Couldn’t get online this morning, so writing from home now, safe in the kitchen, Kyle making Caldo Verde soup and listening to Billie.
Yesterday was a day to remember — Philip Glass and Wendy Sutter at the Bijou in the afternoon offered solos that were nothing short of stunning, and together they were lovely too.
We were looking forward to an evening of five minute walks between the Bijou and Square Room again, and started off at the latter with the improv collaboration between Fennesz, David Daniell and Tony Buck. As improv collaboration goes, it took a little while for things to click in, but once they did, it was mesmerizing. We had little time to grab a quick bite and most places were packed. But not Koi, and we were psyched — easily the best meal we had in Knoxville — a tofu salad with super-delish sweet soy vinaigrette and a really delicious piece of salmon.
Bellies happy, we took off in a rush and just made the opening of Antony and the Johnsons. Sitting in the balcony again, as we did for Glass and Fennesz, we were this time nestled into a nearly full house, we were glad to see. And no question the audience was as swept away as we were by this performance. Antony Hegarty bares his soul with such gorgeous, heartrending hooks and melodies, all hung on the wonder of his unusual-but-somehow-familiar voice, and swirling with his six-piece chamber orchestra. When we weren’t crying or wanting to get up and dance, he was holding us captive again with his hilarious stage banter. I wanted the T-shirt, the CD, the poster, and the biography. Instead I just took home the memory of one of the top three shows of my life.
With that, how could the rest of the evening been anything but a little disappointing, and we had to make the trek many more blocks to another part of town to see Matmos, b/c the fellas apparently had some controversial video with their tunes that the Square Room wasn’t interested in showing. The Catalyst was a cool club, and Matmos no doubt was rocking the room, but by then we were pretty spent, my cold was getting to me, and we weren’t able to fully groove to the dudes.
But we still left happy, amazed that we got to see so many incredible performances in a town that we really, really enjoyed getting to know a little. We’ll be looking forward to the next Big Ears, even as our ears are ringing now.
