1.Superbad

We went to see the movie Superbad on Friday. While it might be one of the most vulgar movies in recent memory it is also one of the more funnier movies I have seen a while. They movie kept things coming non-stop. They did a good job of only letting the movie slow down for you to catch your breath in between laughs.  This is one of those movies that I love but would reccomend to people with a grain of salt.

2.Coalesce

On Saturday, Rors and I ventured to Lawrence with a few other friends to see the reformed Coalesce. It was probably pretty close to the 10 year anniversary of the first time I saw them at the South Park Community Center in Lawrence with the Get Up Kids. Coalesce was everything I remembered. Jess the guitarist was as bad ass as ever. They are the kind of band that just kind of lose themselves in what they are doing seem to totally forget the crowd is there excpet to egg them on.  Hopefully they will keep going and keep releasing new material. I really don’t enjoy hardcore music like I used to but Coalesce is one of the reason why I don’t like too many other bands in the genre.

3. The Propisition

This is Western set in Australia in early 1900’s. The movie was written by the musician Nick Cave. As far as western goes there is a lot packed into this movie. Its not constant thrill ride like some westerns but when the action kicks in its really there.  There are a few moments that are fairly gruesome but they do a great job of making the movie feel like it is an actual retelling of a story vs what is added to a story to make it more entertaining.

On a related side note after all the previews were over I thought to myself how many movies do we need to have coming out that have some sort of Middle Eastern conflict in them. I know election year is right around the corner and both sides want you to think about whether we did the right thing over there but do we really need 3-5 movies coming out about it all?  My vote is No.

Yeah you read it right Hall and Oats. I always would have thought this band was extremely cheesey. But lately I have been rocking She’s Gone like 4-5 times a day.  For the most part I just kind of skip around on the essiatial collection.  My friends Dan and Jimmy did some karoake of Hall & Oats recently and it totally got me interested.

I have been an Otis Redding fan since I was a kid. Pretty much all I was allowed to listen to growing up as a kid was oldies. There aren’t too many things I really listen to from that time period anymore. I still find myself wanting to listening to Otis. The dude knew how to really sing and really get ahold of song and put the right kind of feeling behind the words.  I don’t know that I will still be listening to Hall & Oats for the rest of my life but I am fairly sure that I will have Otis on a player for the rest of my days.

Last week I saw St. Vincent who I have been extremely excited about since I heard about her last year. She took her sweet time putting out her debut record. But really it was well worth the wait. It was a pleasure seeing her at a club like Record Bar. She soon enough will be playing in theatre’s and much larger venues.

Another sorely under rated band is Colour Revolt. They played first on a 3 band bill but to me their music was fresher then the 2 bands following them. They have this cursive meets modest mouse meets the south feeling that makes them one of the more interesting bands to follow. They played mostly new tunes that they said they would be recording in the coming months. The full length will surely be one of my most anticipated releases

On Saturday I went to see Republic Tigers. Some how I believed it would actually be an early show at Record Bar. So I get there was an hour to spare. Gave me a chance to catch up with the boys.  Watched sets by Actors and Actress and Lights and Siren. Both bands were solid. I hadn’t see Republic Tigers in a few months. So it was good to see how the boys were handling it. They are a much improved band. I think they are really coming into their own.

All and all it was a good weekend.

I was so happy about going to Hannibal on the way there to get my favorite root beer ever. But by the time we got there to Mark Twain Dinnette it was closed. It was disappointing. But we got to c-stone. It was good to see Mike and Mark for a few days. And it was amazing to have us all together. It was also amazing to see about 700 people watch Winston Jazz Routine play a perfect set. State Bird did amazing too. It was all around wonderful cornerstone for us.

Other highlights were Slam Dunk, The Paper Route, Page France, Discover America, Questions in Dialect, Foxhole. I don’t really think I saw a bad band this year. Mostly because I have learned to avoid them like the plague. Every year I kind of expect to hate cornerstone and every year I don’t really mind it. Its not the same as when I was younger but now that I have bands playing and get to fellowship with them while I am there I am happy for it.
See you again next year c-stone.

It all started a month ago with TV on the Radio. Gosh how was that a month ago. That seems like a lifetime ago. They were a great live band. It was at one of the casino which was wierd to see a show but I had a great time. I had bought the tickets for x-mas for my friend Micheal and I. We danced, drank, gambled and even broke into the hot tub. I can’t think of too many better nights.

Next up was a free “secret” show. I use the work secret pretty losely. Everyone seemed to know about this show ahead of time. Either way it was with Mewithoutyou. I have trouble complaing about a free show but the venue was about the worst choice for this city. They couldn’t have choose a worse place. I would have rather gone to the El Torreon. At least there I would have had to a chance to see the stage. All venue and sound problems aside Mewithoutyou sounded good. I am always waiting to see what they do next. Part of me hopes it something completely different. I will be happy with either. Sparta also played. I didn’t watch all of them but they sounded good. They had none of the sound problems of mewithoutyou and about half the crowd too. Either way they are a solid band.

I had nothing to do a Saturday night so I went to see my friends in Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk. I actually have this show on CD now. It sounds pretty good. It was an alright night a good time with a few friends.

Then just 2 days later I opened for the fablous Man Man. Thats right I opened for them. Your probably watching them open for Modest Mouse and going what the hell is this but oh well. They were tight and always switching instruments always doing something different, new, and crazy. But somehow it all held together as one of the best shows in awhile.

Up next a band from the label called State Bird came to town. I had the chance to play with them and lots of friends in a basement. I have always loved playing these kind of shows. Something about being on the same level as everyone watching you. The crude lighting. There just something so great about it. All the bands from that night were great. 10 Commandment Comeback, State Bird, and Baby Birds Don’t Drink Milk all put me to shame.

The next day State Bird was on a great bill. They were opening for the anniversary of local radio show Sonic Spectrum. Its by far the best radio show in this town. They played with the Caves, Minus Story, And Starlight Mints. I feel like every show I have seen with State Bird they have gotten better. Every show they have done has left me wanting to hear them play about 5-10 more songs. They have a great energy and with all the songs being about 3 minutes in lenth they get to play a lot in the 30-35 minutes they are on stage. I can’t wait to see their return with Winston Jazz Routine. Whether its here or at C-stone. It will be a good time. As always Minus Story was really great. I am super excited to hear the new record. I think its going to be really great.

After all those shows I was planning on breaking for a little a bit from shows. It didn’t really happen. The next Friday I was planning on seeing Neko Case. After some events of the day I ended up not going. I hear that it was amazing. But I did have the pleasure of catching Deerhunter and the Ponys. Both bands provided a great soundtrack to a night that included much drinking and catching up with friends.

And the final show was Open Hand. I wasn’t planning on seeing them at all. I had heard they played the night before and I was a slightly bummed I didn’t know about it. I maybe would have gone. But then I happened to be going to dinner at Record Bar and found out they were playing for free. I wasn’t dissapointed at all. They were probably the loudest band out of all of these and that is really saying something. I went to the bathroom during the set and it was just shaking.

It has been a good month of shows but i am glad to kick back for a bit. I don’t feel like I need to go to one for a little while. I can’t even think of the next one I am going to but i am guessing it will be soon. So much for being brief.

1. Stickers
Record Machine made some hot new stickers. I am pretty excited about these! VG kids is the shit. Hopefully soon I will have more good things to say about them.

2. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
I am glad it is still early in the year. Cause if things keep up this year is going to be amazing for releases. Indie are finally getting on the forefront. This year we have already had the Shins and now Arcade Fire go to number 2 on the Billboard Chart. The question is going to be who will be the one to chart at number 1?

Anyways all this says nothing about this record. This band is what people call a hype darling. Everybody was talking about them. They still haven’t pulled being on the cover of 2 major magazines the same month like the Boss but dang they are coming close. This record shreds some of abandon they had in their first record for some more concentrated efforts. While at first I was a little dissapointed I have really grown to love this record. There is a lot of Springsteen in this record.  While the energy isn’t the same from the first to the second I think I have come to realize its still just not as mature. I am glad that I know I have one record that should be in my top 10 for the year. I can’t wait for more.

3. 300

This movie was pure eye candy. Nothing about it looked real but it all was still very beautiful. I love that it was exetremely gore and that it didn’t even really register cause it was all so unrealistic. It was a good story and good to see Frank Miller getting to make the movies that he wants to make. I can’t wait for Sin City 2.

4. Amazing Grace

The movie not the song or the concept. It was a moving movie about the abolition fo the slave trade in England. Thankfully the US still doesn’t have slaves hopefully someday we can move past that and start treating people as equals. But this film wasn’t really about racism. The character of the man that wrote the song Amazing Grace was so interesting to me. He seemed quite mad but still all there. He was just so affected by the guilt of what he had done in the past he could barely move on. The movie was long but just the kind of film I need at the time.

5. New Flavor of Vitamin Water: Defense (Rasberry Apple)

Anyone that knows me know that I live off vitamin water. I am always drinking and always talking about how good it is. It is starting to get bigger in this area hopefully just cause I buy as many as I do, but somehow I think there are just  becoming a lot of other people like me. While Rasberry Apple might not sound like the best of combinations vitamin water does it again. Its an interesting blend of those flavors that don’t taste like you would expect but are still perfect. Its nice perky taste that isn’t too tart or too bland. Hopefully the rest of the flavors will start being seen around more. I really want to have the peach mango again which was actually the first flavor I have ever had and never seen again.

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I have been wanting and meaning to write about this cd for awhile now. But I have been delaying till I get the packaging. For the packaging alone this cd is worth buying. It is some of the most creative and inventive packaging I have ever seen. That is saying a lot; I have bought a lot of cds in my day. It all revolves around die-cuts that change scenes as you move the cd around in the tray. It is really quite beautiful.

Musically they are kind of mis mash of a lot of styles into one song. They jam pack as much as possible. Much like the Flaming Lips have a lot of upbeat orchestral synth moments but kind of tie their songs together similar to Namlessnumberheadman. You never really know where the song might go next but thats half the fun of it. It makes for the kind of listen that makes you want to start over each song if you have to pause cause you want to hear the previous part to it so badly. So much of the time I feel like I listen to the first song Musle N Flo over and over again. Seriously go get this cd now.