Posts

Posted on

This is Halloween

Last night: Saw William Elliot Whitmore, Ted Leo and The Pogues.

Unfortunately, I missed most of W.E.W.’s set, I had been rather looking forward to seeing him since I had listened to a few of his songs earlier in the day and it sounded like something I might like. Turns out, he was an artist that I would like. Ted Leo wasn’t that great. I’m not really a fan but I wanted to see what they were like live because in my experience, most bands are much better live. So I was trying to get into Ted Leo and The Pharmacists by listening to them on Hype Machine and it just wasn’t happening so I thought maybe if I saw them it would be different. Not so much. : /

Ted Leo and The Pharmacists

ted leo

The Pogues were fucking awesome. I hadn’t really listened to them either. I mean I have some albums that a friend sent me and I had been trying to get into them as well. I really like Fairytale of New York but that’s only because I’d heard the Stars cover version first.

I think the reason I didn’t really “get” them is because it’s one of those things where people describe a band to you, and then you try to get a feel of their music and “scene” through the description of others but for each person the music is a different experience and I think I was trying to adopt the feelings of others instead of building my own. I think that’s what really allows one to appreciate a band or musician. When I actually saw them play it was something else completely to me.

So seeing them last night was great. The music really finally clicked with me and it was like I was finally hearing what I needed to hear instead of what other people were telling me to hear.

BTW, The Pogues are dressed as a mariachi band

el pogues

the pogues

Anyway, great show. Great way to spend Halloween. Well, that is aside from rude, drunk guy who I tried to sort of pick a fight with. What?! He was being an asshole and nobody else would say anything to him! His girl finally gave him enough of a glare and cold shoulder that he focused his attention on trying to appease her – I think that’s what happened anyway. I didn’t want to turn around and watch. Then there was the scramble of trying to get home after the show. That was cool.

Posted on

Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew’s “Spirit If…”

broken social scene

 

Saw Broken Social Scene present Kevin Drew’s Spirit If… last night. Which really means I saw Broken Social Scene play last night. I would say half the set was Spirit If and half was BSS stuff. Even though only about half the members of BSS were present, with members of other bands filling in for some people, it was still fucking amazing. You think Broken Social Scene is good recorded? It’s nothing like when they played last night. Well I mean, it’s about 70% as good as last night. Holy hell, they sounded BEAUtiful. They had this ethereal quality to them throughout and then the BSS songs just fucking rocked. Not to mention the theater was spectacular.

the orpheum

 

Here are more pictures from the show.

 

I’m going to upload more when I get home. I also have some video of Emily Haines singing Anthems for a 17-year-old girl with them. Not sure if that will upload though because it’s about two or three minutes and the file is probably too big.

Anyway, it would have been great if I didn’t get a headache in the middle of it and then continue to shake my head around dancing. Kevin Drew’s singing piercing into my skull didn’t help the pain. It was well worth it though.

Posted on

How You Livin’ G?

So the G Living network is an all encompassing “green living” magazine that tries to cover everything from green design and technology to fitness and uh, green music?

Not sure why there needs to be green music but apparently it’s something that people care about?

The magazine looks cool, but as for content? I’m not so sure. Of course I’ve only glimpsed over the site so I have some more browsing to do.

Posted on

Thoughtful Consumption

Ever since I started thinking more ecologically consciously I’ve felt guilty for buying… well, anything really. If I purchase something it will eventually end up in a landfill somewhere and that really bothers me. It hasn’t stopped me from consuming, I don’t think there’s any way I can really stop, but once I buy something I eventually think through it’s life cycle and it almost always ends in a “bad” way.

I know there’s no way to halt or keep people from continuing to live how they do now, and I really dont think that’s how we should go about taking steps toward living greener. I think the solution is more about changing the way we do and make things, as opposed to stop doing what we’re doing. For example, people aren’t going to stop driving cars. I know I wouldn’t want to. Taking a step backward in technology isn’t really the best solution. Changing the fuel the cars run on, how they’re made, and their environmental impact would be a much better solution, I think. It’s a step forward in a good direction.

Anyway, with that sort of mentality, I don’t think I could stop shopping. Yes, it’s an unnecessary desire caused by modern society, but the act of shopping is sort of like therapy for me, but this is a conversation for a later time. I’ve decided that, from now on, the purchasing decision thought process will include thinking about the processes in which the items were made, what they are made of, and where they will end up before I buy them. This is obviously something I should have thought of a long time ago but I figured now was a good time to put it in writing so I’ll stick to it. Continue reading “Thoughtful Consumption”