|
01/23/10 Ampere München
Discography
01/24/10 Studio 672 Köln 01/26/10 Magnet Berlin 01/28/10 Rocking Chair Vevey 01/29/10 Ziegel Oh Lac Zurich 02/01/10 Prinzenbar Hamburg 02/09/10 Thekla Bristol 02/10/10 Hare & Hounds Birmingham 02/11/10 Brudenell Centre Leeds 02/12/10 ULU London 02/13/10 Audio Brighton
|
Fanfarlo ♥ photo by Dave
The straitjacket incident was obviously the most epic moment of the night, but the theatrics didn’t end there. There was interpretive dancing, rogue boomerangs, and a pretty intimidating box accordion. Throw in a picturesque stage setting and a watering can attached to the drum kit, and it wasn’t an average Webster Hall show. The band managed to take a spacious, relatively normal venue and shift the atmosphere to match that of the album: warm, enthusiastic, and frenzied.
Fanfarlo ♥ photo by Dave With only one album, they had a limited supply of songs to play. My personal favorite, “I’m a Pilot,” drew from the band’s most appealing quality: their infectious camaraderie. This was most apparent during the encore, when they had run out of songs to sing, so they resorted to the obligatory cover, Low’s “Just Like Christmas,” featuring opening band, Freelance Whales. Anything holiday-related is instantly a cheese-fest, but throw in a cavalcade of instruments and a dozen earnest musicians and it becomes easy to suspend any cynicism.
(I really wanted to end this review by writing, “...and by the end of the night, you could say that the entire audience had shed an emotional straitjacket – and put on a fringed vest of love.” But I won’t.)
Photos by Dave:
Straitjacket Escape
Fanfarlo
Fanfarlo
Fanfarlo & Freelance Whales
12/22/2009 00:12:42 ♥ kateg (
)
♥ fanfarlo.com
♥ myspace.com/fanfarlo
I decided to stay in Seattle for the holiday after much hemming and hawing and then more hemming and a little waffling. I feel bad about it. I would like to see most of my relatives, but not in conditions that are hostile to sanity. So I'll be spending a quiet week in (and out of) my quiet apartment. Here's what I plan to do:
- Catch up on laundry
- Read Proust, Rorty, and Murdoch
- Write my year/ decade - end lists, analyses, etc.
- Find some new music to listen to
- Clean the bird cage
- Vacuum
- Go to a movie (which one? dunno)
- Watch the 2 Netflix I've had for 6 weeks
- Re-order my Netfilx queue
- Send a holiday letter to my uncle Phil in Sweden
- Drink some brandy & eggnog
- Do yoga
- Sell some books
- Make a mix CD to give to friends
- Plan a quick trip to Portland next week
- Go to my ex-husband's xmas-eve punch party
- Go for a run or 3
- Make myself a nice meal
- Figure out what I'm doing with my life
Well, that last one may extend past this week...
I got a box of Christmas cookies in the mail today. At least I think they were Christmas cookies. The snowman is definitely Christmassy and the tiny gingerbread men probably count, but I think the pumpkin and the bunny might be leftovers from other holidays. I'm not sure how the squirrel and the foot fit in either. And that's to say nothing about the most disturbing cookie of all...the hand that appears to be giving me the finger. I swear the cookie arrived with its fingers already broken. I didn't break them as some sort of protest against rampant holiday consumerism.
People standing on their horses, WTF!?
On June 6, 2010 it will be 20 years since I graduated high school. You know what that means, right? Yeah, yeah I'm old. I don't fucking care. It also means that this summer is my 20th High School Reunion an auspicious event rendered totally pointless and infinitely more annoying by the advent of Facebook.
Tonight I've put up with the incessant nagging of someone I don't even remember. Apparently this yahoo has scanned in our senior yearbook and was puzzled that he couldn't find my picture. I told him I was too busy designing the yearbook (nerd, I know) to get my picture taken. He was convinced I had a maiden name I was unwilling to reveal.
I never thought I'd be that person, but here I am. The person who has absolutely no desire at all to attend any of their high school reunions. People tell me I'll regret not going that I should totally go, it's so fun. Maybe I'm close-minded but I don't see how hanging out in some godforsaken bar in East Fucking Bethel, MN with people I don't know is going to be fun.
And really wasn't the whole point of the reunion to see who married whom, who got fat and how many kids they had? I know all that already, from Facebook. I like Facebook infinitely more than I liked high school. And thanks to Facebook I won't have to drive to East Fucking Bethel, MN to attend the reunion, I'll can just look at all the pictures and judge people from the comfort of my own home.
 |
The Zatoichi series ran 26 movies (1962-1982) and a television series ran for five years (1974-1979). Twenty years later, Takeshi "Beat" Kitano reinvented Zatoichi with his version of the character. This was easily one of my favorite movie at the time, I saw it at the independent theater twice in 2003 and ordered a region 3 release of the DVD as soon as it was available on import. Incidentally, to show support for the US market, I also bought the US edition of the DVD, which came with a bonus Sonatine movie (which was originally released in the states by Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder productions).
Considering the movie did quite well, critically and (I'm assuming) in sales, I was hoping for a follow-up movie by Kitano, but unfortunately there's no such plan. However, interestingly enough, one of my all-time favorite Japanese director, Takashi Miike* directed a stage adaption of Zatoichi for live performances in 2007.
I'm happy to report that, I saw a very good re-imagined of the familiar character, reinvented as a female protagonist, called Ichi. I wish the producers had kept the brand of "Zatoichi", as people who hear "Ichi" does not always associate the name with the blind swordsman. To be fair, Ichi is the original character's name. The term "zato" means low-ranking blind person (low-ranking in the Todoza guild). Logically, they could've named this movie Gozeichi, because Goze refers to blind musician women of that time period.
Anyway, beside my gripe about the Ichi name as the movie title, I also didn't like the idea that a model (Ayase Haruka) is playing the part of the protagonist. All that was really not worth worrying, because the whole movie is quite entertaining and enjoyable, and there is only once where Haruka is seen 'dolled up' for a music performance (most of the movie, she's covered from head to toe in dirty rags). However, there are at times when the director Fumihiko Sori choose to stay too long on Haruka's beautiful unblemished face. We get it, she's cute.
The story is uncomplicated, Ichi wanders into some town with an inept sword-drawing samurai Toma (the name is close to a slang "tonma" for idiot or fool). The town is in trouble from the Banki gang, and in Zatoichi fashion, Ichi and Toma saves the town. During the course of the film, there are the tried-and-true Zatoichi moments like slashing out the lights and Ichi triumph in complete darkness, the use of sound to throw Ichi off, and, of course, the Cho-Han Bakuchi dice gambling.
What made the film interesting, at least to me, is that the soundtrack is by Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard! So throughout the movie, you do hear that ethereal vocals, similar to her efforts on Ridley Scott's Gladiator. I suspect she only wrote the vocals, the credit I have for composer is Michael Edwards, who previously worked with Gerrad on her solo material. The soundtrack was a bit of a surprise to me, generally these J-movies' music and production team are usually kept inhouse. Although, having said that, the one outro credit song is by Korean J-Pop singer SunMin.
Ichi the movie will be made available in the US market via Bluray and DVD in two days (December 22nd), just in time for last-minute xmas shoppers. Hopefully those Best Buy tonmas will be smart and order some copies for their store (however, if it costs over $25, I'd rather order it online, or not own it at all - hey times are tough!).
* I love all three billion of his movies! Audition, City of Lost Souls, One Missed Call, Ichi the Killer, Fudoh, The Happiness of the Katakuris, Zebraman, Sukiyaki Western: Django, etc.
12/20/2009 02:06:34 ♥ vu (
) ♥funimation.com/ichi
Even though I babysit the Tibbles every Friday, I rarely get to see my nephew Cade. He's at school by the time I get there and I leave before he gets home. I spend the time in between talking about bats with Nolan and listening to Liam tell me everything I say is boring and that he likes Katie Lou much better (this, of course, cracks me up and I argue with him incessantly about it).
Yesterday Cade and I passed briefly in the living room.
He stood in front of me wrapped in his snow gear, backpack still affixed to his back. "Did you want really want an electric pencil sharpener for Christmas?" He asked, looking up at me from under the Superman hat.
"Yes."
"Good!" He pointed at the Christmas tree. "That's what we got you."
Sweet!
Part I: Trains and childhood memories…
Trains ran through the towns all around where I grew up.
I remember being in the car going to town or where-not and hearing “hurry up or we’ll miss the train” – meaning if we don’t hurry we will have to sit at the railroad crossing and wait for the train to pass until the gate is raised again. I never minded, I was never in a hurry and I fondly remember counting the train cars while waiting for the caboose to pass. Some of the past-times I had as a kid were putting pennies on the tracks to get flattened and in later years walking on the disused tracks with my friends and trying not to fall off the line.
All over the area you will still find abandoned Railway Stations. One of our most famous, the Dansbury Depot, just burnt down, so sad. It had been renovated into a very popular restaurant and railway museum and I had many a fine meal there. I also hear that the Tobyhanna Station has been renovated and trains once again run through the Poconos, but I don't know if that's true or not...
I have never forgotten that there was this one gatehouse that I wanted to renovate and live in – I was 4 years old and thought that was the neatest building I had ever seen. It’s down the line the tiniest bit from the Tobyhanna Railway Station and I can’t believe I found photos! See the lipped arch over the doorway on the right in the second photo? My Uncle used to hoist me up there to sit…. Super great memory! And still to this day I’d like to renovate and live in it.
I can’t remember when the trains stopped running through my town, but I remember when they still did.
Part II: Phoebe Snow: Famous Railway Icon, not the Singer…
The other day I saw a toy advertisement from 1909, and a game called “Phoebe Snow” was listed and since I had zero idea what that could be I looked it up…
Well. The game took a little looking for to find, but I did easily find some interesting information. Turns out Phoebe Snow was a very popular “local girl” to where I grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania and I’d never heard of her even though I knew of my area’s rich Railroad history!
Phoebe Snow was an early 1900s invention of the advertising department of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Line and she had her image painted on rail car and on posters in rail stations where you could purchase a Phoebe Snow postcard, and actresses would even ride the rails portraying her.
She was so popular that a game depicting a trip from New York to San Francisco was made (probably heartily endorsed by the Rail companies) and probably under many a tree on Christmas Morning 100 years ago!
I wondered what other advertising gimmicks had her name on them, so I searched both the web and images on google for Phoebe Snow Railroad and found some good pictures and reading. I encourage you to do the same… Start here:
I especially enjoyed this "first person" excerpt from womeninrailroading.com and this blog post with a large array of photos, including one not shown here of the Phoebe Snow game. Then there's always the wikipedia page. And a book on google books called “Railroads of Pennsylvania: fragments of the past in the Keystone landscape” by Lorett Treese that mentioned in detail the Railway history of the Pocono Mountains.
Part III: The Toy ad.
This best-ever toy ad is for the adult with an imagination as there are no pictures. It’s a wonderful list of what was in the turn of the century child’s nursery. I could see every one of these toys in mind as they might have been as they were unwrapped on Christmas morning 1909.
I am so curious what the “magnetic toys’ might have been and how they must have seemed so fascinatingly forward for the time. I could see the Indian Suit with its feathers and fringe – I wondered if it was a teepee or a tent? I could imagine all of the gorgeous dolls with all of their finery and falderal. (like that word, falderal? It’s a good old-fashioned one.)
I could guess what all of the Games and blocks were about as I was looking through the list: I’ve always loved Paper Dolls, and I could understand the New North Pole game as the North Pole had been big news in the Spring of 1909 and this list is from December 1909. The Post Office game, I could imagine… but I am sure not the one we played. Anyway, I was all wrapped up in revelry until I got to “phoebe snow”… I took pause and thought to myself I wonder what kind of game that is!?
… and that’s the spark that started this post about trains.
EDIT: I meant to add this video yesterday and I don't know why all of the videos from the internet archive get cut off on the right side when I embed them on vox. But you can always visit the internet archive to see full screen: MORNING FREIGHT.
|
For this Christmas, I did buy myself Swords deluxe edition via my favorite store, amazon. It was a bit pricey for a CD/DVD combo ($23 vs $12 for the standard disc), but I'm worth it.
I actually have had a digital copy of the B-Sides compilation since late October, thanks to pen pal friend Mel, as it was a "bonus" if you had preordered tickets to see Morrissey in live in 2009. And of course, like most fans, we still buy the physical release anyway, so it's a bit of a win-win situation for everyone.
I'll briefly summarize Morrissey's history: he's a bit of a sensitive, indie songwriter with The Smiths. He went solo in "nineteen-eighty-hate" with some classic modern rock hits with "Suedehead" (aka that "I'm So Sorry" song) and "Everyday is like Sunday". He went a bit rockabilly with Your Arsenal (his previous album Kill Uncle was heading to this direction, especially with the B-Sides and singles from this era), and pretty much stayed in this "muscular" rock type music since. As I previously mentioned, I think this has to do with his musical collaboration with Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte.
If you're new to Morrissey, I don't think Swords would be a good starting point for you. I would recommend starting with Bona Drag, a weird mix of b-sides and oddities. Most of the songs on Swords were co-written by Alain Whyte, and there's a nice cohesive feel to each song as they have similiar song writing structure. When you do run into a non-Whyte song, such as "Sweetie-Pie", it just feels out of place. In fact, I think this is possibly one of the worst Morrissey song, right up there with "Michaels Bones".
There is one non-Morrissey-penned song, and it's a live recording of "Drive-In Saturday" (live at Omaha on 11 May 2007). Morrissey's music obsessions tend to be from the 60s and 70s era, so it didn't surprise me to hear him doing a David Bowie cover from the Aladdin Sane time period. But the two are friends, I know that Bowie showed up at a Morrissey show in Los Angeles in the early 90s to do a duet of a T.Rex's song for "Cosmic Dancer", and, of course, Bowie would later record a soul-ish version of Morrissey's "I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday" in 1993.
Also, it seems in post-2008, Morrissey's songs have been about fatherhood and retirement. Just looking over his titles: "Good Looking Man About Town", "Don't Make Fun of Daddy's Voice", "Teenage Dad on His Estate", "Children in Pieces", that "constipated look" for Swords, and that controversially album cover for Years of Refusal ... you would think that he's married with kids. Maybe that's not a bad thing, with Morrissey's heath in question, maybe he should take it easy. We all can't be like James Dean, you know.
12/19/2009 03:47:04 ♥ vu () ♥itsmorrisseysworld.com ♥ truetoyou.com ♥ morrissey-solo.com
My Groups
-
Indie Pop Updated: 12 minutes ago
-
Britpop Updated: 48 minutes ago
-
Pinko Commie Traitors Updated: Yesterday
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
Links from my Friends
This band shot straight up my priority list because you o...
Someone Still Loves You Bor...
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
We Were Promised Jetpacks A...
Formed in Edinburgh in 2003, We Were Promised Jetpacks ta...
george-perez.com celebrates...
Thanks to Ilke for reminding me that today (December 9th)...
I saw this announcement and was very intrigued by it. Bil...
