Stars @ Webster Hall - 02-25-06

The evening started, as evenings are wont to do, with dinner. We were supposed to be meeting some more people for dinner at The Three of Cups in the East Village, but unfortunately the other party was just leaving Roselyn, Long Island by the time Gerri, Sean, and I arrived for some eats. Fairly quiet atmosphere, nice low lighting, brick interior, great music (during dinner I heard Tom Waits, Elvis Costello with Burt Bacharach, and a contemporary rendition of The Very Thought of You, which happend to be my wedding song) coupled with the usual fun conversation all contributed to a nice meal of pignoli-crusted talipa with escarole and grilled tomatos.

Heading over to Webster Hall, we got in just as Stars was beginning their second song. Now I am still fairly new to the whole Indie Pop/Rock world, and had only heard the Stars' two records a few times before the concert. My impression of the records - Heart and Set Yourself on Fire - were somber, delicate, strangely British in their musical sensibilities, which is odd considering I think they started in and are based in Canada. Anyway, overall I really enjoyed the records, but was of the opinion that they were lacking a little in the weight department. Well, live the band is a completely different story:

At times having up to 9 musicians on stage, these guys were monsters live. On record I preferred the quieter, introspective songs from the Heart album, mainly because it was those songs where you could hear the interplay between the two vocalists, Torquil Campbell (the dude) and Amy Millna (the chick). Live, everything just congealed into a potent mix of pop, rock, ballads, and noise that was at all times both jump-up-and-down happy and stand in place mesmerizing.

I have no idea what songs these are from - my camera was completely useless in the venue, so these are all from Sean's camera. I know that early on in the show there was a great song called Going, Going, Gone from the first album Nightsongs. Again, decent on the record, incredible live.
This was some crazy song dedicated to Dick Cheney, who "finally had the guts to shoot someone himself." There was a lot of screaming and, though I have no love for Cheney or the rest of the Dubya administration, this song kind of lost me. Listening through the latest record, I think this was called He Lied About Death, but I could be wrong. It was very different live.

Everything was roses and rock after that. They closed the set with my favorite song, Your Ex-Lover is Dead, and then came out for an additional three numbers (I think - I may have missed a songs from over-dancing). For a guy who said Stars was good, but not his favorite band, Sean picked up about $65 worth of merch from the table before we headed out. All in all, a great night and a fantastic band live.

Buy some Stars at amazon.com!

My Grandfather

I was always in awe of my grandfather. He came over with my grandmother and my father from West Germany in 1954 to settle in New Jersey. He flew planes. He rode on whaling vessels. He traveled all over the world. He used to ride the rails, carrying a basket of food for my grandmother and her family when they were dating, because my grandmother lived in an area that was heavily bombed during the war, and food was scarce.

When my grandfather died last May, our family sat around looking over all his old pictures, telling stories, remembering all his little quirks. My grandfather and I were alike in a lot of ways - our builds were very similar, we both had the habit of pacing back and forth after being somewhere for too long. We both loved to wear the same hats.

So we went through a bunch of things, and my grandmother showed me some pictures of my grandfather when he was much younger, and just starting out in life. I looked at them with my dad, and he said, "Grandpa was the coolest guy I'd ever seen." he was trying not to cry as he looked at this guy who was so young.

This is my grandfather.

Opeth @ Town Hall - 02-23-06

The night began with a quick stop at the Heartland Brewery next to the Town Hall. Not sure if there'll be any alcohol at the venue, Sean and I stock up on beer and appetizers to get us through the Evening With Opeth.

When we arrive, we cheer to find that not only are the seats good, but there's a bar upstairs serving everything. Hooray! We scarf down another couple o' drinks and proceed inside. The song Deliverance is blasting through the walls, but it's only a recording. Tonight's special Evening... is a special no-opening-act show that will feature songs in chronological order, spanning their entire discography. So it was bizarre to walk into the theater and see this:

Oh yeah...This was the premiere of the Ballet Diviare performing "...And the Devil Knows Why." The Ballet Diviare is a non-profit contemporary company located in NYC that has received acclaim for incorporating metal (particularly death metal) into their performances. This recital was set to the title track off the Deliverance record. I liked it - a nice change of pace from what you would typically expect at a metal, and great for a band that isn't really typical. After the recital, it was time to ROCK!! First track was Under the Weeping Moon, off the debut record Orchid.

Apparently the band name is no longer Opeth. After asking the crowd what his band's name is, Mikael Akerfeldt explained in his usual soft spoken dry humor, "No. We are Opeth...of SUBURBIA!" And with that the band launched into their next block of songs:

This is from The Night and the Silent Water off of Morningrise. Hearing this live really emphasized the fact that the song (which was never one of my favorites) suffered horribly due to the bad production of the record, a point Mikael was only too happy to point out.

The Amen Corner, off of My Arms Your Hearse. When I saw them in November they played When.

Here's the jerk who didn't understand that you're supposed to sit in a seated performance like this - the reason being so the 6'5" guys above you don't have to come down and threaten to throw your ass off the balcony if you don't sit down and stop blocking your view. He sure was enthusiastic, though!

A couple more pics as they went through their set.

A Fair Judgementnt from Deliverance

Ghost of Perdition from Ghost Reveries.

Despite my all-encompassing love of the Swedish Death Metal, by the time their "last" song, The Grand Conjuration came on, I was pooped, and knew that they would encore with Demon of the Fall, just as they did in November (they did). So I gave Sean's eardrums a break and we left to do some shopping over at Virgin Megastore. As I stumbled out of the theater my overall impressions were 1) great show once again, even though 2) the sounds wasn't as good, which made 3) Mikael's jokes harder to hear this time, but 4) thank god for the chairs! Hearing the stuff from the first two records was awesome, and I left knowing that it was definitely worth the trip in to the city.

And finally, a snapshot of Times Square that turned out to pretty nicely encapsulate my feelings and impressions of spending An Evening With Opeth:

Beginner's Luck

So last week my roommate from college Bob calls me to come over for a little poker with him and a few of his friends. Two problems: He lives in Smithtown, and I have never played poker (at least Texas Hold 'Em) before. I hadn't seen Bob in about a year, despite the fact we live reasonably close (40 miles) together and keep in fairly constant email/phone contact. So I played a few unimpressive rounds on Yahoo! and, having secured some money and a couple cans of Guinness, decide to brave the cold and play some cards.

I get to Bob's and, after much rejoicing and reminiscing about the old days, he proceeds to run me through some Hold 'Em etiquette - checking, the meaning of the blinds, how to deal the cards, where to put your chips, the difference between playing Limit and No Limit Hold 'Em - my mind was scrambling the entire hour or so lesson. This was Bob's face as he realized I had no poker face, kept forgetting to check, and bet on cards that a blind man could see wouldn't get me anywhere:So of course God looked down and gave Bob, and the rest of the players the BITCH SLAP as I proceeded to win not only the cash out Limit game we started with, but the additional No Limit game we played next - in less than 30 minutes.

Thank you, oh God of the Blessed Flop. Here's a chip on the house.

EKGads!

So about two weeks ago I went back for my second round of donation tests. Notice the complete ease with which I subject myself to it:

Yeah, that's me, looking a little more bloated than I typically am (Honest!) hooked up to the EKG machine during the most recent trip to Mount Sinai in Manhattan. The reason I look so uncomfortable is that the table I'm lying on is about 12" wide, and I'm balancing while at the same time trying to forget about the fact there's a 24 hr blood pressure monitor wrapped like a python around my left arm and the tubes are behind my back (hence the sexy arching). The day started with Gerri and I lugging the pee container (see earlier post) through the wonderful NYC subway system to the hospital, where I was immediately told to provide another sample.

ME: Um, do I have to fill this whole thing again?
THEM (slightly disturbed): Uh, no. This little cup will be fine.

There was also lots more blood taken, a chest x-ray, and a visit with the surgical consult, and a very emotional visit with the social worker, who was there to make sure we knew everything we needed to know about what will happen in the near future and what could happen after that. The whole thing was very emotional, and I think we even got her crying a bit after Gerri broke down (approx. 3 sec after I did). No matter how many times I think I've gotten a handle around what I'm risking, a new thing I hadn't thought of comes down for us to cope with. I suppose this is how it will be until either it's done or I get declined for the procedure. But I'd be lying if I said it easier to handle the closer it gets.

So how close it is? The other day I received a phone call from the coordinator at the transplant center, Kim. She told me that they needed to re-schedule some of the tests as well as perform a few new ones. There's some concern with my liver functions being too high, which is odd since I'm not much of a drinker. Also I failed my urine test, which turns out to be more scary to me - that's how they diagnosed my brother with what he has. Now, I know that won't be the case with me (I've been tested every six months and have been clear), but it makes me anxious. So Gerri and I are going back in a week and a half to do an ultrasound on my liver, another urine test, and something called a Glucose Tolerance Test, which is to see if I'm a high candidate for diabetes later on. I'm trying to stay positive, especially in front of Gerri, but I tell you, this sucks.