I love a rainy night ..

Well, not really, but a rainy night at the ballpark is pretty OK too.
Went downtown last night to watch the Cubs try to extend their win streak to two games over the Reds. With Greg Maddux pitching I was hopeful. An hour rain delay didn't dampen our hopes of a win either - just gave us an excuse to consumer more beer.
Something cool about the night was watching Greg Maddux pitch to Ken Griffey Jr. One sure fire hall of famer against a superstar is always something to make a mental note of.

It's been a while since I posted, but here's what's been going through my ears lately ...
The M's "Future Women"
Wilco "May 10, 1997 @ the Fillmore"
Ween "Chocolate and Cheese"
They Might Be Giants "Flood"
The Handsome Family "Milk and Scissors"
The Mountain Goats "Tallahassee"

I love They Might Be Giants. I started listening to 'Flood' between my junior and senior year of high school. Julie Zaephel dubbed a copy of the album for me and it didn't leave the car I was driving the whole summer. Probably three straight months of nothing but 'Particle Man,' 'Birdhouse in your Soul,' 'Racist Friend' and 'Sapphire Bullets of Love' were being channeled through the little red Tempo mom and dad let me drive until ... "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers hit the tape deck. But that's another story.

Truckin' ... in a surplus jeep

So we went to a graduation party for a friend of ours. Nice time, secluded farmhouse in Rennsealear, good food, and military surplus vehicles all around!
When the gathering winded down a bit, her dad fired up three vehicles. A half-track, a large 8 passenger jeep, and a 6 man tank-tread missle carrier. He took us on a tour of his 800 acre farmland/WWII battle reenactment area. It was a blast. Apparenlty he didn't have time to show us his BAR's and .50 cal machine guns though. Darn.

Anyway, not a lot of music, but I did pick up Neil Young's new one "Living with War."
Neil Young, "Living with War"
The Pixies "Trompe Le Monde"
Matt Pond PA "Deer Apartments"
Rainer Maria, "Long Knives Drawn"
Dinosaur Jr. "Where you Been?"

Neil hits the nail on the head, even if he's from the Great White North, he paints a bleak picture of the Bush administration and holds no apologies for what he says. "Let's Impeach the President" well, that's self-explanatory. "Flags of Freedom," singing about the day their youngest son marches off to war. It's about time someone started singing about this stuff again. Ben Harper had a little to say on his newest "Both sides of the Gun," and SoCal pop-punksters Green Day started to get the kiddies to listen with "American Idiot." Hopefully we can get a little airplay out of Mr. Young's new album .. although I doubt corporate radio will embrace the idea very closely.

Night two - electric boogaloo

So, second night of Pearl Jam came and went. Again, great show. Only 6 repeats from the night before - about 55 different songs between the two nights. Our seats were on the opposite end of the building so we didn't have much to look at other than 1 inch blurs of people running around stage. Highlight of the night for me was "Crown of Throrns." An old Mother Love Bone tune that took me back to my junior year of high school way back in spring of '92.
Funny how music does that to you isn't it?

Oh well .. music for the day was a little different than the last two nights:
The Flaming Lips "Hit to Death in the Machine Head"
Jeff Tweedy "Jan. 6, 2003 - The Vic Theatre"
Bright Eyes "Lifted, or the Story is in the Soil ..."
Belle and Sebastian "Tigermilk"
Widespread Panic "April 7, 2005 - Chicago Theater"

I like Wilco, a lot. I like Jeff Tweedy's writing, a lot. So, Jeff Tweedy solo is super awesome to me. April thinks their music is terribly depressing, so does my friend Steve. I tried to get them to listen to them a little more, but no success so far. I haven't seen Wilco since 2002, my only other time seeing them was as an opener in '97 - and I don't remember much of that except them playing "Box Full of Letters."
I've had to skip their shows a lot lately - mainly because of time constraints, or the fact that their shows sell out in minutes anymore, and my morals about not paying scalper prices for anything.

Seriously .. I think they're bleeding

So, night one of Pearl Jam was a great show. My Morning Jacket as the opener was a fantastic choice. MMJ was much talked about in the bathroom and beer line following their set. I told April that I would like to catch them in a venue along the lines of Schuba's or the Metro.
Pearl Jam started nice and slow into a solid "World Wide Suicide" followed with a few more new tracks, hit some favorites, Eddie drank a lot .. I mean a lot of wine on stage (two bottles). Solid light and laser show, two enocores with a nice 'You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" solo with 20,000 in attendance singing in unison. "Baba O'Reilly" was a neat treat followed by "YellowledBetter" to close the night down.
Favorite of mine for the night was "State of Love and Trust" from the 'Singles' soundtrack. Long set for Pearl Jam ... 2 hours and 45 minutes and 31 songs. Too bad their set was as long as our drive home. Stupid construction zones and traffic stoppage.
I've been in the United Center three other times for hockey and the attendance combined on those three nights was probably half of what was there Tuesday.
It was pretty loud behind the stage where our seats were - staring straight ahead into a hanging speaker stack. I'm taking earplugs tonight ... I want my ears to be around long enough so I can rock out when I'm 75.
Anyway .. I'm off, heading home to meet up with Steve and his friend from West Virgina, Chris, and hope we get another solid show - with less traffic this time.

On the Road again ... and not so much

Well, maybe not as much driving as we were doing. April's dad is now home in Lafayette from the hospital to finish recovering from his bypass surgeries. My dad and I hung a garage door opener for them to make their life a little bit easier. Now I can start to focus on a couple of other outside projects (i.e. Wabash - no, I didn't forget you Howard)
Anyway, tonight's the first night of a two night run of Peal Jam / My Morning Jacket at the United Center.
I've been told they're a great live band. The newest album (S/T) is a great improvement over their last three attempts and the opening band is one I'm really into, so .. I listened to a lot of My Morning Jacket today ...

My Morning Jacket "Z"
My Morning Jacket "Acoustic Citsuosca"
My Morning Jacket "It Still Moves"
Sun Kill Moon "Ghosts of the Great Highway"
Sword "Age Of Winters"
Sleater-Kinney "One Beat"

The Sword is very neo-metal. Not the crappy rap/rock/metal that Limp Bizkit popularized, but more serious about their guitar wailing than The Darkness. Apparently they put on a mind-bending live show and is one of those DO NOT MISS acts. Not sure if it's real or not. I'll catch them this summer at one of the festival's in Chicago and let you know.
-DJr.-

Heart of (broken) glass

So, we've been driving from Gary to Indy, to Lafayette, to Indy to Gary, to Indy to Lafayette and so forth a lot lately. April's dad's heart surgery went great. They ended up doing seven bypasses, and by the time I left the hospital on Tuesday evening he was saying a few words and the sort.
When April was driving back to Lafayette, something fell off the truck in front of her and shattered her windshield. The glass didn't cut her, but it did cut her little sister a bit - nothing bad, just minor scrapes. All is well now, and thanks to insurance she's got a new windshield.
Work is work is work .. that's why I have headphones ...

The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds"
Death Cab for Cutie "Something about Airplanes"
Neil Young "Comes a Time"
Paul McCartney "Band on the Run"
Smoking Popes "Born to Quit"
Sufjan Stevens "Come on Feel the Illinoise"
The Shins "Chutes Too Narrow"
Weezer "Green"

I've been asked many times .. "Am I a Beatles guy, or a Stones guy?" The answer my friend, is I'm a Beatles guy. I dig the Stones, "Exile on Main Street" is one of my top ten faves of all time, but it's no "Revolver." My Aunt Carla is a huge Beatles fan. I remember one year for Christmas, right after the Beatles albums came out on CD, my sister and I got her "Yellow Submarine." I'm not a Beatles junkie - I save that for my Grateful Dead obsession and thousands of hours of bootlegs - but my wife and I did dance to "In My Life" off of "Rubber Soul" at our wedding.
In 2002, mom, dad, sister, her hubby (now an ex .. the bastard) myself and April went to see Sir Paul in Indy. Hands down the best concert I ever saw. The only thing missing was my Aunt Carla. Next time, I'll buy a ticket for her so we can both scream like it's 1964 - or at least sing along to every word.

Trio of Trio ... but no me

Alkaline Trio returned to the Metro for a three night stand this week. April and I had tickets for the Thursday show, but with all the craziness going on right now, we decided to sell them, and miss the show. Darn. I like them alot ... but not as much as our friends Mike and Racheal who were in town Wednesday from Tucson ... the AZ yo!
I cooked ribs for our good friends, and we drank a lot of Goose Island. Well, Racheal didn't she's got a bun in the over, a baby hump so to speak - and Mike's got a designated driver for nine months!

Anyway ... I listed to a lot of Alkaline Trio Thursday ...
"S/T," "Goddamit," "Good Mourning," "From Here to Infirmary" and "Maybe I'll Catch Fire."

Friday, I was in the mood for something else ...
Jimmy Eat World "Clarity"
The Black Keys "Rubber Factory"
The Smiths "Meat is Murder"
The Mountain Goats "Tallahassee"
Pearl Jam "Yield"

The Mountain Goats floored me the first time I heard them - and that normally means I won't like them after a few listens. Turns out that's false with this band. One guy, a guitar, and some of the best most poetic lyrics this side of a Dylan album. His recordings are always pretty rough with his earliest albums sounding like they were recorded on a boom box microphone. The Mountain Goats play the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago in July ... you should join me there.

-DJr-

If I had a hammer ...

... I'd hammer the damn copy machine to bits. Sitting a mere armslength away from my work station is the only copy machine that is usable on a common basis for the building of 200 plus employees. So, a lot of traffic comes my way. Today was maintenance day on the stupid thing. The copy guy brought in a full vaccuum and must've sucked out 11 pounds of crap from inside the thing. Then decided to bang around on it, pound on a few things, curse a bit, try to talk to me about how to fix it - which I ignored because the less I know, the better sometimes.

Anyway .. April's dad has his heart surgery next week. It can only go uphill from here.

Lots of music to drown out the vaccuum ...
The Decemberists "Five Songs"
The Eels "Beutiful Freak"
June Carter Cash "Wildwood Flower"
The Strokes "Is This It?"
That Dog "Retreat from the Sun"
Tilly and the Wall "Wild Like Children"
The Handsome Family "Milk and Scissors"
The Silver Jews "Tangled Numbers"

Speaking of June Carter Cash, I didn't really care for 'Walk the Line' the Johnny Cash bio-pic. I tried to like it - twice. It was good acting, Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin (sp) Phoenix did a great job singing, but it just seemed too formulaic. Like 'Ray' I really enjoy both musicians. Have seen both Cash and Charles live. Cash only for three or four songs in '95 and Charles with my mom and wife in 2000. It just seemed that 'Walk the Line' was glazed over. For some good Cash stories, pick up 'Cash' by the man himself. It reads as if he's sitting in a rocking chair on the porch telling stories ... take away the rocking chair, add some popcicles and it's just the way my grandpa used to do.