Two nights in a row on the corner of 7th & 1st

I have hives and Leif is in traction - therefore you will have to wait for anything professional. In the meanwhile voila:

DeVotchKa was really interesting last night at First Ave's Mainroom. While I have felt and to some extent still feel lukewarm about the driving orchestral Slavic sound of the Colorado band, there is no arguing their musical place in the world. If Trotsky and Kahlo gave birth to Johnny Mathis, I imagine he would have sounded much like frontman Nick Urata. Tom Hagerman was just brilliant on the violin, toy piano and accordian and everybody loves an aerialist - especially when they are two sisters suspended from the ceiling above the sold out Mainroom. DeVotchKa are certainly NOT Beirut for your uncle, but perhaps a western Gogol Bordello on a morphine drip - a big, driving force of music that instead of slapping you in the face, lives inside your chest, glowing and growing - like the first time you heard Arcade Fire.

Weekday Update

Leif's got Dirtbombs in his head, broken bones in his body - aka 'Cred St. Blues'. Stay tuned for an audio review of last Saturday's Dirtbombs show at the 7th St Entry straight from his hospital bedside. He was in a not so fun car accident on Sat night after bassist for the Dirtbombs, Ko Melina, planted one firmly on his cheek.

Aside from the various breaks and scrapes, he is doing well and still spinning from his dream come true.

I will be at Devotchka tonight at First Ave with some friends from out of town... Send me your thoughts about the show tomorrow mmtc@foxtv.com.

xo AliRose

Felicidades

I nearly forgot to make a Cinco de Mayo themed post today!!! So, with 58 mins until the 6th, here it is: Sam Houston High School's 1995 Cinco de Mayo band.

Trick Daddy ain't wearing Bugle Boy Jeans

Nick made me a mix today and included one of my favorite songs of 2000. If I were a Southern Rapper, I definitely would be in a video dressed as a showgirl rapping in a convertible.. We all gotta have a dream....

Confessions of a Concert-going Newbie

MMTC friend Vanessa Walrath wandered into the Walker Art Center Sat night and emerged with this to say:

I spent the majority of my life with only corn fields and the occasional 24-hr grocery store for entertainment. Needless to say, the Twin Cities has broadened my horizons. But three years after moving here, I’m still new at this, still the last one to hear about a great new band or the next life-changing show. So if I blindly wander into a venue at which anything phenomenal is happening, it’s sheer luck.

Well, luck struck again on Saturday night, when I found an extra ticket to the sold-out 8pmWorld of Dosh at the Walker (I only specify time because, even though I thought about sliding under a seat so I could catch the 11pm show, I didn’t). Words do little justice to the experience.

For starters, I have this secret love of experimental/ambient/electronica/hip hop and a not so secret love of jazz, so if a band edges toward that end of the spectrum, I’m happy. Euphoria = Dosh and his friends. I felt like a fly on the wall in a practice space jam session – only the most beautiful, intricate, and skillful jam session I’ve ever witnessed. Each of Dosh’s “friends” held their own, and almost played in a world unto themselves - looping sounds from guitar strings, bass, percussion, baby Yamaha keyboards, etc. as Dosh manned his “rig” of keyboard, Fender Rhodes, grand piano, drum kit and a ridiculous amount of pedals and cables. They passed the melody around with ease, sometimes adding a single note or sound to create a perfect whole.

Dosh’s personal simplicity and humility (his only opening line: “Hi, everybody”) was in direct contrast to the complexity of his sound, layering beats, random sounds, chord progressions to such fullness that when his “friends” stepped back and he played 5+ min. on his own, nothing was missing. However, the final numbers, that included Andrew Bird on violin and whistle + 6 friends +Dosh were a modern symphony that left the audience on its feet (and me wishing I could fit into the garbage can and sneak into the next show).

The only thing I regretted about the experience was that I picked the 8pm performance. I felt like, in spite of the slightly unstructured nature of the music, everyone was very time-conscious, and the encore was cut-short b/c they had to get us out of there in time for the 11pm audience. But being the rule-conscious Midwesterner that I am, I respectfully filed out of the room with everyone else, thankful that Fate had once again smiled on me and allowed me to happen upon that show…

Video: Andrew Bird and Dosh May 3, 2008.

Letter to a friend

Dear Scarlett,

Yes, I was annoyed when your South High boyfriend was hotter than mine. I am usually irritated when people talk about your chest as if no other woman in the history of the world had boobs as big as yours. Maybe a little bit jealous that you got to hang out with Bill Murray for months in Japan. And yes, I may have been big time annoyed when you had drinks with my ex-boyfriend last weekend in Manhattan. But I am a nice person, one who forgives and forgets. But let's get something straight - I draw the line with David Bowie.

As I was driving home after a late Friday night dinner, I heard Falling Down on the radio. I know, I know, people have been talking about your upcoming release for a while now- blah blah blah Tom Waits blah blah Yeah Yeah Yeahs, blah blah blah TV on the Radio. However you roped these suckers in to your evil musical plans, I do not know. But David Bowie? DAVID BOWIE? What's next on your list? A duet with Stevie Nicks? Cypher with Lil Wayne? 1965 Newport Folk Festival Reunion Tour starring you as Cate Blanchett as Bob Dylan where you reenact his going electric? Yeah, that's totally it.

Scarlett, dear Scarlett, please stop being so competitive with me. I guarantee once you stop stealing everything I like, you will find your own path of self realization. If you wish, I will send you a list of things I dislike, you know, to get you started.

Besos,
AliRose

ps - tell Tom I don't think he is a sucker.

Saturday night don't stop won't stop

Detroilet is a criminal’s playground that not even Snake Plissken would monkey bar into, it is known for little else – which has spawned the TV show with the most street cred reality history. But the Dirty D also spawned a garage rock scene around the turn of the century that shall not soon be forgotten. The backbone of that scene belongs to none other than Mick Collins, frontman of the Dirtbombs, Gories, Blacktop, Voltaire Bros., etc.

While Jack White gets the name and acclaim, Mick wears the stains of a gritty, no frills mojo that built your favorite rock ‘n roll flop house on top of pissy, crack-viled sidewalks. I’m interviewing Mick before his D-Bombs hit the entry stage Saturday -- boozy, raw video to come. The Fuzz Master a lot to say and you’ve got a lot to learn, so stay tuned scenesters-in-training.

Here’s to hoping I can get his bad-assed white-hot bassist Ko Melina to kiss me on the cheek.

Galangalangalang

Yes ladies, soon you can get your own MIA outfit to wear to her upcoming show at the Myth on Tuesday the 13th. She is exclusively wearing her own clothes, and as described to WWD: “With my stuff, because everything’s really bright, if you lose it or someone steals it, you can see it from miles away and you can be like, ‘Oy! Give me my shirt back!’”

Break it up break it up break it up

Speaking of Kurtis Blow, here is what he has been up to... Clip from last year's European Tour.

Jus' a Rascal

I was in London a little over a year ago and went to a grime show at the ICA (pictured) with my boyfriend at the time. I thought it was ok - I have a hard time standing around watching a DJ DJ, but he was over the moon and for the next few months, pretended to be the hype man for After Shock Productions and would spontaneously yell, SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM! That same week, we saw Kurtis Blow , of all people, play, and went to a hip-hop club where we were the only ones that new all of the words to Ms. New Bootie. Anyway, however much I couldn't get into the London underground, I can get behind Dizzee Rascal, who has made three fantastic albums and will be coming to The Triple Rock on the 16th. Look forward to MMTC doing a little somethin somethin with him - anyone know where I can get an airbrushed t-shirt of myself to wear to the interview?