Went with my wife and swiateck. Phenomenal show. I told off some paris-hilton-knockoff tart for talking during, you know, Iron & Wine and she looked as if she had been slapped . . . guess she thought that just 'cause she was in the vip area she actually was vip. oh yeah, i totally recommend going to shows with chad because, among other reasons, his wheelchair will get you a good view of the show.

Among all the awesome calexico and iron and wine songs, three covers that the joint ensemble played were particularly memorable, awesome & incongruous: "all tomorrow's parties," "you were always on my mind," and "wild horses." That's right, Neko, Willie, and Mick in quick succession. Outrageously QUAL.

Now time to see if I can get some school work done before I go to sleep.

- c

what venue..don't you live in Austin?

dude, you don't even know how jealous I am right now

did they split things up into a I&W set and a Calexico set or were they all just out there doing their thing?

Me too, I am trying to visualize right now!

venue: stubb's

Show:
1) Edith Frost
2) Calexico
3) Iron & Wine (plus scattered calexicites in some songs)
4) Iron & Wine + Calexico

very complementary - John Calvertino & Sam & Sam's sister sang some sweet, sweet harmonies. "all tomorrow's parties" was hair-raisingly, achingly good.

and to have the balls to come out with a kicking willie cover in the A-TX? Qual all around.

Bravo man! I love it when people like you and me put people like that in their places. That earns you an unofficial Obner Salute

Unfortunately I couldn't reach out and bitchslap the guy dressed up as a mexican midget wrestler who kept shouting out things like "Excelente!!!" and "Show us your tits!!!" Eventually he wandered off somewhere and just got drunker and quieter.

Wha?!

That's just crazy.

yeah . . . he was just about the only person I saw in a costume . . . if it was a costume.

how was edith frost? i like her too.

amazing & beautiful voice, kinda boring guitar strumming. she was nervous, and one of her songs made her cry a little. i'll definitely check her out again. the fact that she isn't making millions of dollars in country music right now with a voice like that is sort of a testament to her commitment to her own music.

i have her album if you can't seem to find it.

i sure wouldn't say no to a pm-ed ysi for the time being - she said she has a new album dropping in two weeks, too.

its the one i have.

i'll do it up tomorrow or something. it's nothing to write home about, but it's some enjoyable simplistic country music. and its nice.

dammit, this is exactly what i didn't want to read after i lazily skipped their show here last week.
glad you guys had a good time.

I just heard a joint I+W/Calex song the other day on xm, and was pretty impressed. He's still a "cooing bearded mountain man," but there was some tasteful pedal steel in there.

= A+.

Caught this show last week here in Salt Lake with mayhole and was VERY impressed. To be honest I was completely unfamiliar with Calexico aside from their contribution to the "In the Reins" EP, but after seeing them live, I will definitely be delving into their back catalog. Iron and Wine was great as well - particularly when he juiced a couple of his numbers up a little bit for some dynamic contrast.
And Chuck, I have to agree with you - their rendition of "All Tomorrow's Parties" was stunning. We didn't get any Willie at our show, but the Stones cover was great as well. I think these guys are going to be hitting the east coast as well, so check them out if you get a chance.

this was an interesting thread about edith frost:

http://www.obner.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t ... dith+frost

Nice! Thanks.

Yeah, I skipped their Tulsa show after a trip...wish I would have sucked it up and gone.

bump fer swiateck

Same here - passed it up last month trying to ration the dough, because I wanted to see the Okkervil R. show a few days later. Then Okkervil cancelled.

I did have serious doubts that I&W would be able to hold my attention for a whole show. I like em's, but to say they're low-key is the understatement of the year. Did the covers help to perk up the ears?

It wasn't just the covers that kept it interesting - I would say that all of the I&W songs were in different arrangements than album versions, so much so that it was often a few words into the lyrics before I figured out what he was up to. The lead guitarist he has with him is pretty tasteful, too, as was the drummer. I dunno, there was just plenty going on for me to pay attention to. Mr. Beam is a pretty good finger picker, too, so I spent some time just watching the hands and trying to see if I knew what was going on.

Thanks mang.
Soooooooooooooooooooo glad I heard about this show and decided to hit it up. Colin recapped this really well already, so I won't drone on. I wasn't that familiar w/ Calexico prior to that night, but they won me over in a big way. They'll be added to my CD family very soon.
The expanded Iron & Wine was interesting in a really great way because it gave the songs almost a complete new body. "Muddy Hymnals" was one that really stood out for me, but his entire set was qual from start to finish.
And the combined stuff really was breathtaking. The covers (esp "All Tomorrow's Parties) were an exclamation point but the originals were more than strong enough to stand on their own.

I'm definitely seeing them when they roll through Michigan in December.