R.E.M. Accelerate Concert

No, that's not a command to the Georgia rock band to wrap things up, 'Accelerate' is the name of the most recent album that they're showcasing on tour right now. I just came back from their show in Merriweather, MD, still on a bit of an R.E.M. high, quite possibly partially due to the excessive amount of gonja that was passing hands in the back corner close to where I found myself situated. In my opinion, the concert was a big success and I'm glad I shelled out the $40 and endured the 1.5 hr drive. I don't consider myself a huge R.E.M. fan but I feel like they're doing things now that are on par with what they put out at the height of their fame, and just as relevant politically and socially. Anyways here's an abridged setlist with some commentary. (Buy/acquire the newest album when you get a chance.)

1. The Finest Hour - The band sounded OK but Stipe was a little out of tune. I was kind of surprised to see this from such a seasoned performer.
2. Living Well Is The Best Revenge (new) - starting to get into the groove
3. It's Been A Bad Day - I noticed that Stipe plays the harmonica just about as well as I do (make sure you've got the right key and blow then suck, occasionally moving your mouth from left to right to left). It's interesting, though, how no matter how good or bad you are, when you produce a harmonica from your pocket you're guaranteed to draw some cheers and excitement from the crowd.
4. What's The Frequency Kenneth - Who doesn't love this song?
5. Then they performed a 3-song miniset dedicated to the people of the Washington, D.C. area: a) Ignoreland - about the hostage crisis that brought in the Reagan administration apparently; b) Man-Sized Wreath (new); c) Little America
6. Houston (new) - It's never too late (2008) to take a stab at Bush for his mismanagement of the Katrina disaster
7. Electrolite - I wasn't aware that this song is essentially an ode to L.A. It made me like it more than I already did.
8. Firehouse - awesome
9. [Acoustic Set] - nice touch
10. Orange Crush - now we're getting nostalgic, baby. Instant crowd energy with this song. Complemented nicely by one of those loudspeaker things that P.E. teachers started using in the mid 90's... megaphone??
    
11. Mr. Richards (new) - apparently about how we allow ourselves to be governed by people we not only don't like, but altogether despise... whatever. I like this song a lot.
12. Fall On Me - I didn't recognize this song but probably should have. They played it with guest guitarist Johnny Marr (of The Smiths, now playing with Modest Mouse). It had a smooth, rhythmic beat to it.

Check out the new posts on 'Trifecta's Blog'
Also, the addition of 'Dorfman's Blog'

Musingszzzzah

Just got back from the traditional trip to Duck Beach, Outer Banks, that all the LDS hotshots who live on the east coast go to. It was tons of fun. I calculated that between the 600 or so of us that met up out there we accounted for about a $100k jolt to the local economy (roughly $150 all in per person). Some coworkers of mine were cracking up that you could get hundreds of people aged 21-29 together for a beach party weekend and keep booze out of the equation. One of my coworkers was telling me about something called a "No Shower Happy Hour". I skipped out on the big volleyball tournament but I did go sea kayaking with Valerie W. We decided to head out towards a water tower in the distance but I think we misjudged the total distance a bit. What I had expected would be about a half-hour excursion ended up being a 3.5 hour voyage with the wind against us on the way back. My sparsely sunscreened back did not appreciate the extra time in the sun. I ended up with an odd-looking sunburn; like a large-scale version of Gorbachev's birthmark.

Found some new albums to digest: Elvis Costello - Momofuku, and Mudcrutch (Tom Petty). I'm a sucker for buying records of people that have proven themselves in the past. I will buy any Neil Young album at this point, even if the hit single were, "Don't buy my record". The Costello album is really cool. I'm impressed that he was able to reach back and pull out a lot of the classic sound and the angular voice from days past. The Mudcrutch album is just OK, so far. Two or three songs warranted a skip but it was otherwise enjoyable. Sounds to me like Tom Petty is trying to get back to the Florida deep South sound he started with. I appreciate more and more an album that you can mindlessly listen to the whole way through without being either annoyed by some particular tracks or overly engaged in others. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing. The newest R.E.M. installment is also very cool--I don't think I mentioned that in a previous post.

Desmond B. got me signed up on Netflix and I still haven't watched any of the movies that I've rented. I'm trying to decide if I should cancel the membership once the trial period is over. The intriguing bit is that you can also rent Blurays from their service for the same price as regular DVD's. I guess I should buy a Bluray player and then not watch rented DVD's on that either.

I'm preferring Amazon MP3 store to iTunes store lately. The quality is higher if I'm not mistaken, most albums seem to be cheaper, and they are all DRM-free.

Saw an outdoor production of Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring last week. The video was shown on a theater-sized screen and they had a live symphony, and some soloists, and Tongan sit-ins performing the score. The audio enhancement was quite a treat. It wasn't the extended version so we didn't get to see anything like the Boromir Pert Plus commercial that shows up in #3.

Premium gas is north of $4.00/g around here. I'm thinking of either getting a hybrid or sleeping at the office Monday-Friday.

Future So Dim

In 2005 the Suns lost 4-1 in the Western Conference Finals. In 2007 it was the Robert Horry incident at the end of game 4 and the Suns lost the next two games. In 2008 things were almost looking good. We had beaten the Spurs 3-1 in the regular season series and we had started game 1 in complete control, leading by double digits for most of the game. Then the entire season ended with one ill-fated shot. Tim Duncan's OT buzzer-beater 3-pointer. His first 3-pointer in the last 2 seasons. I think that shot ended the game, the series, the season, possibly the era of the Phoenix Suns. I strongly dislike the Spurs. I have nothing more to say.

DC: Land of Dudes & Chicks

Living in the land of dudes and chicks has been a great experience so far. The work load is drastically heavier, dating activity has increased exponentially (thanks to a near 2:1 female to male ratio in the local ward), and video game hours logged are way down. Things I miss from the West coast:

• Mexican Food - there's nothing out here to fill the Ajo Al's / Julio's void. I would say I miss In N' Out but they do offer 5 Guys Burgers out here. East Coasters rave about it. I'll admit it's pretty good but a little too heavy and greasy--even for me.
  
• Straight-shot roads. Sometimes I think I'm following directions only to later realize that I somehow managed to merge onto a wrong road without making any turns or anything. It drives me nuts.
• Phoenix Suns games at a decent hour - they mostly play from 10:30 to 1:00 a.m. so when they lose I'm extra upset.
• Proximity to family and my blogmate, Trifecta. Though the virtual connection methods (e.g. video chat, Xbox live) alleviate that somewhat.

Music Thoughts:

Panda Bear 'Person Pitch' is one of the best albums of 2007. Vocals eerily similar to Beach Boys but a lot of thick, building, musical layers.

Rhymefest 'Man In The Mirror' is pretty fun. 'Fest does a few very cool covers of Michael Jackson songs and even creates some comical fake conversations with the King of Pop himself.

Scott Walker 'Scott 4'. This album came out in 1969 but I'm liking it in 2008. Thom Yorke cites him as one of Radiohead's biggest influences; songs like "How To Disappear Completely".

Sports Thoughts:

March Madness starts on Thursday. BYU got an 8 seed which will make it tough for them to make it past the 2nd round. UofA got a 10 seed and ASU got snubbed. I guess I'll also be rooting for Georgetown this year; I believe they got a 2 seed. I'd like to root for UCLA but they haven't looked convincing throughout the season from what I've seen. I guess UNC has the deepest team but even they barely squeaked past VA Tech the other day. I expect this year to have a lot more "upsets" than last year as there's a little more parity from team to team since such a deep pool of talent got snatched up to play for the NBA after last season.

MLB is just around the corner. This year I'll be able to see NL games in the new Washington Nationals stadium and AL games in nearby Camden Yards in Baltimore. This is a perfect setup. I just hope I can come across some tickets that are as cheap (free) as they were going to Dbacks games last year.

Suns are finally coming into form, and not a moment too soon. I'm gonna be severely put out if we end up with a better record than the Jazz but end up with a 5 seed or below just because of the stupid divisional setup. The Jazz are gay. How much longer can the madness continue for the Houston Rockets. I just watched them beat the Lakers for their 22nd straight win. Keep in mind Yao Ming is out for the rest of the season and it just so happened in this particular game that Tracy McGrady started out shooting 0-9. Something freaky is going on there. They match up against the Celtics tomorrow and the Suns on Saturday. I'll be watching to see how long the streak continues. The Wizards could be a serious threat in the East if Gilbert Arenas comes back soon enough to be a factor by the time playoffs start.

Cross Country Morale Chart