Wasted Continuum

For those of you who have been following my Flickr photostream this week may have noticed the lack of interesting photos. This week has been crazy and I did not have much time or even the energy to take any decent photos. I had a couple hours today to kill so I really wanted to use it to go on a photowalk. Since the Taste of Minnesota was this weekend, I thought that would be the best venue for it.

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I haven’t been to a concert in a little while. I guess I don’t go to as many concerts as I used to. Maybe this summer, I’ll start going to smaller shows. I think I miss it. Tomorrow night, I’ll be watching the Black Keys perform at First Avenue. It’s going to be a killer show, I’m sure. The band consists of Dan Auerbach (on vocals and guitar) and Patrick Carney (on drums). Two guys. Two instruments. That’s it. They have a really raw, rock sound. They just released a new album, Attack and Release. I heard a little bit of it. It definitely sounds different than their last album, Magic Potion. Jay Reatard will be opening for them. I haven’t heard of him. I checked out his MySpace profile. Apparently he’s punk. It’s not bad. I think I’d like to see how he is live.

I finally got the chance to see Tegan and Sara live. I’ve been in love with them for so many years, but for one reason or another, I was never able to attend their performances. Tonight, it was at the Pantages Theater in Minneapolis.

Northern State, a band from New York, opened for them. I can’t say I liked them much. They’re basically a hip-hop girl band. A lot of their songs sounded like the Beastie Boys which would in theory be a great thing. However, after their set, it left me wanting to listen to some Beastie Boys, not Northern State. They do deserve some props because they did actually work with Ad-Rock on a few tracks.

I’d like to say first that Tegan and Sara’s performance was almost flawless. During the first three or four songs, the vocal levels were too frickin’ low. That really sucked because one major reason that I love Tegan and Sara is for their voices. Thankfully, they fixed that issue.

Between song, they told a lot of funny stories. Tegan did most of the talking. Sara did have a great story about humanity losing to the “robots” and Armageddon. I like it when artists actually talk and acknowledge the audience. Do you hear that Mr. Dylan? You can see some of their hilarity on their DVD, It’s Not Fun, Don’t Do It!. I highly recommend it. Besides John Mayer on Any Given Thursday, I don’t know of anyone else who actually has a commentary track you can listen to as you watch the live concert. It’s funny.

I think they played about seven or eight songs off The Con, their newly released album. The rest of the set were older songs, which I prefer. I don’t think I appreciate If It Was You and So Jealous enough. I think I just love Under Feet Like Ours so frickin’ much that I feel all their following albums are inferior. Now that I think about it, there are so many tracks of those two albums that are just so good and solid. Songs like You Wouldn’t Like Me, I Know I Know I Know, City Girl, and Not Tonight are amazing and I can’t imagine not being part of their discography.

I had seats in the second row so I had a great view of them. I came to realize three things during this concert. One, they can play much, much more that pretty chords. I watched Tegan with her sexy black, flat top Les Paul and red Ace Frehley strap. She played some sweet riffs on a few songs. Two, Tegan and Sara are so hot and adorable at the same time. I just want to put them in pocket, one on each side. Three, I think I love Tegan more than Sara. I know they both look them same, if you don’t count their tattoos. I know they have the same voice even though they sing slightly different from one another. The big difference is that Sara is the one with all the cute and funny stories. Tegan, on the other hand, is the one with all the smartass remarks and funny stories. I understand that more. And for some reason that I can’t explain, I think she’s a little bit sexier. It may have been the Les Paul. The kicker is that I feel like I wouldn’t get along with her. I don’t know why. I think it’s just like their song You Wouldn’t Like Me. I think that is why that is one of my favorite songs.

I had a great night. Good things do come out of Canada. I stopped into Solera again after the concert. It was happy hour. I ate a lot of cheap and yummy tapas and bocadillos. I also had a tasty glass of Spanish red wine.

So it’s one hour and thirteen minutes into the last day of 2006. I couldn’t say goodbye to it any quicker. It’s been a long, long year for me and I’m looking forward to the new year. I’m gonna make it a good one. As always, this is a time when we all reflect on the year passing. For me, it’s been a bit of a eventful (for better or worse) 365 days for me. Ok, not all 365 days were eventful, but quite a few were. Here are my milestones of 2006 in a semi-quasi chronological order:

• Jan - Accepted a full-time position as a web designer/developer.
• Feb 12 - Turned a year older (personally not very momentous, but it’s here by default).
• Feb 15 - My niece was born (tried to steal my birthday, but missed by a few days).
• Feb 15 (later that night) - Called up Marie to tell her the news. She, in return, tells me that she’s moving to Michigan. Awkward conversation ensues for the next two hours.
• Late Feb - Mai tells me she’s moving to San Francisco to study fashion design.
• Mar 1 - Got my first DSLR (Canon Rebel XT).
• Mar 4 - Helped Marie move out of her apartment. Had a lovely dinner with Marie and her mom.
• Mid Mar - Met the lovely Star. Watched V for Vendetta on the Ultra-Screen.
• Late Mar - Helped Mai leave for San Fran.
• Apr 7 - Drove down to KC with family.
• Jun 4 - Bought a JM Custom Strat from Guitar Center when all I went in there for were new strings.
• Jul 1 - Took first photo trek with the Canon. Star came as my photo buddy. Practice shoot with fireworks.
• Jul 4 - First real photo shoot with July 4th fireworks.
• Jul 6 - Bought my GTI.
• Jul 22 - Mai returned for her god-brother’s wedding.
• Aug 11 - Marie returns for vacation. Spend an amazing day with her. Told her how I felt at the end of the night. Everything implodes. Friendship slowly dissolves.
• Aug 25 - I fly out to SF to see Mai for her birthday. Stayed at the Hilton. Had the quickest tour of SF ever.
• Oct 6 - Watched Ben Kweller at First Ave.
• Oct 14 - Watched Shannon Curfman at Bunker’s with Ms. Linh - her first real concert.
• Mid Oct - Realized that I have a subconscious obsession with the character Rory Gilmore, not Alexis Bledel.
• Oct 21 - Watched David Sedaris at the Orpheum Theater again with Ms. Linh. She is now a fan of his.
• Oct 24 - The last time I hear anything from Ms. Marie.
• Oct 29 - Watched the Foo Fighters open for Bob Dylan at the Xcel with Ms. Linh.
• Nov 4 - The first time I listened to Mignon Fogarty’s podcast, Absolute Science. Reanimates my podcast interest.
• Nov 5 - My concert weekend streak officially ends.
• Nov 10 - Watched Roger’s band play at Half-Time Rec with Debbie.
• Nov 20 - Saw a girl at Caribou that looked exactly like Rory Gilmore who is now referred to as Ror-a-like.
• Dec 15 - Watched Shannon Curfman at Shaw’s Bar & Grill with Star - her first blues rock concert.
• Mid Dec - Saw a girl at Caribou who kind of resembled Rory. Now there may be two Ror-a-likes or this is the original Ror-a-like and she didn’t really look like Rory in the first place.
• Dec 24 - Took a photo trek to Rice Park to capture the giant Christmas tree.
• Dec 28 - Drove down to Sioux Falls to meet Mai at her family’s place.
• Dec 30 - Mai and I drive back to beautiful Minnesota to spend New Year’s here together.

Well, that’s my list. I think everyone should of made one of these lists in one fashion or another. See you all on the other side.

This is pretty much the fifth or sixth blog I’ve started since I’ve
had any presence on the internet. I might actually stick to this one.
The only real purpose of this blog is to allow myself to get my
thoughts out. I really don’t expect many, if anyone, besides myself to
be reading this. I guess I just want to force myself to reflect on the
events, no matter how small, in my life even if it’s for just a
minute. I think everyone should try it. People tend to fear vocalizing
their opinions. It seems they’re just afraid to be unique. Don’t be!
So you’re opinion may be stupid. So what? At least you have one.

So I’m designing the layout for this site right now. What I really should
be doing is updating my portfolio, but I’m not. Why? Because I’m a
slacker and won’t do it until I have some sort of pressure. Well, I’m
going to work on my portfolio as soon as this is up.

I’m creating the CSS file for this layout from scratch. I’m going
through the Dissection of a WordPress theme from UrbanGiraffe. It’s a
pretty, frickin good tutorial so far.

I found an old VHS tape of music performances I’ve recorded over the
years. I’m watching it now. I think this tape is at least a few years
old. Foo Fighters just released One by One. I’m excited because I got
tickets to see the Foo Fighters open for the Bob Dylan next month at
the Xcel. It’s gonna be a great concert. I’ve never had the pleasure
of seeing the legendary Dylan perform.

Anyway, back to designing…