After the Houston show, I was up early taking photos of my sleeping travel buddies. Those photos are up on Flickr under Texas Roadtrip. The drive to Austin from Houston was not too long, only 162 miles. We made a stop in Giddings to eat at Sonic and use the bathroom. While I was coming out of the bathroom, I saw a huge cockroach near Jodi who was at the sink. We both screamed and ran out like the girls we are. It was scary, black and red at the end. I didn't think of taking a picture of it since I just wanted to get out of there. Getting to the hotel was much easier than at the Houston hotel because there wasn't a massive circular parking structure to drive in and out of and charge $10 whenever we entered or left. After a little snag with one of the hotel employees, we were off to our room and later the venue.
We arrived at La Zona Rosa early enough to get a great parking spot right in front of the venue. We saw the rental car of the other BRMC forum people parked nearby. We decided to walk around a little to find some food and drink and ran into Paul and Ryan of The Cobbs. They recommended a burger place down the street, which we did end up going to. I ordered a big bunch of fries and onion rings, with ranch dipping sauce which later ended up all over my purse while I was looking for my cell phone. We stopped at Starbucks to clean off all the sauce and get some liquid refreshment. It was really hot in Austin, so we needed it. There were a few more stops like this since it was so hot and bathroom breaks were also needed. Wahoo's was nearby and they gave me a free water.
As people started arriving a line was forming in front of the venue and since we'd gotten there so early, we claimed our spot at the front. We weren't sure about cameras in this venue, but it turned out that they allowed small ones. Fortunately, I'd brought my small one and this show was probably the best one of the entire trip. There were plenty of annoying things, like the girls who left vomit in two spots near the front of the stage. Actually, that was probably the only really bad part about the show. This was Sarabeth Tucek's first night with the BRMC tour. She opened the show with her boyfriend Luther Russell, who seemed really friendly. They played an acoustic set with 2 guitars, it was a little folky and nice.
The Cobbs were up next and were just as good as the previous night, though this time I decided to record some videos of their performance. I recorded five songs, but only put up three on YouTube so far. Here's the setlist:
1.say you never knew me
2.lo chey
3.climb on top
4.meia
5.dont walk
6.deathcapades
7.a new song...no official name yet
They're a really good band. I told Paul at the Meridian how I'd seen them at Popscene (when they were called Mad Action) with Kasabian back in 2005 and he said he'd recorded that show. I mostly remembered the dancing ninja at that show. At this show, I remembered the theremin that Paul had set up near his pedals. He noticed Jodi getting off on it after the Dallas show!
Anyways, BRMC were the real stars that night. They played an extra long set that night including some requests during the encore! Jodi posted it to the forum and I think you can guess what the request was.
Took Out A Loan
Berlin
Lien On Your Dreams
In Like The Rose
Ain't No Easy Way
Weapon Of Choice
Punk Song
Window
Not What You Wanted
666 Conducer
Love Burns
Need Some Air
American X
Fault Line
Devil's Waitin'
The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
Shuffle Your Feet
Rifles
All You Do Is Talk
---
Red Eyes And Tears + Reprise
High/Low (!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
White Palms
Six Barrel Shotgun
Salvation
Heart + Soul
Yeah, it was a really excellent show. I was busy taking photos and videos for most of the show which makes remembering details pretty difficult. I didn't take any in Dallas, so let's see if I remember things better there. Needless to say, it was a pretty amazing show since we got both Salvation and Heart + Soul at the end. After the show, everyone seemed to be much happier than the previous night. We asked Peter after the show about them playing "Steal A Ride" and he said he was going to, but then Robert went into "Heart + Soul." Robert was in a hurry to go to the hotel and shower, so we didn't get to talk to him much. Nick was sitting out with his acoustic guitar and tambourine. Me and Jodi walked over to him and asked if we could take pictures and sat down to listen to him play. He was singing very softly, possibly his own songs. Suzanne came over later and sat down with us. We asked him to play an Elvis song (I have no idea why), but he didn't.
We were all just sitting and asking him questions for awhile and then this girl who said she was a friend of Robert's started talking to Nick. So we just started talking amongst ourselves. Despite the interruption, we all had a newfound respect for Nick for taking the time to sit and talk with us for so long. Near the end of the night, someone said a storm was coming and he asked Suzanne if we had a place to stay. His concern was very sweet. It was really late when we finally got back to the hotel and I was probably the first one to fall asleep. We did see Peter jamming on his guitar with someone in front of the club as we were leaving.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Texas Roadtrip - Dallas to Baytown/Houston
This month has been probably the most exhausting and fun time of my life, mostly thanks to the BRMC tour and some wonderful friends. I have many stories to tell and it's hard to decide what's most interesting to people. This road trip was pretty special because not only were all the Texas shows excellent in their own ways, but my traveling companions (Suzanne and Jodi) were awesome to hang out with throughout the trip. They got along even better than I expected them to, so kudos to them for sharing a perverted sense of humor.
Overall, flying to Texas and driving to each city was really not that bad. I'm sure both Jodi and Suzanne were pretty annoyed by the confusing freeways and occasionally bad drivers, but otherwise, we had a pretty relaxed time getting to shows. The only real stressful time was getting to the airports in Dallas, returning the rental car, and actually making our return flight back on time. Let's see if I can recall some of the most interesting details of each city.
June 13 - Me and Suzanne had a smooth flight from John Wayne to Dallas Fort Worth despite a few thunderstorms. I enjoyed the in flight music station of new indie music and my ipod, listening to my Raveonettes playlist. The magazine was also interesting because it was a music issue and had some interesting articles. I still have it somewhere in my room. Like I said before, the flight was smooth and we got our bags pretty quickly after leaving the plane.
The rental car area of DFW is in a separate area from the actual airport, so we had to take a shuttle to get the car. Luckily, a shuttle was arriving just as we realized this and we hopped on. The rental car area was strange because all we had to do was tell them our info then go to the garage to pick out a car. The keys were already in the cars, so we just drove it out to the exit and handed the info to the attendant. It was strange how easy it was getting the car.
Next, we had to drive to Dallas Love Field to pick up Jodi, who had arrived at least a half hour before we had. It was 30 minutes away from where we were, so we tried to make it there as fast as possible without getting lost. Fortunately, there was a map machine at the rental car area, so we had directions from where we were to the other airport. Jodi was waiting patiently for us at the airport and happily joined us.
June 14 - The distance from Dallas to Baytown (outside Houston) was quite long - over 4 hours and about 267 miles. We stopped in Ennis to eat at Waffle House, which quickly became our favorite place in Texas despite only stopping at one the entire trip. We had a nice waitress, who gave us all free coffee tags though I didn't even order any. We made another stop at a convenience store, where we took pictures on leather horse swings.
We ended up arriving in Baytown at around 4:45 AM and since there was free breakfast starting at 6 AM, we just showered and talked until breakfast was served. The food was good and included lots of things like bagels, cupcakes, yogurts, cereals, waffles, and sausages. We didn't get free breakfast at any of our other hotels, so this probably made the Hampton Inn the best one. We slept until check out time, then made our way to Houston.
Houston was not far from Baytown, but traffic between our hotel and the Meridian was horrible! It was very much like LA traffic, but luckily we were only in it for a few minutes. Getting to the Meridian was pretty easy after we got off the freeway. We walked around a little to see that there were very little options of places to eat or hang out in that area. We ended up going to a Vietnamese sandwich place called something like Hung Thiem, whatever it was it really amused Jodi.
We walked back to the venue, which turned out to be on the 2nd floor of what looked like an empty warehouse. There were actually people working in it, but it was very dark inside. We met some people from the forum, who we would continue to see at the other shows: Nappi/Mike, cheeto/Robbie, and bellestarr/Gerry. Mike is from Germany, Robbie is from north of Dallas, and Gerry is from Massachusetts. We chatted while the rain started pouring heavily as we stood and watched.
There were some odd instances of Peter walking by quickly and saying hi, the Cobbs arriving in their van and going up the stairs, some girl running down the stairs and falling on her ass (to Jodi's amusement), and Nick running by a Pimpjuice van in shorts with his hair in a ponytail and glasses on. Both me and Jodi had our cameras out taking photos of the Pimpjuice van, but managed to miss that extremely amusing moment. I didn't recognize him at first, I actually thought it was Harry Potter.
It seemed like forever before the actual show started. We waited by the door at the top of the stairs for a few minutes and then outside the door between the bar area and the stage area for even longer. It was nice and cool inside, which was nice since Houston was hot despite all the rain. The Cobbs were really good and impressed us all with their psychedelic '60's inspired rock sound. They were joined on stage by Aimee Nash, formerly of the Morning After Girls, who played tambourine and maracas in a highly entertaining fashion.
BRMC played an excellent set that night despite some technical difficulties. Before Robert played his acoustic songs, he mentioned that Nick wasn't feeling well and asked us to pray for him. That was a little strange, but very thoughtful of Robert. Chris from the Cobbs played a few songs with Robert and Peter during the encore. Here's the setlist:
Took Out A Loan
Berlin
Lien On Your Dreams
In Like The Rose
Ain't No Easy Way
Weapon Of Choice
Punk Song
Window
Not What You Wanted
666 Conducer
Need Some Air
American X
Feel It Now
Fault Line
Devil's Waitin'
Chelsea Hotel (Leonard Cohen cover)
Mercy
Complicated Situation
El Paso (Marty Robbins/Johnny Cash cover)
Am I Only
Love Burns
Awake
Shuffle Your Feet
It was a pretty unsual show because of Nick not feeling well, we learned in Austin that he had heat exhaustion and was feeling better there. The show in Austin was really amazing, not that Houston wasn't good. It was just a very impressive show, which I'll describe more in the next blog. At the end of the Meridian show, Peter was helping the roadies put away equipment. Robert was hiding near the back stage area and did come out to talk later, but was too distracted to finish a conversation.
Here's a link to photos from the Meridian show:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/porcupiny/sets/72157600386493139/
Overall, flying to Texas and driving to each city was really not that bad. I'm sure both Jodi and Suzanne were pretty annoyed by the confusing freeways and occasionally bad drivers, but otherwise, we had a pretty relaxed time getting to shows. The only real stressful time was getting to the airports in Dallas, returning the rental car, and actually making our return flight back on time. Let's see if I can recall some of the most interesting details of each city.
June 13 - Me and Suzanne had a smooth flight from John Wayne to Dallas Fort Worth despite a few thunderstorms. I enjoyed the in flight music station of new indie music and my ipod, listening to my Raveonettes playlist. The magazine was also interesting because it was a music issue and had some interesting articles. I still have it somewhere in my room. Like I said before, the flight was smooth and we got our bags pretty quickly after leaving the plane.
The rental car area of DFW is in a separate area from the actual airport, so we had to take a shuttle to get the car. Luckily, a shuttle was arriving just as we realized this and we hopped on. The rental car area was strange because all we had to do was tell them our info then go to the garage to pick out a car. The keys were already in the cars, so we just drove it out to the exit and handed the info to the attendant. It was strange how easy it was getting the car.
Next, we had to drive to Dallas Love Field to pick up Jodi, who had arrived at least a half hour before we had. It was 30 minutes away from where we were, so we tried to make it there as fast as possible without getting lost. Fortunately, there was a map machine at the rental car area, so we had directions from where we were to the other airport. Jodi was waiting patiently for us at the airport and happily joined us.
June 14 - The distance from Dallas to Baytown (outside Houston) was quite long - over 4 hours and about 267 miles. We stopped in Ennis to eat at Waffle House, which quickly became our favorite place in Texas despite only stopping at one the entire trip. We had a nice waitress, who gave us all free coffee tags though I didn't even order any. We made another stop at a convenience store, where we took pictures on leather horse swings.
We ended up arriving in Baytown at around 4:45 AM and since there was free breakfast starting at 6 AM, we just showered and talked until breakfast was served. The food was good and included lots of things like bagels, cupcakes, yogurts, cereals, waffles, and sausages. We didn't get free breakfast at any of our other hotels, so this probably made the Hampton Inn the best one. We slept until check out time, then made our way to Houston.
Houston was not far from Baytown, but traffic between our hotel and the Meridian was horrible! It was very much like LA traffic, but luckily we were only in it for a few minutes. Getting to the Meridian was pretty easy after we got off the freeway. We walked around a little to see that there were very little options of places to eat or hang out in that area. We ended up going to a Vietnamese sandwich place called something like Hung Thiem, whatever it was it really amused Jodi.
We walked back to the venue, which turned out to be on the 2nd floor of what looked like an empty warehouse. There were actually people working in it, but it was very dark inside. We met some people from the forum, who we would continue to see at the other shows: Nappi/Mike, cheeto/Robbie, and bellestarr/Gerry. Mike is from Germany, Robbie is from north of Dallas, and Gerry is from Massachusetts. We chatted while the rain started pouring heavily as we stood and watched.
There were some odd instances of Peter walking by quickly and saying hi, the Cobbs arriving in their van and going up the stairs, some girl running down the stairs and falling on her ass (to Jodi's amusement), and Nick running by a Pimpjuice van in shorts with his hair in a ponytail and glasses on. Both me and Jodi had our cameras out taking photos of the Pimpjuice van, but managed to miss that extremely amusing moment. I didn't recognize him at first, I actually thought it was Harry Potter.
It seemed like forever before the actual show started. We waited by the door at the top of the stairs for a few minutes and then outside the door between the bar area and the stage area for even longer. It was nice and cool inside, which was nice since Houston was hot despite all the rain. The Cobbs were really good and impressed us all with their psychedelic '60's inspired rock sound. They were joined on stage by Aimee Nash, formerly of the Morning After Girls, who played tambourine and maracas in a highly entertaining fashion.
BRMC played an excellent set that night despite some technical difficulties. Before Robert played his acoustic songs, he mentioned that Nick wasn't feeling well and asked us to pray for him. That was a little strange, but very thoughtful of Robert. Chris from the Cobbs played a few songs with Robert and Peter during the encore. Here's the setlist:
Took Out A Loan
Berlin
Lien On Your Dreams
In Like The Rose
Ain't No Easy Way
Weapon Of Choice
Punk Song
Window
Not What You Wanted
666 Conducer
Need Some Air
American X
Feel It Now
Fault Line
Devil's Waitin'
Chelsea Hotel (Leonard Cohen cover)
Mercy
Complicated Situation
El Paso (Marty Robbins/Johnny Cash cover)
Am I Only
Love Burns
Awake
Shuffle Your Feet
It was a pretty unsual show because of Nick not feeling well, we learned in Austin that he had heat exhaustion and was feeling better there. The show in Austin was really amazing, not that Houston wasn't good. It was just a very impressive show, which I'll describe more in the next blog. At the end of the Meridian show, Peter was helping the roadies put away equipment. Robert was hiding near the back stage area and did come out to talk later, but was too distracted to finish a conversation.
Here's a link to photos from the Meridian show:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/porcupiny/sets/72157600386493139/
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Warm & Scratchy - download it now
A few weeks ago, I downloaded this great bunch of songs from Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network. It's great because it has a new Raveonettes track called "Dead Sound" and other great bands like Asobi Seksu, TV on The Radio, and Broken Social Scene.
mega post: Client, Midnight Movies, and The Raveonettes
I've been to a lot of shows these past few weeks and it's hard to keep up with posting about them. I could post set lists, photos, and videos since I have most of them from each show. However, I doubt most people reading this are that familiar with Client or Midnight Movies. Here's a short intro: Client are a multi-talented all female electronica group who feature Client B (Sarah Blackwood of Dubstar) and Client A (Kate Holmes of Technique and The Frazier Chorus). Client E (Emily Mann) joined in 2005 and doubles as both bassist and model (she's very tall). They all DJ at a their club in London called Being Boiled. Their futuristic sound and image seems to really focus on alienation and homogenization of society (heady stuff!).
Midnight Movies are an excellent modern psychedelic band with 2 female drummers (who alternate) and switch off between songs. The singer (and original drummer) Gena Olivier has a deep hypnotic voice and alternates between drums and keyboards. The current regular drummer, Sandra Vu, drummed with The Raveonettes for a few songs on this recent tour and sometimes plays flute and bass (not at the same time). The guys in the band (Larry Schemel and Ryan Wood) are also very talented with their impressive guitar and bass playing skills. Their new album "Lion the Girl" is a gorgeous and hypnotic work, possibly one of my top albums of this year already.
The Raveonettes seem to have a big international following, so I was surprised by how intimate their recent shows were. Must be because I'm a fan. Anyways, I loved how Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo interact on stage, especially during "Attack of The Ghost Riders" at Little Radio. Sharin was playing tambourine and moved in really close to Sune. It's moves like that which make people think they're a couple!
Seeing them that close on stage makes me wonder who I envy more... Also, it was cool watching Sune drum while Sharin played bass for the cover of Sonic Youth's "100%." They play it so well, it would be awesome to have them record it for the next album (which should be out in September!). And "Everyday" is such a beautiful song, I haven't actually heard the original by Buddy Holly - though I think it couldn't possibly be as lovely as the Raveonettes' version. The one song I wish I could have seen them play is "Experiment in Black," which is an awesome b-side in a minor key, possibly b flat.
There are lots more details about the shows that I want to relay, but I have trouble remembering it all. I bought a couple Raveonettes tank tops from Sharin after the show and had her sign one of them for me since I'd left all my Raveonettes CDs in San Francisco. The only related item that I had with me was a Psyched Up Janis CD, which is Sune's old band. He was happy to sign it for me and Gena from Midnight Movies asked to look at the CD booklet. Here are the setlists for both Raveonettes shows:
Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa, CA 6-7-07
1 Everyday (Buddy Holly)
2 Chain Gang Of Love
3 Twilight
4 Love in a Trashcan
5 Lust
6 Black Satin
7 Death By Deceit
8 Attack Of The Ghost Riders
9 My Tornado
10 100% (Sonic Youth)
11 I Know That You Want The Candy
12 Sex Beat (Gun Club)
13 Love Can Destroy
14 The Beat Dies
15 Hallucinations
16 Aly, Walk With Me
Little Radio Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA 6-10-07
1 Everyday (Buddy Holly)
2 Chain Gang Of Love
3 Love in a Trashcan
4 100%
5 I Know That You Want The Candy
6 Attack Of The Ghost Riders
7 Lust
8 My Tornado
9 Black Satin
10 Dead Sound
11 Hallucinations
12 Aly, Walk With Me
I hope I have time to write full in-depth reviews before, during, and/or after my Texas trip, though it seems less and less likely. I did record lots of video and photos at both shows, so I suggest you check them out. First, YouTube videos:
And photos on Flickr:
Client @
57 photos
Midnight Movies are an excellent modern psychedelic band with 2 female drummers (who alternate) and switch off between songs. The singer (and original drummer) Gena Olivier has a deep hypnotic voice and alternates between drums and keyboards. The current regular drummer, Sandra Vu, drummed with The Raveonettes for a few songs on this recent tour and sometimes plays flute and bass (not at the same time). The guys in the band (Larry Schemel and Ryan Wood) are also very talented with their impressive guitar and bass playing skills. Their new album "Lion the Girl" is a gorgeous and hypnotic work, possibly one of my top albums of this year already.
The Raveonettes seem to have a big international following, so I was surprised by how intimate their recent shows were. Must be because I'm a fan. Anyways, I loved how Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo interact on stage, especially during "Attack of The Ghost Riders" at Little Radio. Sharin was playing tambourine and moved in really close to Sune. It's moves like that which make people think they're a couple!
Seeing them that close on stage makes me wonder who I envy more... Also, it was cool watching Sune drum while Sharin played bass for the cover of Sonic Youth's "100%." They play it so well, it would be awesome to have them record it for the next album (which should be out in September!). And "Everyday" is such a beautiful song, I haven't actually heard the original by Buddy Holly - though I think it couldn't possibly be as lovely as the Raveonettes' version. The one song I wish I could have seen them play is "Experiment in Black," which is an awesome b-side in a minor key, possibly b flat.
There are lots more details about the shows that I want to relay, but I have trouble remembering it all. I bought a couple Raveonettes tank tops from Sharin after the show and had her sign one of them for me since I'd left all my Raveonettes CDs in San Francisco. The only related item that I had with me was a Psyched Up Janis CD, which is Sune's old band. He was happy to sign it for me and Gena from Midnight Movies asked to look at the CD booklet. Here are the setlists for both Raveonettes shows:
Detroit Bar, Costa Mesa, CA 6-7-07
1 Everyday (Buddy Holly)
2 Chain Gang Of Love
3 Twilight
4 Love in a Trashcan
5 Lust
6 Black Satin
7 Death By Deceit
8 Attack Of The Ghost Riders
9 My Tornado
10 100% (Sonic Youth)
11 I Know That You Want The Candy
12 Sex Beat (Gun Club)
13 Love Can Destroy
14 The Beat Dies
15 Hallucinations
16 Aly, Walk With Me
Little Radio Warehouse, Los Angeles, CA 6-10-07
1 Everyday (Buddy Holly)
2 Chain Gang Of Love
3 Love in a Trashcan
4 100%
5 I Know That You Want The Candy
6 Attack Of The Ghost Riders
7 Lust
8 My Tornado
9 Black Satin
10 Dead Sound
11 Hallucinations
12 Aly, Walk With Me
I hope I have time to write full in-depth reviews before, during, and/or after my Texas trip, though it seems less and less likely. I did record lots of video and photos at both shows, so I suggest you check them out. First, YouTube videos:
And photos on Flickr:
Client @ Cinespace 6/5/07
57 photos
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