Good morning everyone! I’m back at the controls of this blog after a few days in New York City. It was only my second visit there, but the second visit in four months and I have to say that I am tightly caught in it’s grasp, I absolutely love it there.
Both this visit and the last was precipitated by buying tickets to see Joseph Arthur. Two Sisters and a Show hit New York City! I know many of you know of and have heard him, but for those of you who haven’t, Joe is originally from the Akron, Ohio area, which is very close to where I grew up and even closer to where I attended college (Kent, Ohio). It’s nice to have someone local out there making it creating phenomenal music. I’ve been asked to describe the genre before, but I can only say you’ll have to have a listen yourself (snippets from a performance at World Cafe Live in 2008). I’ve found this nice little blurb (I love that word) about him though, that’s worth sharing here:
“Joe is one of those rare writer-performers where you get the sense, whatever your belief, that something greater is being channeled through his music and voice…Like Patti Smith, Grant Lee Phillips, Thom Yorke, he trances, and the voice, the meaning, becomes bigger than him, bigger than a few pop chords or words strung together. It touches something very deep and universal.” – Michael Stipe (for the LA Times)
He’s picked up residencies in both New York City (at the City Winery) and in Philadelphia, PA (Tin Angel) in February and March, as well as some others in Austin, Atlanta, Nashville and Asheville and if you’re in the area, I say go go go and listen listen listen!
That being said, today’s Song of the Day is one of my favorites, “Devil’s Broom.” I’ve seen it done live before by him with his full band, The Lonely Astronauts. As intense as the song becomes when done by a 5 piece band (which I am thrilled to say boasts two members of the female kind, namely Jen Turner on guitar and Sibyl Buck on bass), it is also really enjoyable to watch performed solo as he builds the song with effects pedals and loops (between him and Emily Wells I’m really beginning to appreciate this art form). This clip, taken by our official Tulip Tree Blog Live Show Videoologist, Adrienne, shows him in action building the song (the drum sound you hear is a clip of him playing percussion on the body of the guitar with his hand, which was laid down just before the start of this clip). It was truly an amazing version of the song.
One last mention, during Joe’s shows lately he has been painting live, and 100% of the proceeds from the sales of the paintings will be going to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. We watched as he painted two large scale canvasses during several songs, including “Invisible Hands.”
Now, for a peek into The City Winery on the night of January 29th, 2010:
