Big Ears, Full Hearts, Can't Lose

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Mar 2, 2023 22:22:46 GMT -6 rango420 said:

Me and Thissy got the Suite with the water slide by the hooters.

Tentative schedule Monastery can tell me who I am fucking up by missing

Thursday:
Allison Russell
Terry Allen
Path 1 - Whatever closest to Los Lobos, Los Lobos,
Path 2 -Adeeem The Artst-Bill Orcutt Guitar Trio-700 bliss
Liturgy


Friday:
David Byrne Talk/Danielle Ponder if David Byrne talk boring
Edgar Meyer Trio
Steve Gunn/David Moore
Calexico
Los Lobos
Pino Palladino/Blake Mills
Marc Robot: The Jazz Bins
some combo of Grouper/Irreversible Entanglments/Billy Woods

Saturday:
Stephen Omalley/Wander around art museum maybe
Kevin Morby
Bill Orcutt/Chris Corsano
The Bad Plus
Ichiko Aoba or Sun Ra Arkestra based on vibes
Rickie Lee Jones
Bela Fleck
Charlotte Adigery


Sunday:
John Zorn Gnostic Trio
Etran De L'air
Sierraa Hull
Bill Frisell Four
Peter One
0PN
John Zorn: Painkiller
Algiers
Marc Riot Y Los Cubanos
John Zorn: Cobra

Couple days late but genuinely happy you and thissy are Making This Shit Happen. 

[monasterymonochrome]

Still finangling my schedule around, but I just bought some concert tickets in NYC to clear up a few conflicts, got tix to see:
-- Bill Orcutt Quartet
-- SUSS
-- Caroline

And apparently Lonnie Holley is doing a show in May, but the venue doesn't have the event listed yet, so I'll be keeping tabs on that.

[rango420]

Anyone know where to find people trying to see tickets on Lyte? I tried Knoxville craigslist. It's annoying you need a "referral link"

[monasterymonochrome]

Heads up, I put together my schedule on the flight to my trip, was just revisiting it tonight and they'd changed around a portion of the schedule, largely on Thurs/Fri, including making the Friday night conflicts more intolerable. Gonna end up missing Irreversible Entanglements entirely now, instead of splitting them with billy woods.

[rango420]

extremely annoying painkiller semi dropped altho Lombardo, zorn, McBride should still be sick but 0PN-->Painkiller was beautiful

[monasterymonochrome]

Finally feel like I pulled my schedule together to a somewhat final place. Times are super approximate and based on when I expect to leave each show / arrive after walking to the next one. I guess I'll eat sometime too?

Thursday
- Allison Russell 6:00 - 7:00
- Terry Allen 7:30 - 8:30
- Adeem the Artist 8:40 - 9:20
- Los Lobos 9:30 - 10:45
- Mountain Goats 11:00 - 12:00
- OR Liturgy 11:15 - 12:15

Friday
- New Future City 12:00 - 1:00
- Wendy Eisenberg 1:00 - 1:45
- Bonny Light Horseman 2:00 - 3:00
- Staples Jr. Singers 3:15 - 4:00
- Joe Rainey 4:45 - 5:45
- Los Lobos 6:15 - 7:15
- Pino Palladino 7:45 - 8:40
- William Parker 8:45 - 9:15
- Jake Xerxes Fussell 9:30 - 10:10
- Grouper 10:15 - 11:15
- Billy Woods 11:30 - 12:45

Saturday
- Bassekou Kouyate 12:00 - 12:50
- Christian McBride 1:10 - 2:00
- Kevin Morby 2:15 - 3:00
- Peter One 3:05 - 3:50
- Charles Lloyd 4:00 - 5:15
- Etran de L’Air 5:30 - 6:15
- Ichiko Aoba 6:30 - 7:45
- Rickie Lee Jones 8:15 - 9:15
- Bela Fleck 9:30 - 11:00
- Cecile McLorin Salvant 11:10 - 12:00
- Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul 12:15 - 1:15

Sunday
- Morton Subotnick 12:30 - 1:10
- Theon Cross 1:15 - 2:00
- Wadada Leo Smith 2:15 - 3:10
- James Brandon Lewis 3:15 - 4:15
- Bill Frisell Four 4:20 - 5:00
- Sona Jobarteh 5:30 - 6:35
- Combo Chimbita 6:40 - 7:30
- Algiers 8:00 - 9:00
- Marc Ribot 9:05 - 9:45 
- John Zorn: Cobra 10:00 - 11:00

[monasterymonochrome]

And here's a playlist I made to correspond with my schedule / control my listening for the next week:

[monasterymonochrome]

Biggest misses for me are Lonnie Holley, Kali Malone, Sierra Ferrell, and James "Blood" Ulmer. But it's a stacked festival - what can ya do.  

I thought I could get a Lonnie Holley ticket for his NYC show to alleviate that conflict, but it's a benefit for some organization and is $250.... so yeah....

[zircona1]

Biggest miss for me will probably be My Brightest Diamond, who is playing same time as the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet. And unless Kate NV is intolerable, I'm probably going to skip caroline as well. Everything else I'll at least get to see a portion of.

[monasterymonochrome]

Mar 23, 2023 10:49:24 GMT -6 zircona1 said:

Biggest miss for me will probably be My Brightest Diamond, who is playing same time as the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet. And unless Kate NV is intolerable, I'm probably going to skip caroline as well. Everything else I'll at least get to see a portion of.

I'm seeing the Bill Orcutt Quartet in Brooklyn on Monday night - I'll let ya know how it is!

[teekoh]

I heard there’s a hotel where you can water slide right into Hooters so I’m going to this thing. Also someone has to make sure rango never hits the vape again.

This is my tentative schedule I think. We’ll see.

Thurs:
6:30-7:20 - Lonnie Holley (Mill)
7:30-8:30 - Terry Allen (TN Theatre)
8:30-9:00 - Macie Stewart (Pilot)
9:15-10:00 - Bill Orcutt (Standard)
10:30-11:30 - Vijay Iyer (Bijou)
11:45-12:15 - Liturgy (Standard)

Fri:
11:30-12:45 - David Byrne (TN)
1:00-1:45 - Wendy Eisenberg (Jig)
2:00-3:00 - Bonny Light Horseman (Civic)
3:10-3:50 - Staples Jr. Singers (Jig)
4:00-4:30 - Xylouris White (Southern)
4:45-5:45 - Joe Rainey (Standard)
6:15-7:15 - Los Lobos (Southern)
7:45-8:45 - Pino Palladino & Blake Mills (TN)
9:00-9:45 - William Parker (Bijou)
10:15-11:15 - Grouper (Point)
11:30-12:00 - Tarbaby (Bijou)
12:15-12:45 - billy woods (Standard)

Sat:
11:00-12:00 - Stephen O’Malley (KMOA)
12:15-1:00 - Bassekou Kouyate (Mill)
1:15-2:15 - Christian McBride (Civic)
2:30-3:00 - Suite for Piano (TN)
3:15-4:00 - Peter One (Jig)
4:15-5:15 - Charles Lloyd (Civic)
5:30-6:15 - Trio Imagination (Point)
6:30-7:45 - Ichiko Aoba (St. John’s)
8:15-8:45 - Rickie Lee Jones (Bijou)
9:00-11:00 - Bela Fleck (Civic)
11:15-12:00 - Cecile McLorin (Bijou)
12:15-1:15 - Charlotte Adigery (Mill)

Sun:
12:00-12:50 - Gnostic Trio (TN)
1:00-2:00 - Etran de L’air (Standard)
2:30-3:30 - Sierra Hull (Mill)
4:00-5:00 - Bill Frisell Four (Bijou)
5:15-5:50 - Evan Ziporyn (Old City)
6:00-6:50 - OPN (Civic)
7:00-7:45 - Zorn, McBride, Lombardo (TN)
8:00-9:00 - Algiers (Standard)
9:15-10:15 - Marc Ribot (Mill)
10:30-11:00 - Zorn Cobra (TN)

[monasterymonochrome]

Damn for a Board who doesn’t go to festivals anymore, we’ve assembled quite the crew for this! So psyched for next week!

[zircona1]

Thurs:
Lonnie Holley, Terry Allen, Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet, 700 Bliss, Mountain Goats (though I may do Liturgy if peer pressure)

Fri:
David Byrne lecture, Stephen O'Malley, Steve Gunn and David Moore(?), Joe Rainey, Moor Mother, Margaret Glaspy, Grouper, Makaya McCraven

Sat:
Contemporary Color, Kevin Morby, Orcutt/Corsano duo, William Parker, Devendra B, Sun Ra Arkestra, Rickie Lee Jones, Xylouris White

Sun:
Morton Subotnick, Zorn - Bagatelles 3, Kate NV, caroline, OPN, Zorn-McBride-Lombardo, Algiers, Cobra All-Star Finale

[monasterymonochrome]

About to board my flight! Still not sure if I'm gonna see the Goats or Liturgy tonight - absolutely psyched for this weekend.

Look out for a Dead beanie or Old Style hat, as I'll be wearing one of those at any given time.

[monasterymonochrome]

Oh yeah and the Bill Orcutt Quartet was incredible on Monday night. Cannot recommend their show enough. Loud, visceral, and beautiful. They also went on extended improvisational digressions which were amazing. I taped one of them on my phone but it prolly sounds like shit.

[monasterymonochrome]

Lil PSA for those here: a Lonnie Holley All Stars show got added tomorrow at 12:30pm. Wadada Leo Smith also got moved up to 1:45 from 2:15.

I’m wearing a Carole King tee and a black hat today - hope to see y’all! (Also hi teekoh I didn’t realize that was you at Steve Gunn haha, I still only know like 3 peoples IRL names on here)

[teekoh]

Hi! That was me. V nice to meet you.

[monasterymonochrome]

Just unknowingly waited in line for Peter One at Jig & Reel alongside David Byrne for about a minute. However, I was doing the crossword and didn’t notice him until the people behind me started talking about it after he left. Goddamn you, NYT!!!

[monasterymonochrome]

Gonna write up my Big Ears recap tomorrow or Weds, woke up at 5:30am for my flight today and feeling dead as hell now.

But damn! What a great weekend. Saturday especially was probably my favorite day of live music in ages (ever?) - but every day was wonderful. So nice to chat and hang with everyone who was there, and it's safe to say I'll be going back to this festival every year from here on out.

[zircona1]

Apr 3, 2023 11:58:08 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

Saturday especially was probably my favorite day of live music in ages (ever?) 

Saturday morning while at Mill+Mine waiting for Kevin Morby I was kinda pissed off b/c something happened at home that I wish I could've been there for (no big thing, just an annoyance) and I had only seen 1 great performance so far that weekend (Terry Allen). I thought, "what if I don't see any more great shows? Will I come back to this?" 

Then Saturday proceeded to give me 4 Great performances: the Orcutt/Corsano duo, Devendra Banhart, Sun Ra Arkestra, and Xylouris White. 

Lonnie Holley on Sunday was another great one, as was the Zorn/Dunn/Lombardo trio - my Slayer shirt got some compliments - and the Cobra finale was a ton of fun to watch. 

I had a great weekend overall, got into everything I really wanted to see. Had some good food, bought several records at Knoxville record stores, drank many good beers - a pineapple+coconut sour at Jig+Reel was surprisingly good - and it was great to hang with some fellow boarders again. Til next year, yeah?

[monasterymonochrome]

Apr 3, 2023 20:02:47 GMT -6 zircona1 said:

Apr 3, 2023 11:58:08 GMT -6 monasterymonochrome said:

Saturday especially was probably my favorite day of live music in ages (ever?) 

Saturday morning while at Mill+Mine waiting for Kevin Morby I was kinda pissed off b/c something happened at home that I wish I could've been there for (no big thing, just an annoyance) and I had only seen 1 great performance so far that weekend (Terry Allen). I thought, "what if I don't see any more great shows? Will I come back to this?" 

Then Saturday proceeded to give me 4 Great performances: the Orcutt/Corsano duo, Devendra Banhart, Sun Ra Arkestra, and Xylouris White. 

Lonnie Holley on Sunday was another great one, as was the Zorn/Dunn/Lombardo trio - my Slayer shirt got some compliments - and the Cobra finale was a ton of fun to watch. 

I had a great weekend overall, got into everything I really wanted to see. Had some good food, bought several records at Knoxville record stores, drank many good beers - a pineapple+coconut sour at Jig+Reel was surprisingly good - and it was great to hang with some fellow boarders again. Til next year, yeah?

And what’s crazy about the depth of this fest is that I caught 12 shows on Saturday, almost all of which killed, and didn’t see any of the four you mentioned here. Top-to-bottom stacked, always.

[teekoh]

This festival ruled and it was such a blast hanging out with the lads rango and thissy all weekend. Also great to meet mm and briefly chat with zircona.

Every day there were at least 2-3 sets that are up there with the best I’ve ever seen, or were something I’ve never seen before. Highlights:

Thurs - Vijay Iyer Trio w/Linda May Han Oh and Tyshawn Sorey (maybe my favorite music performance I’ve ever seen?); Terry Allen with a guest spot from David Byrne; Lonnie Holley
Fri - Joe Rainey; Pino Palladino & Blake Mills; William Parker: In Order to Survive
Sat - Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba; Ichiko Aoba; Bolis Pupul & Charlotte Adigery (most fun dance set I’ve seen)
Sun - OPN; Zorn/Lombardo/Dunn

Rango and I also wandered around on Thursday and saw the old courthouse, Lonnie Holley’s painting exhibit, the Blount Mansion, and the extremely cool women’s basketball HoF.

Only downsides were all the walking and how difficult it was to find food, especially something that included a vegetable. Coming to grips with having my life saved by a Hooters salad at 10pm on a Sunday night.

Would love to go again if it works out. I’m exhausted.

[teekoh]

Oh yeah and a surprise oshoney appearance!

[zircona1]

Apr 4, 2023 10:29:49 GMT -6 teekoh said:

Only downsides were all the walking and how difficult it was to find food, especially something that included a vegetable. Coming to grips with having my life saved by a Hooters salad at 10pm on a Sunday night.

They need more food trucks for this. Sunday night I walked around looking for places that were still open serving food. 

# of hats I saw blow off of people's heads on Saturday: 3

[rango420]

Had a great time and saw a bunch of incredible sets . Would have thought the Capacity things would lead to more issues but there was always something interesting that happened so I never had an issue. Blake Mills/Pino Palladino, Terry Allen, Bolis Pupul & Charlotte Adigery, Bill Orcutt/Chris Corsano, Tyshawn Sorrey Trio, SUSS immediate highlights that stuck out.

Could see myself for sure going back especially with how easy the flights are but gonna hope that an absence of Zorn leads to some more counter programming (country/rap/edm/indie/metal) because I was definitely feeling the need for something with some pep. Especially Saturday where all of the sets were good but nothing suggested let alone required standing.

[rango420]

Also, some of the most incredibly clean toilets I've ever used at a festival.

[zircona1]

Apr 4, 2023 11:42:57 GMT -6 rango420 said:

Also, some of the most incredibly clean toilets I've ever used at a festival.

Everyone gets an air-conditioned restroom!

[monasterymonochrome]

Gonna try and keep my thoughts concise-ish, gonna say 1-3 sentences for each set I caught. All told, I saw 38 shows over the fest's 4 days, and - as others have said - some of them ranked among my favorite concert experiences ever. Always great to hang with zircona and rango, and was especially nice to meet and chat a bit with teekoh and thissy!

TLDR: My biggest highlights were (roughly in order): Bassekou Kouyate, Bela Fleck, Terry Allen, Ichiko Aoba, James Brandon Lewis, Cecile McLorin Salvant, William Parker, Sona Jobarteh - and goddamn there's like another half dozen that could go on this "short" list.

Best venues: Mill & Mine, TN Theatre, Bijou. Worst venue: Old City PAC (too small!), but I was annoyed by the seated rows / clusterfuck of Jackson Terminal, the low-stage / bad sightlines at Standard. Sound was impeccable everywhere.

Best food: Toss-up between the country-ham at Pete's Coffee Shop or the ribs at Sweet P's BBQ. My Sunday night Waffle House was tight too. Worst food: I spent most of Sunday reckoning with my Mill & Mine burrito dinner from Saturday night. Plz god get this fest more quick, healthy food options.

Thursday

• Allison Russell: Tremendous performer - kind of a work of alchemy how she can create such uplift from incredibly dark source material. Band was tight and harmonies were great. Played lots of new songs tho most of which I thought were kinda whatever.

• Terry Allen: Can't believe I finally got to see Terry - and he was excellent! Voice was gorgeous, band was tight, and the setlist was great (Wolfman, New Delhi Freight Train, Juarez, Amarillo Highway). Then David Byrne came out to sing a duet with Terry about being "butt naked" - can't beat this fest.

• Mivos Quartet plays Steve Reich: Wandered into this one after Terry's show but left after like 10 minutes.  Hard to walk into a classical show mid-piece, but this just wasn't doing it for me.

• Los Lobos: Really great set and another big highlight of the fest!  Not as crowded as I thought it would be, I was able to sneak down to the second row of the giant Tennessee Theatre, and it had emptied out considerably by the end.  Setlist rocked (One Time One Night, Kiko, Saint Behind the Glass, La Pistola) and David Hidalgo's solos were sublime during the second half of the set.  Wish they had someone else playing accordion so he could take lead more, but - hey - they've been at it for 50 years now so they know what works for them.

• Liturgy: Stayed for the entirely of Los Lobos, so I went to Liturgy instead of the Mountain Goats.  This was probably the loudest show I've ever been to.  Non-stop shredding and screaming from Haela, and the drummer was fucking ferocious (apparently live drumming is a relatively new addition to Liturgy's show).  Crowd was packed and super enthusiastic, I fucking loved every time they'd drop on a dime from extreme metal shredding into like a turbo-charged buttrock riff.  It ruled.

Edit: This is taking me longer than I anticipated, so I'm gonna chunk it up by day. Here's Thursday!

Edit 2: And the Board somehow ate my last three write-ups, grrr.... gimme a little bit to fix/update them.  Edit 3: fixed.

[monasterymonochrome]

Friday

Varispeed Collective: Robert Ashley’s Perfect Lives: Cool outdoors performance of Part I of Robert Ashley's 1979 7-part "opera" Perfect Lives. This was something of a sensation in the downtown music scene, very music akin to Laurie Anderson / Philip Glass style music. There was a tabla player, an accordion, three folks on synths, and the lead speaker/vocalist. Very hypnotic and strangely wonderful. Has me wanting to seek out the original sometime soon.

New Future City Radio (Rob Mazurek / Damon Locks): New duo from International Anthem's team. This was cool sounding - Damon was grabbing and chopping up bytes from Knoxville radio stations, while Rob blasted away on his trumpet and turned some dials. I stayed for about half of it, but honestly, seeing Rob playing a high-pitched trumpet on the Standard's stage just made me remember / miss Jaimie Branch. I was feeling a bit sad so I left.

Danielle Ponder: Walked over here for the second half of her set. She was suffering thru a cold but sounded magnificent. Songs came off better live than on record, I expect she will do very well on the festival circuit in the coming years.

Wendy Eisenberg: Only did like 15 minutes here b/c it was at the Jig & Reel, a tiny Scottish bar in the Old City. Every show there hit capacity, like, instantly so you almost always had to wait around outside until enough people left. Then you'd be in the back of a tightly packed crowd. Wendy sounded good, playing some long, winding folk songs, but I wasn't feeling the crowd so I bounced.

Bonny Light Horseman: Did the long (like 15 mins) walk over to the Civic Auditorium for my first Great set of Friday. I love BLH and they were wonderful live, playing tons of cuts from their first record and almost the entire second LP. Anais doing "The Roving" was a major highlight, and they played Dave Van Ronk's "Green Rocky Road"! Woo! This is the best indie supergroup trio around these days.

Steve Gunn + David Moore: Jig & Reel was slammed for the Staples Jr Singers, as was the Bijou for Mary Halvorson, so I audibled over to here. Old PAC was also packed (Friday's counterprogramming was kind of ass) but I snuck in just before it started. All instrumental, presumably from their record that came out on Friday. Steve is a wonderful improvisational guitarist and David was pulling some thick textures from his piano that filled the room. Not the most exciting show, but a nice respite.

Joe Rainey: Went early to Joe Rainey and was on the rail with zircona. Joe is awesome and goddamn can he sing like a motherfucker. He was nailing seemingly impossibly high notes that I just assumed were a different vocalist on the record. The crowd wasn't too packed (Iyer / Aftab were on across town), but he seemed stoked to be there. Excited to hear what he does next.

Los Lobos: Round two, this time outside. It rained a bunch beforehand so it ran a little late, but the set itself was a good time. Almost entirely Spanish-language songs, so I didn't get a few I was hoping for (Bertha, Will the Wolf Survive), but they did encore with La Bamba, which was fun (albeit they rearranged and slowed it down). All told, I preferred their Thursday set, but am glad I saw them twice.

Pino Palladino + Blake Mills (w/ Sam Gendel): Caught about 25-30 minutes of this one. Very vibey, as I anticipated. It was cool hearing Pino's watery bass but the highlight was honestly catching a bit of Sam Gendel on sax. He was everywhere this festival, so I'm glad I heard him play at least once. Very similar to Alabaster DePlume's breathy tone, but more searching for pockets of funk / subversion than harmonious texture.

William Parker: In Order To Survive: Did not expect to stay for the whole set here, but I did cuz it ruled so hard. Much less abstract than I thought - Parker obvs is a bass god, but he and the drummer (program said it would be Hamid Drake but I don't think that was him - did you know, teekoh?) were in the pocket the whole fucking time. Was the perfect foundation for Rob Brown on sax to freak and float all around and for the two vocalists to wail, stutter, and recite to their hearts' delight. Also some interpretative dancing was involved.

Grouper: First time seeing Grouper - Liz had a table full of bells and whistles and pedals and knobs, plus a guitar for most of the set. I was distracted for the first 15-20 minutes but found some sort of zen space when "Alien Observer" melted into a 20-minute drone section then out into "Headache". One of my favorite moments of the day.

Son Lux (w/ Arooj Aftab + Bill Frisell): Ducked my head into here b/c it was nearby and saw the last ten minutes. Arooj Aftab and Bill Frisell came out for a song, then the closed with a gorgeous, blown-out version of one of their tracks from EEAAO. Rango said the whole show wasn't as nice, but this chunk was a cool addition to my day.

Billy Woods: Then back to the Standard for the nightcap. Billy was awesome - crowd was hyped, and I got a choice spot on the balcony to take it all in. Played cuts from all over his discog and brought the energy - despite too being hampered by a cold.

[teekoh]

I didn’t think that was Hamid Drake, but I can’t say for certain.

The first half of woods was great. I hadn’t seen him do anything from Aethiopes or the DJ Preservation stuff before, since the last few times I’d seen him were with Elucid. We left after like 40 minutes or so to check out Caterina Barbieri and see something new and also get thissy a beep boop fix.