Cattle & Cane

Great performers in one of my favourite venues The Olde Young Tea House.

Stunning music with the power to transport the people in the room away from any cares at least for a little while. Hope these vids give you a taste of the atmosphere and make you want to come to the next gig William K.J. Anderson + Bob Fischer on June 3rd.

The talented Teesside Treats also took some great photos from the night.

Setlist from November 1, 2011 at The Sage Gateshead, Hall 2.

Had a great day yesterday with a visit to mima, Capaldis, the Southfield, the Hairy Lemon (which would be referenced by Morrissey later in the evening post a small powercut – “The Hairy Lemon was sucking all the juice out of Middlesbrough – disgusting!”) and at the Town Hall with an unofficial after-party at Medicine Bar.

The lovely friends I went with decided to get me a birthday present of one of the summer tour posters (Morrissey with the cat on his head) and a set of badges. Yay :o)

Links to some vids and photos on The Northern Line

Below, song that amused me with its Morrissey impression when I was younger:

The Sextants – 01 Morrissey – I Don’t Lie EP

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Inspiration for the lyrics from tacet

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Inspiration for the lyrics from tacet

Buy Queen of Denmark immediately (2 CD version – the extra tracks are worth it). He is backed by Midlake on it.

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Kev is in the background commenting “now that’s rock n’ roll!”

Sara Watkins was joined by her brother Sean Watkins so we had two thirds of Nickel Creek on the stage. She performed a bunch of songs off of her album including the cover of pony by Tom Waits solo on ukulele.

They also performed two really great Nickel Creek songs – Reasons Why and also Somebody More Like You.

Really fun relaxed evening.

There was no option for positive impact on motor skills, hand-eye coordination, literacy and I seem to recall a study of multi-player online games leading to transferable skills for management in the workplace. Yet all video games were being tarred by the same brush.

It seems what they’re really concerned about is clueless parenting. Consenting, responsible adults should not be penalized and required to consume strictly content sanitized for children’s protection. Not everyone draws the line in the same place, so there needs to be room for a multiplicity of community standards…none of this was discussed.

In better television news, I am thoroughly excited for the new series of Misfits to be starting.

After a bizarre day at work, went to the MFC shop to purchase a Boro Brick in honour of my friends coming to visit from Chicago. I’m taking them to a match and now we will have a permanent souvenir of the occasion. : )

Stopped off at the new Caffe Nero in Middlesbrough before heading to the train.

Getting home tonight was misery. Took my usual 5.32 train only to hear an announcement saying we would have to get off one stop later at Thornaby to transfer to a bus which was of course not waiting for us. A very cold over an hour later we finally got on a bus. We stood at the side of the road waiting as empty buses drove past mocking our misery. Finally made it home a little over 2 hours after I started. Good mass transit is really the thing I miss most about NY.

The sad part was my plans for the evening were back in Middlesbrough again!

All’s well that ends well. We missed the first few opening acts but caught a really good mellow set by Billy the Kid and then new band The Vaccines at the Westgarth Social Club in Middlesbrough. The Vaccines reminded me of James crossed with a bit of the Ramones and a random folk singer. Julie thought they sounded a bit like the Editors.

A nice way to end the day. Here’s a vid of them playing Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra) on Jools Holland last week.

Andrew Marr getting really into it, Harriet Harman uncomfortably tapping along to the rhythm with her hand, William Hague who you could see from behind sitting completely still and possibly stonefaced.

Thank you Andrew Marr for that inspired bit of television.

The drive to the Sage was a bit dicey. At one point there were sheets of rain coming down with hardly any visibility. Many cars were stopping on the shoulder to wait it out.

We listened to the Cathy Davey CD from last night still really good.

I’d been listening to Ellipse for a good chunk of the day at work. Could have also been listening to Frou Frou’s Details - happy making she sang Let Go based on the crowd’s votes for 12 songs on the setlist via her website.

She was plugging her new DVD which was just released on the 1st. It sounds interesting Imogen Heap’s Everything In-Between: The Story of Ellipse [DVD].

The bright  lights on the stage meant I couldn’t take decent pics on my phone the way I did last night but couldn’t resist trying to capture her with the Keytar :) Also in cartoon format here.

The tree in the set was beautiful, lighting up in different colours with instruments hanging in the branches. She uses a head mic plus mics on her wrists so she can brush up against random instruments and also briefly used wine glasses as in Miss Congeniality.

On of the best bits of the gig was three part harmonies with the crowd on Just for Now. We were in the middle section and I got to hear Kev sing * swoon* . Video below is of a sing along at Webster Hall in NY.

Setlist for the Sage Gateshead is available on Imogen Heap’s website »

Greg Liszt mentioned that the new CD for his side project The Deadly Gentlemen is available for free download from their bandcamp site up until the official release. I’m really enjoying it. Try it below.

For video of The Deadly Gentlemen gig from January see Gregory Liszt’s Deadly Gentlemen at the Cluny2 in Newcastle

On a completely unrelated note the Old Town Hall sells yummy pirate and parrot cookies.  Still waiting for someone in Middlesbrough to open a bakery that sells Capt. Cook – ies.

His vimeo stream is here. Most recent Record Club is actually covering Yanni but Michael Hutchence-era INXS has a special place in my heart. Enjoy!

Record Club: INXS “Guns In The Sky” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS “New Sensation” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS “Devil Inside” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS “Need You Tonight” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS “Mediate” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS “Loved One” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS “Wild Life” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS “Never Tear Us Apart” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS “Mystify” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS “Kick” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS “Calling All Nations” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Record Club: INXS “Tiny Daggers” from Beck Hansen on Vimeo.

Robin Ince – Stand-up plus host

Martin White – Did the attempt at a random catchy tune – DaNgErous! (Helen Arney helped with keyboard)
Helen Arney – Also performed songs on ukulele
Marcus Chown – Did awards show for scientists (author of We need to Talk about Kelvin)
Matt Parker – Standup maths on homeopathy and ancient civ of Woolworths
Joanna Neary – Did the two characters (olde worlde housewife diary and psycho children’s entertainer)
Darren Hayman – Did the protons and neutrons song
Simon Singh – Bit on Katie Melua song
Helen Keen – It is Rocket Science – satanists andnazis oh my!
Baba Brinkman – Rap on creationists….for the people in the room who couldn’t understand what he was wanting you to respond with (like someone I was with) – it was “We off that”

Is there anyone I missed?

This is the program we caught one late night on TV that made us want to go:

He was thankful for being able to do what he does for a living, trying to learn this same life lesson.

We only caught the last song of the opening act Floe. We didn’t mind… they rhymed love with glove…shades of Phil Collins…when I’m feeling blue…all I have to do…is take a look at you…then I’m not so blue.

The annoying thing is we wanted to like them. Right before they performed their last song they told the crowd that anyone who really wants their CD should get one from the merch table…there is a suggested price but they want their music out there so if someone can’t afford it they should get one anyway. Enlightened sales policy, crappy, lazy rhyme.

She is young and has a gorgeous voice, is very cute and very creative.  What’s the problem?

Part of her persona is giggling through a bunch of messing up.  She is from the area and the crowd is supportive but it is annoying when you pay money to see someone in a fantastic venue and it doesn’t seem like they have bothered to rehearse very much and have possibly spent more time planning outfits.

I highly recommmend her EP and hope she gets her sh*t together for future gigs.

lyrics of zorbing

Conkers shining on the ground,
The air is cooler
And i feel like i just started uni
Walking backwards to my van
You’re at your window,
And I’m tripping every time i think of

Lying in your attic
I can feel the static
The storm has broken, Heavens open

Send my body out to work
But leave my senses
In orbit over south east London
Wind the window down and pinch
Me on the shoulder
Whilst i’ll be driving off to dream of

Lying in your attic
I can feel the static
The storm has broken, Heavens open
So electrifying, Oh I’m nearly flying
Lost my heart between the sheets of lightning

I’ve been singing you this song,
Inside a bubble,
Been Zorbing through the streets of Cowley,
We were always meant to be,
Zorbing together, And i think its high time we started

Lying in your attic
I can feel the static
The storm is breaking, windows shaking
So electrifying, Oh I’m nearly flying
Lost my heart between the sheets of lightning

Lying in your attic
I can feel the static
The storm has broken, Heavens open
So electrifying, Oh im nearly flying
Lost my heart between the sheets of lightning

conkers on wikipedia

zorbing on wikipedia

Kev’s new favourite song (even if it’s a bit folky for him) because it involves disconnecting…one day we both will:

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Serious Sam Barrett opened. A guy from Leeds singing country…I had an amusing misheard lyric moment on one of his songs.  ”She’s as pretty as the hair on the mossad? what?!!…spoke to him between sets to ask him what he was singing…She’s as pretty as the heather on the moorside  - makes a lot more sense. : )

Gregory Liszt is the banjo player from Crooked Still. We saw them at the Cluny 2 also. They are amazing and the venue was packed that night. Greg Liszt was very entertaining and as soon as I saw this new project he was doing was coming I immediately bought tickets. I was stunned that there weren’t more people at the gig, maybe people were scared of winter weather.

Happy to document a very fun gig (their first ever in England). First off they are really talented musicians – Mike Barnett on fiddle, Stash Wyslouch on guitar, Sam Grisman on bass, and Greg Liszt on vocals and banjo. They bring to mind a cross between Chris Thile and Mike Ford from Moxy Früvous bluegrass mixed with speed, the ability to communicate lyrics that are super-quick and clever. See for yourself.

Love Hobo Rockstar cause it reminds me of Kitteh and Pip.

Kitteh and Pip the Laugh-Out-Loud Cats

Shot videos while my battery lasted with Greg’s blessing (I asked before they went on stage).  Shot it with my new Kodak Zi8 with the internal microphone. The neat thing about the Zi8 is that it can also take an external mic (though I didn’t bring one).

I was pretty close (2nd row) and there was an empty seat in front of me that I could lean the camera on as a makeshift stabilizer. The Zi8 is pocketsize and many people mistake it for a largish smartphone. Nope, just a decent pocket video camera that shoots HD.  Should have also brought another recent purchase a portable, rechargeable power supply for when your battery runs out…oh well.

Shot the videos up until the battery went dead which to be fair I didn’t charge it before I left the house so it was on half strength from shooting random stuff.

Wish it would have lasted to the end. The encore was especially great. The small but enthusiastic crowd cheered them on to get back on the stage. They agreed to play another song but did it unplugged, off the stage – near the door with the crowd on their feet. I was not even 2 feet away from them. It was in the dark and awesome.

It would be great to see them in a festival setting like the Cambridge Folk Festival; they’d be loads of fun in one of the tents.  The next night they were going to be at Celtic Connections in Glasgow. Check out their myspace page for upcoming gigs.

Random extra info: At one point during the gig, Greg asked if anyone in the crowd or the band plays a banjo. He thinks they’re cool and that people should pick it up. Just don’t give one to a beautiful woman anonymously according to this ask.mefi thread.  The consensus is it’s creepy.

I was wearing:

Would have been just as happy wearing:

Some photos from the evening:

The show was good fun.  Multi-generational audience. Our only lament was that we weren’t seeing it in the US or Japan where it would have been sure to sell out and more people would have been dressed up.

Jack Wall was the conductor, Tommy Tallarico was the MC. It turns out he composed the music to one of the games I used to play Earthworm Jim (also loved the cartoon). Martin Leung the video game pianist also performed including a rendition of Super Mario blindfolded. There was also a skype video chat with Marty O’Donnell.

You can watch a good chunk of it with the youtube playlist below.

“I need your love
I need you in the morning
To make me tea
To kiss me when I’m yawning
I can see you’re head over heels for me
I can see you’re head over heels for me

From Head Over Heels by James Yuill

Original version on amazon.com, Remix version on amazon.com

Kev’s favourite because it involves making a cup of tea!

Highly recommend checking out James Yuill.

Morrissey, photo taken on Kevin's G1 phone. He made it look as good as possible. It is not a good camera on the G1.

1/ CHARMAN
2/ IRISH
3/ B CLOUD
4/ HSIN?
5/ ALL YOU NEED IS ME
6/ HOW CAN?
7/ COMA
8/ PARIS
9/ LEMME KY
10/ ASK
11/ SKULL
12/ ONE DAY GOOD
13/ WHY DON’T YOU F?
14/ BORES
15/ HIDDEN
16/ CAROL
17/ BEST F ON P
18/ SORRY DOESN’T
19/ SOME GRILLS
20/ LOOP
21/ I’M OK BY
enc: NEARER MY GOD TO THEE AM I

]]> http://whistlinginthedark.com/2009/05/20/morrissey-at-hartlepool-borough-hall-setlist-41/feed 0 http://whistlinginthedark.com/2009/01/17/ranting-about-ads-jeff-buckley-126 http://whistlinginthedark.com/2009/01/17/ranting-about-ads-jeff-buckley-126#comments Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:07:05 +0000 Yaffa http://whistlinginthedark.com/?p=126 In the last year there have been two commercials screened on TV promoting yet another post-humous Jeff Buckley collection. Below is the original advertisement for “So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley.”

Original cover

Links to new TV ad

After Alexandra Burke won X Factor (UK singing competition with Simon Cowell as a judge/producer) and the winner’s song was announced as a cover version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah a grassroots effort was made by the UK public (facebook group) to bring Jeff Buckley’s single to Xmas number 1 instead.

For fans, Alexandra Burke’s gospel-ly version just seemed to miss the point unless it’s ironic but according to this article that does not appear to be the case.

A cheap attempt to capitalize on this fervor came in the form of a new TV ad and CD cover being released.

The new advertisement attempts to capitalize on the X Factor tie-in by increasing the font on “Hallelujah” obscenely, larger than the artist’s name. It also appeals to the same maudlin tactics the television show is skewered for by focusing on the tragedy of his death (in a new print ad and tv ad). On this season’s X Factor, what should have been the personal tragedies and triumphs of the contestants, was spun in an endless parade of PR and airtime, there was a contestant with a dead wife, one with a dead mother, a new baby sister, a dead almost grandmother, etc.

Just thought the bad taste should be documented. When I saw the new ad it made me want to throw up and throw something at the TV. Instead I ranted at Kevin and now I bring the joy to you.

And now for my cheap attempt to capitalize: Amazon Jeff Buckley Store.

Ivri Lider

Went to see Ivri Lider perform at Ivri Lider at Avalon in NYC 2006-11-11. Photo set here.
Video from that gig on youtube.

Ivri Lider performing I Kissed a Girl. (I prefer his version of Barbie Girl. Leave a comment if you want an mp3 of him performing Barbie Girl.)

Rita’s “Bo” performed in English as “Your Soul” accompanied by footage from Yossi and Jagger. Two guys kiss in the video so you have to confirm you are over 18 to youtube to watch it.

Link to a short radio show he did on Galei Tzahal 13-November-2008 with the band as it is on the album and touring: Gilad Shmueli – Drums, Amir Rosiano aka Jango – Bass, Yehonatan Fridge – Guitar, Adi Goldstein – keyboard. Songs only download of the radio show here.

Setlist:
Beketzev Ahid Betnuot Shel HaGuf – בקצב אחיד בתנועות של הגוף
Mitorer – מתעורר
Metayel Australi – מטייל אוסטרלי
Yoter Tov Klum – יותר טוב כלום
Hadrachim Ha’arukot – הדרכים הארוכות
VeUlay – ואולי
Hakos Hakhula – הכוס הכחולה
Aluf Haolam – אלוף העולם.

More Ivri Lider on Israboot here.

Ivri Lider online – official site, myspace, facebook, youtube, wikipedia, emusic, amazon mp3.

Whistling in the Dark was a 1931 Hit of the Week. These were cardboard records sold via newsstands for 15 cents during the Great Depression.

Hit of the Week records were promoted in 1929 with the following:

“This is the new Hit-of-the-week record. It is made of Durium, the great invention of a Columbia university professor. Its tone is as rich as the costliest record made. It is guaranteed to play perfectly longer than any other record. It won’t break if you drop it. It brings you the latest dance hits each week played by Broadway’s best orchestras, at the sensationally low price of fifteen cents! Each week our music jury, composed of Florenz Ziegfeld, Eddie Cantor and Vincent Lopez, selects the outstanding dance hits of the hour for the Hit-of-the-week recording. A new Hit-of-the-week record is on sale each Thursday at all news-stands in this city. Fifteen cents!” (source)

Digital Sheet Music Download for sale here (unless you are in U.S., Canada or Venezuela).
Shirts, posters, greeting cards and mugs with an image of sheet music for the song available here.

Radio Dismuke – Online station of 1920s & 1930s Popular Music and Jazz

They Might Be Giants’ Whistling in the Dark here

Anais Mitchell opened for them. She was pretty good…best song of the set Cosmic American from her 2004 CD “Hymns for the Exiled”. Her latest CD is “The Brightness” released on Ani DiFranco’s Riteous Babe records.

The main event was Bon Iver (pronounced: bohn eevair, though when I heard Anais Mitchell say it it kind of sounded like bonnie bear) is mainly Justin Vernon plus Mike Noyce and Sean Carey and a bass player who I can’t find the name of for the life of me.

Justin Vernon has a gorgeous voice and a wicked collection of guitars and the four musicians on stage work together tightly for a really rich sound. You can hear the album (there’s only the one) on their virb.com page. They also have a myspace page and an official site.

Mike Noyce was stunning as he sang a beautiful cover of Graham Nash’s “Simple Man,” and the whole group sang a cover of Sarah Siskind’s “Lovin’s For Fools” after it was requested by an audience member. The video to the right is the same cover, different night.

Justin Vernon kept commenting on what a nice, professional venue the Sage is and the caliber of the crowd…he seemed a bit surprised and bewildered to be there at times. For me I can’t imagine hearing Bon Iver in a place with flawed sound – what a travesty it would be not to get the full range of emotion and beauty in the songs.

All well and good, the part that kicked my ass – the song that came on after the encore song when the lights came on: “Love Me Sexy” by Jackie Moon aka Will Ferrell in Semi-Pro (one of the many movies I saw on flights on this summer, surprisingly entertaining).

King Creosote

The opening act King Creosote was really good. The reason there are more pictures of them is because a dumb usher thought my camera was a DSLR because it had a zoom on it, I tried to explain but he threatened to take my camera away so I could only take pictures of Squeeze during the first song.

Never mind that my picture-taking is way less disruptive than other people around me since I don’t use flash and I don’t use the LCD display. All the cell phones and small cameras taking videos and pictures are way more annoying.

It was a great show. My husband, while he loves my photos, was happy I was free to dance with him.

Glenn Tilbrook

Chris Difford

Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford will each be on UK tours in 2008. I kind of enjoy them more separately and hope to see them again then. I would also enjoy seeing King Creosote again. Live performance is one of my favorite ways to be exposed to music I don’t know so I try to make it to shows in time for the opening acts.

Squeeze Setlist:

Stephen Large

Take Me I’m Yours
Up The Junction
Piccadilly
I Think I’m Go-Go
Love Circles
Is That Love?
Third Rail
Electric Trains
Slightly Drunk
In Quintessence
Maidstone
Some Fantastic Place
Labeled with Love
Messed Around
Melody Motel
Slaughtered, Gutted and Heartbroken

Setlist

The most extreme range of crappy to sublime in one performer was the finale by Madonna.

La Isla Bonita as performed by Madonna with Gogol Bordello was absolutely genius. So that’s what the song was missing – wacked out gypsies. Admittedly, I really liked the song when it was first released in 1987. I was 10 or 11 at the time.

The point of the concerts according to the official website:

Live Earth is a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.

The stupidest song possible for Live Earth was Madonna’s Hung Up, the very last song to cap off the night.

A crisis does not indicate that “Time Goes By So Slowly.” This lyric repeats in the damn song at least 14 times, but probably more. And time probably moved even faster last night with the environmental impact of these shows.

Video of Madonna with Gogol Bordello:

Gogol Bordello

Madonna

Foo Fighters

Spinal Tap

Pussycat Dolls

Beastie Boys

An Inconvenient Truth

An Inconvenient Truth

Bjork at Radio City

Randomly had a hotel room not far from the show for the night through work. Watched some Bravo before going, an episode of Project Runway [Finale of Season 2] and Shear Genius which I had never seen before. Headed over to Radio City,

Bjork at Radio City

Row F in the orchestra is way further back then it should be because Radio City is one of these venues with double letter rows before single letter.

Konono N°1 were the opening act. They were ok if a bit repetitive by the end of their set. Made me yearn for the Afro-Cuban All Stars.

Björk was great but the venue was really wrong for her. I remember seeing her at the Tibetan Freedom Festival and much prefer seeing her outdoors. A lot of the crowd was dead and the energy of the hardcore people got lost.

One of the more bizarre points in the evening was when I told the guy next to me I think she has a wooden leg attached. The beats were really cool and I literally could have sworn for a bit that she had a third leg on that she was using to bang on the stage and create the extra beats. I took a bunch of photos focusing on her legs to prove / disprove the notion. It was actually a bit of fabric hanging form the dress that I was misinterpreting. It’s kind of funny that I didn’t think it too weird for her.

RCMH setlist is below. I am a bit jealous of those who saw her at United Palace theatre because they got Hunter and Immature (and Bachelorette and Hyperballad). Though we got All Is Full of Love and Jóga so I guess it balances out.

Setlist:

01 Earth Intruders*
02 Venus as a Boy
03 Aurora
04 I See Who You Are**
05 Oceania
06 Dull Flame of Desire***
07 All is Full of Love
08 The Pleasure is All Mine
09 Pagan Poetry
10 Jóga
11 Where is the Line
12 Army of Me
13 Innocence
14 Wanderlust
15 Pluto

Encores:

16 [encore break]
17 [band introductions]
18 Anchor Song
19 Declare Independence

*With Konono N°1
**With Min Xiao-Fen
***With Antony Hegarty

After the show I was hanging out by the stage door, at first in hopes of taking a photo of the setlist under the false assumption that the hardcore folks who nabbed it would be hanging out.

Saw Idan Raichel waiting around too. Normally I wouldn’t go over to someone famous but what the hell Bjork wasn’t coming out…Ended up talking to him about the Bjork show – he was really impressed by Antony Hegarty [Antony and the Johnsons] and about seeing him perform in The Idan Raichel Project’s very first show in Tel Aviv. I had even seen him perform back in the day when he was the keyboard player for Ivri Lider. It seems he is in NY a fair bit these days because he’s got a gorgeous NYC girlfriend.

Idan Raichel with fans

I channeled my mother for this picture. These two fans came over and told him they were fans. Without asking him if it was ok I asked them if they wanted a picture with him. Then, I said – if that’s ok with you….it would have been assholic for him to refuse just like it was assholic for me to do what I did….It was a bossy, Israeli, Jewish mother – the matter was settled before he was consulted, like I said assholic thing for me to do. The girls got a cute picture…Sorry Idan….it was ridiculous. The price of fame I guess…

Didn’t end up waiting for Bjork. Had a great salad to go from Metro Cafe and got back to my hotel room to watch some more Bravo. I really don’t get the show Work Out.

Sidewalk Cafe has free live music (2 drink minimum, not too strictly enforced plus they pass a bucket around for the artists – suggested $5). I used to go all the time in college to hear Matt Sherwin play on Monday nights. The Trachtenburg Family Sldeshow Players are playing next Friday! I will be in Chicago though.

Ivan Sandomire's Guitar

It is difficult to shoot photos at Sidewalk Cafe because it is really dark there.

Sondre Lerche

Sondre Lerche is a really fun performer. This is the second time I have seen him…the first time with the Faces Down. It was extremely difficult to google the names of the members of The Faces Down for labeling photos so here they are…I had to dig out the CD insert to Duper Sessions…: Guitar: Kato Adland, Bass: Morton Skage, Drums: Ole Ludvig Kruger. The vibe was very different at the solo Hiro Ballroom gig which was all goofy and acoustic. This was full of energy and creativity, full-on rock. And he is so cute! and married (Sorry Lee!)

Thomas Dybahl, one of the opening acts (sorry I missed them), dressed in a ridiculous outfit and danced on stage for Phantom Punch. I thought he might be Captain Morgan of the rum for the alcoholic punch. Most songs came from Phantom Punch with some older songs thrown in for good measure.

After the show Sondre sat in a corner signing whatever people brought him. There was a long line. Lee offered to pretend to be going into labor so I could skip the line…Asaf, Ofer’s friend suggested I use the Holocaust as a reason, no, six millions reasons. Israeli humor…The Faces Down also roamed the crowd happy to chat and sign things for fans including bassist Morton Skage trying to sign a towel that a cute Asian girl had gotten from the stage from one of the roadies. (See my flickr set for photos.)

I ordered the tickets in advance from ticketweb. You have a choice of getting them delivered in advance for $14 or doing Will Call (for some reason I don’t recall regular mail being an option for the show). If you like to collect ticket stubs you’ll have to pony up the $14 because at willcall they just cross your name off of a list. If anyone has a ticketstub from this show, I would love to have it.

Setlist:

Airport Taxi Reception
The Tape
The Curse
All Luck Ran Out
Well Well Well
Minor Detail
Dead Passengers
Tragic Mirror (solo)
Modern Nature
Everyone’s Rooting For You
Face the Blood
Hello Headphones
Track You Down
She’s Fantastic
Phantom Punch
Say It All
—
Sleep On Needles
Two Way Monologue
John, Let Me Go

Photos and CDs below. The new Phantom Punch for alterna-dance-fun-rock, Duper Sessions for jazzy goodness, The others for more acoustic rock and gorgeous lyrics (the great lyrics applies to all of them.). The Don’t Be Shallow E.P. has a beautiful cover of Night and Day.

We were both hungry so we tried to go to the nearby, standby Zen Palate. Their kitchen was closed but we found a new, nearby, vegetarian falafel place Maoz Vegetarian that is open until 3 AM. We sat, ate too much, and talked. It was very fun. So sad that I had to go to work the next day.

The staff were helpful and friendly. Though there are very few places to sit. 4 stools to be exact. It seems like it is more of a lunchtime takeout kind of place. We were lucky, a couple was just finishing up as we got in. The falafel, Belgian fries and salads were good and fresh. It is a franchise business. We were told by one of the staffpeople that the founder is Israeli and opened the first one in Amsterdam. We picture a ישראלי מסטול (stoned Israeli) thinking up his big idea. Apparently, there are a bunch of them now in a load of countries. Good on him.

One of the other staffpeople is originally from Morocco and his English is amazing for having come here two years ago. He recommended a Moroccan singer called Pinhas and an online Moroccan music site to find him. Look under Par Chanteur for him or other artists. There’s some good music there.

Yes, we sat there a long time.

calendargirl is a vocalist for Freeform Five and has a neat project called calendarsongs. She is posting a song per month for remixing by the interweb, at the end of a year, the goal is to have an album.

Setlist:

01. O Santo De Polvora (Milladoiro)
02. Wayside (Back in Time) (Gillian Welch and David Rawlings)
03. Stay Away
04. Blind Leaving the Blind (Four Movements)
05. Recreation of the first time they played it
06. How to Grow a Woman from the Ground (Thomas Anderson Brosseau)
07. The Beekeeper
08. Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground (White Stripes)
09. Watch ‘At Breakdown

Encore 1
10. If The Sea Was Whiskey
11. The Eleventh Reel

Encore 2
12. Ophelia (The Band) (Gabe Witcher, Main Vocals)

Banter before Stay Away:

Thank you.

This is not the regarded Carnegie Hall. This is Zankel Hall.

We’re not nervous in the least and uh and very actually amused that you all decided to show up in nothing but underwear.

Kind of ridiculous though what were you thinking?

We got dressed up. Looking pretty sharp for all of you.

So Ok.

So we started with a song called O Santo De Polvora and despite the title and despite that it was written by a Spanish band called Milladoiro um we kind of feel that it’s fitting to play it on St. Patrick’s Day.

First of all it sounds Celtic. But also because again the title O Santo De Polvora we’re almost sure that it’s a tribute to the great Cubs thirdbaseman Ron Santo and he was a Chicago Cub. Chicago, might be the most Irish of all American cities.

And he played Of course at Wrigley Field, Chicago which had the Ivy League of Green.

And it’s a baseball field so actually there’s a lot of green.

So we feel like that one was completely appropriate.

The song after that less appropriate and we will continue to play less and less appropriate songs and music

That one was called Wayside and the parenthetical title which I mention only because I like saying parenthetical And that is Back in Time. That was written by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.

And Dave, Dave always dresses sharp. So does Gil. He would have shown up in a suit and tie if he were playing.

At this point someone’s program drops from the second balcony up. Chris offers by gesture to throw the used tissue on the stage near him that he has just been using. The offer is declined.

Intro to Blind Leaving the Blind:

Alright, so we’re going to play this piece that I wrote for five of us to play.

Quintet, quintet

A stringed quintet as the preferred term for our instruments and three of us will sing and we’re very very excited.

And it’s in Four Movements. It may sound like six depending on how you count.

There will be three complete stops. During which we’ll tune no doubt. All of us.

See there are two stops where some of us will tune you may think that that’s a new movement.

You would, sitting there in your underwear. We love you people.

That’s what the whole problem is. We love it here.

This song is called

This song?

a nice tune.

a nice tune.

A lttle long, It’s a little long. Really.

We hope you like it.

It’s called the Blind Leaving the Blind.

And it’s in V??

[Lights go blue]

That’s why it’s Carnegie Hall.

There’s a vibe, there’s a vibe if you play in here.

Blue for Bluegrass.

After Playing Blind Leaving the Blind:

CT: Thank you very much.

(From Audience: Thank you. That was nice.)

CT: Ok, we’re gonna do a couple more normal songs now.

CT: Oh dear, I’m not ready to come down yet. Is everything 15 BPMs too fast?

NP: The first time that we tried playing certain sections of this piece It was about a year and a half ago. We got together for about a week. And the first thing we started learning which was the final movement the hardest part. Which I think that’s Chris’s style, of course, to do the hard part first We tried playing that, certain sections of that last movment. After three days of rehearsal in the Living Room in NY about a year and a half ago And I don’t know how we had the idea that we could get through it but we told ourselves we’ve got to just still play it This is the only way we’re gonna get better at it And if anyone makes a mistake It’s no big deal But if you make a mistake that you can’t recover from Just scream out “What?” in the middle of the song And we started the piece And about 40 seconds into it Critter (Chris Eldridge) yelled out Who-What.

CT: We’ll recreate it for you. Ok now And then I was actually so incredibly nervous it really was like 15 beats per minute too fast and we’ll recreate that part as well

[Reenactment of first performance including the yell]

(From audience: We love you critter.)

CT: It was awesome.

He then suggests the recording of that first time should be secret track on the new record with Critter making some extra royalties on it or something.

Beekeeper Intro:

This was the last bit of banter where Noam Pikelny explains where the title for “The Beekeeper” comes from. Not because of the current crisis with bees rather people ask what it’s like to play with Chris Thile all the time and the best way to describe it is that he’s a Musical beekeeper, he gets an idea and then just runs with it and goes crazy messing things around, speeding things up and then telling them where to play it, how fast to play it, play it faster, and then they have the piece. They started rehearsing it and then Gabe came up with an idea, Chris ran with it and came back 15 minutes later and had all these very difficult, very fast parts to play. Musical bees and he told Chris he wouldn’t play it unless he called it The Beekeeper, and a deal was struck.

my flickr: Chris Thile and The Tensions Mountain Boys

CDs from amazon:

Punch Brothers - Punch

How to Grow a Woman from the Ground

Nickel Creek - Best Of

Songs:

Korin Allal and Eran Zur – Cshe’zeh Amok – Hebrew Lyrics
Korin Allal and Eran Zur – Tmuna Impressionistit – Hebrew Lyrics
Eran Zur – Parparei Ta’atu’a – Hebrew Lyrics
Eran Zur – Leilot Shel Yareah Maleh – Hebrew Lyrics
Korin Allal – Motek – Hebrew Lyrics
Korin Allal – Ein Li Eretz Aheret – Hebrew Lyrics – Was kinda fun to listen to this song in a roomful of Israelis who have chosen to live in NYC.
Korin Allal – Hataba’at Nafla – Hebrew Lyrics
Korin Allal – Zan Nadir – Hebrew Lyrics – Not Zan Adir
Korin Allal – Eretz Ktana Im Safam – Hebrew Lyrics

Aqualung were fun as ever with a mix of old and new songs and cute banter. Pressure Suit is available as of today. I finally have a women’s aqualung shirt….damn American Apparrel….some of their XLs fit and some of them don’t….the cute Memory Man shirt fits! Lee and I both wanted shirts, the trouble was they didn’t take credit cards and we didn’t have cash so we ran out to get money from a nearby ATM (at the bodega where I ran to get batteries during the Robyn Hitchcock/Mark Pickerel gig)….the stupid machine wouldn’t take my card but did take Lee’s card. We ran back and the doors to the venue were closed….we weren’t too worried because the drummer was outside smoking a cigarette but I had left my camera with Jason and Kate and we definitely needed to get back in there….thankfully Jason thought to come out to open the door for us….

We then got to talk to Matt and I asked him to sign the Strange and Beautiful poster I got at the closing Tower Records (R.I.P) for me and Kevin….Kevin sent me their music originally and Strange and Beautiful and Brighter than Sunshine were a part of our soundtrack for our long-distance relationship. We used to listen to them together/apart.

Below are photos and videos from the show and a link to their CDs on Amazon:

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Strange and Beautiful (Music) Artist:Aqualung Manufacturer:Sony Released:17 January, 2006

Memory Man (Music) Artist:Aqualung Manufacturer:Sony Released:13 March, 2007

Chris Difford’s description here.

Squeeze will be performing some shows as a group again!

South East Side Story (Music) Artist:Chris Difford Manufacturer:Luna Records Released:19 September, 2006

I Didn’t Get Where I Am (Music) Artist:Chris Difford Manufacturer:Drt Released:17 February, 2004

Squeeze – Greatest Hits (Music) Artist:Squeeze Manufacturer:A&M Released:18 September, 2001

Setlist:

1. Asbury Park
2. Damn Good Times
3. Bee Of The Bird Of The Moth
4. Fingertips
5. We Live In A Dump
6. Birdhouse In Your Soul
7. E Eats Everything
8. Why Did You Grow A Beard?
9. We’re The Replacements
10. Till My Head Falls Off
11. She’s An Angel
12. Experimental Film
13. Robot Parade
15. The Day
16. Spy
17. Older
18. Why Does The Sun Shine?
19. Alphabet Of Nations
20. Dr. Worm
21. Meet James Ensor
22. The Famous Polka
23. Drink!

Encore:

24. Feast Of Lights
25. Santa’s Beard
26. Snail Shell
27. This Damn Band
28. Twisting

Encore:

29. Don’t Let’s Start
30. Turn Around

Have nothing to add to this review which is ridiculously thorough with the banter. The opening act was The Last Car with Chris Anderson, Robin “Goldie” Goldwasser, and Amy Miles. They were good (they sing songs about Mr. T) they had to be – tickets were mislabeled with a Doors time of 8:00. Doors were at 9:00 (and it was cold!) and The Last Car went on at 10:00. TMBG went on at 11:00. We got out at 1:10…no Hanukkah party at Jocelyn’s for me but a great time was had by all.

Lee’at’s mom drove us to the show…Thank you Ann…We are again 15 instead of 30.

A User’s Guide to They Might Be Giants (Music) Artist:They Might Be Giants Manufacturer:Elektra / Wea Released:03 May, 2005

The Perfect Thing: How the iPod Shuffles Commerce, Culture, and Coolness (Book) Authors:Steven Levy Manufacturer:Simon & Schuster Released:24 October, 2006

Neat things in the chapters:

Perfect has an amusing description of Bill Gates seeing an iPod for the first time.

Identity discusses the intimate nature of exchanging iPods with someone – you may be revealing more than you wish.

Origin discusses the people who were building digital music players and stores before Apple but couldn’t do what Apple has done.

In Cool he talks with Jonathan Ive the designer responsible for the iPod’s look.

In Personal he discusses amateur inventor Andreas Pavel – inventor of the first portable music player in 1972 and the social issues that have concerned people regarding personal music players.

Download has some interesting insights into the politics of getting labels on board with iTunes.

Apple on the impact of Steve Jobs and the turnaround at the company. At the time he rejoined Michael Dell [Dell computers] said “I’d shut [Apple] down,” he said,”and give the money back to the shareholders.”On Jan 13, 2006 Apple’s market capitaliztion became greater than Dell’s.

Podcast finds the roots in CB radio.

It’s a quick read. It talks about what Apple does right. Does not really get into the wrong. It is enjoyable especially the bits I mentioned above.

And how cute is the new shuffle? (maybe it is just for fanboys/fangirls)

Apple 1 GB iPod Shuffle Metal (2nd Generation) (Electronics) Manufacturer:Apple Computer Released:

The Beautiful South
Cakeshop
Ludlow Street
New York City, NY
6th November, 2006

01 Especially For You
02 The River
03 Pretty Things
04 Manchester
05 Old Red Eyes Is Back
06 Prettiest Eyes
07 Paul’s Poem
08 Rotterdam
09 One Last Love Song
10 Perfect 10
11 Let Love Speak Up Itself
12 Don’t Marry Her

Performers:
Paul Heaton – vocals
Dave Rotheray – guitar
Dave Hemingway – vocals
Alison Wheeler – vocals
Tony Robinson – trumpet/backing vocals
Gaz Birtles – backing vocals
Kev Brown – backing vocals

The Beautiful South’s new CD is really worth checking out.

Superbi (Music) Artist:The Beautiful South Manufacturer:Sony / Bmg Import Released:20 July, 2006

I’ve gotten a recording of the show at Cake Shop (thank you leohilarious – also for a correction on the last line of the poem.) and have transcribed Paul Heaton’s poem below. If you have any corrections please comment.

Paul Heaton’s Poem

When hip-hop’s selling perfume
And boy band’s selling grief
The blues man’s market life insurance just won’t flip underneath
Jazz just chucks its concrete into transparent handkerchief
Everything is anything to anyone

The butchers sell you pantyhose
The supermarket sells you land
And the news really likes to read the news but he’s also in a band
And feminism’s fast asleep with a cock in either hand
Everything is anything to everyone

Modern, modern man is a man of many lives
So we decorate, we imitate, we duplicate their lives
It’s the sound of octopuses giving infinite high fives
Everybody’s business is show business

And the indoors wants you Oliver
And the outdoors wants you Audi
The bank they want a Tex or Hank
And the mic wants Pavarotti
Kitchen, garden, wardrobe, property in the sun
Everything is anything to everyone

The newsagent sells you holidays
The travel shop sells you sand
The local vicar saves your soul
But he also saves the damned
Nothing’s black and white no more
Just permanently tanned
Everything is everything to everyone

Locate, locate, locate
Locate the victim’s house
Swap their wives
And take their lives
And turn them inside out
Nothing left in closet
Nothing left in doubt
Everything is anything to everyone

Modern, modern woman
Is juggling many lives
Duplicating, decorating, imitating lives
To the sound of a million whistling wolves
From the ground of a thousand building sites
Everybody’s business is show business

And the thin are getting thinner
And the big are getting bigger
Till 5 and 75 year olds worry about their figure
The big are getting bigger
The thin are getting thinner
Till everyone is looking at everyone else’s dinner
And we shave our heads to make us look thin
Till the whole fucking Earth’s of fat bald skin
To the fitness instructors and the owners of the gym
I see piling down from the balcony of the trim
And there’s your space, MySpace, their big mouth
Turns everything and everyone inside out
Your tube, Me tube, everybody spout
Everything is anything and nowt is fucking nowt

Videos found on YouTube below:

Mellow and good is also the new Nickel Creek best of CD/DVD. A continuation of my newfound Chris Thile fandom. Plus his bandmate’s voice is a bit Duncan Sheik-like – yippy.

His Cd is worth getting and apparently his dad drew the amazing cover below.

Snake in the Radio (Music) Artist:Mark Pickerel and His Praying Hands Manufacturer:Bloodshot Records Released:09 May, 2006

Video of Mark Pickerel performing Forest Fire:

For a great look at Sun Records – originally saw it at a midnight showing at Doc Aviv:

Good Rockin’ Tonight – The Legacy of Sun Records (DVD) Manufacturer:Image Entertainment Released:08 October, 2002

Robyn Hitchcock was in excellent form…during his banter he brought up the recent excellent story that has come out about elephants going crazy.

Mark Pickerel : Forest Fire

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Robyn Hitchcock : Snippet of Madonna of the Wasps
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Snake in the Radio (Music) Artist:Mark Pickerel and His Praying Hands Manufacturer:Bloodshot Records Released:09 May, 2006

Olé! Tarantula (Music) Artist:Robyn Hitchcock, The Venus 3 Manufacturer:Yep Roc Records Released:03 October, 2006

Good Rockin’ Tonight – The Legacy of Sun Records (DVD) Manufacturer:Image Entertainment Released:08 October, 2002

The Darien Dilemma

Then I went to see a great documentary, The Darien Dilemma, at Makor as part of their Reel Jews festival. A father and his filmmaker son explore the previously untold story of 1,000 Viennese Jews stranded on the frozen Danube River in 1941 as they awaited their would-be rescuer, Ruth Klieger, an agent of the newly created Mossad.

Erez Laufer weaves together interviews with the survivors, archival film, dramatic re-enactments (including scenes of the actors’ preparation – it seems like they stand in for the audience while they get inside the characters’ heads.) and footage of his father the screenwriter.

The director Erez Laufer was at the screening. He notes that the footage of a ship in the film is actually from a ship that set sail a few months prior to the Darien that was shot by a Hungarian sailor, but photos (of youth groups and a massacre) are original and directly linked to the story. Both in the film and in person he explains that his father started looking at archives to find out more about his own history and how his mother escaped Europe with him as a small child.

His father then became intrigued by this story of Ruth Klieger and partially with her reported beauty and alleged affair with David Ben-Gurion. She remained in Israel, worked as a PR person for shipping company ZIM and died in Tel Aviv in 1979.

The film is about her, and not less so about the filmmaker’s father. Through this film many survivors who were interviewed learned a fuller story of what happened when they were brought to Palestine.

It is worth seeing – it is made in an interesting way and tells a compelling and little-known story. Note to documentary filmmakers: Include your notes, interviews, arguments with your father the screenwriter…realize how much central characters may not know about what happened to them….You can buy tickets for December screenings on Makor’s website.

After the film I met Jocelyn and Lee at Bistro 60 for dessert. We had Tarte Tatin – Apple tart with crème fraîche. This is an amazing dessert. We devoured it – moaning all the way. Learned that Hebrew for “to moan” is גניחה – Geniha. Lee was shocked we didn’t know this word. Jocelyn’s response – I’m more of a screamer.

my flickr: The Beautiful South at Cake Shop

Chris Thile

Chris Thile – How to Grow a Woman from the Ground Fantastic mandolin playing and a southern voice make for some good music. Check out the videos below for Chris Thile in action. The second song is from this CD and was written by Jack White of The White Stripes

Hilary Hahn

Hilary Hahn – Paganini: Violin Concerto No. 1 / Spohr: Violin Concerto No. 8 – Gesangsszene She performs Paganini and Spohr with virtuosity. If you enjoy the thunder and calm a violin can inspire get this CD.

Below are 4 videos from Chris Thile’s start to the evening – he likens himself to the “musical corndog” of the evening compared to Hilary’s elegance and what a mighty fine corndog was he. I wish I had more memory cards to record more of this evening. The venue was packed and people were on their feet and cheering. More classical shows should have this unstuffy, rocking vibe to them. Guess they should keep combining with bluegrass.

Video 1/4: Untitled

Setlist

01 Everyone’s Rooting For You
02 Minor Detail
03 Dead Passengers
04 Dead End Mystery
05 Across The Land Intro
06 Across The Land
07 Across The Land Outro
08 Don’t Be Shallow
09 Once In A While
10 Days That Are Over
11 The Duper Sessions and Diaries Are For Girls
12 Phantom Punch and Stupid Mammories
13 (You Knocked Me) Off Of My Feet
14 Human Hands (Elvis Costello Cover)
15 After All (from Phantom Punch)
16 My Hair’s So Long Apology
17 Modern Nature (with Audience)
18 Till You Let Me Know (NEW SONG – not on Phantom Punch)
19 (I Wanna) Call It Love
20 Distortion Pedals
21 You Know So Well
22 Wet Ground (Phantom Punch)
23 Living Lounge
24 No One’s Gonna Come
25 Two Way Monologue
26 Encore – Tragic Mirror (Phantom Punch)

There’s an open contest to remix a Fort Minor track at the moment (Linkin Park side project).

The previous contest – “Copyright Criminals” features one of my favorites – tacet.

Full track here.
Bits for remixing here.

Jason Mraz and Toca Rivera at Housing Works Used Book Cafe.

All proceeds for all performances at this venue benefit Housing Works an advocacy and aid organization for homeless people living with HIV/AIDS.

The venue was so packed and sweaty it should have been group sex…it was my first real exposure to Jason Mraz – he was a cross between the laidbackness of John Mayer/Jack Johnson, the wackiness of early Barenaked Ladies mixed with random innocuous boybandness though most of his fans would probably kill me for saying so…

Another version of the audio here.

Great fansite here.

Other Videos here.

Posting 14 videos from that night below – sadly fullscreen on googlevideo doesn’t give you the true quality – don’t recommend looking at them at larger size.

1 Wordplay; Dramatica Mujer

2 Geek In The Pink

3 Mr. Curiosity (up tempo version)

4 Ghetto Blaster; Rocket Man; Tonight, Not Again

5 Plane

6 On Love, in Sadness

7 On Love, in Sadness (con’t.)

8 Talk (On working w/ Rachel Yamagata; on new guitarist); Unfold

9 Burning Bridges

10 Toca Joke

11 Please Don’t Tell Her

12 Talk (signs special edition with notebook of new cd for fan and poses for photo)

13 I’ll Do Anything (One Love); 0% Interest <-> Where Is The Love?

14 I’m Yours (incomplete)

It also seemed to be destined…the show was supposed to take place the previous week as a big Pride show – I couldn’t go because I had a lot of work to get done the following day. Fate intervened – RuPaul apparently had trouble getting her suitcase so it was postponed for a week. Happened to see the ad and decided ok.

Doors were supposed to open at 12.00. Didn’t until about 12.30-12.45. Fine…standard. The ad mentioned two DJs (spinning perfectly serviceable dance music). It didn’t mention they would spin until a quarter to four. [I thought they would come on after the show.] My accomplice for the evening lasted until 3.15.

I stayed because I had been there way too long already (it helped that a guy hit on me and woke me up – there was a point where I was dozing standing up – I’m not much of a dancer – and had gone with a show in mind rather than hours of dancing – was not mentally there)…also it was pretty expensive NIS 160 for entry – just under $40 add drinks and you’re talking about a $50-something evening when I’m making about U.S. minimum wage or just under.

The show: I am stunned that the show was postponed for a week considering the outfits RuPaul wore. My Hebrew is fluent but I felt the need to ask a fellow bystander if I understood correctly and that the suitcase had been found. (I thought maybe these outfits were made in a rush.) Jeans!!! granted with some sparkle on the sides and tops which were just frumpy. [Flickr photo of the outfit at Cleveland Pride in 2004.] There was nothing fabulous about the outfits.

At the beginning you couldn’t really hear her voice. (got better) I can say because of technical difficulties for a few minutes I’m probably one of the only people in the world who’s heard an acoustic version of Supermodel (You Better Work It) well and RuPaul saying “I love Izree’el.” Her part was pretty ho-hum.

Dana International on the other hand was in front of her crowd…(later in the evening an audience member asked her for the mic and told her she was amazing and who the hell is RuPaulette anyway?). She had some beefy male dancers behind her and performed her hits which people knew the words to. (A couple of drag queens knew the words to RuPaul’s stuff but that’s about it). I would recommend a show of hers in Tel Aviv – a lot of energy if you’re willing.

Both sets though (not including the aforementioned DJs) were shockingly short. I left at 5.00 after both performed who knows maybe they came back on – but who has the energy? especially knowing I would be at work the next day…

Is there an icon for feeling really old? (at 27)

Reposted from an RP Journal Entry.

There’s only one thing that I know how to do well
And I’ve often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And that’s be you,
Be what you’re like,
Be like yourself,
And so I’m having a wonderful time
But I’d rather be whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
There’s only one thing that I like
And that is whistling in the dark

A man came up to me and said
“I’d like to change your mind
By hitting it with a rock,” he said,
“Though I am not unkind.”
We laughed at his little joke
And then I happily walked away
And hit my head on the wall of the jail
Where the two of us live today.

There’s only one thing that I know how to do well
And I’ve often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And that’s be you,
Be what you’re like,
Be like yourself,
And so I’m having a wonderful time
But I’d rather be whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
There’s only one thing that I like
And that is whistling in the dark

There’s only one thing that I know how to do well
And I’ve often been told that you only can do
What you know how to do well
And that’s be you,
Be what you’re like,
Be like yourself,
And so I’m having a wonderful time
But I’d rather be whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling in the dark
Whistling, whistling
Whistling in the dark

Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)

Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)

Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)
Whistling (whistling), Whistling (whistling)
Dark (dark), Dark (dark)

Flood was released by They Might Be Giants on January 5, 1990.