cigarettes and empty bottles, empty bottles

The Beat Kitchen, Chicago. February 18, 2007
Teitur w/ Jenny Owen Youngs and Curtis Evans

I almost didn't go to this show. I was out until 2 AM the night before and I had to drive out to O'Hare at 4 AM the next morning. But I couldn't justify missing a chance to see Teitur as my last concert as a Chicagoland resident, so with my kickass concert buddy guru James alongside me we made one last trek into the city together for a show.

We were both exhausted from being out so late the night before, but the website said the opener started at 7:30, so we weren't figuring to stay out too late. Then to arrive at the show and see the openers wouldn't start until 8:30? That's all kinds of ass. The venue was dark and cold with black painted walls and ceiling, blue lights over the stage, and a low hanging dank cloud of cigarette smoke. The first opener was Curtis Evans. He's a local Chicago boy, and seemed to have his share of friends in the audience.

Jenny Owen Youngs was next, and she was incredible. She has a unique voice and sings brutally honest songs. She was also hilarious and interacted a lot with the crowd. At one point, James turned to me and said, "I think I'm in love." To which I replied, "Me too. If you don't marry her, I will."



At one point, that crazy bitch jumped off the stage right into the audience. I think I touched her ass. Nevermind. I just imagined that. She did play a rousing rendition of Nelly's "Hot in Herre" though. That wasn't in my imagination.

Also not in my imagination:


Seriously, take me to shows. I'll get the pictures you would never dare to ask for yourself. I should really hire myself out for things like this.

I took my chances to run to the loo between sets and ran into Dick Prall out in the bar area. I was really hoping to see him before I moved, so that was a total bonus to my night. I'm sorry Lynn, I did not get any pictures of Dick. I did see Dick. I did wrap my arms around Dick and give Dick a big hug. There's nothing quite as good as a random Dick sighting. I could go on, but now I'm just being dirty.

Of course, the real draw of the night was Teitur himself.



I'm the worst person in the world for setlists, but here's what I remember:

don't want you to wake up
sleeping with the lights on
amanda's dream
poetry and aeroplanes
lets go dancing
i run the carousel
thief about to break in
you get me
josephine
umbrellas in the rain
hitchhiker
guilt by association
louis louis
baby you don't ever have to see me again
i was just thinking



I'm certain I missed something. But such is life. If you ever get the chance to see Teitur in concert, please go. He's a fantastic performer with a really unique voice and sound.









Full flickr photoset here

I did get to talk to Teitur a little bit after the show. He's going to be doing some recording down in Australia and some mixing in Santa Barbara. So keep your ears peeled for news on a new record. Yippee!

glen @ the black orchid

I've been staring at the screen for about an hour now, trying to write this. I start to write. I erase it. I write a couple emails. Leave some comments. Come back to my blog. For some reason I have a difficult time articulating my experience of seeing Glen Phillips in concert. I think it is because Glen's music is so important to me. I know not everyone likes the same music, that's normal. But if you don't get Glen, then in some way, you really don't get me. Plus, so much of my experience is personal, something that I have to keep for myself, or else it's no longer mine. If you happen to be around me at a Glen show, you might catch a glimpse of it.

I'm not making any sense. It's probably the combined effects of too much beer and four hours sleep.

Here's what I do know. I saw Glen Phillips last night at the Black Orchid. It's a beautiful venue, decorated in art-deco stylings to resemble a 1930's swing club. Very swank. I was accompanied by some of my Chicago concert buddy all-stars: the inimitable James, Lynn and Maureen, and by my ever-patient husband. Craig Cardiff opened. He used a lot of looping in his songs.

Glen was fantastic, as always. He was incredibly chatty and seemed in a really great mood. My face hurt a little from smiling so much. It seemed like the set was really short, but I guess it was just because I didn't want him to stop playing. He played a few new songs, including one that was so brutally honest that it almost felt uncomfortable listening to it. I'm still not making any sense. Here. Pictures. Pictures don't require me to be articulate.













I do have to share one funny thing. I was talking to Glen after the show and I told him that I was helping Teitur with his Myspace page (you should check it out myspace.com/Teitur I actually did html coding and made a masthead. And I know nothing about html code!) Anyways, I asked Glen if Teitur had asked him about me, and he said that indeed he had. Apparently Teitur sent Glen an email saying something along the lines of: "Dianne - Psycho-fan or just a really cool person?" Apparently, I got the non-Psycho designation. I come with references, baby.

Oh, and because Assy Asserton said I never mention my concert buddies, here's my concert buddy All-Stars at our favorite apres-concert drinking hole:



And if you were ever wondering how tall Glen is... James is 6'3". I'm probably 5'2" in the shoes I was wearing (I'm not kidding. The shoes add almost 2 inches). Glen is somewhere in between.



I'll miss you Chicago.

josh ritter, park west - chicago 2/11/07

Last night I saw Josh Ritter play a solo acoustic show at the Park West in Chicago. ***edit*** I attended the show with my über awesome concert buddy, James, Jim, and the late-arriving, but candy toting, Renee. ***edit*** It was a seated show, with the tables lined up cabaret style, angled towards the stage. Stephen Kellogg was the opener, and he played a lively set, without the usual backup of his band the Sixers.

The stage was set with empty picture frames hung on the back wall. A string of lights snaked across the floor creating a warm, glowing circle. An old end table with an antique lamp and a glass of whiskey waited for the troubadour to take the stage. The general effect was that of a theatrical parlour.


I didn't write down a setlist, because I was too busy enjoying the music. Well, that and taking pictures. If someone to ask me my favorite album of last year, I would reply without hesitation, Josh Ritter's The Animal Years. He is undeniably one of the best live performers I have ever seen, and quite possibly the best songwriter of our generation. He composes lyrics with a poets ear, and he exudes pure joy and gratitude every time he steps on stage.























More photos at my flickr page.

If you get the opportunity to see Josh live, definitely go see him. And if you don't yet own any of his albums, rush out and get those as well. And if you have the time after a show to say hi to him, do it. He is incredibly attentive to each and every person who takes their time to talk to him. Truly a beautiful person, and beautiful music.

Ryan Adams & the Cardinals – HOB Chicago 1/18/07

I saw Ryan Adams and the Cardinals play at the HOB Chicago this Thursday. I had seen Ryan play in the past, and his performances were either phenomenal or left people scratching their heads wondering what the hell his problem was. Well, this show was 2 1/2 hours of non-stop (and I literally mean NON -STOP – they did not take a single break once they started playing) ass-kicking, mind-blowing, otherworldly rock and roll.

Setlist:
1. Magnolia Mountain
2. A Kiss Before I Go
3. Please Do Not Let Me Go
4. Tears of Gold
5. Peaceful Valley
6. Easy Plateau
7. New York, New York
8. Let It Ride
9. Bartering Lines
10. To Be Young
11. Cold Roses
12. Shakedown on 9th St >
13. Carribean Queen >
14. I See Monsters
15. You Don't See Me Crying (Neal Casal)
16. Dear John
17. Harder No That It's Over
18. The End
19. Two Hearts
20. Trouble On Wheels
21. September
22. Blue Hotel
23. Freeway To The Canyon (Neal Casal)
24. Arkham Asylum
25. Beautiful Sorta
26. Mockingbird Song
27. Typecast
28. What Sin Replaces Love

Ryan said almost nothing during the show. The band took the stage without a word and just ripped into the songs. There were a few exchanges between the band members themselves, but no interaction with the audience at all. It was like they were putting this show out there, and you were invited to watch, grab the energy and make with it what you will.

This would be the first time I've seen Ryan looking completely happy on stage. Even when something would mess up, he just let it go and went on with his mission. The show ended with a freakish death metal riff that seemed to last forever with all the band members shredding on their instruments while Ryan repeatedly screamed into his microphone. It sounded to me like he was yelling "rockstar" but someone else said he was yelling "what sin". The lights were swirling around and flashing and I'm certain that if I had been on drugs I may have gotten another level out of that whole moment. But I wasn't. So, after about the tenth time he yelled it, I internally hoped they would overload the circuits and the entire place would lose power. I think my ears are still ringing just a little.

My lessons are as such: When you go to a Ryan Adams concert, expect nothing more than a glimpse into the complex universe that he seems to have created around himself. Bring ear plugs if you treasure your auditory organs. Prepare to walk out feeling like someone has hit you with a car so hard that it knocks you out of your shoes. Yeah. It's that good.

dick prall, park west chicago

went to see my boy, dick prall, play last night at park west. we got there a wee bit late (oops!) due to total ass weather. it was like a monsoon was rolling through chicago. every dip in the sidewalk had become a lake, and traffic sucked nut.

dick rocks.


got dick?


went to dublins with my best friend lynn and my buddy robb. this is where you will find lynn and i after any show.we put $5 in the jukebox. the selection was crap, but we got some random stuff out of there. barenaked ladies, duran duran, foo fighters, johnny cash, michael jackson, tom petty, even some old school funk that made us break out our rollerskating moves. in all, the night was a big thumbs up.

Josh Kelley, Shawn Mullins & Gin Blossoms - Park West 10/19/06

a friend of mine had free tickets to the gin blossoms show at park west last night, and once i confirmed that shawn mullins would be there, i couldn't possibly say no to attending. when we got to the show, josh kelley was on stage. i wasn't terribly impressed with what i had heard of his songs on the radio (i have an aversion to songs which use the word "baby", as a general rule). i was pleasantly surprised with his set. he's really quite a good singer, not to mention incredibly charismatic and entertaining.



i don't think his feet ever stopped moving




shawn mullins came on next. let me clarify this to anyone unsure on the concept. i *heart* shawn mullins. i want shawn mullins to record bedtime stories so i can listen to them as i go to bed at night. he's got a gravelly, groovy, man voice that makes me all swoony.



he played mostly songs from his new album, 9th ward picking parlor. a highlight was when he played the classic "house of the rising sun." when he picked up his lakewood and started tuning, something about the notes sounded familiar, and i leaned over to my friend and said "i think he's going to play the song he wrote with glen." sure enough, the next thing he says is "i wrote this song with my friend, glen phillips" and played "beautiful wreck"



shawn was accompanied by clay cook for most of the set. and clay actually graced us with a song he wrote years ago in atlanta with his old roommate, some guy named john mayer, called "no such thing" - prefaced with "this is the way it was supposed to sound."


oh yeah. and the gin blossoms played too.

i have their first two albums. i haven't listened to them in years, even though they were part of my soundtrack of the early 90's. sadly, i was seriously underwhelmed by them. their lead singer kinda cheesed me out as he hopped around the stage like a cheerleader trying to get the crowd to clap along with every song. then there was the cell phone thing. people kept handing him their cell phones, and he would sing into them along with the microphone. wtf? one time is kinda cute and novel. after that, he just seemed a little like a circus clown jumping around to amuse the audience.


the music was okay. for some reason the sound was far less than stellar. maybe it was balanced for the two acoustic acts that had preceded them. i don't know. but the vocals sounded fuzzy and nasal (which is similar to a fuzzy navel, but not nearly as tasty). we thought the sound might be better at the back of the room as we were getting beat up by jesse's monitor, but no. not much better back there. i took pictures for laura though.
we actually wound up leaving maybe six songs into the set. we didn't even stay for "hey jealousy" - the money song.

in summary:
josh kelley - i would see again.
shawn mullins - did i mention i *heart* shawn mullins?
gin blossoms - meh.

we were dancing to a song that i'd heard...

last night was the josh ritter / jamie cullum show. oddly enough, the first time i saw josh ritter play was at sxsw, and i was standing right by jamie cullum in the audience. i found a text message in my phone the other day that i sent to brandy from the show that said "surreal. jamie cullum watching josh ritter."

my uber concert buddy, james, was unable to attend the show and all my last minute attempts to procure alternate james fill-ins failed. so i had two options: A) actually attend a concert with my husband and pay a sitter, but arrive late to the show and miss ritter. or B) take the money i would have paid the sitter and take the kids to their third all-ages show. (first being glen phillips, dan wilson, and garrison starr and the second being nickel creek.)

if you know me at all, you know the option i chose. duh.

it was kinda rough seeing ritter as the opener. his set was painfully, agonizingly short. but, since the majority of the audience was there to see the man my friend k calls "mr. showtunes" it turned out to be easy access to the ritter.


damn hair flopped in my face - gah!

the girls and i went down and said hi to josh in between his set and jamie's. he is quite possibly the warmest, nicest, most well-mannered singer i have ever met. he talked to both of the girls and gave me a monster bear hug afterwards.

he asked the girls their names when cheyenne asked him to sign the cd, and this is what he wrote:



we left about halfway through jamie's set so we could get the girls to bed (school night, waw) and on the way out, josh was still standing in the lobby talking to people. cheyenne had picked up a flyer for josh's next show, and told me she wanted him to sign it. i told her that was fine, but she would have to ask him herself. she stood behind the other people standing there, and he saw her and said "hi cheyenne" and she handed him the flyer and asked if he would sign it. he wrote, " Cheyenne... One day we will meet again...Love, Josh Ritter." i got another hug out of the deal too.

side note: the man wears really nice suits. how he doesn't melt on stage is beyond me.

fyi for my chicago peeps (and mrs. labeef-ryzin if you will be in town in february) josh will be playing a seated solo acoustic show at park west on sunday, february 11. i will be at that concert, join me.

every living being is a dancer

the first time i saw teitur in concert was in november of 2003, opening for glen phillips. i hadn't heard his music prior to the show, and i actually just found the first thing i ever wrote about him:


Posted: Sep 24 2003, 10:19 PM
they have been featuring this guy on mtv on those little "hear it first" or whatever they call it...anyways, the little 2 minute blurbs they do for mtv news at the end of the hour. he's this danish (i think? short term memory bad.) kid who does this acoustic songwriter thing. i liked what i heard, but that was something like one line from four songs. and gideon yago did his "i'm a big music snob, you all suck, i am the greatest geek gone cool EVER!" (sorry, issues.) and made a snide comment about teitur touring w/john mayer. that's all i know about this subject.

fast forward to 2006. after many issues with obtaining his american work visa, missing the first week of his u.s. tour, and much breath-holding by me, teitur finally made it to the u.s. he played last night here in chicago, in support of his new album, stay under the stars. i've had the album for several months now, having spent many overseas shipping dollars procuring it from a scandanavian source.

the concert was brilliant. he came on stage alone, with only his guitar, and opened with the eerie "thief about to break in." his band joined him after a few songs to play mostly songs from the new album. he also played some songs i hadn't heard before, like "south of france" and "guilt by association." he also played a hilarious little ditty he called "the visa song" about his tribulations with getting into the country to play his shows. i really hope a recording of this song shows up somewhere...

i think i spent the entire concert with a giant grin on my face, because his music just makes me smile. and seeing him playing is such an incredible experience. he was joined by tobias froberg for several songs, including a few from teitur's first album. the crowd got really excited for the old songs, which i understand as every song on that album is genius.

i didn't get home until 2 am. but i was still up at 7:30, with the music still dancing in my ears.

go see him if you get a chance. and pick up those albums. in fact, if you buy his first album and you don't like it - i will buy it back from you. that is how certain i am that you will love it. when do you ever get an offer like that?

upcoming dates:
Sep 23 2006 Blueberry Hill's Duck Room Saint Louis, MO
Sep 24 2006 Maintenace Shop Ames, IA
Sep 25 2006 Quest Club Minneapolis, MN
Sep 26 2006 The Bottleneck Lawrence, KS
Sep 28 2006 Walnut Room Denver, CO
Sep 29 2006 Trilogy Boulder, CO
Sep 30 2006 Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UT
Oct 2 2006 The Independent San Francisco, CA
Oct 3 2006 The Largo Los Angeles, CA
Oct 4 2006 The Largo Los Angeles, CA
Oct 5 2006 Coach House San Juan Capistrano, CA
Oct 7 2006 Take Root Festival Assen
Oct 8 2006 Paradiso Amsterdam
Oct 21 2006 AB Club Bruxelles
Nov 1 2006 Studio One Hamburg
Nov 2 2006 Tower Bremen
Nov 3 2006 MTC Koln
Nov 5 2006 Atomic Cafe Munchen
Nov 8 2006 Muzikcentrum Nord Hannover
Nov 9 2006 Kalkscheune Berlin