Jen dropped Zulu off at the vet this morning (poor kitty had to have 6 teeth pulled), then I took advantage of the day off and recent snow, and headed up to Keystone. Everything was going pretty smoothly, then, before the Winter Park exit, a sign says "Tunnel: 1 Hour." This makes no sense, since it should be 30 minutes. Then, suddenly, it's stop and go. At this exact moment, I realize that I've left my wallet at home, and I've only got a 1/4 tank of gas! So, I figure I have to turn around and go home. After exiting, I remember my stash of dollar coins for parking. But, I'm heading the wrong way on a frontage road, and, for some reason, I'm not smart enough to realize I can just turn around, and get back on the interstate where I exited. So I backtracked a few miles, but decided to push on through. I already had one day this year when I drove up and didn't ski, so I wanted to make sure I at least got a few turns in.
It was a wise choice. Though it took me nearly 2 1/2 hours to get to Keystone (usually 1:15-1:30), it was a beautiful, sunny day, there weren't many people on the slopes, and I found plenty of powder stashes in the trees:
- Wilco - "I'm Always In Love" (Summerteeth)
- The Who - "A Quick One, While He's Away" (Live at Leeds)
- Ween - "Tender Situation" (Pure Guava)
- Ol' Yeller - "The Peaceful One" (Penance)
- Generation X - "Your Generation" (No Thanks! The 70s Punk Rebellion)
- Bob Marley - "Kaya" (Reggae Fever Vol 2)
- The Hold Steady - "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" (Separation Sunday)
- Mason Jennings - "Century Spring" (Century Spring)
- Weezer - "The Damage In Your Heart" (Make Believe)
- Bob Dylan - "Like A Rolling Stone" (The Bootleg Series Vol 2)
- The Beatles - "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" (Abbey Road)
- Los Lobos - "Dream In Blue" (Kiko)
- Neil Young - "Damage And The Needle Done" (Harvest)
- The Avett Brothers - "Gift For Melody Anne" (Mignonette)
- De La Soul - "Plug Tunin" (3 Feet High And Rising)
- The Jayhawks - "Stick In The Mud" (Rainy Day Music)
- New Pornographers - "My Rights Versus Yours" (Challengers)
- Reverend Horton Heat - "Rockin' Dog" (Liquor In The Front)
- Golden Smog - "Hurricane" (Another Fine Day)
- Grateful Dead - "Cumberland Blues" (Dick's Picks Vol 16)
- Phish - "Thunderhead" (Round Room)
- Rolling Stones - "Back Street Girl" (Flowers)
- Bob Dylan - "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum" (Love & Theft)
- Bob Dylan - "She Belongs To Me" (Bringing It All Back Home)
- Metallica - "For Whom The Bell Tolls" (Ride The Lighning)
- Beastie Boys - "Putting Shame In Your Game" (Hello Nasty)
First i wondered "Where are the boobies?" (common sight on a pinball machine) Then, i wondered, "where is batman's left hand?" Then, "where is --
Play this game. Listen to the voices. Then, wonder why the voices don't sound quite right. (They use quotes from the movie, but spoken by impersonators! And not very good impersonators. Never seen that before. I'm sure it saved them lots of $$$.)
I've been a bad blogger lately. I'm going to try and focus on uploading more music.
This is the time of the year that I'm usually getting a crapload of CDs to listen to, after perusing the hundreds of "Best albums of the year" lists. I still have a lot to listen to, but I'm digging Real Emotional Trash, from Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. Now I regret not seeing him when I've had a chance recently. I've always appreciated the Pavement legacy, though I was never a *huge* fan. I think Slanted and Enchanted and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain are both very good albums, but overrated by many in the indie rock world. I did get to see Pavement live at First Avenue, and they put on a great show.
Anyway, here are a couple tunes off this one. The drums are really good- which makes sense, because I just read that Janet Weiss (of Sleater-Kinney fame) is now in the Jicks. One more note- I don't remember Malkmus sounding this much like the Matt & Dan Wilson.
It's probably been 10 years since I've been skiing at night! It is a ton of fun.
This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.
Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime\xAE 6.5 or higher is required.
Minneapolis band Tapes n' Tapes made a stop in Boulder this weekend, and Jen, Mer, Dom, and I made the trip up there. I've always found their sound interesting, but have never gotten totally into them. That being said, I've always enjoyed seeing them live, particularly drummer Jeremy Hanson.
We thought we had timed it well, going to the Sink for some food beforehand. There were two opening bands, and we walked in during Wild Light's set. Boy, were they awful! They sounded like they were trying to be The Killers, part 2. It was really pretty painful, and various members of the crowd were heckling them. (Not me, though!) Besides the drummer, there are three guys in the band, and they switched between guitar, bass, and keys. The annoying part was that they literally switched instruments between every freaking song! I mean, they could have fit an additional tune in their setlist if they would have not been wasting so much time. (Not that I wanted to hear another song, but you see my point.) I can't remember a single thing about thi band that i found even remotely appealing- not a single cool guitar lick or lyric. At times, it sounded like everybody was playing a different song.
There was a seriously long break in between bands, as it appeared that Tapes 'n Tapes hadn't yet done a soundcheck. At 11:00, all three of my fellow concert attendees were yawning up a storm, and I was hoping the band would hurry up, so that they didn't ditch me, and leave me to hitchhike back to Denver.
Tapes 'n Tapes came on around 11:30, and tore it up. I didn't keep track of the setlist, but they played plenty of tunes off both The Loon and Walk it Off. At one point, they played a song that Grier introduced as "a really old one." It was a very goofy song. Probably something he wrote when he was 15. I've only seen the band a few times in the past, and it was usually outside at a festival, so I wasn't always paying very close attention. So, I'm not sure if the band's sound has changed, or if I just never noticed before. They seemed a bit jammier than I remember- lots of slightly dissonant, rocking extended stuff in the middle of songs. Plus, they really like to crank up the distortion and fuzz. I thought their most recent album's production was odd, very muddled-sounding. Apparently, that's the way they like it.
My pal Jeremy definitely did not dissapoint- his beats are almost always interesting as hell. Unfortunately, we were standing in the worst possible place ot watch the drummer- dead center. I ended up wandering off a few times so I could get a better look at what he was doing.
As always, I wondered what the hell the keyboardist's purpose was. A dude behind me actually asked me that at one point. I think he's friends with Grier from back in the day, and has earned tenure. Most of the time, you can't hear the keyboard, and when you can, more often than not, it's distracting. Then he pulls out a trumpet for about 5 seconds, then puts it away. Sometimes, he's just waving an egg shaker back in forth in front of his mic.
Grier has grown his hair out since the last time I saw them, and he did a lot of headbanging:
Wild Lights
