The Weather b/w Shows to Live For

Dear Readers,

Sadly sadly sadly I am sorry to say that I will NOT be coming home to Saskatchewan during the Christmas holiday. I do promise that as soon as my work status renewal is processed I will make a trip home (one was or another). Readers from home - do come visit me here. Rich and Carla were here a few weekends ago and we had a pretty alright time indeed. If they can make it so can you. See you soon.

I have been doing some other traveling though. I just got back from spending Yanksgiving with Jenn's family in Sacramento. I got back to find a snow covered Seattle. I stayed home yesterday in fear of being stuck in traffic all day. I was not alone in doing this as, apparently, only about ten people showed up for work. The news reports say tomorrow mornings commute will be even worse as it's expected to dump again this evening.

Last week I was debating what show to see last night. I was torn between seeing the Dears (one of my favourite live bands, whom I have seen thrice previously) at Neumos or the reformed Lemonheads (a band that I enjoyed when I was in high school). Due to the weather and post-vacation malaise I opted to see neither and stayed home. A similar event happened a few weeks ago when we decided not to see Bonnie 'Prince' Billy at The Tractor even though I bought advanced tickets (we were tired and it was raining hard).

However, I did see the Decemberists at the Paramount the Friday before last. Unfortunately, the was short at about an hour and they played too heavily from their most recent release, their major label debut The Crane Wife, which hasn't caught me the same way as their past work. Singer Colin Meloy was sick though so they had an excuse for a short set. They canceled their next night's gig in Vancouver so it was legit but still disappointing.

Coming up is two shows that I am looking forward to with murderous glee. These are -

Jonathan Richman at The Tractor Tavern - December 11th and 12th
I'll probably opt for the Tuesday show. This is holy shit amazing though. Jonathan Richman, wow... (he's the guy that sings the songs in There's Something About Mary in case you are completely out of the know)

90.3 KEXP presents Benefit for Muscular Dystrophy featuring James Mercer of The Shins, and Joel RL Phelps at Neumo's - January 6th
I also hear that Eric Bachmann (Crooked Fingers, Archers of Loaf) will be playing. So that's three great acts (I could go on and on about Phelps) in one show. At $25 it's pricey but it's for a good cause. I'll see how generous I'm feeling when the time comes.

I was going to write about some albums, books, and my revised Christmas plans but I'll save it for another day because I have to get back to work.

Later!

I totally just saw Bill Gates and more

At 11:50 AM today Microsoft was presenting the first of their "flash
concerts" to promote, their new iPod alternative, Zune. The Secret
Machines played outside of Westlake Center. They are a band that I
have heard of but have not heard. They were pretty decent, fans of The
Smashing Pumpkins, mid period Flaming Lips, and shoegazer bands like
Ride would like them. After their first song, John in the Morning from
KEXP came up and talked about Zune for a second then introduced Mr.
Gates. Bill talked for a bit and then John Wi-fi'd him a song from his
Zune. The Secret Machines played two or three more songs, while it
began to rain and that was it.

On my way back to the office this guy and this girl, who were walking
in front of me on the sidewalk, were totally smoking weed right out in
the open. It was really pungent stuff too. Suddenly, this guy with
white hair stops the girl and I guess he was busting them. He could
have been an off duty cop or just a responsible citizen doing what he
thinks is his civic duty. He was doing something with grabbing the
joint from her and opening his fanny pack. I kept walking but looked
behind and they were walking away. So maybe he let them go because
they were foreign (perhaps) or maybe he was buying. Weird shit.