Update

It's been seven months since I last updated. Where to start? Husband Husbandface and I moved to Bellingham, which has it's own thriving microclimate of music and is proving delightful. I shot Bumbershoot, but didn't make it to Capitol Hill Block Party or Sasquatch (although I did secure press credentials, which is still progress). I have shot two of my favourite musicians this year - Gruff Rhys and Weezer, and there are several contenders for Album of the Year.

The main reason I am updating this is to note that I am working on another project - so while I haven't been idle, this space will officially become redundant once the project has been launched. This year has provided a lot of growth, and that is exciting.

Sasquatch!

Will this be the year I get to see Modest Mouse and Death Cab? Stay tuned...

[Also: Foo Fighters, Flaming Lips, Pink Martini, Old 97s, Best Coast, Wilco...]

I always have a mental list of shows I want to go to. Here's the digitized version:

Yo La Tengo/Corin Tucker - Thursday 17 February, Showbox at the Market

Wavves/Best Coast - Friday 18 February, Sugar

The Octopus Project - Thursday 24 February, Crocodile

Deerhoof - Friday 25 February, Neumos

Crystal Castles - Tuesday 8 March, Showbox SoDo

Uh Huh Her - Sunday 27 March, Chop Suey

You Say Party - Saturday 2 April, Vera Project - You Say Party has been forced to cancel their upcoming tour due to illness. I feel bummed because this is a great band that deserves a positive year. Get better soon, Becky, and please reschedule!

Bright Eyes - Friday 8 April, Commodore Ballroom

Foals/The Naked and Famous - Monday 11 April, Showbox at the Market

Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Friday 22 April, Crocodile

Starfucker - Saturday 23 April, Vera Project

Of Montreal - Wednesday 11 May, Showbox at the Market

Friendly Fires - Sunday 5 June, Neumos

Architecture in Helsinki - Monday 6 June, Neumos

+SXSW, Sasquatch, Bumbershoot~

In brighter news

One gig I am looking forward to is Bright Eyes' show at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom in April. I love Vancouver, so when I heard Connor and company wasn't playing Seattle, I jumped at the chance to go see him with my best pal Mandy. In the leadup to it's February release, the good folk at NPR Music are streaming The People's Key - check it out, and then go snap up tickets to see Bright Eyes live - this tour will sell out!

Unknown Pleasures remain just that.

It was with some hesitation that I attended Peter Hook's Unknown Pleasures show in December. Billed as a tribute to Ian Curtis thirty years after his death, the tour had attracted mixed reviews - some scathing, some idolizing, most borderline obsessive. Like many others, I thought this would be my best chance to experience some of that Factory magic for myself, so my husband and I headed over to the Showbox in anticipation of an amped up, riotous evening. It would not be perfect, but perhaps we could drum up the roaring essence of Joy Division.

The evening opened with a fifteen minute "documentary" - which I had been excited to see; it was an interesting concept in lieu of an opening act, and if nothing else could contain clips from Control, 24 Hour Party People, or some rare footage chronicling the band. Instead, viewers were screened a baffling montage of dated commentary with no sense of direction and a few bars of "Transmission" and "Everything's Gone Green" thrown in for good measure. What began as a night of mere mediocrity was about to descend into a farcical, talent-defying non-event, devoid of power and emotion.

The lights went down, Hook and the band marched onstage, and launched into it...with Hook rocking back and forth, holding his hands in the air, saluting, (ie: having a guitar slung around his neck but not actually playing it for more than three seconds at a time), and making sure to dart back to his music stand so that he could turn the page of his Joy Division for Beginners Music Notation and Lyrics Guide, emblazoned in (what else?) Factory-issue black-and-yellow stripes.

Wait...what!? The man was a founding member of one of alternative rock's seminal groups, and in touring in "tribute" to their frontman he cannot even remember the guitar tabs, or even the words, to some of the most critical songs in rock history? Are you fucking kidding me?

I was incredulous, insulted, and seething. I turned and gaped at my husband in disbelief as Hook knocked his precious folder off of his music stand, and then stood swaying back and forth as a roadie rushed onstage to pick it back up for him. I could imagine Simon, Randy and Paula urging the band on, telling them to "own" the songs, or "make them their own". The band, headed by Hook's own son, seemed terrified to be playing the songs - not unlike the depiction in Control where Alan Hempsall gets bottled trying to cover 'She's Lost Control' at Tony Wilson's urging. The only difference here was that in the movie, the audience started a riot, whereas here, the group seemed to be content to shout out their undying adoration and continue to record grainy iPhone videos. You can view one such recording here, complete with page-turning-action around the one-minute-thirty mark, and you'll note that he barely even plays any guitar, so why bother carrying it around in the first place?

Meanwhile, the technical side of things was also a letdown - shoddy enough to cover Hook's lacking vocals (I think he put more effort into his fauxhawk than anything else), it was an unprofessional affair, and I feel bad for everyone who paid TicketBastard's outrageous convenience fees in order to attend.

The night ended with 'Ceremony' and 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' - Wait, didn't Curtis hate that song immensely?

And all of this without so much as a paltry anecdote from Hooky about the inner turmoil Curtis struggled with, the contribution he had made to music, or even just saying that he missed his friend. Did I dance along to 'Digital' or 'Isolation'? You bet, and the fervored crowd who joined me probably would have done the same if they had just been playing over a jukebox or a playlist at a bar. If there was any saving grace to this event, it was the fact that Curtis' works are intense, emotional songs that have endured for decades, remain relevant and can still get a crowd moving. This may have been the worst concert I had ever attended (including a certain concert that saw me hospitalized), but at least I learned my lesson: A bad cover version of love is not the real thing.

I had been hesitant in writing about this, mostly because I was loathe to relive the evening, and my editor had declined to run any bad press on the event, but even so, my conclusion remains the same: Peter Hook - you're not just a sellout, you're a fucking dickhead.

All aboard

This

Blog

Is

Not

Meeting my needs.

Expect

Movers &

Shakers

To

Usher in the new year

Whatever happened to?

Hey look! The internet is making is easier and easier to stay firmly rooted in 1994.

That's cool, I guess.