Elton John in the 49th State

Elton John stepped onto the Sullivan Arena stage on Wednesday night like he owned the place. While I have no doubt that with nearly 50 years of albums and tours, he can afford the place; it took a unique interaction with an Alaskan crowd to win the favor of the whole town. To recap the degree of buzz surrounding Sir Elton’s Alaskan journey, you must know that big name artists don’t come to Anchorage. And sometimes if they do book a show in Anchorage, there’s a long history of artists canceling their shows. As I mentioned in a previous post, Elton John originally booked 2 Alaska shows as part of a complete the USA effort to play all 50 states. The Anchorage show sold out in 58 minutes, which led to concert promoters scheduling a second Anchorage show for Friday night, which apparently sold out in 55 minutes.

With a little back story it should come as no surprise to you that there was a lot of energy in the air Wednesday night. Fairly promptly after 8pm, Elton John took the stage to thunderous applause. He made a point to wave and salute each section of the arena. Throughout his performance he consistently smiled and waved, and acknowledged the entire crowd. Speaking of the performance…it couldn’t have been better! He kicked off the two and a half hour set with “Your Song” and mixed in with several lesser known songs from older albums, he thrilled the crowd with classics like “Tiny Dancer”, “Daniel”, and “Levon.”

Above all it was a great reminder of how much Elton John has contributed to the musical landscape over the past 40 years. Everyone has their “Tiny Dancer” moment like one of my favorite Almost Famous scenes. Everyone has a “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” moment or “Someone Saved My Life Tonight” moment. And whether images of Marilyn Monroe or Diana, Princess of Wales come to mind during “Candle in the Wind” the point is that Elton John’s music has done one of those amazing things by moving you, sticking in your mind or just bringing a pleasant memory back to you.

(Anchorage Daily News review)

New Music Tuesday: Re-Arrange Us and Get Better

I've had "Get Better" rattling around my head for the last few weeks whenever something else isn't distracting my mind. I purposely avoided the pre-release that Mates of State was offering on their myspace page...and boy did it pay off. This morning I grabbed the new album off of AmazonMP3 ($7.99 as opposed to the $9.99 iTunes is charging) and I love it. I've only listened to it twice all the way through it, but already love the energy and feeling of the album. Don't ask me to explain any deeper meaning of the video below for "Get Better" just know that it's my song of the summer so far. As I've done before I highly recommend checking out 2006's Bring It Back and add Re-Arrange Us to the list of must have albums for 2008. I will warn you now that this album could lead to smiling, dreaming better dreams, foot tapping and a general feeling of hope. If I were a Portlander still, I'd drop everything and drive to Bend to see them play the Schwab on Saturday. Enjoy the vid.

My Mother's Day

My mom is the greatest! Here are a few pics to show a few of the ways that she is great.

My mom met INXS.My mom always has time for a trip to Disneyland.My mom loves a good time and always knows how to dress for an occasion.My mom is a great leader, especially when an adventure is afoot. My mom loves to hike and is never afraid of where her feet might take her.My mom is cringing at having these 5 pictures of her up on my blog but is so polite, I won't hear about it. Love you, Mom.

There's A Lesson To Be Learned From Elton John

When Elton John announced he was coming to Anchorage, there was a buzz in the city. I can't tell you how many friends and co-workers asked "Are you going to Elton John?" There was an excitement with people young and old.
Let's back up a bit. My understanding of what is bringing Sir Elton to Anchorage is there are a handful of states he's never played in the US, so with his greatest hits tour, he scheduled himself in places like Vermont and Alaska. He scheduled one show in Anchorage and one in Fairbanks.
So, back to Elton.
The tickets went on sale Monday morning at 10am local time. I'm a big fan of old Elton, and can occasionally tolerate new stuff when I don't have control of the music. I find myself singing along with his songs...even occasionally a Lion King era song. So in light of it being a greatest hits tour and the novelty of him coming to Anchorage, I logged into my lucky Ticketmaster.com account at 9:50am and rested my browser on the Elton John/Sullivan Arena page. At 9:58, I hit refresh and where it previously said "Not Available Until May 5 at 10am" now said select your tickets. Grabbed best available and had the confirmation email by 10:02. I watched Anchorage Twitterers chattering about trying to get tickets and soon after received a breaking news email from ADN.com that the Elton John show sold out in 58 minutes. He has since added a second night after the Fairbanks show that goes on sale Monday (5/12), but this is where the lesson can be learned.
No it's not a lesson of how a lucky Ticketmaster.com account can beat people who camp out all night at the brick and mortar box office, no it's not a lesson in how Twitter can guide you to the least busy Fred Meyer (though, it could've), it's a lesson for musicians and bands that ignore the Anchorage market. Sure there isn't a great venue, sure it costs a lot of money to bring extravagant sets and 100 piece bands, but what Elton John can teach you is that if you make the effort, Anchorage will show up. I haven't seen any stats on how fast Wilco, Third Eye Blind or Son Volt tickets are selling for their summer dates, but many more people have heard of Elton John than any of them.
So let this be the summer that re-defines Anchorage as a must stop on any North American tour. We're hostages of ClearChannel up here so the discovery of new music is a challenge for the average Alaskan, but even when Colin Hay came up last summer the Discovery Theater was packed, not to mention plenty of local talent that would love to say they opened for a big nationally recognized band. So, for the record, when Elton plays Sullivan Arena on May 28th, I'll be singing along from row 15.

New Music Tuesday: Revisiting Matthew Ryan vs. The Silver State

Life hasn't gotten any less hectic since I cut my Matthew Ryan review to 6 words, but in all the busyness, I've had plenty of time to digest the new album. The album kicks off with "Dulce Et Decorum Est" which not only sets up the album, it showcases the eloquence and beauty Ryan puts into crafting his songs. The title is Latin for "it is sweet and right" and the rhythm, melody and the haunting echo of Kate York's vocals draw me in to where I almost don't notice the introduction of the violin into the sound scape. One of the elements I've always loved about Matthew Ryan's music is the way he injects his unique whisper-like voice into the songs whether they are a slow or an upbeat song, it's still a bit of sadness and joy mixed up. Other highlights on the album are "Closing In" and "Meet Me By The River" wherein Brian Bequette adds haunting guitar to the picture drawn. "A Rainy Night in Soho" ("Now I'm not singing for the future/though I'm not dreaming of the past/I'm not talking about the first time/I never think about the last") is best taken with two fingers of whiskey, neat in a rocks glass. Again Matthew Ryan brings blue collar themes that are reminiscent of Springsteen like in "American Dirt", but in the same breath there are elements that sound like an analog new wave. The combo that was assembled to record this album pushed Ryan's brilliance to a new place. While he revisits some of the energy of his earlier records, it's definitely more sonic and organic than his last album From a Late Night High Rise which leaned a lot on the quiet and electronic. If you ask me, he has a strong enough track record that he's set himself up to be a can't miss artist from here on out. Matthew Ryan vs. The Silver State is a solid addition to the library. Just don't confuse him with (near)future first round draft pick Matt Ryan.

Update:
I forgot to include the tour dates for the MRVSS Tour...no West Coast, and of course no Alaska, but if you find yourself anywhere near these dates, it'll be well worth your time and effort to see him live.

May 1 ASHEVILLE, NC The Grey Eagle
May 2 ATLANTA, GA Eddie's Attic
May 3 CHARLOTTE, NC The Evening Muse
May 4 RALEIGH, NC Berkeley Café
May 6 ARLINGTON, VA The Iota
May 7 NEW YORK, NY The Living Room
May 8 PHILADELPHIA, PA World Café Live
May 9 PITTSBURGH, PA Thursday's
May 10 INDIANAPOLIS, IN Sam's Saloon
May 13 CHICAGO, IL Schuba's
May 14 CLEVELAND, OH Beachland Tavern
May 15 ANN ARBOR, MI The Ark
May 16 FORT WAYNE, IN Come2Go
May 17 NASHVILLE, TN Mercy Lounge

Reader Poll

Update...Over 100 unique visitors in the last two days and only 3 votes came out of that...I've lost your attention more than I thought, haven't I?

5 votes when all is said and done and no one said less less less...

Coming to Anchorage This Summer?

Maybe you are or maybe you aren't, but here are a few people who are:

June 5th Moose's Tooth First Tap (but at Beartooth Theatre) - Son Volt (more info)

June 21st Moose's Tooth Solstice Show - Third Eye Blind (more info)

July 26th Moose's Tooth 12th Anniversary Show - Wilco (more info)

New Music Tuesday: 6 Word Quick Reviews

I spent a lot of time today listening to Matthew Ryan's new album and R.E.M.'s new album. Without enough time to do either of these albums justice with a Tuesday night review, I give you 6 word reviews. Click on images to go to Amazonmp3 where you can purchase or sample.
Matthew Ryan - Matthew Ryan vs. The Silver State
Beauty that sneaks up on you.
R.E.M. - Accelerate
Best R.E.M. album since 1994's Monster.

Below, a screenshot of what my morning looked like...just a snippet of hours of great music. (More)

New Music Tuesday: Tuesday Mornings & Wednesday Nights

So I broke my recent rule of not buying music via iTunes on Tuesday. I admit it. My one caveat I mentioned was that I would buy exclusives, and that's what got me to give them my money. I bought Counting Crows' Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings from iTunes because there was an exclusive bonus track or two that wouldn't have been included in an Amazonmp3 purchase. I'm impressed with the album. If you don't know anything about it, as the title suggests it's a 2-part album representing the contrasts of Saturday Nights (sin) and Sunday Mornings (redemption). There's beauty, there's emotion, there's some great songwriting. It's hard to believe their last full album came out in 2002. In some ways though, isn't it a little hard to believe that 2002 was that long ago? If you're like many and only buy a few songs here and there, I recommend "Insignificant", "Washington Square" (he's talking about Dublin, Ireland and not Dublin, California, despite mentioning traveling the highway from Dublin to Berkeley[ref]), "Los Angeles" (written with Ryan Adams during the recording of Adams' Gold), "Cowboys", and "Le Ballet d'or"

The whole album is worth the purchase (with or without bonus tracks). Here's the link to Amazon.

Best Actor in a Movie (Drama)

I flipped and flopped on this as I typed it...I'm limiting myself to 5, by the way. Ultimately Daniel Day Lewis won the Oscar and the Golden Globe, but as I mentioned in the previous post, I haven't seen There Will Be Blood yet. (Not to mention it wasn't released in Alaska until well into January of 2008, maybe even February.

George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
Samuel L. Jackson, Black Snake Moan
Joaquin Phoenix, We Own the Night

Best Movie (Drama)

A post has been sitting in my drafts folder for months now, and rather than delete it, I'm going to spread it out. Know that these were originally going to come out before the Oscars, but had they, I would have just had to edit them anyway because I've just caught up on some great movies from 2007. FYI - I'll follow Oscar rules and only include work released between Jan 1, 2007 and Dec 31, 2007. But my categories will resemble more along the lines of the Golden Globes to include TV and broader categories. I'm not picking a winner, that's up to you...

To get started...here are my Best Movie (Drama) nominees.

No Country For Old Men
Eastern Promises
American Gangster
We Own the Night
Michael Clayton

For the record I haven't seen There Will Be Blood, yet.Vote for your favorite or your winner or submit one you think I left out in the comments.

New Music Tuesday: Catching Up on New Music

If you've been reading me for a while, you know I used to be pretty diligent about posting every Tuesday about the new music that was released that day that I could recommend. It's been a while...in fact you have to go back to September when I bought 3 albums with 3 services (iTunes, eMusic, and Amazonmp3). So this is a bit of catching up on new music over the last few months that I can recommend...because you can be sure that I purchased (or received a demo) all of these selections. And to show progress made since testing the 3 services, I now download the majority of my music via Amazonmp3 and eMusic...resorting to iTunes only for an occasional exclusive or free iTunes plus content.

Drive-By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
A very solid post Jason Isbell album with some great contributions from bassist Shonna Tucker.

Cat Power - Jukebox
Another great covers album from Chan. I think I've mentioned her philosophy on covers before, but I tend to agree with her when she sings the way she does.

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
I don't think I've read a single review that doesn't compare this album to Iron & Wine or Nick Drake...can't really argue with the comparison, nor can you go wrong being compared to them.

Mike Doughty - Golden Delicious
A great mix of sounds on the follow up to an MKinMotion favorite (Haughty Melodic)...and who didn't have at least 27 Jennifers (Jenns, Jennys, etc) in their school? And a rock n roll blogger on top of all that.

Nada Surf - Lucky
Very solid album from indie rock die hards.

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
As mentioned in a previous post, they've already played the talk show circuit and SNL, and there's still a good chance you haven't listened to their album...go on, give it a shot.

Chris Walla - Field Manual
Guitarist and producer from Death Cab (and Portlander) busts out a great little album with plenty of depth.

Kaki King - Dreaming of Revenge
I'm not sure any one can keep up with Kaki on guitar...definitely good, definitely unique.

Kate Nash - Made of Bricks
There something about her accent...

The Black Crowes - Warpaint
Riche was more excited about this one, but there's plenty about this album that takes me back to Shake Your Money Maker and The Southern Harmony... glory days.

Daniel Lanois - Here Is What Is
To most he's both more known and unknown as a producer of U2, Peter Gabriel, Bob Dylan, etc, but the guy can put together great songs. Now available via traditional methods as well.

Jason Collett - Here's To Being Here
Another solo album from Broken Social Scene's Jason Collett...but this one feels more like he's into it than some other solo stuff I've heard. I consistently catch myself loving songs as they come up on random on the iPod.

Gary Louris - Vagabonds
I could go on and on about The Jayhawks and Golden Smog...and I have...so I'll cut right to saying this album lives up to what you would assume would happen when an Americana royal does a solo album.

And released this week:
The Dodos - Visiter
These guys opened for Hothouse Flowers back in September 2006 in San Francisco and they've got a great unique sound.
She & Him - Volume One
This is a collaboration of Portlander M.Ward and actress Zooey Deschanel.

Next week I might be too wrapped up in Counting Crows new release to post a review of it...a long time coming. What music has grabbed you lately?

Twitter in Plain English [Video]

If you're still not convinced Twitter has any value, this video may not sway you at all...however it does a pretty good job of explaining the value (via the Twitter Blog). After all, if you visit here looking for new posts, you might be looking in the wrong place for day to day content. As always, follow me at twitter.com/mkinmotion

A Word About Wilco

I think it says a lot about the music industry to have Wilco play Saturday Night Live...and apparently from plenty of Google searches landing here, there's some hunger for more info about them. Why Wikipedia isn't your first search for info about a band, is beyond me, but I'll indulge you. I knew of Wilco because I knew of Uncle Tupelo, but didn't really give them much of a chance to enter my collective playlist until the summer of 2001. I spent 3 days in North Carolina, and Virginia, with a quick trip to Brooklyn and Boston and spent much of that time listening to Wilco's Being There which at the time was 5 years old (Disc One if you're keeping score at home). In an age when you might find it hard to name 5 successful American rock bands (I challenge you to list your five in the comments), Wilco consistently proves that Rock and Roll can live when it's chasing the edge of innovation. If you've been holding out it's time you give this Grammy winning band a shot.

(Photo from 2005 Austin City Limits Festival)

Clips of the two songs Wilco performed have been uploaded and taken down from YouTube several times over the last few days, so if you're interested in seeing their performances of "Walken" and "Hate It Here" but I've heard some good things about Hulu.

A post addressing the traffic to this blog looking for Wilco info wouldn't be complete without some recommendations. In the days of digital downloads, it makes more sense to list some tracks that will give you a more complete picture of Wilco. Here are my 20 favorite Wilco tracks, not in order of preference, but rather how they would sound good on a CD. Paring down to 20 was tough and even as I dropped them into a playlist I found myself resigning to the fact that I'm leaving out a lot of great music. So check these tracks out and don't be afraid of anything in the Wilco catalog.

A disclaimer: I think Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is to Wilco what OK Computer is to Radiohead, what Joshua Tree/Achtung Baby is to U2, what Vitalogy is to Pearl Jam, what August and Everything After is to Counting Crows...and that bias may show through in my track selection.

1. "I'm the Man Who Loves You" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

"All I can be is a busy sea of
spinning wheels and hands that feel
for stones to throw and feet that run but
they come back home, make no difference
ever known, make no difference
ever known to me"

2. "ELT" from Summerteeth
3. "At Least That's What You Said" (Live) from Kicking Television [Nels Cline makes all the difference, though the studio version holds its own]
4. "Hotel Arizona" from Being There
5. "Ashes of American Flags" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

"All my lies are always wishes"

6. "Hummingbird" from A Ghost is Born

"Remember to remember me
Standing still in your past
Floating fast like a hummingbird"

7. "I Got You(At the End of a Century)" from Being There
Gotta love the tambourine...
8. "Impossible Germany" from Sky Blue Sky
9. "Radio Cure" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
10. "The Late Greats" from A Ghost is Born
11. "Far, Far Away" from Being There
12. "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
13. "Monday" from Being There
14. "Passenger Side" from A.M.

"Hey, wake up, your eyes weren't open wide
For the last couple of miles you've been swerving from side to side
You're gonna make me spill my beer,
If you don't learn how to steer
Passenger side, passenger side,
I don't like riding on the passenger side"

15. "Via Chicago" from Summerteeth
16. "Kingpin" from Being There
17. "Jesus, etc." from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
18. "The Lonely 1" from Being There
19. "Hell is Chrome" from A Ghost is Born
20. "Misunderstood" from Being There

"There's a fortune inside your head
All you touch turns to lead
You think you might just crawl back in bed
The fortune inside your head"

[Bonus Hidden Track] "Poor Places" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Vampire Weekend are scheduled to play SNL March 8, which is an even further trip away from the mainstream.

And by the way I can't figure out why, but I giggled the whole way through the SNL Digital Short with Ellen Page waking up from dreams. Don't know why, but it was hilarious.

Stock up on Wilco at iTunes or Amazonmp3.com

Random

Work has been busy leading up to this coming weekend. While things won't necessarily get less busy, they will get less hectic provided this weekend goes smoothly. So while I have some time, here are some random notes.

Shaq looks strange in a Suns jersey. If someone had told you in 1995 that Grant Hill and Shaquille O'Neal would play on the same team, you'd probably assume they'd be favored to win a championship. Shaq was drafted #1 overall in 1992 and Grant Hill was drafted #3 overall in 1994.

Jason Kidd returned to the Mavericks who originally drafted him in 1994 (#2 overall). He's not the only player lately to return to their original team. Steve Nash made this move a few years back when he rejoined the Suns after his time with Dallas. Chris Webber recently signed with the Golden State Warriors who didn't draft him but traded for him on draft day. Not only does he return to the Warriors, but he returns to Don Nelson who coached the Warriors during Webber's first stint. Keith Van Horn was involved in the Kidd trade, and while he hasn't played for a few years, he technically returned to the New Jersey Nets who drafted him #2 overall in 1997.

The trend of NBA players being traded as well as free agency always tends to muddy the memories of current players' original teams. Afterall, who could forget Tracy McGrady the Raptor or Chauncey Billups the Celtic?

With respect to LOST:
What a great season so far! Lots of new questions...
I think I know how Jack and Claire discover that they're (half)brother and (half)sister.
I think I know who's in the coffin and why.

Perhaps coincidentally following a trend. Gary Louris joins Dan Wilson in releasing a solo album. Both musicians are more famous as a part of bands (Louris from the Jayhawks and Wilson from Semisonic), but the common ground continues in that they both worked with the Dixie Chicks on their Grammy winning album. Louris' album hit stores (and more commonly, online outlets) this week and it sounds good. You might remember my raving of Gary Louris when I saw him with side project Golden Smog.

Not About Me

I've been contemplating writing an 'about me' article that would tell readers about me. I'm not sure how detailed I would be...or how serious for that matter. If you've got an opinion or think you know what should go in an 'about me' write-up, let me know in the comments.

Caught Off Guard

Do you ever find yourself caught off guard by something that seems like it should be familiar? Let me explain. Apply the question to music. There are probably songs that you've heard hundreds if not thousands of times...but then one day something about the song clicks...like you're hearing it for the first time...it might even cause you to look down at your iPod to check and see what song it is. I'll admit, sometimes it's just the volume, or sometimes it's just one line that makes "extra" sense.

Photo credit (Flickr: RealMerlin)

I don't remember when exactly, but I remember vividly one morning driving on the Marquam Bridge in Portland. It was early so the sun was just rising in the East. At the peak of the Eastbound level of the Marquam bridge, on a clear day, at that time of the morning, Mt. Hood is hard to miss. Why do I remember one particular time of crossing the bridge? Something about the light made the mountain look bigger, better, brighter...and it caught me off guard. I can't explain what was so special very eloquently, but it's been years since I've driven that drive and I still remember one morning.

I think there's something to those two things that we miss 99.9999% of our lives. Whether it be routine or busyness or jadedness, there's something to be said for allowing yourself to be caught off guard by a great song or a great sunrise or anything else that seems routine or habit (FYI, the sun rises every day in most parts of the world). Let it happen and embrace it.

Welcome to the Lakers, Pau

Pau Gasol made his debut with the Lakers tonight, and shined. I've been pinching myself all week with the notion that the Lakers basically got this guy for Kwame Brown.

Politics

Because I don't belong to a party, I'm not a voter today. I've voted Republican and supported the Republican party all my life. I think I've mentioned previously that there's a difference in an Oregon Republican from the national perception of the Republican Party as a whole. I grew up with names like Hatfield and Packwood, conservative in many ways, but also a regard for the environment, social programs, civil rights, etc. I will not officially begin to cover a candidate until there are 1 candidate in each party (could be as soon as tonight), but I can tell you the candidate I'm supporting today rhymes with Yo Mama. Alaska is a wild card when it comes to Democrats, but I think McCain has a strong hold on the Republican delegates. Polls close in AK tonight at 8:30 local time which is technically Super Wednesday on the East Coast.

Dance Off

I got a bunch of traffic on the East Coast throughout the day from Google searches for "Dance War". I wanted to set the record straight that I did not blog about (what I found in doing some research) a TV show on ABC. In fact, you can go to the Fine Films site and watch a trailer for War/Dance to see some of the beauty, insight, and unspoken call to action mentioned in my previous post. You can also read up about the movement coming out of the film.