Listening

Mat Kearney – City of Black and White (2009)

You know what’s so good? This album. I used to listen to his first full length album (Nothing Left to Lose) non-stop. Non-stop. And it looks like i’ll have another round of that! He’s touring right now and there’s a Vancouver date on November 1st. Definitely one of the downsides of moving away from Vancouver is many missed concerts. Sad times, i would very much like to go but i cannot. And!  And, Erin McCarley is opening for him on tour.  She sounds so good live.  Come to Calgary, Mat and Erin!

This record is sounding much more.. voluminous. (Is that a word? Yes, it is.) A lot more electric in the arrangements and yet, still very much acoustic. I like it, i like it a lot!

Sigur Ros – með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust (2008)

The English translation of the album title would be,  “with a buzz in our ears we play endlessly.”  Every time i listen to Sigur Ros i practise pronouncing the name of their band. si-ur rose (rolling the ‘r’s and speaking ‘rose’ quickly). si-ur rose. si-ur rose. yep. If you need your dose of mood music, here you go. It’s epic, lots of instrumental rises, emphasis on vocals, soothing falsettos.

Hillsong United – A_Cross the Earth: Tear Down the Walls (2009)

The title track takes the cake on this one for sure.  Another great anthem for the Church. But, I’ve listened through the album many times and only find half the songs memorable. Maybe i need to keep listening or maybe it’s just different. Don’t get me wrong, i like the album but it doesn’t stack up as much for me relative to previous projects like All of the Above and United We Stand and such. But, “Tear Down the Walls” is a must listen.  And again, Brooke Fraser tracks particularly stand out strong. (Side note: i signed up for a Twitter account just so i could follow Brooke Fraser.  Yes, i’m THAT girl.)

U2 – The Joshua Tree (1987)

Bought it for $4 at Goodwill. It’s The Joshua Tree, what else needs to be said?  Sadly, i won’t be able to go to the Vancouver pit stop of the U2 360 Tour at the end of October.  I know several people who are going and I am jealous.  Covetous.  In a sinful way.  hahaaa.  At least i can say i’ve seen them in concert though. 2005 Vertigo Tour, i think i temporarily lost my hearing back then.

Brooke Fraser September Session!

Okay, it’s taken me a while to blog about Brooke Fraser‘s second show in Vancouver from a few weeks ago.  Needless to say, it was SPECK TACK U LARRRR.  She came back with a full band and boy, so much more incredible!  I mean, i like acoustic sets but the songs come SO alive when you got a guy like Michael Chaves ripping it up with the electric geetar.. especially during C.S. Lewis Song… he went craaaaazy.. awesome.

So, Mel and I headed downtown, grabbed dinner and waited outside Richards’s on Richards before doors opened.  The line outside was so long, i didn’t even think everyone could fit inside.  Took forever to get in but once we did… loveliness.  I didn’t try to do Merch this time but passed the word to Sarah and she ended up helping out with it.  We saw her at the table and I snagged my second Brooke concert shirt. The cool part about shelling out $25 for this particular shirt is that it generated $40 to be given to help kids in Rwanda via a partnership with World Vision.  Do the math on that one, hey?  Brooke was able to bring World Vision info on tour with her this time around to give opportunities for people to sponsor kids at her shows, egg-cellent!

Matt Hires from Tampa, FL opened the night.  He was kinda adorable.

And Brooke, she was funny as heck. It was a night full of this and that.  Her whimsical storytelling brings joy to my heart!  Let’s see, she talked about customs issues at the US/Canada border and oddities in various cartoons.  She made self-deprecating comments about her first album (the “Bad Pants Album” as she likes to call it) and referenced her Future-Husband-of-the-past-to-her-Present-Husband-of-the-present.  Confusing?  Maybe.  But not if you were there, you got it.  I would expect nothing less than her long-winded (yet absolutely entertaining) commentary on all things random.  We also took a vote on whether American or Canadian girls were hotter.. you can guess who won that one.  And my personal FAVORITE was when she busted out some moves.. extending her arms into a wingspan, throwing her head back and rhythmically jiggling her arms and shoulders.  SO HILARIOUS!, especially being front and center!  If i had that on video, it would be minutes upon minutes upon forever of perpetual laughter.

Oh wait, i found a video that someone from the balcony uploaded on YouTube!  It’s not the greatest quality, pretty blurry and a bit far away but you’ll get the idea.. it’s around mark 30 seconds into it.

Her set was of course similar to her last show but like i said, I enjoyed it heapsloads more with the full band.  Here’s a pic of her prepared set but it didn’t turn out exactly that way.  She didn’t end up playing “The Thief” or “Hymn” which is a bummer but she did play “Seeds” (my favorite on Albertine) this time!

Even though we were standing for more than 4 hours that night (albeit quite close to her), i loved it.  And I ended up bumping into a lot of different people at this show as well.. way to bring the peoples together!  (And thanks Liz for few pics)  Hopefully Brooke will release a new album soon.  Even though she’s just starting to promo Albertine in North America, it was released more than 2 years ago “down under.” I’m sure she’s got tons of new songs to be recorded.  I cannot wait!

The actual set of the night:

Deciphering Me
Hosea’s Wife
Love, Where is Your Fire?
Love is Waiting
Seeds
Faithful
Sound of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel cover)
Albertine
Better
Day Old Blues (Kings of Leon cover)
Shadowfeet

Encore:
Arithmetic
C.S. Lewis Song

Brooke Fraser Again

Sweet mother of pearls!  Brooke Fraser is back in Vancouver on Sept 15th and I. AM. SO. STOKED.  Twice in 4 months works for me. Her show back in June was lovely, i can’t wait to see her again!  I wonder who’s opening for her this time around.. btw, William Fitzsimmons (who opened for her last time) is releasing his new album at the end of the month and you can download a free song off his MySpace.  Anyway, holler at me if you’re planning to go see Brooke.  If not, well, you really should, cos she’s fantasmic.

And a totally unrelated observation.. in the last 6 years that I’ve been blogging i have never posted 4 consecutive days in a row.  This is groundbreaking, folks.

I’m Stephanie Hsieh and I approve this message.

Brooke Fraser Show

I enjoyed Brooke’s sold out concert so flippin’ much. I wish it went longer. This show was especially great for 3 reasons. Numero uno: It’s Brooke Fraser, duh. Her music is uhhh-mazing. I’ve wanted to see live her non-Hillsong stuff for a while now. I listen to her albums, especially Albertine, non-stop. Deux: She likes to banter a lot and in doing so, is absolutely hilarious. Three: I had the fun opportunity to do the merchandise table for her (and her opening act, William Fitzsimmons), which brought a few lovely perks.

Thank you Jacqui for taking these two pics!

Brooke’s hubby, Scott Ligertwood, was overseeing all the Merch so it was cool to sit throughout the show with Scott and chat it up here and there. What a down to earth guy- not to mention he said “thanks for helping out” every 15 minutes or so. Even though i didn’t have the best view of Brooke from the back, it was still fun to help with the shirts and CDs, etc. And after William Fitzsimmons (SO GOOD) finished his set he came back to the table as well.  It’s always nice to get to know an artist behind the music, he is a funny guy.

With Scott at the Merch table

Before the show started, I got to come in early before the doors opened to the public to do some merch set up with Scott, which also meant i got to see a bit of Brooke rehearsing during sound check. When she finished and came off stage, Brooke and Scott had a smooch- it was adorable, i’m not gonna lie.

Line-up before doors opened! The Media Club usually doesn’t get lineups – so said the MC bartender.

Even though The Media Club is a smaller venue, it was packed with people. The saturation of bodies over to the Merch table especially after the show kept me a busy bee. But Brooke was signing CDs next to me so i strangely felt very “that’s right, I’m with Team Brooke” as people waited and waited for a little piece of her until the club literally booted them out. I stayed around afterwards to do some pack up with Scott and Co. and got to talk with some of the band.

I Am Team Brooke

And of course, meeting Brooke was absolutely [insert several positive adjectives here]! I hope she comes back soon. Scott said Vancouver’s one of their fave cities along with Stockholm and Sydney, etc so hopefully they’ll be back in a jiffy. He also called Brooke, “Bubby” which is pretty endearing coming from a man boasting a 6’4 stature.

BBBBBrooke (maybe a few too many B’s)

With the noticeably tall newlyweds..

And Willy FItz! Check out his moozac, he is something else. Unbelievable, this guy.

For the help, I also got to have an exclusive mixed CD of live tracks from her 2007 tour in New Zealand. I am listening to it as i type and am enjoying it mucho much. I heart LIVE- good performers can make you FEEL it through your speakers. And it’s so fresh to hear songs performed with different arrangements.

She signed my goodies. I bought these on eBay long before you could buy her records in N. America.

After i finished, Jacqui and Amy (thanks for waiting!) and I went to Martini’s to grab a late dinner and looked at each others’ pictures and paraphernalia from the night. Good thing Jacqui was much closer to Brooke to snag some good shots- pretty much impossible pour moi considering the less than superb view from my perch.

Set List

C.S. Lewis Song
Deciphering Me
Lifeline
Love, Where is Your Fire?
Hosea’s Wife
Faithful
Sound of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel cover)
Shadowfeet
Arithmetic
Albertine

PS, Brooke created the channel BrookeFraserTV on YouTube to chronicle her current tour (what she calls The Northern Hemisphere Tour according to her tour t-shirts). It is amusing, folks.

HOLY BELUGA WHALES, BATMAN!!!

SOOOOO STOKED!! You can’t see me doing my most embarrassing giddy dance… but i am!! Pour quoi? Cos BROOKE FRASER, my favorite-ist, is coming to town! She’s doing a US/ Canada tour (Canadian cities: Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal) early this summer to promote her May 27 US release of Albertine. It’s exciting that her music is finally getting out into North America, even if it is 2 years after it released in NZ and Australia. If you don’t know who Brooke is then you should come to her show and find out. You will not regret it. I loooooove Brooke’s voice. And her lyrics. And her music. And she’s funny. And she’s HOT.

June 6th (tix on sale May 3)
The Media Club
Vancouver, BC

June 2 – Los Angeles CA
June 3 – San Francisco CA
June 5 – Portland OR
June 6 – Vancouver BC (on sale 3 May)
June 8 – Seattle WA
June 10 – Minneapolis MN
June 11 – Chicago IL
June 12 – Nashville TN
June 14 – St Louis MO
June 15 – Kansas City KS
June 24 – Philadelphia PA
June 25 – New York NY
June 26 – Boston MA
June 29 – Baltimore MD
July 2 – Toronto ON
July 4 – Montreal QC