Suzanne Vega - Live Photos from City Winery, NYC 5-19-10

Suzanne Vega played to a sold out crowd at the last of her three May residency shows at City Winery. This series of shows was to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her self-titled debut.



My first Suzanne Vega show was 25 years ago when she opened for Roger McGuin in Baltimore and she never fails to disappoint live. For this show, Suzanne played what most fans would consider a 'greatest hits' set, touching on all part of her back catalogue.

Here is the set list from the show:

01) Marlene on the Wall
02) Small Blue Thing
03) The Truth About Cats & Dogs
04) Frank and Ava
05) New York Is a Woman
06) Pornographer's Dream
07) Calypso (solo)
08) Tombstone
09) Left of Center (Bass and Vocals)
10) Blood Makes Noise
11) Solitaire
12) The Man Who Played God
13) The Queen and the Soldier
14) Neighborhood Girl
15) Some Journey
16) Luka
17) Tom's Diner

Encore:
1) In Liverpool
2) Rosemary

Suzanne Vega has recently formed her own label Amanuensis Records (distributed by Razor & Tie) and is rerecording her back catalog. Close-Up, Vol. 1, Love Songs comes out on June 15th and four more releases are scheduled over the next two years. Long Songs contains acoustic versions of the following tracks:

01. Small Blue Thing
02. Caramel
03. (If You Were) In My Movie
04. Gypsy
05. Marlene On The Wall
06. (I’ll Never Be Your) Maggie May
07. Harbor Songs
08. Headshots
09. Song In Red and Grey
10. Stockings
11. Some Journey
12. Bound

Links:
Suzanne Vega

Lloyd Cole - Live Photos from City Winery, NYC 5/19/10

Lloyd Cole's new project Small Ensemble made their NYC debut opening for Suzanne Vega during the last night of her May residency at City Winery. Small Ensemble is an acoustic three-piece (self-described as 'baby bluegrass' on Cole's website) which consists of Cole on vocals and guitar, Matt Cullen (guitar/banjo) and Mark Schwaber (guitar/mandolin).



The band played a forty-five minute set which consisted of a mix of stripped-down reinterpretations of songs from Cole's back catalogue (both with the Commotions and solo) along with a couple new songs. I'm more familiar with the three Commotions albums than Cole's solo work so I wasn't able to keep an accurate set list but Small Ensemble has a new limited edition CD whose track list looks very close to the show's set list.

This new 'white label' CD is a limited edition run of 400 copies that is available (autographed, no less) through Cole's web shop. This disc was recorded live in the studio the day after the band's debut 2010 performance.

"Is this an album or not? I’m not sure, it was recorded so that we would have something by the small ensemble to sell at our January 2010 concerts; a souvenir, but it turned out better than we expected, and folk who weren’t at the shows expressed interest in getting their hands on it. So, here it is. Still, I’m not sure what to call it, so for now I’ve invented a new category at the shop – White Labels – this is the first one. It’s not a demo or outtake CD, nor is it my new album. I do like it though, and I hope we can make more of these." -- Lloyd Cole

Cole's next studio disc is due out in Sept. '10 and is described as being "loud, heavy and light...there are elements of rock, country, blue grass and pop. Lots of of acoustic string instruments, plenty of electric guitars, pedal steel, accordion, violin, and some pretty banging drums. And harmony vocals!"

Links:
Lloyd Cole

Stephanie Schneiderman: Pre-Show Interview with Stephanie and Keith Schreiner, NYC 4-29-09

Portland singer/songwriter Stephanie Schneiderman was in town at the end of April for a show at the Living Room. I caught up with Stephanie and her new collaborator/producer Keith Schreiner before the show to talk about her new disc Dangerous Fruit.

Dangerous Fruit is Stephanie's sixth solo disc and it combines Stephanie's intricate songwriting with trip-hop producer Keith Schreiner's electronica and trip-hop beats. This release moves Stephanie out of the traditional singer/songwriter camp as the duo's combined sound is comparable to Portishead or Beth Orton.



For anyone who hasn't seen Stephanie play, here is a live version of the title track, "Dangerous Fruit", from the new CD.



Stephanie is back on the West Coast and here are her upcoming tour dates:
May 15, 2009, 8:00PM, Bagdad Theater - Wonder Quest Gala, Portland, Oregon
May 16, 2009, 9:00PM, High Dive Seattle - Seattle Show w/ Carrie Akre and Andrea Witgens, Seattle, Washington
June 03, 2009, 7:00PM, Old St. Francis Hotel - McMenamin’s Great Northwest Music Tour, Bend, Oregon
June 04, 2009, 7:00PM, Edgefield - McMenamin’s Great Northwest Music Tour, Troutdale, Oregon
June 06, 2009, 7:00PM, Hotel Oregon - McMenamin’s Great Northwest Music Tour, McMinville, Oregon
June 09, 2009, 7:00PM, Olympic Club Hotel - McMenamin’s Great Northwest Music Tour, Centralia, Washington
June 10, 2009, 8:00PM, Kennedy School - McMenamin’s Great Northwest Music Tour, Portland, Oregon

Links:
Stephanie Schneiderman's Website

Songs from virtualive.tv's Real Life/Second Life Mashup Concert with Buddahead Posted to YouTube

I finally signed up for a Second Life account as it seems that the game is now making the news on a regular basis. There have been recent articles ranging from CNN, that wrote about one potential "new new" career as a Second Life lawyer, to Buddahead's real life/Second Life mashup concert last month at the Canal Room.

Suzanne Vega was the first major artist to perform in Second Life (see clip below) and Duran Duran performed in the game a few weeks later. Both of these performances took place at the end of last year.



Just over a month ago, Buddahead played a mashup concert at the Canal Room (in NYC) and a number of songs from the show have been posted to YouTube. I have included links to the first two songs that the band played below.





Below are the current game stats from Second Life's home page. This really looks like something both musicians and corporations need to explore further. I can easily imagine this becoming the next "MySpace" (or equivalent).

Total Residents: 7,256,167
Logged In Last 60 Days: 1,768,672
Online Now: 34,312
US$ Spent Last 24h: $1,703,488

Links:
Buddahead (link)
virtualive.tv (link)
SecondLife (link)

Interesting CDs on Next Week's CD Release Schedule

Billboard has listed some interesting releases coming out on Tuesday:

Deep Purple - They All Came Down to Montreaux 2x DVD
This is a 187 minute 2x DVD set of Deep Purple performing live in Montreaux in 2006. This could be a fun one.

DVD Disc #1: 'Pictures Of Home', 'Things I Never Said', 'Strange Kind Of Woman', 'Rapture Of The Deep', 'Wrong Man', 'The Well-Dressed Guitar', 'Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye', 'When A Blind Man Cries', 'Lazy', Keyboard Solo, 'Space Truckin’', 'Highway Star', 'Smoke On The Water', 'Hush', 'Too Much Fun', 'Black Night'.

DVD Bonus Disc #2 (London Hard Rock): 'Fireball', 'I Got Your Number', 'Strange Kind Of Woman', 'Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye', 'Rapture Of The Deep', 'Wrong Man', 'Lazy', 'Perfect Strangers', 'Highway Star', 'Smoke On The Water'.

Halford - Metal God Essentials
It is always a debate whether 'best of' CDs are worthwhile because, in the majority of case, if I like the artist, I'll buy the original CDs. This CD/DVD set covers the best of Halford from '92 - '07 but what makes this release interesting is the inclusion of 4 previously unreleased tracks (one is a remix) and a bonus DVD exclusive to this release.

The bonus DVD contains:
1. Resurrection - Behind The Scenes
2. Live Insurrection - Behind The Scenes
3. Made In Hell
4. Betrayal
5. In The Morning
6. Silent Screams
7. Never Satisfied
8. Forgotten Generation

Psychic TV - Hell is Invisible..Heaven is Here
Genesis has reformed Psychic TV (PTV3) and this is his first new studio release under the PTV name in 12 years. Based on the songs I heard the band do at the Galapagos shows last year, this should be a gret release.

Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris
Evidently there is a Circuit City and a FYE Edition with Bonus Tracks. You can only assume that the bonus tracks will differ between these editions. (Why make it easy for fans?)

Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (Deluxe Edition)
This looks essential -- The reissue contains live versions of all of the studio cuts, demos, rarities, etc. Rolling Stone has posted an article with more details about this release.

Suzanne Vega - Beauty and Crime
This is supposed to be her best release in years.

The View - Hats off to the Buskers (with 3 bonus tracks)
Their debut CD has been out for under a year and already it is being reissued with bonus tracks. The bonus tracks are two live tracks (Skay Trenchy and Same Jeans) and a cut that was previously released in the UK (Posh Boys). This doesn't look essential...