Those of us with festival experience – or should I say real festival experience – were wary about what to expect from the inaugural “All Points West Music and Arts Festival” in Jersey City, NJ. The venue was promising enough: Liberty State Park, the proverbial welcome mat for millions upon millions of immigrants during the late 1800s to the mid 1900s, has iconically timeless views of the Statue of Liberty and New York City skyline, which make up for what the park lacks in natural beauty (there are virtually no trees at all, and the grass runs from plentiful stabbing crabbiness to thin and balding). The “festival,” which did not involve any sort of camping option and had beer drinkers relegated to only five beers at three nonsensically placed tents from which no music could be seen or heard, was plagued by long transportation waits (the only viable options for 30,000 on each of the three days were the ferry from Manhattan or the Light Rail from Hoboken), and even longer entry lines of up to an hour once the more big-name bands started playing in the evening, giving the entire event the vibe of a crowded concert rather than a bustling festival.

Bands were given only one hour to play (plus or minus fifteen minutes), with a half-hour between acts for breaking down and setting up, which was more than enough time for the lower-tier of performers (see examples below). For the better bands (Radiohead aside, whose set ran for over two hours, but was still over in time for the early bird special at 11:00pm, whereas most festivals run until 3:00am), the set times were ludicrously short. Treating The Roots like an opening band by putting them on stage during the waning daylight hours of 7:15pm to 8:15pm is simply inappropriate. The Roots open for no one! They were barely warmed up by the end of the hour and seemed to have at least two more hours of performance left, since that’s what their normal shows entail. They are one of the premier musical performers on today’s scene and are widely accepted as the greatest live hip-hop band EVER. And All Points West relegated them to one hour, which led immediately into the 8:30pm Radiohead set. I was just as excited as anyone there to see Radiohead play, but making them the only band that plays for longer than one hour is just disrespectful to the other worthy acts. A more apt name for the APW would have been “Radiohead featuring the All Points West Music and Art Festival,” and not the other way around. They rightfully received top billing, but at the expense of a longer Roots performance. If acts were overlapping all day, as they are bound to do at festivals, why not give people the option of staying an extra hour with The Roots and cutting down the crowd for Radiohead? I still would’ve gone and paid homage to the musical gods, but many would have opted to stick with the kings of hip-hop.

Despite all of the unfestive logistical nightmares, the arts part of the “music and arts” festival was a smashing success. The tone that organizers were going for (AEG Live of Coachella and Rothbury fame) was one of environmental responsibility, a theme that I didn’t even know about until after the festival was over and Nate Chinen of the New York Times revealed that All Points West was “expressly full” of “environmental selling points.” All bitterness aside, that green goal, while virtually invisible and unpromoted, is what led to the relaxed and entertaining atmosphere inside the festival. There were water games and modern abstract sculptures galore, and before 5:00pm rolled around, when thousands of people started filing in, there was room to play frisbee and walk calmly from stage to stage. And it’s a good thing, because it was impossible not to want to wander.

The music was the most perplexing aspect of the entire affair. Saturday consisted of a few great acts (Radiohead, The Roots, Animal Collective, Sia) interspersed with a majority of mediocre-at-best artists (K’Naan, Nicole Atkins, Chromeo), which were all painfully bogged down by some that were simply unbearable (The Felice Brothers, Exit 105, Your Vegas). The former musicians were all saved for evening slots, which explains the mad rush to get in. The latter two groups, however, were arranged in ascending order by quality (because first is the worst), leaving that calm and pleasantly festivalish part of the day filled with lots of background music, but essentially devoid of any band truly worth sticking around for…hence my gratitude at the plethora of activities (frisbee, photography, art exploration, etc.) at my disposal. In true “festival” form, the pre-evening day was a lovely refuge from the usual hustle and bustle of living in or just outside of Manhattan.

Day and night at All Points West were polar opposites. They were like…well…like night and day. Once the front runners showed up — that is, those who paid $110 to go to a festival and just show up for the headliners — All Points West went South. Not musically, of course, because Radiohead and The Roots were in the line-up, but the calm, happy-go-luckiness of the first five hours vanished in a flash of Prada bags (did I just date myself, or are those still popular?) and Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses. Call me cynical (I am) or just plain bitter (I am NOT, you son of a bitch), but those New Yorkers turned my festival into a jam-packed concert, complete with requisite dirty looks, pushing, rubbing, yelling, and “fuck-off”s.

At other festivals, the crowds exude positivity (see my posts about Rothbury) and consideration for each other. Just by attending a festival together, all those in attendance foster a sense of community and belonging that only music can create. I did not find this at All Points West, and I would argue that any festival held in New York City (even via Jersey City) will be hard pressed to maintain that positivity. Most people who live in the greater New York area will counter that All Points West wasn’t like other festivals because Manhattan isn’t like any other city. I quite agree, but this time it wasn’t for the better.

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Hello again, good Prexites, we have a surprise for you this week. Normally, we are in the middle of reviewing the Utopia Box set Last Of The New Wave Riders. But why settle for a box set when you can see the real thing? Well almost the real thing. Imagine my surprise when the opportunity to see Todd Rundgren live presented itself! Upon learning of the gig through his premiere fan site The TRConnection, I learned that this was a pre-release promotional tour for his upcoming album Arena, featuring songs written in a hard-rock context. What I was not expecting from this show was the ENTRIRE song list from the Arena album. I was able to fall in love with the songs before I plunk out the cash for the download or CD (in my rabid fan state, I will buy both!).

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I recently went to see a show in Brooklyn. Typical. What was not so typical, however, were the band who graced my ears upon arrival at the Silent Barn. Read the rest of this entry »

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This past Saturday marked another great concert in the Wordless Music Series that has been going on full-force this season. This event featured the Metropolis Ensemble under the direction of Andrew Cyr and the ever-entertaining band from San Francisco, Deerhoof.

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Money is hard to come by when you’re a college student (and your parents aren’t sending you “allowances” for “spending money” because you make “necessary purchases” every week that require hundreds). So whenever I save up the requisite $22.50 to get a round trip to NYC, it’s a BIG DEAL (for me). Phones ring, Brooklyn floors are cleared for my crashing, and plans are made.

Well, don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this Todd P fella, but his shows are, seriously, a dream-come-true for kids (or adults) on a budget. I don’t think I’ve ever paid more than $7 for a show, and the bills are always about 3-4 bands. And it’s an all-ages deal…which is amazing so that kids under 18 can actually get to see live interesting stuff instead of sitting at home and watching MTV. This last Saturday had a 4-band bill…unfortunately, I was only able to see 2. And a half. Or something.

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I did not start out to write a series of reviews of women with musical muscles but it’s turned out that way. Here is the latest in the series about Alpha Females who make music with abandon.

St Vincent, fronted by Annie Clark, brought a 6 piece band including electric violin, flute, and French Horn. They made dynamic high-contrast music to go with their Black and White outfits. In this concert the live music sounded as good to me as the recordings; the songs were varied in style and mood. At times she wielded her electric guitar as mentioned before with abandon and force. She ends her songs unexpectedly and interestingly. Read the rest of this entry »

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As we recover from the Holiday weekend, we need to take it easy. With this in mind, we will be doing an abbreviated review (read: not a two-parter this week). During our lull in concerts this month, we are continuing with our examination of the Utopia box set, Last Of The New Wave Riders. A set of live performance CDs spanning from early in Utopia’s career up to almost the end. This particular show, the Oblivion Tour, is a single disc. Additionally, since the last entry about Devo generated some interest I need to address some comments that were left.
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In this post I wanted to include a link to still more reviews from the Montreal Gazette of concerts I was unable to attend:

http://communities.canada.com/MONTREALGAZETTE/blogs/wordsandmusic/default.aspx

Also there are 2 local noteworthy bands that we saw:Gadji-Gadjo who play East European tunes. I endured the first blazing sun of the festival to watch them and they played a long set of stirring music to celebrate the sun. Read the rest of this entry »

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When you think of Devo, certain things just don’t come to mind. Power chords, heavy, loud styles of music and guitars. Well at Penn’s landing on June 28th, Devo was all that and more! Performing their “stadium/festival” set; these are tracks that they can perform without the assistance of midi, sequencers or anything of that ilk. As if stripped down to their possible beginnings, Devo provided tones to enrage and engorge the attendees. Read the rest of this entry »

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Certainly one of the huge attractions of the festival so far has been the city as well as the music.

But lets start with the music;. The whole festival spans 11 days of which I will see 7 days worth. There are impressive names that come for reasonably priced concerts such as Gilberto Gil, McCoy Tyner, Taj Mahal and Keb Mo, Abbey Lincoln, Orchestra Baobab, Betty Levette, Brad Mehldau, Ladytron, Aretha Franklin, Richard Thompson, Steve Bernstein’s Millennial Territory Orchestra, Martin Sexton and Blind Boys of Alabama. Read the rest of this entry »

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We arrived to the wonderful stench of Camden, which is always an awe-inspiring thing. Truth be told, there’s nothing in Camden except a battleship, and aquarium, and an amphitheatre that I can honestly view as a second home. Thank you, Susquehanna Center, for making Camden worth existence. Read the rest of this entry »

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A few stray thoughts, dear Readers, fueled by potent antibiotics to treat a nasty case of bronchitis, following the epic Vision Festival XIII in New York City, which I blogged about last week.  To wit:  Is the Free Jazz aesthetic in need of a makeover?  Is jazz radio WBGO (Newark) in need of a makeover?  Click the link and read on.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Picking up from where we (mercifully) left off last week, we are smack-dab in the middle of what is part of the box set from Todd Rundgren and Utopia chronicling their Deface The Music tour. To recap, Deface The Music was Utopia’s tribute to the Beatles. Rundgren and Sulton have frequently stated that the Beatles were tremendous influences on them both. Powell and Wilcox are more comfortable in the jazz realm, but also have Beatle-influence (come on, everybody has Beatle influence, even if you didn’t like them, odds are, many of the artists you DO like were influenced by the Beatles so vicariously, you are influenced).

But this isn’t about the Beatles, it’s about Utopia, maybe for this tour we should call them Beatleopia. Read the rest of this entry »

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June 24, 2008: The vox from Poison; like Bon Jovi, he is another former 80’s glam rocker turned Pop-country-southern rock. I went to hear the Poison songs, and to tolerate the Southern rock- Americana- country-rock newer stuff (which he didn’t play too much of—which made me happy). Read the rest of this entry »

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I’m still somewhat agog over the recent Vision Festival XIII in New York City, produced by Arts for Art, Inc.   If one word could sum it up, it would be:  Intensity.  The music, the playing, the heat, the marathon hours.  They all contributed to feelings equal part rapture and exhaustion.  Being somewhat new to the free jazz scene, I did not know what to expect, but came away feeling deeply moved.  Driving away from the festival site on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a lot of the music on the radio felt pallid and tired and derivative.  To borrow a phrase that was all the rage about five years ago, the festival produced a sense of shock and awe.  Read the rest of this entry »

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In conjunction with, but not necessarily a part of, The Summer Concert Series feature I have undertaken on this here PREX site, I am also reviewing some rare, unearthed, it took me several distributors to find this, live Utopia. Featuring a frequent blog topic, Todd Rundgren and his four-piece model of Utopia. This model was the version with Wilcox, Powell and Sulton. I can hear you all asking: “Who are these people?” Read the rest of this entry »

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Keith Kenny CD Release Party: Limit is the Sky

June 17, 2008- Keith Kenny is a band that instills new respect for music’s ability to expand one’s horizons and way of viewing the world. Aptly titled, “Limit is the Sky,” Keith Kenny’s first CD (http://keithkenny.net/) is a celebration of classic blues rock combined with country influences, skilled musicianship and demanding instrumental part writing.
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Literally just back from the Vision Festival in New York City by way of Princeton, NJ,  and our host, Princeton Record Exchange, where I spent several hours and several hundred dollars on jazz LPs and CDs.   I mention that in extenuation of not getting a full-scale blog post done earlier today.   I’m late getting this blog posted, but wanted to post a quick entry, for you, dear blog Readers, and for our exacting Blogmaster.  What can I say about Vision Festival XIII? Fantastic.  Involving.  Sublime.  Raucous.  Loud.  Surprising.  Challenging.  Necessary.  Were you there?  I will blog more about the festival later this week , but if you attended, I invite you to post your thoughts and  comments on this blog entry and open up the discussion.    

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Yesterday, I was in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as part of a volunteer program that does work to preserve the battlefield. As part of our reward for painting barns, building fences and other things in 95 degree-weather, we were treated to a concert by Rick Garland and his lovely musical presentation O Be Joyfull. In a nutshell, O Be Joyfull is a sampler of Civil War music as well as stories behind several of the songs. But I am not here to give you a nutshell, am I? Read the rest of this entry »

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M.I.A. played the last concert of her current tour to promote the CD Kala Friday night Jun 6. Pity, because it was a wonderful live show in a very cool venue that itself resides in a fun neighbourhood. The audience stands right within the former pool with traces of blue paint remaining on the bottom; the surrounding buildings have dramatic towering red-brick arches unlike any swimming pool or concert venue I’ve ever seen. Read the rest of this entry »

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