Jose Gonzalez is one of several artists and bands including Andrew Bird, Stars, Beastie Boys and John Mayer to partner with Reverb, a non-profit organization designed to educate and engage music fans and promote environmental sustainability. The results of said partnership is an awfully green U.S. tour that brings the Swedish singer-songwriter to Milwaukee's Pabst Theater tonight, March 18.
Reverb was founded by environmentalist Lauren Sullivan and her husband, Guster frontman Adam Gardner. The group works closely with musicians to create earth-friendly events and tours such as Gonzalez's, which includes biodegradable catering products and re-usable water bottles rather than disposable ones. Reverb and Gonzalez will then calculate the CO2 footprint of the tour and neutralize emissions from venue energy use, ground transportation, flights and hotels by supporting clean renewable energy projects.
To support the greening efforts, Reverb added .50 cents to each general admission ticket. Fans can further contribute by purchasing a custom Jose Gonzalez sticker at the show. Proceeds fund purchasing carbon offsets for fans' travel to and from the concert.
Gonzalez debuted with "Veneer" in 2003 (although it wasn't released in the U.S. until 2005, and then re-released by Gonzalez's current label, Mute Records, in 2006), a delicate but dark album that earned him spots on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and gigs at SXSW, the Intonation Music Festival in Chicago and Coachella Music Festival.
In 2007 he released his highly anticipated sophomore album, "In Our Nature." Although stylistically similar to "Vaneer," the new collection of songs replaces small portions of softness with brief bouts of force and aggression.
"I didn't want to write about love, but to find other equally universal themes for the songs," says Gonzalez of his latest release. "I like playing with symbolism. On this album I've wanted to bring out the primitive aspects of human beings."
Jose Gonzalez plays The Pabst Theater tonight with Mia Doi Todd, a Los-Angeles-based melancholic songstress. Todd also plays an in-store performance at Atomic Records, 1813 E. Locust St., today at 4 p.m. Tickets for The Pabst show are still available at Atomic.
Jose Gonzalez plays an in-store show followed by a meet-and-greet / CD signing at The Exclusive Company, 1669 N. Farwell Ave. at 5:30 p.m. today.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
