Apologies in advance for the pedestrian entry. It’s about 2 weeks late and I would have had more to say if I had written this more real-time. Instead, you get a video. So, that’s cool.

Over the past few weeks (about 6, to be exact), we’ve been had a nice run of concerts. First, we had a bill of We Were Promised Jetpacks (best name in music) and Tokyo Police Club (one of the best names in music) at Royale in Boston.

I’d been a bit turned off over the past couple of months at shows, as the crowds had gotten decidedly disinterested in the music and interested in chatting it up and being seen (which is why a place like TT the Bear’s is nice — no one goes there to “be seen”). This was show was better — it was a random Thursday night, school was over, so it wasn’t a scene. It was just a few hundred people who liked the bands there to check them out. Both were spot on.

Then, a few weeks later, we hit up Bank of America Pavilion (probably my second least favorite place to see a show) to see Arcade Fire. Arcade Fire, at the time, were probably the only band I really love that I’d never seen live. They didn’t disappoint. Just a spectacle from beginning to end, only tempered by the fact that BoA Pavilion is such a craptastic venue.

Finally, a few days after that, we checked out Interpol at House of Blues. They played a nice mix of older stuff and stuff off the new album (which sounded pretty good). Interpol isn’t a hugely dynamic band (especially compared to Arcade Fire), but it was a good crowd and Interpol seemed to feed off it and really ripped into things.

Anyway, after all that, I decided I wanted to screw around and learn iMovie a bit. So, for your pleasure, here’s four bands and probably 5.5 hours of music cut down to 8 minutes.

2 sausages: $16
2 beers: $16
2 hours sitting waiting in a rain delay: Priceless?

Aside from working 60+ hours a week, I’ve been lucky enough to go to some pretty cool stuff over the past couple of months.

It started with seeing Ben Folds at The Orpheum.

Actually not one of my favorite Ben Folds’ shows, but it even a bad Ben show is pretty fun. He played his whole new album as his set (followed by an encore of solo and Ben Folds Five stuff), which would normally be ok, except the album hadn’t come out yet.

Next up was the first Dear Leader show in a good while at TT the Bears.

I love me some Dear Leader. It’d been awhile since they’d played together, but it was just like old times.

I also was lucky enough to see Fleet Foxes play in Somerville. Such a great great sound.

Then, I got to go take advantage of my season tickets and see opening night of the Celtics, watching them raise the 17th NBA Championship banner. It was a moment that solidified to me that I’ve always been a bigger Cs fan than a Sox fan (though it’s close). I loved being at opening day in 2005 when the Red Sox raised that first banner in 86 years. Being at the Garden and watching the Celtics raise the first banner in 22 years had a much more significant impact on me. Just the byproduct of growing up with the original Big Three, I guess.

Later, another one my favorite unknownish bands played *their* first show in a while. Stellastarr* rocked out at Great Scott and the gf and I got to watch from about 5 feet away.

Being 5 feet away left me with some temporary hearing issues, which thankfully went away the next night, where we went and saw The Decemberists at The Orpheum, and what might be my favorite show of the year.

A week or so later, we headed over to The Paradise to see an entirely different type of band, as Bang Camaro came and rocked our faces off.

Changing styles yet again, the gf surprised me and took me to see someone I consider quite possibly the greatest pop musician/performer of all time: Brian Wilson. While it’s a bit depressing to see him perform these days, it’s just such a monumental thing to be *seeing Brian Wilson.*

Finally, thanks again to my wonderful gf, we got some upgraded Celtics seats and rather than sitting in section 305 row 11, we sat in section 6 row 3.

And now I’m on vacation. So, expect to read some more from me.

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!)