This past Monday Richie and I got a nice break from working both on the house and from our day jobs. Having Monday off we were excited to take a drive over to Houston and see a concert. This kicks off three months of concerts we’ve been waiting a long time for. The weather here has been fabulous. Sunny blue skies with temps in the 60s and 70s so it was perfect for a little road trip. Makes me feel bad for the rest of the country that is freezing their butts off. I’m sorry guys!
The sunset was picture perfect and the venue is home to the Houston Grand Opera. Its a great place to see a performance. We enjoyed some Vietnamese food from our favorite restaurant and did a little record shopping.
Neutral Milk Hotel was a band formed by singer/songwriter Jeff Mangum in the early 90s. Richie and I really got into their music, as it was very obscure… experimental… and somewhat disturbing in the most beautiful way. Jeff’s lyrics make you stop in your tracks and really feel something. They even make you think ” this guy is seriously troubled “…. but you can totally relate. They only released a couple of albums and a couple of EPs but the critics went wild for them. They never really had lots of commercial success during those years but managed to obtain a very devoted following. They released my favorite album “Aeroplane Over The Sea” in ’98. It sold over 300,000 copies and to this day still sells 50,000 plus every year. AMAZING! Basically the experience of it all coupled with the stresses of touring caused Jeff to have a nervous breakdown and they disbanded. SERIOUSLY! Right in the middle of a career that was about to blow up.
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Jeff is coo-coo (again in a very beautiful way). After the breakup he basically was sort of homeless and jobless just wondering the country and staying on friends couches. He sort of dropped off the face of the earth leaving fans WONDERING and WANTING MORE.
Then in 2010 out of nowhere he starts showing up at venues and making surprise appearances…. playing live by himself with a guitar onstage. PEOPLE WENT NUTS! The music world was buzzing and I have to assume that during this time Jeff sorted things out. In 2012 he announced this tour… and we checked the internet and the music blogs daily for a venue close to us. We’ve been so excited… and it was worth the wait. The show was amazing. He doesn’t allow pictures or video and the audience is watched pretty close so I didn’t get any pictures. But youtube always seems to have some video. I love those rule breakers!
He encourages the audience to sing with him during all the songs. You can clearly hear them in the video. Here he is in Carnegie Hall singing “Aeroplane over the Sea” ten days before we saw him.
We were on the 5th row… great seats. Trust me, we sang our hearts out! I’m sure the guy next to me was like “ahhhh, calm the hell down”! HA HA!
NPR did some really nice stories on him too:
>> Witnessing The Second Coming of Jeff Mangum
>> Mangum Returns to the Stage
“Mangum never died, obviously, but for all intents and purposes, he fell off the face of the earth well before I came to know his music. Mangum is frequently likened to the J.D. Salinger of indie rock — a private, if not tortured, musical genius who, after releasing only two albums, seemed content to walk away from music. Over time, Mangum became an enigma, an indie-rock urban legend.” …..
Michael Katzif
Music Reviewer, NPR.org
Some of my favorites. (better sound quality)
I have to assume that we will most likely never get to see him again. Of course if he goes on tour we’ll be there but you get the sense that this was it. A chance you better take… it may not come again. So of course we bought tshirts and this really cool poster. I LOVE the poster. It will be framed and hung in a spot that I can enjoy. Maybe my newly renovated workout room…. perhaps? :-) Now I just need to get Richie to build me a frame.
Next Month: MORRISSEY!!!!!! And they better allow pictures and video. I’m sneaking it even if they don’t. I’ve waited 7 months to see him!!!
