Mark Olson - Winter Songs

It was not long to convince Hervé Oudet, the Bill Graham of Acoustic In Paris, to schedule Mark Olson at the Pomme d’Eve; one more possibility for him to offer to lovers of alternative country-rock a wonderful evening of music with another fine acoustic musician as well as a music legend. At the same time, Mark Olson didn’t hesitate at all to come to Paris even if it was for just a single evening; he found a little hole in his schedule between six consecutive dates in Germany and one evening in Dublin and... “I didn’t want to miss Paris”, said the founding member of the legendary The Jayhawks from Minneapolis, MN. By the way, Gary Louis also played in La Pomme d’Eve last June; sure they talked about this special venue together.
Mark Olson didn’t arrive alone, he was backed by a singer named Ingunn Ringvold aka Sailorine from Norway and an Italian fiddler named Michele Gazich. He also brought with him enough copies of his last CD The Salvation Blues (Hacktone Records, 2007) to please the fans who rushed after the show for an autograph. This is an other pleasure from the Acoustic In Paris evenings, after each show you can meet the artists, chat with them and make a CD or an old vinyl becomes a collector.

Next concert at La Pomme d'Eve is in one week. Terry Lee Hale will show up again one year after his remarkable performance of late 2006 (read Leaky Sparrow). I guess he will play some songs from his latest CD, Shotgun Pillowcase and, I hope, will cover some great songs like he did during the Town Van Zant Tribute evening. Terry Lee Hale, like Mark Olson, is always very generous on stage, and sure will talk to the audience a little bit in French. Don’t miss Terry Lee if you’re around the Saint-Michel area next Thursday evening, don’t miss him!

MySpace: myspace.com/markolsonmusic

Mark Olson - Clifton Bridge .mp3 from Salvation Blues (2001)
Mark Olson - Alta's Song .mp3 from December’s Child (2002)
The Jayhawks - I'm Gonna Make You Love Me .mp3 from Smile (2000), Gary Louis with The Jayhawks

Photo : Jacques Graf – Mark OLson Trio – La Pomme d’Eve, Paris – November 27, 2007

Robert Gil - Rock n' Roll Photographer

Robert Gil is a full-time freelance rock n’ roll photographer. If you live in Paris and attend concerts regularly you will see him in the first row shooting the bands he likes which are also the bands you like. If you will remember last spring, Leaky Sparrow covered some shows from the les Femmes s’en mèlent Festival and that’s when I first talked to Robert Gil who consented to lend me some of his amazing pictures to illustrate my concert reviews.
Recently I asked him if he would agree to talk to Leaky Sparrow about his work, which is also his passion, and here are the answers to some of my questions:

Leaky Sparrow: Robert, you are the most dedicated photographer of rock halls and rock festivals in Paris. Why did you choose to capture the music instead of sports, politics or fashion?
Robert Gil: It’s simply because I’m a fan of music. I have long haunted music halls but more discreetly. Now I live a child’s dream. I can link my passion for music with another passion, which is photography.

LS: Your choice is to shoot artists live on stage instead of outside. Is the live aspect more important for you as a photographer?
RG: I would say I am more relaxed with live pictures. It’s the live report that really affects me. Before shooting concerts I was shooting daily outside scenes on the street, which is also a kind of reportage. Live performances bring out the best from an artist. Poised pictures must be directed and controlled and many artists don’t like that element so much.

LS: Besides, you seem to prefer to shoot indie groups and artists that are less well known in rather small halls or clubs. Is this just personal taste?
RG: Exactly. It happens that I do some mainstream groups here and there but without much conviction. I try and give myself pleasure though it all. Because I am doing live reports almost daily I would not be able to shoot concerts that I am not interested in. It’s a question of my survival.

LS: Thanks for the answers Robert. On your website, Photos Concerts, we can see thousands of really high quality photos. Would you like to select one for Leaky Sparrow and with a little comment?
RG: One photo that comes straight to mind is one from a not very well known group called Munshy from when they played at the Trabendo. I am in a position that I like the most. Close enough to the artist to share his universe. I know the singer a little bit and on that picture I found her exactly like she is. There is the look, the attitude and the angle. I think is a good live picture.

Please have a look to his work on his website: Photos Concerts
MySpace: myspace.com/robertgil

Photo: Robert Gil – Munshy – Trabendo, Paris – May 01, 2007
You can find some Munshy’s music on her MySpace

Pictures of Robert Gil on Leaky Sparrow: Sophia - Vito - Black Heart Procession - Vito (2) - Arab Strap - Rose Kemp - Juliette & The Licks

The Cure - Pictures Of You .MP3 from Disintegration (1989)
Tow Waits - Picture In A Frame .mp3 from Mule Variations (1999)
Brian Eno & J. Peter Schwalm - Like Pictures, pt 2 .mp3 from Drawn From Life (2001)
Eagle*Seagull - Photograph .mp3 from Eagle*Seagull (2005)
Weezer - Photograph .mp3 from The Green Album (2001)

Bella Union Party @ La Flèche d'Or

Perhaps the transportation strike that has been raging here for the past week was the cause but the crowd was surprisingly small for such a gathering of fine Bella Union label talent. The 21H00 (right on time!) show was opened by Toronto bass and drum noise-core duo (I didn’t catch the name, not Bella Union apparently). Up next to get the night kicked into musical gear were the Los Angeles band The Autumns (3 guitars, bass and drums). Fronted by operatic tenor-voiced Matt Kelly (think Jeff Buckley!), the band serves up an ambitious mix of rock and roll noise, sweetness and drama. A bit stunning in their reach, The Autumns are a fine band and a welcome change from the usually humdrum!!

Label: theautumns.com
MySpace: myspace.com/theautumns

Stephanie Dosen from Wisconsin was up next. Backed up by light bass, drums, violin and cello musicians and singing little songs of love and loss in a wobbly falsetto, she did prove to be a pretty funny story and joke teller between songs.
Label: stephaniedosen.com
MySpace: myspace.com/stephaniedosen

The brave hero’s to save the day were Danish band The Kissaway Trail. This writer had never heard of them before but I was most pleasantly surprised from the first anthemic opening chords to the very end of their all too short and powerful 40-minute set. Do you like Fender guitars? Fender amps? Powerful drumming? Great songs? Five-vocal harmonies? Exciting and varied live performances? Five young, good looking (and friendly!) rock and roll musicians? This band has it all and more. Hey, I even bought the record. The kind of band that lets you believe in the power of rock and roll again!
Label: thekissawaytrail.com
MySpace: myspace.com/thekissawaytrail

Well done Bella Union and thanks for bringing the show to Paris!!

Bookerfatz2

The Autumns - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want .mp3 from Covers 3 (2005)
The Autumns - Slumberdoll .mp3 from The Autumns (2004)
The Kissaway Trail - Smother + Evil = Hurt .mp3 via Brooklyn Vegan .com

Bonus: Cocteau Twins - Cherry Coloured Funk .mp3 with Simon Raymonde

Photo: Bookerfatz2 - The Kissaway Trail – La Flèche d’Or – Paris – November 21, 2007

Hayden Live @ Paris - "My Name Is Hayden"

I wonder how many of us last Wednesday ever heard before the music of 36-year old Canadian singer-songwriter Hayden Desser known to the world via his middle name, Hayden. While most of the audience from the Elysée Montmartre was waiting close to the bar for The National, few stood in front of the stage. I was glad to be among them able to see at last the man that I discovered in 2002 when I bought his Live at Conventional Hall a double set cd recorded at the University of Hayden’s hometown of Toronto.

Despite the noise around us, in less than 40 minutes, Hayden, a good friend of Howie Beck, Julie Doiron and Neil Young, slowly built an intimate atmosphere around songs about bears, cats and ex-girlfriends. Hayden is able to take the innocuous, banal and unconsidered, and turns then into musical dramas of immense power. He even convinced the crowd to help him during his final song, the singalong Carried Away.

Hayden's fifth studio album, titled In Field & Town, will be released on January 15, 2008. Eleven tracks in all, In Field & Town was recorded and produced by Hayden. To coincide with the release, the Canadian will kick off a seventeen city tour in Hamilton, ON on January 16 that will end in Toronto, ON on February 19 (see

shows for details).

Web: wasteyourdaysaway.com
MySpace: myspace.com/hayden
Label: Hardwood Records .com

Hayden - Where And When .mp3 via Stereogum

Hayden - Home By Saturday .mp3
Hayden - Woody .mp3
Hayden - Steps To Miles .mp3

Photo: Jason Kravitz - Hayden - Ancienne Belgique 11-12-07 on flickr.com

The National Live @ Paris

I still remember when I first saw The National, it was in December 2002 in Paris at The Café de la Danse. On the ticket it was written: Low plus special guest… most of the time those so called special guests are not very welcome by the fans or are usually boring - I can’t tell how many support acts that I saw who later vanished. I’m sorry for them. So that evening, before the very much desired Low, it was quite different, everybody listened with much attention to those guys coming from nowhere - from Ohio, sorry! - playing a cocktail of honest country and soulful Rock’n’Roll and you know how Low’s fans are so selective…
In December 2002, The National where starting to be international, it was their first European tour ever. Five years later, the band is back again in Paris– Matt Berninger and his friends came back several times since 2002 – but this time The National filed in a much bigger room (a sold-out show) only with their name.
So Wednesday, the set started with the first verses from Neil Young’s Ambulance Blues, the room was completely in the dark, the band waited few minutes… Good start, I said to myself. I was standing in the first rows, on the left of the stage, unfortunately the sound was awful and I had to move from the front to the back of the room close to the bar. Feeling more comfortable, I could enjoy a very pleasant set mainly field with songs from The Boxer (setlist here). The National has a formula: every focus is on the vocal support by a strong rhythmic (the drums are an exceptional pleasure, take About Today for example). But Matt, last Wednesday, had a cold and it was not so easy for him to be 100% efficient even if everybody on stage tried to hide it. Nevertheless, at the end, it all works very well and the band finished with an amazing live version of About Today.
The National will tour Europe until the end of the year before flying to New Zealand and Australia. More dates here.
Also, the band just released a new single Apartment Story back by a live cover of Mansion On The Hill, better known as that Bruce Springsteen song from his Nebraska album of 1982.

Web: americanmary.com
MySpace: myspace.com/thenational
Label: beggars.com

The National - Fake Empire .mp3
The National - Murder Me Rachael .mp3
The National - About Today .mp3

The National Live at Paddy O's in Boston, Massachusetts, on Friday, October 26th, 2007 on Bradley's Almanac

Photo: Oliver Peel: flickr.com and a review of the show in German via Mmeinzuhausemeinblog

Sarah Bettens - Let It Shine

Ever played an album and been less than enamoured, only to return to it few days later, put it on the CD player and been totally converted? That’s what happened with Shine. Initially, Sarah Bettens (formerly K’s Choice) and her popish style way of singing was too much for my tastes. Then I started to realise that every song had a massive hook and the album gets better with each successive play. Oh no, it won’t be the album of 2007 but this record will rejoiced those who enjoyed her first solo effort, Scream (2005), an album who also received several prizes all over Europe. And if this CD will sell is not just because of Sarah’s pretty face and warm voice, it’s also because of a strong production work, the calibre of the supporting musicians and the excellent material.
Shine, Sarah Bettens second solo record, is an optimistic work like the children drawing she choose for the front sleeve. The album is already out in Belgium and in France (Naïve). Other official release dates are: Germany, Austria, Switzerland: November 23 - Israel: November 13 - USA: November 2. For the very first time since the split of K’s Choice, Sarah and Gert Bettens will share the same stage during Sarah's upcoming European tour. As a matter of fact, Woodface, Gert's band, will open for Sarah Bettens in Luxemburg on November 28th.

Web: sarahbettens.com
MySpace: myspace.com/sarahbettens

Sarah Bettens - I Can’t Get Out first video from Shine (2007)

Sarah Bettens - Here Comes The Sun .mp3 Beatles cover from the single Stay (2005)
K's Choice - God In My Bed .mp3 via Achtung, Baby!

Bonus: Sarah Bettens live in concert (Paradiso, Amsterdam – December 03, 2006) on Fab Channel

Neil Young - Ordinary Man

Of course, I purchased Chrome Dreams II as soon as it came out on October 23. Well, it’s not easy for me to say it but this record doesn’t deserve 4 out of 5 stars like I can read here and there. Neil Young, with this album, didn’t bring anything new except, maybe…, the last track of the CD, The Way, who is probably his very first real original work since years.
I’m gonna tell you why this album received so much good reviews, it’s only because of one song: Ordinary People. This track is not new. As you all know, it was taped in 1988 and could be heard on several live recordings from that period. Anyone who listened to that song years ago was completely astonished like, for instance, Paul Williams, founder of Crawdaddy, the first ever US Rock Magazine. This is what Paul Williams wrote on Love To Burn (1997 – Omnibus Press, pages 200 and 206) his own study of Neil Young’s music:

“Ordinary People is overwhelming. It staggers the mind. On first listen or first several, it’s all feeling, the feeling of these many words coming at you and of the strange and very confident intelligence that seems to hold all of them, and all this music, together. A hot shower. A just-out-of-reach visionary panorama. You probably don’t hear much of what he’s saying most of the time – just phrases, vivid images, that jump out here and there… This performance is so much about the rhythm and sound of language it could be said to be Neil’s excursion into rap music. Nah, no hip-hop beats. But man, that dude sure lays it down. In addition to Leaves of Grass and Desolation Row and Wichita Vortex Sutra, I can hear this performance as related to John Coltrane’s Meditations or Grandmaster Flash’s The Message. Not that it specifically resembles any of those works. But it is in their league. It shares their ambitious and inspirations and successes.”

Neil Young - Ordinary People on You Tube
Ordinary People – Lyrics analysis here and lyrics via Thrashers Wheat.org
Grandmaster Flash - The Message .mp3 via djcratebug

Neil Young - The Way .mp3 via Said The Gramophone

Bonus, another classic: Neil Young - T-Bone .mp3 from Re-Ac-Tor

Neil Young - Oh Lonesome Me (Don Gibson).mp3 live at Boise, ID, 18 October 2007