Still here, still kickin' it

yeah, I haven't done much in the way of blogging lately. I got all moved into my apartment, got the living room area arranged and cleaned up, and should be working on the bedroom. But instead, I decided to play my DS, and now I'm at Charczuk's, watching Top Chef and using the internet. And tomorrow I'll be over here, using the internet again, but more to watch The Office. I don't have cable or internet, yet, so yeah. Hopefully things will get figured out on that front soon, but in the time being, we'll have to deal with this setup. Oh well.

This weekend should prove to be exciting, I'm heading to Minneapolis, and will have a shenanigan-filled time with H, a performance from Kate Nash, a get together with an old high school friend, and a meeting with the ever lovely Whiskey Marie. There's a chance that I won't make it back to Kansas City.

I'm going to clean off my camera card, so there will hopefully be some classic pictures. Or at least some blurry evidence of what happens. There will probably be some memories that will be blurry, too.

I'll try to be back soon, but if not, fret not, my homies. And check my friends' blogs, the whereabouts of Flenker may be reported elsewhere.

LATER

Add this to the list of toys I want

And go to this link, watch the video, and feel sorry for the guy.

If anyone out there has XM radio, listen to channel 43, XMU, during the day. Billy Zero will be playing some song selected by your truly. I'm stoked for that. I'll post more about it tomorrow or this weekend.

More actual content stuff coming soon, I hope

Before I go, here's some Maritime with "Tearing up the Oxygen."



If you don't know, that's Davey from The Promise Ring singing. I dig these guys. Here's their myspace page. Check out the songs "For Science Fiction," and "Guns of Navarone." They're good

bye bye bye everyone!

Music for the jilted lover

The two videos below, from the Airborne Toxic Event, are songs to listen to if you've ever been dumped, or forlorn, or have experienced an unrequited love.





I've heard them quite often on XM, and have grown fond of their stuff. (pardon if my descriptions are brief. I've had a couple gin and tonics, the Royals got killed, I've had a busy day!)

The lineup for Austin City Limits was released today. It's a good one. You can see it here. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go. Plane tickets to Austin are supercheap from KC, and I've got a place to stay. I'll make a post about it as the event draws nearer, but I'm excited.

Speaking of excited, I'm way pumped, tomorrow I move to my own place! I put the deposit down on Monday, but didn't hear back 100% sure until today. So yeah. It'll be a week before the stuff I left in Iowa makes it down, so in the meantime, my furniture will consist of an air mattress and a clothes hamper. So much for the house-warming party. Thankfully, my wonderful mom and step-dad have offered to use their truck and horse trailer to haul my crap. Then, we're going to a Royals game! That's awesome. My family basically rocks, all around. Post here maybe even more infrequent for the time being, and I'm sorry about that. Until I get my computer set up (or get a new one), I'll only have limited access to the internet, outside of work.

Well, it's sleepy time for Flenker. enjoy the weekend!

A post a few days in the making. Mostly because I'm lazy.

The powder blue excursion was a smashing success on Saturday! I guess it could've been better, if the Royals won, and if it was about 30-40 degrees warmer, but really, I had a hell of a time. If I would have remembered my camera, there would have been photographic evidence. Since I didn't, I'll just have to paint a picture with words. Damn.

When Charczuk and I showed up, there were already lots and lots and lots of people waiting in line. We didn't have tickets. There were lots of people waiting for tickets. Since the jersey giveaway was limited to the first 20,000, we thought that we were screwed. When we finally got up to the ticket booth, we overheard the four dudes in front of us being told that the game was sold out, they were turned away. So we were looking at not only not getting a jersey, but not getting into the game after standing in the cold for 30 minutes. By some act of the baseball gods, however, we were rewarded with (what we like to think as) the last two tickets available in the stadium. Hurrah.

We were then faced with actually getting into the K (for those of you unaware, the Royals play in Kauffman Stadium. AKA the K). There was a huge line going in the front gate, probably since 2 of the other gates are currently closed, due to construction. Charczuk and I got sneaky, though, and went around the big lines to one of the side gates that is still open. And we were not only able to walk right in without any waiting, but the jerseys were being handed out by Royals manager Trey Hillman and starting pitcher Brian Bannister. That was super-duper awesome.

I'll try to get a photo of the jersey sometime soon, along with the mutton chop progress. Not that there has been much progress, but it's something I've been promising for a while now. I need a new SD card for my camera. For that matter, I need a new camera.

I also might need one of these things. If I can avoid being creeped out by it.

Consider my ass rocked.

To paraphrase a line from an email I just sent, the WHY? show tonight was worth every penny of the $7 at the door, every mile driven, and every second of sleep lost. Just to see them perform "Gemini (Birthday Song)" in person made it worth it in my mind. I won't lie, the venue may have been a little dusty, my eyes got all watery during the song. They played just about every song I could have asked for, including "These Few Presidents," "Rubber Traits," "Fatalist Palmistry," and "Crushed Bones," among many others. There was one song that I didn't recognize, but for all the rest of them, I was belting out the lyrics. My throat hurts now. Worth it. Even if rules 1, 2, and 7 were bent. (Although, I don't think I've ever been to a show with as many tall dudes as there were tonight. It was like the KU basketball team was celebrating their championship by going to the Jackpot Saloon, and got there early enough to stand in front of everyone.)

The opening groups were alright. The first guy was DJ Blunt Object, or something like that. He just stood up there with his laptop or something, and played remixed songs, including "Sexy Back," and I think an Animal Collective song. There were a couple of good loops, but overall, I wasn't that impressed. Sorry dude. Good effort, though. The band that followed him, something about a sleepyhead (that's not their name, all I remember is that it had the word "Sleepyhead" in it), was a little better. It was kind of like indie frat rock, though. Like if (insert name of crappy frat rock band here) started using kind of tech guitar parts. And they kept talking about the Jayhawks. I'm sure they were excited about it, but at a show, you can get by with maybe mentioning it once. Not saying after every other song that "the next one is dedicated to Mario Chalmers."

WHY?, however, rocked me in a way that I haven't been rocked for months. (Lead singer) Yoni Wolf was funny, interacted with the crowd well, and kept the band sounding tight all night long. I think their show tonight catapulted them into my Top 5 performances I've seen in person (along with Jeff Tweedy, The Mountain Goats, Eric Johnson [of the Fruitbats], and Loney, Dear. Good company, indeed!). Hopefully they'll do another tour of the US after they head overseas in the early summer. If they come to your neck of the woods, I strongly encourage you to see them. And, if you like them, support them by picking up a shirt or a CD. I got one of each, the shirt is powder blue (2nd post in a row I've mentioned that color. I tell you, I look like the money in it), the CD is the "Rubber Traits" album, the only one they had there that I didn't already own. And at $5, it was a heckuva deal!

Well, it is quickly approaching 3 am. I need to be at work in 5 hours. Good night all, and have a splendid Friday!

In a Fog. . . (yeah, that's the best I could come up with right now. deal)

Wow, it's been a whole week since I last posted. I wish I could say it's because I was out doing all sorts of fun, wild stuff. But really, I've been lazy. I went bowling, which almost caused both my thumb and arm to be torn off. It was fun, though. I had some issues with my bank and getting my check deposited, so that was frustrating. It's all straightened out now, thankfully. I did go out last night with some people from work, sang karaoke to "Ain't Too Proud to Beg," as performed by the Temptations. Good times. That's about it, though. Sorry.

Tonight should be a good time, WHY? is playing in Lawrence. I guess that's about 45 minutes from here, show starts at 9. There are 3 bands playing, I'm hoping WHY? goes on early, otherwise it'll be a long day at work tomorrow. Totally worth it, though, to see the group responsible for one of my all-time favorite songs, "Gemini (Birthday Song)." Plus I really like their new stuff. Win-win!

Also coming up on Saturday will be my first Royals game of the season! It's Billy Butler powder blue jersey giveaway day, I'm pumped up. I look good in powder blue. Plus, the team has been playing well of late, always a good thing.

Last thing for today will be some music.

Fog, as their myspace page says, is a band from Minneapolis, MN, USA that plays experimental rock and roll music. I don't know if I'd call the stuff I've heard "experimental," but it's not exactly straightforward rock and roll, either. It's a mishmash of sounds that work really well to create a fresh sound. Yeah. They've worked with the likes of WHY? (that's how I first heard of Fog), Andrew Bird, Low, Notwist, etc. And I think elements of each group kind of come through in their music. So check 'em out. I wouldn't lead you astray, would I? (I do prefer the original songs to the remixes they have posted, but I think all are worthwhile.)

I'll try to back tonight with a review of the show, as long as I don't get back too late. I don't want to be cranky all day tomorrow, now do I? Maybe I'll have to take some cranky medicine in the morning. Oh, and I'll try to do a Friendly Mutton update soon. Again, there's not much to report about there, but I'll try to give running updates on the beauty as it grows.

I'm not a player. . .

Musician that I currently have a crush on - Kate Nash. I like her music, and she's pretty. Sure, she's only 20, but she's British. That adds a couple of years, right? I mean, the euro is kicking the dollar's ass, so in the exchange, she's actually like 28 here. She's playing in Minneapolis the first weekend in May, I'm going to be there. That's when she'll see me in the crowd, and fall madly in love with me. That's how that's going to work.

Unless I meet up with Zooey Deschanel before then. She's closer to my age, less than a year older! And also very pretty. And sings. She's definitely an actress that I have a big crush on.

The queen of my actress crushes, though, is none other than Natalie Portman. Anyone, male or female, that is in their mid- to late 20's, has had a crush on her at one point or another. I'm positive.

So do I have anyone that I know in real-life that I have a crush on? (Note: I normally try to stay away from ending a sentence with a preposition, but seriously, am I supposed to say "On whom I have a crush" every time?) Sure. There's a really attractive girl at the office. She's even talked to me once! Sure, it was only "excuse me" as we almost ran into each other in the hall, but still. But I don't really know her, so that doesn't count. Plus, I'm not big into the idea of an "office romance," even if it does work for Jim and Pam. Speaking of Pam Beasley, yeah. Definitely crush-worthy.

But someone I actually know? Maybe, maybe not. The problem is that even if there was, it's no one in the greater Kansas City metro area. Not yet, anyways. Perhaps I have a plan (or scheme, if you will) to get someone to move here. Maybe it's a long, time-(and money-) intensive, convoluted ordeal. And possibly, quite possibly, it could be the basis to the most perfect romantic movie ever. Or not. You never know. I'm tricky like that!