BritPopping into Boston

Unfortunately I was not at Glasto or Rothbury this year, though appreciated the text message updates from my various reps.

I did however, travel to Boston recently to see Amanda play two nights with The Boston Pops. SICK!

What made this particular event extra special is the location of Symphony Hall. I had a ton of different apartments while living in Boston/Allston, but one of my faves was my sophomore dorm on St. Stephen's street. I met the Baron, had a Fab roommate, and enjoyed the company of he hockey players down the hall + Tim Culley.

Said dorm room with mini-Oasis collage + Blur poster adjacent to my bed rocking swim team gear.Amanda, not surprisingly, KILLED IT at the Pops! I was so proud. It was much more than throwing a band in front of a symphony. Amanda clearly worked with Lockhart and The Pops to craft a proper show. I loved how Amanda flirted with Keith throughout (and he is kinda cute) only to end up with Brian at the end of the show. Luckily, no one in the audience broke out in a fight like Ben Folds' Boston Pops appearance last year. Ben produced Amanda's soon-to-be released solo album. Amanda covered "Brick" on night one and on night two she dedicated the song to me! It was a beautiful moment as well as surreal as I loved Ben Folds Five growing up. Onstage Amanda commented that we had bonded about it. When BF and AP first started exchanging emails (he was a fan and had been talking about The Dolls in the press), Amanda didn't really know his music. This is a girl who didn't listen to Nirvana until 1999 (or maybe it was 1996) because it was considered "jock music" in high school. It was only then she realized it was really good. Amanda Palmer is brilliant in many ways. She speaks 3 languages and knows volumes about subjects people spend years studying. However, her perspective on pop culture is different than that of Brian and myself which are straight up 90's music obsessed teenage years. I told her to start with "Brick." In related world's collide news, a little over a week later, Amanda would play her old new song "Oasis" with Ben, Sam, and Jared sitting in post-jam style at Glastonbury. The song is about a girl who gets raped but it's ok because she gets a signed photo from the brothers Gallagher in the mail. Very classic Amanda dark tongue-in-cheek songwriting. And catchy too! :)

Unfortunately I don't believe Amanda caught Jay-Z's now infamous set at Glastonbury. For those of you that have lives and don't subscribe to a gossip blog devoted entirely to Oasis, a few months ago Noel flat out said Jay-Z at Glastonbury won't work. I don't believe he was putting Jay, his music, or his show down necessarily. He was just pointing out that Glasto headliners in particular tend to be in the English guitar rock tradition. Jay-Z is certainly a rock star of this decade, and I'm all for it. Perception is in the eye of the beholder I suppose. Jay mashed up the interview into an intro montage and came out covering "Wonderwall" with a mocking tribute to Oasis. I chose this tribute due to the classic over-excited English music presenter.



Glasto is such a special place, every English-based rock fan should experience it in their lifetime. Though, not everyone is as cool as MK who introduced his bands, The Cribs and MGMT. SICK!Back to Boston. Pre-show on the second day, I was waiting for Sars outside. I ran into Brendon Downey, a staple of The Dresden Dolls' extended family, only to have Psycho Dave roll up fresh off a plane from Asia on tour with The Click Five and with new international wardrobe to show off. In classic Psycho Dave style, he rounded our mini posse up for scorpian bowls and a beer (15 minutes before showtime) at local Northeastern underage drinking establishment, Tiger Lily.It was so fun to be reunited with Dolls' family legends such as JeffMaker.com and Oedipus, but also see Boston staples like Kates. We should do this every year! :) And I'll never forget Fugakyu. Best sushi restaurant in Boston - go there!

The upside to missing Rothbury was dogsitting for Irving Luba! Irv loves my yogamat as much as I do. We had a fabulous weekend together and I had my first 4th of July in Miami outnumbered by Canadians. And sometimes Britpop legends come to Miami Beach anyway. Oh Johnny Marr, how I love thee.

I'm going to NYC on Wednesday for various reasons and cannot wait to be reunited with one of my hometowns. I've only been back once since moving, though it was for work, only 24 hours, and I was cockblocked. Although still a fun time, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone for a slightly longer visit.

xo

The Real Hipster Olympics

On my various swim teams, I was always the weird hippie music chick.  Which is funny, because to many music friends, I'm a midwestern athlete chick.  It's all about perspective.  Swimming, like any sport that breeds young champions, takes an incredibly focused lifestyle.  Elite winners have to train upwards of 20 - 30 hours a week, both in and out of the pool.  It's a full time job that is often supplemented by a strong family tradition and teammates, for better or worse, being your classmates, training partners, and social circle.  I loved the social aspect, but it's easy to grow tired of swimming culture; even for an uber swim geek like me.

Luckily, I had a few teammates who also had fantastic taste in music along with interests well within Wizzle World.  Sarah Reddick, Heather Greidanus, Katie Schmaling, and Rachel Brown are leading examples.  Rachel has a new last name now, but we'll keep it Brown for nostalgia.  Btw, nice Badly Drawn Boy song on your website, Heather!

Therefore, it's refreshing to hear Amanda Beard reveal her jamband roots a little over the halfway point in this video clip. (I don't know how to imbed a buried flash link, but I'm sure there's a way). In addition to owning a dog named Jerry, Amanda listened to The Dead to pump herself up before races. That's insane. I used to listen to "March of The Pigs." However, in retrospect, it makes sense to calm one's nerves. Hippieism is not new to the world of swimming whatsoever, as Gary Hall Jr. proved twice.  

When I was a kid, I always wanted to manage one of the Olympic swimmers.  I felt it was unfortunate that their years of work really only paid off from a media perspective for two weeks preceding and following the Olympics.  I also thought that the swimmers' media personalities were never marketed correctly. Not that I wanted to create the Menudo of swimming or anything, but I felt their was potential for 1-2 top swimmers to extend their media career shelf-life. I'm sure to EW circa 1996-2000, that meant an presenting an award at the MTV VMA's alongside Ben Stiller or something. But, it's 2008 and we live in the future.  The Speedo LZR suit and the machine that keeps Dara Torres' incredible 41-year-old body in tune are two prime examples.  Sponsorships allow swimmers to keep at it years past college and turn the sport into a career.  Swimmers aren't cool yet, but I like that Amanda Beard has entered her post-jam phase with indie-influenced photos taken by her photographer boyfriend on her hip-leaning website. Natalie Coughlin is the other swimmer I think has additional extended cool potential, though I'm not sure why.  Maybe it's her Bay-area roots, love of Macs,and slight resemblance to Natalie Portman (I've always thought they've had a similar vibe, but it's probably just due to sharing a first name).

Anyway, all of these thoughts especially cross my mind every four years during the swimming Olympic trials and swimming portion of the games.  Most people don't fully understand how INSANE the American swimming Olympic trials are.  The Olympic games are of course a huge deal, but it's really like the payoff for years of training and getting through an incredibly stressful meet.  Only the top 2 athletes in each event (sans the 100 and 200 free for relay purposes) qualify.  In a sport that separates world record holders from national class youngsters by hundredths of a second, that is nuts. One can be undefeated and the fastest swimmer of all time, but if you have an off day, years of training are often washed away in an event that only occurs every four years. And most of the races are under two minutes long.  Thousands of hours in a pool, for a a few minutes every four years.  I get nervous for the swimmers watching the trials!

I came close to making the 2004 trials, but at that point was quickly getting distracted by rock n roll.  No regrets, well worth it.

But watch NBC @ 8 PM on the 4th of July. Dara Torres is pretty incredible, whether one knows anything about swimming or not. I do not have TV service, though I do have a TV used to view digitized films, music, internet streams, and other media run through a Mac. Thus, I've enjoyed squatting TV coverage at work, my building's gym, and a sportsbar down the street this past week.  By the 2012 London games, I'm sure everything will be streamed live online.  It drives me crazy whenever there is a rare (usually live sporting) event I want to watch.  I would have no problem paying $5 to stream a live Packer playoff game (did I just admit that?), commercials included.  My fantasy is to have internet ratings combined with TV ratings, so networks don't lose their ad revenue.  aka then I can watch swimming anywhere I want.  NBC is streaming some coverage, but one must have network TV and broadband internet to see the whole trials.  Maybe I'll just have to go to London in 2012 instead.

Btw, if Mark Johnson has an in to the infamous raging party post-Olympics that sounds wilder than any tour rager I've ever witnessed, I want to go!

xo

Home Sweet Festival

June is always such a solid month for music. It's summer in the north, and people are psyched to be outside. One of my favorite activities in the world is watching music outdoors with friends. Thus, the summer solstice does not usually disappoint.

I spent June08 bouncing around my most nostalgic annual festival and two of my hometowns. Sometimes I feel more at home on the road as I've always had an appetite for constant new stimuli. But in reality, it's just knowing how to make anywhere your home.

Some of my favorite travel pastimes include taking over airplane rows, finding clean showers in production land @ festivals, scoring electrical outlets at airports, and locating wifi anywhere in the world.

I arrived in Nashville and a runner promptly drove me to Manchester. I dumped my stuff on our bus immediately and ran over to the Sonic Stage for The Fiery Furnaces. I worked with the band closely in 2007 with Kevin Morris and expected to see them onstage by the time arrived. Unfortunately, Team FF were stuck in golf cart traffic. Luckily, Morri had it under control.

It was so awesome to see Jason, Eleanor, Matthew, and Bob and a wonderful opening to Roo08.

I'm thrilled The Raconteurs were at yet another festival. Jack White is second only to Thom Yorke as far as this decade's rockstars go. AP/BV are up there too in Wizzle World. :)

Chris Rock sat sidestage and watched Patrick, the Jacks, and Brendan. Here he is checking out Ms. Rachel Seiden. Janeane Garafalo was also around and I was super bummed I missed both her and Reggie Watts' sets. Reggie is also performing at the Amanda Palmer curated tent, The Establishment, over 4th of July for anyone headed to Rothbury. Janeane is an obv teenage hero of mine ala Reality Bites. I once told her that Vicky changed my life, outside of the Middle East in Cambridge. That was good enough for me.

Nighttime sets from MMJ, Sigur Ros, Pearl Jam, and Metallica were all solid. Ghostland Observatory killed it, as did their light show. Speaking of lightshows, or lackthereof, most people know the drama that surrounded Kanye's set, no matter who's side your on (Superfly vs. KW's team). The tour manager geek in me loves that a concert production problem made national headlines and spawned internet parodies.



Kanye and the hippies did not and are still not getting along. Yes, he did hit damn late. The backstage gossip and rumors were rampant. Finally, Mr. West hit @ 4 AM or so. I vowed to watch 1-2 songs and then crash out on our bus. But, Kanye kept my attention for a good 45 min, right until the sun came up. My point is, everyone is complaining about the show, KW included, and I thought it was awesome! The hippies may not been convinced, but the show won me over. I see both sides' points, but in the end, live music is all about watching artists perform; often during unpredictable situtions whether it be weather, monitor issues, or avoiding bottles. Kanye rocked it under the circumstances, which to me, is the sign of a real-deal performer. Way to go Kanye West.

To me, Bonnaroo is largely about catching up with friends from the post-jam scene, but I was thrilled to see my Nashville posse as well. Ben Folds & Jared and Sam were AMAZING. Here's a shot of Mr. Folds striking a pose with always-the-rock-star Jared. Post-show, Jared was stoked to tell me about the new Lil Wayne, but sadly, Team Ben had to return to Nashville killing any hopes of reuniting our Langerado tour bus dance party. Though all was not lost as Joe Costa snapped an triple Emily shot while watching the band's set.

This was my 6th Bonnaroo, and I've come to expect and appreciate, the most European-style festival in America. Although the US festival market is hitting critical mass in 2008, post-jammers can still rely on the Roo for a world class experience. No complaints here.

Up Next: Amanda seduces Keith Lockhart and the WKAP season begins.

xo

Barack and The Bees

last year a friend told me about the bees disappearing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder

she mentioned a commonly believed theory that wireless signals were causing the bees to lose their way and never return to their hives.  but as this 60 minutes piece explains , it is much more probable that bees are just plain in poor health due to the environment and widespread pesticide use.  it seems that a nasty virus is quickly wiping out the population like a bee bubonic plague.

most people do not take the time to think about the massive effect bees have on the food chain, especially for vegetarians/vegans:

>>[from wikipedia] Bees are responsible for pollination of approximately 1/3 of the US' crop species, including such species as almonds, peaches, soybeans, apples, pears, cherries,raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, watermelons, cantaloupes, cucumbers and strawberries. 

also, history works in mysterious ways.  check out bill clinton's 'change' themed opening statements in the 1992 presidential debates with gb1 around the 4:20 mark here.  how obama of him.  ironically gb1 brushes slick willy aside for his arsenal of experience ala hillary08.  but, in true obama style, billy highlights his experience in his home state.  hooray local representatives who care, be it a community organizer or governor.  doesn't everyone appreciate ross perot even more now just to keep things lighthearted?

the point is, i hope that billary can fully embrace barack and michelle.  they truly broke new ground back in the day for a progressive candidate and his very smart/talented/educated wife to emerge.

in the above 1992 clip, bill credits hillary for giving him a book with the following quote: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result."

this is team clinton's first endorsement of obama.  28 years of a bush or clinton in the white house would be considered insanity by their standards.  don't get me wrong, the clintons are the original rock stars of politics.

but how post-jam of barack to hang with wilco.

maybe Barack will save the bees.

xo

Messing with The Dresden Dolls in Texas

This is what the view from my eyes used to be almost nightly. Someone asked me this weekend how many Dresden Doll shows I've been to. Thanks to Sean Francis' diligently archived show history, I quickly counted up 273, not including Amanda or Brian solo shows/projects. I know I was working in some capacity at the majority of those shows, but The Dresden Dolls are truly one of my favorite (and overall best) live bands in the world. Amanda's performance skills, vocals, and songwriting, combined with Brian's precise yet heavy drumming genius is a sight to behold. It never got old and I've enjoyed every performance for some reason or another. Really.

This weekend I flew to Houston to surprise The Dolls on tour. I sorted it a month ago or so with their amazing TM, Eric Sussman, who is one of my favorite people ever AND has a hot bod.

Eric is an older Dresden Doll fan than I and he was also our personal tour guide when the band would play Japan. Anyway, when I showed up, Brian screamed like a girl and Laura (almost) cried. (Speaking of, The Hush Clowns just came up on shuffle!). Thanks to Beth for capturing the moment.

It was heaven to see the band play, hang with the crew on the bus, and gossip about the music industry and Pete Doherty with Miss Merch. Old-school crew regulars "Professional" Dave Hughes and JeffMaker.Com are in Asia clowning around on tour with The Click Five. Dave brought in his roomie Jon Lammi to mix and the Drive By Trucker's LD, Brian Spett filled in for Jeffie. I thought no lighting talent or sense of humor could replace JeffMaker.com, and no one can. But Spett gives him a run for his money with his "Channeling Bob Lefsetz" monologue. We'll make a youtube documentation of the performance someday. Hopefully it's not only funny @ 4 AM, but that's probably the case. Spett also introduced me to R. Kelly's Trapped In The Closet.  Really, have you SEEN this?  Shit, Spett's got me typing all Lefsetzy. Anyway, I know I'm a little behind in my tour bus ironic DVD knowledge, but TITC is really outta control hysterical. There is even (of course) TITC merch. So awesome.

The mornings were yoga filled with Amanda and Beth, while the evenings produced epic Dresden Doll shows. The band was in true form. An additional musical highlight was the adorable sister trio of Smoosh , who range from ages 11 to 16 (with a 4 year old sister who's not yet of age to join the band). The girls were truly inspiring with their talent and maturity amongst so many adults (albeit many of us circus traveling rock n roll clowns are not all that adult, but you get the idea). The girls have toured or performed one-offs with Death Cab For Cutie, Tokyo Police Club, Arcade Fire, Pearl Jam, and Bloc Party. So amazing! They've played two sxsw's and had stickers on their Macs of some of my favorite venues, both in the US and abroad. Their father was driving the girls around on tour, and I PROMISE he is the least stage-coachy parent I've seen both in swimming and music. PLEASE LET ALL KIDS DO WHAT THEY WANT IN LIFE WITHOUT ANY PRESSURE. They'll turn out like Smoosh. :)


Brian was equally moved by Smoosh.

The tour ended @ Stubb's in Austin! We rolled into town and (post-yoga) gorged on Stubb's gospel brunch. Unfortunately Brian didn't get a chance to rejoice onstage in all of his Sunday morning glory like he did at a House of Blues gospel brunch in Cleveland a few years back. However, the food was fantastic and band/crew get free dinner too! People always question why I get excited about Stubb's since it is famous for it's BBQ, but seriously, try the yams, fried green tomatoes, and mac&cheese. Life changing. Old friend Adam Glasseye opened the show with Insect Fable and also joined in on the food fun.  Here is Adam and Brian who is enjoying his second plate of brunch bbq.  I can't blame him!
But no tour would be complete without an end-of-tour prank. At 5 AM or so the night before, the crew decided that penis costumes should be rented for the final show. Of course, Austin had a fantastic costume shop, Lucy In Disguise, and I was put in charge of picking up the costumes with the runner. It made sense for Eric and I to be the giant cocks. We decided to run onstage during the break in "Coin-Op" mid-song. Brian couldn't resist and tackled me to the ground, but I escaped and we ran around the audience. Due to our open media policy at shows, the event was documented and uploaded by a fan to youtube immediately. Hooray!

But the night wouldn't be complete without Brian somehow changing into a Brigader's maid costume.

Post-show we all celebrated at Beauty Bar since Jason from Trail of Dead is a co-owner and left it open for us (Amanda guests on So Divided, an amazing album definitely worth checking out). I miss my band and touring family, but it makes returning, even for just a few days, that much more special. Thanks again guys!!! :)  

Much Love,

Em xo

PS - My apologies for the lack of Amanda media, I'm sure I'll have more after her shows with the Boston Pops in a few weeks.