I saw Patty Griffin at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton, Massachusetts on April 21, 2007.
The opening act was perfect. Her drummer performed with his 2-person band Terremoto featuring rhythms from Brazil, Cuba, and Peru. I had driven out from the city on a Saturday afternoon after a Friday night party at my apartment. I was able to sit back, relax, and snooze a bit in semi-conscious bliss before the start of headliner. Perfect.
Patty came out by herself and started on the piano. Eventually she was joined by her five person tour band for several songs. Then the band drifted away and left her alone on stage with her guitar. The band was back for the finish and encore. Patty’s latest album “Children Running Through” has disappointed some, and her voice seems to lack the power it once had, but the depth is still there. Her voice is developing a gravelly quality with a sultriness she didn’t use to have. Patty seems more respectful of conserving range in her newer songs, and saves the power for some of the older songs. It was a wonderful show.
Production notes: There were some sound problems. The occasional feedback came out a jarring staccato that might have sent a war veteran into post traumatic stress syndrome. I am trying to determine if the music from “Chldren Running Thriugh” is featured in the new musical “10 Millsion Miles” that will be playing at the Atlantic Theatre on East 20th street in New York City.
Set list (per Patty Griffin message board):
J'irai La Vour un Jour
Another Fool
Stay On The Ride
Trapeze
Useless Desires
Burgundy Shoes
Kite
Forgiveness (!)
Mary
Cold As It Gets (!)
Be Careful With Me
When It Don't Come Easy
No Bad News
Love Throw A Line
Heavenly Day
I Don't Ever Give Up
Up To The Mountain (MLK)
Truth #2
Encore:
Wishing Well
Rain
Getting Ready
We had to go to the judges on this:
It’s not stalking if you buy a single ticket to a show because by the time you got around to going online there were no good seats left for pairs. It’s not stalking if you drive all the way from Cambridge out to Northampton by yourself because you only have one ticket.
It’s not stalking if you check into the Hotel Northampton right across the street from the Calvin Theatre because you don’t want to drive back to the city after the show and that seems most convenient.
It’s not stalking if the hotel gives you a room with a balcony overlooking both the theatre marquis and the artist’s tour bus parked along side it because the hotel told you all they had left were rooms with balconies.
It’s not stalking if you bring your binoculars to the show because lots of people use binoculars or opera glasses at concerts.
It’s not stalking if you pinch a concert poster from a newspaper kiosk after the show because that’s just a dated ad that will get replaced for the next show.
It's not stalking when you go out on your balcony after the show with the corona, limes, smoked salmon, cheese spread, and crackers you packed out from the city for a late dinner.
It’s not stalking when you are still out on your balcony at midnight when one of the guys with the band walks the artist from her tour bus over to your hotel.
It is stalking when one of the lesbian couples on the balcony leans over and shouts. “Hey, Patty, great show. Don’t get hit by a car crossing the street.”
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Taxachusetts
Q: This morning I heard on the radio that Vermont and Maine have the highest levels of combined local and state taxation. On the other hand, if you exclude Alaska, which reduces the net taxes on residents by sharing its oil revenues, New Hampshire has the lowest level of combined local and state taxation. That is of course why the radio hosts were making such a big deal out of this. But it’s also interesting to see Massachusetts below the mid-point; I’ve heard of this for years, but never had the real data before.
http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/335.html
The section of the chart that adds in the federal taxes doesn’t really surprise me – the federal taxes are directly related to the relative level of income, so they are about what you’d expect.
The web site also has some other interesting data, such as, which states pay more than they receive, and vice versa.
So much for “Taxachusetts” and other over-quoted misperceptions about taxation within the states!
A: Look at the chart from 1970-2007 http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/460.html, and you can see how the Taxachusetts label got stuck based on the experience of the 1970s and early 1980s. What you see now is certainly better, the result of Proposition 2.5 and some would say 16 years of Weld/Celluci//Swift/Romney. And what happened when Deval Patrick showed up on Beacon Hill and mumbled the words “fiscal discipline.” He was raked over the coals about his Cadillac and his drapes and his wife’s aide – by his fellow Democrats and the liberal press.
In the Midwest, the state with the high tax reputation was Minnesota, and that has remained true. More recently, Ohio has joined the high tax list. Perhaps Lydenberg has some insight into that. But there’s more to it than taxes. Massachusetts has a median household income of $52,354, compared to $48,508 for Vermont and $57,323 for New Hampshire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Income_by_state
http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/335.html
The section of the chart that adds in the federal taxes doesn’t really surprise me – the federal taxes are directly related to the relative level of income, so they are about what you’d expect.
The web site also has some other interesting data, such as, which states pay more than they receive, and vice versa.
So much for “Taxachusetts” and other over-quoted misperceptions about taxation within the states!
A: Look at the chart from 1970-2007 http://www.taxfoundation.org/taxdata/show/460.html, and you can see how the Taxachusetts label got stuck based on the experience of the 1970s and early 1980s. What you see now is certainly better, the result of Proposition 2.5 and some would say 16 years of Weld/Celluci//Swift/Romney. And what happened when Deval Patrick showed up on Beacon Hill and mumbled the words “fiscal discipline.” He was raked over the coals about his Cadillac and his drapes and his wife’s aide – by his fellow Democrats and the liberal press.
In the Midwest, the state with the high tax reputation was Minnesota, and that has remained true. More recently, Ohio has joined the high tax list. Perhaps Lydenberg has some insight into that. But there’s more to it than taxes. Massachusetts has a median household income of $52,354, compared to $48,508 for Vermont and $57,323 for New Hampshire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Income_by_state
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Settle a bet
Q: You need to settle a bet. I think that Mormonism is a real liability for Mitt Romney. I said Iowans would vote for a Jew before they would vote for a Mormon.
So in a head to head vote, who carries Iowa, Joe Lieberman or Mitt Romney?
A: That’s a tough one, but I think you need to pay up.
(1) Joe Lieberman got no delegates at the 2004 Iowa caucuses. http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/primaries/pages/states/IA/
(2) Iowa is one of the states (then a territory) the Mormons crossed on their great migration from Illinois to Utah. There could very well be more Mormons in Iowa than Jews. I can’t find the stats on that.
(3) In a ranking of "Family Values", based on marriage rate, divorce rate, suicide rate, AIDS rate data from the World Almanac of the U.S.A. Utah was ranked 4th highest in the nation (with statistics most indicative of traditional family values). The states that ranked higher by this cumulative score were Iowa, Idaho, and South Dakota. http://www.adherents.com/largecom/lds_dem.html. It’s been observed that between Romney and McCain (one divorce) and Guiliani (two divorces) it’s ironic that Romney the Mormon is the only monogamist.
(4) The religious affiliation of Iowa though largely Christian tend toward the more tolerant mainstream denominations:
Roman Catholic – 23%
Lutheran – 16%
Methodist – 13%
Baptist – 5%
Presbyterian – 3%
Pentecostal – 2%
Congregational/United Church of Christ – 2%
Other Protestant or general Protestant – 11%
Other Christian – 1%
Other Religions – 6%
Non-Religious – 13%
Did not answer – 5%
So in a head to head vote, who carries Iowa, Joe Lieberman or Mitt Romney?
A: That’s a tough one, but I think you need to pay up.
(1) Joe Lieberman got no delegates at the 2004 Iowa caucuses. http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/primaries/pages/states/IA/
(2) Iowa is one of the states (then a territory) the Mormons crossed on their great migration from Illinois to Utah. There could very well be more Mormons in Iowa than Jews. I can’t find the stats on that.
(3) In a ranking of "Family Values", based on marriage rate, divorce rate, suicide rate, AIDS rate data from the World Almanac of the U.S.A. Utah was ranked 4th highest in the nation (with statistics most indicative of traditional family values). The states that ranked higher by this cumulative score were Iowa, Idaho, and South Dakota. http://www.adherents.com/largecom/lds_dem.html. It’s been observed that between Romney and McCain (one divorce) and Guiliani (two divorces) it’s ironic that Romney the Mormon is the only monogamist.
(4) The religious affiliation of Iowa though largely Christian tend toward the more tolerant mainstream denominations:
Roman Catholic – 23%
Lutheran – 16%
Methodist – 13%
Baptist – 5%
Presbyterian – 3%
Pentecostal – 2%
Congregational/United Church of Christ – 2%
Other Protestant or general Protestant – 11%
Other Christian – 1%
Other Religions – 6%
Non-Religious – 13%
Did not answer – 5%
Sunday, April 1, 2007
2008 is starting to get interesting
I went to a John Prine show at Sanders Theatre on Saturday night. He performed the song “Grandpa was a Carpenter” that has the famous “voted for Eisenhower” line. He told the audience that someone is trying to do a political parody on his song. I did some research and found this http://www.myspace.com/americanmusicman.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
February Concert Report
Here’s the concert report.
Po’ Girl – I saw them last Thursday at Club Passim, the night after the big storm we had Valentine’s Day. A guy named JT Lindsay from Chicago opened, and he was pretty good. I got seated at a table right in front of the stage. They are Canadian, from the Vancouver music scene, and touring in a big white SunSeeker RV from Canadream.com. They said they’ve been getting lots of “You should go to Florida” as they tour around storm-ridden Canada and New England. (Alas for you, they are not going to Florida.) They played a lot of good stuff from their new CD (it was their CD release show for Home to You) and some old favorites. The band has a lot of chemistry and brings a range of instruments to play. I love their folksy bluesy sound.
Band notes: Po’ Girl is Allie, Awna, Trish, John and Diona. John, the drummer drew some comments. While hey were setting up, one of the women I was seated with remarked, “I wonder what it’s like to be the only male drummer in an all girl band. That must be interesting.” Knowing glances with her friends were exchanged when John and Awna gave each other a quick squeeze before back going on stage after the setup. Jolie Holland is not in Po’ Girl. She was in The Be Good Tanyas and then went off on her own. Trish Stein of Po’ Girl is still in The Be Good Tanyas.
Rickie Lee Jones – She played Sanders Theatre at Harvard on Saturday. She mostly did new material from her new CD, The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard. A religious theme, and very soulful. She was cool as ever. She opened alone at the piano, then brought out her full seven person band, and ended with a duo, her partner playing what appeared to be some sort of Macintosh laptop enhanced guitar. No encore. I love that she doesn’t save material for the contrived spontaneous encore.
Band notes: People commented on the hand and verbal directions Rickie Lee Jones was giving her musicians and sound guy throughout the show. It’s clear who is in charge. She reminds me of the old time band leaders, like Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller.
Po’ Girl – I saw them last Thursday at Club Passim, the night after the big storm we had Valentine’s Day. A guy named JT Lindsay from Chicago opened, and he was pretty good. I got seated at a table right in front of the stage. They are Canadian, from the Vancouver music scene, and touring in a big white SunSeeker RV from Canadream.com. They said they’ve been getting lots of “You should go to Florida” as they tour around storm-ridden Canada and New England. (Alas for you, they are not going to Florida.) They played a lot of good stuff from their new CD (it was their CD release show for Home to You) and some old favorites. The band has a lot of chemistry and brings a range of instruments to play. I love their folksy bluesy sound.
Band notes: Po’ Girl is Allie, Awna, Trish, John and Diona. John, the drummer drew some comments. While hey were setting up, one of the women I was seated with remarked, “I wonder what it’s like to be the only male drummer in an all girl band. That must be interesting.” Knowing glances with her friends were exchanged when John and Awna gave each other a quick squeeze before back going on stage after the setup. Jolie Holland is not in Po’ Girl. She was in The Be Good Tanyas and then went off on her own. Trish Stein of Po’ Girl is still in The Be Good Tanyas.
Rickie Lee Jones – She played Sanders Theatre at Harvard on Saturday. She mostly did new material from her new CD, The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard. A religious theme, and very soulful. She was cool as ever. She opened alone at the piano, then brought out her full seven person band, and ended with a duo, her partner playing what appeared to be some sort of Macintosh laptop enhanced guitar. No encore. I love that she doesn’t save material for the contrived spontaneous encore.
Band notes: People commented on the hand and verbal directions Rickie Lee Jones was giving her musicians and sound guy throughout the show. It’s clear who is in charge. She reminds me of the old time band leaders, like Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller.
Thursday, November 9, 2006
Night Wanderings
From one of our flutist correspondents:
If anyone likes interesting contemporary music... Thought I'd let you know about a cd that was just released that features as a soloist a flutist you all know!... See link.
If anyone likes interesting contemporary music... Thought I'd let you know about a cd that was just released that features as a soloist a flutist you all know!... See link.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Uncle Shaker on iTunes
I was browsing iTunes with my new iPod this weekend and saw that the Uncle Shaker CD is available to download from Apple. And that “1987” was listed as the most requested download.
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