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.

Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it sure can buy some awesome stuff

March is turning out to be an expensive month. The money I saved in February by just drinking by myself on Valentine's Day is now long gone. And I haven't even started on the moving expenses. The Shamrock Shake is the least of my worries this month. When one of my favorite game franchises, one of my favorite bands, and my favorite movie in years all have release dates in the span of two days, toss in another of my favorite bands releasing an album that slipped past my radar for a few weeks, and I'm in trouble. Luckily I had a couple of checks from my temp job, and start an actual, real-life job in a week. Plus, I'm counting on getting at least a few free meals from family in the coming week! Yes, I'm 27 years old and still take advantage of parents buying me things whenever I can. (damn, I just realized that I'm really 27 years old. It only took me two months. . .)

Anyways, here's a breakdown of my recent purchases.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

I've been a huge fan of this series, ever since the original came out on the N64. We would have some intense-ass battles, and spent at least one New Year's Eve up all night playing until breakfast. Then we'd play some more. And the new version? Even better than the last two.

Holy crap, this game is awesome. I've only played it for about 15 hours in the past two days. The sad thing is, I'm not sure if that is too much of an exaggeration. Yes, as I mentioned above, I am 27 years old. So what.

For those of you not familiar with the game, it's basically a bunch of different Nintendo characters in one game, fighting. It's for up to 4 players at once, in a good old fashioned rumble. And this iteration has online capabilities, so one can play against anyone else in the world. Awesome. You can save replays of great fights, snap photos and save them, even play trial versions of the original games that the characters are in. Super awesome. If you haven't already done so, go buy a Wii, if you can find one (seriously, mine's been worth every penny), and get this game. I know I've said that about a few things before, but this time, I'm dead serious. You'll already be set up with some of the best party games available. SSBB, and Wii Sports. I dare you to not have fun with Wii Bolwing or Tennis. It's not possible.

No Country for Old Men

You already know this is awesome. No more details needed.

WHY? - Alopecia

This was released today, I did a deal online through a comic store in MA - preorder the album, and get a free autographed booklet. I was worried that it wouldn't get here in time, that it would be shipped some slow-ass way, but I figured it was worth the shot. Lo and behold, a package showed up in my mailbox today! Not only did I get the autographed booklet, but it was on a separate booklet, not the one included with the CD. So I can frame it, and still have one to look at! (I should make some sort of display with the autographed stuff I have. I could have a sports one and a music one. Music with the entirety of Weezer, M. Doughty, WHY?, the lead singer of Reel Big Fish, and more. hmm. . .)

The album is incredible. I had heard most of the songs already on their myspace page, but still, that did not lessen my enthusiasm. It felt good to cruise around and listen to it. I can't wait for the warmer weather, I'll feel like a badass driving around in my Grand Am, listening to this album with my windows down. Yeah. I don't know if there's one bad track. And that's saying something, it spans a few different styles, and does them all well. Give it a listen.

The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

This one was released on February 19th, but I somehow missed it. I'm glad that I noticed it and picked it up, though. It's awesome. This might be my favorite Mountain Goats album since John Darnielle started recording in an actual studio instead of on his boombox, my favorite full-band album, although Sunset Tree comes in a close second. Want to listen to Heretic Pride, but not sure if you want to buy the album? Well, you can (legally!) listen to the whole album online, and even see a video of the first track, "Sax Rohmer #1," here. Check it out. Not just for my sake, but for your own as well.

All told, I'm extremely pleased with each and every one of my purchases. Considering that in the next few weeks/months I'll be saving every penny I can, I think I needed one last splurge to satisfy myself, and to give myself a present for getting a job. I can do that. Right? Right.

An open letter to J.J. Abrams, and a double dose of music

Dear Mr. Abrams,

Can I call you J.J.? Or James? What about Jimbo? Oh, your first name is Jeffrey? Sorry, my bad. Let me start, Jeff, by saying that I liked the episode of The Office you directed. And while I don't really watch Lost, I know some people that like it a lot, so you must be doing something right. I've seen one episode, the first one of this current season, and didn't really know what was going on, and kind of thought that the main dude, Jack or whatever his name is, was kind of an ass. Which brings me to the reason I'm writing this letter.

I just saw Cloverfield. It was pretty good, but a few changes could have made it great. Like getting rid of the whole love story. Who cares? You should've learned something from Transformers, people want to see gigantic robots fighting, or a monster totally destroying a city and fighting things. I think I speak for all bitter, jaded 20-somethings when I say that I could give two shits about whether or not this dude is in love with a girl in movies like this. But that's not my point here, that's not what I thought the biggest flaw was.

I did not feel for, or relate to, or even root for the characters in the movie. By the end, I was kind of wishing that the monster would eat them. The main character, we'll call him Douchebag #1 (DB1), was kind of a whiny bitch. And a douchebag. I didn't care if any of the characters lived or not. Which brings us back to the love story. If that wasn't included in the movie, then development, or lack of development, wouldn't have been a big deal. But maybe that's not your thing. I did like that the son from Carpoolers was in your movie, though. I like him on that show. But again, not so much his character in the movie.

All in all, I thought it was a decent movie, but the build up and expectations I had for it were probably a bit much. I've noticed on IMDb that there's supposedly a sequel in the works, something that I wanted right after I got out of the theater. It could be done really well, and while not overtly answering some questions posed, could help understanding things better. So good luck with that. But get some things more realistic. I can suspend my reality to believe that there's a gigantic monster attacking New York. But I'm not so sure about seeing someone with rebar through their chest in one scene, only to see this person sprinting in the next. That's not the only one, but I don't want to spoil things for those who haven't seen your movie yet. I'll still tell them to see it, I'll warn them that it's a little cheesy, but worth seeing. Heck, I'll even give you 3-and-a-half Flenker Thumbs Up








You would've gotten another half if you had made the monster Cthulu. Then I would have stood up and cheered. Instead, I had to be the only solo dude in a theater of couples. Awesome. Who knew that you made a date movie??

Well, good luck with your future endeavors. I hope the Star Trek movie is good. If you mess that up, you will have millions of huge nerds upset with you, and they'll write about you in their blogs. . . wait a minute. . .

Sincerely yours,

Flenker

*****

Today's music recommendation is kind of a cop-out, because it's from a band that I've already mentioned lots and lots of times. But, this time there's new music, so I'll validate it that way.

WHY? has put up a ton of new music on their (his?) myspace, I'm thinking it's from the new album, Alopecia, due out March 11. I've been listening to it for the past couple of days, and have been enjoying it a lot a lot. Let me know what you think.

And, since this isn't a new band, I thought I'd revisit another band, just to make it a good music day. As if WHY? isn't enough. But here you go, Vanilla Fudge with one of the best performances I've ever seen. Yeah, this is another one I've posted once or twice, but damn, it's good. When we finally have books that have little videos on the pages, you'll see the last 30 seconds of this song in the dictionary under "epic." Enjoy

WHY? videos. Why not?

Here's a couple of videos from a band that's becoming one of my favorites, WHY?. I've talked about them a few times on here, but have never put up any of their videos. It's kind of funny, neither of these videos were made by the band, they were both made by fans, and the band has sort of adopted them as the "official" video for each song.

First up is "Dumb Hummer," with a really fun video:



Next it's one of my Vital Flenker Tracks, "Gemini (Birthday Song)." I love this song, and this video fits it so well, it's incredibly well done. It almost makes me want to cry.



Enjoy! I'll be back Monday with a post.

Quick post before work

Sorry, my "internet" hasn't been the most reliable lately, so I haven't had much of an opportunity to post. Now that it's working, I only have a short amount of time before work, so these are just going to be some quick notes, and I'll try to post more tomorrow.

• I am extremely jealous of both Marin and Heinricy for this weekend. Marin is seeing Loney, Dear in DC tomorrow night, and Heinricy is seeing WHY? in Austin, also tomorrow. Tomorrow night, I'll most likely be asleep by 10 after working 7-3.
  
• Daren and I had Thai for lunch, it was delicious. Rice noodles are amazing.
• I added another blog link, Bad Wims. I'm pretty sure he's my food soul-mate, he has posts about falafel and sushi (where he mentions his favorite roll is the same as mine, the spicy tuna). So check him out, there's good stuff over there.
• I've forgotten to pay my phone bill for a few days now. Oops. But, they sent me a text message reminding me to pay it, isn't that nice! I guess I'll do that tomorrow.
  
• It's Federer vs Nadal in the French Open final this weekend. I have Sunday off, so I'll need to get somewhere to watch the match. Federer won their last match on clay, just last month, so hopefully he'll complete his career Grand Slam this weekend, on his way to picking up the Grand Slam this season. I love Federer. He's my current man-crush, along with Jim Krasinski from The Office.
• Speaking of Jim Krasinski, he co-wrote the screenplay and is directing and starring in the film adaptation of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, a book I just finished. I'm really looking forward to this!
• The new book I'm reading is Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. It's awesome so far.

That's all I have right now... I must get ready for work. Hope everyone has a great day/weekend!!!

When we're on different sides of the globe

In this post, I mentioned how I had heard a new song that I fell in love with and put on my mix CD. Since everyone has received my mix now, I thought I'd end the suspense and let everyone not involved with the Exchange in on the wonderful song. The song to which I'm referring is Gemini (Birthday Song) by WHY? You can find it on the myspace page, it's the last song listed (you'll have to use the scroll bar to get to it on the list).

What first caught my ear about this song was the vocal line, the timbre and rhythm and just a basic idea of some of the lyrics. Musically, it seemed kind of upbeat, but there was a tinge of some melancholy piano lines in the background. Upon closer listening, the lyrics display a wide array of emotions, but ultimately this is a sad song. It also has some "dirty" lyrics, like the following selection

Today I fell asleep in a bath of hair.
Hair that once sprouted from my own
white wet chalk follicles.
I swallow a coal
and follow my breath
and I did it with the grapefruit soap
thinking of you.

and

When I ask you to kiss my pulse
you offer to start the shower.
I want a verb and you give me a noun.
What do you dream up while I tongue you down?

I think lyrically this is a pretty amazing song. It doesn't use any cliche imagery, everything comes off fresh. I especially like the lines

don't regret the done dirt
there is no life plan set
you just swallow the cold
and follow your breath until death

The song, to me, is about a relationship that the narrator is reflecting upon, one that fell apart.

I wanted to make this some sort of "epic" post, breaking the song down and everything, but I'm having a really hard time trying to come up with some good way of dissecting this song. Every time I do, I feel like I kind of cheapen it and that I don't quite do it justice. I don't feel like I can really get on here and say "this is what this song means, this is what the songwriter meant and what he was feeling, etc." This song, for whatever reason, strikes a chord (pardon the pun) with me, and that's why I'm making it the first song in my new feature, Vital Flenker Tracks.

Vital Flenker Tracks (VFT) will be something that I'll post from time to time, consisting of songs that score the highest points with me, songs that I feel have a special meaning to me or ones that I hear and instantly love. Like this song from WHY?, which fits just about every one of those criteria. I'll try to get a few songs per week, but it won't be on any set schedule. How can I tell when I'll fall in love with a song? They can come from unexpected places. Maybe this will eventually make it into a mix cd, but for now, I just want to share the songs that I love, in any way possible. Perhaps I'll come up with some clever logo, or maybe someone else will. And I'll put up a special section off to the side once I get a few more songs introduced. For now, enjoy Gemini, I hope you can find your own meaning in it, let me know what you think.