I'll Stop Soon, Promise

I have to - this takes a toll on my body...

Last night, through some old channels, I was able to acquire tickets to see Mat Kearney & Ingrid Michaelson at the Music Farm here in Charleston. It wasn't a planned outing, but rather something that sort of came together at the last minute and worked out well.

Staci and I grabbed early dinner at Taste of India west of the Ashley. I haven't been there in a long time, but it was about as good as I remembered. Our usual Indian restaurant, Nirlep, isn't open on Mondays. Coincidentally, we usually want Indian food on Mondays.

Anyway, after that, we killed some time downtown at Kudu coffee. We kind of disrupted the illegal music sharing session of two people sitting in the same little nook we decided to occupy for a bit. The girl of this pair left and the guy was left to awkwardly listen in on our conversations. Every now and then, I caught him barely smiling out of the corner of my eye. Staci complimented his shoes - Vans slip-ons with dinosaurs on them, actually kind of fun - in an attempt to make conversation and take him out of the awkward listener stage, but he seemed very shy and was not into keeping up long-term conversation with us.

After an hour or so, we headed to the venue. We didn't get there ridiculously early, but somehow still ended up in the front row. Somebody is looking out for my short little self.

The concert was co-billed between Ingrid and Mat, and the opener was Cara Salimando. I've never heard of her before. She has a good voice but came off as being very young to me. Maybe she's not - but her material just seemed very young. It was a bit naive, but I didn't hate it.

Mat Kearney was up after that. He put on a good show, full of energy and interesting sidebars. Staci and I got chastised for making an inside joke while he had the audience clapping along - our joke disrupted the clapping and he stared us down and showed us how to do it right. I felt like I'd been slapped on the knuckles by a nun. He kept making very long eye contact with me and I thought it was kind of awkward, but figured it was just something he does. However, after his set, two girls approached me and started grilling me with questions. It went something like this: "Do you know Mat Kearney? - No. - Well I think you do now! - Why? - He kept staring at you. - Yes, I noticed. - We thought you were friends with him or his sister or something. - No..no. - Well, you are lucky!" I don't know why that makes me lucky. I guess it's the groupie thing - some girls want the attention of stars and want to be adored by them. I don't really care. Yes, it's kind of a fun little anecdote, but I'm not going to be like "OooHHhh he thinks I'm pretty!" or whatever. I figured I'd be bored on stage and find one person to fixate on too. At the end of the day, stars are people, and I still judge them on whether or not they're assholes - just like normal folks.

Ingrid Michaelson wrapped up the night. I knew most of her material going in, but I'm more of a casual listener, so it was interesting to hear her playing songs I wasn't SO overly familiar with. I like her attitude - she says things similar to things I say and seems to have the same sense of humor. That could be a stage thing, but it made me smile. I have a constant paranoia of people not getting me at all, so even if someone fake understands, that's cool. Her show involved lots of fun little bits. At the end of one song, all of the band members switched to a different instrument, and the bassist resumed singing the song. There was also some choreography and the encore boasted a cover of Death Cab for Cutie's "I Will Follow You Into The Dark", beginning with only Mat and Ingrid on stage, but then bringing in all the members from all the bands.

Anyway, it was an interesting show. I didn't intend upon going, but I knew that by the end of the week, I'd be bored and dying to get out of the apartment with nowhere to go. So I figured I should seize the opportunity while I had it.

Saturday night I drove to Savannah, GA to see She & Him play at the Trustees' Theater as part of the Savannah Music Festival. I like Savannah and the drive there is fairly short but they don't usually have concerts worth seeing.

I had an extra ticket because a friend canceled on me, so I ended up selling it when I got there to a student from SCAD. She got stuck sitting next to me for the night, but she was nice enough so it was okay. We talked for about an hour before the show began.

There was no opening act, so the show was much shorter than I'm used to. Zooey Deschanel walked out on stage wearing a smile and a gorgeous pink dress. I love her mannerisms - she just carries herself very well. And I'm pretty sure she's the most beautiful woman alive. I was surprised by her voice live. It was by no means bad, just a little different in tone from on the album. But she projects well, and was very fun to watch.

They played a good mix of songs from their first album and also the second, which was just released a few days ago. Zooey, of course, was accompanied by m.ward (the "Him" in She & Him), and also by a band consisting of a drummer, rhythm guitarist, bassist, and two backup vocalists who also played some percussion and keys. Surprisingly, though, m.ward sort of hung out of to the side of the stage, very rarely interjecting himself into Zooey's stage show.

The crowd at the concert was fairly mixed - about half and half between SCAD students and older folks, some of which were very obviously wealthy, high society types who probably attended every event of the Festival. I don't hate old people, it was just weird to see them milling around in suits and fancy dresses like they were at the opera or a gallery opening or something.

I wish I had pictures or video to share, but per the artist's request, such things were not allowed. I don't typically break that rule - especially not in a small venue. As far as I can tell, only one video has surfaced so far on YouTube, and it's not so worth seeing.

Anyway, it was a good time and I'm glad I had the opportunity to go. And as always, I enjoyed Savannah - such a nice little city. I'd never want to live there, but I'm sure I'll visit it a few more times before I leave the South.

from the interwebs

Food Cravings. Gah.

I am a person who is very in tune to what I'm eating, considering I don't eat much. Every season brings a change in the type of food I'm eating, and since it's starting to warm up, the cravings for fresh, light food are showing up too.

Tomatoes are always the first thing I start thinking about. They're simple enough to come by, usually, so I've already taken care of that. But for the past week or so I've been thinking about this dish I had while visiting a friend in New York. There's an Indian restaurant near his place called Spice Village and they have the most kick-ass mango salad ever. I don't remember what exactly is even in it other than mangoes, but I can't forget the flavor. It's sweet and spicy at the same time, and very fresh and juicy. I'm pretty sure that up close, it looked like this:

om nom nom...

So I think before this weekend rolls around, if I can get some nice mangoes, I'm going to attempt to make this. I'm sure there has to be a similar recipe online somewhere!

That's really it. I didn't have anything of importance to say, just am fixating on fooood. Anybody else? Weird cravings?

SPOON

I like spoon - the utensil, the activity of, and the band. So naturally, this entry makes sense.

This past Saturday, Staci and I went to see Spoon play in Atlanta. I've always really liked this band and I had missed two previous chances to see them play, so when I saw tickets on sale for this time around, I couldn't pass it up.

There were two openers. The Strange Boys started the night off. They're a band out of Austin, TX. I wasn't really sure how I felt about them. I thought they had some talent - was impressed with the music, but just felt like in some instances the songs didn't pull together well. And the singer's voice just wasn't my favorite thing in the entire world. It could just be my picky opinion though - I've definitely heard worse opening acts before.

The second band on was Deerhunter. They hail from Marietta, GA, which is right outside of Atlanta. I was very impressed with them. The name sounded familiar, but I had never heard any of their material before. They put on a good show and I was happy to get the chance to see them.

Spoon came on at around 10:30. Their stage set was interesting, with various light installations. Britt Daniel walked onto the stage with a smile on his face and the crowd just lost it - I don't think the Tabernacle was so packed the last time I was there. Britt's smile carried through for the rest of the night. He really seemed to be enjoying himself on stage and it definitely made a difference in the show. It was enjoyable to watch and listen to. I was impressed by their performance, and judging by the bouncing floor underneath my feet and the screaming and singing of the people around me, so was everyone else. I definitely hope to see the band play again in the future.

I don't have a set list this time around, but I have a few videos over on YouTube (click pleeeease) and I have some pictures as well:

Happy Spring!

Aside from today, it's been fairly warm here in Charleston. I'm enjoying the nice weather and am very happy to have more daylight in the evening. It also seems that as Spring starts to kick in, things in my life start to pick up a little bit. I've been having some personal issues that I need to sort out, but otherwise things are going alright.

My life is sort of up in the air. I'm stuck in a situation that I don't really like, as far as school and the city I live in and all of that stuff goes. I've been having a lot more back pain and headaches lately, and struggling with school because of it. It's sort of made me question if I'm doing the right thing, or if there's some other direction in which I should be pushing my life. I've been thinking a lot about culinary school recently. It's something I've always wanted to do and I think it'd make me very happy. Needless to say, I've got a lot of decisions to make and they're not as easy as I'd like them to be.

Saturday, Staci and I went to Atlanta to see Spoon at the Tabernacle. It was the longest drive ever (both ways), but we had a good time and laughed a lot. I'll post more about that tomorrow.

I'm trying to clean out my life - to get rid of all the stuff that sits around in closets. I need the money and I would like to have a less cluttered life. Some things, it's been easy for me to part with. But others are really hard. The two main things that fall into the latter category are my bike and a piece of art. I can't ride bike so often where I live - I'm in between 2 busy, busy highways and there is not a shoulder for me to ride on. I know, many people just take a chunk out of the road because "Share The Road" and all of that business. I'm just not into that - I'd prefer to be at least 95% safe. The piece of art is one that I purchased during a relationship which has since ended. It's all mushy and sentimental, but I'm having a hard time letting it go - not because of the ties to that relationship, but because it was my first "real" piece of art that I purchased. It's a Brian Andreas sculpture. See?

Today, I helped my friend, Trisha, with another photo shoot that she had to do for a school project. It's always a fun time, and always good to catch up with her. Although, today we were in the studio at her college and it's a very weird feeling to be at a college that's not the one you attend. I felt like a freshman all over again! She said she'd share those shots with me when she uploads them, so maybe I'll have some to share.

Not much else is new. I've rearranged my living room furniture and ended up with a more open and flowy layout. I've also been moving my plants around to sort of add some life to this place. And bringing flowers in. They really make a difference in the place.

Meh

This past week has not been a fantastic one for me. I made far more visits to various doctors' offices and pharmacies than I care to in an entire year. Everything's okay, just having some issues that are really mucking around with my normal life.

Highlight of the week was Friday night. I went with Staci (who else - she is probably so sick of me!) to the Music Farm downtown to see Henry Rollins. It was weird walking into that venue and seeing rows of chairs - makes the place look much smaller. As expected, a good time was had by all. As Staci so eloquently said, it was "entertaining and insightful". Also the crowd was much less annoying than the usual Music Farm audience, so that was a plus. I didn't take as many photos because I was actually paying attention, and as it were, it's very hard to get a photo of someone who moves around so much. Soooo here's a nice blurry picture:

I'm on spring break this week and it will be nice to rest and sort of catch up on things. I had hoped to go somewhere, but my financial situation doesn't allow it. Maybe I'll be able to get out and about somewhere local, but I'm just really honestly tired after this past week. So..we'll see.

I had a job interview on Tuesday. No word back on whether I got the job or not, but I'm really hoping so. The hiring manager figured they'd be prepared to make a decision by the middle of this week, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It'll be mildly hard work, but the pay will be decent and that's what I need at the moment.

In other news, it seems that the vegan "blogosphere" is abuzz with pancake recipes. I'm not a big fan of pancakes. Never have been. But for the past couple of weeks, I keep thinking about them. So...this week, I'm going to make pancakes. And I'm going to enjoy them, dammit.

Well, shit.

First person who can guess what accidentally occurred here due to my stupidity gets a high five.