Monday, November 29, 2004
Friday at the Cat
Too much tryptophan. Not enough blogging.
Friday night took me to the Black Cat to catch Travis Morrison/Beauty Pill/Medications.
Medications was absolutely fan-fucking-tastic. A ridiculously good power-trio. That's not terribly surprising, considering they're 2/3 of Faraquet - one of my favorite latter-day Dischord bands. These guys are the latest to be added to my must-see-every-time list.
Beauty Pill. I love love love Beauty Pill. They did not disappoint. It was my first time catching their new singer Jean Cook. It was a little odd at first, but she more than holds her own with the band. Anyone who can get on stage rock-out on a frying pan is ok by me. They played most of the Cigarette Girl... EP, a couple from the new disc and a smattering of other things, including a brief cover of Blondie's Dreaming. Chad was quite talkative. He pointed out that he was in a band with the guitarist/singer from Medications (Devin Ocampo). Devin was actually the drummer in Smart Went Crazy. Dischord is quite the incestuous label. Great show as always. Wish they could have played longer. Looking forward to another headlining gig.
Travis. First of all, I'm pretty sure Travis was sitting at the merch table during the Medications set. Having no idea what Travis looks like, I think I unwittingly walked right up to him and asked him to sell me a Medications EP. He looked at me a little funny, got me the CD and suggested to the other person at the table that they switch seats (which would actually situate him behind his own stuff). oops. I felt slightly bad when I saw him get on stage. Oh well.
I loved The Dismemberment Plan, but I've heard nothing but horrible things about Travistan. Pitchfork actually gave it a 0.0. Ouch. I figured there's no way it could possibly be that bad. Well...it wasn't that bad, but the music I heard at the show wasn't that great either. 2 keyboards a drummer and a percussionist. Mostly quirky, but extremely danceable songs. Travis looked like he was having a blast. The crowd right up front was digging it, but it was seriously thinning out in the back. By the time he was done you could just walk up and be maybe 5 feet from the stage. Ouch.
Humorous portions of the show:
1) When the main keyboard player's (Kate Pierson's twin) keyboard collapsed onto the floor with a loud crash. To her credit, she never stopped playing. Travis even mangled the mic stand fast enough so she could sing her verse of the song while sitting on the floor playing the keys. Kudos to her.
2) Travis is looking for suggestions for a band name, so he doesn't have to call them The Travis Morrison Band. Audience suggestions included:
Dinosaur, Jr.
Maritime
Travis Morrison and the Pharmacists
The Planeteers
He seemed to like the sound of Travis Morrison and the Planeteers.
All in all - a great night of local music. The only problem was that the bands played in the wrong order. Medications was easily the best band of the night.
I tried taking a few pics with the camera on my new phone. Waste of time. I won't be trying that again, unless I actually end up on the stage for some reason. I need to start taking my real camera to shows.
Friday night took me to the Black Cat to catch Travis Morrison/Beauty Pill/Medications.
Medications was absolutely fan-fucking-tastic. A ridiculously good power-trio. That's not terribly surprising, considering they're 2/3 of Faraquet - one of my favorite latter-day Dischord bands. These guys are the latest to be added to my must-see-every-time list.
Beauty Pill. I love love love Beauty Pill. They did not disappoint. It was my first time catching their new singer Jean Cook. It was a little odd at first, but she more than holds her own with the band. Anyone who can get on stage rock-out on a frying pan is ok by me. They played most of the Cigarette Girl... EP, a couple from the new disc and a smattering of other things, including a brief cover of Blondie's Dreaming. Chad was quite talkative. He pointed out that he was in a band with the guitarist/singer from Medications (Devin Ocampo). Devin was actually the drummer in Smart Went Crazy. Dischord is quite the incestuous label. Great show as always. Wish they could have played longer. Looking forward to another headlining gig.
Travis. First of all, I'm pretty sure Travis was sitting at the merch table during the Medications set. Having no idea what Travis looks like, I think I unwittingly walked right up to him and asked him to sell me a Medications EP. He looked at me a little funny, got me the CD and suggested to the other person at the table that they switch seats (which would actually situate him behind his own stuff). oops. I felt slightly bad when I saw him get on stage. Oh well.
I loved The Dismemberment Plan, but I've heard nothing but horrible things about Travistan. Pitchfork actually gave it a 0.0. Ouch. I figured there's no way it could possibly be that bad. Well...it wasn't that bad, but the music I heard at the show wasn't that great either. 2 keyboards a drummer and a percussionist. Mostly quirky, but extremely danceable songs. Travis looked like he was having a blast. The crowd right up front was digging it, but it was seriously thinning out in the back. By the time he was done you could just walk up and be maybe 5 feet from the stage. Ouch.
Humorous portions of the show:
1) When the main keyboard player's (Kate Pierson's twin) keyboard collapsed onto the floor with a loud crash. To her credit, she never stopped playing. Travis even mangled the mic stand fast enough so she could sing her verse of the song while sitting on the floor playing the keys. Kudos to her.
2) Travis is looking for suggestions for a band name, so he doesn't have to call them The Travis Morrison Band. Audience suggestions included:
Dinosaur, Jr.
Maritime
Travis Morrison and the Pharmacists
The Planeteers
He seemed to like the sound of Travis Morrison and the Planeteers.
All in all - a great night of local music. The only problem was that the bands played in the wrong order. Medications was easily the best band of the night.
I tried taking a few pics with the camera on my new phone. Waste of time. I won't be trying that again, unless I actually end up on the stage for some reason. I need to start taking my real camera to shows.
