Monday, March 07, 2005
Hello, Monday
After a whirlwind week that included three consecutive concerts and karaoke until two in the morning, it's no surprise that I did not paint the town red this weekend. Still not fully recovered, although Sunday was very lazy indeed. Finally got around to cleaning my room. Most of it, anyway. Haven't posted on this thing in a while.
- Sage Francis concert last Thursday
This might have been the best show I've ever been to. Certainly the best in recent memory and definitely better than when I saw him a year ago. Which is odd because much of the set was material off his new album, "A Healthy Distrust" (pick it up, definitely worth a listen). Three and a half hours of show and at least 90 minutes of that was him. What was impressive is that the opening acts -- all three of them -- were actually good. If you go to concerts, you know this is rare. One of the acts in particular, Soliloquies of Sound, blew my mind at times. They featured an MPC (sort of like a beat box/turntable in one)wizard, "Da Vinci" who could shred on this thing like he was a concert pianist. Amazingly talented plus he looked like the late John Cazale, better known to some of you as "Fredo" from the Godfather movies. Anyway, have to give it up for Sage. At times, the bass was blasting so loud that the floor at the Henry Fonda theater was reverbing so hard, people were sputtering to and fro. Helluva show. Amazing show. Highlights include a spoken word rendition of "Slow down Ghandi, you're killing 'em" and the line "99 rappers but Jay-Z ain't one." He's going to be at Coachella if any of you are making the pilgramige out there.
- OK Go show last Friday
I have to preface this by saying that I was already half in the bag with the tiredness by the time they finally got on stage which, unfortunately, was just before midnight. Much later than expected. So even though I zoned out once or twice, I still enjoyed the show. Can't say it was the best they've ever been (my third time seeing them), but I attribute that to a couple things such as A) they only hired their new guitarist a scant nine (9!) days earlier and B) the stage space was very small. The new Andy (guitarist) was actually really good in spite of the accelerated time frame in which he had to learn the songs. Spaceland is a small venue and the tiny stage goes a decent way into hurting OK Go's jive. If you've seen them, you know that they're a very kinetic band. Room to operate always helps.
- Recorded the first show, yesterday, of a new podcast that some friends and I are putting together. If it turns out to be cool, I'll put more up about it. In the meantime, its called "Mosquito Circus." Just some bullshit and banter we threw together with little prep. Fun stuff, though. Had no idea this podcasting community thrived with such vigor until about a month ago and that the man who popularized it all is legendary MTV vj Adam Curry. Weird.
- Yesterday was definitely awesome if you're a college basketball fan. Every team competing for a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament bit it or at least came very close. Illinois has their perfect season ruined at the last second by Ohio St. (because they played poorly down the stretch), Florida beats Kentucky by one, Kansas loses at Missouri (ack), Wake Forest needs a buzzer beater to get past NC State, and of course North Carolina holds off Duke by a deuce in a fantastic game. All of that and, yes, Championship Week is under way in full effect. Southern Illinois is a lock to get in the dance, but lost in the semis of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. This opens the door for either Creighton (perhaps an at-large team before this weekend) and Southwest Missouri St. -- a team not even on the radar before the conference tournament began. The MVC has been awesome this year and so has the West Coast Conference (WCC). Both leagues play their conference tournament finals tonight and if you want to see great basketball, I suggest you watch both. WCC features two teams well on their way to March Madness: Gonzaga vs. St. Mary's.
- Switching from college to the pros, nice to see the Lakers snap out of their funk by picking up two very important victories over Dallas and Indiana. Very impressed by their effort against the Mavs. They hung with the high octane team the whole way and never looked overmatched at any time. Watching part of last night's game against Indiana, I couldn't help by shake my head when the cameras zoomed in to an extreme close-up of an injured Jermaine O'Neal's diamonds. O'Neal is sitting there on the bench in street clothes, but you can't even see his face. All you get are the copious amounts of ice covering his fingers, wrists, and neck. Can't think of a better way to distance player from fan than to flaunt how much jewelry they have. Way to go, Fox Sports.
- I heard about this terrifying, yet ironic story this past weekend and feel I have to post it here. It's just so insane. What's amazing is that this guy isn't dead. He just doesn't have a face!
And all of a sudden it's Monday and I walk in to find that one of my colleagues has the day off because she's shooshing down the slopes in Breckenridge. That means more work for me. Same as usual. Bullshit.
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- Sage Francis concert last Thursday
This might have been the best show I've ever been to. Certainly the best in recent memory and definitely better than when I saw him a year ago. Which is odd because much of the set was material off his new album, "A Healthy Distrust" (pick it up, definitely worth a listen). Three and a half hours of show and at least 90 minutes of that was him. What was impressive is that the opening acts -- all three of them -- were actually good. If you go to concerts, you know this is rare. One of the acts in particular, Soliloquies of Sound, blew my mind at times. They featured an MPC (sort of like a beat box/turntable in one)wizard, "Da Vinci" who could shred on this thing like he was a concert pianist. Amazingly talented plus he looked like the late John Cazale, better known to some of you as "Fredo" from the Godfather movies. Anyway, have to give it up for Sage. At times, the bass was blasting so loud that the floor at the Henry Fonda theater was reverbing so hard, people were sputtering to and fro. Helluva show. Amazing show. Highlights include a spoken word rendition of "Slow down Ghandi, you're killing 'em" and the line "99 rappers but Jay-Z ain't one." He's going to be at Coachella if any of you are making the pilgramige out there.
- OK Go show last Friday
I have to preface this by saying that I was already half in the bag with the tiredness by the time they finally got on stage which, unfortunately, was just before midnight. Much later than expected. So even though I zoned out once or twice, I still enjoyed the show. Can't say it was the best they've ever been (my third time seeing them), but I attribute that to a couple things such as A) they only hired their new guitarist a scant nine (9!) days earlier and B) the stage space was very small. The new Andy (guitarist) was actually really good in spite of the accelerated time frame in which he had to learn the songs. Spaceland is a small venue and the tiny stage goes a decent way into hurting OK Go's jive. If you've seen them, you know that they're a very kinetic band. Room to operate always helps.
- Recorded the first show, yesterday, of a new podcast that some friends and I are putting together. If it turns out to be cool, I'll put more up about it. In the meantime, its called "Mosquito Circus." Just some bullshit and banter we threw together with little prep. Fun stuff, though. Had no idea this podcasting community thrived with such vigor until about a month ago and that the man who popularized it all is legendary MTV vj Adam Curry. Weird.
- Yesterday was definitely awesome if you're a college basketball fan. Every team competing for a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament bit it or at least came very close. Illinois has their perfect season ruined at the last second by Ohio St. (because they played poorly down the stretch), Florida beats Kentucky by one, Kansas loses at Missouri (ack), Wake Forest needs a buzzer beater to get past NC State, and of course North Carolina holds off Duke by a deuce in a fantastic game. All of that and, yes, Championship Week is under way in full effect. Southern Illinois is a lock to get in the dance, but lost in the semis of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament. This opens the door for either Creighton (perhaps an at-large team before this weekend) and Southwest Missouri St. -- a team not even on the radar before the conference tournament began. The MVC has been awesome this year and so has the West Coast Conference (WCC). Both leagues play their conference tournament finals tonight and if you want to see great basketball, I suggest you watch both. WCC features two teams well on their way to March Madness: Gonzaga vs. St. Mary's.
- Switching from college to the pros, nice to see the Lakers snap out of their funk by picking up two very important victories over Dallas and Indiana. Very impressed by their effort against the Mavs. They hung with the high octane team the whole way and never looked overmatched at any time. Watching part of last night's game against Indiana, I couldn't help by shake my head when the cameras zoomed in to an extreme close-up of an injured Jermaine O'Neal's diamonds. O'Neal is sitting there on the bench in street clothes, but you can't even see his face. All you get are the copious amounts of ice covering his fingers, wrists, and neck. Can't think of a better way to distance player from fan than to flaunt how much jewelry they have. Way to go, Fox Sports.
- I heard about this terrifying, yet ironic story this past weekend and feel I have to post it here. It's just so insane. What's amazing is that this guy isn't dead. He just doesn't have a face!
And all of a sudden it's Monday and I walk in to find that one of my colleagues has the day off because she's shooshing down the slopes in Breckenridge. That means more work for me. Same as usual. Bullshit.
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