show review: the walkmen, louisville, ky 10/21/10

i made a semi-last-minute decision to drive up to louisville last night (by myself) to see the walkmen. i justified it this way: 1) no nashville show's been announced yet 2) it's only 3 hrs away 3) they've officially knocked r.e.m. and radiohead out of my "favorite band" spot.  when i arrived (after getting lost, stopping for help 2x and finally calling my friend brandon for help...), the 2nd band was about to start (japandroids) - they reminded me a little of mission of burma.  zanzabar is SMALL. like, the basement small. i realize that my own enjoyment of shows partially comes from seeing the band up close (what's the point if you're in the back and all you can hear are drunk people chattering?) so when japandroids finished up i pushed (uh, politely of course) my way up front right in front of the piano.

i am really bad at expressing why certain things move me and others do not (guess that's why i am an amateur blogger and not a big-time music writer...) so i don't think this is going to turn you into a walkmen fan. they're definitely one of those bands that hit you or not; you love them or you don't.  i saw them for the first time at the slow bar - and every time i've seen them since then, i walk away with a greater love and appreciation.  so anyway - this show was fantastic.  kinda like the basement experience, except i wasn't drunk and rollum & co. didn't get up on stage and play with hamilton (i remember turning to courtney and alexis saying "is this really happening?!?")  they played several songs off 'lisbon' (juveniles, angela, while i shovel the snow, victory) and threw in plenty of other stuff too (we've been had, all hands on the cook, canadian girl, in the new year).  it was great to hear the title track from 'everyone who pretended...' and i will never grow tired of 'on the water.'  i asked pete for his set list - it's harder to decipher than features' set lists and i'm still trying to figure out what 'puppies' is (i think it was 'woe is me').   here's hoping they'll come to nashville again soon.

favorite song:


one of my favorites from 'lisbon':

new favorite song

i jumped on the beach house train very late. i know people were talking/blogging about them years ago, but i just got out of a years-long phase in which i didn't seek out new music/bands. sure, i'd buy new releases by bands i already liked, but i really didn't get into many "new" bands. anyway...this song kills me.  i am really looking forward to seeing them next month. Ticket info here. 


PS: thinking about starting a music-only blog/memoir-ish thing in which i recount my past concert and musical experiences. would you read it? i think i need a more focused topic and some sort of goal. just like julie & julia (HA!)

my husband, the style maven

as featured on style.com, in their "capturing the scene at bonnaroo" photo album. he's so hip! and cute! this is likely to be the only fashion-related post i ever make:

i hear a symphony

separated at birth: nashville symphony conductor giancarlo guerrero and mad men actor bryan batt (salvatore).

i went to see the nashville symphony with my dad saturday night. they did a schumann piano concerto and rimsky-korsakov's scheherazade. it was SO RAD. aside from the separated-at-birth thing, i noticed a few things:

1. as far as 'fans' are concerned, there's no real diffrence between classical and rock enthusiasts. a girl at our table talked about one of the cellists and the conductor the same way i gush about paul from the walkmen. she noted their enthusiasm and passion and was so excited when the symphony started.
2. cellos are rad. i like pizzacato strings.
3. i kind of miss playing percussion. the music-reading, the practices, the concerts. that was a serious part of my life for 10 (!) years, and even though i always just did it "for fun", i still miss the camradarie of playing in a band/drumline/ensemble.
4. christopher cross is doing a 3-night stint with the symphony in may 2010.
5. i really don't know much about classical music. i'm familair with a few pieces, but i'd like to learn more. rollum's been obsessed with holst's "neptune" lately. also, neptune in general. that's the picture on our desktop right now.
6. classical music must've done something right, since it's managed to stay around for so long.
7. if you ever get the chance to go see the nashville symphony, DO IT. in fact, you should MAKE the chance to go see them. not sure how much normal tickets are though. our seats were free, so i guess that's easy for me to say.
8. you could get food from a buffet and bring it to your table. i felt kinda funny eating a caprese salad and tortellini as the music was playing.
   
9. i'm so ignorant about wine, that i was surprised that my white zinfandel was pink. now i know. (brandon: teach me).
   
10. after scheherezade finished, it was absolutely silent for about 5 seconds before they put down their bows and everyone started to clap. no one even coughed. it was a nice moment.
    

the walkmen - 4 members + the privates - keith + luke =

"thinking of a dream i had" live at the basement, nashville, tn. the 13th of october:

"that guy likes kid rock so much, he has a shirt for it!"

i've been a baking machine this weekend. i went to a friend's surprise birthday party on friday night, so i spent the afternoon hanging out with lots of butter, chocolate, and sugar. martha stewart and her double-chocolate brownie cookies totally failed me, and i cursed as i was dealing with the gooey batter. i ended up throwing them out. i fared better with the brownies.

i am so very lazy on some saturdays. but not yesterday! i took helen's bedding to the laundromat, gave her a bath, and made the ultimate campfire dinner. beef barbecue in the crockpot (for sandwiches), homemade coleslaw, and baked beans. rollum asked me to pick up from smores ice cream from the store, but instead i made some smores bars for dessert. (then rollum pointed out the campfire-ness of it all). my dad joined us for dinner too, and we listened to randy newman and linda ronstadt records.

then on to the basement for the hotpipes and the nobility. courtney urged us to go to the red door to meet up with her dude crew and i proceeded to act like i was 21 again. waffle house + 4am bedtime = i am getting too old for this but i still had lots of fun. speaking of getting too old, i'll be 31 in 20 days. and the belcourt is showing better off dead for the midnight movie, so if you like that movie and/or me, you should come!

random rules

i like the random rules section on the onion av club, so here's my take on it: (my ipod currently has 9,452 songs on it. rollum & i kinda share the ipod. i usually let him use it when he goes out of town and i usually listen to it when i'm at work. i'd say it's about 20% my music, 20% his music, and 60% stuff we both like. that's a total guestimate.) no skipping allowed!

Van Halen, "Everybody Wants Some"

Awesome! Rollum put a 2-disc VH greatest hits collection on the ipod, so i'm happy this song came up and not Hagar. And it's the cheeseburger song from Better Off Dead (my favorite part is when the french fry ladies are soaking their "feet" in the grease). "Everybody wants some...I'll show 'em what everybody wants!" - Lane Meyer

The Beastie Boys, "Lighten Up"

this really sounds like a stoner song. it's got a didgeridoo. carrie & i used to listen to this cassette tape on the way to working daycare at brentwood baptist church during the summer. i must've been about 15.

Radiohead, "Creep" (acoustic version from "My Iron Lung" ep)

it's 90s flashback time! what can you really say about 'creep'? i've never really liked this song too much. i didn't get into radiohead until the bends and i think pablo honey is incredibly dated and lame.

Vampire Weekend, "Campus"

I've only listened to this whole album 1 time through (although I've heard the songs from the ep-thingy a bunch, thanks to Rollum becoming quite obsessed with them). This sounds like a good spring/summer record.

Clinic, "The Majestic #2"

Good, this will give me a chance to go on a discourse about how Internal Wrangler is so awesome, Walking With Thee is okay, and everything after that is not so good. I don't know what happened to them. Several of us drove down to Atlanta to see them when Walking With Thee was out, and they played a 35-minute set. I think it was me, Rollum, Ryan, Ben Patton and Natalina. A random crew. We met Joe and Melinda down there too.

Missing Persons, "Right Now"

This is on the greatest hits but i don't remember ever hearing it. Not as cool as "Words". I think Rollum got this album off Mark's ipod?

Devo, "Girl U Want"

I probably heard Soundgarden's cover before I heard the original version. I like Devo and I think gerald casale is a little cute in the "Whip It" video.

U2, "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses"

eh. i kinda like U2, but i'm definitely more of an r.e.m person. I've gotten into the u2 vs. r.e.m. debate a few times. i like u2's older stuff a lot more. i bought the Achtung Baby cassette at Tower with a gift certificate the same day i got Deee Lite's World Clique. this song is inoffensive, but kind of lame.

Spinanes, "Reach V. Speed"

there was a time (1998) when this was one of my favorite songs. it's got sam prekop from the sea & cake on vocals, they do this back-and-forth sort of vocal thing and something about this song really 'got me' when i first heard this album (when i was music director at wmts). hearing stuff from that era makes me pretty nostalgic about my college days, in the same way hearing led zeppelin and the police instantly transports me back to high school. i went to see the spinanes in athens and approached michael stipe after the show & got my picture taken with him (and andrew from elf power).