Share This Place

Avast, ye patiently anxious neo-Februarians! Disembark from your frozen ships, formerly bobbing along on now certainly frozen seas, and join me on a journey to the limits of human endurance!

Does the new centaur bear a strange resemblence to me? Yes, especially in the cut of his fine yellow cape.

Last month I had the good and last-minute fortune of seeing Mirah & the Spectratone International perform "Share This Place" in its entirety at World Cafe Live, complete with Britta Johnson's accompanying stop-motion film about wirey bumblebees and maggoty blue pen caps. Watch "Credo Cigalia" below:

I finally made my way to Ortlieb's Jazzhaus a few nights later. It's a really cool little room in Northern Liberties (try the crab bisque and absent-from-the-menu yam fries...try them together, even). Jazz has always been a huge mystery to me: I have a tremendous love and respect for the music and the history of the music, but the actual ins and outs of this supremely intellectual art form leave me feeling alternately humbled and tuned out. My visit was on open mic night, which complicated things that much more. What was most interesting was seeing all these people, professional musicians and committed dabblers, forming these on-the-spot quartets and quintets and facilitating this sense of community (there are very few people at a jazz club who aren't invested in the music, so the connection between performer and audience is uniquely kinetic).

In the spirit of communities -- insect or otherwise -- this post is about collaboration, co-habitation and coagulation.


First up, Concerts In Your Home:

A great resource for musicians and hosts especially, CIYH is proud to carry on the increasingl rarefied tradition of "gigs where people listen." More than just a listings hub for bookers and bookees, CIYH has ample links to other house concert resources, a forthcoming compilation CD, and a blog (with podcasts!) from founder Fran Snyder.

From the "I'll see your intimate living room and raise you a backseat!" Anglo angle comes the Black Cab Sessions:

A wonderful idea even more wonderfully executed, Black Cab Sessions combines all the best things about taxis (eat your hearts out, De Niro and Hirsch) with some of the most varied yet strangely complimentary indie musicians. Each artist gets one take at a song while riding around London, a surprisingly large percentage finding fiddle players to fill out their sound. Says the website, "It doesn't matter if their album went platinum or their recording studio closely resembles a mate's laptop - they just have to be superb. And alive."
For some of the liveliest, check out Seasick Steve and St. Vincent with her simultaneously intense and nonchalant performance of the Beatles' "Dig A Pony." Great sound quality with great video footage -- waste an hour or so at work.


Finally, an analog oldie but a goodie, Art of the Mix:

For everyone who thought John Cusack had all the answers in "High Fidelity," this site is a validation of your most narcissistic-but-well-intentioned musical aspirations. Full of exceptionally nerdy info and more mixes than you can shake a stick at, it's the perfect marriage of an analog concept and the digital age.

Here's a sample criteria for a mix of your own. Everybody give this a shot (it's not that hard or time-consuming in the iTunes era) and send it my way. Perhaps we can finally get this place cooking as a little community of its own:

The original Frankenstein concept: 1. song from the last record bought 2. A blues: not a necessarily a blues record but a song that is labelled (something)blues 3. song that gets you going in the morning 4. romantic song 5. One of the earliest records that you can remember listening to. 6. song discovered from a film 7. song from favourite band / artist 8. song from an artist band that you otherwise don’t like, but like this one 9. A Lullaby. 10. song that makes you laugh / you find funny 11. really good cover version 12. song that reminds you of school days 13. song from an artist that you are embarrassed to admit you like 14. funky 15. song for those quiet rainy days 16. feelgood song 17. A song with the word ‘Look’ in the title 18. From a member of the ‘Dead rockers society’ 19. Your favourite Elvis song 20. Wildcard-any song.