I'm leaving in a couple of minutes to go see the Kings of Convenience free soundcheck at Iota. Their site has a Flash streamer of their new easy-listening album with little animations that look like what I imagine an Ikea catalog might look like.

It's music my Mom might like. Her one act of musical rebellion against my Manitovi/Mancini-loving Dad was to collect Kingston Trio albums - with the exception of some of their broadway stuff, its about the only things from their record collection I would listen to. Anyway, when you get to be our ages, its not bad to have something in common with your Mother.

However, KoC does start to sound the same after awhile. Seeing a one hour freebie show just might be the ticket (assuming I can get in).

Not much in way of portable music on the site however ...

On the other hand, it appears they tolerate a fan site that has put up an extensive set of well-recorded live shows in MP3 format.

Here's a nice live version from December 1, 2004 - "Misread" which they are releasing as their first single off their new album, "Riot on an Empty Street"...

Don't fret if you are coming here for the old stuff - this weekend I'm working on my vinyl project - it looks like improv/jazzy weekend - some out of print (OOP)live Pere Ubu, some OOP Last Exit with Herbie Hancock and maybe some Univers Zero.

UPDATE:

We went to the KoC pre-concert concert as promised and was happily impressed with their minimalist funk. KoC are two guys from Norway, two guitars and an electric piano. They specifically asked the club to allow an under-21 show although there weren't that many under-21s there. They played "I'd Rather Dance With You" and a new cover of "When You Wish Upon a Star" that they said was inspired by their visit to Disney World (Orlando being the first stop on their tour). They couldn't remember the third verse, though. They even jokingly tried another Disney number that was I think the Italian love song from The Lady and the Tramp.

Afterwards, we got some pizza across the street, went to the Galaxy Hut and caught a set by Lemonface for free - they are a trio of 14-year-olds with a very talented young guitarist, Richard Wynne. They need to work on their songs a bit and listen to something other than Green Day but I wouldn't be surprised to see some great things from them in a few years. They were fun,earnest, have some good materiel to work with and judging by the packed audience, there were more than just their friends and relatives there. By this time, the line for the 9:30 PM Kings of Convenience show was too long and so we did some more barhopping (the swinging 30-something bar, the jock 20 something bar), saw a crappy band for $5 at Whitlows at Wilson. We ended up at the Iota where the KoC had already packed up but the bar was playing some Bob Marley so we had a final beer and packed it in for the night.

And as usual, even though I put the two aspirin and the pitcher of water next to my bed, I woke up staring at it this morning, the water undrinken and aspirin untaken. This is my pre-hangover cure that I always promise I'm going to take if I plan on drinking. Anyway, the KOC music is pretty good for a hangover morning.