asimplechord

GUESS WHO IS GOING TO SEE GREEN DAY ON FRIDAY?

:D :D :D

Fuck yeah, SXSW.


OK. Now back to the fic I was poking at. Maybe something more will fall out of my brain now that I've jostled it with a ridiculous dance of glee.

+ I was very sad that shutyourface didn't get to come - there were tickets left last week! they only just moved it from the Studio to the Ballroom on Friday! how did it sell out so fast?!? In any case, I met up with Overairwaves, had some nachos and drinks. Forgot: Lucky's does $2 happy hour rail drinks. :D :D :D Sober by the time I need to drive home. Chatted with RockMom (she's awesome) before heading into the Studio for happy hour, glomming onto some folks we were chatting with about shows in line even though we hadn't actually been IN the line at that point. Eh, DNW barrier particularly, just didn't want to be in the rain, and wanted to hang out at the bar instead of outside. (As an aside, I think the the pre-show happy hour is sort of pointless as a money-maker when they swing the line of teenies in to block access to the bar. I'd guess that 95% of the people waiting there for "happy hour" didn't actually buy any drinks, not even a soft-drink.)

+ Opening act. Violin, keyboard, acoustic guitar, accordion, xylophone, keyboard between three people. SOLD! (The violinist/keyboardist initially reminded me of Greta Salpeter/Morgan, but only in hair & manner, not actually like her facially upon closer inspection.) Sort of folk-y. Avalanche City. Their new EP is out, but they didn't have any at the venue, so. It's on iTunes, but I prefer to give them my money via tickets and the merch booth.

+ Random notes from the show: Nate judges you SO HARD if you don't know his lyrics. His vocals sound better live than on the album, where they are sort of bland and leveled out by autotune. Jack's guitar is awesome live. TRUMPET. Apparently the HTx show was the biggest headlining show they'd played to date? I thought it was a good crowd - sold out, but not as over-sold and packed as the Chris Cornell show there a couple of years ago, or the Silver Sun Pick Ups last year. The crowd seemed split between people who only knew We Are Young and fans who knew all the lyrics.

+ ( Track-by-track )

+ I went to the Flying Saucer tonight b/c I didn't feel like cooking for myself (A is in Austin on business), and had New Belgium's Cocoa Mole Lips of Faith beer. IT IS DELICIOUS. Cocoa nib flavor without being the chocolaty-type flavor that you get in Young's Chocolate Stout, spicy but subtly so, so that you notice it more as you finish the pint rather than up front. Also, Clown Shoes' Vampire Slayer Stout. Not spicy, just a nice, malty stout, not as much body as some, but definitely superior to St. Arnold's Winter Stout, even when the latter is on cask.

+ Dante is chirping at me, and I need to do some laundry and some dishes, and change out the litter pan completely, so I suppose that is all for the night.

...or that's what BUrie would have us believe.

ANYWAY.

things

1. Rise Against last week. Clearly I am used to people being in line super early for Discos, because I was surprised that no one (except me) lined up until after 4:30pm. So was the Rise Against tech I chatted with while he was on a smoke-break. Still, worth it.

I was MOST amused by the dude next to me at the barrier, who had spent the morning at a Glenn Beck book signing. When asked if he didn't see any inherent conflict in his love for Rise Against and admiration of Beck, he replied that if he thought about Rise Against's lyrics, he could convince himself that they were libertarian, not liberal left-y activists. (Uh-huh.) He was NOT amused by the Flobots. At all.

2. Super-sekrit Ultimate Ears show at Momo's in Austin, with the ~~~mystery band, Panic! at the Disco: LOL, OUR KARMA. sunn_doyouknow, catchmelike, and I each won two spots each on the guest list, but catchmelike couldn't go, so it ended up being me, shutyourface, eckerlilas, fiddleyoumust (check them for pics, b/c I forgot to take a camera), E, & sunn_doyouknow. The set was short, but it was acoustic, which was awesome, and we were right up front, the best spot to be. :) And there was hanging out at the bar and chatting afterwards. Plus free Ultimate Ears earbuds and t-shirts, and hangtimes w/ ppl I hadn't seen since... the last Discos show, LOL. So, totally worth the drive to Austin. :D

a) They are ridiculous.
b) Did I mention they are ridiculous?
c) I've never been as close during a show, because there was literally no barrier at all. To start the show, Ian & I exchanged high-fives. NGL, I spent a few minutes thinking how pretty Brendon's and Spencer's eyelashes looked on their cheeks, b/c they looked down/closed their eyes during some songs.
d) Dallon (and his stage-banter) is the most hilarious. And best dressed, in a creepy, Dexter-type way, although his sideburns need some work. HE'S TRYING REALLY HARD TO GROW FACIAL HAIR, OK? (And in conversation, he told me that Mormons from Utah are different to Mormons from elsewhere. I was like, ".... uh... anyway..." while thinking that I would not disagree, given my experience living there, but I'm glad that I was not the person to voice that thought.)
e) I cannot decide how to feel when both Brendon and Spencer say they're glad to see us again, and that it's good when they can look out and see people that they recognize, especially at a small show where the crowd is not necessarily their fans. On one hand: \o/ GLAD TO BE THERE AND HELP. OTOH: O.o
f) Zack's judging face: still awesome.
g) Ian: needs to wash his hair and shave his scruff. Perhaps he was too busy playing with his new harmonica to do so yesterday?

( crappy cell-phone pic of my view beneath the cut )

OK. Now to finish editing and write more of my YAGKYAS fic.

I have to write this out or I'll forget it. And half the time everyone involved remembers little bits that others didn't so if we put all the recaps together, we get a fuller picture.

( Panic/Patrick shenanigans, cut for pictures and lengthy babble )

!!!! goshemily has written the fic of my heart. Bravo Two as a punk band. On Warped. They play Gilman. (ETA: fyi, Tim McIlrath is ALWAYS the correct choice. Always.)

I haven't commented on it yet because I haven't finished reading - dammit, why did I have too much scheduled to take a long lunchbreak today? - and my MacBook is currently at the depot having its logic board replaced, making my phone (with its hatefully awkward touchscreen) the default web access for me. BUT I WILL. OH, I WILL. I commented. But not with all the flailing in my heart.



Also deserving of !!!!: PLEASE LET THIS BE REAL.




Not deserving exclamation marks: the live-cell imaging worked technically, but it will not yield an answer to our question. *sigh* Days of work, and hours of confocal time, all for naught.

I had stuff to say about last night's show at the House of Blues, and how awesome (and hot) Tim Lopez growing into a bigger role on-stage is, but that was superceded by a cursory examination of the SXSW artist list.

DISCOS at SXSW. No details about day or venue yet, but.

:D :D :D :D

arielchan and I discussed this possibility a while back, and now it is happening, and OMG, GIMME THAT ALBUM AND THAT STEAMPUNK AESTHETIC AND TOUR DATES SO THE FANGIRL ROADTRIPS MAY BEGIN!



ETA: While I'm thinking about it! Help Stamps get to SXSW. If you don't know them, they are Robert Morris (formerly of the Hush Sound), Ren Patrick, and Adam James. (Also, Ian Crawford played guitar on their first EP, but has since parted ways (to tour with the Discos).)

ETA2: (17Feb2011) Discos' entry on the schedule has vanished, and the link is dead. D: D: D:

1. I had every intention of writing a thinky post comparing House To House and No True Glory, two books that chronicle the US military's battles in Fallujah. There are even post-its and page-markers where I took notes! But I've already started reading another book, and I am not feeling very analytically inclined, so. Not-so-thinky comment, instead. The two books are markedly different, as one is a first-hand account by one of the soldiers involved in the second battle, while the other is a narrative collated from multiple different participants and analysts, written by a retired Marine officer. It took me far longer to read No True Glory for a variety of reasons, including the fact that at some points the book was so generally uncritical with respect to Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, and their complete lack of a plan to deal with a populace that wasn't grateful and subservient, and the way the military's need for unity of effort with the diplomatic side was completely ignored; I had to put it down before I threw it at the wall in anger. (Also? West is the biggest Mattis/Conway/USMC-wife ever.) Bellavia's account makes no effort whatsoever to analyze the politics or policy: he tells the reader what he did, what his men did. Of the two, I definitely preferred his telling.

2. Saw Inception this weekend. I think maybe it was overhyped to me, because I enjoyed it and am interested in the metaphor it presents, but the plot did not have much of a twist. Am I too jaded a movie viewer? In any case, I want all the Arthur/Eames banter-filled fic in the world, now.

3. Tabby posted Bravo's Baby Belle, which is Generation Kill gen. Baby!fic, if you couldn't tell from the title. Brad's not a baby person. He really has no idea what to do with a baby. Yet, here he is, left with a diaper bag, a list of instructions, and a baby with Ray’s eyes. He needs to call in reinforcements before this situation gets out of control.

4. LOLLAPALOOZA THIS WEEKEND. CAPSLOCK DOES NOT ADEQUATELY CONVEY MY GLEE. I AM READY TO COUNT DOWN THE HOURS 'TIL WE LEAVE.

5. Also, there is a possibility that I will be in Austin for a professional meeting at the same time Social Distortion is playing Stubb's. Is it self-indulgent to plan on seeing them there, then driving back to Houston and seeing them again?

6. Are you still here? You should go check out the Combat Jack community challenge: 25 things about my sexuality. Read, write. Some characters don't have threads yet. Doesn't Doc Bryan deserve some love?

On the negative side: I totally forgot we had lab meeting at 9am today. We used to always have it at 9am on Fridays, but we alternate lab meetings with different groups now, every other Thursday at 9am with one set, every other Tuesday with another. And we changed the time we have it - it started out at 9:30am, but then we had to move it to an earlier time when the dept was doing candidate seminars at 10am, and one of the profs liked it at the earlier time. Either way, I have no excuse. I completely forgot about it, and didn't know where everyone was when I arrived at 9:45am.




On the plus side: had breakfast at the 59 Diner with a friend visiting for the day from Michigan. Hadn't seen him in over a year.

Also positive:

BONNAROO TIX PURCHASED.

And. AND. Weezer, Flaming Lips (doing Dark Side of the Moon), Norah Jones, Regina Spektor, John Fogerty, Bassnectar, Phoenix, and Jay-Z have been announced. Bonnaroo's dribbling out participating acts every five minutes on their twitter and myspace, so I turned their tweets on for my phone. Me, over Weezer -> :DDD

ETA: Also? Dropkick Murphys, Jeff Beck, Manchester Orchestra, Thievery Corporation, and DMB. THE NATIONAL. :DDD

ETA2: RISE AGAINST :DDDDDDD

Everybody around here knows how I feel about Chris Cornell, right? I mean, yeah, his solo stuff is decent, and Audioslave was definitely a success, but his best work was with Soundgarden.

So, y'all have probably read about the Pearl Jam concert in LA the other night? The one where Chris Cornell joined them for Hunger Strike? I know Rolling Stone posted an article about it.

Yeah. OK. So a) fairly high quality video, with decent audio is available (thanks, 94.5, for linking it). And b) rumor has it that he watched the set from the side of the stage with Kim Thayil and Ben Shepherd. Matt Cameron was playing drums. This was the first time all four members of Soundgarden have appeared together in public in nearly a decade.

I choose to believe that this means that there will be a Soundgarden reunion to go along with the Best Of album, sometime when Pearl Jam's off tour.

Please do not disillusion me with facts, okay?

Or not. But hey, I predicted this when Them Crooked Vultures did their thing with the Dead Weathers before the festival. I don't remember if it was on LJ, Twitter, txt, or just in conversation, but I was like, "Heh, it'd be AWESOME if they got added to the ACL lineup, since they're such pals with the other headliners. (And Dave Grohl was there last year, too.)"

From their website/forum -

Descending on Austin for Festival & TV appearances

The tour kicks off with an October 2 performance at the Austin City Limits music festival, to be preceded by a September 30 Austin City Limits TV taping to air at a later date TBD, as well as an appearance at the October 1 Austin City Limits festival pre-party.

North America Fall Tour 2009

Thu, 1st October / Austin TX Stubb's
Fri, 2nd October / Austin TX Austin City Limits
Mon, 5th October / Nashville TN War Memorial
Tue, 6th October / Columbus OH LC Pavilion
Thu, 8th October / Detroit MI The Fillmore
Fri, 9th October / Toronto ONT Sound Academy
Sun, 11th October / Boston MA House of Blues
Mon, 12th October / Philadelphia PA Electric Factory
Wed, 14th October / Washington DC 930 Club


Tickets for the Stubb's show go on sale Saturday. If I can get them? WE ARE SO THERE. BEST WEEKEND OF MUSIC EVER, I PREDICT.

ETA: Motherfucker. Sold out when I logged on this morning at 10:15. >:/