Dumbek's Random Stuff

Long Time No Blog

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Last night was the High Heel Race here in DC. This thing has gotten huge. We got there 2 hours early and there were already hundreds of people lined up. By the time the race started there were thousands. I'd say the crowd was about 60% straight. We hung out at a nearly-empty Cobalt until race time. Then we went outside and couldn't get anywhere near the race. Lots to see afterwards though. Fun was had by all.

I saw Pansy Division last week. How can you not love a guy in a fabulous little black cocktail dress singing a song called "James Bondage"? Their set was short but sweet. I hope they make their way back soon.

Bob Mould's dvd Circle of Friends came out about a week ago. He had a viewing in a local theater and played a short acoustic set after. Despite the fact that I buy plenty of concert dvds, I usually don't like them. They tend to get really boring after the first 30 minutes or so. Not this one. Very well done. It's nice when the recording lives up to your memory. It just rocks from start to finish. And I'm not just saying that because I was at the show where it was filmed. I'm nowhere to be seen in the video (I'm way in the back), but these guys are right up front the whole time. They're all over it.

My dad had a hernia operation last week. It wasn't supposed to be a big deal, but there were complications a few days later and I ended up spending most of Saturday in the emergency room with him. He's fine now, thankfully.

R.E.M. has a new live cd/dvd. The cd is far better than I predicted. Another great example of a band that can put out horribly boring records, yet still kick ass live. I haven't watched the dvd yet. This weekend. They debuted a new song on news-hottie Anderson Cooper's show a couple weeks ago. It sounds like it could have come from one of their horribly boring records. Fingers-crossed that the next one rocks a little harder.

Homecoming was fun. I can't believe I've been out of college for 20 years. I ran into some folks I haven't seen in over 15 years. Great time. I did make a slight fashion mistake when I wore my Washington Nationals cap around town. You see...We were playing Wisconsin that weekend. And here I am walking around town in my bright red hat with a big ol' "W" on it. Doh!
I survived most of the weekend by consuming almost nothing but grilled stickies and beer. Todd Blackledge loves him some stickies too.

Most importantly - I never sold my tickets, so this time tomorrow we'll be rocking out with the mighty Van Halen. It's gonna be ugly - and I mean that in a very, very good way.

No real plans this weekend. Exactly as I want it.

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of R.E.M.'s Automatic For The People, Stereogum has compiled a tribute album called DriveXV, with various bands covering each song from the record. I normally hate these kinds of things, but this is actually quite good. Rogue Wave, Shout Out Louds, The Wrens, Meat Puppets and more. Best of all - it's free. Go get it.

I have kind of a love/hate relationship with A4TP. It's kind of like my relationship with Radiohead, except for the love part. I really don't like Radiohead at all. Anyway... They have a new record coming out, but you know that by now. I'm very interested to see how that whole thing works out. I hope they release info on how many copies they sell and what the average donation is. It's a great experiment. I'm sure records execs are pissing themselves. No, I don't plan on buying it. Even for free.

Bob has some interesting ideas related to Radiohead's bypass-the-record-companies-altogether experiment. For the record, I voted for the $20/year plan. There are very, very few artists I'd sign-up for any subscription-type plan - especially for more than $20. I think it changes the whole artist/fan relationship. If I'm paying for a subscription, you'd better damn well produce a quality product in a timely manner. But I'm not really comfortable with that relationship. I don't want a forced product or throwaway demos, just for the sake of meeting the requirements of the subscription. For $20 you can give me one physical cd and maybe a presale password or a downloadable b-side or two. That's all I need.

We saw Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello the other night. Not too bad. Not great. I thought Dylan's voice sounded pretty crummy for most of the night. I've seen him about a dozen times over the years, so I knew what I was in for. I just think his voice was a little rougher than usual. Still - "Desolation Row", "Summer Days", "Workingman's Blues", "Tom Thumb" all sounded great. Maybe I just couldn't recover from "Simple Twist of Fate" (possibly my favorite Dylan song), which I thought was abysmal. Dinger loved it though, so maybe I'm being a little harsh. Elvis was really good. A few hits. A few more obscure things. A Van Morrison cover. All solo acoustic. Very nice, if a little short.

We're going back to my alma mater for homecoming next weekend. That'll be interesting - taking my boyfriend back to meet my old fraternity brothers. I'm a little nervous about that, but more excited, really. If nothing else, we're going to be hanging out with a handful of folks who already know everything, so it'll be a blast. In fact, they're the ones that convinced us to go. Now if only the football team wasn't imploding...

I got a raise at work. Oh - and a 30" Mac monitor. I can think of so many uses for that at home, yet it seems so unnecessary at work. I didn't ask for it - they volunteered it. I wasn't about to say no.

Not much in the way of shows this month. Mickey Hart at Lisner next week (front row!). The Hives the following week. Bob the Saturday after that. Oh - Travis Morrison at the end of the month. Maybe Partyline next week. Wait - I guess I do have a bunch coming up. Good times.

September was a pretty slow month overall. I think I'm ready for fall.