on a generous day

i was told that when stars like fleas was told about the trouble tonic was having, they said to just make their night a benefit night. i hope more musicians playing will do the same, because there's a lot of money to raise before they're out of the woods.

at least there was a good turnout this past friday for SLF and doveman, whom i had seen before. this time, shannon from SLF sat in on noise guitar, while the excellent banjo player (shown below) sat in on violin with SLF. both sets were good, but headliners SLF have now mastered the art of not stopping between songs, instead melting into a sea of experimental improv that actually makes sense as segues rather than sounding like filler. every show they play makes me anticipate their new CD more, as well as appreciate their last one more.



after the main show, we were all made to clear out and pay for re-entry to the event originally scheduled for the bunker at subtonic. there was apparently fear of flooding, so the show was moved upstairs. good thing it was, because it ended up being completely packed and sold out. i'm guessing this was due to the past associations the artists had with einsturzende neubauten and the orb, but i could be wrong. thomas fehlmann turned in an amazing set of music with his laptop (although he didn't do much if anything"live", in this case it was so good i didn't care). the DJs warmed up the crowd before him and got people moving and staying long after he left the stage. a long night, but totally worth it.

it looks like there'll be more good things to go to while trying to save one of the best alternative music venues in the city. this coming wednesday the interestingly named folktronica artist t. griffin coraline will be playing along with the dark alt-country/cabaret-sounding melomane. i'm sure i'll go see vincent gallo again, since i liked his show last year and i have both his albums on warp (which is a strange combination, considering what the music sounds like). but the big deal (and high-ticket) event is yoko ono and sean lennon playing together. i'm not even aware of yoko doing live music shows at all, at least not since john was alive, although she does continue to release albums and create conceptual art.


the title of this post comes from a stars like fleas song, and refers to the money i spent at tonic.