Two Sentence Thoughts…

For the second installment of two sentence thoughts, let’s pick up right where we left off, leaving Stephen Malkmus at the Bowery Ballroom (I love aimlessly bouncing around New York)…

2008-03-31-Jason Domnarski Trio @ Rockwood Music Hall, New York, NY

After leaving Malkmus, I walked around the corner to Rockwood Music Hall to see the final night of my college classmate’s weekly residency at Rockwood Music Hall (an intimate room that has quickly blossomed into one of my favorite New York City venues). Jason’s trio is sort of like a naked version of Marco Benevento’s current group, fusing jazz, piano-rock and avant-garde music into something both your hetty roommate and your sociology professor should really enjoy.

2008-04-01-Shine a Light: The Rolling Stones IMAX Movie

Though it seems sacrilegious to bash Martin Scorsese and the Stones in the same sentence, this movie was flawed for several reasons: The cameras moved way too quickly, the film focused way too much on Mick Jagger, the middle of the show was filled with too many 1970s/80s snoozers and Scorsese even cast himself as a character, which is the cinematic equivalent of writing an article in the first person and going off on a tangent about your family (maybe Marty should start a blog). In fact, the film’s highlights were its guests: Buddy Guy, Jack White and, yes I am going to say this, Christina Aguilera (who has a really nice voice when all the gloss has been stripped away).

2008-04-03-RatDog w/Warren Haynes, Jimmy Herring, Tom Pope, Steve Molitz and Fuchs @ Beacon Theater, New York, NY

I had a really good time bringing my friend Ben to his first Bob Weir show as part of his blog-experiment (see two posts below). Though RatDog certainly delivered on their own, the guests were the evening’s highlights, especially Jimmy Herring, who makes everything sound so smooth and easy.

2008-04-03-Marco Benevento @ Rockwood Music Hall, New York, NY

I’ve probably seen Marco Benevento and Joe Russo in more New York venues than any two musicians, from 12,000-person amphitheaters to 12-person bars (love you Bar 4). The highlights of my first Duo side-project at Rockwood included a stripped down version of “The Real Morning Party,” (which I will mash with MGMT’s “Kids” before Mark Ronson does),
a jazzy take on “Paranoid Android” (which I actually like better than the Radiohead original) and playing wingman for one of my buddies (a hit single that always seems to pop up at Duo-related events).

2008-04-04-The Blue Album Group, Dave Hill (Upright Citizens Brigade) @ Glasslands, Brooklyn, NY

As their name suggests, my friend Ezra’s new group is cover band specializing in Blue Album-era Weezer. I love that album like an awkward little brother I care deeply about, but don’t necessarily want to hang with on the weekends…yet I still managed to bounce high enough to almost hit my head on the ceiling (darn lofts).

2008-04-05-Widespread Panic @ United Palace Theater, New York, NY

As a Phishhead, seeing Widespread Panic is kind of like watching someone else have sex. But, hearing "Airplane" live for the first time was enough to finally turn me on...

2008-04-05-Lotus @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY

For any group visiting Manhattan, graduating from New York’s downtown clubs to Irving Plaza is a right of passage. And few bands in the scene deserve to take that step more than Lotus (shameless plus, for more on Lotus please read my recent feature in the current issue of Relix).

2008-04-05-Cliffside Push @ Bowery Poetry Club, New York, NY

Cliffside Push is a trance-rock band featuring my friends Eric, Jordon and Jon, all of whom have either had dinner at my house and/or puked on my porch (or both). So, naturally, their late night gig was a party filled with all the good friends and neurotic girls I could ask for at 2 AM (and a handful I didn’t really need).