If you've read the blog with any regularity, you know I'm a James Taylor fan. Well, no his new album, Covers, is available for pre-order on Amazon
I Wish They All Could Be Celtic Women
I try to live by certain rules. Do unto others, never get involved in a land war in Asia or go against a Sicilian when death is on the line, don't interfere with a normal, living culture, and, of course, don't buy Christmas presents before Thanksgiving. After all, you can't complain that Christmas decorations are almost showing up before Halloween if you participate in the madness.
So we went out to dinner and then to EJ Thomas Hall, where the Celtic Women were performing. I've heard their PBS concerts and liked them a lot. In fact, PBS got me the tickets. I pledged some money in one during one of their incessant pledge drives and got what were promised to be "excellent"" tickets. They were, in fact, excellent tickets. Tenth row, just off to stage left. Not bad at all.
The concert was very good. My mom said she liked going to a show where she knew all the words. I didn't, especially since I trip on some of the Gaelic songs. With those, I could have the lyrics in front of me and not be able to follow along. But, it was a great show. All five Celtic Women did a great job, and EJ Thomas Hall is a great place to see a show. I would have bought a CD there, but I'd already done so back in LA some months back. Man, I loves me that Amoeba Music.
It was also nice to hang out with my Mom for a while. She's busy in a way that makes me look like a slacker, and is probably where I get my maximum burn lifestyle from. We talked of many things: The impending writers' strike, her job, my job, home equity loans, brothers and, of course, Ireland, where we should both be returning to next summer.
I recommend seeing The Women if they're coming into your neck of the woods. But even if they're not, that doesn't mean you can't take your Mom out.
Why Am I Just Finding Out About This Now?
In the wake of the recently announced Spider-Man musical, I've found out that the long-talked about Batman musical is a dead project.
So imagine my surprise to find out that Steinman actually wrote some songs for it, and posted the demos on his website. He cribbed one of them, "Angels Arise" for Dance of the Vampires. From what he writes on his site, he wasn't a fan of that production, and being one of the eighteen people who saw it, I can't say I blame him. I enjoyed it, but I freely admit it wasn't good.
Still, it would have been interesting. It was clearly based on the Tim Burton movie (one of the songs is "Wonderful Toys") but included Catwoman and, interestingly, had a young Selina Kyle as a witness to the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents by the Joker. I wouldn't want to see them adapt it to the comics, but it is an interesting way to tie those three characters together.
At least one of the songs, "In the Land of the Pig, the Butcher is King" appears on Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell III.
Wasn't Icemaiden From There Too?
I, like everyone else on the planet, have a list of “things I’ve been meaning to do.” One of them is to use Cleveland’s House of Blues a little more.
I’ve always liked the House. I’ve been to the ones in Orlando, New Orleans, Los Angeles, and of course, Cleveland. The place has a great vibe. They do a great job of bringing in a mix of smaller acts and big name people. Here at Cleveland’s HOB, they have two rooms, the larger Music Hall, and the smaller, more intimate Cambridge Room.
I’ve wanted to go to more things there, to try out more new music, a lot more often. Otherwise, it’s one of those things that you always talk about, but never go to. Like the Rock Hall, which I only visit when I have visitors from out fo town.
So I got this e-mail from the House about a quartet called Amiina coming to town. They’re from Iceland, and just sounded interesting. I called my brother Mike, who’s got pretty ecelctic tastes in music himself. I knew he’d be up for something different.
The show was this past Sunday night at 9:00pm. Honestly, I thought that was a little late for a Sunday night. I don’t have to get up in the morning, but my brother still works for The Man, so his morning call was a little earlier than mine. I let him know that if it got too late, or he just didn’t like the band, that we could go, too.
Like most shows, the opening act started half an hour late. The opening act was a guitarist by the name of Tom Rosseau. He had kind of a folk/country vibe to him. He was a little nasaly for my tastes, but he played guitar very well. I didn’t mind seeing him, but I’m not rushing out to buy his CD, either.
Anmiina started around 10:30. Their music has a very unique flavor to it. It’s similar to Enya I suppose, kind of new age, and very ethereal. I liked it a lot. The quartet used a variety of instruments from violins and cellos to saws and water glasses to make their sound. The ladies themselves didn’t seem comfortable on stage. They trade and switched instruments and locations a lot, so maybe the stage was a little small for them.
The foursome consisted of:
María Huld Markan - violin
Hildur Ársælsdóttir - violin
Edda Rún Ólafsdóttir - viola
Sólrún Sumarliðadóttir - cello
Man, I love Nordic names.
The big problem was the group of four people at the bar in the back of the room who just wouldn’t shut up. Like I said, the Cambridge Room is small, and there were maybe forty people in there. And while Amiina’s music was loud enough, the light, wordless music wasn’t enough to fill the room to drown those people out. After about four songs, someone who I think might be the band’s manager, got them thrown out. The concert was much better after that.
The ladies announced that they’d play a couple more songs, but it got late enough that Brother Mike needed to leave. That was fine, and we decided liked their music enough to buy a CD on the way out. Except there was no one at the table. That was a bit of a misstep, too. I would have thought that they might have realized that people may leave before the show, and they should have the table up and running.
Those quibbles aside, it was a good show and I found a new CD to check out. The band seems to have eighteen different websites and two names, but here’s the official one, at least according to the HOB website.