Author: brian

i don’t know about this weekend’s prospects when yesterday was so much fun… because thursday was the office summer party. hence, i was riding a nice buzz from about 12:30pm to 12:30 am and smiling the whole time. first for five hours at the party where i made nice with several coworkers and tried to make friends with the cute girls in other departments i don’t normally get to talk to. whether or not this is a good idea, you can’t say until some sort of scandal breaks out. then there was the post-party around five at a second, replacement mexican-themed bar/restaurant, where 40 to 50 of the most determined decided to continue the party for a few more hours, and someone who shall remain unidentified declared her crush on me involving once imagining the two of us with children, even. that was a lot of fun actually.

of course, coworkers are fun and all but so are things where you get to be ‘on the list’, so i headed off for an 8 o’clock show at the house of blues thrown by blender for the x-games, featuring the von bondies who are not a very good band. fortunately, an extremely cute intern whom i have a big crush on was also there, and i spent the night trying to be clever around her to set myself up for possible future moves because she is really cool and i’d like to hang out with her more. if those work out i’ll be sure to gush about them, don’t worry.

right, so i had a great time yesterday and today i’m just a little subdued and spent, so we’ll have to see what wild adventures i can dig up to snap me out of it, or maybe just rent a movie and have a wild adventure on the couch. although that sounds a little grosser than it is meant to.

[now hearing this: the merge records 15th anniversary comp, which is the shit by the way. 3 discs that are each 80% awesome for only 13 bucks, man. that’s hotness all over.]

rilo kiley – more adventurous – 4 stars

[preview the first three tracks by streaming them here.]

i feel special because i got the whole album at their record release show and get to write a review two weeks before you can even go out and buy it. as a fan, that’s sort of what you get into a music scene for. that special excited feeling of being ahead on great music. that, and a bit of gloating.

the show itself was great. the open-air theatre made it feel summery and relaxed. the little carnival touches made it seem light-hearted and fun. it was like a special occasion, a party we were all lucky to be invited to. and then they played, which was beautiful and powerful and moving — everyone stood up as soon as they took the stage and didn’t sit down until it was time to go home. i had such a great time seeing the live music, that of course the day after the show the cd reminded me of that experience, and so by association i loved it without having to ask. this week i’ve listened to it dozens more times through and had a bit more time to let it sink in and be realistic. essentially, the verdict is: still great.

the new songs are, like most of the rest of their work, primarily about sadness and loss, but with nostalgia and hope for the good times as well. jenny’s voice is getting more practiced and i think she’s learning how to play to her strengths more and more. the band as a whole seems more polished than ever, which some may be excited about — some more practice on guitar and the well-arranged string additions make for a lot higher production level. and there are a few tracks that are terrific hit single material. see specifically more adventurous, the title track, for a fantastic combination of longing and twang with a sweet and dreamy voice. love that harmonica. this is good stuff.

my only complaint on the cd is that it lacks a little bit of the variety of the last album, that let guitar player/second singer blake have a little more face time, and seemed a little more willing to try new things in song style and structure. the new album lacks that and for me, that’s a shame, but for them maybe it’s a chance to tighten up and focus on a solid album, which they definitely delivered. august 17th, you know what to do.

[now hearing this: that new pay day song. really, don’t miss it.]

perfect summer weekend basically. a lot of walking from one place to another, drinking, barbeques, ladies, delicious food, friends, music… couldn’t have done much better besides maybe some road tripping or something. i do have to say though: the gig on melrose is a shitty club to have to see your friend’s band play in. we went to catch justin’s band augustus there on friday, which was fine because they played really well. but the crowd was all these washed up older people and it was a serious downer when we were in ‘night on the town’ mode. the only girl in our age bracket was the waitress who looked as uncomfortable as we did. so let’s focus on the positive! great restaurants, hilarious friends, many drinks, and beautiful summer weather. not to mention my first pay day having been promoted and that great feeling of ‘hey, i’m making (slightly) more money now, maybe i can finally spring for cable! or buy a pair of pants to replace all the ones i’ve been wearing for five years now! or eat lunch every day instead of alternating ones!’

but still not afford to impress any women. let’s not get carried away.

on the first….day…back….

so i know i haven’t posted in forever so i didn’t want to take forever writing what i’ve been doing for a whole 15 days or whatever it’s been (8, actually). instead, i’m going to say it’s been an amazing two weeks for me and music, with back-to-back braid concerts two weekends ago (click on the photos above to admire my rock photography and find yourself a new desktop image or scoff at my incompetence with the aperture) at the top of the list. that was unbelievable. they sound like they never broke up and having never seen them before, i was floored by one of my favorite bands, EVER.

so that was fun. then this past weekend, the rilo kiley record release show, which was almost equally amazing. they played at the ford amphitheatre, which sounded fantastic and was open air and neat. plus ben gibbard opened, they played such great heights with jenny and jimmy, and before the show there were free snow cones and people making balloon animals like it was a 9-year-old’s birthday party. so festive! i didn’t get any rock photos at that one but my new camera phone did pick up this happy guy.

then the night after i went to club bang with some friends who’d been telling me for a year i should go and some friends i had just made the night before at the rilo kiley show, danced for five hours to amazing 80’s/indie/hipster dance music and could barely walk the next day. it was spectacular.

now i’m tired and have gone on too long but will wait less than 15 days or something (8, actually) before writing again, promise.

PS: being promoted also has been great so far.

and oh yes, on the topic of books, how about a little summer reading recap so far. books are so hot right now.

the big sleep – raymond chandler – 5 stars

style in spades wrapped around a strong detective story heart. i didn’t just love it because of my taste for the noir aesthetic, but because chandler wields words like weapons — with flair and precision both. how can you not love a book that has sentences like ‘dead men are heavier than broken hearts’?

rabbit, run – john updike – 2 stars

this was supposed to be some sort of american classic, but i mostly found it unnaturally written and detached. some good descriptive passages though. then as i was reading it someone pointed out to me how it’s all written in present tense, which i hadn’t picked up on as the source of the oddness, and then i started thinking about how that fit with the character, and how meaningful that was, and how i still didn’t really care that much anyway.

eragon – christopher paolini – 1 star

go ahead, click on that link. that’s right, i read a book about a boy and his blue dragon, written by a 15 year old. don’t laugh — it was a gift, i had to read it. my take on this book: gee, was this written by a 15 year old fantasy nerd? umm, yes. i’m really sorry emily, you know i still love you as a friend, but that’s a swing and a miss on this one.

i have a new plan for the summer of being single. aside from the ‘go out more’ plan pretty much all my fellow bachelors and i have agreed on, but also sort of in tandem with that. see, i spend too many days coming home from spending a whole day in an office chair in front of a computer to return to the slightly nicer office chair in front of a slightly less nice computer here in my room. i try to spend a lot of time reading but goddamn if this high-speed internet thing isn’t so damn inviting and ultimately distracting.

so, the plan is to make myself a regular at local bookstores and coffee houses. without the web to deter me i’ll probably get more reading done, not to mention that if i’m going to sit on my ass it might as well be somewhere where there’s a greater than zero percent chance of talking to new people. especially if i can establish myself as ‘that cute guy who’s always there reading’. i so want to be that guy.

[now hearing this: streaming the new roots from their site… is it good? i think it is. will i buy it? i think i may.]

i meant to post all this stuff this week about books and movies but it can wait. you’ve probably seen anchorman already anyway, unless you’re stupid.

let’s turn the focus to what’s really important instead though: a fucking PROMOTION. that’s right, i’ve finally been at a job long enough to move up from the very bottom of the totem pole. let there be celebration and joy. if any beautiful women would like to bask in my newly expanded radiance of power and responsibility, please feel free to email.

and if that weren’t enough: there’s fucking BRAID SHOW TONIGHT! i never thought i’d get to see either of my two favorite bands live, ever. i was wrong, and for tonight and tomorrow night i will gladly eat those words. if only hum would do the same thing this fall…

gotta to go prepare to rock.

so, i’ve been reading a lot of nationwide election year coverage, and just today i was checking out some news about how illinois republicans are trying to get mike ditka, former chicago bears head coach, to run for the US senate. how does that make ANY sense whatsoever?

sure, i don’t have a lot of room to talk, seeing as how the brilliant republicans of california deemed the governator the smartest choice to run the golden state. but we’ve had a crappy actor as a governor before who went on to be president; at least there’s some precedent for actors-turned politicians. and hey, a pro wrestler governs minnesota, that’s possibly crazier. but a football coach as one vote out of 100 in the national senate is the craziest yet. are they that desperate to keep out a progressive and intelligent african american man (dem candidate obama) that they’re reaching for whatever name they can in the wake of sex-scandal ryan? if they wanted a champion sports figure for senate i would have gone after phil jackson anyway; his sports victories are more recent, plus he’s known as an insightful, philosophical guy at least — but oh yeah, he’s a democrat.

and more importantly, where does the celebrity/politician line get drawn? how much longer before they put a clown (the red-nosed, face painted kind) on the supreme court, or maybe that clever david blaine should be the new head of homeland security, if he’s so sneaky. or, you know what, forget the strategic minds behind winning teams, let’s just make shaq mayor of los angeles. he might not have the answer to our persistent homeless problem, but you cannot stop him when he posts up in the paint at city hall.

weekend sort of whipped by here this time. friday night we drank and karted and mini-golfed as expected, which was fun, but a bit of a damper since the occasion was charlotte leaving the country the next day. fun night though and great to have dom in town. saturday we went to see anchorman as expected (review tomorrow), then just headed over to mike’s to keep him and his keg company. another good night. today i honestly did nothing though beside read a bit and watch punch drunk love. i decided after this second viewing that i was too hard on it back when i saw it in the theatre. it is pretty good after all.

to be at least slightly productive though i’m going to make up for missing the last pay day song by posting one early this time, along with a video as well. i had actually not heard any of the new iron and wine album until i decided to check out the video for the single on mtv.com of all places. as soon as i watched it though, i was enchanted and got a huge musical-visual crush on it and have been listening to the song over and over for a week — along with the rest our endless numbered days. so, never one to hide my love, i will share both the spectacular video and the lovely song for naked as we came. SO good.

last night my roommate left for vegas so i was all alone in my apartment and decided to watch reality bites. that movie will eternally remind me of heartbreak and the love of my high school life. such a great movie, yet so painful to watch when you’re feeling lonely.

hence, jumping full force into a weekend that will feature dominic down from san fran, a definite trip to see anchorman at some point, and tonight: DRUNKEN GO KARTING! maybe even some obnoxious mini-golfing too, who knows?

[now hearing this: iron and wine, in my head anyway.]