Monday, November 19
I'm taking it easy this week. I was here in the barn all of yesterday until the evening, doing some cleaning here and there, laundry, listening to the Juliet Letters (to wake up), Heatmiser, DisPlan in preparation, consciously doing as little as possible. The most constructive thing I did was to finish a package for Alyssa: the letter (three pages), a party invitation, a stack of photos from the summer and the semester, the mix, with no case, just fragmented and reordered radioshack stickers for a label and four pages of typed song notes. I found a fiver on College Ave. today, which covered most of the postage ($5.30 to Sakyamo-ku.) Presumably it will arrive before she leaves.
The sun went down and Bobby hadn't arrived, there was confusion about concert plans. Heather, Ali, and Nick all had different ideas about where we should meet, where the tickets were, and what time the show started. About ten minutes after Bob finally got here (6:00 or so), Ali showed up and told us to get in the car; we grabbed our just finished quesadillas and ran out to join her and Heather. The confusion still wasn't over though. We got as far as the Springfield mall parking lot before we turned back again, under some pretext, and Ali suddenly jumped out of the car, thrust a ticket at Heather and announced that she couldn't go. Uncertain about where the rest of the tickets were, we stopped by the barn to make a doomed phone call (and grab some earplugs and canteloupe). More discussion about the best way to get there, but eventually we were on South street, most of the way through side one of Creds, met up with Nick, Andy Alderete and Naomi Baumol, neither of whom I'd really met before. It turned out the show wasn't until 8:00 (although even the marquee said 7:00) so we a while to kill; they went in search of cloves while Bobby and I took a stroll and ended up in the Pink Rose pastry shop, with a carrot cupcake and a slice of mousse torte, discussing College cheers and the inexplicable resurgence of "Sweet Caroline." They didn't make me pay for the concert, though they were very thorough in searching my jacket.
The good old TLA was pretty empty considering the confusion about start times, and they had erected a little guardrail in front of the stage (a DC band thing perhaps?) Need New Body's set was short (twenty minutes max), not their fault. They were slightly less aggressively weird (fewer costumes) and noticeably funkier than when they played here. They're really talented musically, especially the drummer and keyboardist, although this time it was hard to make out the words. Lake Trout, who Corey had hyped up to me, were better than they seemed at first. Mostly because they have an original idea, but actually it is pretty successful: two guitarists play repetitive Godspeed-like melodic lines ad nauseum, the bassist adds effectified layers, the drummer bursts out with clean and funky drum-and-bass, New Deal-style, and a flautist/saxer at the keyboard adds the icing. It's all very languid and tripped-out, great when they stay in dancy-trancy territory, less interesting when they veer toward straighter rock stuff, especially when he tried to sing. Bob seemed comforted by them after the disconcerting NNB. Andy couldn't stop talking about the flute (he turned out to be kind of a zealot.) Hedda and Jarrett, each in their own way, were pumping up the excitement level for the Plan, the hometown groupie and the erudish Nor'westerner. And indeed they have a presence. Lead singer Travis, dressed in black smiled disingenuously, retorted requests rather smarmily, didn't need to be told he was hot, gripped the mic with confidence and took a self-described "escapade" (Destiny's Child? Annie?) on the floor at the end of the show. He knows the show, gave the fans what they wanted without putting himself out. The bassist bounced like another Travis, the lefty long-blond drummer mathed and wore earphones, they were tight. I most enjoyed the songs I recognized (warp-time opener "Gyroscope," Townsend-stuttered "Girl O'Clock," dumb-beat dumb-fable "You Are Invited," cathartic "What Do You Want Me To Say?," chiming "City," but not the one I was hoping for), and some of the newer ones (lyric-patterned "Timebomb," "Elaine and Ben," which I later realized must be about the Graduate except that I then realized it was actually "Ellen and Ben.") Apparently a lot of what they played was older stuff. It was loud, and they said "hey" a lot, and some of it was good (the funky stuff.) Bob was able to get into it, I think (he declared it "really great," but that's like him), but he did complain about the noise. It was a fun show, definitely worth the time and no money. And it did make me more excited about the album, at least the songs they played from the album.
Got back here to find Rebecca making up some tofu with stuff. Does she always nag this much, and I just ignore it? I have a feeling maybe she does. I'm not sure I want to live with someone who nags that much. But if I'm so good at ignoring it than maybe it's okay.
what do you want me to say?
what do you want me to do?
to let you know that i still love you
The sun went down and Bobby hadn't arrived, there was confusion about concert plans. Heather, Ali, and Nick all had different ideas about where we should meet, where the tickets were, and what time the show started. About ten minutes after Bob finally got here (6:00 or so), Ali showed up and told us to get in the car; we grabbed our just finished quesadillas and ran out to join her and Heather. The confusion still wasn't over though. We got as far as the Springfield mall parking lot before we turned back again, under some pretext, and Ali suddenly jumped out of the car, thrust a ticket at Heather and announced that she couldn't go. Uncertain about where the rest of the tickets were, we stopped by the barn to make a doomed phone call (and grab some earplugs and canteloupe). More discussion about the best way to get there, but eventually we were on South street, most of the way through side one of Creds, met up with Nick, Andy Alderete and Naomi Baumol, neither of whom I'd really met before. It turned out the show wasn't until 8:00 (although even the marquee said 7:00) so we a while to kill; they went in search of cloves while Bobby and I took a stroll and ended up in the Pink Rose pastry shop, with a carrot cupcake and a slice of mousse torte, discussing College cheers and the inexplicable resurgence of "Sweet Caroline." They didn't make me pay for the concert, though they were very thorough in searching my jacket.
The good old TLA was pretty empty considering the confusion about start times, and they had erected a little guardrail in front of the stage (a DC band thing perhaps?) Need New Body's set was short (twenty minutes max), not their fault. They were slightly less aggressively weird (fewer costumes) and noticeably funkier than when they played here. They're really talented musically, especially the drummer and keyboardist, although this time it was hard to make out the words. Lake Trout, who Corey had hyped up to me, were better than they seemed at first. Mostly because they have an original idea, but actually it is pretty successful: two guitarists play repetitive Godspeed-like melodic lines ad nauseum, the bassist adds effectified layers, the drummer bursts out with clean and funky drum-and-bass, New Deal-style, and a flautist/saxer at the keyboard adds the icing. It's all very languid and tripped-out, great when they stay in dancy-trancy territory, less interesting when they veer toward straighter rock stuff, especially when he tried to sing. Bob seemed comforted by them after the disconcerting NNB. Andy couldn't stop talking about the flute (he turned out to be kind of a zealot.) Hedda and Jarrett, each in their own way, were pumping up the excitement level for the Plan, the hometown groupie and the erudish Nor'westerner. And indeed they have a presence. Lead singer Travis, dressed in black smiled disingenuously, retorted requests rather smarmily, didn't need to be told he was hot, gripped the mic with confidence and took a self-described "escapade" (Destiny's Child? Annie?) on the floor at the end of the show. He knows the show, gave the fans what they wanted without putting himself out. The bassist bounced like another Travis, the lefty long-blond drummer mathed and wore earphones, they were tight. I most enjoyed the songs I recognized (warp-time opener "Gyroscope," Townsend-stuttered "Girl O'Clock," dumb-beat dumb-fable "You Are Invited," cathartic "What Do You Want Me To Say?," chiming "City," but not the one I was hoping for), and some of the newer ones (lyric-patterned "Timebomb," "Elaine and Ben," which I later realized must be about the Graduate except that I then realized it was actually "Ellen and Ben.") Apparently a lot of what they played was older stuff. It was loud, and they said "hey" a lot, and some of it was good (the funky stuff.) Bob was able to get into it, I think (he declared it "really great," but that's like him), but he did complain about the noise. It was a fun show, definitely worth the time and no money. And it did make me more excited about the album, at least the songs they played from the album.
Got back here to find Rebecca making up some tofu with stuff. Does she always nag this much, and I just ignore it? I have a feeling maybe she does. I'm not sure I want to live with someone who nags that much. But if I'm so good at ignoring it than maybe it's okay.
what do you want me to say?
what do you want me to do?
to let you know that i still love you
