Songfight! North America West Coast Live!

[SteveHandPuppet]

Song1 = "Get Me Back" originally by Loyalty Day
Song3 = "The Jig Is Up" originally by Loyalty Day
Song4 = "Rhymes With Lucia" by Tinski Robotnik, aka Tiny Robots

SOLD!

SHP

[martyr]

Steve, thanks so much for mixing those down! I really enjoyed listening to the SF show anew. I'll work with Prisoner and Glennny to post clips from the video footage.

[LinaHandPuppet]

Yeah - thanks Steve - and everyone else who has provided music, photos and video and those who will do so in the days and weeks (and months:) to come.. I appreciate how much work it is!

The shows were so much fun. We met so many fantastic people.
I have so many songs still running through my head.

I'd love to do it again.
-lina hand puppet (jessica)

[prayformojo]

I echo the thanks. There's a ton of work involved in doing that and it is greatly appreciated by the community! You guys are awesome!

I know there were 3 or 4 cameras going at the LA show, Seamus being one. Do we know if audio and or footage exists from any of those? My acoustic set was a total experiment for me, and I want to see the results to decide if I do it again like that. Also, I am an egomaniac and like to hear myself talk...

about Madonnna...

and her cone boobs...

LA show people, you know what I'm talkin' about.

[LinaHandPuppet]

heheheh those boobs! yeah.

prayformojo, i sure look forward to the footage especially of "husky youth". that performance was really a highlight of the LA show for me!

[glennny]

The California section of the West Coast Tour from my (Glennny’s) perspective.

Friday March 23rd- Martin (Martyr), Kari, Bella (wife and daughter) and I cruise down the California Auto-Bann after work.

Saturday March 24th- Martin and I meet up with Dave (Minty Handy) for a rehearsal a few hours before the show. (Sammy (the Prisoner) needed no such rehearsal). We firm up the set-list and learn his unreleased song “TW3RP”.

We arrive at 6:00 pm (call time). We’re immediately greeted by Mico Saudad, Hell of a nice guy! The space is pretty Darn small, but the couches are wonderfully comfortable, I’m stoked for Kari, she will be comfortable at the show (she’s pregnant, we’re due in August). We have some average sandwiches, I get a lecture from the owner about keeping the volume down, and the back door closed. All very reasonable.

Ross Durand approaches our Minty Handy table (pictures displayed above, I’m the bald guy in black with the indie-rock glasses), Dave explains his Pseudonym as an attempt to protect his Children’s Music career, he fear parents objecting to some of his lyrics as Minty Handy. Ross Durand: “..you mean like Photo-copy my ass?”, his deadpan delivery had me laughing.

Erin and Dave- went over the ‘Our Love Violates…” song about 15minutes before we went on out in the parking lot. The Parking lot was pretty funny and great. Seems everyone had some last minute rehearsal tweaks to go over.

So the Minty Handy band (Minty Handy plus Zipline, though I played bass, and Martin played guitar) was 1st up at about 7:00 sharp.

Our set:

Georgia’s Hand- This is really fun on bass, a very bouncy little ditty. The performance was the 1st time we heard any of the songs with the full band. Zipline had rehearsed to some Scratch tracks Dave made for us, but this was the 1st time we were all in the same place playing together. The Swinging brushy jazz drums Sam played were great.

The Shelton with Sunspots- Slowing it down, this one started off with just Dave and Uke, it’s a short song but very catchy and especially satisfying when the band kicks in.

TW3RP- This is a gem of a song, and what turned out to be the hit of the set throughout the tour. He didn’t finish in time, but I’m glad the world has a chance to hear it soon (once the videos and audios are released.)

Wedding Song (the Thank Glennny for the Frisbee version)- I was really stoked that Minty Handy agreed to make this part of our set. I thought the Mandolin to Uke transfer would work just fine. With Sam on drums this became a very different version. On the recording I played Dobro, Mandy and Bass, I decided to stay on the bass for continuity of the live show.

Our Love Violates Corporate Policy-Minty invites Erin up, for the female vocal part. She nails it of course.

Next was Zipline- I got to play guitar on this set, Martin took his bass, and we played some sketchy versions of our songs, but by Golly it was fun!

Our set:

Wedding Song- Onstage my guitar seemed super quiet, I was looking to Ken’s ears for the audience sound, seemed it was fine.

Pink Ribbon- This one we intended to have Ken on keys, we forgot to invite him up and wait for him to be ready. What’s cool about Ken is he heard the opening chords, raced to the stage turned on the keyboard and played along.

Dude and Catastrophe- The funny thing about the evening from our Zipline point of view is how Martin kept cutting my solos short. We don’t count, we cue.

Glutton- This turned out to be our strongest song live. Maybe because there’s nothing subtle about it. I was stoked to see Ken really getting into it out in the audience.

Next Was Evil-E:

I loved this set, it was a really great place to be an audience member, half of the pressure for the evening was off, so I got to relax in the Shay’s Lounge next to Kari and dig the set. I didn’t recognize any of the tunes, but they were very well done. Evil E is a great slow-hand guitarist. Everything was melodic and tasty.

Then was Mico Saudad:

I actually listened to this set from the other side of Synergy. (Possible title “Other Side of Synergy”?) This was my brief chance to say Hello to my LA friends who made it out. So I didn’t see him, but we were struck by how incredibly good his vocals were. Amazing voice to be sure!

Next was Ross Durand:

Minty Handy was talking about how great of a song “Mandate” was. It was great to see it live. He had an all-star band backing him of course, they were all very tight. I enjoyed watching Seamus struggle to play his guitar and sing into the same mike pointed at his belly. The harmonies were excellent. It was also cool for me that I actually knew all of the songs. The highlight for me was “You Get the Wiser”. My buddy Gregg (of Stewboss semi-fame) was with me standing in the back and for nearly every song he would ask “did that song win?”, “….um I don’t know Gregg”, “Man, that song shoulda won!”.

Then Ken’s Super Duper Band and Stuff:

I got to play bass on this set. What strikes me is what a Fantastic songwriter Ken is. You all don’t understand, Ken and I spent 18 months of our lives in a band (now called Plot Against Rachel) as the rhythm section, sitting back letting the other members tediously half-write a whopping 5 songs in 18 months, none of which were nearly as good as a Ken song. I met him as a producer , then knew him as a drummer, it’s shocking how really talented and GOOD this guy is. Let’s see, we played:

Bad Cat- This was the opener for all of the shows. The perfect fun warm up catchy tune.

Zero to Phantom- This song has enough swing in it that Sammy Z really shined as the drummer. My bass line kept reminding me of a Pretenders song, but the Chorus is the hook of this one for me.

Don’t Go to Bed- All 3 shows I flubbed the transition from Chorus 2 to Verse 3, I kept wanting to go to the bridge. The worst thing is the flub got progressively worse from LA to SF.

…Spoon Shaped Girl- This was fun, lots of dynamics, and an ending in 5. Brilliant!

Sounds of Chrysler- So there’s a story to this song and it’s off of a compilation for Glenn Case’s nephews. I wish I had known the story before hand. Ken started to tell the story, and I started to smile because I thought it was the best set up ever for a joke, then I realized it was all true and serious, and I thought I was a terrible terrible person. My apologies to anyone who caught my smile. This is a beautiful song, probably my favorite of what we played.

Shreds- Beautiful chord pattern. Sam and I treated it like “Epitaph” from King Crimson. The chords and dynamics were similar. This is a great closer.


Next were the Handpuppets:

Some of the most beautiful gear I’ve seen was unleashed for these guys. A gorgeous Ricky that Steve plays. A beautiful fretless bass, awesome pedal racks. They were great. It was hard to believe this was their 2nd gig ever. My favorites were the song fight tunes, oddly enough because I recognized them and loved seeing them come alive, where as I didn’t recognize the covers they were doing, at least in LA. (I know the Pixies song they did at the other shows). “It belongs to Me” stands out in my memory. We learned that every Tuesday night while Zipline is in Berkeley jamming, so I can cut the material into an SF submission, the Handpuppets are across the Bay every Tuesday night jamming so Steve can cut the material into an SF submission. They’re all very nice and kindred spirits.

Next Tiny Robots:

7 member band! Erin, Lunkhead, Ken, Me, Sammy, Martin, Amy.
The songs were:

Get me Back- This song was the most fun for me, its wide open for jazz bass licks, I did my best.

The Jig is Up- Beautiful song, beautiful melody, but it’s all about Lunkhead’s finger-picking for me.

5 Nights in Britain- There’s a breakdown in this song where it’s all Lunkhead, he paused longer than usual, I thought , Man he’s sure milking this moment, in a good way though , genius! Later I found out there was a problem shaking off his slide for his finger picking break down. Musically it sounded great, and I didn’t see it, he’s such a pro.

Rhymes with Lucia- Rehearsal was funny for this, I had the hardest time divorcing my guitarist tendency to be the 2 and 4 on this song and hold down and define the 1 and 3. I think I was competent enough by show time. This seemed to be the best crowd pleaser. It kills me that in the RWL fight I spent forever on my RWL midi extravaganza that everyone hated and therefore a total failure, and they wrote and recorded this gem in about 3 hours they tell me. When you’re inspired you’re inspired. Great song!

Mountain Home- This is my favorite of the Tiny Robots songs. Very fun to play.

Next was Pray For Mojo:

He’s a really good performer. I liked the dialog he had with the audience a lot. The Sufjan Stevens cover was very bold. I was very impressed with how well he pulled that off, I was a little disappointed there wasn’t an audience sing-along for the “ah Ah, ah AH” part near the end of the song, it was just skipped altogether. However the guitarist and banjo player really made this cover work well, not to mention PFMJ’s singing. I actually liked the originals better than the covers (that’s a personal bias thing, I generally don’t like covers). When do we get to hear Pray for Mojo do more Fights? All and all a very good set!

To Headline the evening was The Seamus Collective:

These guys actually looked like a band, not a collective of internet friends. Seamus has a wonderful voice! The highlight by far was the closing number “Ignorance is Bliss” , it’s just one of my favorite Song Fight entries of all time, and it was performed very well at this show! The other highlight for me was the “For the Time Being”.

The Synergy Café was very impressed with us all, that we ended on time, and that we were all friendly and polite.


I’ll tackle the other 2 shows later.

Good job everyone!

[SteveHandPuppet]

The California section of the West Coast Tour from my (Glennny’s) perspective.

Next were the Handpuppets:

Some of the most beautiful gear I’ve seen was unleashed for these guys. A gorgeous Ricky that Steve plays. A beautiful fretless bass, awesome pedal racks. They were great. It was hard to believe this was their 2nd gig ever. My favorites were the song fight tunes, oddly enough because I recognized them and loved seeing them come alive, where as I didn’t recognize the covers they were doing, at least in LA. (I know the Pixies song they did at the other shows). “It belongs to Me” stands out in my memory. We learned that every Tuesday night while Zipline is in Berkeley jamming, so I can cut the material into an SF submission, the Handpuppets are across the Bay every Tuesday night jamming so Steve can cut the material into an SF submission. They’re all very nice and kindred spirits.

Good job everyone!

Thanks for the review. For the sake of full disclosure/correctness/completeness/sheer-orneryness:

1. I think people liked my guitar (Rickenbacker 381, Mapleglow) better than my playing. We're considering doing shows where we just set up the equipment, open the curtains, and let people gawk. Certainly many would prefer it to an actual "musical" performance

2. For the LA show we did 2 songfight songs and 2 other originals. The only cover we currently do is the Pixie's "Where is My Mind", which we played at Berkeley and SF. For the record, we played:

It Belongs to Me [January 2007 SF]
Punk Bartender [originally recorded for SF by the proto-HandPuppet band "l.r.f.", before I joined]
Stupid
Nothing Will

In Berkeley we subbed out "Nothing Will" for "Where is My Mind". In SF we (minus Synec(john)) did the above five plus "Walks Like a Duck" and "Forever More". Sam helped cover synec's part on Mind.

3. I feel slightly tacky for jumping onto the SongFight tour after having done so few actual SongFight songs [only one as the Hand Puppets proper, a few ancient l.r.f. submissions and a couple of Poorly Considered Solo Efforts]. Our drummer David has prepared the majority of our original stuff from Tues jams, although I've done a few including "It Belongs" for SF.

Anyhow, thanks for the kind words. We'd like to play live with the Zipline again [check your emailboxes].

Steve Hand Puppet

[heidi]

Yo.

I uploaded a VERY small handful of pictures from the LA show to <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/norobot/sets/7 ... 12817/">my flickr</a>. I decided that I would just post a taste rather than going through every damn photo like I did with the Santa Cruz show. I just don't have the time for that right now.

But, if you would really like more shots of your set, let me know and I will be happy to comb through them for you... I just don't want to put forth the effort unless it's something someone really wants. The ones posted are not necessarily the best, but there are definitely more where they came from.

[mico saudad]

Thanks heidi! That's one of the best pictures I've ever had of me performing. I like the lighting on all the pictures actually. Mine always turn out too grainy.
-s

[heidi]

hey thanks! i just realized i posted two of you! i think there are at least a couple more of you that came out pretty good. you keep pretty still while playing, which is nice for me since i didn't use flash.

that's not to say that you're a statue up there, because you are definitely fun to watch ... you just stay still long enough for a decent picture every once in a while.

[martyr]

Thanks for the review. For the sake of full disclosure/correctness/completeness/sheer-orneryness:

1. I think people liked my guitar (Rickenbacker 381, Mapleglow) better than my playing. We're considering doing shows where we just set up the equipment, open the curtains, and let people gawk. Certainly many would prefer it to an actual "musical" performance

$Too f6unny! I m6us4t say I r3eally 3enjoy3ed 4th3e show! Wish john didn'4t g3e4t sick!

3. I feel slightly tacky for jumping onto the SongFight tour after having done so few actual SongFight songs [only one as the Hand Puppets proper, a few ancient l.r.f. submissions and a couple of Poorly Considered Solo Efforts]. Our drummer David has prepared the majority of our original stuff from Tues jams, although I've done a few including "It Belongs" for SF.

No4t 3ev3en d6ud3e!!! I4t's all abo6u4t 4to6uring af4t3er only on3e song -4tha4t's ho4t!!!

Anyhow, thanks for the kind words. We'd like to play live with the Zipline again [check your emailboxes].

Steve Hand Puppet

Y3es, $TO^UR $TO^UR $TO^UR!!!
SHOW SHOW SHOW!!!

[LinaHandPuppet]

wow glenny, awesome write up of the LA show.

I know Steve already said this but yeah - in LA, we didn't do any covers at all. It's all original material. The only cover we did was the Pixies song.

We were a little nervous about taking time of the show for non-song fight material, but with only the two song fight songs and so much original stuff we really wanted to play.. we just.. went for it

-jessica

[LinaHandPuppet]

heidi! thanks for the pictures! that's a really fabulous one of john and I.. I am glad i checked the forums tonight - I am making a little package to send to my parents and I think i'll include a printout of that picture

--jessica

[heidi]

cool! glad you like it. if you have trouble downloading the high res version, let me know and i can email it to you. i also took many more of you guys -- if you want to take a look at them, let me know.

[mico saudad]

Almost all of my photos came out crappy, but here are the better ones:
http://flickr.com/photos/srthomas/sets/ ... 091547157/

(Several of the pictures are heidi's or someone else's but the last half are mine, you can tell because they suck)

[Lunkhead]

Cool, the first Portland pics, right? I only got a few pics from Berkeley before my spare camera batteries also died:

http://www.bozos.com/pictures/songfight/berkeley0307/

I got one of Evil E, one of Minty Handy, and one of us all standing around outside the venue that screwed us over.

[Rabid Garfunkel]

As a photographer, I'm a great musician, heh. Portland & Seattle pix.

And yes, these were the best of the batch.

http://www.flickr.com/gp/84268837@N00/1raS74

[LinaHandPuppet]

heidi - thanks - I'd love to see the others of us!

I certainly _did_ have trouble getting that printed.
what an AMAZING pain in the ass.
no wonder people use flickr.
or rather, i'm amazed people use it.
or both.

is making it incredibly inconvenient for your friends and family to print your pictures really worth making it _slightly_ harder for professional thieves to access your intellectual property? I mean, if the site _actually_ protected your images that'd be one thing. But it doesn't. I still was able to get it. And now that I know how, it'll be easy enough to do so in the future. But it's a pain, and I'd hate to have to do that every time I wanted to print out a picture of my nephew and put it on the fridge (fortunately my sister doesn't use flickr!)

actually i'm probably just such a flickr noob that I'm misisng something. you asked if i'd gotten the hi-res version. no.. that i didn't.. I clearly didn't know about that option.. tell me how? probbaly will avoid me going through the annoyance of getting at the image via my cache, too.

ok, sorry about the totally unrelated to song fight rant!!

back to song fight stuff - another thing I wanted to say about the LA show - mico saudad, i loved your use of a looper on Georgia's Hand, which is just one of the prettiest songs i've heard in a while. wish the situation in LA hadn't been so frustrating for you - your performance of it was fantastic anyway.
-jessica/lina hand puppet

[Lunkhead]

I don't think you can get the hi-res version of pictures on flickr sometimes if you're not logged in, which I think is lame and confusing. For Rabid's photos, there's an "All Sizes" link/icon over the upper left corner of the picture, when you're not logged in. Also when you right-click his pictures and choose "View Image" (in Firefox) you can view them in your browser. But on Heidi's, the "All Sizes" link seems to only show up if you're logged in, and when you right click and try to view the image you get a blank gif instead (they put a transparent HTML layer on top of the actual image). You have to view source and find the URL for the actual image in the source. Boo flickr.

[Rabid Garfunkel]

I set the pix to be accessible to all, no restrictions. Pro'lly something in the user prefs on the site that lets one do this automatically.

But hell, if I wanted to do them securely, I'd set up a page on my own webspace

Besides, a somewhat more time consuming way to grab pix (via Firefox) is to use the "Save page as..." menu option and then sift through the folder it makes of what amounts to the cached files for that page.

[heidi]

sorry you had trouble downloading that. i guess i should have stated in the beginning that you'll need to sign up for flickr (if you have a yahoo! address already then this takes less time than normal).

anyone who is a member should be able to download the full size version of the photos. i use flickr because it's the easiest way i know of to upload all of my pictures without having to resize them. since i don't have web space anymore, flickr is my friend.

i guess i didn't realize that there was something that i could do to make it so that people who aren't flickr members could download hi-res. i'll look into that now.

i can gather together the rest of the pictures from your set. if you don't like flickr, do you have another option for me to get you a bunch of high-res photos? i'd be happy to oblige.


EDIT: I changed it so that ANYONE can download my stuff ... so have at it!

[LinaHandPuppet]

heidi, thank you! I'm totally ok with getting them off of flickr. It wasn't clear from flickr that if i was signed in I'd have that option. All frustration was with flickr, not you! I'd love to see the rest of the photos from The Hand Puppets set. on flickr is fine. thanks again,
--jessica