That Not So Fresh Feeling

I captured a few grainy videos on my digital (picture taking) camera while I was at Game 6. I’ve thrown them up on YouTube as all the kids are doing these days.

Check them out for a little glimpse of what it was like that night …

GINO Time! Complete with Paul Pierce dancing on the table:

The last few seconds before the Celtics were officially NBA Champs:

I’ll post a couple of more when I have time. For now, enjoy (much like 750 other people have enjoyed my Gino video!)

The Celtics just won a ridiculous game 4 in the NBA Finals.

I have tickets to game 6.

If there is one, this is what I’ll be wearing:

Oh yes. Just like this guy:

Just a quickie while I gather thoughts for a longer post

So, last week:

• I worked pretty late every night on stuff that, for the most part, has nothing to do with my job
• Worked late enough on Wednesday, that I had to drive all the way to the Garden to not miss the entire Celtics game
• Rather than parking at the T and paying $3, I drove around and finally parked at the Government Center garage for $20
• I missed the first half of the Celtics game
• I then spent 40 minutes in park waiting to get out of the Government Center garage
• On the drive home, because I parked at Government Center, and not Sullivan Square (like I normally do), I took 93N home
• 93N was some of the worst road conditions I’ve ever driven in, leading me to skid towards parked traffic in front of me
• To avoid said parked traffic (already slowed by an accident), I ended up cutting my wheel as hard as possible, resulting in my car doing a 540 degree spin on 93N, catching the rear left bumper against the concrete median and sitting facing into oncoming traffic who had as difficult a time stopping as I did

So not the best week. Topping it off, my poor girlfriend had all of her wisdom teeth out and has been in pain for the better part of 4 days.

Here’s to Monday bringing on something better.

(For what it’s worth, it isn’t all bad. I went to a fun party, got to see the second half of the Celtics win over the Cavs, had a moral victory over a douchebag trying to cut me off in the garage, and got to spend a lot of time with the recovering girlfriend–including watching Blade Runner for the first time. And my car is in pretty good shape, all things being considered.)

Note: I’m writing this while watching Game 4 of the World Series. The Sox have already gone up 1-0 in the 1st. If this entry ends up poorly written, full of nonsense, grammatical errors, and insanity, it’s because I’m distracted by the possible 2nd World Series title in 4 years. I also have ridiculously bad hiccups.

Note 2: I also realize that I put punctuation outside of my quotes. I mostly do it when I’m quoting song titles, since I think it’s lame to make it looks like the punctuation is part of the song title. I also make up words. Wanna fight about it?

On Tuesday, I made my first ever trip to the Roxy in Boston to see The New Pornographers live. TNP are one of my very favorite bands (#2 on my last.fm profile) and I’d never had the opportunity to see them play live. I wasn’t expecting to be completely amazed, because I know they often tour without Dan Bejar and Neko Case, who’ve got their own bands to tour with. But, lo! there they all were on stage in front of me. The band played a bunch of stuff off of Challengers, the latest album, which I’d previously been underwhelmed by. But seeing the songs live added some new element to them that I hadn’t noticed before. Going back and giving the album a more critical listen has definitely caused me to have a new appreciation for the album. It’s not Twin Cinema, but it’s really good — and some of the quieter songs (and the Dan Bejar led “Myriad Harbour”) are the best on the album and just required me to look past my hopes of a super indie pop album to just a great all around pop album.

The band mixed in songs from all 4 albums, and played every song I really wanted to hear. I was really, desperately hoping to hear “My Slow Descent Into Alcoholism” off of Mass Romantic and as we headed into what was surely the last song, I had come to the realization that I wouldn’t get it. And then they busted it out and the mostly knowledgeable crowd bounced a bit and enjoyed the pure pop goodness. Highlights were easily the always phenomenal “The Bleeding Heart Show”, the aforementioned “Alcoholism”, the crowd faves of “Sing Me Spanish Techno” and “The Laws Have Changed”, and then the most surprising of all “Adventures in Solitude” — a song that I didn’t love on the album but have gained a whole new appreciation for after hearing it live.

As usual, there was some less than goodness: the 6′4″ guy with the giant block head who pushed his way in front of us so that we could see stuff only over his shoulders; the sound mix was mediocre at best, approaching atrocious; the layout of the Roxy not being nearly as good as the Paradise or TTs for a show.

Normally, that’d be the highlight of the week. But then on Friday, I got to see my favorite band Dear Leader play (#1 on my last.fm profile) play at the Paradise. This came only mere hours after Dear Leader lead singer Aaron Perrino friended me on Facebook (thanks! you rock!). So I was pretty pumped. We got there in time to catch the end of Boone and the entire set by The Russians. The Russians were pretty great, with a pretty strong Beatles vibe. And not in an annoying pretentious way, but in a good way.

But, of course, it was all about Dear Leader. And they didn’t disappoint. Playing with probably the most energy I’ve seen them play with in a long time. They blew through just a great opening of “Nightmare Alleys” and “My Life as a Wrestler”, immediately getting the crowd into the show. Making it better, for the most part, this was a Dear Leader-knowledgeable crowd. So when the band busted out “Rivarly”, which I haven’t heard live in a very long time, the crowd new it was special and reacted accordingly. Everyone was into it straight on through to “Raging Red” (featuring a nice Hall & Oates interlude) and “Labor On” with the crowd on backing vocals. The band came out for a first encore, then a second, which was started off with an aborted, joking attempt at “Give a Little Bit” and the now customary rocking version of “Born to Run”.

Other than the group of underage hoochies (scientific term) who proceeded to grind on each other in front of us (and gave new meaning to the DL song “Everyone Looks Better in the Dark”), it was pretty much a flawless show.

Topping it all off, during the show, Aaron Perrino dropped the news that his original band, The Sheila Divine, is reuniting again on December 28th. And I’ve already bought myself some tickets.

So, it was pretty much a great week (aside from work, which was less great). Two great concerts, the Sox winning the first 3 games of the World Series (and currently leading Game 4 1-0).

I guess it’s better than getting like a foot of snow, but this miserable 3 day long driving rain storm is starting to annoy me. I don’t really mind the rain, generally, but I’d love it, you know, if the sun came out. And maybe if it got warm enough that I could run outside. That would be fantastic.

The only good thing is that everyone who has today off and was going to enjoy the whole Patriots Day festivities of watching the Sox and the Marathon are going to be stuck inside like the rest of us suckers. Serves them right for taking off a fake holiday.

Finally, Episode 3 of the Podcast To Be Named Later. The sound quality is craptastic since I used the mic built into my MacBook.

However, you’ll hear some awesome music by:
Hallelujah the Hills

Taxpayer

and …

Dear Leader.

Mostly Dear Leader. Like a lot of Dear Leader.

I’ll put up a full track listing later.

 

 PTBNL Episode 3 [32:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

So, I’ve decided I’m going to try to capture every show I get to this year. On Wednesday, Kay Hanley and The Antisocialites played a fun earlyish show. I always try to catch Kay Hanley when she comes around since her shows just tend to be fun (since she’s been pretty much playing here for like 15 years now or something).

I met my friend Liz at TTs and we headed in and hung out by the bar while The Antisocialites played. They sounded pretty good, though I’ll admit, I didn’t pay as much attention as I usually do. It was a surprisingly large crowd for 9pm, so there wasn’t a whole lot of room to sneak over towards the stage. So we chatted while The Antisocialites played their rock. It was your typical local, indie rock band, but with the twist of having a female lead (and bassist, I think). I tend to like female-fronted rock bands (hence being at a Kay Hanley show) more than I should, so the sound definitely caught my ear. I’d probably check them out again.

Next up, of course, was Kay Hanley. Her shows are always fun. She knows half the crowd, and basically plays like she’s at a small party and you’re hanging out in the living room. The setlist had a bunch of older Letters to Cleo stuff, and a handful of unreleased songs. Surprisingly, there wasn’t a ton off of her two solo albums, which was a little disappointing, but easily compensated for when Kay had to get instructions on how to play one of her new songs. Completely ridiculous (but quite funny). We also got a good view of some new tats on her arms, which were both scary and impressive. It was a pretty subdued night, but decent all-around.

Yes, this may be the least interesting thing I’ve ever written, but it’s like 3 days later and I’ve forgotten some of the nuances. You smell like fish.

Kay at TTs (from Flickr, via Teddy K)

Next up, if all goes well, Bleu at TTs towards the end of the month.

As I mentioned earlier, last night I headed over to The Paradise to see Dear Leader have their “CD Release Party”, which, as you know, is really just a concert where you can buy their CD. As such, I know own the CD. More on that later.

It all started off with a wonderful T ride from Davis, where I watched 6 Outbound trains go by, then an Inbound train zoom right by the platform, before finally, my chariot arrived. Oh, glorious T, it’s no wonder everyone hates you! Further complicated by a 20 minute wait on Park Street, waiting for the B line to arrive, I finally got to The Paradise at about 9:15.

I met up with a couple of my friends and we headed in, making a stop before it got crowded to pick up the new CD.

The first band was Mohair. It’s always a bit disorienting to walk into a venue and get slammed by huge waves of rock music coming from a guy dressed in a ruffled shirt and tight Freddy Mercury tights, and with the hair of the dude from The Darkness. But, damn, did they rock the 50 people who showed up early enough to see them. I highly advise checking out “Keep It Together” on their Myspace page.

The Plain Janes played second. I’d heard of them many times, but never actually heard them. The first half of their set was, sadly, a little boring. A little too mellow after Mohair had just napalmed the place with style and charm. They finished up strong enough, and given that they’re a local band that (like Dear Leader) features a member of the now defunct The Sheila Divine, they’ve got a loyal following who seemed entertained.

Finally, Dear Leader took the stage. They started out with a bunch of tracks off the new album, including the fantabulous “Nightmare Alleys” (which I featured on my last podcast). They mixed in some older songs, including “Ready the Brave”, which I hadn’t heard them play in a little while. The band was completely on, the crowd was completely into it, and it was probably one of the more fun shows I’ve been to in a while, with only one drunk person falling down near me. Sadly, however, as they finished the set, they had yet to play “Monuments and Shrines” which is a balls-out rocking song live (and on CD!). Given how much energy it takes to sing it, I figured it was going to be a no show.

Oh, but I was wrong. The band came out for an encore (naturally) and wrapped the show up with the kicking live version of “A Nation Once Again” and a really really good take on “Monuments and Shrines”.

I left with my ears ringing, my new CD, and a ride back to my car in Davis (since my friends are awesome).

“But, Ryan,” you might say, “was it a good show?”

Yes. Yes, it was.

After two listens, the new CD is also ridiculously awesotastic. So go to Newbury Comics and buy “The Alarmist” from Dear Leader. It makes a great stocking stuffer. I’ve also gotten a little motivation to hopefully throw together another podcast, probably focusing on the show (or maybe just a Dear Leader-centric one, to spread the love a little further). Hopefully that will be coming tomorrow.

I’d also love to add some pictures, except my camera takes awful pictures and no one has posted any pics on Flickr yet. But when someone does, I will find them. Oh yes, I will find them.

In the meantime, here’s a picture of Mohair from another show (thanks Flickr! and thanks nevbrown, who ever you might be):

In just a few hours, at The Paradise, Dear Leader.

Awesome.

It’s a CD release party for The Alarmist (which you can listen to here). I heartily recommend “Nightmare Alleys”, “Monuments and Shrines”, and “Bleed”, but the whole thing is really good. Really good.

Really.