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2006:10:31:10:49. Tuesday. THE WIRE. There's a week left until the most important midterm elections in 32 years. There's no point in talking about individual races, because if you don't know by now how essential it is that you vote Democratic in every race, words won't convince you. But I do want to talk about what may happen as we come to and cross the finish line, and move immediately into the 2008 election cycle. First, what I think will happen next Tuesday:
House of Representatives - 232 Democrats, 203 Republicans (30-seat swing)
Senate - 51 Democrats*, 49 Republicans (Democrats take MT, OH, RI, PA, MO, VA; retain all held seats) Governorships - Democrats take OH, NY, MA, MN, MD, AR; retain all held seats * This total includes Joe Lieberman winning on the Connecticut For Lieberman ticket, over Democratic nominee Ned Lamont. Lieberman has said that he will caucus with the Democrats and vote for Harry Reid for Majority Leader. I think there's a much better than even chance that if the Senate comes out 51-49, as I've predicted, that Lieberman will go back on his pledge and support Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for Majority Leader, giving Dick Cheney the tie-breaking vote and Republicans control of the Senate. And indeed, the fact that Lieberman looks like he's going to win despite everything he's done is one of the most perplexing things about this election cycle. Were he nominally, instead of just spiritually and behaviorally, a Republican, he would be ridden out of town on a rail alongside Rick Santorum; instead the blue voters of Connecticut seem content to line up behind one of the Iraq War's biggest cheerleaders and one of the GOP's biggest money-dumps of 2006. But I digress -- fuck Joe Lieberman. For many people, I expect this campaign has felt like a 15-round brawl, and perhaps one that they had no interest in seeing or being a part of. Folks will feel justifiably relieved when the morning of the 8th rolls around, if only because it'll be over. But it won't. George Bush isn't going to go away. The modern GOP isn't going to go away. Fox News isn't going to go away. Katie Couric isn't going to go way. Mark Halperin isn't going to go away. If the Democrats take over either house of Congress, these people are all going to lose their minds a week from tomorrow. Washington will face its greatest fire risk since the War of 1812 from the sudden and frantic construction of strawmen all over the city, which heroic Republicans and their surrogates will immediately swat down. All this screeching is part one of their 2008 election strategy -- blame "the Democrat Party" early, often and loudly. This is the silver lining in losing Congress: They'll have somebody else to blame. And as bad as the last two years have been, the next two will be much worse because of it.
2006:10:31:09:40. POSITIVE AND STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT. My first publication came out today, and since it's in an online journal everybody can read it for free. Check it out.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:31:08:00. NO!: THE SELFISH GENE (#176, SEP 20 2006)
Next up were local favorites the Selfish Gene, who seemed to have brought a lot of their own audience. By the time their set started there were probably 50-60 people in the room, which is quite a few for a Wednesday night without a big name act on the bill. I hadn't been familiar with them before the show but I mostly liked what I heard. They've got a nice jangly sound and knew how to work the crowd. I wound up buying their record, which generally features longer versions of the songs than they tended to play in their set, and so far they're a good addition to my local band playlist.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:30:19:22. Monday. MUSH! Hey, look who's the #18 men's college hockey team in the country in one poll and #15 in another after back-to-back sweeps. Weird.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:30:08:00. NO!: THIS BRIGHT APOCALYPSE (#175, SEP 20 2006)
My backlog of videos is almost all the way worked through! The first clip from System and Station's late-September show comes from This Bright Apocalypse, a recently reformed local band. They are, oddly, something a jam power trio. I was really turned off by them at first, but they grew on me at least enough that I wanted to record them. The singer turned out to have a really entertaining stage presence, and actually used his bongo drum to good effect, so I recommend checking them out if you can. They have one album out from their original incarnation, but I got the feeling that they're working with mostly new material these days.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:27:08:00. Friday. NO!: MINUS THE BEAR (#174, OCT 6 2006)
The current Minus the Bear tour is kind of an odd one. I missed the first opening act, an instrumental metal act called Russian Circles. Next is a math-y emo band called the Velvet Teen, whose material I've enjoyed in the past, but who didn't really impress me live. They had a lot of their stuff pre-recorded, including keyboard lines that could've easily been played by, say, a live keyboard player; kind of disappointing, to be honest. The last opening act was a Twin Cities-based rapper called P.O.S., who seemed to have a small cell of his own dedicated fans front and center in the pit. He really put himself into his set, but I don't know how many of the rockists he won over. The idea of combining indie rock and underground hip-hop on stage is laudable, but I think it's vital that the opening act have great material. P.O.S. had a couple of interesting songs, but most of his stuff didn't stand out at all from the likes of Ludacris or DMX. Still, the show came off well and if the tour's managed to grow the audience for any of these acts I guess it was a success.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:25:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: MINUS THE BEAR (#173, OCT 6 2006)
Minus the Bear played three new songs at this show, but "Ice Monster" was the only one I recorded and the only one I caught the name of. It was also probably my favorite of the three, though they were all a little down-tempo compared to what I've come to expect from them. What it did really well was to lead into "The Fix," which is my favorite song from Menos el Oso and maybe from their whole catalog. It was clearly a crowd favorite as well, as you can tell from the reaction to its distinctive staccato opening.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:24:11:01. Tuesday. IT'S COMING...
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:23:08:00. Monday. NO!: MINUS THE BEAR (#172, OCT 6 2006)
I wouldn't have expected Minus the Bear to pack a place as big as the Loft, but they did it. I'd guess there were 150-200 people inside what amounts to large garage with a pit dug in the middle. It's actually one of the strangest venues I've ever been in, and this was my first time. There's a pit about six feet deep, and about ten feet on each side, right in front of the stage, which is at the same level as the rest of the floor. Behind the pit is the mixer, and along the sides are aisles to the stage, which are full of people. This isn't too weird on its own, but in addition to the layout there are lights everywhere. The entire place was lit with about half-intensity house lights for the entire show -- except the stage, which apparently had no lighting of its own. There were stage lights available -- I noticed a reasonably sophisticated lighting setup near the stage and some more equipment near the back of the pit -- they just weren't turned on at all. So, you'll notice that these clips seem a little washed out as a result of all the brightening I had to do.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:20:08:00. Friday. NO!: RAINER MARIA (#171, SEP 7 2006)
When we saw Rainer Maria at MadisonFest in March, I wanted to record the whole show. Despite the technical problems inherent in a show at Club 770, the new material sparkled and I just couldn't get enough. I had to settle for just ("just"?!?) five clips though, and when they came back I was on a mission to get two songs in particular. "Clear and True" they didn't play, unfortunately, but this was the other one. It was one of the last songs of what felt like a short set -- I think they had to end by midnight or so because it was all ages -- but it was worth waiting for. This is one of those songs (along with "Life of Leisure" and "I'll Make You Mine") that boost my opinion of the whole of Catastrophe Keeps Us Together every time I hear it. It just may wind up being my favorite record of 2006.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:18:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: RAINER MARIA (#170, SEP 7 2006)
Rainer Maria seem to dip into their healthy back-catalog fairly often in their live shows, but even still I was surprised to hear this one. "Atlantic" dates from the time when they were just second-wave emo college kids, living just a few blocks from my house -- you can no longer hear the roughness that the original recording has, but the pondering, poetry class signature of mid-90's emo is unmistakable. It's actually kind of surprising how well it fit into their set, because it's a style that's been abandoned by everyone but Mike and Tim Kinsella. I don't think I'd want Rainer Maria to make another Atlantic or Past Worn Searching, but it's nice to hear the old stuff smoothly mixed into the new once in a while.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:16:08:00. Monday. NO!: THE BOX SOCIAL (#169, SEP 7 2006)
When the Box Social opened for Rainer Maria last month, this was one of the few non-new songs they played; it's also my favorite track from their second EP, Golly Gee Whiz. They had a core of about a dozen of their own fans present for their set, whom I expect enjoyed the material quite a bit, but they really should've gotten a lot more out of being on a bill with Rainer Maria. Unfortunately, Madison scheduling rules were in effect -- nobody shows up until an hour and a half after the posted start time, right in the middle of the second band's set. There may have been some of the Rainer Maria draw already there by then, but I doubt it was more than a few people. These guys are one of a number of Madison bands that are in a position to take advantage of the exposure afforded by opening for national acts, and it would be nice if our local venues and promoters found a way to make that work. Shows that start at "9:00" but where the headliners don't go on until after midnight don't quite cut it.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:13:08:00. Friday. NO!: AWESOME CAR FUNMAKER (#168, AUG 9 2006)
As Awesome Car Funmaker neared the end of their set, there were still only a few people inside the High Noon. ACF kept pushing forward though, their tongue-in-cheek stage show and spazzy post-hardcore winning over those few of us who were there. Granted, it was dark and nobody really knew why they were there, but I'm certainly eager to see them again. I did, however, leave after their set, as Evans Blue didn't strike me as worth staying out until 12:30 or later when I was already well past tired. Hopefully the Burden Brothers will make up their canceled appearance on their upcoming tour. (By the way, you can download Awesome Car Funmaker's first album in its entirety at their Myspace page. Enjoy!)
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:11:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: AWESOME CAR FUNMAKER (#167, AUG 9 2006).
The second band up was one I'd wanted to see for quite a while. Awesome Car Funmaker's reputation had preceded them, as I'd read a lot about their energetic live show. It's not for nothing that they've been voted Madison's favorite local rock band. They'd been pretty quiet leading up to this show, finishing their new album, but even with a sparse crowd they spared no theatrics. Afterwards, both they and Apparently Nothing sold me new CDs for $5 and encouraged me to make copies, put them on the Internet, etc., which struck me as really cool. Ironically, I have yet to get around to putting either of the records up on the Internet.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:09:08:00. Monday. NO!: APPARENTLY NOTHING (#166, AUG 9 2006).
Way back in early August, the Burden Brothers were supposed to play at the High Noon, and I was supposed to go. Then they cancelled, but the show went on with tour opener Evans Blue bumped up to the headlining slot and locals Apparently Nothing added to the front of the bill. I'd already paid my $10 for an advance ticket, so I decided to go and check it out, if for nothing else than for some local band exposure. Once I got there it became clear that nobody really cared about Evans Blue, as about ten people were holding down the fort. I decided to experiment a little and shoot my videos from the front of the balcony, about mid-way back as compared to the main floor. This, combined with the near-total lack of stage lighting, made from some awesomely dark footage. Really, it's hard to imagine how anyone who was there live could see the show looking at how much lightening I had to do. The sound quality came out good, though, letting the band's youthful, Weezer-y rock shine through. They play a lot in and around Madison, as well as Minneapolis, so if you'd like to see what they look like in the light, check out one of their upcoming shows.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:05:08:00. Thursday. NO!: HARVEY DANGER AND FRIENDS (#165, SEP 29 2006).
Apologetically, they ended their set about three-quarters of the way through, jumping forward to "Private Helicopter" as a closer. The song made it clear that they couldn't go on -- it features a climax that Nelson just couldn't go without tearing his throat out -- despite how much they and the audience wanted to continue. After the song ended, the last chord continued to ring out and they huddled up for a quick band meeting. When they emerged, they had decided the show would go on as Harvey Danger karaoke. I don't know if they've ever done this before, but they and we dove into it without hesitation. Hands shot up and a girl named Chelsea was picked to sing a ballad from Little By Little..., which got a huge response from the crowd, which by now appeared to fill the Rathskeller. While she sang I found myself trying to remember how a couple of older songs started, and to figure out if I could call up all the words. When she finished, hands went back up and Nelson asked me and another guy what we wanted to sing. I said "Terminal Annex," he said something I couldn't hear, and "Terminal Annex" was the winner. The rush of it was incredible, even on a stage just six inches off the floor. It's one of my favorite songs to sing, and doing so with that loud, crazed audience in front of me was amazing, even though I did forget a couple of lines. A couple songs later, these two guys -- I think named Tom and Max, but I'm not sure -- got up to sing "Old Hat," the other one I'd thought about doing. They get a little help from Nelson and from the audience, and then from -- no kidding -- the girl from the We Are Scientists show that cajoled everybody into climbing up on the stage. They ended with the song they love to hate -- their one hit, "Flagpole Sitta" -- which Nelson began, before yielding the mic to about a dozen people. The vibe of the whole show was astounding and encapsulated in that community songcraft at the end. I hope they come back soon with Nelson at full strength, but even if they do I can't imagine how they could put on a better show.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:04:08:00. Wednesday. NO!: HARVEY DANGER (#164, SEP 29 2006).
Early on in the set, singer Sean Nelson apologized for his voice, which he said he'd wracked the previous night in Champaign. You can hear it starting to go in this clip, which was probably the eighth or ninth song of the set. All things considered, I was really impressed by how he pushed through the problems he was having, even though it was clear that there were some notes he just couldn't hit. He got help from the audience in some places (most notably on "Picture, Picture," which included a scheduled audience participation portion, and "Carlotta Valdez," on which it was just spontaneous) but he really seemed disappointed in himself for not being able to put on a full-strength show. He even offered (jokingly?) to put on the guest-list anybody who wanted to go out to Seattle for one of their hometown shows. While probably no one will take him up on that, tomorrow's clip shows just how amazingly he made up for his injured voice at the end of this show.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:03:08:00. Tuesday. NO!: HARVEY DANGER (#163, SEP 29 2006).
Over the course of the last and the next week or so, Madison has hosted or will host Everclear, Veruca Salt, Gin Blossoms and Harvey Danger; the first three are at the relatively pricey Club Majestic, while the last played a free show in the Memorial Union's dining hall. The show was one of my most anticipated of the year. Harvey Danger's debut album -- a set of demos, really, that accidentally turned into something real thanks to their one-hit-wonderdom -- is one of my all-time favorites, with six songs I still love to listen to frequently while most other 1997 releases have faded into my dusty CD shelves. After their second album got corporated into obscurity, the band disappeared for several years and return with a self-released effort last year -- you can download it freely and legally from their site. This clip features a slight, loopy cover of David Bowie's "Oh! You Pretty Things," as well as the lead single from their new record, a return-to-form snarkfest called "Cream and Bastards Rise." The crowd reaction says a lot to me, considering many of the people in the audience were 12 when this band was close to becoming a big deal. Their music is just that ingratiating.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra 2006:10:02:08:00. Monday. NO!: SO MANY DYNAMOS (#162, SEP 29 2006).
The thing I really like about Rathskeller/Terrace/Club 770 shows is that they're so damn punctual. Every other venue in Madison is totally unpredictable when it comes to starting on time -- the campus shows start when they're scheduled and they're done by midnight. What this means is that if I want to skip an opening band I'm not familiar with, I can. In the case of So Many Dynamos, opening for Harvey Danger, I walked in about halfway through their set and now I wish I'd gotten there on time. I'd never heard of them before this show, but their energetic, spazzy sound -- reminiscent of Thunderbirds Are Now! -- quickly won me over, and dragged me to their merch table. As luck would have it, the song I recorded is not on any of their three CD's, which means it's either on their split 7" with Bring Back the Guns or it's new. I ordered the 7" a couple days ago, so I'll know for sure soon enough.
posted by Aaron S. Veenstra |
