Live in 2010: Part 2

I try to make it to the Hollywood Bowl at least once a year for a show. This year, I went twice!

The Hollywood Bowl is a huge venue, and typically I prefer a smaller setting where I can at least see the performer's faces. They try to make up for it there by using video screens which helps a bit. But what I love about the Hollywood Bowl is sitting in the open air, having a picnic dinner with friends, and people watching. I also love that feeling of nostalgia I get at the Bowl. The first time I saw the place was in the movie Anchors Aweigh. In one scene, Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra sneaked into the Bowl and run all the way down to the stage. The bigness of it on the screen was unbelievable to me, and it still catches me by surprise.

In May, I went with some friends to see Flight of the Conchords play at the Bowl. I was so excited to see them live. I fell in love with these guys while living in New Zealand a few years ago, and listening to them brings up a lot of good memories from that period in my life.

Eugene Mirman, Arj Barker and Kristen Schaal, co-stars from the Flight of the Conchords television show, opened up the night each doing their own stand-up. Kristen was especially hilarious, and I loved her bit about her Law and Order:SVU "audition". Look it up on Youtube when you have a chance!

Bret and Jemaine were funny and charming, of course, playing up the awkward naivete that is their signature. They are as funny live as on the show, and their acoustic versions of songs are perhaps better than the album. Here's the set list from that night:

The Humans Are Dead

The Most Beautiful Girl in the Room

Hurt Feelings

If You're Into It

Albee the Racist Dragon

Jenny

Korean Karaoke

To Woo A Lady

You Don't Love Me Anymore

Think About It

Business Time

Epileptic Dog

Intercity Life

I'm Not Crying

Oh My God--She's So Hot

Back On The Road

Demon Woman

Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor

Rock the Party

Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros

Sugarlumps

*even typing up these titles makes me chuckle

Moving to a completely different genre, my second show at the Bowl was in August to see Harry Connick Jr. and his band perform with members of the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra. I have been a fan of Harry Connick Jr. since high school and it was my first time seeing him live. I knew I was in for a treat when the saxophonist opened the night with a swingin' version of The Star Spangled Banner.

I knew Harry was some sort of piano prodigy, but after seeing him in person, improvising and riffing with his band, I really appreciate what that means. They had cameras trained on his fingers so the crowd could watch his performance on the screens. I spent the whole night in awe of his abilities. Harry is obviously talented musician, but he is also a showman--a complete ham! He was telling funny anecdotes, dancing around the stage, making fun of himself and his band. You could tell he was just enjoying every moment.

I lost my notes from that night, so no set list for this one, but come back again for Part 3 and 4 of Live in 2010!

Live in 2010: Part 1

I'm rounding up all the live events I saw this year! I was able to check out an eclectic mix of venues and performers while having a few adventures along the way.

In May, I was desperately trying to get tickets to see Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes at UCLA on May 20th, but it was sold out. I had heard so many great things about their live shows. I was bummed to miss them, but then I found out that the band would be playing a free show on May 15th at UC Santa Barbara's annual Extravaganza, a free outdoor music festival.

So, I made the long journey from Orange County up to Santa Barbara. I battled traffic the whole way there and I was stressing about missing the show. When I arrived, I had to stand in a line two blocks long just to get into the stadium where the festival was being held. Before I got to the front of the line I heard a familiar sound drifting over the heads of the crowd: the opening percussion of "40 Day Dream".

Now I was frantic. I had driven for three hours and was about to miss the show. Luckily, the festival staff decided that the line was an unnecessary formality, so we all trampled our way into the stadium. I wedged myself into the sweaty crowd and got as close to the front as possible. They played "Janglin", "Carries On" and "Home"--and then they were done. They were great, but the set was so incredibly short that I felt a bit demoralized. I wandered around the stadium in a bit of a daze trying to decide if I should stay for Chromeo, or go home. In the end, I bought an Edward Sharpe sticker and left to explore Santa Barbara for the rest of the afternoon.

I began the long ride home down the 101 in the early evening. As I was passing a VW in the left lane, I noticed that the girl in the backseat had on a hat very similar to the one Jade of Edward Sharpe had been wearing on stage... I looked again. It was Jade! And she was with Nico and Nora from the band too! I honked my horn and held up my newly-purchased sticker, and they waved back. I laughed about it on the way home feeling that the coincidence made the rest of the day's craziness worth it.

A few days later, a surprise: my craigslist plea was answered and I had a ticket to the show at UCLA! My seat turned out to be near the front at Royce Hall, and I was so excited to see a full set this time. A solid local band named Haim opened the show, followed by Francis and the Lights whose performance resulted in head-scratching confusion (and later, mockery).

But it was all about Edward Sharpe for me. I was so happy to enjoy a full set this time. The audience was full of fans who were singing along, and everyone was on their feet for the entire set. I love watching Jade and Alex sing to each as if they were the only two people in the room. If you've only heard their album, Up From Below, you have had a small taste of the infectious exuberance that Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros bring to their songs. I am still blown away that I saw them twice in one week!

Here's their set list from the UCLA show:

Janglin'

Up From Below

40 Day Dream

Carries On

Come In Please

unidentified cover song (sorry!)

Black Water

Jade

Home

Om Nashi Mi

Check in again soon for Live in 2010: Part 2!!

And to Jade, Nico and Nora, it was great to run into you!

More Stuff I Made Myself

I am back with some of my own art! I hope you enjoy it!

One of my favorite things to do is painting on vinyl records. It combines my love of music and my painting hobby.

I put teeth hooks on the back so they can be hung on the wall.

This one is inspired by the phrase that Woody Guthrie had scrawled on his guitar.

Here is the original inspiration:

Hopefully more coming soon!

Made It Myself

A few years ago I began experimenting with stitching on painted canvases. Below you can see my most recent attempt at this style.

I call it Pirate's Gospel. The actual image is based off of artwork from the Alela Diane album of the same name. Instead of ink, I created the lines by stitching directly into the painted canvas.

I hope you like it! Make sure you check out Alela Diane's song, The Pirate's Gospel. Yo ho!

Radio Lab

As a public radio junkie, I have a very full listening schedule throughout the week. I have to listen to the full hour of This American Life, even if it is a re-run. I catch up on the news with Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and even pop in for Marketplace once in a while. Morning Becomes Eclectic isn't as important as it once was since Nic Harcourt has left the show, but I have Planet Money and Fresh Air to fill the time. Yes, I love public radio.

These are all wonderfully entertaining, educational and benchmark shows, but recently I find myself most looking forward--and most consistently surprised by--a show called Radio Lab. Radio Lab explores the questions and mysteries of science in a artful and sometimes poetic fashion. The makers of the show describe Radio Lab as "a little movie for your ear." Hosts Jad Abrumad and Robert Krulwich have taken listeners on a journey through the brain, the microscopic world of parasites, and to that fuzzy border between being human and being a primate. Along the way the complicated ideas they present are underscored by sound effects and music that are at times haunting, surprising, or surreal. Radio Lab's sound design seems shaped to emphasize the mysterious and mystical side of our reality. The show frequently asks questions that "Science" is not able to answer, and then leaves us to wrestle with that unsettling fact. This is perhaps the most remarkable thing about the show: that science is revered and studied, but not the source of all that is knowable. Instead, science is the starting point to understanding our world, taking us to the limits of our knowledge, brain power, and technology.

Abrumad and Krulwich seem to understand that there is still so much we don't understand, so much that we may never be able to explain about our world and ourselves. And very often, things that we can explain are based on fact so strange and fantastical that you wonder if you've wandered into the realm of science fiction.

If you've never listened to Radio Lab, you are missing out! Check out their website where you can listen to shows, read blogs and encounter wonderful words like "stochasticity"! Let me know what you think.