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Made Out of Babies played NorthSix last Saturday 7/23/05. The gig went pretty well, and featured the New York City premier of their latest song "Gunt".
No, I don't know what it means! It's kind of dreamy and hypnotic in part, chaotic in others with a chugging beat.
Once again I filmed the gig, and hope to share the results with the band at some point. Picture quality came out so-so due to low, mostly red light. Sounds quality not bad, varies depending on where I was standing. As requested I tried to get some footage from towards the back to show that, yes, there is an audience at these gigs!
New, non-album tracks now in the can include Gunt, Space Patoozy, Tractor, Fed and Out (Full Version).
I'm not a music writer, but here's my take :
So did I ever mention I forgot to turn on my Microphone until half way through track 2 during Made Out of Babies set? (only twice Chris, TWICE).
Well Brendan thought the venue was maybe recording it, so on the off-chance I emailed them asking if they could send me a copy and I'd pay. I mentioned I'd driven from Brooklyn, but it seemed all pretty unlikely.
In a couple of hours they wrote back that they'd ship me a cd. How cool is that? The Lime Spider totally rocks!
Actually, let me expand on that. Good size, cheap beers and lots of choice, friendly people. Kick-ass soundsystem. If you're ever in Akron, check it out, once again, it's theLime Spider, Akron, Ohio
Update (2/12/05) The CD never arrived :-(
posted at: 16:46 | path: /moob | permanent link to this entry
So the return drive went smoothly. Nothing much to report that you wouldn't expect - bad driving, especially speeding, lots of boring fairly flat countryside in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, but much more interesting stuff further east. I think a weekends trip back to State College is called for. I particularly liked some parts of I80 between State College and the Poconos, I must look it up on the map to identify the stunning valleys and spectacular road pass cut through the sides of mountains.
The Poconos were still heavily iced this afternoon. Quite eery driving down a perfectly dry clean road with deep frozen trees bent over under their burden imploring the passers-by for help.
I managed to enter a typo strewn blog entry last night, but completely forgot about it this morning, which is why I mentioned not turning on the mic twice. Hmmm, drunken blogging, that is bound to get someone in trouble some day!
So was it worth driving a 900 mile round trip for a gig in Akron? Just for the gig, maybe not. Considering I filmed it, though, yes, I'm glad I did it. The fact I've been wanting to do a road trip in my car makes it all worthwhile. I'm not sure the footage will make a particularly good concert movie, but it's certainly going to be a record of the night, and I'm sure some of it will be reusble.
I have to mention my special McDonald's location algorithm. Leave the hotel, simply drive and take whatever random turns seem interesting, in most towns and cities, your chances are good of finding a Mickey D's. I found one in 5-7 minutes, at 10:58, so I beat the breakfast menu cut off. Two Egg McMuffins AND useful directions back to I76 had me feeling a whole lot better. The diet, as everyone says at this time of year, starts tomorrow.
The band? They're probably on stage again right now. I really hope they
make it through this week.
posted at: 22:56 | path: /moob | permanent link to this entry
I stayed out with the band until 3 something. The gig didn't go too well. Matt has a cold and was a bit off his game, Brendan's guitar was cold and went out of tune frequently as it warmed up at the gig ... and I didn't turn the mic on for a couple of tracks - gah!. Still, the turnout was good and the crowd seemed to like it. I did get some footage from the front, and boy that place has a pounding PA.
They're back in Cleveland, so I guess Akron is history, I'm outta
here asap. The weather is pretty dull. I need to get some serious miles
done before it gets dark again. And first I need breakfast...
posted at: 10:32 | path: /moob | permanent link to this entry
MooB just played the Lime Spider
They rocked.
Unfortunately, yours truly forgot to switch the mic on until half-way through their second song. Oh welk
They are staying in Cleveland, so I think this is nearly it for this strang of the blog. All that remains is a rather long drive back.
posted at: 03:08 | path: /moob | permanent link to this entry
Checked out the neighborhood of the hotel. So it started to snow. Some monster sized bars a few blocks down University Street, Harry Buffalo's, Bricco, Jillians are just some whose name I remember - some of these look like they could feed 300 people no problem. Also saw the local sports arena and a nearby ice rink. I guess this neighborhood would be jumping if it weren't off-season for college kids.
Checked out the Lime Spider
- it's about 5 minutes walk - looks fairly small, which is fine by me. On
the door is a press clipping which says the ownber prides himself on how
he treats out of town bands. That's good, as MooB's gig last night fell
through, I'm glad I didn't try to make that one.
posted at: 18:09 | path: /moob | permanent link to this entry
Arrived in Akron no problem at all. The Radisson has free wireless internet (have to get name and passsword from the front desk). So that's pretty handy.
Encountered fog, rain, ice, and saw a lot of frozen trees, many broken. Route 322 West from State College was great - superb views and swoopy roads.
The film on TNT right now is Deep Blue Sea. I manage to catch this film quite regularly. It's excellent - one of the most hilariously crappy Giant Brain Enhanced Man Eating Great White Sharks in floating deep sea research labs films I've ever seen.
Here are just a few of the problems :-
However, when you have such excellent actor-chomping mayhem after the first hour or less, who can really complain. Samuel L.Jackson's exit is one of his best ever. There's no way he can die better in the final Star Wars films. Even George Lucas would send the scene back for further work - a fish flying out of the water, manouvering mid-air to angle his mouth properly to eat a standing man whole, and then whipping backwards into the water is just ... practically optimal trash.
Oh yeah, the band? They're in Cleveland...
posted at: 16:12 | path: /moob | permanent link to this entry
A family at breakfast was staying in the hotel because power was out. They rang the power company and were told it should be back 10pm tomorrow night. They've got a little girl just about Lucy's age and one of them chased her around the dining room saying "I'm gonna getcha, I'm gonna getcha!" just like we do at home. This weekend is going to suck for them...
Off to Akron in a bit, and yes, breakfast was pretty good. Sausage and egg on english muffin, coffee, juice, cherry danish, coffee
weather : warmer than last night, just stopped raining, low-hanging
clouds making it look gloomy and a bit mysterious. Checked the car
out, this place has a tiny bit of a view, I'm looking forward to
travelling in the day today.
posted at: 10:34 | path: /moob | permanent link to this entry
Brooklyn to State College was not too bad. Trees down under the freezing rain they had earlier over the Poconos, and I nearly ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere, otherwise not bad. Lots of state troopers. I kept my speed down to just about what the trucks do.
As expected, it was possible to get most of the way here without active navigation - Brooklyn Bridge, Holland Tunnel, 7S, 9W, I280, I80, look for State College. I'm hoping Akron is just as easy.
I am connected to the hotel's free ethernet lan and thence the internet. It didn't work until I issued an HTTP request which redirected me to a page about the hotels service. The thing is, it's free to guests, so once I clicked on "configure" which was listed as costing "$0" then a quick DHCP and I was up and running. Why not remove this step?
On the whole though, it's exactly what I want. I will go to the trouble of plugging in an ethernet cable to get on the internet, and maybe even futz about as described above, long before I'll pay for wifi. Wired ethernet uses way less power and mostly has a snappier response. WiFI is only that great in unstructured locations like a coffee shop or my living room. A hotel room, though, is nothing if not structured, at least in my price range.
Next : breakfast is served 7-10, ah yes, hotel buffet breakfast when
you skipped dinner the night before. One of life's little pleasures.
posted at: 01:08 | path: /moob | permanent link to this entry
Not really, just New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Pretty far by myself in unfamiliar parts. But I'm sure it'll be fine.
Itinerary :-
But how bad could it be in a 2002 Subaru WRX sport wagon?
p.s. the batteries and tapes showed up, way to go B&H!
posted at: 22:47 | path: /moob | permanent link to this entry