Chan Marshall Looks Fantastic

When I first saw Cat Power, it was when she was promoting her Covers album. I had been a huge fan since MoonPix (again, I have to credit Dakin with introducing me), so Dakin, Magpie, and I piled into the Jetta and drove to Lawrence, KS (all the good bands played in Lawrence). This would be my first Cat Power experience.

We studied hard on the drive up, learning most of the words before we got off the Turnpike. We yearned for heartbreak, for poetry. What we got was Chan Marshall on stage murmuring into the mic, "I'm such a stupid fuck. I'm such a fuck."

We were understandably shocked. I remember Magpie saying to herself, "Oh please don't kill yourself. Not right in front of everyone." Dakin had a more humorous approach, getting some folks to shout "We love you, Chan," but deliberately pronouncing the hard "ch" instead of the soft "sh" as it it supposed to be pronounced. The sarcasm was lost on most people, but the point was that we were more than a little disappointed.

My second Cat Power exprience was in London, and I was with a French girl who had waited two years to see her live. She knew all Cat Power's songs, and could play many of them on piano. Chan was opening for Dirty Three, but was so drunk, she played half-covers of White Stripes songs her whole set.

So when I heard a couple years ago of Chan going sober, I was hopeful. And now look at her. She looks fantastic. To be honest, I never knew what she looked like because every show her hair was hiding her face--she was almost invisible to the audience, which may be what she was after. But here she is, gorgeous and rocking out. Well done, Chan. Soft "sh."

Check out more Cat Power photos at Pitchfork.

Comments

Okkervil River, Wellington, New Zealand :: Live Music Review

There are energetic drummers, and then there is Travis Nelson. Truly, he is 'Animal.' Okkervil River albums have so much personality, the songs themselves become characters: players, people in the guise of animals or gods (and who can tell the difference sometimes?). And like watching a melodrama, we are witness to emotions that heave and plummet with frightening force. The songs can be drunken youth: the rotund boots on their feet knocking wildly on every surface. Or they can be villainous and smart, full of smiles and wishing-you-well up to the second they thrust the dagger into your belly. Pitched, lust-crazed, calculated: that is one half of an Okkervil album. The other emotion is equally intense in its thick, slow agony: the eternity it takes to remove the knife, knowing you have it all to do over. And so it goes: soaring, drunk, angry, knife, stab, agony, pull-it-out-and-let's-do-it-again. At the San Fransisco Bathhouse in Wellington, New Zealand, on a crisp early a

Daft Punk :: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Somehow winter still has her claws in the Pacific Northwest. It's almost May, and we're forecast snow this coming weekend. Snow! (I'll spare you my usual tirade about what physically impossible acts may be performed on this particular part of the country, my own little corner of hell.) In any event, we were teased by 80 degrees over the past weekend, only to be thrust back into the 50s and below (with rain!) immediately after. Needless to say, it has not been happy times. I am on day three of a nonstop Neko Case marathon, and, while it is indeed comforting, Neko tends to be a little, dare we say, dark ? Sometimes you just need to take pause and make your own sunshine, or perhaps be steered to some on YouTube , as is certainly the case here. (Even though I firmly believe that YouTube is leading to the complete downfall of Western Civilization, and exposing the ugly underbelly of the American experience, I can sometimes forgive it. Times like this.) Back story? Dunno. Two fre

White Rabbits :: It's Frightening

Band :: White Rabbits Album :: It's Frightening Song :: They Done Wrong / We Done Wrong Sounds Like: The Midwest strikes back. RIYL: Spoon, The Walkmen, Tapes 'n Tapes A Few Words: White Rabbits (the band) is living in NYC, it's true. However, they are, by all accounts, from the Midwest. This is only a point worth mentioning because I am also from the Midwest, so we have a lot in common that way. Which is to say we have an inherent understanding of vast distances, wind, and non-existent public transport (unless you count Chicago). White Rabbits could also be that band you know you've heard of, but can't remember. For all their PR efforts it's amazing how easily they continue to slip under the proverbial radar (not sure if "radar" is an acronym when used in a cliche, but I'm guessing not). For example, they've been on NPR's "World Cafe" and on Letterman. Furthermore, they played Glastonbury in 2007 PLUS their new album, It'

Duck & Cover :: Indie rock music writing from Arcade Fire to the Zygotic Minci

Search This Blog