concerts - Jessica Suarez

25 Sep 2008

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I am testing that dream.

Seeing Weezer for me is probably like seeing My Bloody Valentine for a lot of other people–or maybe not. Maybe it’s really like seeing Liz Phair, where you know there’s something great there that got sorta misplaced or deferred or scared out of the person, or maybe

Seeing Weezer for me is probably like seeing My Bloody Valentine for a lot of other people–or maybe not. Maybe it’s really like seeing Liz Phair, where you know there’s something great there that got sorta misplaced or deferred or scared out of the person, or maybe that something great was the flash so there’s nothing really to return to because that was the detour. I talked about the Weezer show last night here, but one other thing I wanted to mention about “El Scorcho” was that Rivers Cuomo did sing the first few lines, but with his hands over his face, half covered, half shielding his eyes so he could gaze at the audience. I don’t know what this means.

Meanwhile, I’m working on some other freelance stuff, thanks to this:

But it is not free of any cost or obligation.

17 Sep 2006

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I saw Man Man At The Spiegeltent

Tenth Man Man show in about a year. They keep getting better. Really. The show was supposed to start around midnight, but actually started sometime after, because the Spiegeltent had hosted one of their burlesque shows just before. Cover was $15, and there was no opening bands, but the line

Tenth Man Man show in about a year. They keep getting better. Really. The show was supposed to start around midnight, but actually started sometime after, because the Spiegeltent had hosted one of their burlesque shows just before. Cover was $15, and there was no opening bands, but the line still stretched down the length of the Southstreet Seaport pier.

Inside people were packed, I saw My Brightest Diamond there with about 50 other people; Saturday night there must have been 200 inside the circular tent. It’s a running joke with me, how many times can I possibly see Man Man before I’m bored. But each set is different; each song gets tighter and looser at the same time. Plus, noticing these things take time, and about ten shows.

Man Man played more new songs than I’ve heard at previous shows. And though I couldn’t name any of them, they sounded a little different from the songs off Six Demon Bag they seemed less grounded in Honus’ Rhodes and more in squiggly electronic flourishes.

Man Man ended the show with “Ice Dogs,” as usual. Not as usual, the audience kept singing the song’s fade-into-forever ending, clapping and repeating, “This heart won’t die / and this ship won’t die” until they began speeding it up as per some anonymous directive from the center of the crowd. Man Man came back out to play “Van Helsing Boombox,” my favorite Man Man song, but Honus’ least favorite.
NPR: Fiery Furnaces in Concert with Man Man

23 Aug 2006

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Sufjan Stevens and David Byrne Did A Duet

I’m so tired, but I have to mention that David Byrne and Sufjan Stevens performed one song together tonight at the 826 NYC benefit. I am reviewing the show for Pitchfork soon, so I won’t write too much about it. But I WILL RELIVE IT IN MY DREAMS.

I’m so tired, but I have to mention that David Byrne and Sufjan Stevens performed one song together tonight at the 826 NYC benefit. I am reviewing the show for Pitchfork soon, so I won’t write too much about it. But I WILL RELIVE IT IN MY DREAMS. Kidding. Who needs dreams when Stereogum has shaky video? And I have subpar audio:

David Byrnes And Sufjan Stevens – Saginaw, Michigan (Lefty Frizell cover

Edit: Pitchfork is so totally on it too! Who else was there?

22 Jul 2006

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Three Legged Race / Eagles Of Hair Metal

Three Legged Race, Eagles Of Hair Metal @ Tonic | July 22 2006 The L train was down, and I was working on more useless internet crap, so we missed the Bushwick arts thing, but still got to catch Keith Fullerton Whitman as part of the Eagles Of Hair Metal (with Alan

Three Legged Race, Eagles Of Hair Metal @ Tonic | July 22 2006

The L train was down, and I was working on more useless internet crap, so
we missed the Bushwick arts thing, but still got to catch Keith Fullerton Whitman as part of the Eagles Of Hair Metal (with Alan Licht, Mike Berstein, Greg Kelley and Tamio Shiraishi). Didn’t stay for Prurient or Death Unit, but did see other act Three Legged Race compose pulses with what looked suspiciously like Mark’s inherited dictation machine. That made me want to try to do something with his dictation machine, which just today we were talking about putting on craigslist. Mark preferred Three-Legged Race, but I think I liked the Eagles better. He likes things more composed, and I guess I like things less so. Standing outside before the show, we saw maybe 5 rats in 30 seconds, flitting between an abandond lot and the underside of a parked car, and I kept on thinking TLR was the sound of those rats turned up and transposed a few octaves. If that holds, then Eagles of Hair Metal were their insides, fatty and sludgy, guts glugging back and forth during the short sprints. ‘Cept for Shiraishi’s little sax puffs, which sounded like when you blow up a balloon, hold it between your fingers, then let go.*

Noise shows sometimes make me uncomfortable, because even at regular shows when I say we’re on the list, the door guy/girl(!?) will still look at Mark and ask for his name, even if I made the approach. “I’m-with-him” vibe is so much stronger when you’re surrounded by hims.

* Or it’s the sound of KFW’s beard.

11 Mar 2006

Paid Members Public

Islands-Metric / Webster Hall

Looking for Big Hassle’s Sophie in Webster Hall’s balcony– Me: Hello, are you from Big Hassle? Girls: No, we’re from Canada. And so 80% of the night went. I love the Canadian invasion, by the way–Islands are joyful, AIDS Wolf fascinating, Wolf Parade tilt the room.

Looking for Big Hassle’s Sophie in Webster Hall’s balcony–

Me: Hello, are you from Big Hassle?
Girls: No, we’re from Canada.

And so 80% of the night went. I love the Canadian invasion, by the way–Islands are joyful, AIDS Wolf fascinating, Wolf Parade tilt the room. Feist has a pretty voice. Metric are the best show(wo)men of the group, I think, and even if you took down the faux-star lighting and bursts behind them it’d be easy to see dynamics. More dynamic is that I turned my all access pass into faux pas by walking into Metric’s dressing room right as lead singer Emily Haines was changing into a white dress for the show. Embarrassing for all involved.

Islands I’ve written about a lot, and will continue to write about more, so I’ll save it. During the show I thought about how far away I was, though it was easier for me to see from the balcony, and how every Islands show was probably going to be getting further and further away from the band. Later, walking into the right dressing room, I did get a minute to talk to Nick, who still looked a little tired though a lot healthier than he did at the Knitting Factory show. Jaime too, looked happy and healthy, as did the rest of the band. I’m happy for them too, and hope all goes well for their 4/4 release, even if it does mean being balconies away.

Mark has his piece on what it was like teaching an 826 Chicago workshop up on the Printculture website today.