Kaki and The Mountain Goats

i've just got this on my mail..

The Mountain Goats and Kaki King present "THE LAST HAPPY NIGHT OF YOUR LIFE"
... A whirlwind tour across America.


TIMELINE (according to Kaki King)

Fall 2005:
Kaki hears that someone named John Darnielle has blogged about one of her records. According to sources, John has 'indie cred.' John's blog is possibly Kaki's first review outside of the guitar police state.

January 2006:
Kaki is making a record called "...Until We Felt Red" in Chicago. Whilst there she is told by a journalist that perhaps John should write her new bio because he is a fan. Kaki mulls this one over.

April 2006:
Kaki discovers a song entitled "the best ever death metal band in Denton" by a band called The Mountain Goats on a mix CD given to her by a fan. Continuing to be oblivious and unable to put two and two together, she listens to the song repeatedly and thinks it's good. While trying to discern one of the lyrics she googles and finds that MG and JD are one in the same. Gets excited.

March 2008:
Completely flu-stricken Kaki plays the Doug Fir in Portland, OR. Barely can even sing. Sees John's note on the wall but is unable to write more than a few words to her admirer. Does, however, download a great portion of the MG catalog and starts to see why everyone loves this band.

June 2008:
Kaki and John spend hours talking on the phone each night, planning and plotting the greatest tour that will make you so happy that any further happiness you experience in life will be entirely superfluous.

*****

TIMELINE (according to John Darnielle):

January 2005:
While recording the Babylon Springs EP in Glasgow, John reads about Kaki King in a recent issue Frets magazine and thinks: "this sounds good."

February 2005:
John buys Legs to Make Us Longer, flips completely out.

March 2005 - July 2006:
touring, hotel rooms with the headphones on, hospital waiting rooms, back of van: Kaki King all day long.

August 2006:
While recording Get Lonely, John downloads Kaki King bootlegs of shows in Atlanta and Northampton, listens obsessively to her cover of "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want."

February 2008:
On tour, going nuts, John sees that Kaki will shortly be playing the same club he's playing in that night, writes in Sharpie on dressing room wall: "THANK YOU KAKI KING FOR YOUR WONDERFUL MUSIC." Hassles staff of Doug Fir to preserve his message.

March 2008:
Home from tour and a total basket case, John prepares for a recuperative weekend in Florida with his wife. Gets email from Kaki just as he's leaving: "John. It is Kaki. I am in Portland. I got your note."

April - August 2008:
John and Kaki retreat to underground bunker, plot tour and recording plans, eventual world domination, and funding of the KKJD Drop-D Scholarship for music students who can't suffer standard tuning even one more day.

October 13 - November 9, 2008:
Depending on where you live, one of these nights is the "Last Happy Night of Your Life."

*****

10/13/08 Chicago, IL - Park West
10/14/08 Milwaukee, WI - The Pabst
10/17/08 Denver, CO - The Bluebird
10/18/08 Salt Lake City, UT - In The Venue
10/20/08 Seattle, WA - Showbox
10/21/08 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
10/25/08 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
10/26/08 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
10/28/08 Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
10/29/08 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress
11/01/08 Austin, TX - Emo's
11/02/08 New Orleans, LA - Republic
11/05/08 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle
11/06/08 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
11/07/08 Philadelphia, PA - TLA
11/08/08 New York, NY - Webster Hall
11/09/08 New York, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg

oh damnit jorge, you beat me to it.

but this should be in the all eyes on kaki thread so as not to clutter.

I wouldn't worry too much about clutter when this was the third total thread in this category, haha.

Sounds like an incredible tour. Hopefully someone'll put a few videos up of it on youtube sometime for those of us on the wrong side of the pond to catch it.

Miso. wrote:I wouldn't worry too much about clutter when this was the third total thread in this category, haha.

lol sorry i just get really weird about organization cuz the other message board i'm on (rasputina), all the members usually freak out if something could've been put it another thread. it's just better for organization than to have a thread die and disappear and wonder where it went. if it's in one thread, that thread will always be there and all the info will be there.

lol, im such a loser!

hmm, she's coming to seattle.. that's about as close as the tour is going to get to me.. i want to try and make it over there! but it's too expensive i think

If you need any convincing to come down to Seattle for the show here is a list of a few "pros"

-The venue she is playing in Seattle is a really nice historical venue, near the market, and about to be torn down to build more condos
-The US dollar is probably going to fall even further making it much more affordable for canadians.
-And it is early enough on the tour you should be able to to snatch up one of the 200 special edition colored vinyl EPs.

I am from Seattle, and it is killing me I am going to miss that show. I also know in the past when she has played there she generally goes to a guitar shop very near the venue before hand so you might be able to "casually run into her" if you go there.


Is there anyone who is going to be going to these shows that may be able to pick up an extra copy of the EP that I could buy from them at a later date (I will happily pay for your kindness as well!). I don't think the EP will be available anywhere else, as John Darnielle rarely sells his EPs anywhere but on tour....

ha, aw, thanks for trying to convince me but i'm not actually canadian, i'm from nz and i'm living here at uni this semester.. the US dollar getting worse only means the NZ is even worse! i went to portland the other week and our dollar was woth 60 US cents! so so sad. haha. and i've been to the showbox, i saw tegan and sara there last december.. it's definitely so pretty! but i'm gonna have to sit this one out, it's just a few hundred dollars that i do not have, sadly

kayyy not trying to seem dumb but the mountain goats are the opening act right ?

I think technically it is a coheadlining tour but the mountain goats will likely be the bigger draw. I imagine they will probably also play a few songs off the EP together.


Also, as an update, I saw Kaki last night in Paris (gret show) and she said they pressed 2,000 copies of the EP, and she didnt seem to think they would sell out on the tour. She said the Mountain Goats camp would likely be in charge of the sales of the EPs once the tour is over so if you are interested in a hard copy and arent going to any of the shows on the tour, check the MG site for updates...

The Austin venue was changed to a venue called Antone's. A really cool Jazz venue and I was able to snag front row and I could literally grab the mic from Kaki had I been so inclined to. It was indeed a Happy night to say the least but hopefully not the last! The Mountain Goats were the headlining band but Kaki's set list seemed longer then the MG and Kaki still played with quite a few songs with them. I was able to meet her afterwords and she signed my friends pack of cigarettes with the phrase "cancer is cool". I'm definitely seeing her again the next time she comes to Texas and seeing as she is half Texan and she loves to visit her aunt and uncle over here and I spoke with Mack who plays guitar with the band and he is from Texas too! So she better come by next tour!