information super pipeline love affair!

its may. 2009. what? how did that happen?

i'm a bit splintered in regards to what to make this post about...

guess i'll just spit it out~ i think i saw (one of) my favorite show(s) of 2009 a couple w/ends ago. it was (drumroll...)

THE MOTHER HIPS w special guest on keyboards JACKIE GREENE!!!

i know i get carried away with the things i love. i hear that it is part of my charm (supposedly). i mean, aren't most of our strengths also our weaknesses? so the fact that i can get so bat-shit crazy about some stuff, well, my passion for music that is harmonic, slightly complicated yet direct, earnest, ROCKIN'...these are all things that the mother hips music embodies, in my mind.

how do you all listen to music these days? i got tipped off about a new web dealio called "LaLa". apparently, it lets you listen to any song ONCE for free. i linked to (one of) my favorite 'hips album, just cuz, but you can cruz around on the site from there.

here's a MAJOR favorite 'hips song...learning how to embed this here...

Tired Wings - The Mother Hips

alongside being GEEKED on the mother hips music, i'm currently fascinated with SOCIAL MEDIA. it seems my eyeballs keep landing on those two words that appear back to back regularly now. i think seth godin, who you guys know i'm a fan of, pointed me towards this blog: the art of nonconformity, where this dude talks about how he became a real live writer in less than one year. so i'm reading that. also, someone tweeted about this site the other day on twitter: social media today, a blog about just that.

anyways, i see some of you faithful people come here even when i don't bother to say new stuff. i think that's just really cool. THANK YOU! i don't know what to say sometimes cuz i wanna say so many things at once, so i just say nothing. that's horse shit. you folks who KNOW ME know me KNOW how much i have to say...sometimes i get shy, yes. its true! yet, i'm the one who decided to start this freaky blog...i think it needs an update. even though blogger is easy, i like the fresh look of some of the other blog sites. need to deal w that. stay tuned!

if you take the time to listen to the track i posted here, tired wings, you'll hear why i named this post what i did!!! EPIC!!! around 2min 40sec...LOVE

feb recap

i've gotten really behind on this blog. i've seen some amazing music in the last couple months. at the same rate, there were some really mammoth shows that i didn't see, painstakingly enough. i'll do a quickie little recap, if not for my own little self-indulgence that i happen to share on the WWW. some "expected" great shows, some unexpected...

eagles of death metal, fillmore in early feb. didn't realized i would enjoy that one as much as i did. mingled with that camp thru a friend i met during the 2007 ryan adams/cardinals tour who was tour managing the EODM. they were a very sweet bunch of people, who have all known each other for years, and i felt grateful to be included for a night of their mayhem. major family vibe.

michael franti & ALO fox theater in oakland, during its opening weekend. that theater is poised to see some seriously epicly life-altering music, i reckon. believe it or not, i get kinda bored with michael franti lately. i feel ashamed of that, to a certain extent. but hey, i love SO much music that for me, it feels good to know what i like, at least. and its not that i don't like it. i dance, and my friends are there n stuff. it all just starts sounding the same to me at a certain point. whatevz really, i thought the part i caught of ALO was REALLY good. can't say enough about how good i think dan lebowitz (guitar for ALO) is. SICK!

the white thighs, connecticut yankee: valentine's day found me babysitting for my dear friends, then busting a move out to see my big light friends play w their original band the white thighs. it was a super silly fun time.

ALO & big light, the mystic in petaluma: my virgin run of the mystic. local faves both big light AND alo B R O U G H T I T. a stormy massively rainy drive up from the city north to petaluma brought a super fun night of music. GREAT way for me to see my first gig at that neato venue.

jackie greene band + phil lesh, bob weir, great american music hall (night one): i LOVE jackie's music. LOVE. this show was two sets of his original tunes, with an acoustic set by jackie/bobby/phil. um, HELL YES. the middle acoustic set on night one was a little rusty, but who cared? it was still REALLY good.

jackie greene band + phil lesh, bob weir, GAMH (night two): LOVED night 2 much better than night one. third set was KOOKOO! sorry, can't deal w the details right now, but that third set was FUN~ whew! couldn't mingle too much after cuz i had an ER-ER-EARLY flight the next morning to catch my last cardinals shows...

the cardinals plus ryan adams, new haven: LONG day for me, espesh having just ROCKED out at the jackie shows two nights prior, but this new haven show was good. the music was GREAT, but i was pooped from my travel day and ryan was kinda annoying me, prolly cuz i was tyty. nonetheless, GREAT music and i was happy to skip boston so i could be fresh for MONTCLAIR!

the cardinals plus ryan adams, wellmont theater: as it stands, this would turn out to be my "last" cardinals gig. it was a worthy show for me to bid farewell (for now) to my mighty friends who play that heavenly music. this show was just ON. had some of my SERIOUSLY best friends at the gig, and couldn't have asked for a better night of music/fun/mischief. just AWESOME. i can't even deal with putting the link to the show here cuz if i don't keep typing to get thru my recap, it will not happen.

again, this is all more for me than anyone, cuz i'm amused when i actually read some of this stuff back. i could try to put pix up n stuff along w it all but i don't have the energy. sorrs.

Merry Christmas!!!

i'm just sliding in, under the gun to get this christmas/kwanzaa/channukah/holiday message in before the buzzer.

i've been hard pressed to come up with some top 5 or top 10 list of shows or albums or whatevz. i'm not sure its possible. i mean, i guess if i got "serious", i could do it...with the caveat FOR SURE that i would prob amend it, and/or change it at whim, or ya know...amend & change being one and the same, of course.

fuck. january and february of 2008 seem like millions of years ago, right? its a good thing i have this blog cuz i would never remember what the eff i did this year!!!

off the cuff, since this is a remote report from the back shack, and i don't actually have my own computer at my fingertips for pix or whatevz or my itunes to see what i actually listened to the most, i'll say that there were some artists that made a HUGE impression on me this year, mostly thru live performances here or there, in and around the bay area. i feel like this is saying the sorta obvious, like saying the unsaid, but i realize that people check in from other places. and if you don't live in our town, i HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend checking these artists out sooner than later.

BIG LIGHT: click here to listen
mother hips: website
jackie greene: oh god, so hard to get me started on this, but go ahead...start here, for easy access!

i could get all micro about it. i still might before the end of the year. after all, there are a few days left to get down to the REAL nitty gritty. until then, hope your holidays are just the way you want them!!!

and, here's the instant gratification youtube vid, to round out this christmas post. (note: vid IS from 2006)

The Clinch Mob, 10/30/08

awesome night of music in the bowery, at the R BAR...

i thought i was going to see a danny clinch photo exhibit. when i realized it was his band, i was stoked! walked in and ran into my friend pete levin, who was playing keyboards that night with danny. we got properly adjusted, and the show started.

smokin'! they were rockin'! i run downstairs to use the ladies room, and on my way back up, i tripped UP the stairs~ boy was that embarrassing, but much to my surprise, i sorta ran right into phil lesh, who was carrying his bass!!! i was like, "woah, things are about to get freaky in here!!!"

so yeah, phil started playing...then jackie greene showed up...they sat in for about 15-20 minutes...probably about 100 people in the VERY groovy, not TOO hip place...it was a blast~ GO PETE!!!

Night 4, Fare Thee Well, Warfield, 1979-2008

2 words. jackie fucking greene. pixx come down the pike from monsieur blakesberg. merci beaucoup!!! okay. i know i am going major jackie-centric here, but ya know what, that kid was on fucking fiiiiiyyyyaaaaa last night

Night 3, Phil's Final Warfield Run

so yeah. the music was really really really good last night. i mean, workingman's dead followed by american beauty?! i'm sorry. what? i started to say that last night was my favorite night then my friend reminded me of the second set on my birthday and i had to rewind. i am sososo impressed by this band, and particularly jackie greene. most of you who are even bothering to read this know that i am super into jackie. but this is jackie 2.0 or somethin. he is seriously raging into a whole new level for me. its not even just about liking his voice or playing. his poise and stage presence is so happenin for me. so fun seeing all my shiny happy friends for this final run of the warfield!!!

2 GREAT thursdays & a goodlooking wednesday

#1 of aforementioned GREAT thursdays: its already been almost 2 weeks since i saw jackie greene and friends at the fillmore. that was a fun show! per usual, i was reluctant to leave my house (just cuz sometimes its hard to motivate) but was sooo glad i did.

joined by barry sless for most of the show, jackie would also later be joined by nicki bluhm, phil lesh, and steve molitz, thus the "jackie and friends" reference. really solid performance. the show was capped by, what was for me the highlight of the show: a solo acoustic performance of sweet somewhere bound. super nice touch. also a nice touch is this fine jackie pic from our very own "sf notable", jay blakesberg.

second GREAT thursday: MUDCRUTCH at the fillmore. it was the second night of a sold-out double header of mudcrutch at the fillmore. again, reluctant to leave my house, i ended up there, and was completely filled with gratitude for having been coerced to get a ticket.

i was impressed with every single person in the band, but particularly MIKE CAMPBELL...woah~ that guy plays the guitar eXACTly the way i like to hear it, with the "less is more" type of playing. i was seriously so pleasantly surprised by this show. anyone who can catch this gig, DO IT!

goodlooking wednesday: april 23, the verve play their first show in the U.S. in nearly 10 years at the warfield and i am coMPLETELY freaked out about seeing it...CANNOT wait for this. and it really better be great because i am skipping death cab for cutie at the fillmore AND the racounteurs at one of my favorite venues in SF, bimbo's.

all of this is really just my way of catching up before i bust out of norcal to head down to coachella. WHAT A FREAKY MONTH OF MUSIC!!!!!!! so glad i got that frickin' cleanse out of the way ;)

gosh, if i can squeeze in seeing MGMT on thursday night before blasting off to coachella, i'll be soooo stoked. fingers crossed but i am not holding my breath.

~!Happy New Year OH EIGHT!~

Okeedokee

here we go with a second little writing sesh here in this space of blog, not to be confused with blob, glob, or gob.

its new year's eve. i'm listening to my friend chip on LMR (www.littlemoonradio.com)...he just played the opening 3 songs from the halloween ryan adams and the cardinals show. great great great show.

i've got a very chillaxin scene here at my little earthquake shack. i've declined every invitation that i've received for this eve. this new year's eve. and, so far, so good. i've got some good tunes, good vibes, some time to write some of my thoughts about 2007, and consider what i want to create in OH EIGHT.

one of my favorite parts of 2007, was making some really incredible new friends. wow. whatever i did to get that lucky with all the new faces i mingled with, well, i hope i can stay on that super high frequency track. thanks to you for brightening my year! to the familiar faces in my life, thanks for sticking it out for another lap around the sun together. more to come!

the music front was, as always, pretty serious. i have the amazing privilege of having a band in my life totally worthy of fully flipping out over. its so fun! i feel so grateful to be inspired by it. i've had different favorite bands before, and there is something so different about being into this particular artist/band.

super stoked for more of my friends to be able to see some r.a. & t.c. shows in january, here in the west. FUN.

besides all that, saw jackie greene the other night at the great american music hall (GAMH), which was preceded by the night before with camper van beethoven and cracker at the independent. i had never seen either, camper or cracker. HOLY SHIT!!! the camper guitar player (not the lead guy) was NO JOKE~ wow! and he was totally unassuming~ like, he wasn't all "rockified" in his look/image, but totally rocked. great set of music from camper. i was super luke warm on cracker, and left after 2 songs.

but the jackie greene show. that's another bright spot on my 2007, getting to see jackie greene almost as many times as my favorite-est, the cardinals. that dude brings it. no doubt. as some of you know, i'm "so pro-jackie greene". super so pro...another great artist that i feel lucky to like.

saw some other great music this december: stephen malkmus at the GAMH, the mother hips (w jackie greene on keyboards) also at the GAMH. both of those shows were AWESOME. the stephen malkmus was new to me...dude from pavement. really awesome. his band is tight. the hips, well, that was just your good old fashioned california psychedelic rock~ GREAT SHOW.

so, i just recorded this kinda weird little movie as a NYE message. i still haven't decided if i wanna post it here, i could always re-shoot, but i'm afraid that it will be too calculated. this one was, well, very in the moment. maybe i'll get better at it. oh, well, here's a little face time, a NYE hello, if you will



i dunno. i figured, ya know what? it was 43 seconds of life. when i thought of it like that, i was like, well, if you hate it, its only 43 seconds worth...but if you don't hate, then you had a funny little face on your screen saying dorky stuff to you...or maybe ya skipped it.

well, briefly (seriously), i am putting an intention out there that my professional sitch be a more inspired one. i don't necessarily know what that looks like right this second, and that's okay. i know its brewing. i do. i feel like i am going through a growth spurt or something...like, its not all pain-free but i am growing.

neptune is transiting my mid-heaven. in aquarius. heavy shit. but its NYE. light and fluffy, please.

hope that you are feeling the love tonight and during your OH EIGHT~ i'm sending it from here to there, hope you can feel it!