Two Years...

I miss you, Babydog...

 

Let Go Of Your Weather Balloon

Been feeling a little melancholy these past couple of days. I could probably blame it on this sudden change in weather. And I will as I am generally pretty happy these days. More so than I have been in a long time. So that's nice. It's been raining on and off this week and it hasn't done that in a while, so I'm sure that's all it is.

But I've been thinking back on such random things like past pieces of clothing that I owned and miss and wish I still possessed. So silly to long for clothing of days gone by, but I liked those clothes.

I've been having dreams upon dreams upon dreams lately, too. Every night just massive amounts of one dream to the next - and they are never all that interesting. Just random happenings filled with random people that I haven't spoken to in a long time. I'm sure that's adding to the melancholy.

I also haven't seen (or spoken) to my dad in a while and that just heaps on the guilt. I finally got a hold of him last night and sat on the phone for about 5 minutes, neither of us with anything to say. But he's difficult to chat with on the phone, so that's nothing new.

But, overall, things are on the up side lately and that makes everything a little easier.

I'm looking forward to a fun week next week filled with live music nearly every night, including a show of my own on Wednesday.

Busy times ahead over the next couple of months. This weekend I'll look to relax before the craziness begins.

For now, I'll leave you with this song. It's another one of those songs that, beyond just being a beautiful song, completely bowls me over. Like, I can't do anything while it plays. I don't know why or what makes it so different than other beautiful songs. But it just has that thing.

Things I Love Right Now

This post is entirely inspired by my purchase yesterday of this...

1. Scout Niblett's It's Up to Emma
Holy shit this album is amazing. It's like Rid of Me era PJ Harvey come back to life. Raw, grungy electric guitar, pounding drums, brutally honest vocals, sparse arrangements. Just...wow.



2. Cooler Weather
September is the best month. This morning I got up and put on a pair of leggings and my tall boots to go to the grocery store and there was a slight chill in the air and...it's the best. And it's still nice and warm in the afternoons and everything is still green. The best.

3. Lorde "Royals"
Yeah. Totally digging this song.



4. Katy Perry "Roar" & Miley Cyrus "We Can't Stop"
These, too. Sometimes pop music is just what you want.





5. My New Couch
We were without a couch for nearly a year. Don't ever live that way.

6. Robbie's Art
We took Robbie to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts Dog Days. They opened up the courtyard to dogs and had activities and Robbie painted this. He's so talented. I'm so proud.

Go Go Go

This past long Labor Day weekend felt like constant movement. Busy busy busy. But really, it wasn't. I just get worn down from social activity so quickly that even having a few obligations over a weekend can feel like I never stopped doing.

But it was a good weekend. A fun weekend. It was a three day weekend. And it felt like a whole week. Starting off the weekend last Friday by going to see a few of my friend's bands play and being out until 2:15am after working all day really made that day feel like an entire weekend had already passed. I woke up Saturday morning certain it was already Sunday.

The show I went to on Friday was super fun. A nice little reunion of people I hadn't seen in a while plus excellent music.

Catbath was one of the bands that I saw. Bass player is Kristin who is also in Middlepicker who I know I have mentioned on this site before. They were fantastic. Triple vocals, harmonies, all set to punkish yet melodic music. Really just excellent. This was my first time seeing them (and I think just their second show) and I'm excited to see them again soon.

 Catbath.

Next up were the Rank Strangers - one of my all-time favorites. When they play, you should go.

Rank Strangers.

And last but not least was Spacecamp. They never play and they should because they are really good. Super fun and catchy songs. 

Spacecamp.

 

Saturday was filled with errands. My husband took the hardest one, which was getting up early to take the car in for an oil change. We both then took the dog to the groomers. He's so handsome. He was in desperate need of a bath, though.

And then I finally got to go spend my birthday gift card to Electric Fetus. I'd been waiting for a whole week. It was driving me crazy. I was so behind on music purchases for the year, I was starting to get anxious about it. One of the perks of being a musician is that you get a lot of music from the bands you play with. So I always have new music to listen to. And that's awesome. But there are still national bands I listen to or am curious about and those are the ones I was after. Honestly, I really dislike buying a lot of music in bulk because it's hard to focus and really get into an album. But, I just had to buy everything that day. Or everything I could. They didn't have a couple of the things I really wanted. Like Scout Niblett's It's Up to Emma or the EP by Lorde (with the song "Royals". Love it). And I also forgot that the new Volcano Choir album doesn't come out until today and I didn't save money for it on the gift card, so I guess I'll be waiting a while to get that one.

Top row from the left: Joanna Newsom: The Milk Eyed Mender, Phosphorescent: Muchacho, Dark Dark Dark, Wild Go.

Bottom row form the left: John Grant: Pale Green Ghosts, Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City, Beach House: Bloom, Veronica Falls: Waiting for Something to Happen.

That's what I bought. Up there. I spent Saturday night listening to them in my music room. Mainly just doing a quick skim of them to see if any of them really jumped out at me. Right now the only ones that really grabbed my attention are the Phosphorescent and Dark Dark Dark albums. The Dark Dark Dark album is an older release of theirs that I had been wanting to get. I've really fallen in love with that band. I'm sure I'll have more to say about these in the future.

I also couldn't resist snapping this picture while I was at Electric Fetus. It's still just so weird:

Then Sunday we went back to the fair! I had said I wasn't going to go again after a long, hot day back on the first day of the fair...but I couldn't resist. I really wanted another cheese on a stick.

 

It's basically a corn dog, except there is cheese inside instead of meat.

And we had to see the goats.

And the cows. One mooed at me twice. We basically had a conversation.

And the, as always, the fair completely kicks my ass. Luckily, while out shopping on Saturday, I found Season 3 of the original Beverly Hills, 90210, so that kept me occupied and on the couch for the rest of the long weekend.

Except for last night.

Last night I had a show at the Amsterdam Bar opening for Reina del Cid during their ongoing Monday night residency.

Reina del Cid.

I was pretty much expecting an empty bar. With it being the Monday night of a holiday weekend, I knew most people would be pretty burnt out. But there was a good crowd in attendance, so that was a nice surprise. Shawn and I played a duo set so we go to do some songs we hadn't done in a while, which is always fun. I even pulled out "The Paul Simon Song" per request of Tony, our sound man. It's been at least a year - most likely longer - since I had played it. Shockingly, I remember it. Might have to break that one out again sometime.

Setlist for the Amsterdam Bar on 9/2/13

• Blind
• Adore
• The Party
• Can't Even Tell
• A Story
• Old Fashioned Hat (Anais Mitchell cover. I played it solo)
• Easy to Blame
• Flavor
• Beg, Borrow, or Steal
• Salt
• The Paul Simon Song (solo)

So, yeah. Busy, filling weekend. Short work week ahead. Good times.

 

Turf Club Birthday Show 8/23/13

I'm still recovering from the show on Friday as well as the week/weekend in general. It was Birthday Week after all and I really made sure to make it count. There was something going on most every day and I was quite exhausted most of the weekend.

The show at the Turf Club was great, though there were a couple of rough patches along the way. Bethany Larson and the Bee's Knees had to cancel as Bethany caught that awful summer cold that's going around and couldn't sing. I feel her pain. That thing sucked. Then right before we were to go on, my tenor guitar broke. It was supposed to make its debut on a new song of ours called "Where's the Fire?" that was also making its debut, but I went to tune it beforehand and the neck was all out of whack. Total bummer. I think (hope) it's fixable. We still played the song anyway - I just didn't play an instrument - which was weird for me. But also completely freeing and fun and I think the song is better without my guitar.

Prissy Clerks and Bomba de Luz were both awesome and I am so happy I got to play a show with both of them. They are both great bands you should check out.

 Prissy Clerks

 Bomba de Luz

Setlist for Turf Club Birthday Show 8/23/13

• Float
• Where's the Fire? (first time played!)
• Blue Whale (first time played with full band!)
• Lens
• Flavor
• Salt (now with drums!)
• I Guess This Is Called Moving On
• Beg, Borrow, or Steal
• Introvert
• Adore

We've got a bunch of shows coming up over the next month, so if you missed this one, there are more to come! And they are all FREE.

9/2 - Amsterdam Bar and Hall - St. Paul, MN (I might play this one solo)
9/17 - Hexagon Bar - Minneapolis, MN
9/25 - Kitty Cat Klub - Minneapolis, MN
10/2 - Harriet Brewing - Minneapolis, MN

Birthday Week!

This week is Birthday Week. It officially started yesterday. I kicked it off with a trip to Urgent Care to treat this incredibly annoying sinus infection. I spent over an hour waiting for a doctor to come in and take a quick look up my nose and tell me, "yep, sinus infection" and write me a prescription. The only reason I was there so long is because they lost my chart! I sat in the exam room for 45 minutes wondering what was taking so long. When I finally poked my head out to ask, no one knew I was in there because my chart was gone. Luckily they found it and no stranger walked off with all of my vitals.

But the rest of Birthday Week is going much better. I've had tacos for dinner for 4 nights in a row now. That might be a new record. I went to the West Bank Music Festival on Saturday night and spent time with friends while checking out Southside Desire and Brother Ali.

 Southside Desire.

Hanging with friends.

Brother Ali. He's up there somewhere.

Sunday (after Urgent Care) I spent a couple of hours drinking beers on the back patio with the husband and dog. Today I got a haircut. I even went back to Great Clips. They're really not so bad. Or maybe I just have a good one near me.

The rest of the week I will be going out to dinner at one of my favorite places and then it's the State Fair. The Great Minnesota Get Together is back! Alway awesome and always bittersweet. A sign that the end of summer is almost upon us. But it's worth it because it's the fair! And it's so much fun! I'll be working a booth on behalf of my day job opening day in the a.m. and then I'm taking the afternoon off to wander and soak it in. Cannot wait.

But, then...then....then it's the big show! Friday. 9pm. At the Turf Club. I'm playing songs. With my band. And other bands that I love are playing, too. Prissy Clerks, Bethany Larson & the Bee's Knees, and Bomba de Luz. So incredibly excited. This show has been scheduled for so long now and it's finally here. It's going to be so much fun.

Then Saturday night it's out for karaoke and Sunday is cake with the in-laws. 

Birthday Week rules.

The National at Roy Wilkins Auditorium

I almost didn't go to this show last night. I got hit with a cold Monday night and spent all day Tuesday trying to power through and suck it up because I had bought these tickets back in April and I wanted to go.

When I got home from work I felt completely run down and warm. The thought of standing in one spot at a rock show for 3 hours just did not sound appealing. The thought of walking from wherever we ended up parking to the auditorium didn't even sound manageable. Add the massive thunderstorm that was to roll through at any minute and curling up in my favorite chair and watching the rest of season 3 of Lost sounded like the best decision.

But fear of missing out and not wanting to waste the tickets won out and I am so glad it did.

I am not a fan of The National's new album Trouble Will Find Me. In fact, it might be one of the most disappointing albums I ever remember getting. I love this band and their earlier albums and anticipation was big for this one and it just didn't live up to it. Maybe that's my fault for expecting too much. But it comes across as somewhat tired and repetitive. There are a couple of good moments here and there. Good lines that standout as classical The National lyrics. "Pink Rabbits" is a fairly good song. But for most of it, I can't tell one song from the next. I saw via newspaper reviews this morning, that they played a song off the new album that I specifically called out to my husband that I was surprised they didn't play because it's all over the radio right now. But they did play it. And I didn't even realize it because I can't tell them apart.

But, enough with the negativity.

The show itself was really good. It was nowhere near as good as any of the times I've seen them at First  Avenue. But that's probably more to do with how awful Roy Wilkins is and not so much the band. The sound was just so tinny and muffled. And the lights on the side of the floor highlighting where to buy your popcorn and hotdogs really took away from the vibe.

I was concerned at first that they did seem tired and bored, though. The first couple of songs felt a little lifeless. Not so surprising, they were songs off the new album. Whenever they would tap into their back catalogue, though, their energy seemed to pick up - or maybe the crowd just did. Although, there were definitely people around us who only know them from this latest album. Which is weird.

They brought out Nona Marie, lead from one of my recently favorited bands Dark Dark Dark. Nona is from Minneapolis and got the envy inducing honor of getting to sing on The National's latest album. So they brought her out to sing on a couple of songs last night. Which was cool. Though I couldn't hear her at all.

The National with Nona Marie of Dark Dark Dark.

Side note: While introducing Nona Marie, lead singer Matt Berninger mentioned how a lot of the backing vocals got buried on the album, but not hers because she's awesome. But, when I heard she sang on the album, I listened and listened and couldn't find her anywhere. Her voice is pretty distinctive. But all I can hear in backing vocals is guitarist Aaron Dessner, who sings in a high falsetto anyway.

I had three songs I wanted to hear last night: "Terrible Love", "About Today", and "Apartment Story". The only one I didn't hear was "Apartment Story". Although, as they started playing, all of the songs they have started shooting through my brain and I got super excited about all of the potential song goodness that was to come. They did a lovely rendition of "About Today" - not the epic version I've heard before, but a more subdued one that was chilling and beautiful. "Terrible Love" came during the encore.

And wow, that encore.

There was a couple standing in front of us that, obviously, knew their radio hits and that was it. The girl went nuts for "Conversation 16" ( the one about eating brains and "I am eeeeeevil!") and "England" and a couple of songs off the new album. Every thing else they would either just stand there looking confused or trying to find a beat. I'm not saying that to make fun of them. Just that they left as soon as the first song from the encore started. And, well, you never miss the encore of a show by The National. Really, you should never miss any encore because the best stuff usually happens then. They played a roaring version of "Terrible Love" to my utter delight. They did "Mr. November" complete with Matt Berninger and his ridiculously long microphone cord walking through the crowd all the way to the back screaming about how he "won't fuck us over I'm Mr. November" and then, then they closed the set with a completely acoustic - and I mean acoustic. no mics, unplugged acoustic guitars - version of "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks" complete with audience sing along to the whole thing. It was such an interesting way to end the show and really just - I don't know - it was just lovely.

So, yeah. I'm happy I sucked it up and went. And I don't feel worse today, as I expected to. I feel slightly better, actually. I guess music will do that for you.

Also: Daughter opened for them last night. Since I'm sick, I had planned to get there late to limit the length of time I would have to stand around. I don't normally like to miss the opener, because you never know, they may be awesome and if I ever open for someone, I would hope people would show up. But we got there right as they were starting. It might have worked for me in a different setting, but it just sounded like a wall of muffled sound. And that shoe-gazer mope rock was not the pump me up shake this sickness sound that I needed at that time.