Songfight! North America West Coast Live!

Billy's Little Trip · Post by **Billy's Little Trip** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:57 am

fluffy wrote:god damn I'm fat

no, yur Fluffy

anti-m · Post by **anti-m** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 2:55 pm

Ok -- Time for the long overdue post-date wrap up!

The Portland show was fabu through and through. Here are the highlights:

First, the weather! Pat spared no expense and ordered up one of Portland's surreally beautiful spring days with balmy sunshine, snowing cherry blossoms, and neighborhood kids broomstick-jousting in their yards. I got to Pat's house around 5:30 and enjoyed a lovely hour or so of drinking beers on the stoop and getting to know everyone. What a nice bunch of folks! I particularly enjoyed hearing MadDogs' stories about the seedy underworld of baby portrait photography. Spud, if you get his old comics up at some point, be sure to let me know!

I must confess that I had some initial concerns about the venue...The last time I'd been to The Bitter End my friend Quenby (a tiny girl -- all of 5' tall)almost started a fistfight with a group of obnoxious frat boys who'd been heckling her buddy Jeff Trott while he performed. My fears were alleviated though as the Songfight crew annexed the pub and made it our own. If there were any obnoxious frat boys in attendance, they kept a low profile.

I was rather disappointed in my own set (it sounded so much better at practice!) but I managed to survive intact. Special thanks to fluffy for letting me borrow his lovely cobalt blue Ibanez to avoid making the audience sit through a tuning change mid-set! (Luke, I hope you don't mind that I played your song. I don't think I butchered it too badly!)

Sean's set was great with some lovely guitar and keyboard looping. Amazing full sound coming from just one guy on stage! Watch out, the next time you offer me the opportunity to improv vocals over your instrumental, I will actually do it! It was great getting to accompany him on Grey Rainbow. What a cool song!

fluffy's set was the first to bring the rock to the evening -- A really fun mix of straight ahead rock and wacky experimentation -- complete with beatbox loops and an homage to the Super Mario theme. "Bad Cat" cracked me up.

Next up were p++, who put on a fantastic show. Rockin'! Great stage presence and humor with a Zappa-esque sensibility. Next time, I want the concertina more effectively mic'd... and, Pat, I wanna see you play that Theremin! The Wreckdom cover was most excellent. Hip hip, hooray!

Ken was up next with an acoustic interlude between the bands. Ken has a breezy ease and self confidence on stage that I totally envy. He just belongs on stage playing music. (So, Ken, is that charity album an Oingo Boingo TRIBUTE album??)

Finally, closing up the show was the mighty #. Folks, the recordings don't do 'em justice. Octothorpe is a hellafun band to see live. Maddog's improvisational flourishes are inspired, and the band rocks.

All in all, one great show!

And, finally, what evening would be complete without a turn to the seedy? After the music concluded, "the Jack Daniels girls" showed up. Two of the saddest, most sullen looking promotional babes I've ever seen shuffled self-consciously on top of the bar to some half-hearted catcalls from the audience.

It was coyote awesome.

Thanks to Ken and Pat and everyone who made this happen. I had a great time, and we should definitely do this sort of thing more often.

--Em

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 4:27 pm

anti-m wrote:fluffy's set was the first to bring the rock to the evening -- A really fun mix of straight ahead rock and wacky experimentation -- complete with beatbox loops and an homage to the Super Mario theme. "Bad Cat" cracked me up.

Hey, I'm glad someone liked Gin or Ginseng. I usually get the impression that most of the audience just doesn't get it, and so from now on I'm only going to play it at events with a higher geek density than 10 random drunk people in a seedy bar.

That was also the first time I'd performed with a loop pedal so I'm glad it came out well.

Post by **Lunkhead** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:07 pm

I just looked at the old threads where this idea spawned and grew. It went from idea to reality in about six months! Pretty awesome. Most of the work to plan the shows was done just since January, too, it seems like. Huge thanks again to everyone who actually booked the shows, and the folks who brought the majority of the gear, particular the PAs and drum sets involved. We need to make Ken a "SongFight! Tour Road Warrior" t-shirt, too, to celebrate his complete attendance on the tour.

mico saudad · Post by **mico saudad** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:26 pm

Lunkhead wrote:It went from idea to reality in about six months! Pretty awesome.

And I seem to remember in that thread you were saying something like... "I know this is a far off idea, but...." or something like that

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 7:57 pm

anti-m wrote:...I wanna see you play that Theremin!

Thanks for the kind words, Auntie! Here's theremin footage from last year's Santa Cruz show to hold you over until next time. Total improv, but it came together nicely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRhwI9WTcdw

jack · Post by **jack** » Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:33 pm

hell yes.....honorary brody member pat plays one hell of a theramin.

Stubby Phillips · Post by **Stubby Phillips** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 2:39 pm

I stopped in for about an hour at the Seattle show, and I submit the following opinions:
Puce was pretty cool. I liked his guitar stuff.
Mico was interesting, and his banter was a nice counterpoint to his music.
Marcus's Songfight-endorsed performance made me swear I would never again give any grief to Rone Rivendale about his music. WTF?
Unfortunately, I missed everthing else. Oh well.

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 3:27 pm

Does that mean you thought my set was terrible, or?

Stubby Phillips · Post by **Stubby Phillips** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 3:47 pm

Dude, I can only imagine what the people coming after you thought about your 'medley'. What do you think? Was that Songfight-worthy music? Did you have them in mind? Totally Special Olympics, dude. I would have been pissed.

Post by **Lunkhead** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 4:41 pm

Personally I thought the medley was hilarious. Funnier live than in rehearsal, too.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 4:45 pm

This was a Song Fight Presents show, not Song Fight Live. The rules about what's playable are a lot less strict. A lot of non-Song Fight stuff was played. Nobody normally has any trouble with this, even when non-SF stuff is played at a proper SFL show even.

Most of Marcus' set was SF stuff.

Also, Marcus actually played (and played rather well I thought), which takes a lot more effort than sniping from the sidelines.

mkilly · Post by **mkilly** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:14 pm

I guess the site isn't Song Love! but that's kind of mean-spirited of you to say. If you don't have anything nice to say about someone who went up there and tried his best, as I did, you should have kept it to yourself. Besides that you implicitly impugned my good friends Ken and Spud.

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:32 pm

As a member of one of the later following acts, I enjoyed Marcus' set.

And seriously, if you didn't drop any cash in the kitty, quit yer bitchin'.

mico saudad · Post by **mico saudad** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 8:05 pm

Hey Stubby was nice and gave me a pick, so uh. back up off him.

But (semi) seriously, he was just stating his opinion. It wasn't like he booed anyone off stage or anything, he was just giving a review.

In addition, songfight has a long tradition of inviting opinions from lurkers and performers alike.

And reading from Decemberists 3:14:
"The heavens at my birth
Intended me for stardom
Rays of light shine down on me and
all my sins were pardoned

I was meant for applause
I was meant for derision"

Amen.

Post by **Spud** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 8:26 pm

Well said, mico.

Stubby is entitled to his opinion, for which Marcus is implicitly asking every time he gets up on stage. You take your lumps and move on. Can't get the glory without getting the grief. No pain, no gain, all that rot.

If I had a dollar for every time someone said Octothorpe stunk, I would be a rich man indeed. I mean, look at the quote under my name. Ironic? Unfortunately, I didn't get the million bucks, but I did get the incentive to find a path to a sound that connected positively with more people. I haven't sold out. I still have my musical integrity. I have just learned better what to do with Mad Dog's voice and my own limited performance skills that doesn't seem to rub as many people the wrong way.

There may be a misunderstanding at the root of this, and that would unfortunate indeed. It would be a shame if one of the reasons that Stubby dropped out of the show was that he thought he was required to play Song Fight! material. Imagine how he would feel upon dropping in on Marcus' 1645 medley, followed by Amy and Ann playing a Satie duet.

In any case, I support Marcus' ongoing musical experimentation and development - hell, I participate in it - and I support Stubby's right to be somewhat taken aback. That's what makes it all so damned much fun.

SPUD

MintyHandy · Post by **MintyHandy** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:00 pm

So, not to be all "I want to see myself on teevee" or anything, but has anyone posted links to video/audio from any of the shows yet?

Part of this request is practical; I'm going to do a formal recording of tw3rp, and since the audiences seemed to dig it, I want to hear what they were hearing (from the fantabulous Zipline, that is.)

Post by **Spud** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:40 pm

I am pretty sure that there is no evidence, other than photographic, that there was a show in Seattle. It is my understanding that the same is true for Portland.

fluffy · Post by **fluffy** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:43 pm

Yeah, I tried recording the sound but Logic decided it wasn't meant to be. (And I did a dry run at practice and everything. Grumble.)

Rabid Garfunkel · Post by **Rabid Garfunkel** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:48 pm

Unfortunately, you are correct sir. Two ephemeral evenings in the Pacific Northwest, existing only in our memories (and assorted injuries, heh).

Post by **Spud** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 11:28 pm

Perhaps it is for the best, eh?

Post by **Lunkhead** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 12:06 am

I've got a grainy 640x480 video of the first verse and chorus of your "tw3rp" from the San Francisco gig, Minty. I'll try to post it somewhere/somehow soon. I love that song, too, it was also stuck in my head all weekend.