Brand New @ the Pageant -- 2007.10.21

Originally uploaded by Todd | ishootshows.com.

Shannon and I caught Brand New at The Pageant Sunday night. It was an awesome show.



Dinner at Country Thai, Cupcakes from Jilly's Cupcake Bar, and a kick ass Rock Show. The perfect way to spend a Sunday!

I thought I would post my letter to GQ here since it will probably never see print-



Dear GQ,



I was pretty excited when your June issue promised to tell me “How to be a 21st Century Dad” and I laughed so hard at your inclusion of a bong (page 193) with the tag line “Because Daddy needs his medicine.”



Oh, the fun memories of growing up with a Dad that was high all the time. I loved watching him sit on the couch and do nothing all day but smoke up, yell at my family for no reason but the fact that he couldn’t score any weed, and those arrests were a highlight of my childhood.



Come on, GQ! Get your head out of your ass!



-Buck Weiss

As I start work on my paper about EmilyDickinson's Puritan background and her links to the heritage of thecaptivity narrative through her masochistic obsession with prolongedpain, I have been running into Gothic imagery of a macabre all day. 

First a taste of Dickinson:

414



'Twas like a Maelstrom, with a notch,

That nearer, every Day,

Kept narrowing its boiling Wheel

Until the Agony



Toyed coolly with the final inch

Of your delirious Hem—

And you dropt, lost,

When something broke—

And let you from a Dream—



As if a Goblin with a Gauge—

Kept measuring the Hours—

Until you felt your Second

Weigh, helpless, in his Paws—



And not a Sinew—stirred—could help,

And sense was setting numb—

When God—remembered—and the Fiend

Let go, then, Overcome—



As if your Sentence stood—pronounced—

And you were frozen led

From Dungeon's luxury of Doubt

To Gibbets, and the Dead—



And when the Film had stitched your eyes

A Creature gasped "Reprieve"!

Which Anguish was the utterest—then—

To perish, or to live?








Then, I ran into the new Manson "If I Was Your Vampire."  I have never been a big fan, but I have always admired his sound.



Then I read this Story.



And new Interpol songs, though they are live and the audio is a little shitty.

I know Spot Buck went over in a big way (although many said it was too easy to spot me in a crowd - Is it my fault I'm one of a kind?), but I wanted to post a cohesive run down of our awesome trip to Nashvegas last Thursday and the Decemberist love that ensued.





Since I had Mike, Meg, Kristin, and Niya at my mercy in Nashville I had to take them to the cheap but amazing eating at Kalamatas (I know Flavin knows Nashvegas food better, but I have a few places up my sleeve).







Where you can get some amazing Mediterranean cuisine. Their special was stuffed salmon, but I am allergic so I enjoyed the smells and loved my gyro plate and spinach pie (which was not officially spanakopita, but was just as delicious).



We arrived at the show about a half hour early. City Hall is relatively new and near downtown. I was really hoping it would be a new 328 performance hall (it was tore down years ago after I saw Elliot Smith, Junior Brown, The Strokes, Weezer, and many others. I actually played there myself on more than one occasion). Sadly, it was a shitty little warehouse with bad sound and a horrible set up. We were able to see most of the show, but the place was damn uncomfortable.





Mike brought his camera so we busied ourselves as we waited on the bands, with goofy shots.



I was excited to see the first band after hearing that the singer used to be in Granddaddy, but All Smiles was nothing to write home about. Their album might be good, but their show needed some work.



Finally, The Decemberists took the stage in all their glory. I was hoping that they would play for five hours and highlight everything off of their last two albums. I didn't quite get my wish, but overall the show was amazing. Highlights were "Crane Wife 1," "The Perfect Crime #2," and "The Chimney Sweep."





They surprised us by bringing out the amazing Gillian Welch and David Rawlings who played a Welch song with the band and then dueted on Gram Parson's "sin City" - I was shaking like a leaf.





Of course, audience participation was at an all time high and we all screamed along with the encore of "The Mariner's Revenge" and a giant whale came out on stage to swallow the band away.





The whole concert there was this guy next to us screaming "Sing the Whale Song!" that we kept wanting to correct, but knowing that it wouldn't do any good we refrained and laughed at his stupidity like the Decemberist elitists that we are.







The concert ended too soon, with only one song from Picaresque, but it was all worth it. I wish I could follow them around for a while like the Dead.



I ended up buying their new DVD that is amazing and I am watching right now!



The perfect night cap of the ride home was finding out that Meg loved Van Morrison as much as I do (his references to Gypsies is enough to seal the deal). As the other's slept we sang through "Moondance" and started back through before we saw Carbondale glowing in the distance.

Entire Crowd Sitting

Originally uploaded by 5pears.

I was searching Flickr for pics from last night's Decemberist concert in Nashvegas when I came across this crowd shot.



Time to play - Where's Buck and Mike!



Click on the image to see a larger version.

First person who spots us gets bragging rights.