No more sad times, only glad times

Well, another year of Decibel has come and gone. Saturday night was the highlight with Audion as a nice warm up to the unbelievably poundy, relentless assault of Carl Craig. He's been around for over 20 years and Saturday night, I learned why. He laid the smack down with a smattering of Detroit regulars like Derrick May and Plastikman. The crowd was attentive and, by the end of it all, moist.
The night ended with C2's killer remix of ultra-classic "Good Life" by Inner City.


I wish I could say that Sunday's show was as solid, but Supermayer, while raising the bar from ear-numbing opener Flying Lotus was only mediocre. Their set never really took off and they seemed more intent on branding a sound than on shaking the dancefloor. That's ok, though, leaving early gave me time to watch the newest episode of Mad Men when I got home. Plus, I was still recovering from the work over Carl Craig gave me.

Previously:

Decibel Festival '06
Decibel Festival '07

I need a new dance beat

This weekend is the triumphant return of Seattle's premiere dance music festival--the Decibel Festival. Last year's was a little weak, but the lineup this year pretty much blows the last couple of years out da water.

I'm only making a point of going on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday for Carl Craig and Matthew Dear as Audion and Sunday for Supermayer.

I plan on dancing--a lot.










Previously:

Superpitcher

Michael Mayer

Matthew Dear

Hope

I hope your parents' house was destroyed by Ike.
I hope you lost your new job now that investment banks are going tits up.
I hope your fat girlfriend annoys you one tenth the amount that you annoyed me.
You were never a friend, and if I had known that all it would have taken to get your fat ass to move out was throwing out your food, I would have done it sooner.
Later, dick.

The place doesn't stink as much.
The place is generally picked up.
It is significantly quieter.
Things are looking up.

Weekend viewing

Pasolini's Salo
Jim Henson's The Muppet Movie
Tarsem's The Fall
Paris Hilton's The Hottie and the Nottie

And if you have a life that doesn't revolve around chasing the dragon (of sleep) then I'd recommend going to see the director's cut Donnie Darko tonight at the Egyptian.
It features a cover of this song:

I prefer the original.

Bye bye bug

I'm slipping in my old age. I don't know how I missed it, but Donte who wrote the best music column in the Stranger is handing the baton back to Dave Segal. I never really liked Data Breaker or Dave's columns--mainly, I think, because he always had a much more elitist take on the genre. Donte, however, knew where the music should work--on the dancefloor. And the dancefloor is populist in nature.

Donte and I don't always see eye-to-eye, but we definitely have much more common ground than Dave and I do.

So farewell Donte. Best of luck in future endeavors, and I'll see you out dancing (at Carl Craig and Supermayer).

[photo from The Stranger]

Triumph thinks for me

People I work with

You're out of touch, I'm out of time

I saw The House Bunny starring Anna Farris this weekend. Phil and I had talked about going to see it. He likes Anna Farris quite a bit, and I like her well-enough especially in Gregg Araki's Smiley Face. [This scene rules.] I had other movies on my 'To See' list that ranked much higher, and probably would have opted for an Unbox rental or Netflix of The House Bunny. However, Friday morning I became the guardian of my 13 year-old niece, and since I am the reed that bends in the wind when my niece is around, we saw the movie.

Some of you know that she was in town for the week. Her 81 year-old great-grandmother lives in West Seattle, so Lauren and her aunt and uncle from Fort Worth came to spend a week with the octagenarian. I had planned to keep her occupied on Thursday.

So I picked Lauren up from the airport on Saturday. She was an unaccompanied minor. USAirways managed to keep me detained at the kiosk check-in for over an hour. I didn't have a confirmation number or pass because I was picking up a minor, so the ticket agents kepts shooing me away. My niece called me agitated--was I ever going to come to the gate? After the two ticketing agents checked in three flights, they asked me if they could help me. Yes, I informed them, my niece is waiting at the gate for me to come get her.

"Really," asked one of the ticketing agents, "Why didn't you just tell us that you were picking up an unaccompanied minor?" I muttered under my breath that I had, and that this "service" cost my brother and sister-in-law two hundred dollars.

After standing another half hour or so in security, I made my way to the gate where my niece was waiting. She was wearing the same outfit that she wore to my aunt's funeral. It was very formal and, I later learned, very uncomfortable. She had her iPod and issues of MinX, Seventeen and Cosmo Girl.

We descended to the baggage claim as the piece of luggage that read, "Final piece for USAirways" made it way onto the carousel. Of the luggage still in rotation, none belonged to my niece. This put her nearly over the edge. "It'll be fine," I told her. "It probably just got on the next flight. We'll go to Target and get you some sweats, pjs, and a toothbrush." And that's what we did. I left her with her great-grandmother, and returned home for a few days of work.
I met Lauren, her great-grandmother, her aunt, and her uncle for lunch on Wednesday everyone's favorite, Blue C Sushi.
Thursday, I came over around noon and Lauren and I bussed into the city. This was my day to show her the city. We got sandwiches at Salumi and took them to the UPS/Waterfall park. Then we went to the library, and then we made our way to the Seattle Art Museum. Her fingers were rarely away from her phone, furiously texting a battery of friends back east. I showed her her first Warhol, Rothko, Pollack, Manet, Monet, Degas and others. Between pieces, she texted.
Somehow, I doubt the texts looks like this, "omg! pollack sux da big one!!!1! lol!" or "rofl warhol wtf?" or "manet ftw!!1111!!!!"

Then it was up to Seattle Center where she had been before, so I didn't have to waste precious money on a trip to the top of the needle. For dinner, we went to one of my favorite places, 611 Supreme. Lauren only had soup. The topper for the evening was the world-premiere of Shrek: The Musical at the 5th Avenue theater. The show is Broadway bound and I was happy that my niece and I could see it together.

Needless to say, Thursday really wiped me out. Her great-grandmother had mentioned taking us to Tillicum Village on Friday, but I told Lauren to get me out of it. So when the phone started ringing on Friday morning, I ignored it, rolled over, and went back to sleep.
I could not, however, ignore the knocking at my door Friday morning.

Lauren's aunt was standing at the door with Lauren. "Guess what! You just gave birth to a 13 year-old girl," she said as she pulled Lauren's suitcase onto the porch. I was still out of it and didn't really understand what was going on. It turns out that Lauren's great-grandmother had a bout with dementia and accused all of them of stealing from her. There was name-calling, and overall it sounded like a pretty crummy time.

I removed The Big Penis Book from the coffee table and tidied up as best I could in a short amount of time. So I got to spend a couple extra days with niece. My niece who likes Guns'n'Roses and Marilyn Manson and Celine Dion and Shania Twain. We talked about video games and I let her play some of my World of Warcraft characters. She's the first member of my family to meet Phil. "Phil's really great," she told me on our car ride to the airport on Sunday.

"Yeah, he is, isn't he," I replied. So maybe this is that summer for her--you know the one like in those coming-of-age stories--the kind that change your life. Maybe its that kind of summer for me.

FarmHaus Modern

Just wanted to mention that my dear friend from college Heidi has begun blogging.
Please take the time to visit her lovely little corner of the web.

FarmHaus Modern

Wiling away the time

Go make shoes. It is highly therapeutic.

These are mine.

They are ugly and I like them.

Now you go make yours.

Be sure to post a link to them in the comments section.

Maudlin Monday

I'll be leaving town tomorrow to go to my aunt's funeral in Cleveland on Tuesday. Naturally, my thoughts have been much more nostalgic and sentimental lately. Didn't help any that my babysitter up until I was, like, 7 or so got in contact with me through Facebook.

And then I heard this story on NPR. I liked it quite a bit, but it added to that feeling.

Decibel Festival '08

I'm not buying a festival pass this year. If you'd like to, go here.

I'm only going to see Carl.

Bam! Pow!

A couple lines about this summer's comic book exstravaganza--

Iron Man -- Mostly enjoyable but no real sense of an enemy until the final third of the film--I mean, sure, we all knew the Dude was gonna be the bad guy, but he wasn't really that bad until the end. Some fun sequences and really Robert Downey Jr.'s show.

The Incredible Hulk -- Took itself a little too seriously for my tastes. One joke about purple stretch pants was about the only moment of levity. The Abomination fight at the end was pretty anti-climatic. There wasn't even the "Oh no he's really not dead" take.

Hellboy 2 - All around great time. Had some fun B-movie nods with outstanding special effects. The expository dialogue was peppered well with characterization which adds to the completeness of the film's universe. The only storyline which seemed a bit forced was the Duala/Abe love story. It existed in too few scenes or the intensity of their meeting when they pressed hands wasn't played up. A genuinely fun film.

The Dark Knight - Kind of a mess. Some glaring plot holes and poor character development all-around with the exception of maybe James Gordon. I saw it on IMAX and I couldn't tell what sequences were filmed for IMAX which was a bit disappointing. As for that character development--Rachel and Harvey never quite seemed in love, therefore Harvey's transformation seemed implausible. The implications that the Joker manifested as a result of Batman's hubris were pretty laughable because we never get anything other than an action hero.
As for those plot holes--who took care of the Joker after Batman saved Rachel?
And I'm sure it was glossed over in some dialogue from a news anchor or something--but how did those people end up on the ferry boats?

I liked them all well-enough, though, and I'm probably being a mite hard on The Dark Knight because I felt a wee bit ripped off and let down. I think if I had seen it this weekend after the first wave of mania subsided on a normal sized screen that didn't cost (Phil) $15 a ticket, I would have been a little more forgiving--or rather could have given into it a bit more.

You're a pal and a confidante

I just wanted to express my gratitude to the wonderful array of people who sent me birthday wishes. This year, I really wasn't feeling celebratory. My patient boyfriend bent over backwards (at one point literally) to ensure I tolerated my old-i-ness with a modicum of composure. But there was no beach blowout like last year or classy restaurant get-together like the year prior.
There were text messages and phone calls and facebook wall-writing and comments left on the previous post and even a rather embarrassing blog post replete with picture. So thanks for thinking of me, for making me feel valued. I swear I'll feel up to speed sometime soon, and I swear there will be a party--not a birthday party, but a gathering of those near and dear party. 'Cause lord knows I like to party.

Expires 6/30/08

If you had a coupon that said it expired on 6/30/08--would you think that you could use it on that date for the discount?
Yeah, so does everyone else--except for the asshole Papa John's on Holman Road that took the time to send out "Neighborly" coupons and then wouldn't redeem them.
Screw you. Your pizza sucks anyway.

Looking from a window above

I'm so bummed that Yazoo is touring and they're playing nowhere near here.
Maybe if I had heard about the show before today, I would have planned something for my birthday.

As it is, I'll just hum along as their songs play through my headphones on the bus ride home.
Sometimes I wish mp3s got worn out like my old TDK mix tape that got creaky and shift-pitchy from rewinding and playing Only You over and over.

The song after Only You on that mix tape was Sparks--who also had a comeback of sorts this year.

Whatever, I do what I want!

Yeah, I'll admit it--this story cracked me up.

Why can't more young people commit to something and follow through?

RIP - Cyd Charisse

I always liked her--I don't know why. Maybe its because first and foremost she was a dancer. Lord knows I like dancers.
Speaking of . . . isn't Comfort on SYTYCD, like, the greatest reality TV personality ever?

She was a classy lady (and a Party Girl before Parker, no less) who aged very gracefully. Rest in peace.

OMG shoez

Even though Booka Shade's newest album isn't everything I'd hoped it would be, its still has some lovely tracks with impeccable production.
More impressive than their latest album, however, is their pairing with K-Swiss to make limited edition sneaks.
You can add these to the list of other limited edition sneaks I want (like these and these).

A love we all came to know

Way back in October--or actually it might have been November 1st--Tennille and I saw the whiz-bang production of Xanadu on Broadway. It was recently nominated for multiple Tony awards.
I hope it wins lots of awards--its a fun, bright, silly show with a wonderful cast. But maybe its too gay . . .
(via Towleroad)