Live Show Trifecta: Wooldridge Brothers / Bill Clinton / Brendan Benson

A roundup of the latest live events:

1. The Wooldridge Brothers - Shank Hall 11/7/09

Friends Brian & Julie get brother Scott down from MN to open for a great Blue In The Face reunion. Robb Fischer created the following video pieced together from two earlier shows. Look for Anna and Will, along with all the other kids rocking out:

2. Bill Clinton - House of Blues, Chicago 11/11/09

Bill Clinton held a fundraising event in Chicago for his foundation. He's targeting those 45 and under to join his "Millennium Network", and focused on his foundation's missions: fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa, sustainable environment, lowering childhood obesity.

3. Brendan Benson and Cory Chisel - Turner Hall 11/18/09

A great $10 show (complete with $3 PBR tall-boys). Brendan has had a string of stellar pop albums, and joins Jack White in The Raconteurs. He produced Appleton, WI native Cory Chisel's new album. I shot the encore Tom Petty cover:

Anna and Will October Duet

The latest Anna & Will composition. The creative process for these homemade duets goes something like:

1. Anna messes around with a chord
   
2. Anna tells Will what to do

It will be interesting to see how long this "collaboration" method keeps up. I hoping we've got another year or so before Anna refuses to be seen with her little brother, or before he stops wanting to do everything his big sister does.

This piece's title was inspired by some apple cider we had at lunch. Future piano performances promise to be accompanied by ever more complex grand entrances.

Live Music: Figureheads / Fever Marlene / Constellations

You know you're facing the downhill side of your going-out-days when 10:00 rolls around on a Saturday night, and it's basically a coin flip as to whether to start the evening out at a live show or not. But a really interesting triple bill came up last week - two local bands opening for a group from Atlanta that gets a lot of love in Wisconsin. And you can't go wrong with live music! The show was at the Mad Planet - a place I associate with 80's dance songs, not a rock show. (And it was closer to the 80's the last time I was there - it hasn't changed a bit). It turned out to be a good room for a sweaty crowd to pack it in for three great acts:

1. The Figureheads

By far the most intriguing act, opener The Figureheads are a hip-hop group that breaks a lot of ground. Basically, they've invented a sub-genre of two white MCs rhyming about positive thought, helping kids with mental disabilities and social justice. It sounds a little dorky put that way, but these guys get your head bobbing with big beats and totally professional production. I first got into them through the song "If" from their self titled cd of a couple of years ago. So you can stop there and be happy (the new release, Fire in the Soul, ups the accessibility with some Kanye-like autotune production), but they go way beyond the music - most of their time is spent doing workshops for underprivileged kids, and projects such as http://www.isanyonelistening.org/

http://www.figureheadsinc.org/

2. Fever Marlene

My favorite Milwaukee rock band - mostly because as a non-musician, I can't get over how a two-piece generates so much noise and melody. Scott sings, plays guitar with his hands and bass with his feet. Kevin rocks the drum kit like a man possessed. They rock out.

3. The Constellations

Radio Milwaukee started playing "We're Here to Save the Day" last summer. It's a great sing-song, back and forth slice of summer fun featuring a rap by new-Eminem Asher Roth (no social justice here - just a great time). The packed crowd was loving the full 8-piece Atlanta band, complete with the Clap Squad (two backup singers filling the clapping/tambourine parts), two guitarists (the new guy, nine days into the job, and the skinny dude full of tats who doubles on cowbell) and the goofiest looking bass player since Derek Smalls. I shot a short video:

Clean the Machine

I spend the good part of my days sitting in front of a glowing rectangle, looking at words and numbers related to the efficient processing of dental insurance claims. So when I can find the time, I like get my hands dirty tearing apart old bicycles. I take them apart, clean 40 years of grime from the parts, use an endless amount of 0000 steel wool to shine up the chrome, then put them back together. I don't have a lot of time, and I'm not in a rush, so the process gets dragged out over many months. The challenge is in the putting back together.

Bikes are easy. There are few parts, and they make sense. My current project breaks this norm, though. Externally, the old Schwinn looks very simple, but its 2-speed yellow-band Bendix kickback hub hides all the details. Let's just say it has a lot of parts. I'm in the teardown-cleanup phase, which involves much direct contact with a substance called Krud Kutter. Normally I cringe when products are intentionally spelled wrong. (This seems to strike convenience stores often - did they really have to spell it "Kwik Trip"? Was "Quick Trip" taken? I mean, one could pass a Git n' Go, Kum & Go, Sav-O-Mat and QuikTrip on the way to KwikTrip...) But yes, I totally picked this out of the cleaner aisle for the name. After a few shots of this kut right through the congealed krud on the ball bearings, I was kompletely sold. I haven't done it yet, but it's just a matter of time before I start raving on their Facebook page... Krazy, I know.

I've gotten in the habit of taking a lot of "before" pictures so I can figure out how the parts may go back together after. Today I took some pictures of the semi-clean parts just because I thought they looked cool. There's a certain magnificence to this thing - it speaks to a bygone era of American engineering and manufacturing. Trite as it sounds, things aren't made on a mass scale like this anymore. And for me, it's a single-threaded link back to my mechanical engineering days. I never cut it as a machine design guy - I gave it a try - but I admire the complex mechanics involved to make this easy-going cruiser of a bike function. And after cleaning out grime for an hour or so, I don't mind sitting in front of a computer for a living so much after all...

Journey Back In Time

I can be a music snob with the obsessive daytrotter-downloading pitchfork-rating indie-rock dork best of them, but sometimes my roots get the best of me and I fall back into the rock nostalgia of a bygone era. The other day I had the inexplicable and overwhelming need to hear "Only the Young" by Journey, off of the "VisionQuest" soundtrack. Thanks to the internet, I had my fix, but not before putting together an entire Journey retro flashback playlist on my iPod:

1. Lights
   These first tracks were a little before my time. I didn't get fully engaged until the powerhouse hits and ballads in the 80s. But I think these stand up better.
   
   
2. Wheel in the Sky
3. Feeling That Way
4. Anytime
5. Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'
6. Just the Same Way
7. Any Way You Want It (forever immortalized by Rodney Dangerfield)
   
   
   
8. Don't Stop Believin'
   
   I know this song is firmly back in the pop culture forefront, what with the Soprano's final scene and Glee (and Idol can't be left out of this flavor-of-the-moment) . So that's great - a new generation gets Steve Perry's soaring tenor stuck in their brains. But the release of Escape and Frontiers in the early 80s hit me in my vinyl album rock discovery sweet spot. When I think of the band, it's not about controversial endings to gangster shows or high school musicals. It's about Knoxville, TN. In 1982, my family packed up the van and headed down to the World's Fair in Knoxville. I was 13 that summer, just old enough to be completely disinterested (or at least act that way) with the family vacation. We traveled all day from Iowa to Tennessee, got pulled over for speeding (way out of character for my dad), found out that our pre-arranged hotel was 40 miles outside of Knoxville, got to the room, the bed fell apart, Mom freaked out... You get the idea.
   
   I looked up what the World's Fair was all about just now. I certainly wasn't getting the message about global energy issues, or new inventions. But I found the video game tent. And in that tent was the convergence of every pre-hormonal adolescent's dream. Journey. In a video game. The World's Fair just got awesome:
   
   
   
   
9. Stone in Love
   This was always my favorite track on Escape. Because in the heat with a blue-jean girl, burnin' love comes once in a lifetime.
   
   
10. Who's Crying Now
11. Open Arms
12. Separate Ways
    
    I used to draw the Tetris-like "Journey" logo from the Frontiers album all over my school notebooks... The whole intricate sci-fi theme cover art does make a case for large gate-fold 12" albums. Love it or hate it, you can't get the same effect from a 300x300 jpg.
    
    
13. Send Her My Love
14. Faithfully
15. Only the Young

So there. I got that out of my system. Let me know if you want a copy - anonymous requests taken.

Catchy Song of the Day: Miike Snow

Miike Snow isn't a guy from Minnesota with spelling issues, but rather a group from Sweden. "Animal" will be stuck in your head for days.

Not sure what to get from this video: I'm urban. I'm in the woods. I can change shapes into any kind of crazy animal I want. I like choppy synth beats and drum rolls. I'm a priest. I have a yellow sportcoat like Don Johnson on Miami Vice. Did I mention I'm an animal?

Happy Pickle Day

For once, Grandma is not behind the camera! Thanks to Robb for this great shot. The kids made pickles with Grandma - we have a fridge full, so let us know if you need any. They had seen Pickle Hats at the Fair, and decided that would be the perfect accessory...


(click for full-res smiles)