So I was listening to NPR on my way to school this morning, and I caught the tail end of this story, on the music industry going after guitar tab websites.
In one part of the story, they were talking to a guy who had brought a tab of a song he liked to his guitar teacher. It took me a moment, but I recognized the song that he was playing.
However, since he only played a short little snippet, I don’t know if he was playing the Firefly theme song, or Vixy’s Serenity song (Mal’s Song).
🙂
So Jen, Mark and I went to North Tonawanda last night to see Lowest of the Low. Since it was an outdoor free thing, Jen and I got there early to scope out the place. Three bands played before the Low, so we spent a lot of time wandering, and just sitting and chatting.
North Tonawanda is a really cute little town. The concerts are held in Gateway Park, which is on the canal. It’s a great spot for concerts/festival type things.
We made our way up near the stage when the third band, Pilate, began. They weren’t bad. Jen thought the singer sounded a little bit like Bono. I thought he sounded a little bit like Hawksley Workman, who sometimes sounds a little bit like Bono. 🙂
My first criticism is that there was way. too. much. bass. The kind of bass that reverberates throughout your body. I guess some people enjoy that. Me, not so much.
To our left, there was a really, really drunk fortysomething guy flailing wildly about. I guess you’d call it dancing. I understand that he likes Styx, and is going to see them at Artpark. He also was trying to mold his friend’s prepubescent son in his image, coaching him in the popular “pump your fist at the stage” move.
The closer it got to the Low, the more people started to pack in. We had moved in in enough time to secure a reasonable spot near the front. (I’m really, really short. If I want to have any prayer of seeing the band, I need to be as close to the front as possible.)
Just before the Low went on, a young couple with a little boy (around 6) materialized directly behind us. I heard them making plans to move up to the front.
I’m thinking, “Those people up front have been standing there since 5:30. No way are they going to let you in front of them, no matter how cute your kid is.”
Jen went to get some beers before the show started, and I widened my stance. People always try to move in at moments like that. And lo, the family behind me made their move.
“My friend is coming back,” I said.
“Oh, we’re going up front,” the woman told me.
Like hell you are…
They squeezed through and proceeded to stop directly in front of me.
The woman then turned around and motioned to another woman who was still standing behind us. She started to squeeze through, and I couldn’t hide my agitation.
“Oh come–” I stopped, bit my tongue. But it was too late.
“What?” The woman demanded.
“Nothing,” I said, rolling my eyes and looking away.
“She’s with us,” she said. As if that made them less annoying.
“This is my son’s favorite band,” I heard the guy telling someone.
Sigh. It annoyed me even more that I would have probably found them cute if they hadn’t been standing directly in front of me.
And of course, of COURSE when the concert started? They took turns holding the kid on their shoulders so he could see. Like they couldn’t have done that from WHERE THEY WERE STANDING BEFORE.<
So I started off on an super annoyed note. (thanks for the photos, Jen!)
When the band played Rosy and Grey, I leaned over to Jen and said, “Don’t you kinda wish all the people who came just to sing ‘I like it much better goin’ down on you’ would leave now?”
“Oh, I remember when you were that person…” she said.
Well, maybe. But I wasn’t pushing my way in front of people. 😉
The first time I saw Lowest of the Low was at their reunion concert in the fall of 2000. They played at the Tralf. I had spent the day in Albany for work (we left obscenely early in the morning) and drove directly to the concert afterwards. I made it just in time for the show. Jen, Kim and Rachel had been there for a while, and they’d had a few beers. I felt compelled to catch up, so I headed to the bar for a drink.
I ordered a Long Island Iced Tea…then, after I thought about how much trouble it would be getting back up to the bar, I ordered another. I made my way back to where my friends were standing.
I had a great time, singing, dancing…I didn’t notice how drunk I was getting until it was way too late, as is usually the case with hard, hard liquor drinks. By the time they played Rosy and Grey, I had my arm wrapped around some guy I had just met and was happily swaying and singing away. I’m pretty sure we were making out before the concert was over.
A lot of stuff happened after this that’s pretty fuzzy. I think we went to another bar after the concert was over. The guy (I think his name was Mike) came with us. I remember having to go outside, because I felt sick. When we finally left, I had to leave my car behind. (it was in a lot that’s only open to the public after working hours. getting it out the next day was another adventure…)
I guess I had given Mike my number, because he called me the next day. I didn’t remember his name or giving him my number, so I was a little confused when he called. Also, my friends had apparently invited him to go out with us that night, which I also didn’t remember. It was a horribly confusing conversation for me, and probably downright horrible for him. So Mike? If you’re out there? I’m really, really sorry.
I had never been in that state before, have not been since, and don’t see myself ever getting there again.
And like I said, in my defense…I wasn’t pushing my way in front of anyone. 😉
The band was great, of course. The sound was still too bass-heavy for my liking. And now that I’ve been spoiled by the New York state smoking ban, I always find myself annoyed by cigarette smoke at outdoor venues. It seems that I’m always surrounded by smokers, and the wind is always carrying the smoke toward me. By the end of the show, my eyes were itchy and I was wheezing a bit. Ick.
Cute alert–at the end of Bleed a Little While, when Ron sings “Alex never gets what she wants,” I caught a cute little smile from Lawrence. (Lawrence is happily involved with Alex McMaster, who plays with the acoustic revue. Awww…)
And thus ends my Low report. I didn’t get any photos, but Jen did. I’ll probably post a link as soon as she gets them online. 🙂
Thanks to TV Squad for the heads up…
The pilot for Aaron Sorkin’s new show, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, is currently available on YouTube in 5 installments.
Don’t know how long it’ll be there, but I just watched it, and it’s fantastic. I loved it. I actually applauded at the end. Alone. On my couch. 😉
This cannot be said enough…I adore Aaron Sorkin.
Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford are great together. I’m so looking forward to more of this.
This is going to be primarily photo-based.
As I mentioned, Greg Klyma and Tom Bianchi played Sunday night at Nietzsche’s. (side note…I ALWAYS forget the S in Nietzsche’s)
Greg is a native Buffalonian who relocated to Austin a few years ago. He describes himself as country-folk-rock or Americana. He’s an incredibly talented musician and songwriter, not to mention an extremely entertaining storyteller. He always puts on a good show, and plays in Buffalo several times a year.
Tom is a fantastic bass player who lives in Boston. His music is fun and witty, and he’s amazing to watch.
The guys pulled Rand up to sing backup on a couple of Greg’s tunes, and also to perform Ookla’s PM Prima Donna, which is always a crowd pleaser.
Unfortunately, Rand and I did not stay until the end of the show…I have to get up too early to teach writing on Monday mornings, so we left at around 11:30. What we saw, though, was great, and I’m looking forward to the next time I get to see these guys in action.
I hope to see you there, too! 🙂
Greg Klyma and Tom Bianchi will be playing at Nietzsche’s this Sunday night (July 30)! Show at 9 pm.
Rand will be joining them for a few numbers…
If you haven’t seen/heard Greg play, I highly recommend him! I missed his last Nietzche’s gig, but I heard it was a rockin’ good time.
Hope to see ya there!
I’ve got a busy, busy weekend ahead, so I probably won’t be around until it’s over. Have a good one. 🙂
ETA…something fishy, indeed. klyma.com is MIA. The link above now goes to his myspace page.
Yeah, one of these days I’ll post about something other than movies. But I am way behind.
One more movie seen in the theater:
A Scanner Darkly
I admit that I am not all that familiar with Philip K. Dick, despite living in a place where his entire body of work is sitting on a shelf, just waiting for me to read. I’ve not read a single one. I saw Minority Report, which I understand was not all that great an adaptation. I’ve also seen Paycheck, Total Recall, parts of Blade Runner, and (lord help me) Screamers.
Anyway. I liked this. I didn’t even mind Keanu. I had never heard of rotoscoping (the weird animation) before seeing the trailer to this film…thank goodness I had my Randipedia next to me. 😉 I thought the effect was very very good…giving the movie a sort of strange unreality.
Rand and I decided that Robert Downey Jr. based his character on a cross between Jeff Goldblum and Dr. Cox (aka John C. McGinley).
and on DVD…
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
I love, love, love William Goldman. I mean, this is the man who brought us The Princess Bride, not to mention the first really good AND true to the spirit of the novel Stephen King adaptation (Misery, in case you’re confused…). But I never felt much of a desire to see this. Outlaws? The Old West? Feh. But Rand convinced me otherwise, and it was definitely worth it.
continuing in the western theme…sort of…
Blazing Saddles
I must be making my daddy awfully proud…first, all this Trek, AND Blazing Saddles? (it’s one of dad’s favorite movies…I actually bought it for him for his birthday) This is hilarious…Looney Tunes style antics serving up biting social satire (for the time).
I think I might be missing one, but I’ll end it here…
Looks like your standard thriller, but has a bit of a twist. I enjoyed this, although I didn’t like the way it ended.
Now, I just have to write about the trailers for upcoming things I’m interested in seeing. 🙂
I’ve seen a lot of movies in the past two weeks. I’ve probably seen more movies in the past two weeks than I’ve seen in the past year. I’ll start with the ones I’ve seen this weekend.
Clerks II
Okay, it wasn’t really my choice. I like Kevin Smith, but I thought Clerks was kinda overrated, and I thought a sequel wasn’t the world’s greatest idea.
It wasn’t bad. It was extremely uneven, though. The funny moments were really funny. Some other stuff…not so funny. (Most of the stuff I thought wasn’t so funny involved a donkey. I believe Kevin Smith put these things in the movie to disguise the fact that he’d written a romantic comedy.)
Jason Mewes was great…probably the best thing about the movie. Also, Rosario Dawson was adorable. Kevin Smith seems to know how to get “adorable” out of the women he casts in his movies.
Oh! And I almost forgot…Marshall! Squee! Okay, he was only in it for one scene, but still. Marshall!
There was a lengthy acknowledgement section at the end of the credits…the last one:
And to Jersey Girl, for taking it so hard up the a**, and never complaining.
That made me laugh. 😉
And for a complete change of direction:
An Inconvenient Truth
This was incredibly powerful stuff. Al Gore was so engaging, compelling and passionate that it made me wonder where the heck THAT guy was during the campaign.
And finally, courtesy of Netflix:
Jaws
And so I end my reign of being the last human being on Earth who hasn’t seen Jaws. I loved it. Killer suspense. I gasped audibly the first time we saw the shark. And it ended at the perfect moment…so many movies made now just keep going and going and going so that you have 15 epilogues instead of just ENDING THE MOVIE ALREADY.
Good stuff. 🙂
I’m about to destroy whatever shred of nerd cred I have, so let me start this post by saying the following”
Buffy!
Harry Potter!
Lord of the Rings!
Ahem.
My dad is a Star Trek fan from way back. When we got a VCR, he started taping every episode of the original series. He watched them…a lot. So I had a marginal familiarity with the cast. I could identify the actors. I know what tribbles are.
So, in passing conversation, Rand was completely and utterly incredulous that I’d never seen Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. (in my defense, I wasn’t completely ingnorant. I knew that Khan was played by Mr. Roarke…er…Ricardo Montalban) We were out shopping at FYE one night, and he found a bunch of Star Trek movies on sale for super cheap. So he bought some. But only the even-numbered ones, of course. Because as everyone knows, the odd-numbered ones suck. 😉
Previously, the only one I had seen was four…the one about the whales. I really liked it.
He also got First Contact. I was slightly less familiar with The Next Generation, but again…my dad watched regularly, so I knew the characters. Like Geordi, the blind guy with the banana clip visor. Anyway, I really enjoyed this movie. The casting was great. Alfre Woodard and James Cromwell were both fantastic. (on the down side, this fantastic level of acting made some of the regular cast look really, really bad. Deanna Troi, I’m looking at you. Speaking of which…I kinda thought she looked like a drag queen. But I digress.)
And in my continuing education, Rand also picked up a DVD set with selected episodes of TNG. We’ve watched Darmok and The Inner Light, both of which I’ve really enjoyed.
I welcome your comments and recommendations. 🙂
Carl Kasell has a prominent job as a radio newscaster, despite the fact that he sounds like he has a mouthful of marbles. Discuss.
I just finished reading the Grant Morrison run of New X-Men (3 volumes). I don’t really know much about X-Men, other than what I’ve seen in the movies. I enjoyed reading this, and I have great respect for Morrison’s writing. His creativity is amazing.
If I were back in college studying communication, I would write a thesis on how comic books in general, and the X-Men in particular, are like soap operas. X-Men is especially soapy, with all the angst and love triangles and whatnot.
Interesting sidenote…when I was just out of college, I started writing (and later abandoned) something about a group of teenagers with psychic abilities, who were attending a special school for the “gifted”. Hmmm…