JOSH ROUSE @ ZANKEL HALL (4.18.08)
For those of you who don't know, Zankel is the medium sized hall in Carnegie Hall. WFUV sponsors their series City Folk @ Zankel, and Josh was their 4th, and final performance this season. The event was curated by Rita Houston, the musical director of WFUV. So Josh comes on and plays a beautiful set in a beautiful hall. It was him, his acousitc guitar, his iPod helping him out on a few tunes, and a piano player. The crowd was very very subdued, politely applauding, and not freaking out at all, or singing along. Then again, what do you expect, you are at Carnegie Hall! I guess I was the exception, singing along, and singing the background parts to Love Vibration and Winter in the Hamptons. It was a quick show unfortunately, with Josh only playing for 75 minutes. Short but sweet I guess. I took some video, very stealth-like, and only shutting it off when the usher saw me and gave me the throat-slashing gesture. And then when I put it up on YouTube, Carnegie Hall (those bastards) took it down! Anyway, there are still a few up...Sweetie
My Love Has Gone
Here are some mp3's as well!!
1972 - http://s3.amazonaws.com/jr-nyc/01%201972.mp3
Sweetie - http://s3.amazonaws.com/jr-nyc/09%20Sweetie.mp3
Middle School Frown - http://s3.amazonaws.com/jr-nyc/08%20Middle%20School%20Frown.mp3
My Love Has Gone http://s3.amazonaws.com/jr-nyc/13%20My%20Love%20Has%20Gone.mp3
After the show, we ran into Rita Houston and talked to her about the show and the series. She says M. Ward will be doing the series next season, so we have that to look forward to!
Lastly, here is his setlist.
JOSH RITTER @ PARAMOUNT CENTER FOR THE ARTS (4.25.08)
The day after I got back from vacation with the marching band I find myself in Peekskill, NY for Josh Ritter. He was doing this tour call the "small town" tour, and Peekskill is that in every sense of the word. I think its a cool concept, it makes people in the closest "big" cities come to these smaller, out of the way venues to see their favorite musicians. I'm thankful, because it brought Kate & I on a very scenic journey through the Hudson Valley, across the Hudson & Bear Mtn bridge at the very beginnings of spring. Anyway...to the concert.
The opener was Langhorne Slim & The War Eagles. The instrumentation reminded me alot of the Violent Femmes, with drums played by brushes (with intensity!), and acoustic bass. Their sound wasn't for the theater we were at, they belong in clubs, where we all can dance! I recently picked up his newest record, and I highly suggest it! But Langhorne was not why we were there....
We were there for Josh, and in no way did he disappoint. I've always heard he is such an energetic performer, and is so happy on stage, but I felt he was especially on that night. He also did research on the town he was playing in, throwing out tidbits of information that I'm sure some Peekskill residents didn't even know. The highlight of his set was the all acoustic version of "Still Beating" (see video later..), and the singalong "Kathleen". It felt especially romantic with Kate next to me, a moment I will never forget. Then came the encore, where Josh & his band had the orchestra & balcony sing to each other like Romeo & Juliet during "Lillian, Egypt". And then they ended it by breaking down into a disco version at the end. A great ending. We sprinted to the stage and got the show's setlist.
After the show we stuck around to meet Josh, and meet him we did! He came up to us, gave us both big hugs, thanked us for coming to the show, and asked us about ourselves! He literally stood there for 5 minutes and talked to us about where we live, how we met, what we thought of the show, my more cowbell shirt, etc. Here's the money shot:
Here's some videos I took:
TO THE DOGS OR WHOEVER
STILL BEATING
