Week 76: Zenph Studios
I rarely make a point of going to see this or that band. I like going to bars and music venues without knowing who’s playing and being surprised by music I didn’t expect to hear.
Part of the reason for this is that most of the bigger venue music that I’d like to hear doesn’t make it to these parts. Bands like Estopa or Fiel a la Vega pretty much stick to the Spanish and Latin American markets, and when occasionally a group like Café Tacvba plays a show nearby, I generally miss it because it’s so rare that I usually don’t find out about it until after they’d played.
This basically means that I miss most of the bands that play venues where one can't just pop in to check out what’s going on without some planning. So I haven’t gone to a stadium show in years, I can’t even imagine the kind of band that I would get excited enough about in order to deal with all the stadium size hassle of going to see them. Maybe if someone invited me to see Rush… nah, just the thought of being that close to other Rush fans, gives me the creeps.
If only they would come down to play at one of our local dives like REM did the night before their show at the local gigantodome some years ago. Well, REM without Michael Stipe, but who’s complaining? Mr. Stipe sat in the back sipping something while Peter Buck and Mike Mills along with the help of drummer Jon Wurster (Superchunk) and keyboardist Ken Stringfellow (The Posies) borrowed the previous band’s instruments and rocked through a set of originals and covers from all over the place. It was awesome and totally unexpected, though word spread fast and soon the 75 person venue was packed well beyond capacity and well beyond closing time. Luckily the bar police didn’t make a fuzz.
But my point is that even though I consider myself more of a Rush fan than an REM fan, I don’t think I would enjoy a gigantodome Rush show more than I did that sort-of-REM unplanned show at our local dive.
Sometimes I wonder why I don’t get more excited to go see bands that I like. I used to. I used to buy Sonic Youth tickets months in advance or I would make every effort to get into a Jesus Lizard show even if I had to jump a fence. Somehow the excitement that was built up for shows, by myself and others around me, would make me feel like I would miss something incredible if I didn’t catch that one show. Does this mean I’m not as excited about music as I was then? I don’t think so. The first time I heard the everybodyfields play was as hair raising as any Meat Puppets show I ever saw, even more because I had no idea what was coming my way. The same thing the first time I saw the Legendary Shack Shakers or Slim Cessna’s Auto Club or the Paybacks or a myriad of other groups I would’ve never consciously gone to see because I had never heard anything about them before the first time I heard them play.
Of course I also run into plenty of bad, or even more painful, mediocre music. But when I go out, I’m not going with any expectations of greatness, so it’s never disappointing, though at times I’ve had to run out of places with hands over my ears wondering why the people of stage don’t go back to their Guitar Center jobs where they can torture people without bothering me.
But I am generalizing a bit, I do sometimes make a point of going to see this or that band, because they are friends of mine coming through town, or they are friends that are having a record release party, or they are playing the night that we have a babysitter, or sometimes I just want to see what they’re up to musically and otherwise. In this situations though it is sometimes hard to separate the social component from the musical, so it's hard to say that I go exclusively for the music, though the music is definitely a part of it.
Once in a while I look through the local weekly to see who’s coming to play at the Cat’s Cradle, our local mid-size venue that features most of the bands that have tour buses. Once in a while I’ll see the name of someone I would like to see live. I was very curious about Pelican, for example, after the tracks I’d heard on the NAP. But ultimately, curiosity wasn't enough to encourage me to make a plan to go and follow through with it. So yes, laziness has a lot to do with my method of finding new live music, but that is not all. Sometimes I do get excited to go see music and make a plan to go and go.
This is my new plan to go see some live music. Though maybe I can't call it live new music. I’m going to Zenph Studios in Raleigh to see a re-performance of maybe some Glenn Gould or maybe some Oscar Peterson or maybe Art Tatum. This place is one step away from Futurama's head in a glass jar idea. They take a recording and with some computer magic use the recording itself to play the instruments in a live or studio setting. Apparently at this point they can do piano and bass and drums.
This seems to me like the highest of fidelities. But we’ll see, I’ll report to you all after I go and experience it for myself. Though so far the reviews are very positive, even on the re-recordings of the re-performance. That is if I end up going and don't get distracted by something like Neil Peart playing drums at the local coffee shop or something.
But no, this is a concert I'm really looking forward to, and I am going to make the phone call to be able to go and take the tour and watch the machines bring back the ghost of some long dead piano player (you can see the piano keys move) and I'm going to drive the 45 minutes it takes to get there (which is 40 minutes more than to any music venue in my town).
Thanks to DJ Golf for the tip on this performance, sorry, re-performance venue.
Here’s a review of Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations in re-performance.
Part of the reason for this is that most of the bigger venue music that I’d like to hear doesn’t make it to these parts. Bands like Estopa or Fiel a la Vega pretty much stick to the Spanish and Latin American markets, and when occasionally a group like Café Tacvba plays a show nearby, I generally miss it because it’s so rare that I usually don’t find out about it until after they’d played.
This basically means that I miss most of the bands that play venues where one can't just pop in to check out what’s going on without some planning. So I haven’t gone to a stadium show in years, I can’t even imagine the kind of band that I would get excited enough about in order to deal with all the stadium size hassle of going to see them. Maybe if someone invited me to see Rush… nah, just the thought of being that close to other Rush fans, gives me the creeps.
If only they would come down to play at one of our local dives like REM did the night before their show at the local gigantodome some years ago. Well, REM without Michael Stipe, but who’s complaining? Mr. Stipe sat in the back sipping something while Peter Buck and Mike Mills along with the help of drummer Jon Wurster (Superchunk) and keyboardist Ken Stringfellow (The Posies) borrowed the previous band’s instruments and rocked through a set of originals and covers from all over the place. It was awesome and totally unexpected, though word spread fast and soon the 75 person venue was packed well beyond capacity and well beyond closing time. Luckily the bar police didn’t make a fuzz.
But my point is that even though I consider myself more of a Rush fan than an REM fan, I don’t think I would enjoy a gigantodome Rush show more than I did that sort-of-REM unplanned show at our local dive.
Sometimes I wonder why I don’t get more excited to go see bands that I like. I used to. I used to buy Sonic Youth tickets months in advance or I would make every effort to get into a Jesus Lizard show even if I had to jump a fence. Somehow the excitement that was built up for shows, by myself and others around me, would make me feel like I would miss something incredible if I didn’t catch that one show. Does this mean I’m not as excited about music as I was then? I don’t think so. The first time I heard the everybodyfields play was as hair raising as any Meat Puppets show I ever saw, even more because I had no idea what was coming my way. The same thing the first time I saw the Legendary Shack Shakers or Slim Cessna’s Auto Club or the Paybacks or a myriad of other groups I would’ve never consciously gone to see because I had never heard anything about them before the first time I heard them play.
Of course I also run into plenty of bad, or even more painful, mediocre music. But when I go out, I’m not going with any expectations of greatness, so it’s never disappointing, though at times I’ve had to run out of places with hands over my ears wondering why the people of stage don’t go back to their Guitar Center jobs where they can torture people without bothering me.
But I am generalizing a bit, I do sometimes make a point of going to see this or that band, because they are friends of mine coming through town, or they are friends that are having a record release party, or they are playing the night that we have a babysitter, or sometimes I just want to see what they’re up to musically and otherwise. In this situations though it is sometimes hard to separate the social component from the musical, so it's hard to say that I go exclusively for the music, though the music is definitely a part of it.
Once in a while I look through the local weekly to see who’s coming to play at the Cat’s Cradle, our local mid-size venue that features most of the bands that have tour buses. Once in a while I’ll see the name of someone I would like to see live. I was very curious about Pelican, for example, after the tracks I’d heard on the NAP. But ultimately, curiosity wasn't enough to encourage me to make a plan to go and follow through with it. So yes, laziness has a lot to do with my method of finding new live music, but that is not all. Sometimes I do get excited to go see music and make a plan to go and go.
This is my new plan to go see some live music. Though maybe I can't call it live new music. I’m going to Zenph Studios in Raleigh to see a re-performance of maybe some Glenn Gould or maybe some Oscar Peterson or maybe Art Tatum. This place is one step away from Futurama's head in a glass jar idea. They take a recording and with some computer magic use the recording itself to play the instruments in a live or studio setting. Apparently at this point they can do piano and bass and drums.
This seems to me like the highest of fidelities. But we’ll see, I’ll report to you all after I go and experience it for myself. Though so far the reviews are very positive, even on the re-recordings of the re-performance. That is if I end up going and don't get distracted by something like Neil Peart playing drums at the local coffee shop or something.
But no, this is a concert I'm really looking forward to, and I am going to make the phone call to be able to go and take the tour and watch the machines bring back the ghost of some long dead piano player (you can see the piano keys move) and I'm going to drive the 45 minutes it takes to get there (which is 40 minutes more than to any music venue in my town).
Thanks to DJ Golf for the tip on this performance, sorry, re-performance venue.
Here’s a review of Glenn Gould’s Goldberg Variations in re-performance.
Labels: Thursdays, Zenph Studios
4 Comments:
i rarely see bands without planning, given that all venues big and small charge cover. i guess that's why i miss the proletariat, which would let me in and sit in the ante-room bar for free. i could hear the bands just fine from there and i could even see the band if i wanted to careen my neck for an extended period of time.
i so rarely see mid-size-venue shows (though i did see municipal waste a few weeks ago) and even more rarely do i see large venue shows. having said that i'm going to see bruce springsteen on monday night.
Well said. Catching bands at the local dive bar is the only way to build up your "I knew them when" creds.
Speaking of which, next time you see the Shack Shakers say hi to their Drummer Brett for me. He was THE LATEST's touring drummer. He can really bang 'em.
More New York Times links (that's three this week from my corner) - This NYT blog by Andrew Bird reminded me of your recent recording escapades. Thought you might enjoy.
Wow rosa, that is weird. seems there would be some places that have music but dont charge a cover. Here there are several that at least during the week, have pass the hat shows. And even when they have covers its a small town and we know venue employees well enough that they'll let us in for a drink and to check out a couple of songs (of course if we decide to stay, we are always more than happy to pay the cover since its always for the band - this doesnt apply to packed shows, but I dont dig those all that much either). Maybe i've forgotten what big cities are like...
Wed, "i knew them when" creds are nice, but really I just dont like watching shows were I have to wait in line for anything (beer, bathroom, door) or where i can't sit down or walk about if i want to without saying excuse me a 100 times. I've developed an aversion to rooms packed with people and when thats the case it really makes it hard to enjoy the music. I will do it occasionally, but all other things being equal (meaning the quality of the music), i enjoy a nice small crowd much better.
And thanks for that link, very cool. Maybe I'll get on the NYT blog someday... ha.
Yep - hanging out at dive bars just on the off chance you'll see somebody who takes it higher would be pretty ridiculous if you didn't enjoy all that other dive bar stuff. No, this is a post I would like to have written, "I knew them when creds" aside.
The only thing is, saying you're more of a Rush fan than an REM fan is like saying you like the taste of my beer soaked stumper in your boca mas que tu culo, you freeek.
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