Hello Dear readers! I would like to apologize for not posting daily from Rothbury as I originally planned due to a faulty wifi connection in the press area. So as you can tell my daily post has been reduced to a single quick post from my Blackberry. I’ve soaked up tons of music over the last few [...]
Live Preview: Rothbury Festival 2009
July 1, 2009 By 4 Comments
Bon Iver’s Tattoo Reveals The Power of The Little Things
May 27, 2009 By 38 Comments
Having played baseball since I was old enough to hold a bat and toss a ball, there’s one thing that the game’s taught me about live music; it’s that noticing and appreciating the “little things” makes all the difference. And when you notice the hidden nuances about your surroundings during the show, you also begin to discover [...]
Live Preview: Black Moth Super Rainbow & School of Seven Bells at Bottom Lounge
May 20, 2009 By 1 Comment
Popmatters Review: Dam-Funk's Rhythm Trax Vol. 4
May 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I’d like to share with you this Popmatters review I wrote for Los Angeles electro-funk beatman Dam-funk and his latest Stones Throw release Rhythm Trax Vol. 4. Dam-funk is known for laying down some seriously trippy boogie funk for his live shows. And if they’re anything like this album I hope to catch him the next time [...]
The Beauty of Album Artwork: Record Store Day 2009
April 21, 2009 By 5 Comments
Concert Culture Characters Come to Life: Interview with No Air Guitar Allowed Author Steve Weinberger
April 19, 2009 By 7 Comments
When I first discovered Steve Weinberger’s book No Air Guitar Allowed, I was curious to see what his observations would reveal about the live concert experience. In the end, I learned what it was like for Weinberger as he humorously describes the live music fans and other concert characters he encountered after attending 1000 concerts over the last 20 years. I had [...]
Andrew Bird's Shattered Brilliance At The Civic Opera House
April 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment
When Pete Townshend did it, it was considered innovative and brilliant. Jimi Hendrix made it a burning and majestic work of art. And both used the destruction and torching of their stringed instruments as a final climatic surge, culminating their performance into a massive swell that released theirs and the crowd’s emotional inertia. But this was not [...]
Shaking Off The Dust of Wilco’s Ashes of American Flags
April 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment
He’s so right. I completely agree with Ben Rubenstein as he reflects in his MixTape Confessions Popmatters column on a recent trip to see Wilco’s concert/tour film Ashes of American Flags at the Music Box in Chicago. Ben says that the crowd in the theatre was surprisingly subdued and that it made the screening of the [...]
Would You Buy A Ticket To A Neuroconcert?
April 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Would you like your mind read during a concert? Would you like to see the mind of the artist during the show? I’ve wondered about this before when I pondered the topic of pre-concerts. But now I’d like to focus on something that involves experiencing a show in MRI real time. After I did the [...]
How to Capture Live Concert Emotions With Few Words
April 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment
It’s a few weeks past, but nonetheless, I’d like to share the creative note-taking of Mike Rohde as he uses his moleskine to remember this year’s SXSW Interactive conference. As I mentioned last year–when I first saw Mike’s sketches of SXSW 2008–I was reminded of how I do a similar thing when I’m covering concerts. Sometimes I [...]
Songs That Speak Science: Bell X1's "How Your Heart Is Wired"
April 2, 2009 By 1 Comment
On this second installment of Songs That Speak Science (STSS), I’d like to share with you a song that speaks to how our body’s electrical current plays a role in transmiting emotions. Bell X1‘s “How Your Heart is Wired” from their latest album Blue Lights on the Runway. Ever since the album traveled across my [...]
When M. Ward Comes to Chicago
April 1, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Ever since its release in February, M. Ward’s Hold Time has been on constant rotation in all my musical playing devices. And much thanks to NPR All Songs Considered for sharing one of his solo live performances and an interview that really gives great insight into Ward’s songwriting and the creation of Hold Time. If [...]
Hey, I Think You Dropped Something?
March 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment
