Concert Review: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

Date: 4/10/10
Venue: The Paradise, Boston


Opening Bands:

::Screaming Females::



Ironically, there was only one screaming female in this group, and two non-screaming males, but I'm willing to let it fly, as they almost stole the show in terms of awesomeness; they played their brand of harsh-yet-oddly-melodic, occasionally-screamy punk-rock with extra-tight musicianship and no shortage of energy. Their singer, Marissa Paternoster, had the sort of between-song persona that would make any makeup-drenched aunt want to pinch her cheeks all day long, so it was a bit of a surprise when she first unleashed one of her ear-shattering screams in the middle of a chorus of one of their songs; I was muchly impressed.


::Obits::



Obits, while being just as tight musically as Screaming Females, lacked a bit of their oomph, in my opinion; however, the crowd seemed to make up for that lack with their own excitement, so maybe it's just a matter of taste... That, or maybe they just knew more of their songs thanks to Sub Pop's assistance. Either way, they did put on an enjoyable show of their own, and set the stage fairly well for the sweat-soaked man to follow (and his pharmacists).


Headliner:

::TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS::



I hadn't heard all that much from Teddy L. before about half a month ago, when I listened to his new album in its entirety (which I highly enjoyed; you should go buy yourself a copy right now). It wasn't for lack of trying, but I figured this was probably just one of those bands you had to see live to fully appreciate, and I think I was right. This group was made to perform, and they're damn good at it. Unfortunately, the crowd didn't do as much moving around as would've been expected, but at least they were all singing along to the hits. Interestingly, I saw a fair amount of older people there, and I noticed one man in particular in the middle of the crowd who looked like he might've been somewhere in his 60s, but was jumping around and pumping his fist harder than anyone.



As for the Pharmacists, they were excellent; drummer Chris Wilson in particular was phenomenal. While Ted Leo was obviously the star of the show, the Pharmacists contributed at least half the energy on the stage, which is definitely a good thing considering the number of bands I've seen where the lead singer is the only one really getting into it. You'd think they'd be a bit worn out, as this was the last date on their tour, but I certainly couldn't tell.



All in all, it was an excellent show, by top-notch bands, at one of my favorite venues, and I'd highly suggest checking out Screaming Females if you haven't heard them yet.

Mark David Ashworth - Bright is the Ring of Words

Hey cats & kittens,
It's been a while, but I'm back to give more music reviews on a hopefully-regular basis, so let's get right down to business:

Mark David Ashworth - Bright is the Ring of Words

I'm really enjoying this album; it's mellow, organic, well-written, and all-around thoroughly pleasant to listen to, thanks in part to the creative instrumentation contributed by bassist/arranger/orchestra-teacher Tristan Arnold.  Mark's voice, part Grizzly Bear, part Xiu Xiu's Jamie Stewart (without the creepy), is consumately complimented by groovy guitars, tilting trumpets, flotational flutes, presumptuous piano, sexy strings, and many other equally-awesome nonsensically-alliterative adjective-instrument combos.  But don't take my word for it; a couple free mp3s from the new album are available right here:  http://www.markdavidashworth.com/music/

On top of that, here's a video from his debut album:



http://www.myspace.com/markdavidashworth
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Rufus! Rufus! Rufus!

-It's a little late, cause I'm technologically troubled but...here's a review of the Rufus Wainwright show that took place on October 2nd at the Music Hall in Portsmouth. Enjoy!

I have to admit it’s been a long time since I’ve been overly excited to go to a concert (after the first ten you tend to get super jaded), but when I heard that Rufus Wainwright was coming to the Music Hall in Portsmouth my giddy fan girl radar was through the roof! In addition to being one of my epic celebrity crushes, Wainwright has been called one of the best songwriters on the planet, and has a reputation of being an overall amazing entertainer (find a video of him on youtube doing Judy Garland covers and you’ll agree). So obviously there was no other place I would be on October 2, than at this concert with fellow WUNH-er, Chris, who had no previous Rufus experience.

The atmosphere at the Music Hall that night was a little more mature and refined than the concerts I’m used to going to, but I can only assume that’s because Rufus Wainwright only attracts the classiest of fans. When Wainwright did take the stage, adorned in a very classy sequined belt (which he claimed was to hide all the lobster he ate over the summer), he sat down at his grand piano and began playing “Going to a Town,” one of his singles off his 2007 album, Release the Stars. My jaw instantly dropped. Wainwright has the most incredible voice I have ever heard and I hadn’t actually realized that until I heard him live. He sings on key, which is amazing enough for a live performance, but he also puts a great deal of passion into his voice. Through this passion it’s obvious that Wainwright takes great pride in the music he writes and performs. It didn’t matter what he sang the rest of the night, I knew I would be completely captivated by his voice alone (I‘m pretty sure Chris will agree with me on this).

Between playing a large selection of songs from Release the Stars and switching back and forth between piano and guitar, Wainwright managed to play a few new selections from his future album, that he mentioned would be comprised completely of solo piano works. New work “I’m Sad with What I’ve Got” showed the decline of a relationship, while “Who Are You, New York?” exhibited some stunning piano arpeggios. Wainwright said the latter was one of the more technically difficult songs off the forthcoming album, and he executed it beautifully proving that his piano skills are just as captivating as his incredible voice.

My only qualms about the show were that Wainwright didn’t play “Release the Stars,” my favorite of his songs, or “Tulsa,” a song written for Brandon Flowers of the Killers; believe me it’s genius for many reasons. He did manage to play “Hallelujah,” the song from Shrek that gave him more mainstream attention. Obviously the audience on this particular night had seen the movie and knew the song from there, as they immediately gave him a standing ovation for his performance of the song. I can understand the appeal to play a song everyone knows, and naturally he did a beautiful job, but I sort of wish if he was going to play a song from a movie he had played “Instant Pleasure” from Big Daddy (why wasn’t that the song that made him famous?). Despite these minor qualms it was still one of the top performance I’ve attended, I left even giddier than when I went in, and hopefully I made Chris a Rufus fan for life!

- Courtney (please ignore horrible picture quality as the Music Hall hates photography and I had to sneak that one in really quickly)

MARATHON 2009 IS HERE!

MARATHON 2009 IS HERE!

The week of November 15-21

TSHIRTS! STICKERS! PENS! TEMP TATS! BANDANAS! BEANIES!

and a chance to win an iPod Touch!

Sleep, B. Dolan, DJ Zone will be performing November 7th at the Granite State Room of the MUB at the University of New Hampshire Durham campus

Stay tuned to WUNH Durham, 91.3FM or online at www.wunh.org

Call in 603-862-2222

Carlapalooza 2009

I've known Carla Menera in one capacity or another since about 2005 since joining a music message board that she also posts on. It didn't take long for me to learn that she was battling Multiple Sclerosis, or simply MS. She has never been shy about discussing it, and everybody who knows her is very supportive. In fact, her boyfriend has even set up a yearly punk rock benefit called Carlapalooza. Friends of Carla's or supporters of the fight against MS come to donate their time and money and, in return, watch punk rock bands and help a great cause.

I've never been to Carlapalooza, personally. I recall wanting to go in 2006 but not being able to justify missing class for it. This year, however, I wouldn't miss it for the world. I've since met Carla serveral times; yearly at the Insubordination Festival in Baltimore, at the last Ergs! show in New Jersey, we got drunk together at a Ben Weasel show in Chicago, and we've run into each other a lot more times than I can remember, I'm sure. She's always been the nicest person and she deserves all of the support that I can give her, and that's why I'm posting this blog.

This year, Carlapalooza will be in New York City from September 25th-27th. On the 25th, the show will be at Alligator Greenpoint and the Cake Shop on the 26th and 27th. The first show is free and the next two are $10 each. All proceeds go to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and this year's acts include: mc chris, Short Attention, Psyched to Die, Dead Mechanical, Black Wine, The Hamiltons, Night Birds, Groucho Marxists, and a lore more. I'll be driving down and I hope that some of you might want to come down as well. If I can fit anybody in my car, I'll be more than happy to take you. Email me at music at wunh dot org. I know a couple more people who are coming down from the area that you might be able to drive with as well, so please don't hesistate to e-mail.

Even if you can't attend, you can donate year round to the Carlapalooza Fund here.

The future of music

Caution: the lyrics are nsfw



This is the future of rock and roll.

Henry Rollins is Intense

I'm guilty of overplaying Henry Rollins on WUNH. Black Flag, Rollins Band, spoken word, War Time — whatever, I play it all too much. So when I saw that he was speaking at the Music Hall, I was there. I had never been to the Music Hall before, so I was completely surprised to find out how awesome it was. I like really old buildings, what can I say? Oh, and comfortable seats. Anyways, I dragged Zac from Billy Raygun by the ear, shoved a ticket in his mouth and pushed him into his seat (awesome seats, by the way. Fourth row orchestra! [oh, and if you haven't heard Billy Raygun, hear them. You'll thank me.]).

Henry was set to appear at 8:00, so he naturally hit the stage at 7:59:58. I sat down and prepared myself to be pontificated at for two and a half hours. The last time that I saw Henry was in Boston for his Recountdown tour, and once before that for his Provoked tour. Both times, he presented fresh material that I had never heard. This time, though, he rehashed a story or three from the two previous times that I saw him. While it was a bit repetitive at some parts, he has so much to say that you tend to forget exactly what he said last time so it all feels sorta fresh. Sorta. I still found myself interested and laughing at everything that I'm sure I laughed at last time.

One new story that I was particularly interested in was one about a debate he had with Jack Thompson at UNH. Apparently, Henry and Jack were debating the censorship of music and the banning of hip hop music. While students at other colleges were all for keeping their liberties and protesting censorship, UNH was the only school that greatly favored Mr. Thompson over Mr. Rollins. Since then, he explained to us, "I've always been a bit gun shy of you guys". Understandably.

Throughout the night, Henry Rollins discussed his tendency to visit what the government refers to as "hot areas" like Pakistan, Iran, and Syria. He also encouraged all of us to do the same and not to spend our college educations on ourselves, but rather use it to educate others. I always leave a Henry Rollins show feeling inspired and then not remembering all the great things that I planned to do until I see him again. "Shit, I meant to drop out of school and join the peace corps. Oh well, next semester, definitely."

I'd highly recommend seeing Henry Rollins next time he rolls through the area, which is always and often. He's been in New Hampshire and Massachusetts each twice in the last two years, and I'm sure he'll be back again, seeing as he tours about 170 days out of the year. Consider picking up one of his many, many spoken word or music CDs, books and DVDs. Now to go listen to My War.