Secure a Building

I had a long rant planned on our military branches after reading an article on sub-standard Army barracks conditions, but then I read this old joke in the comments and think I'll post it instead:

What happens when you ask some military personnel to "secure a building"? Well, it would depend on what branch they were from.

If you told Navy personnel to "secure a building," they would turn off the lights and lock the doors.

Marines would assault the building, capture it, and defend it with suppressive fire.

The Air Force, on the other hand, would take out a three-year lease with an option to buy.

Of course the Army didn't make the cut for that joke. My rant would've said something like that, and also would've been not have been too kind to the Air Force, like the joke. Maybe later.

Misplaced Zen

Genius me put my mp3 player in my lunch box for the walk from the car to the apartment last Friday. Yeah, cause it just wouldn't fit in my pocket, right? It shouldn't have been a problem because the lunch box was empty of everything except empty containers. Or so I thought. My mp3 player found a glop of yogurt to settle into for the night. Saturday when I brought it back to the car it didn't work. I managed to crack it open (wasn't sure that was possible) the next day and clean it out a bit. It struggled back to life after a lengthy charge, but the joystick is now sticky and a pain to use. 'Up' barely works and 'press-in' is screwed. And the other directions stick. Maybe with a little use it'll start working better. Or I'll just get a new one. Idiot.

Taste Test #1 - Blueberry Beers

Here is something new. A taste test! First up, what is my favorite blueberry flavored beer? Since I could only find three kinds in town, I figured this would be a good one to start with. Above we have our three contenders: Bar Harbor Blueberry Ale, Sea Dog Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale, and Wild Blue Blueberry Lager. I had bought six packs of each and saved one bottle for the test. I already knew which beer was going to lose because I had a hard time getting through those particular five bottles.



Here is what they looked like out the bottle. I poured them blindly, so I didn't know which was which until the test was done.

Beer #1 had the lightest color, and a light blueberry smell. Also the blueberry taste was subtle, but nice.

Beer #2 was red/purple and the smell was reminiscent of wine. It had a very overpoweringly strong and sweet flavor, and almost tasted like wine, too. I'm not much of a wine person. This is the one I know would lose. Other than the fact that this beer was just too sweet, I normally get a headache after having super sweet beers like this.

Beer #3 was not as fragrant as the first or second, but a blueberry smell was there. It smelled a little funny though. It is a little darker than the first. The blueberry flavor was not as sweet as the first or second and seemed a little bitter. That's not necessarily a bad thing but I preferred the flavor of beer #1.

My order of preference:

Sea Dog (Beer #1) - nice
Bar Harbor (Beer #3) - pretty good
Wild Blue (Beer #2) - yuck!

I have 8 IPAs (my favorite type of beer) ready for the next test. I was originally going to taste them all at once and save the leftovers, but even the simple test with the three beers above (really two since I knew one would lose) was really tough. So I will probably try them in groups of four (maybe three if I get another one) and have a second round for the winners.

The Ugly Beats @ Lamberts

As planned I went to Lamberts last night to see The Ugly Beats for the second time. I went to Eeyore's Birthday Party earlier in the day and wore my tie-died Eeyore's t-shirt. I think I may have stood out a bit. I was totally self conscious not having been to Lamberts before and not knowing where I could hide, or even where the restrooms were. I've heard of the place before from swing dancing class. I imagined the place to have a wide open dance floor based on that, but there couldn't be more than enough room for one or two couples to dance in front of the stage. This restaurant is probably a little too high class for me, and maybe for barbecue joints in general. The tap beer I bought was $6 when I would've guessed $4. Maybe that's why I think it too high class! It took forever to get that beer, too, BTW.

The first band was Nagel, consisting of a girl on keys, a girl lead vocalist, and guys on bass, guitar, and drums. The lead singer was really belting 'em out at times, very impressive. Sometimes it sounded like she was more shouting than singing, but that's nothing against her, it's just part of the song. She sang very well. And loudly, like I said! I was curious about the keyboard as it was an Alesis which is what I've been playing exclusively for over ten years now. Wow, I didn't realize that until I wrote it. I didn't recognize the keyboard model but it was small, probably a Micron? It really stood out in the mix too, more than the guitar which I could barely hear at times. That's a nice change of pace. All the band members were dressed very differently, enough for me to notice which must mean *very* different.

Since I've seen the Ugly Beats before, I'm beyond initial thoughts and into more details: keyboard is an Ace Tone. She still smiled alot but not as much as the first time, so I know she's not crazy. Lead singer plays a Fender Jaguar, a guitar I'd never heard of but I'm not that knowledgeable about guitars. The lead singer (rhythm guitar), lead guitar, and drummer all sang lead for at least a song. The drummer had two toms none of which were supported by the bass drum, which for some reason I really liked--it keeps all the drums isolated from each other, right? The other guitar player plays left handed.

The lead singer and bass player wandered out into the crowd like last time, only this time they were right next to me. I deserved it, since I think I was the only guy dancing the whole time. They surprised me during the last song when the bass player handed off the bass to another musician mid song without skipping a beat, then proceeded to play tamborine for a bit and then do push-ups on stage. They are my favorite Austin band now. I don't know if it's because I really like their music or that I've really familiar with almost all their stuff now, probably a bit of both. They are in LA this week so if you are in that area, go check them out!

I start to lose track after their set, but they had a guest musician along with members of the first two bands playing surf music. I guess the guest musician was somewhat of an inspiration to those musicians. Lastly Death Valley (again composed of members of the first two bands) played more surf music, which sounded great but started to put me to sleep after fifteen minutes or so. If I was sitting down I'd be head bobbing like I saw someone else doing. Maybe I was visualizing the rolling surf, sea breeze, and sun wearing me out. In that case, the music was dead on.

John Lennon Hoot Night

Last Saturday night I couldn't go out cause I had to go to the cable public access channel to record some video for the band. As it was cable public access, I'm sure you can imagine how frustrating it was. So I had to make up for it Sunday, and went down to Ruta Maya to see John Lennon Hoot Night. A month ago if you asked me what a hoot night was I couldn't have told you what that meant. It is a bunch of bands playing covers by one artist. In this case the artist was John Lennon.

I was curious how they would get bands on and off the stage quickly enough when every band is playing 20 minute sets. To make it faster, all bands used the same amps and drum set. During the time between bands, they had John Lennon related video playing, which was nice. They played parts of the Beatles movies but the video I remember now is the interview on the Mike Douglas show which they used in Forrest Gump.

When I first got there 3 Balls of Fire was playing an instrumental version of "Please Please Me." LZ Love was next with a couple audience participation songs including "Power to the People" and "Give Peace A Chance." They got the audience to sing along a little, but it died off pretty quickly for Austin I thought. The Story Of was really the highlight of the night for me and many others. They played "Dear Prudence" which I've played a lot myself since it's a favorite of a former bandmate turned professor. "All You Need is Love" was the high point as they augmented their lineup with a brass section and about 30 balloons which we tossed around the whole song and later.

Golden Bear made me happy because they played "Watching the Wheels"--one of my favorites. I really wanted to hear the authentic piano part but I'll forgive the guy because of the nature of the event. I just think it's so much more fun with all the small licks and stuff. They also played "Whatever gets you through the Night" which was alright, 'salright.

The Boxing Lesson was next. I know I haven't enjoyed their music very much in the past but I liked their versions of "Run For Your Life" and "I Want U." Nic Armstrong played "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite" which is a pretty gutsy choice with everything that goes on in the original. Of course they didn't reproduce all that stuff but it sounded pretty good. I told myself before I got there that I would leave after "You Can't Do That," another one of my favorites, so I did after Shapes Have Fangs played it. I saw that band at Mohawk awhile ago and hope to see them again soon. Now that I review the setlist I noticed the next band was playing "Tell Me Why" and I kinda wish I stayed around for that.

This Week

This week went pretty fast. Work was busy and the nights that I had nothing going on I felt like crap and slept. Wednesday we had a refreshingly different gig where we only had to play one set instead of three, so it was nice to show up later than usual. It would've been nice to leave earlier than usual if I hadn't decided to take advantage of the leftover free beer tickets. We played at Rock City Ice House which is a new place by Highland Mall. It used to be a Mexican restaurant. I think it's a great live venue because they've put in a nice three foot stage with stairs on both ends, they have a wide open floor, an appropriately placed sound booth, and best of all straight back from the stage they have two garage doors open to a patio where you can sit outside and still see and hear the band well. The owners are dooming themselves by charging a cover on a Wednesday night. Not only is it the wrong night, but also the wrong area of town and the wrong age of a club to be charging a cover. There was no one there and I'm sure they didn't make any more money because of the bands. We didn't get paid anything other than free beer so they didn't lose money because of us, but they didn't make any more. They need to let people in for free until they get a good reputation.

Thursday I felt like crap again.

Friday I planned on seeing a whole bunch of good bands at The Mohawk, playing on both the indoor and outdoor stages, but I got stuck at LJ's while a heavy thunderstorm was going on outside. I didn't end up seeing anything, but tonight I plan on seeing The Ugly Beats at Lambert's.

Record Store Day

Last Saturday I did my part for Record Store Day. I had heard about it and then Brownie reminded me with his post. In Austin, they took out an ad in the alt weekly showing all 11 or so local record stores that were participating. If you had a receipt from one store, you got a discount at the others, so I participated in their tour. Even better, I did it by motorcycle. I have not been to hardly any local stores so I took this opportunity to check out a few. First I went to Encore Video & Music where I was lucky enough to see a few tunes by a live band, the Hush Sound from Chicago who is touring with Panic at the Disco. This place is ok, but it's pretty cramped, even when there isn't many people there. I bought a DVD.

Next I went to Antone's music and bought the other Ugly Beats CD. This place is small and has a lot of vinyl. They had Record Store Day giveaway bags so I got one here. Kinda hard fitting a 12" LP in my little saddle bag.

Next I went to Waterloo Records. I've been there many times, so not too exciting. I bought the latest What Made Milwaukee Famous CD.

Lastly, I went to End of an Ear on S 1st. I was running out of ideas for things to buy, so I didn't end up getting anything here. Every store has a local music section with tons of local band stuff, but I couldn't find any TSO CDs I'd decided to buy. Gagger, what's up with that?

Local stores, local music, local politics. All more important than national stores, national music, national politics. Maybe I will write a longer entry on that.

Last Tuesday - Mission District again

I survived that weekend in San Francisco, and while in retrospect maybe that last story wasn't all that interesting, it's an experience I won't forget. With only two nights left in the area--maybe for a long time--I was determined to go back to San Francisco and press my luck again. Monday night I didn't, instead recuperating in Santa Clara and having the Global Thermonuclear wings at University Chicken, which no longer make me cry, sweat, or even sniffle. Some new chick customer was there and I talked her out of trying the 911 challenge, not because of the mouth hotness but because of the stomach issues that can occur only a few minutes after ingestion. She wasn't an amateur though because she did have the Global wings like I did and handled them pretty well. Her friends were having a bit of trouble with them, though.

Tuesday I headed up to the Mission District again and experienced more of my typical stupidness. I didn't want to do the half an hour walk/run again so I transferred onto BART from Caltrain. A one way trip takes about two hours, which when you start heading up there at 7 pm means you only have about 2.5 hours to spend up there before spending another 2 hours getting back home. I really wanted to go I guess! Part of my stupidness was wasting time once I got there. I had looked at the bar/band list before leaving but forgot to take it with me. Being a Tuesday it was very hard to find an SF Weekly but I finally found one at Safeway after walking around in circles (and having a warm-up beer at Delirium) about an hour after I got there. I chose to take BART back south a stop where there were three or so places to choose from at Mission & Valencia.

I chose The Knockout which had a nice cartoon of a guy drinking on their sign and a tricky to figure out door. Even though I could only stay a little more than a half an hour at this point, I got to see a full set by one band from west Oakland (I didn't catch their name). Yeah, their set was short. The bartenders were characters that I found quite amusing. One was older than me and was complaining about the death metal that the DJ was playing, something about it not being real music. Then they were both wondering about the amps the band was setting up, which seemed a bit excessive for the size of this small place. Somehting like "What's with all the amps? There's like five people here!" I liked the band alright, they were two guys, one on bass and one on drums. The bass had effects on it enough that I was fooled into thinking I was hearing guitar at first. It reminded me of Monotonix which just had one guitar player who fed two amps making it sound like guitar and bass. There actually was a pretty good crowd for the size of the place, maybe a dozen people gathered in front of the stage. The songs were short and original enough. Both guys sang. It seemed like only fifteen minutes or so and then the older bartender decided he had enough and told them they were done! They played one more song, which didn't anger the bartender more but he was glad when it was over. Then I had to leave and I was chuckling on the way out from the bartender/band interaction.

Now came the challenge of getting back home. Before I left the BART station to see the show, I studied the timetable and even asked the info guy about getting down to Caltrain because the timetable was a little confusing. He was completely wrong with the information he gave me, saying that any BART going to the airport does not continue on to Millibrae where the Caltrain connection is. Thankfully, I trusted my instincts and timetable reading ability instead, because that's exactly what that train did. I made the transfer successfully and was in bed by 2 am, a full 7 hours before I had to be at work. One thing to note about BART: as it speeds up it sounds just like the ascending synth part in "Blinded by the Light" in Manfred Mann's version of the song. Next time you hear the song you'll know what I mean. BART is very loud. Caltrain is quiet. That's the end of my trip. Wednesday evening I left for home from work.

Last Saturday/Sunday - Conclusion

It looks like my plan to keep you all in suspense worked--for maybe two or three people, anyway. Good enough! Before writing that last entry, I debated whether I should tell the rest of this, because it might have been stupid and dangerous--but is so typically me that I ought to write it here.

When we last left myself, I was headed to the train from a show in the Mission District. I gave myself about half an hour since that was how long it took to walk to where I was. I was halfway between two stations: one at the end of the line, and one further south. The one further south had a later departure time of course, so I decided to head that way. I'd only seen the station from the train, but I did notice key features about the stop as I passed through on the way up, such as the fact that it was below street level (most of the other stops aren't). I walked, then jogged, in the general direction of the stop. It was on a numbered street so I knew I should be able to find it easy enough. I went south until I got to 22nd, then headed east. What I didn't plan on were the hills! I had to run up and down two hills to get to the area where the stop was, and that was a workout I hadn't planned on. I was wearing jeans, but it could've been worse since at least I had a t-shirt and running shoes on. So I get a couple of blocks from the bay and I'm thinking that I should've gotten to the stop by then. I only have a minute or two to spare so I start yelling at people across the street if they can tell me where the train is. Everyone tells me where the street car is, which I'd already seen, but no one knows where Caltrain is. I'm not sure I asked for it specifically by name, so it might have been my fault. On the other hand, people that live in San Francisco and that are out at midnight probably have never needed to know where Caltrain is, so I still can't blame them. After a few more minutes, I know for sure that I've missed the last train, and I'm screwed. I don't think about that for long, because the people I've been asking have just left a bar across the street, Retox Lounge, where another band is playing!

I liked this place, too. It took me until getting into the basement, but at that point I realized that they are airplane themed. The seats against one wall downstairs are airplane seats, against the other wall is the fuselage of a plane, and they have lights set up that blink in a row through the windows from behind as if the plane is headed down the runway. Upstairs, the restroom is completely metal which may not be like airplanes today but was just like the submarines I served on.

I got in all sweaty and had some water before having a beer. Some homeless looking guy with a dog was telling me how he found this dog that day tied to a pole all day and finally decided to rescue it. After a bit I realized there was a band playing downstairs so I went down to check them out. The downstairs was a real basement. I mean, the band had to load in and out up the same narrow staircase I went down. Downstairs the ceiling was low, no windows or obvious other exits. I wonder if this is up to firecode? Maybe I shouldn't write this, I might get them busted! I enjoyed the band, they had some synth as well as the normal stuff. The only thing I didn't like was that they used a drum machine, probably because I was used to seeing real drummers all night. The last couple of songs they had a chick playing along on real drums (set up the whole time) to the drum machine, so I wonder why they needed the drum machine at all.

After the show I went upstairs where the homeless guy was telling a girl the same story. She was gutsy enough to call him out on something I hadn't earlier. He kept saying how he would take a nap, wake up, and see the dog still tied to the pole. But his naps ended at 2 pm and 6 pm. So I was thinking (as she was): did you sleep all day? She actually asked him that, but I don't remember his answer. Sorry!

I feel somewhat proud that I wasn't fretting at all about my transporation situation. Is that a bad thing? I guess I think getting myself into a situation like this is going to get me killed someday. I left the bar, where I realized I ended up on 20th St due to non-continuous east-west roads instead of 22nd. I made my way down to the station and debated waiting there until the next train, sometime after 8 am. I soon realized being somewhere like this alone was probably not the best idea, and I headed back to the Mission District in search of a hotel to spend the night. I just noticed today that while I was wandering somewhere near Cesar Chavez that I was only a block or two away from the home of the Mythbusters, cool!

The only non-seedy hotel I found during my walk didn't have any rooms, so I kept walking. So, I kept walking. Good exercise anyway, right? Before I knew it I was downtown, and all the hotels I passed looked to fancy/expensive or probably unwilling to take some idiot off the street. At least I felt safer, because the area was well lighted and there were people about--even non-homeless looking types. By 5 am I was at the Embarcadero, whatever that is. It was close to Caltrain anyway. I walked around in circles for a bit, had a McSkillet Burrito at McD's when they opened, and waited for the train which left at 8 am. The last half an hour waiting was brutal. I was so out of it. But I got on the train, got off at my stop at 9:30, and was in bed at my hotel at 10:00. I slept all day, so I missed a good day of unseasonal warmth and sunshine, but the sleep and stupid story is worth it I suppose. I did laundry and had a kebob Sunday night, but that's about it.

A normal person would've called a cab after missing their train, and took it to a non-vacant hotel. But I guess I'm too fiercly independent to rely on anything like that. Anyway, I'm alive, and got to see all of downtown San Francisco for nothing, so I have nothing to complain about. I just mapped out my total route, and I walk/ran more than a half marathon that day, not too bad!

Last Saturday - Mission District

I was in the bay area for work about two months last year, but I only went to San Francisco one day for a baseball game. Why, why, why? San Jose was fun, and I got to know sleepy Santa Clara really well, but why didn't I get up to San Francisco more often? I've been asking myself this since last Saturday, when I headed up to the Mission District to see what was up. Continuing my normal behavior of strange self deprivation, I didn't rent a car and went up on Caltrain. I got off at the last station where AT&T Park is, and didn't immediately know where I'd head next. I decided to go to an intersection mentioned in the lyrics of my favorite band. Why not? After a half hour or so I ended up at Delirium Cocktails on 16th Street where I had a bunch of happy hour 2.50 Lagunita IPAs. The bar and area reminded me of Austin somewhat, so I knew I must be somewhere pretty cool.

I had a copy of SF Weekly, so I had the addresses of places with shows going on, but I didn't have a map. Some people at the bar were helpful as far as telling me where places were, but when it came down to it I wanted to be sure I didn't get lost so I headed somewhere on that same street. It was a Mexican restaurant called El Rincon, and three bands were playing that night. The girl taking money at the door was very nice, and asked me who I was there to see. It factored into how much each band got paid. I told her I didn't know, but she said to make sure and cast my vote before I left. The first band consisting of a guy/girl acoustic duo and they were already playing. Unfortunately, I was out of money and the place had no ATM, so the girl directed me up the hill to Safeway. By the time I got back, they had only a few songs left to play so I didn't get a good feel for their music.

The second band, DownDownDown was obviously who everyone was there to see, because the area in front of the stage went from empty to a decent sized crowd instantly once they started playing. I enjoyed a Hemp Ale or two as they played, first from the bar and eventually from the back of the crowd. Five members in this band, four guys and a girl. Bass, guitar, and drums always playing and sometimes the guy and girl only singing but sometimes playing keyboard and guitar and probably other instruments I'm forgetting. They had quite a bit of equipment, including a huge mixer and several boxed lights which were controlled via pedals by one of the band members. They did some cool falsetto stuff and some creative song morphing into "Burnin' For You" and "Killing Me Softly" during separate original songs. Their set seemed really short--I definitely wanted more. I bought their EP and talked to the lead singer for a bit during the next band's set. Sometimes I wonder if I come across as too drunk or annoying when I talk to the bands, but hopefully instead I'm somewhat interesting to talk to since I tell them specific things I liked or didn't like rather than a generic "you guys were great." In this case, I told him how I liked the song morphing and that I always planned on doing something like that in a band.

I have to mention this short blond haired girl who was there for the DownDownDown show. She was so happy! She wasn't so much dancing to the music, but several times she would see someone she knew across the bar, smile, and skip and jump over to them to give them a hug. Very cute. Unfortunately she left before I could say hi.

The third band was OK but pretty conventional. The guitar player was just playing chords along with the bass notes, so not very interesting. And, the area in front of the stage cleared out after DownDownDown. I had to leave in the middle of their set to catch the last train, so I stopped at the door to register my vote for the second band, and headed out. Here is where things get a bit ridiculous--stay tuned.

Last Thursday - Downtown San Jose

Finally I'm getting around to writing about my trip before I forget it. I got back late last night and had band practice after work today, so I still haven't caught a break yet. I'm hoping I don't collapse tomorrow night and am able to get dowwntown for some Austin music!

Last Thursday I made it out of Santa Clara and walked to downtown San Jose. I had some wings and watched the last period of the Sharks game, which was going on at the HP Pavilion less than a mile away. It was a lot of fun watching it with the hometown fans, and the Sharks won. I decided I would try to get to a game before leaving CA, but it turns out they weren't playing in town again until last night.

After that, I went to Johnny V's nearby. This place features a lot of local music, which I like to see. Unfortunately for the bands, I think I was one of only two or three people there that wasn't a member of one of the three bands playing that night. The place is small, and the stage isn't ideal. It's less than a foot high which is no big deal, but it is square and in a corner which results in the drums getting obscured by everything else (amps!) that are placed in front of them. The first band was Stella Royale from San Francisco. Three guys on bass, guitar, and drums, and a girl on trumpet, tambourine, and french horn. You know I love unique instruments so I enjoyed this band. There were several times where the electric guitar and trumpet were playing solos in unison, which was interesting sounding with each note being slightly in tune then out of tune between the instruments. Later on they played solos in harmony which was just as interesting sounding. I have in my notes that they had a song sounding similar to "If You Could Only See" by Tonic, but I can't remember really what their song sounded like. However, I still have a riff from a song stuck in my head from one of their last songs, which for some reason reminded me of Devo but wasn't a copy of any of their songs. After a few days of having it stuck in my head I tried to find it online, but didn't have any luck. I think I'm going to have to write them so I can get a recording. Also worth noting is the guitar player playing slide guitar against the microphone stand. It's probably not that original, but I can't remember ever seeing anyone doing that before, so it's original enough to me!

I didn't catch the name of the second band. Their drummer was even more obscured by amplifiers. I couldn't see him or his drumset at all except for one cymbal. The lead singer looked like Michael Cera from Superbad. He played in front of the stage instead of on it. It's not like there wasn't plenty of space for them to expand. They were more animated than the first band, but I didn't like their music quite as much. Both the guitar player and bass player had what I'm calling "incremental" pedal boards, i.e. it seemed to me that they bought pedals individually over a long period of time and ended up with this big contraption all chained together. Not judging, in fact I think it is probably cooler looking and maybe sounding then getting an all in one effects deal like I have. They were echoey in a U2 kind of way, which was alright. Their music got better near the end of the set.

The last band was Callow. Maybe I wasn't paying attention earlier, but they were the only ones with CD's for distribution (free!) so I got one. I remember listening to some music off their myspace page before going downtown and being a little put off by the leader singer's vocals, but I have since gotten used to it and now think his voice is one of their assets due to its uniqueness. I was impressed by the lead singers deliberate guitar playing technique. The drummer impressed me more though. For some reason his fills caught my attention more than most do. We got them to play an encore, which was almost silly since the other bands had cleared out and the audience consisted of me, the bartender, the sound guy, and maybe two other customers. I felt bad that there weren't more people there, but I did my part! I talked to the bass player after the show about the usual stuff, music, Austin, etc. I liked their music but haven't had the chance to listen to their CD more than once since.

Week in California

Monday I actually hung out with co-workers and had a decent time. We went to a local bar to watch the tournament championship game. I picked Memphis to win, so I lost, but it was a fun game to watch even as Memphis blew it going into overtime. I also scored some Widmers gear.

Tuesday and Wednesday I got back from work and dinner in a funk and ended up not doing anything and getting a lot of sleep. Of course I knew the cure for it, but didn't execute the cure until Thursday, when I went for a nice two mile run after I got back to the hotel. That gave me enough energy to get out and see a show, on which I'll post another entry. Friday I also tried to see some music, but didn't want to go far and didn't find anything close. Saturday I finally headed up to San Francisco--another entry on that soon also.

Ready to Go

I did make it downtown last night, but just barely. It was already 11 and I had to force myself out the door. Because of the lateness, I didn't go to a real show and went to LJ's instead. I had forgotten that they sometimes have music on Thursday nights, and they did this time. It was crowded, and I didn't get a bar stool for awhile. Most people weren't paying much attention to the band. The bartenders and I weren't impressed. Their lineup was different enough--cello, acoustic guitar, mandolin, and saw, but all you could really hear was the guitar and cello. I have a feeling they may have had the other "interesting" instruments turned up louder before I got there, but there were some bad feedback problems when I arrived which is probably why they were turned down. It was a bunch of cellos playing bass on 1 and 3 and guitar chords on 2 and 4, kind of a slow oompah, quite dirge-like. Very depressing. To make things worse, all of the performers wore a sort of paper mache mask, so you couldn't see their faces except for their mouths. So, they couldn't really emotionally connect with eachother, much less the audience. At least I scored a free beer. The beer is getting better with the new brewer, you should try coming back. Maybe not on a Thursday though.

I'm kinda glad it sucked, because now I won't feel so bad about leaving Austin for a bit.

Stayed In

I was having trouble last night choosing between The Ugly Beats at the Beauty Bar and Eisley at Antone's. But, I was too tired to do either and was in bed by 10. I hope I will go out tonight because I won't have a chance to in Austin again until two weeks from now.

Two Gigs, Two Days

For the first time ever, I think, I have a gig on Friday and Saturday this week. The one on Friday is actually within the city limits. I hadn't really thought about telling anyone about them. Maybe after seeing all this real, original music lately it feels more embarrassing being in a cover band. But, I am definitely improving on guitar, so it is still plenty worthwhile for me. Even better, we have a new drummer who is ten times better than our old one. We never would've fired the old one except that he was unwilling to work with us on (or even discuss) song problems that happened over and over again, some for the last FIVE years, apparently. But all's well that ends well, and it has ended well for us. We are already so much tighter, and it looks like our embarrassing live moments are a thing of the past.

My live music addiction has me planning ahead. Since I'll be occupied Friday and Saturday, and flying to CA on Sunday, I will have to see something on Wednesday or Thursday. Even though I just saw them, I might see the Ugly Beats again tomorrow.