Real Low Vibe

Spoon has released a video for “Written in Reverse”, their first single from Transference.

It’s a fairly basic concept on paper: band performs the song live in a studio, filmed in black and white. What changes it, and makes me terribly jealous that I didn’t think of it before now, is the use of a mirror. By shooting them playing very close to a large mirror-lined wall, there’s never a bad angle to catch an interesting image. (Well, except for seeing Jim, who’s practically nonexistent behind the kit.) Also, they do a great job of keeping the cameras out of shot, which looks to be a result of using specific angles and careful editing. Nicely done!

Historian Howard Zinn has passed away, age 87.

The People Speak: Howard Zinn on Moyers Journal

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

I really can’t gather adequate, articulate words right now as I try to grasp what it will mean to no longer have Zinn’s voice quietly and assuredly pointing out truth. It will make watching the State of the Union in a few hours markedly more difficult.

In celebration of this updated website and the new record Transference (you don’t have a copy yet? for shame! click here to fix that,)  follow the link below for my wee video clip from last month’s Spoon show at the Crystal Ballroom – and what a lovely faux birthday weekend it was.

Enjoy!

Trouble Comes Running (partial)

Nope, I’ve not abandoned this place, not yet anyway. I took the summer away, because frankly, summer here is all too short and this particular one was the most blindingly sunny, steamy summer I’ve seen in Seattle yet. Combined with a growing pile of work, travel, visits from family and friends, and the ever-present call of beach across the street, the lure of the actual world outside proved too much.

To tide you over until I can do more here, I’m posting these two impressive videos of The Walkmen filmed in September at Monolith Festival by the kind folks at Laundromatinee. The Walkmen were at the center of my summer soundtrack, and it feels just right to share them here as we creep further into autumn. Now, if they’d append Seattle to their current tour…

The Walkmen – Four Provinces from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

The Walkmen – On The Water from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.