Author Archives: Mike

‘Convocation’ Philadelphia Promo Tour & The Gathering 100

Leave a reply

This weekend I’ll be in the Philadelphia area for a promotional tour supporting Convocation, my album with my good friend and collaborator guitarist Matt Borghi. It’s not as much of a “performance” tour as there’s only one “public” show in Philadelphia, but we’ll be hitting up the holy trinity of ambient music outlets: The Gatherings Concert Series, a live set on ambient mainstay Star’s End on Philadelphia’s WXPN, and an Echoes Living Room Concert. If you happen to be in the greater Philadelphia area or that region of the east coast, do check out The Gathering if you’re so inclined. We’re performing an opening set for Vic Hennegan and Dave Luxton, who’ll each be performing solo sets.

100logo

We open the show at 8:00 PM on Saturday 10.19.13 at St. Mary’s Hamilton Village, 3916 Locust Walk on University of Pennsylvania’s campus. The show promises to offer much variety, as we’re all at different points in the “ambient” spectrum and all representing different parts of the country.

Official page with artist information here.

Advance tickets are available at a discount through http://www.ticketweb.com. Proceeds benefit CIMA of PA. For complete details please visit http://www.thegatherings.org.

Following that evening’s performance, all three acts will also perform live on the overnight broadcast of the long-running Star’s End radio show on WXPN. For complete details visit http://www.starsend.org. You can read a nice review of Convocation by Chuck van Zyl of Star’s End here.

Monday morning, before our return trip to the midwest, we’ll have the honor of doing a Living Room Concert at the Echoes studios. We’re humbled and excited to be performing for the two titans of ambient radio.

[Previous entry on Convocation here.]

A Nod to Verdi

Leave a reply

Despite my allegiance to Wagner, it’s worth mentioning this year’s other bicentennial birthday boy, Giuseppe Verdi, who turned 200 this week. I won’t mislead here: I’m familiar enough with Verdi and his music but he’s not a strong personal interest of mine outside of work. I do enjoy his music, but I don’t want to write some insincere, longwinded post just because it’s 2013. Simply an anecdote or two and a few words.

Verdi’s Il Trovatore was the first opera I saw performed live by a professional company. While on a family vacation in London in 2004, I queued up at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden the morning of a performance and scored a last-minute cheap seat. The fact that Il Trovatore – or anything by Verdi – was on the docket was almost peripheral. I came to opera relatively “late” – approximately a year before this trip – and decided that while in London I’d try to see something at Covent Garden. I’d visited the city years before but lacked the interest at that time. That one of opera’s biggest composers was on the bill was simply a bonus. I went alone as I often do to concerts and had a lovely time. The performance was solid, and I was pleasantly surprised in Act II upon recognizing the “Anvil Chorus.”  That, coupled with the pretty traditional production, made for a delightful first time for me. (Though, I must admit that I found the plot to be a little much…)

This past summer I saw Verdi’s rarely-performed ninth opera Attila at another historic theater: Vienna’s Theater an der Wien. Unlike my experience at Covent Garden, I knew the opera beforehand. Also unlike London, this modern production was by Peter Konwitschny – pure Regietheater (director’s theater). The cast and orchestra gave a superb performance, and I absolutely loved the production. Konwitschny respected Verdi’s material without taking himself too seriously. I certainly hope the production gets a video release. That performance really made an impression on me and I’ve since wanted to actively seek out more Verdi.

[It’s worth noting that I saw Attila less than a week after attending an excellent performance of another rare opera, Rienzi, in Bayreuth, written by another birthday boy…]

Although I’ve made my bicentennial preference clear in posts throughout this year, a nod to Verdi is definitely in order. After all, Il Trovatore got my foot in the operatic door, and for that I’m grateful.

MTH-V: Elton John Live in ’71

Leave a reply

Following up on the recent New Listen, I’d like to honor Elton‘s piano trio format by featuring the incarnation that helped to catapult his career. Notably, it was with this trio that he made his US debut at the LA’s The Troubadour in 1970. The trio is:

Elton John – piano & vocals
Dee Murray – bass & backing vocals
Nigel Olsson – drums & backing vocals

For various contractual reasons, Murray and Olsson didn’t regularly play on a lot of Elton’s early studio albums. But, along with the eventual addition of guitarist Davey Johnstone, they were Elton’s core live band until 1975. Johnstone has pretty much remained in the band since, with Murray and Olsson both sporadically rejoining Elton since. Olsson once again joined Elton in 2000 and continues to tour with him through present day.

The below videos are from a live set at the BBC studios in 1971 in support of Madman Across the Water, the album from which these songs come. If you’ve not explored much of Elton’s material beyond the radio, then you’re in for a real treat. It’s a side of him often obscured by fanciful wardrobes and the hit parade. No costumes. No spectacle. Just three musicians and excellent songs.

“Razor Face”

“Rotten Peaches”

“Holiday Inn”

Previous Elton entries are here, here, and here.

New Listen: Elton John’s ‘The Diving Board’

Leave a reply

divingboard

Artist: Elton John
Album: The Diving Board (2013)

The Tin Pan Alley Twins strike again, and strongly so. Elton’s recently released The Diving Board is a strong addition to a large, eclectic catalogue that spans five decades. Like many of his musical peers (of which there are few), he’s often saddled with the stereotype of being a legacy act – a touring, nostalgic jukebox of greatest hits. He may continue to sing “Your Song” at just about every performance, but he and lyricist Bernie Taupin are writing some of their strongest material almost fifty years after meeting. I’ve had The Diving Board since its 09.24 US release and can’t get enough.

[I wrote about his previous album The Union, a collaboration with Leon Russell, soon after its release here.]

The Diving Board features John continuing his relationship with producer T. Bone Burnett, which began with The Union. Also, like The Union, The Diving Board features quasi-Americana and gospel-tinged themes reminiscent of much of Elton’s early material. (If you’re not too familiar with his deep cuts, his second through fifth albums – Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection, Madman Across the Water, Honky Chateau – are rife with great piano-driven country rock songs.) Furthermore, The Diving Board is heavily piano-centric. While that may at first seem obvious, many of Elton’s albums feature such large bands and/or heavy production that his instrument is often obscured. Many of his early performances, including his US debut at The Troubadour in 1970 (also attended by T. Bone Burnett), featured a piano trio. In instrumentation and style, Elton is returning to his roots, even more so than with The Union.

The Union casts a small shadow here, mainly in tone. Though I’m sure that’s Burnett’s touch. Stylistically the album is a mix of The Union, Madman Across the Water, Tumbleweed Connection, and The Captain & The Kid. The album’s consistent core is the piano trio of Elton, bassist Raphael Saadiq, and drummer Jay Bellerose. (Bellerose also performed on The Union.) It’s a noticeable departure from Elton’s touring band, which features decades-long collaborators Davey Johnstone (guitar) and Nigel Olsson (drums, who has played with Elton since 1969’s Empty Sky). Other instruments – strings, brass, background vocals, occasional guitar – are used throughout the album, but sparingly so and without obscuring the core trio. When used, the guitar is still playing second to the piano, and the orchestral instruments are there primarily for texture. This relatively stripped down sound is more akin to a club than an arena or stadium. Make no mistake, however, because many of the songs groove hard.

Band aside, Elton himself sounds real nice. He long ago had to trade in his soaring tenor range for a silky baritone, and it’s on wonderful display here. This is evident right from the beginning with the gentle and nostalgic “Ocean’s Away,” the album’s overture featuring only Elton on voice and piano. Then, bit by bit, the rest of the the band joins in on the haunting but hard-driving “Oscar Wilde Gets Out.” This ode to the Irish writer is the sort of brooding saloon romp that conjures the best of The Union and Tumbleweed Connection. This is followed by the gospel-tinged “A Town Called Jubilee,” the first joyous number, with Taupin painting images of the open West. Taupin continues the Americana with “The Ballad of Blind Tom,” an ode to pianist Blind Tom Wiggins. The song’s narrative reads and sounds as if it were written for a musical, but it’s an effective standalone work. Elton keeps up the gospel- and old school country-influenced stylings on “Take This Dirty Water” and “Mexican Vacation (The Kids in the Candlelight).”

“Home Again,” the album’s first single, is a top shelf ballad that I’m sure will quickly find itself in his Greatest Hits canon. Single or not, it’s a crown jewel of the album and one of the best songs Elton’s written in years. “The New Fever Waltz” and “My Quicksand” are the other ballads, with the latter being the album’s weakest link for me. For those looking for a more recent “Elton sound” a la Songs From the West Coast or The Captain & The Kid, “Can’t Stay Along Tonight” and “Voyeur” scratch that adult contemporary itch. There are also three standalone instrumental interludes, each being a numbered “Dream.” None are as robust as “Funeral for a Friend,” but each provides a nice respite while moving the action along. The album closes with the title track, a mellow lounge number suggestive of a last call.

This could be my favorite of Elton’s late-era albums. If you’ve kept a safe distance from his recent output, this could be your foot in the door. As for me, I’m going to give it yet another spin…

Amazon Link
iTunes Link

MTH-V: Type O Negative

Leave a reply

With today having been Friday the 13th, I can think of few artists or groups more appropriate than Type O Negative. They’re not for the faint of heart, and it’s one of the things I love most about them. The last few weeks have been quite busy, and I’ve been trying to think of just the right video to break the recent streak of posts featuring blog regulars DMB, Dave Liebman, and Richard Wagner. Type O Negative do just that.

TON hold a special place in my heart. They not only write and play heavy, dark, high quality rock – a powerful mixture of baritone vocals, organs, and metal – but they don’t take themselves too seriously. Many of their songs include very dark humor, which I of course always appreciate. Though there are some that at least appear to be relatively seriously, even if the tongue was planted firmly in cheek upon writing. Regardless of any humor, these self-described “four dicks from Brooklyn” bring it musically. In that sense they fall into a lineage not far removed from Frank Zappa. It’s a subtle subversion: for those fans that may be somewhat literalist with the lyrical content, they’re missing the point. It’s rock and roll – you’re not supposed to take yourself too seriously. But the boys still rock. HARD.

Well, they rocked. Bassist and lead singer Peter Steele died in 2010. That wasn’t without some confusion, however, as, due to a gag in 2005, a number of fans didn’t believe the initial reports. I remember walking through an airport in Colorado around that time of the hoax wearing a Type O Negative t-shirt and being stopped by another fan asking, “Is it true?” Ha! Joking aside, Peter’s death was a musical loss for me. I miss him.

I became an active fan around the time of October Rust‘s release (late ’96/early ’97). I saw the band three times: twice at Grand Rapids’s Orbit Room and once at Detroit’s infamous Harpos. (Unfortunately I didn’t attend that Halloween 2009 show at Harpos, which turned out the be the band’s last show.) They were always solid and the shows were tons of fun. The last time I saw them, which was at Harpos in April 2007, they pulled out a couple nice surprises including a renditions of “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Hey Joe” (which they dubbed “Hey Pete”).

I try to keep this blog safe for work, greatly limiting my choices to feature. But this performance of World Coming Down‘s title track in Germany in 1999 is solid. This song is one of their serious numbers, and its album isn’t nearly as humorous as some others (e.g., Origin of the Feces), but if you’ve ever had a tendency to headbang then this should scratch you where you itch. Dig it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN_BlF9Vtvw

 

And a nice audience tape of “Magical Mystery Tour” from the April ’07 show at Harpos: