From the Picking Up Girls On Myspace? I'd Rather Read A Book! department

I have set up an account on the WSJ profiled Librarything.com for Consumatron. It is not something I plan on spending a lot of time on, but a simple place to list all of the books I have reviewed on Mediatron in hopes that people will somehow wind their way to my reviews through this new-fangled social networking thing.

I'm on the fence on whether or not I will be setting up a personal account on Librarything.com. Though it is a handy alternative to attending book club meetings, I do so enjoy the quickly drained bottles of red wine and long chats about which of Jane Austen's characters that I would court.

My Librarything.com profile: Consumatron Reads!

BOOK: The Awake Field by Ron Rege

Title: The Awake Field
Author: Ron Regé Jr.
Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
ISBN: 1896597971
List Price: $7.95

Review: Though this thirteenth installment of Ron Regé's ongoing Yeast Hoist series is assuredly a piece of a larger puzzle, one doesn't need to start from the beginning to appreciate the finely crafted stories and vignettes within.

The Awake Field is a collection of eight minimalist comics, of varying length, strung together by a feeling more than a theme. Because Yeast Hoist serves as one artist's public sketchbook, a feeling is all it needs. The feeling (in case you were wondering) is the simple joy that can be achieved by noticing the small corners of life and by slowing down. Appropriately, The Awake Field was written during Regé's recent two year sabbatical in Rhode Island where I imagine life was a refreshing slow down from his home of L.A.

The title comic in The Awake Field is no more than a series of full page panels depicting a small townscape where sprites float overhead, floating from house to meadow to house, making sure everything is peaceful and serene. No words are used, only sparse line drawings and a dream-like jump-cut pacing.

The remaining seven pieces deal meditatively with the relationships between the author's comic subconscious and his loves, his friends, the state of the world, and ultimately, his family. Some of the funniest moments are also some of the most serious, coming across as a polite request of the reader to realize that the personal operates in conjunction with the rest of the world. It is as if Regé is saying to us, "I know it seems ridiculous, but all we have to do is care a little bit more. It's true!"

Regé's line work is equally meditative, simple and innocent (yet not naive). His sketched and loose characters allow for the maximum array of emotions using the minimum array of detail or features. Like a poem that hints at a message but leaves it up to the reader to decide, The Awake Field presents itself in much the same way. Topped with a simple one color scheme that will make a reader either shut off or pay close attention at what must be behind the simplicity, I found myself appreciating Regé's work more with each subsequent reading.

The Awake Field serves as a biography of Regé's subconscious. At 48 pages long, it is just the right size to give us a glimpse into another life and inspire us to propel our own.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Buy a copy of the Awake Field from Amazon.com: Consume.

LIVE: Radiohead

Performer: Radiohead
Location: Auditorium Theatre / 430 S. Michigan Ave. / Chicago, IL
Date: 06/20/06

Before you read my review, have a taste of the new song Radiohead premiered at last night's show. It's called "All I Need" and it's quite good.



Now for the review.

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Radiohead is notorious for being an extremely uncomfortable live band. This quality, I believe, is what pushes the band to innovation and new musical territories. At their 2001 Chicago show in Chicago's Grant Park, the band was coherent, aggressive and outspoken. Johnny and Ed held virtual gladiator battles with their guitars and Colin frantically paced the stage as if he didn't know what was coming next. Everything was uncomfortable and everything worked. August 1st, 2001 may have been the best concert I have ever attended. In August of 2003, at Wisconsin's Alpine Valley Music Theatre, Radiohead's tour for their Hail To The Thief album seemed strangely comfortable. Every song sounded well rehearsed and there wasn't a whole lot of banter with the crowd. The band seemed to notice how comfortable they were and became uncomfortable at the thought. As a result, the songs were rushed and Thom Yorke's spastic style of dancing took precedence over some of the music. Still a fantastic show, but too condensed for a band like Radiohead.

Last night at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre, everything was in its right place. The five Oxford musicians battled and invented while trying out six as-of-yet unrecorded songs for the enthusiastic Chicago crowd. Even the balcony seats, where I was seated/dancing/cheering, were alive with the kind of excitement I have only witnessed at a Radiohead concert. During the band's older songs, Thom seemed to loosen up where the lyrics fell, Johnny seemed to let go on his guitar playing and knob twiddling just enough, Ed had some fun with the array of pedals splayed out in front of him, Colin let the bass lines throb a bit on the heavy side and Phil just may need to replace some of his drum heads after the beating they received. The new songs sounded like a step into even more diverse territory and the old songs sounded new again.

Opening with "Air Bag," the Auditorium Theatre erupted in anticipation for what was sure to be a great show. It had better be, because if you open with a song like that, there are some expectations already on the table and, as any fan is aware, expectations are meant to be exceeded when you are dealing with Radiohead.

Much of the first half of the set was used to test out the acoustics of the theatre as drummer Phil Selway pounded through some of the band's more drum machine based songs in a way that gave them even more presence. Thom Yorke let loose his signature spasming dance moves and wailing during "Where I End And You Begin" but the point at which the crowd began dancing came with the new song, "15 Step." The song is built around a catch-me-if-you-can beat layered with other electronics and staccato vocals.

Another new song that stuck with me even after the show was over was "Videotape," with Thom Yorke partially on piano and partially entrenched in the metaphoric battle the lyrics suggest. The song ends with a haunting wail from Yorke that I could hear echoing even above the cacophony of the crowd.

Most of the songs in between the new material came from the albums "Kid A" and "OK Computer." Many of them were sprinkled with additional electronics that were all looped or created live. After the denouement sounding "No Surprises," Thom addressed the crowd telling us that the next song was something that they "sketched out earlier." A brand new song featuring Thom Yorke on Piano and the rest of the band following and filling in the gaps heavily, "All I Need" falls into the ballad category and, even though it was obvious the band was still working out the kinks, they executed it beautifully enough to leave a lump in my throat. The emotion was only enhanced by the fact that this was (I believe) the world premiere of this song.

Ending the set with a throbbing rendition of "Everything In Its Right Place," the band thanked the crowd, the lights went down and the Auditorium Theatre building shook in its 1887 foundation from the crowd's insistence that the band take the stage one, two, five more times.

Treating us to two encores, the first revisited some songs from the band's second album, "The Bends," including the anthemic "My Iron Lung" as well as the album's title track. After taking us back to the nineties (Unlike much of Radiohead's era-less music, "The Bends" is just one of those songs that you know came out of the nineties), an angry, driving, dancy version of "Myxomatosis" strained a few bass speakers. Ending on a lie that was the song "How To Disappear Completely," Radiohead reappeared after another balcony-shaking roar from the crowd.

The final encore featured one new song and the perfect ender. "Down Is The New Up" is another song reminiscent, structurally, of OK Computer's "Paranoid Android" as it skitters and wavers through three or four acts of varying intensity. First Thom is on the microphone, almost beat-boxing a rhythm, then he is on the piano, then he is dancing. Johnny Greenwood was equally frenetic from keyboard to synth to guitar. After one of the most exciting songs of the night, the band ended on the always hypnotic "The Tourist."

Never have I seen a band so at home in their insecurity as last night. What I mean is that the set was loaded with enough new experimental material to bring out the best in some of modern day's most innovative and interesting music groups. Entrenched so much in the puzzle of their new material, Radiohead didn't have a chance to fall comfortably back on their well-known songs. Instead, they gave a new twist to old tricks when they could have just as easily phoned-in songs like "Climbing Up The Walls." When I pay to see a band play live, I don't want the album renditions of a song. I want playfulness, cohesiveness and I want to be challenged. Radiohead delivered all of this and more. I'm just happy I was lucky enough to be there to witness it.

Setlist:
-Airbag
-2+2=5
-Where I End And You Begin
-15 Step
-Kid A
-Arpeggi
-Videotape
-Climbing Up The Walls
-Street Spirit
-Nude (previously "Big Ideas")
-I Might Be Wrong
-No Surprises
-All I Need (*Brand Spankin' New!)
-None Of It
-National Anthem
-Bangers & Mash
-Everything In Its Right Place

Encore 1

-My Iron Lung
-The Bends
-Myxomatosis
-How To Disappear Completely

Encore 2

-Down Is The New Up
-The Tourist

Rating: 4.75 / 5