Virtually Home

Some years ago, I received some advice from someone in some situation that I can't quite remember. Maybe it was someone's high school commencement address. I'm not really sure. But the speaker, who I no doubt expected to ignore, said this: you don't ever want to be the smartest person in the room. I am, so far, quite pleased with my choice of graduate program, mostly because I am continually inspired and challenged by the other students. It's been kind of a revelation. You really don't ever want to be the smartest person in the room. I'm learning a lot of stuff, and it's pretty great. More later, I hope.

Four years ago, I voted in my first Presidential election via absentee ballot. I was a college sophomore living with two friends and an indescribably weird roommate who hated our guts. I suddenly needed to know what a notary was, and where to find one. I was desperately hopeful about a great many things. Since I had become politically conscious, I had only experienced the absurdity that was the George W. Bush Presidency. I was ready for a change, and I was excited to vote. I still have a copy of the Daily Oklahoman with the triumphant headline: "Yes, he did!" My only disappointment was that I would be spending most of Obama's first year in office abroad. I was, in retrospect, relieved -- a Democratic President-elect made the beginning of my year in Europe a lot less embarrassing than it would have been in the Bush era, or even in a McCain one. I watched in real time as America's reputation abroad changed, and I was proud. Well, here we are on election day. Some th...

Owen Ashworth from Advance Base. I found out kind of last-minute that Ben Gibbard had released a solo record, his first release since Death Cab's Codes and Keys (not my favorite DCFC album) and since his breakup with Zooey Deschanel. I hurried to my local record store to pick up a copy. I like the record so far -- it features a duet with Aimee Mann that is quite pleasing to me. I realized just in time that he was kicking off his tour in Minneapolis and jumped on tickets, but since it was a seated show, found myself toward the back and off to one side. I had a frustrating day that was compounded when I had to drive through Minneapolis traffic with bad directions, only to find that parking near the venue was nearly impossible. By the time I got in and sat down I was not in what you might call a concert-going mood. Telling a story. Luckily for me, the first words sung by the opener, one man with a keyboard and a synthesizer who was calling himself Advance Base, revealed t...

Last Wednesday I caught the Mountain Goats with Matthew E. White at The Varsity, a venue in the University of Minnesota's "Dinkytown" neighborhood (think Campus Corner, Oklahomies). The venue was pretty interesting -- a big standing area on one level, with a circular balcony area with seating that seemed not to be open for this particular show. They had, unfortunately, decided to project a bunch of advertisements for upcoming shows on a retractable projector screen in front of the stage. I found this obnoxious, and it cost the venue some points in my book. Matthew E. White opened with a band of 10, including two keyboardists, two percussionists, and a horn section. I found the lyrics repetitive and some of the subject matter kind of presumptuous, but considering those things along with my general dislike of horns, I liked it surprisingly much. They were from Richmond, Virginia, and spent a rather long time talking about Richmond, Virginia. It turns out that Matthew E....

Tilly and the Wall are a delightful act to see. They come onto the stage with a little audience participation: "We say 'Tilly,' you say 'what' (Tilly! What? Tilly! What?) -- We say 'Oh,' you say 'Fuck!'" You get the picture. Everyone is yelling from the start. When they started in with "Love Riot," the single from the album they'd released four days prior to the show, the bass was intense. Shake your ribcage intense. Intense enough to blow a fuse and disrupt the show, as it turns out. They battled electrical issues for the first three songs. See the setlist! If you're not familiar with Tilly and the Wall, they often use a tap-dancer as a percussion instrument. When I saw Tilly in 2010, they had scaled back Jamie's tap-dancing because she was four months pregnant, and she wore an awkward dress with a cartoon fetus on the front. This time, Derek had lost his voice and couldn't sing. That was a shame in t...

Laura Burhenn during her opening set. Recently, I got to catch Conor Oberst perform solo for the first time(s), ever. I mean, really solo. Not solo like in 2008 after the self-titled album came out and the Mystic Valley Band went on tour to support him. Solo, like, Conor and a guitar on a stage, with a guy on vibraphone and Laura Burhenn doing some backup vocals on a few songs. I caught a Thursday night show at the Fitzgerald Theatre in Saint Paul, which is home to A Prairie Home Companion. The show was hosted by the Minnesota Public Radio station The Current, and recorded for future streaming on their website. Laura Burhenn opened for both shows, as well as singing backup for Conor. She fronts the Mynabirds, who I caught opening for Bright Eyes in Detroit and Chicago in March of 2011. They sometimes remind me of Heartless Bastards, but I think it might just be the singers' ranges and physical appearances more than the bands themselves. She played some stripped-down versi...