Ozomatli

Hey everyone!!!! For those of you that are still hanging in with me (I hope there are lots of you- I'm too scared to check my stats!) I'm sorry for my recent disappearance. As I mentioned in my last post, things have been so crazy around here with my family visiting and the holiday parties. After the last of my visitors were gone, I fully intended on getting back into blogging and visiting all my favorite blogs, but ended up hibernating in my apartment instead. I think my busy social agenda finally caught up with me. As most of you can probably relate to, the longer I took to get back to blogging, the harder it was to try to get back to blogging! But, I have buckled down today, and I'm writing here whether I like it or not. I have lots to catch you up on, and many half-started posts await you in the coming days and weeks. So, on with it...

On Saturday night three friends and I went to see Ozomatli at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe. Before I tell you about the show, let me give you a little of my Ozomatli history. I first saw them on Later with Jools Holland several years ago and I was instantly drawn in by their energy. I don't remember the performance very well, but I do remember lots of band members and lots of energy and a huge sound. They style was also so unique- a latin/hip hop/rap band from Los Angeles with black, white, latino and asian band members! But for some reason I never got around to checking them out, and pretty much forgot about them over the years. That is, until a couple months back when I was at a show and saw a poster for an upcoming Ozomatli show. I remembered the Jools performance and made a note to myself to check them out. I borrowed their most recent album (Street Signs) and a recent live album (Live at the Fillmore) from my local library and instantly fell in love. I put the cd's on high rotation, got a few friends hooked as well, and so the four of us went to see them Saturday night...

If you've been reading my blog for a while you're pretty familiar with how obsessed with music I can be, and how obsessed with the details I am at shows. I take a little moleskine notebook with me to write down the set lists, and fully immerse myself in the experience of the show. If I go alone I'm usually right near the stage so I can see everything the band does and take it all in. I'm like a musical sponge. I notice the details and I love it. I didn't used to be this way, but the more shows I go to, the more I appreciate the intricacies and the effort it takes to produce the music, and it just awes me. Now, I say all this in preparation to justify why I am going to give you a terrible account of the Ozomatli show. It's not because I don't know how, or I'm not practiced in the art of observing and relating a story, it's just that I was too busy having waaay too much fun!

My friends and I arrived a little after 8, in the middle of the opening band's set. The opener was scheduled to be Salvadore Santana, but I'm not sure whether it was or not because I'm not familiar with his/their music. From what we saw the music was decent, and the crowd was fairly into it. It was nothing I'd run out and buy, but the music seemed to be a fitting opener for Ozo.

Ozomatli took the stage around 9 pm to a crowd of around 250-300 people, which was less than I expected but turned out to be the perfect size. The venue appeared full, but there was still enough space around everyone that you could dance and not be right on top of the people next to you. The guys took the stage one at a time, which I always think is a great touch because it gives the crowd a chance to recognize each band member individually, and it makes for a really cool build up of the sound (and with 10 band members it takes a while!). Dos Cosas Ciertas is the perfect song to do this with, and is a great opener because it's so upbeat. The crowd went totally crazy, and pretty much never stopped going crazy the whole night. The crowd often times has the power to make an average show great or an average show awful, and this crowd definitely made the show great. Everyone was totally into the music and sang and danced their asses off.

After the first song, the details are a bit fuzzy. I was just so busy having fun that I didn't pay attention to what was happening on stage, which I sort of regret now because that's one of the things I love most about going to see live music. There are some great highlights I do remember though...The band played several new songs, beginning with the second song of the night. They asked the crowd if they'd mind hearing some new songs, and of course no one seemed to mind. The new songs were really good, and probably mean a new album is due out soon. At one point toward the beginning of the show the band asked everyone to introduce themselves to their neighbors and give them a hug whilst they played the theme song to Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. I think people enjoyed singing along with this goofy childhood tune as much as they enjoyed hugging the strangers around them- good times! The set was long, about two and a half hours, and included almost all of my favorites, especially Ya Viene El Sol. The night ended with their 'End Samba', which entails all of the band members bringing a percussion instrument or horn down into the crowd and playing right in the middle of the crowd while the crowd chants "O-zo-matli, Ya se fue, Ya se fue". This went on for ages, while the band snaked through the crowd playing their instruments, and then ending up in the lobby of the venue. They also played the classic football chant "Ole, ole ole ole, ole, ole...." and the goofy Hokey Pokey. After the music ended the band stuck around in the lobby to visit with fans and sign autograghs and take pictures. This amazed me. I've never been to a show where the band was so humble and willing to get to know their fans. Even local bands seem to be too cool for school these days, so this totally impressed me.

This was a great show and a great night! Seeing a band for the first time when you only own their cd is always a gamble because you don't know what you'll get. Music can be fantastic on a cd, but not translate well live. I'd say the opposite is true of Ozo. The cd's are good, the live show is amazing. There are ten band members who are all incredibly talented on their respective instruments, and somehow each is highlighted in the live performance and equally shares the spotlight. I think that in itself is a testament to how good their music is. So, go out and buy their cd's and see them live!!!!

Following is the setlist, as best I could piece it together from my notes. Often times my notes are a little hard to read because it's dark in the venue when I'm trying to write, but when I looked at my notes from Saturday night I had to laugh, because they looked like they'd been written in another language!

Setlist:
1. Dos Cosas Ciertas
2. City of Angels - new song
3. ?- new song
4. Eva
5. ?- new song
6. Ya Viene El Sol
7. Street Signs
8. Believe
9. ?
10. ?- new song
11. ?
12. Elevation
13. Cumbia de los Muertos
14. Saturday Night
15. Déjame en Paz
16. Como Ves
17. La Misma Canción
18. End Samba

to do #78: see Ozomatli (and get my ass blogging again!)

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! It's been a hectic few weeks around here, and I've found very little time to be in front of my computer. I mentioned my brother was here for a visit, and during his visit we threw the pre-Thanksgiving bash. It was a great time, and a great excuse to have yummy Thanksgiving fare twice in a month. Two days after he left, my sister and nephew arrived. Having a two year old around is nothing less than a whirlwind of chaos. Having a sick two year old around is nothing less than a nightmare. I quickly realized how accustomed I'd grown to living on my own, and living without children. Consequently, I've been spending a LOT of time at the gym! But, having said that, there isn't a little guy any cuter than him, and having him around is fantastic, especially now that he's feeling better.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I decided to cook another turkey (pictured above) for us and a few friends. I didn't realize how gross turkeys look pre-roasting until I saw that picture. Unfortunately I forgot to take another picture after the roasting, but I can promise you that it was nothing short of perfection! Our day was filled with lots of friends and eating and drinking and general merry-making- a perfect day in my opinion!

So, just wanted to give you a little update on my whereabouts. I hope that those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving had a wonderful day! My sister & nephew will be leaving next week, which will give me plenty of time to get back to being a blogging nerd again! Till then...

to do #146: celebrate Thanksgiving

My Morning Jacket

Tuesday night I saw My Morning Jacket at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe. A few years ago when their album It Still Moves came out I was an instant fan. Jim James has such an amazing and unique voice. Of course some of that is because of the vocal effects and album production, but the airy/ethereal/spacey quality of his voice makes for a pretty distinguished sound. At the time I couldn't get enough of the album. When their latest album was released this year I was ready for something even better than the last, but was so turned off by the sound I barely gave it a few listens before I decided they were a one-album wonder for me.

But, despite my disappointment I still wanted to check them out when they came to town in hopes that they'd play lots of the older stuff. I wasn't expecting much, except maybe to get my live music fix, so I was totally surprised at how great the show was. Not only did they play some of the old songs I love, but the new songs totally took on a different sound. They didn't seem cheesy anymore, they were fantastic. MMJ played for about an hour and a half and played a good mix of old and new stuff. The sound was spot-on and captured his voice perfectly. Several of the songs extended into long jam sessions, which under normal circumstances I'm usually not a fan of, but in this case I absolutely loved, especially Dondante with the saxophone solo at the end. Seeing the new songs performed live totally got me into the new album, and now I can't get enough of it. I'd recommend you definitely check it out, and check out the band if they come to town. I know the album can be a bit tough to get through the first few times, but stick with it, it's excellent!

The setlist:

1- Wordless Chorus
2- It Beats for You
3- One Big Holiday
4- What a Wonderful Man
5- Off the Record
6- Golden
7- Sooner
8- Gideon
9- Lay Low
10- Dondante
11- Runthru
-encore-
12- Bermuda Highway
13- At Dawn
14- Anytime
15- Mahgeeta

to do #263: see My Morning Jacket

Koi

Hey everyone! I hope that you're still sticking with me- I've been a terrible blogger lately. My brother came for a visit last Wednesday and is still here, then we had the big Thanksgiving bash yesterday which was fantastic, so there hasn't been much free time to write or to read your blogs. I have lots to catch you up on, but for now I just wanted to drop you a line and let you know I'm still alive. Above is a picture from the local Japanese garden we visited today. The koi were gorgeous!

to do #139: feed the local koi

Amores Perros

I realized something disturbing tonight. I watched the film Amores Perros with some friends. I was the only one who hadn't seen it, but they all loved it enough to see it again. I'd heard it was an excellent movie, and I liked 21 Grams, so I was sure I'd like it too. I can honestly tell you if it weren't for being with my friends tonight, I may have turned off Amores Perros after the first fifteen minutes because I was so disturbed by the violence and gore. I never thought I'd say that about a movie. Not that I love violent films, but violence in films has never bothered me. Not until tonight. And the reason I was bothered by the violence bothers me even more than the violence itself.

One of the storylines in Amores Perros involves dog fighting. The dogs are vicious and often end up getting killed in the fights. Now, I'm not an uber-animal lover. I love my dog, and I pretty much like other people's dogs, but that's about as far as I go. But watching dogs fight and kill each other was way too much for me. I had to turn my head and really wasn't sure that I could handle it. But I soldiered on for my friends. (I'm glad I did, the film is excellent!) After the movie it dawned on me that I've seen people in films and TV doing the same and worse, but it rarely causes a reaction in me anymore. To say we are desensitized to violence from our exposure to it on film and TV is an understatement. Very disturbing.

to do #178: see Amores Perros

Earworms

Today is Earworm Friday over at SwissToni's Place, and yours truly is the guest editor this week! I hope you'll pay me a visit, and stick around his place- he's got a brilliant blog over there.

Referrals

Sometimes I think of looking at the referring pages to my blog, and when I do I'm almost always cracked up. Today someone searched the words science fair todo with animals hearing on MSN search, and my blog was the number one search result. Seriously! Check here. I wish I could have offered some help on a science fair to do with animal's hearing, but alas, I have no advice to give on that subject matter.

to do #299: find the oddest referral to my blog

Traffic School

You may recall a few weeks ago I was up against a deadline on traffic school, and decided to go to a concert instead. Lucky for me, the court took pity and gave me an extension. Not wanting to get myself in the same predicament, I buckled down and spent the better part of the afternoon and evening doing online traffic school. The price I paid for speeding is that I've wasted a perfectly nice Sunday evening, and that I am utterly exhausted. Traffic school is boring as hell but with online traffic school you actually have to pay attention because the quizzes can be pretty tough! I'm a fast reader, and it's taken me approximately four hours to complete six sections. I still have four sections to go. Ugh. It has been entertaining though. I started to really like online traffic school in section three where it got very zen-like, saying things like:

Focus on where your power is. Your power lies in your ability to control what you do, not what others do. So, instead, concentrate on being removed from the outside world and move into the inside world of peace and tranquility. Stay in the "eye of the storm." When the hurricane is blowing at its fiercest, the inside center of the storm is calm and serene. Don't go outside, where you have no control. Stay inside in the "eye of the storm," where you have control. Stay in your "center."


It even amused me at times with things like:

Drivers who focus only on the bumper in front of them join the "Stupid Club." The Stupid Club gathers members who do dumb things and have crashes.

And of course there were many 'helpful' suggestions like:

If you tend to be oblivious when driving, one good suggestion is to place an easily seen note on your visor that says, "Am I paying attention?"

Alas, it is still boring and I'm only 60% of the way through. I'm too tired to continue tonight, and the thought of more traffic school tomorrow has me so excited I can hardly wait to go to bed. The lesson in this? Don't break the law. As I learned tonight, the average person breaks 400 traffic laws before they get caught. I suppose after 14 years of driving my number was up.

to do #307: attend online traffic school

UPDATE: I passed my final exam with a 100% score! What can I say, I'm a perfectionist, even in traffic school.

My Music History: The Early Years

Thanks for sticking with me through my blogging drought; I just haven't felt like writing much lately, hence the lazy personality test posts and the extended absence this week. However, in the absence of posting I have been spending a lot of time thinking. It all started with trying to compile a list of the top five shows I'd been to. I like making these sort of mental lists: my top five albums of all time, top five songs of all time, favorite albums of the current year, etc. So as I thought of my top five shows, I began to take a trip down memory lane. I have a pretty good ticket collection from the shows I've been to, so I pulled them out to help me reminisce. All this led me to thinking about how it'd all begun--my earliest music memories. I was surprised at how well I remembered these mundane moments of my past, their common thread being music. So I thought I'd share a few of them with you...

Some of my earliest music memories are of riding in the car on Sunday mornings listening to Casey Kasem's Weekly Top 40 on the way to and from church. I believe this began around the tender age of seven, on through about ten or eleven (about the time we stopped going to church!). I don't think I've listened to the show since then, but I can still remember that intro: The weeeeekly top fortyyyyyyy. I also knew at that early age the long distance dedications were cheesy as hell- just play the music!! We'd catch the top of the countdown on the way to church and we'd be out just in time for the good stuff on the way home. I'd usually catch the end of the countdown in my bedroom on my shiny silver boombox, and can remember dashing around the house to find a blank tape in order to record one of my favorite songs of the time- Van Halen's Jump when it hit number one. I recall sitting there wondering, will it be number one, please oh please I hope so!! (A little googling just revealed it was a top 40 #1 in 1984, which would've put me at 8!) I also remember that after I successfully recorded Jump, I listened to it over and over again. To make the rewinding easier, I put a little ink mark on my tape on the exact spot the recording started. (OH MY GOSH, you won't believe it: I pulled out my tape collection in order to take the picture for this post, and what's on top but the aforementioned Jump tape. I kid you not. Check it out here. I can't believe I kept that tape all these years...)

My giant silver boombox...I believe I got this one year for Christmas (around the same time as Casey Kasem's Top 40) and I thought I was the absolute shit with it. I was awesome. I rocked out. No one could touch me. I remember making my younger brother and sister and some of our friends choose songs from amongst my tape collection (Michael Jackson Thriller, Lionel Richie Can't Slow Down, Huey Lewis & the News Sports, Cyndi Lauper She's So Unusual, Prince Purple Rain, Madonna Madonna are among some of the ones I can remember) that they (or I) liked, and then memorizing them, while I choreographed a dance performance for them to go along with the song. I'd extend the antennae from the boombox to use as a microphone, and we'd perform the songs. I have some spotty memories of being very bossy when it came to these performances, but I'm sure it was all in the name of accuracy!

Around the same time I was also obsessed with all things Michael Jackson. I had Thriller and remember how thrilled I was to see the video on MTV for the first time. I vaguely recall being a little scared of the zombies, but also just being so enraptured with the story set to a song I loved. I, of course, also had a pair of black parachute pants I got for Christmas one year, and a white t-shirt with black short sleeves and red glitter on it that somehow went with the parachute pants and completed the Michael Jackson ensem. I was smokin' hot, let me assure you, and there are pictures to prove it (and if I have anything to do with it, none of you will ever EVER see these pictures!!).

It was also around this time that McDonald's (yes the fast food chain) came out with a series of oldie's tapes. I begged and begged my parent's to buy them, and once they did we'd listen to them in the car on roadtrips. As I recall, they were great 50's and 60's tunes; two songs I distinctly remember are Dell Shannon's Runaway and the Chordettes Lollipop. What kid wouldn't love to sing along to those songs?!?

It wasn't till 1986 that I was first exposed to 'cool' music, that I'd still consider fairly cool today- The Beastie Boys. I was fourth grade, and remember the boy that sat next me, Chris Martin (no, not that one), singing Brass Monkey.
Brass monkey, that funky monkey,
brass monkey junkie, that funky monkey
I can only figure he had a cooler older brother because I don't think any fourth grader would have come across the Beastie's on their own, but I thought it was cool (probably because I thought Chris Martin was cool!). He made me a copy of the tape, I listened to it all the time, and then we'd sing the songs during class. Luckily I was an ace student, so I never got in trouble for these little singing sessions.

Well this pretty much takes you through my elementary years, and is probably enough for one night. I have lots more to share, so stay tuned. In the meantime, I'd love to hear some of your earliest music memories, no matter how embarrassing. I think I've shared enough embarrassing music information for years and years of comic fodder.

to do#183: take a stroll down music memory lane

FYI, Windex Doesn't Kill Scorpions

But, the bottom of a shoe works very well-- this is the unfortunate lesson I learned tonight. Since I had an earlier bug *ahem, arthropod* post, I thought I'd share this information with you all, lest you be home alone late on a Monday night with a scorpion on your balcony and a bottle of Windex in one hand and a shoe in the other. I've just saved you the trouble of cleaning up a half-bottle puddle of Windex, and from dashing around your home like a mad-woman (or man) looking for a more lethal weapon.

I must at this time also give mad props to my scorpion-hunting canine pal for spotting the danger in the dark from the opposite side of the closed screen door, and then whining incessantly until I let her out onto the balcony, only to run directly back into the house sneezing and shaking her head from side to side. It only took me two or three times of this before I got the message and went out to investigate. What can I say, I'm a bit slow. But, you readers will surely not make the same mistake now that you've been armed with my advice. And, you are more than welcome to the services of my scorpion-hunter; she's also quite good at hunting crumbs, clean laundry and used kleenex.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, those white-ish spots you see on the bottom of my shoe are in fact the remnants of the said, and now pulverized, scorpion.

to do #217: how not to kill a scorpion

I am also...

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I figured while I was at it, I may as well see which famous leader I am too. As you can imagine, I was both shocked and honored to be Mother Teresa. I mean, I'm a nice person and all, but Mother Teresa?!

And last night, Mother Teresa was lucky enough to host two Bill Clintons and Saddam Hussein at her house for dinner. Yep, that's right, Saddam Hussein. I can tell you, it's all fun and games until someone is Saddam Hussein! Who knew Mother Teresa and Saddam Hussein could be such great friends? Now I'm dying to find out who my other famous friends are. Don't be shy, take the test and leave a comment. Hey, how can you say no to Mother Teresa?

to do #374: find out which famous leader I am

I am...

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I don't usually do tests like these, but I came across this one on another blog, and being a movie fan, I had to find out which classic movie I am. So, Easy Rider? Cool. Which classic movie are you?

to do #373: find out which classic movie I am

Pro: Skies

As I contemplate my impending move away from Arizona, I have been keeping a little running tally of pros and cons, to make sure I'm making the right decision. So far there haven't been many ticks in the pro column for Arizona, but I do have to admit to one I've noticed outside my sliding glass door the past three days as I've sat at my desk working: the skies. Arizona seems to have some of the most beautiful skies. Is that enough to keep me here? No. But it's something to appreciate whilst I bide my time.

to do #49: find a pro for living in Arizona

Traffic School or Iron & Wine?

This is the conundrum I was presented with when I contemplated how to spend my Sunday evening. If you recall, a few weeks ago on the way back from Vegas to see Oasis I was issued a traffic ticket for speeding. Said traffic ticket needs to be taken care of with online traffic school before October 19th. As is my typical fashion, I planned on doing it all weekend but put it off till Sunday night. That is, until a friend called to say he had a couple tickets to the Iron & Wine show he wasn't going to be able to use, and would I be interested? It took me all of a few moments to contemplate: Traffic School or Iron & Wine? Those of you that know me know that traffic school had no chance. And so it came to pass I went to see Calexico and Iron & Wine tonight, and put off traffic school another day.

Earlier in the week I had contemplated getting tickets for the Iron & Wine show because I was going through a bit of live-music withdrawal. It had been ten (*gasp*) days since the BRMC show, and I was dying for another music fix. But the pragmatic side of me won out, and I decided to skip the show. Afterall, I'm not a massive fan, nor very familiar with his music, though I was sure it would be a good show. Never one to happily capitalize on the misfortunes of others, I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy I didn't buy a ticket and that my friends who did were now unable to go. As they say, one man's misfortune is another man's fortune. Do they actually say that? No, I don't think that they do. Anyhow...

Oh, and before I give you a show review, let me just tell you something I realized tonight- I have no concept of what music is popular in Phoenix/America right now. I didn't think Iron & Wine was very well-known, and thus assumed the show would be pretty empty, especially on a Sunday night- wrong. The place was packed, probably around 700 people! This isn't the first time I've grossly under/over-estimated the turnout for a show. Kings of Leon come to mind: a friend and I gave our two extra (free!) tickets to the ticket-taker at the door because we couldn't find anyone to give them to, and there ended up only being around 100 people at the show. And Wilco, I waited until a week before the show to buy my ticket because I was certain there wouldn't be many people there, and the show had already sold out. Clearly my finger is nowhere near the pulse of the music listeners here. I know what I like, and I figure everyone else should like them too.

So, tonight at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, Calexico was the opener for Iron & Wine. I was somewhat familiar with the band, but had never seen them, nor do I own any of their music. They're a semi-local band, from Tucson, and have a couple core members and lots of guest musicians. They were incredible, and I wouldn't hesitate to see them again. Their music straddles so many genres, going from an indie rock sound to a highly Mexican influenced sound complete with trumpets to an alt-country sound with lap steel guitar. Their collective of musicians were amazing and the resulting sound was so unexpected and beautiful. Which is probably why Iron & Wine recruited them to be his opener and his backing band. They played the initial set of 8 or 9 songs from 8:45 until around 9:30. Iron & Wine then came out around 9:45 and played the first couple songs on acoustic guitar with a female back-up singer. For the rest of the set, the guys from Calexico were the backing band, with as many as 12 people on the stage at once. The resulting sound was deep and layered and gorgeous. There were two or three percussionists, a harmonica, a lap steel guitar, a bass, two or three guitarists, two trumpets, a xylophone, and those are just the instruments I can remember.

My main issue with Iron & Wine, and the reason I never really gave the cd's I have much play time, is that the songs tend to all sound the same after a while. An acoustic guitar and him singing. You can only take so much before you want a little variety. Because of this sparseness, I wasn't sure what to expect tonight. But performing alongside the members of Calexico was such a wonderful surprise. The result of their collaboration is an indie jam band. With so many musicians and such a variety of instruments, the songs often extended into long instrumental jams punctuated every now and then with singing from Iron & Wine. Jams aren't usually my style because I find them to be self-gratifying and boring, but I was never bored tonight. It may have been the lap steel or the trumpets or the harmonica but I was always captivated and excited about the music. The hour and a half passed quickly, and I was sorry when it was over, as I always am. Luckily for you, Iron & Wine and Calexico have recorded an EP together that was just released, so you can hear their collaboration too. Enjoy!

to do #237: see Calexico and Iron & Wine

Emissions

Today I did the equivalent of rolling down my car window and tossing into the wind a twenty, a fiver, two ones, and 3 quarters. Yep, I gave the state of Arizona $27.75 to tell me my 2000 Honda Passport passed its emissions test. Now I'm not so insulated I don't realize many states require vehicles to be inspected and pass emissions every year, but the thing that annoys me is that this was totally random. Arizona doesn't require vehicles, especially newer ones, to pass emissions each year, and in the nine and a half years I've lived here, I've only taken one car to be inspected once. The car was an old dilapidated piece of shit, so I can perfectly understand why it would need to prove itself worthy to be driven on the streets of this fair city. But a five year old car? In the grand scheme of things, $27.75 isn't a lot of money, but considering the price you pay for the privilege of registering your vehicle, why should you need to pay extra for an emissions test? It should just be factored in!

Ranting aside, the actual test was quick and painless and mildly entertaining. The state has gathered together an odd band of characters to work at the location I visited today. As I pulled in I was met with four possible docks to pull my car into. I chose the one with the most people standing near it, and as I got closer a lady began directing me into the dock. I was concentrating very intently on her hand motions because I hate pulling into these sorts of places where you have to align your wheels correctly and stop them at a certain point, lest I'm unable to follow their vague and lazy hand gestures or unable to correctly eyeball the positioning and then I look like a completely inept vehicle operator. I'm not sure if I've actually failed to do this correctly once and it's scarred me for life, but every time I pull into a car wash or an oil change or a car garage, the same can-I-align-the-wheels-correctly-and-stop-in-the- correct-spot paranoia hits me.

So while I'm concentrating on this woman, a portly fellow rests his arms on my car window ledge and greets me, which scares the hell out of me. Don't know how I didn't see him coming, but I didn't. He informs me I have the option of sitting in the passenger seat or in a booth for the duration of the inspection. I chose the booth because it seems weird and cool. I get into the booth, after some confusion on how exactly to get into the booth, and another fellow comes by to point to a sign in the booth and whispers to me that it will cost $27.75 in either cash or check. The whispering really threw me for a loop- it wasn't loud, so why whisper?? I retrieved my checkbook from my bag, and I must have looked at the sign a second too long, because the hand gesture woman came by to explain the payment options again. (It's suddenly becoming clear why I had to pay the $27.75--there are too many people working at this location and they all need to be paid!) No sooner did I have the check written, than they motioned for me to come back out.

I got into my car and was told to pull it forward to the next computer. There I was met by a middle-aged middle-eastern man. I handed him my check and he asked for my driver's license. 'My what?' I asked, because he was mumbling. 'Your drivers license.' 'Oh, okay', I said, and fished it out of my wallet. He fussed around in his computer and then came back to my window, unlocked and opened my door, looked around, shut the door, and then asked for my drivers license again. 'I gave it to you', I said. 'No, I need your driver's license', he said. 'That is my driver's license', I said, puzzled. 'Oh, I know', he said chuckling, 'I was just kidding'. Haha, I fake-laughed. What sort of a joke is that?! He fussed around on the computer again and then came back with a piece of paper. 'Well', he said, 'I'm sorry to say...' (pause for dramatic effect, okay that would have been kinda funny)...(pregnant pause, which is not so funny anymore)...(he's been pausing so long that now I'm actually getting annoyed and ignoring him)...'Your car passed inspection' he said and chuckled again. This guy has got the worst sense of humor, I thought, and peeled the hell out of there. Certainly not the worst experience in the world, but definitely a waste of $27.75.

to do #246: have my car emissions tested

Invites

The highly sought after and much coveted invitations for my pre-Thanksgiving bash went out today. In a few short days you will discover if you've made 'the list'. If you haven't, well, there's always next year. Hope to see you there!

to do#307: send out Thanksgiving invites

Consulting the Oracle

Today I sat down with a very wise and omniscient source for answers to all of life's burning questions. I was a bit nervous to receive the truth, but my iPod was gentle and kind and put me right at ease. Yep, my iPod. I read about the idea over at SwissToni's Place and was instantly intrigued. As you might expect, the answers were part insightful and part hilarious.

For your own answers, put your iPod on shuffle and ask away, but be prepared for the gems you'll receive. For those of you without an iPod (*gasp*, you say you're cool enough to be my friend?!), I'm thinking of opening a storefront and charging 5 bucks a pop for this valuable insight, so stay tuned...


1. What do you think of me?

Hallelujah- Ryan Adams

If I could have a simple love
How would it feel
And what would it mean
I'd only trade you away
For Mary Magdalene

Aw, you're so sweet iPod! I wouldn't trade you away for anyone less than Jesus himself.

2. Will I have a happy life?

Rock and Roll- Spiritualized

Rock and Roll
Keep playing for me
It's easy to see
That I love you
Love you

Yes, it's true, I do love my rock 'n roll. So if I stick with it I'll have a happy life? Okay by me.

3. What do my friends really think of me?

The Electric Version- New Pornographers

The sound of God is the screech of tires
Lights and magnets
Bolts and wires
Strayed from the road
This very one

Hmm, it sounds like my friends think that I'm a bit crazy. Or that I'm an electrician. But I'm not. They don't know me at all!

4. What does my significant other think of me?

Strung Out Again- Elliott Smith

Standing, smiling from fantasy island
Moving with my lost reflection of me
The tide's coming in
And I'm strung out again
Strung out again

This confirms a suspicion I've had for a while, my dog clearly misunderstands me. I'm not on drugs, this is my personality! Maybe we need counseling...

5. Do people secretly lust after me?

Wild & Lethal- Paul Westerberg

Just like a common thief
I'll get you everything you ever need
But by the evening, you're gonna want some relief
Cause I'm wild & lethal

I think that's a resounding YES. Wild & lethal, what more could you ask for?


6. How can I make myself happy?

Me and the Major- Belle & Sebastian

I think the Major's going quite insane, he goes
Along the pavement and comes back again, oh yeah
I think the Major's going quite insane, he goes
Along the pavement and comes back again
Like he is on parade, and he is on parade
At least he thinks so

Okay, I'm sensing I wouldn't be happy if I joined the Army. You're getting a bit cryptic, iPod.

7. What should I do with my life?

What Did I Ever Give You?- Kaiser Chiefs

Disgraced, back to my place
I'm a complete waste of your time
I'm asleep before the first sheep
Until the last bleep of all time

Hmm, I'd say my future isn't looking too promising. Maybe joining the Army isn't such a bad idea afterall.

8. Why must life be so full of pain?

Lullaby- Pedro the Lion

Rest in me, little David and dry all your tears
You can lay down your armor and have no fear
Cause I'm always here when you're tired of running
And I'm all the strength that you need

Well the iPod just got all religious on me. Interesting that it turned to religion to answer this question, just like so many people do when they go through pain. Maybe there's something to religion afterall- if the iPod says so, it must be true.

9. What advice can you give me?

In the Backseat- Arcade Fire

I like the peace
In the backseat
I don't have to drive
I don't have to speak
I can watch the countryside
And I can fall asleep

So you're saying I should let others drive and sit in the backseat? That's invaluable. Thanks!

10. What do you think true happiness is?

Monkey Heart and the Horses' Leg- Preston School of Industry

Every change is good here
Change is good for us
Well that's the way it goes, I guess
Well that's the way it goes , I guess
Was it the monkey heart, fueled by the monkey brain
or the horses' leg
that left you so insane
I'm not satisfied
No, I'm not satisfied

True happiness is change? Or monkey hearts? Or monkey brains? Or horses' legs? Oh iPod, I'm so confused. I'm not satisfied with your answer. No, I'm not satisfied.

11. Will I die happy?

Within You Without You- The Beatles

We were talking about the space between us all
And the people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion
Never glimpse the truth then it's far too late when they pass away

We were talking about the love we all could share
When we find it to try our best to hold it there
With our love
With our love we could save the world
If they only knew

Try to realize it's all within yourself no one else can make you change
And to see you're only really very small and life flows on within you and without you

We were talking about the love that's gone so cold
And the people who gain the world and lose their soul
They don't know, they can't see, are you one of them?

When you've seen beyond yourself then you may find peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we're all one
And life flows on within you and without you

For all the goofy answers you've given me, iPod, this one was worth the wait. I couldn't agree with you more, following Eastern philosophy is probably a pretty good way to ensure you'll die happy. Thanks George Harrison, and thanks iPod!!

to do #119: have my fortune told (by an iPod).

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Tonight I went to a great show at The Clubhouse in Tempe: Mark Gardener opening for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. I'd never heard of Mark Gardener before, but apparently he was the frontman for a band called Ride, which I'd also never heard of. I googled Mark Gardener earlier in the day to see what I might expect, and started reading up on him and his history. It appears that in the early 90's I must have been living under a rock to not be familiar with Ride and their shoegazing style. Actually, I should give myself a little credit, I wasn't living under a rock in the early 90's, I was just beginning to come into my own as far as music goes. I was catching up on the old stuff via my dad's record collection with bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and Peter Paul & Mary. And I was also sorting out what current music I liked by dabbling in R.E.M., The Cure, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Violent Femmes, Nirvana, The Dead Milkmen, and many more. Nevertheless, it seems like by now I should have heard of Ride, or at least shoegazing, although, now that I have, it makes a lot of sense why BRMC would choose Gardener as their opener- their sound, especially their early sound, was heavily influenced by shoegazing (Shoegazing is characterized by the use of distortion and the fuzzbox, droning riffs and a Phil Spector-esque wall of sound from the noisy guitars. Vocals are typically subdued in volume and tone, but underneath the layers of guitars was often a strong sense of melody.). I don't think you could more perfectly describe the backbone of BRMC than with that sentence. Anyhow, I'm off on a tangent...

Mark Gardener was decent enough. He reminded me of an older Robbie Williams in looks, which kept cracking me up, I'm not sure why. His band consisted of him on guitar & vocals, a keyboardist/back up vocalist and another guitarist/back up vocalist. They played about seven or eight songs, all of which were acoustic and all of which all three of them sang on. They were good songs, but nothing really stood out. Actually, there was one thing that stood out, which is that I think the sound mix was screwed up. The vocals were entirely too loud, especially the keyboardist, and especially since all three of them were singing at the same time. Otherwise, it was a good set. I'm not sure that I'll run out and buy the new album, but I may check it out when I have a chance.

BRMC took the stage around 9:30 to a crowd of maybe two hundred people. The set started with just Peter on the stage with guitar and harmonica. He played three of the more acoustic songs from the new album and the band joined him at the end of the third. This was my second time seeing BRMC, the first time being back in 2002 when they opened for Spiritualized. At that time I was a fan of their music but didn't know anything about the band. I left the show absolutely blown away by their sound, and by the fact that three guys created it. Their songs were so intense and were literally a wall of sound. It was amazing. After hearing the latest album, Howl, I wasn't sure what to expect when seeing them live because their sound had changed so much. Again I left in amazement, this time for two reasons: 1, at how much they've evolved and 2, at how much each song is a cooperative effort between Peter and Robert. They both sing, they both play guitar and they both play bass, and often all on the same song. It's amazing to watch these sounds recreated live because you really have no idea what goes into each of them.

I had a great spot up near the stage in front of Peter, so it was cool to see what an amazing guitarist he is (not that I know much about playing guitar!). He switched guitars on almost every song and was doing all sorts of stuff with the various pedals and the sound board at his feet. He also played harmonica on several songs, bass on As Sure as the Sun, keyboards on a few songs, trombone on Promise and a strange accordian/organ instrument on Open Invitation. Most of the time Robert played bass, but he played guitar on several of the songs as well as piano. He's such a cool bass player because he plays the bass almost like a guitar. His fingers are all over the place and he picks the bass instead of thumping it, like a lot of bassist do. Their songs can be so bass-heavy, so it's really cool to watch him play. Their drummer, Nigel, is pretty average as far as drummers go, but he works really well with them.

I was impressed with the new sound and how well it translated live. I was also pleased with how well the old songs blended with the new. Whereas old BRMC was a loud, brash, in-your- face sound, the new BRMC was more diversified. There were still plenty of loud guitars and heavy basslines, but there was also an element of soul in the acoustic guitars and harmonica and vocal melodies. The most noticeable album divergences were an acoustic rendition of US Government and an electrified Sympathetic Noose. Overall this was a great show with a really good setlist...

The Setlist:
1- Complicated Situation
2- Fault Line
3- Devil's Waitin'
4- Shuffle Your Feet
5- Ain't No Easy Way
6- Weight of the World
7- Love Burns
8- White Palms
9- Punk Song
10- As Sure as the Sun
11- Rise or Fall
12- Howl
13- Still Suspicion Holds You Tight
14- US Government
15- Sympathetic Noose
16- Promise
-Encore-
17- Spread Your Love
18- Stop
19- Gospel Song
20- The Line
21- Open Invitation

to do #314: See Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

UPDATE: I love interconnectedness in life. I was just reminded by a friend that I have, in fact, heard of Ride because Andy Bell (the bass player for Oasis) was a member of Ride. Duh! That explains why Mark Gardener, when he saw a guy in an Oasis shirt, dedicated a song to Andy Bell. This feels vaguely like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, except with Oasis. All music can be related to Oasis within six degrees. Try it! I dare ya.

House

I love the show House, which is broadcast Tuesday nights on Fox. For a person that doesn't log much time in front of the television, I try not to miss an episode (though strangely I've missed the last few weeks for one reason or another). I happened to catch it once last year mid-season, and have been hooked ever since. I've also recommended the show to family and friends who've all found themselves instantly hooked as well.

The best way I've found to describe this show is that it's a medical mystery: part CSI and part ER. Each new episode focuses on some odd malady that other doctors, thus far, have been unable to explain. The lead character, Gregory House, is a brilliant doctor with a keen ability to suss out the root cause of the illness over the course of an episode. He uses mostly unconventional, and sometimes borderline unethical, methods, making him simultaneously well-respected and loathed among his patients and peers. On his team are three fairly young doctors who bring their own specialties, personalities and opinions of House. The characters on the show are interesting and well-developed, and the actors do an excellent job, especially Hugh Laurie who plays House.

So, this is all great information if I were doing a pitch commercial for the show, but where I am going with this, you may be asking yourself. Here's the thing: invariably whilst or shortly after watching House, the self-diagnosing wheels in my brain start turning and suddenly I begin wondering if I too may have the mystery malady featured on the latest episode. This is crazy, I know, and I'm not a hypochondriac, really, but the illnesses on the show and their various symptoms are just vague enough to make you want to connect some imaginary dots. An odd ache or pain, a weird headache, a moment of dizziness or fatigue or nausea or upset stomach all suddenly become possible symptoms and cause for concern. And actually, I have no idea if the conditions on the show are even based in fact--maybe my MD friend can help with this? Oh, who am I kidding; she's too busy saving real lives to be watching this silly show or reading this silly blog!

Since I've never lost (much) sleep or plan on discontinuing watching the show, I've just come to accept this ridiculous temporary hypochondria as the side-effect of a great TV show. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) tonight the baseball finals disrupted the scheduled episode of House, so I narrowly escaped crossing #317 off my list: diagnose myself with disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (I found this on the House site! hehe), or some equally bizarre illness.

Firefox

Tonight I decided to switch my internet browser from Safari to Firefox. I'd been wanting to try out Firefox for a while but, as you recall, I had been staying away from downloading anything while I was in my hard-drive-space-crunch. Now that I've got all the space in the world, I've been fixing up my little iBook G4 like crazy. Okay, maybe not like crazy, but I have done a few things.

I was perfectly happy with Safari and think that it's a great browser. My motivation for switching to Firefox is mostly for you people-- you see, Blogger is more fully supported on Firefox than it is on Safari. Which, leads us to this post: it's really just a test post to see how much my functionality has improved, and improved it has! I can now use bold and italics at will, I can do bold italics if I choose. I can create links with the touch of a button. I can even change the color of my text. Oh yes, the days of trying to remember html code in order to do these things are long behind me. I am a happy girl. Now if only I could get my bookmarks to import, I'd really be a happy girl...

Okay, apologies for this boring and pointless post, like I said, I just wanted to try things out. More to come soon, but I'm still crossing off #275: switch to Firefox.

Hard to Beat

You know how when someone has an annoying song stuck in their head they feel like it's their mission in life to get it stuck in everyone else's head too? Even just a mention of the song title instantly lodges the tune into your psyche, and it takes something of a miracle to extricate it. Along the way, though, you also feel compelled to pass along the now-stuck song to as many people as you can. The bad news is that I am about to do this to you, dear readers. The good news is that the song isn't annoying. Quite the opposite, actually.

Now before you get your hopes up, let me assure you this is not the next Stairway to Heaven or Hey Jude or Sympathy for the Devil. It is, however, a perfectly crafted and infectious-as-hell pop song. The band may ride the top of the charts (in England of course, not in the US) with this catchy tune and never be heard from again. It's okay though, because in the meantime we have this addictive tune that sinks its beat infested hooks into your brain and doesn't let go. It compels you to dance and sing along and put it on infinite repeat until you've committed every word and every beat and every note to memory and you're able replay them in your sleep.

Without further ado, here's Hard-Fi's Hard to Beat. Proceed with caution, and don't say I didn't warn you. My mission is complete; I can cross #219 off my list: infect as many people as I can with a ridiculously catchy tune.

NOTE: The link above will expire in seven days, so don't delay. If you do, you will regret it for the rest of your life. Or at least until you ask me to e-mail it to you instead.

The Frames, minus Josh Ritter

I'm writing to you a little disappointed tonight, because I was supposed to see Josh Ritter open for The Frames at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix, but alas, there was no Josh Ritter. Instead there was a guy named Andrew Lloyd Swordfish. I have no idea if that's his real name, but if it is I'd be fucking amazed. He was entertaining enough, and played a relatively short set of quirky ditties, alternating between him on guitar and him on keyboards. He was goof-rock at it's local musician best, with a tune about a trashman killing himself, another proclaiming he doesn't want Michael J. Fox to die, and another beseeching the president to raise the minimum wage. The crowd enjoyed him, as did I, but he was no Josh Ritter.

The Frames took the stage around 9pm to a crowd of about eighty people. They seemed happy with the turnout and commented, 'We're The Frames, we're from Ireland, we didn't know if anyone would show up tonight'. I'm not too familiar with the band, having only one of their cd's Set List, which is a live recording of a show they did in their native Dublin in November 2002. I enjoyed several of the tracks, but never gave it much play time in my ever-changing rotation of music. That was my first mistake- this is a great band that deserves more than just a casual listen.

They are five musicians that clearly love what they are doing and their enthusiasm translates into really beautiful music that at times is soft and melodic and swooning with soft whispery vocals, and at other times heavy and loud with plenty of guitar reverb amid wailing vocals. They truly run the gamut, and they have the formula perfectly mastered. In unison they will bring songs to a halting quiet and then quickly raise the tempo to twice what it had been. It's a pretty amazing sight to see out of a band that's been around so long, their fury seems more teenage garage band than seasoned rock band. Their influences, or comparisons to their sound are hard to pinpoint, but they are obviously influenced by traditional Irish folk music, especially with a violin player as a full-time member of the band. Their sound hugely benefits from the violin, which gives the songs a soaring quality. Ah, as you can see, I can't say enough about The Frames. I'll definitely be checking out their catalog of music, and I recommend you do the same, or better, check them out if they come to your town. I did just that, which means I can cross #194 off my list: go see The Frames.

**Two songs into the set I decided to try and keep track of the setlist, as per my habit, though I wasn't very familiar with their songs, so it will take me a while to sort out the song titles, but I'll post an update when I do...

The Setlist:
1- ?
2- ?
3- Lay Me Down
4- What Happens When the Heart Just Stops
5- God Bless Mom
6- Pavement Tune
7- Fake
8- Your Face
9- Revelate
10- Star Star
11- Santa Maria
12- Red Chord

Maps

Nope, this isn't a post about the Yeah Yeah Yeah's song by the same name, it's a post about my cool new map! Though I suppose the lyrics could be relevant:

Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Wait, they don't love you like I love you
Ma-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aps

Does everyone love gigantic maps? No. Do I? Yes! Okay, that was a bit of a stretch, but every time I look at the title 'Maps', I think of the song. Anyhow...

I decided to disregard my previous advice and visit my new favorite Goodwill store a few weeks after my last visit. As was expected, my friend and I had cleaned out their stash of cool stuff in our last visit and they had yet to replenish it. I was breezing through the aisles when I noticed an art section against the back wall that I hadn't seen in my previous visit. Closer inspection revealed countless pieces of bad art destined for their resting place on the Goodwill shelves from their very conception. I was about to leave the aisle as quickly as I'd entered when two large rolls of paper caught my eye. Could it be? No, no way could these be old school maps. Or, could they?? Indeed, they were! I was giddy. I could barely contain my excitement.

I began to unroll the first and revealed a gorgeous wash of faded turquoise and aged cream. I was in heaven. I unrolled the entire map and found just one small tear, no big deal. I had even higher hopes for the second, but found instead a garish mix of map pinks and yellows and pale greens. Yuck. And there was a sizable tear along the bottom dowel. Though I didn't know when I'd run across another find like this, I decided to pass on the second map. The aesthetic just wasn't right for me. But the first, I wasn't going to let that baby out of my sight! I carried it around the store as I made my final inspection, receiving lots of odd glances and nearly decapitating several people, and then I headed to the check out. I dare you all to guess what I paid for the map. Go ahead, guess. Did you guess $3.99? If you did, you're correct!!! Can you believe it?!? I couldn't even use my cheapskate 20% off coupon because I hadn't spent the requisite $10.

I hurried home, plotting the whole way on where I might hang this gigantic find. I finally settled on the most logical wall in my apartment, and after taking some measurements and making some calculations, I hung it here. I think you'll all agree it looks pretty damn cool. And if you don't, then I suppose you are the one they were singing about. You really don't love maps like I do, do you? With another successful Goodwill trip and a gigantic map of L.A. and Orange County, I'll cross #74 off my list: start a map collection.

The Seagate

A few months back I started receiving a strange error message on my laptop. It seemed to occur most often when I was in Safari browsing the net. It was something about my start-up disk being nearly full. I had no idea what the start-up disk was, and thought maybe it was just one of those strange spyware pop-ups. It continued to appear on my screen without any predictable frequency. I trouble-shooted (is that a word?!) the problem as best I could: I searched my computer for a start-up disk, I browsed the Mac help topics for any mention of start-up disk, I pulled out my user manual and did the same, but all to no avail. I finally wrote down the message verbatim and called the Mac helpline. I repeated the message I had been receiving and explained when I found it most often occurred. Oh, he said, you're almost out of space on your computer, that's what the message means. IMPOSSIBLE, I said, I've had the computer for less than a year! Lets check, he said, and check we did, and wouldn't you know, he was right. I was dangerously low on hard drive space, with just a few hundred available megs.

Even after checking a half dozen times, I was in denial. No way could I have filled up my laptop in less than a year. It had to be a mistake. I checked and checked again. I recruited a friend to check with me. It was official, I was out of space. The culprit? Music. Copious amounts of music. But I wasn't about to part with even a single track of my hallowed music. I scoured my files for music I had back-up copies of and deleted those files off my hard drive. I deleted all the music videos I had downloaded and anything else I could part with. I freed up about a gig of space and then spent the last couple months frighteningly aware of the little amount of space left on my computer. I refused to upgrade to newer versions of applications lest they require any of the precious space. I resisted the urge to download any new music and tried to content myself with the 13 gigs of music I already had. But I started to grow weary of my self-imposed discipline. And so it came to pass that I finally broke down this weekend and bought The Seagate.

The Seagate is my new external hard drive and boasts an impressive 300GB of storage capacity. That's equivalent to 5,000 hours worth of music or just over 208 days. Holy shit, that's a lot of music! I have no current need for such a ridiculously large hard drive, but I'm a gal that loves a good deal. I was looking to spend no more that $150. The Seagate, normally $279, was on sale for $199 with a $50 mail in rebate. Voila, $150!!

I surprised myself by navigating through the set-up with relative ease, reformatting the FAT32 file format to a more Mac readable format ( I have no idea what this actually means, but I did it anyway!), moving my music files to the drive, and then setting up iTunes to look to the external drive for my music files. I even set-up Limewire to save to the new drive. I'm feeling geekier by the moment!

So you may wonder then why I still received that start-up disk message this afternoon. The short answer, I'm paranoid. My relationship with The Seagate feels like it's moving too fast. I've hardly acquainted myself with him, how can I entrust him to house and protect my treasured collection of music?! I know; I need to just get over myself and delete the music files on my hard drive before I crash my computer. I'm sure I'll be going all the way in a few short days, much to the happiness of my hard drive, but for now I can cross #172 off my list: buy an external hard drive with massive amounts of storage capacity.

Corn & Pasta

Corn and pasta are two ingredients I wouldn't think of pairing, but tonight I did so with fabulous results. The inspiration for this dinner came from a recipe on Amateur Gourmet, one of my favorite food blogs. I read about it last week, and have been salivating thinking about it ever since. Tonight I had a friend over for dinner, and it seemed the perfect occasion to try this simple pasta dish.

Adam's recipe came from the Alice Waters cookbook Vegetables and is called Summer Squash and Corn Pasta. I deviated from the recipe quite a bit to use what I already had, but the structure of the recipe is basically the same. Corn, zucchini and mushrooms were surprising bedfellows in this dish, but complemented each other amazingly well. The smoothness of the zucchini, the crunch of the corn and the juiciness of the mushrooms collaborated in each bite, not to mention the beautiful contrast of color and texture. Though summer is coming to an end in most parts of the country, it's still in full swing here in Phoenix, so this dinner felt like the perfect summer meal- nice summery ingredients in a light sauce.

See Adam's website for the original recipe from Alice Waters' cookbook. What follows is the modified recipe I prepared.

Zucchini & Corn Pasta

3 zucchini, diced
8 crimini mushrooms, diced
3 ears of corn, corn cut off the cob
1 jalepeno pepper finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
a handful of Italian parsley, chopped
1 box of fettucine pasta

Saute the zucchini in 2 tablespoons of olive oil for several minutes and season with salt & pepper. Add the corn, garlic and jalepeno and continue cooking for several minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of butter, the parsley and 4 tablespoons of pasta water (the water the pasta is boiling in). Cook for another minute or two and then add the cooked pasta.

Though I love to cook, I'm not very adventurous when trying new recipes. I tend to stick to my arsenal: the recipes I've been making for years and know like the back of my hand. My excuse is that when cooking from a recipe I end up spending a fortune on groceries I don't already have around the house. However, that wasn't the case tonight. I had all the ingredients on hand except the corn, jalepeno and parsley, and at .59 cents each for the corn, .50 for the jalepeno and .50 for the parsley, I'd hardly qualify that as spending a fortune. This dinner certainly opened my eyes to combining ingredients I wouldn't have traditionally thought to combine, and also allowed me to cross off #57 on my list: add another recipe to my arsenal.

Oasis x2

I hate to be a complainer, but after having just seen Oasis in Vegas, and knowing the potential their music has to transform into the best show I've ever seen, I was disappointed to see them tonight in Phoenix. Not that it was a bad show, it wasn't. The set was exactly the same and the lights and sound were amazing, but the venue sucked and the crowd was lame.

When the Phoenix show was announced I marked my calendar for presale and was online a moment after the presale tickets went up for sale. To my dismay, I couldn't get a ticket. I kept trying and trying to no avail. A friend was also buying presale tickets in those first few moments, so after he secured his tickets he was able to get one for me. We had 33rd and 32nd row, respectively. What the hell? These are what you get on presale?? Ah well, we were content to have Oasis tickets. But we were fools. Turned out a guy we talked to tonight walked up to the box office before the show and asked for a ticket, best available, and he ended up with a front row seat for the same price we paid. Screw that guy. Anyhow...

So, with our lame 33rd & 32nd row tickets we planned on ditching the assigned seats and rushing up to the front of the stage with the rest of the mad-crazy Oasis fans. Mistake #2. There were no mad-crazy Oasis fans. And the security people wouldn't have it anyway. We were scolded for standing in an aisleway by a railing behind the section we were assigned to. Apparently it's a fire hazard to have people standing in aisleways at a concert venue. Go figure. Okay, I suppose I've ranted enough on the lameness of the Dodge Theatre and their Nazi-esque employees. The show.

Kasabian opened with a short set. It was the same set they played in Vegas, which is really a great set. It's their most stand-out songs from the album, and a new song to get us excited about a forthcoming album. I really felt sorry for them, though, because they were playing to a bunch of duds. The venue was almost empty, and the people that were in the venue were just sitting in their seats. Ooops, I seem to be ranting again...

The set:
1. Reason is Treason
2. Cutt Off
3. The Stuntman
4. 55
5. Processed Beats
6. L.S.F.
7. Club Foot

This really was an excellent set. The band was great even though they were playing to practically no one, and their sound was right on.

Next up, we went outside in a failed attempt to con the ticket sales guy in the box office to release a few more front row seats. He wasn't having it. But, we did run into a guy that wasn't able to sell his two club level seats and he just gave them to us. Sweet! We really had no use for them since they weren't as good as our row 33 & 32, so I made a few calls and found a friend who'd be able to come down last minute to use one of the tickets.

By this time Jet had started their set. I'm not really a Jet fan at all since I find them to be a bunch of rip-off artists, so I wasn't in any hurry to get in and check them out. However, I have to say that when we finally did make it in, they weren't too bad. The crowd was clearly very into them, and they seemed to be putting on an entertaining show with a pretty decent sound. It was about this time we were scolded for standing in the aisleway so I went back outside to meet up with my friend to give her the recently acquired ticket. This is when the night started getting weird...

While I was outside waiting for her I started talking to a guy selling tickets. He had 15th row center stage tickets. He wanted $50 apiece. Hell no! But, I'd give him our tickets and $20 each in exchange for his tickets. We had a deal! So I went back inside to find my friends and see if they agreed. He'd wait for me outside. We all agreed it'd be a great way to spend twenty bucks, so we went back outside to find the guy. I told him we had a deal, we just needed to pull cash out of the ATM. No prob, he said. So we stood in line at the ATM. The guy behind us started in on a confusing conversation about where we were sitting and other random things. Then the strangest thing happened. A woman said to me, I know this is going to sound weird, but my husband has a cigarette butt stuck in his ear and I was wondering if you would get it out for him since I noticed you have fingernails and I don't. WHAT THE HELL?!?!? And she was serious. Whoa. She went on to explain that they had seats near a speaker and he had stuck the butt in his ear like a make-shift earplug. Weird. I checked out the guys ear just for curiosity sake, and that butt was barely visible. Gross. Anyhow, by the time we pulled out our cash we looked around for our ticket guy and he was nowhere to be found. We looked all over, but he was gone. Weird. We were resigned to our 33rd & 32nd row tickets once again. Meanwhile, I found my friend and gave her the free ticket. She had somehow come across a couple guys who were talking a mile a minute asking me if I worked for a radio station and if I had backstage passes. Huh? Weird.

Back inside we sat in row 33 and waited for Oasis. They came out and played a great set. It was the same set as Vegas, with plenty of song dedications and chatter with the crowd. I have to say, I was disappointed with Liam's voice. It sounded great on the first song and on the encore, but for most of the rest of the set it sounded scratchy and rough and forced to me. It wasn't terrible, but again, comparing it to Vegas it was disappointing. It was so spot-on and perfect in Vegas. But, the light show was amazing. The House of Blues is such a tiny venue that there is really no space for complex lights, but the Dodge did shine in this area (ooh, pun). The guys sounded great and Noel seemed more present tonight. There was a funny moment when he noticed that in front of him there was a man doing sign language for a (presumably) deaf person. He asked if he was, in fact doing sign language. Then he commented, only in America. Ha. Oh, and the crowd. I was just so shocked that all these thousands of people would be content to stand in their little assigned space and barely move whilst in the presence of great music like Oasis. Sad. They did seem to be into the songs though, including the old stuff, and I think lots of them were singing along, though it was hard to tell because of the acoustics of the venue.

The set:
--before they took the stage, Fuckin' in the Bushes--
1. Turn up the Sun
2. Lyla
3. Bring it on Down
4. Morning Glory (for all the junkies)
5. Cigarettes and Alcohol
6. The Importance of Being Idle
7. A Bell Will Ring (for Mohammed Ali)
8. Acquiesce
9. Live Forever (for New Orleans)
10. Mucky Fingers (for all the deaf people)
11. Wonderwall (for the ladies)
12. Champagne Supernova
13. Rock 'n' Roll Star (for Jet & Kasabian)
--as they left the stage, Fuckin' in the Bushes--
14. Guess God Thinks I'm Abel
15. The Meaning of Soul
16. Don't Look Back in Anger
17. My Generation

Okay, this post has gotten waaaaaaay too long, so I'm going to wrap it up. Did I have a good time? Yes. Am I happy I saw Oasis tonight in Phoenix? Yes. Do I think the Dodge Theatre is a lame place to see a rock concert? Yes. Am I even happier now that I saw Oasis in Vegas? Yes. Do I get to cross off #211 on my list: see the same band (Oasis!) twice in the same week? Yes. Will I pull a cigarette butt out of your ear if you stuff it in there as an earplug? No.

Vegas Baby, Vegas: Kasabian & Oasis at House of Blues

On Thursday night I was at the most amazing show. This show was so great I think it will take something of a miracle to surpass it. Not that it can't be done, but it will be damn difficult. The show was Oasis (with Kasabian opening) at the House of Blues in Las Vegas.

I bought a ticket for the show a few months ago. I was super-excited when the Vegas show was announced, as I'd already bought a ticket for their show in Phoenix, but wasn't too thrilled with the venue choice. I knew the House of Blues would be a great venue for Oasis after seeing Gomez and the Zutons there last year. Seeing them in Vegas would also be a bit nostalgic since the only other time I'd seen them was in Vegas. The ticket was expensive (85 bucks when you added on the services charges), but I figured I'd go totally budget on everything else: a cheap plane ticket a few hours before the show, cab fare to the venue, cab fare back to the airport where I'd spend the night and then take the first flight back to Phoenix the next morning. In theory it sounded great. But as I'm inclined to do, I procrastinated on the plane ticket and totally missed out on the cheap fares. Plan B: drive to Vegas, sleep in the car somewhere and drive back the next day. Plan B would have been put into action if Plan C hadn't come around...A friend had recently left her job and I suggested she come along. She was up for it! And so Plan C became: drive to Vegas in her rental car, stay in a room on the 28th floor of the swanky Mandalay Bay resort & casino (where the band was staying as well!), valet the car, spend way too much money on food & drinks, laze away the morning in bed on Friday, and then drive back to Phoenix on Friday whereupon I'd be issued a ridiculously exaggerated speeding ticket 50 miles outside of town. The trip was great except for that last bit, thank God for online traffic school! Anyhow, I got way off on a tangent there. The show.

The show was amazing. We arrived at the hotel a mere 30 minutes before the doors to the venue were to open. We checked in, dropped our bags off, ooohed and aaahed at the magnificance of our room, and then headed down to the House of Blues. My friend didn't have a ticket, so we were in search of scalpers. There were none to be found, or they were deep incognito, so I was on my own. I quickly scouted out the scene inside: it was packed. It was about 7:25 and the place was nearly full. I bought a drink and then squeezed my way through the crowd on the floor near the front left side of the stage. But, I was dissatisfied with my spot so I decided to roam around a bit (this is one of the huge benefits of going to a show solo- you can squeeze in anywhere!). This was the best decision of the night because I ended up with a great spot near the front on the right side of the stage which is where the brothers Gallagher were positioned for their set. Yay! I killed a little time drinking and text-messaging before Kasabian, who promptly took the stage at 8:00. They played a super short, but exciting set. This being my third time seeing them this year, I knew what to expect and I wasn't let down. The crowd was fairly into them, though it didn't seem like many people knew the songs.

Their set list:
1. Reason is Treason
2. Cutt Off
3. The Stuntman (a new song)
4. 55
5. Processed Beats
6. L.S.F.
7. Club Foot

It was during the first few bars of the first song that I realized I'd left my little black notebook at home in which I usually write the setlists. I had a pen but no paper, and I didn't dare leave my prime spot in search of a piece of paper. Just then the guy standing in front of me started to leave. I asked if he was going to the bar, and if he'd bring me a napkin. A few minutes later he returned with a huge wad of napkins. I was saved! Kasabian's set only lasted about thirty minutes. During the break I thanked my neighbor for the napkins and explained their purpose. We got to talking and it turned out he was a huge Oasis fan. He'd seen them about twenty times. So, we killed time talking about all things Oasis until they took the stage at 9:00.

I can't even begin to describe how amazing the show was. The whole place was packed, and on the floor we were as tight as sardines. But the crowd was great and I had a perfect vantage point, so it was no bother to me. The most impressive element of the crowd was that everyone seemed to know all the songs, not just the new ones. Everyone sang along at the top of their lungs, and were so happy to hear the old stuff. Liam was in top form bantering with the crowd and just being an ass. It was great. Noel was practically hiding behind a speaker from what I could see, but I was pretty far to the right. Zak was unbelievably amazing on drums- it makes you realize they actually have a drummer now (I loved Whitey, but there's no comparison between the two)! Both Andy and Gem are pretty subdued as far as stage presence, but they sounded phenomenal. Gem's harmonica solo on Mucky Fingers was amazing, and Andy kicked ass on the bass solo's in My Generation. The set was about an hour and a half, with Liam leaving the stage three times for Noel's songs. They played one encore and ended the night with an amazing cover of the Who's, My Generation. When the show was over the lights came back up and the Beatles, Let it Be came on the PA. The whole place sang at the top of their lungs again on the way out. It was an incredible end to the night.

The setlist:
--before they took the stage, Fuckin' in the Bushes--
1. Turn up the Sun
2. Lyla
3. Bring it on Down
4. Morning Glory
5. Cigarettes and Alcohol
6. The Importance of Being Idle
7. A Bell Will Ring
8. Acquiesce
9. Live Forever (for New Orleans)
10. Mucky Fingers
11. Wonderwall (for the ladies)
12. Champagne Supernova (for the kid)
13. Rock 'n' Roll Star
--as they left the stage, Fuckin' in the Bushes--
14. Guess God Thinks I'm Abel
15. The Meaning of Soul
16. Don't Look Back in Anger
17. My Generation

All in all, just an incredible show. I can only hope that the show in town tomorrow is a fraction as good. The atmosphere will be totally different, which was a huge contributing factor to the success of the Vegas show, but if there is a way to get out of my assigned seat in row 32 and up to the front of the stage, you can bet I will be there! I'm psyched to see them again, but for now will be content to cross off #196: see Oasis again in Vegas, and end up going to the best show of my life (no exaggeration!!).

Cleaning the Oven, or How to Burn Down the House

Today I had one of the scarier experiences of my life. It began innocently enough when I noticed that the oven in my apartment has a self-cleaning mode. I hadn't taken notice of this before, and it suddenly seemed like an excellent idea to clean my oven. I hadn't cleaned it in the time I'd been living in my apartment, and I figured it could use it. Not that I use my oven very much, or that it was even very dirty, but I had noticed a few charred bits on the bottom of the oven that I could do without.

The first red flag went up when I looked for the latch to lock my oven before switching it to Clean mode. There was no latch. I hadn't missed the latch, but it now seemed rather odd that I didn't have it. No worries, I thought, I don't have a kid running around that might open the oven door while it's cleaning (what other purpose could there be for the locking latch?). So, I flipped the dial to Clean. The digital read out began a countdown of 3 hours and 30 minutes. That seemed like a long time to clean the oven, but I had nothing planned for the afternoon except work. And maybe working out and a shower. No big deal.

After fifteen or twenty minutes, the apartment began to smell a little. Not too bad though, and this is to be expected when you're cleaning the oven. I decided to take a little break from working and stretch my legs. I got up and walked around the apartment. Then I noticed I could really smell the oven smell. I wondered how I'd be able to work amidst that smell for three more hours. I walked back near the kitchen when some little orange flames caught my eye- MY OVEN WAS ON FIRE! I did my best not to panic. I flipped the oven from Clean to Off. I grabbed a mug from the sink and filled in with water. By this point the flames were growing- they reached the top rack of the oven. I could feel my adrenaline flowing, but I was trying not to panic. I'll just douse the flames with water and have a little mess to clean up, I thought. I had the mug in hand and grabbed the oven door. I pulled, but it didn't budge. I pulled again and again. I set the mug down and started pulling with both hands. Nothing. It was locked. I looked at the digital read out, and it read "Cool Down". What the hell?!? I grabbed my phone and debated between calling 911 or my apartment office. I called the apartment office. No one answered. I noticed that the flames were beginning to die down. I continued to pull on the oven door, in vain, until the last flame extinguished.

I sat down and realized I was shaking. Badly. I started to go over the events of the previous few minutes in my head and realized the gravity of the situation. My oven was on fire, and I had no way of putting out the flames. What if I had gone to work out or taken a shower or walked to get the mail? Would my apartment have burned down? Needless to say, those little charred black bits at the bottom of the oven didn't seem so bad anymore. And with that I crossed off #372 on my list of things to do: clean my oven (or don't.).

Exercise, Part Three

Did someone ask for another exercise update? No? Well I'll give you one anyway, if only for my own record...

Things are still going strong and I've gotten myself on a pretty regular schedule. I workout for three days in a row: two days on the bike, one day on the treadmill, then I take a break for a day. I'm also doing some weight machines and free weights daily. In the last couple weeks I've started feeling like I've reached a plateau, which as one of my friends pointed out, probably means I need to push myself a little more. I had been doing 8 miles on the bike, which takes about 25 minutes, or 30 minutes on the treadmill, which works out to a little more than 2 miles. Now I've upped it to 10 miles on the bike or 45 minutes on the treadmill. We'll see if that solves the plateau dilemma. Otherwise, I feel great! Working out definitely isn't a chore anymore, it's just a regular part of my day. Even while I was on vacation I worked out a few times (which was a first for me!). There haven't been any drastic changes for me body wise; I've lost some pounds and I think I'm more toned, but then again, it can be difficult to notice these changes in oneself. The most noticeable change for me was when I went to the dogpark and threw the tennis ball- I launched the ball so far across the park, it was amazing!

With each day I continue to work on #14 on my list. I don't think it will ever be a goal I cross off, rather one that I continually revisit and revise, which is okay with me!