During the headline act, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, I noticed a phenomenon that I’ve seen a few times, but never really took note. I was on the floor, enjoying the show (I always end up behind the tallest guy in the crowd, but that’s another topic) when I noticed the distinct blueish glow of an LCD screen in the hand of nearly half the people in the crowd. People were recording the show from their extended hand above their head, and struggling to watch what was going on in that tiny screen. It was odd.

It seemed at that moment, that these people that paid to come to the show were missing the moment because they were so consumed with trying to capture it in their crappy little electronic devise. My question to you is this: is the value of capturing a moment worth the risk of missing it altogether? I say it is not, but will leave that for you to decide. Pay no attention to the oddity of the question nor the vague answers.

I mean, I can understand a picture. And technology has allowed us to see the picture instantly on an LCD screen. I take no issue with this. But holding the screen above your head and staring at the LCD instead what you paid your hard earned money to experience doesn’t make much sense to me.

I did not take a picture of this phenomenon, but did grab one from my roommate that he captured at the inauguration of Barrack Obama.

A fella was really stoked about the band. So stoked in fact, that he felt the need to climb up on stage, and stage dive with the hopes of turning his rocking dive into a gnarly crowd surf. He witnessed another guy successfully convert the stage dive into a crowd surf during the earlier act when The Whigs were playing. The Whigs have a much harder sound that is conducive to the crowd surf, not to mention a more dense population of excited fans. Rogue Wave was a bit more mellow, and the crowd was much more dispersed.

So you know where this is going…

The Rogue Wave stage diver got up on stage and jumped. From where I was seated, it looked like he jumped on a single guy. This single guy then met the stage diver with a barrage of punches, which quickly turned into a few people punching the stage diver. The crowd surf obviously never materialized. I was in the stadium seating laughing my ass off.

The different perspectives and reasoning for my humorous outlook:

• The guy being so pumped that he decided this was a good idea.
• Whether or not he had a friend that might have said, “Hell yeah, go for it!” or “That sounds like a terrible idea, probably your worst idea ever.”
• The stage diver seeing that he was about to jump on a single fella. And still going for it.
• The single fella thinking, “There’s no way he’s going to jump, oh god here he comes!”
• The stage diver being met during his surly rough landing to a barrage of fists.

The whole thing was perfectly absurd. Rogue Wave even stopped their song short to comment on the awful idea of jumping into a crowd of angry fists.

There were 2 stages with somewhere around 6 bands. I caught 4. Here’s the line-up, and an overall review:

The Whigs – This band was pretty good as far as straight up rock goes. They had elements of punk and grunge which made sense why they drew an enthusiastic crowd. These are the reasons, however, as to why I found them fairly ordinary. I only caught the last couple songs of their set, though, so in fairness I give them a 3 and a half of 5. 3.5 out of 5 stars

-

Rogue Wave – The reason I went to this concert (or at least initially) was to see these guys. I was truly disappointed with them as a live act. Their stage presence is non-existent. I really enjoy their recorded stuff, so maybe they are better off sitting in a studio without the pressure of entertaining a live crowd. The sound was treble heavy, and there was no real distinction in the catchy riffs that make their recorded stuff special. It sounded like all five members of the band were struggling to be the center of attention.
1.5 out of 5 stars

-

The Silent Comedy – Wow, these guys are intense. Brothers Joshua and Jeremiah Zimmerman are the foundation of the group. Jeremiah explains their sound way better than I ever could:

“It’s electric blues rock played with folk instruments,” says Jeremiah. “Like a tent revival and a hoedown but happening at a whiskey bar.” Think O Brother, Where Art Thou? set to an experimental-rock soundtrack.

Their sound is one of a kind, and will make you want to stomp your foot. If you are into handlebar mustaches, dusty trail hats, and waistcoats, you will love these guys.
4 out of 5 stars

-

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Have you heard their song “Home” yet? You should check it out. The band is great, and the lead is a great live performer. This is freak folk at it’s peak, sounding a lot like Devandra Bernhart with a better beat. Make your own opinion though. Here’s the video:
4.5 out of 5 stars

Eddie will remember this place. He wanted his picture taken out front for reasons that can only be identified as hidden skeletons deep within his own closet. The photo never took place, so he is off the hook. I snapped this photo the last time I traveled up to Amoeba Music for my regular record hunting adventure. I don’t always have something amazing to share as a story, or clever antidote, so sometimes an interesting picture is a good substitute for a profound statement.

Once upon a time, a boy ordered a build your own synthesizer kit, and soon after, it arrived in the mail. It consisted of hundreds of little parts, wires, components and an instruction book. The do-it-yourselfer was expected to be well versed using a soldering iron, and had at least some knowledge on how to read an electrical schematic. He said, “How hard can it be?” And it wasn’t so hard. He spent a few nights, working under the flourescent light of his work bench, with the smell of molten lead making his head only slightly enlightened. The test of his work was ready, and upon striking the first note, there was a deeply rich sound that made his heart pound. It was amazing. The satisfaction of building something as complex as a synthesizer and it operating as expected made the boy proud.

Then the boy said, “Why stop there?” and he decided he would integrate an analog delay to the circuit to give his sweeping sounds the warm echo that can only be achieved through an analog delay. An analog synthesizer deserves nothing less than an analog delay. Once the complimenting delay circuit was built and integrated into the synthesizer, the result was even more amazing than originally expected.

Now it was time to give this insane contraption a place to live.

Finding a case to house my insanity was difficult and time consuming. The boy knew what it needed to look like, but had a hard time finding it. Finally, on a Sunday afternoon at the swap meet, he found the perfect case. He saw it in the distance, a small black suitcase that originally lived as a picnic style tea set. It was wood wrapped in black leather with brass accents. The boy paid $5 and was on his way home with his ideal. It was time to wrap this thing up and stamp it complete.

Somewhere in the process of taking this complex circuit, and housing it in a custom case, the synthesizer decided to die a sudden and mysterious death. The boy figured, correctly, that the synthesizer, built to handle 12 volts of DC electric current, was accidentally fed 120 volts of straight AC. There were two separate paths the boy could take at this time. He could either send in the circuit to be fixed by the manufacturer, or he could give it another try with another mail ordered kit.

So he ordered another kit, which is awaiting a precise hand and clean solder. The boy debated sharing a picture of his original creation, but because he was searching for something to blog about this morning, he figured he’d share his story along with a photo of his dysfunctional synthesizer. It’s pretty, however inoperable. A working one will be coming soon.

I bought a Moog Prodigy off eBay the other day. I’ve heard that as far as synthesizers go, there really isn’t much that can compare in the richness of sound, nor layout of controls. Even having been manufactured in the early eighties, the Moog Prodigy is the pocket ace of many famous bands. It arrived on Friday and ate my soul.

It does look like it was made in the early eighties though. The wood panels are heavily scratched, the inside likely needs to be cleaned thoroughly, as well as the sheet metal front panel and keys. Also, there is one knob that completely broke off. Luckily it’s only the glide knob and not a cut-off. I am going to get right on this as soon as Jen and I are set up in our new place. So for now, I’ll just stick with the stock photo at the top of the post. Stay tuned for an upcoming post of the before and after.

Here are a few samples of what this thing can do. All of these tracks aren’t very difficult to play, but on the Prodigy, they sound friggin rad!

Vintage Moog Prodigy Demo by Calvin Cardioid

Bjork, NIN, Depeche Mode, Air are just a few names that utilize the amazing sounds this thing is capable of producing. I will have this one in my arsenal for as long as I can keep it rocking. It really is an unbelievable slice of synthesizer as well as a little piece of electronic music history.

Bad decision #2: War Machine posts on Myspace that someone should “smoke” the president.

Bad decision #3: War Machine goes to a bar and beats up a bouncer.

Result: War Machine goes to jail for a year.

Kids these days…

Seriously though, getting charged with assault with a deadly weapon when you are just using your fists is kinda bad-ass.