Wednesday, May 30, 2007

all (good) things go

I got Sirius for my ridiculous drive home from school (28 hours). It's good.. in fact, it's awesome. I've had it for just over two weeks, and now I'm leaving for the summer- which means leaving my car. So long Sirius!

And I guess not all (good) things go. Only Sirius.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

small VENUES

Intimate settings. Definitely the way to go.

Take the Black Crowes for example. The first time I saw them was back in high school at the Orphium Theatre in Boston- medium sized venue. Since then I've seen them at Bonnaroo (large), Great Woods/ Tweeter (large), Hippodrome in Springfield, MA (medium) and Pearl Street in Amherst, MA (small). Of course, the Crowes put on a great show in each of these locations, but my favorite show was definitely at Pearl Street. My dad and I actually got to see them perform under "Mr. Crowes Garden." They played several of these small shows under this name during their hiatus right before they were going to start touring again.

I saw Ben Folds awhile back and thought that his opening band was pretty good (The Fray). A few months later I saw that The Fray was playing a show at The Parish in Austin (similar to Pearl Street). Diege, Amy and I went to the show and actually got to see another guy who has started to make it big- Mat Kearney- open for them. We got a pretty cool area to stand-- to the right of the stage (which was only about 20x15 feet).

You can't get the same experience when you see shows in big venues. May as well pop in a live CD.

I mean, you've gotta be happy for the bands who "hit it big." But, the selfish part of me wants to keep them small and underground forever. I guess I can always say "I knew them when..."

Monday, May 28, 2007

something about that artist

I strongly believe that songs evoke emotions- artists evoke emotions. Everytime I listen to The Shins I feel like everything's going to be alright. I get the same feeling from Mrs. Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel. Very calming. Likewise, Regina Spektor makes me feel happy. Radiohead makes me feel motivated. Amos Lee makes me feel peaceful.

On another note, I'm really digging the new Dntel song featuring Jenny Lewis- "Roll On." Dntel collaborated with Gibbard for The Postal Service (Jenny Lewis was also featured on an album track). She is also the lead singer for Rilo Kiley. Woah, connections. Small world. Ok, and unnecessary information. Anyways, I like her voice. I like Dntel's stuff. Sweet.

Monday, May 7, 2007

I'm good at a game.

Tetris might be the only video game I've ever been good at... I mean besides duck hunt. I used to play Tetris on my gameboy during plane flights but now I have it on my phone. Sweet huh? And I still play it on plane flights. They say you're not allowed to use your phone on flights but I watched a tv show (probably on the Discovery Channel or something, which obviously warrants credibility) that said phones don't interrupt anything with "air traffic control." Maybe it was on Myth Busters.

Plus- American Airlines doesn't even give you a snack anymore. It absolutely infuriates me that they make people pay $5 on top of their already expensive flights. It's not like flying Southwest. I could understand if they made people pay for a snack. But I guess it would mess with their "fly for peanuts" slogan. So a) they don't want people to play games on their phones, and b) they are lame and make people pay for snacks. Therefore, I will forever play Tetris on my phone during plane flights.

But back to Tetris. Sometimes after playing for awhile I start seeing the shapes when I close my eyes. "Flip! Over-Over-Over!" It's kind of weird but sweet at the same time. I like Tetris.