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Monday, July 28, 2008
Alejandro Escovedo cancels shows due to exhaustion
Boy howdy, is it a bad week for former members of True Believers. (See also Jon Dee Graham.)
Alejandro Escovedo has canceled a string of shows due to illness.
“Due to symptoms from acute exhaustion, and per the suggestion of his doctors, Alejandro Escovedo will need to postpone his scheduled performances for this week,” said Escovedo’s management in a statement. “Doctors have advised Escovedo take a proper rest as to not further complicate the symptoms.”
Escovedo was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1997 and had a near-fatal bout with the disease in 2003. He is slated for an appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman Aug. 7.
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Review: Yaz in Dallas
In one of the least expected reunions of recent years, the short-lived duo Yaz emerged from the hair-spray haze of ’80s nostalgia for a tour that stopped last week at Dallas’s Lakewood Theater. Staking claim to their rightful spot in electropop’s evolution, they played practically every song from their two-album discography — reminding the Erasure fans in the packed house (synth player Vince Clarke formed that duo after Yaz broke up) that sometimes a brief career is best.
Those miffed at the $70 ticket price could at least see where the money went: A matrix of LEDs behind each bandmate presented an engrossing mash-up of vintage computer graphics and more splashy modern images while color tubes stood ready to disco-charge any song that called for it.
Clarke stood expressionless as expected, recreating the bloop and buzz of 1981 with the help of an Apple laptop and multiple keyboards, while singer Alison Moyet more than compensated for his lack of affect. Looking girlishly awkward in pigtails and dazed smile, she screamed enough between-song “Thank You!”s to kill her voice by the encore, when “Situation” veered horribly off key and “Only You” had to be stopped midsong and retried.
Before that, though, her vocals were as tough and soulful as listeners could want — slightly less supple than remembered, but still capable of high drama (“Anyone”) and dance floor swagger (“Goodbye Seventies,” which came off so well she actually crossed the stage to hug Clarke). There was no hint that this reunion might lead to new music from the band, but nobody seemed to mind.
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UPDATE: Jon Dee Graham upgraded to good condition, Wednesday Continental show now a Jon Dee benefit
Jon Dee Graham has been upgraded from fair to good condition Monday morning following a one-car accident late Friday night, according to Seton Hospital officials.
Graham is recovering at University Medical Center at Brackenridge. Graham was driving home from Dallas on I-35 when he fell asleep at the wheel, his family said Sunday. He was admitted with two broken ribs, a punctured spleen, cracked vertebrae and a concussion.
Graham spent some time in intensive care Saturday and Sunday.
“The Volvo died, thank God Jon Dee didn’t,” a statement on Graham’s MySpace said.
“I saw him (Sunday) and it was a great relief,” Skunks bandmate Jesse Sublett said Monday. “Other than the silly hospital gown, he looks great. Lots of pain, but we were cracking jokes and believe it or not, talking about music.”
In addition, Graham will not be playing his regular Wednesday night gig at Continental Club Instead, 10:00: South Austin Jug Band plays at 10 p.m., Dustin Welch and Friends play at midnight. $10 cover.
The Jug Band and Welch will donate 50 percent of the nights proceeds directly to help with Jon Dee’s expenses.
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Review: Wolf Parade at La Zona Rosa
- The A-List: Photos from the show
“All this work-ing/Just to tear it down,” guitarist Dan Boeckner sang on “Language City,” a song about “contemporary Russian politics” from his band Wolf Parade’s jittery sophomore album, “At Mount Zoomer.” The Montreal five-piece was only halfway through its set Friday at La Zona Rosa and already the sold-out crowd was cheering as if it were the band’s last song … ever. Alas, keyboardist and co-singer Spencer Krug took his turn in the back-and-forth rotation with “An Animal in Your Care.” That’s when all the working was torn down.
Only a few lines in, Krug abruptly stopped the song. It was a killer of epic momentum built in the songs prior. He cited technical difficulties. He blamed the sweat oozing into the circuitry of his keyboard. “Sorry,” he said while tinkering with his instrument, “keep smoking your cigarettes and marijuana.” His bandmates looked at him, amused. Quit being a prima donna, their faces seemed to say. Hustle it up. We’re on a roll. Problem quickly and miraculously solved, Krug resumed the song’s painfully deliberate opening. The whole ordeal was enough to distract from the joy of what was inevitable: the song’s transformation, halfway through, from disjointed and grating to propulsive and electrifying. Finally, they could get back to supplanting the fractured rock of Modest Mouse, the band from which Wolf Parade spawned.
The dueling keyboards hummed under the clash of guitars and drums throughout a set that borrowed fairly equally from their new album and their debut, “Apologies to the Queen Mary.” Indeed, the night’s opener, “You Are a Runner and I Am My Father’s Son,” was from the latter, and it foreshadowed the stone-cold intensity to come. If it didn’t, Krug’s post-song prophecy — remember, this was one song into the show — sealed the deal. “I think this is the first real show we’ve played,” he said. “Honestly.” And then they got to working.
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