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NOVEMBER 21, 2009 04:47 AM

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Archive for the ‘video’ Category

Music-related movies at BendFilm

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

Bend’s annual film festival — the appropriately named BendFilm — runs from Thursday through Sunday, and the official guide came out yesterday in The Bulletin.

Last night, I flipped through the film summaries and saw a couple that might appeal to those of you whose obsession with music permeates everything you do. You read books about music. You see movies about music. Because you’re sick. Like me.

Anyway, “Drawing With Chalk” is showing at 3 p.m. Friday at McMenamins Old St. Francis School. Here’s a synopsis:

Drawing With Chalk tells the story of two factory workers, Jay and Matt who grew up together and had played in a rock band years prior but missed their shot at ‘the big prize.’ As they hit 40 they decide to give it one more try. Jay struggles between his artistic dreams and his responsibilities to his wife Jasmin and son Bryan. Matt has his own demons to contend with as he battles depression and a universal fear of simply being too old to make it in an industry that thrives on youth. Eventually, Jay’s fierce commitment to his music begins to take a toll on his family. He is ultimately faced with having to make a decision whether or not to say goodbye to one part of his life and begin a new journey with the other.

And here’s the trailer:

That one doesn’t look bad. I smiled when he said “I am doing something else.” But I suspect that was the goal of that part. Filmmakers! They toy with our emotions!

But I’m actually more interested in “D tour,” a documentary about a musician named Pat Spurgeon who’s dealing with health issues. And I don’t think that’s because I am a fan of his band, Rogue Wave.

Pat Spurgeon is a talented and professional musician who worked hard to be where he is today. As a multi-instrumentalist, Pat is an integral part of the indie pop band Rogue Wave. They have performed all over the world increasing their fan base with every tour. Pat has every reason to be excited about his band’s accomplishments, as well as their exciting future. In addition to giving the band everything he’s got, Pat has had to deal with kidney failure and the parameters that have been set for him by his situation. D tour chronicles Pat’s search for a living organ donor and the challenges associated with finding a viable match and also addresses issues with the U.S. health care system, the lack of affordable insurance, the importance of organ donation, and much more.

Here’s the trailer for that one:

D Tour trailer from dtour on Vimeo.

Whoever the musician and whatever the band, I think the topic of how self-employed musicians deal with the challenges and costs of getting health insurance is incredibly interesting.

“D tour” is playing at 3:30 p.m. on Friday at McMenamins Old St. Francis School, and twice on Saturday, at 12:30 p.m. at Sisters Movie House and at 8:30 p.m. at Regal Old Mill Cinema. I’m going to try my best to check one of those screenings out. You should too.

Nice video of Bend Roots Revival

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

Local music aficionado Dave Goodman took his video camera to the Bend Roots Revival last weekend and got some excellent footage, which he has posted to YouTube. And now I’m passing it along to you. (Dave says he has more coming, so keep an eye on his YouTube channel.)

Here’s the Bend/Eugene band Ruins of Ooah, who played one of the best sets I saw all weekend. If you haven’t seen them before, that’s three guys using drums, harmonica and digeridoo to create live, tribal trance music.

And here’s Sisters singer-songwriter Anastacia Beth Scott’s trio, which includes Mai Hyman on guitar and Aaron-Andre Miller on a beautiful fretless, acoustic bass.

Video: Deer Tick at McMenamins Old St. Francis School

Friday, September 25th, 2009

Technical difficulties kept me from getting this up on the blog yesterday, but here it is now, for posterity: Providence, R.I.’s Deer Tick performing “Song About A Man” Wednesday night at McMenamins Old St. Francis School. I have a couple of louder songs I could post, but they don’t sound great. If you want to see them, let me know in the comments. Also, see my thoughts on the show below the video.

Five observations about the show:

1) I’m so used to using silly little descriptors — psych, electro, global, soulful, whatever — that when presented with the opportunity to write about just a good, solid rock ‘n’ roll band, I’m stumped. That’s not good!

2) Deer Tick is a good, solid rock ‘n’ roll band. I watched frontman John McCauley before the show, and something was wrong; he was clearly annoyed about this or that. But once the lights went down and the amps buzzed, he delivered. He wasn’t particularly charismatic (”This is cool,” he said after the first song. “Half dinner crowd, half maniacs.”), but he led his band through lots of his own songs, plus covers of The Replacements, Chuck Berry, Hank Williams Sr., and Tom Petty, plus others, I’m sure, that I didn’t recognize.

3) Take Tom Petty out of that group and add in Kurt Cobain (I heard they did a Nirvana cover after I left), and you have a pretty distinct focus on musicians with a strong tendency toward self-destruction. When McCauley screams, he looks a sounds a lot like Cobain, right down to the crooked mouth.

4) Not all of Deer Tick’s songs grab me, but those that do are great. “Easy” rocks with an apocalyptic sense of urgency. “Smith Hill” is an elegy with an unforgettable chorus. And my favorite tune of the night was “These Old Shoes,” a playful song about plane crashes and explosions and hobos. (I wish I could’ve heard “City of Sin,” but after the band’s short foray into “Free Bird” and an interminable blues jam, I had to bail during the second intermission.)

5) For the second time in a month, I saw a Central Oregon venue as crowded as I’ve ever seen it. Father Luke’s Room was absolutely packed with people jammed against one another and, by the time I left, practically on top of one another. It was so thick with people, only the bravest tried to weave through it. It was crazy. Crazy. Could the show have been moved into the much larger movie theater next door? I have no idea, but I hope it was at least considered, and I hope the next time a band with this kind of buzz shows up to play, the McMenamins team is able to give them — and the people there to see them — a little more space.

Brendan Benson visits Letterman

Monday, August 24th, 2009

As if all this gushing wasn’t enough, I’m back to beg you to watch one of the world’s great pop-rock songwriters performing on Letterman over the weekend:

(Update: Sorry, the first video I posted has been pulled from YouTube. No fun. Anyway, this one’s audio/video sync is way off, but you can get the idea.)

That video gave me chills. And that song has been stuck in my head for going on two weeks now.

Like most people, I don’t necessarily long for my favorite musicians to become huge. I don’t begrudge their commercial success at all — really, I don’t — but I do like it when they’re my little secret. (Note: I’m aware it’s a stretch to call Benson a secret.) In this case, though, I’ll make an exception. I hope his talent, plus the exposure provided by The Raconteurs, turns him into a huge star — on his own.

That being said … the dude’s hair is out of control!

benson

Video: The Big Pink, “Dominos”

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

Via Pitchfork.

Song of the day … or maybe week

Monday, August 10th, 2009

Sorry for the quiet around here in recent days. Until I can get things back on track, please enjoy this excuse grunge classic.

Amazing live video of Deerhunter

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

I saw this band, Deerhunter, at Musicfest NW in Portland a couple years ago, and while they were good, they weren’t this great.

But this 26-minute video, filmed for Alabama Public Television, is mesmerizing. It just ate up a valuable 26 minutes for me; 1:15 to 1:45 a.m. should be for sleeping, not for listening to ambient hypno-psych bands from Georgia. Anyway, if it’s a more reasonable hour where you are, you should watch it.

We Have Signal: Deerhunter from We Have Signal on Vimeo.

Deerhunter is currently on a short tour with fellow blog-buzz faves No Age and Dan Deacon that is coming nowhere near Oregon. Check out the dates here.

(I saw it at MBV.)

Video/review: Vetiver at Silver Moon

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

A fellow Bulletin-ite, Scott Johnson, shot some video of Vetiver’s show Friday night at Silver Moon Brewing & Taproom in Bend. Here’s the band doing “Rolling Sea,” and my mini-review is after the clip:

Vetiver – Rolling Sea from Scott Johnson on Vimeo.

In last week’s article on Vetiver in GO! Magazine, I called the band’s “Tight Knit” album “one of the best albums of 2009 so far.” And I still think that’s true, but it might be a tad misleading. Because while I do think “Tight Knit” is very good, I don’t know that it has the kind of oomph I need from a record, whether it’s loud and rocking or quiet and folky, or somewhere in between. “Tight Knit” is a solid album that shows off a fine songwriter (Andy Cabic) and his very skilled band. It is not, however, a swift punch to the gut, or a slow-burning fire under your butt. The most visceral reaction I can imagine to the record is to close your eyes and smile and nod along.

Vetiver’s live show is the same way. San Francisco-based Cabic and his backing quartet sounded great Friday night in a stuffy Silver Moon. They played and sang their songs well, and the crowd — a good-sized crowd, I thought, though it was definitely not full — seemed appreciative. Vetiver effortlessly (and I use that word with purpose) wandered from folksy pop to blues jams to honky tonk, rarely straying far from a fairly languid pace. Even rarer was a change in expression on any of the musicians’ faces. Yeah, they looked a little bored, a little sleepy. But I think my assumption that they were just deep into the music is a safe one. I hope it is.

The band picked songs from each of its four records; highlights, in my mind, were the labyrinthine “Luna Sea,” the tight, 1960s-ish bop of “More of This,” and the gorgeous “Maureen,” featuring the clearest, most perfect harmonies of the night. Occasionally, they’d channel the Grateful Dead and linger on a jam for just a bit too long. Vetiver closed (save a one-song encore I don’t remember) with a cover of The Everly Brothers’ “Hey Doll Baby,” which sounded about how you’d expect: classic pop-rockabilly shuffle filtered through a sun-baked, summer-of-love P.O.V. It didn’t rock, exactly, but it was probably the most upbeat number of the night.

I only wish we’d seen that level of energy just a few more times, but it’s clear Cabic is very happy and very comfortable doing the easygoing, country/soft-rock thing. And no matter what you thought of Vetiver’s spunk, it’s also clear they’re very good at what they do.

New Pearl Jam song

Monday, July 20th, 2009

It’s called “The Fixer,” from the rock ‘n’ roll stalwart’s album “Backspacer,” due out Sept. 20.

So … we have a comments section for a reason. What do you think? My quick take: I think it’s fine. But like most of Pearl Jam’s music, it’s just kind of there. Like, “Yup. That’s a Pearl Jam song.” I’ve heard it before.

Much respect to those guys and what they do and all that, but their songs never seem to stick with me or compel me to go out and buy the record, you know? And I don’t think this one is going to, either.

Some of 2009’s best music …

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

… is being made by artists that could reasonably be expected to have peaked decades ago.

Like Dinosaur Jr. Who could’ve guessed this reunion would be so fruitful?

And John Doe, who’s gone full-on country with those amazin’ Canadians, The Sadies.

And Sonic Youth. Is it just me or are they getting better?


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