Ooh La La

The Fatales assure me my superspecialness alone has begat me exclusive access to these tracks, although I've actually already heard them already (save for Leitmotif) via their MySpace page.

Darkened Country
Stadtpark
Leitmotif I (Intro to Vanishing Act)
Vanishing Act

Either way, it's good stuff--very winter-friendly music I think, and more atmospheric than some of their earlier recordings in a way that makes me think Sigur Ros has been in heavy rotation on someone's iPod. I'm particularly partial to Vanishing Act, it being the most rock out-y song of all, and me having not transitioned over to listening to Hem yet, whose first release might just be the quintessential cold weather album.

I've also been listening to Illinois nonstop again. It was one of those albums that I bought as soon as it came out and kept on repeat for about 3 weeks afterward and until I couldn't stand to hear it one more time despite it's being so amazing. Anyway I'm back to fawning over it and discovering new things about every song with each listen. I was noticing the other day the various string arrangements, the common themes they incorporate in to some songs, and just generally recognizing what a major role they play in the whole effort. I guess orchestration is a common thread running through many of the albums I turn to when the weather turns cold and nasty. Something about strings just warms me up I suppose.

Supa Star

While we got a big picture in this article, we didn't get more than a namedrop. Admittedly, the calendar was a little lacking in live acts the weekend he was in town, but I talked to him a couple times and now wish I'd stayed on the line longer. Ah well, at least we're in there.

TGiving 2K5

If you already sorta hate people like me, riding the Greyhound bus really confirms your convictions. The smell of sanitizer in the morning, pre-7AM that is, was really the least of my qualms, even though I had a front row (or, more accurately, very back row) seat for that. Are you, my fellow-riders, really incapable of holding it for more than 55 minutes? Then there's the ticket counter clerk who informs you you'll have to pay a fee (interestingly cash only) to change your orginally discounted ticket. So after a mad dash to three different ATMs to find one that will actually dispense cash (since your bus "leaves" in 7 minutes), you get back in line to wait, only to subsequently be told you're not actually in line and when you finally do get to the clerk with 2 minutes to spare you're told you can board without changing your ticket at all.

Another sprint to the gate and we make it! Just in time to wait in the swealtering bus for 23 minutes. Which in an of iteslf wouldn't be so bad. But honestly people, its 9PM. Our family ate pretty early at 3pm and I definitely am not in the mood for leftovers yet, so why, oh why, must you unpack an entire Thanksgiving feast version 2.0 featuring turkey, sides, and drinks, and stink up the whole bus? We all dealt with the same smell all day and at this point it has changed markedly from mouth-watering to hurl-inducing.

Why Greyhoung, why? Was my $40 roundtrip ticket not enough to warrant some semblance of service? Must you toy with me just to assert your all-powerful role in this situation? Because yes, I need you. I can't afford the train. Or the plane. Or to entirely shirk familial responsibilities for another year. I guess the best thing I can do then is just make sure I don't get the seat next to the bathroom next time.

*****

When I wasn't busy hating people, being a bitch to my family, or stuffing my face, I was having a pretty enjoyable--well, the stuffing of face part was admittedly pretty good too. The most blog-worthy portion of our whirlwind trip was the part where we walked from the Port Authority to Grand Central and somehow forgot to remember that whole Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade thing that was blocking our own route. But that was a-ok because unlike the marvelors who stood out in the cold six-deep for hours to catch a glimpse of Joey Lawrence, we got front row spots as we waited to cross the parade path, even if it was only for about 2 minutes.

I thought the Crocodile Hunter was gonna be on this float (not sure how a girl holding a banner in front of it that read "Steve Irwin The Crocodile Hunter" gave me that idea), but he wasn't. Instead there was some man? woman? that looked like a mix between The Count from Sesame Street and Charlie from the Chocolate Factory up there and that was decidely less thrilling.

This was obviously the highlight of some band geek's year.

Some pink elephant.

Some pink elephant that's about to eat one cop and step on another.

Half Full

My brother commented the other day about it being pretty cool that my job necessitated my keeping earplugs on my key chain. Things had been a little rocky at work for far too long but have been looking up of late which makes it easier for me to appreciate things like that. For example, I may bemoan the fact that I don't have co-workers to head to happy hour with at 5pm on Fridays but I do have a beer tap at work to treat myself to happy hour with at 4:30 on Friday. I may be alone here but at least my drink was free.

From Yahoo News:

Web Site to Blend Journalism With Blogs
By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer

NEW YORK - A media Web site scheduled to debut Wednesday will seek to blend traditional journalism with the freeform commentary developed through the emerging Web format known as blogs.
Some 70 Web journalists, including Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds and David Corn, Washington editor of the Nation magazine, have agreed to participate in OSM — short for Open Source Media.
OSM will link to individual blog postings and highlight the best contributions, chosen by OSM editors, in a special section. Bloggers will be paid undisclosed sums based on traffic they generate.
The ad-supported OSM site will also carry news feeds from Newstex, which in turn receives stories from The Associated Press, Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service and other traditional media organizations.
"We're deliberately trying to do something new by affiliating blog and mainstream people," said Roger L. Simon, a blogger and the venture's co-founder.
According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, about 9 percent of adult Internet users in the United States have created their own blogs, and about 25 percent read them. The audience tends to be more influential: blog postings can affect what news organizations cover or politicians discuss.
Many details of OSM remain unsettled. For example, OSM wants to create a mechanism for citizen journalists, including bloggers, to submit original news during natural disasters, civil unrest and other newsworthy events. Simon said organizers still have to come up with ways to check submissions for accuracy.
Initially, OSM will create blog-like discussion panels surrounding major news events, with three or four bloggers and non-blogging experts chosen to contribute.
Although Simon and co-founder Charles Johnson are often described as conservative, Simon said the site will transcend labels and include bloggers of all political leanings.
OSM was founded last year as Pajamas Media, a play on bloggers' ability to opine from home at all hours, day or night. It has raised $3.5 million from venture capitalists.

About Last Night [Three days late]

*again with this writing and then saving as a draft and then not editing until umpteen days later and thenpost-dating the post to when it was actually written. nonsense i know.

Last night [Saturday] was actually my very first ever foray into solo concert attendance. And it really wasn't the worst thing ever.

It started out with a plan to attend Starr Hill's World Leader Pretend, Washington Social Club, Army of Me, Some Other Band show. Having stayed in too many nights while the boys were away I figured it was finally time to venture out and get over that fear of persistent akwardness induced by a lack of companion...even if that meant combatting it with probably too many pre-departure drinks.

En route to the venue I noticed Deke was bartending down the street so I stopped in there for a drink and quickly became 'that girl hanging out alone at the bar.' I actually resorted to doing a crossword to suppress my feelings of out-of-place-ness...which were also curbed said drink. Admittedly, I knew the bartender and the owner and a waiter so it was so entirely random, but still nto so entirely comfortable.

I headed up to the concert soon thereafter, right about when I figured AoM would be ending and WSC beginning. I was very sure the only band I really cared about was WSC--I'd listened to a WLP mp3 beforehand and thought it stunk pretty bad, and was confirmed in that assessment when I heard them on the local radio earlier in the night. I'd read very mixed reviews about AoM, some rave, some ripping, but I was still hoping to catch a song or two of theirs.

I walked in right as they were on their pentultimate song--something I'd heard on their EP about D.C. It was definitely better live but it was still a pretty lame song overall. Their final song was something they claimed to have written the night before and never tried live...which was painfully obvious. The lead singer was flat for the entirity of the song, a fact that was only amplified when the guitartist came in with on-keyish back-up vocals. Overall it left a nasty taste in my mouth about a band I suspect I will continue to make little to no effort to see at the myriad shows I'm sure they will continue to play around C-Ville.

Next up was WLP. Which pissed me off. As the out of town touring act, this band was the headliner. The majority of the promo for the show prominently featured the band above all others (althougha few (not surprisingly) touted AoM), leading any show-goer to assume they'd play last. A check of the venue website revealed them listed as the third band, so I called over and confirmed with some staff person that in fact they were playing last. Hence the timing of my evening and my intention to leave early if/when proved to underwhelm.

So they played third. I happened to know one of the soundmen working and he mentioned this was an oft-used tactic of the venue. But I think it stinks. The band did underwhelm. Decidedly. Their songs were boring and ran together since they all sounded too similar. The character their lead singer undertook to play on stage was entirely unbelievable and hence annoying given their musical style, not to mention that fact that 40 year old accountant trapped in a 20-something's body. Excessive bells and tamborines. I meant to bring a pad so as not to forget all the highlights of their mundaness but didn't. They were mundane. There you have it. Oh and also they're from New Orleans. I heard them on the radio pre-show discussing how they and their families suffered less than many down there. I'm sure it wasn't easy nonetheless to have their home state wrecked, but they seemed to mention their LA origins an inordinate number of times. It was like they were trying to guilt us in to liking them.

But they really didn't have to try very hard at all. People really seemed to like them. People knew the words. The crowd was certainly smallish but I just couldn't believe how some of the usual C-Ville suspects I spotted amongst the faces were obviously digging on it. I can enjoy a good Coldplay song. I'm not above that. But this was just such a boring take on piano-driven pop rock.

Thankfully, their set ended before too long and the musical saviors of the evening that were WSC took the stage. I've read numerous accounts citing how danceable WSC songs are, and it's true and it's great. I'd say I'm mainly listening to danceable indie rock songs thses months(?) but I can understand how some of them skew more towards the dance and less towards the rock and are resultantly less palatable to some of my more straight-up rock minded friends. So WSC was like palatable dance rock. No cheesily indulgent synth lines, no wacky vocal effects (although I'd be interested to see what their CD sounds like produciton-wise), just a bunch of kids playing quick songs to a danceable beat. It was nice.

By this point I'd had probably too many drinks (to make it through WLP?) so admittedly I'm not as clear on their set as I should be, but I do remember the fact that the front man was great--totally dorkish while simultaneously totally cool based largely on things like pelvic movements he pulled off that looked equally out of place yet natural coming from a guy who appeared to have just gotten off his paralegaling gig, and his palpable enthusiasm and energy even after the crowd had drastically dwindled post WLP (again and again, people in this town prove they do not know what is good for them musically but they're so emphatic that the music they like is spectacular. Grrr.).

Anyway I really enjoyed the set. I want to steal the CD from my brother so next time I see them I'll know the words. I knew about the band mainly from various DC venue calendars and blogs. And I totally told the guitartist that afterward, thus immediately losing any cool points I may have accrued for sticking around to see their set. Talking about blogs with strangers. Geez. It was the beer.

Afterwards I met up with Rachel and her friend at Bang!. I'd never been there--I was too intimidated by their over-priced food, the house they're housed in, and the fact that my old boss who scared me and had more money than god liked it. But it was ok, beer was only about $4 for a bottle of something decent. We chatted. I don't really remember to be honest. I think more talk about blogs...something about some kid we all knew whose blog I read. Her time in Amsterdam where everyone assumes any American tourist is there just to smoke weed.

Today I'm gearing up for some actual activity--horseback riding then a trip to DC to reunite with The Nice Sparks tour. More music, more beer, less drunken blog talk.

An evening with the Tele

You know what was a great show? Matlock.

You know whats the dumbest advertising for the worst-named product I've seen in a long time? Choxie

Just What I Needed

I came home today after another (this time full length) drive to Richmond to find the cat had smashed some dishes and generally enjoyed a day of mayhem. But also to find these!
Hooray.

Made my day.

DImY Ass

So the cat survived and I selflessly stayed in tonight to wait on him hand and foot and coddle him as only seems appropriate for a tiny thing that just had his manhood ripped out. Except, oops! he really couldn't care less that I'm here. He'd rather just eat crickets that he somehow keeps finding and bringing upstairs and cryyyyyy because he's starving despite having been fed twice as well as having snacked on said crickets.

So instead of being out doing something fantastic as you all must know I am wont to do on normal Monday nights, I'm at home trying to finish up JJ's birthday present. Since I'm running a pretty low budget operation these days I thought I'd compile some DIY projects and send them her way to what I'm sure will be all glory laud and honor. Except that means I actually have to make something and of course that means I will over extend myself trying to create a masterpiece that will take too much time and cost too much money (see every cooking and/or baking attempt of late).

I started out with copying a few CDs I knew she'd like. She knows Jay so I'm sure The Extraordinaires is a solid bet, in addition to the newish Rainer Maria live album she may or may not already have. Then I figured I'd add some effort and actually make a mix. I've never achieved the mix perfection that is one of Ray's mix CDs. Of all people he's taught me the most about the importance of song selection, diversity, and order on mixes, but I have yet to feel like I've really conquered the science.

Thus far I've got the songs...

Jenny - Stellastarr*
Vanishing Act - The Fatales
For Real - Okkervil River
C'mon C'mon - The Von Bondies
God Is Going to Get Sick of Me - Aberdeen City
I Ain't Saying My Goodbyes - Tom Vek
High Travoltage - Truman Sparks
I Know I Know I Know - Tegan and Sara
The New Face of Zero and One - The New Pornographers
I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloow - Arctic Monkeys
Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
Oh Mandy - The Spinto Band
The City - The Dismemberment Plan

but not the order. [Admittedly, Ray is owed some credit for this mix itself as it includes not only one of his band's songs but also a song I know solely from one of his compilations.]

So I should've been set with that. But noooooo. I had to go read the best section of the Sunday WaPo, Sunday Source, and learn about this nifty little craft. Suddenly, an epiphany. Kill all the upcoming November birthdays and possibly even some Xmas gifts with one stone/craft project!

What perfect timing! With all potential distractions away on tour, [busy urinating on the road into a makeshift toilet/beerbong], I had all the weekend in the world to craft it up. But here I am, three days later, about $40 poorer, and still batik placemat-less.

I haven't even tried the damn thing yet so who knows whether it's gonna be a catastrophic failure. I do know that my attempts to DIMyself and save some money have caused the devil of consumerism to LAUGH in my face as I've ultimately already spent more on supplies than I meant to burn through overall, and am not done shopping yet, not to mention the extra money I will probably use on a real present once I realize my craft project is a bust and decide I must get something to compensate for the failed artistic endeavour that I never intended to undertake in the first place.

I want to say it's the effort [and money spent on the effort] that counts, but really, it's only the effort that counts if you're recognized for that effort, and it's not like I'm going to send a note along with her CDs explaining what a nightmare my attempt to make her placemats was, but hey! at least I tried! that's almost as good as me actually giving you something cool and useful! If only I could trust she'd be so infinitely entralled with crickets as the cat.

Vicious Cycle

Today. Thus far.

Woke up. Did not feed cat. Was hated on by cat.

Took cat to vet for shhh! neutering. Am probably being hated on by cat right now.

Forgot I had to drive to Richmond for work.

Drove halfway to Richmond. Learned from the guy I was meeting that I didn’t have to drive to Richmond. Drove back.

Am hating on Richmond guy right now.

"The magic of first love is our ignorance it can ever end."

Having been a bit bummed out last night, I went through all my pix from Oz today in attempt to both cheer me up and inspire me to be crafty and get back to scrapbooking all my stuff from the trip over there.

Looking back it kinda feels like I fit a whole 4 years worth of fun in to 6 months. Which is a good thing, since the 4 years of fun college should have been really amounted to about .75 years worth of fun, 6 months of which was spent in Australia.

Of course it's a bit bittersweet to re-live everything again. I hardly hear from anyone I was over there with anymore, mainly due to the fact that when I got back I was so depressed I was barely functional for months so keeping up correspondence was not a top priority. Nowadays I couldn't even locate contact info for 99% of anyone so all I have to remember with is these pictures and some other assorted memorabilia.

Which is maybe the way it should be. There are a couple people I could imagine staying close with for years despite distance--Mark Keevers and Cat McCrimmon [last names for Google's sake] mainly (who were, respectively, my closest Aussie and American friends there).
And I did keep in touch with them at first when I got back. There was even talk of meeting up with Cat while I was in Cali or when she was on the East coast, but nothing ever came of it.

I took leaving Australia particularly hard because of what I had there and because of what I had to come back to. Most difficult was leaving my boyfriend over there, Luke Searles, who I grew extremely close with in practically no time at all.

Like Adam (who I had never even seen at this point so this shouldn't be any kind of slight), Luke was someone I saw and paid attention to before I knew. He worked at the Uni bookstore and in sitcom-like fashion I made extra unnecessary trips there just to run in to him, and repeatedly professed my love for the "bookshop guy" to Cat and Mark et al. during myriad drunken evenings, of which just about every evening seemed to be.

We finally actually met the first time I ever spotted him out at a bar (and was conveniently drunk enough to talk to him) and went out a few days later, after which we were largely inseparable for the remainder of my time in Oz. The last month or so of my trip I actually wound up moving in as my University housing had run out, as had my money, so previous plans to spend the last month traveling were scrapped.

I one hundred percent believed in how in love I felt, which was quite a contrast to the guarded, skeptical self I remember leaving behind in the US. I was always aware that my time in Oz was time in a fantasyland, but I somehow justified the craziness of our relationship...he was older, we'd both had long-term relationships before, everyone thought we were great together, and he believed in it just as much as me. I couldn't help but think this was something different so I allowed myself to let daydreams come true as we concocted plans for him to visit me--first a year down the line, later 6 months from my departure--and actually took action to make them happen--his setting up a new savings account and getting another job, as well as actually discussing the benefits of marrying before I left in order to ease future visa and immigration worries.

We continued on the path we'd lain before I left for a month or two after I got back to the States. I was still confident we could make this harebrained idea work, even if it felt as though I was falling deeper and deeper into a hole with each passing day. I'd left a sunny, carefree, wonder world, and even though Luke lived in Oz rather than being a visitor like myself, that still seemed a large part of the life he, and almost everyone else, led. I knew I was weighing him down each time we talked, until he finally just stopped calling.

I'll never know what happened--I haven't heard from him in years, and like most everyone else I met over there, I wouldn't know how to reach him if I wanted to.

And I sort of want to. And I think that's what bugs me to this day and makes me still have the occasional dream about him like I did last night. I kept a a journal for the entirety of my stay but I can hardly remember everything about him. I know there were things I didn't like and I have to wonder whether I've built him up inside my head to be greater than he ever was. I must have right?, if the way things ended taught me anything at all. But I want to know if my memories are accurate. I wonder whether he's gotten married. Did he ever finish his degree? What happened to all the friends I met through him? What's he doing for work these days? But I guess most of all I wonder if he still thinks about me.

Home Alone

So the boys left tonight for night one of the tour de force or tour de france or tour of leaving beth home alone. Of course I'm happy for them but it forces me to face the fact that I have less than tons of friends here and 90% of them seem somehow spawned from my relationship with Adam, the other 10% being Ray. Soooo, it's just me and Holmes from now on...except I just found him locked in my car. whoops! He was only in there for like an hour, but honestly, I'm not even sure if they've hit the road yet and I've already lost my cat once so I must say I don't have the utmost confidence in myself for surviving the next ten or whatever days quite yet.

I haven't really lined up a ton of things to entertain myself with like I probably should have. I've got some spectacular mix cds I need to be creating for my father and jj, and some scrapbooking from years ago that has never been completed and sh/could be. Plus there's a couple of shows I could check out--I already skipped gogol bordello tonight since i am homebody magoo but theres also a washington social club show im considering and the dance party were having at the ballroom that i kinda am just really interested to see the result of since I kinda feel like months ago I kinda suggested the same sort of thing that they're doing and was kinda told it wouldn't work. So it's an interesting 'wanting it to work from a professional standpoint and hoping it fails from a personal standpoint' dicotomy.

Not to mention all the blogging I'll be doing now that I'm largely companion-less. I want to post more and not feel intimidated by self-created pressure to be funny or interesting or what have you. I figure that will come naturally with more posting and that waiting around and writing every week or less really isn't helping my cause so I should really just get down to it even if it's just a few sentences here and there.

In reality I'm sure the week plus will consist of drinking more wine than I should, watching more reality tv than is good for me, and going to bed earlier than most people can possibly fathom, but I'm hoping this [64 year old, divorced, retiree's] schedule will ease my mind as I pretend this is the worst kind of nonsense the boys could possibly be getting in to on their journey as well.