A million apologies

I haven't written in over two weeks, thereby failing at life and all blog-like endeavors. So I suck and I promise to never be this negligent again; this is what happens when you get a job, you stop doing the meaningful, fulfilling things in life. Moving on...

I've been to three concerts of note in the past month. All in very different locations and very different genres, so I'll attempt a brief summary of each with highlights and lowpoints (though all three proved tremendously entertaining in their own rite).

Phoenix @ The Greek Theatre, 9/16/09
The French indie rockers, for being relatively new to the U.S. music scene, managed to draw a solid crowd and put on a solid show. Not the best I've ever seen, but it was a lot of fun. They opened with "Lisztomania" and closed the encore with a rousing, extended version of "1901." In between, the show was full of of peppy, poppy hits primarily derived from May's "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix," including the first stateside performance of "Fences." I left feeling satisfied, reeking of hipster scents and longing for a vacation in Versailles.

Kurt Jordan @ Munson Chapel, 9/21/09
I was quite disappointed to attend just one night of this 5-night performance of Alvin Curran's epic "Inner Cities," but the glimpse I saw was breathtaking. Kurt is a good friend of mine and a deftly skilled pianist, and he captured the stark delicacy of Curran's classical odyssey with both grace and fury. The piece itself relies on the progression of single notes, to triads, to fifths, slowly layering and folding in upon itself in waves of sound. It is a constant, heady flow of soft resonance directly struggling against intense noise; a beautiful juxtaposition of music and silence. Kurt perfectly captured the very emotional struggle in the notes, even bringing tears to my eyes at one point. I was truly awed.

Eliza Rickman @ The Church of Fashion, 9/26/09
Picture a starry Los Angeles night, ablaze with cars and people and sound (as if that ever goes away in the city). On the fringes of the city itself, where the 5 and the 110 and the 134 all collide in one great clash of engines and stereos, the suburban sprawl ends in a wave of businesses, streetlights and the occasional shady neighborhood. And right in the middle of it all sits one lone Victorian house, beaten and weathered by years of city air and the population at large; welcome to the home of The Church of Fashion, an enclave for local artists and creative types. On Saturday night it was home to a group of musicians looking for a voice in the heart of the din, and the stand-out was the lovely Eliza Rickman. Eliza has a voice that radiates haunting nostalgia, like a forlorn voice you heard long ago and could never dislodge from your psyche. I was lucky enough to catch her final performance this year with full band (drums, bass, two violins, viola, cello, and one back-up singer), and the sound was lush. The songs were mostly off of her EP "Gild the Lily," and the only cover was the delightful closing number, a heartbreaking cover of Nick Cave's "Into My Arms." There were 20-30 people there, an intimate gathering of friends and fans in the backyard of this wonderful old house; as the sounds of the music fused with the noisy traffic in the background, the planes passing overheard and the people walking down the street, I realized how marvelous LA truly is.

I recommend Eliza's work in the highest, so please check out her MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/elizarickman) for all information on where to purchase the afore-mentioned EP, as well as a schedule of all upcoming shows.

Stay tuned folks, I'll have more up tomorrow...