WEEKS RUNNING QUICKLY BY

This past Saturday a very good friend of mine who I've known since early high school arrived here at my home in Colorado.  In a box from the mortuary located in Portland, Oregon.  That night he and I stood outside on the porch while it rained (one of the few times it does rain), keeping him company while listening to music and smoking a cigar. This is the one time I felt comfortable allowing him to hold onto my flask of tequila (I set it on top of the box). I'll hold onto to him for another week or two and then he'll continue his journey back east where he will be sprinkled in the waters off Mt. Sinai Harbor on Long Island's north shore, a place that he lived with his dad in a one room houseboat. The boat yard is now a small park with views of the entire harbor.

Knowing his somewhat abrasive personality, a person at his memorial had this to say: After Coston had been in heaven a few hours, God was overheard saying, "Now I remember why I left you down there so long!"

Standing next to the box, knowing what’s left of him is hidden inside, was a stark reminder that he is really gone forever.

The past several weeks have gone by very quickly, any free time taken up working primarily on tha five part video of the Jackson Hole "mancation" that I went on with several others this past late January/early February.  Hours of editing and then syncing it to music.  It's finally done, all that remains is burning DVDs for all that went on the trip.  The above is "day" three of the five part series, our time at Baldy Knoll Yurt on the backside of the Grand Teton Mountains.  As you can see we had epic snow in a beautiful setting while staying in a comfortable yurt with a buch of great guys.  I'm betting we do it again next year.

http://youtu.be/ybANyNNQmY0

Although busy working on this project weekends and a trip to Oklahoma City for a meeting, I did find the time to break away and step outside for a little music.  Here's the good stuff I've been listening to these last few weekends.

THE DOORS
JANUARY 17, 1970

Considering Ian McCulloch of the Bunnymen throws in a little Doors in one or two extended versions of their songs during each show (Villiers Terrace, Nothing Lasts Forever), I was in the mood for some Doors, never having listened to any of their live shows.  I had a copy of their Live in New York, a six-disc box set of the final four concerts performed by The Doors on January 17 and 18, 1970 at the Felt Forum in New York City.

On this night I listened to their first show on January 17, 1970.  Great sound!  It is written:

Split over six fantastic-sounding CDs, these live recordings are a revelation, an aural document of the Doors and Morrison at their professional best. It might seem overkill to splurge on four shows of similar material recorded over two days, but their Forum mini-residence was one of those gigs where fans would have kicked themselves for not getting tickets to every show: blues covers change, an unheard “Celebration of the Lizard” is thrown in, and Morrison — the psychedelic Sinatra — keeps changing the phrasing of songs in surprising ways, though always in control both of his mysterious instrument and of the mesmerized crowd.

Read more: http://thephoenix.com/boston/music/94095-doors-live-in-new-york-2009/#ixzz1utkcY8pv

It is this spontaneous fire that made the Doors, and the performances contained within this set, such an exciting live act. Take for instance the three searing versions of “Who Do You Love?” The first one, from the first show, is the one we all know and love from the much loved In Concert album. Here, in it’s original running order in the show, followed by a dramatically perfect “Little Red Rooster,” a boogiefied “Money” and a pointed “Light My Fire,” we can hear just how capable the band was of providing blistering blues one minute, and psychedelic wonder the next.

Read more: http://www.musicmookreview.com/2011/05/the-doors-live-in-new-york-1970/

I can look forward to more shows and nights to come.

Go out and buy it!

ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN
MARCH 3, 1983

Speaking of Echo and the Bunnymen......I listened to their March 3, 1983 show in Paris, France.  Another great recording.

Download it here:
http://www.4shared.com/file/233845056/ff6d1007/_1983_03_Marzo_03__Clermont_FD.html

(Since I get these links from others and considering the recent crackdown on shared music, please let me know when the links provided fail to work).

Soft hands firmly gripped
Spark a bloody revolution
One drop at a time

Sunlight rippled waters
Warm wind rustles tree branches
For them it is no more

Muddy brown water
Bubbles drift like beads of light
Ripples of wind go by

Urban river flows
Trash littered banks, cars rush by
White cranes come to roost

Water's ribbon of light
The western sky turns yellow
Sun's last call greets the night

Their days are over
Faces just a memory
Why did you have to go?

SUEDE
JANUARY 3, 1992

I'm in the process of reading Britpop!: Cool Britannia And The Spectacular Demise Of English Rock by John Harris, given to me by Jack Jensen. It is described as:

Beginning in 1994 and closing in the first months of 1998, the UK passed through a cultural moment as distinct and as celebrated as any since the war. Founded on rock music, celebrity, boom-time economics, and fleeting political optimism, this was "Cool Britannia." Records sold in the millions, a new celebrity elite emerged, and Tony Blair''s Labour Party found itself returned to government. Drawing on interviews from all the major bands including Oasis, Blur, Elastica, and Suede, and from music journalists, record executives, and those close to government, Britpop!charts the rise and fall of the Britpop moment.

The first part of the book presents the history and competitive spirits of the bands Suede and the Blur.  This night it was Suede's turn, the "best new band in Britain" in 1992, turning up the volume on their live show at the Newcross on January 3, 1992.  The music makes the book come to life when I have a good sense of what their sound was.  More to come here as well as I plow through a few hundred more pages!  "New" music ahead!

Download it here before they take it away:
http://www.mediafire.com/?dhdgo2hhmnu

The suns orange orb
Sinking through the western haze
Life mirrors days end

White cranes circling
Lands on the wooded river bank
Find their evening home

Wind comes from the east
Across the open prairie
Passing through his hair

River encampment
Where once a proud nation stood
Lit hotels now rise

THE GANG OF FOUR
FEBRUARY 1980

Their live show in Germany, Anthrax Marxists.  Excellent sound on this recording!  And a great performance by this English post-punk group from Leeds
Download it here:
http://www.eggcityradio.com/sharity/go4_anthraxmarxists.zip

or:
http://www.filefactory.com/file/a1a9830/n/Gang_of_Four-Anthrax_Marxists_Part1.rar
http://www.filefactory.com/file/a1a995a/n/Gang_of_Four-Anthrax_Marxists_Part2.rar

NIRVANA
APRIL 9, 1993

I need a periodic dose of some Nirvana, this time it was their live show at the Bosnian Rape Victim Benefit at the San Francisco Cow Palace on April 9, 1993.  This was a benefit concert organized by Krist to provide assistance and raise awareness for the Trenjevka Woman's Group, a dedicated organization that offered care to all female refugees and their children during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Nirvana's Rape Me, must have been a big hit during this show!  Another excellent recording!!

Download all four parts here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?a6kmq4grqi2g9

PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED
NOVEMBER 15, 1983

Great sounding recording.  After the 4th song Johnny says "I'm tired, can I go home now?  Aw come on now, I'm really tired" all meant to get a rise out of the audience.  What's different about this show is the inclusion of psychedelic effects scattered throughout the nights performance.

Download it here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mwjmfit2dmj

THE KILLERS
NOVEMBER 11, 2008

Last up were The Killers, performing at the Kesselhaus in Berlin, Germany.  A soundboard recording.
Sorry, this file's link is a causality of the file sharing war.

ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN
MAY 21, 2011

In remembrance of their US tour exactly a year ago, I pulled out this recording of mine of their show at Club Nokia in Los Angeles, CA on May 21, 2011.  An excellent recording, I don't say so myself!  Ian was still in a relatively good mood, chatting with the audience, although he claimed he was a bit shy this evening.  Not as good as San Francisco two nights earlier, but a lot better than the melt the following night.

More pictures and link to the music is here:
http://whatatemper.blogspot.com/2011/05/judgement-day-in-los-angles-with.html

METAL RATTLES THE HEAD

A month ago I had learned that Baroness was coming to town for a show with Decapitated and Meshuggah.  I had seen Baroness at the Coachella music festival in CA a couple years ago and really enjoyed their performance, hoping they would make it to Denver one of these days.  So when tickets went on sale I got one for sole purpose of seeing them this Friday night at the Ogden Theater, the other two bands being a bonus prize.

First up was Decapitated, "a death metal band that formed in Krosno, Poland in 1996. The group comprises guitarist, founder and composer Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka, vocalist Rafał Piotrowski and Austrian drummer Kerim "Krimh" Lechner. Decapitated have gained recognition as one of the genre's most widely respected bands and one of the finest exponents of technical death metal. The band earned an international fan base in the underground music community, and became an innovating act in the modern death metal genre."

The ear plugs came in real handy during this show!  The audience was pumped up by the end of their 30 minute set. 

Download mp3 show here:
https://www.rapidshare.com/#!download|570|1727311178|D_-_Denver_11-05-12.rar|78026

Download the flac show here:
https://rapidshare.com/#!download|983p7|516160555|D%20-%20Denver%2011-05-12%20flac.rar|242171|0|0

This is what I had been waiting for!  Baroness, "a metal band that plays an eclectic brand of sludge, embracing the ferocity and sharp technique of new-millennium metal but with melodic accents and intelligent guitar work that suggests the influence of sludge and post-metal bands."  They hail from Savannah, Georgia.  "They combine elements of sludge metal, progressive metal and punk."

A very different sound from both Decapitated and Meshuggah.  Blowing my mind with its punishing riffs and blistering leads.  Loved it!

Download the show here, mp3:
https://www.rapidshare.com/#!download|156|421809347|B_-_Denver_May_11__2012.rar|109883

Download the show here, flac: Available on trade.

The audience lost all self control when Meshuggah took the stage.   The mosh pit behind me opened up with thrashing bodies, followed the audience surging to the front, crushing us onto the rail of the barricade.  Hands groped in an effort to grab onto something solid to avoid being crushed or swept away. 

Wikipedia says:

Meshuggah is a Swedish extreme metal band from Umeå, formed in 1987. Meshuggah's line-up has primarily consisted of founding members vocalist Jens Kidman and lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, drummer Tomas Haake, who joined in 1990, and rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, who joined in 1992. The band has gone through a number of bassists, with the position currently being held by Dick Lövgren since 2004.

Meshuggah first attracted international attention with the 1995 release Destroy Erase Improve for its fusion of fast-tempo death metal, thrash metal and progressive metal with jazz fusion elements. Since its 2002 album Nothing, Meshuggah has used downtuned eight-string guitars. Meshuggah has become known for their innovative musical style, complex, polymetered song structures and polyrhythms. They were labeled as one of the ten most important hard and heavy bands by Rolling Stone and as the most important band in metal by Alternative Press. Meshuggah has found little mainstream success as yet, but is a significant act in extreme underground music.

The review for the May 9th show at the Showbox Market in Seattle said:
When Meshuggah finally took the stage, people were good and ready to get nuts. The pit turned into a swirling circle of brutality, and strobes lit up the crowd. The specifics are a little hazy because I was rocking extremely hard, but I'm pretty sure this is what happened: Fredrik Thordendal played a thirty-string guitar with an implanted raven claw. Dick Lövgren played a custom bass made from brontosaurus femur with a mallet. Drummer Thomas Haake's back was plugged into a wall outlet with a two-pronged plug in the size of a small space craft which powered the dual mainframe processors controlling the independent movements of his upper and lower body, and Jens Kidman screamed lyrics in six different languages at the same time. Márten Hagström rounded out the lineup by shooting lightning bolts at people from the Tesla coil affixed to the bridge of his guitar. Several dozen fans were treated for electrical burns in the Green Room bar with brännvin rinses. At least that's what I saw. It was awesome as shit.

Read it all here:
http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2012/05/if_you_only_see_one_metal_show.php

By the end of the show my chest and the area under the upper part of my arms were sore from the mosh pit crowd pushing me against the rail of the barricade, my anchor in this moving, thrashing mass of people.

Download the show here, mp3:
https://www.rapidshare.com/#!download|962|2347215876|M_-_Denver_11-05-12.rar|234706

Download the show here, flac:
https://rapidshare.com/files/3084400814/Ogden Denver May 11_ 2012 flac.rar