Western Fifth - CD review & interview

Listening to Western Fifth’s recent release Stand Like a Thief is a little like dancing that achingly fleeting slow dance with the girl (or guy, depending) that you almost but never quite asked out in high school. This is not to say by any means that the music itself evokes high school – it feels more like the late nights spent on porches across America at the end of a party where those remaining are a little too drunk to get home and so sit, smoke cigarettes and wait for sobriety or dawn, whichever comes first. Add those two (somewhat disparate) elements together and you’ll get a basic approximation of this encompassing and enjoyable debut offering.

When put onto I-Tunes, the Genre listed is “Country,” which lead me to wonder who makes the determination of the genre. Does the band get to decide what their genre is? If asked to pick a genre for Western Fifth, I’d probably offer up some strange hybrid like post-country shoe-gaze indie rock, which doesn’t fit in the genre box on I-Tunes, so it’s probably best that no one asked me. The band has an interesting and rewarding way of reminding the listener of a different band with every listening. Upon repeat visits, I have uncovered sounds and songs influenced or reminiscent of Wilco, The Walkmen (see below for why this isn’t an influence), Okkervil River, and surprisingly upon my most recent listen – a dose of early Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers. Listen to the burst of organ on the their third track “In the End I Went Away” and see if you can disagree.

Cake in 15 was lucky enough to secure an exclusive email interview with Western Fifth’s singer/guitar player Ryan Holweger! While the fact that the questions are mostly longer than the answers might call into question my journalistic abilities, I will respond by saying that a) I’m a writer, not a journalist, and b) think of it as an interactive interview/review and you’ll be just fine. Enjoy!

Cake in 15: The first time I listened to the new album all the way through, I was driving between Chicago & Minneapolis, having dropped my fiancée off at the airport to fly off to New York, leaving me on my own for three long weeks. My Ipod got in a fight with the car stereo system and froze. I had brought the "Stand Like A Thief" album along to see how it felt on the road, and due to the sudden loss of Ipod (at 10 am, I might add - Two hours into a six hour drive) I put it in and sped through the Madison area. Would you consider this the best way to listen to the album? If you could chose, when & where would you recommend a listening party for maximum aesthetic & emotional impact?

Ryan Holweger: Although I think listening while driving is a good way to hear this record, it might be better suited for a dimly lit room, a couch, some liquor, and a good set of headphones. I think a good place for a listening party would be a small, cozy dive-bar, or maybe in the living room of an old house.

C15: Do you hate being compared to other bands? For instance, if I said that upon first listen I was instantly reminded of Okkervil River's *Down the River of Golden Dreams*, would you be annoyed or pleased? Would you rather be compared to The Walkmen?

RH: I’d be very pleased with a comparison to Okkervil River (one of my favorite bands). I’ve never heard the Walkmen, so I guess I’m not sure about that. I don’t think I’d ever be annoyed with comparisons to other bands, as long as it holds some merit. I feel that it’s a very effective way to give a reader a good idea on how a band might sound.

C15: Name one band you'd love to be mentioned in the same breath with, as well as one that you'd rather never be compared to again.

RH: I’m not sure if there is one single band I want to be compared to the most, but we are pleased with the different comparisons we’ve had so far (Wilco, Band of Horses, The Replacements, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Okkervil River, etc). As far as a band we’d never want to be compared to again, I’m not sure I can answer that. I suppose we’d have to be compared to a band that we don’t like before we can hope it never happens again. That being said, I hope no one ever compares us to The Eagles.

C15: The air of melancholia pervades the album - Seeps through the cracks, and many of the lyrics deal with death, love, defiance, or a combination of all three. As artists, do you find that writing in a certain mood helps to articulate your work?

RH: I find that for the most part, the mood definitely has an effect on the writing, in that I typically don’t write unless I’m in a certain mood. If I’m not in that certain mood, then the songwriting doesn’t happen. I rarely just decide to sit down and try write a song – it usually only happens after an idea comes first. That’s not always the case, but generally that’s the way it is.

C15: Do you seek to immerse your listener in the world that you've built, or is it enough to simply offer up a song for the listener to react to however he or she chooses?

RH: I don’t think I’ve ever really thought about like that. For the most part, we just hope the listener will take the time to enjoy the music, and hopefully get something out of it if they choose to – if they become immersed in the song, or the album as a whole, that is even better.

C15: What's next? Where can the Cake in 15 readers find Western Fifth in the near future?

RH: Well, we’ll be playing out around the Twin Cities as usual, hopefully getting some people interested in the new album. We’re also promoting it a bit in Europe and getting some airplay, so we hope to build on that as well, maybe sell some records over there. We’ll probably do another tour sometime next year. This past summer we hit a bunch of Midwestern & southern states (Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Missouri) so hopefully we can go back to those places, and maybe to the East Coast, too.

C15: Thank you! Readers can access the band’s Myspace page here and the album is out and available and highly recommended.

Cloud Cult: Feed the Living

Cloud Cult at The Whole 11/21/2008“…We’re very happy to be back in Minneapolis- it’s been a long time- in Minneapolis- since we’ve played for such an intimate setting, so this is pretty cool. Thanks for being here.” Craig Minowa smiled out at the crowd, sleep-mask askew on his forehead, one bare foot tapping. The band tuned between songs, the painters- Craig’s wife Connie and Scott West- at work producing rainbow-mixed birds and tragically sad women. And then came another song, another rush of noise, another uplift into escape.

Cloud Cult had come back from tour to play one last show before their winter hiatus, and had crammed themselves onto the tiny stage at the Whole. The room in the basement of the University of Minnesota’s Coffman Union is best described by the removal of the “w” from its’ name; a long, low cave of a room. The assembled crowd had sat in patient anticipation, semi-circled like kindergarteners, through the opening set by Jelloslave. The four-piece of two cellos, Indian tables and a drums had played a warm opening set that had people clapping and swaying with occasional burst of surprise and recognition. Even though their regular drummer Greg Schutte was away, he was more than capably subbed by JT Bates, indisputably one of the best and most affable kit-men in Minneapolis. Tripping through mixes and medleys that swung between ragas and covers of the Beatles, Joy Division and closed with a bang with Led Zepplin’s “Whole Lotta Love”.

It’s not hard to give love at a Cloud Cult show, in fact, it is a prime motivation of the band. Unlike some feel-good jam band that their name would seem to imply, this is a serious rock band whose core- Craig and his wife Connie- have traveled through darkness and back into light. It was the sudden death of the Minowa’s 2-year old son in 2002 that galvanized Craig’s songwriting and dedication to the music- working through grief. 2007’s Meaning of 8 was so titled because that would have been the age of the lost boy. It would seem morbid, near exploitative to hold tragedy that close, but without it the escape, the honesty of sharing and hope that so embodies the canon of Cloud Cult would be nowhere near as sublime.

Standing pressed up against the stage with the bass amp by my feet the music literally vibrates against my body, and when I am told that everybody here is a cloud I look around and see other people around me, all intangibly happy and our mouths form the same worlds together and purpose is not something that we need to worry about now. Now we are all together and we know the darkest places of ourselves are not so dark with other people there with you. No, it is not a cult; it is transcendental meditation, Plato’s creation myth of being divided halves looking for our other part, it is meteorological metaphors for turbulent times. It is crystalline sense of purpose, womb of sound, it is rock and roll music. To cop another local band made good, it won’t save you but it can bring you to a place where you can save yourself.

Minowa looked sheepishly out into the audience and apologized- the band is all sick, he said- we have been on tour and passed the same cold back and forth. But, he promises, “we are going to put on the best show possible for you.” From the crowd, someone yells, “You always do!” And we cheer, and they smile, because they love us and we love them.

No One said It Would Be Easy into Chemicals Collide:

Alone for Thanksgiving? Not going home?

First Ave has you covered...

File under "Things White People Like"

Cities97 released it's Sampler Volume 20 today, and here a couple fuzzy phone shots of the crowd at the downtown Target:
It's a good thing the proceeds go to charity, because I would hate to think of all these people lining through the skyways for exclusive Jason Mraz and Matchbox 20 tracks. (To be fair, the Sampler also has locals like Jeremy Messersmith and the Glad Version on it, so that's great. I just think a lot of white people in awkward crowds is funny.)

Weekend To-Do and Ticket Giveaway!!!

A nice mix of shameless self promotion and give-aways, here are some of our recommended events this weekend:

Thursday: Fort Wilson Riot with Plastic Chord & Speed's the Name at the Hexagon- PLUS Lamb Lays with Lion Premieres "The Little Skeleton That Could Not"Starts at 9pm, best of all, it's FREE!

Friday: The Absent Arch CD Release with A Paper Cup Band, the Glad Version and the Chord and the Fawn at the Triple Rock Social ClubCakeIn15 is proud to co-sponsor this show, so we have two pairs of tickets to give away to you lucky dogs! Message us at CakeIn15@gmail.com or tell us in the comments that you want 'em and why!

Saturday: A Benefit for Andromeda at the 331 ClubHost Alexei Caselle (Kill The Vultures, Roma di Luna) just added a new child to his family- so congratulate him- and is reaching out to the music scene to help a family member and mother who is afflicted with lukemia. Great bands and the 331 is always free, so spend that money in helping out another human being. Then go lobby for universal health care.

Party to Live: Rock + Roll Means Well Tour

The Hold Steady + Drive-By Truckers at First Ave 11/16/2008I tell you this - and I use the first person preposition because this post will be disgustingly self-serving and totally devoid of journalistic objectivity - that the Hold Steady can save a life. Yeah, yeah, the Hold Steady almost killed me... the killer parties almost killed me and when I was done trying to die the music was still there, talking to me about the syntax of trying - we won't save you, but we'll get you to a place where you can save yourself. Nothing's a fake fight when it's against yourself. I'll roll when I'm ready.

It's foolish 'cause I want it, want to feel a part of it and smiling kids are always screaming for more. There is a hard-bit sweetness for the scene before it got druggy, cutting our baby teeth and saving us from fangs. I say it, but I don't really want to be 17 forever...but I do like the warm feeling - bundling up against the wind coming off the Mississippi, carrying salt, cliques and hisses, the whole chorus of city kids trying to stay alive, stay real high.

Don't die! Any night they play half of Separation Sunday is a good night for absolution, and Craig Finn says it every time, every time and I go back to hear it. Need it so much so that I've stolen it for my own ends. I use this ending to a monologue I've been working out, stories about telling stories, trying to get the honesty ingrained in me so that it becomes reflexive but rock and roll. Rock and roll means well, but it can't help but tell boys lies. But hey, he gave it to me, right?

...And I'm trying to understand America,
to get it through a bar band and I still can't comprehend
why the Hold Steady need day jobs and night jobs as bar backs,
and how the acclaim doesn't mean they sell records.
There's something wrong with that.
Each song is like a benediction
to a country of half-hearted Christians
and backstabbing best friends,
kids are human beings and it says;
We see you, you're here and we are too.
Craig Finn, his arms flailing like busted wings
grabs the microphone and beams and twists
and screams, that he always says it,
he always does, he always does:
That
There
Is so much Joy!
In what they do onstage
And thank you, we love you,
Minneapolis/Saint Paul.

I suppose it doesn't even matter. I love you too, I love me too, it doesn't matter which city because we have gone out to find America, you and I. We have gone out to find America, you and I, and found ourselves in bars and reststops and schools and malls and found ourselves.
...
Oh yeah, the Drive-By Truckers were there too - see what I mean about lack of journalistic objectivity, they co-headline for crissakes - but I have never been a huge fan of theirs. I have dismissively said that their lineage is Lynyrd Skynyrd and not all that much else - and I still stand by that. But they have a good time. The Hold Steady guys seem to have a good time with them, and they played the two songs of theirs that I really do like, "Dead Drunk and Naked," and, as an encore, "Let There Be Rock." A damn fine story about fucking up and turning out alright. Now that's a benediction, and I've been doing just fine, thank you very much.

"Stay Positive" into "Stevie Nix":

"Constructive Summer" into "Stuck Between Stations":

RocknRollCupcake: 11/13/2008

Gabriel Kahane at the 400 BarRunning over Gabriel Kahane's biography begs the question- What is he doing at the 400 Bar? The venerable rock n' roll hole doesn't often play host to acts endorsed by Brad Mehldau or whose previous projects include a "country-infused retelling of the story of the Prophet Mohammed". It was in fact, that incongrous mix that was the draw to the 400, especially the promise of hearing Kahane's Craigslistlieder, a cycle of songs based on random Craigslist posts. Kahane played two of the 8 songs, one as an encore, and his confident, light piano playing well accompanied his cabaret-inflected baritone to create songs that were absurd, powerful and human.

Touring in support of his self titled debut album, Kahane spent most of the time playing with his band of multi-instrumentalists and they worked best with songs like "Underberg" whose plaintive arrangement beautifully encapsulated the collapse and love in the lyrics. The backing group, sounding like Sufjan Stevens' orchestra (with whom Kahane has worked) or locally, Spaghetti Western String Company, were so obviously talented that the orchestration often out-shone Kahane as the band leader and overtook the astute lyrics. After the show, when asked about his musical background, Kahane was vague, saying he had studied at Brown and his father was a classical musician- there is no doubt that he is talented- but, he said conspiratorially, "Some of the ringers in the band, they, they've got some serious classical music chops." Keep it all in balance and watch this pop composer to make a mark, by himself and with others.

Gabriel Kahane is available now on iTunes, Amie Street, and eMusic.

Losing Some, Going on to Win Anyway: Milk

"I'm Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you!" is the line that gay activist and icon Harvey Milk would use to open his stump speeches. Milk, his advocacy, election to San Francisco City Supervisor- making him the first openly gay elected official- and subsequent assassination are the subject of Gus van Sant's biopic Milk, opening nationwide November 26th. After a sneak peak this week, the timeliness of this movie cannot be overstated. The same day that we moved against prejudice on one front by electing the nations' first black president, we fell back on another front as bans on gay marriage such as California's Proposition 8 were passed.

Sean Penn is all the center of attention in Van Sant's well-paced film, bringing to life Milk's charisma and drive, as well as his own balancing act between ego and sense of alientation. Milk also includes standout performances from James Franco, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch and Diego Luna, and Van Sant effectively uses archive footage of news reports and Christian morals crusader Anita Bryant to dramatize the struggle against Proposition 6, an initiative that would have outlawed homosexuals and those who supported them from being teachers. Instead of hiding behind vague human rights language to fight the Proposition, Milk advocated a campaign of coming out and acknowledgment, arguing that it is more openness would fight demonization. Go for the history, stay for the story, leave feeling challenged, refreshed and hopeful.

Take to the streets this Saturday. For more info, head to www.jointheimpact.com.

Acting in the Times: Shadowlands and Dying City

It is a historic moment in America. It is a moment that is made historic by the confluence of past and present contexts- the immediacy of war and economic crisis, a history of division and an act of coming together. Times like these, days like November 4th, 2008, are days that will marked in grand narratives of nations and culture, they are days too that will be remembered by individuals- we will tell where we were, what we are doing, like we have done since. PostSecret, the ongoing project where people anonymously mail in their deepest secrets to share had an aptly succinct illustration of this confluence of personal and social narrative this week: a letter was sent that read, "November 4th, 2008 will be the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE. Barack Obama is our 44th President and I finally caught my cheating/abusive boyfriend red-handed."

Narrative brings me to theatre, which is also where history will have me- seeing two plays this historic week. On the 4th, the night of nights, I went to escape the built up tension (after performing my civic duties of voting, encouraging others to vote and engaging in Starbucks’ illegal coffee-for-votes scheme) at the Guthrie in order to preview Shadowlands. Shadowlands is the story of C.S. Lewis (played by Simon Jones) and the opening of his life as he falls in love with Joy Gresham (Charity Jones), an opinionated American divorcee. It is a love story, set against the backdrop of Lewis' comfortable mid-50s Oxford existence; erudite, clad in tweed, sherries and old boy’s discussions, a wholly safe and neutered space.

The play opens with Lewis at a lectern delivering a speech about the love of god for humanity, a subject that Lewis addressed in many of his writings, from the interventions of Aslan in the Narnia stories to the correspondences of the devil Screwtape. The context of faith and pain is brought forth from the beginning,and as Joy struggles through illness and the love develops and deepens, the refrain that "the happiness then is worth the pain now"- and it's inversion- resonates deeply. The story is one of disruption of a settled life, of pain and reconciliation- a strong universally accessible theme which is reached through the easy and assured presentation. The story is fixed in a time period but is so comfortable in it that we can dissolve that context in favor of the over-arching narrative, and find currently applicable identification.

Parallels, Modern Times after the Jump

Across the river, The Bottling Company, a talented young group of University of Minnesota/ Guthrie Program BFAs (boot camp for Guthrie-aspiring actors, for better or for worse) were closing up their run of Dying City. Penned by Obie-award winning playwright Christopher Shinn and first produced in London in 2006, Dying City is also a play that is also fixed in a specific time and place, but unlike Shadowlands, never manages to transcend that context. Set on two nights and moving fluidly between the two, we see the final night discussion of Craig (Ian Holcomb) and his wife Kelly (Kate Durand) before Craig ships off to Iraq, and the visit of Craig’s gay identical twin Peter (also Holcomb) a year later, during which time, Craig has died. The temporal shift lends itself to some nifty shifts by Ian Holcomb and the terse staging and direction say as much about the discourse around relationships in war as the text does itself.

Dying City purports to be a study of dissolution, betrayal and invasion, but as I type that, I feel like I should be writing a blurb for Days of Our Lives. The plot hinges upon events that have occurred in the not distant memory- upon events in which we are still embroiled- but it never brings itself about to create a narrative critique or build any analytic inferences from events in the context of the world to the story of the play. If we are to believe that play is occurring at a specific point in history, as Iraq, references to Jon Stewart, Tivo and “Law & Order” force us to, then there is precious little space to give themes space to breathe. Shinn does the text no favors by trying to pack in themes- sexual violence is mentioned, but not explored, infidelity, homophobic slurs, suicide, drug abuse, all these things swirl darkly in a play that says that it needs to expands the discourse but condescends to doing so. It is a theatrical trick that comes off as formally executed anger at 2004.

Returning home, I turned to MPR, and there was Dick Gordon wrapping up “The Story”. In response to a listener’s rhetorical query as to why the media was always surprised about the decency of everyday people, Gordon editorialized to the crux of the difference between these two examinations. He said, “in times like these, people’s true stories are what the country needs.” The heart of analysis and criticism is always coming back to the questions- Why This, and Why Now? To make a theme dependent upon context is to weaken it's staying power, but to articulate the story independent of context can make it work in any time and place, and make the moment critical again.

Shadowlands runs November 1 - December 21, 2008 (Opening November 07) on the McGuire Proscenium Stage.

Dying City has closed, but check for future Bottling Company productions.

Random Arcana: Simon Jones as Arthur Dent in the BBC's production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I thought that C.S. Lewis seemed familiar!

Music as Discourse

My sophomore year at the U of M, I enrolled in an upper level Cultural Studies course called "Music as Discourse." We spent the large part of a winter digging deep into pieces of music - Laurie Anderson's O Superman, a version of Oh Danny Boy as sung by an Irish folk singer whose name has faded into the unreadable makeup of my memory, Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, even Sir Mix-a-lot. We discussed authenticity versus superficiality, and how two almost identical songs can leave the listener feeling wholly different based on a variety of almost indeterminate factors. I took a test, got a B+ (which I am legitimately proud of, as my CLA adviser was taking the same class and could only manage a C), and moved on with college life. I have not directly applied the skills I was taught in that class in life, but if there was ever a chance to do so, I give you the new Of Montreal album, Skeletal Lamping.

To start with the title - Kevin Barnes (who pretty much is Of Montreal, at least in the studio) says, "This record is my attempt to bring all of my puzzling, contradicting, disturbing, humorous...fantasies, ruminations and observations to the surface, so that I can better dissect and understand their reason for being in my head. Hence the title, Skeletal Lamping. Lamping is the name of a rather dreadful hunting technique where, hunters go into the forest at night, flood an area in light, then shoot, or capture, the animals as they panic and run from their hiding places."

All right, good! Even Kevin seems to understand that making puzzling, contradicting, disturbing music is, how does one say, not commercially viable. This unflinching chaos and confusion (sexual and otherwise) is this fully realized and difficult album's main strength, and perhaps, if you're not into non-linear post-gender meta-intellectual sex philosophy, you'll find it to be the biggest weakness as well. That, and the beautifully poppy hooks that emerge from the sea of Barnes only last about 30 seconds on average, before moving on to some darker place (al beit momentarily - the last track on the album is an undeniable runway romp, complete with the empty eyes and turns of the runway model.)

Simplicity and Challenge After the Jump
Lyrics from the track Women's Studies Victims:
They had painted her face like a man's mistake,
like a mental state gang banging
A sad return to the eagle-shaped mirror
I'm the kind of mannequin that cheats and
opens its eyes to the ladies of the spread.

She took me home and spit in my drink
She spoke of Jermaine Grier and freedom I don't know what to think
I took her standing in the kitchen ass against the sink
She draped me in a stole
(what kind?) I think Malaysian mink
She threw me out into the snow; I waited for the bus
Up come some values voters screaming, 'are you one of us'
I said of course man, can't you see I've got some text reconstruction?
(What does that mean?)
No clue
It must be an illicit pentagram
(What are you talking about?)
No clue


And if this doesn't make any sense out of context, some background. Midway through the last Of Montreal album, in the midst of a 12-minute long breakdown, Kevin Barnes allegedly becomes Georgie Fruit, a black man in his late forties who has been through multiple sex changes. Barnes has often taken on the Georgie Fruit stage persona (complete with cross-dressing and memorably captured last year by Pitchfork photographers in Vegas, full frontal nudity - showing us that Mr. Barnes, at least, has not himself undergone any outwardly evident gender shifts.) This album marks the first that he has written entirely in the voice of his alter ego. It's hard not to think of Ziggy Stardust in this context, but I think there's something more interesting going on here - Bowie and Barnes are quite different, both in sex appeal and personal background, and to simplify for the sake of simplifying would be a mistake.

Which brings us back to the album again! There is no simplification here - how amazing, in this day and age of sound bites and 3 minute hits, is that? There is no condescension present either, which for me is the key to this album's success. What makes this an authentic experience? Is it arbitrary? For me, it's the intense focus and darkness present throughout the album that keeps it from treading over the line of indulgence. The moment you might get a whiff of Mr. Barnes being "clever," or making music like an "asshole," would be the moment you might turn off to the album. In my opinion (certainly not shared by all), this moment of turn-off does not happen. I've listened to it over and over, first on headphones on an Amtrak train, watching the trees and buildings flash by in hypnotic fashion, listening the album and remaining vulnerable and open to it even after two straight minutes of stomach turning repetitious "CD Skipping" guitar riffs. There's a narrative somewhere, and the beautiful moments that you try so hard to hold onto the first few listens become somehow larger and warmer and more humanistic in repeat visits to the album.

If I had a thesis due, I'd pick this album to write about.
If I want to be transported and introspectively uncomfortable, I'll listen to this album.
If I want to make my guests comfortable at a party, I would probably NOT play this album.

Still - if you haven't listened to it yet, come on over and we'll have a listening party. It's well worth the hour of your time, even if you end up hating it. Challenge is good. Difficulty is good. Yes we can.

Contest: Win Tickets to see O'Death & Lucy Michelle at the Entry!

O'Death, Drakkar Sauna, and Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles play the 7th Street entry on Monday, November 10th.

Cake In 15 is happy to offer 2 pairs of tickets to the show! Just email CakeIn15@gmail.com by noon on Monday for your chance to win. Winners will be notified by email by 2pm on Monday.

Woot!

CLAPPERCLAW is this Saturday!

Yes, it is shameless self promotion. Yes, we've been putting together a crazy mix of Arts, Fashion, Film and Music. And yes, it's gonna be the best party in town.

www.clapperclawfestival.com!

Not Much Else To Say...

...except WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TODAY: Hope Over Fear

It's morning again in America, where we get to make our voices heard and choose our future. Get out there, do it for the first time, I guarantee you will feel better about yourself. If you don't know where to go, click here. And if you don't know how to vote, just ask yourself a simple question- Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago? If not, it is time for change.

Who doesn't like free coffee?

Thanks Starbucks!

Now that I have your attention, and this is important - don't forget to actually vote. This is your voice and it affects us all. Don't skip it. Don't sleep in. You have a right so take advantage of it.

Please.

To find your polling place, go here.

Cake Crumbs... Bits of the D

Tonight one member of Cake in 15 was lucky enough to score a ticket to the Get Out the Vote tour at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul. Because we had other plans tonight, we went purely for "the D." Tenacious D, that is. Jack Black and Kyle Gass rocked the house by basically catering to the crowd's desire to hear the most popular tracks from The D's self-titled album. I was running late, I'll admit, so I walked in to "Wonderboy," which made me so very happy. I have a huge closet love of that D album, and I was excited to see it being performed live in front of me.

"Wonderboy"

Of course, it's not Tenacious D without some potential offense, so I hope you're offended with this bit of "Fuck Her Gently." heh.

"Fuck Her Gently"


Overall I found the guys to be amazing live. Just as expected, they put all their energy into their performance. The vocals were clear, the guitars were rockin' and the audience was going nuts. I wish there'd been more, but they ended with probably their biggest and oldest song, "Tribute." Ahhh happy, happy me.