Roanoke to Richmond

My CD Wallet: October 3-14, 2010

2010-10-04T20:33:00.011-04:00

Does everybody remember CD wallets? Just over ten years ago, these were worth their weight in gold. Most people's could carry anywhere from fifteen to a hundred CDs. I even remember one guy in my high school who had the 200 CD wallet, which was five inches thick and absolutely full of legitimately purchased $16.99 albums.

We all know what happened. CD burners, Napster, Limewire, the iPod, and then iTunes... and the CD wallet you used to cherish is now in your parents' crawlspace. While I don't miss CDs very much (remember how you would loan it to your friend and it would come back all scratched and unplayable?), I do miss carrying a CD wallet. Mine held twenty discs at a time. Not a small amount, but compared to today's ga-jigga-byte iPods, it was a pretty meager selection. The iPod freed your library, right? I'm not so sure. Now that I have thousands of son

gs at my fingertips, when I strap on my seatbelt and start my hour-long commute, I find myself at a loss. What do I listen to? Do I just flick the screen and stop it somewhere? Okay... oh. Well, I just heard a couple songs from that album yesterday, so maybe something else. Oh! I haven't heard that in a while. Wait, no... I'm still so sick of that one song. How about... you get the idea.

I'm going back to the CD wallet... sort of. I've decided to rotate through a playlist of just twenty albums, enough music for twenty trips to and from Williamsburg. If you're one of my more musically-oriented friends, you might find this interesting. If not, then go back to reading Facebook statuses, or whatever you were doing before you clicked here.

October 3-14, 2010

Arcade Fire, The Suburbs (2010)

Art Blakey, Indestructible (1964)

The Average White Band, Cut the Cake (1975)

Bobby Hutcherson, Total Eclipse (1968)

Can, Monster Movie (1969)

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bayou Country (1969)

Dashboard Confessional, The Swiss Army Romance (2000)

Deerhunter, Halcyon Digest (2010)

Ennio Morricone, The Thing (1982)

Gary Numan, Replicas (1979)

Gentle Giant, Octopus (1974)

Grateful Dead, From the Mars Hotel (1974)

Grinderman, Grinderman 2 (2010)

Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1970)

John Lee Hooker, John Lee Hooker Plays and Sings the Blues (1961)

John Legend & The Roots, Wake Up! (2010)

Nirvana, Bleach (1989)

Peter Gabriel, Peter Gabriel (3: Melt) (1980)

The Radio Dept., Clinging to a Scheme (2010)

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Freaky Styley (1985)

LCD Soundsystem: Just One Big Ol' Dance Party

2010-10-03T08:05:00.009-04:00

One of the birthday presents my incredible wife surprised me with this year was two tickets to see one of my favorite bands, LCD Soundsystem. I love it when shows fall on Saturdays because you can really make a whole day out of it... and when you get to go to Charlottesville, it's just that much better. Everything was really perfect: the weather, the company, the food, the beer, and of course, the music.

We rolled up to Blue Mountain Brewery at about 4pm to meet up with a bunch of our friends before the show, many of whom had driven up from Blacksburg. If you haven't been to Blue Mountain yet, it's a great little place just west of Charlottesville in Afton, and only five minutes off of Exit 107. Huge kudos to them for picking up two medals at the Great American Beer Festival last month: a bronze for their Kolsch 151 and a gold(!) for their Sandy Bottom, winner for best American-style wheat beer. In honor of Oktoberfest, the oom-pah-pah music was coming over the speakers and the beer was served in logo-plastered steins. My cute little pregnant wife was able to enjoy a delicious American cream soda and we noshed on one of my favorite menu items: thin-crust pizza topped with local bratwurst, apple slices, caramelized onions, and balsamic reduction. DELICIOUS. After a nice afternoon with great friends and a couple of great beers, we headed down the road for the show.

We got there right about the time that Sleigh Bells was taking the stage. I'd heard their album a couple of times and knew it would be loud and intense, but I was unimpressed to find out how much of their sound was pre-recorded. The guy had his guitar and the girl had her microphone, and besides that, everything was canned. My wife calls them "just press play" bands and likened Sleigh Bells to "a teenage girl jumping around her bedroom". Ouch! The truth hurts.

Everybody was so pumped up when LCD Soundsystem took the stage. Maybe it was the great weather or just the simple fact that they were in Charlottesville, but the normally unemotional James Murphy seemed like he had a great time, too. They started off with "Dance Yrself Clean," the awesome nine-minute opener to their new album. As soon as the drums kicked in, the crowd started dancing... and they didn't quit until the show was over. We heard most of the great ones: "Drunk Girls", "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House", "Someone Great", "All My Friends", and "Yeah". A great show and a perfect night!

Here are a few pics I snagged with our little point n' shoot, as well as a video I took with my (brand-spankin' new!) Droid X.

The 48 Hour Film Project '10

2010-07-27T09:14:00.007-04:00

On the third weekend of July, the 48 Hour Film Project made its annual return to Richmond. We put together the usual motley crew of filmmakers, composed of people who do anything but act, write, compose, or direct. Despite our admitted lack of talent or ability, we pretended like we were Hollywood production members for one weekend and created something that we're pretty proud of. There were six of us on this year's team: Brock Riggs, Sally Ann Smith, Dave French, Mel Worthington, Sam Worthington, and me. With a team that small, everybody wore a lot of hats. SA, Mel, Dave, and Sam spent time in front of the camera, I held the sound boom, and Brock and Sam operated the cameras. All of us contributed to the story development and cinematography. Here's the movie. I'll chime in with some commentary after you've had a chance to see it. (And if your computer hardware allows, be sure to crank the video into HD (720p or 1080p) and full screen to get the highest quality.)

On Friday night Brock and I went to the Camel for the official genre drawing. (We were also glad to see that their $3 draft special included Bell's Two-Hearted Ale.) Once most of the teams were there, they put the genres into a hat. Some dude ran in front of us to be first, thinking he would have the greatest odds of pulling out something other than "musical or western". His plan completely failed when he pulled exactly that. As he dejectedly walked away, Brock stepped up, put his hand in the hat, and drew "drama". We waited as they read the line ("How do I look?"), prop (compact disc), and character (Dwight or Danette Williams, project planner), then ran out to the car to head home and get started. Along the way we called the team to give them the requirements, but when we arrived, everyone was still in the early stages of brainstorming. We spent a long time tossing around an idea about throwing a party for a guy who had been released from prison after serving time for a white-collar crime, but we just couldn't make it work. It was probably after 10pm when Dave finally came up with the winning idea: "What if it's about a party planner with a dark past?" It went from there. We set up the general structure, decided that we could film the entire thing at John and Shirley's house, and agreed to reunite there on Saturday morning.

Thanks to Sam and Mel's amazing cameras and lenses, Brock's eye for a great shot, and John and Shirley's beautiful home, we pulled off some really nice cinematography. The shooting flew by as we tried to get each of our scenes filmed by 3pm, at which time John and Shirley's friends were arriving for a big pool party. Things got complicated at 2:15 when we finally made our way down to the pool for the big climactic shot. John needed to get the leaves off of the bottom of the pool, a job that requires both the pump-driven vacuum and some manual work, so we were very much in the way. John very patiently offered to turn the pump off while we shot, and we were fighting the clock the whole time to get it done. The dramatic death scene didn't turn out exactly as we had hoped (it should have looked more like Sam hit his head on the side of the pool), and John did get a nice background cameo (which is actually our favorite part about the movie), but the end product was a fairly coherent story and an enormously fun Saturday.

Brock immediately got into editing. He pulled all of the tape, watched every minute, picked the best takes, and started putting it together. Dave headed home to compose the music. Later that evening Dave brought over his rough tracks, all of which were perfect (he's actually got talent). He had some ideas for vocal tracks that I thought I could probably pull off, so SA and I went around the corner to his place for some late-night recording. For the Latin first dance song, we just wrote some ridiculous Ricky Martin-type lyrics, then I recorded them in several different keys. Dave layered them together to send it over the top. The techno song was the most fun, though, as I pulled out some random German-ish words to recite over the beat. Sunday was all Brock, putting every element together to create the final product which you've now seen.

No word on the winners, yet, but we will find out next weekend. We had a blast, so win or lose, it was totally worth every minute. If you're interested in being on our team or starting one of your own, feel free to ask me all about it!

Why I love the Byrd Theatre.

2010-05-26T08:58:00.012-04:00

[The Byrd Theatre Foundation, which owns and operates Richmond's "Grand Movie Palace", is applying for a $250k grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project, a charitable organization that allows its web visitors to vote for the organization they deem the most worthy. To best make its case to the web masses, the BTF has called on the theater's many patrons to submit their favorite memories in a story format (written or video), two of which will be chosen for the official grant application. If you know me or SA, you know we love this place. Here's my story.]

Though significant to Richmonders young and old, I doubt many can call the Byrd Theatre an integral part of their marriage. For my wife Sally Ann and me, Richmond's Grand Movie Palace has woven itself into our relationship since its very formation. Just friends in the late spring of 2004, Sally Ann sat beside me for a 9:30 screening of one of the Lord of the Rings films, where we spent the majority of the three hours whispering about our post-college career plans. Fate landed us both back in the River City and our friendship soon blossomed to courtship.

Sally Ann's fancy new address was 317 N. Boulevard, just five quick minutes from the west side of Carytown. My starting salary afforded few extravagant date nights, and being completely unwilling to take her out just a few times a month, I knew exactly where to start spending my date budget. Tuesday night became “Byrd Night”, when I'd happily fork over four bills (or occasionally two bills , six quarters and five dimes) to see the weekly 7:15 feature. For two years, we saw them all; the good (Crash), the bad (Derailed), and the ugly (Bewitched). After a great flick we'd say, “What a deal! We saw a great movie for just four dollars,” and after a turkey, “Well, at least we only blew four bucks on that one.” In the warm summer months we'd sometimes even spring for a cone at Bev's (but never Ben & Jerry's). Our weekly trips to the Byrd helped us laugh, cry, shiver and cheer our way through two wonderful years of dating.

Knee deep in wedding planning in spring of 2007, we tossed around ideas for wedding favors for our guests. We considered the usual souvenirs: mugs, shot glasses, monogrammed M&M's. We instead chose to devote that portion of the budget to something much dearer to us: the Byrd Theatre Foundation. We elected to make a two dollar donation to the Foundation on behalf of each of our guests, providing them with a bag of microwave popcorn wrapped with a note describing our affection for the Theatre on the way out of the reception.

The best treat of all was on the big day, June 23rd, 2007, when Mr. Schall-Vess granted our special request to see our names in lights above the theater. “BLADES OF GLORY CONGRATS TO CLINT & SALLY” the marquee read, emblazoned for all of Carytown's Saturday window shoppers to see. When our trolley stopped by the theater on the way to the reception, Sally Ann and I experienced our fifteen minutes of Richmond fame. Moviegoers waiting in line for the matinee shouted our names as we hopped off the trolley for a photo op, congratulating us, hugging us, and posing for every picture. It's one of those moments in life that are too surreal to take in but too enormous to forget.

For these reasons and for many yet to come, the Byrd Theatre is a pricelessly dear place to me. Every time I hand my ticket to one of the smiling young ladies beneath the marquee and take my place in the concession line, I look around the lobby with the fondest memories one can have of a moviehouse. For all its eighty-plus years of hosting weddings, concerts, plays, and of course, showing thousands of films to audiences big and small, the strongest evidence of the Byrd's timelessness is that it refuses to be a mere historical relic; it continues to make history with every passing day.

- Clinton D. Smith, May 2010

The Glorious Return of BLUR

2009-06-15T19:55:00.008-04:00

It's really happening. Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon are playing together again, and on top of that, they are having an absolutely great time doing it. Sure they did fine solo work, and Gorillaz and the Good, the Bad, and the Queen were outstanding projects, but one look at the smiling faces in these videos and you can tell they've gone home again.

Last Saturday at the East Anglican Railway Museum, where Blur first played live in 1988 for a birthday party (cute...), a smattering of friends and family got to listen to two hours of solid gold hits. Here is the setlist [NME] and several videos (whoever put HD movie mode into point and shoot cameras, thank you):

She's So High / Girls and Boys / Tracy Jacks / There's No Other Way / Jubilee / Badhead / Beetlebum / Trimm Trabb / Coffee and TV / Tender / Country House / Charmless Man / Colin Zeal / Oily Water / Chemical World / Sunday Sunday / Parklife / End of a Century / To the End / This Is a Low / Popscene / Advert / Song 2 / Out of Time / Battery in Your Leg / Essex Dogs / For Tomorrow / The Universal

"Girls and Boys"

"There's No Other Way"

"Beetlebum"

"Coffee and TV"

"Country House"

"Charmless Man"

"Parklife"

"Advert"

"Song 2"

Parachute: SHE IS LOVE Video

2009-05-12T10:25:00.005-04:00

Way to go, Nate McFah! Parachute, the artists formerly known as Parachute VA formerly known as Sparky's Flaw, debuted their new LP Losing Sleep on iTunes [link] today. The first single, "She Is Love", is on VH1's video countdown (go vote for it). Those of y'all who know my musical tastes know that this isn't my usual fare, but given that I lived with the guitarist's brother in college, I feel privileged to get the word out.

Fleet Foxes: MYKONOS Video

2009-02-05T11:19:00.004-05:00

Just in time for National Mustache Month, Fleet Foxes bring us an origamination* video for "Mykonos", the fourth tune from their Sun Giant EP. There are lots of paper cranes and mustaches inside, so you've been warned. It's directed by lead fox Robin Pecknold's brother Sean, who is apparently also seeking success in the artistic world. Herrrre she blows!

* totally fabricated word

Elementary, My Dear Watson

2009-02-03T10:11:00.017-05:00

Though I've never considered myself a mystery aficianado, I realize now that I sort of am. I'm almost through the third season of CSI and I could watch Chinatown, Double Indemnity, and The Maltese Falcon on repeat almost indefinitely. My favorite mystery man is the legendary Sherlock Holmes, an enormously observational sleuth who has managed to transcend fiction and remain relevant in pop culture since his debut in 1887.

If you've never read any of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's short stories, they are riveting. The Victorian English flows smoothly from the pages (though a dictionary is a handy companion) and every scene is perfectly detailed as to provide exact mental images. The prose is wordy but not overly so; you won't get so bogged down in detail that you lose interest. Instead, Doyle describes the surroundings and places you in the scene. Once you're adequately introduced to the people and place, Sherlock goes to work. After the client comes into Sherlock's study and tells his or her story, Holmes gets immediately on the case, often donning disguises or asking probing questions to suspects or witnesses. A couple of Christmases ago I bought Sally Ann a complete anthology of Doyle's Holmes tales, complete with 56 short stories and four novels. We read them aloud one at a time, then follow the story with the film version. (Thanks to the Schmo, who gave me the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes DVD set for my birthday.)

What prompted this post is the current production of two Sherlock films, one a traditional mystery starring Robert Downey, Jr., Jude Law, and Rachel McAdams, the other a comedy with Sasha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell. Guy Ritchie is directing the former, ensuring a stylish new entry into a canon of films that, while fantastic considering their small budgets, have not aged particularly gracefully. I'm really excited about the cast; Downey will make a great Sherlock and Jude Law (or "homewrecker", as Sally Ann calls him) should do a good Watson, though he's not as oafish as I have come to expect. Here's a first look (via USA Today):

So that's my two cents on why I admire the violin-playing, cocaine-abusing, deerstalker cap-wearing detective. I'm already looking forward to seeing Guy Ritchie's movie when it hits theaters on November 20th. Do yourself a favor and queue up a disc or two and jump into the shoes of the world's most famous sleuth.

Fiction Family @ Gravity Lounge

2009-01-28T14:13:00.001-05:00

Fiction Family
January 27, 2009
Gravity Lounge, Charlottesville

Last night Sally Ann and I had the pleasure of seeing Jon Foreman (Switchfoot) and Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek) perform as Fiction Family, just one week after releasing their debut album on ATO Records. I'd listened to the record just a few times before the show, making myself familiar with a few of the melodies but not yet wholly devoted. As a longtime fan of both of their principal projects, I generally knew what to expect: onstage goofiness from Jon, guitar virtuosity from Sean. Both were on display last night, but it was the unexpected pleasures that truly elevated the evening.

It was a nasty trip to C'ville, with a cold, steady rain beating down on the Volkswagen for the duration of the hour drive. Sally Ann and I parked and hustled through the Downtown Mall in search of Revolutionary Soup, which always promises a bowl to warm you up on a cold night. As we finished our meal, we met up with my sis and some of her buds and wandered over to Gravity Lounge. If you've never been inside, imagine a hybrid between a library, a coffee shop, and your high school buddy's basement bedroom, and you've about got it. After greeting a few of my old college buds, we grabbed a spot and waited for the show to begin.

First on stage was some dude whose name I can't remember -- though I don't think I'll need to. He pulled out a red keytar (+1), started a tape recorder next to his feet to play a pre-tracked drumbeat (-1), and warbled out a truly unmemorable song on the microphone. The next two songs weren't much better, though he did switch out for an acoustic guitar. I'm a nice guy, so that's all I'll say about him.

Second was Thad Cockrell, an acousticky-alt-country-singer-songwriter type dude hailing from Raleigh. He and his two backup musicians (guitar and bass) played twenty minutes of inoffensive pop with able harmonies and catchy melodies. The meek Cockrell thanked the audience several times, encouraged us to pick up his EP (which he claimed was on sale tonight for $5, down from an MSRP of $25), and thanked Nickel Creek for letting him open up.

Fiction Family took the stage at around 9:30 and immediately struck a rapport with the audience. They were relaxed before the crowd of 200, confidently charging into material from their new record with accompaniment from a bassist/keyboardist and a drummer. Then they took me completely off guard with a marvelous acoustic rendition of Radiohead's "Idioteque", harmonizing every note and generally making hair stand up on everybody's arms. This flowed seamlessly into their own "Elements Combined". (I managed to find a decent video of this, though it's from a couple of nights before at Jammin' Java. See below.) The rest of the night was peppered with surprise tunes like that one: Jon performed "Your Love is Strong", a prayerful song from his recent Spring EP which manages to include the entire Lord's Prayer; Arcade Fire's "Keep the Car Running"; Nickel Creek's "Somebody More Like You", which Sean wrote; and probably best of all, Sean led the crowd down this path talking about how he was raised in the bluegrass/folk tradition, sad songs, blah blah blah -- only to launch into "Pink Triangle". He pulled it off perfectly, inflecting his voice in all of the proper spots and generating a lot of laughter from many confused concert-goers. (I forget that the current college generation was born around 1990, making them a bit young for Pinkerton.) I should also add that the older couple beside us, who were in their fifties and were self-proclaimed "big Switchfoot fans", seemed to wince every time the word "lesbian" was sung.

After a solid hour and fifteen minutes they left the stage, returned promptly for an encore, gave us the first single "When She's Near", then ended the show with the album closer "Look For Me Baby". All in all it was a fantastic time, and if you're on the fence about checking them out live, rest assured they will entertain you and leave you feeling satisfied. Adios! - CDS