The BQE

Space Invader sighting in Manhattan.

Here is the continuation of my last post, although I guess technically all of these posts are continuations of the ones before them. Today was rather rainy, nevertheless Elizabeth and I had delicious smoothies at the Liquiteria before looking at Halloween merchandise.

Dumpling Man looking at a giant dumpling at the Dumpling Festival.

Saturday was rainy (a trend of October), but we still made it to the Dumpling Festival and saw the above giant dumpling and got our picture taken with the Dumpling Man on the right of the photo. We also did a bit of shopping where I upgraded my wardrobe to a more professional level. After that we watched the OU/Kansas football game at the alumni bar, which offered some redemption after Texas.

The start of fall colors in Central Park.

That evening we went to the 92Y Tribeca for the DVD film screening premiere of Sufjan Stevens‘ The BQE. And Sufjan Stevens himself was there to emcee! Before the film, DM Stith played a set. It was the first time I’d heard his music and really enjoyed the subtle instrumentation and his unique voice. I was thinking during the performance that he’s one of those singers who uses the microphone to turn a voice that’s almost a whisper into a room-filling noise. After his set, the string quartet Osso played selections from Run Rabbit Run, an album of instrumental arrangements of the electronic songs inspired by the Chinese zodiac on Sufjan Stevens’ Enjoy Your Rabbit. Maybe it was the clever ways they used the instruments to mimic distortion and electronic texture, but I found the music to be really entrancing, and string quartets aren’t usually engaging enough to keep my attention for long periods of time. Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond also came onstage as a special guest and sang “If I Were Queen.” After Osso’s performance, Sufjan Stevens came back to introduce The BQE, his triptych film and orchestral score about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Despite the fact it was mainly footage of traffic, it was beautiful. I live really close to the BQE and walk under it everyday on the way to the subway, so I guess it’s one part of Brooklyn that feels familiar even while most everything else feels new.

Dfest

The Uglysuit performs at Dfest in Tulsa.

The last weekend in July, Tim and I went to the two-day Dfest music festival in Tulsa. It was our third year to go, having seen awesome performers including the Flaming Lips and mc chris in 2007 and Ghostland Observatory, the Apples in Stereo, and the Roots in 2008. Although always hot enough to melt my shoe soles,  I couldn’t miss out on going this year when I happened to be in Oklahoma at the right time.

Crowd at Dfest.

On Friday evening, we stuck with one of the giant outdoor parking lot stages, where the theme seemed to be internationally-flavored bands with over six members. First was Dusty Rhodes and the River Band, a six-person group from California which played some 1960s-influenced indie rock. I wasn’t expecting to like them when I first walked up, but their enthusiasm won me over. They were followed by a favorite band of mine which I’d never seen live: Dengue Fever, a Cambodian pop band based in Los Angeles. Their spectacular lead singer, Chhom Nimol, mainly sings in Khmer with a few songs in English and is accompanied by five amazing musicians. Next was Ozomatli, an eight member group which was new to me, and played an exciting mix of hip hop, Latin, and rock music. It seems they are pretty popular, and I can see why and I’m glad that we stayed for their set. However Gogol Bordello, the last band that night, put on one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. I’ve listened to their music for a while, but had never had a chance to see their gypsy punk live, and they were over-the-top energetic and had the crowd dancing like they were east of the iron curtain, rather than in the middle of downtown Tulsa.

Mates of State performing at Dfest.

After some much needed sleep, we went back to the cluster of music venues and stages in the Blue Dome District and decided to spend some time at the other giant parking lot stage. I should mention that there was some sort of underwater theme, so the massive stages were called the Poseidon Stage and the Triton Stage respectively and featured artwork like an octopus playing the drums and a sea horse playing a trumpet. With the heat and the asphalt, I wouldn’t have minded being submerged.

Cake performs at Dfest.

We started by watching a local Oklahoma act, the Uglysuit, and then saw Mates of State, a husband-wife duo from Kansas. They were yet another group I’ve been keen on for a while, but have never had the opportunity to see live. Then we switched stages to see Chicago/Detroit hip hop group The Cool Kids. I’d heard one of their albums, but they were much more engaging live and the crowd was really into it. There was still a while before the headliner, but we decided to go back to the appropriate stage to assure a close place. Blue October was playing, who are apparently popular, but it was my first encounter with their insanely dramatic music. But it was endearing and reminded me of the music I listened to in high school. Plus, they lucked out by singing a song about the rain coming down right when we got a 10 minute downpour. Finally, it was time for Cake, the headlining band. I hadn’t really heard from them since the 1990s, but I was surprised at how many songs I recognized and I loved their performance. Even better, we were next to a railing that we could sit on and see over the huge crowd. I’m really curious to see who they get as the headliner next year. How do you top the sequence of the Flaming Lips, the Roots, and Cake?

Berlin: Day 1

Brandenburg Gate at night.

I got back from Berlin late Saturday and will now start to catch up on blogging. Berlin was amazing. Yes, it’s poor and not as pretty as Paris, but it has so much art and culture and incredible history. I didn’t have nearly enough time to see even a fraction of the city. That would require at least another year, maybe ten. In fact, it’s a city I would love to live in. But with its high unemployment rate, it’s hard for foreigners to work there right now. It’s definitely on my list for desirable future homes. I’d decided to go to Germany on a whim, not really knowing much about Berlin or what I would see there. I don’t speak German, although I think I mastered a few essential phrases and tried my best. This was my favorite: “Ich verstehe nicht. Sprechen sie Englisch?” Or: “I don’t understand. Do you speak English?” For the most part people were very helpful, although the public transportation and museum employees could be a little impatient.

My first day was consumed by travel. I caught the 6:00 am TGV train to Paris from Valence and then took the RER to Charles de Gaulle airport. I was impressed by Air France. Both flights I took were on time and the food was actually edible. Plus they had tons of free newspapers. My experience in the actual airport in Berlin was frustrating. There is no train to the airport so you have to get the bus. After being surrounded by French for five months, finding myself suddenly in front of a transportation map with long German names was disorienting. In Berlin, there is the U-Bahn (underground metro), S-Bahn (overground metro), buses, and trams. These are all mixed together on one transport map and you often need to take a combination to get where you are going. Luckily, someone at the airport helped me find the right bus and I was soon outside my hostel. The hostel was in a cool neighborhood called Kreuzberg, although it was one of the quietest hostels I’ve ever stayed in. I was always the last person to go to sleep.

The Handsome Furs playing at the Bang Bang Club.

I used the U-Bahn and tram to get to Hackescher Markt and went on a walk around town and randomly ended up in front of the Brandenburg Gate. I saw it at the end of a boulevard and thought that it looked familiar. I would be by there again a few times. For dinner, I ate a mozzarella and tomato sandwich because it was the only thing in the bakery that was obviously vegetarian, so I could point and say one of my few German phrases: “Dieses, bitte” (this please). I then went to the Bang Bang Club to see the Handsome Furs. I really liked their 2007 album, “Plague Park.” If you haven’t heard of them, the Handsome Furs is a Canadian group composed of guitarist and vocalist Dan Boeckner (also a member of Wolf Parade) and his wife Alexei Perry  (also a short story writer) on synths on drum machine. It turned out to be a really cool show. I hadn’t heard anything from their new album, “Face Control,” and I’m pretty sure almost all the songs were from it. Their last album was really mellow, but their new songs are more upbeat and danceable. The album will be out on March 10, so I’ll have to track down a copy. There’s a video of them playing one of their new songs, “I’m Confused,” at the Sundance Film Festival on youtube that shows what their show is like. Check it out.

I managed to make it back to the hostel after the concert and got some much needed sleep. I hadn’t seen Berlin in daylight yet and was looking forward to exploring the city.