Maceo Parker is playing Chicago’s House of Blues in June. Last time I saw Maceo Parker was New Year’s Eve of either 1995 or 1996, tickets bought “sight unseen”* on the recommendation of a friend who loved loved loved Maceo. Nanders, do you remember Sean’s obsession with MP?
Too funny.
It was a GREAT show, by the way. I just don’t listen to jazz that frequently.
*”Sound unheard” doesn’t really have the same resonance, does it.
He was GREAT in concert. So upbeat and fun. For how mellow his albums are, his concert was totally rocking. He’s a pretty damn good musician, impressive guitar skills. LOVED IT. If you have a chance to see him, and you even think his albums are “oh, OK” I say GO. He is definitely worth seeing live, a very different experience than listening to him at home.
Also good were his openers: Strays Don’t Sleep. I really enjoyed them and bought their EP on the way out!!
I don’t recommend, on the other hand, seeing KT Tunstall live just yet. Although I really love her album, her concert was pretty mediocre. Some songs sounded flat, her stage banter was weird, to say the least, and it was just not as enjoyable of an experience. But it is her first album so I’m expecting she’ll be better on future tours.
It’s called “That’s how you fuck a Republican.”
His record producer is arguing with him about it. He said “I keep telling him, there’s nothing ironic about it; in the song, I actually want to fuck a Republican.” “Clean girl, dirty mind.”
Another new song started “I wrote a song about your car; I wrote it with your hips in mind.”
You may remember that last year despite BLISTERING fucking heat and me losing a filling halfway through, I had a great fucking time. So obviously I’ve already bought my 3-day pass. Buy one. Come visit. I’ll drink beer with you and let you sleep on my floor (or on the air mattress, depending – you know – on how many people take me up on this great offer of free lodging) and take you out for the best damn chicken you’ve ever had in your life. Seriously, dude, Chicken Hut rocks the house.
Jenny Lewis & the Watson Twins concert last night. Pretty good…at first. Loud tunes were great, fast tunes were great; the slow ones seemed a little off kilter. Not sure if it’s when they were presented, or how low they were brought down, but they didn’t seem to be working very well. And then…
Well, let me say this. It’s one thing for the chorus of a song to be “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” That’s fine, it’s become a colloquialism, it’s just one little bit of a good song (similar to a random “may god’s love be with you…” in an otherwise awesome Joseph Arthur song), I can “get past it” you know.
But It’s another thing to bust into an entire bible-banging song about the river being cold in the Jordan, and Jesus by your side to comfort you.
Helloooo, I didn’t buy a ticket to a PRAYER MEETIN’, yo.
Concerts I just missed:
Feb 26 – Cat Power (she cancelled tour)
March 4 – Figdish’s last show ever and I’m the moron who forgot to buy tickets and then it sold out.
Concerts I am definitely attending:
March 18 – Mike Doughty
April 13 – Josh Rouse
Concerts I might be attending:
March 14 – Jenny Lewis
April 11 – KT Tunstall
April 16 – Teddy Geiger
June 30 – Go Gos
Concerts I am missing:
Mar 18 – Arctic Monkeys (I’ll be listening to Mike Doughty)
Concerts in Chicago I am missing while I AM IN AUSTRALIA:
Mar 25 – James Blunt
Mar 28 – Boy Least Likely To
Mar 29/30 – Sarah Harmer
Mar 31 – Bob Schneider
Apr 1 – Magic Numbers
Apr 3 – Clap Your Hands, Say Yeah
Apr 3 – Beth Orton
Maybe Neil Finn will be playing Sydney or Melbourne while we’re there….
Altho he gave himself a bad review, I thought it was a great concert. (And also, I don’t know why he thought the crowd wasn’t into it. The people at the end of our row were rocking out so hard, our entire bench was vibrating the whole night.) Hearing him solo, in a tiny venue like that, you can really concentrate on the lyrics.
Also fun: trying to explain rock history to my cousin. “See, before Nirvana, and the whole Seattle scene, there was Minneapolis and garage rock and Husker Du…”
Went to a very short (one hour!) Imogen Heap concert last night. She’s a bit of a kook but the music was gorgeous, even moreso than on the album.
So far I have tickets for:
Woot.