Warning: LONG entry...

Apologies for not writing in about a month... Things were busy and then got really busy, particularly in the past two weeks: shows, surprises, interviews -- all of which equals exhaustion. And I still have a ton to do before graduation, which sucks.

Anyway, it seems like these past two weeks have been the most exciting of my senior semester, and I'm kind of bummed that they didn't happen throughout the semester. But nevertheless, I'm thankful they happened.

It starts...

THURSDAY (4.9): Brian Jonestown Massacre show at the Exit/In
Amazing. The band was awesome, the distortions were awesome, the songs were awesome. But the fact that I had a big Latin test the next day and a paper due was not so awesome, and also the crowd was not so awesome... Well just the sucker, who was humping the stereo, and some near-blackout girl, who was also trying to grind the speakers. But seriously that show was awesome, and I can't stop talking about it.

FRIDAY (4.10): FotC & more
Then the next day, there was suppose to be the Flight of the Conchords concert at the Ryman, which since February I had lost all hope in, since tickets were $40 and sold out within like 15 minutes. But then SubPop emails me and says that there are a couple of spots open, and I squeal for like an hour, trying to frantically call everyone I know who are big FotC fans. But at the end of the day, there was really only one spot, so I had to make the phone call and tell everyone that they couldn't go, which sucked. And I ended going to another concert, given by Rene Flemming, which was good, but the five or so encores she gave and the five or so standing ovations the audience gave was not entirely deserved. But I guess I don't regret missing the FotC show. I heard from the scene that the crowd was waaaay too into them, so they were shouting out stuff from the HBO series and other random stuff.

SUNDAY (4.12): Interview
Then that weekend it was off to NY for my (probably) last interview. It was a nice place, but being stuck in a hotel room by yourself with two beds is kind of lonely, and also 2 whole days of traveling sucked a lot. I was so exhausted when I came back on campus.

TUESDAY (4.14): Awkward Award Ceremony
It was uncomfortable hearing how great the student media was, when clearly out newspaper is disorganized and hardly readable due to poor grammar, and the "entertainment magazine" has no idea what is going on culturally.

FRIDAY (4.17): Booksale & beginning of Rites
The library had an awesome sale. I got some interesting books, such as a book called "Aberration of Sexual Life," which was written in 1937. I mainly picked it up to see what the repercussions were of the Victorian Age as well as finding humor in it. I would post one up, but they are pretty dirty...

Then a surprise scholarship (what?!). Then a surprise visit from the Music Director from 2000-2002. He was really nice and had some great advice.

And eventually it was time for some more shows. First up was Okkervil River, which was good overall, but the second half of their set kind of sucked -- I think the energy was gone after awhile. I'm not really sure what happened. I caught the tail end of the Santigold set, which was pretty good -- she was a charismatic performer and her show was fun to watch. Though standing next to the speakers during that set was not a good idea -- the bass was so strong that my internal organs are still rattling around. And then Hugh started grinding on some girl, which was the grossest thing in the world. But then Q-Tip came on stage, and that set was really amazing. He pulled out stuff from his own solo stuff as well as a couple of A Tribe's songs, like Scenario and Bonita Applebaum. It was a really fun set and there was a crazy fan next to me, who was spitting out the lyrics. Then T.I. came out, which I originally was going to see, but I was way too exhausted from the Q-Tip show.

SATURDAY (4.18): Grimeys, DJing, & Rites continued
So the day started early at 9:30, so that we could set up the station's merch booth. We sold a couple of t-shirts then stuck around until about 12:30ish to catch the Avett Brothers' set, which was pretty good. The crowd was really into it and Grimey's was seriously packed from the ground up. Then after being slightly scorched by the sun, Sam and I prepared for our DJing sets at Rites, which was right after Sara Watkins and Black Joe Lewis. Though we were next to the stage and couldn't see the artists, the Black Joe Lewis set seemed to be pretty entertaining and they had a couple of pretty good, down-and-dirty soul songs. It was nice to see that there are still people who take stuff from that era to heart and continue to keep it alive. Then I DJed and played some Queen, Madonna, Blondie, and David Bowie -- it was a pretty 80s set -- then it was Grand Ole Party, which was a lot less interesting than I expected, though the singer was also the drummer, which I guess is rare. Then it was time for N.E.R.D. -- which was a crazy show. They played a great set, but the crowd got really out of control. And considering that Rites is an excuse for Frats and Soros to get totally smashed, it is probably not a good idea to instigate 3 mosh-pits, crowd surfing, and fist fights. It was a crazy show, and after being elbowed quite hard in the sternum by some jerk in front of us, Sam had to pull us out of the crowd. But we stayed safe from a distance and when it finally came time to the Flaming Lips, we snuck our way up a little ways. And although it started raining midway, the Flaming Lips show was still really great -- bright lights, confetti, streamers, a huge projection of Wayne Coyne's nostrils, a proposal, Teletubbies, a Madonna cover, sing-a-longs to Yoshimi, She Don't Use Jelly, and Do You Realize? Yup, it was pretty magical...



All in all, everything has been going great these past two weeks, but now the work has caught up, and I have so many papers to write and presentations to give... I can't wait for graduation when my undergrad crap can be left behind...