KEXP Review of The Field and Juan MacLean

Thanks, Scootie.

If anyone wants to read a slightly more articulate (what, "it rocks" isn't good enough?) review of the concert I attended (The Field and Juan MacLean), check out Seattle's 90.3 KEXP review. I stumbled upon it while looking for info re: a free Dodos concerts later in the summer. This town has its perks.

Highlight:

Last Monday night when I went to Nectar Lounge to see The Juan MacLean and The Field, I didn’t know that I’d be at the hottest show in town. These two groups played sizzling sets of electronica to a packed and enthusiastic crowd.

Yeah, I was there! Check out the full review here.

Also, if you are not familiar with the radio station, definitely stream that shit for an hour or two. They play great music (diverse) that's not as singer-songwritery as the much beloved XPN. Sorry, XPN. New coast, new music.

1995 Tom Brokaw Interview on Internet

Jimmy Fallon. You did it again. Sort of. While you aren't that funny, your show sometimes has some entertaining clips.

Tom Brokaw on "something called the internet," circa 1995. A master's thesis could be done with this clip and ones similar.

Random June Musings

I am currently digging more into the newish Animal Collective album (Merriweather Post Pavillion). Summertime Clothes is crazy catchy and with associated trippy video, even better. Enjoy:



I went backpacking in the Olympics. Snow was still prevalent so we had to, at the last minute, change our route. We hiked up the Quinault River to the Enchanted Valley. As Phil from Groundhog Day says, "There were some very big trees." We were under the canopy for the majority of the nearly 40 miles. But, once we reached the Enchanted Vallley..:

I went to Whole Foods tonight to buys odds-and-ends. There is always someone standing outside the store asking for money. I imagine they are thinking "stupid yuppies, they think they are saving the world by spending a lot of money on the groceries and they can't even spare a buck." Now, I resent that sentiment. Is it possible to resent your own fabricated reality? I never give people money. I'm strapped as it is. However, that guilt was overwhelming tonight. I gave in. I gave the dude (he is my favorite dude there) a dollar. It didn't make me feel better or offset any guilt. Just noteworthy because of my acquiescence.

I got drunk along the shipping canal and saw The Field and the Juan MacLean. Very awesome stuff. I knew The Field before going. They didn't disappoint. I listened to only a few Juan MacLean songs beforehand. They rocked.

Happy House - The Juan Maclean

Saw the Pacific with Kirsty this weekend. The ocean was rough, cold, and full life. Exactly as expected. We are/were preparing for those geography illiterate folks who think Seattle is on the Pacific. "Hey, you have been living in Seattle. How is the Ocean?", they'll say. If we didn't go this past weekend I would respond thusly: "Oh, you see, Seattle is actually on the Puget Sound. The Pacific is about 2.5 hours west of the city. So, no, I can't really comment on how the Ocean is doing." Having visited, my response will revel in conciseness: "It's good." It makes our job a lot easier. Anyhoo, we camped at Ocean City State Park (which happens to be the beach I visited during my youth in New Jersey). It was fun to be near the beach but in the woods camping.


That said, we are pumped to come east for a few weeks. State College, Ohio, PA, Pittsburgh. It should be a grand time.

Today is Flag Day. As such, we saw lots of flag wavers waving their flags on bridges as we sped beneath them.

Is this on The Onion or CNN?

Sasquatch: Recap

I spent the past Friday through Monday in beautiful central Washington, amidst dry mountain ground and a wide swath of the Columbia River, listening to music and hanging out with great people.

Sasquatch is a tamer version of Bonnaroo, I think. Less drugs. More rules. Fewer hippies. This is all speculation but it's probably true.

We left Seattle around 4:30 Friday evening and got funneled into the mountain pass only to be stuck in a 25 (?) mile traffic jam. Cars were overheating left and right, underage girls with braces were making passes at our car (or was it the other way around, Jeff?), and our mode of transit--a white Oldsmobile with shit strapped to the roof--was entertaining for everyone on the road (yep, access through windows only).


Arriving in camp, around 11:00 (only 4 hours longer than it should have taken) saw the passing of a bottle of Makers Mark while meeting the neighbors.

This is how the next few days went: fall asleep listening to DMX or Eminem, courtesy of our northern neighbors, wake up because it's too damn hot, drink water, eat food, crack beer, another beer, is someone mixing a screwdriver?, sure, I'll take one, hide in any shade possible, amble the mile over to the festival site, listen to music, dodge the sun, eat shitty food, listen to more music, walk back to camp, eat, drink, sleep.

I managed to see quite a few bands: Passion Pit, Mos Def, Bon Iver, Animal Collective, The Decemberists, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Dodos, St. Vincent, The Walkmen, Calexico, Nine Inch Nails, Jane's Addiction, Aziz Ansari, Fleet Foxes, Grizzly Bear, Beach House, Girl Talk, Santigold. I saw bits and pieces of Blitzen Trapper, M83, Arthur and Yu, and Kings of Leon.

Highlights = Santigold, St. Vincent, The Walkmen, Mos Def, Bon Iver, The Dodos, Grizzly Bear, Beach House, Fleet Foxes.

Passion Pit, much hyped, was a letdown. Animal Collective opened with Summertime Clothes and My Girls which was sweet. Beach House, though good, had mad tech issues (many stages, many bands had troubles). Aziz Ansari was pretty funny. Jane's Addiction was somewhat bizarre. Nine Inch Nails kind of boring. Green man was roaming about. Beers were $9. Food blew goat.

Despite the heat, dirt, and crappy sound on the upper reaches of the lawn on the main stage, it was a great time. I will definitely go back if there is a strong lineup. We were lucky to camp with some recently acquired friends and two awesome dudes from California. Unfortunately, Kasper and his company to the north of us were possibly racist a-holes. The only communication I had with any of them was when one guy, around 2 am on Sunday, said "Hey, how are you doing? I'm good. I'm drinking a beer...on acid!!!" Then he ran away. He was having fun. Apparently one of his crew got arrested for first degree burglary. No one knew where he was until they, presumably, called the cops.

Oh, the view at the gorge is awesome.

AWOL? The cop out post

Or something like that.

Something happened between May 4 and May 14: a $317.81 phone bill. All intervening days' activities were canceled so I could wholly and fully devote myself to some solid brooding time. Seriously, one must not be meager when it comes to bitching. Do it right. Do it proper. Right, I will get reimbursed for most of this beast but still. Still.

What else happened?

My dad demanded two hours of his life back. Apparently I recommended Synecdoche, New York and apparently he didn't like it. I haven't seen the movie. The man must be off his rocker. What I did see was a sign advertising the movie while my sister was in town. Word relayed to the PA family that we saw this marquee. I guess this almost the same as watching it? I guess it's a colossal clusterfuck of a movie. It's reminiscent of some Hansel and Gretel-esque movie I saw at the Rotterdam Film Festival (five years ago) and then claimed it was not! to! be! missed! When we rented it I fell asleep. And they hated it. Not like they remind me of this.

Thanks, Leo Reynolds, for the picture

My friend Ryan (hey Scooter!) was in town for the past week. He dragged me to hellacious squaredancing (his high point, my low point...yeah, I said it Scooter). Seriously, he loved it. We did other stuff including seeing Damian Jurado, Steve Earle, eating Thai, Indian, Korean, and bean soup (for four days in a row), happy hour bowling, fire on the beach, etc. He did more stuff including not taking the ferry to Bremerton, eating cured meats at Salumi, and trying to take a homeless lady to McDonalds. Unfortunately, he was rejected. After visiting every coffee shop in Seattle, Vox, I think, has the best caramel latte. Scooter?

I have three posts that I started writing: The Blair Witch Project, consuming the internet, and violence in movies. Someday, someday.

In the meantime I can enjoy my last day of work. Tomorrow, Friday will be it (aside from some leftover cleanup shit next week). Back to bleeding eyes and empty job searching.

Sasquatch is rapidly approaching. The biggest conflict: Animal Collective vs. Arthur and Yu. I really got into the one Arthur and Yu disc. Meanwhile, Merriweather Post Pavilion is pretty rad. Given that Arthur and Yu is local I will probably opt for Animal Collective and then add not seeing Arthur and Yu at Sasquatch to my lifelong regrets list (a list I like to keep tabs on). Currently on the list: not seeing The Arcade Fire in Amsterdam in 2005 (12 euros, what was I thinking?!) and something else that I recently added but now forget. I'm all about the regrets.

June brings a much needed trip east to see family, friends, and lots of people get married!

If any Mattspace readers find their way here, I promise I won't lock my past posts. Kidding, Matt. Half serious.

Dear Seattle:

My relationship with Seattle got off to a rocky start: incessant bitching about the people, homesickness, and lack of job/money/friends/life.

Sadly, not much as changed in the intervening 8 months. I still bitch about the people (so oblivious), I miss friends and family (though I moved closer to my west coast family), and I will never stop complaining about working and all things related. Luckily, I am appreciating more and more things. Because I am a fan of lists and rankings (I am human after all), here is why I like Seattle in the form of a concise unfolding:

• Mountains. Seriously, they are all around and they are snow-covered. Cascades, Olympics, Rainier. Nothing ever prepares me for the sight of Rainier. It's nearly three vertical miles of snowy, rocky, behemoth.
• Beer gardens (and related alcohol offerings). We are having a concert and a beer garden, come check it out. There is a street fair and a beer garden, come check it out. Come run this 5K and enjoy the beer garden at the end (no shit, saw it advertised).
• Farmers Markets (and related crunchy offerings). Lots of local, lots of fresh everything. It's refreshing to see independence so mainstream and ubiquitous. State College had it's offerings but it mostly offered fratastic fashion and wings.
• Walking. It's a very walkable city. Need not say more.
• Food. The Asian influence means seven Thai restaurants per block (city mandate) and a matching number of Indian joints. Some is good, none is bad, all is very close to my house.
• Water (see mountains). Except for vertical miles of precipice it's more like horizontal miles of glossiness.
• Shrubbery, greenery. It's a "green" city and it's a green city. Beautiful flowers/weeds grow in every nook and cranny, including purple flowers cascading out of our stone wall.
• Weather. It's surprisingly pleasant. I know you don't believe me. That's OK. I don't believe you, either.
• Coffee. Duh.
• Doughnuts! Organic doughnuts! 500 calorie doughnuts! Delicious doughnuts!
• Being 10 blocks from Trader Joes, 9 blocks from Whole Foods, 7 blocks from the neighborhood farmer's market. There should be a loyalty program at these places.
• Seattle Public Library. I went in to pick up Rachel Getting Married, Burn After Reading, Manhattan, The Edge of Heaven, and Traitor on DVD. Sweet haul right? I perused the CD section and walked out with 15 CDs that I was actively interested in. This is free? I really feel like I am ripping someone off.
  
• Live and let live. All in all, people are down with being who they are. There is minimal hassle, little trouble. Though, the people at Cafe Racer down the street push this positive nearly into the negative. I'll let it slide. Just keep your mustache growing, PBR drinking, tuba playing selves out of the street when I am rounding the corner.
• Other stuff. Including hating on Seattle.

Aside from missing friends and family Seattle is shaping up to be prettttty, prettttyyyy good.