Morrissey: selected 2011 tour videos, Santa Fe 11/19 setlist

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I was at the November 19 Morrissey concert at the Convention Center in Santa Fe, NM. I've made up this set of embedded Youtube videos from the 2011 tour, with all the songs from that concert in the same order, using Santa Fe footage when possible, and otherwise from concerts mostly shortly before or after on the North American leg of the tour, with a few European ones mixed in. Enjoy.

I Want the One I Can't Have (Santa Fe, November 19; partial but with spoken intro and good sound quality)

I Want the One I Can't Have (Santa Fe, November 19; full but no intro and mediocre sound quality)

You Have Killed Me (Santa Fe, November 19)

You're The One For Me, Fatty (Fox Theater, Pomona, CA Nov 28):

Black Cloud (Shrine Auditorium, LA, Nov 26):

When Last I Spoke to Carol (Music Box, LA, Nov. 23):

Every Day is Like Sunday (Santa Fe, Nov 19)

Maladjusted (Music Box, Los Angeles, Nov 23)

Meat Is Murder (Krakow, July)

I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris (Dallas, Nov 17)

Action Is My Middle Name (Santa Fe, Nov 19 (partial))

Action Is My Middle Name (Opera, Copenhagen, July 11, full)

Speedway (Palladium, London, Aug 11)

People Are The Same Everywhere (Dallas, Nov 17)

Ouija Board, Ouija Board (Fox Theater, Pomona, CA, Nov 28)

All the Lazy Dykes (Escondido Center for the Arts, CA, Nov 22):

Satellite of Love [Lou Reed] (Dallas, Nov 17)

Scandinavia (Dallas, Nov. 17)

I Know It's Over (Palladium, London, Aug 11)

Encore: Still Ill (Santa Fe, Nov. 19)

Lights up, recorded music heard at the end of the preceding video signals the end of the show and continues to play over the PA as the venue empties: When I Am Laid In Earth (aka Dido's Lament), from the opera Dido and Aeneas by English composer Henry Purcell (~1659--1695). Video below with Emma Kirkby, soprano; Taverner players, Andrew Parrott, conductor; I'm not sure which version was on the PA in Santa Fe.

Morrissey at Santa Fe Convention Center, Nov. 19 2011: Setlist and initial review

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My wife and I went to hear Morrissey at the Santa Fe Convention Center last night, Nov. 19th.  The setlist posted here agrees with my recollection: every song on the list was played, and the order seems correct although I wasn't keeping track in real time.  In detail:

I Want The One I Can't Have / You Have Killed Me / You're The One For Me, Fatty / Black Cloud / When Last I Spoke To Carol / Everyday Is Like Sunday / Maladjusted / Meat Is Murder / I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris / Action Is My Middle Name / Speedway / People Are The Same Everywhere / Ouija Board, Ouija Board / All The Lazy Dykes / Satellite Of Love / Scandinavia / I Know It's Over // Still Ill

I'll probably write a lengthier review later; but a quick reaction is that if he's appearing near you later on this tour (check here) and it's not sold out, you should just get tickets and go.  I'm not a seasoned Morrissey fan---my familiarity was basically limited to the two-CD "Best Of" collection by the Smiths---but I'm a big fan now.   Granted I haven't been to a huge number of shows in the rock/pop vein, broadly construed, but his is probably one of the best two such concerts that I've ever been to.  (The other one in this league was Bob Marley at Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, in 1978...the first US date of his Kaya tour.)   The two key things about Morrissey seem to me to be first, honest, emotionally true expression of what he thinks is important about life, and second, doing this through beautiful, melodic songs, beautifully sung.  His voice is clear and sweet, but with just the right amount of richness and resonance.  The result can be downright poetic, whether lyrical, stirring, melancholy, or all three.  The sound at the convention center was excellent, the words were mostly very clear.  A great place to attend a concert---being able to get so near the stage so easily was fantastic (though it wasn't enough for many who jumped the security fence, Morrissey then grasping their hands as he walked the front of the stage).  The band was excellent, tight and rocking hard, equally capable of putting over piano-heavy ballads and power rock.  Overall, they probably come down more toward hard rock than his typical backing, and this was no bad thing.  Morrissey came across as totally committed to communicating with his audience, and to pure, on-pitch, beautifully-phrased, from-the-heart singing.  The songs, including recent ones some of which are not even on record yet, were mostly excellent to great.  I may get around to a more detailed review later, but just wanted to put it out there that this was one truly great show by a man who is the genuine article---a star if I have ever seen one.  Don't miss a chance to hear him.

US banks insuring European debt

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Food for thought if you have any interest in the potential impact of the European situation on US banks.  I have no opinion yet on the quantitative significance of this.  $518 billion, though, is not prima facie chump change.

At Bloomberg, a report by Yalman Onaran: Selling More CDS on Europe Debt Raises Risk for U.S. Banks. 

The best bit: "The banks say their net positions are smaller because they purchase swaps to offset ones they’re selling to other companies."

Christina Romer reviews the empirical evidence: fiscal stimulus works

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Next time someone tells you that we know fiscal stimulus doesn't work because we tried it and we still have 9% unemployment, hand them a copy of this talk by Christina Romer.  It reviews the evidence that fiscal policy works, and in particular that the ARRA fiscal stimulus helped prevent even higher unemployment than actually occurred.

 

Raaga: top-notch Indian restaurant in Santa Fe

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A relative newcomer on the Santa Fe scene is the Indian restaurant, Raaga, owned by Paddy Rawal.  It's in a one-story arts-and-crafts style bungalow on Agua Fria street (a few blocks west of Sanbusco Center, where you can park if the restaurant's lot is full), that housed the excellent Asian-Pacific fusion restaurant Mauka a few years back.  (Mauka's chef, Joel Coleman, now heads an "Asian tapas" place, Koi, that gets good reviews---I haven't tried it.)  The old Mauka decor is still there, with the exception of some photos of India on the wall.  It's casual but reasonably elegant.

The food is some of the best in Santa Fe, of any type.  Food at Indian restaurants is often very oily and garlicky---which can be fun, but can be a bit much.  The food at Raaga does not have this problem---the lack of excessive oil gives a much clearer, cleaner impression on the palate, and there's plenty of flavor.  Much more like home-cooked Indian food.  The stuffed pepper appetizer was a hot green chile (the menu says it's a Poblano) with a filling of potatoes, peas, and spices that's standard for samosas, thinly covered with a cornmeal  batter and fried.  Delicious ($4.95).  The Chole Amritsari---chickpeas with a sauce featuring pomegranate, chiles, and ginger ($13.95), was superb.  Bombay fish masala curry, at $17.95, was also excellent.   Naan was topnotch as well.  Some of the best Indian food I've had in a restaurant, and the prices are quite nice for food of this quality.   Two appetizers and a split main dish would easily make a meal---the main dishes are quite large.

Let's hope that, unlike the equally excellent Mauka, Raaga makes a go of it at this location.  It's a bit off the main tourist and business streets, but it's a short and very pleasant stroll, full of Santa Fe atmosphere, from the busy Guadalupe street area down Agua Fria, so check it out.

Raaga on Urbanspoon

Grey border removed in WordPress Twenty Eleven

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You may have noticed I've upgraded to the current version of WordPress and changed the theme (WordPress' term for the code that governs the layout and appearance of content at a WordPress blog site) to WordPress Twenty Eleven.  The default version of this comes with an annoying grey border around the post.  I've removed it, thanks to the information supplied by "alchymyth" here.

Wines for the 99% from South America via Trader Joe's: Panilonco 2009 Carmenère, La Finca 2010 Malbec

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I have to hand it to Trader Joe's for the generally very high quality to price ratio in their wine section.  I recently reviewed several cheap or reasonably priced wines from TJ's, and here are a couple more.

The 2010 La Finca Malbec, Oak Aged, from Mendoza, Argentina, is another recommended bargain from TJ's at $3.99.  It has that typical Malbec fruitiness, reminiscent of blackberries and also of some of the old-time Italian-American wines from California, but it is not syrupy or overripe, or overconcentrated, and it has a nice bit of tannin to add backbone to the fruit.  Very quaffable with pizza and such.  On a par in quality  with the 2010 La Finca Cabernet I reviewed earlier.

The 2009 Panilonco Carmenère, D.O. Colchagua Valley, Chile, is also a typical expression of the grape, and another fantastic bargain at TJ's for $4.99.  It has the ripe, somewhat sappy, open mouthfeel of the Panilonco Cabernet-Malbec I reviewed earlier, but plummy flavors with a hint of spice (cloves or allspice?), and some dark complexity, perhaps leafiness.  It definitely resembles some Italian Carmenères I've had from Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, but is a bit less tightly structured and softer, though not excessively alcoholic or syrupy.  It also bears some resemblance to a good, softer-styled Bordeaux, even though the latter are made from different grapes.

These are both just plain well-made, tasty wines, not spoiled by overreaching.  Each of them is a clear expression of typical flavors of their respective grapes.  If you've never tried these grapes, this is a good chance to find out what kind of wine they make for very little money.  The Carmenère is perhaps a bit more complex, but they're both interesting and enjoyable wines---and fabulous deals at TJ's price.   You'd be hard pressed to find a better red than either of these for under $10, and even spending more is certainly no guarantee of something you'll enjoy drinking more than these bottles.

Latest European finance agreement

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The "voluntary" agreement by holders of Greek bonds to accept a 50% loss is better news than I expected for Europe. See this story from Bloomberg.  Tim Duy's worries (found via Mark Thoma's excellent blog yesterday, before the current agreement was announced) still have some force for me, though.   However, "a signal from leaders that the European Central Bank will maintain bond purchases in the secondary market" (Bloomberg) sounds interesting.   In more detail:

Leaders tiptoed around the politically independent ECB’s broader role in keeping the euro sound, making no mention of its bond-purchase program in a 15-page statement. The Frankfurt- based central bank has bought 169.5 billion euros in bonds so far, starting with Greece, Ireland and Portugal last year, then extending the coverage to Italy and Spain in August.

While Trichet didn’t mention the controversial purchases either, his successor, Mario Draghi of Italy, indicated that the policy will continue. Speaking in Rome yesterday, Draghi said the ECB remains “determined to avoid a poor functioning of monetary and financial markets.”

This, from Duy yesterday, may explain the tiptoeing:

The German contingent has effectively shut down the ECB. From the Wall Street Journal:

Lawmakers also pressed Ms. Merkel to push banks considered systemically relevant to raise core capital to 9% by a deadline of June 30, 2012 and urged her to insist on an end to the European Central Bank's program of purchasing euro-zone bonds on the open market to prop up weakened euro-zone members as soon as the EFSF is launched. German lawmakers also called for a clear European commitment to the ECB's independence.

The Germans fear the inflationary consequences if the ECB essentially monetizes the debt of the periphery. But the lack of a credible lender of last resort is crippling rescues efforts, and will continue to do so.

I agree with Duy (and Paul Krugman) that it's ultimately crucial for the ECB to provide this credibility, backing Spanish and Italian bonds, for instance, against a speculative run. Just possibly, Draghi's statement is an attempt to indicate that, pace the German parliament, they will.

Duy: "The whole issue of leverage looks to be little more than a smoke and mirrors effort to make the real firepower of the fund appear to be much greater than reality." In Wolfgang Munchau's even more pointed words": "to disguise a lack of money".

Or possibly, it is smoke and mirrors to disguise a role for the ECB . Perhaps this is wishful thinking. One would really like to know what is in Mario Draghi's mind right now. But at least EU leaders have been decisive about one of the needed actions (the 50% haircut). ECB backing of European bonds is another, about which there is clearly more uncertainty than one would like, but some hope.  It would be far better to remove that uncertainty---doing so sooner rather than later lowers the ultimate cost to EU economies and finances.  It is expectations---confidence that the bank will if necessary back those EU governments whose money is leveraged in the EFSF rescue fund---that are crucial.  Ideally, too, the ECB would concomitantly pursue a looser overall monetary policy, stimulating the EU's economies and thus reducing the cyclical component of their deficits (increasing the tax base, and reducing the need for unemployment-insurance payouts and other äutomatic" cyclical social safety-net spending).   Optimally, the bank would not counteract the tendency of looser money to depreciate the Euro ("sterilize" it, in the jargon), as the high Euro is hurting exports from the European countries whose economies are in the worst shape.  Here Duy is probably right that talks with China to provide funds point in the wrong direction.  Chinese purchases of Euro-denominated assets strengthen (increase the value of) the Euro.

New Album: Only in Dreams (Dum Dum Girls)

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New album "Only in Dreams" by the Dum Dum Girls is out on Sub Pop records. The quick summary? Doo-wop with fuzz guitars. Worthwhile.  Check it out.

Dum Dum Girls - Only in Dreams by subpop

Choice bits include the driving Always Looking (whose grungish main strain is followed by some even more retro stylings); the garage-fuzz-meets-50s Bedroom Eyes; the snappy, poppy In My Head; Heartbeat with its doowopish verse; Wasting Away; and the slow guitar anthem Comin' Down (with a sound, and chord changes, reminiscent of Knocking on Heaven's Door).  But really, it's all pretty choice.