Café est très importante

Getting locked out of my apartment last night - due in large part to my own forgetfulness and partially an apartment manager lacking in the awesome category - caused me to spend the the night at Grant's place.  The irony of the situation is that this morning, the doorknob to his spare room ended up malfunctioning, trapping me in the apartment.  20 minutes, MacGuyvering a zip tie as a screwdriver,  and a window escape later, I was finally out, and enjoying his snazzy Tassimo Suprema espresso maker, a welcome boon to my morning.

Another welcome coffee-esque addition to my day has been the realization that I'll be seeing Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, Fresh Espresso and Helladope this weekend with Ace!  For those of you not able to go to the show (sorry Sash, Les, Curty), you should enjoy this vid of new musiks by Fresh Espresso instead

Givers and (Show) Takers

Oddly enough, last night was my first show of 2011, but it certainly did not disappoint!  I went with two of my bestest concert buds, Tron and the Felarcanator.  Was also supposed to meet up with the roomie, but we continued our trend of Not Seeing Each Other, Ever.  Anyway, tickets were originally purchased due to the fact that Ra Ra Riot was headlining, and well...duh, but it had the added benefit of showcasing Pepper Rabbit (who I saw with Freelance Whales late last year) and some random other band, Givers.

Pepper Rabbit kicked the night off, and I enjoyed them from the balcony, whiskey ginger in hand.  They had quite the crowd watching, as you can see...normally opening acts at Neumos have 2 or 3 rows at the front and an empty backfield as people try and consume as many libations as possible before the headliners come on.  The Los Angeles based band is certainly worth checking out if you get a chance.

Next came the Givers, which imho were clearly the stars of the night.  From Lafayette, Louisiana, they had a great indie pop dance sound.  Super high energy, the drummer was a beast, and Tiffany, the girl of the group was a real show stopper.  She played the xylophone, drums and a ukulele and was very good at all of them (particularly the drums). You can tell they're still in the process of refining their music and have made vast strides since the release of their EP, to what today's version of Up Up Up sounds like.  Full album coming out soon...should be some really good stuff!

After the Givers left the stage, Ra Ra Riot came on.  Don't let me give you the impression that they were a bad show, au contraire, they certainly put on quite the performance.  They played some older stuff and some songs off The Rhumb Line, which I was more familiar with.  The cellist and violinist, both women, were not only quite formidable string players, they were also rather attractive (bonus!), each in their own way, a sultry cellist with a great voice, and the super upbeat cute girl next door violist who must have snapped 30+ horsehairs on her bow, given the fervor with which she played.   Their encore, fantastique aussi!

                     

I'll be in Cali for 10 days at the beginning of Feb, spending time with the ToA, but when I get back, it's Smith Westerns, Macklemore, Fresh Espresso, Girl Talk, The Naked & Famous and the Foals (tell me you're not jealous and I won't believe you).  I'm going to try and get my D90 in and get some real shots, rather than this iPhone garbage...

The Kids Are Disco Dancing

Time is a funny thing. Sometimes it feels like it speeds right by, and other times its amazing how far away things seem. I've always used music as a way to measure time, both specific moments in history (like a cover of 'Friday I'm in Love' by Aqualung, or Jamie Lidell's 'Multiply') and as a barometer of how my musical taste has evolved over the years. Nothing drew that in such sharp relief like Thanksgiving weekend did, when a friend who used to only listen to Jay-Z as far as I'm concerned, excitedly asked me about the Limousine song that popped up on my playlist.

Which gets me to the point of this post. The Limousines opened for Weezer's Time Machine tour on Tuesday, and Matty was awesome enough to let me come to the Pinkerton show with him. Weezer played one song from every album starting at Hurley and working their way back, finishing the night by playing the entire Pinkerton album end to end. The last time I saw Weezer, I was a freshman in college, still figuring out who I was and what I wanted to be. Rocking out on Tuesday, I realized that I still have no idea about either, but I know I've listened to some awesome music with some incredible friends and I'm really okay with not knowing the rest of it.

Internet Killed The Video Star by TheLimousines

STARS

Sach, Weits, the future Doctor, Lunch, and I are going to the Stars show tonight. While this isn't out of the ordinary, our planning email string about meeting up before, paying people back for tickets, and general concert logistics, has turned into some fantastic comedy. My favorite so far: "Bitches in Tokyo --how much/who do I owe for my ticket? ... in other news, C, Your Ex-Lover is Dead. prepare your Celebration Guns." Now excuse me, I have to go respond to This Charming Man before Wasted Daylight.

fun.

So Mat had last minute tickets to the fun. and Steel Train show last night, which was a pretty great way to celebrate a huge Game 1 victory. I think that the lead singer sounds a lot like Freddie Mercury if he decided to start a little happy pop sounding rock band, and these guys definitely put on a great live show

Ratatat and DOM tonight

I'm going to the Ratatat show tonight at the Warfield and while I was already excited to bust some moves there, I just realized that Dom is opening. My local friends have recently accused me of being a little into what they deem 'electro' music, but I think what they mean to accuse me of is a penchant for the synth-pop chillwave movement. Hipster accusations and labels aside, Dom has a reputation for putting on a memorable live show, and with giant hooks like 'It's so sexy to be living in America' who doesn't want to put on their skinny jeans and bust some dance moves? Wish you were here Dowks!

DOM - Living In America by TLOBF