Garden of Laughs Brings the House Down

On Saturday night, a collection of some of the finest talents in the stand-up comedy world gathered in the Theater at Madison Square Garden for Garden of Laughs.  Adam Ferrara, Darrell Hammond, Robert Klein, Brian Regan, Wanda Sykes, and Ray Romano each performed a 15-20 minute set.  Hosted by Bob Costas, the show was a benefit for the Garden of Dreams Foundation, a non-profit charity that works to make dreams come true for misfortunate children, be it from illness, poverty, homelessness, foster care issues, or tragedy.  It was a night of laughs for the kids, but not exactly "for the kids," as Wanda Sykes so eloquently put it, "Kids don't have money.  I'm making you rich people laugh.  Now let's get back to this shit."

When the lights dimmed, a screen descended over the backdrop to play a video clip of David Letterman, the first of many special guests to make an appearance.  Dave provided the Top Ten Failed Acts at MSG, with the list including the Whom, Maroon 4, and the Knicks 2002-2011.

As the night progressed, several other presenters dropped by, including Billy Crudup, Brooke Shields, Ben Stiller, and Garden of Dreams board members Whoopi Goldberg and Darryl McDaniels.  Goldberg and DMC gave this year's Hero Award to Rory Rosegarten, the show's producer, who tearfully thanked his wife.  "That is a smart man.  He may get lucky tonight," remarked Al Trautwig in his trademark baritone.

Adam Ferrara started things off with some cliché drug humor, but found his way with the story of picking out his large-handed wife's engagement ring.  Darrell Hammond shared a few tales about using his Clinton impression, but he may have shared too much by admitting to having used crack in a crackhouse.

Dick Cavett flubbed Robert Klein's intro, citing him as a cast member in How to LOVE a Guy in 10 Days.  He quickly corrected his mistake, adding, "I like my version better."  A pianist accompanied Klein on a love song to colonoscopies, where the 70-year-old showed off his impressive singing skills.  After more jokes about aging, Klein picked up a harmonica for a blues romp about a restless leg.  He totally killed the crowd, and I'm excited to finally spin my New Teeth LP.

The surviving members of Beastie Boys, Mike D and Ad-Rock, had some fun reading Brian Regan's introduction off the monitor at their feet.  Despite a small misstep with a sexist joke, Regan tore the audience up with his observations: "I saw a truck with a company's name painted on it: Feedler Roofing Company.  How did you not call your business Feedler on the Roof?  My name's Feedler, and I'm gonna be on the roof.  Feedler Roofing Company!"  He topped it all off with a hilarious bit about checking into hotels under different names.

A pair of Johns, Leguizamo and McEnroe, brought out the night's sole comedienne, Wanda Sykes.  Wanda talked about the difficulties of raising two white children, and ordering wine for her French wife.  While some parts worked, notably one about her son having a head so huge that it wobbles ("I want to take him to a jazz club, so he can just sit there, and people'd be like, 'That baby likes jazz.  That's a cool-ass baby."), her set would've felt more at home in a hour special than a featured spot.

The time we'd all been waiting for had finally come.  Ray Romano, who has spent more of the last 15 years in TV studios than in comedy clubs, took the stage to thunderous applause.  "When Rory was out here and thanked his wife, he scored major points.  He cried; that's like a three-pointer!"  Romano proved what a masterful stand-up he is, taking an incident that happened earlier in the night and folding it into his set seamlessly.  "But no matter what the score is, the men are always behind.  When Obama was re-elected, in his speech, he said, 'Michelle, I have never loved you more than tonight.'  Even the president!"  Over the course of 18 minutes, Ray joked about his wife's irritation at the way he types, taking a knee during sex, and how growing older has affected his testicles: "It's like the world's slowest race to the ground."

The audience in the theatre leapt to their feet as Bob Costas had all the comics out for a final bow.  It felt good to know that the ticket cost is going to make kids' dreams come true, and also that mine came true when I got to see Brian Regan and Ray Romano.

Deer Tick Finale Ends with Horns, Beastie Boys, and Lots of Beer

I was too exhausted after last night's Deer Tick Brooklyn Bowl finale to stay up and write, but now that I've had some sleep and a shower to wash off the beer, it's time to share.

"We're gonna play a bunch of songs," announced Ian O'Neil, fronting a band of Jeff Bailey, Chris Murray, and Julian Veronesi. Six is not exactly a bunch, but it was anyone's guess as to which songs they'd be playing because so many of Ian's songs are on Divine Providence and the Tim EP, which Deer Tick would be performing later. "The Dream is in the Ditch" started things off right, and the second time hearing it, I was already singing along. Ian revealed that they had stayed up until 5am when he heard Julian playing a new tune that he liked so much, he said, "We've gotta play that tomorrow." And they did, Ian handing over the reins to his former Titus Andronicus bandmate. "Hope is Big" made its third appearance of the residency, making it one of only three songs played every night. For the last tune, the band left O'Neil and Veronesi behind to do "a song we've been playing together for a long time," Chuck Berry's "Maybelline."

Alex Bleeker & the Freaks were next, and they sucked. Jangling between the same two chords on John McCauley's Mustang, Bleeker attempted jams that went nowhere, and sang in a boring, whiny voice. Drinking from a bottle of Jameson, he offered, "Thanks again for hanging out with us," but it's not like we had a choice. All the doors had "NO RE-ENTRY" signs on them.

Shirtless and gripping a pint, comedian Dave Hill had the honor of introducing the band. Although he was told he'd be prefacing Danzig, he chose the same intro: "They're gonna fuck you in the face with hot rock!" Deer Tick took the stage, and McCauley stated, "Ladies and gentlemen, Divine Providence." Within the first notes of "The Bump," the energy was palpable, with the crowd shouting back the lyrics. For "Funny Word," the boys were joined by a three-piece horn section that included Cochemea Gastelum (The Electric Sound of Johnny Arrow), Jordan McLean (Antibalas), and Dave Smith (TV on the Radio). The fullness of the horns brought so much to the table that they would appear on eleven more numbers throughout the night. After the rowdy punk dash "Let's All Go to the Bar," McCauley remarked, "That's the stupidest song I've ever written, and that was the hardest song to write." "Clownin Around" lacked its circus outro, which was strange, given the horns. Viking Moses played keys on "Chevy Express," though the song was muddled by a disruptive hair-pulling scuffle in the crowd. A surprising twist to the end of the album, "Miss K." transitioned smoothly into "Summertime Blues" before the band departed.

Personally, I feel that Divine Providence contains some of the band's best-written songs, but the album's sequencing doesn't serve them well. It blows its load right at the beginning with three ragers and never gets that mometum rolling again. "Let's All Go to the Bar" should end the album, as it often does their shows, sending the listener out to get wasted as a reward. Using the rest of the album as the soundtrack for the journey to the saloon doesn't work quite as well, namely because if you were just trying to get drunk, you wouldn't spend 30 minutes getting there; you'd just go around the corner. Regardless, the horns livened things up enough that it didn't get boring, though their delicate shading on "Electric" was overpowered by McCauley's wails.

A minute later, Deer Tick and the horn section returned for "Mr. Cigarette." "I mean we made you wait on the album too," said McCauley, though thankfully it wasn't the thirty minutes of silence before the hidden track as it is on the CD. This time the horns were louder than McC, obscuring Paul Westerberg's clever lyrics. I'd never heard "Born at Zero" before, which was decent, but the medley of the Nirvana-esque "Walls" and the previously-unplayed "Virginia Gal" was thrilling. McCauley took the microphone out of its stand and walked around, pretending to solo on Rob Crowell's sax and patting Ian on the shoulder. You could tell they were having a blast. "That's the first time we've ever performed that song. We've been doing a lot of firsts with this residency. It's been really nice," McCauley admitted. "She's Not Spanish" made its third residency appearance, though the first for the band, making me realize that I like O'Neil's DT songs more when he actually plays them with Deer Tick. A cover of Elliott Smith's "Between the Bars" was just okay, but it segued into a version of "Ashamed" that knocked 12/5's off of the map. Taking it at a slower tempo to start, the song built into a vehicle for each horn and guitarist to solo. The horn blasts combined with the crowd chants made this quite possibly the best performance I'd seen in the three shows. "Cake & Eggs," a song in the key of D and "sort of about oral sex," cooled things down a bit after the epic "Ashamed." "We'd like to end this by celebrating a very bad man," said McCauley, and they launched into Jim Croce's "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," playing it so well you'd have thought they wrote it.

The band ascended the backstage stairs, but John remained on the side of the stage. Gesturing us to keep up the applause, he returned to sing "Diamond Rings" with Dennis Ryan on harmony. "No So Dense" was the crowd-pleaser it always is, and as it wound down, the horns and others made their way into the lights. "This one goes out to the people of Brooklyn," and with a loud "Kick it!" they crunched into "Fight for Your Right." Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit now had the oft-traded Mustang, but his most memorable contribution to the song was throwing pitcher after pitcher of beer onto the crowd. This insane final display was the ultimate example of why we go to Deer Tick shows: Because anything can happen because it's a goddam party.

Deer Tick, like Band of Horses at Manhattan Center, missed one song from their repertoire: War Elephant's "Long Time," but no one cared. Fully rocked, slightly sore, and reeking of booze, I made my way out onto Wythe to get back to the train. John McCauley was standing outside the back door, and I had to congratulate him on the best show of the three.

Reviews of previous Deer Tick shows:
12.12.12 Brooklyn Bowl
12.05.12 Brooklyn Bowl
10.03.11 Death by Audio
08.11.11 Pier 54


IAN O'NEIL - 12.19.12 - BROOKLYN BOWL (21 minutes, 10 seconds)

SET -
The Dream is in the Ditch / Funky Song (I Will Forget)* / Grow Tired of You in Time* / Be Kind to Me / Hope is Big / Maybelline

DEER TICK - 12.19.12 - BROOKLYN BOWL (1 hour, 43 minutes)

 

SET -

The Bump / Funny Word / Let's All Go to the Bar / Clownin Around / Main Street / Chevy Express / Something to Brag About / Walkin Out the Door / Make Believe / Now It's Your Turn / Electric / Miss K. > Summertime Blues

 

ENCORE I -

Mr. Cigarette / Born at Zero / Walls > Virginia Gal / She's Not Spanish / Between the Bars > Ashamed / Cake & Eggs / Bad, Bad Leroy Brown

 

ENCORE II -

Diamond Rings / Not So Dense > Fight for Your Right

Catalpa Festival: Day 1 Review

I bought the early bird weekend pass to Catalpa Festival the day it went on sale because the announced lineup was the Black Keys, Snoop Dogg, TV on the Radio, and Umphrey's McGee.  More acts were to be added, so they had to be quality bands, right?  Wrong.  Imagine my disappointment when the schedule was finalized and these are still pretty much the only performers I wanted to see (and that 3 of them are on the same day, 2 of them at the same time).

I sucked it up and went to Catalpa today on Randall's Island.   It was five years ago to the day that I saw Rage Against the Machine headline Rock the Bells on the same field.  That day was insanely hot and sunny, while overcast skies and light rain greeted me today as I exited the 103rd St 6 station.  I met my friend, Maritza (who took all the photos) and we trekked across the footbridge to the island.

The first band I wanted to see were the Demos.  The Rochester group caught my ear with their poppy "Nervous" when I was YouTubing the openers to decide what time to arrive.  They introduced "Nervous" as "a song about fuckin'," and while it reminded me a little of the Postelles, the rest of their tunes reeked too much of the Strokes.  I guess we know what band they are the demos of.

I bought a chicken and waffles-flavored ice cream sandwich from Coolhaus, but it didn't taste like chicken or waffles, so I won't be visiting their truck any more.  Thankfully it was served in an edible wrapper because trashcans were few and far between.

The hidden gem of Catalpa is the High Times Reggae Stage, where I'll likely be spending most of my day tomorrow.  The reggae bands aren't even listed on the schedule (Bullshit in my opinion, especially considering the schedule for something called Arcadia is listed, but it's not on the map.), so I figured they would be a bunch of dancehall acts with synthesized beats, and God forbid, maybe even some reggaeton.  I was dead wrong.  There was a good band with live horns finishing up as we arrived around 3, and we also caught the last two numbers from the singalong-worthy Marcia Davis & Outro.

What about the rain?  It was torrential for about twenty minutes or so.  Thankfully, we had just picked up our headphones for the Silent Disco and took refuge dancing in the tent with a DJ who deftly mixed the Beastie Boys' "Intergalactic" with "Need You Tonight" by INXS.

Canada's the Sheepdogs were next on the docket.  They opened their set with "Who," which I had YouTubed yesterday, only to learn that the song is a little too similar to another Canuck's, "Down at the Khyber" by Joel Plaskett.  Judge for yourself below.

Cribbing their look and sound from the Allman Brothers, it seems the Sheepdogs don't mind a little thievery in their music, introducing another ditty as "an old song adapted from an Aretha Franklin song."  They weren't bad.  In fact, if I lived in Saskatoon, I'd be pretty proud to have them as my local bar band.  But they shouldn't be on the cover of Rolling Stone.

We got cheeseburgers and sat on the hill while Hercules & Love Affair played.  "You guys wanna hear disco or house?" shouted DJ Whitney Fierce.  Neither!  Get off the fucking stage if you're not gonna play any instruments.

Umphrey's McGee played two sets.  They took the stage about 15 minutes late, which was annoying because I wanted to see all of TV on the Radio, which meant less Umphrey's.  That turned out to be just right.  I've read interviews where they have said they hate being called a jam band and insist on being classified as progressive rock.  Which would be fine if they progressed a little faster.  It took them about 8 measures too long to start exploring once they locked into a groove.  It wasn't bad (like the Disco Biscuits), but I wasn't completely caught up in it, moreso in the crazy dancing of the guy in the Character Zero t-shirt, who would every so often touch the ground just to make sure he was still on Earth.  The second set seemed more fluid when I caught a whiff of it later, including a raging "Miami Virtue" from their most recent album.

TV on the Radio made me angry... that I hadn't seen them live before.  Coming out with the spacey "Young Liars," complete with wind chimes hanging from David Sitek's headstock and trombone blasts by Dave Smith (He played with Diamond Rugs at Central Park.), they commanded the main stage with an intensity not yet seen during the day.  "Dancing Choose" may have been performed a little too aggressively, Tunde Adebimpe's vocals barely discernible in his punk rock fury, as he waved his giant hands around. Tunde dedicated "Second Song" to Adam Yauch, professing, "I would not be in New York City without the works of that man." "Will Do" proved itself as an instant classic, and "Repetition" flowed nicely into "Wolf Like Me," the crowd-pleasing last song.

It seems you can't have a festival in 2012 without the Black Keys.  I'd been waiting to see them for awhile, so Catalpa seemed the perfect opportunity.  Turns out that if you've seen them at one festival this summer, you've seen them at every one.  They played the exact setlist they did at Firefly last week, except they didn't allow for an encore break.  And it's weird when a band doesn't do an encore when they headline a festival.  Especially when they have ten minutes left before curfew.

Was the crowd to blame?  I think the initial dip in excitement came during "Gold on the Ceiling."  The best song on their latest release, it should be a surefire live hit.  But Patrick Carney just couldn't keep the tempo for some reason.  The song faltered, and the audience had a hard time clapping along.  Carney regained his timekeeping for a string of older songs done as the original duo, but the young crowd didn't know the tunes.  When Dan Auerbach announced they had a couple more songs left, "so let's make 'em good ones," it was a plea for dancing, clapping, anything.  Appreciatively, the energy level did rise with his request.  "Lonely Boy" jump-started the crowd into dance mode, and Auerbach's timid falsetto in "Everlasting Light" shined.  A huge backdrop of "The Black Keys" written in lights rose behind them for "I Got Mine," and then it was over.

As we sloshed through the muddy field and onto the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge, I had flashbacks to Rock the Bells.  Although not perfect, it was a show I will never forget.  While I would've loved to see Rage when they were originally together, another Beastie Boy, Mike D., ruined that for me by breaking his collarbone.  Catalpa Day 1 will likely not  go down in anyone's history.  Well, maybe Hercules & Love Affair's.  Here's to hoping that tomorrow's live performance of one of my favorite albums will make up for today's downfalls.

TV ON THE RADIO – 07.28.12 – RANDALL’S ISLAND, CATALPA FESTIVAL (42 minutes)

SET –

Young Liars / Dancing Choose / Golden Age / Staring at the Sun / Second Song / Will Do / Repetition > Wolf Like Me

THE BLACK KEYS – 07.28.12 – RANDALL’S ISLAND, CATALPA FESTIVAL (1 hour, 18 minutes)

SET –

Howlin’ for You / Next Girl / Run Right Back / Same Old Thing / Dead & Gone / Gold on the Ceiling / Thickfreakness / Girl is on My Mind / I’ll Be Your Man / Your Touch / Little Black Submarines / Money Maker / Strange Times / Nova Baby / Ten Cent Pistol / Tighten Up / Lonely Boy / Everlasting Light / I Got Mine