Archives for August 2011

Things To Do In Philly, 8/11 Edition

August 11, 2011 by krisis

It’s back! My totally biased, totally nepotistic list of the most awesome stuff you can entertain yourself with in the greater Philadelphia area over the next week.

Take note: though these are events from my favorite artists, you have to be pretty awesome to rank on that list at all. I’m not going to send my dear readers to anything sucky. Or, at least, if I am I’m going to be clear that it might be sucky.

First, I must plug the thing that actually involves me, which I have the most power over making un-sucky:

Saturday 8/13
Who: My acoustic duo, Arcati Crisis, plus bass!
Details: 6pm, FREE & BYOB, All Fired Up, 602 Haddon Avenue, Collingswood NJ
Why? Arcati Crisis habitually enjoys a summer hiatus, but we’ll make a rare appearance outside of our rehearsal cabana to play three-ish hours of acoustic music in this awesome pottery arts studio. That’ll include the entire AC repertoire, plus a few special solo tunes. Plus wine. How can this possibly go wrong?

Now, on the rest of the next week…

Alexandra Day & Samantha Rise

Thursday, 8/11
Who: Alexandra Day & Samantha Rise-Roberson
Details: 7:30p, $10, Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd Street, Philly
Why? It physically pains me that I cannot attend this show due to rehearsal, so you should go in my place. Alexandra Day is one of my favorite songwriters in Philadelphia. I know I say that a lot, but how many other people did I ask to play the first dance at my wedding, hmm? Alex has a voice like red wine and an utterly riveting stage presence at the piano. She’ll be backed by a band on this co-bill with Samantha Rise-Roberson, a phenomenal vocalist who I highlighted on CK way back in 2008. This show is a must-see.

Thursday, 8/11
Who: Balkan Dance Party with West Philadelphia Orchestra and the Electric Simcha
Details: 10p, $5, Tritone, 1508 South, Philly
Why? WPO crosses demographics to unite street punks, hipsters, and U-City intelligencia into a frothing crowd of folk-dancing fiends. This is their monthly dance party, with special guest “Hasidic punk band” the Electric Simcha.

Friday, 8/12
Who: Mieka Pauley and Dwight & Nicole
Details: 7:30p, $10, Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd Street, Philly
Why? You may recall a certain Cosmo-contest-winning alt-folk troubadour Ms. Pauley playing in my dining room for CK’s 10th Anniversary Concert last year. There is video evidence to prove that (a) she was here, and (b) she is 100% awesomesauce. I have a whole live album of hers to mix down and release any month now. Until then, catch her in a rare Center City appearance.

Friday, 8/12
Who: York Street Hustle at World Cafe Live w/DJ Apt One
Details: 9p, $7 advance, World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut St, Philly
Why? Spend less than $10 on a Friday evening dance party with a Motown-fueled 10-piece cover band fronted by one of my Philly vocal crushes, Aaron Brown. Shall we watch them sing my favorite Marvin Gaye song? Yes, let’s:

Making Music Work: Write It Down, Pt. 1

August 10, 2011 by krisis

Keeping track of what we play is a key to getting better, faster … so why do we all avoid doing it?

Every musician wants to improve their craft. That’s why we take lessons, play scales, and rehearse! If there was a secret to saving valuable hours of rehearsal time, we’d all want to know it.

The secret isn’t a secret at all, because the answer is quite simple: write it down.

My songs were scattered across multiple notebooks and sheets of loose paper until 2006, when I organized them into a single database. Fifteen years later you can barely read the penciled lyrics in my 90s notebook.

There is no substitute for having a written record of lyrics, chords, and performance notes on how you play a song. It will help you remember your songs and can lock in all the little touches you’ve added over time.

“But,” you might protest, “I do write things down. I’ve got a notebook of lyrics, plus some files on my laptop, plus loose paper where I’ve jotted down ideas.”

That’s not what I’m talking about. “Write it down” means more than scribbling chords out on cocktail napkins. It’s about being organized. [Read more…] about Making Music Work: Write It Down, Pt. 1

Crushing On: Rad Bromance

August 10, 2011 by krisis

I make no secret that my ultimate musician’s dream is to front an acoustic Madonna cover band that includes a string quartet.

That’s not only because I’m a lifelong Madonna devotee who owns every piece of her sheet music – it’s because all well-built pop music is easy to strip down and translate into other genres, and Madge’s is some of the best-built in the business. I wish more pop was saved from the clutches of perfunctory cover bands to be played by musicians with bigger imaginations and better chops.

Case and point: last night I saw Rad Bromance, an all-male Lady Gaga via hard rock cover band.

They were exquisite.

Gaga’s chugging rhythms and minor key singles make for an easy translation to drop-D riffing, but RB went far beyond that to reconstruct each of her songs into active-rock radio behemoths, with newly conceived drum fills and wicked guitar solos, plus passages of inventive two- and three-part harmony.

In their way, Rad Bromance out-Gagas Gaga. Despite her dressing up each performance with a new concept and choreography, her only major reinterpretations so far have been stripped down tunes at the piano. While stunning, they frequently sacrifice some of her most indelible hooks in favor of dramatic formatas…which is fine – Gaga is riveting enough all on her own.

Rad Bromance is all about indelible moments. They took “Telephone” from verbatim croon on the opening verse into a body moving rap/rock thrash that eclipses the original. “Edge of Glory” and “Hair” were married to the histrionic hair rock that pervades Born This Way, the exact melodies accentuated with extra harmony and guitar solos. “Love Game” didn’t lose its syncopation but was full of chest-thumping kick drum. “Alejandro” became a torch song for metal-heads. Closer “Poker Face” included one minute long unison trio tapping solo – yes, including bassist Brad Bowers.

Most impressive? Rad Bromance is a young band. Rhythm guitarist Dan Geraghty is barely legal to drive, and I’m not sure I could have bought any of them a drink. And it must be said, RB’s lead guitarist Chris Greatti is one of the better soloists I’ve ever seen live – aggressive but restrained at all the right moments. Mike Montalbano is monstrous on drums – I kept checking to see if he had a double kick (results: inconclusive).

That you can see Rad Bromance for a tenner in a bar instead of playing to a few thousand people in Vegas is mind-boggling. The quality and fidelity of their performance is incredible, and they’ll only continue to improve. If you live in the vicinity of Philadelphia and love Lady Gaga’s hooks (even if you don’t like Gaga herself) they are worth a hefty drive to see.

Lady Gaga needs to look them up and plug them into a few tracks on her next tour.

(My suggestion? Have them play on “Marry the Night,” which is practically a Pat Benatar song already, or “Government Hooker,” which screams for a transgressive pounding rock arrangement.)

PS: Catch the band on the remainder of their Monsters Balls tour – 8/11 Strousdberg PA, 8/12 Hamden CT, 8/13 Rockville Centre NY, & 9/2 Foxboro MA.

X-Men Collected Editions Review, July 2011

August 9, 2011 by krisis

Here’s a recap of the newest X-Men hardcover and trade paperback collected editions from the blogger who owns almost every one ever published! Let me tell you, that’s a lot of collected comics!

Since this is my first column, I’m going to recap new releases from the whole month of July. Whether you’re a major X-Fan or a casual reader, I’ll tell you what’s worth picking up. If you have any questions, just let me know – I own the vast majority of these books, and I’m happy to help.

This is a supplement to my Definitive Guide to Collection X-Men in Graphic Novels, which tells you how you can buy any X-issue ever printed. Ever. But if you’re new to X-Men in comics form, you should read my recent Intro to X-Men (on a budget) post.

xXx

Collection of the Month:
Daken/X-23: Collision HC
Collects Daken: Dark Wolverine #5-9, X-23 #7-9, and the Daken/X-23 story from Wolverine: Road to Hell.

CK Says: Buy it! This hardcover has some heft to it in both page count and story, and it doesn’t require a lot of prior knowledge to enjoy. It introduces Wolverine’s amoral, bisexual, illegitimate, villainous offspring Daken to the criminal underworld of Madripoor. Meanwhile, Wolverine’s increasingly-less amoral, teenage, female clone X-23 and her chaperone Gambit wind up on Madripoor’s shores as well, hunting a connection to the Weapon X program.

The result? Much blood and claws, huge explosions, Daken doing his typical double- and triple-crossing, and some truly sumptuous art. (Also available for pre-order as a TPB)

xXx

What other books came out in the July, including a fan-favorite Wolverine book I consider a “must-skip”? [Read more…] about X-Men Collected Editions Review, July 2011

Better (excerpt) – Arcati Crisis, Live @ Rehearsal

August 9, 2011 by krisis

I keep crowing about how we have a new bass player in Arcati Crisis, but what I have been slightly mum on is that Jake the Bassman is also a formidable singer. He was the other baritone in our erstwhile professional acappella group, and one of my go-to companions for heading out to open mic nights.

Gina and I being the hardcore harmony freebasing addicts that we are, it was only a matter of time until we used Jake to upgrade one of our duets to three-part harmony.

Behold, our first successful attempt on “Better,” with harmony as arranged by Arcati Crisis with the help of my dear wife, E:

When I first started learning to play music I had a free guitar tab notation program, and I would spend endless hours entering my favorite songs into it. In many cases I was notating them in ways that would be unplayable by one, two, or even three guitars.

I didn’t care. I wanted to hear the harmony. I would set the midi patch on “vocal oohs” and pretend that a group of singers were crooning the song back at me. How amazing, I thought, that people could make chords with their voices like I do on my guitar.

(This perhaps explains my obsession with acappella groups.)

That version of Peter barely knew what notes were portrayed on a treble clef, and couldn’t hit one if his life depended on it.

Fifteen years later, three part harmony, exactly like my speakers sang to me back in the 90s.

I love making past versions of me proud to be grown up :)