The plane leaves in the early afternoon this Friday July 29.
I intend to unplug shortly after I [hopefully] purchase tickets to an upcoming Fleet Foxes concert.
My phone will be left behind. If you've known me well in the last two plus years since getting an iPhone, you know I've been quite tethered to it.
Admittedly, I do want to "check in" at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. Someone else on the team will probably have a device that could allow me to sign in and digitally gloat - so don't be too surprised if you see that.
Mostly, I'll be tempted to find a way to log in just to post a note to all that I've arrived safely. In the past my parents have operated on the "no news is good news" strategy - but with them having both kids halfway around the world, I think they would welcome an encouraging report... we'll see...
That's pretty much where my social networking whines end. Thankfully, I'll have my iPod with me for as what my friend so eloquently described as, "a very long boring uncomfortable journey." There are so many things I'll happily be leaving behind and won't miss (the latest douche voted out of the Big Brother house & the newest sexy business wear of Perabo on Covert Affairs to only name two).
I'll miss a lot of things important (parents and friends) and less important (Walter White and Jesse Pinkman). I'll gladly trade new stress (wondering if anybody within earshot understands English) for old stress (did anybody notice the format error on a recently e-mailed spreadsheet).
But I'm not there yet. Although it seems like pieces of me have already left. My heart left a long time ago when I made the decision. Most recently it seems my sanity has left - I hope to find it waiting for me in Sri Lanka. In the past 48 hours I've had 2 horrid nights of little sleep leading to an irrational action such as a Target shopping binge consisting entirely of a massive underwear buy. So although I may not have all my technology I'm accustomed to - I'll have fresh underwear if I need it. I can't even get into the other stumbling blocks I'm tripping over such as how many socks to bring or if an ironic shirt that says, I'm a Keeper is even worth packing. Oh, and then I need to pack food (really!?)
Tomorrow is Wednesday, the day after that is Thursday, and then the day that I depart arrives. See you on the other side of the world, or with pictures of it.
For the fourth year in a row, I have refreshed my iTunes playlist named "Lou'a'vul." It's about a six hour drive from door to door, and I stuck with the past strategy of whole albums with a few Lebowski inspired songs along the way.
It starts with "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" by The Sons of the Pioneers. This is the song that opens The Big Lebowski. A no-brainer for Achievers followed by "Lookin' Out My Back Door" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. CCR is a must for a Lebowski-minded mixtape.
Next up are both the In Rainbows and King of Limbs (including the "Supercollider" & "The Butcher" add ons) albums in their entirety. These are the two most recent studio efforts by Radiohead.
After two full albums I'll remind myself why I'm in the car with "The Man in Me" by Bob Dylan. This is arguably, the most iconic song tied to The Big Lebowski followed immediately by "Hotel California (Spanish Mix)" by Gipsy Kings. Ya kinda need to have seen The Big Lebowski at least twice to know why this song is on there. It don't matter to Jesus!
After those two tracks, I'll be in full Achiever spirit, and ready to get caught up on the two most recent episodes of the Lebowski Podcast.
My Morning Jacket will then finally make their much deserved appearance. There are too many reasons to include this band. MMJ was the first band to perform at a Lebowski Fest. They are from Louisville. Shortly after their latest release I created an all-MMJ mixtape featuring my favorite tracks from their four most recent albums:
MMJ mixtape
Before getting back into an album focus, one more reference to the film: "Just Dropped In - To See What Condition My Condition Was In" by Kenny Rodgers and the First Edition. I'd say you'd need at least 4 viewing of The Big Lebowski to know why this song belongs here.
The entire Civilian album by Wye Oak.
The entire Pickin' Up The Pieces album by Fitz & The Tantrums
The entire Veckatimest album by Grizzly Bear
The entire Kaputt album by Destroyer
The entire This Is Happening album by LCD Soundsystem
The entire Cloak and Cipher album by Land of Talk
The entire XX album by The xx
(the back half the playlist is intentionally devoid of Lebowski as it's intended for the return home, and playing Creedence will probably make me start feeling sad that the next Fest is a year away)
Okay, time to get to sleep - I'm hitting the road as soon as I can tomorrow morning. I'll be on the road less than ten minutes after I get out of bed - "You didn't think I was rollin' out of here naked, did ya?"
Every year I love creating a Best of [year] Mixtape playlist in iTunes. Around this time of year I check in to see how many tracks made it through the nomination process of getting dropped into consideration and make a mixtape for the year's midpoint. The tracks are not listed in order of preference - there is no ranking with one* exception:
I have fallen behind on my In Concert posts, which is something I like to write for my future self - to have something to look back upon when my life moves on to its next (non concert going) phase. Last time I checked in I was eagerly anticipating a very busy month and posted a few pics from the busiest week of that month.
As I'm nearing my departure to the other side of the world, it is a good time to look back at the year so far in ticketed events. I wasn't planning on seeing anything else before I leave, although I am starting a new campaign to get myself and others up to Milwaukee next Friday to see Girl Talk perform at Summerfest - but that's besides the point of this post.
What stuck out the most in my mid-year self review was the diversity of the company I kept for these shows. There's no way to explain this without sounding conceited at worst or humblebragging at best.
Peter Bjorn And John perform at Chicago's Lincoln Hall in April
Concerts attended so far in 2011:
Girl Talk at Congress with DG & RM (with a fourth ticket going to JJ's friend)
Machinegun Mojo at Elbow room with ZC (with MC & RS there too)
Mountain Goats at The Vic with MB
Cut Copy (& Holy Ghost) at The Riv with JK
Park Ridge Chorale at St. Luke's with PB, SW and more
Delorean at Lincoln Hall with LT
Arcade Fire (& The National) at UIC with RG
Foals (& Freelance Whales) at Metro with DS
Peter Bjorn And John at Lincoln Hall with ?*
Janelle Monae (& Bruno Mars / Mayer Hawthorne) at Aragon with SS, MP and CW
Foster the People at Lincoln Hall with NB
My Morning Jacket perform at Milwaukee's The Riverside Theater in June
And then most recently My Morning Jacket at The Riverside with RG.
I'm separating out the last show because it's the first time I had to repeat a fellow concert goer. I was happy to tell RG he was the first person this year to go again with me to a show. It's a feat that I'm not sure I'll ever be able to repeat, even if it was done somewhat intentionally.
Since I made the choice to stop lamenting at home wishing I'd be at these concerts I kept hearing about and start going sometime in 2007, I've slowly figured out what kind of music my different friends like. Knowing I'd never be able to find one person that I can lean on to repeatedly join me, it became a challenge within a challenge. It also took on another appreciation for me.
For example, I did not discover Janelle Monae. My friend SS had brought over her album during one of our marathon Madden nights and I was instantly impressed. SS is not one to actively seek out, let alone attend anymore (he's been through the concert ringer - hip hop shows can do that to you), concerts. However, he said he'd go see Janelle Monae live. Therefore, I instantly started following her on Twitter, which granted me access to her fan club allotment of tickets - securing them before the quick sellout ensued. It was a great show, but I was too far away and don't have a picture to share here. The highlight of the concert was not only getting SS to the show, because he had discovered Monae for me, but also getting CW out there - who also doesn't get out to many shows and is someone who I introduced the wonderful dynamo named Janelle.
It didn't work out perfectly however. The "?*" next to the Peter Bjorn And John show refers to a night when I had out driven my headlights so to speak. I was unsuccessful finding anybody to go with me - even when I had offered to give the other ticket away for free. The show was sold out (in fact, even the second show they added at Lincoln Hall that night had sold out as well) which meant I could've unloaded both of the tickets with little hassle. But I really wanted to see this show and decided to go solo. Someone outside was looking for people with extras - so whether you count that stranger as someone new to the list or even the fact that I was by myself makes it unique experience among the rest.
As far as the other shows are concerned, I did write a post centered around the Foster the People concert and intend to devote a separate post to My Morning Jacket in the future - for that show was too great to be buried this deep in a post.
While I'm tooting my own popular horn with my full stable of concert going friends - here are some more stats to really drive home my point:
Not included in the above list is the Comedy show featuring Todd Barry & Brendon Walsh at The Hideout with BM.
Finally, I took five different people to Marquette basketball games this year:
-the win versus Notre Dame with DQ
-the loss versus UConn with JW
-the win versus Syracuse with MQ
-the win versus Providence with ZC
-the loss versus Cincinnati with AS
(Note, only ZC is a repeat ticketed event attendee, and he probably wins the virtual tiebreaker with RG because he is a Member of the Park Ridge Chorale - so technically he was at that performance too)
As much as I didn't want to write this because it looks like an awful attempt at a modern day yearbook that has to have all it's pages filled to convince an older me that I was somewhat popular - I really wanted to write it as a thank you to all of my friends who have had to deal with my constant propaganda efforts to convince them to join me to bands you have never heard of or basketball games involving schools you never attended. 2011 is shaping up to be a record year for yours truly - I couldn't be more appreciative... The song at the bottom is dedicated to you all:
There are a lot of parallels with my early exposure to this song and my experience with 2009's "1901" by Phoenix. Both were witnessed in the verge of Summer's start at a sold out smaller venue, but more importantly shortly after hearing the tracks had I known it to be the Song of the Summer without a doubt. Time will have to tell if "Pumped Up Kicks" will win my personal Song of the Year award, but it's easily the leader in the clubhouse right now. (quick sidebar: one thing these songs do NOT have in common are ties to any embarrassing encounters with cute concertgoers)
Foster the People have been riding quite a popularity wave after being a darling of SXSW in March, performing a sold out show in Chicago at Schubas in April and exposure on NPR in May before returning to Chicago to perform in front of a larger sold out show at Lincoln Hall in June. Not to mention they will also be back for Lollapalooza in August. All of it on top of this viral pop track that's been playing on the radio during this time span... But since I don't listen to the radio, by the time all this buzz finally busted through to me their show this past Sunday was already sold out. With the song basically on repeat for me the days leading up to the concert I decided it was time to attempt a plan that I have been thinking about for some time.
People who know me know I love Lincoln Hall. These same people know I'm quite the loudmouth on various social networks about it as well. I've shared my praise with a few people at LH and they have been appreciative while kindly asking for a Yelp review. As soon as I was asked I knew I would write a review - eventually. Part of me didn't because of sheer procrastination and laziness. However, I also thought I should attempt to withhold a review until the timing for me would be more advantageous.
Giving away tickets through their Facebook page and Twitter account is nothing new for Lincoln Hall. However, they seemed to up the ante last week. In order to enter to win free tickets to the sold out Foster the People show, LH asked for people to vote for them in Chicago Reader's "Best of Chicago 2011" poll. In addition to tickets for last Sunday's show, LH was giving away tickets to "an unannounced August" concert.
After nearly half a year of thinking in my mind what I wanted to write on Yelp, I finally signed up and published a review:
A list that is actually longer now in my mind
To really drive home my obsessive level of appreciation I attached a few of my crappy Instragram photos from past concerts and proceeded to run the propaganda train all over my social networks. I posted it on the aforementioned LH Facebook Wall and tweeted it myself. Finally, I submitted my ballet to the Reader and let LH know I had done so - while also not so casually mentioning that I was the same dork that recently posted on Yelp.
Less than 30 hours later LH had replied a thanks back on Twitter, liked my FB wall post and lo and behold sent me an e-mail saying I had won two tickets to Foster the People along with a not-yet-announced Lollapalooza After Party (again thanking me for the kind words on Yelp)!
And there you have it sports fans. Who says wasting time on the Internet doesn't pay? A wonderful song, a great story and an even better venue to encapsulate it all. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Lincoln Hall, I love you - don't you ever change.
For those that don't know, I'll be going halfway across the planet in under eight weeks. I've begun a very important step of the process recently. Was it getting my malaria pills? No, I need to stop procrastinating about that... What I have started is the very important process of podcast hording. A few recent flight changes have made me more aware of the time I will be spending on planes at the end of July.
fly over states
The first flight to Delhi will take 14 hours, with an additional 4 hour skip to Sri Lanka. Last weekend MySister (who will be joining me, don't forget) asked me if I was planning on listening to my iPod for the entire voyage. It's not like MySister and I will need the long flight to get caught up, we talk rather regularly as it is... That being said, I figure that I'll need at least 30 hours of iPod content. I also have a few books I have bought for the purpose of plane reading (read: iPod battery death).
According to my iTunes library, I have 17.5 days worth of music. But I think the time might get killed easier with new content from such podcasts as The Nerdist, Kevin Pollak's Chat Show, Sklarbro Country, WTF with Marc Maron, Comedy Bang Bang, Doug Loves Movies and of course the always awesome All Songs Considered (among others).
Fun fact - I'll be flying over 14 different nations:
United States
Canada
Ireland
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Germany
Poland
Ukraine
Russia
Turkmenistan
Afghanistan
Pakistan
India
Sri Lanka
FYI: a flight from Los Angeles to New York flies over 12 States
I have zero musical talent - but if talent existed I would go by the following stage names:
Fictitious EP cover
Dance Music DJ: DISCO'TINUED
Singer/Songwriter: Cassanova Jones
Indie Rock Band: Beautiful Noise Rock
Radiohead Tribute: Karma PD
Beardy Folk: The Plurals
Techno Pop: Keystroke Anarchy Epiphany
Vegas Lounge Act: Max Thomas
Crappy Suburban Cover Band: Heart to the Shot
Comedy Hip-Hop: T&A
Jam Band: Kick Ass Summer
