LIVE MUSIC

Phish Friday | Alpine Valley '04 Highlights

filed under: phish friday |

Obviously it's no surprise that we've been posting about Phish and the members' respective side projects over the past couple weeks, and it's really brought me back into an nostalgic mindset. I only got to catch 10 shows in my brief time with the band, but that was clearly enough to have had an impact. And even though we only have rumors so far that the band may be getting back together, I'm already thinking I need to revisit my little archive of shows that I saw myself.

I was fortunate enough to catch the final two shows the band played at Deer Creek as well as the final two shows the band played up at Alpine Valley. Today's selection for Phish Friday comes from the first night, second set at Alpine where the band opened up with a 26 minute-long version of "Seven Below," which had everyone so tranced-out by the end that it took people a second or two to recognize when the band segued into "Buffalo Bill." I was following it (I think), because I definitely remember them switching back to a downtempo reggae beat which was solid after the many peaks and valleys they hit during the opener. To go from a new song to a rarity was one thing, but then to follow up this sandwich with one of the clear fan-favorites, "Lawn Boy," it really shows where the band's collective head was that night.

Phish - Seven Below > (live, 6/25/04) [mp3]
Phish - Buffalo Bill > Lawn Boy (live, 6/25/04) [mp3]

The crowd absolutely tears Page a new one (in a good way) when he hands the bass solo off to Cactus and takes it back, and I remember very vividly that my grin was ear to ear at that moment. It helps that I was about 10th row or something close to that. Being up front and close to the band really allows you to absorb in the art, the sound, and the experience they're trying to put out onto the crowd, so much moreso than hanging out in the back with the chatty, casual concert-goers. The crowd towards the front has no choice but to take it in, to be a part of it, to get sweaty, to pay attention, etc. It really does make everything better and I definitely remember acknowledging how fortunate I was to be upfront for the experience. If you were there, then you know. For those that weren't, downloading the entire show might allow you to come close to the experience that me and those other 35 thousand fans had that night.

Finally, there wasn't a whole lot of discussion on our last Phish Friday post, a solid clip of the band's Vegas '00 performance of "Spock's Brain," except for this gem of a comment:

I did every show on the summer 2000 tour and I carried one of those life-size cardboard cutouts of Spock into each one with the word BRAIN attached. I was up close a couple of times and I know the boys saw it. Then they bust it out in Vegas when I was thousands of miles away. I was happily pissed.

Man, I do miss Phish shows.

P4K Fest Lunch Series | Tortoise, Le Loup, the Ex

filed under: festivals |

tags: Pitchfork, Tortoise

A few days back Sam wrote up a post on the pro's -- and some con's -- of living in NYC during the summer. The highlight obviously was the abundance of free concerts throughout the lazy days of June, July and August. Though Chicago is known more for its abundance of neighborhood festivals than free concert series, Pitchfork and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs have again put together a free lunch series of concerts that features some really nice acts.

The summer series runs from mid-June through the end of August and takes place at Millennium Park's beautiful Pritzker Pavilion. Every Monday starting June 16th -- minus the weekend before and of the Pitchfork Music Festival -- a different band will be playing during Chicago's lunch hour. Seems like I'll be able to break away from the "man" for an hour or so and catch some really good music on a Monday. Bonus!

Follow the jump for the list of bands and dates...

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The Secret Machines | 2008 Tour Dates

Jun 8, 2008

The Secret Machines | 2008 Tour Dates

filed under: dates |

tags: The Secret Machines

The Secret Machines were a band I used to fluff quite a bit before that shakeup in the lineup that lead to the departure of Ben Curtis, brother of other founding member Brandon Curtis. The third member of the band, Josh Garza on drums, stuck around with Brandon and the two are continuing to make music under the original band name. And for most of the past year or so, I believe they've been mostly in the studio with a few gigs here and there to road test the material. I'm not sure those shows really blew anyone away in the classic TSM fashion that fans came to know and love. I went to a few shows of theirs and they had seizure warnings posted outside the venue to warn fans of the strobe light usage. I can only hope they bring the same seizure-inducing stadium-sized psych rock back in the same way that they had it together in the beginning.

For anyone that has seen their recent material, drop us some comments to let us know how it sounded. Read on for the dates.

`I live music'

`I live music'

C.S. SARVAMANGALA

It's to the credit of Irshad Khan that even an ancient instrument like the surbahar breathes music even now

PHOTO: SAMPATH KUMAR G.P.

LAUNCH PAD Irshad Khan has drawn substance and vigour from the absolute musical ambience of his home

"I've been living music all my life, I've not been learning music," says Irshad khan, the sprightly and confident inheritor of the Imdadkhani Etawah gharana, summing up his musical journey in one single stroke. Son and disciple of Ustad Imrat Khan and nephew of Ustad Vilayat Khan, he is one of the finest exponents of the sitar and surbahar in contemporary times. Ustad Sahebdad Khan, a mystical musician, Irshad's grandfather's grandfather is said to have invented the surbahar from the Kachua veena. Imdad Khan, after whom this mighty gharana is named, and his son Inayat Khan who introduced the gayaki ang and standardised the size of the sitar, were vibrant carriers of this lineage. Vilayat Khan and his brother Imrat Khan further developed the gayaki ang initiated by their father and Vilayat revolutionised the sitar by bringing about several structural changes and replacing the pancham with a steel gandhar string.

Listening to his father and uncle all his childhood, young Irshad inherited the sitar in a wholesome frame that contributed in a big way to his musical prowess. However, it is his individual mastery, which emerged out of a consistent engagement with music and a rich manodharma that has earned him a prime place in the Imdadkhani lineage. Like all artistes born into great musical traditions, he has drawn substance and vigour from the absolute musical ambience of his home and worked at the individual level to attain such an artistic calibre.

His large ancestral home in Calcutta, The House of sitar and surbahar, located in Park Circus on Inayat Khan Avenue, stands as an abode of music in memory of the eminent Etawah masters who took the sitar and surbahar to great heights of sophistication.

Steeped in a vocal tradition, Irshad took to singing even before he picked up the sitar. Irshad traces his vocal background to his paternal grandmother who belonged to the tradition of the legends, Ustad Amir Khan and Abdul Karim Khan.

Irshad's music is resplendent with gayaki ang in a masterly style and form. Arvind Parikh, a long time associate and disciple of Vilayat Khan, describes the gayaki ang as vocalised elements in the playing of sitar and not vocal music through the medium of sitar. Irshadji's music, especially his Raageshri profusely employed such vocalised elements in exquisite patterns revealing a fine sensibility at work. In Tilak Kamod and Khamaj, the blend of vocal music and sitar came as a refreshing experience. While juxtaposition of vocal and instrumental music has been a trendy feature these days both in Hindustani and Carnatic concerts, Irshad explains how as an artist in the vocal tradition, his singing aimed at highlighting that particular accent of vocalism, the difficult and traditional centuries-old style of vocal music, on the sitar expressed through his gayaki.

The vibrant tantrakari, the wide spectrum of his toda patterns and the lightning tans, he executes with great precision are related to the proper way of learning sitar, to a proper technique and a soul, feels Irshadji. "The sitar is like a part of my body and an extension of myself," he succinctly conveyed.

As a surbahar artiste, Irshad lends himself to a more difficult vocation. A larger and heavier instrument with thicker strings and frets calls for greater practice and physical strength. The dhrupad-based music that he plays on the surbahar is more deep-sounding and heavy, and demands a receptive audience.

Like other master artistes of his gharana who could find their creative expression through these two apparently alike but differently constructed instruments representing different moulds of taalim, different genres of playing and musical experience, Irshad displays a rare versatility. In changing times, artistes like Irshadji have a responsible role to play in revitalising the surbahar and not letting it recede into history.

Performances world-over, extensive recordings and multi-genre music activity, which includes workshops, seminars, demonstrations and teaching assignments have made him a very articulate and communicative artist.

Perhaps these assets enable him to practice music therapy through which he tries to exploit the energy of various ragas.

His therapy involves emotional power evoked by the musician through the medium of the selected raga, which is generally associated with a rasa.

Mahua Art Gallery is hosting Irshad Khan's concert on February 17, Chowdiah Memorial, 6.15 p.m.