Thanks for all of the suggestions on vacations so far. The Grand Canyon would be interesting since I could probably have that just be a side trip from a Vegas trip (they’re both in the Southwest, right?) See, this is what happens when the farthest west you have ever been in your life is Lawrence, KS. Actually, that is just a really, really sad fact. I’ll figure this all out at one point or another.
No great Olympic stories from the weekend. I basically didn’t even watch tonight because other than cross country skiing, which is interesting in the same way that watching people run on a treadmill is interesting, there really wasn’t anything of importance on. Yes, I know that there is Ice Dancing but that is so on the border of being considered an actual sport that it pains me to watch it. And I was watching curling this morning (mainly because the sisters on the US squad are pretty cute and the ability to accurately throw a rock down a sheet on ice is a surprisingly attractive quality) as well as Nascar this afternoon so what I consider a sport is a pretty loose definition.
(Oh and I’m not even going to talk about the US hockey team. Twice they had a two man advantage this afternoon (for almost four minutes) and couldn’t score. Sweden is good but you have to take advantage of those opportunities. Right now I just want to make the quarterfinals and see if maybe the team starts to play with any kind of rhythm.)
Had another interesting concert experience this weekend. Went and saw Cowboy Mouth at Harrah’s Casino, which means that I got to experience the wonderful world of just who decides that on a Friday night in Kansas City that the casino is the best entertainment option. On top of that I have the people who go just so they can be at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar, a bar that I believe if I step in I will immediately lose my will to live. Anyway, for those of you who don’t know, Cowboy Mouth is this incredible New Orleans band that has been around for a good decade now and they are known for their full energy live shows. Given that I wanted to get out of a rut, this is the band to see.
And for that part, the show worked. Fred the Drummer started the show by walking into the crowd and grabbing people out of their chairs and forcing them on to the floor. The show was all energy and bouncing around and you can’t listen to their songs without wanting to scream and move. Of course, they were promoting their new unreleased album, which meant that we got to experience the “Here’s a song you’ve never heard before” moments that make concerts a little more challenging. Still, love the band and loved the set.
The thing is I was contrasting this show to Richard Buckner. Richard doesn’t acknowledge the audience and in fact, actually started the show when most of the people in the venue thought he was just tuning his guitar. On the other hand we have Fred getting people to stand, telling everyone to jump around, ordering everyone closer to the stage and basically dictating your entire experience. And maybe I’m just old or maybe it was just being in a reflective mood but sometimes I like Richard’s method better. Sometimes I just want to listen to music and not to be ordered to have fun. Just two completely different ways to see a show.
The five random CDs of the week (and boy, is this a motley bunch. The only thing that these discs have in common is that I’ve seen every one of these in concert)
1) Liz Phair “Liz Phair”
2) Richard Buckner “Since”
3) Tommy Malone “Soul Heavy”
4) Original Broadway Cast Recording “Les Miserables”
5) Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison “Happy Holidays”
1 comment:
why am I willing to spend an extra dollar per CD to buy from the local record store versus going to Best Buy or Wal-Mart?
selection is key. this store has separate indie and alt-country sections that combine for about a third to a half of the store's catalog.
harder to find titles can always be found on the internet, but the differentiator is service.
so today I bought a My Morning Jacket and Death Cab for Cutie CD. at check-out, the guy behind the counter asked - "hey did you catch these guys on Austin City Limits last week?" then we had a short conversation about recent ACL episodes, how its good that they are on at odd times (e.g. after bartime on weekends), and the Ryan Adams/Tift Merritt episode from 2 weeks ago, at which time the subject turned to Ryan Adams. I asked if he had heard about Ryan dating Lindsey Lohan, at which the other person behind the counter, aka the store's resident Ryan Adams uber-fan/expert, joined in and gave the story. then when you leave - you don't get a generic "thank you for shopping at Best Buy" - you get a genuine "alright man, take it easy."
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