slow-dog.backintheusa

Wednesday, February 26, 2003

Last night was the first night of Noise Pop 2003 in San Francisco. I went to Bimbo's with Nick to see Stephen Malkmus and a bunch of other bands. We managed to miss the opener, then caught The Velvet Teen who were not bad. They could not distract me, though, from the drunk guys who we stood behind. I immediately flashed back to my days in the Midwest. You know these guys. You could tell that they were there to Stephen Malkmus, but hadn't bought an album since Slanted and Enchanted, and thought anything newer was crap. Predictably, one of them started jabbering at some other guy, and pretty soon tensions were escalating. In the Midwest, this is the point were shoving ensues, random people in the crowd start fanning the flames, and then someone throws a punch and you try to avoid having someone spill their drink on you (unintentional or otherwise). In California, they actually "took their business outside", thereby sparing the rest of us. Score one for California.

Next up was Track Star. I had enjoyed the first album, but had not been impressed when I saw them live last year. This time, though, was better. Many people were impatiently trying to get through the third band, and Track Star could sense this. And they slowed everything down. In-between song banter, jokes, tuning time, false starts--they pulled out all the tricks. They even replayed part of one song after it was done, so we "could hear how it was supposed to sound." People heckled them. People booed. It was brilliant. It was like seeing Tony Clifton sing, and knowing that it was really Andy Kaufman. At least, in my mind, that's what it was like. I was hoping Track Star was going to tell the audience that they had one more song, hear the cheers, and then launch onto the 33 minute song that closed the first album. Alas, although I believe that's the song they closed with, they kept it to a reasonable length, as if winking to those in the know that they could've...........you know.....if they'd wanted to.........

Malkmus was good. It wasn't amazing, but how can you complain too much about him? The new songs sounded promising, and I left happy.

09:04 PM PST
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Sunday, February 23, 2003

Every five seconds while you're watching this you're thinking, "Can this get any better?" And each time, it does.

02:28 PM PST
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Sunday, February 9, 2003

The birthday went well. Festivities started with drinks at the Tonga Room. I'm not sure which was better, the drinks or the presentation, but either way, it was worthwhile. After much seesawing, we decided to eat at Zuni Cafe, which satisfied my requirement for raw seafood. Mmm....raw seafood. After a lesiurely paced dinner, the night was topped off with a can of VB and a fine cigar. I had intended to get really drunk and pass out in some compromising position and wake up regretting it, but that just never materialized (there's always next year--or next week, for that matter). It was a pretty low-key birthday, but 28 is a pretty low-key age, so that's to be expected. Thanks Dan, Nick, Kevin, and Maciej, and to everyone who called or emailed!

The birthday festivities aren't over, though, with the parental units visiting next week (more fine food at Citron, and some shopping, and then finally a (only related to my birthday because it happens the same month) trip to Masa's on the 21st. It's a good thing I live on coffee and Altoids during the week, or I'd be big as MC Hammer's old house.

Finally, a belated bon voyage to Steph who is now in Australia

06:40 PM PST
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