Music is Life. Life deserves music. I play. I dance. I blog. I write. I listen. I create. We can all do the same. Life is too short to ignore take everything for granted.
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Today is the second day of Art-A-Whirl in Northeast Minneapolis. After a delicious brunch at The Colossal Cafe near our house, I headed off toward northeast to see the festivities.
Along the way I bumped into a few frends as the wanderlust was focused into a particular venue. Having been there yesterday, and with a meal ticket courtesy of my friend Tristan from Hot Damn!, who didn't use his yesterday, it was decided the 612 Brew taphouse was once again the place to be.
Sure enough, I met a great many cool people in the crowds at the brewhouse. It's local brews and local music drew a liesurely crowd to listen and relax. As per usual, I brought my dancing energies to accompany the music, which was very well recieved. It was a really fun space to dance with the bright sun beaming down and the accoustic beauty of the amphatheater accompanying our energy.
Soon enough, I got a few more of the crowd moving as their restless desire to dance finally overpowered the social awkwardness they felt as everyone else just stood or sat around absorbing the energies of the sun and the music instead of vibrating with it and resonating the energies. None the less, the energies flowed wonderfuly as I danced along with the music of a local band that is new to me called False Teeth. The energy level was still high and full of exuberance when I finally had to leave in the middle of Botzy's set in order to get ready for work. All in all it was another fantastic experience.
The time has just flown by! May is now half over already. Please forgive the impromptu hiatus of the last few weeks. I landed a job doing Delivery driving for a delicious and authentic Chinese Restaurant in Dinkytown Minneapolis named Pagoda. I have been busy brushing up on my chinese skills and working a ton to stow away some funds to make real breathing room in my finances. This spring has been infused with powerful emotions tugging at the ebb and flow of the turbulent but sunny waters we are riding as the tide of a powerful swell brings us to the crest of a long awaited wave of creation and energy.
Today is Art-A-Whirl in Northeast Minneapolis. I wish I had the time to see all that the area has to offer both in art galleries and live music at all the venues and spaces in the area, Like the event going on all day today at the Plex. I did manage to make it out to see Hot Damn! Perform at the new 612 Brew taphouse in Northeast Minneapolis. They have a very impressive amphitheater out the back end of the building right next to the walls for Broadway NE and Central Avenue NE. The space has really impressive accoustics that threw the band at first since their amps needed to be turned down to accomodate the powerful accoustic ressonance of the area that overpowered the PA system.
Not only was it a fun show out in the sun, but when the clouds passed over the sky and dimmed the sun's beaming light for a moment I suddenly noticed a giant rainbow halo surounding the sun in the sky. It was marvelous and apparently had been that way for quite some time already. The sun's radiance brought warmth to the budding greenery that has so thuroughly enjoyed the wet and warm spring we've been having.
It's always fun to run into people I haven't seen in a long time at a show. Last night's Enemy Planes show at Cause was one of those nights. The crowd was packed at Cause. It was almost too small a venue for the crowd. Soon it will be. But, since they are intrinsically linked to Cause Spirits and Soundbar through at least one of them working as a bartender for the venue, it was a fitting place for their show.
Likewise, I would be remiss if I didn't find something new and interesting to show people at the show. Between the great music and the high energy of the crowd, there was one such point that stood out to me. Apparently Enemy Planes joined My Morning Jacket, Sarah Jaffe, and Others in covering songs by Jason Molina for an album now being released by Rock The Cause, a local non-profit record label. Though I had never heard of Jason Molina, a quick Google search showed the tragic tale of an impressive musician with a fair number of releases under his belt struggling with the age old problem of alcohol abuse. He died last year as a result of his vice. This album fits with Rock The Cause's purpose with a message of appreciation for the artist's life and creativity. Available now on iTunes for $11.99 It's an great mix of music in tribute to the late Jason Molina. Thank you to Rock The Cause for their desire to support the local music scene and incorporate that into a cause worthy of recognition.
Thanks again to Enemy Planes, Back Pocket Hymnal, Puff Puff, and Mississippi North for putting on an incredible show last night.
As I have said before, this winter in Minnesota was tiresome. The local musicians I love here are the traction that keeps my feet firmly planted in this harsh climate. Since I have not been writing regularly about the music scene this winter, I should start by pointing out one of the most impressive local bands I've encountered in recent months. The band Enemy Planes has only been performing for a short time, but they have already released an incredible CD that became my anthem for the late winter months. Their dreamy pulsating songs have been the soundtrack to my life since I first saw them at a house party in February.
The haunting melodies of Enemy Planes remind me occasionally of the affinity I have toward M83's album Hurry Up we're still dreaming.
Definitely check them out. They are very fun to see live. In fact, they are playing at Cause Spirits and Sound Bar in uptown Minneapolis later today Saturday, April 12th, 2014. They also will be playing at the Midwest Music Festival in Winona, MN, Saturday April, 26th. Find out more about them and their music at enemyplanes.com
Enemy Planes was one of the bands who I've learned about through the Monastery House parties. These parties have grown in scale and scope into impressive showcases of local musicians with a long list of bands eager to play. These gatherings have even produced some music videos which have garnered attention from some mainstream music media. Twice The City Pages has included videos shot in the basement of this house for their top 10 must see Minnesota music videos for the week.
Since I'm pointing out local shows to go to, I should give you a few more for the upcoming week. Next Thursday April 17th, 2014 Dream Crusher, Simon Calder band, Glow Mechanics, and DJ DT will be performing at the Kitty Cat Klub in the Dinkytown area by the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN.
The winter is gone! Well... ok, that may be overstating it. It's technically spring now, since we passed the vernal equinox on March 20th. However, Minnesota has remained cold and snowy. The snow pack we accumulated over the winter remained frozen in large slabs of occasionally melting ice across the frigid tundral climate. Not only that, the weather remained cold enough for the snow to continue flying unabated by the longer length of the spring days. This winter has been tiresome for the spirits of the hardened souls living here. Compounded with the intensity of the overbearing winter, this season has been particularly tumultuous in my own personal life. After getting hit by a car while biking in december, my life was tossed akimbo as the questionable safety of winter biking was confirmed. Biking had been my primary mode of transportation. The snowbanks, which encroached far enough into the streets of Minneapolis for officials to limit parking to one side of the street so emergency vehicles could traverse the narrowing lanes, made the margin of space for bikers disappear. After my parent's bought a new car and generously gave me their old car to drive, I was relieved of the wearisome burden of winter biking unsafety. But, with a car came new financial obligations that stymied my ability to attend the shows I love. That being said, this winter has been somewhat of a dark period for my writing as a result. However, that is not to say there was nothing to speak of.
Music aside for a moment, another one of my favorite activities was much more affordable to me this winter. Despite being a sport that many other people have to pay significant money to enjoy, I worked at Hyland Ski and Snowboard area this winter as a chairlift operator so I was able to snowboard for free all year. This year I progressed quite a bit in my snowboarding skills. I only once recorded a day of riding with a friend, but I put it to music by the local band the Moving Parts. I used the song Noel as the background music for the video I uploaded to my YouTube channel.
At the end of the winter, just before the end of the snowboarding season at Hyland, my life was changed dramatically again when I was invited to live with some of my musician friends in the house near the University of Minnesota known as The Monastery. I had decided to move out of my lonely efficiency apartment at the beginning of January 2014 because I realized the expenses of car insurance and gas for the used car my parents gave me gobbled up all the disposable income I had enjoyed while biking. I had originally made plans to live with friends of mine from the band Thee Evil Creatures. However, I needed to wait till the rental agency found someone to rent my apartment, or till the end of March, because I gave my two month notice a day past the January 5th deadline for an end of February move out. Then, during one fateful week in February, everything came into place. I casually mentioned to my friends at the monastery that I was in transition from my current place to a tentative place with some friends of mine. It came up that they had a room opening up, and they offered it to me. Within a couple days I found out from the rental agency that someone wanted to move into my old place. Additionally, the person wanted to move in the very next week. As a result, the rental agency asked me to vacate as soon as I could to allow them time to prepare the apartment before the lease signing. Therefore, I quickly packed all my things into boxes and prepared for the move. That started a whirlwind of change blowing through my life. Within a week all my life plans had shifted dramatically. Now I am living in a house with 13 people that hosts house parties once a month where half a dozen local bands perform to a bustling crowd of interesting people.
With the matters of my own life out of the way, It's time to finally highlight one of the winter event's I haven't covered yet. On February 21st, 2014 the music video for the song "The Free People" by Moving Parts off the album "Music from the Monestary" was released. I got a chance last fall to be a part of this music video, along with quite a few other friends of the band, . The shooting was done at the Monastery house wher I now live months before I moved in.
That will be all for now, but I assure you there has been quite a few event's, releases, and other happenings I intend to relay eventually. Thanks again for reading. This spring and summer promise to be abundantly full of energy and creativity. Look forward to more soon.
It has been quite a while since my last blog entry. So let's play catchup a bit. Perhaps later I will expound on some of the more interesting points of those months, but for the time being I leave them to be recorded later, as it is such a large amount of accumulated experiences that it would be an epic undertaking and a long read. So, I will proceed forward with the most current events in music.
The fall had a great many fun shows, CD releases, and interesting experiences. However, my professional life was in a tumult. Dealing with a boss who thoroughly hated me despite multiple appeals to her sensibilities was frustrating. That behind me, it was time for the winter months to bring employment for me at the Ski Hill.
Soon the winter was upon us hard and strong. The cold came early in November, bringing with it snow to cover the hills with a blanket of glistening white. I returned to my position at the ski Hill in Bloomington, MN. The snowfall and cold weather, which constrained much of the rest of our society, was instead a boon to the cold weather sports enthusiasts of the region. I greatly enjoy the work I do at the hill. I have the opportunity to bring the local music I love, along with admittedly more main stream Pandora Radio, to the slopes via my guitar amplifier. The days are beautiful. The skill level of the snowboarders and skiers who frequent the terrain park these days are far more impressive than the average more than a decade ago when I was in my nascent years of snowboarding experience. Now people all wear helmets for one thing. That's mostly because there has been a great push in the social dynamic towards the protection of our valuable brain boxes. With the added security that affords people, they now likewise go much bigger than they often would years ago. People throw cork 900's, backflips, front flips, 270's on to rail slides with 270's off, etc. It's impressive and entertaining to watch. Likewise, the experience of doing some mean tricks gets the heart rate going and provides a fantastic physical exertion. I love riding.
So, this has been much less about music than I originally anticipated, but perhaps it is high time I started simply using my blog as a means of recording my thoughts in general. At the end of the year in 2013 I finished yet another physical journal. It is such a liberating experience to recollect one's own experiences through your own thoughts and assessments of reality. It helps to keep a person grounded.
Among the great events of the recent months were several much anticipated CD release shows for bands I have been following, tours by other bands, some music video shoots, and my performances along with dozens of others tuesday nights at the open mic nights at Moto-I in Uptown Minneapolis.
The year to come promises to bear a great deal of musical fruit for the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. There are a great deal of powerful currents running under the main vein of culture that is MPR's The Current. But for most of Minnesota, these months tend to be the times where musicians and artists hunker down to hibernate for the winter, providing time to hone their craft.
One important point in my personal life happened in late December of last year. I was hit by a car while biking to choir practice December 18th, 2013. I had just finished up work at the ski hill for the day. I got in a little snowboarding after work in the afternoon, ate the dinner I had prepared for myself, then I took off on my bike to make my way to Angelica Cantanti Encore Alumni Choir practice in south Bloomington. At the time, biking was my main mode of transportation. I got rid of my last car about a year and a half prior. I traveled down to 98th street by Normandale Community College, and I was passing by the Bloomington Ice Garden when all of a sudden I saw the headlights of a car in front of me as if I was standing in front of the car looking away from it's license plate. I had only time to realise I was being hit, but not to react, then I was tossed akimbo into a blurry out of body experience, where I remember wondering at one point if I was underneath the car, then, taking assessment of myself, I realized I was not maimed. I got up, brushed myself off, and proceeded to record the event with the video camera on my phone. As I was being carted away in an ambulance to the hospital, I posted the experience to YouTube. Truly thankful of being alive and not crippled, broken, or concussed, I have nearly fully recovered now from the minor injury to my ankle, knee, and wrist. Additionally, being the active person I am, I have been making good effort to utilize and strengthen the muscles of those areas to ensure a full and speedy recovery. In a move of grand generosity, confronted with my determined assertion that I would continue to bike because it was my only affordable method of transportation, my parents decided to buy a new car for themselves. That done, then they give me their old PT cruiser. Having been saved serious injury in my first gravely serious accident on a bike, they decided to alleviate the financial burden for me of purchasing a car. Alas, though I truly am thankful for their kindness and generosity, the added expenses of automobile insurance, gas, and maintenance have devoured the little expendable income I had previously relied on to finance my excursions to the shows of my friends and the music community. So this last month I have spent the better part of my time working, saving money, and preparing to move to a new apartment at literally half the cost of my current living situation to alleviate my fiscal constraints.
That said, I do intend to write more frequently about the local music scene via the wireless bluetooth keyboard I bought to write post with on my phone. I am far more efficient at typing than at touch screen poking or swiping. Admittedly, it is a little frustrating dealing with phone technology lagging behind in compatibility with certain mundane tasks modern programs are capable of like a built in active spell check, and the lack of functionalities defined to mouse click and drag movements in web browsers... None the less, I will pioneer forward with my utilization of this newer technology to pursue my goals effectively on the go. The only thing I am missing is a good stand for my phone to keep it upright for reading while typing.
But now I am rambling, so I will conclude this entry on the first actually musically relevant point of the day. Last Friday was the video shoot for MeMeMe's song Thee Dirty Heaven. I awoke in the early morning on Friday groggy and stiff from a few good physical workouts involving snow removal at work in the recent days. It was my day off, yet I still felt inclined to get up about the same time as I usually do for work. The first thing I did was check my phone for the Facebook events of the weekend. To my surprise, I found the Music video Shoot for MeMeMe was that morning just 15 minutes from the time I awoke at 8:45am. I scrambled to get prepared, and soon was on my way in the bright, but cold, sunshine of the last day in January. The filming was already underway when I arrived after being caught in the fierce grip of gridlocked morning commuter work traffic. The theme of the video was appropriately a raging rock house party. The first order of business upon my arrival was the destruction of a bottle of wine with a golf swing captured in slow motion. After a few botched attempts, and one broken club, the bottle exploded in a maroon balloon splash. Having skipped breakfast myself to get there as quickly as possible, I was compelled to find some nourishment. Although a Keg of beer was brought to legitimize the party vibe of the film, I set out in search of something breakfasty. With a suggestion from the peanut gallery of the party it was decided on the tastily delectable pastry delight of doughnuts. Though stymied by a lack of
local options for such confections, I returned in a little over an hour from a fairly decent trip to the closest cub foods with the questionably reliable sustenance we desired. Through more shots of the blossoming party, I soon grew weary of the closed confines of the house party with such beautiful weather outside in the chilled sunshine that would feel so balmy and enjoyable on the slopes of the Hyland Ski and Snowboard area. So, I bid adieu for the early afternoon to travel south tfor some riding in the beautiful weather. Once I got my fill of the terrain park from being the only person in the larger section of the park for nearly a half hour, allowing me to get in a huge number of runs, I was exhausted and returned to the video shoot just in the nick of time. As I walked into the set, the patrons of the party had just began taking swings at a piano destined for slow motion destruction capture for the video shoot. Around the floor blew a layer of down feathers drifting and lofting, the fallen soldiers of a pillow war recently waged. Intermingled with the floating feathers was a haze of dust from the ancient chambers of the piano's bowels, spewing forth the intestinal gasses of the long musically constipated piano into the room.
I stepped in line and got in some good whacks myself. The camera is sure to have caught some incredible moments for the video. There were only a couple more shots to get after that and it was a wrap. A good time was had.
In late July 2013 the weather was consistently beautiful each day. I was regularly attending shows in the evenings. At one such event the band La Madness was playing. I had seen them a few times before and they knew me for my blog and dancing at shows. The lead singer Kurt Vatland approached me and asked if I would like to join their band for the filming of their upcoming music video. Naturally I was elated to be offered the opportunity to cover their shoot. So I agreed.
In a few days I headed to Eastern Saint Paul Minnesota on a bus to meet them at a hotel for their shoot. When I arrived in the early afternoon, they already had the room prepared for the shoot. They had moved all the furniture from the central bedroom into the small second room to make space for the band's musical equipment, the lighting, and the film crew.
As I got situated, the extras and band were in the process of getting preened by make-up artists before their time in the limelight. As the performers were getting made over, the film crew was hard at work arranging the lighting and strategizing the order of shots to be filmed.
Soon it was time to get the ball rolling. First on the list of visual arrangements was partial band shots for closeups of each band member. Over and over the band played along to the recording of their song as the crew took footage from different angles.
Despite filming in the middle of the day, the shots were supposed to be at night. Therefore, the blinds were drawn and covered so that the room felt like a party in the depth of the night. To supplement that feeling, the band supplied the extras, the crew, and themselves, with champagne. It was rather appropriate considering the context of the song being filmed.
Slowly the shots accumulated as the band rotated in and out of the main room for their time in the spotlight. Then it was time finally for the full band shot. The whole band piled into the cramped corner of the room and rocked out as if it was a live show. Despite having been forewarned of the noise potential, and the fact that it was the middle of the day, the hotel management soon phoned the room to chastise them for being too loud. Naturally, they needed a couple more takes before they were able to get it all squared away. So they took the scolding with a grain of salt and soon were finished with the loudest part of the filming.
Next to the stage were the girls to perform with the guys' instruments in place of the band. Their scantily clad bodies belied the burden of the instruments as they simulated jamming out on the instruments. In spite of the apparent awkwardness they felt with so little experience hoisting the instruments, they none the less made their best effort to appear as if they were rocking out. It worked. The only truly difficult instrument to mime was the drums, since fake playing simply doesn't confer the image of a musician. Frankly it was awful to hear, but we took it in stride as the audio for the session was irrelevant since the song was to be dubbed over the video.
After completing the hotel room portion of the shoot, we all chipped in to carry the equipment onto the roof for the ultimate rock stage on top of a high-rise hotel overlooking the Saint Paul skyline. It was stunningly beautiful up on top of the building as we set up and began filming the action. The lead singer Kurt Vatland took some liberties with his movement on the roof and decided at one point to climb up onto the ledge behind the band. Unbeknownst to him, all the onlookers gasped in fear as he strode confidently along the ledge he didn't realize overlooked a 40 foot drop to the next level of roofing. Thankfully, he did not slip. We all sighed in heavy relief after he was down. Indeed it turned out he had no idea how far the drop was when he was inspired to jump up there.
The band was then ready to call it a day, since the vast majority of the shots were finished. I had to head out to catch the last bus for the day. Unfortunately, I came to find out afterwards that I missed the final shot of the day, which was a sexy hottub scene. It was a shame I miss that, but regardless it was a fantastic experience overall.
This last Saturday September 28th, 2013 finally brought the video release party at the Pourhouse in downtown Minneapolis, MN. Along with the music video, the band has been compiling a documentary about their experiences. So, after the opening band The Lone Crows finished their set, La Madness prefaced their music video with a clip from the upcoming Rockumentary "Going Mad" by Xtopher films. The night brought a great crowd along with the lively enthusiasm of the band for their exciting video debut.
With their video released and the buzz about them growing, the band is poised to return to the west coast soon for another tour. The press they have been receiving has brought their single to the forefront of the Los Angeles rock station KROQ. Soon the local rock station 93X here in Minneapolis will hopefully take up the torch as well.
Thank you to all the people who helped to make the video shoot possible:
