Yo La Tengo (Helsinki)
Two sets, one quiet covering their new album, one loud covering 30 years of groovy feedback drone. A pleasure to hear them in a smaller venue again.
James McMurtry (Hangar)
Mr. McMurtry played through most of Complicated Game and his “greatest hits” to a reasonably full house with a too chatty crowd. In case you were wondering, he still remembers all the words to Choctaw Bingo. Michael Eck and Sten Isachsen opened.
Indian Head
4,000 ft shorts and t-shirt weather continues through December… Platte Cove trailhead loop up and over Indian Head back via Devil’s Path.
Trail Info Here
Punch Brothers (Troy Savings Bank)
Gabriel Kahane opened with humor, humorous music and serious music from his album Ambassador. Then five virtuosos with five glasses of whiskey making the complex look easy. Does it make me a groupie if I go to Bearsville on Monday…?
Tedeschi Trucks Band (The Egg)
TU Review here. I would only add that a 12 piece band in the Hart theater did not need that level of amplification. The only room for their fff was a prison of white noise. But what do I know, I’m old. Get off my lawn. Highlight was Susan Tedeschi playing with the quartet; musical guitar solo, amazing voice. Deva Mahal opened with a giant voice of her own.
Hunter Mountain
200 years of taking a giant dump on the planet have finally paid off. We can now wander at 4000 ft in the Catskills in mid-December comfortably wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Becker Hollow Trail to the summit fire tower. As we haven’t figured out how to change the earth’s orbit for more daylight, opted out of doing the full loop to Spruceton Rd. Headed toward West Kill and turned back on the Devil’s Path past the freshly cleaned Devil’s Acre lean-to. Out at the Devil’s Tombstone campground, 2 miles on the road back. Might be my new favorite hike.
Mary Halvorson + Colin Marston (EMPAC)
Disparate solo sets from Mary Halvorson and Colin Marston. Mary Halvorson covered original arrangements of compositions ranging from Noel Akchote to McCoy Tyner from her latest solo record Meltframe. A treat to see her technique and technology in person. Colin Marston bathed the room in computerized synth pad heavy on major seconds and sevenths, then manipulated piano improvised anonymously (who was that woman?) using distortion and loop pedals. A two handed tapped bass solo closed the set.
Upper and Lower Wolf Jaw
Annual Thanksgiving hike. Plan was to ditch my stuff at the Wolf Jaws lean-to and climb Upper Wolf Jaw to Armstrong and maybe Gothics then come down and spend the night. That did not work out… the Southside trail is no longer being maintained, which meant using the Johns Brook trail to the outpost. I should have taken the short left on the Southside over to the Great Range trail, but instead went up the Ore Bed Brook trail toward Saddleback to get the Woodsfall trail. The Wolf Jaw lean-to has been moved down from the Woodsfall/Great Range trail junction to halfway to the Southside trail junction. This meant going down about .3 mile and then back, so I kept going. At about 3500 ft, trail became icy enough for microspikes. About .3 miles from the summit of Upper Wolf Jaw the trail was iced over rock outcroppings I couldn’t get up with my full pack on. Went up Lower Wolf Jaw and out. Doing it in October next time…
Dave and Phil Alvin with the Guilty Ones (The Hollow Bar)
Topping the extraordinary musical week in the Capital District which included Fred Eaglesmith at Helsinki, Ray Wylie Hubbard at the Hangar, the Alvin brothers blew the roof off the Hollow. Holy crap.
Yo La Tengo with Dave Schramm (Troy Savings Bank)
Billed as an acoustic show, presumably to scare off those who expected 15 minute feedback solos, but Dave Schramm plugged in his informed guitar to make the evening exceptional.
