Piano / Stuff I'm Sad I'm Missing / Fucking Martha

Just worked through the theme and first variation of Beethoven's Sonata 12. Part of the reason I love Beethoven so much is those "what the fuck" moments: "Stacked fifths over here?" "Stacked fourths over there!?" "How long must you wait before throwing in accidentals and why do they make so much sense?" "Ocatves of Eb to D, then E, then F, G, Ab...in Eb major?" "This chord contains the top three notes of the Schoenberg chord..." "Is that a d diminished flat 9 over F!?! Passing dissonances my ass!" And yet even after plunking through a few sight-reads, it all finds its context in place. Fun stuff, although I kind of wanted to try for the tempest...heheh.

Because of a really really cool solo daytrip up to Montreal to see the big OP on Feb 20th, and a following rather expensive ticket to see Muse on Mar 6th, and a trip with friends soon after, I can't really justify any new concerts until like midapril. Which sucks, because so many good acts are coming through, even to the 18+ shows that I'll be able to head to now:

1/15 - Drug Rug
1/17 - Camper van Beethoven
1/27 - Of Montreal
2/10-11 - Magnetic Fields
2/13 - Tegan and Sara
2/18 - Editors
3/11 - Balkan Beat Box
2/20 - Fucked Up
3/27 - Spoon
3/27 - Toro y Moi (for $9, I'd do it, guy was sick on the Islands tour)
3/31 - Japandroids
3/31 - Miike Snow
4/3 - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
4/4 - Wilco
4/10 - Xiu Xiu
4/17 - Kaki King (eep)

1963
Aaaand Coakley is ruining everything because Brown knows how to appeal to the 30- and 40-somethings who were barely alive when Kennedy got elected, never had a sense of legacy about the Kennedy family, and are more pissed about their lost job or home than anything else. Fuck me.

Listening to Arcade Fire is both a Euphamism and a Literal Truth

And I'm avoiding Funeral like the plague because I only listen to that once a year, and I might break down entirely if I hear it. So I'm going through Neon Bible, Us Kids Know EP, Christmas EP, just finished a Glastonbury show...I'll queue up the White Session and the early Demo, and then play my rather large and redundant b-sides playlist ("brazil!").

I'm partway through a lyrical analysis post, and I'm really behind on a bunch of mixtapes. Gotta keep up, Aly.

Content: what I condsider to be my Arcade Fire "discography" (I never could find those rarer Neighborhood tracks:

LPs:

Funeral
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
Une Annee Sans Lumiere
Neighborhood #3 (Power out)
Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)
Crown of Love
Wake Up
Haiti
Rebellion (Lies)
In the Backseat

Neon Bible
Black Mirror
Keep the Car Running
Neon Bible
Intervention
Black Wave/Bad Vibrations
Ocean of Noise
The Well and the Lighthouse
(Antichrist Television Blues)
Windowsill
No Cars Go
My Body is a Cage

EPs / Singles:

Us Kids Know
Old Flame
I'm Sleeping in a Submarine
No Cars Go
The Woodlands National Anthem
My Heart is an Apple
Headlights Look Like Diamonds
Vampire/Forest Fire

The Arcade Fire + LCD Soundsystem Tour 7"
Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son (Serge Gainsbourg cover)

Rebellion (Lies)
Rebellion (Lies)
Brazil

Neighborhood #3
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) (Album Version)
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) (Alternate Take)

Keep the Car Running
Keep the Car Running
Broken Window

Christmas EP
Chestnuts Roasting
Oh Holy Night
Jinglebell Rock
A Very Arcade Xmas
It Clouded Fully (Brendan)
The Spartans (Brendan)
In the Attic (Boston)
Asleep at the Wheel
Old Flame
Submarine
In the Backseat
Headlights

Older Demos

2001 Demo (Boston?)
Winter for a Year
My Mind is a Freeway
Accidents
Goodnight Boy
Asleep at the Wheel
In the Attic
Can't Let Go of You
You Tried to Turn Away my Fears
Instrumental
The Great Arcade Fire

Demo Tape
Sonata
The Flood
Winter for A Year

Soundtracks

Six Feet Under Sountrack
Cold Wind

Assorted Collections

B-Sides (Collection)
Brazil (Live)
Virgin Mary Highway (Live)
Burning Bridges, Breaking Hearts (Live)
Asleep at the Wheel
Surf City Eastern Block (Live)
Alligator Mine (Live)
William Pierce (Live)
Cars and Telephones
Intervention (Live)
Intervention (Studio)

Covers (Collection)
Maps (Live Lounge)(Live)
Age of Consent (New Order)(Live)
Born on a Train (Magnetic Fields)(Live)
Guns of Brixton
Five Years (Bowie)(Live)
State Trooper (Springsteen)(Live)
Naive Melody (Talking Heads)(studio)
Naive Melody (Talking Heads(live)
Heroes (Bowie)

Live Shows

Download Festival 2005 (Live '05)
Intro
Wake Up
Laika
No Cars Go
Haiti
I'm Sleeping in a Submarine
State Trooper
Crown of Love
Tunnels
Power Out
Rebellion (Lies)
In the Backseat

Emo's in Austin, Texas (Live in '05)
Wake Up
Laika
No Cars Go
Headlights Look Like Diamonds
Une Annee Sans Lumiere
Power Out
Rebellion (Lies)
Born on a Train (Magnetic Fields Cover)
7 Kettles
Crown of Love
Tunnels
Naive Melody
Haiti
In the Backseat

KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic ('05)
Intro
Wake Up
7 Kettles
Vampire/Forest Fire
(Interview)
Intervention
Born on a Train (Magnetic Fields Cover)
In the Back Seat
Outro

White Sessions ('05)
Intro
Wake Up
Laika
No Cars Go
Une Annee Sans Lumiere
Power out
Rebellion (Lies)
7 Kettles
Crown of Love
Tunnels
Outro

Live at the Orpheum Theater, Boston (Live in '07)
Black Mirror
No Cars Go
Haiti
In The Backseat
Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)
My Body Is A Cage
Windowsill
The Well and The Lighthouse
Ocean of Noise
Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)
(Antichrist Television Blues)
Keep The Car Running
Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)
Rebellion (Lies)
Intervention
Neon Bible

Live at T.T. the Bear's, Cambridge (Live in '04)
Wake Up
Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
Une Annee Sans Lumiere
Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) / Rebellion (Lies)
Naive Melody (Talking Heads)
Haiti
Headlights Look Like Diamonds
Burning Bridges, Breaking Hearts
Crown of Love
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
No Cars Go
In the Backseat

Missing

Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Neighborhood #1 (Tunnles)
My Buddy (Alvino Rey Orchestra)(also available on the single for Neighborhood #2)

Intervention B/W Ocean of Noise
Intervention
Ocean of Noise (Calexo)

No Cars Go
No Cars Go
Surf City Eastern Bloc

Live EP with Davoid Bowie (iTunes release)
...

The Box (score)

Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?
Neighborhood #5 (Hockey)

Concert Review: Amanda Palmer with the Boston Pops

Sappy Yew Beer, everybody. I spent last night at the Pops with my ladyfriend. Amanda had played a show there in the past which my friend David saw, and he said it was amazing. Having been one of the folks who had tickets to her cancelled House of Blues show, we got express notice and a place in the VIP party. So after traversing Boston trying to keep warm in the parades, we made our way to symphony hall. Hoorah!

It was fun enough just sitting in line, waiting for people. The draw that Amanda has is intense and so deliciously eclectic. The goth idiom, the victorian idiom, the steampunk idiom, the fuck-organized-society idiom, and the do-crazy-shit-and-be-beautiful-and-creative idiom all melded together smoothly. Thankfully people got dressed up this time (as was not the case at shows of the Onion Cellar, for example), and so it was nice looking at the crossdressers and the subtle cosplayers and the generally wild and expressive folks in semi-formal, semi-distorted attire (the only full tuxes I saw were on those of the female sex). And that was all just the public! Amanda had all sorts of crazy art acts hopping about, including a coin operated cabaret act, a crazy rock group or two, and others. There was a surprisingly number of the fur-coated regular concertgoers as well, and even more surprisingly, I think only a small number of them walked out in the end. All of this was covered in a healthy dosage of party hats, noisemakers, and general badassery.

Amanda played two ukulele songs with Miss Tess' band at the VIP thingie, which was great to see. Musically it wasn't mindblowing, but she's a fine player, and more importantly she was clearly far, far, FAR into the "let's have a joyous paaaaaarty!" kind of place of mind. So it served to get me pumped up.

Pops went on at 10. I didn't realize that "a night at the pops with amanda palmer" meant "40 minutes of the pops, a 10 minute film, and then an hour of amanda," but they did a fine job. I've always likened the pops to a very serious prostitute who thinks he's an artist; that being said, if they are a very skilled prostitute. Their renditions of "The Imperial March," "Mack the Knife," "All That Jazz," "A Fifth of Beethoven," 3 tunes from Carmen, and an absolutely impeccable and heart-wrenching rendition of Bjork's "Overture" (to Dancer in the Dark, and with lyrics called "New Day," but never "Selmasongs," Keith). And then it was done. The songs were festive in nature, had a bit of nice flourish, and functions just as the pre-show festivities had: riling up and entertaining.

At around 11:00, a film directed by Neil Gaiman (five feet away from whom I was twice that night...I love that he's dating Amanda, they're perfect) came on, Statuesque. It's under the "10 Minute Tales" name, and a bunch of "illegal" (read: unlicensed) copies are floating around the internet (to Amanda's joy) to see. A fine piece of filmwork, Amanda does as fine a job as she did in With The Needle That Sings In Her Heart (such a good fucking show: pics and stream) and some of the highest resolution jam I have ever seen. More than one of the folks in that crowd had done living statue work before, and the theme was all a part of the anarchic creativity of that night. Niel gave a really heartwarming New Years wish all about dangerous dreams and unexpected invention and ambitious creativity (as well as kindness and wisdom, ha...a few moments later I got called a fag by some ruffled fiftysomething). So we were all in our "WILD THOUGHTS AND URGE TO MAKE ORGIASTIC CREATION" mode when Amanda popped on.

Started with Missed Me, beginning with the orchestra building it (and everybody going nuts) while Amanda readied herself in the back. In the recording, after she finishes a vocal progression ("If you...that must mean...etc.") there's a high minor second before the piano and drums jolt back into action. On each and every one of those (and a few other moments), a musician from the crowd (trumpeter, violinist, guy with duck beak, trombonist in the first balcony, and then Keith Lockhart with a moocow) started chasing Amanda around, and then she started leading them on. It was all very very sexual, which I think was mostly for the good. Amanda knows the shock value of sexuality, and so she plays shoes essentially in her underwear; I wish she was more expressive with her view of her body than just shock, but it really gave the air a spark. Song continued, all around well done. Very good showwomanship, fine playing.

Amanda's been talking about her Tchaikovsky piece for the pops that she'd been planning, and I didn't expect her to add any theatrics. But she had some guy's cell phone ring, made him come up and pretend to me not in the know, and then hop into full swing while she danced around. The piece did make clear her musical limitations. She is not a subtle pianist. She is a highly expressive musician, but she doesn't seem to have very many shades between piano and forte. Nevertheless, she and her slightly inebriated self (there was a small table with wine glasses and champagne on it...a good running gag) did a fine job. Interestingly, I know the man who was going to teach her that piece, and who was going to be the man in the crowd.

The same entrance to "A Fifth of Beethoven" served as the entrance (again, to riotous applause) for Coin-Operated Boy. The arrangement felt a bit contrived, but the percussion was very very good, as it was the entire night (even if the slight echo of symphony hall wasn't made for hihats). Amanda and Keith were on good enough terms that she messed around with the cues for the hits at the end of the bridge: "I....want.........a, I!...........want a I want....a...I.....want.....a...................coin-operated boy." During the record skip part, she had Keith give her a glass of champagne. Mr. Lockhart really is the sanity of the pops, and only between his collaboration with Amanda did the energy keep going while the players, bemused, played their parts.

Gets fuzzy from here, but somewhere in the mix was Astronaut, Runs in the Family, Farewell (or some song or other from Cabaret), Hurt (an amazing NIN cover), Poker Face (aided by the ladies from The Slutcracker and mixed in with a poststructuralist academic discussion of the implications of the song: "Has Lady Gaga, in attempting to free herself from the ties to femininity and its requisite habits and presentation, trapped herself in the poststructuralist chains of fame and its necessities?"), a late night night countdown to We Are the Champions (with a touch of bombastically joyous irony...turns out the countdown was actually at 11:58, but nobody cared), and a pretty ok version of Leeds United. Everything was punctuated by Amanda's lack of clothing, lack of propriety, and lack of sobriety. Champagne was imbibed and the new year was described.

To sum up: faux-fur coats with fake baby heads whose eyes were fake baby heads whose eyes where pudgy baby hands. That was my night.