and leave the rest at arm's length

3 words of advice if Frightened Rabbit ever come to your town: GO GO GO

ACL 2010

can.not.wait

Oh, yeah, the concerts should be good too

3+3+3

kingaspain

Reaching your goals is pretty simple really:

- download the new EP by that artist you love
- realize that you still haven't seen him live
- find out that he's playing a show next week
- book a ticket online

The rest*, as they say, is just details


*: the gig being a 3-hour drive away, working all day before going, having another full day of work the next day,...

roll up your sleeves

wait, what's the word again? Oh yeah: ugh... With a friend coming over this weekend while I'll probably have to be at work most of it, I don't really think those drinks at the Twilight Sad show last night were what the proverbial doctor ordered. But hey, bygones I guess. With a view to alleviating some of the morning "fatigue" I resorted to my ususal post-drinking remedies (eternal respect due to Purdey's, the drink of champions), with one unexpected kink:

That's right, this time my recovery package includes the Economist. Spontaneous hangover shopping never sounded so grown-up. I won't have time to read more than 5% of it (as opposed to the usual 10), but at least if I want to prolong the sweet sensation of my ongoing headache, I've got what I need.

And I guess this is as good (or bad) a point to mention that I might be moving to the US in a few months. An opportunity has come up within my company and we're currently going through the visa and contract process so it's still early days. I would be locally employed though so the title of this blog would still be truthful. I'm pretty excited about it but we'll see what happens.

In the meantime there's a full day of glorious work ahead. I think I might need another bottle of Purdey's soon...

this post is not about Michael Jackson

Hyde Park
June 30, 2009

yet another chapter in the formidable story of Bon Iver. Another monumental gig to cap off two fantastic years since the release of "For Emma", with a gig full of tenderness, power, and soul. On a day so unexpectedly warm and sunny (think the organizers had planned on that? The concerts being held under a tent, so I'd wager that no, they did not, and I can't say I did either), that the deep sorrow heard in so many of those tunes did not put a damper on the mood, but rather heightened it to a dizzying degree. The band was there, the crowd was there, I was there, nothing else mattered. Near the end band leader Justin Vernon revealed this would probably be their last gig this year in London, and if that's the last performance we get to see for a while, that's perfectly fine. Fantastic even, if it means the guys get back to the studio for their sophomore effort.

ps: MJ, just kidding. You truly were the greatest

post-game report

squares and circles

here's a sequence of events:

• go see a concert in a church
• do not drink (see above)
• get home before 10:30pm
• make a salad for lunch the next day

Which begs the question: is this behavior so far from rock n'roll that it actually is totally rock n' roll?

stay easy

after a tough but satisfying post-work run around Hyde Park, I turned my attention to the thumping sounds emanating from across the field. I'd noticed a week ago that they'd set up the usual fence for the annual 02 music fest, but wasn't sure when the actual gigs were. Walking around to chill out my muscles (I hate stretching like a fat kid hates broccoli), I realized the current concert was by none other than rap megastar Jay-Z, and that the open-air park setting pretty much meant I could enjoy the show as though I was part of the audience. Due to the usual boring reasons (read: work-related), I haven't been able to go to any shows since May, and having the opportunity to listen to one of my all-time favorite rappers was a definite and unexpected treat.
I plopped down on the grass for 10-15 minutes and was delighted to hear some of my favorite tracks, including 99 Problemz, a freestyle over the "Back to Black" instrumental, and a fantabulous rap over Lil' Wayne's "A Milli", renamed "A Billi" for the occasion (that Jiggaman, always with the one-ups).
The setting sun, fresh grass, post-run adrenaline and a pleasing soundtrack. Yeah, I think I kinda like it here.

who goes out on Friday nights anymore?

When you've got back pains, a mosh pit is probably not the smartest place to hang out. Matter of fact, if you've got a backache, you're possibly too old to even be loitering there. But shortness of breath and achy spine aside, yesterday's Queens of the Stone Age show at the Hammersmith Appolo was a great reminder of how brilliant this band is on stage. They might sound a tad less "heavy" since bassist Nick Oliveri was fired from the band, but they still RAWK, no doubt about it, especially with Joey "the Hulk" Castillo manning the drum kit.

With that said, having today off from work was a most welcome respite from the corporate grind. As far as I'm concerned rock n roll might not be dead, but it does need a day to recover.