time to shell out....

son of a @Q#)%$UQ@ (#(Q@#Y$

Just lost a massive post as I was spellchecking the sucker. Fuck. Ass. Bitch. I'm pissed. So, since I now have absolutely no interest in trying to rewrite my thoughts (damn, it was a long post. and good, too!) here's the short rundown:

The new Skullflower: ROCKS
Bill Fay reissues: Love 'em. Make me cry each time I put 'em on.
Weekend: Been nice. Chilling. Playing with Wes' cat.
Me: pissed at how much I suck at the Internet for losing that post.

That's all folks...

Wooden Wand/gig report

Best fucking band around: Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice. 'Bout time these freaks are having some tunes see the light of day (aside from ridiculously limited CDRs and LPs and what have you). Lysergic sick, tuned in to the heavens, singing of something thicker and deeper than the walls and foundations of everything we've built. Fuck, these dudes are onto something deep. Check their records. Please. This is the shit that shakes the sky.

Oh, yeah, I gotta give a report of the big Gary Higgins/Ben Chasny blowout last weekend at Tonic. Place was sold out, which was incredible given that Higgs hadn't played a gig in 30 years (it's not like Jimi Fucking Hendrix rose from the dead, ya know?). Great crowd: hipsters, tape-trading old music dudes, band family members looking incredibly happy and oh so out of place in dingy Tonic. Chasny opened with a set of solo acoustic guitar/vocals tunes. He seemed pissed at people talking near the bar, but the anger or whateverthefuck pushed him on and out and he played the best set I've ever seen. There were moments during that gig when I honestly felt the fucking roof was going to open up and we'd be sucked out into the sky.

Higgins and band (keys, lead guitar, cello and rhythm guitar -- played by his son) sounded spot on. Who knew what to expect. 30-someodd years since these dudes has last played. So much time slipped by. Yet, the set was just incredible. Higgins (alternating between guitar and drums) sounded great. The band hit every note and was clearly having a ball being on stage. All in all, a truly wonderful night.

Let's hope for many, many more.

Red Hash

If any of y'all who may be reading this are kicking around NYC this coming weekend, there's a grand going-on Saturday night at Tonic. Long lost folkie Gary Higgins is playing his first gig in 30-someodd years to celebrate Drag City's reissue of his psych-folk slab Red Hash. Ben Chasny from Six Organs of Admittance — who will open the show — and Zach Cowie from Drag City tracked Higgins down and talked him into hitting the stage again. Not only is it a pretty rad story, but Higgins' music backs the whole thing up. Head to Drag City, or Tonic for info, tix and whatever else you may need.
And if yr looking for something a bit more wicked, Khanate and Harvey Milk are playing the late show.

J4

The scene from Icebox Recrods' Box studio/artist space in Burlington's South End, July 3, 2005 (they have the Independence Day fireworks an evening early in the Queen City).

Burning

Ah, another three weeks have slipped by with nary a word from my end. Way to go, slackass. Wading through the end of another hot, short weekend in New York. Doubts everywhere. Feeling at once more turned on by, and overwhelmed by, music than I have in a while. Good records arriving in the mail and peeking at me from shop shelves every day, and yet struggling to find the time (motivation) to put any into words. Realizing that if I was quizzed, Invisible Jukebox-style, on the contents of my shelves, I wouldn't be able to identify half of them with more than an, "Oh yeah, I have that at home. Good disc."
Spent last weekend in Burlington with the girl. Got to visit with good friends, spend time with her family, breathe clean air. It was a tremendous time, but I'm struggling a bit now. Nostalgia snuck into the soft spot of my armor and is spreading like soft mold. Maybe my big city transformation hasn't been as soul cleansing as I am so easy to claim. Have I accomplished much aside from not needing to tremble with raw nerves as I wait to see if my debit card cleared?
Saw Comets on Fire and Growing at Bowery Ballroom recently. Comets were great. Ethan Miller up on stage like a shit-drunk Clapton, pink shirt soaked through, sweat flying from his head in a halo of sticky stink. Growing, who I quite admire on record, disappointed. The subtleties of their discs were lost, with the final result sounding a bit too much like two stoners fucking around with a rack of pedals; slo-mo riffing with no point. The usually stellar Bowery sound was off all night, though. We'll blame it on that.
Going to go try to make my way through some of the new sounds. Hopefully I'll have something to say 'bout 'em...