Kweller/Walkmen

Like i said earlier, i went to see Ben Kweller and The Walkmen at Irving Plaza tonight. Ben Kweller was great. There were some haters in the crowd but i guess that is with anyone that is playing. I've seen him a few times before so it wasn't anything new but one thing that was cool was that he brought Evan Dando formerly from The Lemonheads out and they did a Creedance Clearwater Revival song. That was really cool because their voices are completely the opposite. It worked out well. By the way if you haven't heard Ben Kweller, just do yourself a favor right now, seriously, stop reading and go buy his CD Sha Sha or On My Way. I'm not kidding read the rest when you get back. Come on, stop it. Go, Now!

Ok, you're back. Well, and then the Walkmen came out and i have to say it was probably the worst sounding crap i've ever heard. It was horrible. I have no idea how they got popular. His voice is awful. There were quite a few people leave after Ben Kweller played and I wish we would have joined them, however we stayed for three songs which was more than enough for all of us.

After the show I was leaving and my friend Brad yelled out from across the street, "hey dustin, by the way, good luck beating that rape charge." Needless to say there were some funny looks from the people around me. Good one Brad but you will pay dearly. Hahahahaha (mad scientist laughter)

Rain Rain Go the Freak Away

It has been raining non stop in the city since I woke up this morning. I'm not talking little sissy rain either, it's crazy outside. I hate walking out in the rain. Sure i've got an umbrella but when the wind is blowing, the umbrella can only help so much. We checked out a spot for worship today at Baruch College. The space is beautiful and it would be exciting to meet there. We're supposed to get the official price tonight so that will pretty much determine it.

In other news, I still cannot believe Illinois won. That was the single greatest comeback I have ever seen. How can you be down by 15 with 4 minutes left and win? How can you be down by 7 with 58 seconds left a win? I have no idea but it blew my mind. It was the first time in my life i was alone in my apartment and screamed like a little girl. No offense to girls, but when they're little they scream really high pitched and it hurts my ears. Arizona really had to try to lose that game. They should all quit basketball forever and never play as long as they live.

Going to see Ben Kweller tonigt at Irving Plaza. He's opening for The Walkmen which i'm not too excited about but its a special show and tix were only 5 dollars so we thought what the heck. I'm excited about seeing him but its still really raining hard outside. My intersection is completely flooded, it's like a swimming pool so its hard to walk around tonight.

Run In With Julia

Today we were having our staff meeting at Starbucks on 17th and 1st Ave. Brian noticed someone at the register directly by us and said, "I think that's Julia Stiles." I turned around and we could not see her face until she turned around to leave and sure enough, there was Julia Stiles. It was kind of exciting to see her right next to me but to be honest I'm not sure why. I'm not like a big fan or anything, i didn't really like her movies all that much but something about seeing her in a movie makes it a little exciting. I thought I was beyond that whole star thing but i guess not. Seemed like a pretty normal person, no one was bugging her or anything so that's cool. We were all daring each other to try and get her number and I said boldly, "NO, I LOVE MY FIANCE KELLI AND WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A THING." By the time I got a pen and paper she was walking out the door.

ok 

SPRING BREAK!

Here's a pic of Kelli and I at St. Pete Beach last week in Florida. We had a pretty sweet hotel room with a balcony right on the Gulf. During the day Kelli gave me swim lessons because I really suck at swimming. It was a little embarassing being a grown man and everything but at the same time I don't want to drown when we go to St. Lucia this summer for our honeymoon. That would be a little worse. My favorite part of the week was when we ate at Levrocks, Leverocks, something like that. It was a seafood place. Kelli got the King Crab Legs which were freaking huge! I've never seen her more determined or focused in my life. Once those legs got there she didn't talk or even look at us, she went right to work. Nice focus Kelli. Well done. Although we promised ourselves we wouldn't see comedy outside of New York City after we saw a horrible show in Peoria we broke our own rule and saw Tom dang it, what was his name??? Anyway, he was a young dude and very funny.

On a music note (of course) I am hooked on these songs this week. I know there will be a lot of people who say to me, "well i've never heard of any of these guys." And all I have to say to you is, "listen to them then and give them a shot." Download Now:

Rocky Votolato - I'll Catch You
Iron & Wine - Jezebel
Jimmy Eat World - Work
Josh Rouse - Sad Eyes
Yo La Tengo - Tears Are In Your Eyes
Bell X1 - In Every Sunflower

A Few Good Releases

Tomorrow The Decemberists new album Picaresque comes out which i'm pretty excited about. Maybe I'll go to Virgin Records at midnight and pick it up. I guess that would be pretty dorky though huh? I'm excited to hear it, it got a ***1/2 in Rolling Stone. Not bad, but i guess Rolling Stone isn't as credible as it used to be. It's more of a political magazine than a music magazine.

In other news Yo La Tengo's new cd Prisoners of Love comes out tomorrow too so i will be excited to give that a listen.

Next week is a crazy release Tuesday. Here's what's coming out:
-Beck - Guero
-Glen Phillips - Winter Pay for Summer
-Mae - Everglow
-The Bravery - Bravery
-Damien Jurado - On My Way to Absence
-Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
-Album Leaf - Seal Beach EP

I'm excited to hear all of that. I'm not a huge Beck fan to be honest, loved his last CD because it was really sad but not really into his normal stuff.

On a side note, i've been listening to Jimmy Eat World Futures again and it is one freakin awesome cd. Wow!

Save Toby!

If you haven't checked it out already i would suggest going to www.savetoby.com

Absolutely hilarious. Don't forget to read the hate mail under the updates section.

By the way, i think i'm the only one in the country to pick:
-West Virginia beating Wake Forest
-Wisc. Milwaukee beating Alabama.
-NC State beating UCONN

I'M GOING TO WIN!

Sugarcult - Irving Plaza

Saw the Take Action Tour tonight with Sugarcult and Anberlin. It was a good show. Thankfully my friend Brian (formerly with a band the Fizzy Bangers) used to play with Marco from Sugarcult so we always get to get in free and hang out back stage. Anberlin started out a bit shaky but ended strong. I think it was more sound problems than their fault. Hawthorne Heights played after Anberlin and I thought it was awful. Those guys suck so bad. I have no idea how these crappy bands make it. Horrible.

I love seeing Marco play because you can tell that even after all these years he still loves it. The way he talks before the show you know he's excited to be there. You can tell they really love playing. There's nothing worse than seeing a band get up and they seem like they're pissed to having to be playing that night.
They love partying too apparently, last time Brian and I ended up carrying Tim (lead singer) to the tour bus because he couldn't walk after the show. That was when they played with MXPX and Sucky I mean Simple Plan. Ok, off to Florida.

Travels with Dusty (Clever Steinbeck Reference)

Ok, it wasn't a great reference, so what? Huh? Well?

This is where i'll be leaving for on Friday! WOOHOO! I can't wait to be laying my white out of shape body on the beach next week. It's so freaking cold here right now. It's going to be awesome. Remember, just because you're out of college doesn't mean you don't get a Spring Break.

In music news my favorite song this week is by a band called Bell X1. The song is called In Every Sunflower. I heard it on the OC last week on Episode 14 (yes i watch it regularly) and it's been in my head this whole week. It's a beautiful song. I highly recommend downloading it.

I was also reminded this week that Something Corporate really sucks, really really bad, horribly bad, really bad. I think that's all I have to say.

Clem Snide Live @ Bowery Ballroom

Last night Kelli and I saw Clem Snide at my favorite venue in New York. The two opening acts kind of tired us out. Archer Prewitt and the dude from Apples In Stereo. I was soooo bored. The worst part was they each played for about an hour! Usually opening acts play about 5 or 6 songs but that didn't work out for us.

Clem Snide on the other hand was awesome. They came out in white tuxedos with their "animal spirits" embroidered on the back. They sounded great live and played some interesting instruments. The coolest was the banjo that the guitarist played with a violin "thing" what are those things called? Anyway, he had some cool effects on his banjo that as he strummed it sounded like an incredible electric guitar.

On thing the lead singer Eef said during the show was that Jane reviewed their new CD End of Love and said at the end that they were Christians. I can understand because there are a lot of religious symbols and language in their music. Then he went on to say, "but would Christians play a song like this?" The song they were talking about is a good song, the chorus goes, "now that I'm found, I miss being lost." At the end he says, "Now that I'm saved I wish I were damned." It's an interesting song, you should give it a listen. The song is called, "Jews for Jesus Blues."

The only disappointment was that they didn't play for all that long. They seemed pretty tired. I didn't get to hear "African Queen", "All Green", or "I Love The Unknown." That was kind of a downer but what we did hear was great.