J. Tillman took the stage at the Middle East Upstairs for a late show on Sunday night. But then again, it was only 8pm in Seattle, the west-coast town that this drummer from Fleet Foxes calls home.
The performance was a family affair, with J. Tillman’s brother Zach opening as a solo act called Pearly Gates Music. Zach Tillman offered us a stripped-down version of his already sparse style: leaving behind all unnecessary instruments, he came to us as one man and a guitar crooning blues and covering Pavement’s “Shoot the Singer.”
The Middle East Upstairs is an intimate venue, allowing audiences to rub noses with the performers. Zach Tillman self-deprecatingly commented on this lack of personal space: “Whoa, dude. You guys are close. Last show, there was like a 15-foot perimeter. And not because there was security or anything. People just chose to be that far away.”
After Pearly Gates, the flannel-clad, full-bearded band backing J. Tillman took the stage to a surprisingly chill audience. The place was packed, but these hipsters were polite, exerting themselves only just enough to pass as decent human beings. Was it Sunday night after a long weekend of parties?
Or maybe it was simply that the performance took a few unexpected twists. If I could have listened to J. Tillman’s soothing croon all night, I couldn’t have asked for more. It’s what I was expecting from a Fleet Fox.
Instead, J. Tillman vacillated between a straight-up folk artist sound à la Sam Beam and smash-and-shred noise-fests à la Sonic Youth. It made for variety, but not in the peanut-butter-and-chocolate vein of brilliance. More like peanut-butter-and-salsa. And it made me queasy.
There were moments (of pure peanut-butter smoothness) where the steel and acoustic guitars and J. Tillman’s voice transported me to heights of pure nostalgia, a place where things couldn’t have been more right with the world.
And the encore brought the lullaby tunes I had been craving all night: J. Tillman and his acoustic guitar serenading an audience with “James Blues” before we stumbled home to bed. This, folks, was all I really wanted.
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Two songs go in, one comes out. Pick a side.
Columbus Short Would be an excellent match for Sam Cooke (especially if this movie was to include Sam’s Soul Stirrer years). Just as long as in the movie Sam does the singing of course lol. But as far as physical resemblance my boy Columbus Short all the way. View this clip of Cadillac Records were he played lil walter… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmxTbcnW6bY
by Akin Z on Wed Feb 1, 2012 at 12.37 am from the entry: Sam Cooke to get a movie
Oops meant Aloe Blacc not Black. Sorry about the typo. If you doubt that he should play Sam check him out here on you tube singing Loving you is Killing me. The likeness is uncanny - but the voice is quite different.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yJuyaVcL2I&feature=artist
by Tamara L on Tue Jan 31, 2012 at 08.30 am from the entry: Sam Cooke to get a movie
I have read the Peter Guralnick book and it is thoroughly researched down to the minutest detail. Amazing.
I would go for Aloe Black because he looks so much like Sam, but for heaven’s sake why are we talking about the quality of the actor’s singing? Sam’s singing has got to be dubbed in. We want the real thing not an impersonator. There is only one Sam Cooke. The actor can act, let Sam do the songs.
by Tamara L on Tue Jan 31, 2012 at 08.24 am from the entry: Sam Cooke to get a movie
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by Dirty Ice on Tue Jan 24, 2012 at 11.04 pm from the entry: Yasiin Bey - Fete (Providence, RI; Dec.10, 2011)
John Boutte should play Sam Cooke. Except the point someone made about him dying young, this is true. Boutte may be a bit too old.
by Brendan on Tue Jan 17, 2012 at 06.17 pm from the entry: Sam Cooke to get a movie
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by asdsad on Tue Jan 17, 2012 at 04.29 am from the entry: Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic Weigh In On Kurt Avatar
Blacks say the word 50+ times a day. Fuck the double standard, stop trying to create controversy.
by Steve C on Fri Jan 13, 2012 at 02.00 pm from the entry: John Mayer is about to get swallowed up in public outrage
