My Morning Jacket Week - Night 1: The Tennessee Fire

Perfect time to get back in to blogging. My Morning Jacket is playing five shows at Terminal 5 and I will be attending them all. Last night was The Tennessee Fire which I attended solo because my friends who are in to MMJ deem this their least favorite album. I do think if they remastered it and re-released it, it would change people's minds.

I have high expectations for My Morning Jacket shows and this one wildly exceeded them. i was expecting a mellow show but they rocked it out. The highlights for me were It's About Twilight Now and Evelyn Is Not Real, the Rocket Man and White Rabbit covers and if The Bear is not one of the Top 3 songs I hear live this week it can conceivably be the best week of my life.

Here are two videos I took. They aren't great but worth checking out:

Things I Like to Say to Myself to Help Myself Get Through the Day

- Just keep moving.
- Broke, but not broken.
- Enrico Palatzo.
- Fucking fuck.
- Wichita.
- She misses you, too.
- nonsensical word pairings imagined being spoken in a Slavic dialect.
- Coffee is for closers.

...and this one

"I don't remember lighting this cigarette and I don't remember if I'm here alone or waiting for someone." — Leonard Cohen (Book of Longing)

I like this quote

"We are all our own graveyards, I believe; we squat amongst the tombs of the people we were."

It's that time of year again

It's been awhile since I posted. Since my last post I've had a kid and bought a house so I haven't had a lot of time. But my look at Facebook today reminded me of what today was about how all teacher are done with school and going to the beach or just pointing out the fact that they are no longer working for a few months.

So I defer to this:
The sentiment is the same except that I am now married to the person mentioned and I am not going to see The Hold Steady on Sunday

http://southpawcove.blogspot.com/2008/06/loss-of-summer.html

New Orleans Jazz Fest

Wow. I can't believe it's been over a month since the last post.

I recently got back from the 1st Weekend at New Orleans Jazz Fest. I felt very fortunate to go. My awesome wife, 34 weeks pregnant at the time of Jazz Fest gave me her blessing to go since my favorite band (My Morning Jacket) was playing in my favorite city. It was the perfect "last hoorah."

I went down with three friends I've known since high school. It was my 3rd trip to New Orleans and my first to Jazz Fest. Before I get started on the festival itself I have to mention the ultimate Jazz Fest pregame. Liuzza's by the Track is the place to be before and after the day. Probably the best Bloody Mary's I've ever had. Below is a pic of the post-fest activities. It's like a big street party.Like any other festival the biggest regret you have is that you wish you saw more people, especially smaller, local acts. Regrettably, for lack of a better term, we spend a majority of our time at the two bigger stages. We wandered around for the first hour checking out the end of the Treme Brass Band. They ended their show with a Second Line parade around the tent they were playing in. I really wish I saw more of them. I think we caught the last song. We settled in for the Cowboy Mouth set. I was a little buzzed already but they were the most ridiculous band ever. I have to leave it at that. After that we went across to the Gentilly Stage which is where My Morning Jacket was going to play in about three hours. But first on that stage was Better Than Ezra. The three guys I went with were more in to them that I was. I'm not going to lie and say that I don't like them. I do own CDs and have probably seen them 4 or 5 times but they are one of those bands that I kind of out grew I guess. Regardless, I had a nice buzz on and they actually did play a very fun, festival friendly set. I felt like the Boston Red Sox having to play the Royals in the last game of a series when I have to play the Yankees the next day. I probably overlooked them more than I should have. They put on a good show. Unfortunately for My Morning Jacket but fortunately for me, after Better Than Ezra finished a lot of the crowd started trekking to the other side of the fairgrounds to see Simon and Garfunkel who were scheduled opposite MMJ on the main stage. We scooted down about 6 or 7 rows back of the railing the non-VIPs were allowed to get to. If you've read this blog before you know I'm going to say they were awesome. And they were. Their setlist is below and it was a pretty picture perfect festival set if you ask me:

and here's their performance of Golden. It's a little shaky. It's a handheld, I had a beer in my other hand and I was barefoot in the mud:

I'm not going to really recap the Sunday. We hopped around and saw some smaller tents. Saw Shawn Colvin at probably the 6th biggest stage at the festival which kind of made me sad for her until I realized that I have to go back and work in an office and she gets to go to another venue and play music for people. Sunny Came home rocked though. The day ended kind of weird for me. Darius Rucker closed out that Sunday on the same stage the MMJ did the day before. He's extreme country cheese now but the idea of sitting on the lawn with a box of beers sounded pretty good...until Darius Rucker started up. Like Better Than Ezra before but to a greater extent, I had Cracked Rear View but I had severely outgrown Hootie and The Blowfish so even the chance that he's take a break and play Let Her Cry did zero for me. I realized that I couldn't end my festival experience with him so I got up and packed in as much as I could in my last hour. A song or two in the People's Health Economy Tent for some Louis Armstrong Tribute, The Hot 8 Brass Band at the Jazz and Heritage Stage, Jonny Lang in the Blues Tent and even hear Whipping Post by what ever version of The Allman Brothers was playing across the fairgrounds from Darius Rucker. I did get back in time for Darius Rucker's closer which, to his credit, was a cover of Purple Rain. Great time all around though. If I ever get back to Jazz Fest I'm definately going to use my last hour of that Sunday as my example of how I should do it from now on.

At the risk of making this way too long, some other New Orleans tidbits:

-Treme on HBO could not have come on at a better time for me. I think I'm obsessed with New Orleans. Not just the debaucherousness of Bourbon Street and all that. The culture and the music seems like you are not even in America.

-I finally got down to Frenchmen Street and it's definately how I want to spend most of my nights in New Orleans when I get back.

-I didn't think Bourbon Street would be my scene anymore. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I was able to enjoy it. Maybe it was because my experience prior to this trip was Mardi Gras in 2005 and it was overwhelming at 26 so I assumed it would be more so at 31. A not overly crowded Bourbon Street is more my thing.

-Pat O' Briens never gets old. Hurricanes and the flaming fountain are the best.

-Oceana Grill on Conti Street (right off Bourbon) is the best breakfast in the French Quarter.

I've only been there three times now but I really need to make New Orleans a bigger part of my life.

Check Out My Six Pack - Volume 3 - Bud Select 55

March 28, 2006...that was when the Volume 2 installment of this feature was written. Thanks for waiting.

When I decided to do this, I thought it would be a nice idea to try a bunch of different microbrews and try to refine/develop my palate. But when I saw that there was a 55 calorie beer on the market I couldn't resist checking it out.

I wouldn't classify myself as a "healthy" eater but I have taken to looking at calories and other nutritional information when making some of my food choices. Although I knew this beer couldn't taste good, the idea of a 330 calorie six pack was pretty enticing as my mid-week beer. It's less calories than a chocolate chip muffin!

I flew through this 6 pack in roughly an hour and a half. I did like it better than MGD64 but that's really not saying much. It's not disgusting but at the same time it tastes like a watered down beer. The main problem with it was that I didn't feel anything. I woke up the next morning with no feeling that I had any alcohol the night before.

As it turns, the ABV for this beer is only 2.4%. Compare that to Bud Light which is 4.2%. So if you really look at it. If you're a person that likes to get a little buzz on when you drink, you would have to drink between 6 and 7 Bud Lights to drink the same amount of actual alcohol as a 12 pack of Bud Select 55. Dig a little further down and those 6+ Bud Lights is actually 9 less calories than 12 Bud Select 55s.

All that being said, if you're the type that just likes the feeling of having a beer bottle in your hand while watching a game than it's a serviceable product. I'm not saying I'll never have one again but I can tell you I won't pay 7 dollars for a 6 pack of it.

Wish List

Here is a list of musicians I'd like to see in 2010 (all releasing albums) :

The Hold Steady

Ben Folds

New Pornographers

MGMT

Band of Horses

Arcade Fire

Rush?

A to Z: The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You

So it's time for me to start another feature on this blog that most likely will not be finished.

The idea of this is pretty self serving. It's a chance for me to go through my iPod and check out either new albums, new albums for me or revisit albums that I haven't heard in awhile. Figure what better way to do this than taking one artist per letter in the alphabet.

I'm kicking this off with the latest album from The Avett Brothers. I don't fancy myself a music connoisseur or a music writer by any stretch. I'm also not one of those guys who buys new albums every week. That's why it's taken me this long to give a good listen to an album that came out in September 2009 that has gotten a lot of good reviews. Now that I have proven myself to be less than qualified for this task, here it goes.

To be honest, the title track of this album was the first Avett Brothers' song I think I've knowingly heard. They played at the Newport Folk Festival in 2008 that I was at...and I didn't see them which I am retroactively regretting since I'm really into this as I'm rolling through my second listen of the day.

After two songs, the album was taking on a roots-rock feel which was nice for me since I consider myself a fan of that genre but hadn't picked up a Jayhawks/Golden Smog type album in awhile. After six songs or so, I couldn't place them in one particular type of music (not like I try to pigeon-hole bands or anything). All I know is that all of the songs whether they were upbeat numbers or piano ballads all seemed to be catchy which makes total sense after I read that Rick Rubin produced the album. I went back and listened to a few songs from their earlier stuff and it's extremely obvious. His finger prints are all over I and Love and You. I look forward to picking up something from their back catalog.

Life's getting in the way

"I don't know if it'll make a difference, but I figured it's time for me to start playing ball."
-Jimmy Chitwood

That's the best quote I can think of about a guy who hasn't done something in awhile and wants to start doing what ever that something is again.

Since June, I've gotten married (sorry ladies), started a torturous search for a house (still ongoing) and knocked up my wife. This has left me with not a whole lot of time to blog.

Troufazz is leaving for another job and I'm moving in to another office. So now more than ever, it's important to keep this part of Southpaw Cove alive.

I'm going No Holds Barred. If I want to share my feelings on a episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians or debate with myself that The Royal Tenenbaums in the best movie ever, I'm going to do it. Talk about a crazy ending to a sporting event or tell a nightmare house hunting story, I'm going to post it. If I want to write a short story or just type a bunch of random characters together, I'm going to do it.

But like a person who wants to start a diet...I'm going to start tomorrow.

The Terrible Twos

In honor of our 2nd year doing the Southpaw Cove blog we decided on a little re-design. The posts have been few and far between since June but we're going to be more diligent in getting more content up here in the future.

Remember to Forget

This morning, I went to log into my work e-mail account, only to realize that I had forgotten what my password was. I realize it's Monday and I didn't sleep much last night, but I knew the damn thing on Friday. What further concerns me is that any time I am prompted to change my password, I just go up a digit from the current one. For example, if my previous password were sparkles12, my new one would be sparkles13. (Rest assured, my password is not sparkles13... anymore).

This lapse of memory got me to thinking: Do I forget things because I subconsciously want to? For instance, I really don't want to be at work today. Nothing good awaits me in my inbox. Is my mind trying to protect me from something undesirable? Or am I just losing it?

To take it a step further, there are things I would like to forget that I can't. Or so I believe. If my theory of the subconscious acting as a gatekeeper holds water, couldn't the opposite also be true?

As much on the surface level I'd like to forget certain things, maybe my subconscious is overruling me. Maybe it wants me to remember those things. And only when I've reached a level of resolution (or at the very least, comprehension), will it allow me to cast if off.

My final thought (before I forget) is that when those things are allowed to pass through and it no longer follows you around, they are recalled much differently when you summon them back. Most times, the memory is smoothed of its jagged edges... the image gets Disney-fied.

In the song 'Time,' Tom Waits says this better than me (of course):

And they all pretend they're orphans and their memory's like a train

You can see it getting smaller as it pulls away

And the things you can't remember tell the things you can't forget

That history puts a saint in every dream

We often remember things the way that we want to, not the way they really were. We revise. The darkness gets bathed in sunlight and the villain becomes a saint.

Even if it's much harder to carry some stuff around with you, I think it's better to hold onto some of the things we would rather not.

Like your email password.

My least favorite day of the year

No need to write up a new one

Leaving the festival. Surprisingly I only saw one sitar all day.

I think this is going to be my last band of the night. Susu is on. Not overly impressed but the drummer is actually really good

The lead singer is now throwing off a Conor Oberst vibe. They have a female singer which wins me over a little. They should use her more

I think I'm seeing The Boy Bathing at Bar Matchless. They're decent although the lead singer is giving off a hint of douchey-ness. It might just be his hair

Studio B is a sweet venue. A nerd rock band is coming on next I think. We're not sticking around. Going to check someplace else out

Boo to the Heineken open bar. Stopped giving free beer with 40 minutes left. It said 5-8pm. Apparantly they only had 150 beers to give away. I don't see how that's our problem.

Heineken Open Bar...my group makes up more than half the population