Thursday, October 30, 2008

All You (Astro) Zombies

While Philly is having a grand old time rioting and I'm being sent photos of the carnage (from friends I'm sure helped destroy a few of those trashcans themselves... I know you guys, don't deny it), I am across the world giddy about the approach of Halloween. Once again I have crafted a perfect yet genius costume out of things I mostly already own, as I have done the past five years. But I won't spoil the surprise yet.

Last year I was a hipster zombie, both a slight social commentary and an observation that a lot of indie bands have used zombies in their music videos recently. A grand total of two people got it. Here's a photo taken in the incredibly creepy stairwell that looks like it leads to Freddy Kreuger's boiler room:
That was a fun night because people actually thought we were still acceptable trick or treating age and not weird college students out to get free candy. Plus I got to attack my friends at certain points throughout the night, screaming things like, "Euuuurgh, grande soy mocha latte brainssssss!" or "Zombies no daaaaance, we shuffle and bob heads."

Speaking of zombies, I insisted Ellie and Alexa watch the original 'Dawn of the Dead' movie with me today because it's the greatest and most hilarious horror film ever made. Okay, I can't say that because I generally don't like horror movies and therefore haven't seen all of them, but you can't deny George Romero's genius. First of all, I love how all his movies are set in Pennsylvania. With those, the M. Night Shyamalan films, the Blob (and its sequel), and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting, Pennsylvania must be the state where the most horror movies take place. So we got that going for us, plus as horror movie law dictates, the characters are incredibly stupid. Those elements alone make 'Dawn of the Dead' highly amusing to me, but I'm sold when you throw in zombies wandering the Monroeville mall to a polka song (which was later made into the 'Robot Chicken' theme), a motorcycle gang smooshing pies in zombies faces, and a man in a sombrero getting ripped apart because he chose the worst time ever to check his blood pressure. Don't be put off if you hate scary movies, it's not the least bit terrifying. I've watched it many times and I once had a mini panic attack just from the trailer for 'Cloverfield.'

And now because I can't find good quality videos for any of the Misfits songs I wanted to post, I'll settle for the creepiest music video I could think of off the top of my head (it isn't about Halloween, but oh well). They're awesome all year 'round, but especially appropriate now, one of my favourite bands of the past five years, heeeeeeeeeere's The Horrors!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

You cant go wrong, come on skank along!

It's official, nobody in my flat physically talks to one another anymore except for Ellie and I. Nick will instant message me from five feet down the hall just to say 'hello,' or as he says, "Morning!" (no matter what time of day it is). And even worse than that is the dreaded note on the fridge. Instead of knocking on everyone's door around 7 pm when all are guaranteed to be present and awake to call a flat meeting, they write an incredibly rude open notice. Now, I don't mind if it's just something along the lines of, "Could whoever's turn it is to take out the trash this week please do so? Thanks!" Those are friendly reminders and make perfect sense. But last night someone put up a wonderful jem the censored version of which basically states that if the note writer ever finds out who keeps using up the ice and not refilling the tray, they will make icecubes from their blood. I haven't used a single ice cube my entire time here, but the anger of that note made me dump all the ice cubes down the sink and leave the trays empty in the freezer. Just because they went about trying to solve a stupidly easy problem that doesn't matter much anyway with violent fingerpointing. No need to call in Miss Marple or a hitman. It's like Dylan Moran said in his stand-up act, "You want to write a note back to those types of flatmates and say, 'Dear Complaining One, NOBODY LIKES YOU.'"

On a lighter subject where I'm not being a hypocrite by whining about how annoying passive-aggressive proclamations from my flatmates are, I managed to get out for once this weekend. I went with a friend to a place we'd gone to once before, but only for an hour. This time we got there at 9:30ish, stayed quite late and thus were able to see two bands play before the DJ set. To give an idea how this place is set up, they play indie and alternative rock upstairs, then downstairs is split between the main room (which has the live bands and then usually plays ska, punk, and some hardcore afterwards) and the incredibly fascinating pop/hip-hop room. I literally stood by the pool tables for half an hour with my one friend (who is also from a large American city) cracking up watching all these drunk Australian hipsters/punks/emos/whatevers trying to dance to things like 50 Cent and Lil Mama. He turned to me and said, "Wow, I feel like Ving Rhames compared to these kids!" Which is saying quite a lot considering the two of us are pretty darn white. I wish I had video of it, words can't describe the hilarity factor... Then we went and skanked in the other room (for those of you not aware, skanking isn't what it sounds like, it's the type of weird dancing you do when a ska song is playing), where at least we knew we looked silly when we danced.

These obviously aren't any of the people that I'm talking about, but it's the closest I could find, so I'll leave it up to you to decide who looked stupider:
Hipsters who think they're gangstas (just imagine whats going on in the video but on a greater scale and throw in some punk/emo kids to boot)



Vs. My friends and I skanking way too enthusiastically (exactly like these guys are, but not out in random public places)

Monday, October 20, 2008

Yeasayer interview

This is waaay overdue, but here's my whole interview with the awesome and oh so nice lead singer of Yeasayer, Chris Keating. Please send this to any friends interested in music because it's my first real interview and I unfortunately am not getting it published anywhere but here. For those of you here just to check up on what I've been doing, read the post below this one (though I hope you check this post out too!). Thanks, and enjoy! It's long, but well worth the read, as I got some particularly interesting unannounced (to my knowledge) music news out of him.

Danielle: “You must be tired, it’s a ridiculous flight from LA to here.”
Chris: “Well, we got in yesterday. Where you from?”
Danielle: “Philadelphia!”
Chris: “That’s where he’s from! *points at Ira* I’m from Baltimore. What’re you doing down here?”
Danielle: “I’m going to school here.”
Chris: “That must be awesome.”
Danielle: “Yeah. So, is this your first time in Australia?”
Chris: “Yup, second day.”
Danielle: “And your first gig?”
Chris: “Yeah, first gig tonight! And we already got to pet a koala bear! We got photos with them, it was so exciting. *pulls out photo to show me* They’re so cute.”
Danielle: “Awww, yeah, I love them. They look like little old men.”
Chris: “*laughs* They really do!”
Danielle: “So, from hearing your live performances, especially the Take Away video you guys did, your vocal harmonies seem to come quite naturally. Was recording easy because of that?”
Chris: “They actually don’t come naturally, we work pretty hard at it. I don’t think our voices really work that well together.”
Danielle: “Really?”
Chris: “Well, I mean, I don’t know. I never thought so. We just worked really hard to get them right. So recording, we spent a lot of time doing vocals. Like, months and months.”
Danielle: “Which song on All Hour Cymbals took the longest? Like from starting the idea to actual recording?”
Chris: “Hmmm, we did some demos for ‘2080' and ‘Sunrise’ probably more than a year and a half before the record came out. And so that was the longest, because we recorded them ourselves and then we found a record label and went into the studio for a few days and we went back and recorded ourselves again for about six more months. So those songs have been kickin’ around for a while.”
Danielle: “How do you guys pass time on the road?”
Chris: “With koala bears. *laughs* We usually don’t have any time off. Oh, reading books.”
Danielle: “Any good ones you’ve read recently?”
Chris: “I just finished ‘The Autobiography of Malcolm X.’
Danielle: “Isn’t it amazing?”
Chris: “Completely! And now I’m reading a book about oysters.”
Danielle: “Seriously?”
Chris: “It’s interesting! It’s about the oyster trade in Colonial New York City.”
Danielle: “Oh, I guess that could be cool.”
Chris: “We usually try to go places like the zoo and stuff, if someone’s nice enough to take us.”
Danielle: “Okay, not to say that it’s ‘world music,’ because I know that you guys get that description all the time when you don’t classify yourselves as that, but your music does have a very worldly quality to it. Have you ever thought about doing a song in another language?”
Chris: “No, I haven’t. I think it’s kind of gimmicky to do that. None of us are really proficient in any other languages. I like the idea of that kind of Mick Jagger type of singing words you can’t really hear. Like Michael Jackson does. You know, they’re singing in English, but they’ll mash words together so it’s hard to tell what the hell they’re saying. Even in his big hits, in the chorus. I like that better. And that’s how I got into a lot of music from other cultures, because I didn’t understand the lyrics. So I had to listen to the melodies instead, without focusing on any of the lyrical content. When we’re writing melodies, we think about it like that and then we fit in words that make sense. But yeah, I think it would be strange for us to sing in another language. It would just be a bit pretentious or fake.”
Danielle: “You guys use lots of unusual instruments in your songs like sitars or the accordion in ‘Germs,’ do you play them yourselves, or do you get session musicians?”
Chris: “Everyone thinks we use sitars, but we don’t have any. There are some sounds that sound like it... We play everything ourselves. Anand did a lot of cello and string stuff and we’d pitch it down and arrange it with a sampler in a really weird way. We’d try to combine instruments to make a new sound, like a new instrument.”
Danielle: “That’s probably what the sitar sound was.”
Chris: “Yeah, a lot of synthesized layers of strings. I like trying to do that. To create a new sound where the listener is unclear what it really is.”
Danielle: “Is that hard to do live then?”
Chris: “Yeah. We use samplers and stuff, it changes a little live. But I think it’s good that it does. It becomes a challenge to try to recreate some of those sounds. Because I don’t want it to be just a guitar.”
Danielle: “I read somewhere that Anand wrote a musical about Pennsylvania coal miners. Can you tell me anything more about that? Are you guys big into musicals?”
Chris: “I like musicals when they’re good, a lot of ones from the sixties. Some can be unbearable, but I do like that thematic song writing and over the top, grandiose stuff. He’s working on it right now, they’ll be recording it in the winter. It’s his thing, almost a solo project. Though he’s collaborating with some other people, and yeah, it’s about a coal mining town in PA.”
Danielle: “Well, it’s not very often that you hear someone from an indie band is breaking into the musical world!”
Chris: “I don’t know how much I can say about it, since it’s not my project, but it’s really cool. Going to be an awesome record, people will be excited about it once they hear the whole thing. There’s a lot of other musicians doing guest vocals.”
*At this point, the rest of the band comes over and says hello, then tells Chris they’re going out for lunch. He asks Anand to get him a vegetable sandwich, then changes it to a steak sandwich. This makes me laugh for some reason and then I feel really stupid.*
Danielle: “I first heard you guys broadcast on the radio from South by Southwest on XPN, are you thinking of doing SXSW again this year?”
Chris: “Noooo. Too crazy! It’s cool, but a little stressful. Not all that fun to play at, just more fun to hang out. We didn’t even want to do it last year that much.”
Danielle: “I heard it’s one of those things you either love or hate...”
Chris: “I haven’t met any musicians who love it. It’s kind of a mess, the sound systems aren’t very good, stressful time scheduling, and you only play for fifteen or twenty minutes. There’s no set up time. It’s not exactly ideal. It can be fun, but only as a spectator.”
Danielle: “Speaking of music festivals, you’ve been in quite a few famous ones like Reading and Lollapalooza. Do you like those or would you rather play at a smaller, more intimate venue?”
Chris: “The smaller show. Festivals are fun, it just depends on which one and they’re just weird because it’s 5,000 people and the crowd is really far away. There’s a lot of security and the stage is up way high and it’s in the middle of the day. It’s kinda strange. I prefer a smaller club. We were doing a lot of festivals and then we ended up booking a show on our way through Germany we went to Switzerland and we played in Zurich and it was amazing. There was about 150 people at this club, this tiny club at full capacity, and it was so much better than playing to 10,000 at a festival. That show gave us more energy, a little bit of renewed life.”
Danielle: “There’s big music scenes where all of you grew up. Where you in a band previously or go to lots of concerts as a teenager?”
Chris: “Me and Anand grew up together in Baltimore, we were in a high school band, but nothing too serious. We all went to lots of shows. I think Luke used to play in a lot of punk bands as a kid. There’s different things we did, but nothing serious until Yeasayer came together. But I went to a lot of shows after I learned to drive.”
Danielle: “Yeah, because the areas are all so close! That’s why it’s great.”
Chris: “Mmhmm, I drove to Philly, or D.C. or up to New York. In the last six years, there’s been a good scene in Baltimore, not so sure what it’s like right now.”
Danielle: “It has some big names.”
Chris: “Yeah, it just seems a lot of those bands are moving away or touring so they aren’t always in Baltimore. When I was in high school, it wasn’t so much the case.”
Danielle: “Now there’s the Virgin Fest.”
Chris: “They didn’t have that, I think it’s new.”
Danielle: “Pretty recently, only a few years.”
Chris: “Have you been to it? It seems like a monstrosity.”
Danielle: “ I was tempted, because it’s had some great lineups, but it’s a bit too big and expensive for me.”
Chris: “I don’t like going to things like that at all. But I can see why some people do.”
Danielle: “What’s your song writing process like? Do you guys jam and come up with your own part, or do you individually write lyrics?”
Chris: “We jam a lot, but it’s mostly based on recording. Individual people or teams of two will record ideas we have and then trade tapes for the next person to work on it and slowly build up a layering that isn’t expected. Just keeping tons and tons of tracks on a computer and revisiting old jams, like bringing them back. That’s how the record got the eclectic sound we were going for. That’s how we like to work, we’ll see what happens in the future. It’s pretty rare that one person writes a song all by themselves.”
Danielle: “A lot of your lyrics have a mythological influence, have you always been inspired by mythology?”
Chris: “Yeah, there are some archetypal elements, one of the songs mentions Icharus. We mash up mythological figures with contemporary stuff and yeah, I think that was in the writing process. Those songs can be kinda hard to write, the mythological theme is heavy handed.”
Danielle: “Especially ‘2080' mentioning the future and possible apocalypse.”
Chris: “People seem to pick up on that stuff a lot, the apocalyptic themes. I’m not sure how much there really is.”
Danielle: “When I first heard ‘2080,’ I was just listening to the music because it was on the radio and didn’t pay attention to the lyrics and I thought, ‘Oh, this is a pretty song.’ Then I went and listened to it again later and I realized it was a bit dark.”
Chris: “I like contrasting the mood of the music with the theme of the lyrics. Darker lyrics with positive sounding music.”
Danielle: “Yeah, it doesn’t have to be death metal.”
Chris: “Or the opposite. Death metal with lyrics about butterflies or something.”
Danielle: “Do you have any new songs you’re going to play tonight or that you’ve been working on?”
Chris: “We’ve been working on some stuff, but we’ve mostly been touring for the past year. So not a lot of time to work together, but some individual parts. I’ve heard some of the stuff they’ve been doing, but it’s hard right now to try to get those songs together. We’ve got a couple new things we’re going to play, some things that aren’t exactly new, but aren’t on the record. I’m pretty sure we’ll throw some of those in tonight. We never decide what to play until sound check. We have some things in the works. We’re going to be recording all winter, when we’re done touring in December. Going to take four months off and work on the new record. Then we’ll have real new material.”
Danielle: “Are you going to release the song you did for Daytrotter on the new record?”
Chris: “The Daytrotter thing was a looong time ago. Like, more than a year ago. That was just live stuff I think.”
Danielle: “Yeah, but there was one you did about the end of the world. Well, one that wasn't '2080' and wasn’t on All Hour Cymbals.”
Chris: “Hmmm, I don’t think we had a song about that... Oh, wait, we had a song that came out only on a 7 inch in the UK called ‘Final Path.’ That’s it. We have a song that’s coming out on a compilation for Red Hot, it’s an AIDS benefit with Blonde Redhead, Arcade Fire, and some other bands like that. They’re all this compilation and we did a new song for that. That’s the newest thing we’ve recorded, that was sometime this summer. Oh, no it was in May. We went to Seattle to meet with Scott Colburn, who actually recorded the last Arcade Fire record, and did that song. So that should be out... whenever that’s out. *laughs* Probably this month or next month.
Danielle: “I absolutely hate using this word, but Yeasayer was one of the “buzz bands” of last year, who do you think are going to be the next big thing?”
Chris: “Chairlift, you ever heard of them? They are going to be BIG. They’re friends of ours from Brooklyn and we’re going to tour with them on the east coast of the States for ten days. They’re going to open for us, but they’ve been on an I-pod commercial, so...”
Danielle: “That tends to launch bands, yeah. The Steve Jobs bump.”
Chris: “They’re a really good band, really cool. Uh, who else? I have friends in a band called Dragons of Zinth, their last record was awesome and they’re working on a new one. Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio produced their last record and is probably working with them on this one. So, expect them to come down to Australia and do a world tour. We toured with them in Europe. Other than that, I don’t know. There’s bands I like a lot like Dirty Projectors, but they’re already out there and people already know about them. It’s hard to say, I usually don’t like stuff that ends up being really big or popular.”
Danielle: “I’m the same way.”
Chris: “MGMT are my only exception. We were friends with those guys before they made their record.”
Danielle: “They’re doing an Australia tour soon.”
Chris: “Yeah, they’re pretty huge here, aren’t they? I mean, they’re doing well everywhere, but it seems disproportionately popular here.”
Danielle: “They put up posters for their tour at my University and within two hours, they were all stolen by people to put up on their dorm walls.”
Chris: “That’s crazy! Yeah, normally the kind of stuff I like doesn’t get commercially successful, but just from hearing their first demos, we knew it would be. They’re one of the few bands I like and respect while they’re still hugely popular. Which is awesome. And rare. But Chairlift will be the next MGMT, I’m sure of it. Get an interview with them early.”
Danielle: “*laughs* Well, I’m all out of questions. It was so great to talk with you, thanks!”
Chris: “Thank you! I’ll see you tonight!”

Edit- Unfortunately, Blogger is being annoying and not letting me upload my pictures from the show. Blast, foiled again.

Boring life

I did it again! I'm so sorry, folks, I've been neglecting my poor blog here. I just haven't had much interesting going on. I've basically become like an elderly woman. When not in class, all I do is sit around watching British quiz shows and eat oatmeal or work on my screenplays (one is a short for scriptwriting class, the other is a weird movie idea I've been thinking about). My flatmates have been acting particularly strange too, I don't know what's gotten into everyone. Ellie has been baking cupcakes practically every night, a different kind each time and for no occasion, while Teagan seems to be running some sort of plot to steal as many traffic cones from the Stadium parking lot as possible. Last I counted, there were three of them around our flat. I also woke up one morning to find that we have another chair and a different coffee table in our living room area. Nobody knows where they came from either.

But Halloween is coming up and even though they don't really celebrate it here in Australia the same way, they love an excuse to dress up and party. So hopefully I'll finally convince SOMEONE to go out so I'm not spending another weekend in with Chuck, Heroes (the new season of which is so incredibly stupid) and Stephen Fry. This concludes the yawn-tastic personal life update. I know it's long, but please read the Yeasayer post up above if you haven't already.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

It's hip to be a square!

I know this post is supposed to be the Yeasayer interview and pictures, but I still haven't finished the former. Twenty minutes of talking takes a lot longer to transcribe than one might think. Also, I've spent a bit too much time watching my new obsession, 'Chuck.' Hey, I have time to kill now that I don't have a job (thanks dumb boss and crappy economy!) so why not rent the entire first season of a TV show and watch the whole thing over the course of two days?

For those of you not familiar with the show, Chuck is an adorable nerd who works for the Nerd Herd at Buy Mart (basically the Best Buy Geek Squad, but they couldn't say that) and he accidentally sees a top secret computer file that puts restricted government information into his mind. The last part of that is a bit complicated to explain, it's all to do with the CIA and spies and stuff. Anyway, as cool as the spy factor is, my favourite part of the show is Chuck and his awkward friend, Morgan. They talk about the Arcade Fire, Guitar Hero, Lord of the Rings, and sandwiches in the cutest bantering way.

It is with great joy that I add Chuck and Morgan to my 'Adorably Nerdy Guys I Have Way Too Big Crushes On Considering They're Just Fictional Characters' Hall of Fame:
(Morgan Grimes as played by Joshua Gomez on the left, and Chuck Bartowski played by Zach Levi on the right)

The other members (in no particular order) include the likes of...
Milo Ventimiglia as Jess Mariano in 'Gilmore Girls,' not the classic definition of a nerd, but still very much one none the less. I was always mad Rory never ended up with Jess, considering they were both witty and shared a passion for reading and old movies. Yes, he had a bit of an attitude problem at times, but he eventually overcomes it. In fact, he moved to Philadelphia and opened up an awesome looking bookstore and Rory visits him to find he has matured. But she stayed with her stupid rich idiot college boyfriend. I remember watching that episode and wishing Jess was real so I could find his bookstore and flirt with him. Milo Ventimiglia is alright, but Jess Mariano, how I adore you.

Shane West as Dr. Ray Barnett on 'ER,' aka the reason I watched 'ER.' Why did you have to get hit by a car and have your legs amputated?! I really hope Dr. Ray comes back, because the show is way too depressing without all the times he pops up to make jokes or talk about punk music.
Gregory Smith as Ephram Brown from 'Everwood,' sighhhh. I was obsessed with this show and the often moody Ephram who could be a tad annoying, but then he'd make an anime reference and I'd love him again. Plus, Gregory Smith has been one of my crushes since he was Sport in 'Harriet the Spy.' Oh, and the actress who played Ephram's baby mama, Madison, is now on 'Chuck,' as Chuck's sister!Adam Brody as Seth Cohen in 'The OC,' though keep in mind I only mean Seasons 1 and 2 Seth Cohen. After that, the show started to go downhill and I stopped watching. This is a pretty obvious character for this list, as he's sort of the King of Nerdy TV Guys. But I can't help loving a guy who talks to a toy horse called Captain Oats and draws comics about his friends. Josh Schwartz, who created 'The OC' also came up with 'Chuck,' so the man is clearly a genius.Chris Marquette as Adam Rove from 'Joan of Arcadia,' the quintessential art nerd. It's been a while since I've seen this show, but I'm pretty sure half the reason I liked this character was because he reminded me of a guy in my art class I had a crush on.
Pretty much any role ever played by Jason Schwartzman. Okay, with this one, I love his characters because he plays them with such a charming quirkiness. Even Max from 'Rushmore,' who is a loser and borderline stalker is completely lovable because it's Jason Schwartzman.
Richard Ayoade as Maurice Moss in 'The IT Crowd,' hear me out on this one. He's probably the nerdiest of the bunch, but he's a brilliantly hilarious character. I highly recommend this underrated Britcom to everyone. Watch it and you'll want to hug Moss too.Jon Cryer as Duckie Dale from 'Pretty in Pink,' the original cute nerd underdog. Every time my Mom and I watch this movie, we're both swooning during the scene where Duckie lip syncs and dances to "Try a Little Tenderness." This is a bit weird, but I still think Jon Cryer's attractive now.
Patrick Flueger as Jeremiah in 'The Princess Diaries,' a character who does nothing in terms of plot, but is awesome regardless. I love the male lead in this movie (played by Jason Schwartzman's brother) too, but for some reason, Jeremiah and his way too red hair won me over back in middle school. All Jeremiah does is get picked on and do little card tricks, but he'll forever be one of the best elements of this film.

Patrick Fugit as Patrick in "Saved!" That's right, a Jesus nerd made my list. His character is just so sweet and accepting when almost everyone else in the movie is that hellfire and brimstone 'all sinners must pay' type of Christian. Now, I'm not super religious, but I wouldn't mind going out with the son of a Pastor if he were like Patrick.

So there you go, I clearly have too much time on my hands and looking back on this, I realize that all 12 guys on this list have brown hair (er, Jeremiah doesn't, but the guy that plays him does, so that counts). Guess I prefer fellow brunettes, haha. Wait, does brunettes only apply to women? It's the suffix 'ette' that makes me think so... Hmm, what do you call guys with brown hair then? Never mind, now I'm being a word nerd.

Peace out, rainbow trouts/Girl Scouts!

Monday, October 6, 2008

It's a fresh spring, so let's sing...

I feel bad I haven't updated recently, but the Internet connection in my flat has been pretty crappy lately. Believe me, I wish it wasn't, because this past week was Spring Break. Something I didn't realize until my one flatmate left for home and I asked why. Which means I basically had no plans at all until Friday. D'oh. I spent time with friends (We went to a ginger factory. Yup. Not as lame as it sounds but still a bit funny considering everyone else there were little kids and their grandparents), wandered around, went thrift shopping, and watched random movies on TV with one of the three remaining flatmates who stayed. I also wasted the one day the Internet actually decided to work on figuring out how to fool the NBC website into thinking my computer was still in the US so I could watch the new episodes of Heroes. I lead a sad, nerdy life.

Then Friday finally came, the day I'd looked forward to all week. Why? Because I had my very first band interview with the wonderful Yeasayer! Unfortunately, everything before the interview went horribly wrong. Even though I took an extra early bus, it got caught in traffic and made me late, then when I got into work, the manager was angry not just about that, but that I didn't call him to let him know. See, I don't have a cell phone over here. I really don't need one because I'd only ever call three people in Australia and I have a phone in my room for that. Then I use Skype for everyone back home. Plus, I never really liked using mobile phones anyway. My manager thought this was sacrilegious apparently, and continued to tell everyone in the same tone one would use when saying "Can you believe she doesn't think the Earth is round? Get with the times!" This did not help my nerves and I bumbled a tiny bit the rest of my shift (though they were all small beginners mistakes, as is understandable). Right before I was to clock out, I grabbed a glass from the dishwasher without realizing it was broken and gashed my hand. Bleeding and freaking out, I ran to take care of it and while doing so, the manager and owner basically told me I was fired. Because of prejudice against non-cell phone users and because I was "late and will be again because that's how Taurus' are." Yup, I was fired preemptively (the owner is a 'psychic,' remember?) due to the fact I'd be late in the future.

I was extra freaked out about doing the interview an hour and a half after being fired, but the guys were incredibly nice. I met them all, but only interviewed their lead singer, Chris Keating. We had a fun twenty minute chat, which I've been working to transcribe and its been a pain in the arse. I hate how my voice sounds when its recorded and I also don't like hearing how many times I said, "Really?! No way!" or "Cooool!" during our conversation. Diane Sawyer I am not. The rest of the day was okay, I sat in a coffee shop and read for a while. I lost some enthusiasm for the concert because I kept thinking about my job, but it was a fun show. Well, fun other than a really drunk girl falling over on me while she was dancing a bit too much to '2080' and causing me to hurt my leg. So many injuries in one day, yeesh. I'll put up gig photos, a short review, and maybe even the interview here in a few days. I just have to hear from my editor and see what he needs.

For now, I'll leave you (since a lot of you probably don't even know who they are) with Yeasayer doing an impromptu acapella set in the Paris subway. Trust me, this is awesome and I gushed about it a bit to Chris and he was like, "Yeah, it was pretty cool, but I hate all that rambling I do in the beginning." So you guys have Chris' permission to skip ahead to the actual singing a minute and fifteen seconds in, haha.