Dumbek's Random Stuff

First off...Bob Mould still friggin' rocks. He and Rich Morel came out and played 4-5 songs last night. Just the two of them on guitars with some recorded beats behind them. I was expecting something similar to the Loudbomb stuff I heard last year at The Black Cat, but these songs rocked much harder than that. The songs seemed much more guitar-driven, rather than beat-driven. Not being a big fan of dance music, per se, I was a bit skeptical about how much I'd like the new Blowoff songs. But they sounded terrific. I'll be all over this when it gets released. Bob looked like he was having a great time. Nice rockstar move, taking a big swig of water and spraying it all over the place. haha. Made me think of Gene Simmons spitting fire. I can't tell you how great it is to see Bob jumping around on stage with his guitar. He was much more animated last night than when I saw him at The Birchmere in December. Can't wait for his new record and tour. Brendan Canty on drums? Sweet.

As for the event itself, it was a mixed bag. Doors at 11:00. We got there at about 11:50 and the place was PACKED. Not "kind-of-crowded" packed. More like "sold-out-show" packed. We walked into the main room and it was wall-to-wall people, all the way back to the merch booth. Holy crap. It looked like the stage was pulled out all the way, making the room seem much smaller than usual. And the balcony was totally closed. Walked up to the bar and found myself standing next to chrisafer, but I didn't say hello, since he has no idea who I am. They were playing some kick-ass, rocking music when we got there. I think at midnight, it completely switched over to electro-stuff. Oh well. And it was loud. Ear-bleeding loud. The-bass-is-causing-my-hair-to-move loud. I saw several people holding fingers in their ears while dancing. The live portion of the evening was far more quiet than the dance music, and a welcome break from the racket. Even wearing earplugs all night, my ears are ringing a bit this morning.

The crowd seemed more like a Nation crowd than a Blowoff crowd. Sure, there was a higher percentage of bears than at Nation, but the shirtless muscle-boy crowd dominated. Lots of eye candy, but I think it took away from the vibe that's usually present at Blowoff. It just seemed like a mini-Nation. Blech.

Still, the drinks started flowing and we started bouncing around a bit. We saw a few people we hadn't seen in months. That's always cool. The crowd started thinning a half-hour or so after the live set. My favorite part of the night (other than the live portion) was probably around 2:00am. About half of the crowd had left, leaving much more space and a more typical Blowoff crowd. While waiting for the BF to return from the restroom so we could leave, Clickboo walked by. Being more than slightly tipsy by this point, I stopped him and said hello. Of course, he has no idea who I am either and I think I freaked him out a little. Sorry about that. He is adorable though. Best shirt of the night: "God Hates Techno".

I wonder if the club was expecting such a big crowd? Between keeping the balcony closed, the smaller floor configuration, the lack of a coat check (thanks a lot) and the downstairs bar being closed (I had to be escorted by a staff member to use the ATM), it seemed like they were either unprepared, or intent on keeping us as tightly controlled as possible.

Anyway, it turned out to be a really fun night, but it lacked the charm of a regular Blowoff evening. A normal Blowoff has the vibe of hanging out in someone's basement with a bunch of friends. Last night was more of a mini-circuit party. As long as they keep doing the live portion, I'll keep going back. But I'm looking forward to the regular BackBar night again.

All day long I've had Rainy Days And Mondays by The Carpenters going through my head.

Sometimes I'm just way too gay.

Don't forget about Blowoff tonight upstairs at the 9:30 Club. Doors at 11:00. Live (albeit brief) live set by Bob and Rich. Should be swell.

How could I forget this little fun-fact?

For the 7th-inning stretch, rather than the recorded stylings of John Denver singing "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" (as per usual in Baltimore), we were treated to DC legend and king-of-all-things-Go-Go Mr. Chuck Brown. He did "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" followed by an abbreviated "Bustin' Loose"! Hell yeah! How perfect is that?

Gimme the bridge y'all.

Check this bad boy out:



It's our new hot tub. Actually, we're having our whole pool redone and we decided to throw this in while we're at it. It won't be in for a while yet, but we put the down-payment on it today.

Life is good.

If you're going to sit at the sushi bar, either:

a) wear underwear
b) pull your shirt down, or
c) buy pants you can pull-up past your hips

None of us wants to look at your smelly ass-crack while we're trying to eat dinner. I don't care if want to be a skank who dresses like a whore, but I shouldn't have to look at your shitter in a restaurant at 8pm.

I managed to score tickets to the Washington Nationals Opening Day game. Technically, it's the "home opener", since they already played a few games out of town. But this was the big one. The first real baseball game in Washington, DC in about 30 years. There was no way we were gonna miss it. TicketMaster actually came through for me and we managed to get a pair of seats in section 519. Behind home plate, with a view going straight down the first base line. Our section was directly above Bush's box, but we were waaaay at the top. We didn't care. We were in and it didn't cost us a fortune. In fact, the 2 tickets cost a total of $45 - including service charges. Sweet.


Rather than try to work and scramble over to RFK in time for the game, I just took the whole day off work. It was nice having a whole day with nothing to do but hang out and have fun with the BF. We ate lunch outside, walked around Dupont a bit and just took our time getting to the stadium. We got there around 4:15. We were inside by maybe 4:25. No lines to speak of at all. We had to empty our pockets going through the metal detectors, but that was about it for the security check. By 4:30 we were in line for our first beer.

It was weird seeing a baseball diamond in RFK. Most of my RFK experience revolved around concerts like this one. The baseball diamond totally threw off my orientation once I was inside. It looked fantastic though. They did a great job with the field. The rest of RFK still sucks though. The scoreboards are so small they're almost unreadable and there were plenty of people disappearing for 2 innings at a time, just trying to get a hotdog or beer. The lines were unreal. I'm sure they'll work that out eventually.

We got to see GW throw out the first pitch. Quite anti-climactic. The throw was fine, but he spent maybe a total of 3 seconds on the mound before he was on his way back inside. I guess they wanted to get him out of there ASAP. Understandable, I guess. Still, it was nice to have the opportunity to boo him in person, rather than just yelling things at my television. I was surprised that there seemed to be far more cheers than boos. I guess I shouldn't be. He did actually win this time. Secret service were everywhere.



The game was good, if not a little boring at the beginning. I won't recap it here. Great to see them win their first home game. The crowd was absolutely on fire all night. People were cheering like crazy all night long. People were ready to kick some ass when Castilla got beaned. Most people stayed until the very end too. It's great to see everyone so excited about it all. I hope it lasts.



The first real pitch.






National Anthem. Note to locals: You're not in Baltimore anymore. You don't yell "O!" during the Star-Spangled Banner when you're not at an Orioles game. Other than the Rosanne incident, I've never heard booing during the National Anthem before. Most uncomfortable moment of the night.


Biggest Flag Ever.




We've got a few more. Maybe I'll put them up later.

Despite the controversy, Metro came through perfectly. We stayed until the final out, took the Metro back to the burbs and were home in bed by 12:30 or so. Not bad at all.

We'll probably hit a few more games this summer. Nothing beats a hot Saturday afternoon watching a game, drinking a cold one and soaking up some sun. All the better that we don't need to go all the way to Baltimore to do it anymore.

Go Nats.

Working Saturday afternoon, working late Monday and going in early on Tuesday is quite a drag.

I went jogging on Sunday. Not hit-the-treadmill-for-30-minutes jogging, but run-around-the-neighborhood jogging. I've never done that before. It was awesome, but I'm a bit sore. It's a totally different experience. The trip around the 'hood made me realize how much I like where I live.

BF is home from his NASCAR weekend. Yay.

I had more hits from DCist yesterday than I've had other hits in the last few weeks.

I forgot to mention Cartel in my list of upcoming shows yesterday. I've been trying to see them for a while, but it never works out. I'm determined to hit their DC9 gig. Maybe hit Bluestate afterwards, depending on what time the show lets out.

We're going to The Nationals opening night game on Thursday.

I haven't done my taxes yet. Maybe tonight.

I bought the new Doves cd. Not sure what I think yet. They sound like a dozen other bands, but there's still something unique about them.

The boyfriend and I caught Medications at The Warehouse Next Door last Thursday. I love love LOVE this band. It was the first time I've seen them headline. Nice to see them get a full set. Lots of new material. Those songs didn't immediately grab me the way the songs from the EP did, but they were still quite good. The songs they played from the EP were tight as hell. DAMN. I can't wait for the new disc. I'm gonna jump on seeing these guys every chance I get. And it certainly doesn't hurt that Devin Ocampo is a hottie.

Of course, the big show of the weekend was Bloc Party at The Black Cat. Flying solo at the show, since the bf was off on yet another NASCAR weekend with his old college buds. Apparently, the bf got to shake Jeff Gordon's hand after the race. Score.

Walked in as The Ponys were on their first or second song. Don't know much about them, but I was impressed. They'll be headlining the Cat soon, I'm sure. The crowd was diggin' 'em.

During their set, the singer for Bloc Party walked past me on his way to the merch booth. From the actions of the girls standing next to me, you'd think Bono just walked by. Lots of "Oh My GOD!!" "Go say Hi" and "Go get a picture", "I can't just walk up to him!", "I can't believe it!". I think they eventually chased after him. It reminded me of that digital camera commercial with Steven Tyler. Very funny. Ah, youth.

Ran into a friend between sets and we opted to sit at a table at the back of the club. "The Black Cat Supper Club", as she called it. We stayed there for the whole BP set, which was fine by me. Speaking of the Bloc Party set, it was absolutely fan-friggin'-tastic. I thought they were just blazing hot. They totally rocked-out a lot more than I expected. Even the normally apathetic DC crowd was clapping, singing and dancing around. Great, great show. It's nice to see a band that actually lives up to the hype. And these guys deserve every bit of hype they're getting. Franz who?

Not too many upcoming shows for me in the near future. I guess the next one is Ratdog at 9:30. Maybe Q And Not U. I was going to go see Paul Westergerg at 9:30, but I've recently been told to check out Ivy at the Cat on that night instead. Last week I received emails from 2 different friends espousing the wondrous voice of the singer of Ivy. I've known each of these friends for over 20 years, and if they go out of their way to tell me about someone, they're probably worth checking out. So it's a pretty safe bet I'll be at the Ivy show too.

Got my Gang of Four and Kraftwerk tickets. WOOHOO! May is gonna rock.

Medications at The Warehouse Next Door tonight.
Highly recommended.

New CD on 6/13.

Hey Yahoo! How about taking that picture of the Pope's corpse off your front page? It's pretty disturbing to have to look at a dead body every time I start up my browser.

A few posts back I mentioned that Blowoff was moving upstairs at 9:30 on 4/23. It turns out that it's not your typical Blowoff. This one features "the DJ sounds and live performances of Bob Mould and Richard Morel." I have no idea what that entails, but it sounds like fun to me.

The BF and I went to see Metropolitan at The Black Cat last night. It was their CD release party for their latest, The Lines They Get Broken. I thought the rain might keep people away, but there was a pretty sizeable crowd by the time we got there - maybe 10:45. Missed Federal City Five. As for Aqueduct, they had some songs that were fun and catchy... and others that wanted me to stick chopsticks in my ears.

Metropolitan was good - as usual. I've seen them described as all sorts of things...art rock, power pop, noise rock...whatever. They're a good rock 'n' roll band. Plain and simple. They seem to get better every time I see them. They're apparently a four-piece now. They've added another guitarist. Or as they called him..."the third brown member of the band". Picked up the new CD, but haven't listened to it yet. I also got the last poster they had left (minus the one on the wall). Yay for me!

That being said, the crowd had thinned-out quite a bit before Metropolitan had finished. I'd guess maybe a hundred people (probably less) were still there when they were done. They probably set a record for shortest time between the set and encore, because there were only a half-dozen people or so clapping (us included) long enough to get them to come back out. You can't come back for an encore if nobody's asking for it.

As much as I like these guys, should they be playing the mainstage at the Cat? Maybe it was the rain, but at it's most crowded, it was maybe 50% full. The crowd was already thinning before they even came onstage, and was all but gone by the time they were done. They came early and left early. I'd hate to see what it would be like if their show was on a weeknight.

Great band though. Highly recommended. Check them out next time and prove me wrong about the kind of draw they have.

This is too funny.

Public Image Ltd. on American Bandstand

(warning - it's a huge video)