“Of course we played it,” Midlake guitarist/singer Eric Pulido said last night after his band pleased the Santa Fe Brewing Company audience by finally honoring several requests for “Roscoe,” which recently topped Westword’s “Top Ten Indie-Rock Songs of the 2000s” list.

“We’re not that band,” Pulido joked. “And we’re working on a new one called ‘Bosco.’”

Midlake is going through some growing pains at the moment—or growth-spurts, depending on your point of view. Last night at SFBC, the band had four guitarists, one bassist, one keyboardist/flautist and one drummer; the last time the Texas folk-rock outfit toured, it numbered only five musicians total, and now it’s gone the way of Broken Social Scene. More fittingly, Midlake has gone the way of the E Street Band, with a slew of rhythm guitarists playing the same chords, and one lead-guitarist tempering things with sinewy guitar-talk.

Surprisingly, Midlake only played for about an hour last night, which was an obvious outcome for anyone who saw singer/guitarist Tim Smith roll his eyes at the sight of a half-full small-town venue. Still, the group graced Santa Fe with spirited versions of songs from its new album, The Courage of Others, and satisfied everyone with new, darker versions of tunes from Midlake’s 2006 breakout The Trials of Van Occupanther. Whereas the latter album elegantly juxtaposed Fleetwood Mac and CSNY, The Courage of Others—and Midlake’s new sound in general—draws from Medieval inspirations and heavier ’70s influences such as Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin.

Additionally, last night Midlake stretched out Van Occupanther favorites like “Head Home” by tacking on long, Allman Brothers-meets-Hawkwind jams that recall Midlake’s salad days as the fusion-thick Cornbread All-Stars. Even “Roscoe” got the Wooden Shjips-esque treatment, beginning with a raucous, extended intro that recalled Lou Reed’s cocaine-fueled Rock ’n’ Roll Animal period.

Although Midlake is one of those bands that seems to play better at a big, sold-out venue in New York or San Francisco and often lack the necessary energy to adequately rock a pub in New Mexico, it’s always a treat to see a premier American indie act, if only for an hour.

In this week’s Indicators, seniors at Capital High School and Santa Fe Prep answer two questions from SFR: What their plans are for next year, and to what degree the economy has affected those plans. Read the extended version (more questions, more answers) after the jump.
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Get this: It wasn’t even his cell phone.

Al Burrows of Las Cruces, New Mexico, sued Verizon Wireless in Santa Fe’s 1st Judicial District Court on April 20, claiming violations of state and federal debt collections laws, as well as “negligent infliction of emotional distress”—for which he wants the telecom giant to pay punitive damages. As of May 25, Verizon had yet to respond to a summons.

According to the lawsuit, last year Verizon bill collectors were making calls “too numerous to count” to Burrows over a relative’s unpaid cell phone bill. When he hung up on one of these calls, the Verizon rep called him back, and grew “vulgar” and “abusive” in an attempt “harass and intimidate” Burrows.

“In particular, [Verizon's] representative stated that she knew where [Burrows] resided and said ‘I am gonna blow your mother fucking house up.’”
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[photo by Pat Tomes]

In a letter published by the Reporter last week, reader Richard Meltz (a motor scooter proponent) asserted that he “cannot fathom” why the use of bicycles continues to be promoted.

“If you live in Eldorado and need to show up in downtown Santa Fe neat and crisply dressed,” Meltz wrote, “a bicycle is useless.”

Really?

Last night, after I played a gig with Oakland’s David Gans at Mike’s Music Exchange in Eldorado, my partner Irene and I decided to spend the night at her parents’ house in Arroyo Hondo—not far from Eldorado—rather than interrupt our infant daughter’s sleep for a late-night drive back to our apartment off of Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe. So, this morning I rode my bike—a heavy old Diamondback bought off Craigslist recently for $50—ten miles from Arroyo Hondo to the Reporter’s offices in downtown Santa Fe. With a dress shirt on, I pedaled north for a windy hour along the Rail Trail, frequented mostly by lizards and dung beetles in the early mornings, and arrived at work neat and crisply dressed, although my hair was minimally matted from wearing a helmet.

Not everyone enjoys that kind of exercise first thing in the morning (and some demand absolutely flawless hair) but, needless to say, my bicycle was not useless.

Hopefully, the wind will have died down a bit when Bike to Work Week begins on Monday, May 17.

Some of the events look pretty cool, actually. There are, however, a couple of noteworthy omissions.

For instance, the official schedule contains no mention of a Critical Mass ride this year. Presumably, the city of Santa Fe, a sponsor and promoter of BTTW, decided a “Community/Family Ride” was more appropriate, or less likely to generate a lawsuit and upset the police.

And while it’s all well and good that the organizers will offer free “Youth helmet fitting” on Friday in the Railyard, there’s unfortunately no class on “Why One Shouldn’t Ride Against Traffic While Wearing An iPod.” Perhaps that’s covered in Thursday’s “Bicycle Traffic Skills and Maintenance Basics” class.

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