2006-11 Vital Source Mag – November 2006
My Morning Jacket @ The Riverside Theater
By Caz McChrystal + Photos by Kat Berger The Riverside Theater (GO HERE to see more photos from the show) My Morning Jacket presented a perfect specimen of an elusive form at the Riverside Theater this past Tuesday night, the modern rock concert. But it is difficult to tell what a rock & roll concert is supposed to look like circa 2006. Decades of formulaic mayhem have littered the genre with beefed-up boredom and created a vacuum. The days in which a rock band’s greatness was measured by its ability to roll into a city like Rommel and conquer a submissive audience waiting to be played at are over. Rather, My Morning Jacket exploded the notion of what a rock concert is by playing to a rapt audience and treating the show as if it was a fragile being to be nurtured and coaxed out into the open. By the time the lights at the Riverside had gone black and MMJ emerged to open with “Wordless Chorus,” the crowd was already on its feet and moving along with the intelligently complicated rhythms. And it stayed that way for the nearly two hours that MMJ played. The first quarter of the show steadily built upon itself, reaching a high point with the reggae nod “”Off the Record.” The tune’s intro, a direct quotation of the seminal Hawaii Five-O opening riff thawed-out the mid-November crowd, warming up the audience before cooling it down with a run of slower-paced songs. The downshift to slower, searching improvisations broke down the rock show format, in which slower songs usually get tossed in only sporadically, and then only to give the drummer a brief respite. Here, it felt as though the band wanted to give the audience a chance to regroup, and it was well timed. Although some of these extended instrumental breaks noodled a little too long, MMJ never lost the audience. Coming out of this mellow and spacey section, MMJ slid into “Golden,” an archetypal country song off the It Still Moves record. For that song, guitarist Carl Broemel sat before a pedal steel and belted out one of those heartbroken but hopeful Nashville harmonies that felt down home and far out at the same time. This wonderful slide playing, accompanied by the plaintive vocals of Jim James, drove home the fact that MMJ is not just a group of guys who plays instruments, but musicians who not only take pride in their craft, but take it seriously. My Morning Jacket ended its show with the anthemic “Mehgeetah,” which came at the close of a half hour long encore. The impact of the show, however, did not flow from any single song they unexpectedly pulled out or effectively performed, it came from the overall arc of the evening. The concert seemed to ebb and flow, rocking with high intensity for periods only to draw back into esoteric musical self-searching in other parts. The mood would change within some songs, and sometimes without any discernible […]
Nov 27th, 2006 by Vital Archives
Trudy Blue
By Jill Gilmer “Can I speak to them?” Ginger Andrews asks, referring to her family as she watches them weep at Ginger’s funeral. She poses the question to a fellow angel who is watching the funeral with her from their heavenly perch. “No,” the other angel replies. “That is what your life was for.” Talk to the people you love while you are still alive. This is the simple yet provocative message of Trudy Blue, a play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Marcia Norman presented by the Dramatists Theatre. The play is based on Ms. Norman’s personal journey after she learns that she has two months to live. Like Ms. Norman, lead character Ginger Andrews, a novelist, later learns that her doctor’s diagnosis of lung cancer is wrong. Thus, she will have to continue living her dreary life, a fate more devastating to Ginger than the death prediction. The play takes place nearly entirely in Ginger’s mind as she contemplates conversations with her family and with Trudy Blue, a character from one of her novels who also represents Ginger’s alter ego. The play mingles these “real conversations with imaginary people and imaginary conversations with real people” interchangeably, an intriguing technique that is at times confusing to the audience. Despite the erratic effectiveness of this dramatic technique, the play succeeds in illustrating the results that ensue when a writer channels painful thoughts and feelings into fictitious characters and stories instead of sharing them with the people involved. As a series of surprising revelations unfold over the course of the play, the audience witnesses the potential damage to relationships when a person conceals their true persona from the people they love. It’s a dynamic that is likely experienced by introverts and artists of many types. The Dramatists Theatre’s production of Trudy Blue is a commendable adaptation of a difficult story. Unfortunately, its overall impact is diminished by an inexperienced cast, which offers the audience minimal assistance in understanding or caring about the two central characters, Ginger and her alter-ego, Trudy Blue. A tedious first act may lose some audience members while the stage is set for the more compelling second half. This notwithstanding, a play of this complexity is an impressive accomplishment for a theatre company in its second season, operating on a shoe-string budget. (The actors were not paid, and artistic director Marjorie Shoemann also manned the box office and snack bar.)VS Trudy Blue is the second installment in the Dramatists Theatre’s series of plays by Marcia Norman. Each season, the company showcases the work of a single playwright. Trudy Blue runs through Saturday, November 18 at the Marian Center for Non-Profits, 3211 S. Lake Drive. Tickets are $16. For reservations, please call 414-243-9168.
Nov 15th, 2006 by Vital Archives
The Hold Steady
By DJ Hostettler Once upon a time back in the 1980s, there was a genre called “alternative.” It’s hard to believe these days, but back in the day, labeling a band “alternative” actually meant it was an alternative to what you’d hear on your local corporate top-40 radio station. Siouxsie and the Banshees didn’t sound like Pat Benatar, and that was a beautiful thing. Then when “alternative” became meaningless in the 90s, “indie rock” sprung up to remind us that no, Sebadoh doesn’t sound like Pearl Jam either. These days, indie rock still doesn’t sound like what you’ll hear on the local Top 40 station, but thanks to The Hold Steady, it definitely sounds like your local classic rock station. It’s an odd state of affairs when Vagrant Records’ hottest new acquisition sounds like Bob Seger with Thin Lizzy’s guitar solos, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing either. Boys and Girls in America is the perfect title for The Hold Steady’s third full-length. The no-frills hard rock herein evokes images of Midwestern blue-collar Night Moves-style Americana, while Craig Finn’s trademark love-‘em-or-hate-‘em spoken-sung vocals spin yarns about modern boys and girls going to “all ages hardcore matinee shows” (the crazy catchy “Massive Nights” ) and apparently taking lots and lots of drugs (just about every song on the album), giving the retro soundtrack distinctly modern subject matter. The constant theme of teenagers in love taking loads of drugs is worn thin by the end of the record – “Chillout Tent’s” dueling he-said/she-said boy/girl choruses are pretty annoying, to be blunt – but overall, Boys and Girls in America is solid, rockin’ and has a few potential classics (I dare you to not hum along with the “woah-woahs” in “Chips Ahoy” ) without sounding as stale as the classic rock it references. VS
Nov 15th, 2006 by Vital Archives
Give ‘Em Hell, Harry
By Peggy Sue Dunigan Speaking directly, loudly and customarily cursing, Harry S. Truman’s voice and words ring shockingly true and remain relevant in the production of Give ‘Em Hell, Harry that opened at the Boulevard Ensemble Studio Theatre November 8. The audience in the packed space greatly appreciated those words, generously sprinkled with humor and truth, both of which marked Truman’s life. Moving through the time and space of Truman’s adult years on stage, Don Devona aptly caries the one man show. Dapper in a taupe double breasted suit, Devona appears both presidential and genuinely familiar, although slightly frail. The production builds steam through the second act as Truman reminisces about the “whistle stop” campaign of 1948, ending vibrantly as he struts with his walking cane on the streets of his hometown Independence, Missouri. Opening on the day after an election that witnessed the Democrats making stunning gains, Give ‘Em Hell, Harry surprises with the timelessness of the truths expressed. Truman begins as he describes his first political campaign for county judge of Jackson County (“a new war of words instead of guns” ) after returning from France in World War I. Continuing through to World War II, Truman again reflects on after only 86 days as the 33rd President, thinking, wrestling with the decision to “drop the bomb.” He claims, “Options… didn’t have any options. Thought it was going to end the war. Dropped one. Dropped another. They capitulated. Would do the same damn thing if I thought it was going to end the war. Waiting for someone to apologize for Pearl Harbor.” As it is for politicians today, war was consistently on his mind. And facing war for a third time as he utters these thoughts on Korea: “Damn Korea thing…blowing up in our faces.” Truman again could well be verbalizing current events, such as North Korea’s recent experiments with their own nuclear bomb in 2006. However, it’s the Korean War of 1950 to which he’s referring. “We weren’t there to win. What were we there for? To stop something. Preserve the peace of the world.” Has this been said before? Or is he speaking to the reality of war and “the innocent lives of American men and women are being destroyed. It’s a tragedy.” A tragedy, similar to 1940, 1950, decades later in Iraq; the same truths exist. As the play continues traveling through Truman’s life, whether spewing political or personal wisdom, the audience is left wondering what, if anything, has changed. For Truman addresses corruption in business, dirty politics, racism, falsified bids, public housing and the minimum wage. All timely subjects for any current political arguments. Speaking like a true Democrat to the Republicans 60 years ago, Truman says, “I’m not giving ‘em hell. I’m just telling them the truth to make them feel like they’re living in hell.” VS Give ‘Em Hell, Harry runs through November 19 at the Boulevard Ensemble Studio Theatre in Bay View. Tickets: $20.00 by reservation. Please call 414-744-5757 for details.
Nov 15th, 2006 by Peggy Sue Dunigan
Not Now, Darling
By Russ Bickerstaff With all the right treatment under the right conditions, life can be a late 60s British sex farce. One needs only gather the right adults together and get them to be a bit more fictitious than usual. No elaborate sets are needed. Costuming need not be extensive. The comedy comes naturally. With this social dynamic in place, RSVP Productions’ Artistic Director Raymond Bradford delves into an enjoyable evening of theatre as co-director and co-star in Ray Cooney and John Chapman’s 1969 hit comedy Not Now, Darling. Bradford himself stars as a diligent, honest furrier named Arnold Crouch. Alan Stevenson co-stars as his business partner Gilbert Bodley. Crouch, being a womanizing adulterous husband with a suspicious business sense, is quite the opposite of the virtuous Crouch. Crouch finds his morals slipping in a chain of events brought about when Bodley attempts to give a young married woman the gift of a very expensive fur coat. The chain of events is written to rush through the play in a blinding flurry. This is a comedy of escalation. With some 11 people in the cast swimming through the tiny stage at the Astor Theater, RSVP does a pretty good job of keeping things quickly enough to spark some laughs. The momentum may slip in places, but it rights itself quickly enough to shoot through a relatively entertaining evening of comedy. The roles are all written as exaggerated comic characters and the RSVP cast seems to have a really good time performing them. Kelly Simon plays the young Janie McMichael, hopeful recipient of Crouch’s gift coat. Simon plays Janie with the surreal affectations of a grossly amplified material girl. Earl Scharnick seems suitably confused as her husband Harry, who is also in an extramarital affair with an attractive young woman named Sue (played by Anne Miller) whose husband occasionally storms through the action, played by Ken Dillon. Things, of course, get even more complicated with Bodley’s wife Maude (Marcee Sturino) coming back early from vacation to find things in disarray. Notable supporting performances around the edges include Cynthia L. Paplaczyk as Bodley & Crouch’s oddly comic secretary and the tiny, talented Marilou Davido as a young, overly-friendly employee of the business. Rather than setting the production in a late 1960s England, Bradford has opted for a more ambiguous “Modern Metropolitan City” in the present. This spares the audience of having to hear a variety of different mid-western attempts at British accents, which makes the production all the more enjoyable. For anyone familiar with the style and pacing of dialogue in a British comedy however, it’s a bit disorienting. That ineffable use of silence, inflection and sarcasm with a hint of exaggeration seems to have been lifted from the script along with the accents. This distraction doesn’t detract enough from the comedy to be anything other than subtly confusing to those familiar with the genre. This is by no means deep or deeply moving comedy. Closing just one week before the Christmas […]
Nov 15th, 2006 by Vital Archives
Anders Parker
By Frank Olson On his self-titled album, former Varnaline frontman Anders Parker displays a knack for capturing a lonely highway vibe not dissimilar to The Rolling Stones on their old country songs. Parker, though, is neither as engaging as Mick Jagger nor as good a songsmith as the Glimmer Twins, which, while not a criticism in itself, casts a long shadow for Parker to sidestep. The end result is a singer-songwriter album with dreary, light-grunge singing and forgettable songwriting. There are a few decent songs here, including the opening “Circle Same,” which uses a looping structure to give the standard going-nowhere lyrics more weight, and “False Positive,” which marries a tightly-coiled verse section to a George Harrison-esque chorus. But even these bright spots seem more the work of a good producer (Adam Lasus, who has worked with Clem Snide) and a good band (including former members of Uncle Tupelo and the Jayhawks) than of the spotlight talent. The album’s best moments are the ones that allow the band to stretch out and reshape the generally uninteresting songs. A dramatic electric guitar/steel pedal duet ends the otherwise dull “Dear Sara;” instrumental breaks change up the pace of “Airport Road;” thundering percussion underlines a sensitive pedal steel solo in “Under Wide Unbroken Skies.” But these moments are few, and most of Anders Parker is dominated by generic alt-country songs and lyrics that often literally sound like Hallmark cards.
Nov 1st, 2006 by Vital Archives
Matthew Schroeder
By Blaine Schultz + Photo by Kate Engeriser Matthew Schroeder, guitarist and department chair at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, has traversed the entire spectrum of music, from guttural electric with local rock groups Pet Engine and The Barbeez to Signal, his recently released debut solo album of original acoustic finger-style compositions. On November 18, Schroeder will launch the Midwest Guitar Summit with longtime friends and collaborators Dan Schwartz and Ben Woolman at the WCM. Find tickets at www.matthewschroederonline.com. 1. With instrumental music, do you have certain images that come to mind for songs when you play them? Imagery is central. In composing it helps you stay the course, and in performing it takes you where you need to go emotionally to best play the piece. If you play well, you create art in the mind of the listener, and much like a good book, it’s a bit different for everyone. Many times someone will know just what the tune is about, and what’s best is when they add surprise details to the picture. 2. What makes for a good instrumental guitar tune? There are no particular elements that need to be present. I simply need to enjoy hearing and reacting to it. I do like tunes that incorporate something slightly off the beaten path in note choice or technique. A tune that succeeds in the imagery category is John Fahey’s “The Approaching of the Disco Void.” Recorded live in Tasmania, it will scare you! In the groove/melody area, Leo Kottke’s “Orange Room” is pure fun. 3. What drew you to this music? Coming from a rock background and looking for more, finger-style guitar was a means of expression outside of the traditional classical or jazz guitar idiom. Along the way I fell in love with the style. Many people keep searching for what they should be doing with their life. I feel I’ve found it. 4. What is the Midwest Guitar Summit? The Midwest Guitar Summit is a finger-style guitar concert featuring myself, Dan Schwartz and Ben Woolman. We all met in the early 90s while attending the cooperative guitar program at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee/Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and received BFAs in American finger-style guitar performance. We enjoy each other’s music and friendship, and have stayed close over the years, so doing some shows together is a natural result. A typical MGS performance will consist of each player doing a short solo set, some duets, and culminate with all three guitarists onstage together, displaying their versatility by including other instruments such as lap steel, bass and electric guitar. 5. How do you define success as a musician? I currently teach and perform. When my students are learning, and I am moving people with music, that is success for me as a musician. VS
Nov 1st, 2006 by Vital Archives
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
By Erin Wolf Polyvinyl must love Boris, seeing as the respected indie label is presenting a freshly remixed and remastered version of their original 2005 release, Broom. To give this album a review so late in the game is almost ridiculous, but the fact is that SSLYBY hasn’t been playing by the particular rules that govern indie-rock publicity. SSLYBY only recently surfaced from the depths of their homemade environs (originally recording Broom in an attic) when they placed a few songs on the World Wide Web. Then, Magic Blog-land whipped itself into a frenzy of admiration for the band and their album and hastily posted criticisms, which admitted that although SSLYBY did sound an awful lot like Olivia Tremor Control, Beulah, The Shins, Of Montreal, Weezer, Elliot Smith, Bright Eyes, Ben Kweller, etc. … that gee, they sure could write a nice song. After being background-checked and deemed inoffensive copycats, Broom became slightly legendary. Just like the original release, Broom is filled with unintentionally precious and breathy off-key vocals and yodels, strummed guitars and the air of relief for not being a political band, despite the name. The songs slip one by one down a string of lyrics ranging from travel songs revolving around packs of cigarettes to girls named Anna Lee. Pleasant and familiar, like reading a well-worn book of short stories in the sun, Broom isn’t a half-bad way to pass a half hour. Now that they’ve ventured a bit further from Internet notoriety, perhaps they’ll become more adventurous in other ways as well.
Nov 1st, 2006 by Vital Archives
Look back and laugh
By Howie Goldklang I want to tell you a little story ‘Cause it makes me warm inside It’s about some friends growing up And all the things they tried I’m not talking about staple shit They went for something more I guess it was too much dreaming Too much to hope for One day something funny happened But it scared the shit out of me Their heads went in different directions And their friendship ceased to be Minor Threat, “Look Back And Laugh” From Out of Step (1983, Dischord Records) “Today’s kids are missing the point, man. They need to take out the iPod headphones and log off of fuckin’ MySpace and listen up.” Steve Blush, on the phone from his New York apartment, is emphatic. “This film is the story of American hardcore.” Blush is the author of American Hardcore: A Tribal History. After publishing his book in 2001, Blush and fellow scenester and music video director Paul Rachman spent four long years tracking down musicians, fanzine writers, girlfriends, promoters, photographers, indie label owners, fans, college DJs and club owners: anyone that helped define the hardcore movement; a short-lived, riotous era in punk rock music whose lasting effects are what makes up the dirt under the nails of rock and punk music today. The result: the landmark documentary film American Hardcore – The History Of American Punk Rock 1980-1986, which stands as an unflinching, 100-minute lightning bolt of hardcore history featuring 115 interviews, highlights culled from over 100 hours of rare stock performance footage and hundreds of photographs of hardcore heavyweights in their prime. American Hardcore made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year and was immediately picked up by Sony Pictures Classic. “They haven’t changed a single frame of the movie,” says Rachman, also checking in from New York. “It’s all there.” Data Control Making American Hardcore American Hardcore is a film of non-stop cuts and clips, seamlessly mixing vintage live performance footage of Bad Brains, MDC, Minor Threat and Black Flag with numerous contemporary interviews with the grown-up versions of the scene’s major players. “The film is very direct, with a first person point of view,” explains Rachman. “That was very important; to get the story told from the people who shaped it.” “We were able to get the interviews because between Paul and I, we know people all over the country from the hardcore network, and we never fucked anyone over, you know?” recalls Blush. “Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat) and Keith Morris (Circle Jerks) never return half the calls they get, but they know we’re legit. We were a part of the scene. We started with a set of interviews in Boston in late 2001 and just kept it rolling from there.” Using the book “as a roadmap,” Blush and Rachman set out with bare equipment essentials: a DV camera, a few microphones and a laptop for editing. “I did shop the book around,” admits Rachman. “But it’s hard to sell a project […]
Nov 1st, 2006 by Vital Archives
November Record Releases
By Erin Wolf November 7 …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead So Divided Interscope Bowling for Soup The Great Burrito Extortion Case Jive Foo Fighters Skin and Bones Roswell/RCA JJ Cale & Eric Clapton The Road to Escondido Duck/Reprise Josh Groban Awake 143/Reprise Kenny G I’m in the Mood for Love: The Most Romantic Melodies of All Time Arista Talib Kweli Ear Drum Blacksmith/Warner The Long Blondes Someone to Drive You Home Rough Trade The Magic Numbers Those the Brokes Heavenly/EMI MoZella I Will Maverick/Warner ODB A Son Unique Damon Dash Music SugarLand Enjoy the Ride Mercury Keith Urban Love, Pain & the Whole Damn Thing Capitol Nashville Dionne Warwick Me & My Friends Concord Lucinda Williams The Knowing Lost Highway November 14 Army of Anyone self-titled The Firm/EMI Bad Astronaut Twelve Small Steps, One Giant Disappointment Fat Wreck Chords Depeche Mode The Best of Volume 1 Sire/Reprise The Game Doctor’s Advocate Geffen Jamiroquai Greatest Hits Epic Luciano Pavarotti The Ultimate Collection Universal Nanci Griffith Ruby’s Torch Rounder Maroon5 TBA Octone/J Brian McKnight 10 Warner Mya Liberation Universal Motown Joanna Newsom Ys Drag City Joan Osborne Pretty Little Stranger Vanguard Robert Plant Nine Lives Rhino Damien Rice 9 Warner Styles P Time is Money Ruff Ryders Sublime Rarities Geffen Tamia Between Friends Gallo Record Company/Image Tenacious D Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny Epic Kenny Wayne Shepherd 10 Days Out: Blues From a Backroad Reprise Neil Young Live at the Fillmore East 1970 Reprise Yusuf (formerly Cat Stevens) An Other Cup Ya/Atlantic November 21 Patti Austin Avant Gershwin Rendezvous Crowded House Farewell to the World Parlophone Incubus Light Grenades Epic Jay-Z Kingdom Come Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam Killswitch Engage As Daylight Dies Roadrunner Oasis Stop the Clocks Epic Our Lady Peace A Decade Columbia Rock Star Supernova TBA Epic Snoop Dogg Blue Carpet Treatment Doggystyle/Geffen Sufjan Stevens Songs for Christmas Asthmatic Kitty Throwing Muses House Tornado (Remastered) Wounded Bird Tom Waits Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards Anti-/Epitaph Lee Ann Womack Finding My Way Back Home Mercury Nashville November 28 The Early Years self-titled Beggars Banquet
Nov 1st, 2006 by Vital Archives
The Who
By Jon M. Gilbertson Strictly speaking, Endless Wire is the first full Who album in 24 years. But strictly speaking, it’s not an album made by the Who. And while it may be true that nobody is absolutely irreplaceable, the dearly departed Who rhythm section of drummer Keith Moon and bassist John Entwistle come close. So what, or Who, remains? These days it’s just singer Roger Daltrey and guitarist, songwriter and general mastermind Pete Townshend. With the support of a few other musicians, politely listed in “Principal” and “Guest” classifications, they continue the group name. The recognizable group sound is another matter. Age is a sigificant but not overwhelming part of the complication. Daltrey has never had an overtly beautiful voice, but he’s always had a hoarse sort of expressiveness, and that hasn’t changed. Townshend has, for obvious reasons (hearing impairment, for one), muted his power chords, but can still find a precise electric blues line or an eloquently simple acoustic progression. Townshend does less well, however, when trying to frame the songs that rely for support upon whatever melodies he can wrest from his guitar(s). The latter half of Endless Wire is taken up with “Wire & Glass,” a mini-opera (not a la “A Quick One While He’s Away” ) that seems constantly to be looking back on old, familiar themes: rock & roll, the deceptive innocence of youth, the inexorable decay of years. The themes are not without interest, but Townshend can’t make them coalesce. He never really could, as proven by Tommy and Quadrophenia and even his solo album White City, but that music was strong enough to leap the narrative and intellectual gaps. This music – even the first half of Endless Wire, which is given over to more various thoughts and more varied songs than “Wire & Glass” – favors sub-thematic structure over genuine artistry. The most glaring difference between the modern Who and the old Who, besides the absent cohorts, is that their music now offers moments and flashes rather than journeys and explosions. It presents the lovely bitter folk music of “A Man in a Purple Dress” and the soft coda of “Tea & Theatre.” In another 24 years, Who’s Next and Empty Glass will probably remain in the collective memory. Endless Wire probably won’t.
Nov 1st, 2006 by Vital Archives
