Les Concerts à Emporter

I sure do love La Blogothèque's Take Away shows. They're all mostly shot in France. So that adds to my liking of their productions. The folks at La Blogothèque always have the best musical guests. And Zach Condon of Beirut, slowly becoming one of my new favorite artists, proves that. Check out his follow-up to last year's Gulag Orkestar Oct. 9th.

Through Any Window

I'm really liking this track. A lot. And I'm really liking Jenna Fischer (known most as Pam on the Office). So big ups to Wisley. Apparently pronounced Willy. Go figure.

The Opposite of Hallellujah

My summer anthem. Just try not smiling. Seriously. By Jens Lekman, check it.

It's SPOP-in'

The time I spent at UCI for orientation....

was the greatest thing all summer. The weekend of orientation I didn't expect anything besides the registering for classes and touring the campus and eating some crappy food, but SPOP at UCI proved me otherwise. There are way too many highlights to mention in one sitting. So to sum it all up here's a video of the staffers from the talent show:

Shooting Star or Whatever It Was

-When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are,
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

True story. Last night, I was walking with my mom and brother to go wash our clothes by the corner, laundry place and because I was ahead of them I stood for awhile waiting for them. In the glint of my very eyes I saw a radiant flash of white light pass in a brief second. Shooting star? I knew it wasn't a plane or what have you because it flew on by for a split second and disappeared.

That just made my day. Of course I had to make a wish for such a rare instance as this. Secret. After returning home I needed to go further into my sighting. From what I learned a shooting star is nothing more than a meteor entering the Earth's atmosphere, not a star of course but I'm still going to add the "When You Wish Upon A Star" song. Excited as I was I looked into any upcoming meteor showers. Just so happens the Perseids meteor shower is coming up. So mark your calendars, the shower peaks on August 12th at around 11 pm.

Catching Up

-Hello, World

Sorry I haven't updated my blog in a while, nothings been worth mentioning. It doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything. To prove it "my life (as of recently) in 5 minutes":

Summer's great on catching up on, basically everything. So for the most part I"ve been catching up.

My summer reading list (I don't really have a reading list, never liked lists, except for my life list which I'll mention later on. So I just boiled it down to several categories to fool myself into thinking I'm not reading a whole bunch of books):

-A classic: I just finished Candide by Voltaire. Quite an interesting read. Won't go too far into detail, but I recommend it.

-American lit: Haven't gotten to this one but I've chosen This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

-Borrowed from somebody: Right now I'm reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami. So far I still don't know where it's headed but I'm liking it, very surreal and dream-like. My brother says the protaganist eventually lives in a hole so I'm looking forward to that.

-Autobiography: The Discomfort Zone by Jonathan Franzen. I've been wanting to read this for awhile now. So when I get to reading it I'll let you know what I think.

-Comic book/graphic novel: Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography by Chester Brown. I first read this one from my list. For all you comic book geeks, this one should be required. It's about the life of the 18th century Metis leader in Canada.

TV time: Even though its summer, it doesn't mean their isn't anything on. Summer's the best for catching up on tv you missed or want to view again (what I've been doing). 30 Rock and How I Met Your Mother, must-see television even at multiple viewings. Haha, I'm watching HIMYM as we speak. Swarley. Robin Sparkles. You just can't make that shit up. HIMYM is legen-, wait for it, -dary. If you're not watching these two shows you gotta watch 'em.

I haven't been watching too much of the new stuff for summer viewing, except for World Series of Pop Culture (gotta get my pop culture fix). Oh and I just checked out Mad Men, it's still to early to judge whether I like it, but I'll stay tuned. Also, I'm still waiting for Shark Week. That'll keep me busy at least for next week's tv viewing.

Oh yeah, I just moved.

One Evening

-Getting past my journey to the Fillmore (sorry kids a story for another day), last night I was bare witness to the musical talents of Feist and her opening act Grizzly Bear.

Upon entering the venue I was full-body searched and seeing as how my camera was protruding from my hoodie’s pocket, security snagged my only source of physically capturing my night at the Fillmore. The camera situation was a tear moment for me, making matters worse they even charged me seventy-five cents. Wtf, right? Camera Nazis. Getting past any inner bitch moment, walking into the Fillmore was no less than remarkable. Buckets of apples. Glass chandeliers (reminiscent of Haunted Mansion décor). And adding to its greatness: a giant disco ball. Classy, eh? After soaking it all in, my posse (Jem, Regina, and Tina) and I situated ourselves front in center. Oh and what else, the folks from the Fillmore teamed up with Verizon, playing host to the latter’s marketing ploy. It’s this projector thing that let’s concertgoers text something for everyone else to see. Don’t do it it’s a scam. Oh man, what a letdown.

For a while the anticipation was wearing me down, and I’m not speaking figuratively; I had been in an upright position for a little more than five hours. The lights dimmed and out came the band members of Grizzly Bear with all the wooing and clapping of the crowd. Their hour-long set list consisted of mostly tracks from “Yellow House.” Their sound was chill and moody and what my cousin later said sounded mostly of, “awww’s” and “oooo’s.” And I gotta say the stage was surface to a myriad of their instruments. Instruments hardly ever used by most. Like autoharp. Why play autoharp nowadays? Hahaha. 'Cheap and Easy.'

After an hour of Grizzly Bear we had to wait yet again. As we waited along Tina whipped out the goods: banana nut bread. As well wisps of smoke were slowly making their way down the stage. Simple way of presenting ambiance? I think not. Wisps of smoke--great way of hinting on the raspy-ness, yet smoothness of Feist’s voice. Well played Fillmore, well played. And when the lights dimmed, incoming Feist and her support, with the deep red luminescence of the stage lights as backdrop to Feist’s shadow, instantly I thought, “Let it Die” album cover. And then she started to play “Honey, honey.” Didn’t really want to hear that one, but what can you do.

After opening with a laid back tune, she turned to “When I Was a Young Girl.” When her drummer pounded at the drums with taiko-like precision I swear my heart was pounding in unison. Oooh, my heart. She definitely seduced the crowds with her charisma and and hilarity. Having the crowd riled up to their chants of home-city pride. I was sad she didn’t call out San Jose, but I “wooed” to San Francisco (I like to think its my adopted city). As the set list progressed she then came to “One Evening,” but forgot the lyrics and had to use lyrics on cardboard. That’s whats great about Feist, we love her imperfections. Smooth-talking the crowd and apologetically saying that, “[she] shouldn’t forget sexy things. It’s a sexy song.”

“The Park” and “Now At Last” were highlights as well. The whistling in “The Park” sounded as if I were in the forest. Sounded like a bunch of birds. But it was “Now At Last’s” tap dancer that impressed me. Impressive indeed. Haha, what a Shandi look-a-like. We were wondering why their was plasterboard on the floor with a mic next to it. She played all her singles from “The Reminder:” “1 2 3 4” and “My Moon, My Man,” but it was the encore that was the showstopper.

She left the stage, leaving the rest of the crowd wooing her back to perform one last time. And one last time she did. Kevin Drew, Feist’s boyfriend of Broken Social Scene led the way towards the piano and began playing “Lover’s Spit.” When Feist serenaded the crowd as well as her beau and stood atop the piano, I swear I could’ve died to that song. So good. When “Lover’s Spit” ended Feist rounded up the rest of her band and Grizzly Bear to do backup to “Sealion Woman.” And to top it all off she ended with the heart-wrenching “Let it Die.” Perfect as perfect gets. Simply beautiful.

After the concert finished I was sad that I didn’t get to snag the written set list or the lyrics to “One Evening” when they were right in front of me. And also that I wasn’t able to take a single picture. And that the poster I bought and the free posters the Fillmore gave to concertgoers weren’t that nice. Besides these minor setbacks it was an otherwise perfect night.

Just as she welcomed the crowd with “this is our night”at the beginning of the show, she showed her sincerest gratitude to the audience at the end. The intimate setting and her charming performance have set my standard for a great show.

Today's The Day

-The Start of Something