non-stop dance party with Prince - n. charleston coliseum - 03/30/11

last night, my pal, charles, and i went to the north charleston coliseum to see the one and only Prince (since he is a god, he deserves to have his name capitalized). charles bought tickets for himself and his wife, leah, and she had no interest in going (what?!?!), so he offered it to me. i graciously accepted! we were in section 229, which was in the upper reaches about halfway down the left side of the stage. no matter, because the stage was so big, i don't know if there was a bad seat in the house.

we arrived shortly before 6 o'clock and waited outside until the doors opened. luckily the rain held off while we waited. once inside, charles got some grub in the form of nachos and a brew, while i just got a bottled water (i ate chick-fil-a with the wife and kids earlier, then washed that down with a venti skinny caramel macchiato from starbucks). we then went to find our seats. we sat there chatting randomly through text, calls, and in person with various people that we knew were there in the crowd somewhere.

right around 7:40, the opening act, lalah hathaway hit the stage with her background vocalists and excellent band. they put on an impressive set of solid soul music. the vocal harmonies were beautiful, the guitarist was playing some sweet solos, and the rest of the band laid down the rhythm. i learned that she is the daughter of legendary soul singer donny hathaway. i enjoyed the set.

Prince hit the stage at 8:36. the stage was dimly outlined in lights, the crowd started roaring, then we hear... "dearly beloved...". the crowd went NUTS as they ripped into 'let's go crazy'. the girl next to me was so excited, she started weeping, seriously. i had to steady her so she didn't fall forward and go tumbling down through the rows. charles and i both started boogyin', as did every person in sight. you never knew two white boys could move like this! it was intense.

Prince continued on, wowing us with hit after hit. there were a few songs i didn't recognize - i have to be honest, i have not followed his career as closely as some - but the music was groovin' and the booties were shakin'. my friend, katie, had a much better seat and got a few excellent pics that she gave me permission to use. here is one of them.

photo courtesy of my pal, katie campbell

Prince was in great spirits throughout the entire set, which lasted over nearly 2-1/2 hours. his dance moves were sweet - no way that dude is over 50 years old. his voice was intense, completely on point. his guitar skills are desirable to say the least. he was shredding through solos, my favorite being during 'purple rain'. the faces he made (which we could see on the 'jumbo-tron') as he hit some of those notes were true emotional guitar faces. if you are a guitarist or a spouse of a guitarist, you know what i'm talking about. i recorded a snippet of 'purple rain' with my crappy camera phone. gives an idea of where we were and how awesome it was. after the video is a picture from our point of view.

above video and photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

one of the highlights was when he said the the crowd, 'charleston, i told you not to get me started... ya'll 'bout to get pregnant up in here.' oh man, that had me ROLLIN'. so smooooth. a few minutes later, he said, 'ya'll pregnant yet?', then started grinning and covering his face to hide it. he played two encores and finally left the stage at 10:52. we had such a great time, and big thanks to charles for hooking me up with the ticket. i wouldn't have been able to go otherwise.

photo courtesy of my pal, katie campbell

the setlist was uploaded by some kind soul on setlist.fm here. it seems accurate the best i can tell. thank you, Prince, for coming to charleston. it was an amazing show that many, many people will not soon forget.

Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group w/ Zechs Marquise - Asheville - 03/26/2011

i went to asheville, nc last night to see the omar-rodriguez-lopez group and zechs marquise at the orange peel. my cousin adam lives in hickory, nc, so i drove up to his house to pick him up, then we headed on to asheville. we got to the venue about 20 minutes before the doors opened, and it was raining and cold. when i left charleston earlier that day, it was in the 70's so i didn't even bring a jacket or anything. they opened up the doors right on time, though, and we went straight in to grab a sweet spot in front of the stage. while adam held our spot, i checked out the merch table and picked up a sweet purple ORL t-shirt and the Omar/Lydia Lunch vinyl album (one i have been coveting for a while on vinyl, and out of stock on his website - score!).

once the show started, zechs marquise came out and completely blew me away. I have never seen these guys play together before, and they made it worth every dollar spent to get to this show. total energy and killer grooves. i will definitely see these guys again. after the show, i bought their album on vinyl as well ('our delicate stranded nightmare'), and three of the members were gracious enough to autograph it for me and chat for a moment after the show. swell guys.

photo courtesy of myself!

The omar rodriguez-lopez group came out shortly after zechs marquise finished their set. as soon as i saw cedric walk out with the guys, i turned into an excited 12 year old girl. i saw a video from SXSW that ORL Productions posted on youtube where cedric came out and sang with them, but i never thought in a million years he would be touring with them. it made the show just a tad bit more exciting for me, since all 5 members on stage are current members in the mars volta!!!

photo courtesy of myself!

they proceeded with a set of all new music (at least i have never heard any of it before) with cedric singing lead vocals the entire set. lots of energy and even some between-song banter, which i have never experienced with the mars volta before. extremely exciting times. i hope to see these excellent tunes getting an official release soon. i was able to capture some pretty sweet video of most of three songs from the performance. sound quality is decent, but not great, but it is better than nothing. check it out!!!

amazing...

i have got to start blogging again...

so, it has been a while. a long while. but i am back! let's see...what have i been up to? with tax return money, i got a whole mess of resealable record sleeves from bags unlimited. always impressed by their selection and quality. i have finally finished bagging every single record we own. it was great fun going through the entire catalog one by one. i ran across a lot of records i forgot we owned. this collection is one of my most prized possessions...

we have had a few busy weeks with a few more ahead. a few birthdays coming up (calla's and others), a few concerts coming up in the next three months that i am totally looking forward to (omar rodriguez-lopez and the deftones). the charleston record expo is happening on march 26th. this should be very exciting! it is being put on by the great monster music and movies. captain's comic expo on march 29th. record store day 2011 coming up on april 16th. lots of exciting releases coming out for this. free comic book day on may 7th. dang. fun stuff indeed! hope i can handle all of this.

anna has been super busy with her etsy site, making hair bows/rings/other assorted things. and of course she has been busy with just being a stay-at-home mommy. we are so lucky to be in a situation where she could stop working devilish retail and focus on spending time with the girls.

will be posting more stuff here soon, so please stay tuned. i promise to make this more interesting than i have been (for all 2-3 of my readers...).

BlackDiamondSkye Presale

pre-sale tickets for BLACKDIAMONDSKYE are only available for a few more days, so get decent seats while you can: http://bit.ly/axwNpw

where did all the good shows go???

there is a serious lack of good shows recently. haven't been to one in almost two months, i think. if anyone hears of anything i might like, please drop me a line.

in other news, i went to a christmas parade downtown with my daughter today, and we had a blast. we watched all of the cars drive by and stuff, then we had a picnic in marion square that consisted of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit snacks (yum!). mina then played on some giant inflatable things (slide, obstacle course, jump castle) for about 45 minutes. we topped it off with some cake-cake and hot chocolate at the starbucks across the street and a quick run through of urban outfitters. 'twas an excellent time. i left the camera in the car, but took this shot right when we got back before leaving downtown.


photo taken by myself

jucifer, the pour house, 10/10/08

this past saturday night, i went with my friend shane to see jucifer, a band that we both love and have seen numerous times now. they played at a small bar on james island called the pour house. my friend chris thomas plays drums in the band that opened for them, banana hammock (the best band name i have heard in a while). they are kind of a thrashy, screamy, metal group with lots of mid-song tempo changes. i liked them. chris has made some amazing music over the years, and this is a continuation.

jucifer came on stage at around midnight, and once again blew me away. the band consists of two members, g. amber valentine (maniacal guitar/vocals) and g. edgar livengood (maniacal drums/vocals). the guitar rig consists of no less than thirteen 4x12" speaker cabinets, which is about twelve more than most guitarists have at a small club show like that. upon the first strum of the guitar, my innards instantly turned to liquid (luckily this has happened before, so i thought to bring an extra pair of undershorts).


photo courtesy of myself

they continued on and played a loud, screaming, psycho-drumming set that truly ruled. there was a lame turnout, but that did not effect their spirits in the slightest. and the few people that were there were going nuts.


photo courtesy of myself

after the show, amber v. promptly manned the merchandise booth, chatting with folks and signing autographs, showing no signs of just having blown minds. i bought their new live dvd, jucifer - veterans of volume: live with eight cameras and can't wait to watch it. if you like the band, order it from the link in the previous sentence. it is only $10 plus postage, and it is a limited pressing. the dvd contains a live show, music videos, and tons of other stuff. this is a great band and they need all the support they can get. i also purchased their new album l'autrichienne on pretty pink vinyl. it is a beauty. hope to see you all at the next show!

the raconteurs, tabernacle, 10/01/08

after the mars volta show from my previous post, anna and i made our way back to atlanta the following week to see the raconteurs. because of some unforeseen happenings, we ended up bringing our sweet monster daughter, mina, with us, and anna offered to stay with her so i could attend the show (now that is love). we ended up going to the atlanta zoo the next day, so it turned into a fun-filled family mini-vacation. but i digress...

this show was also at the tabernacle, a venue that i like more and more each time i attend a show there. cameras were allowed, so i got some better shots than some of my previous efforts. the opening band was one that anna discovered a while back and liked called the kills, a two-piece band (two guitarists/vocalists - one male/one female) and a drum machine. they played an energetic set and were very entertaining. i wish anna could have seen it...


photo courtesy of myself

the raconteurs blew my mind. as you probably know, the band consists of jack white of the white stripes, brendan benson, and jack lawrence and patrick keeler, both of the greenhornes. they played a great selection that covered both of their albums, broken boy soldiers and consolers of the lonely.


photo courtesy of myself

brendan benson sang the majority of the songs, because jack white was losing his voice. still, the energy created from the entire band was tremendous and could be felt pulsing through the room. one of the highlights of the show for me was when they played 'blue veins', the closer of their first album. i was not smart enough to at first remember my camera can shoot video, but i was smart enough to remember this right after the second verse, and i was able to capture the final 6 minutes of the song. check it out:



video courtesy of myself

my favorite part of the show was when they played 'carolina drama', which happens to be the closer to their second album, and it was the closer of the show. jack white has an amazing ability to tell a gripping story, and this song is an example of that. here is a picture from when they were performing that song:


photo courtesy of myself

i hope jack white's voice is getting better, and i hope to be able to see them again soon. this was such a different experience from when i saw the white stripes last year. both shows were awesome, but the music is so different between the two bands. this time around, it felt more like just a group of guys in a band that really love playing together instead of jack white as the ringleader. he looks good in both positions, but he seems happier here.

the mars volta, the tabernacle, 09/24/08

my wife, anna, and i recently saw the mars volta in concert in atlanta at the tabernacle, which is a concert venue that was converted from an old church. this is my fourth time seeing the mars volta in concert, and anna's first time. the show was titled 'an evening with the mars volta', which basically means no opening band (fine by me!!!). we ended up in a great spot, although right next to the pa speaker (forgot ear plugs...), but that's ok, because it was worth the 3 days of ringing.


photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

the show was amazing, with lots of energy from the band. they played just at 2 hours long, and performed songs that spanned their entire catalog, with the exception of deloused in the comatorium - nothing from that one... i was expecting the setlist to mimic the one from when i saw them a few months back, but they changed it up, even playing songs that i have never heard live before. here is the setlist:

goliath
viscera eyes
new song (!)
wax simulacra
ouroboros
eunuch provocateur
ilyena
cygnus..., vismund cygnus
the widow
aberinkula

once again, they have blown my mind. anna enjoyed the show, too, though i don't think she was boogying as much as me. also, this is officially baby #2's first concert. that is one for the baby book for sure. here is another picture from the show:


photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

i will be seeing them the next time they come even close. if you are interested in coming along, let me know.

and on a totally unrelated note, as anna and i were leaving the show, walking down the sidewalk right outside the venue, we passed a dude that, i swear, looked identical to the late, great elliott smith. we both stopped and looked at each other, then turned around and tried to track him down, but he disappeared just like that into the crowd. makes me think, what if... nah. couldn't be.....right?

nine inch nails, atlanta, 08/13/2008

saw nine inch nails recently in atlanta with my friend william, and it ruled. i have seen them before, but this time the stage performance was so amazing. they played tons of great songs, and the current lineup of musicians is tops (although i just heard that josh freese is leaving the band after the current tour, which is a bummer...). they played at the gwinnett arena, and we were in the general admission section. we did not get too close because we wanted to get a good view of the stage show. this photo shows the multi-layered screens that came down to make a kind of 3-d landscape (really sweet in person - the picture does no justice):


photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

i won't go into too much detail except to say that it must cost a lot of money to pull off some of those effects, and now that trent reznor doesn't have a record label to help foot the bill, he is putting a lot of his own money in to make this a great performance for his fans. a true master, in my book. here is a picture of the band logo that appeared on the screen when they left the stage the first time:


photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

my favorite part of the evening had to be when they played 'only' from the album with teeth. that song makes me want to get down (though i believe this next picture was taken while they were playing 'echoplex' from their album the slip, which was pretty killer as well).


photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

already have tickets lined up to see them again on november 1st in greenville, this time with my friends chris and jennifer, and my sweet wife anna!

ours (the band) in columbia, 07/25/08

i ventured to columbia yesterday with my wife, anna, and friend, shane to see ours, a band of which i have written about here before (we saw them a few months back in goose creek, opening for filter). they were headlining this show, so we had hopes of more than the six songs we heard from the first show. there were two opening bands, and both were pretty alright. the first was a band called plain jane automobile from orlando, the second called god or julie from brooklyn.

ours took the stage around 10:45, i think, and played a strong hour and 45 minutes. they played songs from their first album distorted lullabies, as well as from their latest album mercy. i got a copy of the setlist, so here is what they played:

willing
black
mercy
drowning
i'm a monster
here is the light
ran away to tell the world
murder
live again
god only wants you
the worst things beautiful
fallen souls
get up


photo courtesy of myself

i can't say anything here that i didn't say in my post from the last time. but again, you must check out this band. seriously. and seeing as how there were like 20 whole people there last night, i can tell that nobody listens to me. well fine!

i was able to record video for one of the songs (the worst things beautiful) with my digital camera. the audio and video both are kinda sketchy, but it was wicked loud and dark, so... anyways, here is the video footage:


video footage courtesy of myself

i got to chat with the lead singer for all of 10 seconds before i backed away because i could tell he was anxious to get about his night. who would blame him. i look like a giant ogre standing next to him. that is a big head!!! i can't wait to see them again.


photo courtesy of myself

the cure in atlanta in june

my wife and i recently saw the cure in atlanta. they were originally scheduled to play this past september, but rescheduled their tour so they could focus on finishing up the recording of their new album (due out in the next month or so). the show was amazing.

the opening band was a band i had never heard of, and they blew me away. they were an instrumental band called 65daysofstatic. at least the show was instrumental. there was a microphone on the stage, but the guitarist just used it to say in his english accent, "hello, we're 65daysofstatic. we're from england. thank you.", and that was it. they ripped through there set without pause, and it was awesome. i bought one of their albums on vinyl from the merchandise booth, but i still need to pick up a cd or two and listen more closely.

the cure walked on stage right at 9:15, then walked off 3 hours later right at 12:15. it was incredible. i think they played every song that i could even think of. a great mix of new, old, very old, and obscure. robert smith was in high spirits (i swear i'm not lying), as he kept grinning like a child at the audience. they played three encores, each one we thought was the last, but they just kept returning to the stage. for old dudes, they have some serious stamina, because i was just dancing, and after 3 hours, i was worn slap out! i wasn't able to get any photos at the show because it was an arena ("no cameras, recording devices, or nail clippers/box cutters!" was what the ticket read, I believe). so, i will just include a picture of the ticket stub (it is from the original september 15th show, and we were allowed to reuse them for the rescheduled show). a fine show indeed! cheers!

it's as if they were reading my mind...

ours, the band who i just saw open for filter last week is coming back around, this time headlining a show at, coincidentally, headliner's in columbia, sc on july 25th. i am going for sure with my wife (and a few friends, hopefully). you should go, too.


image from headliner's website

filter w/ ours at the dive, 05/22/2008

this past thursday, i went with my wife, anna, and friend, shane, to the dive in goose creek, sc to see filter with opening bands opiate for the masses and ours. it started with a smallish crowd for the first opener, opiate for the masses. they were pretty decent, although a bit over the top for my taste. but they were excited to be there, and that helps.

the second opener, ours, is an insanely good band, and i was excited to finally be able to see them. the crowd was not as enthused as i was, but hey man, their loss. they pretty much ruled. they only played 6 songs, all from their new cd, mercy (dancing for the death of an imaginary enemy), which i picked up two days prior, but even not knowing the songs very well, i was still enthralled by lead singer jimmy gnecco's voice. it is so powerful live. combined with the excellence of the band, it made for a very awe-inspiring show.


photo courtesy of my actual digital camera (!), not my crappy camera phone

if you have a chance to see these guys live, i would suggest doing so. they deserve so much more attention than they are getting.


photo courtesy of myself

once they left the stage, filter took over and brought the crowd to a raging frenzy. i started making fun of the all the drunk people, screaming "woooooooo!!!" really loud and pumping my fist, then i realized i was having a really great time, so i kept being obnoxious. i think it made the show much better than it would have been otherwise. we were right up front for this one (as we were when ours was playing), and there were several hand slaps and fist bumps from lead singer, richard patrick (did you guys know he is the younger bro of agent fox moulder replacement and t-1000 robert patrick? - that is some pretty sweet knowledge). anywho, he was in top form, screaming his face off.


photo courtesy of myself

the band played lots of their more popular songs, like captain bligh, jurassitol, hey man nice shot, and one of my personal favorites, dose. they also played an insane version of their song trip like i do that was originally recorded for the soundtrack of the movie spawn with the crystal method. they also played a few from their new album, anthems for the damned. after the show, my wife and i spotted richard patrick hanging outside the side door and accosted him for an autograph. he was also nice enough to take a picture with me.


photo courtesy of myself (yep, i took that picture)

the show was killer, and i will not hesitate to see filter or ours again if they come around in the future. as for opiate for the masses...well, i would watch them open for filter or ours again.

helmet at the dive in goose creek, sc

i went and saw helmet last night at a place called the dive in goose creek. i know, weird (not that i saw them last night, but that they played in a small club in goose creek of all places). but the place was pretty cool, and the sound was great, and helmet ruled. there were two opening bands, the citizen and a.s.g.. a.s.g. were severely awesome. long story short (because i never seem to have much time with these posts), helmet played a great show, they hung out afterwards to sign autographs and chat, and they were very cool guys. and they nearly played the entire meantime album, which made me feel 15 years old again. here are a few pics from the show, taken, as always, with my crappy cell phone camera.

helmet being awesome


page hamilton being gracious enough to take a picture with me


next show: filter with opening band ours (also at the dive). i am more excited about seeing ours honestly, because they wail.

an evening with the mars volta - hob, myrtle beach - april 4th, 2008

last night was an amazing night. i went with my friends aram, geoff, and shane, and a guy i just met last night named rob, to the house of blues to see the mars volta. we arrived at around 7:00pm and waited in line for about 45 minutes for the doors to open. once inside, we rushed to the floor to get as close as possible. we ended up being four or five people back from the front of the stage, which turned out to be an excellent spot.

the mars volta came on stage right at 8:40pm, and completely ripped into their set. doing some research before the show, i found on the band's website the setlists for several of their recent shows, and they were all the same with the exception of a few songs here and there that changed at the end. so, i printed a setlist out and brought it with me to compare. turns out it was right on the money. they played the following songs:

roulette dares (the haunt of)
viscera eyes
wax simulacra
goliath
ouroboros
tetragrammaton
agadez
cygnus...vismund cygnus
aberinkula
drunkship of lanterns


photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

the entire band was on point last night. omar barely missed a note as he shredded it up on the guitar. cedric is hitting notes higher than ever, with the greatest of ease, and has the dance moves of nobody i have ever witnessed. their new drummer thomas pridgen is insane. he was pounding away and moving like a contortionist the whole show, barely slowing down to catch his breath. a true talent. the band seems to enjoy having him around as well. as he was playing a drum breakdown part, the other band members were all watching him with this collective amazed grin on their faces, as if they were saying, "oh man, we hit the jackpot with this guy!". many time during the show, i saw parts of his drumsticks chipping off and flying through the air. the rest of the band kept a near-perfect rhythm going throughout. the saxophonist/flautist/percussionist stayed busy with blowing our doors down with his talented playing, and at one point had a saxophone vs. guitar battle with omar. i honestly can't call the winner on that one.

a couple of highlights of the show...

during 'cygnus', cedric broke into lyrics from the traditional american folk song, 'john the revelator', which i came to know of from the white stripes song 'cannon', from their self-titled first album, which also contains lyrics from the song.

during one point in the show, during a quieter breakdown, someone screamed out a song title from an older album or something, which kind of ticked cedric off, prompting a short rant afterwards, where he bashed the guy for only wanting to hear old material. he went on to say that their band is not a jukebox, and if he wants to hear only the 'hits', "you can go see panic at the disco. they're coming in few weeks.". it was pretty funny.

at the beginning of 'aberinkula', they played a quiet 8-10 minute intro that slowly built up to the assault that starts the song. it was intense, and one of the high moments of the show. but let us all be honest, i was in the clouds the whole show, and probably won't come back down for a few days at least. (i still have the ringing in my ears to constantly remind me :))


photo courtesy of my crappy camera phone

the show finally ended at 11:15pm. that's right. 2 hours and 35 minutes with no breaks or encores. these guys are machines. they have earned my respect time and again, and are one of the greatest bands ever, in this part-time blogger's humble opinion. this has been my third time witnessing their live performance (and this last one was longer than the other two shows put together, as they were opening for system of a down and the red hot chili peppers previously). if you get the chance to see them live, you should. if you haven't heard their music, you should. i will be there their next time around for sure. in the meantime, though, i am going to listen to their new album again, and imagine last night some more. --signed, a giddy 30 year old boy

mudhoney at the 40 watt club in athens, ga

holy crap! i just saw mudhoney at the 40 watt club in athens, ga last night. i took the trip alone, and it was a long drive, but it was so worth it! there were 2 opening bands (both were mostly metal sounding), the dumps and 300 cobras. they were both pretty decent. check out their myspace pages.

mudhoney rocked. plain and simple. they came out at around 12:15 and played 'til 2:00, with two encores. it was intense. i was front row, slightly-right-of center. they started the show with you got it (keep it out of my face) followed by suck you dry. after that, i can't remember the exact order, but they certainly played a great mix of classics and stuff from their latest album, under a billion suns. here are the tracks i remember distinctly:


photo courtesy of my sorta crappy camera phone

touch me i'm sick, the money will roll right in, sweet young thing (ain't sweet no more), hate the police, burn it clean, if i think, in 'n out of grace, mudride, need, into the drink, here comes sickness, it is us, where is the future, hard-on for war, and a few others that i cannot think of.


photo courtesy of my sorta crappy camera phone

these guys have been around since '89 or '90, but you wouldn't have been able to tell. mark arm's voice still sounds fantastic, and steve turner is still ripping it up on guitar. dan peters played a face-melting drum solo, and was solid throughout. i will definitely be going out of my way to see them again next time they come around. it was such a great show, one of the best i have seen in quite a while.

smashing pumpkins...

my wife, anna, and i headed to atlanta this past week to see the smashing pumpkins at the fabulous fox theatre. when we got there, and checked into the hotel, we called the venue to see what time doors open. we were informed that the show had been canceled due to illness in the band.

we were sad.