Notes From Underground

John: Yusuf - Live in New York

I felt fortunate to be invited to an intimate performance by Yusuf last night at the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle. I'll tell you all about the show- but I think a little perspective is in order.

Steven Demetre Georgiou was born on July 21, 1948. You probably know him as Cat Stevens. Certainly you are familiar with his string of hits including: "Morning Has Broken", "Peace Train", "Wild World", "Father and Son", and "The First Cut Is the Deepest". He has sold over 60 million records. But that is just the beginning of the story.

Stevens converted to Islam in 1977. He changed his name Yusuf Islam in 1979 (the year I was born) and walked away from popular music for almost 30 years. He got married, had kids and dedicated himself to educational and charitable efforts. At times there was controversy; he was criticized for comments about Salman Rushdie and was denied entry to the US recently in September of 2004- his name was on the FBI's no fly list.

About two years ago he picked up a guitar and began writing music again. This fall Atlantic Records released Yusuf's first pop record since 1978, An Other Cup.

I have very early memories of listening to Cat Stevens. "Moonshadow" was on a mix tape that a friend had made for my mother. I can remember my sister and I singing along in the car. As a kid it sort of seemed like a goofy song; only later in life would I appreciate its Taoist themes.

Cat's music is often lumped in with other sensitive male singer/songwriters of the seventies. However, I always thought there was a simplicity and optimism in his work that made it unique. His ability to convey confidence in the concepts of peace and love gave an atypical weight to subjects that often came across as trite in pop music. When I listened to Cat Stevens I felt like I was hearing someone unsure of the means - but confident of the ends. It was a duality I found appealing.

Last night was his first performance in the United States in thirty years.

First let me say, to set the scene, The Allen Room is a great auditorium with wonderful acoustics and an amazing wall of windows behind the performers that looks out over Columbus Circle.

Nic Harcourt, host of the popular KCRW program Morning Becomes Eclectic, introduced Yusuf (to a standing ovation by a capacity crowd of about 350) and conducted a brief interview with him to start the show. Though the story was familiar it was certainly more interesting to hear it from the source. Most interesting to me was when Yusuf talked about being hospitalized, at the age of 19, for tuberculosis. It was during that time that he fist began reading various spiritual texts. He talked about his desire to find a path, and how that search was reflected in the music that he would write going forward.

Yusuf opened the show solo with "Maybe There’s a World" followed by his classic, and one of my favorites, "The Wind". After that a six piece band, including a pianist, percussionist, and backup singers joined him for the reminder of the evening. The set mixed new and old including: Midday, Oh Very Young & In The End.

At that point Harcourt and Yusuf sat down again. Yusuf talked about his introduction to Islam and how it showed him the way he had been searching for. It was a path that required a drastic change in lifestyle. He abandoned his celebrity and his life as a pop musician- mainly he says- to stay out of trouble. Music was not the problem – but rather the ancillary lifestyle. At Harcourt’s prompting Yusuf acknowledged that for years he denied his talent as musician. However, recently he has come to accept that music could compliment and augment his journey. Not everything was deep; in a humorous moment Yusuf's cell phone rang- indicating a new voice message.

To me the conversation indicated a change in perspective that has translated to the music on Yusuf’s new album. In the past he wrote as someone seeking a path, in the present he writes as someone who has found their way. I suppose thirty years is enough time to allow for that change. Oddly something about the new perspective speaks to me less.

The second half of the set included "Heaven / Where True Love Goes" which incorporates part of Steven's own "Foreigner Suite", a cover of The Animals’ “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood" and the well intentioned (but in my mind poorly executed) "Indian Ocean" a song written in response to the tsunami tragedy. The band closed the set with the "Peace Train" which seemed relevant as ever. Yusuf dedicated the final number to the late Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records. After another standing ovation Yusuf and his two guitar players returned for an unrehearsed but heartfelt encore of "Father & Son".

It was quite in experience to hear such familiar songs in such an intimate setting. Yusuf’s voice was great and his backing band was tight. Here’s to finding your path.

 

Laurie: What I'm Listening To

Even though I listen to a lot of music that nobody cares about, I thought I'd contribute to our new blog anyway. So there! I still listen to music all day long and screw it, I have good taste.

Am I the last one to discover The Shins? I've been listening to their song "Phantom Limb" a lot and the cd is on its way to me so I can check out the rest of it. Their website is fun too, you can click on each band member and make them jump around.

And it took me ages to get Welcome To The Black Parade (by My Chemical Romance of course) but I'm liking it a LOT. It's pretty different from the usual stuff I like, but good music is good music, dammit.

I'm also still really enjoying my Death Cab For Cutie playlist on my iPod, which is just all of their cds added together and the "shuffle" setting. I can't find a crappy song in the bunch. I saw them live earlier in the year and they rocked even though the sound at the Hammerstein wasn't very good, which I guess is what happens when you have two bands sharing a bill. (They were teamed up with Franz Ferdinand.)

And okay, I'm still listening to an awful lot of Elvis Costello. I figure the other bands would approve anyway, right? The man crosses all genres and excels at all of them. He has influenced just about everybody, and can play any kind of music in the world, although I imagine he's going to take at least a short break since he just became the father of twins. (Dexter & Frank, no less.)

Also enjoying The Slip, their cd landed on my desk and I liked the album art so much I decided to check it out. Good stuff! Added that to the iPod as well.

And as I type, I'm listening to some old school Oasis, "Cast No Shadow". I know they're assholes but I love their music anyway.

Happy Holidays! 

Donny: Int'l Premiere of NANA 2

Last night I was lucky enough to RSVP to the International Premiere of NANA 2 at the IFC Center.  Honestly, I was part of the group of people that haven't seen part 1 yet.  I have the movie just never gotten around to pop it in the DVD player.  If you don't know what NANA is, originally it was a manga back in the 1980s about 2 girls, both name NANA, happened to meet by chance and later became friends.  When the first NANA movie came out it was such a big hit that the manga had an insane jump in sales.  Part 2 came recently and it didn't do as well as part 1 and it was probably due to the change in cast.  3 of the actors from part 1 didn't return for part 2.  Without seeing the first movie maybe it was an advantage for me because I thought NANA 2 was pretty good.  Yui Ichikawa, one of the new cast, did a great job portraying a fragile sensitive individual trying to find happiness.  Maybe when I finally watch NANA 1 I'll appreciate it more.

Mika Nakashima did a good job, it was my first time seeing her act.  I'm a fan of her music.  In an industry where 80% of the singers sound very squeaky and child-like, she stands out from the crowd with her heavier voice and jazz influenced music and now rock music.

So at the premiere, my first time going as "press", got escorted to my seat in the front row with my name taped to the chair, like WOW!  Hopefully there will be more of these events for me to attend.  It would be super cool if Hyde will make his way to the East Coast.

Donny: Atlantic City at 1am to see Hacken Lee

So I don't know if this is for all concerts at the Trump Taj Mahal or not but so far every concert I've been to (3) started at 1 in the morning.  If you pay an extra $5 you'll get a round trip bus ride from our good friend Academy Bus.  The bus left Chinatown at 7pm and arrived at Atlantic City 2hours later.  Trump used to give people $10 coupons to play but he's gotten cheap this time.  NO COUPONS!!  So how do you waste 3.5 hours at a casino area surrounded by nothing?  i bascially walked on the boardwalk very slowly.  Anyways enough of that, so I went to see a Hacken Lee, a Hong Kong pop singer, perform at the Trump Taj Mahal.  He's been one of my favorite artist since long long time ago and last time I saw him in concert was more than 10 years ago.  I don't know if any of you are familiar with Chinese concerts, but almost everyone there looked bored as hell.  Unlike concerts here where everybody gets up and totally immerse themselves, mentally and physically, into the whole live experiences, Chinese people just like to sit and listen.  I've seen many Hong Kong artists trying their best to get the audience involve but all they want to do is sit.  At the concert I went, the only time people got up was when they wanted photos of the artist.  They would rush the stage and clog the walk ways just to snap a photo of their idol.  There were some exceptions and they armed themselves with glow sticks.

I was surprised at myself for not being as excited about the concert as I was when I bought the tickets.  Maybe I was tired and it was 2am ( I sound old).  This artist has been around since 1985 and he's been through high and low points.  At the moment, he's the "Come Back Kid" of Hong Kong music scene.  He's one of the few artist that just sounds better live and he's able to carry those notes so smoothly.  In the sea of bubblegum pop Ford style music in Hong Kong, he writes his own lyrics and in his two most recent albums he has combined the old and new, western and eastern styles of music.  So that is what he did near the second half of his concert.  He brought out a Japanese violinist and a Chinese erhu-ist? (Erhu is a Chinese violin) to perform a set of old songs with him.  That was when I started to enjoy the show, the power of his voice singing some of his classic songs accompanied by violin, erhu, guitars, bass, drums, and a synth was just WOW.  I left the concert satisfied and wanting more.

John: What I'm Listening To: The Hold Steady

I first read Jack Kerouac's On The Road when I was a sophomore in college. I found it to be incredibly depressing but at the same time there was something romantic about the idea of getting out and seeing America. That summer, realizing that I hadn't seen much of it myself, I bought a two week pass and road around on a Greyhound bus. I'd spend the day someplace then get back on a bus in the evening and ride it overnight to the next place. I made it as far west as Denver and as far south as Texas. It was an interesting trip, met a lot of folks traveling for all sorts of reasons. PS - sleeping in bus stations is not romantic.

I've been listening to The Hold Steady's new record called Boys and Girls in America- which opens with the line "There are nights that I think Sal Paradise (Kerouac's alter ego in On The Road) was right, boys and girls in America have such a sad time together".

Craig Finn, singer in The Hold Steady, writes:

"The record is kind of about love and guys and girls and relationships. Most of the songs go back to that. But that’s an umbrella-you can do a lot of things within that. The songs are a little more self-contained. They don’t relate as much to each other but all go back to this one big thing. The first song “Stuck Between Stations” is about the poet John Berryman, and he had a lot of issues with love and had affairs, depression, and another song “Chips Ahoy” takes place at a horse race, but is still about a guy and a girl."

Something about this record, beyond the Kerouac reference, reminds me of that road trip. It's quickly becoming one of my late year favorites; lots of good stories. Sound wise THS are somewhere btw the bar rock of the E Street Band and post punk of Modest Mouse w/some Patterson Hood phrasing thrown in- but as Elvis Costello once said- writing about music is like dancing about architecture- so just go pick up Boys and Girls in America and read On The Road. In the meantime check out this live version of Stuck Between Stations.

Annie: Don't eat macaroni and cheese before going to a concert

My piece of advice for the week: As much as you are craving it, don't eat a giant plate of mac & cheese before going to see a rock show.  The two just don't go together....

Friday night, after eating said plate of heavy food, I went to see Anathallo at the Mercury Lounge.  Despite the fact that I was in a fairly intense food coma, I had fun at the show...  If you haven't heard Anathallo before, and are a fan of the Arcade Fire, Death Cab, Sufjan Stevens, Modest Mouse or other indie-pop with interesting instrumentations and arrangements, you should definitely give them a listen.  Much of their current album Floating World, is based on a Japanese folk tale.  In order to play the songs off the record live, the 7 piece band utilizes the typical guitar, bass, drums along with horns, keys, pots, pans, xylophone and even handclaps.  Each band member plays at least a couple of the different instruments throughout the performance, and even though the band was a little too big for the stage at Mercury, they constantly moved around and switched places on the stage.   Singer Matt Joynt, has a beautiful voice, and I thought his slightly awkward but intelligent banter between songs was totally adorable.  The show, like their acoustic performance that I saw a couple of months back at the Cutting Room, was mesmerizing.... They are on tour with Page France through December 10th.  Check 'em out at anathallo.com, myspace.com/anathallo or purevolume.com/anathallo.

Currently listening to:

The Slip "Children of December" - It's oddly about me...

Brand New "Jesus Christ" - I know the record has only been out for 2 weeks, but its already shaping up to be one of my favorites of the year.

Radiohead "Just" - This was the last song on my ipod before I left the gym this evening.  One of my all-time favs.

Bands I'm seeing this week:  Murder By Death, As Tall As Lions, Meg & Dia.