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Opener
- Reptar. I missed them because I had a soccer double-header.
Setlist
- Most of their songs came from the last two albums, which I own, but they also threw in a couple from their first album and even one from a benefit CD. And there might even have been a brand new one in there somewhere. I generally enjoyed the songs that I wasn't familiar with.
Observations
- The show was sold out, and with good reason. They're definitely too big for the Firebird, but I'm not sure how much of The Pageant they would fill up. They also had a pretty decent stage-level lighting rig, given the venue.
- An air conditioning upgrade for Firebird would be greatly appreciated, especially for sold-out shows.
- I probably would have enjoyed this show a bit more if my legs weren't super tired from playing two soccer games earlier in the evening. Standing for extended periods is already hard on my legs and back to begin with.
- They had alternate intros/beginnings for a couple of their songs. I can't recall which ones at the moment, but I think "Henrietta" might have been one. They threw me for a loop initially, but they weren't too bad.
- I'm digging the dual lead singer thing that they have going on. Plus the bassist is pretty good at harmonies too - so they were all singing pretty much the whole show, except for the drummer.
Rating: 4.5/5
Openers
- Judy and I missed all of Blondefire but caught most of Surfer Blood's set. I can't say that I enjoyed it very much, but I didn't want to kill myself either. I did recognize "Swim" (or whatever it's called) when they played it.
Setlist
- They mixed in a good deal of stuff from all three of their albums, though back-loaded, as expected. Surprisingly, they played a couple of the mellower cuts from "Holy Fire". But I still haven't seen them play any of the last 3 - my favorites - from "Total Life Forever".
High/low-lights
- "Olympic Airways" was pretty great, as expected. I was pleasantly surprised that they played "Milk and Black Spiders", and that they didn't ruin it for me...well, I could have done without the extended ending, but the rest of it was spot-on, with a couple of nice twists thrown in there.
- Oh, and Yannis crowd-surfed while playing guitar a couple of times (which I found a bit dangerous, as the crowd was not all that packed).
- I should also give props to the venue. It has an elevated stage in front of an open center area with tables and seats around the perimeter, and more seating at the edges past the structural columns. The slightly elevated bar area is in the back, where people enter, and there is also a balcony level. It's kind of like Plush in St. Louis, but nicer. All in all, it's a pretty nice setup for small-ish shows.
Rating: 4.4/5
I've only had my last pair of indoor soccer shoes for about 8 months, but I already busted a seam on the side of the left boot. It's still playable (and I've been playing with it like that for a few weeks), but it's an excuse to buy some new ones. This time, I went with the adidas Freefootball x-pro, pictured below.
And since these are miCoach compatible, I went ahead and bought an adidas miCoach Speed Cell. This is a little chip that fits in a slot under the insole of the left boot, and tracks your movement. I played my first game with these shoes (and chip) tonight, and the results are in - see screenshot below, or go to this link.
I apparently spend half the game either on the bench or not doing very much. And I'm only running or sprinting a quarter of the time. I covered about 1.6 miles over the course of the two 20-minute halves, with a max speed of 17.69 mph (which could probably get me under 5 seconds in a 40 yard dash). I was playing with some aftereffects of a thigh bruise suffered 3 nights ago, so I hope to improve on that max speed in the future.
Opener
- I arrived late and only caught half of the last song by Ghost in the Machine, which was unfortunate since I wanted to support them after meeting the wife of their lead singer (a friend of a friend) last week. There was really no need, though, as the show was sold out, and plenty of people saw them play.
Setlist
- The first 3 songs were from Around the Fur, then they sampled from every album in their catalog. They ended with the standard "Engine No. 9" and "7 Words".
Observations
- Chino (who was pretty chatty that night) dedicated the first song of the encore to Chris Kelly of Kris Kross, who had died earlier in the night. He also made a reference earlier in the night to having a rough couple of weeks since former bassist Chi Cheng's death.
- Chino has been playing the guitar more and more. He broke it out for 5 or 6 songs, with at least a couple being songs from the most recent album.
High/low-lights
- Despite Koi No Yokan being possibly my second favorite Deftones album, most of the new songs that they played mostly fell flat to me. I also think that, despite their high energy onstage, they are a much better band musically in the studio than they are live.
Rating: 4.1/5
Opener
- I missed all of Tone Rodents, but caught the last couple of songs by Suuns. I wouldn't have minded seeing more of them.
Setlist
- The first several song were off the latest album, Until In Excess..., which I've only given a couple of listens thus far. I was disappointed to only hear one song off ...the Roaring Night, my favorite of their 3 albums I've listened to.
Stage
- They pulled out quite a few stops for a show at a small venue like Firebird. In fact, they probably overdid it with the fog machine (the whole place was filled up with it). But the pedal controlled lights were a decent addition.
Observations
- Too bad the show only drew maybe 50 people, which is disappointing considering that they have put out a couple of Polaris Music Prize nominated albums. I guess that's St. Louis on a Tuesday night, especially when you're an obscure indie band.
- The two guitarists used their whammy bars way more than I can recall seeing at a concert before. This makes sense when considering the music, but I never thought about it enough to realize that's what's going on.
- Overall, I think I set my expectations to high for this show, as I was a bit disappointed when I walked out. I think the setlist choices probably contributed the most to this.
High/low-lights
- I could have done without the seeming two minute intros to almost every song. And they started pushing my patience with the jams, especially toward the end of the show.
- Their harmonies, in which all four members participated at one time or another, are just about as good live as on record.
Rating: 4.0/5
Opener
- Blue Hawaii. I'm not sure if opening with another boy-girl duo (where the dude does the beats and the chick sings) is a good thing (because it's likely fans of the main act would also like them) or a bad thing (because it could be viewed as seeing the "same" act twice).
Setlist
- They played all the songs off their only album (not in order, of course) and a cover of "Grammy" by Soulja Boy (WTF?). Though they did not have an encore, it was no surprise that Fineshrine was last.
Stage
- "Performing" their style of music live mostly involves pushing buttons and twisting knobs, in addition to singing. But Corin spiced it up with a homemade light bulb percussion kit. They also had a light in a big drum that Megan banged a few times (each time making me worry that it would fall off its shaky stand). Unfortunately, the light inside the drum stopped working toward a couple of songs before the end of the show. Oh, and they used a lot of fog, which I think helped quite a bit with setting the mood.
Observations
- I wouldn't say that their performance was spectacular or anything, especially considering what performing their style of music entails. But their songs are just so good that it was a very enjoyable show.
High/low-lights
- When performing Grandloves live, Megan sings the vocal part that is sampled from Young Magic.
Rating: 4.5/5
Peter Singer is definitely among my top 5 living philosophers, though I have not actually read a whole book of his. Many of his views on ethics are pretty similar to, and have shaped some of, my own. In fact, an article of his that I read in one of my philosophy classes a few years ago planted the seed that (in combination with a few other things) led to me converting to a fully vegetarian diet a couple of months ago (after a couple of years of part-timing it).
Now he's going on about charitable donations, and I feel compelled to pledge 1% of my income toward a worthwhile cause (a few of which he kindly points us toward). I could attempt to give an explanation of why I think this is a good idea, but it's probably better just to watch the man himself talk about it (be warned that this video is ONE HOUR long, though you could probably get the gist of it within the first 15 minutes or so): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MewmfYq4Wrw.
Despite my current advocacy of this idea (and impending pledge to contribute myself), I wouldn't say that I don't have concerns about actually seeing this through. I think that Singer makes a solid argument for why anti-poverty programs are far more cost-effective than some of the charitable work being done domestically (though this should not be interpreted as me dismissing domestic charities as unworthy). Still, I question whether "saving lives" without a systematic societal change simply prolongs the conditions that enable perpetual poverty and strife in some of these places. I'll end the discussion there to avoid stating this concern as harshly as I have sometimes in the past. For now I'll just concede and settle for saving lives.
Until about a couple of weeks ago, I had regularly worn a wristwatch since I was a kid. Some would argue that (since I am right-handed) I wore my watches on the wrong (i.e., right) wrist...but still...
I currently own 6 wristwatches, each of which I had been progressively wearing less and less. A couple are sport watches, which I have no need for since I don't really go running or adventure traveling any more (or, actually, never really did). A couple are of the stylish-but-marginally-functional variety that I mostly wore on weekends. I got tired of replacing their batteries a year or two ago. The remaining two were the stainless steel workhorses, one of which I typically had on my wrist 5 days a week. Though the battery has been dead on one of them for a while, the other is still chugging along (except for when I try to use the backlight).
Lately, though, I was almost daily taking the watch off at least briefly at work when it started to make typing a bit uncomfortable. This is not something new, and has been an on-and-off occurrence for several years. However, it seemed to be happening more often lately. On top of the fact that the battery on my only remaining functional non-sport watch was showing signs of fading (re: the backlight issue). And the fact that (for various reasons I won't get into at the moment) I hate the experience of getting my watch batteries replaced. And, perhaps most importantly, the fact that cell phones have rendered the main function of a watch obsolete. So one day at work a couple of weeks ago I decided that I was done with watches. I took the watch off, put it in my coat pocket, and that was that.
The one caveat to this story is that I have been eying the smartwatch industry for a while. In fact, at one point last year I pledged the $100 (or whatever it was) that was required to receive a Pebble watch on Kickstarter. But I later came to my senses and cancelled my pledge when they announced the first of a few delays. I still think that smartwatches could be a neat idea, and (being a gadget guy) I'm likely to take a serious look at one once the industry matures a bit. Chances are it won't be an iWatch, though.
Opener
Setlist
- The setlist ranged from the first song on their first album all the way through their catalog. As expected, it was back-loaded with songs off their most recent album, which I don't think is particularly good (but I appreciate a bit more after finding out that it is named after the second law of thermodynamics). They included all the hits (I think - I'm actually not that huge a fan of their music), and a couple of my favorites of theirs.
Stage
- This may be the main reason that I saw this show - Muse is known for their elaborate stage setup. After seeing part of their show at a festival, I felt I should probably see a real headlining show of theirs.
- As expected, their stage setup was visually stunning - one of the best I've seen. They had screens all over the place (surrounding the stage, on the stage, and in motion overhead), lots of lights, lasers, and a boom camera that Matthew Bellamy played with a
bit (at one point he had an extended close-up with the camera while his
sunglasses displayed the song lyrics - pretty cool). They also showed off a piano that came up out of the stage, a rotating platform for the drummer, and guitars with lights and Kaoss pads built in.
- The stage also had a very clean feel to it. There was a catwalk around the back, and a few places for the two non-stationary members to post up.
Observations
- In addition to having great visuals, they were quite technically skilled with their instruments - they played their songs very cleanly.
- An extra traveling musician was used for a few of the songs, notably while Matt was on the piano.
High/low-lights
- Did I mention that the visuals were amazing?
Rating: 4.2/5
I'm not that big into politics, but I still have a few thoughts on some issues from time to time. I figured now might be a good time to get some of those thoughts down in writing, if only so I can look back in 10 years and laugh at myself.
As you may know, I stopped voting for people a couple of years ago. And as much as I wanted Barack to be re-elected this year (for reasons that had nothing to do with policy), I didn't even vote in the presidential election. But I did stand in line for over an hour to vote on the ballot measures - which, in retrospect, may not have been worth my time. So I think I still have some of the same thoughts about my vote being wasted in the current two-party system as I did in 2010. But perhaps it would be good to explore this in more detail.
One thing that (still) really turns me off in politics is the campaign process. Politicians spend too much time attacking each other's characters instead of focusing on their stances on the issues. And even when they do talk about the issues, they often make wild promises that they don't keep. It seems like a campaign isn't really a great indication of what a candidate will actually do if elected to office. I'm not saying that the campaign doesn't give you an idea of where they stand and how they might proceed. I'm saying that campaigns are often more rhetoric than substance, and do not focus on the right things. But I don't think I'm saying anything profound here - people have just learned to deal with this. I guess I just choose not to. I just wish that the campaigners would respect my decision not to engage and leave me alone (in terms of mailings and phone calls) in return.
Besides all the campaign nonsense, I think the biggest issue for me is that I don't identify with either the Democrats or Republicans, and there are no realistic choices outside of them. It would seem that this need not be a sticking point, because we elect people, not parties, into government positions, and these people are free to pursue whatever agenda they believe is right, even if it strays from the party line (thanks to Tim for pointing this out to me at lunch today). The problem, for me at least, is that nobody's straying very far. This is understandable - they did get elected as part of the party establishment after all. But the result for me is that not identifying with the parties results in not identifying with the candidates.
But what does it mean for me to say that I don't identify with the two main parties? Where do I actually stand on the issues? Well, the quick answer is that my views are probably closer to libertarian than anything else, though I'd like to think that I'm not as "crazy" as some of those guys appear to be (even though some of my views are as far away from the mainstream).
I think it's pretty well established that I am generally on the liberal side in terms of social issues. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is that I am a John Stuart Mill fanboy, and think that his Harm Principle is pretty much spot on. So for the most part I think that the government should get out of the business of telling people what to do as long as they're not hurting others. Of course there's further debate to be had about what actually constitutes harm and what types of restrictions of liberty are justified in various cases, but I'll skip that for now. I will note here that this does not mean that I have particularly strong opinions, or even an opinion at all, on all social issues. The other, less substantive, reason that I'm on the left socially is that current conservative social policy is driven mostly by Christian values, and it's no secret that I'm not a huge fan of Christianity. But even the Democrats feel a need to recognize God in their party platform, so I can't say I'm totally on their side socially either.
As far as fiscal issues go, I think I tend to lean toward the right, though I'm not particularly sure that's the case (yes, there were a lot of weasel words in that sentence). I tend not to like having the government involved in economic policy, but I must admit that I do not have any strong justification for these leanings. But at the same time I don't feel like economists really know as much about what's going as they pretend to (though they certainly know far more than I do). I guess my opinion is that if they really had it all figured out there would be no disagreement about which policies most help the economy, which I'm pretty sure is not the case. So in the absence of this knowledge, I tend to advocate a hands-off approach. And due to this lack of conviction I have weaker opinions on economic issues than social ones.
So it may be clear at this point that I don't have very much figured out in the political arena. I also hold some views that I have trouble reconciling. As an example, I generally advocate less government intervention, but would somehow be OK with universal healthcare. I'm not really sure how to justify that. But there's at least one thing that I think is sorely lacking in the current government: fiscal responsibility. I don't care as much (within reason) which policies and programs the government chooses to enact, as long as the programs are properly funded. So if we as a country think that certain entitlement programs are worthwhile, we should structure taxes to fully pay for those programs. The same goes for defense, or any other government expenditure. And while we're on the topic of taxes, my stance is that the purpose of taxes should be to fund the government and its programs, not to encourage or discourage certain behaviors. This principle dictates that the tax code should be pretty simple and straightforward. I especially like it when taxes are explicitly appropriated for corresponding expenditures - this lets you know where the money is going and helps decide what the worthwhile expenditures are. But anyway, I'm not sure if that puts me on the right or left - I don't really hear very much about balancing the budget and increasing accountability from either party...maybe a bit more from the Republicans than the Democrats.
So...yeah... That's kinda where I stand. Waiting for someone to start up the Purple Party...the one that's kinda like the Libertarians, but not crazy.
If you know me, then you know that I am a Radiohead fanboy. Well, I just read an article from Paste Magazine which ranks the 8 albums that the band has released so far from worst to best. I actually agree with a lot of the list, but thought that it would be a good idea to get my thoughts on the matter down in writing. So here's my ranking...
8. Pablo Honey
I think most people would agree with this decision - there's not much interesting about this album.
7. Hail to the Thief
I actually really liked this album when it came out, and (being the eternal presentist) would have put it above The Bends back then. While this album probably contains about as many quality songs as some others on this list, nine years have made me realize that there are simply too many songs on this album, and a lot of them are pretty so-so.
6. The King of Limbs
Again, being the presentist that I am, I put this album at #3 of my list of top albums of 2011. I don't necessarily think that this ranking was too high, so it must say something about my affinity for the band if this album only comes in at #6 when compared to their others.
5. Amnesiac
The toughest decision for me when putting this list together is probably deciding between this album and TKOL for #5. I find Amnesiac to be pretty inconsistent, and there are definitely a couple of tracks that I skip over when I'm listening to it. But the highs of "Pyramid Song" and "I Might Be Wrong" are above those of pretty much any song (save perhaps "Little By Little") on the other album, so this one barely squeezes ahead.
4. The Bends
For a while there I didn't give this album enough credit because I got caught up in all the experimental goodness that the band was trying out in the 2000s. However, I have to admit that there are just too many really good songs on this album, even if they aren't breaking any barriers.
3. In Rainbows
Some may question whether this album can go punch-for-punch with The Bends, but I think that it does much more artistically, so it gets the nod. It's also probably the best mix of the many sounds of Radiohead in one single album. Bonus points for the pay-what-you-want pricing scheme they used to sell the album upon release.
2. OK Computer
This is the album that got me into the band, and what an introduction it was. There are loads of classic songs on this album, so it's no wonder that it routinely tops critics' lists of the best albums in recent memory. So I don't get any heartburn when some people say that this is RH's best album. It's just not my favorite.
1. Kid A
There was a time when people lined up at record stores on Monday night so that they could get a highly anticipated new release at midnight. That is what I did for this album (well, maybe not lined up, but at least showed up at midnight) because I had fallen in love with OK Computer and then, to a lesser extent, The Bends. And when I first listened to the album I thought..."W...T...F?! Is this music?!" The only song that I could say that I liked the first time around was "Optimistic", so I clung to that on subsequent listens. But the more I listened to the album, the more I grew to love it...even more than the others. There's much more that I could bore you with regarding this album, but suffice it to say that it is my favorite album *ever*.
In reality, I'm not absolutely certain about this ranking - it's kind of a "top two or three, the rest, and then Pablo Honey" thing in my mind. But the relative ranking of "the rest" may be pretty stable going forward, especially since I've had some time since the band last put out an album. We'll have to see where any future albums rank if they release more...
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