Ornithology and Stained Glass

It has almost been an entire week now that I get around to writing about this, but Gezelligheid is still stuck in my mind.

Saturday, December the twelfth was filled with most beautiful everythings; notably, Andrew Bird at Saint Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis. It was his third night playing his Gezelligheid shows here at this immaculate church plopped down in Loring, and the weather was crisp and promising. Sitting beneath the doubled Victrola was one bevested sock monkey. Andrew came on stage looking dapper as usual, albeit with a little five-o'clock-shadow about his face and mussed hair, with a slight limp, which he acquired the first night after smashing his heel in (as he told us). This show was largely instrumental, comprised of most beautiful melodies that Mr. Bird has been working on. He played these long, epic pieces, with masterful use of loop to layer under the cry of his dear fiddle, and the result was truly chilling. With every factor playing in, I venture to say that this was the most aesthetically beautiful show I have ever watched. I was stricken, at the time, by the realization of all the beauty. I try to paint it.

Try to imagine:
The all-encompassing sound of the violin loop, echoing off the ancient walls of this cathedral, and the quiet of all the listeners. Behind Andrew's sweet head was a startling wall of illuminated stained-glass ikons, illustrating some epic tale of yore, while this young man and the violin produced such sweet sounds that would make even Cremona's original inventors of the instrument proud. His elongated shadow jumped and twisted over the left wall, making a dark silhouette of a man and a bow in some passionate work. Projected on the immense beige walls behind were vibrant colors of cyan, magenta, green and white. Stephen (?) emerging to accompany Andrew on clarinet, then saxophone for the next song. Andrew knelt down to play and attend to the loop button, and Stephen (?) shaking while playing his sax madly, with insane other-worldly effects bending the sounds. Andrew's flowery and colorful gestures with his hands as he spoke to silent us. The shaking of his head while he whistled and plucked at the catgut. His ever un-conventional strumming of those strings and striking them, bouncingly, with the hard side of the bow. Natural Disaster. Stephen (?) on his standing bass, pulling and pounding his thumbs to rhythm. "Minnapolis has been like a home to me." An old song, from the Bowl of Fire days... The Swimming Hour-- so beautiful. And another new one, and finish with Scythian Empires. We stood and clapped and clapped and clapped and he came back out, and played a little Bob Dylan, with Oh Sister. My, was it wonderful. Very special indeed.

Andrew Bird at the State Theatre

Saturday the eleventh of April, my mum and I watched Andrew Bird play his lovely violin at the (historic) State Theatre in Minneapolis. We've both seen him before, but this time was really smashing.
His buddy artist Haley Bonar opened up for him, and although I can't say I'm a huge fan of her style of music, she's got a beautiful voice and represents Minneapolis well. She made another appearance later in the night, but I'll get to that in a moment.

So, our dear Andrew came out playing his violin and removing his shoes. He moves his stockinged feet and sways those hips just to make us swoon, I think. He played lovely pieces on his violin, and after awhile the rest of his band came out to join him. They played a lot from Noble Beast, including the wonderful 'Masterswarm,' 'Effigy' (which he explained was about that guy who sits at the end of the bar, sketching weird things in his notebook), and a jazzed-up version of 'Fitz and Dizzyspells.' And a bit later, 'Armchairs.' (Oh, wow). Time's a crooked bone, indeed. Of course he did the regulars, 'Dr. Stringz,' and 'Nervous tic motion,' during which he sporadically threw his head to the left. And later, he recruited Ms. Bonar to sing with him on 'Scythian Empires,' which was quite beautiful. They finished with 'Fake Palindromes,' which was a final burst of energy, to say the least, but he wasn't quite finished. He came out and did an encore, which included 'Table and Chairs' and another one in which he spoke along the words while playing his violin, as if it is a part of him. He painted pictures with his arms and hands, with all these flowery gestures that we never got to see at Rock the Garden. He belongs onstage in the theatre, I think. After that, he left the stage, only to come back for a second encore. Nice.

Dreadfully, all the photos I took are blurry enough to cause seizures, so I'll sample one of the better ones here:

[I know, it's pretty bad.]

Simple X

I found this old school bell in a desolate corner of my high school a bit ago. Not only does it conjure nostalgia for me, it also bears the name of a dandy song by Dosh and/or Andrew Bird, so it caught my eye. I'm not sure if I should say it is by Dosh or Andrew Bird though. I know Martin Dosh wrote the original song, but that's called 'Simple Exercises,' whereas the one with Andrew's voice and lyrics is actually called 'Simple X.'

Either way, what I'm not so smoothly trying to segue into is the news that the mum and I are going to see Mr. Bird again in April! Cannot wait. I can't give my opinion on his latest Noble Beast (mostly because I haven't gotten to the record store to buy it), but I'm sure it's brilliant, like most everything he's done. I liked the singles that I've heard, so here's to hoping the rest of the CD is good too.
And for what my little praising and recommendation is worth, go visit both artists on their websites:
Dosh. and Andrew Bird.

Rock the Garden

Last Saturday, June the 21st, my dear friend Emma and I rocked the garden.
89.3 the Current along with the Walker Art Center were hosting an outdoor concert in their Sculpture Garden with a great line up of Eau Claire's Bon Iver, Minneapolis band Cloud Cult, Canada natives the New Pornographers, and Chicagoan violinist (and a personal favorite of mine,) Andrew Bird.

Bon Iver opened, and performed flawlessly. I worked my way up about 10 feet from the stage for Cloud Cult, another favorite of mine. They were absolutely wonderful and Craig really rocked out. They performed some of my favorite songs like 'Take your Medicine,' and 'Pretty Voice,' to which I sang along quite loudly. The New Pornographers were very polished, albeit bland in my opinion, (plus the sun was in my eyes) and ended their set with an Electric Light Orchestra cover. By then, I was three feet from the fence. Then finally Andrew Bird came on with Dosh and the guitarist whose name escapes me.

My HEROES!

I don't even remember what song he opened with, or what song he played second, or third for that matter, but every song was great. At some point, I asked him to marry me, but, he decided to ignore me. He did his lovely live rendition of 'Fiery Crash,' and I rocked out. He did a lot of stuff from Armchair Apocrypha, but a lot of older tunes as well. We pogoed to 'A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left,' and belted out the chorus of 'Plasticities.' 'Plasticities' was played right after a slight weather delay, if I remember correctly, and everyone sang along with no inhibitions whatsoever. 'Twas really a beautiful scene, Andrew and friends framed by the stage with the grey sky behind spitting out chain lightning. He played upon all of the audience's crushes and moved his little slight hips around very suggestively, all while jumping from guitar to violin. His sound was beautiful, just like his face. He finished up the set playing various songs like the Dosh-written 'Simple X' and 'Tables and Chairs' (which he requested we sing the violin part-- that sounded wonderful). He topped this day off by doing a wonderful solo encore with only his violin. I have to say, long live the Bird!
And then, it was done. All done. But much worth it. My feet won't ever be the same (stood in three inch heels for six hours, squatting down for six minutes once,) but I'd say that seeing four tremendous bands all in the same place was well, well worth it.
Andrew Bird photo from Mosaic Music.