Tuesday, January 15, 2008

 

Random New Year Stuff

Yeah - I'm still here. There's just nothing too exciting going on.

Xmas was nice. Our families are local, so we didn't have to travel anywhere. We just combine our families for one day and we're done. No choosing between families. No travel hassles. We're in our own bed at the end of the day. We even got to hang out with friends for late-night drinks on Xmas night. We get the best of both worlds - friends and family. Perfect.

New Year's was nice and quiet. We went to a small party with friends. I have no desire to fight the crowds of people who go out twice a year. Cover charges, expensive drinks and crowds of annoying people? No thanks. I'll take a quiet night with my friends over that and day.

Not much in the way of shows recently, but that's picking up. Patti Smith was fantastic - as usual. We caught The Slickee Boys in Baltimore. Not my favorite Slickee show. Too many opening bands in a town where the bars close too early. I doubt they played for an hour before the lights were up and they were throwing us out. Still - The Slickees are always fun. And as much as I like The Ottobar, it takes about 5 seconds inside to remember how much I hate smoke. Thank God for the smoking ban in DC.

A little family drama prevented me from seeing the big "30 Years Over DC" show with 9353, Rustbuckit and others. I was pretty annoyed by that, but family comes first. I hate eating tickets though. And I hear Dan from the Slickees even showed up to sing "Eighteen". Damn. He didn't even show up at the Slickee Boys show. Oh well...

I finally renewed my emusic subscription. Money was a bit tight for a while, so I dropped it for a bit. It's nice that they kept my account info. All my settings, download history and "Save For Later" items are still there. Any suggestions for downloads?

Editors tonight. The last time they were here I had a ticket, but the Hoodoo Gurus announced a show that same night. I chose the Gurus. Definitely the right choice, but another ticket went unused. I really liked the Editors when I saw them in 2006. I'm looking forward to this one.

Rosebuds Thursday with Carol Bui. Get there early.

R.E.M. is playing SXSW this year. If I could be guaranteed to get in, I'd be there in a heartbeat. I don't want to risk going all the way to Texas, then not get in. Yeah - SXSW would be fun anyway - but I'd be crushed knowing R.E.M. was playing in town and I couldn't go. Maybe they'll do Coachella. Hopefully, they'll announce a real tour soon. New record Accelerate comes out on 4/1. They have an interesting promo site that changes every day. Check it out.

Dinger is out of town way too much these days. That'll probably translate to more shows for me this year, but I wish he was home more.

hmmm....that's it. Maybe I'll do the required year-in-review thing later. Maybe not.

Comments:
I don't think my last comment 'took.' But when I lived in Austin, one was assured to get into shows if they volunteered for just on day at the festival. I'd check their website. And the ottobar does get annoyingly smokey. B'mores smoke ban goes into place in February!
 
Recommended downloads from emusic:

Sharon Jones - 100 Days, 100 Nights
Ric Menck - The Ballad Of...

Happy New Year!
 
abs - Thanks for the info. I think it's more a matter of capacity though. They're playing Stubbs, which is pretty small. They can't let everyone in, whether they be workers, folks with badges or whatever. It's just too small.

Pete - Thanks for the tips - I'll check 'em out!
 
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