…in which I talk about the individuality of topics, but the universality of content.
Even though this is really a blog about me, and the things I’m interested in, I try my best to put a more universal spin on all of my topics. So when I start thinking about a new post, I look to my recent experiences for inspiration, but I also try to find a way to apply that experience, anecdotally to a greater theme. In a way, it’s kind of like a mix tape.
…in which I talk about our latest adventure into Dallas.
In my recollection, it was about two months ago in the sleepy town of Denton that we first became aware of the fact that Gogol Bordello was to depart from a faraway land and return to the nation of their birth, the United States. Such an return as this was deserving of a most excellent party, and they kindly decided to share it with all the peoples of this country. As a part of this celebration, they would not only bring around vodka and marinated herring, but also they would bring an nearly illegal amount of gypsy punk!
I’ve been listening to Gogol Bordello for maybe a year now, and while I am no superfan, I am pretty fucking fond of their music. I am not, however, one to go to a concert stag style. I didn’t really give the idea of going to see them much of a second thought because I figured I could find no one to go with me. It turns out that I should maybe have made the suggestion to Heather earlier.
…in which I talk about the ultimate mix tape (er, CD).
Mix tapes, who among us that grew up in the 80’s (or ealier) hasn’t made at least one mix tape for a friend, platonic or otherwise. I used to make mix tapes for all of my friends simply because I had a more eclectic taste in music than most of my peers and I love to introduce people to new things. About seven years ago, my wife’s nephew was young, impressionable, and very interested in my tastes in music, so I made what can only be called the ultimate mix CD. It was the culmination of all of my musical history and design sensibilities. In an effort to keep this project alive years after it’s disappearance (as I have no idea where it lives at this time), I am going to repost the track listing as accurately as possible.
…in which I talk about nostalgia.
I have over 20,000 songs in my iTunes collection. Yes, that’s a lot of music! Every now and then I try to organize it, I try to define the genres, or create a “tag” structure for them, but really, the only organization that seems to work is simply rating them with stars. In order to do this, I have created several “Smart” playlists that keep the un-rated music flowing while I’m at my desk at work, while my iPod is constantly loaded with only rated music. That means, that while I’m out and about, I hear only the best music, but while I’m at work, I only hear songs I haven’t heard in a while (if ever). Every now and then, a song comes on that I completely forgot that I loved, and I’m taken back to a time in my past when that song was “important.” And sometimes, those moments extend into the internet, as I look for the important people from my past who have gone missing.
…in which I talk about frustrating work issues while stalling in the office because some guy needs to get into our server room every 45 seconds.
I’d much rather be outside going to get a YooHoo or even a chocolate coke at Sonic, but instead I have to sit here in the office and hold the door open (not literally) for this guy who is doing some installs in our server room.
I’ve started using LastFM again:
edit: that’s odd, why does it think I listened to everything 2855 days ago, when really, its only 4 hours ago?
edit x2: listening to some new music seems to have fixed it. yay!
Oh, Heather and I also decided last night that we would spend a LOT of money to see Oingo Boingo in concert. An unhealthy sum most likely.
Danny Elfman, if you’re reading this, you know what to do.
So we took care of the dogs and headed down to Dallas. After a couple of round about detours, we found ourselves among a lot of other people who looked suprisingly to be in our same demographic (I don’t know why that surprised me, but I expected a bit more “moody” looking crowd). It was a lot of people that looked like they worked in the same kind of places that we did, just wearing black t-shirts. Though there was also a fairly good population of late teens dressed in semi-gothy clothes an makeup. As was predicted by one newspaper columnist, there were a WHOLE lot of Violator t-shirts. Crazy.
Anyway, for free, our tickets weren’t half bad. We were up in the higher section, we were kind of near the back and kind of off to the side, but really, in the grand scheme of things, we probably could have been worse (but not much). We found our seats after being all but strip searched by this guard making sure people didn’t sneak into the sucky section. I mean really, the guy totally stopped us and demanded to see our tickets, both of us, even though we were together, to go up to the suckass section of the show… we’d already been admitted to the stadium and passed security, I can’t imagine that we’d be trying to break into the shitty section to steal worse seats than we could have already had.
Never-the-less we were led by the hand to our seats and we realized they would do nicely. We had a good view of the stage, we were fairly near the front of our section and we were on the outside curve so there wouldn’t be many people to block our view. We sat around and waited for the show to start. The Bravery opened up and they weren’t bad. They were definitely The Killers lite. In fact, a couple times, I almost thought they were starting up a Killers song. They seemed really excited to be at the show themselves and commented more than once how fortunate they were to open for Depeche Mode. They seemed to be a little lost on that huge stage but were fairly good. Not so much as to make me go and find their CD (like I did with Boom Boom Satellites after seeing Moby) but they were entertaining. I felt a little bad for them because they only had like one person standing up and really cheering for them in the whole audience.
We ran out to get food during the intermission. It wasn’t great, but it was edible. Heather peed a third time, we got some drinks, and realized that Depeche Mode was actually running out on stage as we getting back to our seats. The show was really good though. They played most of their new album, a couple of songs from Exciter, but then most of the show was from Violator or even older. Heck, they played at least one song from Speak and Spell. I totally didn’t expect that.
They looked good and sounded good. Martin Gore can’t hit the high notes anymore, that was obvious when he sang Somebody. He’s also got a bit of a double chin going on. He wore this weird mohawk hat when he first came out and we were so happy when he ditched it. We thought he was wearing it for fear of going bald, but he had more hair than the other two – and it was poofy! He also sounded a bit flat at times. I dunno. Dave Gahan was really energetic which was nice to see. He danced and strutted all over the place. He had a bit of a David Bowie thing going on with his poses and gyrations. The women in the audience were still going nuts over him, I attribute some of the ringing in my ears last night to the fact that he took his shirt off and grabbed his crotch. His tattoos were pretty badass though. His voice is still really strong, but the old Speak and Spell stuff was really weird because his voice has evolved so much.
He seemed really excited when the audience could sing entire refrains and choruses.
There were some really cool screens (like most modern concerts) behind the stage, but they were kind of lopsided and crooked which made for a really cool effect. The six of them were most often showing different images in each, but occasionally would tile together and you got some interesting effects from them being uneven. They used a lot of light and color too to make it really stylized and interesting.
Really, I’m glad I went. We really enjoyed ourselves and are glad we fell into the tickets. Heather said she forgets how much she enjoys concerts. I have to agree. I don’t enjoy them as much as I used to, but I still really enjoy them. I used to be in that group that rushed the stage and did all the crazy shit right up front, but that just isn’t me anymore (not that the concert last night was that kind of concert anyway). Thanks Daryl, wherever you are. Your loss was really our gain!
So here’s an interesting predicament… you can rate music in iTunes and you can rate music in Windows Media Player.
They don’t both read the same rating. WTF?
So I’ve been doing a shit ton of nothing lately… and getting fat doing it. Its birthday season again around all my friends, so it’s cake day after cake day after cake day. Monday I get a chocolate chip cookie cake and I’m going to love it! I’m supposed to work out tonight, and while I feel fat and probably should, my stomach feels like a lead pancake and would probably make me grumpy in the end. Besides, I just don’t feel like it. Unfortunately, we can’t go next week at all either, so it’s now or never for the two weeks.
I’ve renewed my appreciation of Boom Boom Satellites only to find that I can’t get any of their music from any service I currently have access to. They’re not on iTunes or MusicMatch. I have pretty much moved away from CDs, so I don’t really want to invest in more plastic. Even if I decided to do so, their albums are all imports and cost $25-50. So frustrating. And of course there is nothing to be found on Torrent.
Tomorrow night is Movie Night, and as I announced two weeks ago, we’re watching Spinal Tap, so bring your extra drummer and come along. Beer is a must for this one because they do go to eleven and the are green.
I’ve been pretty lazy on WoW the past few days, but that’s how I play, and it keeps me from burning myself out. Heather’s got a baby shower this saturday, so I’ll probably waste away my day on WoW. Until then, the Netflix movies are starting to pile up.
I’ve gotten 8 of those laptops out of the office, as well as four of the iMacs. I’m digging a hole, and all the while Steve is watching movies and Craig is cleaning house (no bitterness – bastards).
Anyway, I should get back to building an iMac so I can get even more room in here. If only I could take one of them home, WoW would be kickass on one of those wide screen mofos.
