SuCFestivus for the Rest of Us.

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I would like to begin this post by airing my greivances to the general community of concert promoters, booking agents, etc.

Let me start by declaring my love for (almost) all things musical. If it came down to it, IF I HAD to listen to such awful compilations of clutter and audio bile as the Black Eyed Peas "My Humps" for the rest of my life, IF I was forced into exile from this world and was no longer able to participate as a fan in the never ending cycle of discovery, comprehension and exclamation of the sounds that keep me whistling while I work, I would still be making music of my own. I might be making it in my room with my little gEEtar or pounding out a rhythm I heard my tires making against the highway driving to work or yodling the song of a bird who's made his domain outside my window, in any case, it's still there, the music.

My main issue here isn't against the lack of music to inspire or encourage me to expound on these concepts in a blog setting such as this. My issue pertains to a little thing I like to call the SuCFest (Summer Circuit Festivals).

It's true that to many of these festivals appear to benefit the concert goer, but I would like to represent the common man in this argument. I have a few small but very obvious statements to make to that affect.

1. SuCFest does not happen by accident. Where as the general public had the opportunity in the past to enjoy a touring festival (other than the less tolerable OzzFest, or Warp Tour) like Lallapalooza at least in close by large city, now we are stuck traveling, hopefully within the region of our homes at least, to see such a line-up and hope that it isn't scheduled during a busy week of work. The up and coming edgy bands that once traveled on such caravaned tours now make their dates in random geographic locations somewhere not closed to home such as the Gorge in Wa(r)shington.

2. Guys like me, guys who would probably pay to see a good 50% of the bands play indivdually, are now stuck not only paying ridiculous ticket prices to gain access the the campground, but also plane ticket, rental car, gas and food charges for an entire weekend if not longer. Not cool.

3. What about the central location of Kansas City, access to a large amount of open fields and ability of shows to sell out repeatedly is not appealing to local promoters that would encourage a festival to be added locally? One might make the arguement that the Walkarusa festival in the Lawrence is just that. I stand firm in saying that all I see there is a bunch of hppies kicking off their sandals and kicking up some dirt. I hemphatically reply by saying my gas permeable contacts will not tolerate such musical lineups. And to be honest, the concert promoters of Lawrence present another bone to be picked. I'll, however, leave that for another time.

4. This whole SuCFest thing has put me in a sour mood, but it should suffice to say that I, Ryan Slofield, am willing to pay up to $65/ ticket to any promoter, booking agent, etc who can provide one day of good bands, whether popular to the masses or not, that are showing promise to the future of music and will be available for viewing and hearing within 30 miles of Kansas City on a day that isn't in the middle of our regions most heat-wave prone months of the year(early june or late may would be excellent).

Let's not let the SuCFest control how and when we get to see rare performances. Let's make the performers aware of the intrigue for what they are doing. Get them on the 'hone and get them to our homes.

I'm red-eyed and blue.

I saw wilco play on Tuesday night at the Uptown Theater. They were great, nothing short. Jeff Tweedy, sometimes called a modern day Bob Dylan, was wearing his standard "I-was-wearing-sport-coats-before-wearing-sport-coats-before-wearing-sport-coats-was-cool" sport coat that looked a lot more authentic and strangely better than what most people spend 60-100 bucks after falling into the black hole of fashion conformity... I mean the GAP. Don't get me wrong, I wear clothes from the Gap and it's apersonal fav for the biz-casual side and the jeans just seem to always fit well.

Fortunately for myself, I was wearing just such comfortable attire Tuesday evening as Wilco played about a two hour set. Where some bands would real you in with a great rocking up-tempo song from the get go, wilco woo'd with melody and well played arrangement. Beginning with a dreamy "Hummingbird" and closing with the unknown "We Can Make it Better". I think it's pretty ballsy of a band to close with a song you've never heard before. Is that the kind of impression they want to leave you with? For Wilco, the answer is a resounding YES.

Sneak attack favorite of the night was "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" which is commonly a track I skip through the last half of being that it's close to eleven minutes and consists of mostly a trance-like instrumental loop. Something about the arrangement of the song and the bands intensity just grabbed my attention and gave me a new appreciation for it.

Another personal favorite, "I'm the man that loves you", was even more jangley, bouncin' and foot stompingly wonderful than recorded. If only they would have had the horn section of Conan O'Brien's Max Weinberg Seven to finish out the song instrumentation completely just like the night I saw them play on O'Brien's show. That was the performance when Wilco captured my attention like they had known just what my ears had been longing to hear and my heart had been saying all along.

Between the six traveling band members of Wilco, the translation from record to live performance found very little if any authenticity sacrificed. While most of the time adhering to the recorded song, there were a few diversion that kept the experience fresh. Personally, that's the way I like to hear bands like this play. ...put a little flare on it, but for the most part, just be Wilco. Done. ...and done.

What Tweedy does as a song writer is a romaticizing of the bluecollar and troubled life you never had. He connects you to real life with all it's ebs and flows and redundancies in a endearing abtract way. And the music that surrounds is nothing short of what I would expect of a modern day Lennon-McCartney written song with the passion and other-worldliness of George Harrison thrown in. Dig it.

I got to work on friday ready to walk in the St Patty's Day Parade as required since they decided it was s good idea to build a float and enter. As I entered in my bright green T with hoodie covering a co-worker asked where my leprechaun costume was. (it was agreed the day before that I might closely resemble a leprechaun and make a good "mascot" for our parade entry) I replied in my usual sarcastic manner and blew off the question. To which the coworker replied, "I was thinking about it on the way to work, you don't look like a leprechaun, you look like a hobbit." Note to self: shave hair from top of feet.

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On a completely different note.. Sometimes I'm not ready to hear what people are saying. Sometimes I need to hear it in a new way.

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I get excited everytime I realize I can play my favorite songs with three or four chords that I'm good at on the gee-tar. It's all happening.

de do do do, de da da da

I was listening to the police with my roommate yohan a few nights ago while driving to the gym(that's right ladies, I said I went to the gym). I realized that I had a hidden appreciation for stewart copeland. I always knew the guy was a real solid drummer but it just hit me different that night. Matt Brock, them are fightin' words and you know it. Seaner, If you weren't such a smart ass I might just tell you something more about TRex... well, considering your smartassiness is ok in my book I'll go ahead. Go rent or buy born to boogie. it's s dvd featuring none other than mr T.Rex himself MArc Bolan...along with others you'll recognize. This guy was hipster to the core back in the day. What he did then defines a lot of what is cool to the hipsters now. Jesse, "Beavers and Ducks" Kevin- when we going to honky tonk night again? Mitch Hedberg is hilaroius. He's not alive either. Note to self: Ant farms don't grow Sh#t....neither will aunt farms.

Litany of Penitence

Most holy and merciful Father: We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven. Have mercy on us, Lord.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit. Have mercy on us, Lord.

We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives, We confess to you, Lord.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people, We confess to you, Lord.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves, We confess to you, Lord.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work, We confess to you, Lord.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us, We confess to you, Lord.

Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty, Accept our repentance, Lord.

For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us, Accept our repentance, Lord.

For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us, Accept our repentance, Lord.

Restore us, good Lord, and let your anger depart from us; Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Accomplish in us the work of your salvation, That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our Lord, Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desires not the death of sinners, but rather that they may turn from their wickedness and live, has given power and commandment to his ministers to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins. He pardons and absolves all those who truly repent, and with sincere hearts believe his holy Gospel.

Therefore we beseech him to grant us true repentance and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do on this day, and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy, so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Sean, You're words are sweet nectar that I flap my wings so hard to get a taste of. I'm a hummingbird? Slofield

New Music Discovery of the Week.

New Music Discovery of the Week is Serena-Maneesh. The Norwegian invasion is upon us. Shoegaze fan friendly and a small comparison to the concretes could also be made for female pop melodies and "whatnot".

I'm sure it won't be too long before David Crowder is covering one of these songs so that all the little christian kiddies will no longer be oblivious and they will give him great praise for his coolness and originality not realizing he didn't write a note of said cover song.

I'm mostly referencing crowder's cover version of Sufjan's "Oh, God, Where are you now". I can't discredit a man that praises God but I can not resist the deiscreditting of a culture that breeds ignorance.

Back to my band of the week talk though... These Norwegians are playing across the US rather soon. well, they'll be in lawrence in a few hairs past a freckle and I think I may just go see them. Most noteworthy of their new release is Serena Maneesh features former Royal (old school tooth and nail) lead man Emil WAEdadfouald(that's not his real last name but pretend it's norwegian and you'll get there) as the main song writer, features some appearances by Sufjan, writer of David Crowder cover songs, and another of the Danielleson Family namesakes.. I hope that was as good a run on sentence for you as it were for I.

Check the band out here This post is dedicated to the memory of Jesse's iPod and sean's Police BoxSet which it contained.