Well Hot Damn, Bob Schneider On DVD!

The next best thing to going to see Bob Schneider live would be having a DVD of Schneider live. Well, actually the next best thing to going to seem him live would be for him to stop by your house and play for you but, since that's not likely to happen, we'll have to settle for a DVD.

Yes, ladies, gentlemen and random questionable but lovable sorts, Schneider has a nice shiny live DVD/CD set available. What's it called you ask? It's called Live At The Paramount Theatre. It was recorded last December in Austin at, as the title suggests, the Paramount Theatre. I've ordered mine ... big surprise there! Check out the trailer below for a taste of what you're in for.

Speaking of live Schneider, he'll be back in New York on November 20. This time he'll take the stage in Brooklyn at the Knitting Factory. Y'all know he's one of those people I recommend going to see.

DVD

• 40 Dogs (Like Romeo And Juliet)
• Everybody's Doing It
• Gold In The Sunset
• Hangin' With The Horny Girls
• Looking At The People
• Love Is Everywhere
• Metal And Steel
• I'm Good Now
• Big Blue Sea
• Tarantula
• Getting Better
• Ass Knocker
• Bonus Tracks
• Realness Of Space
• Weed Out The Weak
• Slower Dear
• Trash
• Bombanaza

CD #1

• Piggyback
• Round And Round
• Come With Me Tonight
• Realness of Space
• Flowerparts
• Weed Out The Weak
• Slower Dear
• Trash
• Captain Kirk
• Bullets
• Bombanaza
• All I Want For Christmas

CD #2

• 40 Dogs (Like Romeo And Juliet)
• Everybody's Doing It
• Gold In The Sunset
• Hangin' With The Horny Girls
• Looking At The People
• Love Is Everywhere
• Metal And Steel
• I'm Good Now
• Big Blue Sea
• Tarantula
• 2002
• Getting Better
• Ass Knocker
• Batman

bobschneider.ning.com

R.E.M. Live At The Olympia On NPR

NPR is giving first listen to R.E.M.'s upcoming two-disc live set. R.E.M. Live At The Olympia hits shelves this coming Tuesday, October 27. But, thanks to NPR, you can listen to all 39 songs now! You read that right, you can stream all 39 tracks.

R.E.M. Live At The Olympia is a collection of fan favorites played live, not a collection of their hits. My geek girl love fest issues are in full bloom with this release. So, pop over, have a listen and fall in lust with R.E.M. all over again and or remember why you were and still are in lust with them in the first place.

Click HERE to listen. What are you waiting for?!

www.remdublin.com
www.remhq.com

El Perro Del Mar - "Change Of Heart"

El Perro Del Mar released a new record, Love Is Not Pop this Tuesday, October 20. Hm, at least I'm not massively behind on things! At any rate, I haven't had a chance to check out the whole album yet so I can't give an opinion on it. But, you can check out and download for your happy little ears the ear pleasing "Change of Heart," HERE.

El Perro Del Mar will be at Webster Hall with Peter Bjorn & John on November 9.

And, if that's not enough for you, you can watch the video for "Change of Heart" below. I'm not sure if this ranks in the "say wha?!" section or if it belongs in the "WTF?!" section. Seriously, I feel like I tripped into some sort of bizarre homoerotic dream ... nothing censor worthy so don't get your feathers in a bunch. It's said that the entire video was shot in one take! All that aside, really, you gotta watch this one.

www.elperrodelmar.com
www.myspace.com/elperrodelmar

Video: Jet - "Black Hearts (On Fire)"

Jet has another video out to support their latest album, Shaka Rock. This one is for the song "Black Hearts (On Fire)." My first thought when I saw the video was, it reminded me a bit of Kasabian's "Vlad The Impaler" video minus the cool, cheesy sci-fi effects. You know the one, the one where Noel Fielding's mustache thing makes me think of John Bonham, but I digress. So, I watch and my second thought is, Death is kind of sexy ... the guy playing him, not the concept of or the actual dying thing. As I continued to watch, Death, while kind of sexy let me down. He got punked by a puny guy in a way to clean to have just crash to the ground skydiving suit ... say wha?! If you're in New York, you can catch Jet at Nokia Theatre on November 12 with Papa Roach.

Black Hearts (On Fire) from Five Seven Music on Vimeo.

www.myspace.com/jet

The Music Slut & Sneak Attack Media CMJ Party, Pt. 3: Calypso

Calypso: October 20 @ Pianos, New York, NY

The final band I caught at the The Music Slut/Sneak Attack Media CMJ party yesterday was, Calypso. I was interested in hearing their live sound now. They have the whole raw surf punk thing going on. At least that's how I'd describe it.

The Photos...
The Videos... (if you know the names of the songs, let me know so I can identify them properly)

"Casually Sad Mercedes"

www.myspace.com/calypsony
themusicslut.com
sneakattackmedia.com

The Music Slut & Sneak Attack Media CMJ Party, Pt. 1: Sean Bones

The Music Slut & Sneak Attack Media CMJ Party, Pt. 2: Fanfarlo

The Music Slut & Sneak Attack Media CMJ Party, Pt. 2: Fanfarlo

Fanfarlo: October 20 @ Pianos, New York, NY

Next up for me at The Music Slut/Sneak Attack Media CMJ party was, Fanfarlo. They're touring so check them out if you get a chance. New York, if you don't already have tickets to their show at Bowery Ballroom tonight (10/21) then you're out of luck, it's sold out.

The Photos...

www.fanfarlo.com
www.myspace.com/fanfarlo
themusicslut.com
sneakattackmedia.com

The Music Slut & Sneak Attack Media CMJ Party, Pt. 1: Sean Bones

The Music Slut & Sneak Attack Media CMJ Party, Pt. 3: Calypso

The Music Slut & Sneak Attack Media CMJ Party, Pt. 1: Sean Bones

Sean Bones: October 20 @ Pianos, New York, NY

Fellow music blog The Music Slut, along with Sneak Attack Media tossed a free CMJ day party at Pianos. You missed it? For shame! It was a great party! There were twelve bands plus DJ's. I managed to catch three of the bands.

First up for me was Sean Bones. For those who don't know, I first experienced the band back in May and have been fond of them since. Sean Bones is one of those bands that you can't help but have fun watching. They are quite simply infectious and are on my list of bands to see live. The band kicked off their set with my favorite song of theirs, "Sugar In My Spoon" and closed out their short, but wickedly fun set with the rollicking "Dancehall."

The Photos...
The Video (a little on the dark side)...
"Sugar In My Spoon"

They're taking to the road, check them out when they play near you. For those of us in New York, they'll be at Purevolume tonight (10/21), Mercury Lounge on Thursday (10/22) and on November 20, they'll be over at Terminal 5 with Grace Potter and Brett Dennen (damn, that's a good line up!) so there's plenty of opportunity to catch them NY.

www.seanbones.com
www.myspace.com/seanbones
www.tinyurl.com/seanbonesfacebook
themusicslut.com
sneakattackmedia.com

The Music Slut & Sneak Attack Media CMJ Party, Pt. 2: Fanfarlo

The Music Slut & Sneak Attack Media CMJ Party, Pt. 3: Calypso

The Dreamscapes Project Rocked Arlene's

The Dreamscapes Project: October 17 @ Arlene's Grocery, New York, NY

12-strings, cellos, buckets, spoons and questionable art books, oh my! What? That doesn't make sense to you? Then you weren't at Arlene's on Saturday watching The Dreamscapes Project.

This was the first time I had the opportunity to catch the band, Keith Center (Lead Vocals / 12-String Acoustic Guitar), Ben Guy (Cello / Vocals), Jeremy Rodgers (Electric Bass), Gordon Shankman (Drums) and Eric Sanford (Percussion). For those who haven't had the experience, they're a revved up folk rock band.

The Dreamscapes Project have made my list of bands to see live. Sure, they're good on record, but, you really have to see them live to get the full picture. They kind of take a no holds barred approach which leaves the audience smiling and dancing. Yes, dancing. You can dance to a folk band folks. One of my favorite songs of the night was a little tune called "Bluegrass." It was indeed a bluegrass song and where Sanford's bucket and spoon playing came in. Only in New York (or maybe it's just only when The Dreamscapes Project are in New York) can you find a folk band, in a rock club, playing bluegrass while a couple of guys have a little hoedown in the audience.

I have to mention "Why Do I Always Feel Like The Sound A Chair Makes As It's Dragged Across The Floor?" if for no other reason then for the amazingly long title it carries. Did I get the full title right?! So, they played Chair Song (sorry Keith!) which, by the way, is a really good song, after Center expressed his chagrin, amid good natured ribbing from his band mates, over the song title being whacked down to just Chair Song.

One of the things that first intrigued me when this band was brought to my attention was the fact that they have a cello player. When I first heard this, my first thought was, 'oh he probably just plays it on a few songs.' But, that's not the case. Guy wields his cello the entire show and quite frankly, rocks out with it. Center, an unassuming frontman, has some soul in his vocals. He has a good voice and the sound person did a bang up job in making sure it was heard properly.

I bet you're wondering where the questionable art book part comes into play, huh? Well, set a band loose in NYC with some time to kill and they'll happen upon a crackhead (or some sort of questionable person) selling self-drawn art books which led to a bit of a show and tell. Their version of support the arts?

They closed the show with a rousing cover of Dirty Vegas' "Days Go By." It's a perfect song to end with yet, it's also a bad song to end with. Perfect in the fact that it leaves you pumped up full of rock show adrenalin. Bad because that same rock show adrenalin it leaves you with, makes you want a few more songs! But all good things must come to an end. I had a good time and look forward to seeing them again. Go check them out when they play near you. You'll have fun ... might even yell yee-haw!

"Days Go By"

"Fragile"

"Still Love"

Set List

• Still Love
• Why Do I Always Feel Like The Sound A Chair Makes As It's Dragged Across The Floor?
• Bluegrass
• Titanic
• Fragile
• Days Go By

www.theScapes.com

R.E.M. Live At The Olympia

I've been spinning R.E.M.'s upcoming release, R.E.M. Live At The Olympia, for a little while now. In case you didn't know, the 2-disc, 39 song record, which was recorded in Dublin, is scheduled for release October 27. The special edition version of the release will contain a DVD film of concert and backstage footage from the Dublin shows.

So, I'm sitting here with my tie-dyed, peace sign painted mug in hand, sipping Orange Crush (unintentionally, but seriously), corny, I know, trying to figure out what to write. Really, what do you write about R.E.M. that hasn't already been written after so many years? We know I'm an R.E.M. fan. We've also touched on my geek girl love fest issues in a previous post. I wore out several of their cassettes back in the day. Oh yeah, I said cassettes! Am I showing my age? What do I say? They're good? Yep. They're good live? Yep.

Clocking in at just over two and a half hours, it took me a couple of days to listen to all 39 songs. Hey, that's a whole lotta Michael, Mike and Peter for a chick to listen to, not that I'm complaining! Rolling it out, my first thought was, this could be a bit daunting for the casual R.E.M. fan. But, I doubt this is intended for the casual fan. However, I'd suggest diving in head first and enjoying the swim.

The live tracks culled for this release are a nice representation of the band live. They have spark to them. I say this because there have been a few recordings in recent years that I felt lacked energy and fire. For a while it seemed like they were just going through the motions.

R.E.M. Live At The Olympia contains many old favorites ... they can never go wrong with those in my opinion. Two of my favorites find a place on this effort, "Driver 8" and "Gardening At Night." Even after all these years, it's great to hear those songs. Even better it's great to hear them played with the vigor I remember from my, ahem, younger days. Listening to the songs on this double disc opus, it sounds like they were having fun performing. This is a terrific thing. With so many live presentations, after the powers that be fiddle around making things all spit spot, everything sounds like it has been sucked dry of personality. Thankfully, R.E.M. has managed to avoid the vampire knob twiddlers allowing the fun, their personalities and their charm to shine through.

R.E.M. fans will no doubt find great joy in this effort. Casual listeners who appreciate good music played live will enjoy it too.

There are going to be limited sneak preview screenings of This Is Not A Show: Live at the Olympia in Dublin. These sneak previews are one night only in select cities. New York will have a chance to check out the approximately sixty minute un-concert documentary. It will be screened at Cinema Purgatorio at the Kraine Theatre down on East 4th Street, October 27.

Living Well Is The Best Revenge

R.E.M. | MySpace Music Videos

Track Listing
Disc 1

• Living Well Is The Best Revenge
• Second Guessing
• Letter Never Sent
• Staring Down The Barrel Of The
• Disturbance At The Heron House
• Mr. Richards
• Houston
• New Test Leper
• Cuyahoga
• Electrolite
• Man-Sized Wreath
• So. Central Rain
• On The Fly
• Maps And Legends
• Sitting Still
• Driver 8
• Horse To Water
• I'm Gonna DJ
• Circus Envy
• These Days

Disc 2

• Drive
• Feeling Gravity's Pull
• Until The Day Is Done
• Accelerate
• Auctioneer
• Little America
• 1,000,000
• Disguised
• The Worst Joke Ever
• Welcome To The Occupation
• Carnival Of Sorts (Boxcar)
• Harborcoat
• Wolves, Lower
• I've Been High
• Kohoutek
• West Of The Fields
• Pretty Persuasion
• Romance
• Gardening At Night

www.remdublin.com
www.remhq.com

Happy Birthday Quirky NY Chick!

At 12:31 AM on this day, October 15, QuirkyNYChick.com was born.

When I started this blog, I dived in head first on a bit of a whim. I like to write and I like music. It made perfect sense for me to combine the two so I did. Thankfully, the water wasn't shallow and I didn't hit bottom and knock my quirky self out!

I claimed my little corner of the Internet and ran with it. I gave the blog a logo, a logo that has had more than one person say, 'the one with the big purple L' when I mention my blog name while out and about. So, I guess I chose something memorable. A good thing, right? I've learned a lot about putting together a blog and I'm still learning. With an enormous amount of anxiety and feeling completely out of my depth, I accomplished my very first Q & A. Thanks to James Love of Hot Seconds for helping me learn to swim in those waters. I guess that makes him my human equivalent of water wings. Also, thanks to those friends who talked me through the anxiety! My camera and I found ourselves crouched down in Irving Plaza at an Arc Angels show for my first official photo pit experience. As someone who has always loved concert photography it was exhilarating and terrifying and I couldn't wait to do it again. I headed to Newport, RI for QNYC's first official road trip to take in the 50th anniversary of the Newport Folk Festival. It was exciting, surreal and a wee bit daunting but an awesomely fun experience.

Here I am, a year later, continuing to dish out info and talking music in my oddball, or I suppose I should say, quirky way. I still like to write and I still like music. What's different? A year ago, I thought only my friends and my Mom would stop by once in a while to read. Imagine my surprise when I discovered otherwise! I've been challenged, overwhelmed and proud ... often all at the same time. I've tried to keep it interesting. I've tried to keep it fun. But, most of all, I've tried to keep it me.

It has all been a tremendous amount of fun and I often ask myself why I didn't do this sooner. I've met a lot of interesting people and I've seen a lot of great live music. Thanks to all of the artists whose work allows me to do what I do. Thanks to all of you who have dropped by to visit. To make my first anniversary a little more special, I discovered that QuirkyNYChick.com has been listed on ClickitTicket.com's "Top 20 Music Review Blogs on the Web" ... flattering and especially so for a blog that was a complete unknown just a year ago.

With one year under my belt, I say, "Cheers! Here's to many more years of discussing music in my own delightfully quirky way!"

L. R. Adams
October 15, 2009