Ticket Giveaway/First Last-Jacob Mullis

Image by Emma Freeman courtesy of the band

Fort Wilson Riot
Cloud Cult
Mr. Smalls Funhouse
Tuesday November 2, 2010
Millvale

Fort Wilson Riot are currently supporting their buds in Cloud Cult on a few remaining dates that bring them to Smalls this Tuesday. They return to Pittsburgh headlining a show at Garfield Artworks on Saturday December 4.
Courtesy of the band, I have a pair of tickets to giveaway to a lucky reader of this blog for this week's show. To enter, just email me at hughshows@comcast.net with the subject line 'Fort Wilson Riot' along your full name in the message. I will contact the winner Monday afternoon. Vocalist Jacob Mullis plays guitar and keys in the band and was kind enough to participate in this edition of First/Last.

The first album you ever bought?

The Beatles - Rubber Soul.

Your last album bought?

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless. Finally bought it on vinyl!

Favorite album of all time?

The only way I can answer this is to say which album blew my mind for the first time when I was a kid, and to this day remains one of my favorites. Otherwise this is a pretty impossible question to answer, so The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album).

Least favorite/most disappointing album?

This is a super hard question to answer because in general I'm very positive and forgiving about poor albums. I'd have to say one of the most disappointing albums for was The Flaming Lips - At War With The Mystics. It's not a terrible album I just found it rather boring and disappointing after four consecutively incredible albums.

First concert attended?

Smashing Pumpkins.

Last concert?

Also hard just cause we've been on the road for so long. So I'll go with the last show I bought tickets for-Liars.

Favorite concert ever?

The Pitchfork Festival. We went three years in a row, and each time it was incredible.

Least favorite concert?

Smashing Pumpkins.

Any thoughts, experiences about Pittsburgh?

We really love Pittsburgh. It's a very beautiful city that we always love coming to. We've only played with a couple bands there, but we've always enjoyed them. We're stoked to get to know the city better.

Thanks Jacob. It's funny how many times The Beatles appear in musician's answers...for good reason!

Ticket Giveaway-First/Last-Lily Chapin

Jessie Mann photo courtesy of the band

The Chapin Sisters
Thunderbird Cafe
Monday November 1, 2010
Larryville

The Chapin Sisters are a sibling duo that have just spent the last few months touring with She & Him as openers and part of their backing band. They are out on a fall headlining tour that brings them to Pittsburgh on Monday. Courtesy of the band, I have a pair of tickets to giveaway to a lucky reader of this blog. To enter, just email me at hughshows@comcast.net with the subject line 'The Chapin Sisters' along your full name in the message. I will contact the winner Monday afternoon. Lily Chapin was kind enough to participate in this edition of First/Last.

The first album you ever bought?

Madonna - "The Immaculate Collection" and The Beach Boys "Golden Harmonies".

Favorite album of all time?
Too many to pick one. Up there are Nico "Chelsea Girl"; Bruce Springsteen "Nebraska"; The Replacements "Tim"; Bob Dylan "Desire."

Least favorite/most disappointing album?

I would feel bad to say... here's one that's not disappointing at all - Fabio "After Dark" (of "I Can't Believe it's not Butter" and romance novel fame) - is hilarious. A friend found it in a discount bin at a record store a while back (paid a dollar for it). It was (I believe) conceived of in sincerity. A gem of soft rock cheese and spoken word interspersed with a few jams where Fabio sings to the ladies in his thick accent over a recurring beat. Please check out the hit "Love Attack”.

First concert attended?

First major rock concert was The Smashing Pumpkins at Madison Square Garden (the "Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness" tour - my friend had an extra ticket).

Last concert?

Ours! Last night.

Favorite concert ever?
The Last Waltz. But I wasn't there! Second place, the concert for Bangladesh (wasn't there either).

Least favorite concert?
Ugh. Sometimes live shows can get rough. Rain, cold, ice, too hot, stinky, expensive, usually it’s not the show but my own expectations that get in the way... I was really sad once when I thought I was going to see the LA Philharmonic play a concert of Bach and it turned out to be P. D. Q. Bach (a show that satires classical music - everyone in the audience was loving it and I was so confused). It was aimed at a different (older) crowd - I thought I had fallen into the twilight zone.

Any thoughts, experiences about Pittsburgh?

Not enough, I'd like to have more! Abigail and I were in Pittsburgh when the Penguins won the Stanley Cup and the whole city started honking. We also used to watch the Pirates play the Mets a lot on TV.

Thanks Lily. I HAVE to track down that Fabio album. It's sounds wretchedly awesome.

First/Last-Action Camp

Action Camp are a local duo who bring together a variety of influences and styles to produce what they themselves call 'melodramatic popular song'. They headline tonight's late show at Club Cafe with Chupacabra and Una De Luna. As for for the image above, they are participating in a cool and unique project that I will profile soon and you can read about here. In the meantime, Maura and Bengt were cool enough to participate in this edition of First/Last.

The first album you ever bought?

Bengt: Probably Michael Jackson's Dangerous on cassette, but my sister and I used to run around the living room blasting our parents' LPs of Thriller and Black Sabbath's Paranoid so I had a pretty polarized taste in music from a very young age.
Maura: I honestly probably didn't buy music until high school; I recorded onto tape a ton of my dad's collection and listened to my mom's records. The first tapes I ever commandeered, though, were probably B-52's Cosmic Thing and U2's Achtung Baby.

Your last album bought?

Bengt: Elsinore - Yes Yes Yes. We did a mini-tour with them earlier this year and they are fantastic in so many ways.
Maura: Ditto, with a close second being Arcade Fire's Neon Bible.

Favorite album of all time?

Bengt: Jellyfish - Spilt Milk. It's one of the best pop records of the last 25 years.
Maura: I always have a hard time with this one. If you were to base it off of our roadtrips, though, no time in the car is complete without The Killer's Sam's Town. I also never tire of listening to Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.

Least favorite/most disappointing album?
Bengt: Daft Punk - Human After All seemed pretty phoned in. I remember Vitalic put out OK Cowboy two weeks later though and it was everything Daft Punk should have done.
Maura: I don't think I understand MGMT.

First concert attended?

Bengt: I think Lynyrd Skynyrd at the Eastern States Exhibition when I was 6 or 7.
Maura: I actually think it was Joan Osborne. I remember going with my dad and being uncomfortable when she was flirty with her guitar player.

Last concert?
Bengt: Honestly - Action Camp with our friends Mad Anthony, Aloud, and Electric Situation. It was one of our shows but it was a couple of my favorite bands from around the country all playing on one night.
Maura: Ditto.

Favorite concert ever?
Bengt: Junior Senior opening for Electric Six at the Middle East in Boston. It was the first time Junior Senior ever played the city and they totally destroyed Electric Six. The single greatest set I've ever seen.
Maura: I saw MIA at the Paradise right after Arular came out, it was just her in a skeleton costume, like the one kids wear, with the bones on a black sweater, a Dj, and a back-up singer/dancer in day-glo. I spent half of it behind a pole, but it was awesome.

Least favorite concert?

Bengt: Unknown Hinson at Diesel. He just wanked on guitar and didn't even put his fake sideburns on. I left after 7 songs.
Maura: I'd like to take this opportunity to thank soundmen/women everywhere who sit through their new 'least favorite concert' probably at least once a week.

Favorite thoughts, experiences about Pittsburgh?

Bengt: There are a lot of great bands here. I want to see them touring more so the city will get recognized as a national scene the way it should. I think it's still seen by some bands as a filler gig between DC and Ohio but if more of the locals act as ambassadors by hitting other cities it can draw some much deserved national attention to the Pittsburgh music community.
Maura: Having grown up here, leaving, and coming back, I have to say that there is something inherently different about the personality of Pittsburgh that just ruins you for other places--and I mean that in a good way. I feel like I'm only beginning to scratch the surface of all the exciting things that are happening here, and I think that what makes Pittsburgh different is that no matter how big or small the scene, it always feels approachable, like there is always someone you could just grab a drink with and find yourself involved in their project. And that's pretty unique.

Thanks guys. I am really excited about the upcoming Vanka project. Those murals are just so powerful. Can't wait to hear what you come up with.

Image of the Day-"Action!"

Meeting Of Important People
Colonizing The Cosmos
Halloween Costume Ball Double Feature
Pittsburgh Center For The Arts
Friday October 29, 2010
Point Breeze

Two of my favorite bands decided to make a pair of short horror films and they will screen them tonight along with full sets by both. Dress up in your full Halloween regalia and have a blast. I love the fact that both these bands think of cool ways to put on shows. Here's a couple shots from behind the scenes. As an aside, you may not know, I was an aspiring filmmaker once. Evidence here.

First/Last-Kurt Garrison, Scott Silsbe, Bob Pajich

Thee Shopkeepers
WRCT: A Live Show
Thursday October 28, 2010
Oakland

Thee Shopkeepers are a local 'indie rock' band that will be playing on CMU's fantastic campus radio station tonight at 9 p.m. Listen online here. They also have a gig next Thursday November 4 at the 31st Street Pub. The guys were nice enough to participate in this special trio version of First/Last.

The first album you ever bought?

Kurt Garrison: Born in the USA - Bruce Springsteen. I can still jam to "I'm on Fire", "Glory Days" and "I'm Going Down". But the title track? Eh, not so much.

Scott Silsbe: While I have great memories of listening to records and cassettes when I was a youngster—like the first couple Monkees records and Michael Jackson’s Thriller—I don’t remember if I actually bought any of them for myself or if they were just hand-me-downs. I have a clear memory of buying my first CD with my own money though, and that was Pearl Jam’s Ten.

Bob Pajich: Thriller--Michael Jackson.

Your last album bought?

Kurt: I bought three: Lisbon - The Walkmen; Expo 86 - Wolf Parade; Worried Now, Won't Be Worried Long - Field Recordings from Alan Lomax's "Southern Journey".

Scott: The first XTC album, White Music. Though I’ve also got a nice reissue of The Wedding Present’s George Best on hold for me at Desolation Row—I should be picking that up any day now.

Bob: Handful of crap vinyl from Good Samaritan in North Versailles.

Favorite album of all time?

Kurt : The first one that always comes to mind is Slanted and Enchanted - Pavement. Anyone who says that it's a blatant rip-off of the Fall is lazy (including Mark E. Smith)...Apologies to the Queen Mary - Wolf Parade is a close second...and A Love Supreme - John Coltrane is something that I'm still trying to wrap my mind around twenty years after first listening to it.

Scott: This is hard to say of course, but I’m going to go with My Bloody Valentine, Loveless. I like everything about that record.

Bob: American Water--Silver Jews.

Least favorite/most disappointing album?

Kurt: Exile on Main Street. Easily. I love the Rolling Stones -- the Brian Jones-era Rolling Stones, that is -- a band that perfected the art of poorly interpreting blues standards and creating something completely new and exciting in the process...but then Brian decided to go swimming one night without his floaties and Mick and Keef took over, actually believing that they had Southern Soul, which eventually led them to hire a bunch of hilljack mercenaries looking to pay off an overextended bartab. (At least this is the story that I've concocted.) If you're a fan of session musicians pulling the weight for a bunch of coked-up limeys one music fad away from doling out blow-jobs in a Studio 54 bathroom, then this is your jam. Regardless, I'm still waiting for that Bill Plummer solo album.

Scott: Hmm, another hard one. I’ll go with my most disappointing album being Weezer’s green self-titled album. Maybe I just liked Pinkerton too much. Or maybe I didn’t realize how essential Matt Sharp was to that band. In a similar vein, Wilco’s Ghost is Born was pretty disappointing to me.

Bob: Jeff Tweedy spoken word.

First concert attended?

Kurt: Paul Simon at Hershey Park (Back off, a pretty girl asked me.)

Scott: My parents took me to see Neil Diamond at a big outdoor venue outside of Detroit called Pine Knob. I think this around 1984. I mostly just remember my sister hoping he’d play “Turn on Your Heartlight,” which she called “The E.T. Song.”

Bob: Genesis at Three Rivers, Circa 1990.

Last concert?

Kurt: Polvo at the Brillobox.

Scott: Well, I’ve seen some good indie shows around town lately, but one of the most memorable big things for me lately was seeing Polvo up at Brillobox. I never saw them in the 90s, and they’re a pretty incredible live band.

Bob: The little Stephen Fosters.

Favorite concert ever?

Kurt: There have been a few...shoegazers Ride at the old 9:30 club way back in '93...Archers of Loaf at Albright College during the Ickey Mettle tour...Run DMC at the Stone Balloon at U. of Maryland in '97...Mogwai at the Troubadour during the CODY tour...hell, Miles Kurosky kicked serious ass at the Brillobox back in March. However, my favorite would probably be Belle & Sebastian in Glasgow at the Botanic Gardens in '04; one of those "Life is Good" moments.

Scott: I guess I’ll go with when CMU brought Fugazi in. It was one of those free outdoor shows and I’d never seen them before. I was so excited that I didn’t believe it was actually happening. And Fugazi really ripped it up too—they sounded great. I guess I still don’t believe I saw them for free here. But there was a great moment when they were setting up their gear and drummer Brendan Canty’s big dinner bell was walked across the stage. All of us music nerds up front started cheering for the bell.

Bob: Violent Femmes mudbath at Ohio Geauga County Fairgrounds.

Least favorite concert?

Kurt: Seeing Mogwai at the World(?) in the Strip District. It was the polar opposite of the Troubadour show...the volume was very low and un-Mogwai-like. I blame the club. And The (C)Rapture opening. A total yawnfest.

Scott: Oh man, another tough question—I think I try to block out bad concert experiences. I remember having a bad time at a Black Keys show down in The Strip once. Maybe it was just my mood or the venue or something, but I recall my friend Kris not digging it either—we just left there thinking, “We paid for this?”

Bob: The Detroit Cobras phoned one in last year at Mr. Smalls when no one showed up.

Favorite thoughts, experiences about Pittsburgh?

Kurt: You can do whatever you want here. People like to bitch about the "scene" -- although I'm not even sure what the hell a scene is...bands that have a similar sound? Bands that go out to dinner together? Shop together? Maybe take in a movie? Just make noise. There are plenty of great places to play and tons of great people to play with. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Scott: Pittsburgh’s great. It’s such a fun place to both play music and go out to see music. There’s a whole mess of talent here, so whether you’re going down to Howler’s to catch a tribute night or going to the 31st Street Pub to see some local bands and maybe an out-of-towner, you’re probably going to have a good time. One thing I really appreciate is how often bands from different genres play together on the same bill. I mean, it’s all indie music, I guess, since none of us are signed to a major label, right? But I like when I go to see a local show and there’s a band with a country twang, then one with a very 90s Indie Rock feel, then, say, one with a more of a Metal feel. I like that there are many different versions of “The Pittsburgh Sound” right now.

Bob: I look to my right hand, and its love. I look to my left, its hate.

Thanks fellas. Have fun during the radio set tonight, I'll be listening for sure.

Image Of The Day-"The Sound Of Sunshine"

Michael Franti
WYEP Studios
Saturday October 23, 2010
Southside

Again this is a case of "I've heard of Michael Franti but am not familiar with his music one bit." Evidently, I am in the minority because this was probably the most crowded studio session out of the dozens I have seen in this room. Michael seemingly stumbled out of the van with a glazed look in his eye to a warm welcome from the crowd waiting to enter. Scenes of Spicoli entered my mind as we enjoyed stories about the awesome wonderments of oranges, Woody Harrelson, and Jamaican studios. Duuuuuude! It turned out he was a really nice guy and posed for pictures and signed autographs for everyone in the audience afterward. I'll say it again, treat your fanbase nice and they will return the favor tenfold. Listen to the set here. More photos here.

Image Of The Day-"Love In 2 Parts"

Erin McKeown
Rex Theater
Friday October 22, 2010
Southside

Another assignment for a 'WYEP Presents' show. I have very little knowledge of Erin and her music, like none. Not to say she wasn't good though, she was. This tour had her celebrating the 10th Anniversary of her debut album Distillation. She was playing the whole thing, in reverse order which was unique. She had some adoring fans in the audience which is always great to see. More photos here.