a few random things

sometimes, i wish i had a time machine. i want to travel either backwards or forwards in time at my own discretion. for example, i want to fast forward to next friday when i will be at safeco field watching the red sox and then will be getting ready to spend the weekend in vancouver. after that, i want to go to june 20th, when i will be in memphis seeing ed vedder. and, hey, while we're playing, can i also go to an unspecified point in the future when i will be seeing pearl jam from the front row at the gorge and glen hansard will come out to sing indifference with ed? basically, i just want to skip the suckiness of my life right now, and get to the parts that will make me happy.

some things that ARE making me happy...

minus the bear is recording a new album! this makes me smile. i can't wait to see them again. hurry and play a show, please.



goodness (plus kim virant, et. al) will be playing at the tractor on may 23rd. yay!

and last but certainly not least, rob pattinson. or, specifically, the movie how to be. i've seen the movie two times now, and i think i can unequivocally state that he is the best part of it (i know.. it's shocking that i think that!) it's a quirky, funny film about a guy who's not really good at anything he does, but wishes desperately that he was. boy, do i relate to that.

How To Be Trailer (film festival version) from How To Be on Vimeo.

so this is the difference between living and not living...

the title of this post is taken from a minus the bear song - my new obsession.



i have figured out that this is how my mind works: i find something i like (be it a band, a book, a movie, an actor, even a tv show) and i become completely consumed by it for an indefinite period of time. i cannot stop listening to minus the bear - and, except for making a copy of vitalogy as a christmas present and a mixed CD of some of my favorite songs by seattle bands as another gift, no other bands have seen the inside of my CD player since thanksgiving time. i've even started taking a longer bus to work (i.e. one that takes 45 minutes to get me to my destination vs. my normal one that takes me 20 minutes) just so i can listen to minus the bear a little bit longer on my ipod. i'm not entirely sure what it is about this band but i don't really want it to go away. and i'm super excited to see them at the showbox on january 9th (with rocky votolato!). counting the days. eagerly. 10.

i came across an old interview with jake snider and this kind of cracked me up:
Q: Someone wrote that your voice is so passionless, you might as well be singing about the ham sandwich you had for lunch. Does that make you want to belt out a song about a ham sandwich?
A: No, not really. I'm a laid-back dude in reality. My personality is mellow and not in-your-face and not aggressive. When we're playing, I'm not like, "Hellooo, New Jersey!" If it sounds like I'm singing about a ham sandwich when I'm not, then oh well. Maybe I'm singing about a ham sandwich and I just don't know about it.

ha!

favorite things, part I

oprah has a list of her favorite things. i thought i'd try one.

twilight - a friend gave me this book in october, and i remember calling my mom and saying, "it's a book for teenagers! i'm sure i won't like it, but i have to read it because i don't want to offend her." that was on the friday before i went to LA (to see the swell season), and by monday morning, i had finished twilight and its sequel, new moon. i don't know what it is exactly about these books (there are 4 in the series, but i don't recommend the last one) that make them so hard to put down. they're not always well-written, but the story that stephanie meyer tells is interesting, funny, sad and happy all at the same time. it's like a fairy tale with some fantasy and mythology thrown in. and, really, what woman does not want edward to come sweep her off her feet? i realize he's fictional, but he's ten times better than any man i've met in real life. speaking of, if you by any chance agree with me about the wonder that is this book, you should read midnight sun on stephanie meyer's website. it is twilight told from edward's point of view. sadly, only chapters 1-12 are online, but it is fascinating (seriously. i think i like it more than twilight. almost)

although the movie based on the book is not great, the line i had an adrenaline rush, you can google it has provided me with endless amusement. also - cue teenage girl reaction - rob pattinson, the actor who plays edward, is GORGEOUS. i wonder if he will marry me? hehe.


minus the bear - this is the band that i first saw at bumbershoot and was blown away by. three months later, the love affair has not ended - in fact, it has grown. i even have a minus the bear sticker on my water bottle sharing space with eddie vedder. their new ep of acoustic songs is, as i discover every time i listen to it, beautiful. and i think i have decided that pachuca sunrise has got to be one of the prettiest songs ever. (well, i'm sure that's an exaggeration, but let's go with it anyway)

pearl jam - of course. the highlight of my year was my vacation to boston, and that would not even have happened (i'm sure) if it had not coincided with a pearl jam concert. my next goal is to see them play in europe. it WILL happen... better yet, a joint pearl jam and frames show in dublin. where both bands play two hour sets. please??

eddie vedder - he gets his own category, because seeing him in vancouver last april was one of the best shows i have ever been to. and i just realized that he can be connected to twilight (which i'm sure thrills him), since kristen stewart (bella) was in into the wild. hee!

the swell season - last on this list, but certainly not least. i saw them three times this year, and every time was better than the last. i love it when i can combine a concert with a trip to another city - if seeing pearl jam in boston was the highlight of my year, seeing the swell season in san francisco is probably the second best.

what a difference it would make if we were finally awake

to borrow a word from one of my favorite men, i had a BRILLIANT time seeing minus the bear at the showbox last night. seriously, if you are reading this blog and you have never heard this band, what are you waiting for?? i think you'd like them. i counted at least four people wearing pearl jam hats and/or shirts. me approve.

as we left the showbox, i said that the reason i like minus the bear so much is that many of their songs end in a totally different place than they started - like they become entities of their own, if that makes sense. i really enjoy that unpredictability. last night, i was hard-pressed to think of a better show in my recent memory. (i know, i know, i always say that when i enjoy a concert. sue me).

highly refined pirates, which came out a few years ago i guess, is my favorite minus the bear album and i have to admit that i am not a big fan of planets of ice, their newest cd. the songs just seem, i don't know, bland. kind of lifeless on the album, and it kills me to say that - but live, they absolutely blew me away. a couple of the songs had different arrangements - they released an 8-song acoustic EP on itunes and printed some copies for their tour. it's very good. i especially was impressed with lotus, their first song. it's the last song on planets of ice, and it sounds like three songs rolled into one, but somehow it works. and to quote glen hansard again, it is brilliant. i am always super-impressed when a band can take songs that i don't like on CD and make me LOVE (not just like, even) them live.

plus i would be remiss if i did not mention the incredibly awesome drummer. i had to crane my neck to watch him, but it was well worth it. the way his sticks fly through the air is almost mind-boggling.

last night was the end of their tour, and jake snider must have mentioned about 4 times how happy they were to be playing in seattle (they're from seattle - a fact which endears them to me even more). i'm sure that part of them saying that was to appease the crowd, but it's always nice to hear that bands like playing in this city that i have come to love. (unlike, ahem, some bands who might very well enjoy playing in seattle but haven't done it in about 4 years. seriously, would it kill them to play a show within driving distance? the gorge doesn't count).

pachuca sunrise


lotus

the walkmen

another album i have found myself obsessed with lately is you and me by the walkmen. i saw them at bumbershoot in august, and enjoyed their set, but had honestly forgotten about them until i heard a song by them on KEXP.



i love the singer's (whose first name is hamilton, like my last name. ha) voice. and i always like when i find bands that have big back catalogues that i can discover. it's fun. and that's all i have to say about that.

next week will be awesome. on thursday, a bunch of us from work are going to see the midnight premiere of twilight (and i'm going to go to work the next day, which will be it's own kind of excitement, i'm sure). on friday, my mom and dad are coming to visit, and then on saturday, kristine and i are going to see minus the bear at the showbox!! i have been looking forward to that since september.

red wine with every meal

god, i love this song:

absinthe party at the fly honey warehouse


after a careful scientific study, i believe this is the best video of this song on youtube.

i have officially become obsessed with minus the bear. i bought two of their albums at easy street yesterday - their newest, planet of ice and also highly refined pirates, which i think is their first one (?) i have been listening to them nonstop since. i am slightly in love.

hey let's cross the sea
and get some culture.
red wine with every meal
and absinthe after dinner.
we'd look good side by side.
walking back to the hotel.

over the past week, i've been reading some reviews and interviews with the band, and over and over again, they are referred to as "prog rock." that didn't mean anything to me - well that's not true; for some reason, that word made me think of danzig and their song mother mother that i hated when i was in high school - until i googled it and found that "prog" is short for "progressive." ah, that makes a little more sense. in fact, there was one song at bumbershoot - that i now know is called thanks for the killer game of crisco twister - where i thought the drummer was messing up the beat and playing faster than the rest of the group, but after a few moments i decided that he was doing that on purpose. i've also seen them described as "math rock," which also means nothing to me, but i guess may have to do with the fact that they use a keyboard and that their songs do not necessarily follow a conventional structure. which is what i find interesting.

i also find it interesting that many of jake snider's lyrics are about 1) women and 2) drinking. but they're also really endearing (see above) so i can't hold that against him.

also: i booked a hotel room for LA. i'm excited to see glen and marketa again! yay! 27 days. yes, i'm counting.

minus the bear, or let's drink all night.

the best completely new-to-me band that i saw at bumbershoot was definitely minus the bear. i don't know how i have never heard of them before (maybe i've been living under a rock?), but i will definitely remedy that quickly.

with most of my favorite bands, love has been instantaneous. i can remember seeing pearl jam on the 92 mtv music awards and feeling the need to immediately run out and buy ten. likewise, i bought all of the frames albums after the first time i saw them live. there is something about seeing some bands that can be magical - it's like all the stars collide, and for an hour or so, everything in the world is perfect. does that make sense to anyone?

i don't think it's exaggerating to say that that's the feeling i felt when i saw this band close bumbershoot on monday. i judge concerts primarily based on the question of whether or not i am able to enjoy the music and forget about all my other worries. after about the third song or so by minus the bear, i was definitely in that state of mind. plus, there is something awesome about hearing live music outside - i think that the notes float through the air and gain even more power before they hit your ears.



watch the drummer during this video. there's a moment at about 2:00 that i think is close to complete sonic perfection, and almost makes me want to cry. yeah, jake snider's voice is not too terribly different from most other rock singers, and i can't tell what the heck he's singing about (something about a girl with gorgeous hands smoking a cigarette, i think), but i guess i have a weakness for this kind of music. and the lead guitarist is wonderful. i am discovering more and more that i love watching musicians perform. i used to be happy just standing in the back where i couldn't see anything (and i still am! i'd stand on the ceiling with my eyes closed for pearl jam, for instance), but i think it's since i moved to seattle and got used to seeing shows at small clubs that i really developed this fascination with watching bands up close. and no matter how many years i live here or how many times i go to bumbershoot, i will never get tired of seeing a show at night under the space needle.

they're playing november 22 at the showbox. yipee!

this band will change your life x2

i will upload all my pictures of bumbershoot (and i have a lot! i think i have found a new hobby - taking concert pictures. i may suck at it, but hey.. it's fun) during the week, but for now suffice it to say that i have had the best weekend in a long time. i have been going to bumbershoot since i moved to washington in 2002, and i can never remember seeing so many good bands. usually, i may see one or two that blow me away, but this year every single group that i saw was incredible! (that's due to the fact that i only went to see bands i was interested in, of course, but it's also owing to the line up bumbershoot put together this year)

today was perhaps the best. i started out with vince mira, a kid (i think he's a teenager?) who sounds exactly like johnny cash. i mean EXACTLY. i saw him last year at the pike place market 100th anniversary, and i was sure to get to bumbershoot by noon so that i could check him out today.

next up was mark pickeral and his praying hands who i absolutely adored. the guidebook thingy described him as "alt country." hmm.. that description seems to be thrown around a lot. but, whatever, he was great.

then i pretty much stuck to the stage under the space needle, which was clearly the best stage of the weekend (all of my favorite bands, with the exception of band of horses, were on the stage). first was blitzen trapper, who i am completely in love with. last month, i said that they were my favorite group at the sub pop anniversary festival, and today they were ten times better than they were then. seriously, i can't say enough about them. you know how every once in a while you see a band who completely and utterly floors you and makes you want to go home and buy all their albums and see all the shows that you can? this was that band.

another one who i loved today was john vanderslice. i've heard him before, but never gotten a chance to see him live. he was really great, and had some excellent banter with the crowd about the restaraunt at the top of the space needle. i've heard that it sucks and charges 11 dollars for a hamburger. i think someone told him that it was called denney's. ha. that would rock, actually.

i made the decision to forego seeing death cab on the mainstage - actually not a hard decision; although i loved them at one time, their last two albums (with the exceptions of 2 songs - marching bands of manhattan and cath) have left me feeling like something is missing. incidentally, once their show started, i noticed an absence of the annoying teenagers (not that all teenagers are annoying, but, i have to say, many are) that had been, well, annoying me all day. i don't know if that is some kind of remark about death cab, but there you go.

anyway, instead of seeing them, i went to see minus the bear, and it turns out that was by far the best choice i could have made. WOW. i've never had a chance to see them live before, and i was completely mesmerized. from the second they took the stage to the second they left, i was utterly transfixed. there are very few bands in the world who are so good that they can make me cry (a cookie for you if you can guess who two of them are), but minus the bear surpisingly did just that. i cannot believe i have wasted my time not being a fan of them before, a situation that i will remedy as soon as possible. it was kind of funny to watch some stupid kid try to crowd surf only to fall flat on his butt when no one wanted to play along. ha.

a note: iced coconut mochas from dillentante chocolate (i think i spelled that right) are really, really good. yum. so good that i got one both sunday and monday mornings. mmmm...

sigh. back to real life. why can't this be real life?