Category: Features
MUSE: An interview with Patrick Stickles
By John Ambrosio
Titus Andronicus. From Left to Right: Adam Reich, Julian Veronesi, Patrick Stickles, Eric Harm, Liam Betson/ PHOTO VIA Kyle Dean Reinford
On Friday, I got a chance to talk to Titus Andronicus’ Patrick Stickles to discuss his bromance with the So So Glos, their new “Bring Back the Dudes” tour, his thoughts on DIY music, and more.When I called the number that the band’s press contact had provided me, I heard the garbled but unmistakable sounds of Titus Andronicus rehearsing:
Patrick Stickles: I’m sorry about that. We’re having practice right now. The guys are just jamming on the riff off “Devil’s Haircut” by Beck right now. That wasn’t on the agenda for today, I don’t know why they’re doing it, but unfortunately I’m talking to you instead of scolding them.
John Ambrosio: Haha, no problem. Are you on the road right now or are you just getting ready to leave?
PS: The first show of the tour that we’re about to do is on Sunday so this is going to be our last rehearsal before we get out there so we’re just trying to juice up our repertoire.
JA: Oh, ok. So what can people expect from this tour? Is it going to be any different from when you guys were touring for your new albums or are you guys going to be doing some new material?
PS: Well we’ve got a couple new songs that we just put out on this new 12’ EP for record store day so that’s got two unreleased songs on it that we’re going to be playing. Well, they’re not unreleased anymore, they were previously unreleased, now they’re released and they’re part of our repertoire. And we’ve got some new cover songs, and the most exciting part is that we actually now know how to play all of our original songs, like all the songs that are on our albums. And that doesn’t seem like such a special thing for a band to do — I recognize that a lot of bands know how to play all their songs all the time, but we’ve turned over line-ups a lot, so this lineup has been the first to have the talent and the commitment to learn all of our songs. So any request that we get we will be prepared to honor, which has almost never been the case with the band before.
JA: Do expect to see the line-up of the band change a little more, or do you think that it’s sort of stabilized now that you have the line-up from the album?
PS: You never know and I’ve learned not to count my chickens in that department but I will say that the line-up of the band that’s in place now has been together for longer than any previous line-up and we’re in the process of making plans for later this year too and everyone’s still in it so this line-up is going to exist for not less than like 18 months, which is crazy for us. The previous longest lasting one was like 11 months.
JA: Now when you say you have plans, is it plans for more show or is it plans for recording?
PS: The plans are for more show, but hopefully after the shows we can get started thinking about another record. But that’s a ways away still. I still need to write a lot of the songs
JA: Do you have anything right now that you’re thinking out that you might try on this tour?
PS: Nah, not for this tour, just the songs from that 12” I mentioned. But since we’re thinking about a tour later this year, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that we’ll have a couple new songs at that point, but we will see.
JA: So this tour is the “Bring Back the Dudes Tour” and you’re doing it with the So So Glos. How did that relationship between your band and the So So Glos start?
PS: We share a practice space with them, in Brooklyn at Shea Stadium. We met right when Titus Andronicus started playing out on the Brooklyn DIY scene. Before that we did most of our shows in Manhattan at like shitty bars and stuff and lame clubs on the lower east side that really had nothing to do with music and were just like beer commercials basically. We found out that there was another scene going on in Brooklyn that was a little more our style and at the very first show on that scene at a place called Don Pedro’s I met three of the So So Glos that night and we played with them our first show together later that month and since then it’s just been love, it’s been a bromance, you know? And it’s great, one of their guitar players, a guy named Matt Elkin, lived with me for about a year and the other three guys lived at Shea Stadium during a period that I also lived there for about two months and so we got very close there too and it’s just a great friendly thing. Oh no, the guys are jamming on “Collective Soul” now. Heaven let your light shine down!
JA: So you mentioned the Brooklyn DIY scene and that’s obviously a big part of Titus Andronicus’ aesthetic being that it’s very DIY and anti-consumerist but at the same time you guy are one of the biggest indie acts in the country and you’re selling thousands of your albums through a pretty big label. So with those two ideas in mind, how have you stayed true to your punk or DIY roots?
PS: I mean that is the eternal question. I should say that calling us one of the biggest indie acts is kind of a massive overstatement, it’s not like we’re Grizzly Bear or something. But it’s a constant struggle; it’s an ongoing question. It’s like this, right: you want to make a piece of art so much so that you don’t want to do anything else and that requires a lot of compromises because art of any kind, be it music or a book or a painting or anything, should be born out of noble artistic intentions. It should be an attempt to achieve a pure artistic expression of self rather than a means to the end of getting a paycheck. And yet at the same time we live on the planet Earth, and what’s more the United State of America and so the dream of living a life that is unbeholden to money is just that: it’s a dream. You’re never going to be able to do that, so your choice becomes do you want to make a certain series of compromises and be able to fully commit yourself to your art or do you want to do you art on the weekends and make your money doing, I don’t know, something else? People seem to have other jobs, but I don’t really understand what they are. For me, it was more important to make my art the focus of my life than it was to completely protect my art from the influence of capitalism, you know?
JA: How did you first get involved with DIY music or punk music or whatever you want to call it? Was it just like you were into punk in high school and it developed naturally form there or was it something different?
PS: That was it, really. Back in high school, we were listening to the Ramones and Sex Pistols, and Rancid and all this stuff and getting into it. And we would start our own punk bands and stuff and we had our own DIY scene in our suburb in New Jersey. By that I mean that we would set our gear up in, like, my mom’s basement and find out whoever it was that was our friend that had, like, a PA system and borrow it and set it up and just invite all our buddies over to dance and sweat the night away. And it was experiences like that that made up fall in love with rock n roll and all the feelings of community and fellowship that go along with it. It was a very pure and innocent time; money wasn’t on anyone’s mind and our parents were there so there wasn’t drinking going on. So that to me was what I liked about rock n’ roll. Doing that stuff and then when we got out of high school and had to kind of go out into the wider world to find places to play and we were playing on the Lower East Side of New York City and stuff, it wasn’t like that at all. It was like this stupid not fun thing with none of your friends. I mean friends would come to our shows, but we were totally un-autonomous and had no control over the situation and like I said everybody was a lot more concerned with the bottom line and that everybody that came in the door drank a certain number of beers. So finding the DIY scene in Brooklyn, which was more about the music, meant that people would come to enjoy music. Even if they didn’t know about the bands, they would just come because it was a happening and stuff was just popping off and it’s cool. It wasn’t about all that stuff I mentioned about those clubs I didn’t like, so to me it was a lot more like high school and reflected the qualities of that experience that were so appealing and important to me in those formative years. So it was like coming home in a way and it was comforting and heartening to see that there was a community in place that valued these kind of things that I had valued when my valuing of them had been leading me to become alienated against the rock n’ roll scene at the time. In finding this home at the Brooklyn DIY scene it was like it just strengthened my values about that stuff.
JA: Do you think that those same values can be found other places, or does Brooklyn have a unique thing going for it?
PS: I think that everybody wants to have the opportunity to achieve the purest level of creativity that they can and everyone wants to have the most control possible over what they put out and how it’s received and in what context. So I think whether or an indie band or a punk band or a rapper or ska or anything, I think that you value these things no matter where you are. It happens that the people in our punk community seem to make a bigger and more explicit deal about it but I think it’s fairly universal.
JA: One of your more famous songs, “A More Perfect Union” isn’t exactly a pro-Boston-area song. Where does that song come from for you? What was your experience up here like?
PS: Well you got to understand, I lived there. When I got out of college in 2008 I was involved with a woman who had been educated up there and wanted to stick around because she had gotten a job in a laboratory because she was a brilliant woman. And I was like well, Titus Andronicus is going to be on tour a lot, so it doesn’t really matter where I live so long as it’s vaguely close to New York, which has long been the home-base, so I was like forget it, I’ll move to Boston for love, and so I did. And then I wrote that song about the feeling of preparing to do that.
JA: So was your experience in Boston what you expected?
PS: I mean I didn’t have a ton of friends, I had like a few friends, but not very many. Like I was friends with the band Hallelujah the Hills and no one else when I lived in Somerville and I went out like once and the rest of the time I was at home watching Ken Burns Civil War movie and thinking about the Civil War album I was writing. Most of the time I just stayed at home watching that amazingly long film, all 11 hours of it, and when I wasn’t doing that I was out on tour with the guys. Then it didn’t really take that long for the woman I was with to figure out that the situation we were in sucked for her and then to give me my walking papers in no uncertain terms and I moved out of Boston. All that happened over the course of like 5 or 6 months and we were doing a lot of touring during that period so I never really got the Boston experience that I felt was coming for me. I do love the city very much and it’s been one of the best markets for the band and people support us there really hard and it’s tight. And our bass player is from western Massachusetts and it’s just popping and it’s cool and so historic, so I’m a fan.
JA: So you’ve mentioned in other interviews that before starting Titus Andronicus that you were on the cusp of joining academia and going to grad school. So what do you think you would be doing if you weren’t in this band right now?
PS: My plan was to be an English teacher and I’m still hoping to go back to that somewhere down the line. I find it quite noble, man. It’s all about the kids, man.
JA: Do you have any other secret interests or hobbies that people might not know about?
PS: I like making movies. Bands come and play at Shea Stadium and I make little movies of them and put them on the Internet. I just put up a bunch of videos on Monday for my weekly feature “Monday content blast”, which you can check out at titusandronicus.net and I got a bunch of videos of Diarrhea Planet which is like my favorite band in the world. That’s my number one hobby, other than music, making movies.
JA: Yeah, I saw the video of you playing Born to Run with Diarrhea Planet. How did that happen, was that sort of a spur of the moment thing?
PS: No, I had an evil scheme that I executed masterfully which is that I saw a video of Diarrhea Planet on the internet doing “Born to Run” with some of the guys from this band from Austin, TX called the Midget Men who are friends of ours as well and I was like, “wooozaa, this is amazing. A pop punk version of ‘Born to Run’? Finally”. And so I texted all of them because I got all their numbers and I said “great ‘Born to Run’ video” and every one of them texted me back in 5 minutes saying “you got to sing it with us when we come to Brooklyn next week” and I knew that they would and I wanted to do it so BOOM. I got it done.
JA: So I think we’re going to have to start wrapping this up since you have to practice but just before you go can you tell people who they can find out when the tour is coming by them?
PS: Yeah, you know just do the same thing you do to get any of our cool content information: you just go to titusandronicus.net or look at @titusandronicus on Twitter and it’s all up there. It’s 2013, baby!
Spotlight: Treat Cupcake Bar
It’s cupcake heaven at Treat./PHOTO VIA Heather Hamacek
By Heather Hamacek, Staff Writer
@HeatherHamacek
Cupcakes are delicious; there is no denying that. Probably because they’re miniature cakes! Everything tastes better when it is miniature. Treat Cupcake Bar, which recently opened a location in Chestnut Hill, knew exactly how to take a cupcake shop to the next level. The customer becomes part of the experience at Treat’s make-your-own-cupcake bar, where customers are able to mix three toppings of their choice to create a custom frosting, much like Cold Stone Creamery. The custom-made frosting then tops a cupcake of the customer’s choosing.
Not only do the customers get control of the components of the cupcake, they can even do the mixing themselves if they want! Customers then get a naked cupcake, a cup of frosting and their three chosen toppings to mix in and design.
“Treat is focusing on the fact that everyone loves cupcakes. Our initial branding was more kid-oriented,” said Adie Sprague, head baker and general manager. “A lot of cupcake stores target adults with nostalgia, [but] we went right [back] to the beginning. It doesn’t have to have a nostalgic vibe, it [cupcakes] can just be fun.”
Treat mixes a fun activity along with a delicious treat, making it an excellent place to visit after dinner or on a date. The pre-made cupcake flavors are quite ingenious, ranging from Fluffernutter to seasonal treats, like Sprague’s favorite, Blueberry Pancakes.
Treat caters in addition to having a café. It has two locations currently, the new shop at The Street— an outdoor collection of shops and eateries in Chestnut Hill— and the original shop is based in Needham.
Science Tuesday: Shape-shifting smartphones
By Christina Janansky
@cjanansky
And you thought this kind of phone was shape-shifting/ PHOTO VIA Flickr user Cobalt123
As citizens of the 21st century, we have the technological world at our feet.
And that world of technology may soon be in the palms of our hands.
At the 2013 CHI conference in Paris, a team of computer scientists from the University of Bristol’s Department of Computer Science introduced a series of shape-shifting smartphones called “Morphees.”
Morphees, according to an article in Discovery News, are “Transformer-like” mobile devices that can condense several technological devices into one. While Morphees are still in their primary stages, future models will be able to shift shapes to accommodate your everyday needs. This can range from normal cellphone activity to a using the device as a gaming console.
And just when you thought cellphones couldn’t get any fancier…
Researchers have developed six new prototypes of Morphees and are hoping to finalize a device in the near future. These prototypes were made out of a variety of materials including plastic, paper and wood. Prototypes also contained shape-changing materials and shape-memory alloys.
Although these materials seem hardly fit for a smartphone, researchers have tested numerous materials to develop potential concepts for future models.
Along with a variety of materials, the research team is also considering different shapes for the product. In order to give these devices more affordance –- or, in other words, the capability of an object to tell you how it would like to be used — researchers are entertaining a doorknob-like shape, which will fit nicely in a cupped hand and allow the holder to turn, push or pull it.
While the concept is still in its primary stages, we can look forward to a new generation of gadgets that will transform we utilize our everyday activities.
MUSE: My love affair with Fort Point
By Brooke Jackson-Glidden, MUSE Editor
There’s a tiny foodie mecca hidden across the bay, a five- to ten-minute walk from South Station. Perhaps you’ve seen it on a visit to the ICA or the Atlantic Wharf. It’s a bizarre contrast between modern Los Angeles glass and classic Boston brick architecture: the waterside docks perfect for a quick dip of the toes, the restaurants for miles, indie gourmet groceries and Asian-fusion small plates.
Also known as the Innovative District, Fort Point has been exploding with new restaurants. In March alone, three different food vendors opened in the area, alongside half of Barbara Lynch’s tiny empire (Sportello, Menton and Drink). Here’s your quick guide to eating your way through Fort Point:
The Blue Dragon is a more than appropriate place to sit back and relax after a long day./PHOTO VIA Brooke Jackson-Glidden
Blue Dragon: Ming Tsai’s Asian Small Plates are a hit since opening earlier this year. His second restaurant, Tsai, keeps his atmosphere casual and fun, with tasty Asian twists on classic gastropub fare.
CHECK OUT: The escargot, dan dan noodles, shepard’s pie, and the Dragon burger
Tavern Road: This modern edition to “Restaurant Row” (Congress St., over the river) serves cool small(ish) plates late at night, with a very young atmosphere and innovative menu.
CHECK OUT: The moulard duck, grilled octopus, and the gnocchi
Sportello: Barbara Lynch’s take on a diner. This “Italian lunch counter” serves sandwiches and homemade pastas that will make your head spin.
CHECK OUT: The gnocchi, the spicy tomato soup, and the sweetbreads
Other than the Bee’s Knees, where else can you find so diverse a selection?/PHOTO VIA Brooke Jackson-Glidden
Bee’s Knees: This gourmet grocery opened last month, and we’re so glad. Bee’s Knees offers a wide variety of locally and internationally sourced cheese, produce, wine, and other food items that are sure to make any foodie smile.
CHECK OUT: The cheese selection, the café
Flour: Almost everyone knows and loves Joanne Chang’s popular indie bakery, but most of them didn’t know it was located in this tiny foodie paradise.
CHECK OUT: “Pop Tarts”, sandwiches, and sticky buns
COMING SOON: Row 34, Pastoral
MUSE: Green Monsters: A Love Letter to Avocados
By Danielle Focarile, Staff Writer
I like you in any shape or form, Avocado./PHOTO VIA Flickr user Communications Mann
Dear Avocados,
Let me ask you a rhetorical question: why are you so delicious? I know I’ll never receive an answer from you, so let me tell you my theory. You are the perfect balance of creamy, fresh and bright. You are good on a sandwich, on salad or as a dip. You are as versatile as you are tasty. With you, I can make flavorful guacamole or a healthy and smooth pesto. Whether a Haas, Reed or Fuerte, your smooth green goodness makes any dish better.
It saddens me that your silky and rich flesh is only in-season during the spring (so I will have to stock up now). It makes no difference to me if you are from the East Coast (Florida) or the West Coast (California); any coast that has you is the best coast.
Are you a fruit or a vegetable? Does it really matter? Avocado and bacon, avocado and crab, avocado and corn are some of my favorite ways to eat you. Not only are you yummy and good for my health – as you are filled with Omega-3’s – but you also have magical effects to make hair shiny and face smooth.
So, even as the spring comes to an end and the warm temperatures of summer rolls in, just know that I am waiting to see you at Shaw’s next year.
Always,
An Avocado Enthusiast
Spotlight: Creative Minds Across Campus
By Alexandra Diantgikis, Staff Writer
@adiantgikis
Science Tuesday: The ‘Girlfriend Coat’ offers synthetic affection
By Christina Janansky
@cjanansky
Suffering from a fresh breakup?
Fearsome of dying alone?
Worried you will replace your loneliness with dozens of cats?
Well, no need to fear— the new “girlfriend coat” is here.
The girlfriend coat— a new development by a team of students at the University of Tsukuba in Japan— won’t ever cheat on you or leave you!
According to a Discovery News article, you simply put the hooded toggle coat on and fasten its lime green nylon belt around your waist. The coat contains a mechanical device on the back of the waist that tightens the belt to simulate the feeling of a hug.
Interesting? Yes. Strange? Most definitely.
It gets even creepier: the jacket also has an audio component. The wearer of the girlfriend coat simply plugs in a set of headphones. When the coat “hugs” it also emits a female voice that says “I’m sorry! I’m late!”
In Japan, the girlfriend coat is actually called the “Riajyuu Coat,” which is Japanese slang for “someone who is pleased with their life outside the Internet.”
No— this is not a joke, though developers laughed at themselves at the creation, as seen in the video.
However, the girlfriend coat won’t hit the markets just yet. As of now, the girlfriend coat remains a concept device and is not for sale.
So hold onto your loneliness and find yourself a cuddle buddy until then.
You can check it out in this YouTube video:
MUSE: Travel back in time at the ‘Samurai!’ exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts
By Deborah Wong, Staff Writer
@deb_wong_
The single sword that stood out from the rest of the ‘Samurai!’ Collection at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts/ PHOTO BY Deborah Wong, Staff
As you enter the ‘Samurai!’ exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, you face three formidable samurai armors. These armors symbolize courage, skills and status in Japanese society. You initially stare in fear at the dragon-shaped horns on the helmet, the protruding nose on the mask and the gold-encrusted swirls on the chest piece. But after understanding that every minuscule detail has a function and meaning, you stare in awe at these majestic Samurais– the military elite of Japan.
The exquisite art of these Japanese warriors fascinate collectors Ann and Gabriel Barbier-Mueller— so much so that eventually expanded their collection into The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum in Dallas, Texas. ‘Samurai!’ shares a selection of these artifacts with Bostonians, illustrating the evolution of these fearsome fighters from the 12th to the 19th century. The samurai is still widely talked about today, and their skills continue to inspire multiple Eastern sports and martial arts. The samurai— with their truly remarkable finesse— are praised for their honorable code based on the seven essential virtues: honesty, courage, respect, benevolence, rectitude, honor and loyalty.
The opening of the collection introduces the overall history of these highly trained combatants. Three soldiers stand erect in full uniform, clutching their weapons: chest armor, footwear, a mask, a helmet, a bow and arrow and a thin sword. Their posture resembles a Buckingham palace guard, but you wouldn’t want to stand too close to these men should they to come to life. As you continue along, parts of the armor are separated for you to analyze each of the traditional opera-like masks, the vibrant horse saddles and the daunting helmets.
The Shogun, or warlords, described the sword as “the soul of the samurai,” but surprisingly there aren’t many swords at the MFA. In fact; only one sword stood out from the whole collection. The single sword was placed in a glass box, almost like it was levitating in the middle of the room. The gold on the handle and the bronze pieces radiated, causing anyone who entered this room to approach the thin piece of steel. Museum guests could not take their eyes off the detailed gold leaves and the shiny lacquer. I applaud them for this intriguing, alluring display of the soul of these fighters.
But hands down, the helmets stole the spotlight; the intricate engravings of the iron and steel are absolutely breathtaking. Certain carved shapes and pieces reveal Japanese beliefs and superstitions. For example, one helmet had what looked like Bugs Bunny ears planted on the top. Since the metal looks extremely long and heavy the design may seem to hinder the warrior’s performance when fighting, but those hare ears symbolize longevity.
Once you step to the next helmet, you’re faced with one that is adorned with little flames on the side and on the top to represent the Buddhist doctrine. Besides that, the pendant for the goddess of archers is emblazoned on the forehead of the helmet. Every little detail matters in the construction of these uniforms.
However the exhibition did not provide any description of the fighting styles of the samurai. They are trained to be precise in their fighting technique yet they also carry some form of art in their movements. The benefit of omitting the gory war scenes is to allow the viewers to imagine for themselves on how these samurai perform on and off the battlefield when they strap on their armors. Plus, with just the artifacts on display, it reminds the audience that they’re not just bloodthirsty killers— they carry some form of grace.
Nonetheless I would personally love to view some aspects of their training. There seems to be a gap in their display of the growth of the start of the samurai’s journey as a 12-year-old boy to the time when he vows to follow bushido, a code to fight and to accept death.
The names and the classes of the samurai may be confusing but, overall the exhibition was able to illuminate on their transformation from generation to generation, providing sufficient background on the cultural and doctrinal beliefs, the military history of them, their feudal lords, and the creation of each individual masterpiece.
The samurai celebrated “tango-no-sekku” to remind the young men of their importance of their samurai status. Now the stories of these Japanese elite fighters aren’t only shared among young men, but among people of all ages. Go see the MFA version of tango-no-sekku where they remind everyone of these revered and warriors.
The ‘Samurai!’ exhibition will run at the MFA through Aug. 4.
Spotlight: Condom Couture
By Heather Hamacek, Staff Writer
What is one to expect from an event called Condom Couture? Well, condoms for one, and fashion for another. Boston University’s chapter of Face Aids, an organization that helps fight HIV/AIDs in Africa and advocates for safe sex held the university’s first Condom Couture last Thursday night.
The event worked to de-stigmatize condoms and safe sex culture as much as it worked to raise money for Face AIDS.
Dresses, skirts and a jacket made of condoms were strutted down the makeshift runway constructed in the Jacob Sleeper Auditorium while two drag queens, Liza Lott and Ms. Kris Knievil, provided crude-humored commentary and kept the audience involved and laughing.
The judges, including some professors from BU, gave advice to the crowd before the models walked.
“Don’t ever use a condom without lube,” said Sophie Godley, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences.
Alfredo Hernandez, another judge, said, “do not stop having sex, by yourselves or with some else. Don’t stop. Do it safely.”
Jeremy Meltzer, one of the co-founders of BU’s Face Aids chapter said condoms do not even faze him anymore.
“The condoms are fun,” he said as he washed the lubrication off one in his sink. “You can make many condom jokes. 12,000 condoms, I’m always safe. Silly stuff like that.”
Meredith Hoobler, one of the designers and the winner of the fashion show said she has been walking around with condoms falling out of her bag since she got her first allotment of 600 condoms.
“I think it’s a really interesting conversation starter and topic,” said Hoober. “You never know, it tends to come out, something will just fall out of my bag. It tends to make life more interesting I guess during the day because people will be like ‘how’s the condom dress’ and others will do like six double takes. So I think that’s fun.”
Condom Couture is planning to become an annual event. It is definitely one worth going to.
MUSE: A review of Cloud Cult at Brighton Music Hall
By Sydney Moyer, Staff Writer
Cloud Cult violinist Shannon Frid-Rubin at the concert at Brighton Music Hall/ PHOTO BY Sydney Moyer
Last Wednesday, when my friend told a friend of hers that we were going to see Cloud Cult at Brighton Music Hall, he responded, “One of the best REAL POSITIVE live shows u can see!” After seeing the Minneapolis-based experimental indie act, I can think of no description more fitting.
Cloud Cult has been compared to the likes of Radiohead and Modest Mouse, but neither is really sufficient to encapsulate the band’s sound or attitude. The Brighton Music Hall show featured an eight-person band, complete with strings, horns, and, most notably, two painters who begin the show with blank canvases and end up with gorgeous, musically driven works of art that are auctioned off at the end of the show.
While Cloud Cult is perhaps most renowned for their paintings, the band truly is one of the most real, positive acts out there. The band filled the venue with a pack of devoted fans who shouted along every word to singer Craig Minowa’s poignant lyrics, many of which were inspired by the unexpected death of he and his wife Connie Minowa’s two year old son in 2002. Many Cloud Cult songs revolve around existential notions of life and death, but lack the banality that usually accompanies such grandiose subject matter (e.g. “And even though I don’t know God / I’m happy with the mystery / And I’m certain that I feel it / Every time that you sing to me”).
This band is all about staying positive through the shit, and translating that element into a live show was certainly an incredible phenomenon to witness. Minowa’s energy proved infectious and palpable as he jumped around the stage barefoot, winding his way through old crowd favorites as well as equally strong new tracks off of the band’s latest album, Love.
At the end of the night, two paintings stood before me: on the left, Connie Minowa, one of the bands two painters, had painted an impressionistic rendition of two small figures standing alone in a brightly colored forest. On the right, Scott West had painted a woman with eyes closed, colorful bubbles of what I supposed were dreams rising out of her skull. While I can’t exactly articulate why, those visuals will come closer to capturing Cloud Cult’s live sound more than these words ever will. I can only end by saying that I go to so many shows that very few of them leave me affected— but this one will stay with me, and should you ever see them yourself, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
