Iron & Wine just down the road.

He Lays in the Reins
In honor of the most excellent Iron & Wine and Calexico being at the Cain's tomorrow(something that will never happen again I'm sure) I am posting my favorite song from the ep. I will be happily preparing to marry okryan off to em so baring an act of god I will not be at the show. (I promised myself I wouldn't cry) Enjoy and remember to take lots of pictures. Christmas is just around the corner and I wear a size xl t-shirt.

Law School on the horizon.

The LSAT scores are hear and our girl did very well. So the next question is where to apply. It looks like the list is now down to: Vermont, San Fran, Tulsa, North Carolina and OU(gasp). Thoughts anyone?

Looks like the wedding is on for this weekend. I think it will be a lot of fun(for those of us not actually getting married) as long as no one mentions Iron & Wine to me.

I've been checking out the new Animal Collective disc and surprisingly I really like it. Besides that the new My Morning Jacket has been playing constantly at school.

Why won't BJ post? Discuss amongst yourselves.

What happened last night?

Well the impromptu and poorly planned bachelor party for okryan went down last night. My apologies if you weren't invited. I am probably the brokest best man in history and that's all the excuse I have. We'll do it up right for the next one. As usual the night ended with okryan, PG and myself at village in at 3 in the morning. I had the ACT at 7:15 and pg was driving to Arkansas to see Widespread Panic at 10.
We started out the party in okryan's kitchen old school style then off to the good doctor's house for expensive beers. After marveling at the vespa(I've got to get me one of those) we hit Oktober fest for a couple of hours and then on to night trips where the rest of our group decided to cut out after coming up with the idea to go there. Oh well it's been 7 years since I've been to nighttrips, in fact it was another bachelor party.But after several games of way too drunken pool okryan got a face full of boob. So I guess it was a success. I had a good stumbling around time, I hope okryan and PG enjoyed themselves. I do have to say that much of my time was spent wondering where the next bathroom was, I broke the seal early and paid for it. Oi Oi Oi.

What a weird day.

Well the phone rang before school this morning, which is rarely a good thing. It was Judy calling to tell me that my step-brother's wife had been found dead. They had actually divorced a few months ago because she was hooked on pain pills and a couple bouts of rehab didn't work and then she started selling things like vehicles and what not. Anyway apparently she had a brain aneurysm and had been dead for three or four days before she was found. I had only met her once or twice(I'm not close with that side of the family). Anyway we were going camping out on Judy's land tomorrow but that has now been scratched.
In other news the kids are doing great. Chloe's teacher told G! That she was the most creative, artistic minded students she has ever had. Chloe actually told her teacher that we were too busy on Mondays for her to do her homework.
Caleb has gotten ay into the Pixies. He borrowed a DVD and then a couple of CD's. He recently proclaimed that he like the '88 Pixies better then the old ones.

Can i pick 'em or what

Does anyone know if Em has already chosen a dress for the wedding? If not i think i found one that might work. Bachelor party this weekend.

Finally finished with that story.

Look, It's the Arcade Fire watching The Frames.
Okryan pointed out that I forgot to mention that we met Jeremy and Richard of The Arcade Fire during the frames set. Great guys. They were totally just walking around like normal guys. We chatted with them for a few minutes then asked for a picture. They were understandably reluctant(The whole going unnoticed thing) but Jeremy finally said he would take the picture. After that Richard left and we talked to Jeremy for a few more minutes. End of story.
Our strategy changed for Sunday. There were sets that we had to see. Up until that day we had just flitted about catching as many bands as possible but now it was time to post up on some stages. We started with a little bit of Eisley and then wandered over to see a little bit of Rachel Yamagata. After that it was time to make a stand. We ran over to get a good spot for The Doves. we were in a pretty great spot and the band put on a great show. We stayed at the stage after the set slowly inching our was forward. We got to see and hear a little bit of The Bravery before they began sound checking for the Arcade Fire. At this point we had been in the crowd for two and a half hours. I have to say here that I bought a hydration pack especially for ACL and it was well worth it. Myself and the rest of my group sipped on the sweet lukewarm water as we baked in the middle of a crowd of several thousand. The Arcade fire tore it up. By the time they took the stage we had wormed our way just a couple of people from that barrier. From our vantage point I didn't feel like the crowd was as into it as they should have been. At stubb's you could barely hear the band as we all sang along and danced to the music. The set itself great, maybe not quite as inspired as the Friday show but still amazing and of coarse it was 108 degrees outside. Win kept throwing bottles of water out to the crowd one of which okryan caught. We all drank a little bit of what was referred to as the arcade water. I've watched the set several times(it's easy to find) and am amazed at everything that was going on that I didn't catch. At the end of the set the band threw the rest of their water into the crowd and left the stage. The crowd began to disperse and then I heard a small roar and turned in time to see the guy behind me get beaned in the head with a drumstick that a roady had thrown from the stage in the next instance a water bottle with a piece of paper taped to it flew right into my hands.... It was the set list!!
After that excitement we held our spots as we watched The decemberists on then next stage over. We could clearly hear a couple of the songs and could see the big screens pretty well. Finally Wilco came on. At this point we had been in the crowd for four and a half hours. They put on a very solid set. I love to see a band have a good time on stage. After that we caught a bit of The Black Keys who were burning it down for a huge crowd. After that I scored a free bar-b-que sandwich and we watched Coldplay who were actually really good with the Austin skyline behind them in the distance. Another great weekend in Austin and already I'm looking forward to next year.
The ride home was very entertaining. We listened to Funeral by The Arcade Fire six times on the way home. After the ipod crapped out we had to buy the album. I got a sweet new pair of addidas running shoes at the outlet. We also learned PG is a crappy driver and it is easier then you think to misplace a car.

I wanna see you dance again

Sorry for the title but come on Harvest Moon is playing.

Yeah that's Kanya and Jesus.

Well I learned today that Dia actually reads this blog from time to time so I think the number or readers just doubled.

I've found a couple of tracks from the new Sun Kil Moon disc that's coming out in a couple of weeks. It is a modest mouse cover album and the two tracks I've heard are amazing.

I've also spent a lot of time with The Magic Numbers an amazing four piece that's short on looks but long on harmonies and hooks.

Not only that but I happened across The Arcade Fire's Christmas album. It is incredible fun and sloppy with not only Christmas songs but several early versions of tracks from their first E.P.

At home on a Monday afternoon

Well Liam and I are holding down the fort today. He is a bit under the weather. PG and Sarah were treated to an exciting few minutes of me being puked all over yesterday, at least we were outside. After a morning of sleep we are now back in action. Pumpkin Patch here we come.
G! Is now and for the next three months my old lady. Her birthday was fairly low key. Her new coffee maker looks like it could be flown to the moon.
I hooked the stereo and cd changer up in the living room and filled the changer with music. It has been on random all day and has played some pretty sweet stuff. It really seems to like Nick Cave and the Bad Seed.

ACL: Another Day

I don't know you tell me what PG is doing.
Alright I'll make this quick since nobody really cares(gimme some comments) I did start this so I'll go ahead and finish it. Before I do I will say that LSAT's and the play are both over so hopefully I'll be seeing more of G! and we will finally decide where we will be moving. And by the way never go to Ken's on someone's birthday, that place is cursed.
Saturday proved to be a much hotter day. After the Arcade Fire induced rocking we slept in till almost 9 before heading down to the "deluxe" breakfast. The deluxe means they had donuts. The juice tasted like I imagine piss would. After a quick stop at target and a lunch at church's chicken(a lot cheaper then festival food) we hit the festival. After the "camera incident" of which I will say nothing(talk to okryan for details) we headed over to see Split Lip Rayfield mainly because PG told us that one of them played a gasstank from a truck... and he did, nough said.
After that we found out that Kathleen Edwards had canceled her appearance!! So we checked out the fill in band who's title had elephant in it I think, they were pretty good, we didn't stay long. Instead we headed over t the gospel tent for some shade and uplifting and PG spotted JJ Gray of Mofro hanging out. He was just listening to the singers with a cute lady next to him. We talked to him for a few minutes and got a couple of pictures with him. Let me just say that he was very gracious.
We then split to check out Aqualung for a few minutes before heading over to see Mike Doughty's band. They played several awesome covers. Then it was off to see Buddy Guy who was amazing but cursed more then any one at the festival oddly enough.
Next up was The Frames a band I knew nothing about but okryan recommended and they ended up being one of the highlights of the festival. They cursed almost as much as Buddy Guy but with much cooler accents!
it was at this point that PG took off to catch the more jammy bands while we went indie. We were near the back of the crowd for Death Cab for Cutie and from what I could tell they put on a pretty good set, I'll have to catch them in a smaller setting. They did play my favorite song "A movie script ending". We left a little early to get a good spot for The Fiery Furnaces one of chloe's favorite bands. She wanted me to make sure and see them so I could tell her how they make all of those noises(keyboards). They put on a great set. The first half was mainly he "hits" and then they announced they were going to play some of the new stuff. When I heard that I was a bit worried because some of the new stuff I've heard lately didn't seem to really lend itself to a live setting but I was pleasantly surprised.
We caught a song of Jet and then grabbed some dinner.
We were a little late for the Bloc Party's set. It looked like everyone was there and we could quickly see why. They totally rocked everyperson in attendance. I was way back in the crowd and still got into it. They are amazing live and worth a bit of a drive to see. Finally we sat in the Gibson lounge and listened to Oasis who closed their decent hit filled set with a Who cover. Then it was a few minutes of Widespread Panic and off to the buses and home.

Playin catch up.

I really need to keep up with this blog. I did want to say that Em invited us all over for some awesome chili this last weekend and try as we might we were unable to eat it all befor okryan made it home. We did manage to completely stress him out with a well placed phone call(did he actually cry when we said the chili was all gone?) Thanks again for a great evening. I'll try toget the rest of my ACL recap up soon.
Something about this picture reminds me of Em.

ACL: Day One:The Post

Well it's been a week and I'm finally posting on ACL in depth. I'll just start by saying each year seems to get better.
Day One: We almost made our 5:00a.m. departure time if okryan had stuck to the plan but even with that little glitch we were still on the road by 5:15. PG's ipod was put on shuffle and the ride down flew by with no worries. We were anticipating problems in Dallas but flew through the city with no slow downs at all. We made it to Austin around 12:30 and headed straight to the show trusting the outback to a meter that was destined to expire long before we made it back. Once again the bus system that ACL has set up ran flawlessly and we were quickly on the festival grounds. Having seen Kasabien a couple of weeks before (and being very impressed with their show) we opted to catch Mofro. We had just happened across mofro at the festival the previous year and had been blow away enough by their set to buy their albums when we got back home(yea buy not download). We got pretty good places for the show and were treated to another great set highlighted by "Fireflies" and "dirtfloorcracker" a song that JJ explained the meaning behind.
After Mofro we wandered over to Steve Earle's set for a few minutes. He was good but we were determined to stake out a good spot for the Mates of State. They were awesome. I was familiar with a few of their songs but everything they played sounded great. PG, whose musical tastes lean to the jam side of things, was impressed as well. We eventually took off to catch part of Nic Armstrong and the Thieves who okryan really wanted to see, but with the sound of the Mates of State still ringing in my ears I left the group there and ran back to see the rest of the Mates set.
PG recommended Robert Earl Keen, a guy he had seen several times before and had popped up on the ipod a couple of times on the way up. He was really good. We were treated to a song about a cross dressing Hank Williams that was hilarious.
Spoon was up next, we were getting a bit nervous at this point in the day because we still had to check into our hotel and get to Stubb's for the Black Keys /Arcade Fire show and had debated skiping the set completely, but the new album is so good we decided to stay for a few minutes. Once they started we could barely leave. We actually ended up staying for almost the entire set. Everytime we would get ready to leave they would play another song we loved. But we did finally, reluctantly leave. Discovering that the outback was ticket free.
I should say at this point it was close to 6:30 in the evening and the weather was Rita free, being in the mid to high 90s most of the day. The temperature had dropped quite a bit by the time we left the festival and there was a very welcome breeze. We found our hotel (which was completely full) and quickly learned that the "limited" in Ramada Inn Limited wasn't a good thing like we had expected. From what I could discern the "limited" referred to the fact that amenities, politeness and repairs to the hotel itself were actually "limited". But the beds were clean and we would soon find out that the breakfast included donuts!
We made our way to Stubb's with no major problems(damn you free hotel map). But it was during this drive that the ipod started acting up, eventually quitting altogether. This was the first time any of us had been to this famous Austin venue. I was surprised at how small it was. But that was a good thing. The outdoor concert area was very cool, they even had a booth that sold their famous sandwiches so we were able to eat while waiting for the show to start. The show opened with a local act Milwaukees most Famous. They were nervous but ended up rocking. The Black Keys (one of my favorites) were up next and they didn't disappoint. (We had seen them a few months before and had a spot right against the drum kit. In fact everytime a stick broke we would catch it or get hit by it and eventually ended up passing a few to people behind us. But being a little farther back this time allowed me to hear more of the vocals.) It's hard to believe that that voice comes out of Dan(who we met in Tulsa, he is unbelievably nice.) And then it was time for The Arcade Fire. At this point everyone has heard the hype surrounding them so I expected a good show but not the show we received. It's hard to put into words how amazing they are live. I wouldn't hesitate to say tht it was the best show I've seen. They had the same kind of overwhelming stage energy and sense of fun that you get from a Flaming Lips show but with more intensity. The crowd was so into it, I bounced at least as much as G! At the White Stripes show, something I haven't done at a show in quite awhile. The sheer easy musicianship easily rivals Willie Nelson or Phish. (Really that doesn't do the show justice and all references are to shows I've been to so i hope they make sense.) They opened with a Dylan cover and played everything I wanted to hear. We made it back to the hotel all exhausted and excited about the Arcade Fire show and were quickly asleep.