sometimes i need a revelation...

sometimes it's all too much to take

sometimes i need a revelation

this time i'm making my own...

the swell season in portland, oregon 8-21-10

So much has happened since I last wrote in this sadly-neglected blog that I don't think I'll ever catch up (and I want to!), but I'll start with the most recent: seeing the swell season in Portland and Seattle this past weekend.

If you know me, you know that my two favorite bands - and my yardstick for that is that they are the only two bands i would ever consider traveling any distance to see (as you will come to understand in subsequent posts) - are Pearl Jam and The Frames. and my two favorite singers are Glen Hansard and Eddie Vedder. Really, I think that, money and time willing, I would eagerly follow either of those men to the ends of the earth. And still want be left wanting more.

The Oregon Zoo was, surprisingly to me, a GREAT venue for a concert. I walked past the people sitting on the lawn to the small standing area in front of the stage, where I positioned myself on what I affectionately refer to as "Mike's side" (as in McCready) for Black Francis and my beloved Glen and Marketa (and the rest of The Frames).

Glen and Mar began the show with a solo cover of Cactus; this was the first of many moments during this concert that reminded me of why I love this group so much. It must take guts to show up on stage and not only play but open with a song by the man who played right before you and whose music you love (in fact, later in the concert, Glen said that Surfer Rosa by the Pixies changed his life). I hate to bring up Eddie Vedder again (ok.. full disclosure: that's a lie, I love any opportunity I can find to talk about Ed), but it reminded me of him singing on stage with Bruce Springsteen or Pete Townshend.

Seeing Glen Hansard perform - whether it be with the Swell Season or the Frames - reminds me of why I love music so much, and of the transformative, cathartic power of witnessing songs performed live. One of my favorite songs from the Swell Season's first album, Leave, starts off with Glen strumming his guitar quietly and sounding like a man who is resigned to his fate; by the end of the song, it feels like he is purging his demons, or something, as he screams and plays his guitar so fast that strings break and pieces of wood go flying. And I'm serious when I say that; that's what happens. You can't take your eyes away, nor do you want to. This is what music is about. Joy, pain, happiness, anger, frustration... rolled up into one and delivered by a master storyteller.

At this point in writing this, I'll pause and admit that I actually wasn't looking forward to this show because I don't really like the last Swell Season album. In fact, more than once on Friday morning I almost talked myself out of driving to Portland for this concert. So it's a testament to the group that I can honestly say that, while I'm still not a fan of Strict Joy the album, I loved the songs performed live. And I'm not giving Glen an easy pass here because he's Glen (well, maybe I am), but honestly when Low Rising started, I wanted to do nothing more than close my eyes, sing along and pretend that I was the only person in the audience.

"This is an old Frames song," Glen said, before they started Revelate. This is one of the first Frames songs that I heard, and hearing it instantly brings a smile to my face. And when Glen sings, "My open arms, my lucky charms," I just want to reach my arms into the sky and hug myself all at the same time. I think of Revelate as a plea to god, a list of grievances to the world, and an embrace of life all put together into one song.

One of the best moments of the concert was at the end when they did the Pixies' Where Is My Mind? There is a video of this song taken from a concert at the Henry Fonda in LA on youtube that I have watched countless times. Before they begin, Glen says, "There is a song that we allow ourselves to play when we're in a really good space, and we're in a good space now." And I'm guessing they must have also been in a good space in Portland. Anyway, somewhere during the second verse, Black Francis came out on stage to sing with Glen. And it's apparent that these two are really good friends - there is something really amazing and cool about witnessing musicians who obviously have mutual respect for each other perform together.

And the most exciting part of all? Before the show even started, I noticed a postcard at the merchandise table that listed the North American cities on the Frames' upcoming twentieth anniversary tour. As they have now officially announced, the Frames will be playing in both of those cities in late November. And as luck will have it, the Seattle show is on the Friday after Thanksgiving and Portland is the following Saturday. Another perfect weekend? Yes, please.

favorite things, part I

oprah has a list of her favorite things. i thought i'd try one.

twilight - a friend gave me this book in october, and i remember calling my mom and saying, "it's a book for teenagers! i'm sure i won't like it, but i have to read it because i don't want to offend her." that was on the friday before i went to LA (to see the swell season), and by monday morning, i had finished twilight and its sequel, new moon. i don't know what it is exactly about these books (there are 4 in the series, but i don't recommend the last one) that make them so hard to put down. they're not always well-written, but the story that stephanie meyer tells is interesting, funny, sad and happy all at the same time. it's like a fairy tale with some fantasy and mythology thrown in. and, really, what woman does not want edward to come sweep her off her feet? i realize he's fictional, but he's ten times better than any man i've met in real life. speaking of, if you by any chance agree with me about the wonder that is this book, you should read midnight sun on stephanie meyer's website. it is twilight told from edward's point of view. sadly, only chapters 1-12 are online, but it is fascinating (seriously. i think i like it more than twilight. almost)

although the movie based on the book is not great, the line i had an adrenaline rush, you can google it has provided me with endless amusement. also - cue teenage girl reaction - rob pattinson, the actor who plays edward, is GORGEOUS. i wonder if he will marry me? hehe.


minus the bear - this is the band that i first saw at bumbershoot and was blown away by. three months later, the love affair has not ended - in fact, it has grown. i even have a minus the bear sticker on my water bottle sharing space with eddie vedder. their new ep of acoustic songs is, as i discover every time i listen to it, beautiful. and i think i have decided that pachuca sunrise has got to be one of the prettiest songs ever. (well, i'm sure that's an exaggeration, but let's go with it anyway)

pearl jam - of course. the highlight of my year was my vacation to boston, and that would not even have happened (i'm sure) if it had not coincided with a pearl jam concert. my next goal is to see them play in europe. it WILL happen... better yet, a joint pearl jam and frames show in dublin. where both bands play two hour sets. please??

eddie vedder - he gets his own category, because seeing him in vancouver last april was one of the best shows i have ever been to. and i just realized that he can be connected to twilight (which i'm sure thrills him), since kristen stewart (bella) was in into the wild. hee!

the swell season - last on this list, but certainly not least. i saw them three times this year, and every time was better than the last. i love it when i can combine a concert with a trip to another city - if seeing pearl jam in boston was the highlight of my year, seeing the swell season in san francisco is probably the second best.

did you fall on your way?

things that i like...

this video

i love his voice. doesn't it look like the veins in his neck are gonna pop out?

speaking of glen hansard, i read about this a few weeks ago:
'Once' musical headed for Broadway
The Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová-starring movie 'Once', which won the Oscar for Best Original Song with 'Falling Slowly' in 2007, is to be made into a Broadway musical.
i'm not actually sure if i like that news or not.. i wouldn't want once the musical to become like rent the movie. now, THERE is a play that i love and have seen 4 times and now have memorized - but, man if the movie doesn't suck. i can see that happening with once. much as i adore it, i think there comes a time to let something go and move on. this smells of people just wanting to make money for money's sake rather than for art's sake. i wonder how much glen and marketa have to do with this... the article goes on to say that the musical will include some songs that didn't make the cut for the movie, which is interesting to say the least.. but i'm still skeptical.

christmas music
now that it's november, i can start playing this, right? i heart my transsiberian orchestra cd. heh.

the cost
as in, the frames album. i have never really cared for it (and probably haven't listened to it all the way thru more than a handful of times), but i've been playing it nonstop for the past week. maybe it's something to do with the weather - some music just seems to go better with cold, rain and wind. and heaven knows we have plenty of that this time of year in seattle.

lazy saturdays
i have spent the day watching the west wing marathon on bravo (i love that show), baking pumpkin bread (trader joe's has a yummy mix. there's nothing better than the smell of bread baking), and reading. i'm just relieved that halloween is over, and enjoying the peace and quiet - much as i love the kids in my class, there definately is such a thing as TOO much candy and i think they passed that point at 10:00 yesterday morning. heavens. my mom will love to read me admit this, but sometimes i think that i'm being punished for whining so much when i was a kid.

i am going to see vince mira tonight at the showbox, so maybe i'll have something more interesting to write about tomorrow.

got me a big wave...

this time next week, i will be in boston! ahhhh...

i am spending my evening listening to a live stream from the telluride bluegrass festival, where the frames are performing later tonight. (believe me, i thought about going but turns out it's kind of complicated to get to telluride).

i went to the fremont fair today; the highlight of which is the solstice parade, with it's wacky floats and, my personal favorite, naked bicyclists!


(the rest of my pictures are here)

this is our heyday baby

and we're not gonna be afraid to shine
cause we can make our heyday last forever
and ain't that what it's all about?

the swell season/frames at bonnaroo, june 13, doing a mic christopher song.


i love how happy everyone looks. i love glen's dance moves - watch out, new kids on the block. most of all, i love how glen is able to get the crowd to sing the chorus to a song most of them have probably never even heard. i also like what he says before the song - "it's a dance song - i don't really care about you dancing in terms of our egos; i just care in terms of your enjoyment." ha!

i found a little blurb with glen in the new york times (he really gets around).

When the band was in Louisville, word came that it was invited to hear Barack Obama speak. “It was amazing, just like everything else that has been happening for us,” he said. Mr. Hansard is contemplating a move to New York from Dublin. “I don’t really live anywhere right now, but Dublin is where I keep my stuff,” he said.

while i find it insane that someone would want to move from europe to the united states, may i suggest seattle? not only do we have coffee and music, but we are also colder than siberia (according to an article in the seattle times this morning). if you need a place to stay, i even have some room on my couch. (kidding!)

i can have way too much fun with this...

1. 7 day mile, the frames. (good grief, this is a good version)
2. growin up, bruce springsteen.
3. sleeping in , the postal service.
4. nightswimming, rem
5. a sort of homecoming , u2
6. present tense, pearl jam

i took the 405...

death cab for cutie is on soundopinions this week and i would say that it's definately worth a listen. i STILL don't have narrow stairs (i have a gift certificate for amazon.com. i should order it). that tells you how excited i am about their new songs, huh? although, they play - obviously - some of the new stuff on the show, and i have to say that i really like grapevine fires. however, i will possess your heart still creeps me out. i don't like the song, and the title reminds me of that weird guy in high school who used to leave me plastic roses in my locker.

the interview itself is worth a listen, too. i think that the funniest part is when the interviewer says something about how no band is great when it first starts and then ben says, "well some bands are. we were pretty good." the interviewer laughs but ben doesn't. ha! i think that he's probably right, if he means that they were better then than they are now.

on a totally unrelated note, this review of the swell season show at radio city music hall is, despite its faults (when did the frames become a "tasteful decaf coffeehouse band"? what does that even mean??), worth reading for this: the best frames songs share the same DNA that made once so magnetic: "what happens when the heart just stops" is one long, graceful crescendo, expertly threaded out a measure at a time, until glen's pounding on his beat-to-crap guitar and howling 'disappointment' over and over like it's the most optimistic word in the english language.

hold on to the thread, the currents will shift..

there's another nonsensical lyric for you.

i thought of another reason i dislike summer: allergies. specifically, i think there's something right outside my bedroom window that forces me to sleep with my mouth open all night and wake up with a really bad sore throat. grr...

but here's a reason for liking summer... street fairs and festivals. i went to the university district street fair on saturday (when it was about a million degrees, and i got stuck in a huge line at starbucks because i didn't have any cash left and they were the only place where i could get an iced tea with a credit card). i love walking around lost in the huge crowd of people. i bought a really nice shirt too as well as some good bread ("dave's killer bread" does sound sort of ominous, but it's quite yummy). next weekend, aside from being memorial day and a blessed 3 days off work, is the northwest folklife festival at seattle center. i have to admit that i enjoy that. my favorite part of summer festivals is getting henna tattoos, because i am way too chicken to get a real one. but for a few weeks, i can pretend that i'm not.

stupid things happen to me during the day, and i think, "oh, i have to write about that on my blog," but by the time i get home, i have forgotten. so instead, i'll post this video, which i have probably watched 50 times since it was put up last week. honestly, i love it. here you go, glen doing say it to me now , but watch the way he is singing. i swear, that man can pack such intensity and emotion into a minute and a half. yes, he's sitting on his knees at the ledge of the stage playing the song. sigh. he and eddie vedder are, sadly, (the only) two singers who i would probably pay good money to see perform the alphabet song. preferably together. in irish. with interpretive dancing.



on that dvd that kristine got at the seattle show (i'm still waiting for you to make me a copy of it, missy), glen says that he wrote this song about his grandparents who fought all the time, but had a deep love for each other. and in once, it is made to be about his ex-girlfriend (which i totally do not get). to me, the song is about being angry with god for making life so... impossible, sometimes. as these shadows fall, i'll win somehow . if you haven't heard the version of this song on fitzcarraldo, you really should seek it out. it's a little different lyrically and musically, although i must say when i hear 2008 era glen play this song i get goosebumps. everytime. there's something about him and his acoustic guitar that is just pure magic.

i strolled all alone through the fallout zone

if you know me, you know that i absolutely hate driving so i take the bus everywhere i can. there are lots of reasons i do this: so i can do something small to help the environment, to save my sanity, to watch the guy that looks like kurt cobain and always seems to sit across from me, to give myself extra reading time... but most importantly, so that i can have at least 30 minutes a day of uninterrupted headphone listening time when i'm not worried about cooking dinner, taking the trash out, doing my laundry, or one of the myriad other things i find occupying my mind when i'm at home. one of my favorite things to listen to lately is a playlist i put together with some of my favorite frames, pearl jam and eddie vedder solo songs. tonight, especially, i was really tired; the bus was late, work sucked, my head was pounding and i realized that i could just close my eyes and let it all vanish, and i felt better once i got home. that's probably the truest thing i can write about my relationship with music - there is something about a good song that can make everything alright, if only for 5 minutes or so. and there are times when that is all it takes. and there is something about a singer who can fill the empty spaces of songs with emotion.

here's my (short enough that i can listen to it on a 25 minute bus ride) playlist for today:
the frames - seven day mile
the frames - red chord
eddie vedder - growin' up (springsteen cover)
pearl jam - given to fly
the frames - santa maria
pearl jam - in my tree
mic christopher - heyday

speaking of the frames, i love this performance of this song. i wish i had been at this concert. i love the swell season, but i want to see the frames again. this makes me really wish that i was going to see them in colorado next month.



the moment at the end of this song when the audience is singing the chorus is beautiful. i know i've said this before, but there's a moment during some shows when the barrier between audience and performer just totally breaks down and you look around and realize that you are not alone. for someone like me who never quite feels like they belong anywhere, that is a moment i live for.

and we have all the time in the world to get it right, to get it right
and we have all the love in the world to set alight, to set alight

scratching at the surface now

it's a mistake to look for tickets to see one of your favorite singers in los angeles during a presale while telling yourself that you won't buy any, because what are you supposed to do if you find two GA tickets? not get them?? a better person than me could do that, perhaps.

bits n' bobs

i love the way this has turned into a blog about music. when i started this, i had no idea that's what would happen, but turns out, i really enjoy writing about my favorite music. now, to figure out how to make money by doing that...

courtesy of the frames messageboard here is a link to the website for colm's new cd. currently, you can listen to three songs (although i can't seem to get blue shoes to work...) i've listened to time will tell four times already; it's beautiful. i'm not sure when this will be available, but it looks like you will eventually be able to buy it online.

also, in pearl jam news, mike said in an interview that the band has songs for a new album, and hopes to release it this year (although whether that will actually happen, i'm not too sure). maybe they'll play some new songs on their east coast tour? the most exciting part is that they are teaming up with brendan o'brien again,who produced some of the best pearl jam albums (vitalogy, no code, yield...) i particularly like what o'brien said in an interview with billboard magazine: "they were great to me when we were making records together [before], and we still remained very good friends ... i still think they're a great band. eddie has one of the best, if not the best, voices out there. when he sings, people believe them."

reason 491 why i love the frames

my favorite albums, part 2

someone emailed me and asked me what frames album i'd recommend for a new fan. that's hard for me to answer; i have my favorites, of course, but other people may not agree. so i thought i'd do my own version of a guided tour through frames albums. not that i'm an expert or anything - far from it... but here we go:

another love song this is the first frames album, released in 1991 i believe. it's out of print now, although you can download it from various places online. it was recorded for island records (i think) and they subsequently left that label.
this is the dancer from a concert in dublin last new year's eve (an aside - i think i might try to go to dublin next year if they play on new year's eve. kristine, wanna come?:):


fitzcarraldo this is their second album, released in 1995. if you've seen once, you'll probably recognize say it to me now (although the album version is somewhat different from the one in the movie). there are some great songs on this record, but it's not one of the ones i listen to the most. interestingly, fitzcarraldo is a movie by werner herzog about a man who is obsessed with building an opera house in a remote town in peru and literally pulls a ship over a mountain. it's hard to describe this album, but i guess it's probably the most "rock" record the frames have. when i listen to it, it sounds kind of dated, although one of my favorite frames songs, red chord, is on this album:


dance the devil this is the album that made me love the frames, and i think it's still my favorite. it was released in 1999. if you've seen the swell season live, there might be a few songs you recognize here: pavement tune (i want my life to make more sense to me), and star star. my favorite song is 7 day mile:

i think i have a soft spot for this record because it's the first frames album i heard; i cannot for the life of me understand why this band is not bigger in the US -well maybe they will be now that glen won an oscar. i have no idea. there are a few albums that feel to me like a best friend, that i can listen to over and over, that i know so well i can sing along perfectly, that i fall asleep listening to. no code by pearl jam is one; dance the devil is another.

for the birds this is their next album; it came out in 2001. this is my second favorite, probably, although depending on the day, it might be number one. to me, this album has a bit more of an independent feel to it. i think that's probably because it was the first record the band really recorded where you can tell that they kind of said, well who cares about the record company? there is no clear "single" on here like revelate or pavement tune. i also think it's interesting that this album was partly recorded by steve albini (who did in utero, one of my favorite-sounding records). during some of the songs, you can hear noise of people walking around and stuff like that. before one song, i forget which one, you even hear a dog barking. this is definately an album that will take time to grow on you, but once it does, you won't be able to stop listening to it. here's headlong:

again, if you've seen the swell season, you might recognize lay me down and what happens when the heart just stops. i think this album, perhaps more than the others, has an interesting mixture of soft and loud songs. you have a song like headlong - which i adore - followed by something like early bird, - which i also love - a great song to turn up loud and sing along with. i also think it's worth noting that, in my opinion, this record has some of the greatest lyrics in the frames catalogue.

their next album, burn the maps, is not really one that i listen to very often. there are some good songs on there, but i just don't find myself reaching for it. this is finally:


the most recent album is the cost. this album is, by far, the most un-frames one, if that makes sense. i think it's a good record, but not one i would recommend to someone who doesn't know the frames. falling slowly (although a very different version than the one marketa and glen do) and when your mind's made up (wow, those songs are on 3 albums) are on here.

and then there's their live album, setlist, which is brilliant. i have it on my ipod, and listen to it almost every day on the way to work. there is a good mix of songs on here, and glen's story about the dog who inspired what happens when the heart just stops is pretty funny.

.. and if anyone has any clue where i can get from the breadcrumb trail, i'd be ever so grateful.

glen hansard:Music is medicine and dreams. For me that's what music is, when it's at its best. It makes time stop. It's salve. For me music is a moment of peace

the swell season at the moore

the swell season 4/30/08


where to begin? this was an AMAZING concert, and i'm pretty sure words can't possibly do it justice.

i saw the swell season last november, also at the moore theatre (which will forever be famous to me as the place the video for evenflow was shot. i can't go to a show here without picturing eddie vedder jumping from the walls), and that show had a much different feeling to it than the one on wednesday. for 5 months, i've been saying that that was one of the best concerts i've ever been to and i really didn't think it could be eclipsed. but it was. everything from the opening chords of say it to me now to the end of forever young was absolutely perfect. i have to say that the show in november felt a bit more intimate (probably for obvious reasons.. this show sold out i think in about 15 minutes. damn that oscar!) but now, glen and marketa (especially) seem a lot more confident and at ease with their performances. plus, the fact that all the members of the frames were there was icing on the cake (if you have been reading, you may know that the frames are one of my favorite bands. more on that later)

in oakland, glen did say it to me now without any amplification, but he plugged in his guitar and used the microphone in seattle. he said later that he was getting sick, but you would never be able to tell it. he's an incredible singer; what i love so much about the frames and, to a lesser extent, the swell season is that so many of the songs start out quietly but then build and build until the end when glen is almost screaming.

i don't remember the exact setlist; it was a little different from oakland, but not by a whole lot. marketa played her new song again, and it was even more beautiful than i remembered. although i kept my eyes on her and colm (the violinist), i did look at glen a few times, and the way he was watching her sing was really sweet. after she finished, it seemed like glen was going to play his new song (which i was hoping for), but marketa left the stage for a few minutes, and they played suffer in silence (a frames song) instead. very nice. it actually took me a minute to realize what it was, because i wasn't expecting them to play that. (it's from burn the maps, if you happen to care).

speaking of frames songs, they also did your face again, which i think is a perfect song for glen and marketa to sing together. i have to mention here that i love her voice. it seems to me that i can hear her more than i could in november, and i think that's probably because she is starting to get more confident in herself onstage. the three songs she sang by herself were great, and she really adds something wonderful to the songs she and glen do together.. especially falling slowly , and one of my favorite songs from the swell season album, this low.



ok, now i'm going to sound like a teenager for a minute, so bear with me: the best part of the concert actually came after the show. my friend kristine and i decided to wait outside the theatre and we met glen and marketa. i've never wanted to meet one of my favorite musicians before, because i've always thought, well what would i say, and what's the point of having an autograph? i guess i never realized how completely star-struck and like a teenager i would feel if that ever happened. my heart was pounding, and the only thing i could think of to say was "the frames are my favorite band." it was just completely surreal to be face to face with this person whose music i listen to almost every day and whose lyrics make me feel better when i'm sad. /end teenage gushing.



highlights

what happens when the heart just stops like falling slowly, no matter how many times i hear this song, i can never seem to get tired of it.

glen's storytelling i think this is always a highlight of frames and swell season shows. he cracks me up even with the jokes i've heard before. his comic timing is awesome (he always pauses before the punch line) and kristine was saying that the way he moves his hands when he's telling a story is really funny too. i think that must be an irish thing or something. this is what a dork i am: i noticed that during star star after colm plays the bit from willy wonka and the chocolate factory glen said "you're turning violet, violet; off to the juicing room." ha! i found myself saying something similar to a girl in my class today who was eating all the cantaloupe at lunch.

fitzcarraldo this is another song that i can't seem to get tired of no matter how many times i hear it. and i especially love to watch marketa play piano on this song; man, her fingers fly!

... there were other highlights i'm sure, but this week has seemed so surreal that i can't even really think straight. i'm going to watch last night's survivor and then go to sleep.

there you go...

this is glen hansard doing astral weeks (a van morrison song) from the coachella festival last friday. what an INCREDIBLE voice he has. i can't even begin to describe it. i love him. if he only plays this tomorrow night, i will scream. well, not out loud, but inside.

i want to rock your gypsy soul

almost everything about this weekend was perfect. the weather was great (80 and sunny on saturday; a little cooler and still sunny on sunday), i found myself able to read my map with very little problems, i was able to figure out how to take BART and buses okay - oh, and yeah, the swell season was AMAZING. but before i get to that, i just have to say that i LOVE san francisco. what a great city. on saturday, i spent the day walking around downtown, north beach, and golden gate park. it was great - i saw city lights bookstore, the bar where dylan thomas and jack kerouac used to hang out, coit tower (with it's incredible views), the windy part of lombard street, haight-ashbury. on sunday, i went to the modern art museum - which i really enjoyed. there was a really cool exhibit by a photographer who took pictures of a place called 29 palms, where people in the army go to train before being deployed to iraq or afghanistan. i also ate at some really good restaraunts - a japanese place in downtown oakland and a chinese restaraunt in chinatown (i guess i had a lot of asian food).

so, the concert. where to start? first thing, glen hansard came out by himself and played say it to me now without using a microphone. my god, his voice is amazing - it totally just echoed through the theatre (i wish i had taken some pictures inside; it was beautiful). this is also when i noticed that the person the girls beside me had been freaking out about seeing ("like, oh my god, i can't believe he's here!") was ben stiller.

after say it to me now, marketa came out and they played a frames song, your face. now i was completely in heaven, because i wasn't expecting this. But if you try again I'll fall
And if you want to save it all
Then all you have to do is give
Give me that look again
Give me that look
in the middle of the song, glen said it's about "making mix tapes for your mate" and then he started singing another song that i missed (but it must have been funny because he laughed and said that was definately never on his tapes) and lost his place. but he found it and finished the song.

this is where i lost track of the setlist. i know that those were the first two songs, but i don't remember the rest of the order. so i'll just list some highlights.

two new songs! these were awesome. the first one had glen singing and marketa playing piano. it was called, i think, your love makes me cheerful. i don't really remember the lyrics, but i do remember that the chorus had some really awesome singing by mr. hansard. (god, i love him. he might give ed vedder a run for the money in the "megan's favorite singer" race).

the 2nd new song was one that marketa sang. this was the first time she spoke i think, and she just started with "hello," and everyone applauded. i also noticed that she had a new guitar - during other shows, she has always played glen's guitar. (i think.. not that i've seen every show). this was also a great song and after it was over, glen said that he wished they could keep playing it over and over. aww... i hope they play these two songs in seattle (on wednesday!!) so i can hear them again without the "oh my gosh, these are new songs!" excitement.

true wow. totally in awe over this one. i know that i've posted videos of this song before because i absolutely love it. this is a frames song from their latest album. on the record, there is a woman singing over glen's voice at the end - it kind of reminds me of the postal service song with ben gibbard and jenny lewis, if you know that one. the woman who sings on the song isn't credited in the album, and i assume that it's marketa, but really don't know. so during the song i was wondering if she would take the backing part, and she did. i wish her vocals had been louder, but it was still brilliant.
I built a wall
I cut you off
Now there's no lies
That's gonna fix this up

what happens when the heart just stops this is another frames song that glen played by himself. before this song, he usually tells a story about a dog who lived in his neighborhood when he was a kid and used to sit in the same spot day after day waiting for something. this time, glen kind of rambled on (and i don't mean that in a bad way.. like eddie vedder, i kind of enjoy hearing glen tell stories on stage) about how your heart and your head are rarely in sync.

fitzcarraldo another frames song (wow, i didn't realize how many frames songs they played). i guess this would kind of be a defining frames song, in the same way that corduroy is a defining pearl jam song. they didn't play this song last time they were in seattle, although i've seen videos of it on youtube, and looked forward to seeing them do it because i really enjoy marketa's piano playing on it.

almost all the members of the frames were there (minus the drummer.. but who needs a drummer anyway? haha... just kidding). i read on the frames website that colm has a solo record coming out sometime soon. that might be interesting - he played a little violin solo that was beautiful. joe sang christmas time in the mountains, which for some reason, makes me cry every time i hear it (kristine, i dare you not to cry if he sings it on wednesday. it's gorgeous).

i bought a canvas bag that says "swell season" in big block letters and has outlines of glen and marketa from the once poster on the back. (can you ever have too many canvas bags?? i think not). there were also t-shirts that said "swell season" on the front and "fair play to those who dare to dream" (from marketa's oscar speech) on the back.

they played for almost two hours. but really, time went by in a flash. that's how i really know it's a great concert - whether or not i look at my watch and find myself thinking about all the things i have to get done.

they'll toss and turn forever but no rest will they find

i did something really dumb yesterday. i guess i wasn't really watching where i was walking and i tripped over my own feet, twisting my right foot in the process. it was really swollen and painful last night (i didn't sleep well, hence the title for this post. it's also from a song by the frames, but i digress), but seemed to be okay this morning, and i thought i'd be able to go to work, but then it started swelling up again. so i decided to go to the doctor, and she took one look at it and told me that it was probably broken. peachy. but an hour later, she looked at the x-rays and said that it was just a really bad sprain. thank goodness. my foot is still really swollen, but at least now i can walk. kind of.

after i managed to hobble home, i found a pleasant surprise waiting for me: my package from amazon.com. with my swell season dvd and rem album (more about that when i listen to it some more) that i didn't expect until thursday. yay!

i put my foot up, and watched the dvd (which is what i think i'm going to do again after i write this). this particular concert is from a series called "live at the artist's den," which showcases "emerging and established artists" (their words, not mine) at unique venues. the swell season show was filmed last november at the good shepard center in seattle (there was a write-up about this place in the paper a few weeks ago. i think i now will make it my new mission to see a concert there) in the early 1900's, it was a "home for wayward girls" (i.e. pregnant out of wedlock) and now, it has been turned into a really intimate concert venue.

the dvd is great and exactly what i expected and wanted - very simple, just glen and marketa (and colm and joe on violin and bass). almost like being at a swell season concert, although i can't help but wonder what was left out. glen's crowd banter is there, though, as are two unreleased (i think concentric is unreleased, although i guess i'm not positive) songs - concentric and golden. i guess my only complaint is that i wish there were more songs (sleeping and the moon, please)

one of the best parts of the concert is the last song, star star. glen asks the audience to whistle the ending, which they do (although it takes them awhile to warm up to it). he then puts down his guitar, goes to sit by the piano with marketa, and the four of them (glen, marketa, colm and joe) leave the stage while everyone is still whistling. awesome.



(this is not from the dvd. i just really like this song)

i spent all day upon the words that i would write to you this day...

exhibit number two in why i love the frames. (scroll down to see number one). what a fantastic video.

i'm pulling on the red chord

exhibit number one in "why i love the frames/swell season" - glen hansard. i'm going to copy and paste this whole interview, because it's too good not to. i found it on the frames messageboard.

But on the night of Sunday February 24, after two decades of stubborn graft, Hansard and his partner Marketa Irglova found themselves on the stage of the Kodak Theater in LA clutching the Oscar for best original song, ‘Falling Slowly’ from John Carney’s Once, the indie cinema dark horse of 2007.
The film, an unconsummated love story that rejuvenates the musical format by featuring songs rendered in credible, realistic settings, was shot in Dublin for about a hundred grand but made back more than $14 million worldwide, won Sundance and Independent Spirit awards and garnered ecstatic critical notices and praise from industry old boys like Steven Spielberg. That the song bagged a Grammy nomination has almost been forgotten in the Oscar fuss.
If he felt like it on the night, Hansard could’ve justifiably claimed to have eclipsed many of the acts he and The Frames adopted as avatars or peers in their various evolutionary stages: The Waterboys, The Pixies, Jeff Buckley – even U2. After all, it took Martin Scorsese 40 years and at least half a dozen masterpieces to get an Academy Award. Bob Dylan still proudly displays his trophy for ‘Things Have Changed’ on the piano when he’s touring.
“With this, there’s a sense of responsibility,” Glen tells me in the RTÉ television building the day after he and Marketa return from their awfully big Oscar adventure to appear on the Ryan Tubridy show. “It’s like, ‘There’s your fuckin’ award, now fuckin’ hold it, and don’t try to get off the hook. This is yours'.”
For Hansard, the biggest challenge was how to accept his new status as an item on the six o’clock news and a picture on the front of the daily newspapers. Two decades of self-financed tours and albums, of minor victories and major setbacks, had rendered him accustomed to operating in a default state of siege. But that night in LA, he finally transcended the various roles he’d been assigned over the years – eager young firebrand, Commitments apologist, dogged independent slogger, local hero/villain, leader of a people’s band who sometimes seemed doomed to play the bridesmaid abroad – and in one fell swoop he and his collaborators were at last awarded respect and recognition from the mainstream music and film industries.
“That aspect became evident to me about a week and a half ago,” Glen says when he takes a seat in his dressing room, a tad rumpled, but obviously still buzzing from the Oscar victory. “I was looking for a guitar shop – I knew I’d need new strings ’cos we were playing the Oscars – and I went into McCabe’s in Santa Monica. And T Bone Burnett happened to be in the shop the next day, and they mentioned that we were playing, and he came to see us play this tiny little gig, 120 people or so. But the next day we went for lunch and he said, ‘My two favourite bands in Ireland are Kíla and The Frames'. And I was shocked that he knew Kíla, but I was like, ‘You know who The Frames are?’ And he says, ‘You’d be surprised how many people know who The Frames are. There’s a lot of affection out there for your band, and has been for a long time, but people haven’t had any reason to step forward and say, 'Oh by the way, there’s a band in Ireland that no one’s ever heard of called The Frames and they’re great'. No-one’s ever had any reason to fly your flag, and now you’ll find people coming out of the woodwork who’ll know who you are'.”
Like the song says: “You have suffered enough/And warred with yourself/It’s time that you won.”
“I can’t help thinking Mic must’ve had something to do with this,” Glen tells me shortly before he and Marketa attend to Tubridy soundchecking duties. He is referring of course to his late friend and musical sparring partner Mic Christopher, who died as a result of a fall while on tour in the Netherlands back in the winter of 2001.
It’s too big a question for either of us to address under the current circumstances, but in some ways Marketa has inhabited Mic’s role as Glen’s busking partner and travelling companion (their version of Dylan’s ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere’, a staple of Glen and Mic’s, appeared on the soundtrack of Todd Haynes I’m Not There.)
After they run through ‘Falling Slowly’ on Tubridy’s couch, there’s warm applause from the crew. “Are those the clothes they’re wearing on the show?” one tech says incredulously. “Are they not getting changed?”
Russell Brand’s producer calls Glen’s phone at one point, requesting a radio interview later that night. I tell him it’s time he changed his number.
"Too right," he says. "Everyone’s got it."
Including Bono, who texted the message “From a busker to an Oscar” mere moments before they performed at the ceremony.
Always an articulate and intense interviewee, this evening Glen is understandably a little more under-slept and prone to digression than usual, in contrast to Marketa, who despite her relative youth (she turned 20 two days before our interview), exudes a quiet self-possession.
The pair first met seven years ago through Marketa’s father, a promoter, cultural figure and independent newspaper publisher in the Czech Republic. Over subsequent visits they forged a collaborative relationship, but given the 17-year age difference, Glen was understandably wary of anything other than a musical tryst. Once, the story of a Dublin busker and Czech immigrant who forge a profound connection through their shared passion for music, changed all that.
Although John Carney took substantial formal risks in what is essentially a neo-realist film, including the gorgeous scene where Marketa walks the night streets singing ‘The Hill’ on her headphones, and a bittersweet sequence in which Glen watches old handicam footage of his ex-girlfriend to the tune of ‘Lies’, most of the film draws heavily on cinema verité, with the principals basically playing themselves. The crucial scene in which Glen teaches ‘Falling Slowly’ to Marketa is a sublime evocation of the shared intimacy of musicians and lovers.
“I had been falling in love with her for a long time,” Glen told Entertainment Weekly last year, “but I kept telling myself she’s just a kid. There was definitely the feeling we were documenting, something precious and private.”
I ask Glen to what extent the story predicted their eventual romance.
“I think ultimately John cast the film 'cos I guess he saw something,” he considers. “He cast Mar before he cast me, and Cillian (Murphy) was still on board then. And when Cillian pulled out, John didn’t jump on me immediately, he thought about a few different options. What was his name, the guy from The Tudors? Jonathan Rhys Meyers. And I’d suggested Damien Rice to him. I hadn’t suggested myself, only because of my whole Commitments experience, the last thing I wanted to do was act again. I just didn’t feel the need. But eventually John came to me and said, ‘I’d really like you to do it'. And I kind of knew it was coming in some way, and my initial reaction, as Mar remembers well, was, ‘No way. I don’t wanna do it. It’s too close to me'.”
Was he afraid of putting his real life on the screen?
“Exactly. My first fear was that the film would be viewed as a vanity project, made by the ex-bass player of my band, about me. What was embarrassing about it was that I was a busker, and there were aspects of John’s scripts that were based on me telling John stories: the guy stealing the money, the bank manager singing me a song, me getting The Frames together from people I met on Grafton Street, all of these things have happened to me in real life. And I was nervous, because if the film is rubbish, then it becomes The Glen Hansard Story from 18 to whatever. And the other problem I said to him was, ‘I’m 35. I’m too old to play this guy.’ ’Cos John’s original idea was the guy be 21 and the girl be 35. And what he ended up with was a mirror image of it.”
So when did they become a couple?
“We basically graduated April last year, when we went to America. I guess it would be a lie to say there wasn’t some kind of… John kept on saying to us, ‘I’m watching the dailies, and there’s definitely something’ – 'cos he wouldn’t let us watch them. He said, ‘I guarantee you two, at some point, will have a relationship'. And I said, ‘Dude, fuck off!’ Even though I guess I probably knew the same. But he kept jokingly calling us his Bogart and Bacall, cos John’s a total cinephile, so all his references are based in classic cinema. And he was right. It took a little longer than he thought. And I think he, what’s the word, not exploited, but used whatever tension there was. Like you say, there wasn’t a lot of acting.”
John Carney’s original marketing strategy was to tour Ireland with a 35mm print of the film and fill cinemas with Frames fans. When Fox Searchlight picked up the distribution, they adopted that travelling sideshow idea, and Glen and Marketa spent a month last spring touring the US in a bus nicknamed Air Force Once. The two leads would arrive in a town at dawn, do two or three breakfast shows, then conduct interviews with local press in a hotel room all day. An intense way to begin any relationship.
“Well it was,” Glen admits. “Fox Searchlight became the company for this film because they were the only ones willing not to change a single frame. Everybody else wanted some kind of compromise made about the storyline, a kiss at the end being a big one for a couple of people. But Searchlight hired us a bus, and me, John and Mar basically made a pact that because this film was so small and fragile, such an outsider, we were going to give it everything: ‘If anyone asks us to give an interview on the back of a Rice Krispies box, we’re doing it'.
“But even at Sundance, which has a very indie-er than thou atmosphere, we were thinking, ‘Jesus, our film’s a fuckin’ comedy compared to all this stuff here that’s really intense'. And yet, at Sundance, you had all these hardcore filmakers coming to us and saying, ‘Shit man, your film’s really good, you’ve nailed something there, I don’t know exactly what'. The word ‘authentic’ kept on getting mentioned. And ‘believability’. Which I think at the end of the day is all any film has going for it, whether it’s an $800 million high-budget Phantom Menace or whether it’s Once or Garage, the idea being that, if you believe the character, then the film has a chance.”
One thing often forgotten when someone like Spielberg namechecks the film is that the ’60s and ’70s Hollywood brats adored Cassavetes and Ozu and French and Italian new wave/neo-realist films.
“And you still feel it in Spielberg’s films. You look at Close Encounters: it’s an indie film with a huge budget. I love that Spielberg’s films always have that dysfunctional family.”
But despite the rave reviews and general air of goodwill towards the film (“We kept meeting people who wished us good luck for the Oscars and had their fingers crossed,” Marketa says) it wasn’t all smooth going. Because ‘Falling Slowly’ had been previously released on the last Frames record The Cost and also Glen & Marketa’s Swell Season collaboration, questions were raised about its eligibility for the Oscar. In the end, the AMPAS music committee deemed that in the course of the film’s protracted production, the composers had “played the song in some venues that were deemed inconsequential enough to not change the song’s eligibility.”
While the nomination hung in the balance, Glen found an unexpected ally in the form of Bono, who met him for a pint or two, captured his contribution to the Ronnie Drew tribute single on his mobile phone, and counselled him that, if the worst came to the worst, he’d at least get a song out of the experience.
So it came to pass that on the night of February 24 in the Kodak Theater, more than halfway through the 80th Oscar ceremony, Colin Farrell introduced Glen and Marketa, who delivered a gorgeous, orchestra-embellished performance of ‘Falling Slowly’, and received a response that verged on an ovation.
“The performance was easy,” says Glen. “We were in a room with 3,000 people, forget the cameras, this is what we do. Whereas when I look back to the speech, I’m like, ‘Fuckin’ hell, I actually wasn’t in my skin at all.’”
Did he even hear John Travolta announce their names as the winners?
“I just heard, ‘Glen'. That’s all I heard, and I looked at my mother, and she did this (puts hand over mouth) and I did this (puts hands over eyes) and she grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go. And I actually had to say to her, ‘Ma, I have to go!’ Because there’s a Tom Hanks DVD you get called So You’ve Been Nominated. I’d love to show it to you. It’s basically him in a nice theatre explaining: ‘So – you’ve been nominated for an Oscar. Well done. If you happen to be one of the lucky people that get called up to the stage, there’s a few things you need to remember. You’ve got 60 seconds from the moment your name has been called to the end of your speech. That includes the walk. So be aware of this. Don’t bring up a piece of paper, it looks awful on camera. Try not to thank everybody, because if you do you’re gonna leave somebody out, and those people you do mention are going to be happy, but the other 600 million people watching aren’t gonna be that interested. Try to make that moment something that means something to you, blah, blah, blah. But you’ve only got 60 seconds'.
“So me and Mar had a brief talk saying, ‘What if we do end up on this stage?’ And I was really reluctant to prepare anything, 'cos I’m so used to thinking on my feet onstage anyway, I thought, if by some chance it happens, it’ll be fine. But the one thing that I’d planned to say was, ‘Everyone who’s helped us, you know who you are, the only person I want to thank is John Carney'. Which I totally left out!”
And, as has been widely reported, when Marketa stepped up to the mic to say thank you, the orchestra cut her off. However, during the ad-break the show’s producer Gil Cates asked host Jon Stewart to bring her back on to say a few words, an almost unprecedented move in a show as tightly sequenced as the Oscars.
Glen: “We arrived in to all these cameras and people shaking our hands, and next thing Mar was gone, taken off to the other side of the stage. She thought she was going back on during the ads just to say thank you to the room.”
Marketa: “Jon Stewart had said to me, ‘It looked like you were in the middle of a special moment, we didn’t mean to cut you off'. So I walked on totally confused as to what was happening. Luckily I managed to get something together that made sense.”
She’s being modest. What she delivered was an unscripted crie de coeur: “This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we’re standing here tonight, the fact that we’re able to hold this, it’s just to prove no matter how far out your dreams are, it’s possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don’t give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, (those) who helped us along the way. Thank you.”
Glen: “You fucking nailed it. I got up and I was just a gibbering mess!”
The rest of the evening afforded some bizarre photo-ops. Marketa shaking hands with George Clooney. Glen with the Coens and Michael Moore. Glen’s mother Catherine with Ringo Starr. So who impressed them the most?
Glen: “There were a couple of people there where you look at them you just go, ‘There’s someone who’s absolutely radiating self, completely magnetic'. Viggo Mortensen had that sense of himself. Daniel Day Lewis, he’s a man who’s operating on his own level, he’s totally comfortable in his own skin. You look at someone like him and you say to yourself, ‘There’s a guy who makes a film every eight years and wins an Oscar for every one of them'.”
They didn’t, perchance, happen to meet Cormac McCarthy?
Glen: “I did, yeah. I met him on the way out with the Coen Brothers. To be honest with you, he came up and introduced himself, and whatever was going on in that moment, it didn’t hit me. It was about two, three seconds later I suddenly went: ‘Cormac McCarthy’, and he was already talking to someone else. It was a warm transaction, but the moment didn’t land.
“But we were lucky in that we met Frances McDormand, and she loves the film. And Frances is married to Joel (Coen), so we ended up hanging out with the Coen brothers, who are very shy. Frances is so different, she’s so warm, and she sort of pulled me and Mar into the group. I went up to them at the luncheon, and although Joel Coen had said, ‘I really liked you in Once’ which was a fucking amazing thing to hear, and John Carney freaked out when he heard that, they’re still very shy guys, there’s no real conversation. I’d loads of Lebowski questions I wanted to ask him, because there’s this theory among Lebowski-ites that Donnie doesn’t exist, that he’s a figment of Walter’s imagination. And every question I asked him, he’s like, ‘Nah'. It was kind of trying to pry open the paint tin; you have to come at them from a different level.”
Marketa: “Laura Linney was super nice to us. We met her at the lunch and everything, and she was a great support, she said she’d seen the movie and she and her husband were rooting for us, so when we walked onstage she was very happy for us.”
Glen: “Such a great woman. She made a comment at the party to me, which was like, ‘It’s so rare in this business where the one that everybody wants to win, does win'. It was so palpable in the room. When they showed the clip from ‘Falling Slowly’, the fuckin’ response, for me and Mar it was just amazing. But you get the sense with the Academy… It was their way of giving Once a nod, because they couldn’t give it best film. I mean, I think they could’ve but…”
There’s a hierarchy. They can’t snub the Coens on top form, or a film as epic aThere Will Be Blood.
“Yeah, exactly. Once was gonna go for Best Screenplay or Best Foreign Film or something like that. So it seems to me that the Academy really wanted to acknowledge Once somehow, and the best thing to do was put the song up. And I’m not belittling the song, I’m really happy that it got the nomination, but it seems that they wanted to give us some kind of recognition.”
Plus, to be honest, the competition wasn’t up to much.
“I have to say, as an artist, I don’t want to sound egotistical, but I kind of felt like we definitely stood a chance in terms of the fabric of what a song actually is, the distillation of some emotion that’s put into rhyme and music, a distilled moment. I thought the August Rush song was really good, but I have to say I thought the Disney songs felt like they were… there was definitely the sense of machinery off them, that sense of hit the right buttons.”
So now they’ve got a big stick, what are they going to do with it?
“Exactly nothing, I think, is the order of the day. A few people asked me, ‘Are you going to move out to Hollywood?’ ’Cos the night after, there was a bunch of scripts, offers to make music for this film and this film and this film, and I was like, ‘Fuckin’ hell, this is what happens!’”
Is it true Glen was thinking of studying film in New York?
“I’m still thinking of it, yeah. There’s a certain camera I want to learn, an Arie 60, which is an amazing old 1930s or ’40s camera, and so I’ll do that when the time is right, just because I’d love to make a film at some point myself. But it’s a bit like the Commitments thing where people are saying to me, ‘This is an amazing chance – what are you going to do with it?’ And I find myself saying the same thing I said back then, which is, ‘Well, it’s not my world'.”
“It’s almost like, because we have an Oscar now, we’ve nothing to prove. Whatever you do now, you’re off the hook or something. For me it’s freedom. (To Glen) Do you feel that way about it?”
Glen: “I kinda do and I don’t. I have this weird relationship with it, a very Irish thing. You get something like that and one half is made of gold, the other half is made of lead. It becomes a ball and chain as well as a victory. It’s a classic Irish attitude. I woke up the next morning totally anxious, do you remember?”
Marketa: “Yeah. ‘What does this mean?!!’”
Glen: “‘Do we deserve this?’ Just questions, questions, questions. And then at some point I was like, ‘Fuck off Glen! Just enjoy this. It’s an amazing thing'. It’s weird, because when we got famous for five minutes back in the days when The Commitments came out, I felt absolutely no connection to it, I rejected the whole experience because I felt there was no artistic input on my behalf, so therefore I didn’t deserve anything, I deserved none of the praise that the whole band was getting. And it wasn’t that I didn’t like the film: I love the film, I think the film’s fucking brilliant and people always get me wrong when I speak about it because I always appear bitter. Not at all. I just rejected the experience 'cos it wasn’t mine.
“I mean, the first thing I did was give the Oscar to my mother and said, ‘There you go, that’s yours'. And me ma has brought it to the bingo, all the kitchen staff of the Holiday Inn on Hollywood Boulevard have pictures of my Oscar! I don’t even have it now, my ma has it, she’s bringing it in tonight. Even on Tubridy, it’s like, ‘So where’s your Oscar?’ ‘Well, you’re gonna have to ask her!’”
God bless Mum. Later, Catherine Hansard hands over the statue long enough for Graham Keogh to take the cover shots. Glen and Marketa, holding an Oscar.
Bob was right. Things have changed.
“I think most of the things in our career that have been positive came from busking,” Glen told me in 2003.
He had no idea.

wow, he swears a lot.

you won't disappoint me, i can do that myself