October Travels

I am not sure what really happened that caused me to be a month behind in sharing some exciting/fun/interesting to me things, but somehow, this is the position I am in. Some of the time I've been spending trying to sort out my home life and get my act together, and some has been spent trying to catch sleep between all the things going on. Anyway, here I am, and although a lot of what I have to say now is about stuff that happened like a month ago, I'm going to try to cover everything over the next few days.

Let's start with the end of October.

October 28, I headed to Nashville to see Rifftrax Live: House on Haunted Hill and meet some Twitter people - one in particular, a friend, Doug (@watchout4snakes), but we also briefly met Tracey (@euphoriafish) there too. I'm new to the meeting Twitter people thing and I'm mostly antisocial, but my AYCJ travels sort of made me a little better at it, so why not. As far as the movie goes, House on Haunted Hill is one of my favorites, and I really enjoyed the entire experience. I would say more about it, but my best recommendation would be to buy the DVD when it's released. Anyway, it was my first time in Tennessee, making it my 6th new state in under 2 months. The drive there was terribly long (about 9 hours), but I saw some amazing scenery along the way. I, sadly, missed the opportunity to stop at the American Museum of Science and Energy (yes, I'm nerdy) on my way back to Charleston, so I'm sure I'll return to Tennessee again in the future for a visit.

When I got back from Nashville, I had one day of rest. Then my friend, Angela, and her boyfriend, Greg, arrived from New Jersey. The next day (Halloween), we headed to Atlanta to see Jónsi (of Sigur Rós fame) at the Tabernacle. It was a long drive there and we were all pretty exhausted from too many accumulated car hours over the previous days. However, we managed to talk ourselves into getting all done up in costumes and going to the show. It was well worth it. It was an amazing show, but also kind of a weird experience for me. Sigur Rós and Jónsi are artists whose music I'm used to listening to by myself and in my own home. I don't recall ever listening to either in the car or ever intentionally with other people. For whatever reason, this music has some weird emotional effects on me. So, it was just strange being in a room full of other people experiencing the performance. But it was a really great one and I'm glad I had the chance to see it. (I have a video from the show, but I haven't uploaded it yet, so I'll have to share that later.) As far as costumes went, lots of people were dressed up - my favorite was a group of people dressed up as characters from Fantastic Mr. Fox - very clever and cute and well done (sadly, no photos of this).

Since these two trips, I've had some more travel and some fun experiences. Those stories, however, will have to wait for another day.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving today.

Last night, I met up with my friend Jordan and some of her friends in Myrtle Beach to see Tears For Fears at the House of Blues. I figured the show itself could've gone either way, but I just would've been happy to spend time with Jordan since I hadn't seen her in so long.

I got to her apartment fairly early and we spent some time catching up. Seems like her life is going mostly well for her and I'm glad to hear it. We had a couple of hours to discuss where we both were at in our lives and the things we hoped to change and where we'd like to end up in the near future. It was not only a chance to have a little friend chat, it was kind of therapeutic for both of us.

After our little hangout session, we headed over to HOB. We ended up having to wait about 50 minutes to get a table for a quick dinner because the place was so packed. Luckily, Labor Day weekend usually starts to wrap up tourist season down here. So hopefully the ridiculous-wait-time-for-everything ordeal will end soon as well. After we had a little dinner, we went over the the venue (it's just right across the patio from the actual restaurant) and met up with two of Jordan's friends from work. They happened to be right in the front, so that worked out well for me because I'm short and can never see unless I'm up front.

It was mostly an older crowd, obviously. But that was fine by me, because it meant I didn't have to deal with as many rude people as usual. I did see the occasional little kid there with the parental units. I attribute this to the House of Blues being a family venue and touristy thing. Everybody there seemed to really enjoy the show, and it was VERY good. Really enjoyable. I have no pictures to share - it was one of those "no photography/video" deals. They seemed to very heavily enforce that, but didn't have an issue with the people smoking pot a few rows behind us.

After the concert, I drove back to Charleston and headed straight to bed. It was, overall, a good little trip and a fun show. Now I just have to finish prepping for the big trip coming up!

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

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:

Savannah Record and 'Zine Fair 2009

Yesterday, Staci and I drove down to Savannah to take in SCAD's record and 'zine fair in hopes that we would each find a few little things that we could bring home with us. Thank you, SCAD, you bastards, for nearly bankrupting us both. :)

It was actually a fairly tiny little fair. It took place in a ballroom in one of their buildings on campus. But I'm glad that it wasn't any bigger, because until we got through everything, we both had nearly empty wallets. I came home with a total of 28 records, which is way more than I intended upon. But I'm glad we went and I'm glad I got the things I did!

In addition to buying some fun records, we had good thai food, tried on some cute clothes, and visited the best art supply store EVER. Seriously, it was huge and had everything I could ever want. It also just so happened that we were in town on the day that Savannah was having its Wag-O-Ween event. So there were tons of cute puppies everywhere all decked out in Halloween costumes.

I gained some new respect for Savannah on this trip. I still don't think I could ever be content living there, but it is a pretty cool city and I'd like to visit again soon. It's much less boring than Charleston, and has a lot of interesting things to see.

On our way back to Charleston, the sun was just setting, but it was still fairly bright out. So we made a little stop at the Old Sheldon Church Ruins. I was there with my family several months ago - you can see that entry here.

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos from yesterday. Was just more focused on enjoying it. Now it's back to the same old boring stuff for the week!

Columbia in 2009: Lame As It Ever Was

When I found out about the '2nd Annual Greater Columbia Record Fair' (longest fucking name EVER), I was really excited.  I marked it on my calendar, invited a friend, and saved the address in the GPS.  Seriously.  But after yesterday, I really kind of wish I had forgotten to mark it on the calendar.  Or that I had followed my gut instinct, which was this:

Columbia blows.  I have been to only one place in my entire life that blows more than Columbia.  It is a poor excuse for a state capitol and can pretty much rest in hell as far as I'm concerned.  

When preparing for said Record Fair, this thought did pop into my mind a few times, but I had convinced myself that it would be worth getting out of Charleston for a bit and that, although Columbia does indeed blow, the Fair itself would probably not.  Assuming this was also kind of a mistake, I guess.

So as the big day approached, I made plans with my traveling buddy, and then last minute she decided she was unable to come.  I wasn't at all upset with her - it was a legitimate reason.  But it kind of would have made the day suck less.  I decided to push on and go anyway.

Sunday morning I was up and on the road by 10:30 as planned and was having a good time in the car listening to music and such.  Until I reached Columbia.  Things immediately went downhill.  From the fuck-me-in-the-face awful traffic, to the GPS system trying to tell me to go the wrong way down one-way streets, and the stupid anxiety issues I have recently developed in cities, it was just ridiculous.  It took me a good 45 minutes to travel the 4 miles to my final destination.  And once I got there, I could not find parking.  Anywhere.  I failed to notice that the location of this event was in the middle of USC's campus.  Ridiculous.  Anyway, it was a small hurdle and eventually parking was found.  And after trekking to the place, I was a little surprised to find that it was a bar.  Little, tiny bar.  But I still gave it a chance.  And was even more disappointed by the lack of things that captured my interest.

I don't know...I guess when somebody uses the word "Fair" - with a capital F, ok - I assume the situation to be kind of large and varied and maybe even a little fun.  And maybe I'm just too old in the mental department to enjoy standing in a little bar with a bunch of kids who are way cooler than I am because they are art students.  I don't know what it is.  But anyway I had a ridiculously unfun time and found myself leaving soon after I got there.  Let down?  Yes.  But I learned my lesson.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that you shouldn't give boring cities a chance to be unboring, because they will only let you down, possibly kick you in the ribs, and most likely steal your wallet.

And before I get told I shouldn't be bitching, I will...

a) ...remind you that I do what I want.

and 

b) ...kindly tell you that today made up for yesterday's tremendous suckiness.  But, that I will save for tomorrow.