Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Phosphorescent | Coming to Dartmouth | Feb 15 | UPDATE

SECOND UPDATE: Phosphorescent's booking agent wrote back to say that he thinks Phosphorescent will do another show in New England this fall. However, he didn't say whether it would be northern New England or southern New England. A show at Yale won't cut it for folks in the old north woods.

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UPDATE:
Bad news, folks. I received an email from one of the organizers of the show at Dartmouth confirming what someone in the comments said. We aren't allowed to go to the show. The show is meant to be only for students and since they've received complaints in the past about non-students attending shows there in the past, they will be checking IDs at the door.

Two things:

1) This policy is in complete contrast to the policies at UVM and Bennington where they welcome people from the community to join them at the shows. I think that policy sends a better message to the student body about how, despite being in an elite institution of higher learning, they are still a part of the larger community.

2) Phosphorescent isn't a household name and if he hopes to build a fan base, I think he should avoid playing shows that exclude certain people. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt though and guessing he didn't know about Dartmouth's exclusionary practices. I emailed his booking agent to check and will update this post if I hear back one way or the other.

Regardless, it's time to find something else to do on Friday night.

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Original Post

jds mentioned this show in an earlier post about upcoming shows at Dartmouth's Fuel Rocket Club but I wanted to draw a bit more attention to it since...well...I like Phosphorescent and it's free. Oh, and the beer is free too.

Phosphorescent is the name for Matthew Houck's one-man band. Originally from Georgia, Houck, like every other musician in the free world, now resides in Brooklyn when he's not on his seemingly endless tour. He knocked out at least 32 shows this fall and has another 46 scheduled for this winter and early spring. The dude travels.

Now, I'm not sure how many musicians he brings with him or how well he creates the dark atmospheric sound of his albums but, for free, why not go check it out. Houck's sound is more structured and ominous than freak folk but is still a far cry from traditional folk sounds as he builds songs with haunting harmoniums, loose piano chords and ooooohing background vocals. Hopefully, he'll be able to create those sounds when he hits Hanover next Friday.

The Fuel Rocket Club is located in the basement of the Collis Center which is at the corner of North Main Street and West Wheelock Street; right on the campus green. If I'm wrong on the name of the building, it's the big building on the corner. Follow the students. You'll find it.

There are two other bands on the bill too. Bottle Up & Go and Bart McGuire. Knowing that shows tend to start late there, I'm guessing Phosphorescent won't hit the stage...err, floor, in this case...until after 11pm.

Phosphorescent | I Am a Full Grown Man | Buy







Phosphorescent | Wolves | Buy






6 comments:

Chris said...

The live show beats the recordings, hands down. Check out this recording from last year.

http://www.thingschrisrecorded.com/2007/11/20071030-phosphorescent-rgrs-denton-tx.html

Sam said...

I plan to be all over this show. Im glad you are getting the word out since they do such a crappy job of it.

Anonymous said...

They do a "crappy job" advertising the shows because non-students aren't supposed to be allowed.

Anonymous said...

Why wouldn't they want non-students attending? Awesome elitist ivy league kids...

Sam said...

"since they've received complaints in the past about non-students attending shows there in the past" What were the non-students not wearing enough lacoste?

Flatlander said...

I truly don't know what the problem with non-students is. I'd guess that it involves the availability of free beer but that's just a guess.

Some drunk non-student asshole a few yeas ago probably caused a problem and now none of us can go. But that's just speculation.