Sometimes you simply have to get out of town, even if it's just for an evening.
One of my favorite new bands, Fanfarlo, was playing at the Norva tonight, so I invited a friend to join me for a night in Norfolk.
The drive down gave us a chance to talk about the kind of things you only discuss once and never mention again.
You know.
A Facebook friend had suggested we eat at Empire, next to the charming Tazwell Hotel, and since I'd eaten there before and really enjoyed it, we took the suggestion.
It's a tiny place with a fully visible kitchen and the bartender immediately wanted to be friends.
He was unapologetically playing pure '80s music and my friend about lost it upon hearing Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam.
It's the little things that make an evening.
As we endlessly scanned the wine list, the bartender tried to help us along by supplying his thoughts, like "The Pinot Noir is a nice light-bodied choice."
And the Malbec, I inquired? "Oh, that's just down and dirty," he grinned. "It's my favorite."
Sold!
Dirty was just where we wanted to go tonight.
Empire is a tapas place, so many small plates followed, all outstanding.
The two salads, one lump crab with arugula, goat cheese and lemon pepper dressing and the other watercress, jicama and orange with pickled peppers and honey vinaigrette, were probably the highlight; they couldn't have tasted fresher.
I had a black bean and lump crab cake with sweet corn hash and truffle scallion aioli and my friend got the petite fillet of beef with fried goat cheese and a lemon risotto cake.
We shared the orange seared asparagus with toasted hazelnuts. Had the hazelnuts been a dish by themselves, we'd have gotten them.
Sitting to my right at the bar were a couple who may have qualified for hipster status in Norfolk, but would never have passed in RVA
I overheard their discussion of the two cities ("Yea, I tried Richmond for a while, but it just wasn't the same," he told her. "I had to come back here." My condolences, friend.)
It's just my opinion, but Norfolk feels pretty souless and, as my friend pointed out, kind of like one big mall.
We walked over to the Norva, making sure we got there in time for opener Lawrence Arabia, a folky/psychedelic kind of group.
They delivered a short but interesting set, drawing from everyone from the Byrds to Big Star.
They're from New Zealand so they had great accents and attitudes; we particularly enjoyed the lyrics to one of their songs:
We love each other
We hate each other
We're afraid of each other
Cause we want to screw each other
Friend and I agreed that those lyrics reminded us of certain cliques in Richmond.
We were sorry to see them leave the stage.
Except that that meant it was time for Fanfarlo and their exceptional and eclectic sound.
I'm not going to rave too much about them because I did that last fall when I first saw them live, here.
My friend had only a glancing familiarity with them, but I had every confidence that the beautiful vocals (every single band member sings), variety of instrumentation (melodica, xylophone, clarinet, mandolin, fiddle, trumpet besides the usual drum, bass, guitar) and sincerity would be enough to make a fan.
And it was. "They are an awesome live band," was her final proclamation.
Early on in the show, one of the band members observed that, "This venue is like America, vast and wide open. Please populate the front."
It was true; in a 1500-person venue, there were, maybe, 100 people.
I'd seen them play the 150-person Iota last fall and it not only sold out, there was a line around the block disappointed at not being able to get in.
But Norfolk is a strange town and what rocks Richmond or DC doesn't necessarily fly there.
It worked out well in that it was a far more comfortable show than when I last saw them squeezed between humanity, but their beautiful sound deserved a more intimate setting.
They're playing Bonnaroo this year and I wonder if the crowd will be able to hear that sonic beauty in a field of thousands.
But that's not my problem.
Our problem had been a need to get out of town and enjoy ourselves like we were on vacation, with no familiar faces around.
We had a terrific meal set to '80s music, followed by some of the most interesting and beautiful music made in the last year.
Driving home completely satisfied, we had a chance to finish our earlier chat about the unmentionable topics.
Or as my friend said, "These things must stay in Norfolk."
At least until the next road trip east.
Showing posts with label fanfarlo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fanfarlo. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Eating and Listening Ipanema-Style
Tonight was the twelfth installment of the year long series of the Live at Ipanema shows. That' s a full year of monthly shows featuring some of the top talent in the area playing free shows and being recorded every month. If you haven't caught one of these shows, you'd better have a good excuse, that's all I can say.
It's too tempting not to start the evening with a meal at Ipanema, so I did. My friend and I found prime viewing spots at the bar and ordered our meal. We began with beet salad, superior to many because of the thinness of the beet slices, the abundance of the goat cheese and the perfection of the vinaigrette.
I wanted the herbed polenta with an oyster mushroom ragout and roasted root veggies and she got the salmon. I loved the contrast of the bready polenta with the succulent mushrooms and surrounded by root veggies, a personal favorite.
Dessert was the brownie a la mode for me and the gluten-free strawberry cake for her. Mine took longer to finish, but I tasted hers and it was just as good. That pink icing more than made up for any absence of flour.
Tonight's band was Seas, who said they hailed from D.C. and rva; as one who has lived in both places, I was willing to give them a shot based solely on that. Before the show, the bass player Peter and I discussed the changes in D.C. in the past twenty years and agreed that it was no longer the same place it once was; in fact, in many ways, Richmond is far superior. It's always satisfying to find a kindred soul to discuss Adams Morgan and Chinatown in the old days.
The music, I had been warned, was heavily 70s-influenced in a John Fahey-kind of way. We weren't long into the set when that became apparent. In fact, I'd pinpoint it even further by saying that the band listened to a lot of Neil Young and Crazy Horse to arrive at this sound. But they were also twenty-somethings, which meant that when they paid tribute to Mark Linkous, what we heard was Sparklehorse filtered through Dinosaur, Jr.; it was an interesting rock lineage.
I ran into a music-obsessed friend and her partner, which gave us a chance to catch up on our recent music geekdom; turns out we'll meet again soon at the Canal Club. There were literary lions there as well; Richmond Noir is continuing to sell like gangbusters and those who still do not have a copy would be well advised to head on over to Chop Suey to correct that.
And best of all, I finally met Brandon Peck, the artist behind the silk-screen print that hangs framed in my living room (he's also in Mouthbreather I learned). But he's not just notable for his artistic talent; turns out he was at the same Fanfarlo show at the Iota as I was. Finally, another Fanfarlo fan with whom I could gush about their amazingness.
A secondary highlight of the evening was that finally signs were put up informing the audience that the show was being recorded and to shut the hell up. It was a pleasure to enjoy the music without the usual loud, drunken chatter for a change. Heading into the second year of this outstanding series, we can expect an ever-more-respectful audience, which benefits both the musicians and us.
So if you haven't gotten yourself off the couch to enjoy some excellent vegetarian food followed by free music, next month's event is the one-year anniversary and there's no telling what kinds of surprises are in order. At the very least cake and superior sounds, but the potential is actually much greater. Of course, you'll never know if you're not there.
And, yes, I'll be there and report back, but that's just not the same. Experiencing it yourself is really so much better. Besides, then you can challenge my take on it. What do I know, after all?
It's too tempting not to start the evening with a meal at Ipanema, so I did. My friend and I found prime viewing spots at the bar and ordered our meal. We began with beet salad, superior to many because of the thinness of the beet slices, the abundance of the goat cheese and the perfection of the vinaigrette.
I wanted the herbed polenta with an oyster mushroom ragout and roasted root veggies and she got the salmon. I loved the contrast of the bready polenta with the succulent mushrooms and surrounded by root veggies, a personal favorite.
Dessert was the brownie a la mode for me and the gluten-free strawberry cake for her. Mine took longer to finish, but I tasted hers and it was just as good. That pink icing more than made up for any absence of flour.
Tonight's band was Seas, who said they hailed from D.C. and rva; as one who has lived in both places, I was willing to give them a shot based solely on that. Before the show, the bass player Peter and I discussed the changes in D.C. in the past twenty years and agreed that it was no longer the same place it once was; in fact, in many ways, Richmond is far superior. It's always satisfying to find a kindred soul to discuss Adams Morgan and Chinatown in the old days.
The music, I had been warned, was heavily 70s-influenced in a John Fahey-kind of way. We weren't long into the set when that became apparent. In fact, I'd pinpoint it even further by saying that the band listened to a lot of Neil Young and Crazy Horse to arrive at this sound. But they were also twenty-somethings, which meant that when they paid tribute to Mark Linkous, what we heard was Sparklehorse filtered through Dinosaur, Jr.; it was an interesting rock lineage.
I ran into a music-obsessed friend and her partner, which gave us a chance to catch up on our recent music geekdom; turns out we'll meet again soon at the Canal Club. There were literary lions there as well; Richmond Noir is continuing to sell like gangbusters and those who still do not have a copy would be well advised to head on over to Chop Suey to correct that.
And best of all, I finally met Brandon Peck, the artist behind the silk-screen print that hangs framed in my living room (he's also in Mouthbreather I learned). But he's not just notable for his artistic talent; turns out he was at the same Fanfarlo show at the Iota as I was. Finally, another Fanfarlo fan with whom I could gush about their amazingness.
A secondary highlight of the evening was that finally signs were put up informing the audience that the show was being recorded and to shut the hell up. It was a pleasure to enjoy the music without the usual loud, drunken chatter for a change. Heading into the second year of this outstanding series, we can expect an ever-more-respectful audience, which benefits both the musicians and us.
So if you haven't gotten yourself off the couch to enjoy some excellent vegetarian food followed by free music, next month's event is the one-year anniversary and there's no telling what kinds of surprises are in order. At the very least cake and superior sounds, but the potential is actually much greater. Of course, you'll never know if you're not there.
And, yes, I'll be there and report back, but that's just not the same. Experiencing it yourself is really so much better. Besides, then you can challenge my take on it. What do I know, after all?
Thursday, December 31, 2009
My Favorite Music of 2009
I'm finally posting my Best Music of 2009 list, complete with justifications and occasional long-winded back stories. Five of the bands on my list I also saw live in 2009 (and three of them prior to that) and several others are on my wish list for seeing live in 2010. So here goes:
Fanfarlo: Reservoir because I think this album is flawless start to finish. There's not a weak song on it and it's an amazing debut for a band with the ability to play any and every instrument. I will always feel fortunate to have seen them with only 100 other devoted fans at the tiny Iota.
Passion Pit: Manners because no one reinvents 70s dance music so well. Also, for its back story; any band whose starting point is a guy writing a collection of songs for his girlfriend for Valentine's Day is a guy I want to listen to. A real shame that more people weren't at this show.
Neko Case: Middle Cyclone because she's Neko Case. Because she deigns to sing for us. Because she's had a hard time with her love life. Just because of that voice. I saw her twice this year, if that tells you anything.
The Decemberists: Hazards of Love because who else wrote a rock opera on this most intimate of subjects in 2009? Because even though seeing them in early 2007 was a far more transcendental experience than this year's show, they have a gift that no one else does.
Grizzly Bear: Vekatimest because of their unique acoustic sound and to-die-for vocal harmonies. Their combination of psychedelic, pop and folk is incredibly alluring to me, especially live, even if Norva crowds are obnoxious.
Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs because a band that can remain this creative after 25 years together is doing a whole lot right. Yes, you could call them shoegaze or noise pop and definitely experimental, but they never cease to impress me. And their live show in C-ville last year with its listening room environment is forever etched in my head.
Muse: Uprising because they make an amazing amount of sound for just three skinny Brits. Their symphonic (bombastic even) sound is unlike anything else I regularly listen to. I saw them back in 2007 at W & M and lamented that they were only the opening band.
Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion because someone needs to move the neo-psychedelic banner forward and these guys are just the ones to do it. Listening to this album is an exercise in pure sound and endless texture, no drug enhancement needed.
Great Lake Swimmers: Lost Channels because I love this whole folk resurgence going on now. GLS make pretty music and I mean that in the most complimentary way. Their incredible harmonies are the stuff of lost love and hope.
The XX: The Xx because of its spare sound, haunting male and female vocalists and because it's night time music. Listening to this album is like having an audio dream. I'd like to take it out of my CD player and give it a rest, but I can't bring myself to do it.
My only entry in the Best EP category is Bon Iver's Blood Bank and I include it for sentimental reasons. When I first discovered Bon Iver last year, it was the full-length "For Emma, Forever Ago" which took on a whole new meaning for me after the personal trauma of my life early this year.
Musician Justin Vernon created that album as a way of dealing with the breakup of his band, his relationship and being sick with mononucleosis.
Since I had been laid off, dumped and hospitalized for pneumonia, I could seriously relate to his pain.
He created heartfelt music in order to stay sane and I'm still trying to figure out what I can create to do the same. Blood Bank is his most beautiful song to date, hence the EP's inclusion here.
I know my list would not match another human being's on the planet and I'm okay with that. I took a lot of pleasure from these albums in 2009 and, god knows, I needed it.
Music and love are the essentials of life and since one was absent from mine, the other took on an even greater importance.
So thank you to these musicians for giving me part of what I needed in 2009.
Fanfarlo: Reservoir because I think this album is flawless start to finish. There's not a weak song on it and it's an amazing debut for a band with the ability to play any and every instrument. I will always feel fortunate to have seen them with only 100 other devoted fans at the tiny Iota.
Passion Pit: Manners because no one reinvents 70s dance music so well. Also, for its back story; any band whose starting point is a guy writing a collection of songs for his girlfriend for Valentine's Day is a guy I want to listen to. A real shame that more people weren't at this show.
Neko Case: Middle Cyclone because she's Neko Case. Because she deigns to sing for us. Because she's had a hard time with her love life. Just because of that voice. I saw her twice this year, if that tells you anything.
The Decemberists: Hazards of Love because who else wrote a rock opera on this most intimate of subjects in 2009? Because even though seeing them in early 2007 was a far more transcendental experience than this year's show, they have a gift that no one else does.
Grizzly Bear: Vekatimest because of their unique acoustic sound and to-die-for vocal harmonies. Their combination of psychedelic, pop and folk is incredibly alluring to me, especially live, even if Norva crowds are obnoxious.
Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs because a band that can remain this creative after 25 years together is doing a whole lot right. Yes, you could call them shoegaze or noise pop and definitely experimental, but they never cease to impress me. And their live show in C-ville last year with its listening room environment is forever etched in my head.
Muse: Uprising because they make an amazing amount of sound for just three skinny Brits. Their symphonic (bombastic even) sound is unlike anything else I regularly listen to. I saw them back in 2007 at W & M and lamented that they were only the opening band.
Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion because someone needs to move the neo-psychedelic banner forward and these guys are just the ones to do it. Listening to this album is an exercise in pure sound and endless texture, no drug enhancement needed.
Great Lake Swimmers: Lost Channels because I love this whole folk resurgence going on now. GLS make pretty music and I mean that in the most complimentary way. Their incredible harmonies are the stuff of lost love and hope.
The XX: The Xx because of its spare sound, haunting male and female vocalists and because it's night time music. Listening to this album is like having an audio dream. I'd like to take it out of my CD player and give it a rest, but I can't bring myself to do it.
My only entry in the Best EP category is Bon Iver's Blood Bank and I include it for sentimental reasons. When I first discovered Bon Iver last year, it was the full-length "For Emma, Forever Ago" which took on a whole new meaning for me after the personal trauma of my life early this year.
Musician Justin Vernon created that album as a way of dealing with the breakup of his band, his relationship and being sick with mononucleosis.
Since I had been laid off, dumped and hospitalized for pneumonia, I could seriously relate to his pain.
He created heartfelt music in order to stay sane and I'm still trying to figure out what I can create to do the same. Blood Bank is his most beautiful song to date, hence the EP's inclusion here.
I know my list would not match another human being's on the planet and I'm okay with that. I took a lot of pleasure from these albums in 2009 and, god knows, I needed it.
Music and love are the essentials of life and since one was absent from mine, the other took on an even greater importance.
So thank you to these musicians for giving me part of what I needed in 2009.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Fanfarlo at the Iota Club: Amazing
My dear Fanfarlo, despite having enthusiastically introduced you to no less than five music-loving friends, no one fell hard for you like I did. I don't pretend to understand it, but it's their loss. I became your devoted servant in June when you offered up your phenomenal first album "Reservoir" for $1.00 until July 4th. I downloaded it, couldn't find a bad or weak song and put it on repeat for an embarrassing amount of time. So you can imagine my excitement when I learned only last weekend that you'd be playing the Iota Club tonight.
As for you, Iota, what's with the no advance ticket sales? If I'd driven the two hours to Arlington only to be turned away at the door, I think I would have cried or thrown a bit of a temper tantrum. Instead, I just arrived early, ate (flank steak over mixed greens with pears, candied walnuts and gorgonzola) and drank (Kluge Estate Simply Red) at the cafe and got my hand stamped before the line outside fully formed. The club was small; according to the bartender, it holds, "like a hundred people" although I also heard a guy behind me say he was officially number 184 and then they started turning people away. I was four people from the stage, so I thought its size was perfect.
Openers Freelance Whales with their dreamy pop and multitude of instruments were clearly chosen to complement Fanfarlo, playing, among others, harmonium, glockenspiel and banjo. Their use of multiple vocals, male and female, set the tone for the evening.
And then there was Fanfarlo, in beautiful voice and playing mandolins, clarinets, trumpets and, not to be outdone, glockenspiel. Their songs build rhythmically, symphonically and with enough melancholy for the entire audience to wallow in. And it was an audience who knew most of the words.
And those lyrics! After downloading the CD, I used their songs lyrics for blog post titles for months (among the many: Awake and Barely on My Feet, The Here and Now is Coming Round, Waiting for the Signal, Up on the Roof Again, Can You Hear the Beat, It's How I'll Know- It's Where I'll Go) just because the songs had earwormed themselves into my head and I needed to share. Of course, no one reading my blog would have ever recognized Fanfarlo lyrics in blog titles, except me.
I found a talkative music lover to share the show with. He lives two blocks from the Iota and hadn't even heard of the band before he saw their name on the schedule. He went online to check them out, was completely sold and there he was at the show, amazed that I'd known of them since June.
I had mentioned this show to a couple of people, hoping to find someone to accompany me; no one was interested. At the show tonight, my new music-lover friend agreed that, down the road, when the masses have caught on to Fanfarlo, this early career show for 100+ people will be the envy of all our music geek friends.
Too bad for them. They were asked.
As for you, Iota, what's with the no advance ticket sales? If I'd driven the two hours to Arlington only to be turned away at the door, I think I would have cried or thrown a bit of a temper tantrum. Instead, I just arrived early, ate (flank steak over mixed greens with pears, candied walnuts and gorgonzola) and drank (Kluge Estate Simply Red) at the cafe and got my hand stamped before the line outside fully formed. The club was small; according to the bartender, it holds, "like a hundred people" although I also heard a guy behind me say he was officially number 184 and then they started turning people away. I was four people from the stage, so I thought its size was perfect.
Openers Freelance Whales with their dreamy pop and multitude of instruments were clearly chosen to complement Fanfarlo, playing, among others, harmonium, glockenspiel and banjo. Their use of multiple vocals, male and female, set the tone for the evening.
And then there was Fanfarlo, in beautiful voice and playing mandolins, clarinets, trumpets and, not to be outdone, glockenspiel. Their songs build rhythmically, symphonically and with enough melancholy for the entire audience to wallow in. And it was an audience who knew most of the words.
And those lyrics! After downloading the CD, I used their songs lyrics for blog post titles for months (among the many: Awake and Barely on My Feet, The Here and Now is Coming Round, Waiting for the Signal, Up on the Roof Again, Can You Hear the Beat, It's How I'll Know- It's Where I'll Go) just because the songs had earwormed themselves into my head and I needed to share. Of course, no one reading my blog would have ever recognized Fanfarlo lyrics in blog titles, except me.
I found a talkative music lover to share the show with. He lives two blocks from the Iota and hadn't even heard of the band before he saw their name on the schedule. He went online to check them out, was completely sold and there he was at the show, amazed that I'd known of them since June.
I had mentioned this show to a couple of people, hoping to find someone to accompany me; no one was interested. At the show tonight, my new music-lover friend agreed that, down the road, when the masses have caught on to Fanfarlo, this early career show for 100+ people will be the envy of all our music geek friends.
Too bad for them. They were asked.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
