photo credit: wageslaves

Happy Monday (ok, still Sunday night to us Yanks, don't let's brag about it eh?) Even tho the Tart doesn't have to get up and clock in tomorrow I still have sympathy for all you out there who do. And organizing my music a bit tonight I found this dreamy Elvis Costello tune that just took me back to my youth, to the good days of summer, laying in bed listening to the radio and hoping to hear a track from My Aim Is True. Often late at night I was rewarded with "Welcome to the Working Week", (or with "Wave a White Flag" which to my 13 year old ears was very risque with all that beating and drinking, lol!) Sure the popular tracks like "Watching the Detectives" and "Alison" were easy to hear during the day, but to catch the more obscure ones you had to stay up late. But back to Mondays.... work.... ah right.

Later in life I figured out that working too hard was just not in anyone's best interest really. So no matter what the fucking Yuppies I was surrounded by told me, uh yeah, I was a working class slacker through and through. Of course, it wasn't until much later that I got radical about that, and by then I could afford to be ... ah the typical story of us lefties! Enjoy the tunes, don't work too hard this week, savor what's left of your weekend out there, and let music keep ya sane folks!

And, um, no I don't quite know why someone thought Elvis Costello likes pussy and heroin, he never struck me that way! But I loved this pic when I found it.

Of course no post on slacking would be complete without The Replacements, another band that absolutely formed my musical taste as a young person in the 80s, and I had to beat Puppet Show to the punch by plugging Depeche Mode and stealing one of his own tracks to do it with too! :)

photo credit: (waltzing) matilda

Welcome To The Working Week Elvis Costello from My Aim Is True

Bad Worker mp3The Replacements from Hootenanny

Work Hard mp3 Depeche Mode from Singles, Box 2, 08, Everything Counts

buy Elvis Costello

buy The Replacements

buy Depeche Mode

Dear Liela,

First off, thank you so much for a great show last night! I honestly don't know how you maintain all that energy especially at the end of a grueling tour and let me say, you went out with a bang last night. I could tell by your performance that you knew how to handle yourself on a stage with four gentlemen but even more admirably in front of an audience of about 300, comprised of at least 100 pervy and rude men. The way you heckled that heckler was truly inspiring, THANK YOU! Indeed, he would NOT know a babe if he saw one.

photo credit: mediaeater
Now, about your voice; I have to tell you how impressed I was that you were even more raspy-wonderfully-Gidgety (and I mean that as a compliment) than in your recordings. You told us you might need help on the high notes, pfffft. That was false modesty, my dear. You had it GOING ON last night! It's so refreshing to find a voice that's not dreary, cutesy, popstar-like sliding all over the long notes in that Mariah Carey fashion. I mean if you're Mariah do it, but please, if you're somebody else, do your own fucking thing! And you, Liela Moss, you do you own thing wonderfully! There's a certain bit of psychedelia in it, a dash of Grace Slick perhaps? I don't know what you think of all the comparisons to Blondie or to Nico, but I think you're just you: open, raw, out there exposed and bare with lyrics that cut to the quick in a way that none of those artists could do in their time. That, to me, is what indie should be, bravo!

I feel a little embarrassed that we gave you such a small stage... surely you and the boys in The Duke Spirit deserve a much grander space. I could hardly see Olly and had to sneak sideways glances at him before the show, in all his dandy grandeur, yummmmmmmmmm! (Not to mention his performance on "This Ship Was Built To Last") Maybe you could point him towards this blog for me? ;) I would have really loved to see Toby stretch out and hit that bass in the way I know he wanted to last night. God, I love his lines in "Send a Little Love Token" and "The Step and The Walk."
photo credit: richt/tlobf
Now Liela, I need you to do some smoothing over for me, ok? I'm terrible with guitarists, oi! I also was pretty far back from the stage, alas and well, I'm quite short. So who ever did that amazing fret work on "Into the Fold" really deserves a toffee pudding or a pint or whatever they want over there in Prague where you are off to next. So Luke or Daniel ( well both of you, ok?), throw it back, men! Well done! The encore, Neptune's Call was brilliant as well! Thank you.

Please come back and give us another show. I swear I'll buy 50 tickets and make them give you a better venue with excellent sound and more room to romp around and kick and prance and throw your arms about as I know you like to do. Because you all were fucking awesome. And I meant that when I hollered it to you from the street as you were getting into your tour bus. And wow, Liela, thanks SOOOO much for dashing over to me in the street and shaking my hand last night. You ROCK! :)

xoxoxoxo,
a tart - and yeah, like I said, I'm blogging about ya'll today! And thanks for the kind word about Obama, I'm glad you're a fan too!

p.s. Did that guy who climbed on stage at the end actually grope you? OMG, I saw you throw him off and all I can say is wow. If that wasn't an act, where the hell was security when we need it, eh? Don't think all of us in Chicago are animals hun!



Send a Little Love Token mp3
Neptune's Call mp3
Buy the album directly from them
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venue: The Empty Bottle

Opening Bands:
The Pale Gallery
MySpace
Brian Boes: Electric Guitar, Pale Jonny: Electric Bass, Brent Larson: Electric Guitar/Vocals, Jeff Massey: Drums/Vocals. They came on strong and not too loud, confident and for a local band, I'd give them kudos for a good sound. It's kinda like Green Day meets Wheezer.... a good, tight band, Pale Jonny is a good, funky bass player, Bred Larson did a fine guitar solo on "Autograph", but damn they need some work on vocals and "Drop the Deadbeat 4/4" honestly didn't show off the lyrics in my opinion, but tell me what you think. To be fair, the venue did them no favors in terms of acoustics. "Autograph!" was incredibly danceable tho!

from The Pale Gallery EP:
Autograph mp3
Drop the Deadbeat 4/4 mp3
They're not signed yet, here's hoping they are soon!

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Skybox
MySpace
Tim Ellis: Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Christian Carpenter Fields: Background Vocals, Keys & Lead Guitar, Mike Holtz: Drums, Percussion & Background Vocals,
Dan Ingenthron: Bass Guitar & Background Vocals. Think Jerry Seinfield doing an impression of an Indie Rocker, add Tina Weymouth, bass player for the Talking Heads, and then make it a dream sequence wherein the band does some Sigur Ros songs but in English and you pretty much have the Skybox. Now granted, I am most definitely not an indie rock fan (how do you people dance to this stuff??) In fact, I generally use the term "indiecrap" much like I use the term "fucktunes" to disparage the younger generations' love for all things "wacky" and "fun" grrrr. So when these guys started singing about their relationship with their right hand, especially their thumb, forgive me if I felt it was dumb. The sing-songiness of it all doesn't help me get over the fact that I babysat these brats when I was in my 20's and listening to the really good music of my time. It's as if they never really outgrew Sesame Street, ffs.

However, I have to say, even with the bad acoustics, (did I mention the horrible venue already?) the horrible audio mix and the absolutely rude locals, it was blaringly apparent that these guys have loads of talent and will be huge if indeed they are not already huge (I know little to nothing of the local indie scene). Vocally, Tim Ellis has a terrific falsetto, and a lot of energy. Christian Carpenter Fields is a perfect accoutrement to him, I'd be surprised to learn that the two were NOT long time friends, they seemed so in sync with one another, musically. Mike Holtz gave a very good performance and Dan Ingenthron simply blew me away. I don't often think of Tina Weymouth, few bassists cover the frets the way she does. He saved the night for me, honestly, with this band. They opened with "Various Kitchen Utensils" and I couldn't stop smiling, even as I gritted my teeth. Slower songs like "Gravity Can't Keep Us Down" were lost on the audience which talked through most of it. This is a band that needs a captive audience. The fast songs work well live but the rest don't fill the stage enough to keep the mood going yet. Yes, you indie freaks out there, you will love this band and all their sappy-love-filled harmonies and fun songs and on CD the melancholy stuff is pretty good I'll admit. Go hear them, go buy their CD. Here, taste the love! :)
from Arco Iris:
Various Kitchen Utensils mp3
Gravity Can't Bring Us Down mp3

Buy Skybox's Arco Iris