with Ching Chong Song
Saturday 31 May 2008 Toronto-Tranzac
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Thursday 29 May 2008 Thunder Bay, Ontario.-Apollo Bar
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Jason Trachtenburg & Ching Chong Song
with opening guest, Riley.
Wednesday 28 May 2008 Winnipeg Royal Albert Arms
Cost : $8.00
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Tuesday 27 May 2008 Minneapolis 7th St. Entry
The Entry 8:00 PM / 18+
JASON TRACHTENBURG (OF THE TRACHTENBURG FAMILY SIDESHOW PLAYERS)
and CHING GHONG SONG
$7.00 advance / $7.00 door
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Monday 26 May 2008 Chicago The Dark Room
Weird Kids Night 3
featuring Jason Trachtenberg (of the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players + Ching Chong Song
WEIRD KIDS NIGHT 3
TEENSPLOITATION SUMMER BEACH PARTY
WITH JASON TRACHTENBERG
OF THE TRACHTENBERG FAMILY SLIDESHOW PLAYERS
CHING CHONG SONG
WITH HUMP DAY MOBILE UNIT DJ'S
DJ Dr. Drase
DJ Michael Flavor
DJ Arpad
DJ Magic Unicorn
Darkroom
2210 W. Chicago
Chicago, IL 60622
Doors open: 8:00 PM
Age restriction: 21+
Ticket Price: $10.00
Service Fee: $2.50
Hump Day Dance Party Presents: Weird Kids Night 3: Teensploitation Summer Beach Party at the Darkroom
We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate Memorial Day and usher in the beginning of summer than by playing the best teen and weirdo beach party tunes we could find.
Expect to hear all sorts of blanket bingo jams from the 60s and beyond. Annette Funicello, Elvis, and tracks from campy B films like Wild Guitar! will all surely make an appearance for your watusi and frugging enjoyment.
This time around we’re joined by Jason Trachtenberg of the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow players and Ching Chong Song from Brooklyn.
The show takes place on Monday, May 26th at 8pm @ Darkroom
Darkroom is located at 2210 West Chicago between Damen and Western
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Sunday 25 May 2008 Cleveland Beachland Ballroom
8 PM (7:30 PM door)
Jason Trachtenburg
(of Trachtenburg Family Slideshow players) / Ching Chong Song / Aunt Eater & Tony Meda Project
$8.00
Tavern | All ages
Jason Trachtenberg, Ching Chong Song, Aunt Eater and Tony Meda Project.
Trachtenburg's musical career began in the late '80s in New York City, where he was part of the Lower East Side's anti-folk and performance-art scenes. In 1992, he moved to Austin, TX, where he worked with Daniel Johnston on music and video projects.He also formed the band the Pancakes With Cheese while in Austin.
He relocated yet again to the Pacific Northwest in 1993 to collaborate with Chris Ballew of Presidents of the United States of America. Ballew produced Trachtenburg's early recordings in Seattle, including 1993's Let the Fishes Do the Asking and 1996's Lefty's Black Bag, which was co-produced by Conrad Uno of Pop Llama.
In 1999, Trachtenburg released Your Favorite Song. His folky, lo-fi acoustic songs instantly gained him favorable attention from Seattle music fans and from the Orange Recording Company, who released his Revolutions Per Minute album in 2000. The quirky songs on the album finally garnered Trachtenburg the national attention he'd always deserved. Topics on the album ranged from cellular phones to nutrition to auto insurance and toothpaste. It was during this era that his live shows in Seattle with the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players included his six-year-old daughter on drums, while his wife Tina served as projectionist of the band's slide show.
~ Stephen Cramer, All Music Guide
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Saturday 24 May 2008 Pittsburgh Garfield Artworks
from New York City featuring the frontman of the Family Slideshow Players
JASON TRACHTENBURG AND JULIE LAMENDOLA (http://www.myspace.com/trachtenburgandlamendola)
with Ching Chong Song (from Brooklyn) and Buddy Nutt
8 pm
[note: advance tickets available from the local opener, and from Eide's Entertainment, Dave's Music Mine, Paul's CDs, Caliban Books, Wicked Discs, and The Exchange Squirrel Hill.]
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Friday May 23 2008 North By North West Philadelphia
FRIDAY night, starting @ 10pm,
JASON TRACHTENBURG
performing live in concert! Come in early for dinner & take advantage of our specials starting at 5pm!
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Wednesday May 21 2008 Emo's Austin, TX Doors Open: 8pm Show Starts: 10pm
Emo's
603 Red River
Austin, Texas
30.2666, -97.737
Category
Performing/Visual Arts
Description
Pianist/singer Jason Trachtenburg sings biting, satirical lyrics inspired by slides he digs up at estate sales. His wife, Tina, works the slide projector and his daughter, Rachel, performs on drums and sings backup. Belaire is a synth-prog-pop band from Austin, TX.
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Sunday May 18 2008 12 Galaxies San Francisco $10 adv/$12 door 9pm 21+
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Friday May 16 2008 El Cid Los Angeles Opening for Sounds of Asteroth 21.30
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Kate Nash Tour Continues
Tuesday May 13 San Francisco The Fillmore 8.00 pm US $22.50
from nme.com (note spelling mistake)
The singer goes all out on the final night
Kate Nash concluded the first-ever NME Awards USA Tour in Los Angeles last night (May 14) by playing a marathon set for a packed house of adoring fans.
Wearing a brightly coloured floral-print dress, the singer got things jumping from her very first song, 'Pumpkin Soup', which she ended by slamming on her piano.
Looking far more self-assured than at her first LA gig at the Troubadour a few months ago, Nash got the crowd at the Henry Fonda Theatre dancing and singing along from the very beginning of her nearly two-hour set.
"Hi LA, thanks for coming out," Nash said. "This is the last night of our tour and I'm pretty sad really. But let's have a fucking good time."
Nash was backed by a four-piece, all-male band and played beneath a sign with her named spelled out in pink neon letters as her boyfriend Ryan Jarman from The Cribs and Paul Cook from the Sex Pistols looked on.
"The next song is a quiet one so shut up, please," Nash said before playing the romantic ballad 'Nicest Thing', and the audience complied.
The evening also saw Nash and her band singing 'Happy Birthday' to a girl in the audience called Mariella, before playing her song of the same name.
Nash invited Rachel Trachtenberg, the 14-year-old drummer from opening band The Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Players, to beat on the skins for a couple of tracks.
Later, toward the end of her set, Nash stopped her hit song 'Foundations' dead in the middle to prevent bouncers from ejecting Trachtenberg from the side of the stage.
"I know it's not professional but she's in the band, she's not leaving," Nash said.
Before wrapping up with a four-song encore that included a cover of Diana Ross' 'Baby Love' and the rousing punk romp 'Model Behaviour', Nash thanked her band and crew, saying, "I'm getting a bit emotional now," as she pretended to wipe tears from her eyes.
Kate Nash played:
'Pumpkin Soup'
'Shit Song'
'Stitching Leggings'
'We Get On'
'Birds'
'Nicest Thing'
'Seagulls'
'Dickhead'
'Pick Pocket'
'Do Waa Do'
'Paris'
'Skeleton Song'
'Mariella'
'Mouthwash'
'Foundations'
'Baby Love'
'Don't You Want To Share The Guilt?'
'Model Behaviour'
'Merry Happy'
video of incident here
Rachel sings Pigeons
Another review fron here
Went to Kate Nash last night at the Henry Fonda - and it was quite lovely mostly, minus all the freaks of nature. I am one so I'm not hating, they are just awkward, but anyway... Here is the review I wrote.... (yes, I have a problem stopping writing. no, I do NOT use paragraphs)
Kate Nash is known as a singer songwriter so in touch with her inner awkward girl. That is one of her major appeals that has won her so much success here in America and in the UK. However, that brings out all the really awkward freaks or the 14 year old girls who never go to concerts and get really excited – which was fun, but I really felt that the crowd was quite annoying and had patches of people jumping around annoyingly. Overall, the show was fantastic – if you could ignore the crowd.
The opening band was a “concept band” called the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Player. They basically go out to garage sales and estate sales and the like and purchase dead people’s old slideshow albums. Then they write songs that sort of tell a story using the slides – which is definitely interesting and funny, but also it’s also weird to see dead people’s slides! But that is just the kind of band they are. They are also a family. They are comprised of an awkward dad with glasses, a quiet mom, and an awkward daughter with really long hair and an adorable smile. They are really fun and interactive, as the Dad said, “The fourth wall is down! And it ain’t going back up!” They were really awkward and adorable and quirky, which did get a bit irritating overall, but was quite endearing at the same time. The songs were simple and adorable, and they seemed really happy to be on tour with Kate Nash with the Trachtenberg father even exclaiming, “Kate is one of the greatest vocalists of our time and one of the most natural melody smith’s ever.” Kate actually joined the Family Slideshow Player onstage for a song, but she was introduced as Barbara – as if no one would know! They were a fun band, though not sure that I’d go see them again but their set went by quickly in a haze of awkward conversation and cute songs.
The last time I saw Kate (way back in January!) were at Amoeba Records and the Troubadour – both venues that are quite a lot smaller than the Henry Fonda. She stormed on stage with a bigger band than she brought last time, but all of the band were the same except the new guys – keeping Elliott on drums and Jay on guitar. She started with “Pumpkin Soup”, “Shit Song”, and “Stitching Leggings” – playing up the “kid pounding on the piano” act that she plays up during live shows. Then she played crowd favorite “We Get On”. Then she got up and picked up her acoustic and strummed through crowd favorites “Birds” and “The Nicest Thing”. She then picked up a little seagull that the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Player made for her and explained how she hated seagulls and launched into a newer song (on her electric guitar) called “I Hate Seagulls”. “I Hate Seagulls” is basically a testament to what Kate likes and what Kate hates, including “rude ignorant bastards”, but the song doesn’t fall flat because of the extreme personal nature of the song, because Kate picks out quirky things to focus on which is what makes her songs great. The last time I saw her she basically switched from acoustic guitar to piano and back about every 3 songs, but this gig she really picked up the acoustic and led the way with the guitar as opposed to the keyboard melodies that drive her album forward. She played another new song, “Pick Pocket” which had her on acoustic but was backed by the full band. “Pick Pocket” started out slow, as many of her songs do, but really picked up the tempo and got more intense until the close of the song. Next, Kate actually put down the guitar and picked up the mic for a song called “Do Wah Do” which is a play on that old fifties song that everyone knows the words and the title to, except for me, which was really adorable, but the song quality wasn’t the same as most of the songs on “Made of Bricks”. Nash then moved back to the keyboard for “Skeleton Song” and “Mariella”, which the crowd had been jonesing for during the entire show. I mentioned before the freaks that showed up to Nash’s final date on the NME Awards tour, and one of them who was supposedly actually called Mariella screamed out for Kate to play her Happy Birthday! Little did she know that Elliot loves birthdays so the whole band geared up and sang happy birthday to the so-called “Mariella” in the crowd. If that isn’t odd enough, an older woman bum rushed closer to the stage and ended up next to me dancing wildly, hands waving. She then proceeded to chug from her flask, which I didn’t disapprove of, and then yelled at me for writing down the set list on my phone! She tried to get me dancing by tickling me, and then was finally settled down by me screaming that this was my 3rd time seeing Kate Nash and that I didn’t really need to jump around. Oh, the freaks! Kate finished off her set by running through Mouthwash and “Foundations” – but “Foundations” was interrupted when a security guard tried to make the daughter (Rachel) of the Trachtenberg Family Slideshow Player leave the photographers pit. Kate stopped the song and yelled at the guy saying, “Fuck that! Rachel’s not leaving! You can’t make her leave!” which was sweet and endearing, I mean the girl was 14 years old – totally harmless. She then restarted “Foundations” and it seemed the entire crowd was singing along. For the encore, which was one of the longest one’s that I’d witnessed in a while consisted of a cover of “Baby Love” – even though Kate didn’t know all of the lyrics, and a new song that I’d never heard before. Then she played her new song “Model Behaviour” with the chorus of “You don’t have to suck dick to succeed”. The song is pretty intense with Nash screaming and shouting into the microphone and twirling and jumping about – her floral dress twirling around. She ended with “Merry Happy” which literally 300 people had been screaming out for, which was lovely. Nash maintained her normal vocal gymnastics and ended the show looking like a kid fussing with her keyboard but it was quite endearing.
So after the gig, I met YET ANOTHER FREAK OF NATURE and he asked for an interview about Kate Nash and the gig, and I obliged (fame whore??) but I look like hideous and sound like a man. YUCK. but it's fuckin' hilarious!
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Sunday May 11 Portland Wonder Ballroom 8.00 pm US $17.00 WONDER BALLROOM IS NON SMOKING & WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE. CAFE WONDER OPEN FOR DINNER & COCKTAILS
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Friday May 9th Seattle Showbox At The Market
Showbox and 107.7 The End present
NME AWARDS TOUR 2008
KATE NASH
THE TRACHTENBURG FAMILY SLIDESHOW PLAYERS
$17.50 ADV / $20.00 DOS & at the door
Doors at 8pm - All Ages
Showbox at the Market - 1426 1st Avenue
review here
Kate Nash, the tart-tongued British pop star, and the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, our very own prodigal sons (and daughter), kept things off-kilter all evening. However, while both acts enjoyed terms of endearment, they too often left the capacity crowd, to quote Nash's "Mouthwash" lyrics, "singing 'uh oh' on a Friday night."
At the very least, the Trachtenburgs, who moved to New York City, proved that the family that plays and projects slides together, stays together. Mom, pop and daughter (drummer Rachel, now 14) have been providing soundtracks to found (bought, actually) slide collections for eight years now.
Their shtick still seems more suited to Hokum Hall than to a rock club, but the family has added amusing new wrinkles. Rachel sang the precious "Pigeons" while playing ukulele, and for the appropriately childlike "Let's Go on Tour With Kate" the Trachtenburgs were backed not by slides, but by live felt-board, um, artistry.
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THURSDAY MAY 8 2008 Vancouver Richard's On Richards Cabaret 8.00 pm CA $20.00 No Minors! Must be 19 & older with valid government ID to attend.
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Wednesday 7 May (Not with Kate Nash) Sunset Tavern Seattle with special guests TBA - $10 advance / $12 day of show. Buy tickets HERE 21+ only, please
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Monday May 5 Boulder Fox Theatre
97.3 KBCO & THE COLORADO DAILY Present
KATE NASH with THE TRACHTENBURG FAMILY SLIDESHOW PLAYERS
Doors: 8:00 PM /Show: 8:30 PM
Ages: All Ages $18.00
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Saturday May 3 Minneapolis First Avenue Main Room 6:00 PM / 18+
89.3 THE CURRENT PRESENTS.. KATE NASH
"NME Awards Tour"
With THE TRACHTENBURG FAMILY SLIDESHOW PLAYERS
$15.00 advance / $15.00 door
review & pic from here
First up was the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, the “world’s first indie-vaudeville conceptual art-rock pop band” hailing from Brooklyn, New York. The Slideshow Players really are the Trachtenburg family – dad Jason, who bears a striking resemblance to Rick Moranis circa Ghostbusters, mom Tina, and 14-year-old Rachel, a very talented drummer in her own right.
The shtick of the Trachtenburgs is to take slides that once belonged to dead people they didn’t know – “various deceased strangers” - and then write songs about them. The songs were funny, but would lose all meaning and enjoyment without the accompanying slideshow, run (sometimes not quite successfully) by Tina. The whole thing reminded me of Dr. Fünke’s 100% Natural Good-Time Family-Band Solution from Arrested Development, which is to say that it’s cute on television but a little disturbing in reality
review from here
It was unofficial Cute Night on Saturday at First Avenue, as the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players opened for Kate Nash. A family act featuring a keyboard-pounding dad, a tambourine-slapping mom, and a 14-year-old daughter on drums? Cute. A 20-year-old British redhead in platform heels who coos lyrics about beautiful birds in front of a pink neon sign bearing her name? Cuter. An encore uniting the two acts for a rendition of the Supremes’ “Baby Love”? Cutest!
For more information about Kate Nash: myspace.com/katenashmusic. The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players: myspace.com/slideshowplayers. Upcoming shows at First Avenue and the 7th Street Entry: first-avenue.com.
You can make a good musical career out of being cute, but fortunately, neither of these acts will need to. Newcomer Nash is on her first U.S. tour, supporting her debut album Made of Bricks. She’s often compared to her Brit peer Lily Allen, with whom she shares an independent spirit, a wicked sense of humor, a pop sensibility, and dangerously low bangs…but whereas Allen revels in a party-girl persona, Nash proudly described herself storming out of a party to write lyrics like “you don’t have to suck dick to succeed,” the chorus of an unreleased rave-up she performed on Saturday. To me, Nash’s performance recalled the young Natalie Merchant: a coy, demure, and slightly prim songstress who comes uncorked as she belts her confessional lyrics.
Reviews of early shows in Nash’s American tour reported that Nash seemed occasionally unsure of what to do with herself onstage, but by this point in the tour she seems to have learned how to make that touch of awkwardness work in her favor. With her nervous smiles and game banter (in response to a shout of “Marry me!”, she asked, “Have you even met my dad?”), she reminded us that we were watching a live performance by an actual human being. Besides running through Made of Bricks, she performed a few appealing new songs that suggest its follow-up is unlikely to evidence a sophomore slump.
As for the Trachtenburgs, they may be the perfect opening act—for Nash or for anyone. Performing off-kilter pop songs that serve as soundtracks to displays of slides scavenged from estate sales and thrift shops, the Trachtenburgs had the crowd cheering and giggling. Paterfamilias Jason Trachtenburg is set to return to First Ave (well, the Entry) on the 27th for a show sans family, sans slides…but his daughter Rachel’s charming ukulele-driven song about pigeons (her mom handled the feltboard illustrations) suggested that she may be the Trachtenburg to watch.
Jay Gabler is the Daily Planet’s arts editor.
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Friday May 2 Chicago Vic Theatre 07:30 PM DOORS OPEN AT 6:30 PM US $20.00
review here
Whether rocking out or reflecting, the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players' quirks were on display throughout its opening set. And though folk art songs such as "Beautiful Dandelion" initially intrigued, they quickly grew tedious.
another review here
To say that the warm-up act was bizarre is to totally and utterly miss the mark. The world’s only “indie-vaudeville conceptual art-rock pop band” has to be the one and only, because there just is not room for two bands of this kind in the universe. They are a family group, whose 14 year old daughter, Rachel, first joined them on stage at six, playing the harmonica. Their unique selling point is that their songs are written to describe slide-shows. They buy slides from estate sales or flea markets and proceed to project the slides on stage while they sing about them.
From our vantage point, they didn’t really seem to be holding the crowd too well. As a grumpy old person, I thought they were fascinating. And then they sang another song about a slide-show. And another. And they all sounded a bit similar. In 2006 Time Out New York described them as impossibly twee. Their reviewer was ultimately converted, but the poor Trachtenburg Family Slide-show Players* were thwarted in their attempts to win me over by the bathroom ceiling leaking on me towards the end of their set.
