Vol. 2 No. 5 (Nov. 1, 2004) Page 7

DVD Review
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3

Jeremy Arth:
"Close, But Not Touching"
Page 4
Page 5

The Bootlog
Page 6

Fan Profile / What Lurks Below
Page 7

True Experience:
New Orleans
Page 8

The Reviews
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17

Friends of Ezra
Page 18

News & Links
Page 19

Map of Ezra
Page 20

TTOY Hall of Fame
Page 21

BTE Impressions
Page 22

THE ARCHIVES

Volume 1
Mar. 2003
May 2003
July 2003
Sept. 2003
Nov. 2003
Jan. 2004

Volume 2
Mar. 2004
May 2004
July 2004
Sep. 2004

FAN PROFILE: Anthony.

The subject of this month’s fan profile is on New Orleans area Ezralite, Anthony.  If you're ever at a Better Than Ezra show in New Orleans, chances are you might run into this young fellow.

Megan from Massachusetts was kind enough to suggest this profile.  Each fan profile has some basic information about the person and follow-up questions about their BTE fandom.     

 Anthony in a Literary Moment
(Photo: Anthony).

Name:  Anthony Kenjovihair Ellis.
Location:  Slidell, LA (just across the lake from New Orleans).
Age:  20.
Occupation:  Lawnmower-man and college kid.
Favorite CDs:  How Does Your Garden Grow? (BTE), Kid A (Radiohead), and Stop All the World Now (Howie Day).
Favorite Songs:  New Kind of Low a.) Low b.) Coma (BTE), Small World (Nas), Masterplan (Oasis), and One (U2).
BTE Shows:  About 20, but it's very possible I'm missing 2 or 3. I had to go back to the tourd ate list and count!

How and when did you become a BTE fan?
I stole my neighbors cassette of Deluxe, and enjoyed it.  The day Friction Baby came out I rode my bike to K-Mart to buy it, and then fell into an unfortunate era of Korn and Limp Bizkit fandom.  Eventually I came back around, discovered How Does Your Garden Grow? and have been a fan ever since.

Where was your most memorable live show, and why was it so good (uh-huh)?
The two Christmas in 2003.  The House of Blues was filled with LSU fans, and LSU was scheduled to play for the BCS Championship in two weeks.

What's the best live BTE song? And your favorite cover?
I'd say "Desperately Wanting," with "Briefly" having a chance to surpass it.  I've never seen "Briefly" performed live, but I'd imagine it'd be excellent.  They sold out their show in New Orleans last month, and of course they played it!  I've always loved "Briefly," mainly the part where it goes to straight guitar and Kevin holds "In tiiiiiiiime" at a higher note than any man from this planet should be able to go. That part alone gives me reason to believe that Kevin was castrated as a small boy.

As for covers, it's got to be when they play "In the Blood" and go into "Don't Fear the Reaper."  That'd have to be my favorite.

Are you a bootleg collector? What's your favorite?
I own a few.  I've got the first Ezra show I ever went to, which is pretty cool.  I used to listen to the bootlegs a lot, but now if I ever pop them in, it's to listen to an unreleased song.  I had a set of Irving Plaza shows with "In a Little While", "Special", and "Simple Song" that I'd play a lot.  I was actually listening to it when I picked up my one and only hitchhiker in Tennessee.

Which BTE opening band would you recommend and why?
The Graham Colton Band are excellent. I wasn't planning on going to an upcoming Baton Rouge show until I heard that Graham Colton was opening solo.  Now I'm digging for $40 in spare change so I can go.  But, on the same token, they've had some pretty bad opening bands.  I'll be nice and refrain from listing any names.

What other bands do you like?
Radiohead, Graham Colton Band, and Howie Day have already been mentioned. Oasis, U2, Nas, and to a lesser extent Third Eye Blind are on that list. I'm on a huge Radiohead kick right now, so I've neglected any newer music over the past month or so.

As for the newer groups, Snow Patrol has some really good songs on their new release, as do The Killers. The Used is supposed to be releasing a new album soon, so I hope to hear a single from them soon. They're not really my type of music, but for whatever reason, I like them. I hear Stroke 9 also has one coming out in the near future, but I think I had to wait for "Rip It Off" than I have had to for the new BTE disc, if that's possible.

Been on any outrageous road trips?
Dina and Ashley are my road trip peeps, and they played starring roles in my most bizarre trip.  The night didn't get off to a very good start, because I had to Hammond to pick up Ashley, and then back home to get my radar detector that my brother had borrowed.  We picked up Dina and headed towards the apartment at which we were staying, ate some "Trabby Cake," and apparently evaded incarceration and deportation at the "Power Plant of Doom."

The next morning we stumbled into a gas station that also sold sushi, and I was intrigued but no one thought it'd be a good idea to buy it.  We got to a show in Nashville that night, and afterwards went to a bar where Fred LeBlanc of Cowboy Mouth showed up in, and he played with his old band. Ashley got up and sang "Good" and serenaded Dina with "Cry in the Sun", since it was her birthday.

Atlanta was our next stop, and I was driven mad by constant Ingram Hill by both Ashley and Dina, and my new friends Nathan and Doug. After that show, I decided to stay in Atlanta, and let Ashley and Dina borrow my car, which got broken into. They were apparently panic-stricken after the event, and parked my car in a gas station in what couldn't have been a very friendly part of town.  We called the police, he filed a report, and basically said Ashley and Dina suck, which isn't true.  I lost my radar detector and a copy of my entire CD collection.  The damage wasn't too bad, considering my faceplate was still attached to the radio, I had $200 in the ashtray... and Ashley left my keys to the car in the first place a potential thief would look!

Anyway, I drove from that gas station with my passenger window destroyed, and shards of glass would slide across the floor whenever I made a sharp turn.  I listened to "Small World" by Nas at least twenty times between Birmingham and Memphis, en route to the third and final show.  Memphis has this stupid rule that anyone under 21 can't go on Beale Street after 11:00 PM, or something. So I got screwed out of hanging with all of the Ezralites that we met there.  I attempted to drive to the same apartment we had stayed at a few days before, but failed and ended up in a bad part of town, vacuuming out my car.  The next day Dina, Ashley, and drove home in the rain. Sounds kind of depressing, but it really wasn't.

Do you hang with other Ezralites?
Obviously. The Christmas shows are the greatest, because everyone's there.

Anything else you'd like to share with your fellow Ezralites?
Backup your CD collection, don't trust Ashley with your keys, go Red Sox, go Saints!  Oh, and I'm a bit long-winded.  I would also like to draw attention to the fact that I haven't mentioned Maguire's Irish Pub once until now.

Cheers!
(Photo: Anthony)

Editor's Note: If you would like to suggest a fan to profile for future editions (a profile of yourself included), please email your suggestion to ED@streetserenade.com

A Column by Pauly, an Australian Ezralite

Greetings Ezralites!  Here's a few highlights from the current Australian music scene for your consideration:

Muse Making Waves in Oz

Muse - Live in Oz - September 2004
Muse are one of those bands that have become popular the old school way.  Before December 2003, commercial radio down under would never have known who the hell Muse were, let alone considered throwing a Muse track into any kind of rotation.  Their single "Time is Running Out" changed all that. It has become one of those songs that regular people who are still unfamiliar with the name Muse, will hear the song and say "Oh yeah, I know this song."  Not unlike the reaction of the uninitiated Better Than Ezra's "Good."

Despite having 2 insanely good albums --  Showbiz (1999) and Origin of Symmetry (2001), it took their third album Absolution for the band to receive the popularity and accolades they so richly deserve. This recent Australian tour saw their first headline show in Brisbane which started out as one sold out show at The Arena (2,000 capacity), then 2 sold out Arena shows, and later moved to a mega show at Brisbane's Riverstage, selling over 8,000 tickets!

Sydney fans were treated to a new move from Matt which I thought was worthy of some publicity.  The move resembled a sideways moonwalk while he played a killer guitar solo.  He shuffled his feet so franticly that anyone not in the first 3 rows would think he was hovering across the stage like the superhuman mofo that he is.  Sydney punters also saw a traditional trashing of Dom's drum kit, as Matt straddled the remaining kick drum for the final 10 seconds of cyber-feedback with his crazy custom guitar.  But Brisbane's show seemed to have a little bit more energy over all which one expects from the final show of a tour.  I managed to convince 6 of my friends to pay $60 a head to see a band they'd barely heard of.  Of course, since then all but one of them have since purchased the band's entire back catalogue.  Every song was a stand out live, but the surprise cherries were "The Small Print" and "Ruled By Secrecy."  As seen on the Hullabaloo DVD, the crowd were showered by giant white balloons filled with confetti for a little bit of extra amusement during "Blackout," before they closed the show with one of my all time favourite songs "Stockholm Syndrome" with the obligatory extended rock ending!

Muse have toured the US twice this year and you can guarantee they'll be back in the near future. So check 'em out! Meantime, here's a link to their website and a few mp3 of "Muscle Museum" and "Sing for Absolution" (both live from The Hordern, Sydney, on September 10, 2004).

Somewhere in her travels she managed to hook up with Kevin Griffin and write a bunch of tunes, one of which went on to be a No. 1 single here in Oz.  Last week the song "Scar" won Missy an ARIA (Australia's version of AMA's) for "best pop release." I had the pleasure of seeing her live in October in the 2nd show of her first headline tour with a band. Her communication skills were laced with much charm and grace, and she told stories about how each track came into being.

Describing the first track on the album ("All for Believing") as a school assignment which she had only half written on the morning of it's due date, so like any true musician she skipped her first to classes to complete the song.  She also expressed her love for Bill Withers before introducing "Casualty," another song co-written by Kevin.  "The Sound Of White" made it to No. 1 on the Australian Music Charts and has now gone platinum.  Missy is a serious contender in the Australian Music Industry and I'm sure if given the right exposure the rest of the world soon follow suit.  I wish I had a little more info to share on Missy, but for more information, you can always check out her website.

As mentioned, Missy Higgins won Best Pop Release, and John Butler Trio took out Best Independent Release and Best Blues and Roots Album.

The Dissociatives won awards for Best Video, and Best Cover Art.  Performances by Jet, John Butler Trio, Pete Murray and Missy Higgins were all great... but the highlight was the grande finale of the night - An all star jam, featuring Nick Cester (Jet) on vocals, and Chris Cheney (Living End) on guitar.  The gang did a marvelous cover of Stevie Wright's "Evie" to close the show.

A Final Word
I finally received my DVD in the mail on October 18. Damn U.S. Post!  I don't need to tell you how much I love it, do I? You already know for you have seen the light.  Let us give thanks! Much love and respect to you all...

Cheers, 'til next time.

pauly

P.S. Welcome home Lexie!