Changes
Well, life moves fast doesn't it? Over the last couple months I've gotten engaged, got a new (alas, still part-time) job and will be going back to school for a class starting Tuesday. Plus ca change, hein? I'm more than willing to discuss these developments with anybody who asks.
Unlike many bloggers, however, I'm not super interested in bloviating about them here mainly because I don't have much to say about any of them. My engagement was an inevitability. Wendy are together because we love each other deeply, because we work extremely well together and because we couldn't imagine life without each other. Awwww. There isn't much more to say. The wedding is in July 2011.
I have to go back to school because I need a class to get into PSU's GTEP (Graduate Teacher Education Program) program. It's a psychology class I don't want to take but I kind of need it. Blah blah blah. We'll see.
My new job is another teaching gig, this one at a private school in downtown Portland. It's really fun so far but I don't have too much to say about it. It's great that I have creative control of my class and it's great that I have fantastic kids but it's also still a part-time job that doesn't pay much and doesn't have any benefits. Someday...and yet still, I'm very happy with it so far. Let's hope it leads to good things!
As for the Cardinals, the magic number is 4. Let's hope they've snapped out of last week's funk but they still aren't hitting. I'm nervous even though my expectations still aren't that high. We'll see. I still want Albert to go crazy over the next couple weeks and steal the batting title from Hanley Ramirez, thus making him the first Triple Crown winner since 1967 (Carl Yastrzemski) [sic?]. That probably won't happen though but it would be pretty amazing if it did. The playoffs? No clue at all. I'm not going to give you a winner or anything. For all we know the Twins could win it all.
MusicFestNW is this weekend and has been a riot and a half. I'm really bummed that nobody wants to see any of the shows I've gone to but there's nothing I can do about that. I have musical tastes that differ from the majority of my friends out here and I've prioritized seeing live music when others can't afford it because they've prioritized other things. It's fair and I'm not mad, just bummed. A quick overview:
I skipped Wednesday night because the only act was Will Sheff of Okkervil River doing a solo set. Now, I dig Okkervil River but I wasn't into the show at all. I didn't go because I needed a night at home.
Thursday night I saw Explosions In The Sky who were brilliant, as always.
Setlist:
1. First Breath After Coma
2. The Birth And Death Of The Day
3. With Tired Minds, Tired Bodies, Tired Souls We Slept
4. Your Hand In Mine
5. Greet Death
6. Catastrophe And The Cure
7. The Only Moment We Were Alone
Afterwards I hightailed it over to Berbati's to see The Dirty Three, who were predictably excellent. Unfortunately I also had to leave before the set was over because I needed to catch the bus. The last #9 to my neighborhood is at 1:32AM and I wasn't going to walk home. Ugh. Someday I'll get to see them again.
Friday night belonged to Sunny Day Real Estate who absolutely slayed. I was shocked at how tight they were given how long their absence was. They were epic, transcendent and gave me a brand new appreciation for how great they were as a band. It's no surprise that so much of what is on the radio now sounds like SDRE's first two albums. I got some nice pictures that I'll post sometime.
After Sunny Day Real Estate I headed over to Dante's to see my favorite band in all of MusicFestNW, the almighty Mudhoney. They were, as usual, loads of fun. Unfortunately, they came on at 12:45 AM and so I had to leave after 40 minutes in order to catch the last #9. I left in the middle of one of my favorite Mudhoney songs, "Judgement, Rage, Retribution and Thyme". Ugh. They need to come back here when I can actually stay for the whole show (or they need to come on an hour earlier, or something). At least I've seen them before and I'm sure I'll see them again.
Last night belonged to Titus Andronicus, the burgeoning New Jersey group who sounds like an unholy cross between The Boss (of course), Neutral Milk Hotel and Minor Threat. They were amazing, they had much of Backspace engaged in a circle pit and they sounded like a band that could be huge one day if they keep with it. I highly, highly recommend them. It was tons of fun to see a band and have them be 2 feet from me, to essentially be part of the show at times.
This is, of course, a counterpoint to seeing Pearl Jam next week. I'm going to be a mile from the stage. Waaaah. It happens, though. I've already dealt with it too. My tickets cost half what the folks up front paid and I'm fine with that. It is, after all, how I could afford to go to MusicFestNW.
Finally, in honor of next week's Pearl Jam show I'm going to list my ten favorite Pearl Jam songs. Listing a top 10 of anything is difficult so I'm going to go with the songs that get the most emotional reaction from me. These are songs that make me want to download a bootleg and songs that get me going crazy live. Picking a top 10 for this band isn't easy but here goes:
1. Hard To Imagine [Lost Dogs] - To me this is THE Pearl Jam song. It's beautiful, it soars, it's everything I love about Pearl Jam. How did this never make an album?
2. Alive [Ten] - This is the first Pearl Jam song I ever heard, or at least the first I ever remember hearing back in 1991 (God I feel old). To me this is easily the greatest of their big singles and the song that never grows old. I went absolutely apeshit when they played this at my first show despite knowing it would happen.
3. Not For You [Vitalogy] - This is the song that got me into live PJ. Seeing them play it on SNL months before Vitalogy came out was pretty insane. Seeing how into it Ed was inspired me. When the 2000 bootlegs came out I looked for shows with this one and coincidentally, this was also the last time this song sounded good live. The studio version is absolutely monstrous, one of the best studio cuts ever, along with...
4. Corduroy [Vitalogy] - This song can get old live but usually doesn't. It hasn't sounded the same live since Jack left in 1998 but once upon a time it was a huge highlight at every show. The studio version is still one of the best things they've ever done, a paranoid masterpiece that rocks hard.
5. Who You Are [No Code] - Another of the best studio cuts in PJ's catalog. This one confused the hell out of me when it came out but has since grown into one of my all-time favorites. Sort of like No Code in general.
6. Present Tense [No Code] - One of their best songs and also one of their most inspired musically (pun intended). This sounds like nothing else in their catalog and it still moves as much as it did in 1996. This one won't grow tedious and old like "Small Town" and "Black" have.
7. Release [Ten] - If PJ ever hangs it up, this will open their last show. The greatest concert opener they have, this one is reserved for special occasions with good reason. It's a stunner and very personal to EV and it moves every time they play it. The studio version pales in comparison to how it sounds live. Particularly recommended are the versions from 3/17/95, 9/11/98 and 3/03/03.
8. Go [Vs] - Their best fast rocker. This song never, ever gets old. I went berserk when I finally saw them play it at the Gorge in 2006.
9. Given To Fly [Yield] - This song just soars. Another live song that despite being played almost every night never gets old. I prefer the slower version with Jack but it sounds excellent even now. A must for any PJ comp. And to think...I bought the single when it came out in December of 1997 and I was ready to give up on the band because of it (although the fact that the B-sides were "Pilate" and "Leatherman" didn't help; if they'd been "Brain Of J" and "U" I probably would have been uber-stoked...)
10. Parting Ways [Binaural] - The latest of the ten songs on this list, this is also the only one that comes from this decade. It's a beautiful song and one they almost never play live, alas. Unless I'm mistaken I don't believe this one has been played since 2006 and before that, only a few times in 2003. Let's hope we hear it at Ridgefield.
Next top 10 (these ones just missed the cut): Better Man, Nothingman, In My Tree, Rearviewmirror, Sad, Oceans, Porch, Faithfull, I Got Shit, Brain Of J.
That's all for now. Let the craziness commence!
Unlike many bloggers, however, I'm not super interested in bloviating about them here mainly because I don't have much to say about any of them. My engagement was an inevitability. Wendy are together because we love each other deeply, because we work extremely well together and because we couldn't imagine life without each other. Awwww. There isn't much more to say. The wedding is in July 2011.
I have to go back to school because I need a class to get into PSU's GTEP (Graduate Teacher Education Program) program. It's a psychology class I don't want to take but I kind of need it. Blah blah blah. We'll see.
My new job is another teaching gig, this one at a private school in downtown Portland. It's really fun so far but I don't have too much to say about it. It's great that I have creative control of my class and it's great that I have fantastic kids but it's also still a part-time job that doesn't pay much and doesn't have any benefits. Someday...and yet still, I'm very happy with it so far. Let's hope it leads to good things!
As for the Cardinals, the magic number is 4. Let's hope they've snapped out of last week's funk but they still aren't hitting. I'm nervous even though my expectations still aren't that high. We'll see. I still want Albert to go crazy over the next couple weeks and steal the batting title from Hanley Ramirez, thus making him the first Triple Crown winner since 1967 (Carl Yastrzemski) [sic?]. That probably won't happen though but it would be pretty amazing if it did. The playoffs? No clue at all. I'm not going to give you a winner or anything. For all we know the Twins could win it all.
MusicFestNW is this weekend and has been a riot and a half. I'm really bummed that nobody wants to see any of the shows I've gone to but there's nothing I can do about that. I have musical tastes that differ from the majority of my friends out here and I've prioritized seeing live music when others can't afford it because they've prioritized other things. It's fair and I'm not mad, just bummed. A quick overview:
I skipped Wednesday night because the only act was Will Sheff of Okkervil River doing a solo set. Now, I dig Okkervil River but I wasn't into the show at all. I didn't go because I needed a night at home.
Thursday night I saw Explosions In The Sky who were brilliant, as always.
Setlist:
1. First Breath After Coma
2. The Birth And Death Of The Day
3. With Tired Minds, Tired Bodies, Tired Souls We Slept
4. Your Hand In Mine
5. Greet Death
6. Catastrophe And The Cure
7. The Only Moment We Were Alone
Afterwards I hightailed it over to Berbati's to see The Dirty Three, who were predictably excellent. Unfortunately I also had to leave before the set was over because I needed to catch the bus. The last #9 to my neighborhood is at 1:32AM and I wasn't going to walk home. Ugh. Someday I'll get to see them again.
Friday night belonged to Sunny Day Real Estate who absolutely slayed. I was shocked at how tight they were given how long their absence was. They were epic, transcendent and gave me a brand new appreciation for how great they were as a band. It's no surprise that so much of what is on the radio now sounds like SDRE's first two albums. I got some nice pictures that I'll post sometime.
After Sunny Day Real Estate I headed over to Dante's to see my favorite band in all of MusicFestNW, the almighty Mudhoney. They were, as usual, loads of fun. Unfortunately, they came on at 12:45 AM and so I had to leave after 40 minutes in order to catch the last #9. I left in the middle of one of my favorite Mudhoney songs, "Judgement, Rage, Retribution and Thyme". Ugh. They need to come back here when I can actually stay for the whole show (or they need to come on an hour earlier, or something). At least I've seen them before and I'm sure I'll see them again.
Last night belonged to Titus Andronicus, the burgeoning New Jersey group who sounds like an unholy cross between The Boss (of course), Neutral Milk Hotel and Minor Threat. They were amazing, they had much of Backspace engaged in a circle pit and they sounded like a band that could be huge one day if they keep with it. I highly, highly recommend them. It was tons of fun to see a band and have them be 2 feet from me, to essentially be part of the show at times.
This is, of course, a counterpoint to seeing Pearl Jam next week. I'm going to be a mile from the stage. Waaaah. It happens, though. I've already dealt with it too. My tickets cost half what the folks up front paid and I'm fine with that. It is, after all, how I could afford to go to MusicFestNW.
Finally, in honor of next week's Pearl Jam show I'm going to list my ten favorite Pearl Jam songs. Listing a top 10 of anything is difficult so I'm going to go with the songs that get the most emotional reaction from me. These are songs that make me want to download a bootleg and songs that get me going crazy live. Picking a top 10 for this band isn't easy but here goes:
1. Hard To Imagine [Lost Dogs] - To me this is THE Pearl Jam song. It's beautiful, it soars, it's everything I love about Pearl Jam. How did this never make an album?
2. Alive [Ten] - This is the first Pearl Jam song I ever heard, or at least the first I ever remember hearing back in 1991 (God I feel old). To me this is easily the greatest of their big singles and the song that never grows old. I went absolutely apeshit when they played this at my first show despite knowing it would happen.
3. Not For You [Vitalogy] - This is the song that got me into live PJ. Seeing them play it on SNL months before Vitalogy came out was pretty insane. Seeing how into it Ed was inspired me. When the 2000 bootlegs came out I looked for shows with this one and coincidentally, this was also the last time this song sounded good live. The studio version is absolutely monstrous, one of the best studio cuts ever, along with...
4. Corduroy [Vitalogy] - This song can get old live but usually doesn't. It hasn't sounded the same live since Jack left in 1998 but once upon a time it was a huge highlight at every show. The studio version is still one of the best things they've ever done, a paranoid masterpiece that rocks hard.
5. Who You Are [No Code] - Another of the best studio cuts in PJ's catalog. This one confused the hell out of me when it came out but has since grown into one of my all-time favorites. Sort of like No Code in general.
6. Present Tense [No Code] - One of their best songs and also one of their most inspired musically (pun intended). This sounds like nothing else in their catalog and it still moves as much as it did in 1996. This one won't grow tedious and old like "Small Town" and "Black" have.
7. Release [Ten] - If PJ ever hangs it up, this will open their last show. The greatest concert opener they have, this one is reserved for special occasions with good reason. It's a stunner and very personal to EV and it moves every time they play it. The studio version pales in comparison to how it sounds live. Particularly recommended are the versions from 3/17/95, 9/11/98 and 3/03/03.
8. Go [Vs] - Their best fast rocker. This song never, ever gets old. I went berserk when I finally saw them play it at the Gorge in 2006.
9. Given To Fly [Yield] - This song just soars. Another live song that despite being played almost every night never gets old. I prefer the slower version with Jack but it sounds excellent even now. A must for any PJ comp. And to think...I bought the single when it came out in December of 1997 and I was ready to give up on the band because of it (although the fact that the B-sides were "Pilate" and "Leatherman" didn't help; if they'd been "Brain Of J" and "U" I probably would have been uber-stoked...)
10. Parting Ways [Binaural] - The latest of the ten songs on this list, this is also the only one that comes from this decade. It's a beautiful song and one they almost never play live, alas. Unless I'm mistaken I don't believe this one has been played since 2006 and before that, only a few times in 2003. Let's hope we hear it at Ridgefield.
Next top 10 (these ones just missed the cut): Better Man, Nothingman, In My Tree, Rearviewmirror, Sad, Oceans, Porch, Faithfull, I Got Shit, Brain Of J.
That's all for now. Let the craziness commence!
posted by Matt at
6:51 PM
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