blacksheepboy

End of Summer

2007-08-31T13:34:00.000-04:00

Wow, I can't believe how quickly summer has come and passed. I know we technically have a few weeks left, but by and large it's the End of Summer. I regret not being able to spend more time out of doors, enjoying the weather and everything summer's all about. There's been a lot going on lately, and I've had a lot of indoor projects to work on, especially related to my recent photography work. More on that later.

Music has been holding me together lately. 2007 has had a lot of really solid albums and I've been trying to expose myself to a wider variety of music, especially older stuff. Part of that is because I recently got into vinyl records. I picked up an awesome direct drive turntable for free + beer a few months back, and I've been collecting odds-and-ends vinyl ever since. A lot of that has been 80s stuff that I'd never really exposed myself to before, like XTC, Ultravox, Fine Young Cannibals, some really classic U2, and more. And I picked up some stuff I just couldn't live without and had to experience on vinyl: Elvis Costello, the Smiths, Led Zeppelin, CCR, and newer stuff like the National's "Boxer" and some Okkervil River.

Aside from my Explorations in Vinyl, WOXY has been keeping me alive, musically speaking. There's a lot in the works over at the station; of greatest note is their recent announcement to return to the FM airwaves in the southwest Ohio area thanks to a partnership with local broadcast station WXVU. WOXY will be pumping out on one of WXVU's new HD channels, which means anyone with an HD radio in the signal range can listen to WOXY anytime, anywhere. This is huge news for local WOXY fans, myself included. I'll be picking up an HD radio very soon, assuming the signal covers most of my commute with acceptable reliability.

The biggest thing on my plate lately has been my photography. I was approached a few months back about photographing a wedding for some friends-of-friends. I agreed and spent every moment until the Big Day prepping, planning, researching and practicing to get as good as I could. I'd never shot a wedding before as the sole photographer, let alone for money, so I was pretty nervous about my abilities. Well, it finally came and went and looking back, I'm really happy with how I did. But anyway, I've been busting my tail trying to get all the photos processed for the couple. Here's a glimpse of a couple of the shots if you're interested:

So I've been somewhat stressed with all of that going on, but there's rest & relaxation in sight! Our vacation to the Outer Banks, NC, is in just TWO WEEKS! I'm really looking forward to it; Jess and I are sharing a beach house with her brother and sister and their families for a week. We'll also get to spend a couple days with Jess' mom in Virginia, which I'm really looking forward to.

Let's see, what else? There are a LOT of great concerts coming up over the next few months, several of which I'm planning to attend (Arcade Fire/LCD Soundsystem, They Might Be Giants, The Decemberists, etc), so hopefully I'll have some photos to share. I haven't taken a single picture since the wedding I shot, so I'm definitely looking forward to taking some photos just for fun.

Well I think that's about it for now. Sorry for the novella of a post, but it's been forever since I've updated this and I wanted to bring everyone up to speed. I hope everyone else is having a good summer. Keep in touch!

Jesse

Updates

2007-06-07T12:22:00.000-04:00

What's new:

New car! Just last night I bought a 2003 Toyota Avalon XLS for my wife. We've been searching for the right one for some time and finally settled on a beautiful black one with light tan leather interior. Hopefully it proves reliable, as I won't be buying anything else for some time :)
(Relatively) new phone! The Nokia E61 replaced my Windows Mobile smartphone a couple months ago and I haven't looked back for a second! I absolutely love this thing; full QWERTY keyoard, 16-million color display, unlimited EDGE data, fantastic email and messaging integration and an insanely powerful and comfortable web browser make this phone an all-time favorite.
I'm now a published photograper! It's nothing special, but a photo I took whilst on our honeymoon in San Diego two years ago is now the cover of a novel called "The Desperate Journey". The publishers found it on my Flickr page and contacted me about using it as the cover for this young adult novel. I just got a copy of the book this week; it's so cool seeing my picture (and name) on the cover of a book!
My brother-in-law Tony got a new 2007 Volkswagen GTI. I'm extremely jealous.

Recent events:

Jess and I went to Salem last week to visit her family, and spent Saturday at the Cleveland Zoo. This was a lot of fun and I plan to have pics up soon.
Two weeks ago was the insanely fun Taj Kreuzer's weekend: Three days of motorsports & fun, including a Mini Grand Prix go-kart event, a Porsche road rally, european car show, and evening with racing legend Vic Elford. I was one of the "official" photographers for the events, and I have well over a thousand pictures from the whole weekend. I'll try to share some of those soon also.
Concerts: We recently saw Kings of Leon, Snowden and The Features at Bogart's, and Tapes 'N Tapes at Southgate House. Bogart's is really on my bad list these days; I won't be going back there anytime soon unless it's someone I really want to see. The acoustics are pitiful and the adolescent crowds are annoying as possible. Add to that a general no-camera (DSLR especially) policy and the impersonal stage arrangement, and I'm pretty much done with it. Southgate House is really my prime venue as of late.
Band practice: We actually had one two weekends ago! That was the first time in ages, and it went surprisingly well (I think). It'll be another couple weeks before we can manage another one, but hopefully we'll get a little more regular.

Recent music:

I've been on a new album spree lately. I mean, seriously. eMusic is a fantastic way to get a lot of really good independent music for a stellar price (email/comment me if you want to try it out; it's free for a month and if you sign up via my invitation I get free downloads too!). Also, LaLa has been hooking me up with plenty of new CDs, both via their trading service and simply from direct purchases - their prices are tremendously low for new albums (again, message me if you want to join; I get a free T-shirt or something :)).
Albums getting a lot of attention lately:

The National - Boxer
Cloud Cult - The Meaning of 8
Kings of Leon - Because of the Times
Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
The Smiths - Louder than Bombs
Silversun Pickups - Pikul
Lots more, but that's just off the top of my head

Coming up:

The National is playing at the 20th Century theater in Cincinnati next Friday, June 15th. Scott, David and I are in for sure. I haven't been this excited about a show in a LONG time; the National is one of my favorite bands from the past 3 years. They're actually doing a PRE-show at Shake It! records in Cincy as well; I might try to hit both shows.

Say Hi to the Broken Winters

2007-04-09T19:25:00.000-04:00

Last Friday was the Broken West / Say Hi To Your Mom / The Long Winters show at the Southgate House in Newport, KY. I'd been looking forward to this show for a couple months as all three bands have been featured heavily in my music rotation recently. I coerced a couple friends into joining me and made the trip down to Newport.

Our evening started with an unplanned viewing of the 80's classic "Weird Science" to kill some time. We hit the road with plenty of time and were amazed to see snow falling heavily (It's APRIL folks!). Halfway to Cincinnati we decided to break for food and hit up the intriguing Dickey's BBQ Pit, a fast-food-esque barbecue joint that was not exactly worthy of writing home about. An hour and one major traffic jam later and we were across the river, in our slack-jawed sister state of Kentucky!

The two-block walk to the Southgate House was somewhat miserable due to the frigid Arctic conditions, but we made it inside quickly and wandered down into the basement just minutes before the Broken West plugged in and switched the tubes off standby.

Their set was brief but enjoyable; I recall about 6 songs, including "Shiftee" and "On the Bubble", two of my personal favorites off "I Can't Go On, I'll Go On". The crowd was still rather slim and the energy not ramped up, but the band seemed to be very glad to be there and had a great attitude on stage.

After what seemed the briefest of intermissions, Brooklyn's simplistic electo-pop outfit Say Hi To Your Mom hit the stage. Without wasting any time they got right into one of their biggest hits, "Dimensions and Verticals", which immediately brought the crowd to attention and kicked the energy up a few notches.

SHTYM played a decently lengthy set featuring many songs from their latest release, "Impeccable Blahs". I was saddened to hear just a couple songs from my favorite album, "Ferocious Mopes", but the set was still killer and a lot of fun.

We had some time to kill after SHTYM left the stage and I was ordered to photograph a couple performing the ancient art of "throw the weird neon light-thingies". Without further ado:

It wasn't too long before the Long Winters tuned up and switched on, and it was plain to see that they were the main attraction that evening. Personally I was there primarily for SHTYM, but I was eager to see the Long Winters in person as I'm a big fan of all their work.

It was immediately clear that they were there to have a good time and play some old-fashioned awesome indie rock, and they came out swinging with the excellent "Sky is Open". The room's energy soared as they played a mixture of tracks from their latest work, "Putting the Days to Bed", as well as each of their older releases.

After a few opening tracks, frontman John Roderick opened up the set to requests and really got a good rapport going with the audience. The interaction was really fantastic, and made the difference between "just" a great performance and really memorable show. Musically, the Long Winters were amazingly tight and coordinated, and replicated the recorded versions of their upbeat indie rock songs with ease.

What further cemented the lighthearted relationship with the crowd was the fun "jams" they digressed into; they began level testing by covering Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion", and returned to this song later in the set whilst John Roderick rapped Beastie Boy's "Fight For Your Right" on top. When an audience member announced that it was his birthday, John declared a Birthday Blues Jam was necessary, and the group proceeded into a classic 12-bar walk with John shredding the lead. We ate it up and begged for more, and that's exactly what we got: They played until just shy of 1 AM, and when they walked off the stage, we stood cheering, exhausted.

See 'em all (hi res available too) here.

Spring Rain

2007-03-22T10:53:00.000-04:00

It's definitely raining out. Rather heavily, actually, and I love it! I heard that yesterday was the first day of spring. I'm not sure if that was accurate, but if so, that makes this the first Spring Rain. Sweet! The weather is sorta bizzare lately; a few days ago I was wearing heavy coats, and last night we slept with our windows open. Well, that's Ohio for ya.

Okay, you can officially count this as the most boring post ever.

It's a girl!

2007-02-07T12:22:00.000-05:00

Not mine, are you kidding! My sister Melissa just had her first baby, a little girl named Carly. She was born Monday, February 5 2007 at 5:57 PM, weighing in at 7 pounds 5 ounces and 20.5 inches in length.

We were able to stay with her in a private room during delivery and it was amazing. Labor went pretty long but went without complications and both are doing very well!

I haven't had the chance to get many good pics of Carly yet, since she was sent to the nursery immediately after birth. Here are a few though (she is so adorable in person!):

Obligatory update

2007-01-17T12:40:00.000-05:00

Nathan chastised me on my MySpace page about not updating my real blog. Well, here it is.

In the News:

1. I'm on a quest to read 50 books in 2007. Not really a "resolution" per se, but just a goal, because reading is good, and I need to do it more. Today I'll be finishing The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, by Mark Haddon.

2. The band thing is going pretty well. In a word, I'd say we're "inconsistent", but it could be a lot worse. I'm getting a lot more comfortable with the songs at least. We definitely need to practice more / regularly.

3. I'm trying to eat & drink better lately. I've cut soda out of my diet for the most part, and I'm trying to avoid sugary drinks in the morning (I'm planning on switching to iced green tea for my morning caffeine jolt). I'm also monitoring my eating habits on The Daily Plate, which has been really helpful. It makes a big difference when you can see how much you've actually eaten at the end of the day.

4. Bands that have been spun frequently as of late: Dirty on Purpose, Minus the Bear, The Islands, Built to Spill.

There, satisfied?

2006 "Best Of" List

2006-12-19T13:23:00.000-05:00

The end of 2006 is quickly approaching, and wow, what a year it's been (musically speaking)! The following is a quick list of some of my favorite albums and singles from the past year. I know I've left some really great ones out, but it's hard to listen to everything thoroughly enough to give it a fair rating. Anyway, it's something!

Albums
1. Silversun Pickups – Carnavas
2. Tapes N' Tapes - The Loon
3. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
4. Midlake – The Trials of Van Occupanther
5. Apollo Up! - Chariots of Fire
6. Oh No! Oh My! – Oh No! Oh My!
7. Margot & the Nuclear So & So's - The Dust of Retreat
8. The Black Keys – Magic Potion
9. Phoenix - It's Never Been Like That
10. The Long Winters - Putting the Days to Bed
11. Band of Horses - Everything all the Time
12. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not
13. Bound Stems – Appreciation Night
14. Snowden - Anti Anti
15. We Are Scientists – With Love and Squalor
16. Muse - Black Holes and Revelations
17. The Blow – Paper Television
18. Annuals – Be He Me
19. Drive By Truckers - A Blessing and a Curse
20. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
21. Forget Cassettes - Salt
22. Thom Yorke – the Eraser
23. Chin Up Chin Up - This Harness Can't Ride Anything
24. The Hold Steady - Boys & Girls in America
25. The Black Angels - Passover
26. Heartless Bastards - All This Time
27. The Minus 5 - (The Gun Album)

Singles
1. TV on the Radio - Wolf Like Me (Return to Cookie Mountain)
2. Midlake – Roscoe (The Trials of Van Occupanther)
3. Annuals – Brother (Be He Me)
4. Bound Stems – Western Biographic (Appreciation Night)
5. Forget Cassettes - The Catch (Salt)
6. The Blow – Parentheses (Paper Television)
7. Midlake – Young Bride (The Trials of Van Occupanther)
8. Bound Stems – Excellent News, Colonel (Appreciation Night)
9. Band of Horses - The Funeral (Everything All The Time)
10. Silversun Pickups - Common Reactor (Carnavas)
11. Phoenix - Long Distance Call (It's Never Been Like That)
12. Drive-By Truckers – Easy On Yourself (A Blessing and a Curse)
13. Midlake – Head Home (The Trials of Van Occupanther)
14. The Thermals - Here’s Your Future (The Body, the Blood, the Machine)
15. Bound Stems – Refuse the Refuse (Appreciation Night)
16. Mew - The Zookeeper's Boy (And the Glass Handed Kites)
17. The Pipettes - Pull Shapes (We Are the Pipettes)
18. Catfish Haven – Tell Me (Tell Me)

Jerk of the Day

2006-11-27T09:15:00.000-05:00

So Scott and I planned to go take some pics of our cars yesterday. Scott just got some new Orlando wheels on his Fox and my Golf hasn't seen much love lately so we figured it was a decent enough day to get some shots. Scott came over around 9am and told me about this place he found in Carlisle that we could take some pics at. He said it was a gravel lot with a couple beat up silos and stuff and it would be a cool place for some pics. I asked him if it was private property and he said there were no signs that he saw.

So I get cleaned up and we head out around 10am. First stop is the car wash, because our cars were pretty nasty:

We hit the road for Carlisle when we get done with the auto wash. We get there in about half an hour and it seems like an okay lot for pics, there are some cool silos and a field with some abandoned tractor trailers way out in it.

We take some shots for awhile, just messing around with different angles and stuff:

Scott wanted to try some shots with his Fox backed up near the concrete walls and silos, so we started taking a few:

I tried climbing on top of one of the concrete walls to get some wacky aerial portraits of the Fox:

After I take a few more shots of the Fox from the concrete wall, this Nissan pulls in the lot and stops at the entrance. There's a big guy in the driver's seat staring at us and a woman, presumably his wife, riding shotgun. The big guy gets out and says "What do you think you're doing??".

I figured he owned the lot and didn't like us hanging around, so I decided to play it safe and be as polite as possible. "We're just taking a few pictures of our cars" I said politely. I guess he didn't hear the last part because he asked "Taking pictures of what?" in an accusing manner. I said, "Oh, of our cars." He said "What do you mean, taking pictures of your cars??". I figured he was a little dense but no matter, I continued to be as respectful as possible so as not to provoke him.

"We just wanted to get some pictures of our cars and wanted a nice backdrop" I told him. He replied "Well you can't just park here! Why would you do that!?"

I told him there were no Private Property or No Trespassing signs anywhere and because of that we thought that it would be okay to stop for a few minutes to take some pictures. He says "Well that's not okay! Just cause there's no signs doesn't mean you can just do what you want! Do you think that you can just walk up in somebody's yard if there aren't any signs there??" [Actually, yes, I believe you CAN do that. If the owner asks you to leave then you're obligated to]. I just remained quiet when he asked this because I didn't want him to think I was being a smart-aleck.

He still must not have been convinced of why we were there, and asked us again what we were doing. I told him again "Just taking some pictures!" He said "Why would you want pictures of you car backed up against the brush like that??". I told him we just wanted some scenery. Then I said "Look, I'm standing here holding my camera, pointing it at his car and taking pictures. What else would we be doing here?" He didn't like that too much, and said he was gonna get our license and information. So he heads over to his car to get some paper and I was like whatever... I head back to my car and snap a few shots of Mr. Insano and his license plate, just in case.

He walks up to Scott's car and starts writing down his europlate number (what a moron). Unfortunately he wasn't that stupid in my case and got my rear plate numbers, but whatever, I didn't care.

So as he's writing down my plates I say to him "So this is your property then?" I ask this in the most respectful way possible, not trying to challenge him in any way, just probing. He looks at me aggressively but doesn't know what to say at first. Finally he spits out "I don't have to answer your questions! I'm the one asking the questions here". Just to calm him down, I just say "Okay, that's fine". He looks at me for a minute and then says "You are a real smart mouth, ain'tcha boy??" I reply, "No sir, I don't think so". He says "I just don't know what you're doing here. You're not that stupid". Hmm, okay...

He asks for our information (Name & address) and we give it to him. That was probably stupid, but we didn't really care as we didn't do anything wrong. He warned us that they better not be made up because he has our license numbers now (ooooh! Big man!).

I said to him "You know, we're happy to leave, if you had just told us to when you pulled up we would have right away". He didn't seem to like that too much, and said "Boy, if you don't watch it I'm gonna get the cops here and have you cited for trespassing! I can be here all day, it doesn't matter to me". Again, I just kept quiet so he didn't go bezerk. Honestly, in retrospect, I should have told him to go ahead, there were no signs and we weren't breaking the law. Ah well...

Finally he gets all the info he wants and tells us to leave. Fine. I asked him politely if I could have his name, just in case the cops call, so I know who they're talking about. Again he flies off the handle about not having to answer my questions, yada yada yada.

Anyway, we bug out and that's the end of the story (so far). Hopefully we don't hear anymore from this jerk, but who knows, he was pretty nuts. I have his plate number, I can get them run at work probably if need be, but hopefully nothing comes of it. Whatever.

I know, the crickets are chirping!

2006-11-22T09:59:00.000-05:00

*blows dust off blog*

So apparently I suck at committing to anything. But you knew that already.

Instead of making excuses, here's something brief to read:

What I'm listening to lately

1. Silversun Pickups - "Carnavas"

This is definitely in the runnings for my top 5 albums of 2006. Silversun Pickups have been getting heavy rotation on indie web radio stations like WOXY for the past year with a slew of delightful tracks from Carnavas. I've been addicted to songs like "Common Reactor", "Lazy Eye", and "Little Lover's So Polite" for months now, and I finally broke down and picked up the album from LaLa. I'm so glad I did; these guys (and girl) rock with unequivocal ferocity and the album has the perfect blend of original progressions and timeless hooks. This CD has been on heavy rotation in my player since I picked it up, and I don't see it becoming a stranger anytime soon.

2. Annuals - "Be He Me"

I think everyone and their "Brother" has heard of Annuals by now (sorry, absolutely awful pun there). In fact, I think that "Be He Me"'s initial single offering, "Brother" has single-handedly launched Annuals into the exciting but potentially dangerous world of indie over-hype. The blogosphere is just starting to pick up on this crew and it will be interesting to see what happens to them during the course of the next few months. In any case, "Brother" captured my attention from the first time it was channeled into my ears during a WOXY Airchexx session. The way it gradually builds from a lo-fi muted melodic intro to a full on symphony of rock harmony is astounding, and it instantly became of my favorite singles of the year. I hurried and picked up the album from Ace Fu Records, the band's label, and immediately gave it a weeks worth of play upon arrival. I quickly discovered there is a lot more to the album than just the single, but it definitely wanders in a different direction than I expected. To be brief: The album in general hardly resembles the single. In some respects this could be a negative point, as "Brother" is truly a masterpiece in my opinion. However, the remaining tracks are very strong and have some real creative genius behind them. Honestly, this album is a lot more complex than I initially gave them credit for, and I haven't quite got my head around the whole thing yet. I'll be keeping this in the playlist for awhile to come, as it needs some more time to unfold for me.

3. Midlake - "The Trials of Van Occupanther"

This is another album with a couple phenomenal singles that have gotten tremendous press and airplay lately. The leading single, "Roscoe", is what ignited my passion for this band initially. The first time I heard this song I fell in love, and dozens of listens later I'm still not sick of it. I get a strong Fleetwood Mac vibe in this track (and many of their others), which is fine by me. It's got a muted energy, a driving rythym that syncs with the calm vocals beautifully. They succeed in delivering not just the story of another time and place but the total feel of the environment, placing you in this 19th century setting that feels so right at home. It's really a beautiful track, and the rest of the album certainly does not disappoint. "Head Home" is the second single that was floating around, and this carries the Fleetwood Mac correlation to another level (Strong ties to "Rhiannon" seem apparent). Finally, "Young Bride" is a third amazing track from this disc, and this is one of my absolute favorites. The subtle string intro is gorgeous, and the driving drum beat that overlays it in a building crescendo of energy immediately defines "Young Bride" as a standout track. The rest of "The Trials of Van Occupanther" continues to impress, and there isn't really a bad song on it. The music seems relaxed, casual, and seemingly effortless, but there is a world of excellent technique beneath the surface. "Bandits" and "Head Home" feature intriguingly diverse guitar work and the drums continually impress. Overall this album is a real winner, and possibly my favorite for 2006.

So there's a few albums that have been seeing heavy rotation for me lately. Really though there is so much on my musical plate right now; 2006 has seen a lot of really great albums and there is so little time to give attention to all of them. I still have a ton of old albums to catch up with too, but I'm trying to focus on 2006 releases right now before the year is out. I'm hoping to compile a semi-decent list of "Best of 2006" albums, so I'd like to get as many under my belt as I can. I know there are some great albums coming out soon so hopefully 2006 goes out with a bang!

Okkervil River, live at Little Brother's (Columbus), 10/11/2006

2006-10-12T10:50:00.000-04:00

So last night was the Okkervil River show at Little Brother's in Columbus. Doors opened at 8 but I couldn't get on the road until 8, so I was worried I'd miss some of their set. After an annoying one-lane crawl on 70E past Springfield, we ended up getting at the joint around 9:30.

We walked in right as the first opener went on, some group called the Black Swans, who I hope none of you like because we thought they were pretty awful.

The Black Swans

The lead singer looked just like Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), complete with massive mutton chops. However, his dull, boring, whiny lyrics were a polar opposite from anything I'd expect to come from a Wolvy lookalike. He strummed his acoustic guitar mechanically while his companions (a standing violinist and a seated guy playing electric bass) practiced the art of being stiff cardboard cutouts for the duration of the set. B-O-R-I-N-G.

Finally they went off and were replaced by the lively and most enjoyable Elvis Perkins (and friends). This was a really, really good set: Their presence on stage was very positive and entertaining, but they didn't allow their casual demeanor to interfere with playing great music. The musical style is sort of hard to put a finger on: The bassist plays on a huge fretless upright, and walked the neck in a classic style that you can't help but grin at.

Elvis Perkins and crew

Mr. Perkins donned a smallish acoustic Martin and emphatically strummed some really infectious folk-pop rythyms. His odd, nerdy appearance belied what I could tell to be incredible musical prowess; he simultaneously played complex chord rythyms as he soloed via a neck-mounted harmonica, briefly breaking a way to sing a few bars. Obvioulsy he's not alone in this ability, but his sheer control of the musical flow, his indescribable presence and awareness was really amazing.

A playful bearded guy manned the keyboard and harmonium (which wasn't turned up enough despite his repeated requests until the end of their set when he got the audience involved). The drummer was quirky and alternated from his seat behind the throne to the front of the stage with a large strap-mounted bass drum, which really brought a couple of their songs to life (as an aside: the drummer looked to me a lot like a young Matt Damon with thick-rimmed glasses and facial hair. My wife swears that the drummer played some retarded guy in a movie, who knows...).

The musical variation was really impressive, from a mild, poetic dirge to lively exciting near-jigs. I picked up their album, partially at the request of my wife who loved them and partially because I was really impressed by these guys. The one thing I wasn't crazy about was HOW LONG they played! It seemed like their set was neverending! I didn't check my watch when they went on, but it felt like the set was easily an hour, which to me is very long for an opener - even moreso since there was another opener before them! I really liked the group but near the end I was really wondering when it would end.

Finally they got off stage and Okkervil River started setting up. Let me preface this by saying that I've never seen Okkervil River live before, but I've been enthralled with their work for the past year or two. As you can imagine, I was pretty excited when Will Sheff walked out, donned in a slightly-cheesy tan suit jacket, dress slacks, tan dress shirt and blue tie, and started adjusting his microphone. After everything was in place, tuned, and ready to go, they returned to the stage and took their places, the room filled with cheering.

Okkervil River

Anyone who has listened to Okkervil River knows the sound. Will's characteristic soft, emotionally charged vocals can snap to attention in a fury of wailing energy, his vocal chords obviously grating to unleash the intense effect. This actually became a problem, as shortly after beginning their set Will announced that his voice "has been taking a beating on this tour", and that he hadn't spoken at all that day in preparation for the set. You could definitely tell it was wearing on him, because even his brief spoken dialogue between songs sounded like his voice was dragging against a cheese-grater. Their were brief moments in some vocally-intense songs when you could hear the effects, but despite this they sounded absolutely amazing live.

What I found really interesting was how relaxed, casual and fun they were on stage: The drummer was entirely jovial for the duration of the set, and I didn't see him without a smile on his face. He played games with his sticks, twirling them (and losing one!) between beats, tossing broken ones at the bassist, and just having a good time. Everyone seemed to be just doing what they loved, not preoccupied with being Okkervil River, a band with a nearly-cult following, not obsessed with perfecting every minute detail of their live renditions of album songs, just playing - and playing well.

When Will described his vocal maladies he also apologized for the brevity of the set, indicating that he couldn't keep it up all night. I was worried that we'd only hear a couple more songs from them, but they kept feeding it out for close to an hour, playing such favorites as "For Real", "The Latest Toughs", and a suprising treat of "Black Sheep Boy", the title track of last year's phenomenal release. This softly sung folk ballad is one of my favorite songs, and despite it's brevity is quite emotionally stirring. It's an unlikely choice for a live rendition, but I'm so glad they did, as it turned into a beautiful sing-along with the audience, and left us all that much more enthralled with the group of young men before us.

Finally their initial set came to a close and they walked off stage. Will returned alone with his acoustic guitar shortly thereafter to provide an encore, leaving us with a choice: We could hear "A Stone" or "Red". Immediately the audience started screaming their choice, and the single syllable titles blurred beyond comprehension to the point that Will said he would use his internal Applause-o-Meter to decide which to play. This was a hard decision for me because both are such beautiful tracks, but I gave my cheers for "Red". However, "A Stone" won by a good margin and Will began the soft fingerpicked melody, delivering the tender lyrics in a beautifully expressive fashion.

After finishing "A Stone", Will's bandmates returned for a couple more tracks, and several members of Elvis Perkins' bands joined in on horns. Finally they ended with "Westfall", which people had been screaming requests for during the entire set. It was an excellent choice to finish with, as the sheer energy charged the audience with appreciation for the tremendous set.

When it was all said and done it was 1AM and we were exhausted, and still faced a long drive back to Dayton (during which I ended up being pulled over for expired tags - I honestly didn't know they were expired!!). But in the end, I'm so glad I went. Okkervil River is truly an inspiration to me, and part of me is now satisfied in experiencing them up-close and in person.

See more pics from this show at my Flickr set.

Sunday's Lite Brite Test In Review

2006-07-31T00:14:00.000-04:00

This post is brought to you by: Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country

I just got back from the Sunday session of the Lite Brite Indie Pop & Film Festival that was held at the Southgate House in Newport/Cincinnati this weekend (yes, this is what I ditched the Ray Lamontagne/Guster show for). I intended to see Camera Obscura but it turns out they didn't go on until 11pm and seeing how's I needed to be up rather early for that whole "work" thing, that didn't work out too well.

It wasn't a total loss however, because I caught two really great sets by bands I wasn't very familiar with. The first was "Oh No, Oh My!", hailing from Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee in various respects. I've heard these guys in the WOXY.com rotation over the past few weeks, but I didn't have a chance to give them any serious attention. When they jumped into their set I was instantly enthralled however, and they kept my attention throughout. Frontman Greg Barkley brandished an acoustic guitar the entire time and sang in a very light-hearted and warbley sort of way. It reminded me a lot of "Clap Your Hands Say Yeah" vocals actually. The drumming was enormously energetic and drove a rythym that you couldn't help but groove to. The band was fantastic, especially considering how many people were on stage. In all I counted 7: The lead singer/acoustic rythym guitarist, bassist, 2 electric guitarists, drummer, keyboardist, and a jack-of-all trades that jumped between a variety of instruments.

Oh No, Oh My! somehow pulled off an amazing trick by having a very relaxed, casual, and fun attitude while at the same time maintaining a very tight and cohesive session. The most interesting thing, however, was how happy they were! The lead singer had this strange boyish smile on the whole time, and seemed like he was just about the nicest guy in the place. I'm definitely glad I got to see them and really hope I have the opportunity again in the future. I ended up picking up their CD and I 've listened to it 3 times since the show - it keeps getting better!

Next up was a group that I'd never heard of before Sunday called Georgie James. This quartet was heavy on the keyboards and hard on the guitar strings, as guitarist John Davis proved by destroying the high E on two of his Telecasters (Camera Obscura was kind enough to loan him a third to finish the set with). I really don't know what to compare Georgie James to, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Laura Burhenn (Vocals, keyboards) belted out some great vocals over a bed of slightly electro-pop piano, fairly reminiscent of husband-wife duo Mates of State. It was a very rythmic set, and there were times when John and bassist Adam Robinson worked up an intensely fast, danceworthy pace. I think Georgie James has a lot of potential, and although they don't have a full-length CD release available yet they could be a band to watch over the next year.

Visit the MySpace pages of Oh No, Oh My! and Georgie James to hear 4 of each of their tracks!

Ray Makes Me Crazy

2006-07-28T09:32:00.000-04:00

So apparently Ray Lamontagne did a cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy". I stumbled across it and thought I'd share. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of it.

Artist: Ray Lamontagne (covering Gnarls Barkley)
Track: Crazy (Download, please Right-click, Save Target As...)

Very cool track in my opinion! I love Ray's gritty voice and the style of this song definitely suits him. I'm not 100% sure that I prefer it over the original (Cee-Lo makes me happy inside), but it's a fantastic cover nonetheless.

Also, Ray is coming to the Fraze Pavilion in Kettering this weekend and I should be there. Maybe he'll bust this one out live :)

Creativity in Reverse

2006-07-27T14:17:00.000-04:00

This post is brought to you by: Jack Johnson - F-stop Blues

I don't understand how people can be so creative. Every day I stumble upon dozens of websites, blogs, or photo galleries of people with real gifts. They see creatively. They are able to craft their own little world in a beautifully artistic way.

Everyone has that one really artsy friend - you know the type: Excellent taste in music, curiously fashionable, popular in a variety of crowds, very funny in a unique way, yet often quiet and restrained. But spend any amount of time with someone like this and you build a certain undeclared respect for them. Just their attitude conveys the limitless creative potential that is stored within them, and each small outlet of that artistic flair increases your awe for their productive talents.

Even more infuriating is that such ones are usually polycreative: For example, they enjoy painting, drawing, sculpting, and photography. They play one or more instruments - or even better, have their own band. Their sense of fashion is enviable. They create little doodles on the back of Applebee's placemats that incite an immoral jealousy in you. Their random prose is the stuff of tragically beautiful art. It simply isn't fair to have all this creative power wrapped up in one package!

These are the people that are born with natural creative ability - swaths of it. There is another type of creative person - one that has many of the same abilities but lacks the vision to make them achieve something truly beautiful. Perhaps the word for this type of person is "talented". They are blessed with the ability to do many things, but they don't necessarily have the vision to give that talent the spark of life it needs to become truly extraordinary.

I believe I fit into the latter category. Let's consider some of my favorite hobbies: Photography. Music. Playing guitar. Graphic design (to an extent). It certainly seems like I'm on the track to being a creative prodigy, right? Wrong! Before you brand me as being an arrogant, self-involved and conceited snob, please understand that I'm not trying to brag about my abilities. These are activities that I've learned and come to enjoy over my teenage years, but that's all. For example, I can manipulate a camera into taking a technically accurate, even flawless image. But does that picture mean anything? Not always. I can play most any song on guitar by ear in a short time, and read tab like second-nature. But can I sit down and write really beautiful music? Rarely. I know the Photoshop techniques that can make really incredible designs, and I can manipulate images with ease. But I can't remember the last time I created a really fantastic image from scratch.

I remember one of my favorite hobbies as a young boy: Drawing. I loved to draw. I have notebooks and binders filled with my old sketches. I don't think I was too bad - my drawings always looked accurate and I thought I had good technique for someone who simply drew for the fun of it. But in my eyes they were nothing but fraudulent copies: I always used a reference. Don't get me wrong - I never, ever traced! But I also never drew without a visible subject. Be it still life, another picture or drawing, whatever - I had to look at something else. Even at that age my talents won out over my creativity.

Why? Why am I cursed with half-talents? I feel like a blind man in a bookstore: All the resources are available to me but I can't enjoy any of them. I have many friends, both in person and through the Internet, that have incredible rivers of creative prowess. Everything they set their minds to comes to fruition in a gorgeous display of artistic beauty. I feel like I'm on the edge of this divide, the chasm between ability and vision, but I just can't seem to make the leap.

It probably sounds like I'm whining. I know, I know, "Stop feeling sorry for yourself and just do it already!" Well, that's easier said than done. When everything you throw yourself into produces a chain reaction of veritable writer's block and frustration, you get weary of trying. Should I just accept my lot as a non-creative being? Somehow I don't think so… I do think the capability is there, that I just need to find a way to unleash it. But how?

I think that writing like this is a good first step. I know I'll never get anything accomplished if I don't at least get my feet wet, and the first step must be making something, anything! I hope this blog can serve as a frequent outlet for my thoughts and ideas, and can be a way to get my creative juices flowing, so to speak.

Of course I'm open to thoughts, suggestions, and insults. I know that some people will read this and think it's a load of whining malarkey, but I also think there are others who feel the exact same way. I'd enjoy reading how others have been able to improve their artistic vision.

Alarm 1, Jesse 0

2006-07-25T13:26:00.000-04:00

This post is brought to you by: The Black Keys - 10 A.M. Automatic

I hate my alarm clock.

It has been in my family for as long as I can remember. It should be a treasured possession - a valued heirloom. Instead, my alarm clock is the source of up to 83% of my stress every day. Well, maybe not that much, but you get the point.

If I remember correctly, I inherited this alarm clock from someone else in my family - either my sister or my parents. I was quite young so the details are a bit fuzzy, but I remember being proud and excited to have an alarm clock of my own. It made me feel more grown-up in a way. It's the only alarm I've used since then, but recent events have made me decide that it's time for a change.

For starters, I've always hated the horrendous schreeching tone the alarm emits. It's the most painful sound that has ever made its way into my little ear canals. Seriously. It's the really old school generic alarm tone, that simply goes "BEEP BEEP BEEP", ad infinitum. I know that doesn't seem so bad, but it's at an incredibly high volume (piercing, actually), and at just the right frequency to make you want to smash random things with a softball bat. It's excruciating.

What's worse is that this sound has plagued my wakeups for so long that it's like Kryptonite or something. See, almost every TV show, commercial, or movie uses the same alarm sound clip - I swear it's recorded straight off my alarm clock! So I'll be sitting on the couch one night when a random toothpaste commercial comes on. The scene starts with a woman tucked tightly in her bed and then suddenly her alarm goes off. The wailing beeps are identical to my clock's, and I'm instantly thrown into a convulsing seizure from the horrible sound. It's like nails down a chalkboard multiplied by a billion.

Then you have my alarm clock's sheer stupidity of design and operation. It's a near impossibility to accurately set the time on the first try. The tiny plastic buttons have an enormous resistance, making it a daunting task to press them just right. To set the current alarm you have to hold one button in and press another button once for each minute forward. These things are seriously difficult to press, and inevitibly your one finger slips off the set button and you have to repeat the process. If that wasn't annoying enough, somehow the buttons are flaky and if you slip off one of the buttons it starts changing the CURRENT time, not the alarm time. So then you have to spend 5 minutes resetting the current time, then set the alarm time all over again, praying the whole time you don't mess up again. And of course if you go 1 minute past your desired alarm time you have to cycle through the whole hour to get back. You can't hold the minute button to quickly cycle the minutes either, you have to jab it once for each minute. What an infuriatingly asinine design!

Oh, and if the power ever even hiccups during the night, you can kiss your wake-up call goodbye. There's nothing I love more than waking up at 10:00 AM and looking at an alarm clock flashing "12:00" in big, bold, mocking red numbers. And what's with the whole 9-minute snooze increments? I know that when I'm struggling to keep my eyes open at the butt-crack of dawn I can easily calculate how many 9-minute snooze sessions I can enjoy before I'm really late. Like adding that extra minute was so hard?

I've dealt with these frustrations for years, but this morning's events sent me over the edge. I went to bed a bit too late last night but made sure to double-check the alarm before I zonked out. Time set for 6:30? Check. AM?? Check. Little alarm button switched on? Check. Current time accurate? Check. Welp, that should be it! I passed out quickly, confident that I would awake at the specifed hour. A couple slams of the snooze might occur first, but whatever...

Fast forward 9 hours. It's 8:30 AM and I've awoken peacefully... Wait, peacefully?! Something's not right here... The birds are chirping! The sun is streaming through my window! This could only mean one thing - Nooooo! Sure enough, I had overslept two whole hours. I shot a glare at the alarm clock and quickly noticed the "Alarm On" light was still activated. That usually means that I set the clock for PM instead of AM. I got up and checked the alarm time, but it was still set for 6:30 AM. And still waiting to activate. What!?

The only thing I can attribute this brazen act of wakery-defiance to is the flaky Alarm switch. It's a tiny little sliding switch that has two positions (on and off, amazingly). The contacts inside must be in pretty rough shape because when I switch it on the indicator light on the display tends to fade on and off if the slider isn't pushed up juuust right. However, it's been like this for literally years and it's never actually failed to activate the alarm.

So, since I had to waste two hours of comp time at work to make up for my alarm clock's deficiency, I will be shopping for a replacement ASAP. Feel free to shoot me some recommendations. Post some alarm clock hate too.

Image Test

2006-07-24T22:38:00.000-04:00

So I'm trying to see how pictures look using this format. Here's a shot of Oliver Crowe, bassist for The Stills, live at the Desdemona Festival in Cincinnati:

sotd, 02.24.06 - "Stack Shot Billy"

2006-02-24T11:51:00.000-05:00

So tonight is the Black Keys concert at Bogart's (Cincinnati). I'm pretty excited about it, I haven't been to a concert in some time and this will be my first time seeing TBK live - I've heard they're quite good.

TBK are a duo from Akron, OH. What they lack in group members they make up for in sheer instrumentation and diligence. I have "Rubber Factory" and "The Big Come Up", both of which are excellent albums. Very raw and powerful blues rock, with a nice variation between brutally overdriven attacks of blues riffs, and softer rythmic ballads ("The Lengths"). Definately worth checking them out if you haven't already.

So in honor of tonight's show, today's track is The Black Keys - "Stack Shot Billy". This is one of my personal favorites from TBK, an upbeat track with some impressive work from both the drummer and guitarist.

Artist: The Black Keys
Album: Rubber Factory
Year: 2004
Label: Fat Possum

Track: Stack Shot Billy (Download, please Save Target As...)

sotd, 02.22.06 - "Mushaboom"

2006-02-22T15:42:00.000-05:00

Kicking my music enlightenment program off will be a rather addictive track from Feist called "Mushaboom". Now, I know this isn't the most 'underground' track ever, since there has been a lot of acclaim around Feist lately. What's more, this is likely her most prominent track; definately Let It Die's most acclaimed single.

In any case, "Mushaboom" is a standout track. The reason it stikes me so much is that it's just so... innocent! Listening to this song instantly instills a sense of carefree happiness. It's so airy and delightful that I've actually sworn myself to stop listening to it for fear that I become tired of it!

I don't know much about Feist actually, and most of what I do know is things I've pieced together and should not be taken as fact (I should really research things before I post them). I believe her full name is Leslie Feist and she is of some sort of French background. Obviously I'm not one for artist bio's, but that was just something to chew on while listening to today's track.

Artist: Feist
Album: Let It Die
Year: 2005
Label: Interscope Records

Track: Mushaboom (Download, please Save Target As...)

PS - The video for this song is v-e-r-y good. I have a copy of it and will try to get it uploaded sometime, because it is definately worthy. You can probably find it online somewhere in the meantime.

Alive. And "well".

2006-02-22T12:32:00.000-05:00

Yes, I'm still alive, but man did I let Blogger drop like a burning... potato... thing.

Anyway, stumbled across a nice blog today: good gorilla. She has some great selections available for download, and some funny sidenotes as well. Cheggit.

In other news, the plan is to actually post something here from time to time. Who knows. I'm trying to promote some of the fantastic music I've found of late, so I might try to throw some of that up here. Mehbay.

Very close now

2005-08-20T14:09:00.000-04:00

My wedding is in 3 hours.

My wedding.

Wow.

I'll let you know how it goes. After San Diego, probably.

Love you all!

What. Ever.

2005-08-11T21:15:00.000-04:00

This week (in no particular order):

- Turned 20
- Generating rather lengthy list of songs for the wedding
- Getting approval for a car loan
- Someone backed into my car
- 9 days left until my wedding
- Getting rejected for a car loan (too many miles on car)
- Funerals suck
- New suits rock
- I suck.

I wish Blogger let you put your 'currently listening to' like Xanga. That feature was 'tha coolest'! I guess I'll just tell everyone what I'm currently listening to:

Okkervil River - Sleep and Wake-Up Songs

Seems appropriate. I'll go away now.

I, State Your Name

2005-08-06T00:27:00.000-04:00

Hello, as you can see this is my new space for random crap, spewage, purgings, and various other tangential meanderings. I'm going for the clean, simple, sleek thing, so... (end of sentence).

Anyway, for people visiting from my old xanga page, things might look a little different. Comments can be accessed with the little plus sign (Sydney, that's this thing: + ) at the bottom of the post.

Fishes,

blacksheepboy
//ak3guy
//sprocket87
//Jesse

2005-08-04T21:52:00.000-04:00

I'm Learning To Survive