Trackmarks: Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Don't Forget Me" Live @ Canvas Club (14 APR 06)

[Flickr]

This track's greatness lies in it's the simple construction. The foundation of a 4-note bass riff and the endless possibilities of John Frusciante's talent. It is also marks one of those all-to-rare moments where Kiedis' lyrics aren't in conflict with Frusciante's guitarwork, rather the two are in perfect harmony. On the album it is overshadowed by the catchy flash of "Zephyr Song", the grower "Tear", the album's pinnacle "Venice Queen" and the singles "By The Way" and "Can't Stop", the latter which has evolved into the staple opener of the Chili Peppers' live experience. Yet live, "Don't Forget Me" continues to grow in leaps and bounds 6 years after the physical release of By The Way (which marked the complete return to form of Frusciante); it is different every night. And because of it's minimalist structure and the man behind the wheel it holds the rarest of possibilities: infinity.

MP3: Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Don't Forget Me" (Live @ Canvas Club)

Vincent Gallo. John Frusciante. Paris Hilton?

[Photo Credit: VincentGallo.com]

While I was out of the net, Paris left jail, got sent back, served time and then was released. I could really give two shits. But I found this track over at Said the Gramophone called "I Wrote This Song For The Girl Paris Hilton" by an artist named Vincent Gallo.

I had previously heard of Vincent Gallo because of his friendship and work with the likes of John Frusciante and Josh Klinghoffer. Klinghoffer of Bicycle Thieves, Ataxia, PJ Harvey, and John's solo sessions and Frusciante of well, Red Hot Chili Peppers and my severe man-crush. At any rate, back to Gallo. Take a look at this dude's Wiki...I'm not sure if crazy is quite the word. He's got a who's who of interesting personalities among his acquaintances to include Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Ramone, Rick Rubin and Lukas Haas and I'm still laughing about his tangle with Roger Ebert at Cannes.

In 2005, at Weekend 2 of the Vincent Gallo-curated All Tomorrow Parties John Frusciante performed. That portion of the UK festival also featured Olivia Tremor Control, Autolux, PJ Harvey and Gallo himself among many other unique acts. Frusciante and Gallo have long been friends and Gallo is even referenced in the John Frusciante song "Look On" (one of my favorites from his solo work) from Inside of Emptiness. John sings:

Things used to be alright
So much was going on
I'm empty now inside
When I thought life was terrible
Things were going fine
Vincent called as a set up
Look on, look on, look on

I recently sparked a John Frusciante interest in my blogger-in-arms, JK. We had just caught sight of New York City as we headed toward the Lincoln Tunnel and I gave him a fast and furious intro to the greatness of Shadows Collide With People. I'm pretty sure his life was changed forever. Give me a couple of days to get my bearings and I will fill you in on how the latest Ataxia CD is.

And yes, that's John, looking at the camera, with the sweet molester 'stache in the above photo. As good as it is, it's got nothing on the blonde beast I'm rocking through the summer.


MP3: John Frusciante - "Look On"
MP3: John Frusciante - "What I Saw"

Red Hot Chili Peppers @ John Paul Jones Arena, 1.26.07, Another Missed Opportunity

I wasn't at this show, but someone posted a comment in an earlier post wondering if we had the setlist. I just came across it.

Holy. Shit.

We (Frat, Top and I) have been dying for "Readymade" live and there it was...the night after we caught them. This is a pretty tight set, I can only imagine hearing "Readymade" morph into "Parallel Universe". John doing Syd would have blown my fucking mind.

Watch videos of some of this madness here. And if you want to watch the entire set that we caught at Albany...well, go for it. This site is ridiculous.

"Intro"
"Can't Stop"
"Dani California"
"Otherside"
"Charlie"
"Readymade"
"Parallel Universe"
"Warlocks"
John Solo "Maybe" (The Chantels)
"Snow (Hey Oh)"
John Solo "Jugband Blues" (Syd Barret)
"Get on Top"
"Sir Psycho Sexy"
"They're Red Hot"
"C'mon Girl"
"Me & My Friends"
"Strip My Mind"
"What Is Soul?"
"Californication"
"By the Way"

ENCORE
"Under the Bridge"
"Give It Away"
Outro Jam

UPDATE #234,712: Just found the version of "Wet Sand" that we caught at Albany. Not as good as hearing it live, but solid. What a fucking track. The solo at the end is ridiculous.

Rage Against the Machine Expected to Re-Unite @ This Year's Coachella

Los Angeles Times
"Rage Against the Machine, the seminal L.A. band that made heavy music into political manifesto, will reunite after a seven-year lull for one show as the headliners at the 2007 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

"Sources say Rage, which played the main stage at the first Coachella in 1999, will be joined by other familiar faces for the eighth edition of the festival, which covers three days this year and begins April 27: Red Hot Chili Peppers, which headlined in 2003, are back, as is Björk, who topped the bill in 2002.

"Organizers were mum this weekend and it was not clear which day Rage or the other acts were slotted to play; that announcement is expected in the next few days. Other acts expected in the eclectic lineup: Arcade Fire, Interpol, Willie Nelson, the Roots, Manu Chao, the Decemberists, Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Crowded House, Air, Tiësto and Kings of Leon.

"Tickets go on sale Saturday, via Ticketmaster. Three-day passes will cost about $250 and there will be a limited number of single-day passes available." [LA Times]

Pitchfork
"OK folks, stay calm. CALM LIKE A BOMB that is, because the only rap-rock band we actually remember (somewhat) fondly is back. That's right, as reported by the Los Angeles Times and confirmed by the festival's organizers, Rage Against the Machine will come out of retirement to play the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, taking place April 27-29 at Empire Polo Field in Indio, California.

"Rage will headline the festival's final night, April 29, while Björk will headline on Friday, April 27 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers on Saturday, April 28. (Ugh, why do the Red Hot Chili Peppers always have to come around and ruin these sorts of things?)

"Other awesome artists confirmed to play Coachella: the Arcade Fire, Interpol, Willie Nelson, the Roots, Manu Chao, the Decemberists, Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, and Air. Other debatably awesome artists confirmed to play Coachella: Crowded House, Tiësto, and Kings of Leon.

"And although the festival hasn't officially announced it yet, !!!, LCD Soundsystem, and Lupe Fiasco are also playing Coachella, as we've gathered from previous news stories."
[Pitchfork: Amy Phillips Is Still Useless]

Red Hot Chili Peppers @ Verizon Center

Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Snow ((Hey Oh))" Video


Just a few days ago, in a moment of true restraint, I passed on grabbing fan club tickets to the Charlottesville, VA show. And now today, checking out my e-mail, I find more news. News that challenges my ability to resist. News that John Frusciante will be playing DC. I literally can't say no to this. I believe that this is the tour that Gnarls Barkley will be opening for them, but I can't be positive. More on that later. Remember when I grabbed tickets to the Albany show because there wasn't a DC date? And by March they will have played this area three times. Patience is not a virtue of InMyTree.

Recently announced dates on the John Frusciante Show:
Fri. Jan. 12 - Oklahoma City, OK at Cox Arena*
Sat. Jan. 13 - Dallas, TX at American Airlines Arena*
Mon. Jan. 15 - St. Louis, MO at Scottrade Center*
Wed. Jan. 17 - Nashville, TN at Gaylord Entertainment Center
Sat. Jan. 20 - Cincinnati, OH at US Bank Arena
Mon. Jan. 22 - Raleigh, NC at RBC Center*
Tue. Jan. 23 - Charlotte, NC at Bobcat Arena*
Thu. Jan. 25 - Washington, DC at Verizon Center*
Fri. Jan. 26 - Charlottesville, VA at John Paul Jones Arena
Sun. Jan. 28 - Tampa, FL at St. Pete Times Forum*
Tue. Jan. 30 - Orlando, FL at Orlando Centroplex*
Wed. Jan. 31 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL at BankAtlantic Center*
Tue. Feb. 27 - Chicago, IL at Allstate Arena*
Sat. Mar. 2 - Des Moines, IA at Wells Fargo Arena
Sun. Mar. 3 - Champaign, IL at Assembly Arena
Mon. Mar. 6 - San Antonio, TX at ATT Arena
Wed. Mar. 07 - Houston, TX at Toyota Center*

*Fan pre-sale on Tuesday, November 14th at 10am local time. More info here and here.

Mainstream Rock Song of the Year?

Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Wet Sand"

Better sound quality here...

The Mars Volta & Red Hot Chili Peppers @ Arena at Gwinnett, Atlanta, 10.26.06

We are everywhere. From my faithful leige, Frat:

THE MARS VOLTA
Believe it or not, the crowd was amped for them. By the end of the set I would say there might have been more than half the arena on their feet...and Cedric definitely fed off of it. The format was about the same...but the jams were just as unpredictable as before...and it was very interesting to see how much they would stick to a formula from night to night. They really don't...which is amazing when you think about it. They are just all really talented guys who get inside of the moment and react off of it...musically that is pretty intense. Whats more, is that they choose to do it in front of thousands of people. Anyway...I can verify that what we heard on Saturday (i.e. the 45 minute jam w/ hints of "Day of the Baphomets" wasn't really "Day of the Baphomets"...cause they played the same structure to the 45 minute jam. However, right before they played "Viscera Eyes" Cedric said..."this is our last song." But when they were done with "Viscera Eyes" so many people were going ballistic that they stood there for a minute...pondering if they should leave the stage...and then Omar looked around (as if to tell them what song to go with) and they busted into a sick ass (probably 20 minute) version of "Day of the Baphomets"....but all the of key components were there...only stuff different were a couple percussion solos and of course omar blazing through about 5 minutes of solo insanity. Anyway...just know that THE MARS VOLTA is now a ZERO TOLERANCE event if your thinking of skipping out on their upcoming headlining show. Their headlining dates are sure to be mind blowing.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS
You know I could type out about 5 pages of kick ass shit that I saw with the PEPS...cause you know I'm pretty overboard when it comes to John [Frusciante]. So for the sake of brevity, I will just give you the setlist that I wrote down as we went. I will say this though:

The highlights of the show were as follows:

A.) when Anthony said "we would like to play a Ramones song for you" and they busted into "Havana Affair."

B.) Then after the set Anthony said "we are all very, very lucky people to have been alive during the time of the Ramones." Even more beast than that though was the number one highlight of the show...

C.) [T]he encore starts with Chad coming out to do his drum medley...he pumps the crowd up (does the same kind of thing you hear on the [Live at] Hyde Park CDs). [He] plays a couple [of] signature John Bonham/Zeppelin songs and then he busts into U2's "Sunday, Bloody Sunday." After the first few measures...all of a sudden you hear the guitar harmony come through the stadium (even Chad looks around to see what the fuck is going on). John runs out to the mic and starts singing the song. Chad's got a huge ass smile on his face, obviously just as surprised as the rest of us that John would just uncontrollably bust into "Sunday, Bloody Sunday." Ok, ok. Like I said I could go on...

Setlist
Intro
"Cant Stop"
"Dani California"
"Scar Tissue"
Jam w/ Marcel Rodriguez (Omar's little brother)
"Charlie"
"Havana Affair"
"Readymade"
"Blood Sugar Sex Magic"
Jam (Flea)
"Throw Away Your Television"
"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" (John solo)
"Snow ((Hey Oh))"
"Me and My Friends"
"C'mon Girl"
Jam (Chad)
"Right On Time"
Jam (Flea)
"Don't Forget Me"
"Tell Me Baby"
Jam (Flea & John)
"Californication"
"By the Way"

Encore
Drum Medley (Chad)
"Sunday, Bloody Sunday" (Chad and John)
"I Could Have Lied"
"98 Olds" (whatever that little interlude was...they did it again)
"Give it Away"
Jam (chord prog and rhythm was "She Turns to Me" but Anthony had already left, so they just jammed inside the song with no lyrics)
Jam (John did some Hendrix/blues jamming over a 12 bar that chad and flea laid down) (approx 5 minutes of insanity)
Jam out (Chad, John, Flea)

Overall...a fucking orgasmic experience.

-Frat

The National Tonight @ Black Cat

[The National v. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah]

Fuck. Yes.

Many people would have laid down, given up at that point. Blood was all over my lucky T-shirt, my nose was split open, and of the most concern was my comrade-in-arms laid up on a hospital bed. We kept on going. Knocked out a CAT Scan, an X-Ray, watched Frateralus hit on some nurse types, and at the last possible second, made our escape. Left the hospital, hopped in the car and bolted to Albany. On the way up, I spit blood, pondered the presence of internal bleeding that could consume me before I saw Cedric and Omar kick it at the Pepsi Arena, and raved about The National. Sure, we caught TV On The Radio the night before, and we were on the way to see The Mars Volta and Red Hot Chili Peppers, but The National was still on the horizon. That was Saturday morning.

Fast forward to today and I have a scab that runs the length of my forearm from that same streetfight I reluctantly entered last Friday night. On top of that I have a chipped tooth (maybe two, my tongue is still deciding) and an eye that is a sweet mix of purple and yellow. In the mirror this morning I noticed that there is also some yellow from a bruise I did not even know I had on my forehead. Luckily, my hands and knuckles are pretty sore as well. Maybe it wasn't as one-sided as it felt.

None of it matters. We're alive.

Tonight it is upon us. The National absolutely slayed Black Cat the last time they played here. Slayed it. The show remains the standard of excellence to this day. I can promise you several things if you attend tonight's show: the drumming is top notch, the energy is feverish, and the songs speak for themselves. Alligator may be the best album of '05 and "Mr. November," "Secret Meeting," "Lit Up," and "Abel" would definitely find their way onto my list of the top songs of last year.

Live Black Sessions
MP3: The National - "All the Wine"
MP3: The National - "Cherry Tree"
MP3: The National - "Mr. November"

Black Cat
THUR OCT 26
THE NATIONAL
w. NETHERS, DEVASTATIONS
$13 mainstage 8:30
[Tickets]

The Mars Volta: New Drummer, Tour

Expect pictures from their show in Albany soon. They rocked. Their setlist over the past few weeks has evolved into a long jam session. In Albany they played the following:

"Rapid Fire Tollbooth"
Jam (40-45 min., hints of "Day of Baphomets," unreal solos)
"Viscera Eyes" (completely ridiculous)

As for the news...well, fuck, they are on their third drummer in about four months. Drama-rama:

"A new song entitled 'Rapid Fire Tollbooth' was played live for the second time on September 23nd 2006 in Milwaukee, WI, as reported by fans and attendees of the show who had received set lists from the stage.

"On September 25th, Cedric Bixler-Zavala fell ill and the Mars Volta were forced to play a set with John Frusciante on third guitar in Toronto. On this date the band played over 47 minutes of instrumental material, including a lengthy cover of the Pink Floyd composition 'Interstellar Overdrive.' Omar announced Cedric's listening to 'Yellowcard and a lot of weird bands like that,' as reason for his exclusion from the performance; presumably in jest.

"After their Fall tour with Frusciante's Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Mars Volta will launch their own headlining tour across North America that will last 'well into 2007. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez stated in a radio interview in San Diego with FM949 that they will go first to Japan, then onto Australia. After that they will head over to Europe and then to the United States.'

"On October 17th while opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in Rutherford, New Jersey, the band unexpectedly played with new drummer Deantoni Parks, amidst rumors that Blake Fleming had quit the band. Deantoni Parks will remain with the band for the next 3 weeks, after which a permanent replacement will be sought out." [Wiki Is Wikit Retahded Good]

Red Hot Chili Peppers @ Pepsi Arena, 10.21.06

Setlist:
Intro (Chad, John, Flea)
"Can't Stop"
"Dani California"
"Scar Tissue"
"Charlie"
"Fortune Faded"
"21st Century"
"Parallel Universe"
"Hump de Bump"
"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" (John solo)
"Snow ((Hey Ohh))"
"Nobody Weird Like Me"
Jam (Flea & John)
"Wet Sand"
"Right on Time"
Jam (Flea & John)
"Don't Forget Me"
"Tell Me Baby"
Jam (Flea & John)
"Californication"
"By the Way"

Encore:
Drum Solo (Chad)
"Under the Bridge"
"Give It Away"
Jam (Chad, John, Flea)

Striking Fear In The Hearts of Livers Everywhere

3 days and counting until I black out, only to wake up on Sunday morning with hazy memories of catching The Mars Volta (Albany), Red Hot Chili Peppers (Albany), and TV On The Radio (Baltimore) in a 24 hour period across 5 states, stretching 350 miles, running on (an early estimate of) 2 cases of Bud Heavy, 1 case of Pabst Blue Ribbon, 1 case Coors Light, 1 handle Crown Royal, 1 handle Jack Daniel's, and, not to mention, 2 cases of Red Bull to make it home Sunday afternoon night. While I give myself a 75% survival rate, I am putting the hotel room, that I am sharing with five other grown men that should know better, a 5% survival rate. I am going to try and shake the dust off of the festival tested, Metro D approved SmashBerry and get that fucker ready to roll. This will be a weekend for the record books. The Beast (the mother of all coolers, holds 60 cans, with ice, and has wheels) will be making the trip, as will my car, The Silver Bullet. Both are tried and true veterans of other Metro D conflicts, but this...this might be their capstone exercise.