There are a couple of bands/performers who I will go out of my way to see live, and it's all about the artist's connection with the audience.

The Mekons: I've said it all already here -- [link] . I'll also add that though I haven't liked their latest stuff as much, the Waco Brothers (a Mekons offshoot) put on one of the best shows I've ever seen done by a blind-drunk band, which included a version of "Folsom Prison" so fierce that a mosh pit developed.

Rhett Miller/Old 97s -- The Old 97s set their songs on fire when they perform them live. They're also a really good judge of the crowd: I saw them on two consecutive nights in two very different venues, and the sets were very different (only the stuff on the album they were plugging was the same, and even then it was played in a different order.) Rhett's solo live shows are very different -- as he himself said at the last one, which Martha C. and I went to together, "sometimes I forget I'm not just hanging out in my living room with my buddies." He's funny and charming and plays half-finished songs and tells the stories behind old ones.

Rufus Wainwright, who I saw for the first time Friday night, is also a great raconteur, and has developed into an amazing singer. Plus, he had Kiki and Herb performing with him! (Kiki claimed to have dated Loudon back in the day, and to have sung disco lullabies to young Rufus, which would explain a great deal. As Rufus said after Kiki left the stage after a joint performance of "Greek Song," "So glamorous. So horrifying.") And then of course Martha Wainwright came out for a duet during the encores, yay! So, clearly, I'm going to need to see a lot more live Rufus shows.

Stephin Merritt almost never speaks to the crowd, and is something of a diva. But if I hadn't seen him live, I never would have heard the ukelele -only version of "I'm Lonely (And I Love It)," nor seen him in a Pagliacci costume. So in this case it's less about the artist's connection with his audience, and more about my enjoyment of his theatricality. Which on a certain level holds true for all of the above as well.

I've seen Stephen Merritt do a live set at Amoeba - it was fantastic.

Anne, do you know about The Yoko Kanno Project?.

I'm listening to snippets of Blue until you unearth your Walkman. It's interesting tracking her musical influences through the Cowboy Bebop scores. "The Egg and YOU" sounds very Vince Guaraldi. There's a lot of Mancini and Elmer Berstein in the Crime Jazz. Morricone is a constant - not just in the obvious Spaghetti Western "Go Go Cactus Man" but in the open space allowed on things like "Real Folk Blues" or the harmonica on "Spokey Dokey." But mostly I hear a lot of Lalo Schifrin going on - particularly his early 70s stuff when he did the theme to "Medical Center" and "Bullitt" and "Dirty Harry." She's got tremendous range, obviously, doing really good work in everything from chorales to hard rock to bebop.

Rocket From the Tombs with Richard Lloyd sitting in has been released on CD:

AMG REVIEW: Three decades after their formation and 28 years after their initial demise, the members of Cleveland proto-punk band Rocket From the Tombs defied odds by regrouping for an exhilarating June 2003 tour. An outgrowth of those magical gigs, Rocket Redux is designed to capture the forceful set list from those shows in the studio, with the help of Television's Richard Lloyd. Alongside original Rocket vocalist David Thomas (who went on to form the iconic Pere Ubu), bassist Craig Bell, and guitarist Cheetah Chrome (later of the Dead Boys), Lloyd — who produces, records, and mixes — plays guitar for the late Peter Laughner, while Ubu drummer Steve Mehlman works the kit for this fiery 12-song disc. In the face of the crude demos and bootlegs that have been the only RFTT recordings to surface until now, it's a thrill to hear the raw, furious blast of "Frustration" loud and clear as it unfolds into the damn near soulful strains of "So Cold." If "What Love Is" is a testament to Chrome and Lloyd's guitar acrobatics or Thomas' captivating growl, Mehlman and Bell's Led Zeppelin-like stomp locates depth in these guttural anthems. Songs made famous after RFTT split into competitive camps, like "Sonic Reducer," "Final Solution," "Life Stinks," and "Ain't It Fun," get reborn here. And when Thomas inquisitively barks, "Ain't it fun when you get so high, you can't come?" it's practically 1975 all over again. These underground punk legends may all be well into their fifties, but there's no absence of energy on this edgy, discordant, and very necessary set. Come to think of it, most bands half their age would kill for the same kind of hustle and undying spirit. — John D. Luerssen, AMG

pancakes with lemon zest

For Valentine's Day, JZ gave me her Punk Rock Love. I had most of it on vinyl, but now I can rip it. Yay, ripping.

Ooh! Thanks for the link, Hec. I only took the quickest of peeks, but I bookmarked the site so I can go back and explore at my leisure.

Rocket From the Tombs with Richard Lloyd sitting in has been released on CD:

I was very wary of it -- it's hard to capture the energy of 30 year old songs -- but it's actually quite good.

Hec was asking about Shalini Chatterjee last week. I never did find the MP3s I claimed I had. There's some samples of the Krautrock tribute she was involved in (Econoghost: Anneu'ed!) at the 125 records site, and the CD is on sale for $8 through tomorrow.

[link]

I love it when bands play lots of songs I don't know! I get bored hearing the same old songs. As long as the songs are good, I love hearing new material.

Me, this is. I love live shows and the more new stuff I hear the better. The thing I love most about Lawrence is that every weekend and a ton of weekdays, I can go to one of three or four bars in town and I can see a new-to-me and pretty decent band. I fell in love with concerts when I was in jr. high because living in a small town it was the only chance I had to see "kids like me" and hear about new bands (usually off of people's t-shirts, oddly). I am no longer a fan of big venues, but I'll make some exceptions. And the smoking doesn't bother me at small shows because I am a big ol gross smoker.

Best live shows I've ever seen ever (seems like a good reason to make a list):

Uncle Tupelo, Bottleneck, Lawrence (93)
Paul Simon and Lady Smith Black Mambazo, Sandstone Ampitheater, KC (91)
Neil Young, some ampitheater, Milwaukee (03)
White Stripes, First Ave., Minneapolis (02)
Pixies, KU Union Ballroom, Lawrence (90)
David Byrne, The Metro, Chicago(98)
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Bottleneck, Lawrence (00)
Split Lip Rayfield, Bottleneck, Lawrence (03)

There's a bunch of others, I'm sure - those are just off the top of my head.

Best Live Shows:

R.E.M. - 930 Club in DC, 1983
Cramps - 930 Club in DC, 1984
X - Cleveland Agora, 1982
Pylon, Kennel Club in SF, reunion tour, late 80s early 90s?
Hoodoo Gurus - The Channel, Boston, mid 80s
Buck Naked and the Bare Bottom Boys, Rajis LA, mid 80s
PJ Harvey, Slims in SF (small venue), her first tour
Big Star, Fillmore, reunion show with Posies
Little Jack Melody and the Young Turks, Cafe Du Nord, 90s
Stephin Merrit, solo acoustic at Amoeba after 69 Love Songs
Guided By Voices at Bimbos, last fall

First concert? Black Sabbath (original lineup) with Van Halen opening, 1978. Dig my metal cred.

I love it when bands play lots of songs I don't know! I get bored hearing the same old songs. As long as the songs are good, I love hearing new material

Unless a song is really good or really bad, it's hard for me to register it as anything but a song I don't know the first time I hear it. Which is fine for a while, but few bands are so good that I want to hear 15 songs I don't know by them in a row while tired and standing in a smoky club. Which is why I've pretty much given up on the "let's just go to the Black Cat and see who's playing" method of concert-going.

(Nitpick for Hec: 9:30. Sorry. )