On Encores, M. Ward and a Top Five

Two music posts in one day, you lucky dogs!

I pose a question to you the reader; when was the last time you went to a show (that was not a festival) and an encore did not occur? In my brief concert career I have never not witnessed an encore. It is just a forgone conclusion that barring a disaster of epic proportions that there will be an encore. Nothing short of the lead singer dropping dead is going to stop it. It has gotten to the point where the actual encore is not really an encore, it's just the second act of the overall show, if the crowd kept cheering after the house lights went up and then the band came back. That would be a real encore.

Anyway let's not dwell on negative thougths...onward to the show!

A couple thoughts:

- M. Ward is sneaky good on guitar. His albums do him no justice, you can not see the passion he puts into playing nor is the guitar as prominent on the album as it is at the show. His performance was by far the best I have seen on guitar out of any show I have seen. Having said that Katy pointed out that I may just not know what it means to be good on guitar. This is true, I don't and between M. Ward and Jack White, White is considered by most everyone to be the better guitarist and that is probably so, but what I witnessed was a far superior performance.

- The Somerville Theatre was a great venue to see a concert at. It was small enough that anywhere in the auditorium would have felt like an intimate setting. That and they had four Harpoon drafts on tap for $4 each!

I characterized it as a mini version of the Orpheum, too which Katy said "so it's a small version of very old theatre". Which I guess is true, but what I meant was it was a kind of unkempt theatre that is more geared towards affordable younger generation shows rather than The Wang, The Colonial and the like which are geared towards Broadway shows and ballet performances. And if that place serves beer during movies then it is the best place on earth.

It was a great show, it really was, and it got me thinking what is my Top 5 shows I have seen. Granted I haven't seen too many shows yet (13) but there is a clear distinction between my Top 5 and the rest. After I thought about it I came to the conclusion that there are two separate types of shows making up the top five which led me to break them down into two groups "The Unknown Show" and "The Show You Thought You Knew"

Top 5 Concerts (By type and in no real order)

Tier 1 - The Unknown Show

The premise, which I will elaborate on, of this tier is that your expectations going into the show were pretty much non-existent but you walked out in a daze of sorts.

M Ward - The Somerville Theatre

I first knew this show was going to be a good one when the opener closed with a great rendition of this song:



After they finished Katy mentioned that this is probably the only Beatles song I have ever heard live, and as big of a Beatles fan that I am that is slightly amazing.

Anyway going into this show I didn't expect much, to be honest I was kind of a little nervous that it was going to take away from my Spanish test today (which I aced!) and was only looking forward to a couple songs.

The result was anything but that, I completely forgot about Spanish, I got really into it; moving from side to side and playing the drums on the seat in front of me and if you know me that's not me. But the biggest thing is that I was left wanting more. Katy pointed this out when we were leaving the show and I think it correlates to the way I feel about really good books, you lose yourself in the show (not the hippy, I had an out of body experience moment, lose yourself but the I forgot what time it was lose yourself) like in a good book you forget the page numbers and when it ends it leave you thinking.

All in all there were a lot of unknown factors coming into the show that really ended up being great and not something that you could get from an album; M. Ward's guitar skills are more prominent on stage than in the studio, his band fits him, the band feeds off each others enthusiasm, they are not just playing the album onstage and the music lends itself to a good performance.

Those factors boil down to an amazing, and unfathomable to myself beforehand, experience.

Jamie Lidell I - The Paradise

Much like M. Ward I went into this show with little to know expectations and nothing but a overview of the artist and his work as a whole. I walked away from that show with not only a Jim T-Shirt that to this day makes people think my name is Jim but also with my first great concert experience.

Having listened to Jamie Lidell a few times going into the show I thought it would be a decent rock/pop show. What I got was a certified crazy man on stage with a band that consisted of a porn star complete with mustache, a rocket man complete with onsey zipup and Will Ferrell's character from old school. And they were all high, like really high.

Lidell was nothing like his album, he sang harder, louder and made all his songs longer. To top it off for the encore he came out with a TV set with spinning antennae on his head.

It was above and beyond anything I could imagine.

Tier 2 - The Show You Thought You Knew

These shows are best characterized as shows that I could sing along with every single word, and still I got more than I came for.

Jamie Lidell II - The Paradise
If drugged up, porn starring oafs with TV sets weren't enough the second show added bagpipes, a middle-aged Keith Richards looking guy, being the last show, a crazy little black woman who threw instruments around the set as the opener, and a Mr. Lidell out in the crowd.

Nine Inch Nails - DCU Center
Nothing could have made this show better in my mind going into it, I was prepared for an amazing mind blowing show. Well I was wrong, the lighting and visual presentation was more intense and technologically advanced than I thought possible. That and the guy sitting next to me gave his seat up for Katy (who had because the Egypt debacle and Trent's voice had to sell her ticket only to be able to go later with a lesser ticket) and I was introduced to the glory that is Peter Murphy singing Reptile:



Vampire Weekend - The Orpheum
I have been enjoying Vampire Weekend for over a year now and for the majority of said year not many things would have made me as happy as seeing Vampire Weekend live, nothing could make the experience more enjoyable then just being there. Oh contrare monfrare! Having a bunch of drunk kids who thought they were seeing a bunch of Vampires performing sitting in front of you makes it more enjoyable.



Next show will be Of Montreal at the Paradise in April, that show should be real interesting.

Music of the Day: Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala

I have been listening to Jens and this album for over a year now, but as of late it is all I have been listening to. Jens sings about posing as a boyfriend of a lesbian for her fathers benefit, getting his hair cut by a tax evading hairdresser, drive in bingo games, and leaving women because he does not love them. All on one album!

He is currently the only artist I know of outside of Rap & Hip Hop to reference Warren G's song Regulate in a song.

I have become slightly obsessed with Jens as of late, checking for any news or signs of a tour. It has gotten to the point that if Jens was to have a show somewhere in the Western Hemisphere I would fly there. And I'm dead serious when I say that.

Unfortunately he has been suffering from depression for the past year or so and has not been touring nor creating at all and he lives in Australia. Some day I will see him I'm sure.

I leave you with a acoustic version of my favorite song, A Postcard to Nina. It takes a minute to get going.

The Grumbling Effects of Hurricane Underling

Because of dinner at the Top of the Hub Restaurant (thanks to a $250 gift card from Katy's boss) and a trip to the Symphony (which we left early because we were falling asleep) we got to dress up yesterday and decided to test out Katy's photo equipment one last time (which resulted in that finger pointing outwards from your screen) before we head to Egypt (yes I'm going to Egypt next week). As a result of this and work (Borders and Broomball the past two days) our apartment looks like this:


(Warning: For all of you who have visited this apartment and remarked on how clean it looks, this may come as a bit of a shock to you. All those with heart conditions, avert your eyes)



And because we are going to see M. Ward tonight (at the Somerville Theater), and I have work Thursday and Friday one should not expect this to start looking cleaner any time soon. So if you thought about breaking in and stealing something I suggest you turn on the lights first.

Sir, have you been Tweeting this evening?

After evaluating the Twitter pages of a few funnymen I have come to the conclusion that I Tweet a little too erratically and use it like an instant messenger (which believe it or not existed before Twitter! I know!). So I have decided to cut back on the Tweets and make them a bit more comprehensive (as comprehensive as one can be in 140 characters) and with some substance to them. Of course I can not be beholden to this statement, because if I was then that would allow you to call me a liar in a couple days time when I Twitter about how I hate broomball. But just act like I mean what I say.

Carry on!

A Truly Historic Day

What it is: A bottle of Shock Top, 1 of 6.
Where it is from: Choice Liquors
Why it is important: The Underling's favorite beer is now available at the nearest liquor store to his apartment.

Manliness takes a critical hit!

The things I do for my employee discount.....

Who-Gar-Den

To all you bartenders and waitresses who have looked at me funny for saying Hoegarden as “Whogarden” I give you the pronunciation found on the package. I did not suffer this drink for nearly four months to be told I say it wrong.

Weekends

For the foreseeable future I think I may take weekends off on the blog. That means no features will be posted on weekends (It's Easy being Green, music, top five, etc), though I may break the silence with a random thought or two. Good day!

It's Easy (but probably not probable) Being Green: The Nuclear Option

Here is our ongoing segment known as It's Easy (but probably not probable) Being Green. Which is ripped from a Kermit the Frog song. Again I am not the green energy consulted that also goes by the name Kevin Doyle, I'm just the guy who gets his emails.

Mr. President

Forget hybrid cars, for get plug ins like the Chevy Volt, and hydrogen cars? The way of the Hindenburg. The future sir is in the nuclear car.

I know what your thinking, how do we get a nuclear power plant under the hood of a car? Well actually we don’t have to, but if you wanted to all you have do is as Willy Wonka for his shrink ray, which was our initial plan, but Willy Wonka’s mother obviously never taught him to share things.

The way we do it is we created our own shrink ray and we shrink people down to miniature size. Once they are miniature then they can make mini-nuclear reactors. Now I understand that the basic laws of physics would say that this is impossible but so are giant bugs and superman but they exist. So from now on when presented with facts in the physical realm do not trust the physics you have come to believe in over the 40+ years of your life, look to the super secret physics of the US government. Trust me you don’t want the headaches.

Now after these mini reactors are constructed we simply work the reactor into the working parts of an automobile. I’m sure it’s not to hard, if we can do it with submarines, aircraft carriers and robotic soldiers then we can surely fit it into a Ford Focus.

The benefits of placing miniature reactors inside cars would be complete independence from Middle Eastern oil, and Midwestern Ethanol (and we can finally turn the Midwest into a giant replication of Tele-tubby land like we talked about).

Unfortunately there are some downsides, minor ones, but downsides all the same.

Through testing we have found that the effects of a transition to nuclear powered cars would be; approximately 12 million nuclear explosions per year due to car accidents, the eradication of all gas station hot dog stands, and due to the inability to reverse the shrinking process countless lives of mini-people will be lost.

Though these may seem as detriments to moving towards nuclear powered automobiles, we believe that no price is too high for energy interdependence and that you sir are the only person to lead us to the nuclear wasteland, I mean promise land.

I Want My Money Back

I’m not one for using lyrics to express myself but in this case it’s just to hard to pass up. In the words of Ben Folds, give me my money back, give me my money back.....you bitch.

I Want My Money Back.

It’s been a little over a month since my classes started, and having taken a few tests and read a few books I think I can give me overall first impression of my classes. This is also my final full semester at NU (I have two summer sessions left) so naturally there is going to be some NU grumbling (A certified grumble has been spotted!) is to be had. Onward comrades!

Global Climate Change

It was this class, Dinosaurs or Natural Disasters in the running to fill my Natural World requirement. Natural Disasters was a class of 250, and Dinosaurs I have heard is not what it is advertised as, so I went with Climate Change.

So far I’m happy with my choice, knowledge has been learned and the reading easy. All in all I have received the education I expected; a bunch of facts I could have learned via a few hours of internet research. Go NU!

Spanish

I took Spanish instead of testing out of Italian (for my language requirement) because I thought it would be better to walk away with an understanding of Spanish rather than bullshitting my way into two years of Italian on my transcript. I knew it would be hard but I figured it would end up being a fruitful choice, and so far it has been, very good choice on my part.

That being said, is it the best use of my money towards learning a language? Probably not. For the amount of money I spend on tuition I could probably spend a month or two in a Latin American country and I would walk away from it with a much better understanding of Spanish. Or I could go to a more cost beneficial program (compared to the cost of tuition) at a Language Institute.

If it wasn’t for the language requirement for a BA at NU I would not be taking Spanish, but this was the best use of the 4 credits I could find.

Contemporary Black Politics

I went into this class thinking we would start off by talking about local black politics (Chuck Turner and the like) and the up and comers in national African American community (Jesse Jackson Jr, Cory Booker, Michael Steele) and the effect of Barack Obama on the political process, especially for African Americans. Sounds like an interesting class right? That’s what I thought and that’s why I took it.

Well instead it has turned out to be a history class, centering on slavery and the struggle of African Americans from Reconstruction to Civil Rights. All well and good but the class is call CONTEMPORARY Black Politics. For those of you who may be confused about it’s definition, I present it to you now.

Contemporary
adj.
1. Belonging to the same period of time: a fact documented by two contemporary sources.
2. Of about the same age.
3. Current; modern: contemporary trends in design.

No where in the definition does it say history.

Now I understand that one needs to put the current political climate into a historical context but do you really need to do so for a 2 months (effectively half the scheduled class time)? If I wanted to learn about slavery and the struggle for equality I would have taken a History of Black Politics class. Instead I took this class because I all ready know about slavery, W.E.B. Du Bois, Frederick Douglass, Malcom X and Martin Luther King. What I wanted to better understand is the current state of African American politics the post-Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton era. I want to talk about my local African American community, something I encountered on my last Co-Op (btw I will post something soon about the BRA) and the future of African American political thought process.

But know I am learning about slavery for the 5th time in my life.

Senior Capstone

Going into this class (a graduation requirement mind you) all I wanted to do was write a 25 page paper on a Political Science topic of my choice. I wanted to research something that interested me and end up with a sizable piece of writing in a field I could head into in the future.

Yes I was asking for a large paper and mundane lectures, you would think I would get what I wanted.

What I got was group led class discussions, a bunch of mediocre to terrible books to read, and a pair of book reviews. No 25 page paper.

Quick rant: What is the benefit of group projects. I get that in real world working on a team is common but that doesn’t translate well to group projects. In the real world there is a designated leader who gets paid more and has the qualifications to delegate tasks. In a classroom setting there is no incentives for one to be the leader, and those who do step up are hardly ever qualified. There I said it.

Back to our regularly scheduled program.

In a normal class room setting this isn’t a bad thing, but when the discussions come from all corners of the Political Science spectrum and your teacher is versed in only one of them it can end up being vague and misrepresented. Couple that with the fact that there are 65 Political Science majors in one room open to discussion there is going to be some problems.

First you have to understand that Political Science majors go on to be, among other things, lawyers, policy wonks, politicians and professors; all people who carry large opinions and enjoy discussing them (or in most cases, shouting them). So yes this class has been a bunch of know-it-all students shouting unfounded statements at each other while the professor tries to manage a volume of students that is too large for each subject.

For once in my life I am not one of the top 5 talkers in the room.

*****

Overall I’m disappointed, I expected more from this semester. So far all I have come away with is a bunch of facts I could have found from looking in a geology book and an understanding of the Spanish language I could have gotten (and then some) for cheaper by living in a Latin American country for a few months. I’m starting to think Will Hunting was right when he told that asshole from Harvard that he could get the same education with a library card and late fees.

That being said I should have seen this coming. I can count on one hand how many classes that I consider to have gotten my money’s worth out of. Not to mention I consider College to be a game in the way that High School was a game, just that this time I have to pay $40,000 a year for it.

Only In New England

Would a day like today in February be considered fairly warm but in August it would be considered fairly cold. Six months apart and in the later days of their respective extreme seasons (winter & summer).

What I Am Reading: A More Perfect Constitution

I have since finished this wonderful piece of work (I kid) read the review here.

With the completion of that awful book comes the start of Larry Sabato’s - A More Perfect Constitution. Besides being the book that my group project is centered around I actually was looking forward to reading this because I love “What If?” situations and revising things (usually things that don’t really need revising). What I am no looking forward to is the class discussion about this, come to think of it I hate every class discussion in that class.

Funny story. So in my Capstone class we have to do a group project on a range of topics, and I chose to be in the American government group, for obvious reasons. Within my group we had to pick a concentration, I chose state and local government for obvious reasons. Slight problem; my professor has a doctorate in state and local government.

Bigger is Better

As you can undoubtedly tell by visiting the blog, a column has been added on the left and the blogging area has increased in size as well. Also my last five tweets have been added. Let me know if you are having problems viewing the blog by either emailing me or just leaving a comment on this post.

And as always if you put your email in the little box up in the corner and hit submit you will be emailed each days posts in news letter format every night.

What I Am Reading: All Shall Be Well; and All Shall Be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well

When I get down to just John Lennon you know it’s time for me to start another book. Next up is Tod Wodicka’s book (get ready) All Shall Be Well; and All Shall Be Well; and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well. The name isn't long enough right? That combined with the cover and the Harvard Bookstore recommendation is the only reasons why this is getting read.

Quick Ponder: Is it wrong of me to go to the Harvard Bookstore, read the recommendations, take them seriously and then go buy the book at Borders because I have an employee discount? I just feel like I am stealing.

Anyway this book looks, writing wise, to be interesting (i mean the word “mead” is used in the first sentence of the description). But the best part is the actual cover, which looks like it's straight out of a Monty Python and the Holy Grail interlude, equipped with a long rambling text that makes no sense. Because I can not find a picture of the copy I have any where on the Internets I have attached a picture of me holding the book at the Harvard Bookstore. Yes that is my famous red jacket.

What I Just Read: Women

I think what Bukowski meant when he wrote the book “Women” was that all Women should not read this book. Within the first ten pages the C word is uttered, and within the first 50 he has sex with countless woman. No good will come from a woman reading this book, they will immediately think that all stereotypes about men are true and become feminists. As a man I will make sure that I never recommend nor allow a female I know to read this book, because it will ruin all men.

That being said this book is about a man who for years (before the book was read) had to hit on women to have a chance. Now at the age of 55, with his sudden popularity thanks to the publishing of his books and poems he call him for one night stands, send him naked pictures of themselves and fly thousands of miles just to spend a few nights in his bed. Needless to say the old man can not handle this and with his lazy, go with it personality, he just accepts the twenty somethings when they want him and moves from woman to woman without a thought about there feelings. The thing is, he isn’t proud of himself like most men are, at times he feels like nothing, like an old perverted man.

The book at times feels like just an endless drunken one night stand with a bad hangover the next morning, with the only thing changing in his life is the women (hence the title). To be honest I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would, in the middle I started to get irritated by the mainstays in his life and mad at him for not taking hold of his life (though it all came together in the end).

If you are a young male, read this books, it may put your drunken sex filled life with some perspective. If you are a woman just forget I wrote this blog entry, better yet just ignore ever this tag.

Next Bukowski book is going to be Factotum, but I have decided that I will never read two books by the same author in a row, so I don’t tire of him or her. So Factotum will have to wait a little while.