I got called out, and I was found lacking.

So Brian Mark, the Nerd God, sent me a link to a Nerd Quiz, and he expected me to be a bigger nerd. I am humbled* in the nerd community now and might have to report for re-education. Hopefully my employers won't find out before my upcoming performance review.

{* In my defense, I must go on the record stating that I feel the quiz did not take into account my own special type of "nerdom". I am a nerd of many stripes, and many quirks, and I believe I transcend standardized tests such as these.}

The Violent Femmes and Bill Hoover at Stir

So, I finally got to scratch off another seminal band from my to see list. Friday night I saw the Violent Femmes, and with them, I got see my good friend Bill Hoover play. I had to sit about as far from the stage as is possible at the outdoor venue, since the grass was still so wet from the rain that my shoes squished with every step. The hill was dry enough that the blanket didn't even soak through so Victoria and I managed to stay dry. I brought my camera, but didn't figure out the manual settings until the Femmes came out. Even so, I'll include some crappily artistic photos of Bill and Lincoln Dickinson playing.
Bill's set was quite good, reminding me of all those years ago at Kilgore's acoustic nights where you would get to see Bill, Simon Joyner, Conor Oberst, Alex McManus and a host of other Omaha's developing talents. He even pulled out the musical description he used so often in the Darktown House Band... "This is a song about heartbreak and loss." All in all, a strong opening for the Femmes.

The Violent Femmes, masters of youthful angst on their first album. A distinctive mixture of punk and folk. How could you not love them? Anyway, they played a great set, they had fun reinterpreting some of their staples and they managed to confuse a lot of people who were only there to hear "Add it Up" and "Blister in the Sun". The Femmes were in great voice and great form. Stir managed to impress me with their sound once again, and I sincerely hope Stir will be as adventurous next summer as they were this one. Here are a couple of shots of the Femmes set... as you can see I got better with the shots, even as far as you can get from the stage and still be a paying customer.

All photos © 2006 Matt Griffith, Omaha NE

Omaha in the late summer with the Flaming Lips

So I've spent a little time this summer at some concerts that I feel should be written about. Both of the concerts I'll be writing about today were outdoors in Council Bluffs, IA at Harrah's Stir Cove. Being a person not big on casinos and often not enjoying outdoor shows, I must admit that Stir Cove is a very nice place to see shows, as long as it hasn't been raining too much.

In late August I was fortunate enough to see the Flaming Lips (again), Sonic Youth (first time) and the Magic Numbers (also first time). I was very pleasantly surprised by the Magic Numbers, enough so that I bought their self-titled debut CD. Their CD is more nuanced than the live show, more delicate. Regardless, both were very nice pop songs (not the modern definition of pop) with nice use of vocal harmonies. I enjoy both views I have gotten of this band and look forward to more. Sonic Youth was very nice to finally see live. I've been a fan of the band for about 15 years, and they do not disappoint. Feedback and noise litter the soundscape interspersed with real beauty and emotion, a great set.

The Flaming Lips have been a passion of mine since I was a DJ at KRUI in Iowa City back in 1990-91. I remember the first time I saw, and played, In a Priest Driven Ambulance. The vinyl was a pink marble, it literally looked like a pink marble bowling ball had been flattened and turned into a record. That record will always have a special place in my heart, for one it is the Lips at their most challenging, just getting to the point that they were leaving behind jams and starting to show their true brilliance.

Over the years I have seen the Lips four times, and what a progression it has been to see. The first time was in Columbia, Missouri at the Blue Note, a beautiful old theatre turned into a great venue. It was between the releases of In a Priest Driven Ambulance and Hit to Death in the Future Head. There was a delay on the release of Hit to Death... due to the band using a sample of the score of the film Brazil, played backwards in a song. So it seemed like an eternity since their last release. Some friends and I drove 10 hours from Omaha to Columbia during the early summer to see that show. Unfortunately, since Columbia is a college town, we were 4 of the less than 30 people at the show. The sound guy actually came out and warned us "Seeing the shit they are playing through and seeing how few bodies there are hear to absorb the sound, you need hearing protection or your hearing WILL be damaged." We shoved wads of toilet paper into our ear canals, and came out to be subjected to about 15 minutes of a film loop playing. I believe it was about a 15 second loop of one of the Manson family, with scratched colors and patterns around her. It began to take a toll on me as I stood, wanting so desperately to see the band I had recently come to love so deeply. With me were my friends Matthew Tomich and Jon Hansen, both of whom would join me in a fun little mock band Pope Mahone. In the end the Lips came out and I remember that Michael played through his own PA system, just for his bass. Ronald played his guitar through what I remember as 4 full Marshall stacks. Loud was an understatement. That night I heard for the first time tracks from Hit to Death... I will always have a special place in my heart for "Frogs". "I'm looking to the sky, I'm waiting for the rain, I'm waiting for the frogs to fall down on me," a decidedly biblical feel to me. Obviously, even 15 years later, that night still is a very fond memory.

The second time I saw the lips it was after Transmissions from the Satellite Heart. They were playing at Omaha's old Civic Auditorium with someone godawful like Candlebox. It was over $20, and I couldn't bring myself to justify it. You see Omaha and Lincoln in this era had some of the best bands I have ever heard, bands like Mercy Rule, Frontier Trust, Mousetrap (when they did things like play "Surrender" by Cheap Trick or Madonna covers) and I could see a band like Pavement with Mousetrap at the FOE hall for $5. Anyway, the Lips were kind enough to play a free acoustic set at Drastic Plastic records. If I remember correctly they played about 6 songs, most of which were covers. It was a blast to see Wayne work with someone else's music. Again a great memory.

The third show was during Clouds Taste Metallic. I went up to Iowa City to see the Lips headline the University of Iowa's Riverfest concert. It was outdoors, and though the Lips had an elaborate stage with what looked to be millions of Christmas lights, their performance was masked behind a bad sound setup, one of the reasons I normally dislike outdoor shows. There were a lot of students who were just there and didn't know the Lips very well or at all. It was a bit of a disappointment, though not at all at the hands of the Lips themselves.

Fortunately, I must say that their At War with the Mystics tour has so reinvigorated my passion in the Flaming Lips it isn't even funny. The night was a perfect temperature, the sound caught all the right details and the performance was amazing. They played songs off of their last three albums and accompanied them with great elements of crowd inclusion. I did feel a bit sorry for Harrah's ground crew, as the confetti cannons were going for about 1/3 of the set. It felt like such a celebration, like New Years or Festival. Streamers shot out over the crowd and balloons the size of a easy chairs came bouncing over the crowd. Wayne was a bit hoarse, but was passionate. There wasn't a bad spot to be in the area, except in one of the hotel rooms directly behind the stage (if sleep was your goal). All in all, worth the $25 in a blink of an eye. Though some feel the Lips have such a rabid (with love) fanbase that they could crap in a box and people would love it, so far I have seen no indication that they intend to do so... in fact, though I feel they have become much more accessible than they were back in the In a Priest Driven Ambulance days, they continue to experiment with bold ideas musically and conceptually. Thanks to the boys from Norman, OK, oh and if anyone in the Lips read this, say "Hi" to Tyson Meade for me.

Next time, I'll post my impressions of the Violent Femmes show and a few pictures I took of that show. (Sorry, I didn't bring my camera to the Lips)

So what's this all about, anyway?

Some people think I'm obsessed with monkeys. The SuperMonkeyX nickname and website make people wonder I think. As did the sample product I set up in our accounting system at work (1 ea of the MonkeyCo Rabid Spider Monkey is often seen being ordered by employees). For the record, I'm not obsessed with monkeys. I like monkeys, but I like the sound of the word more.

This is the blog that I'm going to feel free to talk about things like movies, music, literature (when I get the reading bug) and other things that fascinate me. It'll likely stay PG-13. I hope you enjoy, and maybe you'll find something worth reading on occasion.

I'll start with a picture or two that I have taken. First is a nice closeup on Libby my pet cat and the scond is just a shot of my feet and those of a friend at an interesting manhole cover in Iowa City, Iowa.