John Baldwin Gourley, founder of Portugal. The Man, was so sweet over the phone that I neglected to ask him about the silly period in the middle of their band name. Made in Alaska, but based in Portland and Seattle as well, the band seems to always be on tour. Gourley says they wrote more […]
September 20, 2007
Here’s what The National is reading on their tour bus: Aaron Dessner is on Marcel Proust’s “Swann’s Way.” His twin brother Bryce is reading a book on Austerlitz, and Bryan Devendorf is reading “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy. At least, that’s what he said over the phone; maybe bands carry around heavy tomes while […]
September 17, 2007
I may pick Battles‘ “Atlas” as my best album of 2007 (over Feist) if only because it’s made me think more than any other album in recent memory. Apparently it’s done the same for many other music journalists as well, and they’ve spawned the best articles, quotes and videos about them I’ve seen in a […]
September 4, 2007
If (or more likely when) I am eventually asked that question, my mind will flit through images of the hulking building that is called the Cultural Center of the Philippines, plein artists painting bay sunsets, streetlights of proton pink and neutron blue, looking inevitably like gigantic lollipops along Roxas Blvd., looming clouds of diesel engine […]
August 25, 2007
Maybe it’s ironic that I went to see Rage with three Phish heads (thanks, Adam, Don and Bert!), but as we waited on the freeway exit where cars were bumpered up for miles, trudged across the muddy parking lots, encountered fanatics wearing concert t-shirts from 1997, 1998, 1995, with every step, I understood. It wasn’t […]
August 24, 2007
Lead actor Thomas Dillon sums up the 90-minute-monologue/play “Thom Pain (based on nothing),” thusly: “It’s about a young man who wants to share an epiphany he’s recently had, with whoever wants to listen to it. That epiphany is today is the day you start living your life,” he said. An actor since he attended the […]
August 16, 2007
Other than describing a crazy dream I just had, here are some things I never EVER thought I’d see together for real: Perry Farrell…free show…Beans and Barley parking lot…Milwaukee. But yes, the Lollapalooza founder, Satellite Party lead singer, ex-Jane’s Addiction and Porno for Pyros frontman, took his whole band –and his supporting act, Mink– to […]
August 10, 2007
So today I was on a transatlantic phone call with David Brown, lead singer of Brazzaville. Brown, who’s toured with Beck and has done various music projects for over 20 years, played the Midwest for the first time last April. I guess he liked it, because on Sept. 15 he’s coming back to Milwaukee to […]
August 6, 2007
I don’t know when Pearl Jam evolved from just being grunge runners-up and moved into its current super-American icon status. I like it, though. (Note: A friend and Pearl Jam fan read my blog and said that my declaring PJ a grunge runner-up was offensive, that it was always Nirvana’s equal. “Soundgarden and Alice in […]
August 5, 2007
The best thing about Lollapalooza this year is that we were staying at a friend’s condo on N. Harbor, maybe a block away from Grant Park. Yup, no cabs, no public transportation, no driving — no parking fees, either, since my friend hooked us up with a spot after the first day. (Thanks Meredith!) So […]
September 21, 2007
0