Religion comes to Portland

We stood at the stage last night, as you can see by the perspective. It felt like my personal shrine. Even Amy enjoyed it quite a bit, despite never liking their albums. The songwriting is so good that once it's in your face, you will like it. I took some phone pics, and let the Exilim record audio -- which didn't really work out, but that's not too surprising considering the volume. It's okay because all of their shows on this go-around get recorded to death and uploaded to YouTube.


William of The Jesus and Mary Chain at Wonder Ballroom, Portland


Jim of The Jesus and Mary Chain at Wonder Ballroom, Portland

The second coming

The Jesus and Mary Chain are coming to Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco in a month. Pinch me! If gas weren't a thousand dollars per gallon I might try to hit two of these.

My fourth music video

Kids are too funny.

This song was written and recorded about the same time as number three.

More Raveonettes

The Raveonettes must be getting more popular, because they actually sold out Portland's Doug Fir Lounge last week. I hung back from the stage a bit this time, taking a few cruddy pictures with my cell phone while enjoying the wall of sound immensely.

My third music video

I wrote and recorded this song, "Drive", in about 1993. My friend had offered to "drive till the cows fall down" when we were driving from Portland to La Grande for a hiking trip, and I proceeded to write the whole song in my head on a trail in the Wallowas. The video itself is nearly pointless -- recent scenes of a trip I made to central Oregon -- but since Elias and Dahlia starred in my first two music videos, I've run out of kids.

The Raveonettes

Witnessed The Raveonettes last night for a third time. It's just Sune and Sharin touring this time, which had me suspicious, but this turned out to be my favorite Raveonettes sighting. Half the songs had no percussion; the rest had Sharin or Sune or a woman from the opening band whacking it out on a tom-tom and a snare in back. Sharin switched between blasting bass and blasting guitar all night, and did it well. I was front and center at the stage -- could have reached out and strummed a guitar or two, and got completely doused directly by their amps. They were relaxed and down-to-earth. It was like hanging out in Sune's garage (not that I know if he has a garage). I didn't recognize several of the songs, but could tell there are some new diamonds in there, these guys are definitely due for another album sooner than later.

Nate and I wait front-stage while Sune and Sharin do last-minute set-up.


Let's rave on.


Small band, but not a small sound.


The songwriter.


Some songs just end with noise. And that's O.K.

Some Candy Talking

Arrive LAX: 4pm
Depart LAX: 6am
Sleep: 0 hours
Experience: Priceless

I was 10 feet in front of guitarist/genius William Reid (whom I like to just call "God") at the show. That's my cell phone in the bottom right of this video.

No Coachella -- yes!

What's better than being me and seeing The Jesus and Mary Chain play at Coachella (aka Crowdchella -- nice one, PLo!) in four days? Being me and seeing The Jesus and Mary Chain play a warm-up show at The Glass House, with a sold-out capacity of 800, in three days. Surprising side note: the starlet of Lost in Translation, which invoked the classic Mary Chain song Just Like Honey during its climactic scene, is rumored to have a guest spot in this Pomona, CA show.

Starring Dahlia

My second music video stars Dahlia, who turns the big 1 in nine days. (My first music video, starring Elias, is here.)

Coachella

Top 10 reasons I'll be near L.A. on April 27th and only on April 27th:

10. The Jesus and Mary Chain is playing a show at Coachella.
9. The Jesus and Mary Chain is playing a show at Coachella.
8. The Jesus and Mary Chain is playing a show at Coachella.
7. The Jesus and Mary Chain is playing a show at Coachella.
6. The Jesus and Mary Chain is playing a show at Coachella.
5. The Jesus and Mary Chain is playing a show at Coachella.
4. The Jesus and Mary Chain is playing a show at Coachella.
3. The Jesus and Mary Chain is playing a show at Coachella.
2. The Jesus and Mary Chain is playing a show at Coachella.
1. The Jesus and Mary Chain is playing a show at Coachella.

But they broke up in 1999, you say? Exactly.

$100 ticket plus plane fare plus a day away from work and beloved family for what I'd guess will be a 45-minute set? This isn't extravagant, relatively speaking. Others fans are trekking from England, Sweden, Chile, and Australia (Niina describes it well) to see two Scottish brothers get up on the same stage for the first time in eight years and make it rain aural candy.

Apparently one or two other "bands" may be playing Coachella as well, but that's unclear to me.

My first music video

Starring Elias, of course. This is a short cover of a marychain song, recorded on a whim a few years ago using a cheap computer microphone and Windows Sound Recorder.

marychain

Here's a good recent review of marychain -- that's The Jesus and Mary Chain if you don't know, sheesh. Watch the Just Like Honey video if you need a reminder.