Sky White Tiger at Adler Planetarium

(photos by Brad Meese)


After listening to the Sky White Tiger album and also seeing their in store performance at Reckless Records, I was looking forward to seeing the band play in the planetarium setting. This show succeeded in many ways. The bands music fits the venue both lyrically and musically. The spaced out effects and mostly languid pace matched the sights that were seen at the Adler.


The band themselves were dressed all in white which served 2 functions, first it allowed the to have some cool light bursts displayed on the like a screen so that their bodies looked like they were made up of stars when the lights were lowered and the were hit with light projections. Secondly the white get-up mimicked the white of astronaut suits and at times in harsh shadows they looked like they were walking on the moon.

The music developed an overall vibe that built to louder noise only a handful of times. It was an interesting contrast for me to have seen the band perform these at the in store and then at the Adler later. The setting of the planetarium really added to the vibe the band was going for. That can't be said for all shows.


The venue itself with the huge telescope in my fore ground is a wholly unique setting for a band to play in and this band did very well with that. The constellations were bright above and at times the constellations were lit up by lines so you could see the see each constellations drawing over the pinpoints of light for stars. The most effective points in the show was when the light was pulled all the way back, just short of pitch black and a low amount of light lit the band members.

I was able to talk to Louis from the band for a bit afterward and he told me that he wrote the songs envisioning a unique set up for playing them live. This really showed in the relationship of the music and the setting of the show. Louis was also in Polyphonic Spree as well. Here has a penchant for forming unique surrounding for his musical projects. If you haven't picked up The Sky White Tiger ep ,get it. I have it on a good source that the band is looking to bring this show to the city again, soon.

Thanks to August and Novo Entertainment who promoted the show and extended me an invite. The Novo shows are always a great time.

Netherfriends At Schubas 1.17.10

Shawn Rosenblatt is Netherfriends. Live he delivers his self referential pop songs with a lot of energy.He was nice enough to give me a video interview after his show at Schubas as well as let me video his band's performance. Check out my youtube channel to see the videos.



Shawn is going to write and record a song IN ALL 50 STATES over the next year! He is going to need a lot of help on his admirable adventure. I interviewed him and he's a down to Earth guy. If I lived in another part of the country I would help him out. Here is your chance to help some who is doing something that most of us who love music, wish we could. If you have friends who live in other parts of the country and they want to help, have them email Shawn.

Also Shawn has a new album coming out soon, so be on the lookout for it. He tells me about the making of it in our interview. There is a song from that album below here. he has also been added to the line-up of the Pitchfork Festival in July of 2010. Congrats Shawn, it's a well deserved high profile gig.