you know i'd never leave you

Nope, I've not abandoned this place, not yet anyway. I took the summer away, because frankly, summer here is all too short and this particular one was the most blindingly sunny, steamy summer I've seen in Seattle yet. Combined with a growing pile of work, travel, visits from family and friends, and the ever-present call of beach across the street, the lure of the actual world outside proved too much.

This blog will likely be moving to a new platform in the next few months, as it is beyond painfully out of date -- fall and winter are the perfect time for such work.

To tide you over until I can do more here, I'm posting these two impressive videos of The Walkmen filmed in September at Monolith Festival by the kind folks at Laundromatinee. The Walkmen were at the center of my summer soundtrack, and it feels just right to share them here as we creep further into autumn. Now, if they'd append Seattle to their current tour...

The Walkmen - Four Provinces from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

The Walkmen - On The Water from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

Neil Young, Paul McCartney: A Day In The Life

Neil and Paul, live from Glastonbury on Saturday.

There are no adequate words, really.

Video: Gutter Twins, "Idle Hands"

From their March 19, 2008 appearance on Letterman -- I forgot how enthusiastic Dave was about them afterward!:



(Many thanks for uploading this, Mr. Ford.)

The New World

Here is our blueprint for creating the new world, all in one speech.

"All the players in the band...can always find some number that we know"

The Walkmen recorded a Sun Studios Session (which may or may not air on a PBS station near you depending on their offerings), and was shocked to see that one of the horn players that answered their ad for a session player was none other than a Stax legend, Mr. Ben Cauley.

I've got to say, this girl is more than a little jealous of the gentlemen in The Walkmen.

Here's a clip of "Canadian Girl" from the show, which gives you a taste of Mr. Cauley's glorious trumpet sound on this breezy, sadly lovely song -- enjoy!:



(A random observation: while yes, I do hear Orbison's influence all over The Walkmen, this particular song has always felt more like Sam Cooke for me. It was true when the record first came out, and it was certainly true last week at Sasquatch. Anyone else have this experience?)

I was crawling through a festival way out west...

I did head to Sasquatch for one day this year, which was Sunday, and shot most of the acts on the Main Stage.



See my full set of Sasquatch images here.

Video of new Spoon song-in-progress: "Trouble"

Spoon live from the Scoot Inn last night - "Trouble" has tightened up nicely!



Reminder: Spoon plays Warehouse Live tonight in Houston, and are then heading to New Orleans for Jazz Fest, closing the Gentilly stage on Friday. Get your fine selves out there and listen -- and have a shrimp remoulade po'boy for this Seattle-stuck girl, will ya?