I Saw You First, It Was in a Dream

Kaliméra friends, happy long weekend.
Here's what we were doing last year this time.

Sasquatch 2010

After a long, arduous debate, which btw is how I make the vast majority of all decisions, we opted to not go to Sasquatch this year. It is a little bit painful now that the time is upon us. Back in the fall, we were watching the streaming video and twitter obsessively to get the word on who would be playing.

On the pro-side we had:

GIVERS - I saw you first

Sidenote: There was another version of this song on youtube, which was nausea-inducing and the sound was worse BUT it showed the band pulling balloons out of big trash bags. Priceless. It reminded me of poorman's this feat by AF @ Coachella.

We watched Arcade Fire's Coachella performance live on youtube - it was fantastic and to be honest, I *almost* felt like I was there. Actually, we got better views and closeups, with none of the portapotties and sweat. Kind of nice. Anyway - on the encore, these big balls dropped down, hundreds of them, and they were somehow synchronized and controlled to turn patterns of different colors. I love it. Chris Milk (of Wilderness Downtown video fame), fun stuff. So what I am saying is, GIVERS, hang in! Pretty soon you could go from 800 youtube views and filling up Glad bags with balloons you blew up yourselves, to multimedia art collaborations and headlining Coachella, it could happen!

Back to the point: This band played at the WOW with Ra Ra Riot (also awesome and Sasquatch alums) and we didn't go because we are too tired and old. Big mistake.
Other pluses of 2011 lineup: Wilco, Head and the Heart, Iron and Wine (although I don't think that a festival is ideal for this at all, hence we'll see him at Crystal on Tuesday instead), Yeasayer, Cold War Kids (although we just saw them, and one member of this unit (the male member) is not so interested), Beach House(!!!), Sharon Jones and Dap-Kings, Local Natives, Matt & Kim, Deerhunter, Sleigh Bells (who would be perfect at a festival I think), Cotton Jones... Plus the couple dozen I have never heard of that would probably go on to become next year's favorites.

You'd think that would be enough to do the trick. But I am greedy. And unreasonable.

I wanted Arcade Fire. I wanted Black Keys. I wanted Ween again.

The first indication that we might not go this year came with the announcement of headliner Foo Fighters. Not really in the same class as Ween ('10) - for me anyway. Meh. Then the big names kept coming and and more meh.
Death Cab. Decemberists. Bright Eyes. Modest mouse. These bands do not excite me.
Then there was the portapotties, the trash, the lack of any vegan food, the field mice...

Oh wait, then we thought about the fact that technically - I am a student. On the quarter system.

That means next week is exam week.

And how I have COMPREHENSIVE exams in two weeks. For the (blissfully) unaware, these are tests where you are expected to demonstrate everything that you learned in the first 2 years of your PhD education and you need to pass if you want to continue in the program. you have 96 hours to complete a set of four questions. You have 10 pages to answer each question. The dreaded comps are looming large.

Then I need to get ready to teach a brand spanking new class.

It's going to be intense.

So, yeah, if you were wondering, we aren't going to the festival this year. Does this mean I am a (kind of) grown up?

Probably not, since we decided to binge locally on the Sasquatch ripple effect. Cotton Jones tonight. Maybe Cotton Jones again Saturday. Back up to Portland for Head and the Heart and Iron & Wine (aforementioned).

And stay tuned for another post this weekend about last weekend. We went to the Ms. Whiteaker pageant! And we played poker! We stayed up til 4am listening to records! Who says I am grown up?

There's No Darkness A Loomin

So if you follow me on my radioshow page or my FB page, you probably know that I was getting a little impatient about the sophomore release from Fleet Foxes.

I personally apologize to Robin Pecknold for the doubt because these guys killed it with this album. Which is probably not a good description because what they did is more like these guys met it at an art museum, took it out for coffee and ended up riding it on the handlebars of a cruiser bike while drinking red wine, eating strawberries and riding off into the sunset with this album.

It's pretty beibing good. And again I am in love. 

I usually imagine my faithful readers clicking my intro videos and using them as a sort of soundtrack to my writing, but today, I hope that you just watch the video.

Fleet Foxes - Grown Ocean from Helplessness Blues

Wasn't that incredible? 

I may have mentioned this before, but Fleet Foxes were here in Portland a couple weeks ago. And as major fans, we knew about the presale and bought the tickets immediately... even though in the back of my mind I felt like "May 1st... isn't there something I am doing that day?" Then a couple days later I realized. My man is RUNNING THE MARATHON that day.

We really like this band. We (he) seriously considered whether he could get up at 5:30am, run for 26.2 miles, get in the car, drive for 2 hrs and go to the show and stand up for 3 more hours, get back in the car and drive 2 hrs to get back around 24 hours after this day began. Wisely (or not) I talked him out of it.

We sold the tickets (for face value which I am really kind of proud about because I saw them going for triple the price. I really hope my friend's research assistant had a fantastic time).  Next time we are there.

But instead it was the marathon.

Dude in the orange ended up winning. Although I have to say 

I think that if you finish the marathon, you won it.

The Eugene Marathon is really an incredible event and I am so proud that my man has been a part of it. He is incredible too. He had a PR and took over 15 minutes off his time from last year. 

There was a Will Ferrel impersonator among the spectators/supporters this year.

F said he saw this guy at four different spots along the course, which is more than I even made. The runners were (mainly) loving it. I heard one runner say "show off that gut!" I guess if you are running a marathon you are allowed to say things like that.

It turns out May 1st is quite popular for events, because as well as Fleet Foxes and the Eugene Marathon, my man's sister also was going to get married that day. But she kindly moved it to the next weekend, which meant that we got to go to Baltimore for a long weekend. 

And I got to wear a cute dress. And orange shoes.

Not to trivialize how hard it is on the feet to run a marathon, but I felt like my feet *might* have been as sore than my man's after 6 hours in those 5 1/2 inch heels. Totally worth it though.

On another note, I am going to play poker this week. Last time I played it did not end well.

I really don't like losing. 

What is Golden Pigeon?

Hey Guys.

So I was reading some other blogs today (mainly because I have 12 academic articles that I have to read and create discussion questions for that must be emailed tonight AND I have mentally committed to going for a run for the first time in a month at 3:30pm on the dot - so I am reading blogs) and I noticed that these bloggers have an information page about themselves. I thought I needed one of those about me pages. This is what came out and I thought I’d share it with you here as well as pasting it in there for your future reference:

I kind of figure you all know me pretty well already but...just in case you want to bone up on some pigeon trivia in case we ever get selected to go on a game show where they test your knowledge about your friend/family member/favorite blogger I have added this page for you.

I wish there was a show like that - instead of the Newlywed Game it could The "whatever relationship you have to this person" Game. I would totally lose that game. Because:

(Fact #1) I am not very observant.

I would need to really cram with you for us to be contenders in this game. Keep it in mind when applying to be a contestant and considering me for your partner. I would be really good though, if you could just give me a little "about you" page so I can cram at the last minute because:

I am really good at cramming (Fact #2). 

Speaking of applying for game shows – do you think that my man and I should apply for Amazing Race? I really, really think we’d have a chance.

A chance of getting on the show, of not winning. We would never, ever be able to win that show, which is why I think it would be funny to be on it for one episode. Do you think my program would give me a leave of absence for that (I’m kidding, people who work at my job with me! Completely kidding. I haven’t even printed out the 11 page application).

I used to be obsessed with the Game Show Network, or GSN as I liked (please notice the PAST tense) to call it (Fact #3).

There was this game they used to play that looked like it was filmed in the '60s where they would test who knew the man better his wife or his secretary. That is some good programming right there. The secretaries always won.

You really have everything that you need to know about me now. Recuperated game show addict. Well, since I am giving you "facts" here:

I should admit that I DVR Jeopardy and we watch it while we eat dinner on the regular (fact #4).

Yes, we watch a show where you feel compelled to blurt out the answers while eating. I just realized this is weird and semi-disgusting. 

There are some things I don't like about Jeopardy. For starters, Alex Trebek. 

 Ahh, much better. I'll never forget the anal bum cover category. 

I also have no patience for contestants who haven't learned the Jeopardy basics. First of all - you should be able to answer any question about the Big 5 Jeopardy categories. Why would you not study 1) the presidents 2) ballet, opera and/or classical music, 3) Shakespeare, 4) Geography and 5) the Bible? Now, I currently know next to nothing about all of these categories, but I sure as hell would be cramming for them before my appearance. YOU HAVE TO CRAM.

I think that if you are smart enough to be selected to be on Jeopardy, then you should be smart enough to know FOR A FACT there will be at least 3 of these categories, or some cute variation (The third thing I don't like about Jeopardy - categories like “CU” in the City – “Notice the C U in quotations, we all know what that means”) of them on any given night. Do you not know in advance that you have been selected as a contestant? 

What does Alex come steal you out of your bed at 3am and then keep you sequestered with no materials that you could use to learn about the books in the Bible, because there really is no excuse (other than the kidnapping scenario) to defend you if you miss one of those questions.

And, please, before you go on Jeopardy, think about your chatting time story, ok? Because as I understand how the chatting portion of the show works, YOU SELF REPORT some things that you think are interesting about you and Alex picks one to ask about on air. No one is calling your enemy from high school or your ex-boyfriend to find out that you "once realized I had scurvy because my gums were bleeding" or that your engagement ring cost $11. Food for thought people.

 

And DO NOT get me started on Wheel of Fortune.