Radiohead At Santa Barbara Bowl

While I really wanted to watch Obama’s speech at the Democratic National Convention live on Thursday night, I couldn't miss an opportunity to see Radiohead perform the last show of the U.S. leg of their current tour. And the fact that it was at the stunning Santa Barbara Bowl, which happens to be the band’s favorite venue, sealed the deal.

Despite a four-hour drive to get there, a dearth of parking, and a security nightmare of endless lines in search of the proper seating wristbands, we got to our seats just as the spare syncopated rhythm of the opening to In Rainbows’ “Reckoner” was met by Thom Yorke’s plaintively eerie vocals drifting over it like a ghost train arriving at a newly materialized station. And just like that, we climbed aboard ready for the journey that only Radiohead can deliver.

They picked up speed with Kid A’s “Optimistic,” then started rolling relentlessly through the wild and varied terrain that makes up the band’s unique sound. They covered a lot of ground, squeezing twenty-five songs into just over two hours. From the slow vortex of “There, There,” the techno-laced dreamscape of “The Gloaming,” the sweet melancholy of “No Surprises,” to the wrenchingly beautiful rendition of “Lucky,” things were perfectly paced.

The stage was as spectacular as the sound. A massive light display created from vertically hanging LED tubes looked a bit like an over-sized Hyatt ballroom chandelier, except for the fact that they lit up in brilliant hues and patterns to match the tone and tempo of the music electrifying the whole scene. We later learned this was designed as a way to reduce the carbon footprint of the tour (fewer trucks and tour buses might have done more in this regard, but hey, they’ve got a lot of stuff to move around). Five screens mounted in a horizontal band behind the lights gave detailed views of the band members as they played.




Johnny Greenwood spent as much time on the floor tweaking knobs on his DL4 pedal and vintage RE201 Space Echo to push the boundaries of their sound as he did playing guitar.

Thom Yorke talked little, seeming more concerned with squeezing in as much music as possible before running up against the venue’s 10:00 p.m. curfew.


After two encores, they ended things in a final ecstatic surge launching into “Ideoteque” and ramping up the light show into its most colorful and chaotic of the night, while Thom Yorke let loose with his exuberantly awkward dance moves.


At the after-show party, we got a rare treat when we ran into Bob Boilen, former long-time director of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and current host and creator of NPR’s “All Songs Considered.” We had a great time talking with him and discovering his secret history as a member of D.C.’s psychedelic dance band Tiny Desk Unit. Here is an NPR podcast of Thom Yorke guest hosting Bob’s show back in February. Look for a webcast of Thursday's complete Santa Barbara concert on the All Songs Considered website Monday, September 8 at noon.

Thanks to my husband Greg Westall for all the great photos.

(Bruce Lee) x (Jimi Hendrix) = Matthew Bellamy

I’m convinced that Muse singer/guitarist (also a stellar pianist) Matthew Bellamy is the love child of Bruce Lee and Jimi Hendrix. The guy plays the most mind-bending riffs with the discipline, precision and power of a martial arts master taking on a room full of ninjas. And he does it all while singing in a voice that would belong to the Vampire Lestat if every time he wanted to tear someone’s throat open, he sang a song instead.

I don’t mean to leave out Christopher Wolstenholme and Dominic Howard. You guys are awesome too. It’s not all about Matthew. There’s no ‘I’ in band, right? We all know it takes all three of you to make that muscular, dizzying vortex of sound that’s as tight as a Baptist preacher's ass (Southern Baptist that is, not those liberal, Bible-rejecting Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists).

This is a band that deserves every glowing adjective that can be thrown at it, and I can’t wait for the next album including Bellamy’s rumored 15-minute space-rock solo.

Barenaked Ladies: Something For The Kids

Is it just me, or is there something a little wrong about a band named Barenaked Ladies putting out a children’s album called Snacktime!? How many ways might this warp a young child’s perception of both ladies and snacktime? Will they demand their teachers bring out juice boxes wearing nothing but a few strategically placed gold stars?

What happens when they realize these Barenaked Ladies are actually a bunch of hairy Canadian dudes?

Then there’s the content of the songs. “Raisins come from grapes. People come from apes. I come from Canada.” Do these guys think with a little clever wordplay and a jaunty melody they can slip under the radar of the folks at the Intelligent Design Network? Anyone can see a raisin is not a grape. I don’t care what all that science says.

And what about an alphabet song that teaches kids J is for jalapeño? We teach our kids English here in America, eh. J is for jet fighter pilot, jock, Jell-o and justice for all.

In “The Canadian Snacktime Trilogy” Barenaked Canadian dudes invite your child to “walk me down to Vegetable Town where we can ride the zucchini subway.” There’s a sure way to get an entire generation to trade vegetables for Cheezies and Molson.

But just when you think Snacktime! is all left-wing propaganda in the guise of silly songs, they go and slip in an anti-transexual tune. “I like my big sister, but I don’t want to wear her coat,” vocalist Ed Robertson sings in “My Big Sister.” “May be black. May fit perfect. But you and I both know it’s a girl’s coat.”

Just exactly what is their game?

Pangea Day: Spend It With A Few Million Of Your Closest Friends

When I was a teenager, I had a surefire plan for world peace. Set up massive Marshall stacks every hundred yards or so all the way around the globe so the entire world’s population could sing along to the same song at the same moment. I was convinced that all the world’s injustices, misunderstanding and prejudices would just melt away under that unifying bond of song. It was the era of Coke’s “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” commercials, so it probably wasn’t the most original idea, but it was sincere. I really believed it would work. I just had no idea how it could be done. So like most people with an insurmountable goal, I forgot about it and began working on something more within my control, finishing college and amassing a mountain of debt before I was twenty-five.

Turns out, some other people had a similar idea (the global unity thing, not the debt), and clearly a whole lot more vision and fortitude because they actually made it happen. At the Ted Conference in 2006, filmmaker Jehane Noujaim revealed her wish to “bond people together, to cross borders, and to help understand the other” through a communal day of film. She invited other like-minded creative people to join with her in developing the concept. Pangea Day is the culmination of that dream.

This Saturday, May 10, in an unprecedented harnessing of technology and human spirit, people from all over the world will come together for four hours of global empathy building. The event will feature twenty-four short films, music and visionary speakers broadcast live from six locations—Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro. The entire program will also be streamed online.

Selected from among 2500 entries from more than a hundred countries, the films were chosen “based on their ability to inspire, transform and help us see the world through another person’s eyes.” They take on subjects ranging from war and poverty to Indian laughing clubs, embark on journeys big and small, show us determination in the face of adversity, and uncover hope in the most unlikely of places. Ultimately, they remind us of the underlying connections we all share.

Speakers include Queen Noor of Jordan, CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, memoirist Ishmael Beah, Oxygen Network host Lisa Ling, and artist and computer scientist Jonathan Harris (check out his amazing talk at last year’s Ted Conference). And it wouldn’t be a global consciousness-raising event without Sir Bob Geldof who will perform his song “This Is The World Calling” with Eurythmics mastermind Dave Stewart. A performance by the rapidly emerging Iranian rock band Hypernova is a story in itself.

Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker, Cameron Diaz and David Blaine are among the celebrities who have thrown their support behind the global meet and greet, which you can watch online, on TV, on your mobile phone (though at four hours, I wouldn’t recommend it), or at one of more than 1000 events planned worldwide. Photos, videos and text messages from these events will be incorporated into the live broadcast making the whole thing a truly interactive experience.

My only suggestion to the event organizers: a different name. I know naming it for the supercontinent that existed before the land mass split apart is logical, but I can’t get past the fact that Pangea sounds more like a new strain of bird flu than a global unity fest. How about something a little more celebratory like "Fandanglobal" or "Popcorn For All"? In fact, could you actually make it rain popcorn during the event? That would be my second suggestion.

The Pangea Day website has tons of information about how and where to view the event, details about the films, speakers and musicians, and a lot of other really interesting stuff. Check it out.

Elvis Costello On The Telly

Brilliant songwriter, master of subtle wit and evincing charm, iconic wearer of hats, Elvis Costello has just been slated to host a weekly music-variety talkshow on Sundance Channel. Each hour-long segment will be a platform for talk about the arts (not limited to music) and will include performances from music to vaudeville. The legendary Elton John will executive produce the show and make frequent appearances. You’ll have to wait till December to get your first look at “Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…,” but I am already excited by this announcement.

More good news from Sundance Channel. They’ve just confirmed an additional season of another great music series “Live From Abbey Road,” which takes you inside the famed studios for an intimate look at recording sessions with some of your favorite, or soon-to-be favorite artists.

Outside In

It's not too early to be thinking about your summer festival plans. What is summer for, if not to get outside, shoulder-to-shoulder with your fellow terrestrials, soak up some sunshine, and lose yourself in the swirling nebula of euphoric intangibility that is Radiohead? To be fair, Radiohead is only one of three headlining acts set to thrill your musical senses at the Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival August 22, 23 & 24 in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. They just happen to be my favorite. Additional headliners Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers can be counted on for a super tight and thoroughly enjoyable rock show, and Jack Johnson is like the musical equivalent of a piña colada poolside. What’s not to like? Then there’s the rest of the line-up, a who’s who of awesomeness including Beck, Wilco, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Widespread Panic, Primus, Steve Winwood, Steel Pulse, and so on.

You can float through the weekend’s glorious sea of sound guilt-free as this is a green event complete with a solar stage, bio-diesel generators, composting, recycling and even a bicycle valet. Tickets are on sale March 30 and available only through the event’s website. A portion of the proceeds benefit San Francisco Parks and local charitable organizations.

Future Butterfly Past

Elliott Smith's music was startling in its genuineness. His haunting and deceptively simple melodies balanced on the knife edge of raw vulnerability. Such fragile beauty made his death in 2003 seem all the more shocking. The universe simply could not let such broken perfection slip away so early. And yet, there it was.

Chronicle Books' recently released photo-bio by Autumn de Wilde, an art director and photographer noted for her portraits of indie musicians, provides a poignant look at the life of a brilliant, though tragically troubled, artist. Interviews with friends, family, and fellow musicians provide context for de Wilde's intimate snaps. You'll also get a look at some of Smith's handwritten lyrics, personal ephemera, and insights from those closest to him. The book includes a 5-song CD of previously unreleased live recordings, along with a foreward by Beck and Death Cab For Cutie guitarist Chris Walla.

It seemed he only lived a day, but it was brilliant anyway.