Feist razzle dazzles McCarren Park

A tad late for the wrap up, but Wednesday night was the Feist show in McCarren Park. Wow, what can I say—I love Leslie Feist. Just after sunset, she took the stage, and draped her silver sequined arm band over the microphone. She proudly showed off her new acoustic guitar and asked the crowd to help her name it, and promised she’ll call her guitar this name for the rest of its time on earth. After she said she would take suggestions via paper airplanes, Sofiblu ended up relaying airplanes towards the front of the audience for a bit of the night. The best name someone recommended was “McCarren.” Of course, if you’re going to play in front of thousands of New Yorkers, you gotta show Brooklyn some love.

Although she didn’t play my two favorite songs, "One Evening", and "How My Heart Behaves", I really enjoyed “Limit to your love,” ‘Sea Lion Woman” (which really got the crowd going), and the demo version of “Leisure Suite.” She said she recently found the four track demos so she and the band re-taught themselves this version. Recordings don’t do her justice. She sounds so amazing live, and her charm just rolls off the stage lik ripples in a sea of cigarette smoke.

(links expired)

Feist- Leisure Suite (demo version)

Feist- Leisure Suite (album version)
(Buy Let It Die)








Feist did an interview with Index Magazine about two years ago. She discussed her songwriting, and mentions Canadian girls.

“I love how Canadian girls manage to look totally hot in their enormous parkas. In Canada, it’s not about fishnets and heels, or other fantasy female stuff. Canadian girls are stalwarts---ruddy and healthy.”

I’m sure she’s just itching to work her parka this winter.

I hear with my little ear...

On Wednesday, I'm going to McCarren Park Pool to see Feist, along with about a thousand of her other closest friends. The “pool” is this crazy huge swimming area that’s been drained to accommodate happy concert goers—like me.

Although I love the energy that comes from huge venues like this one, small and intimate shows are what I hold closest to my heart. It’s the same way I feel about dinner parties. Why have 20 people come to dinner and speak to each person for a few minutes, when you can have five people huddled around a table, deep in conversation, wine glasses emptied, and refilled by the people who make you laugh so hard your cheeks hurt?

So while I look forward to the show on Wednesday, I kind of wish I was in Toronto when Feist picked up her guitar, and probably a milk crate or something, and did a live, intimate street side performance for NXNE in 2004. It’s like you and Feist, and the random happenings of the city. I’m having fun figuring out the little noises in the background, but Mushaboom lets your imagination run a litlte.

What do you hear?

(link expired)
Feist- Mushaboom (live at NXNE, 2004)

Feeling kind of FEISTY

In my first attempt to bring you this video, I fell asleep at my computer and woke up to 300 pages of ddddddddddd. I’m thinking this means I need an assistant. If interested, please send me your resumes. I can only afford to pay you with gratitude and cashews, so if you are nuts about nuts, let me know!

Sometimes it takes time for me to warm up to an artist. Everyone had been raving about Feist for awhile, but I wasn’t completely sold. But after I saw this spectacularly cheesy video for “One Evening,” I was floored. This is storytelling at its finest, using the art of interpretive dance and a low-budget lightshow. Just goes to show you that you don’t need a ton of money to make a great music video. For the past several days I’ve been suppressing the urge to do this dance everywhere: At the office, waiting for the light to change at the corner, while in line at a movie, buying tomatoes… the list goes on. Featured in this video with Leslie Feist is Buck 65, a Canadian rapper whom you may remember from the song “Wicked and Weird.” I think it was one of those songs that caused a blip on the radar, and then was destined for eternal airplay at the Abercrombie & Fitch. So here's Buck busting a move with Feist: