Angels in the Architecture

So what if I think Paul Simon’s video for “You Can Call Me Al” is the best music video ever?

(10:30:30 PM) lily: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOiVaE-pKqM
(10:30:38 PM) lily: my favorite music video ever
(10:30:50 PM) paul: you’re such a dork
(10:31:13 PM) lily: this i am aware of
(10:31:15 PM) lily: and have come to accept
(10:31:19 PM) paul: good. good

Reason #7,893,292 I Love the Current

Look at that line-up! I wish I was Mary Lucia’s sister. She’s my most favoritest DJ ever. The Replacements (ok, fine, that’s her bro, but since it played at 7:02, we might have to give Mark Wheat credit for that one.), Carbon/Silicon (who doesn’t love old school punk rockers making a comeback!?), Brazilian Girls (heard ‘em at Lolla), Mates of State (love!), and The Fratellis (I have a whole Pandora station titled “The Fratellis Radio”).

Then again, being Mary’s sister would also make me Paul Westerberg’s sister.

Almost as cool.

(And by the time I got this posted… they’re now playing Radiohead’s “Bodysnatchers.” Happy, cloudy memories of Lollapalooza are flooding my mind…)

PS – you can stream this fantabulous Public Radio indie rock station from everywhere from here The Current.

Lolla – DeVotchKa

Wow. Ok, so I already knew that DeVotchKa is a great band. I’ve heard the few songs that [favorite radio station EVER] The Current frequently plays, but seeing them live was incredible. Again, I regret not making it in time for the whole show, but the back half was awesome.

From what I could recognize, their instruments included a tuba and an accordion. However, a quick wiki search reveals that there’s actually quite a bit more. Check out this description:

DeVotchKa is a four piece multi-instrumental and vocal ensemble that fuses Romani, Greek, Slavic, Bolero, Mariachi (and many more styles) music with American punk and folk roots. They take their name from Anthony Burgess‘ Nadsat word for “young girl,” which is itself derived from the Russian word (девочка) of the same meaning. Based in Denver, Colorado, the quartet is made up of Nick Urata, who sings and plays theremin, guitar, bouzouki, piano, and trumpet; Tom Hagerman, who plays violin, accordion, and piano; Jeanie Schroder, who sings and plays sousaphone and double bass; and Shawn King, who plays percussion and trumpet.

You might recognize them from Little Miss Sunshine since they scored most of that soundtrack (again, the things I learn from wikipedia really come in handy…).

And here’s a little video I found on their MySpace page:

Anyway, the show was really awesome – the blend and surprise of all those extra instruments and their harmonic vocals were so very cool. A lot of the music has an almost carnival sound to it, not surprising for a band that started by backing burlesque shows.

Will I buy the CD? YES.
Will I see them next time they’re here? Yes, and I really hope it’s some place small-ish.

Lolla – Mates of State

Mates of State was the first of quite a few shows we saw on the MySpace stage – great stage set up, by the way. I loved the bands and the location since the act just before the headliner was always one I wanted to see, and I didn’t have to move in between shows!

Anyway, Mates of State – the now husband/wife duo Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel – put on a great live show, and it’s a good thing since they tour like crazy because the like the live experience so much (I read that here). I don’t know much about their older stuff since I just picked up Rearrange Us this spring, but I could really appreciate “The Rearranger” and “My Only Offer,” their sing-songy melodic radio releases that will get everyone singing along.

Kori Gardner has a sweetly crystal clear voice that pairs beautifully with Hammel’s smooth vocals. The show was poppy, artsy, and upbeat.

Will I buy the CD? Months ago!
Will I see them next time they’re here? I hope so.

Lolla – Gogol Bordello

Gypsy Punk? Death Metal? Japanese Classic Music?

These descriptions are taken straight from Gogol Bordello’s MySpace Page. I don’t know about the last two, but I think that “gypsy punk” pretty much nails these guys. I have to admit, I wouldn’t know how else to describe them. They inspire the same jumping up and down, mosh-worthy, shoulder-bumping energy that Irish punks Flogging Molly can pull off.

We weren’t front and center for these guys, but caught them as we cooled off at the MySpace tent in the back of the AT&T stage (where Gogol Bordello as well as all of the headliners played). Even from a couple hundred yards away, we were dancing around each other, jumping up and down to the energy of the “Wonderlust King.”

A personal favorite song of theirs is now “Start Wearing Purple,” most likely because Sean serenaded us with that so many times during the first part of the trip that we woke up singing that to each other the rest of the mornings.

I think this is one of those bands that you have to experience live to really appreciate. Their album music is good and energetic, and I could see myself cranking it to clean the house or to kickstart a party, but I think the best experience comes from being in front of them, surrounded by thousands of other people.

Will I buy the CD? Not quite yet. But probably.
Will I catch them next time they’re here? I’d really like to, but I think that it would depend on where. If it’s no bigger than First Ave., I absolutely will. If it’s at the Target Center or Xcel? Maybe.

Lolla – Duffy

My very first Lolla show was Duffy (3:15PM, Friday 8/1 – PlayStation3 stage on the north end of Grand park).

Jen, Katie, and I went straight to this stage after lunch (and after stocking up on wine in sports bottles!), found plenty of room on the left side of the crowd, and danced our excited little hearts out to the Brit-blues-pop that is Duffy. She is/was absolutely adorable.

She’s so little!

For those of you that like the Brit-chick rock such as Adele and that Amy Winehouse girl, you’ll appreciate the sometimes-gritty, sometimes-girlie bluesiness that Duffy brings.

Her radio release, “Mercy,” was a total treat – energetic, dance-worthy, hands-up-in-the-air kind of street fun. I loved it.

I wish we’d caught the whole set, but everything we heard was ruggedly sweet.

Will I buy the album? Yes, with my iTunes gift card!
Will I check her out next time she comes here? Well, yes, but she was here just prior to Lolla, so that’ll be awhile.

Lolla – The Logistics (Day 2)

* Saturday, August 2, 2008 *

Needless to say, the next day was kind of a slow start. Cesar and I woke up starving, so we dragged our rugged selves out of bed and around the block to the outstanding breakfast joint, The Golden Nugget Pancake House where we had much-needed coffee and a delicious breakfast. (Food review: I had the Wild West Omelet, which was an open-faced, 3-egg omelet with tomatoes, bacon, cheese, onions, and hash browns. PERFECT.)

(I’m pretty sure the kicker for this place was the “open 24 hours” part. I’d already crashed, but the boys apparently ventured here sometime between the hours of 2am and 5am the night before.)

A short time into our meal, Sean showed up, but quickly decided it was neither food nor coffee that he needed to kickstart his day, but a margarita. It just so happened there was a little taco house across the street, so he left us for the tequila. Unfortunately, his promised land was not yet open, so he walked the block and a half back to Loren’s, only to find it locked and Loren still sleeping. That brought him back to us until Loren finally woke up and called him.

Anyway… showers and more coffee later and we’re off!

… and onto day two. We got there in time for DeVotchka (SO sweet), then wandered a little, checking out a couple of DJ sets (Spank Rock and DJ AM) – both of which were pretty cool, but DJ AM was definitely awesome.

This is me and Loren hanging out at the DJ AM show:

(By the way, Loren made about 100 new friends wearing this shirt!)

Then, it was time to chill on the street for a bit to just hang out, people-watch, and rest our tired feet.

Eventually, we headed back to the big park to catch Lupe Fiasco on the AT&T stage, followed by the Toadies on the MySpace stage, and then Saturday night’s headliners – Rage Against the Machine
The great part about the set up at Lolla and our little patch of grass was that we were able to sit far enough back from the big stage to have a perfect view of the show and the crazy crowd, while having enough room to sprawl out or jump up and down and dance if we wanted. The BEST part about this location was that, if we turned around about 120 degrees, we’d have the exact same set up for the MySpace stage – close enough to be a part of it, but far enough to have our space.

All three of those aforementioned bands put on excellent shows, Rage Against the Machine probably stirring up one of the most intensely passionate crowds I’d ever seen.

After the shows, we took to the streets with 75,000 of our closest friends. I’m not joking. The great city of Chicago closed down Lake Shore Drive and a few of the intersections alongside Grant Park, because there’s no friggin way this crowd would’ve confined to any sort of crosswalks or traffic rules. However, as the crowd crossed Lake Shore and moved into the city, the density of the people didn’t really thin out and droves upon droves of concert-goers took to the downtown streets of Chicago like the mob of a Big 10 college campus that just won the championship hockey game (Ok, I wasn’t there for the Univ. of MN riots, but all my friends were and I heard about it). However, these weren’t really riots – there were no overturned cars or trucks set on fire. Just a really loud crowd, erupting in spontaneous cheers and waving and screaming at the folks in their apartments above us. Every second felt like things were just about to turn crazy, but eventually the energy dispersed into side streets as these same thousands of people sought to fight for cabs or train space.

That was insane. I wish I had a picture of that – I think Porter might, and if he does, I’ll edit this later to include that.

Anyway, we hopped back on the Icebox-Bound brown line, making our stop about 4 blocks from Loren’s to hit up this little burrito place. The boys got giganto sized burritos while I opted for the a la carte steak tostada and chicken taco. This had to be some of the BEST fast Mex I’ve EVER had.

From here we walked home, had another quick beer and a smoke, and then dozed off to dreams of Lolla day three…

Lolla08 – The Logistics (Day 1.25)

The Journey: Twin Cities, MN to Chicago, IL

The Road-Trippers: Myself, Sean, and Ryan met our friends Loren and Alex for a weekend of Lollapalooza 2008 fun

The Destination: Loren’s apartment in the North Chicago neighborhood of Ravenswood

The Dates: Thursday, July 31 – Monday, August 4, 2008

The car: My 1997 160k+ miles Chevy Malibu

The Soundtrack (from what I can remember): Garden State soundtrack, Flogging Molly, Beck’s new one, Sigur Ros, a random mix I made in high school featuring MxPx, FenixTx, Lit, and Incubus, Sean’s hip hop mix, Weezer’s Blue album, The Replacements, Atmosphere’s Overcast, and more that I can’t remember now…

Anyway… here’s how things went down:

* Thursday, July 31 – Departure time, 8:00PM from Eagan, MN *

We left Eagan at 8pm on Thursday evening, made a quick gas/food/Premium stop in Hudson:

Sean: Loren asked me to pick him up a case of Premo on our way. He said he’d pay a premium for it!
Me: *chuckle*
Sean: Yeah, that Loren’s a funny guy.

… and then were on our way. The next stop was just past Madison, then we cruised all the way to Ravenswood – Loren’s north Chicago neighborhood.

Hudson dinner and fuel-up + construction in WI/IL + gas/snack stop on the east side of Madison = we pulled up at Loren’s sometime after 3am. After a beer and a smoke on the rooftop, we called it a night sometime around 5am.

Loren keeps his little apartment’s window AC unit on 60, so we started referring to this home base as “the ice box.” Either way, it made for a truly fantastic sleeping environment!

* Friday, August 1, 2008 *

The next morning, I got up and got moving before the boys did since I had to meet my Viacom friends for lunch. I hopped on the brown line at Montrose (by the way, LOVE the train system they’ve got going on in Chicago) and took the train down to State/Lake where I met the lovely Miss Katie at The Gage.

<img src=”http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o282/doniree_photo/IMG_0316.jpg” border=”0″ alt=”Katie and Doni @ The Gage”>

(The food review: I had a soft shell crab sandwich. This is not to be confused with a crab cake sandwich. This was literally a soft shell crab, deep fried in some deliciousness and served on a big bun, like a giant hot dog. Except with claws. It was really awesome, and just greasy enough to give my stomach the base it needed for the rest of the wine and beer I’d imbibe the rest of the day…)

Overall, this was a fantastic place with great service, great food and a perfect-start-to-the-day Bloody Mary. Others from the MTV Networks family met us there and we soon had a table of five 20-something girls talking just enough work to expense the meal. The nice manager felt bad that we got our food split-seconds before we had silverware on the table, so he comped the first bottle of wine. Nice!

From here, we headed to Grant Park (this is me in the middle of Katie and Jen):

Don’t worry! I’ll go into more show-by-show detail later, but for now… here’s just how the weekend played out.

The first show on our list was Duffy, who was totally adorable. If you like the Adeles and Amy Winehouses of the world, check her out.

After Duffy, Katie (my colleague-turned-friend), Jen (new friend out of the Comedy Central NYC office), and I made our way to the MySpace stage to see Mates of State. For the record, the MySpace stage featured some of the best bands and performances all weekend including: the Toadies, Mark Ronson, and Chromeo. Anyway, as for Mates of State, I just got their latest album, Rearrange Us, and I’ve really enjoyed it and was uber excited to see them live. It was a melodic and poppy as I’d anticipated!

Also, as we waited for them to come on, Gogol Bordello was on the big stage and this was something truly fantastic. Again, more later, but WOW. I’ve been dancing all weekend to the songs Sean kept waking us up with. *start wearing purple, wearing purple… *

Somewhere in the middle of all this, I think near the MySpace steam tent, we met up with the boys that I came down with. We ventured across the giant area by the AT&T stage (the big show stage) and found a spot on the hill on the side of the park for Radiohead. Here, I was absolutely blown away. The night was perfect – starry skies seen through hazy clouds, back far enough that we could stretch out on patches of grass, and temps finally cool enough to bask in the breeze.

After the show, and not yet ready to call it a night, those of us shacking up at Loren’s place in Ravenswood (me, Sean, Loren, and Cesar plus Alex) headed back towards the Ice Box. Loren and Alex insisted we check out Big Joe’s – a bar famous for its turtle races!

Ready… set….

GO!

Those are my photos, but check out someone else’s YouTube video here.

Sometime close to 2am (I think?), Cesar and I called it a night, but those other kids partied ’til nearly sunrise (waking me up when they came in at 5:15am).

Lolla Day 1 – Success! I couldn’t believe we still had two more days of that to do…

There Will Be Blogging

This has been quite an insanely amazing weekend.  It’s Sunday night (or early Monday…), and things are quieting down a little here, at least relative to the rest of the weekend.  Loren – our fearless and hospitable host – has turned in for the night.  The poor guy has to work in the morning.  Cesar and Sean had ventured out for one last drink at O’Shaughnessey’s – the Irish pub across the street – but were rejected as the bar was closing.  I’m sprawled out on the couch, coming down off of the high(s) that was/is this weekend and thinking of how I might even begin to organize the stories I plan to tell.

This – Lollapalooza – was my first big weekend concert thing, and I have to admit – I have absolutely been bit hard by the festival bug.  The energy, the insanity, the music, the lights, the sun, the whole thing – I can’t imagine a more fun way to have spent 72 hours on my feet.

Well now, the boys are back and I’m watching them try to figure out the TV as we all call it a night, this last of three here in Chi-town.  There’s more to come, as I experienced more this weekend than I’ll really ever be able to get down, but I’ll do my best when I get home tomorrow or Tuesday.

Rock on, midwest. 

Sweetness in Starlight – Matt Wertz

I’m spending my night tonight looking up things that make me happy. I started with the lyrics of a new artist I’m checking out – Matt Wertz. Anyway, check out these lyrics and tell me you don’t want to fall in love. I dare you. You can’t do it. Beautiful lyrics, and especially since just before I found them I looked up and noticed the moon and the stars and thought how cool it was that the last few nights have been clear enough to see start – even from my porch in the city.

fallin’ asleep to the sound of stars shootin’ round the moon
but i can’t watch them fly tonight, baby
i’m too busy watching you
i guess your smile is the sun’s way of lighting up what’s dark, yeah
so shine, shine, shine, for me baby
it only takes a spark
sweetness in starlight
sweetness ’til the day sighs
sweetness in starlight
sweetness ’til the sunrise, yeah…oh the day sighs
and there’s nothin’ under these bright stars
that could bring this night to ruin
so hold on tightly to me, baby
cuz tonight’s gonna end too soon
and your touch is potent medicine, oh
knocks me out with just one shot, yeah
i’ve never seen such strong elixir, baby
it fixes all that i’m not
you fix all that im not, yeah
sweetness in starlight
sweetness ’til the day sighs
sweetness in starlight
sweetness ’til the sunrise
yeah, i’m holdin’ on so tightly baby
i won’t let you go
i won’t let you go…
sweetness in starlight
sweetness ’til the day sighs
sweetness in starlight
sweetness ’til the sunrise
on and on…oh, yeah
la di da, um dee da um dee da…