Happy Armageddon!

Hey, I need to blog again. I know. Parents were in town Christmasweek, and then 'Pockets and I flew back east for a wedding in Pittsburgh/to see if my new niece/nephew had arrived on the scene, but that's no excuse: Benazir was assassinated/bumped her head; Pakistan devolved into a riotous and blood-spattered free-for-all (which led to the destruction of, among other things, my aunt's car...while she was driving it); The Wire season premiere dropped On Demand; Mike Huckabee became the would-be-nominee for a bit, then started to talk about things not related to our Lord and Savior/love handles; Giuliani became irrelevant; and Will Smith secretly converted to Scientology (which makes him still more electable than Romney). Also, Happy New Year! Here's to hoping that nuclear holocaust/impending Chinese colonization/bird flu/Britney-LiLo-Winehouse's inevitable group overdose and-or suicide pact decides to put off plans till '09 at least.

canadian hall of fame

i briefly sojourned in the dirty dirty, away from the internets and legalese, where i managed to score some tix to see a great canadian band.

the crowd was an interesting mix of alienated goth kids, their parents who were giving them rides (hello streetcars!), fratties in bass pro fishing hats and disoriented indie rockers. to my surprise, when wim wenders sang the line "don't want to live in america no more," from "windowsill," the crowd roared. did exeter help foment such anti-establishment sentiments?

the evening began with "black mirror," the first song off their newest album. there were 10 musicians on stage, as if it were the WPA or something. is it the socialized medicine that enables the band to employ not one, but two accordionists?

oh wait, the evening really began when i pulled into the parking lot and the attendant asked me, "hey, are you from china?" but then again, a couple of kids sitting on a stoop in my neighborhood in the BK recently called me "gook," [ed note: to their credit, it was a pretty nuanced ethnic slur for a bunch of 12 year olds] so i guess you can't really fault the south on this one.

short story short, believe the hype. the concert was pretty awesome. they played virtually every song off their newest and a handful from their first. each song was met with thunderous hoots and applause (and high-fives from the fratties). the lead singer, despite his amish-esque suspender-short pants combo, was surprisingly charismatic. and i lucked out, as the wall of muscle in front of me remained seated through the entire concert.

these guys, to state the obvs, are blowing up. i'm sure they'll be playing basketball/hockey-size arenas the next time they tour. they undoubtedly will reach REM/radiohead/U2 status within no time, thereby comfortably placing them within the hallowed list of "wildly successful bands indie rockers can love unironically."

oh wow, she has an NYT editorial?! goodness. i haven't been this confused since the matthew fox editorial of early 2007.