Beer'n'Music

Although I wish it were just a bit warmer these days, spring has basically sprung. Stevie has a bunch of seedlings under grow lights in the garage so I have a summer of fresh vegetables to look forward to as well as some canning/drying this fall. I'm really fired up to make some more hot sauce this year. And as the seasons turn, so does the selection of fine local brews. With May closing in fast, we can look forward to Capital's Fest Beer. Get your Mindblock while you can! A little south of here I see that Dan has a Double IPA and a barley wine coming soon. His Sour Brown Ale sounds tasty and intriguing. Must find me a bottle. Lake Louie doesn't appear to have anything particularly seasonal but a growler of their suds goes well year-round.

Of course I need to be all music-geeky now. It is with glee that I read that the tape archives at The Farm are being scoured and some ditties have been turned up:

01.05.76 The Starlight Bowl Burbank, CA SBD
13.06.76 Hammersmith Odeon London UK SBD
01.01.77 Rainbow Theater London UK SBD
11.05.77 Gigantinho Stadium, Porto Allegre, Brazil SBD
30.03.78 War Memorial Rochester, NY SBD
22.03.80 Friar's Club, Aylesbury UK SBD
29.06.80 Madison Square Garden New York, NY SBD (1 tape)
25.09.81 Plaza de Toros Monumantal Barcelona Spain SBD
26.11.81 The Spectrum Philadelphia, PA SBD
09.08.82 The Forum Los Angeles, CA SBD (1 tape)
22.08.82 Forest Hills, New York, NY SBD (1 tape)
07.11.83 Horton Fieldhouse Normal, IL SBD
13.12.83 The Omni Center, Atlanta, GA SBD
26.11.86 Entertainment Centre Sydney Australia SBD
23.10.92 Mayflower Theater Southampton UK SBD

While there's no guarantee that any of these shows would be released in the Archive Project, it seems likely. The '77 Rainbow Theater show would be really fucking cool to have in some form other than an audience recording. It was the first Genesis show to feature Chester Thompson on drums. Plus it's the only appearance of "Wot Gorilla?" live ever and the only performance of "Lilywhite Lilith" done after Pete Gabriel left the band. Personally, it's the gigs from 1983 that interest me the most right now. There are a handful of excellent quality boots from this era that are drawn from radio shows like the King Biscuit Flower Hour. (I recommend A Phantastically Phabulous Philly by the Coaster Factory, a "remastering" group comprised of fans.) While excellent shows, they all leave out "Carpet Crawlers" and the first oldies medley which was a variation on the combo of "Eleventh Earl Of Mar (intro) / The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway / Firth Of Fifth / The Musical Box (Closing Section)". "Ripples" was in there for a stretch as was "Behind the Lines". One thing that A Phantastically Phabulous Philly does capture is the best version of "Mama" that I've ever heard. Phil Collins' vocals are absolutely maniacal! The song is about a kid who is obsessed with a prostitute and the performance takes obsession beyond even Michael Jackson proportions.

I listened to Coma Divine last night. While I think the Tree's last few albums have been great, I do occasionally miss their more Floydian exploits. I think that Signify was really a high point. It melded their psycheldelic leanings with minimalism and electronica so very well. And there was a fair amount of found sounds included too. (The demo version of "Sever" almost goes overboard.) Just a bit of everything. Speaking of the Tree, Deadwing was released yesterday here in the States. I shall have to go Mad City and buy a copy at lunch. Everyone should buy one, in fact.

The last bit of musical geekiness I'll present here is the announcement that The Alan Lomax Database is now up and running. It is "...a multimedia catalog of the audio and video recordings and photographs made by Alan Lomax from 1946–1994, as well as of recordings made by few of his colleagues. It will also ultimately include some of the older collections of audio recordings made by Lomax on behalf of the Library of Congress, which have been transferred and remastered using cutting-edge technology." So there ya go.

Next I've gotta give spiels on Siva's speech, the chocolate tasting, and my day spent in Iowa interning my father's ashes to the earth.