gabedouglas

friday was cloud cult and halloween alaska.
they had a band called captain yonder open. they sucked. a lot.
halloween, alaska sounded great. jake hanson (from cowboy curtis & superdanger) now does some guitar and background vox work, which helps fill-in the layering stuff they do.
great set, did a remix of ‘call it clear’, i don’t think i was a fan, but the rest of the set was solid.
cloud cult did great. they brought in some of their own lighting rig, which made it all the more ethereal. they played an ENTIRELY different set list then duluth, which made me smile. i mean a lot of overlapping songs, but different order, different songs too, different jams, just good times.
sidenote: they all were huddled together as a band putting their cd inserts into recycled jewel cases before the show. very warming moment.

wednesday was harvey danger. my number seven all time band.
AMAZING. everything you could ask for.
- good company.
- cheap beer. ($3 Old Style pounders)
*sorta like old times at luce, with $2 PBR pounders before they became the scenester beer. but i remember being belligerent for the likes of the hold steady, olympic hopefuls, black eyed snakes, little black books, crew jones, atmosphere, heiruspecs, black labels, and the such.
- good opener. (so many dynamos)
- weird opener. (matt jennings, who after doing internet research, i am know 95% sure he is mason jennings brother, who is more of a poor man’s emilio estevez to his brother’s charlie sheen.)
and no, i don’t think charlie sheen is a good actor, AT ALL.
harvey danger played a long set, and played everything i wanted (including a stripped down, keys version of ‘jack the lion’), except ‘woolly muffler’ which they said they couldn’t play. so i can live with that. i was impressed with the general cohesiveness of this off/on/off/on band. sean reminds me of a great poet who decided it was in his best interest to go into music. and he was dead-on. his lyrics, his delivery.. very potent. just lethal doses of whatever he is giving away.
love every minute of that show.

my first show at the 400 bar. i came in with lower expectations than were needed, because it was actually a decent venue, especially for a medium-sized crowd. i could see it becoming a trainwreck if there were 200+ people in there. dimly light, well-painted, musical knick knacks, the tellings of a decent club. the PA wasn’t amazing, but it was better than other bars i’d compare to it too.. (ie - the uptown, hexagon, nomad)

A nice intimate setting for my favorite current band.

Not the radio station, mind you, but currently as in the passing of time.

They played a solid set, spanning all their albums and throwing 3 or 4 new songs into the mix. It still amazes me the passion that comes from all the songs. Just unreal.

nu-metal.

shudder.

ALTHOUGH the bands were good people.

I cannot get behind this scene at all. Monster Magnet shall live on forever in one form or another I guess.

I only knew Starsailor from their song, “Good Souls” from Way back in the day, I’m thinking 2000ish. Anyways dug that song, and thought they were one of the instrumental bands in bringing the whole piano-indie-layered-euro over to the states. Shortly after I heard “Good Souls” is when i started to hear the tremors of a band called Coldplay.

Their entire set was very well layered-wall-of-sound stuff. Not The Who wall-of-sound, but a very dense and rhythmic wall-of-sound. I really enjoyed it, they’d build it up and strip it down with ease and precision.

Good solid show.

The Pope said in some sort of news conference that Jesus Christ was the only way to Heaven in some words. This should not come as a shock to anyone. He is the highest ranking official in the Catholic church, that’s what he’s there to do.

Muslims become enraged and burn flags in the streets. A nun is killed.
Talk radio reports that Muslims have a double standard, that it is okay for them to react in violence but no one else.

I take the most beef with why they are so up in arms about the whole matter. Christianity has been here for awhile. It’s not like this is late-breaking news about the thoughts of the Pope. I’m sure he could have worded it differently, made it more politically correct, but I think it’s refreshing to hear someone be honest about their beliefs.

I only hope that they both realize that they are all fighting the same fight, breathing the same air, hopefully trying to be great people to this earth and its inhabitants.

I don’t care what anyone else says, laying in bed perfectly healthy enough, tons of things that should have been done.. just laying in bed and listening to music is the life.

If I ever won the lottery I’d do lots of travelling, but in between travelling, I’d be laying around listening to music, wondering where these melodies came to these people, wondering what these lyrics mean to my friends on the West Coast, if the liner notes are in Spanish in Spain.. if Spain has even encountered this kind of music.

And I hope. I hope someone else is laying on their bed listening. It doesn’t even have to be listening intently, like a lecture or a serious discussion. Let your mind wonder in and around the music. Wonder how you are track 7 of this playlist and it had only just started.

And I share. I share this with you. Take a breath and put in your favorite CD. Put your computer on random or try to find your next audio obsession on pure volume.
And listen. (You can even fold laundry or do some light re-arranging)
And if you feel real motivated, throw on some stereo headphones for a few songs, listen to what technology has given you. A musician in Stereo Sound especially for you.