Decking The Halls With Sufjan

SUFJAN STEVENS

the Surfjam Estabanopolis Christmas Spectacular Seasonal Affective Disorder Sing-Along Sensation Pageant On Ice

FONDA THEATER

04 DECEMBER, 2012

Having developed a Christmas catalogue that would be the envy of most artists full output, Sufjan Stevens has taken it on the road this year, for what is billed as: "The Surfjam Estabanopolis Spectacular Seasonal Affective Disorder Sing-Along Sensation Pageant On Ice".  And did it ever live up to the name.  The stage was set with a giant Wheel Of Christmas, that provided the grist for the sing-along portion of the evening.  All delighted ticketholders were given a songbook at the entrance, and directed to sing boldly.  The crowd held up their end, attire-wise and vocally, and it turned out to be a very memorable evening.

 Stevens kept the spectacle level high, working the first half of the show from what is now 10 volumes of Xmas music, opening with "Christmas Woman" from this year's outpouring Silver and Gold, (volumes 6-10 for those keeping track at home).  After a few songs, he broke it up with what he referred to as a palate cleanser, a stark acoustic reading of "Vito's Ordination Song" off of the Greetings From Michigan LP.  Note the difference in crowd noise in the videos below, from the boisterous welcome of "Christmas Woman" to the quiet reverence during "Vito", where you can literally hear a crowded theater sucking in it's breath.  It was quite a scene.

 The spinning of the Wheel Of Christmas throughout kept the audience on their toes, and they gamely measured up to the challenge.  He got a huge response for one of his older Xmas favorites, "Come On! Let's Boogey To The Elf Dance!", and culminated the regular set with "Christmas Unicorn".  As is his custom, he rewarded the faithful with an old school encore, this one taken from tracks off of C'mon, Feel The Illinoise.  Sufjan Stevens managed the trick of capturing all the emotions, good and bad, of the holiday season, and turning it into something not to dread as much.  A one-of-a-kind show from a one-of-a-kind artist.

Opening act: Sheila Saputo

Sufjan: Slight Return...

awwwww!

One of my favoritest of collectives, that wonderful group of oddballs known as Stereolab, have seen fit to post this announcement on their site of Web:
Hiatus/Sabbatical/Pause/Intermission/Breather

Dear All,

As we recently made #51 with Emperor Tomato Ketchup in the Amazon 100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums of all Time we feel that our work is done for the moment.

We have had to cancel the last two shows that we were scheduled to play, apologies to all that had bought tickets, and there are no plans to record new tracks.

Duophonic are working on the release of Chemical Chords 2, we also have plans for a new Switched On and remastering of the back catalogue.

We are are all going to have a bit of a rest now after nearly 19 years and work on a few other projects.

The website will still be updated and disks released but there won't be any new Stereolab product for a while.

Cheerio
Pikey

However long they are on hiatus/sabbatical/pause/intermission/breather, they will be missed!
On the heels of all the stupendous April Fools Day shenanigans, most notably Trent Reznor wielding a sense of humor usually well hidden, and the hijinks of the one and only Sufjan Stevens, I hope this is another go, but i fear not. We wish all the best, and thank them for their grace and acheivements...

Putting the P in Presidents' Day!

For a weeks & weeks now, I've been obsessed with a record(s), (go figure), and it took this actual day to deadline me & force action, and quite frankly, come to grips with this monster. I have been working my way through a magnificent mess of a box set entitled: 'Of Great & Mortal Men: 43 Songs About 43 Presidents'.

The brainchild of Christian Keefer, Matthew Gerkin, and Jefferson Pitcher, (featuring many special guests), it comes off like a hellish combination of Sufjan Stevens', (no relation to Eric), Indie Baroque tunesmithery and Sarah Vowell's offbeat historical eye, perhaps the record she always dreamed of making. What it reminded me of on first listen was an overlooked Neil Young song from the mid 70's, "Campaigner".

I was won over from the snarky sensibility of the first song, (Mr. Washington, of course), and the perspective of him looking back over his achievements and sighing ruefully the line "And those dumb.asses believed me". A more fitting comment on the haphazard founding of this nation I cannot conceive. As a taste, check out Erik Werner's incredible video for this track...



The tone varies throughout, and it's fascinating to match up the nuggets we've retained from school with more in.depth research. I came to grips with the more recent presidents first, then worked into the ones I knew tidbits about, and finally have just immersed myself in the whole bleeding thing.

Highlights so far: believe it or not, the Ronald Reagan & LBJ songs really humanize their subjects, the guitar solo at the end of Nixon shreds, James Madison is hilarious, Hoover & Andrew Jackson (w/an assist from Califone) are heartbreaking, Zachary Taylor could be a great lost Wilco song, and i keep going back to Eisenhower, my dark horse favorite so far. For those of us who can't travel to every Presidential library, and for those presidents who don't yet have libraries...let this be a beginning.

Burning question one: Does Grover Cleveland really merit two tunes? Too bad, deal with it.
Burning question two: What about the newest member of the club?

Bottom line time: any record that can get you to walk around singing about the Sherman Antitrust Act is indeed a record to be reckoned with...