My Mumbling Thoughts

It's always exciting and nerve wracking at the same time when one of your favorite music artists release a new album. If it's good and exceeds your expectations, then hot damn, it just makes you fall deeper in love with the man or woman that can strum your heart strings and make you sway to the music. But if it's bad? God. If it's bad. Well, I cry. I don't know about the rest of you, but it's like I have to bury them and mourn the loss of one of my best friends.

Luckily for me, Albert Hammond Jr.'s second album, Como Te Llama?, rocks my motherfucking socks. For those of you who don't know him, I have to ask, um, why? He went to pursue a solo career from one of my ultimate favorite bands EVER, The Strokes, and I think it was a really good move on his part. I love The Strokes; lord knows that I would give anything to have even two minutes with that gorgeous god that is, Julian Casablancas (what a fucking cool name as well), but their third album was a bit...meh. I know, I loved it when it first came out, and it is a respectable third album. HOWEVER, it just didn't move me the same way that their first two albums did. With songs like Reptilia, Alone Together and Hard To Explain, how can you really top yourself?

And then I thought, what is it that makes an album a good album, a great album even? An epic album? Is it the catchy tunes? Is it that those songs represent a specific time in one's life that can transport them back to an era that wasn't so demanding and more carefree? Is it the lyrics? Is it that one particular guitar solo, or drum beats that make your toes tap along uncontrollably?

What is it exactly?

Really, I would have to say that it's a combination of all of the above. There are some albums that I listen to and think, not exactly my personal favorite, but I can't deny that this is a damn fine album. But then there are others that are just so disappointing that I want to find a dark corner and cry. Take Coldplay's recent album. Seriously, what is that bullshit? I've listened to it twice the whole way through and it makes my skin crawl. I just have to ask, what happened? Where did they go wrong?

I blame Gwyneth. Way to kill the music. Things were fine before she came along. They were churning out songs like Sparks, We Never Change and Amsterdam. I mean, yes, they were huge, popular and known all around the world, but the music was still epic, and moved 20,000 of their fans in the Nissan Pavillion to sing along to In My Place. Then she came along and next thing you know that shit song, Green Eyes comes out on their third album, X&Y. Lame. It upsets me.

I have to say that I've moved on from The Killers now as well. They're so cocky and up themselves these days, part of me feels sad for them. Their second album, Sam's Town was mediocre at best. Yeah, I loved the few ballad songs that they had on there, but after the first five songs, the rest of the album kind of deflates and you're left with filler songs that aren't exactly fulfilling, but leave you feeling empty. I hope their next album isn't some chop house attempt at music like Sawdust. I didn't even buy that album it upset me so much. Why was I going to pay full price for songs that I already had? You shouldn't try to milk more money out of your fans. You should do your job and create more beautiful music that's worth paying for.

I don't listen to the radio, partly because I can't stand the commercials after every two songs. It's annoying and changing stations every five minutes gets old really quickly. Instead I go by other people's recommendations (generally Helen or Ryan), and scour the internet for up and coming bands that haven't been corrupted by big labels that force them to be creative and musical when they don't have anything left; or by Mtv and the glitz and glam of the stupid Grammy's. I hate the Grammy's.

So it makes me happy that Mr. Hammond Jr. has given his fans a second album that I can both respect and enjoy at the same time. It's creative and slightly experiemental, but not so crazy to the point where his fans from the Yours To Keep era won't recognize him; yet at the same time, his new fans can still get a flavor of his old sound while still enjoying his newest songs. Spooky Couch is not so much spooky as it is just a pleasant instrumental break in the album that actually made me smile while I was on the bus this morning. Gfc is radio friendly, and has more of a classic Albert sound that has already had multiple plays on my iPod. And then you've got songs like Rocket and Victory At Monterey that are definitely a different sound to get used to, but you do so happily and welcome the change with open arms, not a face of absolute disgust.

* Correction: Because I am shit and don't take the time to research my posts like I should (I'm impatient), Melissa was awesome and pointed out that 'Green Eyes' is not off of Coldplay's third album, X&Y, but rather their second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head. And I have to say, if that's the case, then maybe it isn't Gwyneth's fault. Maybe Chris Martin is just creatively tapped and hopefully one day he will return to us. I hope so. And thanks again to Melissa for showing me the error of my ways.

Posted by Sam at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I didn't run for newspaper editor of my uni, nor did I go to my second counseling session with Lena. Why? Because I got a job and that is priority numero uno for me at the moment. Spending money now is a lot less stressful knowing full and well that I am also accruing funds that will replenish my bank account this coming Friday. It's going to be oh so sweet.

Simon managed to hook me up with that job that I mentioned last week. It turns out that two of the other people they had hired before me, turned out to be flakes, so they decided to replace them with me! And two other ladies that started this past Monday as well.

The job itself is a pile of wank, but the pay is right up my alley. I've done the calculations, and after about a month and a half worth's pay, I should be out of my debt hole and can start saving money for when Mel gets here in August. I'm excited about these new developments, and was so happy to have a job, that I could have reached through my phone and gave Simon a big, sloppy kiss.

Sunday night, I had already mentally decided what I was going to wear for my first day of work, and was so excited to get ready, I woke up AN HOUR BEFORE my alarm went off. That's FIVE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING PEOPLE. Do you know how long it has been since I've woken up at that time? And haven't been out in some random corner of London? A long time. It has been a very long time.

I rolled over and caught the last hour of sleep, but as soon as my phone began playing my morning wake-up call, I quickly jumped in the shower and arrived at my new workplace thirty minutes early. I was quite eager and ready to see what I would be doing, who would I be working with, what was everything going to be like? I was particularly happy to be back in an office setting. How sad is that? But it's true. I'm comfortable amongst all of the computer wires, telephones and mini-kitchen break rooms. It's what I know. It's what I do.

It turned out to be a very standard office, with bare minimum... everything. My enthusiasm was slightly deflated, but I wasn't going to let this get me down. I was at work. AT WORK. And I was damn happy.

The work that I do is so mind-numbing I have to listen to my iPod, Sugar, to keep me awake and my brain functioning at some kind of normal level. It takes me back when I used to work back in VA, and reminded me why I love to hate places like these offices. It was strangely comforting to be working in Excel and Citrix, doing "data cleansing" for people that look at me like I'm too young to be there, and seem out of place with my lip piercing and tattoos (which I hide underneath appropriate work attire).

The other four ladies that I work with are between the ages of thirty-five and forty-something, and they're married. We don't really have anything in common, nor do we have anything to talk about, but they're nice and with each passing day, I'm growing to like them even more. There's Mary, who's a bit... out there and never really knows when to stop talking. Then we have Susan who's the quiet one, and kind of keeps to herself, but she has been slowly breaking out of her shell a bit more and laughing with us. Anna is next in line, who was a little intense when I first met her, but now that I've gotten to know her, I think she's hilarious. Last but not least, there's little Helima, who claimed me as her "smoking buddy" the very first day. I get the feeling that she wants to talk to me about personal things (i.e. problems with her husband), but I find it way too weird and uncomfortable, and try to dodge those conversations as quickly as possible.

That would be our not-so-crazy group of ladies that sit all day, cleanse data all day, try to make it all go by a little bit faster all day...

The good thing is that this is only supposed to be for six weeks, so I won't be stuck doing this shit until I die. We each have 5000 records to clean, and I'm breezing through mine (I'm already at 1300-something). I want to try and get them finished as soon as possible so I don't have to look at them anymore, and will hopefully get something that's a bit more stimulating.

And that's my job. After work is finished for the day, I fast-walk all the way down to the bus stop and hope that I'll be lucky enough to get a seat for the long journey back. I always get stuck in the after work traffic, so instead of the trip being twenty minutes (how long it usually takes), I'm stuck there for about an hour.

Instead of going to the meeting for the top up elections last night, I decided to take a night off and go see my friend, Ryan O'Reilly play at a pub in Hammersmith. I can honestly say that he is one of my favorite people on earth that I have the pleasure of knowing. He's ridiculously smart, funny, a fantastic musician and yes, very much unavailable. He has a beautiful girlfriend, that Trish and I consider to be the luckiest woman on earth.

I love going to Ryan's gigs when I can. The only reason I tend to not go to them is because I'm too poor, but since I have a job now (that will never get old for me to say), I thought I would go and have a nice night out. I never have a bad time at Ryan's gigs. I love it because you get to meet new people, discover other great acts, and travel to different parts of London that I may not otherwise know about.

Last night was one of my favorite performances I've seen Ryan do. He was just so on. He told stories, the audience laughed, he sang with so much feeling and captured the entire night. I know I'm bias, but he was my favorite act of the evening.

And it was so nice not being at uni. Not being around uni people. Not having anything to do with university at all.

Since my last exam, which was the last uni-related thing I had to do, I haven't been back in any kind of full capacity. I pretty much fell off the uni map, and haven't missed it in the slightest. I don't want to deal with any of it for the time being. I just want to push it aside for right now and for once, not care about any of the worries from the past year.

Posted by Sam at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This month has been exceptional for music. Music for me, I suppose. If you're not into my kind of musical groove, then perhaps you would disagree when it comes to this month. Maybe you're having a musical dry spell? In which case, I can't really sympathize, because I've been having a musical dry spell for well over a year. Sure, I've bought some new music; Goldfrapp's new album, Seventh Tree, is amazing to say the least, and proves once again why they are one of my favorite bands ever. They expand their sound, whilst still at the same time stay true to their base foundation that makes all of their fans sit back, relax and slip into their happy place.

But this month in particular, I have purchased so many good albums that have been released, and the music notes make my ears smile; and it all coincides perfectly with this sunny weather that has recently been blessed upon London Town.

I first discovered French Kicks on the first of April. This band has been around for a while, however, they have transformed so much over the years, first coming out with a grainy, garage/punk sound. I'm not a big fan of it, but everybody has to start somewhere I suppose. These days, though, the band is chilled out, relaxed and it feels like I'm sitting in a jacuzzi with the bubbles wrapped all around me. I have listened to their newest album, Swimming, on repeat ever since; on the walk up to uni, on the walk back to uni, when I'm sitting in the kitchen, when I'm sitting in my room, when I'm smoking, when I'm getting ready....you get the point. And for some reason, they remind me of driving in my car back in VA during the fall. I'm not sure why, but I get vivid images of the colors brown, red, orange and gold.

On the same day, I discovered The Apples In Stereo. They are a bit more bouncy than French Kicks, but still have the occasional relaxed track. They're so funny and quirky and make me feel like I'm in a 50's television program, even with the random French song "Avril en Mai" (which is quite possibly the cutest song I've ever heard in another language). They make me happy and their sound is so catchy, you can't help but want to dance on the sidewalk whenever you stick in your earbuds and step outside. Their band has also been around for a while, but I've yet to purchase any of their previous albums...yet. I'll give my American Express a break before I go and abuse iTunes again.

The Submarines were next on my list, and I quickly bought both of their albums. They're from California, and maybe it's something in the air, but most bands that I hear from California, I love. They kind of remind me of The Hush Sound (who have also recently released another album), but unlike The Hush Sound, The Submarines are a lot less theatrical without the main presence of a piano. You can take The Submarines out in your back garden, sit quietly on a bench and just wait for all of the butterflies and ladybugs to come out and dance around the flowers. It's not just the sound either, but the actual lyrics that I love as well. There's not enough good things to say about them.

My next two albums, I'm completely over the moon about, because the first one, Shine, I've been waiting on for OVER A YEAR. I randomly discovered them on myspace before I discovered facebook. They are French and are absolutely mesmerizing. I obsessed over their songs that they had posted on their myspace, and have been waiting oh so impatiently for their album, The Common Station, to be released. Yesterday, when I was roaming the internet, I remembered about them and was pleasantly surprised that their album was available worldwide and I could purchase it from the comfort of my living room via iTunes (as always).

They're in London for one night only (tonight), and unfortunately, since I am poor and lame, I am unable to go. But that doesn't mean that I don't love every single song on their album. It was completely worth the wait, and for some reason all of the songs that are in French, I *heart* even more, just because they sound so heartbreakingly sweet. I can tell that this album is going to be one of the albums that everyone in the flat screams at me to "PLEASE TURN OFF. NO MORE FRENCH SONGS." But I won't. Why? BECAUSE THEY'RE JUST TOO DAMN GOOD.

And last, but certainly not least in the slightest, is The Weepies new album Hideaway. They're back from tour, married and have a wee little baby in tow. So many changes which means, so much new material to write and sing about! It is unmistakably The Weepies sound, and it only makes me want to listen to all of their albums back-to-back staring at a never ending sunset. I haven't had time to sit down and properly listen to it (I mean, the album did just come out today), but I can already tell that it's going to be one of my main albums that I relate back to summer in London, just like their previous two albums.

Needless to say, I'm going to be busy getting lost in a swimming pool of musical notes. I'll be surrounded by saxophones, violins, guitars, pianos, drums, keyboards and the sweet, soft, serenading voices of all of the above mentioned bands. I have a smorgasbord of new music and I'm not complaining in the slightest.

Posted by Sam at 01:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's monsoon season here in Northern VA, which kind of put a damper on our concert day. No pun intended. Mel and I took yesterday off so we could trekk it into downtown DC to watch We Are Scientists do what they do so beautifully.

We met up with Mendy around 5:30 at her house and made our way over to Applebee's where we sat next to a couple who couldn't keep their hands off of each other that we're more than positive that Mel is pregnant simply through osmosis. It was good to be out but at the same time the three of us were kind of just sluggish. With all of the rain and long hours at work that we've all been putting in it would have been nice to just curl up under the covers and watch Footballers Wives. Mendy was certainly a trooper since she didn't know any of the bands and was being a brave driver after she had gotten into an accident while in the rain.

It didn't take us that long to find the Black Cat and parking didn't suck so much that we wanted to scream. It was one nice, swift, fluid motion we all made to get to the front door. I gathered our tickets, we hit the loo's and then weaved our way through the bodies to find the end of the line where we waited for the doors to open up.

Eventually people began to move forward and we were ushered upstairs where we made ourselves comfortable on the right hand of the stage. If it wasn't for these three prepubescent twits we could have sat on the edge of the stage and gave our legs a rest but they probably didn't stop by the bathrooms first and got a closer spot in line. For some reason it felt like we had been standing for an eternity and by the end of the night I would have completely lost all ability to walk.

While we waited for the show to start, Mendy and I pointed out that we were officially old and didn't understand young kids these days. The outfits they wear, the lingo they come up with and my god! the things they do. It was in this moment when I noticed a young girl (I'm guessing she had to be twelve) standing off to the left side of me was wearing braces and had zero body fat. The first thing that came to mind was, "where are your parents?" and "isn't it past her bedtime?" I kissed my youth goodbye and made a mental note to buy some baggy floral dresses the next time I went shopping.

Au Revoir Simone were the first to grace the stage. The three tall Canadians with long brown hair and bangs that kept sweeping across their eyes were keyboard rocking queens. Sure it was kind of out there, and okay maybe it made me feel like I should be running in a meadow with a daisy crown on top of my head, but I dug 'em. They were different, unique and the lyrics sounded awesome. It was nice to be able to actually understand what they were saying. They also apparently had a rough time trying to wade in through all of the rivers that were created through our poor drainage system, so major kudos for them hiking up their rain boots and performing for us.

The Double set up after Au Revoir Simone ended with extra bouncing and hair flipping (there are only so many moves one can do while rocking out on a keyboard). The band set up their own equipment and I spotted the yummy keyboardist who had hair with a mind of it's own and smoked while he made sure that his keyboards played the right sounds for him. That's always been hot to me; watching a musician set up his instrument while smoking...grrr baby.

Anyway, after I got over ogling the cute keyboardist, I got down to business and jammed out while they performed. It was awesome even though the lead singer was kind of muffled and I didn't have a fucking clue as to what he was saying. I couldn't even take a guess it was that slurred. But(!) it did sound really good. He reminded me of Morrissey, that is if Morrissey had a second cousin who lived in New York. Still, they were brilliant and Mendy liked them so much that she bought one of their CDs. I'd recommend them too. They'd be good to curl up and snuggle with at night like a fuzzy bear.

Finally after The Double were finished cranking out their music for us, I squeezed my way up to the front of the stage, hopped up to give my legs a rest and then shared a fag with Mendy. Man, that was nice. It didn't take the people that long to set up for We Are Scientists and I was really excited once they made it on stage. Keith appeared to be slightly tipsy but that was a-okay. He rocked out and proved that he should be the world's number 1 vegan in the world, not the third. Chris was a great commentator for us all and Michael hung out in the back on drums and made Mendy swoon in the knees. They sounded amazing and even did some funny jokes during the song breaks. Some random chick came up on stage during one of the songs and was a major distraction in a very negative way. Thankfully she was removed.

Once all was said and done they peaced out and we headed to the Merch table where Au Revoir and The Double were selling t-shirts, CDs and other band things. I told one guitarist of The Double that I thought they were brilliant and asked if the t-shirt I was going to buy would shrink in the dryer. He said it would and recommended that I got a size small instead of extra small. I thought that was very thoughtful.

We found the car, drove Mendy back home while rocking out to People In Planes and then drove ourselves back home with the indecisive rain that was on and off (and very annoying).

And that, ladies and gentlemen, would be the end of our concert experience.

It was really fun and I preferred being in a more intimate setting like the Black Cat. It's a nice place to go watch all of the "unknowns" and things are so chill. I have a sneaky feeling though that We Are Scientists are going to blow up soon and then I'll have lost another one to the masses. Sure I love it whenever a band I know and love gets more recognition, but at the same time it's kind of like I lose a best friend who was so close to me. Let's face it people, I'm a jealous bitch who loves to keep everything dear and precious to me attached to my hip. That's just the way I am. After a while though, I adjust and so long as they don't become sell outs who only sing to the groupies who somehow manage to get up on stage and dance like a five-year-old kindergartner who seriously need support on the upper hemisphere of their body, then I'm okay. It's all about spreading love and joy of music.

Posted by Sam at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Oh the wonderful, the beautiful, the magnificent sounds that are The Strokes.

Ya know.

Yes, I went and saw my all time most favorite band that is still alive and kicking in concert this past Wednesday. What can I say that I haven't already said about them?

A whole lot more.

The beginning part of my day really doesn't matter. It was the same like every other day; I woke up, got ready, headed on over to Mendy's house. We picked up her cousin, Leticia, grabbed a bite to eat and then drove on into Washington DC. It was just like it always is when we go to see live music.

Only different.

We arrived a couple of hours early and decided to walk around and try to find someone who would buy Mendy's two extra tickets that she had. Nobody bought them, sadly. We basically just walked around and looked like crazy people who were trying to rip off the innocent students of GWU. Losers.

When the doors opened, we decided to get all of the necessary things done and out of the way before the lines began to get out of hand; hit the bathrooms, buy t-shirts, smoke and text Leticia's friend who was also going to be enjoying the show from the FRONT ROW.

Yeah, apparently his tickets were really "Row T" but he was "upgraded" to "Row MOTHERFUCKING A." I have no idea how he managed to do that, but it turned out to be our blessing in disguise. He wasn't really a Strokes' fan, his friend was and he was just going with her. So, Mel came up with this brilliant plan (occasionally she has some shining moments) and trusted him with Lola. She told him to take a shitload of pictures and videos, because duh! we so need them. It was nice too, because since he didn't really know most of their songs, the videos are really good and not all bouncy with loud, girlie screams, which would totally be how our videos would have come out if we were in the front row, because again, duh! the Strokes are right in front of our faces!

If there was one song that we absolutely needed, it was Reptilia. Our lives would be complete and we would die happy souls if he could get that for us.

He didn't.

Bless his heart, he didn't know any of the titles of the songs so he took a stab in the dark and recorded all of Hard to explain instead, which is fine. Its better than fine. It's three minutes and forty-one seconds of pure GOLD.

Right, so the show opened up with Sean Na Na. I won't spend too much time talking about them because in my opinion, I think that they sucked and wasted an hour of my life that could have been better spent listening to the Strokes. Not them. Unfortunately their lead singer would join Julian later on in the show and destroy one of my favorite Strokes' songs by singing a duet with him. Awful agony.

Mendy, Mel, Leticia and myself were in Box 35 which was glorious. We were esentially right in front of the stage, only a little further back and above the orchestra seats. It was taking them a while to get out on stage and a lot of people were getting ancy. Some folks even tried to "clap" them on stage, but it didn't last that long.

Finally though, finally the lights dimmed and I began freaking out like some kind of monkey on acid. I grabbed Mendy's arm and we started screaming together. THEY WERE GETTING READY TO COME OUT ON STAGE.

They opened the show with Heart in a cage. Hotness. Julian sounded awesome, Fab, Albert, Nick and Nikolai sounded awesome, the stage was awesome. Essentially it was all awesome.

My mind blew open so many times and I couldn't believe that I was actually watching them perform live. In fact, it's still a little hard to believe. I remember every single song that they played though and made sure that I recorded every single moment with permanent marker in my brain. I remember watching Julian sing all of Reptilia from the audience or when he was doing push ups on stage during Under Control. Unfortunately that's the song that was ruined by Sean Na Na's lead singer. At the very end, Fab got a hold of the microphone and brought up this one guy on stage who he apparently had gone to 2nd grade with. It was strange, but awesome. The lights were really cool and I liked how at the end of every song they would cut off all of the lights and we'd be in the complete dark. Julian talked a couple of times and even tried cracking a few jokes.

After they were all finished, they disappeared behind the curtains and the show was over. The lights came back on and everyone started to filter out of the Constitution Hall. I couldn't move though. I thought I might collapse. We eventually made it outside where I smoked a much needed cigarette and got a quick look at the pictures that John (camera man) had taken for us. It was spectacular.

I don't really remember much as far as how we got home. I know we had to stop by McDonald's (I'm so happy they're open twenty-four hours a day) because I was starving, but otherwise I think I might have floated home and had happy dreams.

I have more pictures to post because they must be shared. Now all I have to do is figure out how to load videos on blogger and I'll be straight. If anyone is computer savvy and could help me out, that'd be fabulous. Remember, I'm computer challenged. Y'all have to see these videos. Well, at least Hard to explain because like I said, GOLD. Pure. Gold.

[The songs that they played, in order by albums. My memory isn't that good.]

- Is this it
- Soma
- Barely Legal
- Someday
- Alone together
- Last Nite
- Hard to explain
- New York City Cops
- Trying Your Luck
- Take it or Leave it
- Reptilia
- Under Control
- You only live once
- Juicebox
- Heart in a cage
- Vision of division
- Ask Me Anything
- Electricityscape
- Ize of the world
- Red Light

Posted by Sam at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It seemed like an ordinary sunny day. I got to sleep in and get some rest since the Monday before was a brutal day at work. It turns out that I’m not so helpful all the time on the help desk and have decided that I would probably be better suited staying put and only helping whenever they needed extra back up.

I took my time getting out of bed. We didn’t have to be at Mendy’s house until 5:00pm so there wasn’t much of a rush to get ready. Mel and I went ahead and started playing Franz Ferdinand and danced around the house being our usual dorky selves.

It is a concert rule of ours that whenever we go to a concert we only listen to the bands that are going to be playing. That’s it. It’s so we can get hyped up, remind ourselves the lyrics of each song and try to wrap our brains around the fact that, yes, holy motherfucking shit, we’re going to go see these artists perform live in front of our faces.

I eventually did get ready, and after three outfit changes I decided on something that was comfortable and concert appropriate. The weather was gorgeous (we always seem to luck out with the weather whenever we go to concerts), Mel and I were finished with everything around the house and decided to hit the road a little early. We’d grab some lunch and then drive around for a bit in Alexandria while we waited for Mendy.

As we almost shut the door behind us though, I remembered that I didn’t even grab the tickets out of my room!

How badly would that have sucked? Get all the way to the front door of the DAR Constitutional Hall and not have those tickets in hand. I would have cried for days.

So as we stepped foot out the door for a second time, my cell phone began to ring. It was Mendy and she was asking when we would be heading over to her place. It was a beautiful day and she didn’t feel like going to her last class for the day. That was good news for Mel because she had kept emphasizing to me throughout the morning that parking in DC was a bitch and that if we wanted to get some place decent we had to leave at least four hours early.

We both hit Panera for lunch before we drove into Alexandria and then it was straight on over to Mendy’s place.

We arrived about an hour early and figured we could either sit in the car and wait for her or we could go find Brian and see what he was up to. Brian is Mendy’s fabulous gay husband who we have known and loved ever since wee moved up to Virginia. He was going to the concert with us and would be sitting with Mel (we could only get our tickets in different rows unfortunately).

When we gave him a ring we found out that he wasn’t doing anything either and we kind of decided for him that we would come over and hang out while we all waited for Mendy. So for the next hour it was just us three watching “The Simple Life” and we broke our “concert rule” for a couple of Spice Girl songs so we could do our dances that we hadn’t practiced since 1998.

Around four o’clock we all walked down to Cosi’s for a snack before the concert and then finished walking down to Mendy’s house.

Finally, at five o’clock all four of us were together and we quickly jumped into my car so that we could brave DC and their horrible parking spaces with millions of signs that had useless information on them. It took us a couple of times of circling around until we finally snagged a parking space where we were absolutely sure that we wouldn’t be towed.

After we made it inside the building, we stopped at these tables that were set up and bought some t-shirts, signed up for a raffle to win some tickets to see The Fray and then found our seats next to the stage.

I looked around and noticed that the DAR Constitutional Hall had possibly the best seating ever. Other than the orchestra seats, each row is elevated slightly more than the rows below them that way there really isn’t ever an issue that the shorter people in the back aren’t able to see above some tall body’s head. I became a little worried after this really tall guy with red hair sat in front of me and thought that we might have another “tree issue” but was happily surprised to see that even when we were both standing I could see clearly above him. I guess the only real issue I had with him was the fact that him and his girlfriend were all over each other and I thought that I might be a witness to their child’s conception.

So everyone knows that music is my chosen religion. I just feel the need to share right now that at this particular concert I saw my "musical god." Twice.

The lights dimmed for the first time and the people who had already gathered inside began to clap and cheer for The Cribs who took to the stage. They rocked the house and did their thing even though I couldn’t really understand them that much. They definitely brought some awesome energy to the stage and completely fulfilled their duty as an opening act. Brian was excited too because he knew two of their singles since they played them over the GAP Radio where he works.

It didn’t take Franz Ferdinand’s road crew long to set up their stage. It was a nice set up and they made really good use of the space that they had with Paul on a small white platform in the back and then Alex, Nick and Bob standing up front with two keyboards off to either side.

The familiar rush of excitement began to flow through me as I was slowly beginning to realize that they were getting ready to come out on the stage. I was going to see them and more importantly hear them.

Again the lights dimmed for a second time, and I shot up onto my feet screaming and cheering like a crazy maniac who had escaped from the local loony bin.

It's weird because I don't remember any of the Franz Ferdinand performance, but if I think about just one tiny detail then it all comes flooding back to me. I just couldn't believe that they were in the same building as me. We were listening and seeing Franz Ferdinand live! Every single song I sang at the top of my lungs and kept on trying not to fall over the tall guy in front of me. I put so much of my entire body into their performance you would have thought that I was supposed to be up on the stage.

I loved it. I loved every. single. moment. They played most of my favorite songs (Michael, Eleanor Put Your Boots On, and The Fallen), but Mendy and I were over the moon, insanely happy when we heard Take Me Out begin to play.

That was the first time I saw my musical god.

It didn't seem like they were out for that long but it turned out that they had actually sang, danced and rocked the fucking house for well over an hour. When they finished it seemed like they had magically disappeared into thin air.

I was still recooperating from Franz when the lights dimmed for one final time. I didn't even notice that the stage had changed right before my eyes.

I stood once again and cheered while two members of Death Cab for Cutie took their positions and began to play Passenger Seat and then went straight into Different Names For the Same Thing as the rest of the members came out. It was an awesome way to kick things off.

They rarely stopped playing to talk, but they did dedicate Crooked Teeth to Franz and The Sound of Settling to The Cribs, which I thought was nice.

They were definitely more mellow than Franz and a lot of people decided to sit for most of the show, but I stood for the majority and danced to the beat while they played We looked like giants and Company Calls.

It was FABULOUS!

The most surprising bit though was when they stepped back out for their encore. They just had to close the show with two of their saddest songs (I will follow you into the dark and Transatlanticism).

Of course it was amazing and I saw my musical god for a second time, but I did feel a little weird when I started crying completely out of the blue during Transatlanticism. Not even thirty seconds into that song and I was already a blubbering fool.

For me, those songs are two big emotional bullets that shoot straight through me. Up until that night I hadn't listen to either one of them for months. I would intentionally skip over them because I knew what would happen, what I would think and feel.

But in that moment as I watched Death Cab perform live in front of me, there was no escape. I couldn't help but listen and with thousands of people surrounding me, I lived, felt these seriously intense emotions and cried like a big 'ole baby.

It was so cleansing.

After everything was over, we all walked into the chilly night feeling awake and energized. It was one of the greatest concerts I've ever been to.

EVER.

And just think, we go to see The motherfucking Strokes in less than a week.

Posted by Sam at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As I was sitting here at my desk waiting for the day to end so I can go home and pamper my poor feet, I realized that I haven't mentioned that about two weeks ago I received not one, but two CDs as part of the Great Musical Revolution.

Yes, folks, I've been getting a double dose of fan-fucking-tastic music.

Jealous?

I have two rules when I get new music, whether it's from other people or music that I buy: number one, I must listen to it in the car. Number two, the volume must be turned up LOUD. I like it that way.

The first CD I got was from Brian, who not only neatly and sweetly typed up a letter to me, but also drew a picture directly on his CD. Art to go with art. It's a fabulous collection of artists who are all from Texas. Genius. For some reason it's really nice to drive to also. I love it and as soon as I listened to it all the way through, I made the decision right on the spot to make a copy and send to Lauren, since her boyfriend is from Texas and I know that he would really like it. Fabulous, Brian. Thank you, sir.

The second CD I received was from Melissa. She sent me a compilation of her favorite dance songs in the most creative packaging I've ever seen. It was great. I love all of the songs she put on the playlist (yes, every single one) but the one that caught my ears is Senegal fast food. Ever heard of it? For some reason it was exactly what I needed. A song that I didn't understand but sounded great and I could dance to.

Needless to say I've been abusing both CDs like unwanted step children. I must announce also that Melissa is thinking of having a Round 3 pretty soon. If you haven't already joined up you really should. It's good, wholesome fun (for the most part). The rules aren't that difficult and you get to experience some new tunes that you might not have thought about listening to at first. Go on. Do it. You know you want to.

Posted by Sam at 08:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I can't contain myself any longer.

HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHIT THE STROKES NEW THIRD ALBUM FUCKING RULES!!!

Whew.

Okay. I feel better now.

Lauren and I dropped Mel off at work at 7:45am. We sat in the car for the remaining fifteen minutes and then at exactly 8:00am, I walked in straight towards the New Releases section and frantically scanned the shelves for The Strokes 3rd album First Impressions of Earth.

It wasn't there.

They hadn't set it out on display yet.

I began to panic and feel faint.

Where the fuck was The Strokes?!

I looked in R&B. Perhaps they put them in the wrong section? Nope. The country section didn't have them either.

Instead I found Mel, grabbed her by the collar with both hands, jerked her down and ask through gritted teeth, "Mel. Where. Are. They?!"

"Ask Sean. He would know where they are. Let go of my shirt. People are staring."

I searched for Sean and found him helping three guys who were looking at the new X-box that has come out.

"Hi. I'm sorry to interrupt. Sean, right? Where is The Strokes new album? It comes out today and I don't see it on display. Y'all have it right? Mel told me that you guys have it but I don't see it."

He looked frightened.

"Yeah, we have it. Hang on one second."

He went to the back of the store and in a matter of seconds brought out the CD that I have been impatiently waiting for three years. I saw the light shine down, angels began to sing in the background, and sparkling stars circled around it.

"Thank you, sir. You are a beautiful man."

I ran/walked towards Mel with their CD held in both of my hands and raised it above my head. I probably looked like a freak screaming, "I got it! Finally Mel, I got it!."

When I made it to her register she reached out her hands.

"I want to see it."

"No. If you'd excuse me for a moment, I'm going to make out with the CD now."

"You're deranged."

Now it's playing in my CD player at work. So far, so wonderful. The whole third floor will have to endure my freakish love affair that I have with The Strokes for the rest of the week and perhaps the rest of the month. They should be so grateful that I'm sharing the magical sounds that are The Strokes.

All of y'all who are taking time out of your life to read these words must go purchase the album too if you haven't already. Go. Now. Go and buy it. And if you haven't bought the first two, buy those also. You can thank me later.

Why are you still reading? Go buy them now!

Posted by Sam at 08:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So two of my daily reads are starting something fantastic. It is a musical revolution that I am apart of and want to share with the four people who read my random gibberish.

Here's how it works:

Bloggers send their address (that would be your home address) to Melissa and PK who will then send it to another fellow blogger who will make you a mixed CD full of their favorite songs and what have you. If they want they can get really creative and even send you a note on cute stationary. (PK is known for this and I think it's adorable.)

They then take the finished mixed CD (and note if they decided to write one), put it in an envelope and send it to you. You should receive it within 5 business days and then you rock out to some new music that you may or may not already be jamming to.

Fabulous, no?

Melissa has already sent me my first name. I've already been compiling songs that I think he might like, making sure there's a variety, a little something from each decade perhaps, and a good shuffle of bands from around the globe. I want it to flow nicely and I'm discovering that this is turning out to be a little challenging for me. There are so many great bands that I want to share, and each of these great bands have so many great songs and I'm afraid that one CD may not be enough to hold everything that I might want to send.

That's okay though. There are plenty of other times I can share each single.

I have been thinking though, and their idea is so great that I want to sort of/kinda do the same thing only not really.

Here's the thing, about two months ago, I received a very BIG box of blank CDs. When I say BIG box, I mean that I could fit inside nicely and have room to move around comfortably. From the top to the bottom there is nothing but blank CDs. They have been sitting in my office for over TWO MONTHS. I've asked around to see if anybody knows who they belong to, made a flyer and put it up so that the owner could come and claim all of these CDs, and yet still nobody has come to pick them up.

So my policy downstairs is if you don't come and claim your shit within a month or two, I start putting up different ads for people to come and take it if they want it. It's as simple as that. Obviously they weren't so important that they needed them right away and it's not like I haven't tried to find out who they belong to. I'm not a storage closet though and I can't keep big boxes like that hanging around. It's a serious eye sore.

I've already given out a couple of them, but it hasn't even created a small dent in the pile I've got going on. But then I thought of what PK and Melissa are doing and wondered if anybody out there in the blogosphere would like me to send them a mixed CD? You don't have to send one back to me (unless you absolutely want to. I'm not one to turn a mixed CD down), but I figured I could kill two birds with one stone and others would get what I consider to be fabulous music.

Everybody at work is getting a mixed CD from me (whether they want it or not) and I did want to send some tunes to some of my favorite daily reads, but I wasn't sure if they would think it was weird or not. I can understand how some people may not want to give out their home address to somebody who could live in a cave for all they know, but it never hurts to ask. I used to be weird about giving out my address too, but I figured that if somebody I gave my address to took time out of their life to randomly turn up on my door step, I'd probably drive them to the nearest ABC store so they could but us some liquor and then we'd go talk about how their flight was.

Ash has already recieved plenty of CDs from me and it never feels like enough. Sadly I didn't even think about creating a mixed CD for him (even though he has done so for me a couple of times and we listen to the exact same bands anyway so it wouldn't be anything new to him) and I already shipped out his very big box of Christmas joy yesterday. I'm sure he wouldn't mind another one though.

Right. So that is it. Anybody who wants me to make them a mixed CD so they can expand their musical horizon and be apart of this kick ass music revolution, send me an e-mail with your address and I'll be more than happy to do so. And of course if you want to get into the regular CD sending hop on over to PK and Melissa's website. They're the ones who I nicked the idea from.

Posted by Sam at 09:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have been on Franz Ferdinand's website about a million times and didn't even realize that the boys from the band kept a blog. I've been reading it all day, and I have to say that it's hilarious with amazing writing. Witty. Clever.

While I was reading though, I found one of Alex's posts and thought I would be unimaginative and steal his words to put up on mine, just because I feel like it and don't have anything important to say. Hey, I am crediting him.

Anyhoo, here it is. Franz Friday.

Glasgow
28 07 04

Well, I’m still flying, completely elated after T in the Park.

We signed so many odd items in the NME tent. A girl took her knickers off and laid them between Bob and me. Quite a few wee guys wanted me to give them my tie. I didn’t. We had a portakabin backstage for a dressing room which we shared with the Scissor Sisters. We’ve played quite a few shows with them recently and they travel with a steamer thing that takes the creases out of clothes. Every gig, we get steaming with the sisters before we play. Kim Deal came to say hello again. She is very sweet, reminding me of a cross between Paul’s wee sister and Paul’s mum.

It’s strange to be back in my flat again. The plants have grown, as has the pile of unpaid bills. The beetles that used to live under the cupboards (wrigglers and crunchers) have been replaced by big spiders. It’s like progressing to the next level of a computer game, where the layout is the same as the previous level, but the monsters have changed appearance and characteristics. When I come back next, I’m hoping for mice. There’s food in my freezer which has been there for over two years. I’m going to eat as much of it as possible tomorrow as an experiment. There’s a stew I made with the leftovers after Christmas 2002 in a poly bag. It’s the same shape it was when I sat it on the wire shelf.

I got an email from a friend of mine who's been living in Angola for a while. He saw me on the box in a café there, talking about how we made the video for ‘take me out’ or something. I think it was a bit of a shock, as last time I saw him, nobody knew what we were up to outside Glasow, never mind Angola. He said he saw someone die of rabies recently - a lot of frothing at the mouth apparently.

Went round to see my mum and dad today. Fixed up my old bike and had a little ride. I went to the dentist for a check-up. The hygienist showed me how to floss my teeth. Apparently you take the piece of thread and pass it between your teeth. This removes plaque. Last time, she showed me how to use a toothbrush. Apparently the friction of the bristles against the enamel of the teeth removes plaque. I’m hoping that next time she might show me how to bite effectively, or pick my nose perhaps. I’m sure my technique can’t have been that good for all these years.

I met a couple of friends after T in the park. One was telling me about the ‘back to work’ week of training that the employment service is forcing her to go on. Apparently it’s advisable to wash before going to an interview for a job. I wonder if my hygienist is moonlighting. Paul told me about a guy he was on one of those courses with who said ‘I had a job once… punched some cunt in the face, so they gave me the sack…’.

Posted by Sam at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

We pulled up into the Nissan Pavillion's parking lot and stopped in front of a huge boulder in the cheap, free parking spaces.

Nobody was there.

We walked through some trees, over some rocks, and made it to the top where there were about three other die hard Coldplay fans waiting. It was perfect weather again, just like on Tuesday and I was relieved that we wouldn't have to be sitting out in the rain.

I sat down and decided to hold our place as number two in line while Mendy trekked it back down to the porter johns.

Waiting for three hours was going to suck.

When she got back, we scooted over into the shade and braced ourselves for three hours of being absolutely bored with no entertainment whatsoever. There was a guy standing in front of us talking on his cell phone. I thought, "aw man. We got stuck behind Cell Phone Guy."

Mendy and I looked up.

Mendy: "Just let us know if we're invading your space."

Cell Phone Guy: "Nah, it's alright. I don't have any space."

Me: "Doesn't that make you claustrophobic?"

And with that we made our first concert buddy, Jon. He talked to us for the entire three and a half hours about music. Nothing but music, turning music into an official religion, concerts, and more about music. He has been an avid concert goer ever since he was sixteen and this past Wednesday was his twentieth birthday. His friend, Pat, was on his way from work to rock out with him down in the pit. We were very excited that they would be down there that way they could save us some space since we wouldn't make it as fast with our short little limbs trying to race down.

Eventually, Pat joined us and brought two pizza slices that looked like they had seen better and fresher days. I was becoming so dehydrated that my lips began to look like I was a crack addict. Time continued to click away though and they soon opened the gates so that we could start scanning tickets. I had spotted a water cart while we were standing outside the gates and got my cash ready to buy a $4.00 bottle of water.

I ran, I paused, I asked for water, they gave me water and my $1.00 change (I was tempted to say, "keep the change" but thought against it immediately), I said, "bless you", I continued running/walking, I slowed down, I got a stitch in my side, I became embarrassed because I couldn't run the distance down to the pit, I called out for Mendy, I opened my water bottle, I started to run/walk again, I finally made it to the pit entrance.

I wanted to collapse.

After my ticket was hole punched and I got a nifty wrist band that said, "Enter the pit area at your own risk" (as if that would scare me away), I quickly ran down the stairs praying that I wouldn't trip and fall flat on my face while being known for the rest of the night as, "that girl who fucked her face up", and found Jon standing in the middle right up against the barricade...with no spaces anywhere around him.

None.

Zero.

I was too late.

We were standing in the second row of people behind this GIANT with no soul who refused to move and let Mendy and I stand in front of him. He wouldn't budge an inch. Instead, he was a complete prick and said to us with a bit of glee in his voice, "biology wins again." I wanted to say, "wow, you're a dick," but I bit my tongue.

People quickly filed in behind us. Mendy and I tried to reason with the incredibly bitter old man who had already seen Coldplay FIVE times, but he said that we should have gotten down here faster.

What an asshole. I had never want to cut somebody so badly.

Rilo Kiley came on stage a little bit after 7:30. I was so excited to see them, and the lead singer was just the cutest thing in the entire world. She rocked out on her guitar, sang her little heart out, and it was just a really good performance.

Too bad we could only see directly in front of us over this semi-tall woman's shoulder because the incredibly tall GIANT with no soul wasn't moving to save his life. What got me was that he wouldn't bob along to the music, or sing to any of the words (if he knew any), or clap along. No. He just stood there like this enormous boring tree.

I was not going to stand here like this throughout the rest of Coldplay. Oh no. I refused. I didn't wait for six hours just so some prat with an attitude problem could stand in my way.

I switched places with Mendy who was very upset that she couldn't see. I tapped on Jon's shoulder.

Me: "Hey, so how'd you like, Rilo Kiley then?"

Jon: "Oh, they were great. I really enjoyed that."

Me: "Yeah, me too. Or well, the bit that I could see. It all sounded really good though."

Jon: "Why don't you come up here?"

Me: "Do you think that I could squeeze in there?"

Jon: "Yeah, I'm sure. That guy can move a little," he pointed to The Tree.

Me: "Huh, right."

I wedged myself in between Jon and The Tree. The Tree looked down surprised.

The Tree: "It's a great view up here, huh?"

Me: "Fantastic." What a cunt.

The Tree: "So are you and your friend going to switch during the concert?"

Me: "No. I'm going to bring her up here with me."

I tried more negotiating with The Tree. Meanwhile, there was a group of other short ladies that Mendy had rounded up all pressuring The Tree to hunch over.

The whole time we were ganging up on The Tree, Coldplay's crew were setting up the stage. Chris Martin's piano was center stage. Johnny and Guy would stand on either side while Will hung out in the back right of the stage. There was a big screen just like in their video Speed of Sound behind them all. It was simple, but nice.

Before I knew it, the lights dimmed and everyone began freaking out. Coldplay was about to come out.

Holy sweet Jesus.

The music kicked up. Johnny, Guy, and Will assumed their positions on stage. You could hear the first chords of Square One start playing. The screen lit up and you could see Chris Martin's shadow with a microphone.

"You're in control, is there anywhere you wanna go?"

The tingling started in my skin.

"You're in control, is there anything you wanna know?"

I started jittering up and down.

"The future's for discovering."

Oh my lord.

"The space in which we're travelling."

The concert was on.

There they were, all four of them within an arm reach, jamming out.

By their second song, Yellow, Mendy was already up at the front standing next to me with her little camera recording Coldplay's every move, every note, every word. I was pretty proud of myself. I only cried three times. You would have cried too if you were standing a couple of mere inches away from one of you favorite bands in the entire universe. Besides, it was during In My Place, Trouble, and Fix You. Definitely cry worthy songs.

It was roughly about two hours long and the whole entire time I was smiling from ear to ear in this weird place that was all warm, fuzzy, and had the occasional bunny rabbit that would hop by just to add to the absolute happiness. Nothing could go wrong. Coldplay was playing.

They played it all, a little bit from all three of their albums. At one point, Chris Martin hopped down into the crowd and ran to the middle in the seating and sang up there while being shown on the big screen. They did a tribute to Johnny Cash and played Ring of Fire, which was so awesome. Chris would ad lib some of his songs and he was always dancing or rocking back and forth on his small piano stool.

It had to end eventually though, and they did a kick ass job with Fix You. It was their last stop on this tour and it felt kind of extra special and cool. Or maybe that was just me. At the very end, after all of the singing and playing, they bowed to a standing ovation.

Then Mendy and me went to my house and promptly got drunk. Nothing says Fucking Kick Ass Friday than that.

Posted by Sam at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There are no words to describe just how fantastic the concert was. So instead I'll just upload the few pictures that the one and only greatest photographer, Mendy took with her perfect camera. She mainly took about a bazillion videos which I'll somehow figure out how to upload with given time. Oh, and just for the record, Mendy deserves the biggest medal ever because the videos are amazing and we should all buy her something big and sparkly for these remarkable gems.

Of course I'll tell the entire story of our fantasy day. I must mention the extremely tall and bitter man who refused to move out of our way, and that I got one of Chris Martin's tape/finger/ring things that he's always wearing. I have to talk about him dancing, singing, jumping into the audience, talking to Mendy and telling her when she could take a picture (and the rest of the people who attended), our concert buddies, and the two random fans who made it on the stage and security sweeping them away.

Tomorrow when I'm at work and feeling creative to describe everything and get into serious details. For now though, I must finish up my laundry, listen to the new Franz CD that came in the mail yesterday, and continue to attend to my pit wounds that I recieved. It's not too bad. I'm mostly sore if anything. Coldplay had a very peaceful pit.

Posted by Sam at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I feel so refreshed. Ten hours of straight sleep will do that to anyone. I'm so awake and feeling good that I actually took the time to blow dry my hair this morning and style it.

Before I go on about the concert and yack on and on about the fabulous time that we had, I must let you in on something amazing. I have never used this feature, but have heard of it and now as I currently type up this post, I am jamming out to Franz Ferdinand's entire album. Before it comes out in stores! Isn't technology great? Enjoy.

Now...the concert.

We had perfect concert weather. Warm, but not too warm, a slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky. Just glowing sun that forced everyone to smile, no matter how sad, and show off their pearly whites.

Mel and I stopped by the house and quickly got changed into concert outfits. I certainly couldn't rock out in my black high heels. I could try, but would more than likely fail miserably. We had two water bottles getting cold in the refridgerator and remembered from the last time just how dehydrated we were. Of course it was a million degrees hotter, but we also took into account that there was going to be a lot of screaming and our throats may like to have some water every so often from going completely dry and hoarse.

Once we made it over to Mendy's house we had to run over to Costco for some pictures that she had developed from when Ash was here and then we grabbed some food from Chevy's. They were both mmm mmm good.

Eventually we got into the car and began to make our way up to Merriweather. I got a little worried with the traffic that was staring at us in the face but as soon as we got the White Stripe's CDs going all was well. It was then that it finally hit me that we were really going to be seeing them live. I love it when that feeling washes over me. The actual realization that yes, this will be happening and no, I won't be dreaming.

It turned out that we didn't even really need to be rushing. It looked like three people had parked before us. There wasn't a line, people were just chilling, and we got a kick ass parking spot. There wasn't any fighting or waiting like the first time and I wasn't complaining.

After we hiked up the longest and steepest walkway to have our bags and tickets checked, we kind of just hung out and took notice at how empty everything was. It felt wrong. How come people weren't here sooner? It's the White Stripes for goodness sake! Then we thought, "well, if nobody still comes when they start performing, we're getting closer. Much closer."

We found our seats and they were directly in the middle. A little bit closer than The Killers and Keane, but nicer. We wouldn't be viewing anything at an angle. We had about an hour to kill and we quickly got bored. Mendy whipped out some homework reading that she had while Mel and I played, "find the beer" and "guess this artist" on Merriweather's big screens. They soon became predictable though.

A little while later, a guy who looked exactly like Jack White sat in front of us. He had it all; the red cowboy shirt, the jet black hair, and even that weird goatee/mustache/caterpillar thing that he likes to sport. Mendy tried to snap a picture of him without looking suspicious but they all came out blurry.

Then, the lights dimmed on the stage, the crowd that had gathered began to cheer, and the first act came out. It was M Ward. I had never heard of him, but out he came out with his hat that covered his entire face. He rocked out a guitar solo before he introduced the two other members of his band. I don't know the girl's name who took drum playing to a whole different level, but she made me want to learn how to play the drums just like her. It was really good and nice to tap my fingers to.

The Shins came out shortly after them and I danced along in my seat as they played. I had heard of them before, but never gave them a proper listen. I know now for sure that I will be enjoying the soothing sounds of The Shins. Their music glides along nicely and they all have distinguished personalities that add to their live performance. I fell in love and scraped my knees in the process.

It didn't take long for the White Stripe's roadies to set up the stage. They were all decked out in black suits to match and go along with the official White Stripes theme. It was all delicious eye candy and I couldn't get over how really nice it was. There were white trees on the edge of the stage, a red and white back drop, three different guitars, a xylophone, a piano, Meg's drums, random microphones stationed at certain points, and even these tiny figurines sitting on top of some silver instrument cases.

It was hot.

When the lights dimmed for a final time, the crowd was completely full. We stood, clapped our hands, and cheered. They began to play intro music while the back drop started to glow and show off a white apple. Before I knew it, out walked Mr. Jack White himself with his "big sis" Meg. Musical orgasm number one was had.

They kicked things off with White Orchid or Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground. I can't remember. I danced and pumped my fists in the air. I screamed while shouting/singing along. I stood on my tippy toes until I almost passed out. It. Was. Awesome. They played most of my favorite songs and a couple that I had never heard. Meg rocked out In the Cold, Cold Night with her kick ass leather pants (I was strangely attracted to Meg and wanted to find her backstage so we could make out) and Jack White demonstrated that miracles are possible while he ripped out blissful notes from each of his guitars. While Meg would play her drums the camera would get a close up and show that she was singing along while Jack would stand at one of the mics. One of the cutest things ever. Jack even helped her play the drums briefly. There was also a moment when the camera got close up to Jack's hand and we could see on the big screen that he was holding a daddy long leg spider. Not cool. I just wanted to say, "Jack, sweety, put the spider down and keep on playing your glorious music."

Two straight hours of them just playing. They didn't really say much. Or well, Jack didn't say much. Meg didn't say anything at all, she only sang, which was mucho fab. It was all just really mind blowing and we definitely got our money's worth.

After we got finished singing along with Jack (at his request), they said good night to us all and walked off stage. I couldn't move. Literally. My knees were in such pain and I found it difficult to bend them. Mel, Mendy and I locked our arms together so we wouldn't get separated and continued back down the steep hill with the massive crowd towards the parking lot. The temperature had severely dropped as the night grew darker. So much so that I could see my breath.

We found the car, hopped inside and cruised back home where we let our muscles relax and the painful repercussions set in. We made really good time and I finally shut my eyes at one thirty in the morning. Not too shabby.

Just loads of fun all around (such an understatement) and I can't help but think, if I was going crazy over the White Stripes whom I do love but aren't crazy-obsessed with, I'm going to die when we see Coldplay TEN FEET IN FRONT OF ME.

We shall see.

Posted by Sam at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

John: "So, do you have any big plans this weekend?"

Me: "Not really. Mostly just recovering."

John: "Recovering?"

Me: "Yeah. I'm going to a concert tomorrow night."

John: "Ah. I guess you would need the rest of the weekend to recover. So who are you going to be seeing?"

Me: "Coldplay."

John: "Really? Do they play rock then?"

Me: "Yeah, indie rock, so to speak."

John: "I see, I see. Are they a local band?"

Me: "Not really. They came out of England."

John (looking surprised): "England? Wow. They must be popular then."

Me: "Yeah, I'd say that they're pretty well known around the world."

John: "Well you make sure to have a good time."

Me: "Of course."

Posted by Sam at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So I sit here, listening to chick music, and wait until it's time for me to get up and leave to get ready for the White Stripes concert. I wish I was more awake and energetic so I could fully enjoy the entire day waiting in anticipation for the concert, but the truth is, I'm just plain knackered. I don't know why I'm so tired but it's just to gotten to the point where I'm extremely annoyed with myself.

I do get off early from work today. Today and Friday, because that's when I'll be experiencing the all out greatness of Coldplay. Two concerts in one week? Fuck yeah!

Ugh, I can't even make my writing exciting and awake.

Anyhoo, aside from the concerts I'm going to be a busy little bee. Guess who has to go to Admin training tomorrow after only getting about three or four hours of sleep? That's right, moi. I'm going to be rolling in looking like I've been hit by a bus. Hopefully they won't be expecting me to say anything or contribute to the conversation, because I doubt I'll have much of a voice left. I remember after rocking out to Keane and The Killers I couldn't talk for a whole day. I sipped on hot tea and huddled in a chair in a spare computer lab where I could be left alone and occasionally fall asleep without being waken up abruptly.

This Admin meeting is going to last all day too. From 8am-4pm I'm going to be chained inside a building with three hundred floors learning how to transfer calls and deal with rude visitors. All I have to say is that after locking myself out of my phone three times I'm a decent expert at how to work the phone and considering I don't have many vistors at all, that isn't much of a concern for me. Now where's the free lunch so I can head on home where I can sleep for the rest of eternity?

Every Monday I have to sit through a staff meeting. Since I've been lending my tiny helpful hand in the HR department with M and they love how I've caught on to everything so quickly, they will soon be trusting me to run the weekly staff meetings where all of the hiring managers get together, update a huge chart with lots of different colors that indicate a lot of different things, and talk about potential hires. It's fascinating, I promise. (*sarcasm) Some time this week, probably Thursday, SuperAdmin and myself will be sitting down together where she'll begin to properly train me on the goings on of this certain contract. Time cards, expense reports, and now staffing. I hope I get a pay raise with all of this new extra work that they're bestowing upon me.

No worries, I'm still working on the work visa bit. It's just a slow process. I'll be updating my resume very soon and sending it out like a mad woman. M said that he would help me with wording it all too so it sounds nice and fancy. Then while those are all floating around on the world wide web, I'll be crossing my fingers and wishing on every lucky star that somebody over there wants to hire a young American desperate to move and start her new life.

Wow, I babble a lot when I'm tired. Eh, nothing new. I'm going to find a place where I can sleep for the next two and a half hours now.

Posted by Sam at 12:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)