Went to see the Deadly Gentlemen at the Cluny 2 in Newcastle this past Wednesday. It was a Jumpin’ Hot Club gig – they put on lots of folk, alt-rock good stuff on in the area.
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.
The video is shot by Kev from our living room window. I looked out the window and asked him what it was, he had no idea. Turns out the woodcock is a shy, nocturnal bird so it is rare to see one. We used the excellent RSPB bird identifier to figure out what it was.
One of the things I have enjoyed about living in Hartlepool and having a garden is learning the names of birds. Our garden gets visits from starlings and blackbirds, woodpigeons, robins and sparrows. We get loads of seagulls too. This past year we had a bunch of baby seagulls on the roof. Growing up in Brooklyn and reading a lot I could tell you that robins and sparrows are small birds…I couldn’t pick them out of a birdy line-up.
We have a friend who is really into birds. When we go out with him and his wife we look to him to help identify birds. He asks us questions like what did it look like and what did it sound like…we respond (like Mrs. Swan on Mad TV’s “he looka like a man”) it looked like a bird, it sounded like a bird.
Kev and I went to see Video Games Live at the Sage – Northern Sinfonia performing music from video games.
Possibly the only time we will see Northern Sinfonia at the Sage decked out in Threadless Gaming T-shirts.
Kev was wearing:
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.
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.
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.
