Another NYC Concert

On Friday night Michelle and I hit the concert circuit again. We again had tickets to see Jose Gonzalez (Hey we like Jose, but we didn’t mean to see him live 2 out of 3 nights…but he did sound amazing Friday night at the Bowery Ballroom). Headlining Friday night was a band named The Books. They consist of two guys, a guitar, a cello, a whole bunch of electronic samples, a projector and a screen behind them. They ran the film clips they edited for each song while they played the songs live. The music is a mix clips of people talking, random abstract sounds and beautiful music. It’s a sound collage like nothing that I’ve ever heard before. Michelle and I would definitely go see them again. And as a matter of fact, we may when we are in Portland. They are playing at the Doug Fir on Thursday, April 20th. Tickets are only $12. We recommend you pick-up a couple tickets for yourself and friends, if the show isn’t already sold out. I’ve put some links to mp3’s of a few of The Books’ songs below. Take a listen and enjoy.

There is No Other

Be Good to Them Always

It Never Changes to Stop

Venice

A New York Experience

Jose Gonzalez played in my living room last night. He sat down on a chair, pulled out his guitar and sang nearly every song off his album. Michelle and I sat on the couch and enjoyed every last note... not really, but it felt like it. He was playing at Joe’s Pub, probably the smallest, most intimate place I’ve ever watched a concert. We did sit on the couch, eat dinner and enjoy his music. And it was a truly New York experience.

Here are a couple links to some songs. The first two are live recordings. Enjoy the music. Michelle and I did.

Live recording of Heartbeats

Live recording of Hand on Your Heart

Crosses

We'll Be Home for a Week in April

I just like this picture and I wanted to put it up... (and I figured my mom could download it onto her computer). See everyone soon.

No More Weddings this Year... Please

I'm excited for my friends. Happy that love is the air. Thumbs-up. Smiles all around. Hey, join the club. Marriage is a wonderful institution. But, I have one request and I realize it's a selfish request. Please get engaged, tell the world, enjoy the betrothed bliss, but set the date for 2007 or 2008 or.... because I only have so much vacation. I want to make it to everyone’s wedding, but I just don't have enough time-off. And Ryan and Christen just took the last spot in 2006. Congrats to them.

We're looking forward to the big date. You can read all about it on their website. It's gonna be great and one week later Elijah and Camille are going to tie the knot. So that's all I got. I don't think I can do anymore weddings this year. But, if you must get married this year too, Michelle and I will try to squeeze it into our schedule. Just remember, we only have so much time and it's almost all accounted for.

More Perma-dating

More wedding bells for us. Mindy and Erik are tying the knot, getting hitched, hooking up for good, perma-dating, signing the contract and, apparently, putting up a damn nice wedding website. We can’t wait for the big day and the big party. We’ll be traveling to P-town April 14th and leaving the 23rd. In between, we’ll be soaking up all that Oregon has to offer. Let's celebrate Mindy and Erik’s union in sunny rainy sunny rainy sunny rainy sunny Oregon. See you there. Be sure to wear waterproof sunscreen.

The Happy Couple and Their Dog

My brother is getting married. No, not Colin. I hope not Colin. Eli (or Elijah as he likes to be called in his mature age) is getting married and he’s put up a website. It’s got all of the pertinent info. Where it’s going down, places to stay, how Camille and Elijah met and so on. It also has a few pictures. It’s a nice little site and I think everyone should check it out. I also think that Elijah and Camille should make their dog look a little more badass (below is the actual picture that's on the site). Maybe give him a 40oz or an eye patch or a Def Leppard haircut.

Evan and Suzy Live in the Tundra

IMG_2408
Originally uploaded by Polish Carpetlayer.

So we finally made the journey north, into the frozen tundra that is upper New York state. We stayed with Suzy and Evan in Syracuse. It snowed, we plowed through it and ended up at there house around 12:30 am Friday night/Saturday morning. Suzy was out and Evan was just chill'in. It was great to see them both. Suzy soon woke up and we talked until about 2:30 in the morning. Ouch. My system can't take that anymore.

Next morning we got up, had breakfast and then went to Ithaca. Cornell University is there, so it's kinda permeated with Ivy Leagueness (I just made that word up). I was told that the town is often compared to Eugene and I'd have to agree. It's got that hippie/smart/outdoorsy/I just smoked a brick of weed thing going for it.

We enventually left town and found ourselves checking out some of the many waterfall filled canyons. Beautiful. For a moment I thought I was in the Columbia George... for a moment. Then we headed out to do some wine tasting.

Ithica is NY's wine country. After some tasting, I can again say, Ithaca is NY's wine country. It is not, however, America's wine country. The wine was a fun experience. The wineries were nice and the company was superb.

We finished our trip by eating at the Moosewood Cafe of the famed vegitarian Moosewood cookbook. The food was... decent. But we left with our tummies full. That's what matters.

Next day we went cross country skiing with Suzy and Evan. My bruised ass tells me that I need a little practice. I fell down more in that one day than I have downhill skiing all year long. And then we meandered home.

It was a nice weekend. I can't wait to do it again.