Mevlog

Things I Would Go To If I Wasn't Lame

2009-05-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight: The Dears at The Crocodile

The Dears are one of my all time favourite live bands, so good. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with their latest album and apparently they have changed their entire lineup. Follow keyboardist @nataliayanchak on twitter.

Tomorrow:

SONIC YOUTH LISTENING EVENT - 5/28 @ GAINSBOURG
Come by the Gainsbourg, 8550 Greenwood Ave N, on Thursday (May 28th) @ 9pm to hear the new Sonic Youth record. There will be a special DJ set by Spiral Stairs (Pavement). The new Sonic Youth record, the Eternal, will be out June 9th.

Weather

2008-04-14T11:12:00.001-07:00

Saturday was amazing! Beautiful weather. Sunday, miserable as hell.

The thing I can't stand about Seattle weather is that it can be so
variable within the same day. Like I'll require long sleeves and a
jacket on the way to work but on the way home I'm sweating my ass off
on the bus, wishing I wasn't stuck with what I'm wearing. I feel like
I should keep a supply of jackets at work and bring the bunch home
once a week. This could be the reverse too where a day will start out
nice enough then by mid afternoon it could be a torrential downpour.
I'm considering dressing for the exact opposite of MJ on Q13s weather
advice for a week. At least back home in the Canadian wilderness if I
was freezing my ass off I would be freezing my ass off from dawn to
dusk.

Really Real Change

2008-03-27T09:31:00.001-07:00

When I'm walking from the bus stop to work, I am sometimes assailed by
homeless people selling Real Change. Today it was pretty girls pushing
their Jehovah's witness pamphlet.

Tech Books My Fellow Bus Riders are Reading

2008-03-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

yesterday: dude reading "Learning Actionscript"
today: girl reading "Jumping into Python", guy reading "Unix Hater's Handbook"

This blog will live

2008-03-24T13:40:00.000-07:00

Recently, I considered killing this blog. I began reading some old entries. I'm pleased that I'm not totally embarassed by them and that I am somewhat entertained. There's some clunky grammar but some great memories. There is an entry from 2004 where I plug the Moldy Peaches, haha, proof that I was into them way before this Juno garbage.

Trainwreck at The Tractor

2007-10-09T08:13:00.000-07:00

Camper Van Beethoven and Built to Spill at The Showbox

2007-10-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

Brian Posehn and Patton Oswalt at The Showbox

2007-10-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

The New Pornographers at The Showbox

2007-10-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

The Flaming Lips at The Paramount

2007-10-09T08:05:00.000-07:00

The Weakerthans at Neumos

2007-10-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

Tenacious D at The Paramount Feburary 16th + 17th

2007-03-24T11:57:00.001-07:00

Tenacious D

Modest Mouse at The South Lake Union Naval Reserve Building

2007-03-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

Modest Mouse left to right: Johnny Marr, Eric Judy, Tom Peloso, Issac Brock (not shown - drummers Jeremiah Green and Joe Plummer)

We were lucky enough to get tickets to Wendesday's surprise instanltly sold out Modest Mouse show at the South Lake Union Naval Reserve Building. It was amazing to see the now hugely popular band in a gymnasium with about 1000 other people. We got to stand up close by the side of the stage. The band, now a six piece, sounded incredible. Ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr is now in the band and it looked like he was having a blast. The set drew heavily from the commercial breakthrough Good News for People Who Love Bad News and the, just released the day before, new album We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. In fact, the only pre-Epic song they played was set highlight Doin' The Cockroach. Other highlights included Paper Thin Walls and an extended Tiny Cities Made of Ashes. The band sounded so good and looked like they knew how good they are. Go see this band if you have the chance -this line up in Modest Mouse All Stars, the MVPs of rock (LOL). We're totally going to the show at the Paramount on April 15th.

More Photos

Setlist (out of order):

Our first You Tube vid

2007-01-13T10:02:00.000-08:00

Yoda drinking with his paws set to a Tom Waits tune

Mercer/Bachmann/Phelps at Neumo's

2007-01-08T00:38:00.000-08:00

I'll have comments and setlist soon. Great show for a good cause. You can see all the photos here

The Weather b/w Shows to Live For

2006-11-29T13:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers,

Sadly sadly sadly I am sorry to say that I will NOT be coming home to Saskatchewan during the Christmas holiday. I do promise that as soon as my work status renewal is processed I will make a trip home (one was or another). Readers from home - do come visit me here. Rich and Carla were here a few weekends ago and we had a pretty alright time indeed. If they can make it so can you. See you soon.

I have been doing some other traveling though. I just got back from spending Yanksgiving with Jenn's family in Sacramento. I got back to find a snow covered Seattle. I stayed home yesterday in fear of being stuck in traffic all day. I was not alone in doing this as, apparently, only about ten people showed up for work. The news reports say tomorrow mornings commute will be even worse as it's expected to dump again this evening.

Last week I was debating what show to see last night. I was torn between seeing the Dears (one of my favourite live bands, whom I have seen thrice previously) at Neumos or the reformed Lemonheads (a band that I enjoyed when I was in high school). Due to the weather and post-vacation malaise I opted to see neither and stayed home. A similar event happened a few weeks ago when we decided not to see Bonnie 'Prince' Billy at The Tractor even though I bought advanced tickets (we were tired and it was raining hard).

However, I did see the Decemberists at the Paramount the Friday before last. Unfortunately, the was short at about an hour and they played too heavily from their most recent release, their major label debut The Crane Wife, which hasn't caught me the same way as their past work. Singer Colin Meloy was sick though so they had an excuse for a short set. They canceled their next night's gig in Vancouver so it was legit but still disappointing.

Coming up is two shows that I am looking forward to with murderous glee. These are -

Jonathan Richman at The Tractor Tavern - December 11th and 12th
I'll probably opt for the Tuesday show. This is holy shit amazing though. Jonathan Richman, wow... (he's the guy that sings the songs in There's Something About Mary in case you are completely out of the know)

90.3 KEXP presents Benefit for Muscular Dystrophy featuring James Mercer of The Shins, and Joel RL Phelps at Neumo's - January 6th
I also hear that Eric Bachmann (Crooked Fingers, Archers of Loaf) will be playing. So that's three great acts (I could go on and on about Phelps) in one show. At $25 it's pricey but it's for a good cause. I'll see how generous I'm feeling when the time comes.

I was going to write about some albums, books, and my revised Christmas plans but I'll save it for another day because I have to get back to work.

Later!

I totally just saw Bill Gates and more

2006-11-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

At 11:50 AM today Microsoft was presenting the first of their "flash
concerts" to promote, their new iPod alternative, Zune. The Secret
Machines played outside of Westlake Center. They are a band that I
have heard of but have not heard. They were pretty decent, fans of The
Smashing Pumpkins, mid period Flaming Lips, and shoegazer bands like
Ride would like them. After their first song, John in the Morning from
KEXP came up and talked about Zune for a second then introduced Mr.
Gates. Bill talked for a bit and then John Wi-fi'd him a song from his
Zune. The Secret Machines played two or three more songs, while it
began to rain and that was it.

On my way back to the office this guy and this girl, who were walking
in front of me on the sidewalk, were totally smoking weed right out in
the open. It was really pungent stuff too. Suddenly, this guy with
white hair stops the girl and I guess he was busting them. He could
have been an off duty cop or just a responsible citizen doing what he
thinks is his civic duty. He was doing something with grabbing the
joint from her and opening his fanny pack. I kept walking but looked
behind and they were walking away. So maybe he let them go because
they were foreign (perhaps) or maybe he was buying. Weird shit.

Yo La Tengo @ The Showbox - Oct. 15 2006

2006-10-16T21:30:00.000-07:00

I saw Yo La Tengo at the Showbox last night. More soon...

I snagged Georgia's set list so here it is

The Story of Jazz
Pass The Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind
Flying Lesson
Tears Are In Your Eyes
Beanbag Chair
Mr. Tough
The Weakest Part
Song For Mahila
I Feel Like Going Home
I Should Have Known Better
Sudden Organ
Watch Out For Me Ronnie
Deeper Into Movies
The Story of Yo La Tengo
I Heard You Looking

(Arthur Lee)
Sugarcube
(Sun Ra)

For The Turnstiles
(The Kinks)
Autumn Sweater

Take Care

In the 'sack

2006-09-26T12:43:00.000-07:00

I'm in Kamsack right now. I'm using a Windows ME machine. This means I can't install Dreamweaver, which I wanted to use to edit some websites. Oh well, textpad it is.

I've been in Sask. since Thursday and I've had a great time so far (that shouldn't change). I fly out of Saskatoon early on Sunday morning. I already lived it up as much as I could in Saskatoon, now it's Kamsack's turn.

I'll be back with highlights and photos

p.s. Congrats to Curtis and Adina, wonderful wedding... enjoy Nova Scotia

Rio, hells yes.

2006-06-23T08:58:00.000-07:00

One week until I escape to Rio, Brazil. No expectations, just fun. We
have a nine hour lay over in Atlanta. We're going to make the most of
it.

I haven't posted in a long time. Here are some things:
- attended a book signing by Anthony Bourdain (author Kitchen
Confidential, host Travel Channel's No Reservations). Totally awesome.
I got a picture with him that I will post soon.
- shout out to Skylark Cafe & Club http://www.skylarkcafe.com/ in West
Seattle. West Side represent!. Awesomest bar food, on the street where
I live.
- I'm going through a heavy Dylan phase right now. Loving my iPod.
- there must be something else . . .

to be continued

Sasquatch sort of

2006-05-31T10:23:00.000-07:00

Sasquatch was heartbreaking. We left due to severe hail and wet clothing and missed the Shin and the Flaming Lips.

Check out latest photos http://dutch.hombow.org/photos.php

Some new good links

2006-03-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

World's Smallest Pac Man game
http://www.guimp.com/pacman_flash.html suprisingly playable!

Hand Eye Co-ordination
http://members.iinet.net.au/~pontipak/redsquare.html
Air Force pilots should be able to do this for 2 minutes. I can do it for about 13 seconds so far.

Live Action Simpsons Intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49IDp76kjPw&feature=Views&page=1&t=t&f=b Made as a promo for the new season in the UK. Watch it!

Austin City Limits - ACL on PBS - TV Schedule

2006-01-16T17:21:00.000-08:00

Austin City Limits - ACL on PBS - TV Schedule

I'm going to get some VHS tapes.

Missed SNL on Saturday, fell asleep before it started :)

Now Playing

2005-12-30T15:06:00.000-08:00

I'm going to have a year end list soon of my favourite new music of
2005. Right now I have my headphones on and my minidisc is loaded with

Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - s/t
Rogue Wave - Descend Like Vultures
Antony and The Johnsons - I Am a Bird Now
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

I'm listening to these to make sure I haven't missed out on anything.

p.s. I really want an iPod. Too bad this minidisc makes it a frivolous want.

Dumb Indie Rock related comic strip

2005-12-27T17:40:00.000-08:00

http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=394

this might have been relevant 5 years ago but now pitchfork cares more about rappers, faux-metallers, and dance rock hipsters than indie rock pioneers like Moore, Mascis, and Malkmus.