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Johnny Davis ~ Lucero

"Stacked girls who love science, rwwarr!"

I first heard Neko Case when a friend gave me the mp3s for Canadian Amp, that was all it took, within a month I had bought up all of her releases. What a voice! I really enjoy her crooning. It reminds me of the music my grandparents used to play on the big cabinet record player.

Last night Neko played Reno for the first time ever, and I was lucky enough to be there! What a beautiful evening! Crooked Fingers opened up, but I’m sad to say I missed their set. Hopefully I can catch them again in the future.

Neko came out around 9, set up all her own guitars and them started the show off with her voice sounding perfect and it just got warmer as the night went on. Some tracks I recall: Margaret vs. Pauline, Deep Red Bells, Hold On, Hold On, That Teenage Feeling, Dirty Knife, Maybe Sparrow, Star Witness, A Widow's Toast, and John Saw That Number. Her back up singer Kelly Hogan really impressed me vocally; she and Neko sound beautiful together. There's great chemistry and stage banter between them as well. I looked Kelly up today and found out she has a couple releases out on Bloodshot Records as well. I will be ordering those ASAP!

Neko played four or five new tunes over the course of the night, which left me very excited for the release of her new cd in early 2009. More information about that can be gained here: http://www.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080824/ENT02/808240304/1056/ENT

Go see Neko Case live!!

Lucero ~ 7/27/08

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I loved the vocal stylings of Jessica Lea Mayfield. Check out more about her here: http://jessicaleamayfield.portmerch.com/stores/home.php

Her brother was a madman on the bass!

Lucero ~ 7/26/08

Unorchestrated

I hope I was one of the first 100!! That green is lovely!
Come on boys, regroup!

More info here: http://www.grandtheftautumn.com/

Andrew Bird Setlist ~ Grand Sierra Resort

Andrew Bird live in Reno!? What a treat!

The new songs sound lovely, I can't wait for his new album.

Heinous!

The gravestone of former Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis has been stolen from a Cheshire cemetery. Curtis was 23 when he hanged himself in the kitchen of his Macclesfield home in May 1980, shortly before the band was due to go on tour in the US. Cheshire Police said his memorial stone was taken from where he is buried in Macclesfield Cemetery. Officers are appealing for anyone with information on its whereabouts to contact them. Detectives said the stone, which has the inscription "Ian Curtis 18 - 5 - 80" and the words "Love Will Tear Us Apart" was taken sometime between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. BBC article here.

MP3: Joy Division - Transmission

Boy George!

The former Culture Club frontman plays at 8 p.m. July 17 in the Celebrity Showroom at John Ascuaga's Nugget. Tickets are $40, available at the Nugget, Tickets.com outlets or 800-648-1177. Details: 356-3300 or http://www.janugget.com/.

UPDATE: Cancelled! Boo-Hiss!

Glitter and Doom

Phoenix 6/18/08

The Glitter and Doom tour did not disappoint! Tom Waits live. I’m not sure how it could be disappointing. I am a fan of seeing an artist with no opening act, especially an artist of Tom’s caliber. There is no pussyfooting around, plus I can’t think of anyone who could have warmed up the audience for Mr. Waits. Based on the immediate standing ovation he reseived when he appeared on stage it was clear no warm up was warranted.

The show was amazing. Tom was up on a carnivalesque pedestal that made it really easy to see him and all of his performance antics. He was stomping and kicking parts of the pedestal all night long, stomping on bells, kicking different little percussive boxes. It was great, he was like a grand, and somewhat insane master of ceremonies.

With hindsight and a little chit chat with some other concert goers after the show ,at a local Irish pub, we realized we should have gotten tickets for both nights. It never really occurred to us. Not sure why, I guess we just felt lucky to get tickets at all and didn’t think about trying for two nights. Most everyone we talked to agreed that the second night was better, but it would have been nice to see both. Apparently the setlists were fairly different.

This show easily moved to the top of my best shows seen list for this year. I can’t think of anything I could see that would top Tom fucking Waits!

Lucinda
Way Down in the Hole
Falling Down
All the World Is Green *
Misery is the River of the World *
Day After Tomorrow
Sins of the Father
Trampled Rose
Metropolitan Glide *
Dead and Lovely
Cemetery Polka
Dirt in the Ground
Hoist That Rag *
A Little Rain
Innocent When You Dream *
Lost in the Harbour
16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six *
Jesus Gonna Be Here
------------------------------
November *
Eyeball Kid *

* my personal faves

Some photos from night 1 in Phoenix are up on Pitchfork here: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/51363-photos-tom-waits-phoenix-az-061708

The Revival Tour - Precursor Show

I was watching for some Lucero tickets to go on sale this past weekend, peeping the internets very closely. What did I see? The Revival Tour had a date schedule in Sacramento on Sunday night. $10, early show at 6pm. So we pulled a fuck-it, filled up the car - $47!! Off to the Blue Lamp we went. It's a nice little venue, I had never been there before. Cash only at the bar, luckily Lara thought ahead in this department.

Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music, Tim Barry of Avail and Ben Nichols of Lucero! Need I say more? This tour is actually scheduled to start up in the fall, but they did this one off show in Sacramento. It was ridiculously good and fun! If you are even remotely in to any of these three musicians or their bands this show is for you! I thoroughly enjoyed hearing a few Lucero songs played acoustic.

Beck returns to Reno!

Beck will play the Grand Sierra on August 21st! Devendra Banhart will be the opning act. Why couldn't it have been Band of Horses? I am really diggin' on them right now.

Tickets (prices not available yet) go on sale June 21 at Ticketmaster outlets and at the Grand Sierra box office.

Next Week!

I am flying to Phoenix to see Tom Waits! I have not been this excited for a show in quite some time. I hope he plays a bunch of tunes off of Mule Variations, I am in love with that album.

I am a child of the 80's

I wonder what Cory Hart is up to these days? "Sunglasses at Night" is a great pop song.

@#%&*! SMILERS

Aimee Mann's new disk is lavish and beautiful, go pick up a copy. Yeah, drive to your local music store and buy a cd. It won't kill you. Seriously, take your hands off the keyboard and go!

A better reiew than I could ever write can be read here:

http://tinymixtapes.com/Aimee-Mann,6222