Did you hear your favorite song one last time? Young boys, young girls...

Last night Eve and I saw The Gaslight Anthem in a sold out show at Webster Hall.  They had surprisingly solid first opener, Good Old War, who we both really enjoyed.  Their 2nd opener, Heartless Bastards weren't bad, but their set felt like it went on for forever.  

The Gaslight Anthem put on a great live show.  It was 16 and over, but I'm not so sure all of those kids were over 16...I felt a little old as I attempted to side-step getting jumped on by spastic teenagers and not get kicked in the head by a slew of crowd surfers.  They opened with "Great Expectations" which is a wonderful song, but is also the opener to their last album, and I'm always a little suspicious of beginning a set like that.  I was particularly in love with their performances of "Film Noir" and "Here's Looking At You, Kid", as the lead singer, Brian Fallon, seemed particularly connected to the songs as he sang.  Also, Film Noir is one of my favorite songs of theirs.  They played a good mix of new and old songs, though I am much more familiar with The '59 Sound than their previous work.  Overall: great show, and I'm excited for summer to get here because it's the best concert season in NY!

Here are some pics I managed to take during all the madness:

and i will hang my head, hang my head low

After a few different conversations with Ana about "least favorite" albums of artists that we generally like, I proclaimed that the Crane Wife was my least favorite Decemberists album, and she agreed with me.  Granted, I had listened to it maybe two times when it first came out, was not instantly in love, and pretty much wrote off the entire thing.  I've been thinking about this a lot recently, as many subsequent people who heard about this have given passionate arguments as to why the Crane Wife might actually be their best album.  And so, I'm going back and re-listening and re-considering all of the "bad" albums of some of my favorite bands.  Albums that I had highly anticipated and did not love when they were first released.  I'm hoping to walk away with new revelations (and favorites?)

First up: The Crane Wife, The Decemberists (2006)

I've listened to it twice this week, all the way through.  And I must say off the bat that I was wrong.  It's really quite beautiful, both musically and as a cohesive unit of story-telling.  The opening to "Crane Wife 3" is fantastic, making me sad that I've been missing this for years now...

if things go crazy, she's lost herself and lost to you

Saturday night Ana and I went to see Cut Copy and Matt & Kim play at Terminal 5! The show was great. I saw Matt & Kim last year up at Cornell playing to a crowd of under 100 in a Harry Potter-esque dining hall. Needless to say, this venue was *way* larger, but they did a really good job of rising to the occasion for their supporting gig on this tour.


Cut Copy opened with "Hearts of Fire" which is one of my favorites, and clearly then closed with "Lights and Music" which was fantastic if not predictable.  A somewhat unexpected highlight of the show for me was the energy during "Out There On The Ice".  Also, we had a great view of the guy running the lights for Cut Copy and he was amazing in and of himself--dancing and clearly in love with what he does.

sorry these photos suck...my camera battery died and I had to resort to using my sad sad little phone.  But, check out this video someone else took of the opening song:

Also, side note: the guys in Cut Copy further my growing belief that I dance like an Australian boy...

Casper, Nearly Headless Nick, and Patrick Swayze in that one movie are all...

BOO! (they're ghosts, duh)

And now for...

         Ghosts (the playlist!)

1. "Not a Robot, But A Ghost" Andrew Bird
2. "Is There A Ghost" Band of Horses
3. "Falling Man" Blonde Redhead
4. "The Ghost of You Lingers" Spoon
5. "Same Ghost Every Night" Wolf Parade
6. "Ghost" Neutral Milk Hotel
7. "I'm A Ghost" Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
8. "So Haunted" Cut Copy
9. "Ghost Under Rocks (Passion Pit Remix)" Ra Ra Riot
10. "Rebel With the Ghost" Sons and Daughters
11. "Walking With a Ghost" Tegan and Sara

As a side note: I am super-psyched to see Cut Copy this Saturday!!

Ghosts

what can you do with a bunch of hangers and a clear box?

For starters, this:

Tonight I went to/worked the door at the Thread Social fall/winter '09 presentation at co-owner Beth's apartment (which is a sight to be seen in and of itself).  The models were elevated on clear lucite boxes filled with illuminated twisted and mangled gold hangers, forming an abstract mass, somewhat reminiscent of tree branches.  

Here are some of the looks from the collection as well!

not to make this blog about moustaches or anything...

...but I saw another great moustached man on the train today:

speaking of facial hair...

Last night a bunch of friends and I went to the "NYC Beard and Moustache Championship" at Public Assembly in Williamsburg.  The burlesque was mediocre, the band we saw was actually pretty good (The New Familiars), and the beards were, of course, amazing.  We even chased after the winner of the "full beard freestyle" category to pose for a picture:

a great LIRR customer

Spotted: this man on the train today.  Nothing else needs to be said!

_______-proof

In honor of my mom's visit last weekend:

mom-proofing your apartment vs. baby-proofing your house

mom-proofing (in the case of me):

• finding a place to put 42 empty beer bottles that I still want to take to refund my bottle deposit (it's $2, whatever)
  
• making photos of my family (namely her) more prominent
  
• the flipside to this is hiding "incriminating" photographs, including my favorite polaroid of eric and robert
  
• attempting to hide anything that might start a conversation (failed attempt. she will always find something to comment on: why did you move the rolling rack with your fancy dresses on it? because i felt like it... oh, is that your bike? do you ride it? not in the winter... i see you've rearranged your furniture. wow, you have eyes etc.)
  
• concealing 50% of the contents of my bathroom because she clearly always has something to say about the things I use
  

I think about all of this effort in preparation for a 2-day visit, and feel obliged to compare it to what she must have had to do before I showed up:

• eliminating sharp corners
  
• blocking off electrical plugs, cords, etc.
  
• using those gates to block off the stairs

Ok...it turns out, I don't know very much about baby-proofing an apartment...I'll just assume that I did more. ha.