Kerouac Tribute Tour

[pahouk]

I didn't see this posted but it seems that John has joined the mini tour Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar are doing to support their Kerouac tribute album - http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuse ... =512172211 . Unfortunately this isn't coming to Seattle. It looks like John must have back to back shows in New York - 10/28 with the tribute tour and 10/29 with a solo show.

[h4ck]

shit, i didn't know about the show on the 28th. ill be back in town for it, but will i have money for it.....

[Squid]

Oops, missed this thread and re-posted about the 10/24 SF show. (Was looking in Swoon.) Sorry...

[orochics]

I got my tickets for the LA show on 10/23. I can't wait!

[Mike McCusker]

Damn, need a lottery win on Saturday and I'm there.

[sour29]

I got my tickets for the LA show on 10/23. I can't wait!

A 2nd show was added on the 22nd, as well, in case you or anyone else missed it and wants to double up.

[Moni]

Damn, need a lottery win on Saturday and I'm there.

Tell me about it. I think I'm gonna walk over there and cry a litte.

[orochics]

I got my tickets for the LA show on 10/23. I can't wait!

A 2nd show was added on the 22nd, as well, in case you or anyone else missed it and wants to double up.

Largo in LA seems to have an odd way to order tickets. No online ordering, and an answering machine for purchases? But hopefully they call me back on Monday for tickets for the 22nd show.

[Liesbeth]

Barsuk's listing is like this:

23 Oct 2009
LOS ANGELES, CA
[ El Rey ]
with Jay Farrar, Benjamin Gibbard
John Roderick solo

24 Oct 2009
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
[ Bimbo's 365 Club ]
with Jay Farrar, Benjamin Gibbard
John Roderick solo

26 Oct 2009
CHICAGO, IL
[ Lincoln Hall ]
with Benjamin Gibbard, Jay Farrar
John Roderick solo

27 Oct 2009
WASHINGTON, DC
[ 9:30 Club ]
with Benjamin Gibbard, Jay Farrar
John Roderick solo

28 Oct 2009
NEW YORK, NY
[ Webster Hall ]
with Jay Farrar, Benjamin Gibbard
John Roderick solo

29 Oct 2009
BROOKLYN, NY
[ Union Hall ]
with TBD
John Roderick solo

this makes me wonder if there is a significance to Jay Farrar being listed first 3 times and Ben Gibbard twice. Does Jay come first in ranking over Ben? Is this a city thing, Ben goes down well in DC and Chicago, Jay's a CA dude?
Also, is TBD a cousin of TBA?

[sour29]

TBD means "we don't know." TBA means "we know, but we're not going to tell you." ;)

[Patr!ck]

Also "To be determined" and "To be announced", but Jason is dead on.

[Squid]

ELO Kiddies!!

Oh it is gorgeous in San Francisco people. I mean, you have no idea. And after all this time slogging away at book reviews - I find that I get to spend a little time on music again.

So Captain Jack came to town last night as the opener for this whole Ben Gibbard/Jay Farrar affair. Short of a room full of Lil Winters, you really couldn't ask for a better crowd. They were happy, they were interested, and they were equipped with cold medicine. The latter, you see, was rather necessary as our protagonist happens to be under the weather. This is what happens when you tour, and this is why he strolled out on stage in a blue blazer (replete with hankee)* and carrying a large plastic pitcher full of water. In addition to the Theraflu, there were also offers of Midol. Stirring his cold medicine, John looked up expectantly. "Where's that Midol, or was that just talk? Coz I'm feeling kind of crampy."

You know, I caught myself very nearly liveblogging on F'book. I was going to post the song titles in real time. And then I put my goddamn BB down and remembered that I was there to listen. LISTEN! What a concept. And listen I did - to Seven, Ultimatum, Shapes, Pushover, Hindsight, The Commander Thinks Aloud**, and - wait for it - a new song, which I believe*** is called, "I don't want to move to Portland"****. This got a huge laugh from the crowd - even when John earnestly tried to convince them that it was a metaphor.

So let's talk about this new song, yes? I want to point out that, at first listen, it harkens back to WIPTF. I say this because I had the exactly the same experience as I had listening to Blue Diamonds: there was a great deal of melodic phrase-turning and metaphoric activity to consider. I was trying catch up with many different pieces of imagery, and this in spite of the fact that I was already aware of the overarching theme of the song. So when, "Your bicycles are dreaming of their brakes" flew by, I was like, "WAIT! I LIKE THaaaa..", but it was too late - our lady friend in the song was already being asked to return as she was first spotted, wearing "just perfume and a coat" and hella drunk. Now THAT, girls, is a heroine.

My fellow Lil Winters, that's as much hardcore detail as I can summon, but if I can zoom out a bit, I'm also happy to report that I think the Captain made a lot of new fans last night. We're spoiled here in Elec-Tronic Salon - we take the witticisms and wackiness for granted - but as you well know, there is nothing like being surrounded by people getting a Dose of Winter for the first time. A girl behind me said to her boyfriend, "I totally want to hang out with that guy! He's hilarious!" And if the humor drew them in, the music kept them, because sick or not, John's voice was in absolutely perfect shape - he nailed all those "I'm a tenor!!!" notes in true style. Someone near me at one point said, "Damn". Why, it was almost Tilbrookian. You really couldn't ask for more.


* In the Neil Finn universe, we have what is called, "Hair&Pants"; it's a protective clause that grants immunity and enables people to comment on Neil's appearance without appearing a) shallow or b) a girl (of key importance to male posters) Bottom line: John's had a hair cut.

**Not guaranteed to be a complete or even remotely accurate list.

***Okay, I don't really believe. John's delivery was so dry that I couldn't really tell if that's correct.

****I wonder how that song's gonna go down in Portland. He probably changes the title in every city. In LA, it was probably, "I don't want to move to San Francisco because it's full of arty fops"

[sour29]

I've been refreshing the board all weekend for some sort of review! Thanks for the awesome, thorough, and heart-filled summary. Almost felt like I was there. Good to hear that John's still winning over unsuspecting Gibbard-lovers everywhere! Anyone else worried that the only new song we've heard all autumn is "I Don't Want To Move To Portland"? Several months before PTDTB, we had at least heard Ultimatum, Fire Island, and Honest. Hope that new record is still on track. Glad you had a good time, Squidster. Everyone else lucky enough to see this tour, I hope you enjoy yourselves (and write similar reviews!!)!!.

[Liesbeth]

Squiddie, you're the best! Wonderful review, glad you had such a good time and wanted to share the details with us.
With regards to *** and ****: from what evidence there's been so far, the song is indeed called something along the line of 'Don't want to move to Portland'. They already played the song in Portland. No riots were reported. I really love that title, that in itself inspires whole stories in my head.

I'm with Sour on hoping for more new songs. However, one of my old fave artists Grant Hart only played the same two new songs live in the past 9 years, and lo and behold, he unexpectedly released a full album this Fall, so there's hope yet.

[Moni]

Squid! That was the bestest write-up of a show in ages! Thanks for sharing. :)
Also, someone on the DCFC board had to say this:

Funny story.... while he was playing "Shapes" (I Think), he was rocking out so hard that his glasses fell off and ended up breaking when he hit the ground! The guitar tech came out, grabbed them, and fixed the broken arm with a guitar string.

I'm with Sour on hoping for more new songs. However, one of my old fave artists Grant Hart only played the same two new songs live in the past 9 years, and lo and behold, he unexpectedly released a full album this Fall, so there's hope yet.

But... but... I don't wanna wait 9 years for a new LW album! *cries*

[Liesbeth]

Look on the bright side, 3 years have passed already.

As for rocking so hard that your glasses break: wow!

[Squid]

You know, I hit send and then realized I had left out the glasses...sorry about that.

What was notable about the glasses was not that they fell off - I've seen it happen to John on more than one occasion. It's that they actually BROKE. And at first, because of the way he was holding them, it looked as though they had snapped clean through into two halves. At which point the entire crowd erupted into this "AWWWWWWWWWWWWW" * , to which John replied, "that was so nice!" and explained that audiences are typically unsympathetic to people with four eyes. Luckily, it was only a missing screw which was replaced all MacGyver style by their guitar tech with a string. Nice.

I heard that someone actually found the screw onstage later in the evening? Not sure if that's true.

*More proof that the Captain made a lot of new friends that night...SF audiences can be a bit standoffish if they don't like ya.

[coldengrey]

Hello all, I haven't posted here before, but I was at the El Rey and Bimbo's shows and I took some pictures (however, the ones from the El Rey are better and there's more of them) and thought you guys might be interested: El Rey, Bimbo's.

Also, the setlists were:

[El Rey 10/23]
Pushover
Seven
It’ll be a Breeze
Cinnamon
Not Moving to Portland
Ultimatum
Bride & Bridle
Stupid
The Commander Thinks Aloud

[Bimbo's 10/24]
Pushover
Seven
Stupid
Not Moving to Portland
Hindsight
Ultimatum
Shapes
The Commander Thinks Aloud

And I have a good audio recording of the whole set and video of The Commander Thinks Aloud from the El Rey show, so I'm gonna try and edit that soon and maybe upload it.

[Moni]

Hello and welcome! That is an excellent first post. I think I already like you :)

[coldengrey]

Thank you.

I got the video converted and up on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CVVIARhCJg. I started splicing and converting the audio too, but it's going to have to wait a bit. I just realized that I haven't slept in my own bed since Friday morning (even though I got home on Sunday) so I need to remedy that.