Listen, lady, put the phone down

In slightly over a month, we're moving. Just across town, for no real reason. There are certain thing about Hyde Park I'm going to miss: DOC Films, Dixie Kitchen, being two blocks from the lake, a few people who I should see more often, and the free exercise area on the top floor of my building that I haven't used in nine months. The new place is, well, less than three blocks away from the fictional Championship Vinyl, in a neighborhood that gets a lot of press. Hopefully it will be an easy move and a good place to live, the apartment features a front sunporch, dishwasher, built in bookshelves, a huge kitchen, hardwood floors, and four multi-purpose rooms. A step downward in terms of quality from the ivory tower in which we currently reside, and we made a rather spontaneous judgment, so fingers crossed for no stories of shockingly cold water, formidable insects, random power outages, unbearably hot summers, unbearably noisy nearby trains, severe lack of closet space, and repeated home invasions. We shall see.

One positive that will arise from our new location is proximity to several live music venues, which will mean many opportunities for getting into trouble. Now going to concerts requires much planning. I'm seeing the Mates of State w/ Saturday Looks Good To Me on 4/6, which should be great, and then The Silver Jews on 4/14.

Ironic: I'm going to New York for four days the second week in May, which is the week Conan O'Brien is doing his show from Chicago, which I probably am not lucky enough to get tickets for.

Speaking of concerts, the B&S/NPs show a few weeks ago was one of the best concerts I've ever seen/heard. Maybe it that I'm used to small horrible-sounding club shows and crowded horribly sounding outdoor festivals, but the sound at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee was the best I've ever heard, and both bands were on the top of their games. I was won over by Belle big time, going in with moderate expectations only, but they managed to play their best material and elevate their filler to excellent status. The Pornographers had to rush through their set, but had a couple of four part harmony moments that gave me chills (Testament to Youth in Verse was an unexpected highlight).

The Hi-Cool Blog is officially up and running, see link to the right.

Heat + Crowds + Music + Allergies = Awesome

Living in a major metropolitan area sometimes has its perks. Last year I made my first-and-second-ever appearances at real live music festivals, and had a pretty good time. This year the bands playing are even better, so it figures to be great. Here's some highlights, most of these lineups are only half-complete however, so more goodness to be added.

Pitchfork Music Festival (July 29-30) Two day pass = $30
Spoon
Yo La Tengo
Silver Jews
Ted Leo/Rx
The National
The Mountain Goats
Mission of Burma
*I already have tickets for this one. I've seen/will have seen (SJs) most of these bands already, and none are disappointing live. Plus the price is crazy delicious.

Intonation Music Festival (June 24-25) Two day pass = $35
The Streets
Bloc Party
Annie
Jon Brion
Boredoms
*This one I'm not so sure about. I'll probably need some more names added before I can get tickets. Not sure how The Streets would be live, not sure how Jon Brion will be outdoors, not sure if I like Bloc Party at all.

Lollapalooza (August 4-6) Three day pass = $145 plus shipping
Kanye West
Sonic Youth
Flaming Lips
New Pornographers
Sleater-Kinney
The Raconteurs
Mates of State
Death Cab for Cutie
The Shins
Wilco
Eels
Blackalicious
Ryan Adams
Common
Of Montreal
The Hold Steady
The Frames
The Go! Team
The Red Hot Chili Peppers are headlining too, but who cares?
*This lineup is terrific, plus rumors of Beck, Strokes, Built to Spill. Lolla last year was good but only had a few highlights (Arcade Fire, Black Keys, Kaiser Chiefs). This year it expands to 3 days (meaning a Friday off work?) and price is a little steep. I'm debating it now, but final decision may hinge on if Sonic Youth/The Flaming lips, who are touring together, play another show in Chicago. Considering that for the same price I could go to 7-8 shows where bands are not subjected to 50 minute sets and an apathetic crowd instead, I'll have to think about this.

That said, if I actually have friends interested in going to any of these, it would be a lot easier to warrant throwing down $. I usually have no problem going to shows solo, but when it's outside and I'm drinking only water even I can sometimes start to feel lame. Seriously, even me. For real. So let me know if anyone is interested in a weekend vacation.

Hi-Cool

Attention Everyone: I'm creating a new blog called 'hi-cool', whose posts will only consist of haikus, in the traditional 5-7-5 syllable format, any subject is fine. I'd like to invite any of you reading this to become contributing member of the site. If I get six people to write one tiny little haiku a week, we'd have a lot to look at. It's all about quantity, not quality, obvs.

If anyone is interested, or mildly interested, or just bored, please send me an email at scentralrain AT yahoo DOT COM. I haven't written a poem since it was required by school, so this should be interesting. The more the merrier.

The End of Medicine

Tomorrow I'm forgoing any top o' the morning green beer drinking to go to Milwaukee and see the most anticipated concert since... hmm... in terms of a double bill I can't think of much that competes with it, save for Sleater-Kinney/White Stripes in 2000, but since I hadn't heard of the WS's before then I can't say it was 'most anticipated.' Maybe R.E.M./Wilco the year before? Beulah/Mates of State? Detroit Cobras/Greenhornes? Mates of State/SLGTM (a combo I'll see again next month)? Nevertheless, Belle & Sebastian/The New motherfucking Pornographers is going to be pretty sweet, though I wished the NPs played last instead of first. Nothing against B&S, M and I have all of their albums between us, their new one is their best in 10 years, and the great B-side 'Your Cover's Blown' made my Best of 2004, but the NPs seem much more suited to rocking the house live. I've seen them before, in 2001, when they had one album under their belt, playing at the Annex in Madison with the incomparable Neko Case (don't click if you're at work!) in tow, terrific show, they even played "My Slow Descent into Alcoholism" twice for some bizarre reason. Tomorrow they'll be sans-Neko but no less awesome, I'm hoping.

I'm taking next Friday off of work to sit on my couch and watch basketball all day long.

It's been over six months since I've gotten a haircut, my little way of sticking it to the man.

Happy 6 months anniversary to M/Andy. Though the term '6 mo.s anniversary' doesn't really make sense.

Yesterday I wore a tie to work and had some meetings with important people. I'm not sure if I dazzled, but I did stay awake the entire time.

NCAA basketball tournament preview to come.

Props, Vol. 3

"Props!" is a reoccuring feature on this site that will basically consist of a short list of things that are cool, things that are awesome, things that are recommended, and things that rule. I, therefore, will be giving mad "props" to everything on the list. You can read the first installment here, and the second here. I can't believe I haven't done this since August. I'm really not that busy, I just need encouragement.

1. The Unicorns "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?" This album made my best of 2K3, but I stupidly forgot to include on my over-hyped Top 100 list awhile back. The 'band', which I believe was two 19-yr-old Canadian kids at the time, is now broken up, but it's much better to burn out than blah blah blah. Piccolo solos and exuberant pop music without any choruses or repetition at all. Takes awhile to love (about 2.5 years for me). Dave Eggers once wrote that it's helpful to imagine the band as made entirely of candy. Listen to 2 songs and read more and then buy here.

2. The Microphones "The Glow Pt. 2" Speaking of growers, I've been listening to the microphones since 2000's It was hot, we stayed in the water, but despite my best efforts could never fully appreciate them. This album I've had on my iPod for months, and it took a few listens on headphones before I got it. Got the CD a few weeks ago, finally, and it's even better, good for nights you can't sleep or days when it's too cold to go outside. Acousticky strums, sudden walls of noise, faint tugboat recordings, murmured offkey vocals, sound that creeps into your head and never leaves. In a good way. All analog recording style, feels warm and comforting, somehow, improves upon each listen. See more and purchase at the K records site here.

3. SportsNight Aaron Sorkin's first series was something I barely noticed when it was on, but was one of my first DVD discoveries, and remains one of my favorite TV programs ever, and possibly best half-hour show. I rushed through the box set in a couple weeks, me and my roommate at the time pretended that all our conversations were written by A.S. for weeks afterwards. Such as:
N: Did you do the dishes?
K: The dishes?
N: Yes, the dishes. Did you do them?
K: Yes, I did the dishes.
N: Are you sure?
K: Yes, I did the dishes.
N: Seriously?
K: Yes, washed and dried.
N: OK, because usually you don't do the dishes.
K: I did the dishes. Except there's just one thing...
N: What's that?
K: I didn't do the the dishes.
As you can tell, it was HILARIOUS! I've probably cruised through the 45 episodes about 4 times since then, each no less rewarding. Buy it on DVD here. Sorkin has a brand new series on NBC this fall, called Studio 60 . Sure to be best evah!

4. Energy drinks + Alcohol. Please treat this one responsibly, aka when you can afford to stay awake until 4 a.m. I'm a pretty quiet person, and shy around new people. Therefore, I tend to appreciate the times when I am neither of these things. For some reason, other people tend to feel the same way. When I was single and looking: 50% of the time it worked 100% of the time.

5. Are You the Favorite Person of Anybody? This is a short film directed by Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl and Chuck and Buck) and written by Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know), starring John C. Reilly, MJ, and others. As far as I know, the only place you can see it is on No. 1 of McSweeney's new DVD quarterly called Wholphin, which you can find for free in the latest issue of McSwy's or the Dec/Jan issue of their magazine The Believer. (The DVD also contains a Spike Jonze documentary on Al Gore circa 2000, and part of the David O. Russell doc on the latest mess in Iraq.) Check your nearby independent bookstore or go to their website. Anyway, this film is short, sweet, and is nearly exactly what you'd expect upon hearing the title. It prompted much daydreaming for me. Though I like to complain, I can gladly say the answer is "Yes". There haven't been many times in my life when that was the case.