Tuesday, April 26, 2005

Vacation Day 4--Show 2 (little late)

(Sorry I haven't posted my Iron & Wine show review, but I've been really lazy the last couple of days.)

Sunday was so nice. We started with the day watching Mizzou beat Oklahoma in a great game. Then we had gyros for lunch. Then we went to the mall, briefly. Then we went to the show.

I can't get as detailed with this show because it wasn't quite as memorable, but still great. It started with a set by Eric Johnson of the Fruit Bats. Can't say much for his show because I didn't pay much attention. It was pretty hard anyways because the crowd was pretty noisy. This would become a theme of the night.

Horses came out next. They were pretty good....stoner rock. I was more distracted by the fact that most of the guys looked like Mike. I decided that the singer looked like Mike and Adrian Brody had a baby. The guitarist looked like Mike and Vincent Gallo had a baby. The most memorable moment of their set was a sweet cover of "Showdown" by ELO. I didn't have to compete much with the crowd during this set, but it was also the loudest set of the night.

Then Iron & Wine came out. Their show was fantastic. Tons of stuff from "Woman King," which surprised me. I loved the reggae version of "Cinder & Smoke." The solo version of "Naked as We Came" was enough to give me a shiver. I couldn't take my eyes off of Sam Beam. That guy has become pretty iconic in my eyes. Sister Sarah was hypnotic as she shyly swayed back and forth to the music. Of course, the set was mostly quiet. This became a big problem for us as there was a group of jackasses behind us that were loudly gabbing the whole damn show. Who the hell pays $14 just to stand around and talk? And they were LOUD. They were so damn loud that I actually couldn't hear much of the set. At least I wasn't the only pissed-off person. They got plenty of "shut the hell ups" from the audience, but to no avail. Still it was a minor distraction in my eyes. If those idiots weren't there and he played "Sodom, South Georgia" it would've been perfect.
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Yet Again....

....another release slips under a radar. Who out there knew Ryan Adams has a double album due out in a week and didn't bother to let me know?

I'm always really up and down about Ryan Adams. Hopefully this will be another winner, but I've been really cautious with him since he followed up Gold with Demolition.
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Saturday, April 23, 2005

Another Amendment

Jeez, it seems like everytime I complete my upcoming shopping list, I have to amend it again.

August 23-John Vanderslice "Pixel Revolt"

Good God, can anybody think of anything else I need to look forward too?
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Friday, April 22, 2005

Vacation Day 1--Show 1

Last night was the first night of shows for my vacation. Mike and I saw three bands at Mojo's:
Foundry Field Recordings
Viva Voce
Magnolia Electric Co.

I don't even know where to start because it was such an awesome night. First of all, we were under a tornado warning throughout much of the night. That's adds a bit of mystique to the evening. We walked into Mojo's early and saw Foundry Field Recordings warming up. This spawned an idea in Mike's head. We should start a band that just sounds like a soundcheck. It would confuse the whole crowd. We discussed this idea throughout the night.

The Foundry Field Recordings set was nice, but we were distracted the whole time trying to figure out where we had heard them before. Toward the end of the show I thought back to the band that opened for Spoon last year at the Blue Note. They were called Billy Schuh and the Foundry. We determined they were the same. After a bit of Googling last night, it was confirmed.

Next up was Viva Voce. Things were looking really great when they took the stage for setup. A cute girl (like Wednesday Addams in college) with a duel-neck guitar and a crazy looking dude (like Elliott Smith as a lumberjack) behind a small drum kit and a bunch of keyboards. As soon as they started, we were hooked. They were so loud and insane that we couldn't help but be mesmerized. The dude was playing drums just like Animal from the Muppets and playing the kazoo....and he ROCKED that kazoo! Imagine that! I love a drummer that screams while he drums....that's cool. Plus he played drums with one hand and keyboards with the other. That's so cool. The girl, on the other hand, was just as cool. This tiny little girl playing fuzzy licks on a duel-neck is just so cool I can't describe it. Their sound: Imagine the White Stripes in reverse with psychedelic, spacy sound effects mixed in. As soon as they finished Mike and I just looked at each other with nothing to say. They were just incredible. We're hooked. This may be a bold statement, but a truthful one.....they were the best opening band I've seen since Neutral Milk Hotel opened for Superchunk.

We could've stopped there, but Magnolia Electric Co. was the headliner. Again, I'm blown away. Firstly, they might be the ugliest band on Earth. God those are some ugly dudes. Throughout the night, Jason Molina just wandered the club drinking a beer and just fitting in the crowd. Both Mike and I pissed with him in the bathroom on separate trips. Their show was fantastic. All the Neil Young references I've heard are very warranted. Molina's voice is so beautiful it's like he's massaging your spine while he sings. The show was short, but it was fantastic. All six guys had no room to move on the tiny stage, but they still blew the roof off the joint.

Man that was such a great night. Mike already ordered up the whole Viva Voce catalogue, and I'm about to do the same. They really stole the show. The best thing, that's only one of the two shows I'm seeing this weekend. Next up, Iron & Wine on Sunday.
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Thursday, April 21, 2005

R-R-R-Rambling

I am officially on vacation for the next five days! Tomorrow I'm heading down to Columbia to check out the Magnolia Electric Co. at Mojo's with Mike and Jen. Sunday I'll be heading back down to watch my bro's game against Oklahoma and see Iron & Wine at the Blue Note. This is going to be great. I'll post reviews of the shows, for sure.

Now speaking of the Magnolia Electric Co....I ordered their latest over two weeks ago hoping to have and enjoy plenty before tomorrow's show. But noooo! I still haven't seen it. I've emailed Secretly Canadian twice, but haven't heard a word back. Now I'm in a slight quandry because I could just pick up the CD tomorrow at the show, but I don't want to pay for it twice. Errr!

I guess I can kind of mark that album off my shopping list. I always check out this list I compiled a while back. I'm bored so I'll update it:

April 26-Eels "Blinking Lights and Other Revelations"
April 26-Mountain Goats "The Sunset Tree"
May 10-Spoon "Gimme Fiction"
May 10-Weezer "Make Believe"
May 24-Gorillaz "Demon Days"
May 24-Maria Taylor "11:11"
June 7-Coldplay "X&Y"
June 7-White Stripes "Get Behind Me Satan"

Anything I'm missing? I'm still waiting on a release date for the new Flaming Lips. I'll definitely be pre-ordering the new Spoon and Maria Taylor. The new Spoon will have a bonus CD. Saddle Creek is so cool about pre-orders because they always send it out like two weeks early.

EDIT:: I forgot....add this gem to my shopping list!!

Expect an (another) angry post from me about how much I hate Hastings. There are too many good releases coming out for them not to miss one. I'm sure they'll get the Weezer, Coldplay, and White Stripes. They will likely get the new Gorillaz, but I'm a little iffy on that one. This is the place that apparently didn't even notice that Brian Wilson released "Smile" last year. Idiots!!

Hmmmm.....that's all.
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Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Le Tigre!!

Anybody noticed how Mizzou baseball is doing right now? They are kicking some butt! 8-1 and in first place in the Big 12 (26-6 overall). Both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball have them ranked 13th. Every year it seems like they've lost too much to be as good, but they keep getting better.

The little bro isn't doing too shabby right now, either. He started off pretty slow, but he's been on fire the last two weeks.

They're heading to Oklahoma State this weekend. That should be fun. OSU beat them in the Big 12 Championship game last year. Plus those games are usually pretty fiery.
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Sunday, April 10, 2005

Small Victories

I know nothing about cooking. Nothing! I spent almost an hour making jambalaya last night, took one bite, and threw the rest away.

However, tonight I thought some scrambled eggs sounded pretty good. All I had eaten all day was three bananas and two glasses of chocolate soy milk, so something semi-hearty sounded pretty good. I was sifting through the fridge and noticed I had some sour cream left and decided to try whisking that since soy milk in eggs didn't sound too good. If was brilliant!! I hadn't been that proud in forever.

Small things, I know, but now I can say I can cook a mean plate of scrambled eggs. Before all I could say is that I can whip up a mean bowl of mini-wheats or I can freeze a wicked tray of ice.
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Thursday, April 07, 2005

Sorry Sammy

Danny Haren decides to plunk Sosa in his A's debut. Once a Cardinal.....always a Cub hater. I hated to see Kline blow the game, but I'll feel a little better tomorrow afternoon when I see Mulder's Cardinal debut.

Is it me or does Sosa get beaned more than any other player in the league? I guess people hate this guy outside of Redbird nation too.

Ouch.
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Yet Another Reason This Spring Will Be Great

New Gorillaz May 24?? I'm so there!!
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Friday, April 01, 2005

Very Sad

Goodbye Mitch.


This may have been shoved on the backburner today, but I must mention that Mitch Hedberg died today. He was easily one of my favorite comics. I'm very sad.
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