Broken Social Scene Jams Churches under the Stairs

Brian Eno in the Lanois film, Here is What is, talked about where music came from. He said that most people assume that great music, or art comes out of thin air when as Bono always puts it, when God walks through the room.

Eno said most people would be surprised that great things come out of shit. And it is really a ton of work to make anything worthwhile. The finishing remark he made was that if most people knew that they had the capability to create something beautiful out of even their crappiest ideas, we might have a lot more good art/music.

Having listened to the finished product of Broken Social Scene’s albums one may not necessarily assume that there were many false starts or failed attempts at tunes that got reworked, and made into something worthwhile. I liked his egalitarian, humanist approach to creativity, where the playing field is leveled so that art school, and a bunch of credentials really has nothing to do with it.

Keeping this in mind, this jam of what would become the Brendan Canning tune is really fun to watch especially with Kevin Drew singing. Or it could be that I will listen to just about anything Broken Social Scene puts out. Based on my earlier review of their live show, perhaps this is true.

We’ve been fortunate to have a series of good live shows come through the Detroit area in the suburb of Pontiac over the last few months. My parents still live in Clarkston, so we manage to coordinate a visit and seeing a show in the same weekend. I’d been waiting to take both kids to an outdoor show somewhere like Pine Knob or Meadowbrook where they could stretch their legs and wander off within a greater margin of safety, but these shows don’t seem to happen. So I made the call to let Gabriel our eleven year old come to these two shows.

Last month we saw The New Pornographers and Okkervil River at the Crofoot Ballroom. And this weekend we saw the National. Both shows were excellent, but for the first time we decided to take our eleven year old son to the shows. The Crofoot is not a kid friendly venue. It is a nightclub. Plain and simple. Smoky, crowded and with a full bar.

My parenting instincts were plainly in conflict with one another through the whole experience. The two sides of parenting, are protect/expose. And this is a constant battle from the day you have a child. Gabriel, our eleven year old son has been curious about music since he was small. He is now playing the saxophone at school and keeps talking about starting a band, (which I would encourage).

I keep imagining myself at his age, and wishing I could have seen some of the bands that were coming to Detroit in the early 1980s. I mean how cool would it have been to see U2 in a club when you were eleven years old? Or maybe the Clash, Elvis Costello, or the Smiths? Granted I saw some pretty out of control shows when I was in High School and College, Fugazi, Skinny Puppy, Ministry, The Jesus Lizard, that I don’t think I would take Gabriel to see any of those shows considering the content, or the danger of the crowd.

All three of these bands were of the fairly tame and upbeat variety, but still very good music with a very low probability of riot or crowd dissent. (Nevermind that I witnessed a fistfight at a Camera Obscura show in Kalamazoo). The club is pretty new and is pretty low occupancy. Gabriel was pretty typical as a kid, he came in, explored, got bored for a bit, when the music starts he stays focused for a bit, then becomes unfocused, then refocuses. And then it’s time to go. People are smoking, using inappropriate language, drinking, and generally having a good time. But it is not meant for kids really. Except that my kid knows who the bands are and can sing along to the music.

Certainly I don’t think my son is going to become a drug addled rock star because I took him to see a punk rock band twice when he was eleven. Nor do I think he will become a musical genius just from seeing a few shows. I also don’t believe I will become the cool dad for taking him to a show. Trust me when I am coercing him to stick nearby in a crowded club he is rolling his eyes at me already.

But I do hope he will see that his parents who aren’t going out and getting loaded at the show, are getting excited about music, are engaged, and present in the moment. That just because you’re old, (34 is old to an eleven year old), doesn’t mean you shrivel up and die.

I’ve noticed some fellow parents give me an odd look when we tell them we took our kid to a New Pornographers show. Granted they had never heard of them before, and assumed it was naked women with guitars. I guess I am not sure what the right decision is either. I certainly felt on edge at both shows, and I had to make sure Gabe was nearby before I could really feel I was having a good time. And I had to keep watching him to make sure he was sticking with the show. And for the most part he did. He also seemed to take cues from me. When the National played Abel, (my favorite tune by The National) I sang along, clapped and hooted, and Gabriel seeing my enthusiasm, cut loose a little too.

Gabe had a unique opportunity to meet Okkervil River due to our position sidestage. The band as a support act had to load their own equipment. Gabriel being eleven walked right up and started talking to the band without fear of being uncool, or their rejection, and luckily the band, not used to seeing an eleven year old at a show warmed to him. The drummer gave him a drumstick and had his photograph taken with him. He still has the drumstick and he whips it out as a cool factor whenever he feels cheeky. Also Neko Case winked at Gabe during the show!

Okkervil River and The New Pornographers were really excellent, good tight live shows. The National was a really awesome show, great sound, great band. They played nonstop for almost two hours. They dedicated another fan favorite to Barack Obama, Mr. November

I have tickets to see Wolf Parade at the beginning of July. That show may be less tame than the last two, and I may have to make a judgment call that Gabriel won’t like. But it may be what is right for him now.

Leonard Cohen-I’m Your Man

Leonard Cohen has been the man for me since college. Like a lot of young literature majors we’re drawn to the image of Leonard Cohen living in New York city as a poet, a writer, having deep, complicated relationships that require him to write a finely crafted song. Each one is a shining diamond from his deep mine of wisdom and perfect pain. Mostly it was probably from not having any real complications or pain of our own.

Most people probably have outgrown Leonard Cohen, but I’ve found that as I’ve gotten older each song has burned a little brighter. Perhaps as my relationships have grown more complicated, and my experience wider, I appreciate him even more. I had Famous Blue Raincoat on infinite repeat through out college. I knew all of the words to Everybody Knows at one time.

I watched I’m Your Man Nick Cave, of whom I’ve always been a huge fan, didn’t leave me very impressed. His version of I’m Your Man seemed to be thrown off by the overly loud backup singers. Nor did Rufus Wainwright’s cover of Everybody Knows. Incidentally I like a few Rufus tunes, but his was actually the worst Leonard Cohen cover to which I’ve ever been subjected. Rufus’ campy drag queen delivery hit every phrase wrong and made the song seem insipid and dumb.

Bono and the Edge from U2 make an appearance and a performance. Bono’s comments while sometimes ego maniacal are purely complimentary and made me see the song Hallelujah completely different. You will have to watch the movie to see what he said.

Antony, of Antony and the Johnson’s also did a great cover of If it Be Your Will. He did a rip roaring version of this song. His voice is really unusual, it has that sort of vibrato/tremolo character to it that makes it sound a bit like the folk singer who did all the songs for the animated version of the Hobbit. *think “The gre-aaaa—aaaa-tttt adventu———rrrreee.” He is unusual and uncomfortable to watch, but great to hear.

However that said, Teddy Thompson’s cover of Tonight Will be Fine is possibly the best cover I’ve heard of a Leonard Cohen song (maybe John Cale’s and Jeff Buckley’s cover of Hallelujah is a three-way tie with this song). Unfortunately the recording that I liked the best was Teddy’s rehearsal from the special features of the DVD. I hope to find it somewhere someday.

This song says so many things about the elastic and circular nature of love between married people that it actually frightens me a little.

Tonight Will Be Fine

Sometimes I find I get to thinking of the past.
We swore to each other then that our love would surely last.
You kept right on loving, I went on a fast,
now I am too thin and your love is too vast.
But I know from your eyes
and I know from your smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

I choose the rooms that I live in with care,
the windows are small and the walls almost bare,
there’s only one bed and there’s only one prayer;
I listen all night for your step on the stair.

But I know from your eyes
and I know from your smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

Oh sometimes I see her undressing for me,
she’s the soft naked lady love meant her to be
and she’s moving her body so brave and so free.
If I’ve got to remember that’s a fine memory.

And I know from her eyes
and I know from her smile
that tonight will be fine,
will be fine, will be fine, will be fine
for a while.

Daniel Lanois may be the most under rated musician I’ve ever heard. Of course that could be an over statement of huge proportions. As he has worked with many of the biggies, Dylan, U2, Emmylou Harris, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, and Willie Nelson, (Nelson’s Lanois produced album-Teatro is probably in my top ten album list of all time) he is not under rated, just sort of behind the scenes. Certainly there are many under appreciated talents. Will Oldham, Tom Waits, Broken Social Scene, Wilco, Wolf Parade, but each has their own sort of relative white hot flame of fame. Daniel Lanois has his own relative gravity and heat I guess. His solo albums are magnificent. And based on his own relative fame, I am always surprised when no one has heard of him. Because I am into some commercial rock and roll, obviously I can’t claim to be indier than thou. The pitchfork bashing showed no bounds on Lanois’ last albums. I guess I differ, probably more than just be age, and feel that a thing of beauty transcends impressing your friends with how off-radio your record collection is. My argument is always the same, ever hear The Beatles Revolver? Beautiful isn’t it?

Lanois has made a film called, Here is what is that is purportedly all about the new music he has been making with Brian Blade, U2 and Eno. I’m always excited to see what they come up with. I’m cautiously optimistic about the U2 end of things, but outrageously excited about the Lanois end of things. Check out the trailer below.

The film debuts at the Toronto Film Festival this September.

As anyone knows, I am an unrepentant U2 fan. It is a sickness that has provided years of enjoyment. Having seen the band live a few times, also some of the best concert moments ever. The last show that Laura and I saw on the Elevation tour was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen, despite how crappy the seats were.

I checked the U2.com website, not something I do much these days after the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb album. There are possibly three redeemable songs off of that album, and one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard.

It appears that the band is in Fez, Morocco working on new material. I think it is probably more proper to say, I am unrepentant fan of all U2 music where Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois are involved. Lanois in particular is a favorite of mine. It is one of my missions in life to see him live before too long. I somehow missed his Shine album tour. His solo albums, Acadie, For the Beauty of Winona, Shine, the soundtrack for Slingblade, and now his new instrumental stuff, Rockets, and Belladonna, are always in heavy rotation.

I think it very very possible that really that my heart’s deepest desire is for Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois to become members of the band so that I am guaranteed high quality material. But I think that may be short sighted.

There seems to be a pattern since the first collaboration back in 1983 -84 on the Unforgettable Fire. The band does a few albums with Brian and Danny, and then breaks away thinking they’ve got to try something new, and low and behold the crap generator churns loose. Note this sequence:

The Unforgettable Fire
The Joshua Tree
Both produced and engineered by Flood, Lanois, and Eno.
Both amazing albums with heavy contributions from Brian and Daniel.

Then comes Rattle and Hum, produced by Iovine. Hmm crap by most people’s meter, I think there are two really great songs on there, All I Want is You, and God Part II.

Ok so they go away to dream it all up again, this time with Eno and Lanois at the helm of Achtung Baby, arguably (arguing with myself mainly) my favorite album.

Then they travel on to Zooropa with just Eno, for a fairly good return, The First Time and The Wanderer are both great tunes from that album. Stay Faraway So Close is a killer tune.

Then comes Pop, produced by Howie B. Crap for the most part, some managerial problems in terms of booking the tour before the album was done, but oh well.

Then some time later, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, terrific album, produced by Eno and Lanois.

Then the bummer of all bummers, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, jack knife lee and steve lillywhite who produced most of the band’s early stuff, Boy, War, October. Daniel helped with one of the album’s only listenable songs too. And the big number, City of Blinding Lights is an Eno hopeful, that could have used some editing and some real Eno magic.

So I think the pattern is pretty clear that with the dynamic duo back, the band may find it’s stride again. For the love of peter, I hope so, because I can’t take another stinker.

And from the picture above, a careful observer will notice the bald white guy surrounded by keyboards to be Brian Eno, and the man at the bottom of the photo with a guitar is Daniel Lanois. Bono seated on the couch, edge top left, Adam Clayton to the right of Danny, and Larry Mullen curiously not behind the drums, but perhaps his legs are just above the drum kit there.

Watch the TV spots, they get me all misty everytime.

http://www.soccernet.com/onegame/

Curse you Bono!!!!

Germany VS Costa Rica

Noon.

I know that I wrote something about “Crazy For You, But Not That Crazy” last fall. Ok that was a load of bollocks. It just depends on how long it’s been since I’ve been surfing. If I had to pick a song lyric, it’s probably: “With or Without You.” How many U2 posts can I make?....

The surf was up to 12-14 feet, with 30 knot winds. I watched the lake cam all day at work with a mingled sensation of dread and excitement. Dread in that I knew it would be heinous with a 30 knot dead westerly wind on shore. With no northerly bent to the wind, the pier (depicted above) doesn’t shelter the wind at all so that you can break out to catch the bigger waves farther out.

I managed to get my new fins set in the slots. They are heavier and more solid than the last type. And they give a feeling of confidence rather than worry. I got set in the Boogie and waited for a surge of water to pull me out, rather than knuckle dragging it out. Once the boat was pulled out to sea (so to speak), I began the slugfest. The top paddle blade was fighting the wind on every stroke. I adjusted the feather angle on my lendal to 45 degrees, which helped some, but not enough. I could clear the first three sets of breakers by paddling diagonally to the wind in a couple of rips. But once out to the next big set of breakers ,I just didn’t have enough hull speed to get clear. So I would turn around right when I saw a big set coming in and try to catch a quick ride. I caught perhaps 3 good rides. Got a good flat spin on one. I was pummelled pretty well after only an hour. I only got nuked twice nose to tail and rolled up well both times on my offside.

Somewhere between fall and spring, the sanity left me again. I can’t wait to go out again when the wind is out of the northwest and I can catch some worthwhile rides.

I love that feeling when I’m paddling out into the wind and it’s impossible to make any headway and I’m thinking in my head, “Ok just one more good ride, just one more, then I’ll go in.”

I know I’m not unique in this way, because Jason Roon and Doug were out that day too. But perhaps the company of fellow mental people isn’t too bad. I just need to get some good rides in this spring, I feel like I’m in a rut and need that moment where the wave takes me, and I get to feel that impossible acceleration downwave and then drop the rudder in to sweep back up wave to stay in the pocket and hang on.

Seldom used alternate verses to With or Without You:

“You shine like stars in the summer night,
you shine like stars in the winter night,
one heart, one hope, one love, with or without you.”

Sigur Ros is probably one of the best bands out there at the moment. I’ve mentioned them half a dozen times already. They really have an innocent sort of beauty to their music. I remember feeling this way about early U2.

• That feeling sort of faded this year because of “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”, which by the way is one of the worst albums I’ve ever heard. There are possibly one or two slightly redeemable tunes on it. Vertigo is not one of them. I tended towards the fanatic and forgiving side when it came to listening to their music even after Joshua Tree. Achtung Baby all the way up to All That You Can’t Leave Behind were really excellent. And then came this abomination. **(End U2 Rant).

  My friend Aeron introduced me to Sigur Ros with an EP mysteriously mailed to me when I lived in Ferndale. This EP made up about 3-4 songs from ágætis byrjun in 1999.

  I saw Sigur Ros when they came to Detroit in 2002. That show was possible one of the best shows I’ve ever seen well in the top ten, along with:

  1. Ride/Slowdive in 1991

U2 in 2001, 1991, 1987

Wilco 2002

Fugazi 1990

Will Oldham/Palace Brothers/Bonnie Prince Billy 1993, 1999, and 2003.

Johnny Cash 1996

Skinny Puppy 1991

PigFace 1992

1. Sea and Cake 2001

   Just to name a few memorable ones.

   Sigur Ros both times has been really excellent, but I feel like I sort of got hosed when they surreptitously announced a second show at the Calvin Fine Arts Center for 11:30.

   I was, without my consent, given the 6:30 show seating. Having done even a modicum of performing, if you have two shows in one night, you hold something back in the first to make sure you have something left for the second. Not only that, any technical problems will surely come out in the first.

   The former proved true, and the latter untrue. I think Sigur Ros held back on the first show, but they had a bass amp blow out in the second.

   Set List Show 1

   takk
   glossoli
   ny batteri
   saeglopur
   untitled 1
   untitled 2
   untitled 3
   gong/andvari
   hoppipolla
   olsen olsen
   svo hjott/heysatan
   untitled 8

   Highlights for me were obviously: takk/glossoli, ny batteri, gong, vakka(untitled 1). hoppipolla, and olsen olsen.

   Takk/glossoli began with a gossamer screen in front of the stage, (see rattle and hum). It was great to see this live. Great presentation, maybe slightly theatrical, but not overly so.

   Ny batteri was great, I always like hearing the drums on this, the hi-hat symbal makes this really rattly noise when he hits it. I like the way they set up the drum kit sideways and at the front of the stage, rather than ushing tyhe drum kit towards the back where you can’t see anything. It seems like an arena rock thing, which may have some sort of audio engineer rationale. But our seats were very close to the drum kit so I had a really good view of how hard Orri was whacking the skins.

   Vakka was another highlight, and I am always impressed by Jonssi’s (singer’s) ability to imbelish a very simple melody with no words, and strike some sort of emotional bulls eye. Maybe this is why I like Sigur Ros so much, it is simply music, no hang-ups on lyrics, or meaning other than what you create for yourself. Rolande Barthe would love to hear me say that the meaning is entirely in the ears of the listener, without any implied meaning from the author. These postmodern implications, and essays are my own of course, who knows maybe if I spoke some Icelandic the nonsensical hopelandic would have more context. If it does I would prefer to operate under my own ignorance for now.