Voltron

The Decemberists at the Fox Theater in Oakland. The opener was Other Lives and they were basically a one-not kind of band. Droned on a bit, but had at least one song that was catchy enough to prick up your ears. Not terrible, but there had been a little hype that made us think they were going to be better than they were. The Decemberists came out strong and played the entire new album, Hazards of Love, as a suite or mini-opera. They love theatrics and this set played them up well. Colin Meloy sounds exactly like Colin Meloy at all times. The Diamonds, their two female singers who are Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) and Becky Stark (Lavendar Diamond) were awesome throughout this set, launching out from their own little riser to the right of the drum riser. Becky was the good girl in wispy Victorian dress, Stevie Nicks waltz moves, and ethereal melodic vocals. Shara was the bad girl in punky new wave clothes of black and silver who stormed out and stomped around while pumping out grittier vocals. It worked great and obviously fit the themes in suite. Great, rockin' stuff that flowed almost seamlessly for an hour. After a 20-minute break in which they mended Colin's bleeding left hand, they came out for a looser, more ad-hoc second set. They hit some of the high points and played their typical obscure stuff that all their super-fans know and expect. They did not play Crane Wife, The Infanta or Valerie Plame, although they played songs from each the albums containing those songs. This was a fun set that reminded me of their show a couple years ago but didn't have the force of the first set for me. Check 'em out!

Where is your McCormack dammit?!

Ratatat -- LP3

Sorry for your pain and loss Doug. In the long-run, I think you will be happy you made it home to see him before he passed but I agree it is a very odd moment in time.

I hope the Mt. gay is superior or else...

Does the Reference One support 24/192 or just up to 24/96?

Schism rhymes with jism.

Morphine IS Good! Not quite the same, but sometimes linked in my mind is the band Thin White Rope. You ever hear them? Check out Moonhead and In The Spanish Cave especially. I knew the singer/guitarist Guy Kaiser back in the day through the garage band I managed.

That was my original point. Not sure I could boil a 15' table.

"Sure, cityslicker, we got yer table stored out in the barn..."

Redding? Ew. What if I catch hillbilly disease?

Yeah, we need a long narrow table for Mayberry and want a real live weathered one rather than a new or faux-used one.

Nice "work" if you can get it.

I'm in the market for all of those things. Where did you buy, or was it from somebody's farmhouse? That is very cool. I might need that.

WooHoo! Looking forward to buying you a drink next week! Ditto. Looking forward to buying Duggeh a drink in September!

You're right, I meant the Blue Notes like this one: although I was wishing Impulse.

Dave Alvin -- Black Jack David, MoFi SACD Pat Martino -- East, MoFi SACD Chet Baker -- Chet, Analogue Productions SACD Impulse Reissues -- Analogue Productions SACD Eugene Ruffolo -- In A Different Light, Stockfisch SACD (a little fruity but I like it and the recording is amazing--would sound great on O2s) Bassface Trio -- Tribute to Cole Porter, Stockfisch SACD Blue Coast Records Sampler

"...police do not believe alcohol or drugs were involved, Mitchell said" I'm guessing a whole bunch of alcohol and drugs were involved while Sam Jr was in utero.

San Agustin -- The Expanding Sea

I don't think Duggeh's grandpa has passed yet, Greg, but he is not well.

Tyll is.

I was just testing my hypothesis in exactly the same way.

Dude, nymphs are WAY hotter than elves.

John Zorn -- Alhambra Love Songs This new album is a collection of Zorn originals about the SF Bay Area. Cool.