asimplechord

Do I need to go to Chicago the first weekend in February to see The Hush Sound and Empires? Probably not. But there's a relatively cheap airfare, it wouldn't use any vacation days, and I have enough points with my credit card to have a free room downtown. But Aaron doesn't want "to travel just to see a band", even though he really liked The Hush Sound, more than either of the members' subsequent projects.

Gah. If it doesn't cause too much strife, I might just go by myself. Anyone else planning on attending? :D?

~ I obtained a free Kindle via a promotion with a vendor at work! I've got the book I had been reading on my phone (Assassins' Gate) and Pride & Prejudice loaded onto it. Y'all should a) tell me where to go to download out-of-copyright books, if there's a better place than the Gutenberg Project, and b) suggest names for what is sure to become my new constant companion.

~ Wrong on the internet. I get that asking readers to choose the "greatest" means it's going to be a popularity contest, but once Green Day Authority got involved, it was all over 'cept the shouting. I mean, seriously, I love Green Day, but ranking them above the Ramones and the Clash? And then we could argue more about what makes a band great: longevity, popularity, sheer musical talent, the volume of their catalog, etc., without even touching on the conflict between global popularity and the original alternative goals of the punk aesthetic & ethic.

~ Leaving for Chicago tomorrrrrrrow! It's possible that I am excited about this. Can you tell? Chicago's weather should be a full 20 degrees cooler than Houston's. And we're staying with friends we haven't seen in a while. AND LOLLA. :D :D :D Just one more day of work to get through. Then cleaning the house and packing a bag.

Lollapalooza was AMAZING. Chicago was 10 degrees cooler than Houston, with half the humidity, so it was an absolute pleasure to spend three days outside.

Day 1. BoB (who put him on a stage at 11:15 on the first day?). Jukebox The Ghost. Neon Trees. Foxy Shazam. My Dear Disco. American Bang. The Constellations (this is the band I hadn't seen before that I enjoyed most; hit me up if you want some of their music). Jimmy Cliff. Cymbals Eat Guitars. Semi Precious Weapons (Dear Justin Tranter, you are awesome, but you are smoking crack if you think Lady Gaga is "rock and roll"; also, I was standing back in the shade, and didn't realize at first that the woman stage diving was Lady Gaga). The Strokes. I didn't go to the Lady Gaga set - it was set against The Strokes, and I prefer the Strokes' music; it was interesting to read reviews saying how amazing the spectacle was, b/c the people I know who *did* see her - who had seen her at Toyota Center a couple of weeks ago - said it was too slow for a festival show, and boring in the middle with her trying to tell a story and do her costume changes, but it picked up in the end when she did Poker Face and Bad Romance and Alejandro. People watching (Little Monsters) was outstanding.

Day 2. Blues Traveler, Against Me, Gogol Bordello, AFI, Social Distortion, Slightly Stoopid, Green Day. BEST COVER OF THE WEEKEND: Social Distortion's Ring of Fire. Green Day's set was pretty elaborate, with the skyline screens that held projections of everything from actual buildings' windows to starlight to words and phrases. Their entire set was slick, really, from years of crowd management. IDK, I think I'd've appreciated another full song rather than 10-minute versions of Hitchin' A Ride AND King For A Day complete with covers of a handful of other songs. LOL, the dude they pulled up from the crowd to sing Longview totally laid one on Billie Joe; he also did an outstanding job on the song. And the little girl who came up to bless him on East Jesus Nowhere clearly had a WTF expression on her face, like she was wondering why her mom handed her up on to the stage to this random dude. It's weird for me, now, to hear 21 Guns w/o Whatsername.

Day 3. Company of Thieves. Blitzen Trapper. The Ike Reilly Assassination. Frightened Rabbit (eh, too reminiscent of Gaslight Anthem and Lucero). Band of Heathens. Hockey. Wolfmother (best I've heard them, soundwise). Erykah Badu. Cypress Hill. Soundgarden. Soundgarden was pretty good. I am spoiled, and have heard Chris Cornell perform Soundgarden songs at small venues, and in comparison the sound at the park was not optimal, IMO. In fact, during Black Hole Sun, the guitar was so overpowering and dissonant that my ears hurt. I don't know if it was deliberate, lowering the vocals to make it less of the Chris Cornell show and more a team effort, or what. But the bass was as punishing as expected. I enjoyed that the stage set up was pretty simple, even the projection on the screens for the crowd was black and white.

Random thought: I would like to explore the differences in philosophy and aesthetics between the Seattle grunge scene of the 90s with the California punk scene of the 80s and 90s, which led to dudes like Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Ness having sleeves and scattered ink everywhere, where as the dudes in Pearl Jam and Soundgarden and Nirvana/Foo Fighters have little or no visible ink, in comparison.

When we weren't at Grant Park, we were either at Kuma's Corner or The Map Room, which is right around the corner from our friends' house. Mmm, beer.

During our travels, I finished reading Hella Nation, Evan Wright's other book. It's a collection of essays expanded from articles he wrote for various other publications, I believe. There is a great deal of self-description in them, far more even than Generation Kill. To me, he comes off as a self-centered misogynistic pig (YMMV). But now I understand the Jasmin reference in Stay Frosty, LOL.



Dear Gmail: STOP FUCKING WITH THE LAYOUT. NO LOVE, ME

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?

+ Currently trying to decide if I want to go to Illinois for the last weekend in January for my favorite faily boys & Greta, or if I want to wait a week and go for the 5th anniversary show TAI's doing for the release of Almost Here. I really want to see Empires, but I am not looking forward to the drive to Urbana. I can't do both b/c I'm probably going to take a day off in February to see Jack's Mannequin in San Antonio or Dallas (because they are not coming to Houston on their headlining tour AGAIN) and either a ski trip or visit to NYC to see the Austen exhibit and hang out with J on MLK Jr Day. Decisions, decisions. (I know, my life: so hard.)

+ Sign-ups for the MS150 seem to be open much longer this time around. MrIris is definitely doing the ride, and I'm happy to do the training with him, but I do not like being in a pack of 13000 bicyclists all converging on a single street in Austin.

+ My body hates me today. Why, cramps?

+ Thanks to last night's twitpic, Gabe Saporta & Adam Lambert are currently cohabiting fic-writing space in my brain. (In the compartment next door, Bden, Spence, and PStump are hanging out.) IDEK, guys.


And finally, today's installment of the 30-day meme.

Day 01 → My favorite song
Day 02 → My favorite movie
Day 03 → My favorite television program
Day 04 → My favorite book
Day 05 → My favorite quote
Day 06 → Whatever strikes my fancy
Day 07 → A photo that makes me happy
Day 08 → A photo that makes me sad
Day 09 → A photo that I took
Day 10 → A photo of me, taken at least 10 years ago
Day 11 → A photo of me, taken recently
Day 12 → Whatever strikes my fancy
Day 13 → A fictional book

Day 14 →A non-fictional book

Again the weird phrasing. My favorite work of non-fiction, one that I've read recently: Robert Fisk's The Great War for Civilization. It's a really heavy read. Long, small print. But beautifully written. As you might imagine from the title, it draws many parallels between WWI and the US Armed Forces' current imbroglio in the Middle East. History is intertwined with Fisk's personal history and current events. It took me nearly a month to read this book, mostly just reading on weekends, but it was worth it.

Here’s the (tl;dr) thing: I’ve never been a great singer, and I’ll never be a great singer. I was just a kid who loved music and had to figure it out. I wasn’t lucky to be born with talent and great pipes. But I was lucky to be born with something that I value more than natural ability: I’ve got heart, willpower, and an intuition that if I put my mind to something, I can accomplish anything. And guess what? I did. (source)

Because we are too often told not to do something because we're not good enough, not talented enough, not pretty enough. But he did it anyway.




Also? TWO DAYS.