.

In other news, David tells me that the Weekly wants to "concentrate on local bands in the next few months", and I didn't really ask for clarification. It DID strike me as consistent with a comment he made a few months ago, that the paper valued my presence since I was one of their few local writers...so I've been a litle hung up on this notion that they keep me around to cheerlead the local bands, and have their outside writers cover the other stuff.

I can't say I'm altogether comfortable with either an unnaturally sharp focus on local musicians, or with me being pigeon-holed as their "guy on the local beat", something I've never really wanted to do, and doubt I'd be very good at anyway. I have covered locally-oriented stuff the last month or so; Otis Taylor, who lives here but doesn't play here much, and the Sonic Bloom Festival, focusing on Jamie Janover.

My complaints about "we cover local music" are fairly simple; 1) being local doesn't mean you're any good 2) being local shouldn't trigger press coverage, being good should and 3) extraordinary focus on local subject matter for its own sake, in my view, only serves to amplify Boulder's runaway narcissism and render the paper little more than a mirror for it.

From my perspective, I really don't think people "support local music" just for the sake of doing so, and never really have. Club goers with limited discretionary spending will pay for something they like.

We'll see where this leads, but for now I'm laying low.

Writing back

2010-06-13T16:37:00.006-06:00

The Weekly is going to do a piece on the merger of the Fox and Boulder theaters this week. I told David I'd contribute a little something.

The good news is that my old pal Cheryl Ligouri is taking the new company over. The bad news? Well, I'm not sure. I've always felt Boulder was best served by two competing high-profile venues, but business is business and I suspect at the end of the day it won't matter much in terms of quality of talent.

Also have some pieces coming up for July.

Little concerned that we appear to have no investigations on deck. Hopefully that will change soon.

Weekend wrapping up

2010-06-13T16:33:00.003-06:00

Weather turned cold and rainy this weekend, so we decided to bag rafting and did a ton of cemeteries in El Paso county instead.

I was impressed by the poverty out there - house after house boarded up, junked out spreads with rusted old trailers on them, practically deserted little farm towns. Surprising and a bit distressing.

Well...back

2010-06-08T15:00:00.004-06:00

The trip is done, we've been back a week. A few notes.

1) Flows - my obsessive concern about flow, heightened to an absurd crescendo shortly before we left by an absurdly low NOAA forecast, turned out to be (thankfully) unwarranted. I did get stuck, but it was on the first day, downstream from Butler while we were still in cattle country, and it was on a lowly shoal on river left. The flow dramatically spiked (as Ryan Christenson from BuRec indicated) about the third day out there, and when we hit Gov't, it was flowing about 2400-2600.Easy drop into two waves on the left - lasted all of 4 seconds.

2) Weather - Excessive wind, the first three days. I couldn't safely keep a fire burning the third night. The first few miles after Mexican Hat were a struggle - massive upstream blasting out of Pontiac Wash, then downstream for a few miles. Then hard upstream again, then some down. We got a little on Day 4, but it eventually stopped and we had a nice fire. Day 5 and 6 were essentially windless...but 100 degrees.

3) Camping:
Big Stick - the ranger asked us not to take a large site, but the trwo or three she recoemmended were all taken. We took it anyway.
Pouroff - a nice pre-MH site, river right. Only two decent tent pads, but located just downstream from a beaver lodge. Sharon got great pics.
Mile 42.3 - Navajo side, a sandy and fairly broad campsite, good landing but little shade. We considered laying over there, but I felt a little uncomfortable, largely due to wind, with a commitment to do almost 24 miles in one day to last campsite. It was the right decision.
Mile 54.7 - Navajo side, awesome spot. Sandy and easy landing, tent spots high on a sandy terrace above the beach, plent of room for fire/chairs/kitch at water's edge. Early shade in afternoon, late shade in morning.
Slickhorn A - Never been before; a very nice spot. Four or five decent pads, probably first Slickhorn in shade in afternoon, nice view. Would happily take this one again.

4) Equipment - Broke a tent pole first evening setting up. Annoying but we rigged it and it worked. Sharon left the silverware at home accidently, we borrowed from another party. Platform cracked, working now on a solution to that one. No issues otherwise.

5) Misc - We took about 1400 pictures. The flats had plenty of water, saw a few sandbars but didn't hit a single one. Stayed way right most of the way down. Trimble is gone. Actually saw 4ft Rapid for the first time - water was lowish early in the trip. Ran Ross too far left. 8 Foot jogged right at the top, straightforward center-left run, big rock/hole near bottom in center. Ledge was a few strokes, no big deal. Not a drop of rain. Beaver, bighorn, cattle, horses, toad, deer, herron and usual lizards.

Excellent trip, wasted after the driving but already looking fwd to next year's.

Guitarists aplenty

2010-05-15T19:23:00.004-06:00

Caught a couple of shows recently that I wanted to scribble a few notes about.

Larry Carlton and Robben Ford swung through for a one nighter at the Boulder Theater a couple of week back, a show I previewed for the paper.

Apart from their respective resumes, which aren't bad, the two guitarists have a pretty lengthy history playing together, and the quartet show at BT didn't disappoint. Swinging between gritty blues stomps and fusiony light jazz, Carlton the technician and Ford the blues gut-buster have a seamless alchemy between each other - both capable of sheer flamethrowing chops, impromptu nuance and impeccable taste, I generally found that Ford was the better player that night; his playing was looser and seemingly more effortless.

Carlton, who we reviewed in these pages last August when he led a trio through here, just seemed tight, a little over-considered and never really managed to find his swing. Most working guitarists would cut off a foot to have Larry Carlton's off-night, of course, and overall the show (featuring Travis Carlton on bass and Gary Novak on drums, fresh off a recent project with Ford) was very good. Perfect venue for them, too.

Pat Metheny brought his Orchestrion project to the Paramount a week or so ago. We previewed this one as well (via email interview, not my favorite format, but it worked out pretty well), and were intently curious what the thing would really be like. Metheny has always staged terrific large format shows, so he had a pretty high bar to clear.

The Orchestrion, briefly, is a series of instruments activated through his guitar and controlled by solenoid and midi-type technology, built somewhat around, and designed similarly to, a Yamaha Disklavier. In essence, and this is a pretty significant over-simplification, Metheny orchesrates everything through his pick and strings. Most of the rig is percussion - there are vibes, bass, guitar-bot as well, but the vast majority of the machinery is percussion - a resonance, we thought, from the heavily Brazilian-influenced Metheny Band stuff of the last decade or so.

Without too many details, we thought the project and the show was about 80% successful - he played the entire album composed and produced with this rig, and a did few other impromptu things as well (even reaching for his guitar synth for a number or two). The response dynamics were impeccable; Metheny has obviously figured out how to make this stage-consuming contraption work, as well as building enough space for himself to both execute on his long-format compositional inclinations, and, happily, solo his ass off. Never a joyless perfomer, Metheny nonetheless also seemed to be having a hell of a lot of fun with this thing. (We won't describe it detail, but leave it to say that once the entire thing rig is revealed, it's almost breathtaking contraption to witness...) As far as his playing, I can't say I ever heard him play better.

One the downside, there were times when I did feel as the pieces, generally densely written and heavily composed, came across a bit sterile and two dimensional. I generally prefer his earlier band material, more jazz and less salsa/shaker percussiony, so I found the pieces' busyness a bit much at times. And..I really did miss hearing an actual piano solo, a side effect of too many Metheny band shows with Lyle Mays, I guess.

But I will say that I do think this an intriguing and genuinely musical experiment on Metheny's part, and I applaud its ambition and sucess. I won't say this was my favorite of a dozen or so shows I've seen, but it was excellent and provocative nonetheless, and if you get a chance to see it...do.

Vacation before the vacation

2010-05-15T19:14:00.002-06:00

As I posted a few weeks back, I was really getting wrapped around the axle between work, getting ready for the trip and the writing thing. Not entirely sure what it was; a bit of exhaustion, periodic bouts of self-doubt lingering from The Event (yes, six years ago), a very tough winter at work.

Whatever the cause(s), I made a few adjustments. The SJ trip promises to be a chilly scrape, so we moved the launch date back to May 26 - something of a gamble, since the snowpack in the Animas basin isn't that great this year - in the hopes that the temperature would be warmer and the water a bit more generous. So far, weather appears to be cooperating; end of this week will really tell the tale.

I also sent a note off to Dave at BW, letting him I was really strung out and basically needed the month of May off to get my shit together, a request he obliged with the added encouragement of pitches for June, which I'll fulfill this coming week.

So, getting a little extra sleep, trying to stay fit and getting my head straight for the SJ trip. Work is still worrisome, but not letting it get to me. And rafting season is right around the corner.

Done

2010-05-01T12:30:00.002-06:00

The Face story is basically finished and MJ is happy, and the Otis story is off to Dave at BW.

This week - evidence review for the DFM, an update or two to SBP, Pat Metheny Wed night and watching the River Flow.

Getting thru it

2010-04-28T18:02:00.003-06:00

Managed to send off two versions of my Boulder Magazine piece on Face late this afternoon. Neither is terrific, but both are competent and reasonably well-written. Hopefully Mary takes one or the other and doesn't try to crank it into something it's not. Fan mail never had much appeal for me, and less as time goes on. She could completely ruin my friggin' week if she asks for a rewrite - unlikely, but entirely possible.

My interview yesterday with Otis was predictably nothing much to write home about. He was groggy and still recuperating from a recent hospital stay, so it was a struggle to get him going, more than usual. I think I can stretch to 1000 words on this, but a stretch it will be.

Then...done. Till after SJ.

On a better note

2010-04-23T13:03:00.005-06:00

Managed to string together a couple of permits for San Juan. Launch 5/9 (yes, early) for a SI-MH run, then 5/10 for a MH-CH run. Six days total.

Little worried about the weather, since the cool-spring to hot-spring divide seems to typically hit the area about a week later. Question will be if it comes early this season (hello, global warming?), or if not, how cool the cool part will be.

Right now, it's snowing here in the People's Republic, so yeah, a little worried.

Here's some stoke.

Oh sure

2010-04-23T13:00:00.002-06:00

Now it....
's

The 70's go on forever

2010-04-22T12:19:00.003-06:00

Just purchased two tickets to see....Rush...at Red Rocks, in Aug.

Never a huge fan myself, but neither a certified hater (and I definitely knew some), they've always occupied kind of a sidebar presence in my experience. Likable, not compelling, prog-lite without the cape and candelabra arch...

The one thing I can seem to recall from BITD was that most of the kids I knew who liked Rush were better at math.

I suppose this dates myself...but tough shit. At some point, you stop apologizing for violating some vague crit-hipster code of conduct, and just like what you like, listen to what you listen to, and just live.

I'm still learning this.

Day 11, and that's all, folks

2010-04-19T18:52:00.003-06:00

Had it not been for the couple of frsh inches they got the night before, and the inch or so that fell during periods of amazing whiteout, the last day at Loveland would have really sucked. Not quite corn, not quite packed powder, conditions were generally abyssmal - we did manage to find some pockets of untracked and we got in 19 decent runs, but forgettable. But we did get a nice end of day pic, looking up the creek toward an empty mountain.

And as it's been 70-ish down here since then, I'm fine with calling it a mediocre season and turn my attention to the streamflow.

Now if only the BLM would serve me up a cancel on SJ, we're good.

Phew

2010-04-18T18:30:00.003-06:00

Spent a beautiful spring day inside, cranking on The Project , and carving up blurbs for the BW Best of Boulder edition.

Off to the gym. Last Loveland post of the season later. Bye!

Well...

2010-04-14T13:46:00.003-06:00

...turned a day older yesterday. Damn you kids, get off my lawn. Nice to get so many hb's from Facebookers, and odd the omissions...

Robben phoner went okay last week, Larry phoner today...hopefully short and useful. Questions off to the Metheny people, let's see how that experiment works.

The Fray may have resolved itself. Nope, guys, I didn't find you.

Lots of writing coming up, debating on a corn day at Loveland on Saturday - debating time and weather.

BLM isn't opening up...yet. Hope springs eternal. Not really, but it sounds good.

Jammed up

2010-04-10T07:16:00.003-06:00

A string of two or three setbacks in quick succession have led me to a place where I'm seriously considering either calling the newspaper gig quits, or at least taking an extended break.

The Spankers thing still stings, getting completely stiffed on Phoenix, a so-so chat with a surprisingly standoff-ish Robben Ford yesterday, a quickly arranged chat for tomorrow with Otis, with whom I have a decent relationship but will be probably unprepared for (and I know how he hates that), being relegated to an email interview with Metheny for 'Orchestrion', and probably in the process of getting stiffed for a piece on the Fray...one after another, I'm feeling like I'm swinging at air here. Part of this is my fault, part of it is a series of events or screwups outside of my control, but combined they suggest that I'm just not packing the kind of punch I used to.

As recently as a couple of months ago, I felt like I had this thing really under control. Will see how the next week plays out - I can't walk away from the obligations I've already committed to - but I have to take a breath and re-evaluate.

Ah, to be the toast of the ...universe

2010-04-07T14:52:00.003-06:00

Unsurprisingly, scheduled phoner today with Thomas Mars of Phoenix got cut, amidst hurriedly blurted publicist promises of a reschedule for tomorrow or Friday.

This is what happens when you are the the most (indisputably) blogged about band in the world right now. Which may last until...what, the end of this post?

A Little snark, but hey, if I had a dime for phoner that got rescheduled...so no biggie, and I do like their record, and it gives me another day to practice saying "comment ca va?", which I am regrettably out of practice doing.

Surviving springtime...

2010-04-04T16:48:00.003-06:00

...in the Rockies.

Holy smoke, Day 10 at Loveland was epic - high winds, blowing snow, zero visibility. Only saving grace was that it was April, with moderate (20ish) temperatures. Snow was very nice, but the winds were gruesome. Last endurance day of the year (we presume), spingtime beckons.

The Project is improving day by day.

Crummy

2010-04-02T14:05:00.003-06:00

Still feel crappy about my gaffe, even if they've already forgiven me themselves. It is, as I've come to realize, far more a sign of my own ignorance and hackwriterness than it was an insult to them.

Anyway....

Seeking an audience with The Fray is not looking particularly easy, which also helps remind me that I've been swimming amongst the guppies for lo these many years.

Dare I make my approach on Pat Metheny and Larry Carlton?

Ski tomorrow, even though it'll be blustery, cold, little new snow and probably hard as concrete.

Screwed up

2010-03-31T15:19:00.002-06:00

Wammo and Christina Marrs are not married.

Laughed at on Facebook, groveling before my editor, and truly embarrassed.

Shit.

Hello Spring

2010-03-30T16:26:00.002-06:00

It was 70 degrees today, supposed to be warmer tomorrow.

I still have 3 ski days left, if I stick to my schedule, but I've been thinking rafting, and especially Utah, all day today.

And there's a SJ date...4/28. Sharon will say no.

As we micromanage our media experience

2010-03-28T18:13:00.003-06:00

Truck went back to Car Toys (sorry, you guys don't get a link...) because they wiped out my climate control lighting. Also said the CD was dropping out periodically, the guy said, well, we'll just pop a new one in there.

Swell, so I drive off after re-tweaking all the EQ and radio settings ( I may not bother with the clock, since the display is too small for me to read), and the damn thing still drops out.

As far as the sound goes...okay, it seems better (I also tweaked the power amp gains to better align the fade), but very thin when the volume is low. Beginning to think that the 6x9's in the door, a gift from Sharon right after I bought the truck, are really the weak link. May go for 6"/1" separates.

Day off from the slopes

2010-03-27T09:21:00.003-06:00

Crummy weather has settled in and I'm taking a day off from the slopes.

The SBP site looks nice now, think I conquered a few hurdles understanding design and widgets last night.

Installed an Alpine CDA-117 in the truck yesterday - satisfaction level is about 78%, I still don't think the rears are getting enough juice. Will call today and see if they can tweak - may bite and have them replace the speaker connects with RCA's. Sound is good and the RF crackle appears to be gone. iPod sounds like...well, iPod.

Is it done?

2010-03-25T21:00:00.000-06:00

Maybe....

April

2010-03-25T11:39:00.001-06:00

Looks like

(maybe) Whigs 4/8 edition
Phoenix 4/15
(maybe) Larry Carlton-Robben Ford 4/22

And I've decided that Pandora mostly sucks.

Pandora

2010-03-24T13:33:00.002-06:00

In a fit of frustrated fatigue, I switched off Soma and logged in and set up an account on Pandora.

Built one station around Steve Roach (their choices are dubious, to say the least...) and also added their pre-packaged Electronic/Ambient station, which is okay.

It'd sure be nice if Lone could go in and stir the pot a bit on Cryosleep. But...it's been years.

Fixed

2010-03-23T21:35:00.000-06:00

...the second Day 8 is actually Day 9.

Whew.

Been getting swamped with mail...

2010-03-23T15:11:00.003-06:00

...regarding the fact that we have TWO SEPARATE 'Loveland Day 8' posts.

The outrage...the sadness....the sense of betrayal and confusion....hang with me, my beloved readers. Do not despair, the Statistics Department has been notified and is working round the clock to address, diagnose and stabilize the situation. Hazmat teams are on the scene.

Thank you for your patience.

Redemption?

2010-03-23T13:24:00.002-06:00

March is running out of chances, but we have another wet 'n sloppy one bearing down on us as we speak - missed my walk, damn.

They say 8-16"...Sharon is freaking out, especially as we both have to leave early tomorrow to go visit Louisa The Tax Goddess, to assess our contribution to US society for 2009.

Loveland Day 9

2010-03-21T21:59:00.002-06:00

The much-anticipated 'big March dump' turned out to be a bit of a dud - we got 7" or so around the house, but Loveland only got 3". Hardpack underneath some loose stuff, but mostly (despite bright sun all day) it was freakin' cold. -1 in the morning, maybe warming to 8-10 degrees above zero by mid afternoon. Third week of March felt like January.

20 runs, the cold slowed me down a bit.

Snark

2010-03-19T17:47:00.001-06:00

Just read a comment on TPM regarding the threats of some HCR protester about a new civil war, suggesting they move to Texas, aka "Baja Glennbeckistan".

Alex Chilton

2010-03-19T08:36:00.003-06:00

Maybe, quite possibly, rock music's most endearingly iconic cult figures, Alex Chilton passed away suddenly yesterday of an apparent heart attack at 59.

He had his biggest hit as member of the Box Tops at 16 with "The Letter", which I remember hearing as a kid of 9 or 10, and went on to form one of rock's most influential and commercially neglected bands, Big Star.

Big Star represents everything that makes aspiring rock writers get all moist around the loins - commercial failure, lush and elegant melodic instincts, the band's enduring influence on the jangle-guitar indie rock of the 80's and 90's. Chilton gave the mainstream world a compellingly enduring single in the sixties, and a relatively obscure but stalwart and respected actual rock band in the seventies. Few rock artists could claim such a gracefully schizoid career. It's a fine thing that Chilton had lived long enough to enjoy the recognition for Big Star, they had a show planned at SXSW tomorrow night, but a tragedy that he he didn't even make it to 60.

I'd say I'm at a point where it seems that dying at 59 seems young.

March dump

2010-03-19T08:00:00.002-06:00

Finally, a standard issue March dumper lurches into the state, promising something like 8-16" down here, and as much as 16" (predicted) for Loveland.

Spring appraches, and I wish I could enjoy its proximity with an actual permit in hand. Haven't given up yet.

It's alive !!!

2010-03-19T07:55:00.004-06:00

www.spiritbearparanormal.com

May be kicking myself before long that I initiated yet another online hobby that my rapidly diminishing free time can't sustain, but it's a means to an end, and getting a little blog-design/wordpress experience can't be a bad thing.

At this early date, the site is still disagreeably clunky and woefully bereft of content, but at least I got it loaded and functioning. Off we go.

Strangely appealing juxtaposition

2010-03-17T11:55:00.001-06:00

Just got a pimpmail alert for "Presale: Iron Maiden at Comfort Dental Amphitheatre".

Why does that strike me as funny?

The project...

2010-03-17T09:19:00.003-06:00

...hit a milestone yesterday, and approaches rapidly toward deployment. Stay tuned.