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..."

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.

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.

download.

New(ish) songs I can't get enough of

1. sundress- ben kweller
2. girlshapedlovedrug- gomez
3. sentence of sorts in kongsvinger- of montreal
4. on the radio- regina spektor
5. australia- the shins
6. bucky done gun- m.i.a.

How to...

Tie a tie
Make pancakes
Draw
Lose weight
Make money
Kiss
Write a resume
Solve a Rubik's cube

Things that came up on the google search on one of the school computers when I typed in "how to."

Awkward.

live nyc?

Up until tonight, I was rather sad about the lack of live music in June/July. The one time I've ever had the chance to live in a city over the summer (or ever for that matter)-- lame music selection. I was delighted to check the latest updates on jambase.com. Wilco and Califone had both added shows. Of course, others have too. But hey, I'm satisfied with those two.

speaking of music festivals...

I have always wanted to go to Lollapalooza. The tickets are relatively cheap and the festival is in Chicago. Seriously, what a sweet city. Last year they featured some of my favorite artists including Wilco, Raconteurs, MMJ, Flaming Lips, Ryan Adams, Shins, Nickel Creek, New Pornographers, Nada Surf, Jon McLaughlin, and Ben Kweller. I feel like it's a good mix of music.

I got an e-mail from them today saying that they're releasing early- bird tickets. So of course, I went straight to the site. My summer is relatively flexible compared to last summer. My internship is only 8 weeks, and I have weekends off. I figured it'd be perfect.

So when is it? Oh, August 3-5. Perfect... because my internship ends in July? Not so much. That's the same weekend as the AKPsi convention in DC. I'm already registered to go. Why do great things always occur on the same weekends?