READY, AIM....POP!

A strange week comes to an end.  Busy, busy, busy.  Life continues to evolve.  But it's Friday night and the time has come to crank up the music.

Iggy Pop takes the stage with some really energetic music off of Rock Hard, recorded live in Phoenix, Arizona July 17, 1994 and New York July 20, 1988. The NY show is a sound board recording, the other is recorded from a radio broadcast.

The author of the online blog "Punk Not Profit" writes this about the recording:

Once again here's the Godfather of Punk, the ayatollah of rock and rolla. Yet another relentless rockin' gig, listening to any of the Ig-man's recordings leaves you with the overwhelming sense of awe, or at least for myself that is. He is living proof that age has nothing to do with punk rock, and it isn't about the music, it's about the lifestyle.

There's only 2 kind of people in the world, people who like Iggy Pop and those who don't... you decide. Details on this recording are below, sound quality is an A+ and ripped at 320 for maximum raw power. Enjoy...

Refined primitives
Build ruins we inhabit
Never seem to change

On that moonless night
Ships passengers celebrate
There's no tomorrow

Puts his friend to rest
Bond forged in youth is broken
Distant memory

Download it here:
http://filefactory.com/file/cce221e/n/Iggy_Pop_-_Rock_Hard_1994_and_1988.zip

Stars die, one by one
Quiet shimmer to the east
Dawns crescent moon's pale light

The dancing never slowed down this evening, Iggy followed by a hard hitting performance by Van Halen, kicking off their 2012 tour at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky on February 18, 2012, an excellent audience recording, one of many flooding the net, compliments of the many bootleggers out there.

The review of the show:

Singer David Lee Roth bounced around the stage like a big, 57-year-old kid, delivering a performance that was half burlesque, half living-room show-off, and all rock star. Alex Van Halen brought his usual thunder on the drums, and while diehards probably still miss original bassist Michael Anthony, Wolfgang Van Halen has become a serious replacement.

But the night belonged to Eddie.

Eddie Van Halen, the guitar-shredding heart of the band’s sound, was in peak form. His right hand was like a jackhammer all night as he showed utter command of his instrument, with no apparent ill effects from a 2009 surgery on his left hand. This was crucial, because while the band’s best material stands alone as seriously good, voraciously hard rock, Eddie’s guitar is Van Halen.

Read it all here:
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120218/FEATURES/302180125/Classic-Rock-Van-Halen-David-Lee-Roth

Download it here:
http://depositfiles.com/files/4oj33xkob

A relaxing Saturday was followed by another evening of music, but the pace was slowed down a bit after last nights dancing rampage.  Tokyo Police Club started things off, a radio broadcast recording from the Paragon Theater at the Halifax Pop Explosion on October 23, 2010.

"Tokyo Police Club is an ideal band to watch live. For starters, their songs inspire commotion and if you don’t know the words the next song is never more than two minutes away. The band encourages audience participation, so much so that there’s a Tokyo Police Club rule when they play ‘Tessellate’ – no beer claps. Dave Monks explains, “We want legit claps, so just put your beer on the ground, no one will kick it. We promise.” The band commanded all the enthusiasm from A Lesson in Crime through to their latest record Champ and delivered a pressing and euphoric performance. Tokyo Police Club is like having incredibly exciting news to tell someone and then when you try to share, your words can’t keep up with your thoughts. The analogy I’m trying to make is that the band generates such authentic energy that it’s overwhelming. ‘Your English Is Good’ is a flood of youthful chanting wrapped in a carefree chorus, the band closed Halifax Pop Explosion 2010 with more excitement than one could ask for."

http://www.cavacool.com/concert/halifax-pop-explosion-2010/

Download it here:
https://rapidshare.com/#!download|693|1442190467|Tokyo_Police_Club_-_2011_-_Paragon_Theatre__Halifax__October_23__2010.rar|143087

Last up for the weekend was Echo and the Bunnymen performing at the Royal Albert Hall in London on September 16, 2008, an excellent audience recording, the sound echoing in the cavernous hall.  A review of this Ocean Rain tour show said:

It might appear self-indulgent at first glance. For just three gigs (London, New York, Liverpool), Echo & the Bunnymen are revisiting their fourth LP, 1984's Ocean Rain, and playing it in its entirety with a 16-piece string section. They even act as their own support band, with an hour-long hits set before the main event.

But what stops this becoming a nostalgic wallow isn't just singer Ian McCulloch's undiminished voice and guitarist Will Sergeant's peerless playing. There is a sense of unfinished business, a reputation to restate, and a lushly orchestrated album to perform properly for the first time. And anyway, as McCulloch alludes to in a scatted mea culpa midway through the inscrutable Thorn of Crowns, some of these quarter-century-old songs are only now starting to reveal their true meanings.

The simple staging is perfect. You don't have to be a synesthete to see Ocean Rain as a blue record: five of its nine tracks include the colour in their lyrics. Throughout, the stage is bathed in azure shades: pale turquoise during the brittle zithering of Nocturnal Me, rain-lashed slate for My Kingdom's icy guitar solo, a rich, regal amethyst for the title track.

The Killing Moon reaches the night's most dizzying high, feeling as though it contains every ounce of the mystic portent it must have held for McCulloch in the dream that gave him its chorus (as concise poetic encapsulations of the human condition go, it doesn't get much better than: "Fate, up against your will/ Through the thick and thin"). But even this is topped by Ocean Rain itself, where the strings are held back until the end of the second verse so that they hit with a euphoric punch of almost physical intensity, sunny melodic optimism piercing the lyrics' chiaroscuro of storm clouds and "blackest thoughts".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/sep/19/popandrock.echoandthebunnymen

Download it at:
https://rapidshare.com/#!download|391|1849037662|Echo_-_2008_-_Royal_Albert_Hall_-_16_September_2008.rar|210883

WEEKEND VARIETY SHOW

It was with great sadness that I had to cut down a tree on my property that was 150 years old. Its seed took root in that field on or around the date the Civil War began, at a time when Colorado was some wilderness crossed by fur trappers on their way to the Rockies. However, this lightning damaged and now weakened tree was heavily infested with pine beetles and I did not want them to emerge this summer and infect other trees around it. In addition the top fell off late this winter due to its weakened condition, lucky it did not strike my neighbors wood shop a few feet away.

I sharpened up the chain saw and took it down on Saturday. I spent all day Sunday sectioning it up into a size that woud fit into the fireplace, after it has been split. To keep the wood, it had to be wrapped in plastic so that when the beetles do emerge, baking inside beneath the hot summer sun. The wood should be ready to use this Fall. That fresh wood is heavy, injuring my back before I had the common sense to put my weight lifters belt on.



The gangs rule Wall Street
Have terrorized a nation
In their pin stripped suits

Little people act
The illusion of control
All part of the plan


Subversive ideas
Undercurrent of contempt
A spreading disease

Died for the people
To relieve us of our sins
Christ the socialist


Cherry trees blossom
Helped by warm Japanese nights
Fukushima spring

Jethro’s ship departs
Power’s rope slips from his hands
The rising brown tide


Hands raised up to God
Ask for his forgiveness while
pulling the trigger

Government is bad
Criticize with every chance
Until they need it


Their words of wisdom
Party ideologues write
With their poison pen

Truth’s not a concern
Story told for a purpose
Only to incite


Slept through Egypt’s night
They’re struggling to wake up
Dream of better times

Down economy
All want to be millionaires
Shared disappointment


Their sweet sounding words
Lies that we all want to hear
Lull the babes to sleep

Long hours, no free time
Pelosi needs TLC
Requests Weiner probe


The forest fires in Arizona have cast a yellowish haze across Colorado these last few days, a faint burning odor to the air. Makes for some interesting sunsets.




Friday and Saturday nights were spent outside in the warm night air listening to music with a cigar and a few shots of tequila. I'm suprised no one complained Saturday night when, due to a late start, the truck stereo was cranked until 2:30 AM Sunday morning.

The show was kicked off by Baroness, sludge/progressive metal band from Savannah, Georgia. They played at the Roadburn Festival, Tilburg, Netherlands on April 23, 2009. Great quality recording of half the songs played that evening. What a way to kick off the night!

Download it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?2jjzzntqqjg







I slowed it down a bit with two solo shows by Ian McCulloh of the Bunnymen, the first performed at the Daytrotter Studio on March 10, 2010.

Grab it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3H2YVF8S


This was followed by his performance on November 5, 1989 on BBC Radio One, live in Manchester, UK.

And here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GHL6278V






Saturday night started off with the Tokyo Police Club doing a live show at The Great Northern on August 1, 2008.

What's been written about them:

"Toronto's quirky, high-energy indie rock outfit Tokyo Police Club features vocalist/bassist Dave Monks, keyboardist/vocalist Graham Wright, guitarist/percussionist Josh Hook, and drummer/percussionist Greg Alsop. The band formed in the wake of the breakup of the foursome's previous project; after taking a break for several months, the musicians regrouped as Tokyo Police Club in 2005. They began performing live that summer, and that fall they played the Montreal Pop Festival, where the audience's rousing reception convinced the group to make Tokyo Police Club a full-time venture. Monks quit school, and early in 2006 the band signed with local label Paperbag Records and began recording their debut EP, A Lesson in Crime, which was released that spring. Buoyed by blog and MySpace buzz, Tokyo Police Club embarked on their largest tour yet that fall. Around the same time, A Lesson in Crime was reissued with wider distribution, and 2008 saw the release of the band's full-length debut, Elephant Shell. By the end of the year, Tokyo Police Club had toured in support of the album and already begun working on a follow-up record, Champ, which they ultimately released in 2010."

"So what exactly is Tokyo Police Club? Perhaps EYE Weekly summed it up best when they wrote "[Tokyo Police Club] are undeniably catchy and raw, marrying danceable hooks with talk of robot masters and global emergencies, providing an upbeat soundtrack to our troubled times." Personally, however, I prefer Exclaim's proclamation that "somehow, the deeply innocuous subdivisions of Newmarket, Ontario have hatched a four-headed beast of tunefulness."

Download it here:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2436E1JQ






I then turned to a classic recording, one of the best out there, Nirvana performing at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on November 25, 1991. The show was originally supposed to be at the Melkweg the day before, but had to be moved to a larger venue. During "Come As You Are" at the show, the guitar and bass were horribly out of tune with each other, so Kurt decided to scream most of the song's lyrics.

Find it here:
http://uploading.com/files/1326c8bc/On_Stage_in_Europe.zip






Closed the night with my recording of Interpol's show at the Boulder Theater on February 8, 2011.

Find it all here:
http://whatatemper.blogspot.com/2011/02/interpol-rocks-boulder.html