by Andrew Frisicano

Sufjan Stevens

Collaborations were the order of the day on Big Ears' Saturday, March 27th schedule (day two). At 1pm, the 802 Tour - Nico Muhly, Thomas Bartlett (Doveman) and Sam Amidon with violist Nadia Sirota - performed songs written by each. The National's Dessner brothers and drummer Bryan Devendorf joined for a selection of full-band Doveman songs, and the finale was a clamoring, epic version of the folk song "The Two Sisters" arranged by Nico (part of the percussion included Nico combing Thomas's hair). Sam played his own set with help from Thomas one day earlier, and later Saturday night.

Before that, the day started with Andrew W.K.'s Q&A-heavy lecture at the Knoxville Museum of Art (he played a set of music the night before) and a Bang on a Can All-Stars set that included works by Dave Longstreth, both at noon. Dirty Projectors performed later in the day (3:45pm) at Tennessee Theatre on a bill that also included DJ/Rupture and William Basinski who went on at the same time as Liturgy (who played at the Big Ears Annex at 2pm and then again at Pilot Light at midnight).

Clogs took the stage at the Bijou Theater with guests as well. Rumors of a solo set by Sufjan Steven circulated, but he only played one of his own songs, "Barn Owl Night Killer," on piano. Clogs were also assisted by Shara Worden, Aaron Dessner and Calder Quartet. Matt Berninger was delayed en route to Knoxville, so he didn't make his duet on "Last Song," for which main Clog Padma Newsome filled in. That wasn't the actual last song - new-album closer "We Were Here" was, which featured Sufjan on vocals and banjo along with Shara Worden and guitar by Aaron Dessner. A similar show happened in Brooklyn a few days earlier.

Joanna Newsom

The Saturday headliners - Vampire Weekend and Joanna Newsom - both played to sold out crowds (Vampire Weekend at the sprawling, ornate-adorned 1600 seat Tennessee Theater with opener Abe Vigoda). Joanna Newsom's set was opened by Fred Armisen aka Jens Hannemann, a master of "complicated drummer technique." Armisen also joined her set for one song to play awkward and out-of-place cowbell.

At the Tennessee, the night ended with Terry Riley's Autodreamagraphical Tales - music from Bang on a Can over Terry reading from his actual dreams (Eastern religion and weed popped up frequently) - and In C, led by BoaC's Evan Ziporyn and featuring the rest of Bang on a Can All-Stars as well as Calder Quartet, Clogs, Nico Muhly, Nadia Sirota, Gyan Riley, and Terry on voice. The open-ended song stretched to an hour, canceling out any chance to catch late night sets from Javelin and Gang Gang Dance. Gang Gang was stil going when I arrived, but the club shut down the power mid-song and flipped on the lights promptly at 3am, sending everyone home.

A recap of Friday is HERE. More pictures and videos from Saturday are below...

Continue reading "Big Ears Fest Day 2 - Joanna Newsom, Clogs w/ Sufjan, Fred Armisen, Nico Muhly, Terry Riley, more (pics, video, review) "

the fifth in a series where we asked comedians to tell us what was good this year....

Because the man does so damned much, Fred Armisen is one of the hardest individuals to sum up in a pre-list blurb. He's 50% of ThunderAnt (the other 50% is Carrie Brownstein of Sleater Kinney). He just released a DVD called Jens Hannemann: Complicated Drumming Technique. He has also been doing some live gigs. And in addition to being a senior member of SNL, Fred's mug can be seen in scads of movies and TV shows (check out his resume on IMDB). Being equal parts artist and entertainer, he's absolutely one of my favorite people in entertainment and I am triple-dog-delighted he took the time out to share with BV the things he enjoyed in 2007 - Klaus

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10 things I bought/got/looked at this year that I love.

Paul McCartney, The McCartney Years DVD - It has live McCartney footage from 1976 that is amazing. He plays these really busy bass lines and sings at the same time effortlessly. I don't know how someone is able to do that so well. And I love that lefty Rickenbacker!

Petra Haden, Don't Stop Believin' - This is on a compilation album called Guilt By Association that came out this year. Her voice is just the greatest ever and the guitar solo part kills me. She's working on an acappella version of movie soundtracks right now that is unbelievable.

The Apple iPhone - It makes me feel like I am finally in the future. When I was a kid, this is what I imagined I'd be using in the 2000's. If you tap a business name into the map application, it finds it for you AND gives you the phone number AND gives you directions INCLUDING how to avoid traffic at that precise moment. I mean, are you kidding me? Thank you inventors who work at Apple!

God Of War 2 for Playstation - It's more complex than the first one but also more difficult. I liked it a lot, but couldn't finish it past the flying horse fights.

Steve Martin, Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life - Mr. Martin writes about the part of his life when he was a stand up comedian. His focus on working on every detail of his act is fascinating. At age fifteen he was already giving himself notes in a notebook. "Relax. Don't shake."

dlisted.com - This celebrity gossip site seriously makes me laugh out loud. The guy who writes this is SO funny! I look at this probably ten times a day. I was going to quote some of his stuff but I say just go to it and read it.

continued below....

Continue reading "Best of 2007 by Fred Armisen"