2005-04-08 - 04:15

The Taste of Ink is getting old it's 4 o'clock in the fucking morning--Taste of Ink by The Used

Thursday nights are quasi-sacred to me. My work schedule is pretty erratic, but I specifically request Thursday evenings off so that I can continue to learn tai chi. I’ve been doing tai chi for about three years now and I’m getting to be okay at the forty-eight combined form. There is a bit in the middle that still a bit hazy, but some of the details are really coming together. I’ve been doing this for so long that Thursday evenings have become ritual. I go to tai chi. I have dinner with my parents. I go out with friends. We usually play cards or see a band. Sometimes we do Karaoke. Tonight, there was almost too much to choose from. Lindsay wanted to go see the bands playing at the battle of the bands. Emily wanted to do Karaoke. And, I wanted to go see the Dog and Everything. Part of me wanted to just scrap the whole evening and rent a movie. Paradox of choice, right? I didn’t. I went and saw the first three bands at the battle of the bands and then relocated to Gabe’s to see the band that I wanted to see.

The first band of the evening, Still Pictured was okay. Garrett, their guitar player is amazing, almost to the point where its obnoxious. He’s got a lot going on, but the rest of the music just doesn’t support him. They’re garden-variety emo. Eh. They went on to win the battle of the bands, though, so what do I know? Anchondo played next. They had this very melodic feel with a lot of Latin and Reggae influence. It was nice. But, the guitar player had on this shirt that said, “I have the dick, so I make the rules.” And, they sang a song about lesbians which made it hard to take them seriously.

The Singer from the third band was channeling Freddy Mercury. It was amazing. He had on glittery pants and was all over the stage dancing and working the crowd. They are called the Bandana and their sound was a little Head Automatica meets Mars Volta. It was a lot of fun; I’d totally pay to see them again.

It was a nice walk from the Q bar to Gabe’s, the temperature was just cold enough that I was really excited about getting into the bar. My reward for the short walk was getting to pay the five dollar cover. This was made up for when I got upstairs in the bar and the bartender from the band The Bent Scepters was working. They have an organ and write really intelligent, fun rock ala the Magnetic Fields. It makes me smile. I was hoping to get there just in time to hear The Dog and Everything, but I was early enough that I caught one of the openers as well.

Catchstone are melodic and poppy. They opened their set with the first verse of Get Back, The Beatles tune. Now, everything off of Let it Be has a very special place in my heart due to the fact that for the first semester of my junior year it was the only Beatles CD I had access to. (I had a packing malfunction.) So, this made me smile. They had the combination acoustic guitar/electric guitar thing going on that makes for a nice soft sound. This is the sort of music that you can play for your Mom without her cringing or worrying about your health. Its nice to hear that sometimes.

The Dog and Everything were everything I expected them to be and more. They are what I’d classify as power pop; a genre that is defined in my mind by Letters to Cleo. Their banter on stage was terribly amusing and they are all more-than-competent musicians. It was well worth the solo trek away from my friends. The audience that came out was very into the music. They bounced around and had a good time. It was great. Although, I’m fucking tired now. Very near the end of the set, I answered some pretty insistent text messages and rejoined my friends at the Q. We then relocated to Perkins where we discovered that pretty much the only thing we can agree on is that Cheese is good. I love cheese, its excellent. In honor of Proust’s birthday this year we’re going to eat French cheese. (And, maybe read some of In Search of Lost Time. Although, maybe not.)

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Artificial Sound for the Artificial World: 7 ways to scream your name--Funeral for a Friend (I found it!!!!)

Still more noir than you are.