crazy for you, but not that crazy

i've already fallen out of love with pandora. i entered like over 20 bands and they don't a single song by those bands, but a bunch of unknown crap. what is that? enough. play what i entered mr./mrs. pandora.

rocky mountain high

i've been in salt lake city for only a week and a half. i am more than ready to go back to denver. we've only been there a few months, but it is starting to feel like home. i still have to catch myself when people ask me where i'm from, because they don't mean where i was born, they mean where am i from right now. i also still write houston a lot when i'm filling things out. but i'm getting better (that was weird, i almost wrote 'houston' instead of 'better'). that's probably due to a lack of sleep. we have cable in the hotel and i've been staying up way too late watching garbage.
i can't wait to hang out with demitria and sofie. listen to music in my office. or run to einstein brothers and drink coffee on colorado.

i was just informed about a thing called pandora online radio. i've already discovered new bands including the idyllists, velour, the wooden birds, discovery and noah and the whale. gotta have fun at work. if you can.

guster fever

saw a band called guster in salt lake city last night. sketch place, totally awesome. never heard the band before, but everyone in that joint had guster fever.

they came back out for the encore and played "under the bridge" with the drummer awkwardly doing the vocals. it was pretty cool. the band seemed to be having a blast, which made it a kind of a fun atmosphere. but man, guster fever, sweeping salt lake city. look out america.

for benjamin, our bear

benjamin, our bear, pt. 2

benjamin, you were one of a kind. i love you buddy. i miss you.

benjamin, our bear

we had to part with our little bear today. his body was failing him and we couldn't let him suffer anymore. i miss him so much already. i have so much to say about him, but i just can't make my brain work right now.

2010 football wrap-up

the houston texans finish the season 6-10. i had them going 7-9. one more game kubiak, you couldn't win one more game?!?

both of my super bowls teams are the in playoffs: the baltimore ravens and the green bay packers. the packers squeak in with a win over the bears. i didn't think they were going to make it in, but it looks like they wanted it more than me. and i didn't really want it that bad.

all in all, it was a pretty craptacular season for my former city and current city. but, denver definitely has a tebowner. this town loves that kid. we'll see what happens.

prediction

my celebrity death for 2011:

burt reynolds.

i know. it's messed up.

There's Something About Wilco

not sure if i posted this yet or not. it's a jeff tweedy interview with cbs this morning. very nicely done. look for the drummer glenn kotche. i actually met him outside of a sushi bar in houston before a show. i totally fanned it up!

snowed in

it's finally here.

paper thin hotel

so what happens when leonard cohen and phil spector get together? they make the most awesome, desperate, debased and colorful album of leonard cohen's career. these are songs of a man who has nothing to lose. a man who is watching the leaves fall and realizes desperation can be a tool for getting women. this concept album revolves around a guy who has come to grips with his age and place in life. i love it. this album is such a messy affair, it's impossible not to love it.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs

this is the lead track from "the suburbs" by the arcade fire, my vote for best album of the year. check out the houses, the streets, the fences. look familiar.

if your video has an ad at the bottom, double click the video to maximize it and then X out the ad.

yer birthday

the 23rd was demitria's birthday. i had to go to work, but only to pick up a shipment of study material. so once i got that, i headed home and we went ice-skating. there is an indoor ice skating dome in lowry, which isn't very far at all from us. we skated for about 30 minutes, realizing just how labor intensive skating is. but, our constant fight to stay upright, probably made it harder for us. later in the evening we went to le central, which is a pretty sweet french restaurant towards downtown. i think she enjoyed it and had a good time. i just don't know how someone who never skates could look so cute in her skating attire. we had fun.

merry christmas

i think this might be my favorite christmas song:

the old's man back again

hope everyone is having a blast. i'm about to go hand out sandwiches.

lights and lunar eclipses

last weekend, we went to the lights of the denver arboretum. basically, they put christmas lights on the dead plants as a way to get people into their facility during winter. well, it worked because we went. and the lights were pretty cool. they sold three different pairs of 3-d glasses and when you put them on, all the lights turned into either christmas trees, snowflakes or stars. i tried taking a picture through the 3-d glasses, but none of them turned out. that's what i'm wearing in that bottom picture.

then last night, we stayed up past midnight to see the lunar eclipse. i couldn't get a great shot with my camera, but those two are decent. the moon was reddish-orange when it finally was 100% covered. and you wouldn't believe how many stars you can see in denver. it's not like houston. i felt like i was in the woods. i guess compared to houston, i am in the woods.

the gambler

does anyone remember me picking the texans to go 7-9?

well i did.

and that's after having new orleans win the super bowl last year. quite a hot hand. of course, let's forget about my 2011 super bowl matchup of baltimore and green bay.

yeah, let's just forget that.

written in reverse

album of the year: the suburbs by the arcade fire. i've gone back and forth with this in my head over and over again. is it beach house or the arcade fire? ultimately, i had to give it to the arcade fire. the suburbs should be a mess. writing a whole album about a subject so picked over as the american suburbs, should be a cliche-ridden, word association affair. but it's not. the music is energized. the lyrics are wounded, passionate, forgiving and full of sorrow. this common area of american life is not demonized, it is mourned. the loss of the suburbs. what it was and what it turned into. in as many ways as you want to strike it down yourself, you want to save it too. because you see it decay and you wonder how much of it is inside yourself. incredible album from a band that is easily taking its place as one of the most exciting bands of the times.

artist of the year: scott walker. no, he didn't release an album this year. but this is the year i found scott walker. i bought his first three solo albums and i have listened to most of nite flights and the drift. the vocal ability of this man is unbelievable. his songs range from MOR to full orchestral workouts. 30th century man is an amazing song and, also, is the name of the documentary about scott walker. you can watch it on netflix on your computer. i highly recommend it.

concert of the year: sonny and the sunsets/best coast. this award is given for the sheer fact that i met kelley stoltz, got my picture taken with him and he gave his new album for free. plus, it was my first concert in denver. way to start, huh? if we were awarding this award just on musicality alone, it would have been vampire weekend/beach house. but we're not! so kelley stoltz wins! and thanks to demitria for asking the bass player of sonny and the sunsets if that was kelley stoltz. cause i wasn't sure.

letdown of the year: midlake, the courage of others. i was so excited about this album. have you seen the cover? it's awesome! but i have tried to love it. i have tried to live with it. but, i can't. it's terrible. i can't stand it. there's only two songs i can listen to and get all the way through. and even those are just okay. i've seen lists where this is listed as one of the best albums of the year and i just don't understand it. it's so slow. it has no melody. the vocals sound like the choir of 90 year-olds that used to sing at my church. it's horrible. total let down!

rookie of the year: twin shadow, forget. it could be that i love this album so much because it sounds like a soundtrack to winter, which i'm experiencing for the first time. but i don't think that's it. the 80's influences are there. but they're not overbearing. the lyrics are subtle, but meaningful. the album sounds beautifully sculpted, like from a piece of ice. awesome debut.

what a year for music. 2010 was incredible. i don't think i've ever seen a year like this. i can't wait to see how 2011 goes!

pirate radio

i just watched the greatest movie of all time.

PIRATE RADIO!!

this isn't some crazy single-camera, over-edited experimental movie that only i like. everyone who reads this blog will love this movie! it has philip seymour hoffman in it. i mean, that's all you need to say.

PIRATE RADIO people. check it out.

this is the new

2010 was probably the best year in music i've ever lived through. i'm sure 1966 and 1967 were pretty awesome, but, i was not there. so i cannot be sure. but, 2010 was awesome. i'm currently compiling my list of best albums of the year and these are the contenders:

spoon- transference
the arcade fire- the suburbs
the national- high violet
lcd soundsystem- this is happening
dr. dog- shame, shame
phospherescent- here's to taking it easy
beach house- teen dream
vampire weekend- contra
best coast- crazy for you
sonny and the sunsets- tomorrow is alright
blitzen trapper- destroyers of the world
the walkmen- lisbon
band of horses- infinate arms
midlake- the courage of others
kelley stoltz- in dreams
the love language- libraries
the morning benders- big echo
magnetic fields- realism
surfer blood- astro coast
the soft pack- s/t
yeasayer- odd blood
mumford and sons- sigh no more
the besnard lakes- the besnard lakes are the roaring night

those are the albums i'm currently considering. some of them i'm not considering, i just wanted to add them to the list. but look at that list. amazing. and i'm probably forgetting several albums. i'm going to have to go through my albums and see what else i can find.

for the top two, i'm probably thinking the arcade fire or beach house. that beach house album is absolutely gorgeous. the rest will flucuate, but those are the top two. for reals.

little st. nick

you notice bear sitting next to the tree down there? we tried to hang him as an ornament and he wasn't having any of it. the wrights have decorated for the holiday season and i have to say, it was a major success. the tree is awesome. the fireplace is awesome. we were listening to the beach boys christmas. we heard little st. nick about forty times that night. but we enjoyed it. i hope you guys are getting into the holiday spirit. also, if you're wondering what's up with the one stocking on the fireplace, it's demitria's. she's the only one getting a stocking stuffer this year apparently. greedy. we'll see about that.