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Archive for November, 2007
November 25, 2007 at 1:53 am · Filed under Life
As always, Thanksgiving was an amazing time. We head back to reality tomorrow, and I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m not ready to go just yet. We had amazing food, snow, Polish Ping-Pong, Munchkin (really great game), Catan, food, movies, books, food, chill times with friends, and gobs more fun that I’m not remembering at the moment.
I didn’t ever think we’d pass the 20 mark for people on Thanksgiving, but this year, we had a total of 22 people! (including Grey and me) Not everyone was here the whole time. Andy was here for just Thanksgiving day, and Aduma and Becky arrived on Saturday, but it was still a lot of people!
The final guest list: Fargo, Ludwhig, Grey, Tusk, Aduma, Hopps, Becky, Panic, Dex, Beaker, Liz, Schmorgan, Sydney, Laura, Rene, Abu, Pebble, Smee, Bubbles, Erin, Fjord, and Andy (not pictured).
Can’t wait until next year!
November 7, 2007 at 10:52 pm · Filed under Life
Seriously. Last night’s Polyphonic Spree concert that Schmorgan and I went to was easily the best concert I’ve ever been to. Naturally, it’s impossible to fully describe in mere words, but here are some highlights:
For the first part of It’s the Sun, Tim DeLaughter (lead singer and head of the band) came into the crowd for an “intimate campfire setting.” I was in the circle that formed around him and had a great time singing along with all the other happy fans.
Two words: Confetti Canons. They used them three times during the show, and they also let loose a huge net-full of balloons during one of their songs (a new cover of Live and Let Die).
They closed the concert with an expanded version of The Championship, the epic closer on their latest album, leaving the crowd singing the final words as members of the band trailed off stage until only the harpist remained. It was beautiful.
Of course, they came back for an encore. And back in the robes, too! They started off with Lithium, which was just as phenomenal as the last time I saw them play it, and followed that with the always-amazing When the Fool Becomes a King, and followed that with Light & Day, and followed that with the Sun Machine thing they do sometimes! What a finale!
And oh yes, I got to shake Tim’s hand after the show. :-)
The opening bands were also pretty good. I particularly enjoyed Rooney’s cover of Runaway by Del Shannon, complete with a good imitation of that lovely Musitron sound.
The ER-20 earplugs also proved their worth once again. The volume level was just right (enjoyably rockable, but short of ridiculous), and I didn’t have any ringing in my ears after the show at all.
They played this video while one of the bands was setting up. Watch for great enjoyment.
November 3, 2007 at 1:07 pm · Filed under Life
The concerts last night were awesome! Spoon really put on a rocking show. I think my favorite song was The Ghost of You Lingers, which I thought was way better live than on the album.
But, for me, the real highlight was TNP (my, how I hate their name), who opened for Spoon. I finally got to see Neko Case perform live! And yes, she really can sing as awesome as all of her albums indicate! The best part of the entire evening was when they did Challengers, the title track of their latest album. Other salient songs were Go Places, Bleeding Heart Show, Spanish Techno, and frankly, pretty much everything else they played.
Emma Pollock played before TNP, and I must say, she was quite good. Her final song, The Optimist, was really fantastic. She even got some of the members of TNP to provide backing vocals, percussion, and accordion! First concert I’ve been to where all of the acts were really great.
This concert was also the first time I got to try out my new fancy-pants ER-20 concert earplugs. They worked wonderfully. I don’t plan on going to any more rock concerts without them. I usually don’t like using ear plugs for anything other than opening bands because they make everything sound all muffly. But unlike regular earplugs, these guys have a fairly flat frequency response. So it just sounds like the volume got turned down to a reasonable level, leaving the vocals and such crisp and clear. These things pretty cheap, so get yourself a pair and save your hearing.
I’m super excited for the Spree concert on Tuesday!
Hi there. My name is Curtis Hawthorne, but most of my friends call me Fjord.