From: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org (alloy-digest) To: alloy-digest@smoe.org Subject: alloy-digest V11 #96 Reply-To: alloy@smoe.org Sender: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-alloy-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk X-To-Unsubscribe: Send mail to "alloy-digest-request@smoe.org" X-To-Unsubscribe: with "unsubscribe" as the body. alloy-digest Friday, April 14 2006 Volume 11 : Number 096 Today's Subjects: ----------------- RE: Alloy: Going to the show! [Keith Stansell ] Alloy: First Show of the Tour! [CJMark@aol.com] RE: Alloy: First Show of the Tour! ["Tim Dunn" ] Re: Alloy: First Show of the Tour! [Elaine ] Re: Alloy: First Show of the Tour! [CJMark@aol.com] Re: Alloy: First Show of the Tour! [CJMark@aol.com] Alloy: First Gig Review - NO spoilers [Elaine ] Re: Alloy: First Gig Review - NO spoilers [Melissa Jordan ] Alloy: AWESOME concert reviews, peeps--thanks!! :^) ["Kara R. Laidlaw" Subject: RE: Alloy: Going to the show! Sorry to brag. I was so excited that the airfare landed at my feet with the opportunity to go. I just couldn't stand hearing talk about the 'Soul Inhabitant Tour' without seeing it forr myself. I'll try to provide some near real-time updates with pictures again. This time I have a better camera in my phone, so they should be a bit clearer. - -Keith - -----Original Message----- From: johnmcjunkin@cox.net To: alloy@smoe.org Sent: 4/12/06 3:10 PM Subject: Re: Alloy: Going to the show! I'm trying SO hard not to envy you, Keith!!! jm > > From: "Keith Stansell" > Date: 2006/04/12 Wed PM 03:26:14 EDT > To: > Subject: Alloy: Going to the show! > > > Thanks to a last minute low airfare and tax refund, I'll be going to San > Francisco show this weekend. > > Is anyone on the list going to that show that I met at the LA area shows? > > -Keith in Denver > The original Sole Inhabitant ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 04:33:43 EDT From: CJMark@aol.com Subject: Alloy: First Show of the Tour! It was Amazing! With a capital A.. I am still stunned and dazed from the show. I had the fortune to meet the friendliest Alloy folks.. Elaine and her husband Chris for dinner before the show begain.. and as we ordered the lovely Monya arrived to join us. Meanwhile.. Warren called on his way from the airport and said he couldn't make it in time for dinner.. but 45 minutes later.. just as we were ready to go into the theater section of the House of Blues, Warren arrived. Timing is everything! There was a solo singer/guitarist before Thomas. The poor guy had a thankless job.. and most the growing audience was talking and comparing thoughts about the coming hours of concert instead of listening to him play. Then he was done.. and the crowd drew in closer to the stage.. but no one was pressing in or pushing. It was well filled but not too crowded.. which was great! Shortly thereafter.. the lights dimmed and the curtain opened. And there.. bathed in eerie blue light.. oversized trenchcoat wrapped around him like a cocoon.. stood our hero! Goggles.. headset.. cameras.. gizmos and wires.. all draping from his head. So awesome. Of course the crowd went nuts.. He started in without saying a word.. Leipzig! So cool.. those of us not fortunate enough to see him last January.. stood marveling at the fact that we'd waited all these years.. and finally.. there he was.. singing the songs.. playing the instruments. Just mind boggling. My mind goes into overload when I try to remember it all. The songs rolled out.. Elaine will give us the exact list and order of events.. she was taking notes right on the front edge of the stage.. only feet away from HIS feet! I think one of my favorite moments came about 20 seconds into "Budapest by Blimp".. when he hit one of his keyboards and didn't like what came out. He stopped everything.. smiled and apologized to us.. flipped a few switches and then started the song again. So cool. He seemed relaxed but I could tell he was working hard to tame all the wild computers and synths surrounding him. But tame them he did.. gracefully.. artfully.. wonderfully! As much as I was hoping for some new material.. it was still awesome to hear all the songs I've been listening to for over 20 years.. not really imagining that one day I'd be seeing and hearing him deliver the lyrics personally! Since it was his first night of the tour.. I think he had a few glitches that he'll try to mend in the coming performances. Now I am immensely pleased that I returned from Bangkok for this! And to think that I still have two more to go.. it will take me weeks to recover! And.. wait till you get near the end of the show.. when he hits some notes that you will not expect to hear! And even though many of the songs were from Thomas' early career.. he has brought them up to date.. making them sound modern and powerful.. enthusiastic and timeless. Amazing.. I hope you can all find a way to see this tour.. and more than that I hope it won't be his last! Going to sleep with sweet dreams of Dolby music.. and a stiff neck from gazing up at Mr. Dolby all night!! G'nite all.. Mark ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 09:45:42 +0100 From: "Tim Dunn" Subject: RE: Alloy: First Show of the Tour! Amazing! Someone post some pics quick! More details please! Was there a band or just him, and how on EARTH did he play Budapest live? It's always been my favourite Dolby number but I can't imagine it without 30,000 football fans and Hungarian opera company!?!?! Tim ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 05:28:54 -0700 (PDT) From: Elaine Subject: Re: Alloy: First Show of the Tour! Here is what I just posted to the official site. I crashed when I got home, around 1:30 a.m., sorry :) Now it's 5 a.m. and I woke up! Too much excitement. Since it's not here I'll post the set list, then embellish on it after a few more hours of sleep. Set List Spoiling Away: Leipzig One of our Submarines I Live in a Suitcase Flying North Budapest by Blimp (yes, you heard me) Windpower Europa and the Pirate Twins Hyperactive She Blinded Me With Science and the encore was Airhead! but..have I messed it up and did he also perform "The Ability to Swing?" Or was that part of the drive down there. heh..need more sleep ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 12:22:17 EDT From: CJMark@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: First Show of the Tour! Hey Elaine.. Sleep some more.. The Ability to Swing was not sung live last night.. must have been on your drive home while you were still in a state of shock! :-D Mark In a message dated 4/13/06 5:51:24 AM, elaine@qnet.com writes: > > > Leipzig > One of our Submarines > I Live in a Suitcase > Flying North > Budapest by Blimp (yes, you heard me) > Windpower > Europa and the Pirate Twins > Hyperactive > She Blinded Me With Science > > and the encore was Airhead! > > but..have I messed it up and did he also perform "The Ability to Swing?" > Or was that part of the drive down there. > > heh..need more sleep ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 13:23:08 EDT From: CJMark@aol.com Subject: Re: Alloy: First Show of the Tour! Well.. Tim.. House of Blues does not allow photos or video. However.. Monya was surepticiously snapping a few.. so Monya.. we are all waiting!! I'll try to get some photos tonight at the Key Club in Hollywood. No band.. it's Thomas all alone.. surrounded by keyboards.. gadgets.. cameras.. racks of gear.. and behind him a huge screen that projects various images and then is often intercut with the cameras he has mounted near him or else to the camera he wears attached to his headphones. So you can occasionally get a Thomas' eye view of his keyboards.. and you can watch his hands playing on the screen.. And yes.. he did manage to do a great version of Budapest by Blimp.. also one of my favorites.. complete with the French dialogue and at the end we tried to help him with the sound of the stadium crowd.. sadly we didn't give it quite the power that it has on the original version.. but it still sounded awesome! I'll try better tonight!! The Southern California portion of the tour also features Colin Hay and his band.. who played after Thomas. It was very interesting to see the contrast between the two. Colin has more or less a standard band arrangement.. a lead guitarist.. keyboard player.. drummer.. bass player and a kind of throw back hippy looking female singer/dancer at his side.. while he plays guitar, too. His songs are cool.. and his voice still rings in that unique sound that only Colin Hay has. However.. his show was more or less the standard kind of show.. with him as the center focus. Thomas steps things into the future.. by including all the cameras.. the video screen.. the synth and computer driven sound.. partially pre-programmed songs and yet he can also build them on the fly. It's really a one man show.. but it just seems to be so futuristic.. so far advanced in the presentation. Even though Thomas has always been very visually oriented in his presentation.. this show seems to be an extension of that thinking.. brought down to a very personal level. It works great! And a side note.. our evening was launched splendidly last night as we had our first drinks before dinner and the show. We were sitting near the door to the restaurant.. and Elaine was keeping an eye toward the door to watch for Monya and Warren.. both of whom were yet to arrive. Suddenly.. she says.. "Here comes Thomas!" Chris and I look over and see a guy with no hair.. a rather protrubing belly and dressed like a tourist. "That's not Thomas" we think.. but just as quickly.. the tourist steps aside and right behind him is indeed Mr. Dolby.. followed closely by Lunesse from the Flat Earth List. They walk in nonchalant.. rolling travel bags behind them.. and coming right in the front door of the club.. arriving at our table with our probably stunned, jaw dropped faces. Thomas casually stops and just says "Hi.. how are you?" I think he recognized Elaine and Chris from the January show. We catch our collective breaths and say "Hello!!.. great to see you.. etc.." After chatting for a moment Thomas and Lunesse head toward the theater and we turn back to our food which somehow tastes so much better now.. the night is already amazing! Lunesse is operating the T-shirt and CD concession for Thomas.. and when you buy an item your reciept may or may not have a purple imprint on it. If you are lucky enough to get a reciept with the imprint.. it allows you a trip backstage after the concert to meet Mr. Dolby. I bought a copy of "Retrospectacle" since it is the only album I don't yet own. But alas.. no purple imprint. I'll have to buy a T-shirt tonight in Hollywood.. and another tomorrow night at the Canyon Club.. just to increase my chances of success! Wish me luck! I'll try to give more description tomorrow.. my fingers are tired!! Mark In a message dated 4/13/06 1:50:12 AM, tim@migcan.com writes: > > Amazing! Someone post some pics quick! > > More details please! Was there a band or just him, and how on EARTH did > he play Budapest live? It's always been my favourite Dolby number but I > can't imagine it without 30,000 football fans and Hungarian opera > company!?!?! > > Tim ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 13:34:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Elaine Subject: Alloy: First Gig Review - NO spoilers Sorry this is late...busy morning out here. I thought I'd write down my impressions while they're still fresh. I'm not sure where to start. Thomas does all the same songs as from the January gigs, plus four more (total of 10 last night). The addition of the big screen element to his show is STUNNING. I think I mean that literally. During the first number the front row folks must have been staring straight up at it -- to the point where he paused at one point, turned around and looked up at it himself. I don't know if he was goofin' on us or curious what we found so mesmerizing, but it was funny. There were a few glitches in the execution of some songs, which of course we all didn't mind. It ended up with a feel of 'friends watching a friend,' which is what it was, right? :) Starting and stopping a couple of times didn't bother anyone who's hung in for fifteen years, that's for sure! Some details, without spoiling the set list: A dude behind me to my right shouted "Science!" after the first number, and Thomas dutifully responded with, "there's one in every crowd!" and a grin. Audience members over on the stage right area kept shouting obnoxious stuff like "take off your coat!" and shouting song titles at him. That was annoying for me, but Thomas just ignored them. At several points during the performance Thomas made various gestures toward his rig -- such as bringing his hands together in prayer before hitting go. He also would roll his eyes, smile enormously when it behaved, throw up his hands in mock desperation, shrug and grin, bow toward the audience in HIS thanks, lots of that sort of thing. He's a really humble performer and it makes for a great mutual admiration-style, give-and-take feel. You can tell that he wants his audience to feel that they're part of his performance. Everyone could NOT have been nicer. I mean that. I didn't meet up with a single cranky person. Even the shouters weren't bad people. It was great in that regard. The low bass in ..selection title #2... was so low and Thomas was pushing so much air, the floor and stage vibrated. My jeans vibrated separately from my legs, is how low the resonance was. It was AWESOME, PEOPLE! I couldn't figure out if it was due to my being center stage, and midway between the biggest loudspeakers, but I think it was just That Much Air moving. But, it wasn't like it was unbearably loud. I never wore earplugs all night (and suffered no ill effects from same). Someone with acoustic expertise could perhaps explain this phenomenon better. The choices of visual cues (for the big screen) were really varied! They ranged from the sublime and mood-enhancing to literal, to some being a little cliche (well, it's true), and others being straight out of his videos. The best visuals were of the live Thomas looking at his own hands and out into the crowd. He also had a little round camera on the rig, looking up at him from his keyboard, which made for some interesting shots. At first, there was a slight delay, but later the A/V ran more or less in-time. He has GOT to be pushing the limits of this gear. It's mind-boggling to imagine what he has to be thinking about and keeping up with as he goes. Oh, and whatever he said on his blog, about the genius of his video man is hereby seconded. That guy's amazing. If I had one chance to make a suggestion it would be this: More Thomas, less of the outside images. And #2, more importantly: bring back the monitor!! We really missed not being able to see the loops being born and running. And dying as the case might be. :-) He has it on his keyboard now. It's smaller and you get to see it second-hand when he focuses his Thomas-Eye-Cam on it, but it's not the same. Then again, there's probably a maximum amount of gear he can make visible, so I understand totally if that's the reason it was moved. Another thing I noticed: it took very little time to reset the stage between Thomas and Colin. I remember the wait between Dramarama and English Beat to be interminable. Last night, they didn't dork around making the audience amuse itself. Bravo for that, all of you! I will stop now and let you digest it. I could go on! So many details! It was so great, you guys. I'm serious: make it your mission to see his show, especially if you couldn't see the warmups two months ago. You won't regret it. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 14:09:54 -0700 (PDT) From: Melissa Jordan Subject: Re: Alloy: First Gig Review - NO spoilers Thank you, Elaine. I can't wait for May!!! Melissa http://merujo.blogspot.com Elaine wrote: Sorry this is late...busy morning out here. I thought I'd write down my impressions while they're still fresh. I'm not sure where to start. Thomas does all the same songs as from the January gigs, plus four more (total of 10 last night). The addition of the big screen element to his show is STUNNING. I think I mean that literally. During the first number the front row folks must have been staring straight up at it -- to the point where he paused at one point, turned around and looked up at it himself. I don't know if he was goofin' on us or curious what we found so mesmerizing, but it was funny. There were a few glitches in the execution of some songs, which of course we all didn't mind. It ended up with a feel of 'friends watching a friend,' which is what it was, right? :) Starting and stopping a couple of times didn't bother anyone who's hung in for fifteen years, that's for sure! Some details, without spoiling the set list: A dude behind me to my right shouted "Science!" after the first number, and Thomas dutifully responded with, "there's one in every crowd!" and a grin. Audience members over on the stage right area kept shouting obnoxious stuff like "take off your coat!" and shouting song titles at him. That was annoying for me, but Thomas just ignored them. At several points during the performance Thomas made various gestures toward his rig -- such as bringing his hands together in prayer before hitting go. He also would roll his eyes, smile enormously when it behaved, throw up his hands in mock desperation, shrug and grin, bow toward the audience in HIS thanks, lots of that sort of thing. He's a really humble performer and it makes for a great mutual admiration-style, give-and-take feel. You can tell that he wants his audience to feel that they're part of his performance. Everyone could NOT have been nicer. I mean that. I didn't meet up with a single cranky person. Even the shouters weren't bad people. It was great in that regard. The low bass in ..selection title #2... was so low and Thomas was pushing so much air, the floor and stage vibrated. My jeans vibrated separately from my legs, is how low the resonance was. It was AWESOME, PEOPLE! I couldn't figure out if it was due to my being center stage, and midway between the biggest loudspeakers, but I think it was just That Much Air moving. But, it wasn't like it was unbearably loud. I never wore earplugs all night (and suffered no ill effects from same). Someone with acoustic expertise could perhaps explain this phenomenon better. The choices of visual cues (for the big screen) were really varied! They ranged from the sublime and mood-enhancing to literal, to some being a little cliche (well, it's true), and others being straight out of his videos. The best visuals were of the live Thomas looking at his own hands and out into the crowd. He also had a little round camera on the rig, looking up at him from his keyboard, which made for some interesting shots. At first, there was a slight delay, but later the A/V ran more or less in-time. He has GOT to be pushing the limits of this gear. It's mind-boggling to imagine what he has to be thinking about and keeping up with as he goes. Oh, and whatever he said on his blog, about the genius of his video man is hereby seconded. That guy's amazing. If I had one chance to make a suggestion it would be this: More Thomas, less of the outside images. And #2, more importantly: bring back the monitor!! We really missed not being able to see the loops being born and running. And dying as the case might be. :-) He has it on his keyboard now. It's smaller and you get to see it second-hand when he focuses his Thomas-Eye-Cam on it, but it's not the same. Then again, there's probably a maximum amount of gear he can make visible, so I understand totally if that's the reason it was moved. Another thing I noticed: it took very little time to reset the stage between Thomas and Colin. I remember the wait between Dramarama and English Beat to be interminable. Last night, they didn't dork around making the audience amuse itself. Bravo for that, all of you! I will stop now and let you digest it. I could go on! So many details! It was so great, you guys. I'm serious: make it your mission to see his show, especially if you couldn't see the warmups two months ago. You won't regret it. - --------------------------------- New Yahoo! Messenger with Voice. Call regular phones from your PC and save big. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 19:16:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Elaine Subject: Re: Alloy: First Gig Review - NO spoilers You're welcome -- and I wish I could provide even more atmosphere. On that note, Key Club's doors are probably opening right now as we converse! ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 22:59:37 -0500 From: "Kara R. Laidlaw" Subject: Alloy: AWESOME concert reviews, peeps--thanks!! :^) Thank you, Mark and Elaine...gosh, it was just like being there...well, sorta kinda. ;^) Closest I'll get for now, anyway. So Thomas' new Mac G5 nearly blew a gasket, huh? I guess he's pushing it to its absolute limit!!! Ah, Thomas Dolby, the ideal product tester...putting electronics through their paces since, oh, 1968 or so? [if he started with the tinkering when he was about 10--suddenly radios and things in the Robertson household probably started vanishing, and all that remained where they used to be were components...geez, I don't even know if radios back then were *considered* electronics or not! Hmmmm, maybe the radio in question has to contain a circuit board to be considered an "electronic" device?! ;^)]. And it's about darn *time* that Apple started consulting with our Thomas the Musical Genius! :^) It's only logical, and very, very cool. :^) Love and the high-tech glow of backlit screens in the darkness [I love that], Kara :^) It's All About the Music. :^) ------------------------------ End of alloy-digest V11 #96 ***************************