Moonraker

Just saw Jethro Tull last night at the historic Paramount Theatre in Oakland. Before I get into the performance, I have to comment on the beauty of the art deco inside this building, the entire wall and ceiling section is covered in brass carvings, very beautiful looking. Anyway upon entering the venue, I was given a free copy of a cd consisting of a live performance Jethro Tull did for XM radio, where they played the entire Aqualung album live. Considering a number of songs were reworked and relearned, as they hadnt been played since they were first recorded in 1971, this gave JT a bit of new (albiet old) material to pick from in thier setlist. The set was divided into 2 halves, consisting of an acoustic beginning half, and a louder, electric final half. This half was a bit more relaxed and mellow, with a few tracks from the JT X-mas album released a couple days ago, but mostly older material. The real highlights took place in the second half though, with versions of Thick As A Brick, Budapest, and a plethra of Aqualung material. It was really interesting hearing reworked versions of Hymn 43 and Wind Up, in addition to the standard Aqualung material that has been touched before. I think the entire album was played by the end of the show. Jethro Tull was the very first (and second) concert I have ever been to, so it was like reliving my first show all over agian. Ian cant quite hit the high notes anymore, but it still sounds incredible.

If you guys dont hear from me in the next week or so, this is why. November 11th - Jethro Tull November 13th - Death Cab For Cutie November 14th - Social Distortion November 16th - Shout Out Louds November 18th - Depeche Mode November 19th - Nine Inch Nails

QUOTE (madra sneachta @ Nov 9 2005, 01:21 AM) QUOTE (Moonraker @ Nov 9 2005, 01:37 AM) Roger Waters - Ca Ira Very interested in hearing your views on this one Moon. First impression, this is definatly NOT for people who are solely Pink Floyd fans, or buying this simply because it was written by Roger Waters. This is definatly something to be reserved for classical music/opera fans. While I dont claim to be any expert on Opera, I am quite impressed with Water's grasp of writing a score for a full orchesta. It is very majestic and epic, the music gives the freedom for some incredible imagry, if he so chooses to let this work take to the stage. The one complaint I have so far is that the volume seems to be turned way down, it is quite quiet, even at louder volumes. If he did decide to put together a performance of this piece, I would be very interested in seeing it. As with all of Roger's previous works, this is the kind of music that will take a while for me to fully absorb all that is being said. This is definatly a step up as his role of a musical composer, and its quite obvious he still has plenty of creativity in him.

Today I picked up a number of albums... Depeche Mode - Songs of Faith And Devotion Live Maximo Park - A Certain Trigger (2cd) Metric - Live It Out Roger Waters - Ca Ira Yes - Tales From Topographic Oceans Debussy - Orchestral Works (La Mer, En Bateau, etc. - Boston Symphony Orchestra) Vivaldi - The Four Seasons (New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein)

QUOTE (Mustard Death @ Nov 8 2005, 10:16 AM) Thanks for ruining the movie for me!! Hey, he gave you ample warning, lol

I just saw Metric last Friday (11/04/05) in San Francisco at Slim's. Their openers were The Lovely Feathers and Death of a Party. This show was actually recommended to me by D-13, and I have to definatly thank her for the heads up on this band. She wrote a thread about them http://www.therushforum.com/index.php?showtopic=9212 here that gave alerted me to them. I checked them out, and was amazed enough to buy a ticket a few months before the show, and it was incredible. The opener, The Lovely Feathers were suprisingly good for an opening band, they sounded kinda like The Arcade Fire, once they got into thier heavy portions of their songs. Death of A Party was the next opener, they are a San Francisco band that are starting to become a favorite of mine right now. The singer for this group gets down off the stage and actually dances around with the crowd, which is really fun to be apart of. Thier show was incredible, but they didnt play 2 of my favorite songs on their EP which was a little disappointing Metric came on last, they are sort of an electronic rock based band, with this really good female singer. I had only ever heard a few tracks off thier album before, and it was amazing to see how their catch, electronic based rock translated in a live scene. Once they got on the stage and got into thier material, my section of the crowd started to get really into the show. Especially during songs like Monster Hospital and The List, there were a few people nearby me that were totally moshing all around. The show was a mostly female audience though, so I didnt have too much of a problem with it. I was most impressed with thier performance and the singers ease on stage, talking to the audience and specific people frequently, it was great. Anyway, I would highly recommend them, to me they sound like a Bloc Party or Kasabian with a female singer. I'm DEFINATLY gonna have to pick them up the next I go to a store.

Tonight its Metric and Death of A Party @ Slims

Little Shop of Horrors (lol, if you like musicals) I also liked Interview with a Vampire, though that one just had horror elements in it, not really a horror movie per say.

I saw Sons & Daughters last Friday, my second time seeing the band, but this time it was at a much smaller place and I was front and center for it. Openers were The Wolfkings, who were a little mellow for my tastes, and Willy Mason. Mason is a 1 man acoustic thing, but hes obviously a very talented and humorous songwriter. Lol, one of the songs he sang was about his fathers fear of lyme disease. Anyway Sons and Daughters were great, kinda a cross between Nirvana and Buddy Holly, with a scottish flavor to them. Plus I think its kinda cool the way they have a female lead singer with a male backup, it gave the music a nice twist.

Connery definatly, but Brosnon is very very very close behind. Roger Moore was good, but seemed too much like a playboy then a secret agent. Timothy Dalton on the other hand seemed way too much a serious secret agent, and very little playboy. Its kind of a fine line, but Connery and Brosnon seemed to be able to pull the persona off. Lazenby didnt get the chance to develop his character in my opinion, I did like him but it was just bad timing for him to jump in as Bond. GoldenEye was probably my favorite Bond movie though, I really liked that darker, moodier feel it had to it, and unlike the preceeding Bond movies with Brosnon, it wasnt overproduced with special effects and over the top action sequences in lue of a decent storyline. Trevelyen was the last decent Bond villain in my opinion.

QUOTE (madra sneachta @ Oct 27 2005, 02:07 AM) Ladytron - Witching Hour The Hold Steady - Seperation Sunday Devandra Banhart - Cripple Crow How is the Ladytron one. They have been playing them on soundcheck on the radio station I listen to a bit and I like the one song they do, "Destroy Everything You Touch", but havent heard too much more.

Probably had something to do with The World Series going on the same night. Its kinda tough for a tv show to compete with the last game of the World Series where the team that was favored to win hadnt won a series in 80 something years.

QUOTE (Mustard Death @ Oct 25 2005, 10:41 AM) QUOTE (PuppetKing2112 @ Oct 24 2005, 07:15 PM) MD, is that your first NIN album? Because that wouldn't have been where I would have suggested to start. Yeah, it's my first album. It's probably not where I would've started, either... but here's the story: I was over at a friends house, and there was another guy hanging out there (that makes three >_>), and he had a copy of With Teeth, but didn't like it or something. So he offered to give it to my friend, and I said "I'll take it". My friend didn't want it either, so it ended up with me. I do really like it, though I suppose the earlier stuff is even better. After reading a lot of his lyrics, I'd say I'm most interested in Pretty Hate Machine. But most people tell me to get The Downward Spiral first... To get the best idea of what NIN really is, Downward Spiral is really the way to start.

QUOTE (daveyt @ Oct 23 2005, 06:45 PM) moonraker DID YOU GET A RAISE? Lol, wait till you see how many shows I've been to this year. I'm gonna post them all at the end of the year.

QUOTE (JohnnyBlaze @ Oct 23 2005, 05:06 PM) QUOTE (R.G @ Oct 24 2005, 05:44 AM)as with most of these things i wish they wouldn't make the films so people would have to discover the stories and read the books themselves, its so much better I think so too. But many kids and adults these days can be enticed by said film to read the book(s). Although I always think it's better to read it first then viddy the film. That maybe true, but you would be suprised how many kids I have met that didnt even know that Lord of the Rings was based on books, let alone actually spend the time to read them instead of watching the movie. I used to love the Chronicles of Narnia books, but I havent read them in soooo long. I might have to read up a bit on them before going to this one. I did love that one english version they did of it a while back as well, but this one looks like its going to be much more special effects heavy. I just might actually pay to go see this movie.

QUOTE (Mandalorian Hunter @ Oct 23 2005, 01:14 PM) So, what comes after "The Oracle"? post #10001, 10002, 10003 and so on. No more icons though, lol.

Heh, I usually just start a new thread when I want to get into a mega review for bands, but I like this idea too. I can give little mini reviews without feeling like I have to write a novel of a thread, lol. I think I might pin this one. I saw The Red Elvises last night at Slim's. They are all Russian, from Siberia, and play surfer music. The novelty definatly works and it was a very high energy show. By the end of the night my voice was completely cracked and I couldnt yell anymore, but it was a blast. One of the coolest things about this band is the bass player doesnt play a bass, but this HUGE red balalaika, which is really cool to watch. The singer/guitarist was constantly getting the crowd to yell in enthusiasm for the band, and at one point there was a drum solo in which all 6 members in the band were playing on the drummers kit, took turns doing solos for each person, followed by an insane drum solo. Their drummer is like Neil Peart good, just a completely different style. Anyway, if I would highly recommend this kick ass rock'n'roll from Siberia, check them out. The Red Elvises, Your Favorite Band!

Spinal Tap was really high up there, but in the end I had to go with MP and the Holy Grail.

Ok, I will just finish off this month real fast so I dont have to keep coming back here Last night (10/21) was Porcupine Tree @ The Grand Ballroom 10/22 - The Red Elvises @ Slims 10/24 - Apollo Sunshine @ Cafe Du Nord 10/28 - Sons & Daughters @ Cafe Du Nord

Wow PK, I need to check out that store if you found all that for just $54. I recently purchased David Bowie - Diamond Dogs (30th Ann.) Depeche Mode - Playing The Angel Peter Gabriel - 3 (Melt)

13/20 Way too much of a focus on thier early career. (Hell, the whole damn thing)

Suicidal Tendancies (BTW, Exodus sucks live, if anyone has ever seen em)

Big fan myself, it will take a bit of work, but I would like to see him try to pull off a blonde bond. I've never seen any of his work before, but I am glad they picked him rather then some of the other actors I've heard rumors of. I'll put away my skepticism, for now at least.

Oh wow, this is a funny idea, I will have to find one.....

After a bit of a hiatus in buying cds, I went to the store yesterday and purchased.. The Cure - Pornography The Decemberists - Picaresque Depeche Mode - 101 Gary Numan - Replicas