green eggs & the met - a recap

friday night was a great night for fresno. i mean, the weather was crisp, it was the beginning of the weekend, and the met was hosting green eggs & the met, which i was going to attend.

the evening got off to a great start with dinner over @ oggi. i had the lasagna and enjoyed it. i also was pleased that they were serving minestrone that night. it doesn't seem like much of a surprise that an italian restaurant serves minestrone, but the minestrone here is delicious.

after dinner, we headed down to the met. for the last event, we parked on the street, but tonight we decided to hit up the parking lot, which, btw, was free. it would've been free on the street, too, but i like pointing out that you can park in the met's lot when you're visiting. and, you should go visit. not only do they have the artwork of dr. seuss, but they also have shows by matisse and chagall right now.

speaking of the work of dr. seuss, it blew me away. of course, there are drawings from his books, but his other pieces are great, and interesting. i didn't know that he did work for the u.s. military under director frank capra. and, many of his pieces of that era show the foolishness of bigotry while being visually intriguing. i also enjoyed the taxidermy pieces.

and now onto the event. remember how i went to dinner before the event? i wish i hadn't eaten so much because the hors d'oevres looked amazing. i talked to people that had some, and they seemed to enjoy them all. i did have one of the seuss-y cocktails before switching to well drinks. i had a "sneetch on the beach" which was like a sex on the beach. pretty good, but not a type of drink i would normally order. but i enjoyed it enough. the bartenders for the evening were very nice, and i'm glad that i could tip them. i also want to congratulate the met for pricing their drinks very reasonably ($3 beers, $6 cocktails).

the decorations for the event were immaculate and really did help set the mood for the bands. ass mentioned in our podcast before the event, ceilidh wanted to transport people into the world of seuss, and i think she accomplished that very well.

finally, to the bands. first up was yesterday's chonies, who i think i've mentioned before here that i don't care for their music. but in this venue it seemed very appropriate and interesting. i still wouldn't book them for my birthday party, but it worked for that night. wheels of fortune went on second and played a good set. their sound was a little different because their bass player was sick and not there. a good set, but i think i've seen better from them. up third was uni and her ukulele. i didn't hear all her set, but thought that what i did hear was fun. it takes guts to get up in front of a big crowd with just you and a ukulele, but uni does it well. finally, el olio wolof was up. honestly, el olio pretty much was what sold me on the event. i love el olio, and haven't seen them in ages (the sort of broke up but have reformed). el olio was as good as ever, and i had such a great time listening to the music and even dancing a bit. i haven't danced in ages, but how can't get up and move to such good music. anyway, i recorded el olio's last song, and present it to you.



not really good quality sound, but whatever. you can also see one of the sets that was done for the evening in the background.

it was a great night, and the met staff is doing good things. congrats to everyone that had a hand in putting on this event. i can't wait for the next one to come along.

show review: wheels of fortune, rademacher + more

ah, the post art hop show. it's a monthly tradition, and generally it's a good time. i've seen a ton of great bands over the last few years and have graciously dropped tons of cash to tommy and toshi. i've also encountered several bands, both local and out of town, whom i've bought cd's from and started to follow.

last night doesn't really fit in to the above description. maybe that's too harsh.

so, the first act was michael k. he was a solo act with an electric guitar. i've seen ted leo play (on t.v.) all by himself with a guitar and rock the crowd. michael k. was no ted leo. i'm not saying his music was bad, because sonically it was fine. it just lacked energy, or anything to pull me in at all.

the second act was yesterday's chonies. i've seen this band play on the sidewalk outside of tokyo garden before and thought they were sorta quirky and interesting. since that time, they've played around town and even been involved in an internet controversy. i know what i like, and i know what i don't like. i don't like yesterday's chonies. as a strange brass band, their music could be interesting. but, it ends up just being a mess. time isn't kept that well, the singing ranges in and out of tune, and it never seems to come together. i will say that i did enjoy some parts, and the washboard actually created a sound that hooked my ear a bit.

wheels of fortune went on third, and it was their cd release show. i like wheels, and have talked about them here before. right from the start there were sound problems, and they seemed to carry through most of the show. seriously, lots of unintended feedback, and the band seemed a little frustrated and rattled. they pushed through, and i commend them for that. i enjoyed the songs, and after the sound issues were cleared up the show seemed to really come together for wheels. unfortunately, by then they were almost done with their set.

rademacher closed out the show, and i honestly was a bit surprised they were even playing. they literally just returned from a midwest tour, by car, on wednesday. in talking to the guys before their set they all seemed a bit weary and in need of a few more hours of sleep. to their credit, that weariness didn't carry over to their set. it seemed pretty crisp and i enjoyed it.

i will say that my main goals of the night were to see wheels of fortune and pick up their cd, as well as rademacher's new ep, and i accomplished those. the bands i wanted to see were enjoyable and i've got some new cd's to listen to.

concert review: abigail nolte, niilo smeds & wheels of fortune

it's funny how things happen sometimes. you meet people and stay vaguely connected. i met niilo and brianna smeds at a friend's apartment a while back, and we had rather nice conversation. i wouldn't say we hit it off, and hang out all the time. we have sat at a bar once (maybe twice) since then and had a drink, but that was more random chance than some sort of meet up. anyway, i eventually became facebook friends of them both in time, and so i see their status updates. btw, this sounds extremely creepy as i write this.

anyway, i saw a status update the other day from niilo, about an upcoming show featuring r.c. from el olio wolof and my friend abigail nolte at audie's olympic. the show was only going to be $2, so i figured i would go. at the time, i thought it was that night, which sounded great - something to do, and monticore could go as she was on vacation. a few minutes later i reread the post, and noticed that the show was actually sunday night, which ruled out monticore coming along as she was returning to work today and needed to sleep.

as the weekend went along, my excitement for the show began to lag, and on sunday i noticed that niilo had again updated, and that r.c. had canceled out. that sucks, and it pretty much put me into a spot where i figured i might not go.

then, about 8 i received a text from abigail. she wondered if i had a capo, and if i could bring it to the show. i said i did, and would. i'm glad i did.

abigail started the show off, using my capo on the second song, as well as others. abigail is a great talent, has an awesome voice, and is a good song writer. i've talked about her here before, have enjoyed her rogue shows, and so on. last night she impressed me even more by doing something that is rarely seen: she shut up a crowd of dudes talking at the bar. and she didn't just yell, "stfu!" she stunned them into silence with her voice and songs. and this happened in the first two songs. she even got two guys playing pool to stop playing, sit down, and pay attention. the rest of her set was well done and much appreciated by the crowd. and, she bought me a beer for bringing the capo.

the rest of the show was an interesting mix of stuff. basically, all the guys of wheels of fortune played solo sets, and then the band played a set as a group.

james brittain gore went first. i've seen james play a few times, and he received a lot of local press last year about this time as he was releasing his solo cd. anyway, james has a nice voice, and is an all around talent. he did four songs (i think) that were nice. btw, the drunks started talking again. i guess it pays to be an attractive female with a big voice.

dylan tidyman jones was next. he's played in a ton of local bands, and i know he does solo stuff that i've seen but i can't remember the name he uses for that solo stuff so i can't link to him. anyway, he's got a quirky voice, and had the sound guy and reverb and echo to further trip it out. i enjoyed his set, but his vocals needed to be a little louder, or guitar quieter. wait, i finally tracked down a link, he performs as succulent.


andrew carlos bunnell is a guy i heard and met last night for the first time. honestly, i'm forgetting his set right now. ah, wait, he did songs that were a nice mix of pace, sort pop-rocky. i don't know if that's a fair assessment or not. after his first song, he said it was a cover of a swedish (?) band and he had translated it from swedish. then he said that wasn't true. pretty funny.

niilo smeds, (read a nice interview w/him from mike oz here) no longer has a myspace account. or at least he deleted the one that he had that i was going to link to. he does however have a ton of talent. i've seen him play solo, and enjoyed the show, and was sorta disappointed he only played one solo song before the whole band joined him. as a band, i don't think i'd seen this group, but maybe i had because the songs had a very familiar feel to them. maybe that was from seeing niilo solo, whatever. it's a good familiar feel, like something you've listened to a dozen times and want to keep listening to. which, if you look @ my itunes and see how often something gets played, there's a lot of 1 or 2 played songs, but only a handful of ones that get more than a dozen. i think wheels of fortune could be one of those bands for me. the band played a nice set and left me wanting to hear more.

so, where does this leave us? well, abigail nolte: see her. in fact, she hosts an open mic on mondays @ starline grill for free. wheels of fortune: see them. see them, along with the sleepover disaster & rademacher @ the post art hop show on august 6 at tokyo garden.

two final notes - i was sitting with malcolm sosa from rademacher @ one point, and he said, "club fred makes him feel old and sad." this cracked me up, and when i pressed him for why he didn't specify. however, he tweeted this which i think sums it up, "Is watching my old heroes play to an uncaring room for a two dollar cover." (you can catch rademacher @ the partisan this saturday with the sleepover disaster & downtown/union.)

later, i was sitting with vince from the sleepover disaster, and we were chilling, enjoying the show. abigail texted us both and said we make an adorable couple. i thanked her, vince texted that i was taken. you can see the sleepover disaster on tuesday night @ audie's olympic with geographer (from san fran).