They'll Only Miss You When You Leave

I certainly have missed Carissa's Wierd, and I can't even put into words how amazing it was to see them play a one off reunion show last Friday in Seattle at the Showbox.



The show was packed. I guess the Showbox holds about 1,100 people and the show fell about 80 short of a sellout. It was so amazing to have that many people that fancy this band as much as I do in the same space. I was almost brought to tears several times during the course of the show and I had the chills almost the whole time. Just some beautiful stuff.



The set was comprised of a slew of songs from all their albums, and was largely filled with songs off of their recent retrospective that was released called "They'll Only Miss You When You Leave: Songs 1996-2003"
Here is a song off of the retrospective originally from the album You Should Be At Home Here: http://www.hardlyart.com/mp3/CW_TheColorThatYourEyes.mp3

They then finished their set prior to the encore with a brand new song. Not sure if this will ever be officially released but I am keeping my fingers crossed. Here is the video of it being performed live. The audio is pretty bad, but just to get an idea.



I am all about spreading the word of these guys. If you've never heard them and are interested, I have the entire discography including the new retrospective that would be the best to introduce you to them with. I'll be back to update soon with pictures and such from the rest of my trip to Seattle and the surrounding areas. Until then, I am going to try to make it through the work week with almost nothing to do and my bosses out of town.

I'm out of sync yeah it's nothing new

It has been quite awhile since I have posted on the blogasphere. Figured it might be about that time. So, what to talk about, hmmmm. I am fresh off of a few excursions to see some live music. The first was to Philadelphia on the weekend of June 5th to see the National. We had quite the large crew, and the site seeing and more importantly the show were great. Very awesome weekend.

This was my view from the show. Not too shabby!!


Then this past Sunday myself, Christine, Ryan and Mutt went to see The New Pornographers with The Dodos and The Dutchess and The Duke in Columbus. This was also tons of fun. We spent the day in Columbus, hung out with Christine's parents for a bit, ate Cane's Chicken (which later caused some serious Cane Mutiny's) and did whatever until the show. There were however some interesting occurrences on the Columbus venture.

We stopped for gas in I think it was Quaker City, OH. While we were there Mutt and Ryan took a smoke break at least 10 feet away from the gas pumps in the grass. Some dude in the parking lot starts yelling over at us saying "Are you guys crazy? You can't be smoking at a gas station you are going to blow all of us up!" He persisted and tried to teach us a life lesson of sorts although all he was doing was displaying his paranoia. Ryan asked him to explain the ash tray even closer to the gas pumps then where they had been smoking and to that he had no answer. The next interesting occurrence took place while we were driving in downtown Columbus. Christine was mistakenly in a turn only lane, but didn't know it and went straight through an intersection. The guy behind us wildly beeped his horn etc. Christine proceeds to flick the guy off. At the next light, the guy gets out of his car, approaches ours, and says very calmly "you know that was a turn only lane back there, and if I would have hit you it would've been your fault." What made him feel the need to get out of his car walk up to ours and say that I'll never know. People really confuse me sometimes.

That was the past two weekends. This week and next will be largely chill and that's a good thing since the 4th of July Christine and I depart for Seattle. Can't wait! On completely unrelated notes there are some new albums I am highly anticipating that come out the next few months.

1. Admiral Radley - I Heart California (July 1stish I believe haha)
admiralradley.com

2. Kathryn Calder - Are You My Mother? (August 10th)
http://www.myspace.com/kathryncalder

3. Arcade Fire - Suburbs (August 3rd)
here some new tracks here:http://consequenceofsound.net/2010/06/14/check-out-arcade-fire-ready-to-start/

I have my looks and perfume on

I have my looks and perfume on... I am starting to think even that isn't enough to hang my hat on these days. I am completely in the work week lull. I am increasingly getting more and more bogged down by a typical 9-5 job. I should and need to stay at the job I have right now for at least a year, but it's becoming difficult. I am so much happier when I am not living in a typical routine. Example A of that would be when I was in San Francisco 2 weeks ago. I don't remember being that happy in quite awhile. I am just sorta stuck in this transition from adolescence to adulthood I guess. That's probably why I identify so much with The National's music, as these struggles seem to be a constant theme in many of their songs. I don't know, I have just been pondering over some things in my life lately, and I at times wonder if I am doing what I really want to be in this life. A life you only get one chance to live. Usually this sort of deep thinking does nothing but make me feel worse about myself, so I am going to try and not do this. Back to staring at my computer, and finding motivation to work on this monotonous Health & Wellness tips I am doing in After Effects. Right.. so this is what I went to school for 4 years and 80,000 dollars worth of debt I am totally convinced...

On a bit more of a positive note, yet still related I am going to continue the onslaught of National related posts some more. Below is a video of The National performing Sorrow as part of a streaming youtube show they had on Saturday. There are many other videos up of other songs they performed, but this song is just speaking to me today so I figured I'd post it with this post. My one bit of joy I can bring to this depressing rant.

San Francisco: Post Trip

I just got back from a 5 day trip to San Fran on Sunday night, and indeed it was very difficult to come home. For anyone who hasn't been to San Fran I would highly suggest it. There is a laundry list of reasons to do so. For one, the city is beautiful and the sights along the bay are incredible

A nice pic Nick took of the Golden Gate Bridge


This is a pic I took from Alcatraz


Second, the city is so culturally diverse, and there is something for everyone. People are into all sorts of different things, and there are outlets for you to express yourself in anyway you could imagine. This is the complete opposite of Pittsburgh. This place is so closed minded, and all that people in this city rally together for are sports and drinking holidays such as St. Patrick's Day. Our downtown is brutally boring, and filthy. The only decent parts of Pittsburgh are small areas outside of the city, not the city itself. When you visit a city like Seattle, Toronto, or San Francisco it just really allows you to see how boring and close minded Pittsburgh is.

Hmmm, what else we drove on Highway 1 quite a bit and explored an amazing beach that was hidden down below. Just views that were amazing and that I am so thankful I got to see firsthand.



Basically, I want to go back and that's why I created this blog entry. I am currently sitting in my office with nothing to do, and I am just daydreaming that I am back in this beautiful atmosphere. This 9-5 is becoming depressing. I need to find a job that allows me to see things and do different things everyday. Sitting in one spot in an office 9 hours a day doing the same thing, is definitely not for me. I am thankful for what I have, don't get me wrong, but it's just so redundant anymore and soon I am going to have to move on. To end this blog on a good note though, I am going to Philly in 3 weeks with all of my roommates, my girlfriend, and brother to see The National and hangout. Can't wait! A month after that I will be heading to Seattle too to see Carissa's Wierd and spend time with Christine. Bright things on the horizon. I'll check back soon.

San Francisco

So, today is the day I leave for San Fran. Pretty exciting stuff! I haven't taken a trip of this magnitude since I went to Omaha, which was almost 2 years ago now. That was strictly a venture with my close friends to see live music. This is more of a chance to see and spend time in a new exciting city, and see my brother. I haven't seriously hung out with my brother in such a long time. It's kinda funny, because I feel like we talk more now then when we both lived in Pittsburgh.

I really don't have too much more to say. Just trying to kill the next 2 hours of my work day, before I go home and finish packing for my 5:20 flight. Oh, I am definitely excited Jason is coming on the trip as well. It seemed like I picked bad travel dates for him considering we will be flying back home throughout all of Mother's Day. That being said, I think it will be worth it. I am sure he can send her the usual post card like he does when he travels anywhere. That might suffice. Hmmm... Saturday we are taking a tour of Alcatraz. That will be a ton of fun. Other than that we will probably just see what the city has to offer, and chill out. A much needed break of work and Pittsburgh is definitely in order. I am sure I will be posting pics and a synopsis of my trip in about a week. Until then I'll see you on the other side.

A New Find: Evening Hymns

So, since today and yesterday have been two of the absolute slowest days of work I've had in some time, it's safe to say I've had an ample amount of time on the internet. I am always looking for new talented musicians to listen to and appreciate it, and by gully I found one today. They are called Evening Hymns, and they are from the Toronto area in Ontario Canada. This band is especially perfect for today. Storms are rolling in, and this music seems to fit right in tune with that. Below I am going to post a few videos of the band playing live to give everyone a taste if they've never heard any of their stuff.



The crowd in this one is annoying but I love this song, and the video quality is great. The song is titled "Cedars"



So... yeah I guess this is a typical band I would love. They play heartfilled, melodic indie rock, and they wear flannels and sing a line in the song "Cedars," the second video I posted, about wearing flannel. I am just setting myself up to be made fun of by my friends with this post haha. Anyways, hope you enjoy these guys if you read this. Under a month and counting until I leave for my vacation in San Francisco. Can't wait! Hopefully I get something fun to start on at work soon so I can stop posting blogs everyday. Catch ya'll later.

Wandering about Infinite Arms

So, this is my first blog in awhile. I haven't had much to discuss lately I guess. I just had a really nice visit from my best friend Gary and his girlfriend who were in Pittsburgh from Seattle for a few days. We had some good times, and some funny times for sure. I also got to spend a lot of time with Christine last week, since she was on spring break, which reminded me of the old days we use to share and it was really nice and I miss it greatly. A sentimental weekend no doubt. Other than that it's been status quot really. I am working 5 days a week, skating or hanging out with friends in the evenings, and then on the weekends I get my Christine time. The weather hasn't been typical at least. That took a turn for the absolute best. It's been abnormally warm and sunny. I've been getting a chance to get on the skateboard and it's been tons of fun. I do miss getting to skate with all my friends who are largely gone from the area, but it's still been nice to get out.

Anyways... I wanted to discuss the upcoming release from Band Of Horses which is titled Infinite Arms. It will be out May 18th. Saying that I've been critical of this band over the past 2 years would be putting it nicely. The transformation this band has taken since the release of Everything All The Time is baffling. Musically they are pretty close to what they originally were, but boy have they blown up. I remember logging onto Myspace the one day and on the homepage there was an ad for shows they were playing for Jerry Garcia! Seriously!!??? I couldn't believe that shit, not to mention that they are currently playing a tour with Pearl Jam, where they are performing in hockey arenas. I am not trying to sound elitist, but I remember 3 or 4 years ago watching them play at the Grog Shop in Cleveland. If you have never been to the Grog Shop, it's very small, and its max capacity would probably be about 100 people or so. I am not trying to be one of those guys with this statement who is claiming they are sell outs or what not. I know how obnoxious that is. I am glad they have had a lot of success. They are a talented group and deserve it, but unfortunately what happens when a band that was good for certain reasons get's as big as Band Of Horses anymore is that they change things about what they did in the first place that was so great. They do things to appease the mainstream of society rather sticking to what made them great to begin with. Hints to support that are the fact that besides singer Ben Bridwell the only member from the original band is the drummer. Not to mention, that Everything All The Time was a much better all around record than Cease to Begin, mostly because Mat Brooke helped write it I would argue. For those BOH fans out there that have seen the band live, did you ever once hear them play St. Augustine or I Go The Barn Because I Like The...?? I would guess not, because those songs were written by Mat Brooke and so they are never played live since his departure from the band.

Because of all this, their ever growing popularity, and change of identity I am not expecting a lot out of the new album Infinite Arms. That being said, there is a new song and video up on their site called Compliments and I have to admit I like it quite a lot. So maybe I am completely wrong about this, and the new BOH look and sound will be just as good as the old. It's hard for me to imagine that, since the old BOH was one of my favorite bands. I will try not to be overcritical, and we'll wait and see. I will post back sometime after May 18th and I'll let you know. You can here the new song on bandofhorses.com if you're interested. Catch you on the other side.