January 12, 2007
Geoff Berner, Blue Chair Cafe, Edmonton, September 17, 2006
B(oot)log has now been existence for one year. It was my birthday and none of you sent presents or even e-cards. Jerks. Ah, that’s ok. I forgive you – I sorta forgot about it too. Wow. One year. Isn’t that like 7 in blog years? Who knew I’d stick with it this long? Anyway for my birthday/anniversary I am going to take a weekend off, sort of, and post the work done by someone else.
As the b(oot)log faithful know, I go out of my way trying to bring you awesome stuff week after week. Awesomeness just doesn’t occur in Kingston, at least this is what I am told, so being the venerable music institution that I am, I have sent correspondents into the field to record the finest music out there across this great land. In what I hope will become an frequent occurrence, this post comes courtesy of the generous b(oot)logWest.
photo by Silje Ese Haugen from a show in Norway in 2005.
This is classic Geoff Berner set. It is filled with his literate lyrics, awesome accordian licks, and is full of intelligent, if sometimes rather bizarre, jokes made at the expense of himself, the audience, the French, the Germans, the Ukrainians, you know, just about everyone. While playing his wonderful, often very beautiful and equally as often highly amusing, narrative songs, Berner a is not above interrupting himself in order to expand on the story or to crack wise. He is part poet, part storyteller, part jester, part political commentator, part raving drunken lunatic, but above all is a fantastic musician and entertainer. Geoff Berner is one of the most engaging performers out there in my books.
Berner is releasing a new album titled “The Wedding Dance of the Widow Bride” on February 6th. He is spending February tour Canada and in March he is in Europe – check out his site for complete dates. He will be in Kingston at the Grad Club with Bob Wiseman on February 24th, so come on out and witness the whiskey-fuelled, accordian-driven mayhem yourself. It should be pretty awesome.
(ps. I think I tagged the genre something silly and not exactly accurate. I meant to change it before I uploaded the files and then promptly forgot. Feel free to invent your own genre for this one. I suggest “klezmer-folk-punk” or something along those lines)
Geoff Berner, Blue Chair Cafe, Edmonton, September 17, 2006
01. Intro by Harold (talk).mp3
02. Volcano God.mp3
03. Good Luck Now Intro (talk).mp3
04. Good Luck Now.mp3
05. Widow Bride Intro (talk).mp3
06. Widow Bride.mp3
07. That’s What Keeps The Rent Down Baby Intro (talk).mp3
08. That’s What Keeps The Rent Down Baby.mp3
09. Whiskey Rabbi Intro (talk).mp3
10. Whiskey Rabbi.mp3
11. Maginot Line Intro (talk).mp3
12. Maginot Line.mp3
13. Weep, Bride, Weep Intro (talk).mp3
14. Weep, Bride, Weep.mp3
15. Unlistenable Song Intro (talk).mp3
16. Unlistenable Song.mp3
17. Lucky God Damn Jew Intro (talk).mp3
18. Lucky God Damn Jew.mp3
19. Clown & Bard Intro (talk).mp3
20. Clown & Bard.mp3
21. How Come You’re So Fucked And Nothing Seems To Be Wrong Intro (talk).mp3
22. How Come You’re So Fucked And Nothing Seems To Be Wrong.mp3
Buy Geoff Berner’s albums from Black Hen Music.
B(oot)log 
Chris said,
January 13, 2007 at 2:38 am
The most intelligent drunk in Canada. N.Q. Arbuckle (aka Neville) told me that he once found Geoff, passed out in an alley behind a bar in Vancouver, cradling his accordion against his chest, and said, “Geoff! You’re too good for this!”
I received the Memphis prize last night! It promptly found its way into my sister’s CD player, where my sister is quite happy to keep it. She’s a big Stars fan, too.
I remember going to a Stars/Broken Social Scene concert way back in March 2003. I’d never heard of BSS–I wanted to see Stars. They were great of course. That was right at the start of the Iraq war, so Torq had some words for Bush, and I think he signed my album “Fuck war.” Amy Milan nailed “Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” that night, too (which I can’t say that she’s done every time). First time that I’d heard that song, and it was my favourite BSS song for a long time after that.
Chris said,
January 13, 2007 at 2:40 am
Oh, I meant to say, “Thanks again!” for the prize. It’s fantastic. (I just distracted myself with stories of old shows… “And then there was that time I saw Feist and there were only about 50 people in the mostly-empty bar…”)
Roland said,
January 14, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Happy Birthday, Rodney and B(oot)! May the next (and next, and next) be as great!
saudade said,
January 15, 2007 at 11:30 pm
Happy birthdays! And thanks for posting this. Love this Geoff fellow
rgsc said,
January 18, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Hey everyone, thanks for the well wishes – here’s to another year of b(oot)loggin’.
Chris – you are most welcome. Glad you (or at least your sister) are diggin’ the album. And I quite enjoy your stories. makes my jealous…i don’t have too many of those “I saw that band back when…” stories/experiences.
Fergis T. McGillicuddy said,
February 11, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Thanks for posting this. I saw him last night in Edmonton. Incredible…
He drank the better part of a bottle of whiskey onstage.
proxieslist.net said,
April 11, 2007 at 7:52 pm
[…] meanwhile, you can get a bootleg of an Edmonton show (shortly after his previous Ottawa visit) at B(oot)log. And how convenient, you can also enter to win his new album, The Wedding Dance of the Widow Bride […]
PhoneyDrawl! said,
June 9, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Muhahaha! More Geoff Berner for my 200+ songs collection! If this is the quality you have here, I might pop in a couple of more times! Cheers!
Tracy Kolenchuk said,
January 3, 2008 at 6:45 pm
You can see photos from this show at:
http://www.pbase.com/tracyk/2006_09_17_geof_berner_and_dave_lang
slideshow at:
http://www.pbase.com/tracyk/2006_09_17_geof_berner_and_dave_lang
tracy
dan said,
November 12, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I love Canada.
Ashes hearts u! said,
February 2, 2009 at 4:32 pm
BLAME CANADA! BLAME CANADA! WITH THEIR BEADY LITTLE EYES AND FLOPPY HEADS THAT LEAVE SURPRISE!
–Blame Canada by Kyle’s Mom on South Park: bigger longer and uncut Movie
Shows! Geoff Berner & Forest City Lovers @ The Artel « B(oot)log said,
February 11, 2009 at 10:32 pm
[…] * Whiskey Rabbi (live at the Grad Club, 13 Jan 2006) * Clown & Bard (live at Blue Chair Cafe, Edmonton, September 17, 2006. One of my all time favourite songs. Full set here.) […]
>Dial 6-1-3_ » Blog Archive » this week in Ottawa: 02.21.07 – 02.25.07 said,
August 3, 2009 at 7:31 am
[…] now; also, you can get a bootleg of an Edmonton show (shortly after his previous Ottawa visit) at B(oot)log. And how convenient, you can also enter to win his new album, The Wedding Dance of the Widow Bride […]
LD said,
January 27, 2011 at 7:25 pm
I’ve been wanting to see him in concert ever since I stumbled across him several years ago. THis is the closest I’ve come so far, but still hopeful. I’m a huge fan and can’t thank you enough for posting this concert.