st. louis: the noise fm

you've heard me wax both poetic and not so poetic about this former-lawrence, now chicago-based threesome. this time around i'll keep it short and sweet, just like the band members. (love you guys.) it was a thursday night show in my good ole hometown of st. louis. i only have one class on fridays... and it's not until one. SCORE. a drive home for the evening to watch my good friends tear shit up was definitely on the list. as you've all heard by now, st. louis is completely hit or miss for mid-level indie, touring bands. there aren't many locals that have a solid draw, so the traveling bands are usually on their own at bringing out people to the show. cicero's, although small and dark, is one of my favorite small venues in the city. the door guy has worked there for ages; he knows me by name, and also knows my birthday. he offered to buy me a drink the next time i'm there since i'll FINALLY be 21. yesss. and it's become a a bit of a nostalgic place. all of "my bands" play cicero's, and the soundboard, which is covered in stickers, boasts names of all of them. some are still around and going strong while others have since broken up, gone separate ways, or formed new bands completely. but i always enjoy cicero's, even when i'm one of the only people there. yes. literally. if i remember correctly, there were three other bands besides the noise boys and they brought no one. i thought i was going to have the privilege of a private noise fm show, but a group of about five or six people showed up just in time for their set.

and to be honest, i feel bad that people missed out. i know how hard it must be as a band to put on a happy face and play to an empty club. but this was a fucking amazing show. i'm not one to dole out compliments to bands. you have to earn my respect and work to keep it. i've seen plenty of shitty bands to notice when a good one comes along and really brings it to the table. this show with an audience of probably fifteen or twenty was one of the best i've ever seen the noise fm play. maybe it was the sound. maybe it's where i was standing. maybe i was just in a really awesome mood. whatever you wanna call it, it was a flawless set and i was really glad i made the drive to see it.

www.thenoisefm.net
check their twitter too, it's hilarious: twitter.com/thenoisefm

worth your listening time: chicago's model stranger

download their album here!

ryan silver: the dakota sessions -- FREE EP!

my friend ryan just released his brand new ep, the dakota sessions, for FREE! what have you got to lose? go download it HERE!

look for my two cents on it in the next couple of days.

march (and april and may) madness!

we’ll just pretend that i have an endless supply of money and gas, and will never have homework or need sleep. the ideal calendar:

wed 3/9 – menomena/maps & atlases @ mojo’s

thurs 3/10 – the noise fm/squid the whale @ cicero’s

mon 3/14 – ra ra riot/pomegranates @ mojo’s 

tues 3/15 – daniel and the lion @ cicero’s

fri  3/18 – civil twilight @ off broadway

sat 3/19 – building rome @ the firebird

wed 3/23 - the heyday @ cicero's

fri 3/25 – margot and the nuclear so & so’s @ the firebird

thurs 4/7 – gold motel @ the firebird

wed 4/20 – ari herstand @ off broadway

fri 4/22 – ha ha tonka @ off broadway

sat 4/23 – foals/freelance whales @ the firebird

sat 4/30 - ha ha tonka @ mojo's

sun 5/1 – william fitzsimmons @ the firebird

tues 5/3 - fake problems @ off broadway

tues 5/3 – strand of oaks @ off broadway

thurs 5/19 – urbanites @ cicero’s

saturday: the letdown of all letdowns

barcelona was supposed to be playing a show in springfield, missouri. it's been about a year and a half since i've seen them. a year and a half since anyone's seen or heard from them, really. they haven't toured since then, and i presume they've been holed up in the studio ever since. so imagine my excitement when they had a few random dates posted, and one was in a close proximity to me! i was planning on making it a day trip and buying my ticket in advance. good thing i didn't... they had to cancel last minute friday evening due to "unfortunate circumstances," which could mean anything from "booking screwed us over" or "we don't have enough gas money to get there." regardless, i was crushed and thus tweeted about it. a reply from them made me feel a little better, and what was in the reply was nonetheless exciting.

"we're so sorry to do this last minute. we will for sure come back this summer when the record is out."

a. they'll be back.
b. NEW RECORD THIS SUMMER!

i guess i can live with that. and hey, at least it saved me some gas money this weekend.

st. louis: state & madison

my favorite people in the whole world came to visit. yay! it had been a whole two months since i'd seen them, but even that was way too long. things have certainly changed for the band over the course of two months, too. tony, bass player, decided to pursue his own musical endeavors and left the band. pretty much broke my heart, because i had no idea i wouldn't be seeing him again for a while the last time i was in chicago. this was quite the abrupt decision, he played his last set with them on new year's eve opening for local h, and that was that. so once again, state and madison was back to three members and are still in search of a bassist. alex ward of the noise fm stepped in this time around though, so it was great to see him as well last weekend. it's always neat to see friends step up for their friends' bands and help out when needed. just goes to show how supportive the chicago music scene is of each other.

the show went well and there was quite the large crowd at the firebird last saturday evening. it was an early show - the firebird is starting to host two shows on saturdays, so doors were around 5:30. i was home in st. louis for the weekend, so my drive wasn't too bad. i had agreed to pick up the lovely molly cowan though, who didn't get off work until 5. so i picked her up around 5:30 and we got there in time to see the opening band. i hadn't heard much about either the opener or the headliner (state and madison played second of three) but they were some youngsters. average crowd age was probably around 14 or 15 and there were lots of parental units floating around the outskirts of the venue. molly and i made our rounds catching up with everyone. ran into my friend matt who goes to school at slu. and in general readied oourselves for the party that was to come next. the boys played a great set - although it always feels so short. played the usuals,  (molly and i made sure to sing all of tony's vocals, tee hee) played a "new" song called come back from the sea (that i've actually heard a couple times already, and then a real new one that they played for the first time that night. and it sounded great! i remember it being catchy, but that's about it. i'm sure i'll be hearing it again sometime soon.

we sang and danced to the headlining band. they weren't terrible, i probably would have loved the pop-punkish set from them in my pre-teen years. but we had a good time belting out hearts of to fall out boy and the starting line covers. shenanigans were had, and we eventually shipped out to cicero's for dinner, where more shenanigans were had, including the mindblowing tricks of matt's phone, which IS WATERPROOF. bad. ass.

if you haven't checked out state and madison yet, shame on you first of all. second of all, check out their website: http://stateandmadison.net and their twitter: http://twitter.com/stateandmadison

and check out the noise fm while you're at it, since alex is a dear to fill in for them: http://thenoisefm.net.

st. louis: the architects and am taxi

good old christmas break. plenty of time to be a hermit. plenty of time to stay up until five am and not leave my bed until the sun has already set. and also plenty of time to play hostess to some of my favorite chicagoans who came to visit me for the am taxi show! stephanie and claire got in town friday afternoon and we headed downtown a few hours later to the firebird for the one and only. to say that my circle of friends is obsessed with am taxi is quite the understatement. both sam and stephanie have been to close to thirty shows, and have been supporting the members, on one band form or another, for a good long while. i was a wee bit late to the taxi train, but better late than never. saying am taxi is rock and roll doesn't quite cut it. rock and roll is am taxi.

the architects were also on the tour and hailed from kansas city. great band. but am taxi stole the show and that's  really all there is to say. they had a really great crowd there and lots of people were dancing and singing along. always a good sign when multiple people know your lyrics. the group of us girls had a lovely time and  in the words of johnny, "things got weird."