OlyMusic Experiences

Hmm. Should I review events in reverse chronological, or would it be more logical to start with the oldest? Well, I think I'll start with Friday night. I went to the the A-Kamp, Freedom Feather, Leon House, One Nation Undereducated, AE show at the Rang Dong. I'm AE, so I played some. I think my set had a tremendous amount of room for improvement, even though some people said it was good. First I couldn't get my guitar in tune. I let a dozen 8 year olds play it earlier in the day, which was cool, but it now had a broken string I replaced right before the show, and it was completely out of tune. But that's no excuse. Just an explanation. Anyhow, Tommy lent me his guitar (thanks Tommy). I played through the loop station and delay and it was bizarre. I let the kids play with the delay too, and now my settings I had practiced the day before were changed to other settings, and I hadn't remembered which setting I had it on that sounded good. Again, not an excuse, just an explanation. I think I scared people. I was scared. When I turned off the delay part way through the song Old Man, I think I saw a sigh of relief go through the room. Also, Gary jumped on the drums without me asking him to or having rehearsed such a thing with him. That's ok, because my set wasn't going that great to begin with, but he kept jumping into other people's stuff too throughout the night, which was very annoying for some people. If he had completely rocked the drums with a psychic knack for knowing what to play along with songs he had never heard before, it probably would have been different. Anyhow, my 15 or 20 minutes felt like it was up, so I turned it over to Leon House, who did his thing well even though Gary was on the drums again part way through. Freedom Feather was cool, like a house party with a dj, and Leon played with Justin some. A-Kamp rocked like they always do. Their gear setup is looking cooler all the time, and they just keep sounding better and better every time I hear them. There was a lot of good music around town that night, and I have to wonder how much of the A-Kamp fanbase went to see The Buttless Chaps, drawn by the name... at any rate, One Nation Undereducated played the OlyMusic.com song, which got me dancing and singing along and shaking my tambourine. They rock. And Tong and another couple guys played Hotel California, and Tong got everyone a whisky with orange slices. I had a great time. The Rang Dong is cool, and so are A-Kamp, ONU, and Leon House. Also Freedom Feather. Rock on guys. A few nights earlier I was at Le Voyeur and heard a band that I got a cd from, because I thought their stripped down sort of style was way cooler than most big full bands. A couple of ladies sitting on the floor, one banging on a tom, and the other with a tambourine, and then one guy with an electric guitar and the other with a tiny acoustic guitar, and I could hear pretty much all the words to the songs, which I like. The CD is called "The Elegies Meet Propaganda Panda" and has the songs "Run Away From the Pantry", "Meet the Gnomes", "How to Bake Muffins Underground", and "Plant a Tree". I've been enjoying it at work, although the guy who sits by me invariably asks "What's all that racket" to which I reply, "It's that supercool The Elegies Meet Propaganda Panda cd with the handmade cloth cover I showed you the other day. Someone on the other side of the room asks inquisitively, "Propaganda Panda?" and I say "yes, they are so cool... they are like.. cooler than any metal band, or KISS". Someone says,
no way - they are not cooler than KISS unless they fly on stage. I admit I have never seen KISS, and so don't have real grounds for comparison. Then there was the night of Mark's birthday, when there was a dj at the Vault playing danceable stuff, and there were 50cent Pabst Blue Ribbons. That was Wednesday. Hm.. I'm not sure about all the chronology here. I should update by Blog more often. Ah well. It's Spring!

Buncha music: Think was called Humble Smile - the band I saw at the Vault the other day. They played their music very nicely, and there were pretty women (and some guys I guess) dancing to it. I was sorry to hear that it is their last show as Humble Smile. Hope to hear more from those guys. I hope I've got their name right! A friend of mine told me about the show later than the last minute. Jammed with Tommy, Laureano, & Mark and someone who was there whose name escapes me now the other day. Unless it was Ian, but I think it was a different guy, hmm and that other guy Sean was there, and then I saw Cooper's Glen sing "We are Cooper's Glen", and "Goin' to Cooper's Glen!" at the Capitol Theater. The short films with their nifty animatedness were pleasing and disturbing to view. I was pleasantly and disturbingly entertained. And there was some band from California at Le Voyeur later that said they were there on accident, just happening by or something and er.. anyway, they rocked real good. One of them was playing solo guitar when I walked in, and it was sadly mournful stuff that anyone who has ever felt anguish could find something in to connect with. Intense. The whole band hit a lot of the big beats together, ba ba BA kind of thing- together. The big thing on my mind though is Speed Limit 35, where I heard Shallow Line and United But Divided and also John Paul, and the guy with the wine and the name on the back of his jacket that sounded a lot like an even localer, even more insightful, Dave Matthews. Shoulda got that guy's name! John, of Glass Elevator, was working the recording and sound for the show from the room behind the show room, with a computer hooked to the camera and microphones in the next room, streaming it all into the computer. It would be sweet to see a DVD of that show. It would be sweet to see a DVD of every show. And web streams. The band that played first rocked. My first thought was of the Dead Milkmen, but these guys were heavier than that. They rocked heavy with some drinking songs, and some just plain heavy stuff. I think they said they are playing a show with Bacchus at the 4th Ave in the next week or 2. I was really impressed with all the musicianship in both bands. The second band that played was not as heavy, had a good groove with slide guitar, and erm, intricate vocals? The one guy did real tender sort of vocals and the other guy at one point interjected with primal screams. It worked pretty well. John Paul's pirate numbers were terrifically rollicking, a bit riveting, and the guy that sounded a bit like dave matthews, fingers-style and voicewise, what was the name on his jacket? It wasn't Compton, was it? Somebody let me know, ok? The guys there at Speed Limit 35 put on a great show. I am looking forward to more.