I have all of the David Byrne set on video> i posted one of the other songs on my site.

Rolling Stone got a review up of the concert too:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11317301

Rolling Stone got a review up of the concert too:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11317301

I was there last night. While the novelty of those 2 performing together was appreciated, but the performance was shoddy and under rehearsed (unfortunately mostly on Sufjan's part). Sufjan seemed really nervous and almost embarassed. He didn't know the lyrics! He appeared late on stage as if he didn't know he was supposed to go out! Let's just hope he was backstage tuning his banjo. I love him, but this duet did not show off his talents. Poor thing....

I was there last night. While the novelty of those 2 performing together was appreciated, but the performance was shoddy and under rehearsed (unfortunately mostly on Sufjan's part). Sufjan seemed really nervous and almost embarassed. He didn't know the lyrics! He appeared late on stage as if he didn't know he was supposed to go out! Let's just hope he was somewhere far backstage tuning his banjo. I love him, but this duet did not show off his talents. Poor thing....

Rolling Stone got a review up too -
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11317301

I was there last night. While the novelty of those 2 performing together was appreciated, but the performance was shoddy and under rehearsed (unfortunately mostly on Sufjan's part). Sufjan seemed really nervous and almost embarassed. He didn't know the lyrics! He appeared late on stage as if he didn't know he was supposed to go out! Let's just hope he was somewhere far backstage tuning his banjo. I love him, but this duet did not show off his talents. Poor thing....

oops. sorry for the duplicates!

the music bits were more interesting than the speaking bits. i love jon stewart, but he went a bit long reading from a book that's 2 years old. coulda used more sufjan. the host, john hodgman of those mac commercials, kept pronouncing sufjan as SOOF-JAN. that's wrong, right?

it was all for a good cause, so i'm happy.

Sufjan Stevens is worthless. A murmuring milquetoast. The sap has cadbury eggs for balls.

Also at the show, and felt a bit let down by the performances as a whole but the cause was good. Sufjans performance, although short, was the first time I saw him live and got me excited for his Oct. 1st show. However, weren't Byrne's and Sufjan supposed to be accoustic solo acts? Not that I care but I thought that is what I read.

I posted this at the musicslut so i figured i'd post it here as well:
I thought the evening was really quite nice...by no means was I blown away but I walked out leaving satisfied. Jon Stewart was nothing too great but I enjoyed him. I really liked the collage pieces that Dave Eggars was reading that the young kid makes in the workshops. As per the music John Roderick was alright...crowd was def not feeling his jokes. Sufajn played a soldi set for a benefit show...rather suprised they allowed him to play a nice 5 song set. David Byrne, well he's alegend and he'll do what he wants...as by him performing a country set....I was supe happy when he played "The Big Country" since that is one of my favorite talking heads songs. Overall, I thought it was nice night of comedy and music all for a great cause

This was the second 826NYC benefit I went to and both of them ended up being really good times. They're a terrific organization and as a result, a lot of really great talent seems to be willing to help them raise funds.

I thoroughly enjoyed everything last night, including the David Byrne country set (which sort of scared me when I first heard him announce it). I loved that Sufjan played "The Dress Looks Nice On You" which definitely made up for it not being a solo acoustic set. John Roderick really impressed me with the way he was able fill the theater with his voice and his in-between chats were funny.

For me, the only thing that would have made last night even better would have been Jenny Lewis playing the NYC show too!

an audio recording of The Mistress Witch from McClure

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=4779A1607453979D

I was there, and was pretty disappointed.

First, the Beacon made sure everyone felt as unwelcome as possible. They had only one woman working the will call window. Another guy stood outside smoking a fat cigar and shouting into a megaphone that everyone should have their ID out to "speed" the process (how about putting out your cigar and helping out at the window, instead, jerk?!). There were still at least 100 people in line 15 minutes after the show started--including people who had arrived a good 15 minutes before the show. Three different ushers pointed me in three different wrong directions before a fourth usher guided me to the correct seat. Word is 826NYC paid something like $4000 out of their budget for the privilege of using a video projector that failed to turn on when Eggers gave his cue. Classy.

Such idiocy is sadly to be expected from large NYC music venues, however. Lackluster performances from great musicians were the bigger disappointment.

The comedians and writers were all fun enough, even if their material was occasionally rehashed. And the overall lineup of the show was great.

John Roderick was pleasant. I don't care much for his music, but that's just a matter of taste. He's a good performer.

I was really looking forward to Sufjan and friends. I've heard a lot about, but very little of, his work. His songwriting proved excellent as expected, and the musicians were all competent, but the tempo dragged on almost every song and the band played like they were nervous amateurs. Can somebody please get them a stage presence coach?

Then David Byrne came on and announced he was going to play a "country set." The experience and professionalism of his band was readily apparent in the wake of the SS Sufjan, but they sleep-walked their way through one of the most boring set of tunes I've ever heard performed on a stage. Maybe if I was an obsessive fan of obscure country music, I might have been able to appreciate it (even love it), but for the 99% of the crowd who didn't fall into that category, we were just waiting for him to play something rockin'. He came close toward the end of the set, but never really got there (possibly in part due to the hypnotic state of the audience at that point). Byrne's voice also sounded strangely out of tune (other times I've seen him live, I've been blown away by his singing ability).

As for The Duet... Both of them looked like they couldn't wait for it to end. Sufjan looked like he was about to pee his pants out of fear, and Byrne looked like he was about to fall asleep out of boredom. Great concept. Poor execution.

All-in-all: kudos to 826NYC for putting together a great bill. And kudos to all these artists for being willing to give their talents to a good cause. I just wish the performers would have thought through their setlists and practiced a bit more.

Beacon Theatre is the worst run major venue in the city. It's a shame because it's such a beautiful theatre and the neighborhood put a lot of effort into saving it.

negative nellies

I enjoyed it, and had a good time.

I kind of got the impression that 826NYC threw most of this together completely on their own. Event Planning is really tough stuff, and if Eggers did this on his own (saving money, and making more for the charity), then kudos to him.

Personally, I was hoping that Eggers was going to do a reading, as he's an incredible author. This was really the only disappointment for me (but I got to say hi and shake his hand, so that kind of offset it)

Sufjan's set was short, but great. You've got to respect the fact that he continually makes up new arrangements of his old songs. 'chicago' and 'that dress looks nice on you' stood out in particular. You've also gotta love sufjan, because when he's on stage, he seems like just a normal guy.

Byrne's country set was unexpected, but good. He took a little bit of a risk, and it seems to have paid off. I'll also agree that the duet was a bad idea. It was kind of cool to hear Sufjan sing a good octave or two lower than he normally does.

Stewart's routine was decent. I didn't expect him to be a great stand-up guy, and he exceeded that expectation I thought. He wasn't phenominal, but he was still pretty decent.

Hodgman made an *AMAZING* host, however. If he's able to make it big like Carrell did, I wouldn't doubt that we'll see him hosting an award show a few years down the road. Fit perfectly into the role, and he's a very funny guy.