Meditation2

Now that's what I call fortified water

Your music sucks

Order it here.

"I’ll be the one who'll break my heart"

I think I like Feist's last album better but "I Feel It All" is definitely my favorite song from The Reminder.

"I love you more, I don't know what I knew before." Love it.

Girl Talk Pretty One Day

(Girl Talk's Gregg Gillis)

After he smashed the wine glass on his head at Friday's Wired Magazine's party, I knew he was my new nerd-boy crush.

And ooh, ooh, the video of him singing Nirvana's "Scentless Apprentice." Watch for me taking photos towards the very end of the video.

Fucking sunshine and daises

Who loves the sun
Who cares that it makes plants grow
Who cares what it does
Since you broke my heart

Who loves the wind
Who cares that it makes breezes
Who cares what it does
Since you broke my heart

Pa pa pa pa
Who loves the sun
Pa pa pa pa
Who loves the sun
Pa pa pa pa
Not everyone
Pa pa pa pa
Who loves the sun

Who loves the rain
Who cares that it makes flowers
Who cares that it makes showers
Since you broke my heart

Who loves the sun
Who cares that it is shining
Who cares what it does
Since you broke my heart

Who loves the sun

"I say no, but they keep givin, So I keep on takin"

Um, as an angst ridden teenager I was way into Alanis Morisette. Perhaps I should revisit her music.

Check out her cover of "My Humps"-- universally known as the stupidest song ever to reach the top of the charts. Suddenly, this cover refreshes it. Bert, wanna cover this one?

Waving your guns at somebody new

Theres too many people you used to know
They see you coming they see you go
They know your secrets and you know theirs
This town is crazy, but nobody cares

Baby, I'm a lost cause
I'm tired of fighting
Fighting for a lost cause

The Art of Noise

I bought DZ a badge for the upcoming Noise Pop Festival which includes:
-- a film festival
-- a bajillion shows
-- music expo
-- rock poster show
-- parties!

Of course, I bought him the badge weeks ago when it was $150 (early bird price) and I didn't get myself one because... Uh, I don't know why I didn't buy one. Probably because $150 a lot to throw down, but now I'm wondering if I should get one for $175 because I totally spaced on the fact there's a lot more going on than just the shows. The rock poster is being curated by Lil Tuffy, who is local but I met him at the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago. (It's always a little weird to meet someone whose work you like and respect.) He has some really great posters but of course I'll be looking forward to seeing more of Jason Munn's work. Hrrmmmm....

On a totally unrelated note, miniscule Japanese restaurant, Kappa, has a new review in the Chronicle. The host is still warning people that they do not serve sushi which is exactly what she said to me when I tried it.

Yay! Sweating in the desert for three days straight!

Who wants to go to Coachella???

Past Shows

Here are the shows I've been to since 2003. I probably missed a few.

Aug 05, 2006 Peaches
Jul 29, 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival
Jul 22, 2006 The Album Leaf
Jul 18, 2006 Gnarls Barkley
Jun 18, 2006 Seu Jorge
Jun 11, 2006 Camille
Mar 01, 2006 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Feb 03, 2006 Jenny Lewis Solo
Jan 21, 2006 The Elected
Dec 08, 2005 Autolux
Nov 06, 2005 Front 242
Oct 28 , 2005 Peter Hook (Joy Division/New Order
Oct 17, 2005 Robin Guthrie, Halou, Zoe Keating
Oct 15, 2005 deerhoof
Oct 09, 2005 Dengue Fever
Oct 08, 2005 Download Festival 2005 featuring:The Killers
Sep 26, 2005 Blackalicious
Sep 21, 2005 Bloc Party with The Kills
Aug 25, 2005 The Lovemakers w/ Death of a Party
Aug 04, 2005 Tegan and Sara
Jul 22, 2005 The Lovemakers
Jul 15, 2005 The Lovemakers
Jul 01, 2005 ANNIE w/ The LoveMakers, Every Move A Picture
Jun 18, 2005 Rilo Kiley
Jun 09, 2005 The Lovemakers, Chow Nasty, Blue Van, Postcoitus
May 14, 2005 M.I.A.
Apr 30, 2005 COACHELLA 2005!
Mar 26, 2005 SF Jazz: Orchestra Baobab
Feb 18, 2005 Secret Machines / Moving Units
Feb 15, 2005 Interpol
Feb 08, 2005 Eisley / The Elected
Jan 14, 2005 Album Leaf
Dec 18, 2004 The Rum Diary, From Monument To Masses, Continental
Dec 02, 2004 Keane / The Dears
Oct 30, 2004 Lovemakers
Oct 02, 2004 Snow Patrol with Eisley
Oct 01, 2004 The Libertines with Radio
Sep 21, 2004 Electrelane
Sep 18, 2004 Deerhoof
Aug 26, 2004 Slender (CD release), The Girls
Aug 17, 2004 Built to Spill
Aug 14, 2004 Dios, Sensations, Audio Out Send
Jul 30, 2004 Rilo Kiley
Jul 13, 2004 Deerhoof
Jul 11, 2004 Vue, Evening, Black Cat Music, Guilty Party
Jul 01, 2004 The Briefs, The Girls, The Bodies
Jun 27, 2004 The Ponys
Jun 11, 2004 The Lovemakers @ Cafe Du Nord
Jun 01, 2004 The Shins
May 21, 2004 Bob Schneider
May 14, 2004 Peaches
Mar 16, 2004 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Mar 12, 2004 The Girls, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, The Ponys, The Lashes
Mar 05, 2004 Directions in Sound (Polysics, Dengue Fever, Dealership)
Feb 24, 2004+ Noisepop Festival
Oct 21, 2003 The Strokes w/ Kings of Leon
Oct 10, 2003The Sounds w/ Run Run Run
Sep 29, 2003 Interpol
Sep 11, 2003 Sensational Lawn
Sep 14, 2003 The Walkmen w/ Kaito and Dios
Aug 14, 2003 The Evening
Jul 23, 2003 Squarepusher
Jul 8, 2003 Rilo Kiley
Jul 5, 2003 The Evening
Jun 24, 2003 Le Tigre
Apr 29, 2003 White Stripes
Apr 17, 2003 The Girls
Mar 22, 2003 The Vines with The Music and Youth Group
Feb 15, 2003 Interpol
Feb 4, 2003 The Evening

Nine (if you're got the) Inch Peaches

Nine Inch Nails with Bauhaus and Peaches
Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View
Mountain View, CA
Saturday, July 8 at 7:00 PM

Nine Inch Nails and Peaches (and Bauhaus)?!?! What???

Camille @ Bimbo's June 11, 2006

After much anticipation, I finally went to the Camille show at Bimbo's on Sunday. Let me say that that was, hands down, the strangest and most bizzare musical performance I have ever seen in me entire life. More on it later.

Gone Daddy Gone

Just announced:
LIVE 105 presents Day On The Meadow 2006, Sunday July 2nd at Noon @ the Discovery Meadow in San Jose featuring: The Violent Femmes, Dresden Dolls, Thriving Ivory, Smash-Up Derby and DJ Aaron Axelsen plus more guests to be announced. Tickets are only $10.53 each. tickets go on-sale to the public on Friday June 2nd at 5:00 PM.

$10!?!? I will be buying tickets fo sho!

A certain... oh, je ne sais quoi

I'm going to go see French singer Camille pretty soon. She is amazingly talented and passionate and would probably be excellent live. Tickets are still available so check her out and let me know if you want to come to the show with me.

Sunday, June 11 at Bimbo's.
Camille
Doors at 7 p.m. Show at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $20
21 & over are welcome

Coachella photos

I leave "celebrities" alone

Local beatboxer Kid Beyond wrote me a short message via Yelp. SWEEEEETTTTT!!! He was sitting next to me during dinner on Sunday night and I wrote about it in my NOPA Yelp review.

:end starstuck feeling:

Gnarls Barkley IS crazy... crazy good

Video for "Crazy"

The quality of this .mov video is much better.

Fa Lala.com invites

I have a few invitations to join the audio cd swapping site, Lala.com. They're not opening the site to everyone until July so if you want an invite let me know and give me your email address if you think I don't already have it.

Now play a freaking show, Devin

My dearest Devin's band, Kilometer, has finally gotten some listenable demos recorded. A Myspace Music page is de rigueur these days so of course Kilometer has one. I like "Loveless."

Also, Devin's brother's band, The Tasty Danes, has a Myspace Music page too. HILLARIOUS stuff.

Fa lala lala lalaaa

I recently signed up for an audio CD swapping site, Lala.com, and today they informed me that I will be receiving White Stripe's De Stijl. Sweet. And like all good product pushers, the first one is free (but the next ones will be $1 plus 49 cents for shipping). Not bad. They're only adding invited users so tell them you want an account and wait for your invitation. It looks like this.

Excerpt from the article from SFGate:

La la is a startup with a song in its heart. And it wants to share.
Music-swapping site hopes to offer legal alternative

Ellen Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, March 7, 2006

Part MySpace, Netflix, eBay and iTunes, La la incorporates pieces of each: Users list online the CDs they both want and have. In the process, they find others who share the same taste in music. Then, when one user requests a CD that another person owns, the owner drops it in the mail in a pre-paid envelope. The receiver is billed $1, plus 49 cents for shipping; the shipper pays nothing.

First Impression... "some people always think they're right"

The Strokes grew up and got better. The first track is my favorite but I like the lyrics in this one. I think I can hang up my autographed poster again. :)

"Razorblade"

Oh, the razorblade, that's what I call love,
I bet you pick it up and mess around with it
If I put it down
It gets extremely complicated.
Anything to forget everything.

No, don't.
Okay

Jenny Lewis "Rabbit Fur Coat"

Today is the day Jenny's Lewis solo album, "Rabbit Fur Coat" is released! Run to the record store and buy fifty million copies... Okay, just get one.

Rilo Kiley @ The Grand Ballroom

I went to see Rilo Kiley on Saturday 6/18 and it was awesome! I made tshirts with iron-on transfers to wear the show. I know, I'm a dork, but it came out really cool! The singer/guitarist, Blake, said that he really liked Yan Yan snacks at the last The Elected show so I decided to make a Rilo Kiley Yan Yan tshirt. Here it is.

2005 April 30, Coachella

Who: Me, Huy, Antonio, Jed
How: Antonio drove
How much: $81 each!
Lodging: Royal Sun Inn, Palm Springs, CA
Bands: Coldplay*, Bauhaus, Weezer*, The Chemical Brothers*, Wilco, Keane, Snow Patrol, Rilo Kiley*, Cafe Tacuba*, Sage Francis, The Raveonettes, Bloc Party*, Mercury Rev, Fantomas, Hernan Cattaneo, Spoon, Zap Mama*, Dj Peretz, Jamie Cullum, M83*, Ambulance LTD*, Four Tet, MF Doom, Josh Wink, Amp Fiddler, Tiga, The Kills, UNKLE - James Lavelle, The Secret Machines, Boom Bip, Stereophonics, Swayzak, Dj Marky, Immortal Technique, Jean Grae, Razorlight, Katie Melua*, Radio 4*, Buck 65, Nic Armstrong And The Thieves, Gratitude, Eisley*, The Sexy Magazines, k-os
*bands I watched perform

Gah, what happened to me? I am no longer photogenic. Is that too many pics of Jed?

On the way home we stopped by an Indian reservation casino called Morongo to play $1 min. roullette. (Moron, go!) We also stopped to take photographs of the dinosaurs that show up in the movie The Wizard and PeeWee's Big Adventure.

Past shows

Upcoming.org now lists all the past events that were previously "upcoming." Here's my list for the past year.

Feb 18, 2005 Secret Machines / Moving Units
Feb 15, 2005 Interpol
Feb 08, 2005 Eisley / The Elected
Jan 14, 2005 Album Leaf
Dec 18, 2004 The Rum Diary, From Monument To Masses, Continental
Dec 02, 2004 Keane / The Dears
Oct 30, 2004 Lovemakers
Oct 02, 2004 Snow Patrol with Eisley
Oct 01, 2004 The Libertines with Radio
Sep 21, 2004 Electrelane
Sep 18, 2004 Deerhoof
Aug 26, 2004 Slender (CD release), The Girls
Aug 17, 2004 Built to Spill
Aug 14, 2004 Dios, Sensations, Audio Out Send
Jul 30, 2004 Rilo Kiley
Jul 13, 2004 Deerhoof
Jul 11, 2004 Vue, Evening, Black Cat Music, Guilty Party
Jul 01, 2004 The Briefs, The Girls, The Bodies
Jun 27, 2004 The Ponys
Jun 11, 2004 The Lovemakers @ Cafe Du Nord
Jun 01, 2004 The Shins
May 21, 2004 Bob Schneider
May 14, 2004 Peaches
Mar 16, 2004 Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Mar 12, 2004 The Girls, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, The Ponys, The Lashes
Mar 05, 2004 Directions in Sound (Polysics, Dengue Fever, Dealership)
Feb 24, 2004+ Noisepop Festival

Polysics @ Hotel Utah

I love Polysics. I think I need to get some metallic gold pompoms for their next show. That would make it perfect.

(2005.02.25 with Mongoloid and Mongolounge at Hotel Utah)

Interpol @ Warfield w/ Blonde Redhead

Blonde Redhead wasn't as visually interesting to see live as I had hoped for but the music sounded great. They ended their set in the dark so you never got to see them walk off the stage. Nice exit.

Interpol, interpol, interpol. Carlos D stills wears his holster. You would think it would have gotten old by now but I guess I am mistaken. I noticed the guitarist, Daniel Kessler, hardly ever does any back up vocals on the new album. The keyboardist signs them now. Maybe that's why I don't like the new album as much. Some fans kept screaming "Stella!" but they never played "Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down." Oh well. The guy that sat next to Dan said that he had been a fan of Interpol back when they were playing shitty venues in NYC. He didn't look like a hipster at all which makes me wonder what kinda places they were playing at then. Hmmm...

The Colour, The Elected, and Eisley @Slim's

Hellooooo The Colour! These rockers sound like a cross between The Cure and The Strokes but more clean cut. The singer is a hottie and has a striking resemblence to Val Kilmer. He moves like The Hives singer, if The Hives singer were actually super sexy. The singer came down into the audience for the last song to hug some chubby groupies. Oh boy... The EP kinda sucks in comparision to the live show but it's still worth checking out the Myspace MP3s.

Blake Sennett, the singer for The Elected (who is also in Rilo Kiley), is my shyness hero. He was rocking out on stage and cracking jokes but then ran off the stage afterwards in that I-wanna-stick-around-and-talk-but-i'm-kinda-scared way. Aww. Awwww. Well, anyway, I hadn't The Elected's music before the show and they had more twang than I was expecting mostly due in part to this instrument I haven't seen before that the guitarist was playing. Blake started asking the audience if we thought the bassist, who is extremely tall, extremely skinny, extremely pale, and has a beard, was good looking. Everyone cheered mockingly and then he screwed up on the next song so everyone stopped playing. Blake said, "Well, that song sucked anyway" and they started playing another one. Smooth move, Pinsky...

Blake!

And Eisley? Cute, friendly, and awesome... of course. What else is there to say?

More tickets for cool people like me

me: so we're going to Coachella right???
me: :-D
Devin: no
me: booo :-(

Plastique @ Kimo's

Plastique at Kimo's on January 15, 2004.

Same time all day

The Album Leaf and The Rum Diary show was cool last night. It was my first time at the Independent despite that it's only a few blocks. Cool venue and, remarkably, no annoying crowd members. Apparently someone I know there was yelling "Jimmy LaVelle" (the name of The Album Leaf front man) but I didn't hear him.

Everyday this week has looked like the same time of day the entire day until suddenly it was night.

This does not help me sleep.

However, I was actually tired last night and had the best sleep yet since I got back.

Maybe it was the alcohol.

Memories!!!

MMm.... I am so smashed...
I saw Green Day... for free. I drank for free... I ate for free... I have a lot of people to pay back when I get a job one day. But fuck, Green Day rocks.

I love music!

ed: My first concert ever was a Green Day show in San Jose when I was about 16 years old and I haven't seen them live since then. Of course I was immediately whisked away back to high school, listening to Green Day and moping with Smashing Pumpkins! Somehow the pain of high school almost has a pleasant feelings now. Oh, I also smoked TWO cigarettes. DOH!

Rilo Kiley

Rilo Kiley played a free acoustic set at Amoeba today. They played a fairly short set because they had to rush to go prepare for their show tonight at Bimbo's. Before they played their second to last song Jenny asked the audience if there was anything we wanted to hear. Of course, the hardcore fans all wanted them to play "The Frug," which they never ever play anymore. They refused and settled for my favorite Rilo Kiley song, "Portions for Foxes." In the middle of the song the power went out at Amoeba and the emergency lights came on. My brother yelled, "IT'S OKAY! IT'S ACOUSTIC!" Jenny kept on singing and it became a sing along. Baby you're bad news, you're bad news... The power came back on at the end to finish off the song. So amazing. I mean, Blake kept screwing up and Jenny's guitar playing wasn't perfect either but it was such a fun show!

I'm so in love with "Portions for Foxes."

Show: Dios

The Dios show last night at Cafe Du Nord was fun. The singer's voice is just so... pretty and much more so than on their album. I love it when a band is much better live than recorded; it gives me the feeling of new found love. They played beautifully. I enjoyed the show completely sober too!

This morning I lazily hung at Cover to Cover (bookstore) with Davi. He read me his favorite children's book and I looked through the Lonely Planet San Francisco guide book. Fun, relaxed times.

Show: Vue, Evening, Black Cat Music

Dan, John, my brother, and I all went to the Bottom of the Hill show last night. My brother truthfully said that he really didn't care too much for any of the bands that played last night. Oh well. Dan thought that Evening has played better. (Did the new drummer throw things off?) I've always felt that their singer wasn't so good, but maybe he's the mastermind and without him they would suck. Black Cat Music was alright. It was the singer's, Brady, birthday and he seemed happy to play music for us. Although it was a trip to see this guy who I used to be in classes with being a rocker. Vue was the best band of the night. Every member of the band had tons of movement and energy and what's not to like that about that. That's the kind of band I'd want at a party.

Most of my photos didn't turn out too well.

Black Cat Music

Vue

Thanks go to Dan for coming out of his dungen in the Far East [Bay] and to John for buying me a beer! Oh, and of course to my brother even though we've made an unsaid agreement that he not read my website. :)

Show: I <3 BS

Okay, not really.

But I still went to the Bob Schnieder show. First I'll say that BS fans are hardcore. They know all the lyrics, the sing along, and they dance. It's the cult of BS and I wasn't a member. It was bound to happen that all the shows I go to would be so fucking awesome that of course I would have to go a show where the sorriest thing to ever happen to me at a show happened.

Bob Schiender, clad in a Kiss tshirt, was roaring away and I wasn't into it. Then I got tired. I didn't realize how tiring it was to stand at a show where you weren't totally interested in the performer. I started yawning uncontrollably. My back started to ache. I stretched it out and then just gave up and hunched over.

So here is the Saddest-Sorriest-Thing-to-Ever-Happen-at-a-Show:
I was standing next to Mickey and his crew who were all completely enthralled by BS's varied vocal and musical stylings. This random guy, noticing my boredom, slouched shoulders, and incessent yawning, took my shoulder in his hand and shook me with a look on his face that said, "It's okay! Bob rocks! Cheer up!" After he let go I felt so sorry for myself that someone noticed me like that that I just gave up trying to remain interested and walked away without a word to sit down.

More reasons why doing covers is a bad idea:
BS performed a reggae tinged cover of Radiohead's "Creep." Sacrilege!!!

Show: BFD = Brief F_cking Disaster

Beastie Boys, The Strokes, Violent Femmes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Death Cab for Cutie, The Killers... In one place on the same day!?!

I'm so tempted to go the Live 105's BFD. I know it will suck and I will undoubtably wish I had spent my $70 bucks on 5 small club shows. It doesn't matter that all those bands are fantastic and that I'm dying to see YYYs again because Shoreline is the worst possible venue in the bay area and cramming those bands into 30 minute sets is just plain wrong.

I think I've been to 3 BFDs and looking back it was more trouble that it was worth. When I was 17 my boyfriend and took an extremely long and arduous bus ride to Shoreline from San Jose. I remember the old man in the back of the bus throwing up more clearly than I remember the bands playing. The last time I went all I really remember is Julian Casablancas squinting at the sun asking where everybody with seated tickets was.

Peaches and that Dali-mustache guy

The Peaches show last night was so much fun! She's such an fantastic entertainer and musician. I never thought much of her singing (mostly I liked the message and the beats) but she did a cover of Kelis's "Milkshake" and sang it just as well as Kelis! She changed her costume numerous times right on stage and with finesse. She used a different guitar for each song she played a guitar on. She had two sexy backup dancers that joined her for a few songs. She used fake blood very convincingly and even smeared it on the faces of front row audience members. After she noted that she doesn't have a band and is essentially doing kareoke she brought up all these women on stage to sing along to "Teaches of Peaches." (This is the song that played in the exotic dancing scene in Lost in Translation.) During the Kelis cover one of the dancers came out in a bikini and used silver hula hoops with amazing skill. During "Shake Your Dix" the dancers did just that with dildos. Yeah. So the show was very raunchy but it was great! The crowd (a very interestingly dressed group) was dancing the whole time and just having a blast. So much fun! I must admit I did some ass shaking as well. Tee hee.

Oh, I saw the Dali-style mustache man, Brian(?), from Evening at the show. He was standing, in a cool black velvet blazer, right next to my brother and I was tempted to act stupid and introduce myself and tell him how my ex was the guy who called him a "guitar god" but I think I needed a couple more drinks to do it. With the prices the Fillmore charges for booze it was just not gonna happen. Damn my shyness!

A weekend with The Girls

Friday after yet another fruitless Ethics class I met up with my friend Zache and three other members of The Girls along with their friend Amanda. We drank at Delirium in the Mission at 4 in the afternoon, had burritos somewhere, and took a "french nap" before the boys all got ready for their show at Thee Parkside, which I think is slowly becoming quite a hip place (everything time I go there there are fewer and fewer tables and more and more people). The show sold out and it was great. I'm too busy today to relay the whole story but I have pictures and here are some highlights/lowlights.

1. Met interesting people including a performance artist and saw a band sponsored by Sparks and a band called The Ponys, whose singer is just... awesome.
2. Amanda's cat ran away and the guys hunted for the cat, which involved jumping a very tall fence, searching in mud, and getting threatened by security.
3. Nick and I sat were sitting the kitchen talking about how animals are pretty smart and find their way home when the cat casually walked back through the window.
4. Went to bed at 5:30 AM with 5 people in one room. (Damn, the Mission is noisy at night)
5. Next morning there was "beef stew" in the toilet. Ewww
6. Ate a $3.75 breakfast at Wellcome [sic] in the Mission
7. Drove to San Jose's Blank Club for The Girls' San Jose show. San Jose indie music scene is dying, if it's not already dead.
8. Met Zache's cousin. Went to sketchy pho restuarant which turned out to be a kareoke bar but it was probably more likely a front to some illegal activities.
9. Taped the show.
10. Said goodbye and went home to crash.

I'm still tired.

P.S. That pink tie is mine, and yes the ketchup stain came out.

Polysics: Buy or Die!

Devin and I went to Cafe Du Nordon Friday with the intention of seeing Dealership as part of the Asian American Film Festival late night activities. I couldn't tell you if Dealership was any good because I forgot their performance already but Polysics kicked some serious ass. The reviews say they're like Devo... uh, yeah, kinda, I guess. Okay, not really, but it doesn't matter. It's pointless to tell you go check out their CD because I betcha that they recording doesn't do the live show any justice at all. A mini-mosh pit broke out, the keyboard player shook gold pom-poms like a robot, and the singer said we'd have the buy the CD and DVD or die. Yeah.

I was so energized by the show that I went to see them at Amoeba the next day. In the middle of a song the guitarist knocked over a bunch od CDs on accident so during a part where he didn't sing he put them back and shuffled them around. Cute. During a little getting-to-know-you break the singer asked someone in the audience, "Where do you from?" [sic] and he answered, "I don't know." The singer paused and replied, "COOL!!!"

Actually, I think you should go buy their CD anyway... or DIE!!! :)

Rilo Kiley @ the Swedish Hall

The show last night was awesome. Rilo Kiley kicked so much ass. I'm predicting that their next album will really take off. Each of the three acts I saw seemed so honest and like they couldn't be any happier to do what they're doing right now-- which I deeply admire. All three of these acts have Conor Oberst connections, interesting... Anyway, some thoughts on last night.

Willy Mason
This guy has got a case of Teenage Poet Syndrome but it could definately be worse. I couldn't decide if I really liked him or not. He could sing one song and I thought he was great and then he would sing another that makes me want to see this guy get off the stage. Apparently he's from somewhere near Martha's Vineyard and ended up at school in NYC. It was there that he wrote this terrific song about dorm life (something about how dry erase boards showed your personality)-- it was so honest and would most certainly strike a chord with anyone who lived in a college dorm. But then he had these totally unmemorable songs about who the hell cares teenage issues. He was kinda like Bright Eyes without being even half as intense. Never the less, he's the kinda guy I would immediately fall in love with and be blinded by his sappy sensitivity. I bet his favorite book is Catcher in the Rye.

David Dondero
Devin's pratice-space-mate had opened up for David. I went to the show but I left early and now I regret not having stayed because this performance was quite good. My favorite song of the evening was a he had just finished writing called "Double Murder Suicide" or something like that. It was about the Golden Gate Bridge its creator, its tourists, and its suicides. It was extraordinarily funny and morbid and catchy and I just thought it was terrific. He looks a bit dopey and you can tell that he's probably really is dopey except when starts to sing and play his guitar.

Jenny and Blake of Rilo Kiley
This performance was just the guitarist, Blake (who played Ronnie Pinksy on Salute Your Shorts) and the singer, Jenny (the redhead in the 80's Nintendo movie, The Wizard) playing an acoustic set. So let me cut to the chase and say that this was one of the best shows I've ever seen. There was something about them not playing in a dark club or a boring drunken venue that was so perfect for this acoustic performance. They were bitingly honest in their delivery and unbelievably humble (started on time and no roadies!!!) and kind to the audience. They sang an Elliot Smith song without mentioning his name. At the end of the song Blake had to step off the stage and sit in the audience to get himself back together. Their last song was a sing along that left the audience wanting more. I left happy. What a beautiful thing music can be.