White Plains’ 4th Best Personal Blog

NOTE: I’ve had most of this written for weeks now, but somehow never got it finished because I’ve spent the better part of the past month gallavanting in Australia and New Zealand. So please bear with me and I vow to finally catch up. Someday.

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After much, much procrastination, here’s the ridiculously late first installment of the promised update of my activities in February. For this post, I’m going to return to the “notes column” style that comes in so handy when recapping a bunch of different things in relatively quick bursts…

On a whim, I began the month by heading over to the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn on Feb. 1 to catch a show featuring up-and-coming garage rock trio The Whigs. I had heard some positive things about them, so I was a little surprised that this Friday night show, also featuring Plants and Animals and Spinto Band, hadn’t sold out. (I also have to admit that the fact the Brooklyn branch of Academy Records is virtually next door to the Music Hall is also a big draw for going to shows there.) Anyway, I can’t say any of the bands were all that memorable, although maybe that had something to do with the fact that I hadn’t heard any of the music beforehand. The Whigs definitely rocked, but none of their songs really grabbed me on first listen. …

The following night, going in a totally different direction, I found myself at the Nokia Theater in Times Square for a show by Lupe Fiasco. I don’t get to a lot of hip-hop shows, nor do I buy a lot of hip-hop records these days, but I have enjoyed a lot of the inventive artists coming out of Chicago over the past decade (Common, Kanye West, Rhymefest). Lupe Fiasco fits right into that vein, so I took this opportunity to check him out. The Nokia usually books the kinds of shows I have little interest in attending — a lot of nouveau metal or emo or mainstream R&B — and when I first got there for the Lupe show, it was pretty much a horror show. Just a ton of teenage, baggy pants-wearing clowns, $8 beers, the whole nine yards. The floor was already pretty well packed when I got there, so after a stint by the soundboard, I grabbed a seat in one of the last rows. Since I was by myself, I actually didn’t mind sitting far away and just sort of listening. Lupe was pretty enjoyable, I have to say. The first half of the show was mostly older stuff from what I could tell, including the hit “Kick, Push.” Then the second half consisted almost exclusively of stuff off his new record The Cool. The crowd probably got most excited when Lupe segued into Kanye’s “Touch The Sky” (on which he guests), but I also really liked the performance of “Superstar” that closed the show. Both songs have a way of getting into your head, but Lupe and his live band really blew the latter out. …

Super Bowl Sunday was the next day and I stayed home and enjoyed watching the New York Giants’ dramatic win. … A few days later, I had another opportunity to see Joe Henry. I really enjoyed his performance at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston last September, but since I nearly died driving home from that show, my memory of that night is a little hazy. So it was a pleasure to get a chance to see Mr. Henry again. This time he was performing at the gorgeous Allen Room at the Time Warner Center as part of Lincoln Center’s “American Songbook” series, and he brought along an excellent band led by drummer Jay Bellerose. Not only was Henry’s band terrific, but he also invited a couple of special guests — pianist Brad Mehldau and clarinetist Don Byron — so we were definitely in for a treat. I wish I could have taken a picture of that amazing room, in which the stage is positioned in front of a story-high glass window that looks straight down Central Park South, but they have a pretty strict no-photography policy, so you’ll have to take my word for it. The set mostly consisted of songs from Henry’s most recent and great record Civilians, although he did play a few more older songs than he did at the Boston show, including “Stop” (famously reworked by his sister-in-law Madonna) and the show-closing “Edgar Bergen.” Mehldau improvised beautifully throughout, and the band was a joy to listen to. …

The next night, Feb. 8, featured a doubleheader of sorts. First, I made it down to another edition of the “TimesTalks” series. This time, with the Oscars approaching, the guests were three of the year’s nominees: lead actress Ellen Page and director Jason Reitman from Juno and supporting actress Amy Ryan from Gone Baby Gone. Apparently, in addition to the Oscars, the timing of the panel coincided with that week’s edition of the New York Times Magazine, which featured a portfolio of photos of the year’s breakthrough actors. Page was on the cover, so it was a natural to have her on the panel. She was charming, of course. Like a lot of people, I think I was crushing slightly (although I hadn’t heard about the lesbian rumors at that point). Generally, I didn’t really find out much that I hadn’t already read about. Ryan was probably the biggest revelation, since I didn’t know very much about her going in. It was interesting to hear about her transition from stage (“A Streetcar Named Desire”) to screen. She had my favorite quote from the talk: “Truth is truth, and if you have that, you can tell any story.” During the question-and-answer period, meanwhile, I learned about a couple of interesting-sounding films Page was in that haven’t been widely seen yet — An American Crime and The Tracey Fragments — that sounded intriguing. Mental note to keep an eye out for them. …

After leaving the Oscar panel, I headed down to the Highline Ballroom — a relatively new music venue in the meatpacking district. I’d been there once or twice before (I remember seeing Junior Senior there), but power pop was on the menu for this evening in the form of New Jersey’s Fountains of Wayne. For me, there’s a fine line when it comes to power pop. When it’s done well, like on Teenage Fanclub’s Grand Prix, virtually all of Big Star’s output or the best Sloan songs, I think it’s my favorite kind of music to listen to. On the other hand, it’s difficult to do well because a lot of bands have a tendency to lapse into cliche or silliness. That, or the songwriting really isn’t polished enough and the music becomes boring to listen to because it all starts sounding the same.

Although there’s a smattering of those negatives on their last couple of albums, FoW is a band that still does the power pop thing better than most. Their 1999 record Utopia Parkway is a longtime favorite of mine, and not just for its litany of New York-area references. Still, I had only seen them once before (I think) — when they opened for Squeeze at the Beacon Theatre last August — so I was delighted to get a chance to watch them play a full set in a smallish club. They didn’t disappoint; Chris Collingwood’s lead vocals sounded as good as ever and co-founder Adam Schlesinger provided some great harmonies and anchored the rhythm section. Though much of the focus was on songs from their latest release Traffic and Weather, the band also treated us to some oldies like “Denise” and “Troubled Times.” Here’s hoping that the Fountains don’t stop spewing out their brand of smart pop ditties anytime soon. …

The following evening, I headed back downtown to the West Village comedy club Comix to see the early performance by Kristen Schaal and Arj Barker, two of the cast members of the HBO hit “Flight of the Conchords.” I had been wanting to see Schaal (who is fantastic as super-fan Mel) for a long time, and her stand-up act was wonderfully zany. I won’t pretend to remember everything she touched on — this is the part of this post I didn’t finish when I should have — but I know there was mention of a dream she had about having sex with George Washington (which hilariously came back to close the set when her comedy partner-in-crime, Kurt Braunohler, came back dressed as our first president); a bit involving a pot and lid; and a great routine about a failed attempt at drama in “Anne Boleyn on Fire.” Barker (Dave on the show) delved into more standard standup fare, but had his moments as well. Schaal, as the “opening act,” though, stole the show. …

I caught a flight to Chicago the next day, Feb. 10, where I intended to go see Cat Power at the Vic Theater that night. But it was just too damn cold, an omen of things to come.

Joe Henry//2-7-08//Allen Room [Time Warner Center], New York, NY//support: none

Civilians/Scare Me To Death/Parker’s Mood/Civil War/Time Is A Lion/You Can’t Fail Me Now/This Afternoon/I Will Write My Book [Joe solo]/Sold/Stop/God Only Knows/Trampoline/Flag/e1: Our Song//e2: Edgar Bergen
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Fountains of Wayne//2-8-08//Highline Ballroom, New York, NY//support: April Smith and the Great Picture Show

Please Don’t Rock Me Tonight/Denise/Mexican Wine/Someone To Love/No Better Place/Fire In The Canyon/Hackensack/Hey Julie/Strapped For Cash/Yolanda Hayes/Sick Day/It Must Be Summer/Stacy’s Mom/Radiation Vibe/Survival Car//e1: I-95/Valley Winter Song/Troubled Times//e2: Traffic and Weather/Maureen/Sink to the Bottom