Friday, June 25, 2004
memories
my upstairs neighbor is blasting this love by maroon 5. in la plata, argentina. very cool. i like m5 a lot because they make good music, and even moreso because i discovered them about a year before they became popular and mainstream (not that there's anything fundamentally wrong with that, as long as the music is actually good and not some retread of the same crap that's been coming out the past 6 or 7 years) for which i owe a debt of gratitude to kat (who, by the way, hasn't updated in like 1.5 months. time to get on the ball!).
i actually got to see them open for counting crows and john mayer with kat, paul & kelli last summer while i was raising support to come down here, which was a nice break from the monotony of leaving messages on peoples' machines all day long and hoping they would call me back. there were definitely three distinct crowds at that concert, each one there to (primarily) see one of the acts:
1) people who were there to see maroon 5: college age/fresh-outta-the-university folks like kat & myself, more into indie and lesser known artists that you wouldn't typically hear on a top 40 radio station, which is what they all seem to be these days. thank goodness for npr and college radio. we were definitely the smallest crowd of the bunch, and there were a lot of empty seats front & center that i would have loved have been in while the band was playing (as many fans of the later groups had yet to show up), but my plan was foiled by helga the uberusher and her evil henchmen (and women, if you can call them that).
2) the counting crows contingent: this group consisted mainly of (probably) swf in the 30-45 year range whose level of intoxication ranged from slightly inebriated to completely & utterly wasted. i was surprised that many of them were able to stand up, let alone dance around the aisle during mr jones, waving their vodka spiked slurpees and lime margaritas in the air, all while not spilling a drop. and they say alcohol impairs muscle coordination. pshaw! although the part about being a psychoactive drug seemed to be true.....
3) the john mayer following: also known as every single white girl there, plus paul (no, he's not flamin, just the owner a sometimes questionable taste in music). the majority of this crowd ranged from 15 year old jailbait teenyboppers to women in their mid to late twenties, but by the time mr. mayer actually got on stage, the whole counting crows contingent was so blasted that most of them thought they were 25 again and had a shot at being one of his groupies later that evening. i actually fell asleep for a few minutes during his set, much to paul's shock and disbelief, but i can only take so much bra tossing and "pull your shirt back down so i wont be distracted while i play" before i start to get bored.
i actually have some level of affinity for all three acts (though after two or three counting crows songs they all begin to sound the same, and i prefer john mayer acoustic, sans backup band like he was @ k'ville in january '02), but m5 was definitely the only reason i shelled out $50 for my binocular distance seat. all in all, it was a good experience and an enjoyable night, capped off by a couple in-n-out double doubles with fries and a root beer (yum...a better late night meal does not exist) and a 90 minute drive back up i-5, windows down and music up (so i wouldn't fall asleep) to the northside lbc.
hearing maroon 5 reminds me of all that and much more. the train of thought goes something like this:
m5---> coor's ampitheatre ---> san diego---> carlsbad---> rebecca---> sigh---> i need a hug.
well, only 5 more months until that can actually happen. that's not so bad, right? yeh, just keep telling me that.
symphonic melodies: gary allan - man of me
brain eats: getting to the truth in can man live without God by ravi zacharias
my upstairs neighbor is blasting this love by maroon 5. in la plata, argentina. very cool. i like m5 a lot because they make good music, and even moreso because i discovered them about a year before they became popular and mainstream (not that there's anything fundamentally wrong with that, as long as the music is actually good and not some retread of the same crap that's been coming out the past 6 or 7 years) for which i owe a debt of gratitude to kat (who, by the way, hasn't updated in like 1.5 months. time to get on the ball!).
i actually got to see them open for counting crows and john mayer with kat, paul & kelli last summer while i was raising support to come down here, which was a nice break from the monotony of leaving messages on peoples' machines all day long and hoping they would call me back. there were definitely three distinct crowds at that concert, each one there to (primarily) see one of the acts:
1) people who were there to see maroon 5: college age/fresh-outta-the-university folks like kat & myself, more into indie and lesser known artists that you wouldn't typically hear on a top 40 radio station, which is what they all seem to be these days. thank goodness for npr and college radio. we were definitely the smallest crowd of the bunch, and there were a lot of empty seats front & center that i would have loved have been in while the band was playing (as many fans of the later groups had yet to show up), but my plan was foiled by helga the uberusher and her evil henchmen (and women, if you can call them that).
2) the counting crows contingent: this group consisted mainly of (probably) swf in the 30-45 year range whose level of intoxication ranged from slightly inebriated to completely & utterly wasted. i was surprised that many of them were able to stand up, let alone dance around the aisle during mr jones, waving their vodka spiked slurpees and lime margaritas in the air, all while not spilling a drop. and they say alcohol impairs muscle coordination. pshaw! although the part about being a psychoactive drug seemed to be true.....
3) the john mayer following: also known as every single white girl there, plus paul (no, he's not flamin, just the owner a sometimes questionable taste in music). the majority of this crowd ranged from 15 year old jailbait teenyboppers to women in their mid to late twenties, but by the time mr. mayer actually got on stage, the whole counting crows contingent was so blasted that most of them thought they were 25 again and had a shot at being one of his groupies later that evening. i actually fell asleep for a few minutes during his set, much to paul's shock and disbelief, but i can only take so much bra tossing and "pull your shirt back down so i wont be distracted while i play" before i start to get bored.
i actually have some level of affinity for all three acts (though after two or three counting crows songs they all begin to sound the same, and i prefer john mayer acoustic, sans backup band like he was @ k'ville in january '02), but m5 was definitely the only reason i shelled out $50 for my binocular distance seat. all in all, it was a good experience and an enjoyable night, capped off by a couple in-n-out double doubles with fries and a root beer (yum...a better late night meal does not exist) and a 90 minute drive back up i-5, windows down and music up (so i wouldn't fall asleep) to the northside lbc.
hearing maroon 5 reminds me of all that and much more. the train of thought goes something like this:
m5---> coor's ampitheatre ---> san diego---> carlsbad---> rebecca---> sigh---> i need a hug.
well, only 5 more months until that can actually happen. that's not so bad, right? yeh, just keep telling me that.
symphonic melodies: gary allan - man of me
brain eats: getting to the truth in can man live without God by ravi zacharias
Sunday, June 20, 2004
just because
it's been so long since i last posted (just over a month, to be not-so-exact) i think i should post something just for the sake of doing it, so i don't fall out of practice. i have to say i've been slightly disappointed at everyone else's posting rates since summer started in the northern hemisphere and winter down here. except for reb, who has seen it fit to add posting on her xanga to her repertoire of girlfriend skills, which i greatly appreciate. thanks much babe.
i can't say i blame anyone though, since most folks are probably off doing summer activities rather than spending all their time procrastinating online like they do during the school year. there's not really much to procrastinate on since it's summertime, so i guess a dropoff in post rates is to be expected. that doesn't mean i'm happy about it though.
no politics or comments on the current, sad state of the world are on the docket for the time being. part of why i've been "away" so long was to take a break from everything that's going down right now. it wore me down just reading about it, and you can only take so much before you realize how hopeless a situation we are all in without God. it's more than a little depressing, so i decided to focus my energies in other areas for a while.
the summer project kids have also been here for just over a month, so planning and working on all our outreach activities with them has been a huge drain on my time, but a good one. i don't think i've ever been so happy to see american men in my life as i was to see the six doods on this year's project walk through customs that first day. it's something that's hard to explain and i don't expect anyone to completely understand unless they too have spent a significant amount of time as the only male or female on a team in a foreign culture. i'm sure there's a reason things worked out this way, and i'll let you know what it is once i figure that out. for the time being, i'll just say it's been nice to have daily testosterone sessions for the past few weeks. i gotta live it up for another week though, cuz they'll be leaving after that.
i will leave with a question i was pondering in the shower a few days ago. do people with crazy long facial hair (like pai mei) use shampoo to wash that as well? i thought of this as i was (sorta) growing out my facial hair for a little over a month, but i was repeatedly informed i should do away with that experiment, so i caved in the end. anyway, i'm just curious. if you have any answers/experience, feel free to inform me.
symphonic melodies: keller williams - ramble on
brain eats: love's labor won in can man live without God by ravi zacharias
it's been so long since i last posted (just over a month, to be not-so-exact) i think i should post something just for the sake of doing it, so i don't fall out of practice. i have to say i've been slightly disappointed at everyone else's posting rates since summer started in the northern hemisphere and winter down here. except for reb, who has seen it fit to add posting on her xanga to her repertoire of girlfriend skills, which i greatly appreciate. thanks much babe.
i can't say i blame anyone though, since most folks are probably off doing summer activities rather than spending all their time procrastinating online like they do during the school year. there's not really much to procrastinate on since it's summertime, so i guess a dropoff in post rates is to be expected. that doesn't mean i'm happy about it though.
no politics or comments on the current, sad state of the world are on the docket for the time being. part of why i've been "away" so long was to take a break from everything that's going down right now. it wore me down just reading about it, and you can only take so much before you realize how hopeless a situation we are all in without God. it's more than a little depressing, so i decided to focus my energies in other areas for a while.
the summer project kids have also been here for just over a month, so planning and working on all our outreach activities with them has been a huge drain on my time, but a good one. i don't think i've ever been so happy to see american men in my life as i was to see the six doods on this year's project walk through customs that first day. it's something that's hard to explain and i don't expect anyone to completely understand unless they too have spent a significant amount of time as the only male or female on a team in a foreign culture. i'm sure there's a reason things worked out this way, and i'll let you know what it is once i figure that out. for the time being, i'll just say it's been nice to have daily testosterone sessions for the past few weeks. i gotta live it up for another week though, cuz they'll be leaving after that.
i will leave with a question i was pondering in the shower a few days ago. do people with crazy long facial hair (like pai mei) use shampoo to wash that as well? i thought of this as i was (sorta) growing out my facial hair for a little over a month, but i was repeatedly informed i should do away with that experiment, so i caved in the end. anyway, i'm just curious. if you have any answers/experience, feel free to inform me.
symphonic melodies: keller williams - ramble on
brain eats: love's labor won in can man live without God by ravi zacharias
