Posts Tagged "nista"
Snarky Puppy and Nista on Thursday!!
Hey hey hey.
I’m fucking excited for Thursday cause one of my favorite bands is playing with one of my other favorite bands on the same night – AT THE SAME FUCKING SHOW.
Snarky Puppy and NISTA!!
Snarky Puppy is an FUCKING awesome band. Here’s a little press release-y paragraph on them:
An animal as innovative and engaging as its 3 generations of legendary musicians, Ropeadope Digital recording artist Snarky Puppy has one of the freshest sounds in the world of instrumental music today. It is a gathering place for the best that Dallas has to offer, from the unparalleled genius of keyboardist Bernard Wright (Miles Davis, Chaka Khan) to the raw groove and vibrant spirit of Grammy Award-winning drummer/keyboardist Robert “Sput” Searight (Erykah Badu, Snoop Dogg) to the hunger and passion of its young founders. This convergence of different cultures, races, ages, and musical backgrounds has birthed a sound that is setting trends and defying boundaries worldwide.
It is a delicate mixture of real American music, from jazz to funk to R&B to rock, and seasoned heavily with the sounds of Brazil, Puerto Rico, Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans. While exotic, virtuosic, and laden with musical depth, the success of Snarky Puppy can be largely attributed to the group’s ability to “go in multiple directions while remaining imminently listenable” (Dallas Observer), and ultimately, danceable. Reaching an audience is something that these players have loads of experience with, having played with major league artists such as Dave Brubeck, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Snoop Dogg, Roberta Flack, Morcheeba, Erykah Badu, and countless more. The music is completely uncompromised, unorthodox, and unmistakably unique.
Along with that, my good friend Sarah Crisman is coming down from Texas for her first time in MTL! Sarah’s written for The Zimp and now she’s the music editor for Pegasus News. She’ll be hosting the show and I’ll be helping her out!
Seriously, read my previous review of the Snarky Puppy show – these guys are awesome!!
I hope to see you there!! Here’s the FACEBOOK event page for more information.
Read More“It’s been six painful, agonizing months since we made our tearful farewell to the fine city of Montreal after a night of beautiful music and excessive amounts of poutine. So, naturally, we’re pretty f-ing excited to be coming back.”
- Snarky Puppy – (Denton, Texas) http://www.myspace.com/snarkypuppySpecial Guests; Nista – http://nistamusic.com/
SNARKY PUPPY
“Excellent f*ing music” -Andre 3000 (Outkast)Thursday, October 29
Le Gymnase w/ Nista
4177 St. Denis
Montreal, QC
doors @ 7:00pm
$10 / all ages
Nonna Maria and the Bombardment of Musical Monstrosity
Felipe, Nonna Maria, and I - photo taken by Eva Blue.
There’s really something magical that happens when you’re walking down a busy boulevard with your hand shoved into a puppet. People give themselves the permission to look. People give themselves a split second to peak their curiosity about someone else’s life. There’s an amazing social experiment that takes place where people surrender their guards and just go with what’s going on.
A couple of months ago on the Montreal Metro (subway for you non-Montrealish folks) there was one cart (usually the one in the middle) that was completely transformed into an art/social experiment. The cart was completely blue on the inside, with wallpaper that looked like blue wood panels lining the entire interior. Throughout the ride random sounds would play over different speakers placed within the cart. The windows all had different shots of the city. However, what was more interesting than the cart itself is what went on inside the cart. If you’re no stranger to taking the subway you’d know that everyone on the subway enters a zombie like state in order to avoid any social interaction with other human beings. We have our iPods on, our eyes on books, on walls, on ads, on anything but other people. The subway is an easy place to see the fear we have of each other. We’re all worried about what others think so we don’t DO anything. Well, this interesting little blue cart seemed to change that. People laughed at the funny noises, even asking other patrons what was going on. The cart broke the ice for there to be a somewhat smoother social interaction. It was nice to see people surrender their shields and finally make light conversation. It’s a start.
The same can be said when we laugh. When we laugh we’re telling others that we’re enjoying something, that we’re happy, or maybe that we’re uncomfortable and our only reaction is to laugh. When we laugh, we surrender.
This is really why I continue to do Nonna Maria. It’s the repercussion of melting those barriers that we keep between us. Those social rules that keep us in zombie-like states. This action alone discounts all those people who tell me I have “too much free time.”
On June 3rd, my friends at Filter Box Media organized an awesome concert and invited me to perform and interview the bands with Nonna Maria. Armed with a wooden spoon, Nonna Maria performed as best she can – interviewing bands she’s never heard about playing music she’d probably never ever listen too. But Nonna Maria had a great time and also managed to get a few kisses from some of the male band members.
Club Lambi was the venue. A small venue located near Mont-Royal and St.Laurent. The word Lambi represents a conch used as an instrument on Caribbean islands in order to send signals across the island. Well, it felt like a Caribbean island in the venue cause it was deathly hot in there. The temperature was accompanied by a faint smell of ham which was probably the smell of the entire room perspiring. That didn’t stop this crowd, no, we were here for the music. And what a night of music it was. Filter Box lined up some awesome bands. Leif Vollebekk, Fox Jaws, Code Pie and Nista were there to perform their hearts out. The night started off with a tweetup from 6 – 8 where Nonna Maria went around, yelling at people, and backhanding them with her wooden spoon. She did everything from questioning Nista’s leading lady’s choice of haircut to trying to get a date with their drummer. The show began with Leif Vollebekk’s endearing songs book ended with charming anecdotes about rhymes he uses. Toronto’s Fox Jaws followed, cementing the fact that we were in for a night of great music. After Fox Jaws came Code Pie, who were The Montreal Mirror’s Best of Montreal’s 3rd pick for Best Local Musical Act in a list headed by Arcade Fire. Finally, the night ended with Nista performing a sultry set filled with Tutus, bunny ears, and boobs.
While watching all these great bands perform I was felt both excited and privileged to be in such a small cozy venue – enjoying them the way any band should be enjoyed; intimately. This was a great night of music that I was lucky enough to be a part of. These days, things like American Idol seem to demean the essence of making real, artful, talented music. While the likes of Simon Cowell go around promoting a lifestyle that seems to be an audition away, the real talented types are stuffing the small venues. I won’t be the one to complain about being able to see great bands in small venue. I was hoping to get the same experience with Kings of Leon before they had their songs from their new sub-par album played over an episode of Gossip Girl and now I’m stuck going to the Bell Center (an arena venue) to see a band that I’d much rather see in a small venue. I have no problems with a band playing the Bell Center or a band succeeding beyond measure. We hope for this to happen to the bands we like. What I DON’T like is when, while listening to the music, I can almost picture the board meeting that went on in order to make the music more marketable. I have this gripe cause throughout the whole night, during the show, all I can think was, “man, more people should be enjoying this, right now.”
While, I’m sure any of the performers I saw at the show will definitely succeed, it’s important that we completely support those that make use realize that music remains an art and that art is capable of marketing itself. That’s why we need to support our Leif Vollebekks, our Fox Jawses, Code Pies, and Nistas. We need to rid ourselves of the mentality that the rock-star life is an audition away. This mentality chokes creativity. It flushes our artistry. It kills persistence. The beauty about creating art is how we go about breathing life into it.
So I’ll get my ass to any venue in town regardless of temperature, size, crowd, or what state the bathroom is in if it means that I’m supporting something that is art. So, have fun, continue dancing, and I hope to rock-out with you at our next sweaty night of musical monstrosity.
Special thanks to Eva Blue for taking such awesome pictures. Please please please check out her Flickr stuff and, also, view her pictures of the event here.
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