November 2008 Archives
Page of 2
Although the Thanksgiving holiday is bearing down on us, I have much more than turkey on the horizon. Mrs. Leaf and I are staying in town and have a bunch of thing on our plate (no pun intended). We're spending Thanksgiving at the Verizon Center with the Wizards and Magic and then on Sunday night we're heading to the 9:30 Club to catch comeback kid Q-Tip and The Cool Kids.
Tip is back in the limelight after the release of his excellent new album, The Renaissance and although he's been away for quite some time, he still sounds fresh and new. I've seen Tribe no fewer than 10 times, and he's always been a great performer. I caught The Cool Kids over the summer and they weren't exactly slouches. I've been rocking their album The Bake Sale quite a bit lately.
Thanksgiving, not just for turkey anymore!
New Order reissues plagued with bad sound.
The story of two songwriters writing a hit song for a Very Big Pop Star.
Annie Liebowitz: ""Could you imagine trying to get the soul every day?"
Chuck Klosterman reviews Chinese Democracy.
What Was The World Like The Last Time Guns N' Roses Released An Album?
Shaq's Twitter Solved. It's Not His. But He Has Started His Own!
I don't know about you but I definitely want to why Bill Simmons.
Previously on ESPN Copyediting Strikes Again:
Bonzi Bells.
We've sen this before.
Although I haven't mentioned them very much, I have become a big fan of The Duke Spirit. I liked a track they had on a sampler a while back and was pleasantly surprised by their latest album, Neptune, which is full of bluesy, garage rock goodness. It's one of my favorite albums of the year and it's been in heavy rotation on my iPod since February.
So of course I jumped at the chance of seeing them at the 9:30 Club, especially after Redboy gave them his stamp of approval. And they did not disappoint. They were full of vim and vigor, whipping a fairly sizable crowd into a frenzy and, best of all, they sounded spot on. While the guys in the band don't do much of anything on stage, it's hard to take your eyes off of frontwoman Leila Moss as she prowls around. "The Step and The Walk" is one of the best Bunnymen songs not written by Ian McCulloch and their other standout tunes like "Lassoo" and "You Really Wake Up The Love In Me" were straight fire. Can't wait for these guys to come back to town.
Sadly I didn't stick around for the Eagles of Death Metal. It was a school night and they weren't due on stage until 11:45.
[Photo Gallery]
The Duke Spirit @ 9:30 Club
(Editor's Note: I have a bunch of photos from this summer that I never got the chance to put up so I am cleaning out the archives a bit over the course of the next week or so.)
While they are not really my thing musically, Paramore are a blast to photograph. Their show is built on energy and everyone not stuck behind the drum kit spent the set running all over the stage. I'd shoot them again in a second.
[Photo Gallery]
Paramore at the 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore, MD
After being sent the above flyer, I'll definitely be heading down to the Black Cat to see Middle Distance Runner, who I haven't seen in what seems like forever. They're playing after Title Tracks (featuring John Davis, ex of Georgie James) and before The Spinto Band. You canb buy tickets here.
Baltimore readers can check out the band for free Saturday at 1 p.m. Here are the details:
WTMD at The 8x10 THIS SATURDAY
10 E Cross St
Baltimore, MD 21230
1 p.m.
RSVP here.
I started a blog page for the leafblower over on Facebook. So if you're a fan, make it official.
I also have a Twitter account now. Feel free to hit "follow."
And don't forget the Tumblr!
Quick recap: KoL were a bit uneven but ultimately pretty great. We Are Scientists didn't have their usual energy and The Whigs were all sorts of awesome. Read the full review over on DCist.
[Photo Gallery]
Kings of Leon, We Are Scientists & The Whigs @ DAR Hall
(Editor's Note: I have a bunch of photos from this summer that I never got the chance to put up so I am cleaning out the archives a bit over the course of the week.)
Longtime readers will know just how much I was looking forward to this gig (especially after all of those Radiohead rumors earlier in the summer) and I am very happy to say it did not disappoint. Easily one of the best gigs I saw all year, if not THE BEST. It totally did my head in. In fact, this show was so good, I put my camera away early just so I could enjoy the music.
[Photo Gallery]
Underworld at the 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore, MD
Yuck!
A Jersey City councilman has reportedly been arrested for urinating on a crowd of concertgoers from the balcony of a Washington D.C. nightclub.
The New York Daily News reports in Sunday's editions that two-term Jersey City councilman Steve Lipski has been charged with simple assault.
The newspaper says 44-year-old Lipski was removed from a place called the Nightclub 9:30 on Friday night.
That's after club staffers saw him relieve himself onto the crowd from a second floor balcony during a concert by a Grateful Dead tribute band.
I was organizing my CD collection today and I came across some old bootlegs I had forgotten about, so I thought I would share a bit of them.
First up is an Oasis gig from 2001 from Wallingford, CT, which is Hartford for all intents and purposes. This was the "Brotherly Love" tour with the Black Crowes that featured my second favorite drummer*, Steve White, on the skins for Oasis. I went to this show by myself (my gf at the time didn't want to come since we were seeing them a few days later at Radio City Music Hall), so I thought I would bring my minidisc player and record the show. I'm no Bradley's Almanac, but I think it actually turned out pretty well. One thing I remember from this show was pulling up to the venue in my rental car and seeing people tailgating before the gig. After living in NYC for 5 or 6 years, I had forgotten that such a thing even existed. I made a mental note to get out of the city more after that. But I digress...
I wrote a review of this show for an Oasis fansite, I'll have to see if I can track that down somewhere.
[mp3] Oasis | Columbia (live in Hartford, CT 2001)
[mp3] Oasis | Fade Away (live in Hartford, CT 2001)
"Fade Away" is one of my favorite Oasis songs and to hear Steve White put his spin on the percussion for this song was a real treat. Also, this gig (and the following one at Radio City) went a long way in rekindling my love for the band. It showed me even though their previous record was crap, they still had it live and hopefully their recorded output would eventually come around.
* Reni is at the top of the list as far as I am concerned. Dude can work a high-hat like no other.
I was fast asleep by the time all this went down last night. Pretty great ending. Should I even mention that the C's originally drafted Brandon Roy? Oh well, doesn't matter.
Best evs!
Rather than write a long post about how awesome our country is (there are more eloquent people for that), let's just go with the image above, which sums it all up nicely.
All last night, I kept thinking to myself, "How did KG's shoes look?" Thanks to Matt for passing this image along (looks like it comes from Nice Kicks, so respect to them).
Also, some of us were working on non-election related things last night. I got some pretty incredible photos at the Usher show at the Warner Theatre. I'm not really a fan, but he was GREAT. Head over to the WaPo's Post Rock blog to check out the full set.
2008 really has been the best. year. ever.
Some random links for you as you wait at your polling place to cast your ballot:
How did the Top 20 basketball players in the class of 2002 turn out five years later?
Alan McGee quit the music business. He explained: "You get older and you want life a little bit easier."
The Lost Years & Last Days of David Foster Wallace. Good read.
Derek Sivers Sold CD Baby for $22 Million, Giving Most of It Away.
Due to work constraints, I'm finding it harder and harder to update the leafblower during the day, so be sure to check out my Tumblr or follow me on my newly created Twitter account. Both should be updated daily.
"This year marks only the third time ever that the NBA Finals drew a higher rating than the World Series in the same calendar year. The two prior occasions involved Michael Jordan (1993 and 1998). For the first time ever, not a single baseball game -- regular season, All Star or otherwise -- drew a double digit rating."
Games don't start until close to 9 and rarely finish before midnight and they wonder why no one watches?
Recent Comments