arthur magazine festival

ArthurFest will also feature rare film screenings (more info on this in two weeks), a special appearance by the legendary Henry Jacobs (co-creator of the Vortex dome happenings in the '50s/'60s), food stands from neighborhood eateries, a Karl Rove Appreciation Tent, a special workshop led by the New Energy collective, an information booth featuring 82-year old bluesman T-Model Ford (the star of Arthur's popular "T-Model Knows Better" advice column) and other attractions to be announced.

SUNDAY SEPT 4

** LAWN STAGE SUNDAY SEPT 4**
THE NIGHT PORTER
RADAR BROS.
WOLFMOTHER
SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN
THE BLACK KEYS
HENRY JACOBS film
SLEATER-KINNEY
HENRY JACOBS film
SONIC YOUTH

** PINE STAGE SUNDAY SEPT 4**
DOS
NORA KEYES
VIKING MOSES
WINTER FLOWERS
(6:00) LAVENDER DIAMOND
JOSEPHINE FOSTER
T-MODEL FORD

** BARNSDALL GALLERY THEATRE SUNDAY SEPT 4 **
GERONIMO
RESIDUAL ECHOS
CIRCLE
MAGIK MARKERS
SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
POLE
MERZBOW
BRIGHTBLACK MORNING LIGHT

MONDAY SEPT 5

** LAWN STAGE MONDAY SEPT. 5 **
FUTURE PIGEON
DEAD MEADOW
OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL
COMETS ON FIRE
THE JUAN MACLEAN
Yoko Ono/John Lennon film
SPOON
Yoko Ono/John Lennon film
YOKO ONO

** PINE STAGE MONDAY SEPT. 5 **
YOUNG JAZZ GIANTS
JACK ROSE
MARISSA NADLER
VETIVER
[SET BY SECRET GUEST]
CAT POWER

** BARNSDALL GALLERY THEATRE MONDAY SEPT. 5 **
THE TIME FLYS
FATSO JETSON
MODEY LEMON
BRAD LANER
EARTH
GROWING
SUNN O))))

Ah right. *prepares almanac reading*

Query to all and sundry -- there's a strong chance I'll need a place to crash Sunday night. Might I please ask if anyone is willing to put up with me for an evening?

PRE-ARTHURFEST GIGS.
EARLY Thurs, Sept 1 at The Echo // $7.00 // 18 and up
7:00pm: doors open
7:30pm: MAGIK MARKERS
8:30pm: SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN

Friday, Sept 2 at Amoeba Music (Hollywood) // FREE /// 6pm
ArthurFest Kickoff party with in-store performance by FUTURE PIGEON

Friday, Sept. 2 at The Echo // $10 adv; $12 dos / 18+
8:30pm: doors
9pm: THE MOON UPSTAIRS
10pm: DARKER MY LOVE
11pm: DEAD MEADOW

EARLY Sat Sept 3 at The Echo // 7pm/ $10 / 18+
7pm: doors open
7:30pm: THE RED ONIONS
8:30pm: T-MODEL FORD

Sat, Sept. 3 at Spaceland // $10 // 9pm // 21 & over
WOLFMOTHER

LATE Saturday, Sept. 3 at The Echo // 10 PM / $10 / 18+
10pm: doors open
10:30 PM: POLE
11:30 PM: THE JUAN MACLEAN

SUNDAY SEPT 4

** LAWN STAGE SUNDAY SEPT 4**
1:00 doors open
1:45 THE NIGHT PORTER
2:45 RADAR BROS.
3:45 WOLFMOTHER
4:45 SUNBURNED HAND OF THE MAN
5:55 THE BLACK KEYS
- HENRY JACOBS film -
7:25 SLEATER-KINNEY
- HENRY JACOBS film -
9:00 SONIC YOUTH

** PINE STAGE SUNDAY SEPT 4**
1:00 doors
2:20 DOS
3:20 NORA KEYES
4:20 VIKING MOSES
5:20 WINTER FLOWERS
6:20 LAVENDER DIAMOND
7:20 JOSEPHINE FOSTER
8:20 T-MODEL FORD

** BARNSDALL GALLERY THEATRE SUNDAY SEPT 4 **
1:00 doors
2:00 GERONIMO
3:00 RESIDUAL ECHOS
4:00 CIRCLE
5:00 MAGIK MARKERS
6:00 SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
7:00 POLE
8:00 MERZBOW
8:45 BRIGHTBLACK MORNING LIGHT

MONDAY SEPT 5

** LAWN STAGE MONDAY SEPT. 5 **
1:00 doors
1:40 FUTURE PIGEON
2:30 DEAD MEADOW
3:30 OLIVIA TREMOR CONTROL
4:45 COMETS ON FIRE
5:55 THE JUAN MACLEAN
- Yoko Ono/John Lennon film -
7:25 SPOON
- Yoko Ono/John Lennon film -
8:50 YOKO ONO

** PINE STAGE MONDAY SEPT. 5 **
1:00 doors
2:20 YOUNG JAZZ GIANTS
3:20 JACK ROSE
4:20 MARISSA NADLER
5:20 VETIVER
6:40 [SET BY SECRET GUEST]
8:15 CAT POWER

** BARNSDALL GALLERY THEATRE MONDAY SEPT. 5 **
1:00 doors
2:00 THE TIME FLYS
3:00 FATSO JETSON
4:00 MODEY LEMON
5:00 BRAD LANER
6:00 EARTH
7:15 GROWING
8:15 SUNN O))))

?

Sat, Sept. 3 at Spaceland // $10 // 9pm // 21 & over
WOLFMOTHER
MARISSA NADLER
JACK ROSE

info here:
http://www.myspace.com/arthurfest

My brief breakdown of what I saw --

The Night Porter -- promising, okay
Dos -- REALLY great, reminded me of the last time I saw them -- twelve years ago! Kira and Watt both in high spirits and playing wonderfully
Residual Echoes -- just caught the end, seemed good, I liked the early nineties Flaming Lips jones in the guitar if not the singing
Circle -- as noted.
Majik Markers -- easily the best 'show' in a theatrical sense I saw. Doubt it could be replicated on disc but damn, it worked!
Six Organs -- wunnerful as always, different from the other times I saw him as always, rah
Lavender Diamond -- hey, nice! j rosenberg, which one were you in the band? I find it hard to describe the style to my satisfaction but y'all were definite crowd-pleasers, good band to put a smile on your face
Sleater-Kinney -- wow, they do indeed rock live
Sonic Youth -- heh heh heh. I have a LOT of great photos. And I was one person away from being Thurston Moore's guitar pick.

Great time overall, I think it's a lovely setting for a show like this and it never felt too crowded outside of the understandable crushes at the main stage, and even that was never too bad since you could easily move around the back. Food still seemed a little expensive but much better than other venues -- they need more food booths next time I figure, the lines were a bit long! But everyone got fed in the end.

One thing I think should be mentioned, though -- even though I'm sure it was noticed by everyone, Jay not least -- it's next to impossible to do ins-and-outs for the Gallery Theatre shows. I guess it boils down to there being too few seats for more than the expected amount of people, but I heard that after I got in there for Circle the line to get in took *forever*, and that it was basically luck and timing as to when you got in at all. I was going to see Sunburned Hand of the Man in between Circle and Six Organs but when I realized what was up I figured I'd better stay put. After Six Organs when I did leave I could see they weren't kidding about the length of the line, and checking on it later I saw that it was still there and still pretty extensive well into the evening. Now maybe it moved a lot more quickly than I realized but pretty much it means today I'm going to check out a couple of the opening bands in the open air and then get down there for Fatso Jetson and pretty much *not* leave for the rest of the day, since I wanted to catch Brad L., Earth, Growing and Sunn 0))). I'll regret missing Vetiver and 'the secret guest' but that seems to be how things are shaping up. (At least the theatre has restrooms, a bar and a water fountain!)

Oh yeah, forgot about him and the Jacobs film. Film was cool, Brownstein was, um, all right? I mean, I agree with the sentiments for the most part, I'm just not moved by rabble-rousing spoken word in general (this is why I don't like political gatherings either).

Residual Echoes - no comment
Circle - I'm worried that nothing else this weekend can top Circle

Then we left the theater to see Sunburnd hand of the man which was a mistake. They sucked pretty hard so we decided to get back in line on the chance that we could still see 6 organs and we got back in just in time. Then I saw:

6 Organs - nice
Pole - much better than I expected!
Merzbow - meh
and we stayed for a couple of SY songs but left because we were to far back and the sound sucked. That Brownstein guy was just painfully embarassing.

I saw you in the front row for Circle Ned but I was too shy to say hi.

Yeah Circle set a high bar but I have faith shows today will equal it. Cool to hear that Pole went over well, would have liked to have seen it but Sleater-Kinney called...

Sound for SY/mainstage...yes, true, but I suppose that's unavoidable. Up close, perfect, farther back, eeg.

Highlights for me today were Comets on Fire, Jack Rose (nice Fahey-esque solo guitar), and Growing. Dead Meadow were good and they looked like Spacemen 3 with Ginger Baker on drums. I caught a bit of Vetiver who looked and sounded like they stepped right out of the Royal Tennenbaums. I also watched special guest Devendra from the theater line but I couldn't hear much.

Circle was still the most exciting thing I saw by far.

I saw Yoko and ended up liking it. She kind of has a slick stage show (I heard someone say she's 72, so more power to her) and I didn't like the first thing I heard because of the sappy sentiment, but by the time they got to "Thin Ice" and "Don't Worry Kyoko" I was won over. Also came home with a couple Onochord flashlights, sure to be collector's items! She ended her set saying "See you next year."

I also saw Ned before Brad Laner's show (also front row) but he seemed too involved in the people he was with so I didn't go over. That was a great show, Brad, did you do the visuals too? I took a lot of pictures that looked good on the camera's LCD.

Thirteen years ago, what a weird feeling.