The 2009 National Poetry Month poster, designed by Paul Sahre.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Great Show - Great Review!!
Review: Ryan Adams and the Cardinals in New Haven
By Eric R. Danton on February 21, 2009 1:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
There was a time when an on-stage mishap would have wrecked Ryan Adams' concentration and derailed the whole show.
Not this time.
Adams and his band, the Cardinals, opened their winter tour Friday at the Shubert Theater in New Haven with a 2 ½-hour show that teetered briefly on the edge of chaos midway through when Adams' guitar was tuned incorrectly for "La Cienega Just Smiled." After venting his frustration with a pair of off-mic shrieks and a petulant blast of guitar noise, the singer and songwriter managed to laugh it off -- and nailed the song on the second take.
It was a blip in an otherwise impressive show, and even a handful of inconsiderate louts in the crowd couldn't spoil the mood.
Adams and the band laid back in a deep musical pocket, producing occasional showers of sparks on songs spanning his prodigious catalog, from last year's "Cardinology" to his 2000 solo debut, "Heartbreaker."
On shyer nights, Adams takes refuge in the extended instrumental passages on his jammier tunes. Although he included a couple of those toward the end, much of the set focused on tight, aching songs, sometimes with a rootsy tint. Opener "I See Monsters" bloomed from casual yet considered and somber into a fuller rock sound, and the band glided easily through "Fix It," Adams and Neal Casal trading punchy soul licks on guitar.
Adams donned a harmonica in a holder for the tear-your-guts-out tune "Come Pick Me Up," and sang in hushed tones on the opening verses of "Oh My Sweet Carolina," before the band fleshed out the poignant, heartbroken song.
He tinkered here and there with musical arrangements, too, giving "Let It Ride" a more contemplative feel than the recorded version, and replacing piano with guitar for the rolling chords that open "The Rescue Blues."
In addition to his graceful guitar parts, Casal played organ on "The Sun Also Sets," added sweet harmonies on "When the Stars Go Blue" and took the lead on a pair of songs from his 2006 album "No Wish To Reminisce," as Adams sang back-up and played guitar.
The band stretched out in the extra-long middle section on "Goodnight Rose," then stretched even further on "Easy Plateau," following the song from straightforward verses through winding improvisation that eventually dissolved into "Bartering Lines" to close the show.
Set list
1. I See Monsters
2. Two
3. Everybody Knows
4. When the Stars Go Blue
5. Fix It
6. Let It Ride
7. Magick
8. Wonderwall
9. Come Pick Me Up
10. Grand Island (Neal Casal sings)
11. Meadowlake Street
12. Freeway to the Canyon (Neal Casal sings)
13. Oh My Sweet Carolina
14. Evergreen
15. The Rescue Blues
16. The Sun Also Sets
17. La Cienega Just Smiled
18. Natural Ghost
19. Goodnight Rose
20. Born Into a Light
21. A Kiss Before I Go
22. Easy Plateau
23. Bartering Lines Great review!!
By Eric R. Danton on February 21, 2009 1:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
There was a time when an on-stage mishap would have wrecked Ryan Adams' concentration and derailed the whole show.
Not this time.
Adams and his band, the Cardinals, opened their winter tour Friday at the Shubert Theater in New Haven with a 2 ½-hour show that teetered briefly on the edge of chaos midway through when Adams' guitar was tuned incorrectly for "La Cienega Just Smiled." After venting his frustration with a pair of off-mic shrieks and a petulant blast of guitar noise, the singer and songwriter managed to laugh it off -- and nailed the song on the second take.
It was a blip in an otherwise impressive show, and even a handful of inconsiderate louts in the crowd couldn't spoil the mood.
Adams and the band laid back in a deep musical pocket, producing occasional showers of sparks on songs spanning his prodigious catalog, from last year's "Cardinology" to his 2000 solo debut, "Heartbreaker."
On shyer nights, Adams takes refuge in the extended instrumental passages on his jammier tunes. Although he included a couple of those toward the end, much of the set focused on tight, aching songs, sometimes with a rootsy tint. Opener "I See Monsters" bloomed from casual yet considered and somber into a fuller rock sound, and the band glided easily through "Fix It," Adams and Neal Casal trading punchy soul licks on guitar.
Adams donned a harmonica in a holder for the tear-your-guts-out tune "Come Pick Me Up," and sang in hushed tones on the opening verses of "Oh My Sweet Carolina," before the band fleshed out the poignant, heartbroken song.
He tinkered here and there with musical arrangements, too, giving "Let It Ride" a more contemplative feel than the recorded version, and replacing piano with guitar for the rolling chords that open "The Rescue Blues."
In addition to his graceful guitar parts, Casal played organ on "The Sun Also Sets," added sweet harmonies on "When the Stars Go Blue" and took the lead on a pair of songs from his 2006 album "No Wish To Reminisce," as Adams sang back-up and played guitar.
The band stretched out in the extra-long middle section on "Goodnight Rose," then stretched even further on "Easy Plateau," following the song from straightforward verses through winding improvisation that eventually dissolved into "Bartering Lines" to close the show.
Set list
1. I See Monsters
2. Two
3. Everybody Knows
4. When the Stars Go Blue
5. Fix It
6. Let It Ride
7. Magick
8. Wonderwall
9. Come Pick Me Up
10. Grand Island (Neal Casal sings)
11. Meadowlake Street
12. Freeway to the Canyon (Neal Casal sings)
13. Oh My Sweet Carolina
14. Evergreen
15. The Rescue Blues
16. The Sun Also Sets
17. La Cienega Just Smiled
18. Natural Ghost
19. Goodnight Rose
20. Born Into a Light
21. A Kiss Before I Go
22. Easy Plateau
23. Bartering Lines Great review!!
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Group shots... patterns of emergence
Fishermen try to catch fish during the Argungu fishing festival in Nigeria on March 15, 2008. Over 30,000 fishermen from different parts of Nigeria and neighbouring West Africa took part in the final of the yearly Argungu fishing festival in Kebbi, northwestern Nigeria. (Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP/Getty Images)
People drop lines in holes on a frozen river at an event to fish trout in Hwacheon, South Korea, about 20 km (12 miles) south of the demilitarised zone separating two Koreas, northeast of Seoul January 13, 2008. More than 1,000,000 people attend at the annual ice festival which lasts for three weeks in January. (REUTERS/Lee Jae-Won )
Thousands of sportsmen and women are seen on their way from Maloja to S-Chanf near St Moritz in south eastern Switzerland on March 9, 2008 as they participate in the annual Engadin skiing marathon. (AP Photo/Keystone/Alessandro Della Bella)
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Mark Rothko 1903-1970
"I’m not an abstractionist. I’m not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on."
"It is a widely accepted notion among painters that it does not matter what one paints as long as it is well painted. This is the essence of academicism. There is no such thing as good painting about nothing."
"Silence is so accurate."
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
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