Miserable Conor in the NYT again; Terminals, Brimstone tonight…

Category: Blog — @ 1:37 pm March 6, 2007

Those of you keeping score, Bright Eyes has once again made it into the pages of the great, gray New York Times. In a review by our old friend Kelefa Sanneh, who has penned most of that paper’s Saddle Creek coverage, Conor is defined as a ‘miserablist.’ Since I’m not as smart as the typical NYT reporter (Who is?) I had to look it up in Merriam’s, but, alas, I couldn’t find it listed. It also didn’t show up at AskOxford.com. It must be a word, though, or the NYT wouldn’t let Kelefa use it in the headline (The Miserablist, All Grown Up and Hard at Work). Throughout the review, Sanneh comments on how Oberst has been labeled a boy genius, even though he now is in his late 20s. He then goes on to say Conor has earned his rep as a miserablist thanks to songs like “Laura Laurent.” Maybe Kelefa thinks the song is miserable and, since Conor wrote it, that would make him a miserablist — kind of like how a writer of a novel is a novelist? Anyway… Kelefa liked the concert, which went down last Friday at the Bowery Ballroom. You can read the full review here. So far the press on this BE tour has been positive, except for the consistently negative comments about Conor’s hair. This Globe and Mail review said he “resembled Anthony Jr. from The Sopranos (the sixth-season Anthony, not the baby-fat Anthony).” Funny. There should be an avalanche of Four Winds reviews hitting the net over the next few days, as the album drops today (as did Maria Taylor’s new one, Lynn Teeter Flower). It’s all just a mild precursor to the release of Cassadaga in April.

Even bigger news, however, is tonight’s show at O’Leaver’s featuring The Terminals, Brimstone Howl and their Alive Records labelmates Radio Moscow. The show is listed on SLAMOmaha as starting at 8 p.m., but is listed on the Terminals Myspace as starting at 9. Consider it a warm-up for all the bands’ upcoming South by Southwest gigs.

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