Bright Eyes and Emmylou

Started listening to Bright Eyes. I'm quite sure they've been recommended to me, and I picked up the album I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning last night. I was immediately fond of Conor Oburst's voice, and it somehow reminded me of the character George from the TV show Grey's Anatomy. Another voice on the album had me puzzled for a minute or two. I could have sworn it was the voice of old style country singer Emmylou Harris providing the harmonies. I thought I must be wrong, as the style was very different from anything I've heard from Ms. Harris. But sure enough, the internet tells me it's her.

The music of Bright Eyes has been compared to that of Bob Dylan. While the lyrics are reminiscent of Dylan's anti-war message, I find it unfortunate that Conor Oburst has been given such shoes to fill. Who can live up to arguably the greatest songwriter of the 20th century?

Bob Dylan this group may not be, but still the album is solid. I'm looking more into this Bright Eyes.

Entry posted by byscuits at 01:43 PM | Comments (1)

States and Countries

States I've visited:

visited 32 states (62%)

Countries I've visited:

visited 7 countries (3%)

How did I get to Minnesota and Germany you ask? Layovers.

I think Adam has me pretty seriously beat.

The site that generates the map is here.

Entry posted by byscuits at 10:44 AM | Comments (1)

A Drunk Frat Boy and Some Cake

This past Friday night, Cake came to MIT for the annual spring weekend concert. There aren't many bands whose every song I have memorized, but Cake is one. The set was great, and I especially enjoyed hearing renditions of "Stickshifts and Safetybelts" and "Sheep Go to Heaven". The music was great, and I love the lead singer's completely beat up guitar. It had duct or gaffers tape on it. Impressive. The entire time I was wishing I had been able to get a press pass to shoot the scene. It was driving me crazy. It's been quite some time since I've been to a concert or play and have not had my camera at my side.

But there was something else that was annoying. There was this frat guy with 4 or 5 of his frat brothers that was causing all kinds of problems near us. He was very drunk, and kept shoving his brothers into other folks in the crowd. His brothers were egging him on, yet apologizing when they ran into others. They were totally using him to cause problems and not have to take any responsibility for themselves. Pretty genius, really.

But there came a point that I got sick of this kid. I got sick of getting shoved and not being able to enjoy the concert, and I was in a bit of a mood that night. I was contemplating what to do when it all came together. He stumbled near me, and I grabbed him, wrapping my arms completely around him. His arms were at his side, and he was wriggling trying to get free. But he couldn't. I held him for an entire song, and he never got free. After he calmed down a bit, I let him go.

His frat brothers were teasing him, and he was quite embarassed. For the rest of the concert, he was cursing at me and questioning my sexual orientation somewhat graphically. But he calmed down, and that was pretty much that.

It was fun to embarass the frat boy.

Entry posted by byscuits at 10:16 AM | Comments (9)