Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Andrew Bird in Tucson on Feb. 14


Stateside Presents has booked Andrew Bird in Tucson for a Valentine's Day show at the Rialto. It's a nice bit of synchronicity because Bird is another of the musicians I threw into the wedding mix (cocktail hour) this weekend. Performing with Wilco is also guaranteed to raise a musician's stature in my eyes.

He's an amazing songwriter who let the world in on his recording and writing process this summer on The New York Times' Measure for Measure blog. In it, he describes the craft in such detail that I found myself almost hearing parts of his new record, Noble Beast, which is due out in January. He introduces what would become the first single, "Oh No," in the very first post, saying it began for him as a way to capture the sound of a 3-year-old child crying on an airplane. The mournfulness stuck in Bird's head, and he worked out a guitar part that fit together with a violin loop he'd been toying with.

Then, in June, Bird wrote about the song again, saying that he decided to add drums on what was already a "complete" song changed it completely - and for the better.

Oh No - Andrew Bird

So whatever this new record holds, I'll come to it from an entirely different perspective, as an observer who got to see part of it being made along the way.

And then two weeks later he'll be in town to perform, and I'll watch the music created right before my eyes. Perfect.

DOWNLOAD:
Andrew Bird - Heretics
Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left

Andrew Bird - Tables and Chairs (live)
Get the whole 2005-05-01 show here.

U.S. tour dates:

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

pleasantly subversive post
&
nice stash of bird

Anonymous said...

Jealous. Gonna have to try to make it down for this show.

JenC said...

ooh... i'd love to make it down for that one.