Ah man, so absolutely great to see these guys again. How can you so badly miss a band you’d only seen play twice before? But I did. It was a balmy day, as late October in Boston goes. The in-store was at this new Newbury Comics store at Faneuil Hall, Tourists from all over, and fine Boston tradition (“You guys have a lot of bricks here in Boston” – Mikel). About 30 minutes before things were set to begin, the Newbury Comics folks were still figuring out exactly where the band would play, and I knew it would be a low-key, intimate and casual affair. Approximately 50 people crowded into the narrow space, and were treated to a brilliant 10-song set and good-humored banter. Parents who happened to be shopping with their kids watched from the staircase leading up to the 2nd floor. Mikel gazed up at the young kids and declared before they started, “we can’t swear.” Sure enough, first up was an unusual “censored version” of “Wishing Well” – “You wanna run away, run away, Just get on the ::bleepin’:: train and leave today.”

I expected a shortish set, so I was delighted that they performed all but two of the tracks off the album, plus two surprises: “This Losing” and “The Girls In Their Summer Dresses” (based on Irwin Shaw’s short story. Both are really lovely songs, and fantastic to hear live and acoustically. Everyone sounded great, and they were having so much fun playing off each other, and enjoying the highly appreciative audience. One of those magical moments. I’m getting incredibly spoiled with them, because the three shows of theirs I’ve now had the great pleasure of attending have all been like this. A blissful, happy, dancy, psychedelic blur.

It’s a rare occasion indeed when a band can appeal across generations, but those little kids were really enjoying the music, and it was fun to watch them. On the other end, my parents, both in their 80’s, are also fans, When (hopefully) Airborne gets down to Hartford (they were scheduled to play with The Fratellis – one of the doomed gigs from earlier this month), they’ll probably be at the show, and no doubt my mom will say something outrageously embarrassing, as only she can do.

Speaking of the age spectrum, there was a middle-aged guy on the stairs who, partway into their set, loudly declared them “band of the year” with the “album of the year.” Mikel, not missing a beat, declared him “man of the year” and said something like “that was $20 well spent.”

An intimate experience like this is made all the more special by the knowledge that as they get more and more successful, it will be increasingly difficult to play in little places like this. But I don’t think they’ll ever lose that close connection with their audience, because that’s just who they are.

A perfect birthday present; couldn’t ask for more…. Thanks so much, guys!!

Set List: Wishing Well, This Losing, Papillon, Does This Mean You’re Moving On?, Sometime Around Midnight, The Girls In Their Summer Dresses, Something New, Happiness Is Overrated, Gasoline, Missy (not necessarily in that order)

“They were fine” – (from my friend Victor, a college radio DJ and music snob, so consider that high praise)

P.S. Off to finish up those tie dye t-shirts and love beads, and to check my passport… Might be a little cold for a tent in Hyde Park?

Photo by Victor Robert Venckus

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The most serious disillusionment in my life (apart from the false promise of young love) occurred when I was a student at the University of South Florida. It was during that year or two that I somewhat miraculously stumbled upon the notion that I wanted to be a writer. Only a sophomore and with a brand new major (having selected, then rejected, anthropology, philosophy, and psychology), I had somehow slipped by the guidance counselors and had enrolled in a senior’s creative writing workshop. I suppose because it sounded far more enlightening than Composition 101. It was in that casual setting that I came face-to-face, in the most humbling, shocking way, with some truly brilliant young writers. I especially remember a young woman, rather unattractive with frizzy hair and a dumpy appearance, who was already being regularly published in the school’s literary magazines, and whose work elicited gasps of appreciation from the others whenever she stood to share her latest musings. I was as in awe of her poetic solitude as everyone else, yet I bravely followed these future poets and novelists with my shaky and disjointed broken prose. On occasion, I was good; more often I was just young. A month or two into the class, that the teacher took me aside and said that although I showed promise, I had no business being in a senior workshop, having only just that year declared the major. He couldn’t understand how I was even allowed to enroll, yet I do recall he was trying very hard to be gentle. He explained the necessary prerequisites, and told me that he looked forward to seeing me again, after I had completed them. He didn’t want to discourage me, yet with my fragile opinion of myself, discouraged I was, and I didn’t write again (except for required class papers) for some six or seven years. When I did, it was for the silliest of endeavors, as editor and publisher of a David Bowie newsletter.

Several minutes before 10:00 a.m. on the morning of October 17, I start endlessly refreshing my Mac’s browser on the Ticketmaster page. The purchase screen for the presale suddenly appears. I frantically try to decipher CAPTCHA phrases. In my panic and fury, I inadvertently take row EE to mean 5th row and not 2nd (such is the quirky nature of the Orpheum seating arrangement), and stupidly drop them, thinking maybe I can do better. Subsequently trying for about 20 minutes longer, I come up with KK, LL, then QQ, etc. I then get a screen that says tickets are no longer available. My own mistake, of course, not just grabbing the first ones I got. But read on.

Seeing that I’ve been shut out of the presale (at least for the slightly higher priced, better seats), I go to what I think is the Orpheum Theater site, to see when the box office opens on Saturday. It’s www.orpheum-theater.com, and has links to various Orpheum Theatres around the country. It turns out this is a glorified “phony storefront” for ticket scalpers. It looks official, with graphics and information for each venue, but when I click on “purchase tickets,” I see those EE seats I mistakenly dumped going for a staggering $161 each! Or I should say, $161 plus a $24 per ticket fee. It explains at the top that “tickets are sold at above face value and this site is not affiliated with the venue.” I’ll say they’re above face value – they’re almost five times as much! The Google search I had done for “Orpheum Theater Boston” listed this site at the top (along with more obvious ticket agencies). Misleading and nefarious? You betcha.

This presale, for a WFNX-sponsored show, part of their two-night “Miracle on Tremont Street”, was supposed to be for WFNX card holders (and was advertised on-air as such); that is, people who registered on their website. Music fans. Listeners of the radio station, presumably. My resulting outrage goes far beyond a call to WFNX’s infamous “WTF line.”

While the end results are not nearly as catastrophic as that of the equally seedy affair currently plaguing our presidential voting process, it still comes down to deception, greed, and a desire to circumvent an otherwise democratic process, thereby stripping us of one of our most basic rights: the right to purchase, for a more-or-less reasonable cost, tickets to a concert by a beloved band.

P.S. I’m happy to report that this travesty of justice has had a happy ending. By showing up at the Orpheum box office and doing things the old-fashioned way, I was able to get, at least, two fairly decent single seats – and minus the $20 service charge I would have incurred online. Hand-written paper ballots, anyone?

Woot!!!! Wow, when the tide turns, it really does turn. Just two days ago, it was announced that Airborne would be playing two acoustic shows at in-stores in Anaheim and Boston. Today… well, being as how I’m newly unemployed, I figured I’d make the most of it and I’ve been sleeping in, but something told me I should get up and listen to WFNX’s Sandbox show. Yes, this is one of those crazed, loud and obnoxious morning shows, usually not my thing those first uncertain moments of daybreak, but actually they are pretty funny, and I was hoping to catch an announcement of the acoustic show at Newbury Comics. So indeed, at 7 a.m. (earlier than any human should ever be expected to wake up), I got my announcement, but not the one I was expecting!

Miracle on Tremont Street, Orpheum Theater, Boston
December 6th – Franz Ferdinand, The Airborne Toxic Event
AND
December 7th – Vampire Weekend, Black Kids

They also said there would be a “special guest” each night, but for the life of me, I can’t imagine what could be more special than that.

Tickets on sale Saturday at the usual outlets; on sale Friday on wfnx.com if you have a WFNX card (see their site).

Holy sh*t – Airborne Toxic Event and Franz Ferdinand?!? Two things I have to say about this – 1) Great to see that TATE have found a much, much better Scottish band to play with; and 2) for all those silly reviewers who’ve been saying that TATE sounds just like Franz Ferdinand – go see this show and decide for yourself, haha. What we really have here is one friggin’ amazing double bill. Man, oh man, get your tickets early; this one will most certainly sell out…

Wonderful news for Boston fans of The Airborne Toxic Event, who were sadly deprived of seeing this great, great band back on the 3rd… They’ve just announced two “very special acoustic performances” – one in Anaheim CA, and the other at Newbury Comics at Faneuil Hall in Boston!!

Tue Oct 21
Virgin Megastore
Anaheim, CA
6pm – Free – All Ages

Sat Oct 25
Newbury Comics – Faneuil Hall
Boston, MA
12:00pm – Free – All Ages

If, like me, you can’t believe your good fortune after these past few Mercury retrograde weeks of computer problems, miscommunications, and general yuckiness, read it for yourself on their official site. And shed a happy tear.

To quote the comment on their blog, “I’m so there.”

I suppose in one sense I’m embarrassed to have won tickets for this amazing show from WZBC (last pair they were giving out the day of the performance), as I could sense there was a frantic surge of hardcore Wire fans trying to score them as well. And then I pop in, completely clueless and unfamiliar with their music (but very familiar by name and reputation). To add to the insult, I brought someone along with me who was equally clueless. However, to make up for all that, I’m proud to say that there are now two brand new Wire fans, and I will be chasing down their recordings.

I know, I have no excuse, as I was most certainly around and going to shows in the late 1970s. Though, truth be told, I appreciate in-your-face noisy, full-throttle thrash far more now than I did then. Yes, you’re right, late 1970s was the time to be into punk and all that, and here I am now, 30 years later, true to form, way behind everyone else. But they sounded fantastic, and the ecstatic moshing going on, especially towards the end, was ample proof that others were experiencing the very same flashback that I was – and were loving it.

Not everything was supercharged and frenetic as that. There were plenty of songs that were just rocking, a few more “pop-ish” type things that are typically more my style these days, and one spacey psychedelic/prog number that I (and my hippie friend) loved and would not have complained had there been more of. From their great Wikipedia page, I see they did have various “phases”, and I would have to say this show touched on all of them.

While I can’t comment specifically on songs I was hearing for the first time, I can say that the energy was intense, and they sounded fantastic. Great audience too, which creates that deeply soul-satisfying experience.

(Boston set list, from the official Wire website forum):
1. Our Time
2. Mr. Marx’s Table
3. Comet
4. Being Sucked In Again
5. Mekon Headman
6. Icon In Perspex
7. Advantage In Height
8. Agfars of Kodack
9. Silk Skin Paws
10. All Fours
11. One of Us
12. Boiling Boy
13. The 15th
14. 106 Beats That
15. I Don’t Understand
—————————-
16. He Knows
17. Pinkflag
————————
18. Lowdown
19. Underwater
———————
20. Circumspect

I’ve been seeing everyday objects, daily routines, influx of media, and mankind – in a new light. The rows of strip malls and billboards on Route 1A on my way to the train station. The usually mind-numbing process of paying the clerk, parking the car, and joining the stream of commuters as we trail sheep-like towards the train platform. The automatic positioning of myself in the last car, near the last right-hand door, for an easier exit. And then the walk to my place of work, robot-like past other robots…

Several weeks later from starting this review, or more accurately, a stream of consciousness based on the work of Don DeLillo, we find this country – and by extension, the world, in the midst of financial meltdown. And I find this work of fiction from 1984 to be oddly relevant all over again. Some catastrophic event which causes everyone to suddenly wake up, to question, to come out of that coma.

Inspired after first reading this, I started writing down a list of stuff – everything that passed by my eyes and into my numbed brain, in the course of a day. It was dismal and truly read like one of the Beckett novels I devoured years ago. Thinking of that time, I’m amazed I had not read this sooner, but I’m glad I found it now. Very highly recommended, even though someone on amazon.com said of it “Being that I didn’t go to an Ivy League college, don’t visit the Guggenheim for relaxation, or work out while listening to atonal music, I probably had little chance making any headway here. Don DeLillo is just out of my league. I’m like an ant trying to learn brain surgery reading this book.” Funny, but untrue. I didn’t go to an Ivy League college, and don’t consider myself well-read at all (I’m trying to catch up for lost time), but I thought this was brilliant.

One week and a day after cancelling the last five shows of their U.S. tour, the Fratellis will be performing at Manchester, England’s In The City festival.

Interestingly, last year the Fratellis cancelled four U.S. shows because they were too tired. In other news, The Airborne Toxic Event will be performing 30 shows over the course of 30 days in the U.K. They don’t seem terribly concerned about getting tired. In fact, they seem positively geeked about the whole thing.

Hold onto them. I think. I spoke to someone at the Webster Theatre, and they said they were “in negotiations” with management to reschedule the show. *Whose* management… well, I’m not entirely sure. But they said they would put any info. up on their website, and will offer full refunds after the fact, should they not be able to reschedule.

This is the show that was scheduled for this Saturday night (Oct. 4) in Hartford, Connecticut with The Fratellis, The Airborne Toxic Event and Electric Touch. Sounding rather hopeful on their site, it says the show “has been postponed,” rather than flat-out cancelled like the others that were nixed because of a death in the family of one of the members of the Fratellis (Atlanta, Chapel Hill, Washington D.C., and Boston). Stay tuned… and here’s hoping!