When [It] Strikes Me

The Mountain Goats are fronted by singer/songwriter John Darnielle.

So I ventured downtown a couple of weeks ago for a concert by an indie rock band I really hadn’t heard much about before. That’s partly because I just don’t do enough indie tunes or live concerts to get around. On a friend’s enthusiastic recommendation, I got tickets to see the Mountain Goats.

The Mountain Goats are fronted by John Darnielle, who in the past actually performed as a literally-solo act, acoustically and still under the plural Mountain Goats name. He did play solo for a few songs in the middle of the concert. He’s known as one of the truly great indie songwriters and I can say that, going in with no background of listening to the band, I was impressed with the concise, interesting story-telling accomplished by the songs.

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Just downloaded my tickets for two upcoming concerts that should rock it all out.

First, on January 19, I’m going to see a redux of the Fitz and the Tantrums concert that blew me away last year (review here).  This time they’re playing the Bowery Ballroom for the steal price of $18 a seat, general admission. Tickets here.

Just a week later, I’ve bought my seats for White Lies on the secondary market.  The show has been sold out for a bit, so it remains to be seen what price the seats will bear, but I got them for about $30 a pop, general admission.  They’re playing the Highline Ballroom on January 27.  Tickets here.

If you don’t yet own them, I highly recommend Fitz‘ album Pickin’ Up The Pieces and White Lies‘ To Lose My Life ….  Additionally, White Lies‘ new album Ritual is set to release in three weeks, with the first single available for free download here.

If you have a chance to see them, definitely take it.

This past Saturday some friends and I dropped on down to Mercury Lounge on East Houston in Manhattan for an early show by Fitz & the Tantrums.  The band, fronted by Michael Fitzpatrick and Noelle Scaggs has been burning up my iPod of late and was featured in a player post linked here.

Needless to say, I knew I was going to love the music, but I was bringing along two newbies as well.  The sound is relatively unique and hasn’t gone mainstream yet.  It is somewhat of a revisit to 50s soul music, but with a decidedly modern hipster vibe.  While I normally want to punch most things hipster, that’s not the case for Fitz & the Tantrums.

The show was sold out, but the venue was not so crowded as to make the concert uncomfortable or getting drinks impossible.  In fact, the only complaint could be some issues with the bass levels and our choosing to stand too close a bank of speakers.  It took a good day for my right ear to clear up fully.

All in all, the show was outstanding and the crowd was lively.  The band played near studio quality tunes, true to the CD and the only real hiccup is when Scaggs fell off the stage into the crowd.  After getting up with little more than her pride hurt, she claimed her tussle with gravity was a failed stage dive with nobody catching.  As a note, I’m not sure being found unworthy in a trust fall is any less embarrassing than catching an edge of the stage.

All in all, I could not recommend the show more highly.  This is an opportunity to catch a rising artist before they hit it big.

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The Metropolitan Opera production of Le Nozze di Figaro. Hiroyuki Ito for The New York Times .

This past week I attended the Friday performance of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro), a comedic opera with some clever aristocratic satire and a fine score.  Admittedly, this was my first live performance at the Met, so I can’t present myself as much of a connoisseur.  But as always, I’ve got an opinion.

I had been to other performances at Lincoln Center, but had not yet attended the Metropolitan Opera and I was immediately stunned by the grandeur of the House.  Living 50 yards away for two years, it’s never been terribly impressed by the exterior of Lincoln Center and truly only appreciated the new Alice Tully, with Carnegie Hall and Radio City serving as my preferred setting as opposed to the old Alice Tully or Avery Fisher Halls.

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On Monday, November 9th, I went with an alumni group to see the Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra with David Liebman perform at Dizzy’s Coca Cola Club as a part of Jazz at Lincoln Center.

The music they played was a great selection, which escapes me at the moment. The execution was good, not great. But considering that a third of the band was comprised of 17 and 18 year olds, it was rather remarkable.

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