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TUL's Take: Dismemberment Plan @ Black Cat
This was one for the books, readers. The Upstate Life, despite having lived in the area since '99, was never introduced to the Plan until it was too late. By the time I heard Emergency & I, the group was already broken up by that point which left me to ponder what their live show would actually be like. That moment finally arrived last Saturday night at the Black Cat when The Dismemberment Plan reunited for back to back shows as a benefit for Callum Robbins. One of my friends wasn't able to make it at the last minute so I was able to sell his ticket outside the Black Cat to a fan who said she had flown from California for this show (why she didn't have tickets before then, I don't know). Anyway, she was nearly speechless when I sold it to her for face value. Look, I'm not some soulless asshole who's going to gauge a devoted fan for a frickin benefit show, let alone one for a reunion by one of the best bands to have ever come out of the District. Anyway, at around 11:30pm, J. Robbins introduced the sold-out crowd to an evening that they would not soon forget. Robbins' emotional speech regarding the reason they were here tonight was deeply moving and clearly demonstrated how close-knit the DC music community was. Shortly after, Travis Morrison and Co. came onstage and instantly went into "Do the Standing Still" before immediately segueing to "What Do You Want me to Say?" As Catherine mentioned, for a band that hasn't performed live together in nearly three-four years, these dudes didn't miss a beat. My favorite moment of the night had to be when they played "The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich", mainly because of Morrison's wacky facial expressions while he rapidly spewed the song's lyrics. Of course, it was euphoric for me just to hear "The City" performed live since I'll probably never have that chance again anytime soon. Overall, it was a memorable evening capped off not by one but two encores. My only regret was waiting to buy a poster after the show versus before as they were unfortunately all gone by the time I reached the merch table at around 1am. I did however still make a contribution and got one of those gray Beat SMA wristbands they were handing out instead. My reluctance to buy merchandise until after the show bit me in the ass yet again. Setlist via 9:30 Forum: Do the Standing Still What Do You Want Me to Say? Following Through The Face of The Earth The Dismemberment Plan Gets Rich Spider in the Snow Time Bomb The City A Life of Possibilities Pay for the Piano Girl O'clock Gyroscope You Are Invited I Love a Magician Back and Forth Onward, Fat Girl ---- The Ice of Boston Bra Ellen and Ben Ok, Joke's Over ---- The Other Side Rusty
Virgin Festival Lineup Revealed!
Day 1 Amy Winehouse Beastie Boys Ben Harper Booka Shade Cheap Trick Danny Tenaglia Sasha & John Digweed Felix Da Housecat Fiction Plane Fountains Of Wayne The Fratellis Incubus LCD Soundsystem Miguel Migs (Petalpusher) Modest Mouse Paolo Nutini Peter Bjorn And John The Police Sander Van Doorn Shout Out Out Out TV On The Radio Day 2 311 Bad Brains Chris Cornell The Crystal Method (DJ Set) CSS Deep Dish (Dubfire and Sharam) Dieselboy & Andy C Girl Talk Infected Mushroom Interpol James Zabiela M.I.A. Matisyahu Regina Spektor Smashing Pumpkins Spoon Velvet Revolver Wu Tang Clan Yeah Yeah Yeahs Tickets for two day passes will go on-sale next Saturday, May 5, at 10am via Ticketmaster and will cost $175 for general admission. If you want the VIP treatment, be sure to shell out $450 out of your designer brand wallet. Single day tickets, if available, will go on-sale Saturday, May 19 for $97.50 GA and $250 VIP. You can avoid service charges by purchasing tickets at your local Macy's, Record and Tape Traders, and (we're straight out assuming this one) the 9:30 Club box office. So, TUL's take you ask? I have to admit, when Velvet Revolver was leaked onto the lineup a few weeks ago, I was dubious as to whether the rest of the lineup would suffer the same fate. As of this morning, however, Seth Hurwitz and Co. have reaffirmed my faith in this festival and made it visibly clearly that they know what they're doing. I mean, look at Day One alone. I really didn't think half those acts would perform in Baltimore since they were already booked for Lolla and/or recently preformed in the area (LCD, Peter Bjorn, TVOTR, etc). It's going to be a tough decision, but since we last left you, Lolla's edge seems to be fading fast once the V Fest lineup was revealed this morning. Sorry, Jeremy.
We've Got Sound Issues
So the factory subwoofer in my Toyota unexpectedly blew Monday morning. How do I know this? It was buzzing profusely while listening to talk radio. Anyway, this sucks because I have never set the bass setting to anything above +2 and have very rarely blasted the stereo. In fact, I can't even recall turning the volume knob to anything more than halfway. After doing some research, it turns out that this specific made for Toyota JBL brand subwoofer has a tendency of failing regardless if you neglected its capacity or not. In fact, it seems like almost everyone that's owned this car with the JBL system installed has had the subwoofer fail at some point during their ownership. Now that my sound system has been robbed of its lower sound frequencies, my commute to and from work has lost some life to it. Listening to Lupe Fiasco with the bass set to -5 is a travesty to say the least. I have to skip Interpol's "Evil" every time it shows up on shuffle while listening to my iPod because the bass line creates a disturbing rattling noise that makes me want to lunge toward the trunk where its located while driving and smack the damn thing. So, how would I go about and remedy this problem? One thing I found is that since this speaker is a part of a proprietary audio system, I would have to get the same exact model from a Toyota dealer in order to replace it. Cost? Over $200! For some odd up reason, this woofer uses 3.7 ohms and 26 watts, which is arguably one of the weirdest electronic requirements I've seen since most speakers employ 4/8 ohms and 50-200 watts. A few people on this forum suggested bringing the damaged woofer to a speaker repair shop and having the technician refoam the speaker. Not only am I unsure how much that would cost, but I would also have to remove and reinstall the speaker from the trunk as well. I don't see why I can't do what this dude did and replace the damaged speaker with an 8" Kicker that I can just get from an eTailer. I mean, would it really damage the audio system if I install a subwoofer that uses different wattage (and 4 ohms... it's only a .3 difference... c'mon!) than my old one? I need this fixed ASAP. Bass-less car rides are no fun.
Editors Reveal New Album Details
Editors will be following up their solid debut LP The Back Room when they release An End Has a Start on Tuesday, June 26th. According to the band's website, "Smoking Outside the Hospital Doors" will be the first single released off the new record. Hmm, new album and no Lolla date? Could a Virgin Festival appearance be in the works? Guess we'll have to wait till Friday. Tracklist: 1. Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors 2. An End Has A Start 3. The Weight Of The World 4. Bones 5. When Anger Shows 6. The Racing Rats 7. Push Your Head Towards The Air 8. Escape The Nest 9. Spiders 10. Well Worn hand
TUL's Take: Spoon @ Sonar
Just like Ottobar a few weeks ago, this was another first-time experience at a Baltimore venue. I keep forgetting what it's like to see a show with people blowing smoke in your face at every each direction ever since smoke-free DC went into action. Anyway, after an eventful dinner at a restaurant near the Inner Harbor we hailed a cab (meters!) and made our way to Sonar. I didn't realize it was across the street from the now-vacant Hammerjacks, a sight which took us back to our college days. It seems like yesterday (or 2000, whichever) when I was a sophomore paying $15 at the door for their all you can drink Thirsty Thursday promotion. It was also the last time I ever touched a Long Island Iced Tea. But that's a story for another day readers, because honestly, I'm starting to get nauseous just recalling that evening. We caught The Oranges Band midway through their set, and just like Information Leafblower mentioned, they're pretty decent. In fact, we caught them open for Cold War Kids at DC9 during the DAM! Fest of which they played a rather entertaining set that time as well. Spoon came on a little after 10pm and introduced themselves to the crowd with Britt Daniel saying that "we've never sold out Baltimore before." I felt like the band was remaking a scene from Spinal Tap after they kept complaining about the lighting, but who could blame them? Nothing was working besides four lights that were about as bright as the bulb on the highest setting of my 3-way lamp. Despite the technical difficulties, Spoon played a terrific set that included several new songs from their forthcoming album. Overall, minus the toddler-controlled lighting issues, it was a solid show. Setlist via the Yahoo Spoon Music Group: Eddie's Ragga Lines in the Suit Stay Don't Go Jonathan Fisk The Delicate Place Rhythm and Soul Small Stakes Beast and Dragon Two Sides Don't Make Me a Target Paper Tiger I Turn My Camera On The Way We Get By I Summon You Never Got You Someone Something Fitted Shirt Black Like Me (Britt Solo) I Could See the Dude Anything You Want Mathematical
I Really Need to Start Making My Own Lunch, Part Five
Wow, it's been awhile since our last episode at the local Quiznos we love to hate so very much. In today's installment, we were saddened to see that the Sierra Smoked Turkey sandwich has been removed from the menu. What the hell? That was, like, our favorite sub. Fortunately, they still had all the ingredients to create my lunch as of a few hours ago, but it won't be very long until the Chipotle Raspberry sauce finds itself in Discontinued Dressing Heaven. The local franchise catches a break this time around as my frustration currently lies with the corporate entity. Of course, the former's credit card machine was broken yet again. At least they had chips this time.
Filler Post of the Week
Picked up my tickets to Peter Bjorn & John and LCD Soundsystem at the 9:30 box office during lunch today, and while it was somewhat out of the way from work, I definitely saved a good chunk of change by avoiding all those tickets.com fees. Still can't believe the latter of the two hasn't sold out yet btw. My friend in NYC saw LCD at the Bowery Ballroom a few weeks ago and mentioned that their live show has improved leaps and bounds compared to their 2005 jaunt. Looking back at how fun that show was, I seriously can't wait for May 13 to roll around.
Please Be Patient With Me
Just as promised, Wilco tickets for their Merriweather show are set to go onsale this Friday via Ticketmaster at 10am. Lawn seats will cost $25 while the pavilion will set you back $40. No word yet on whether Merriweather will employ the General Admission pit but we’re definitely keeping our fingers crossed.
The Internets Saved Me Once Again
So we were all set to watch an episode of Veronica Mars (Season 2) last night when I realized that I had accidentally left the DVDs at Rachel's apartment. All I wanted to do was watch Episode 15 before The Sopranos started, but alas, the media was simply too far away. Of course, it was nearly impossible to find someone seeding a single episode from last season on BitTorrent that could be obtained in less than an hour, but fortunately for us, I came across this website. I mean yeah, the Flash encoding isn't the best quality and it sucks that the episodes are split into three different pieces, but for those instant gratification purposes, the site is simply clutch. On a sadder note, former Terp LaRon Cephas passed away this morning at the young age of 29 from an apparent heart attack. Cephas was a senior when I was a freshman at Maryland, and even though he didn't see a lot of minutes on the floor, he was a hard worker and a good guy. The Baltimore Sun recently ran a very uplifting piece about Cephas' role as the athletic director at the Annapolis Boys and Girls Club. TUL sends his condolences to the Cephas family as well as to the Virginia Tech community. Just as I'm typing this, CNN has reported that the casualty total has risen to 31 people. Just a horrible news day.
Wilco to Play at Merriweather
While Jeff Tweedy and crew appear to be surprisingly skipping Lollapalooza this year in their hometown of Chicago, The Upstate Life is glad to know that Wilco will be performing just a few miles up 95 at Merriweather Pavilion on Thursday, June 21. The group will be touring in support of their new LP, Sky Blue Sky. Low will be supporting the band during their North American jaunt according to Wilco's website. No idea when tickets on-sale as of yet, but as always, we'll be on the lookout for more info when it becomes available.
Lollapalooza Lineup Leaked?
While we're less than a day away from the official announcement of the Lollapalooza lineup, The Onion's AV Club somehow acquired the festival's list of artists a day early. Personally, I think it looks legit: Pearl Jam, Daft Punk, Ben Harper, Muse, Iggy & The Stooges, Modest Mouse, Interpol, My Morning Jacket, Satellite Party, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Snow Patrol, The Roots, Patti Smith, Kings Of Leon, The Black Keys, Regina Spektor, Spoon, Lupe Fiasco, TV On The Radio, Pete Yorn, G. Love, Paolo Nutini, Amy Winehouse, LCD Soundsystem, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Silverchair, Femi Kuti, Yo La Tengo, Hold Steady, Jack's Mannequin, Stephen Marley, STS9, MIA, Slightly Stoopid, Blonde Redhead, Sparklehorse, Sean Lennon, !!!, Blue October, Son Volt, Motion City Soundtrack, Polyphonic Spree, Peter Bjorn & John, Silversun Pickups, CSS, The Rapture, The Wailers, Roky Erickson, Tapes N Tapes, Heartless Bastards, The View, The Cribs, The Fratellis, Ghostland Observatory, Tokyo Police Club, Rhymefest, Soulive, Cold War Kids, Annuals, Fields, Electric Six, Jim Noir, Elvis Perkins, Sam Roberts, Black Angels, Charlie Musselwhite, Aqueduct, Juliette & The Licks, Dios, Viva Voce, David Vandervelde, Los Campesinos!, Chin Up Chin Up, Ryan Shaw, Colour Revolt, Satin Peaches, Illinois, Arckid, Mickey Avalon, The 1900s, Bang Bang Bang, Bound Stems, High Class Elite Carey Ott, Matt Roan Pretty solid lineup I must say. Again, I'll wait and see what Virgin Fest has to offer since I went to Lolla last summer, but if in fact Daft Punk is only playing in Chicago and not Baltimore, I'll be checking out airfare to Chi-Town ASAP.
Shine On
I've been using the same cell phone for over two and a half years now. My contract with Verizon has been up since May of 2006 but I postponed renewing with them until I was ready to upgrade to a phone that I actually liked. Unfortunately, that didn't stop their marketing department from hounding me everyday, trying unsuccessfully to renew my contract. They finally got the hint after I ignored their calls for three weeks straight. My current device, the Audiovox CDM9900, has taken a beating over the years but still works just as great as it did when I got it in the fall of '05. It was actually one of the last cellular phones manufactured by Toshiba for Verizon (Audiovox just stamps its name on it) which is probably why I've never had any problems with it since Japanese electronics tend to be of a higher caliber. The internal screen is still one of the brightest and clearest when compared to the phones out in the market today. Anyway, the battery pack cover has worn down to the point that I have to keep it attached to the phone via a piece of Scotch tape. It's also incredibly scratched up and has more nicks on it than the back bumper of my Toyota after parallel parking on any street in DC. Then, last Friday, Verizon released the LG VX8700. It's like the popular Shine model in Europe but uses a clamshell design that's very similar to its predecessor, the VX8600. It's exclusively available on Verizon's website right now but their retail stores won't be selling them until early May. With a two year contract, it comes out to $179, but thanks to my New Every Two, I was able to knock another $100 off the price with the grand total coming out to $83.99 (including tax). I ordered it yesterday afternoon and it already arrived at my apartment this morning according to FedEx (free delivery!). Yes, this is nerdery at its finest, but I seriously can't wait to go home and play with my new toy. Now if you excuse me, I have to eat my last tuna and matzo sandwich of the year.
TUL's Take: Girl Talk @ Ottobar
Let's just say that if Vegas took bets on expectations, I wouldn't be sitting at my cubicle right now. After being completely underwhelmed at Studio B, I downright knew that this show would be much, much better than the one in Brooklyn, mostly for these reasons: 1) Smaller venue (450 person capacity compared to ~1000) 2) Better openers (Cex, Dan Deacon) 3) Cheaper drinks ($3.50 for vodka/tonics!) 4) Better crowd (or so I initially thought) Turns out I was right about at least three of those mentioned four (more on that later). Before we went to The Ottobar, we grabbed dinner at nearby Paper Moon Diner based on recommendations from a few people. The food wasn't bad put it took forever for our order to arrive. Fortunately, the mashed potatoes and gravy that accompanied our turkey dinner made up for the pretty long wait (c'mon, we all know diner food should take no longer than 30 minutes to cook). When we got to the Ottobar we were able to secure ourselves an excellent viewing position from the balcony for Baltimore's own Cex. His performance was certainly one of the most unique we've seen at a show in quite some time (at least until Dan Deacon, that is). He introduced himself to the crowed by wheeling himself onto the stage via his wheelchair and performed his material by the touch of a laptop. During his set, Cex would mouth the words to the samples employed in his music while slowly teasing the crowd that he could leave the confines of his wheeled transport. By the end of his show, Cex ultimately wound up shirtless and dove into the crowd during the finale. Overall, it was definitely different but crowd-pleasing at the same time. Next up was the man who I personally believe stole the show, Dan Deacon. Also a Bmore local, Dan Deacon performed all of his material not from the stage, but down on the floor with the crowd. His setup consisted of a few keyboards, a strobe-illuminated green skull, and a microphone. I've never heard any of his material prior to Friday night, but his performance was one of the most captivating things I've witnessed at a show in I don't know how long. The dude can outright perform. The crowd was completely into Deacon's electronic spaz pop from the very beginning and never let up. Donned in thick rims and a Fred Flintstone tee, Dan's material consisted mostly from his upcoming LP, Spiderman of the Rings. He closed his outstanding set with the ten minute long "Wham City" by tossing lyric sheets out to the crowd so that they could sing along to the song's childlike chorus. Anyway, The Upstate Life was completely floored away by Deacon's performance and will probably checkout out his show at the Rock and Roll Hotel on May 10. At around 12:30am, Gregg Gillis took the stage in his sweatshirt hoodie and high-tops much to the delight of the sold-out crowd. We left our prime viewing spot in the balcony so that we could make our way down to the main floor for some hot, sweaty dance action. Seriously, the ceiling was dripping from how fucking hot it was in there. Couple that with all the spilt drinks on the floor and it quickly reminds you of one of Studio B's bathrooms. Girl Talk's set was very impressive but somehow we once again felt like we were in the minority due to being at the older side of the age spectrum. A lot of hands marked with X's were present Friday night (as exhibited in the pics below), so naturally we had to deal with more than a handful of obnoxious girls who thought they were cool as shit when they got to have their two minutes of fame by making it onstage. Newsflash - everyone was on the fucking stage. Anyway, midway through Girl Talk's set, Gregg professed how much he was looking forward to the Baltimore date since he looked up to guys like Cex and Dan Deacon as inspiration and informed the crowd that there's a ton of cool shit going on in Bmore. He was absolutely right as we were right smack in the middle of it in the Ottobar's humid atmosphere until nearly 2 in the morning. For the ticket price of $14, we certainly got our money's worth. Now if Vegas would get their ass in gear and start taking wagers on my concert potential-predicting skills, we'd be all set. Cex:  Dan Deacon:        Girl Talk:    
iPod Saves U.S. Soldier's Life, Literally
Pretty amazing story that I came across over at iLounge: "Kevin Garrad with the 3rd Infantry Division was patrolling the streets of Iraq when he rounded a corner and went face to face with a gun-toting insurgent," reports TG Daily. "Gun fire was exchanged and Garrad was hit in the chest. The insurgent was killed. At point blank range an AK-47 round is devastating and has a decent chance of passing through the Interceptor body armor vests used by Army soldiers, but the iPod apparently slowed the bullet enough to be stopped completely by Garrad's vest." Like whoa. Mine only saves me from noticing all the fruit flies that fly around my cubicle.
Dear Manischewitz,
 I have to admit, I was a bit hesitant before buying your box of Cocoa Magic Crunch brand of Kosher for Passover cereal. History has repeatedly taught me that Passover cereal is one of the worst foods to ever be produced for human consumption, so when I came across this new Cocoa Puffs knockoff in Giant a few days ago, I was slightly intrigued. While I wasn't too keen on paying three dollars for a whopping five and a half ounces of cereal (two bowls worth basically), it's a hell of a lot easier to prepare for breakfast than something like cooking eggs, especially since I'm lazy. Anyway, I tried your latest product offering and I have to say, I was honestly impressed. It was the first Passover cereal that did not completely taste like ass. And for that Manischewitz, I applaud you.
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