Here we are - about half way through another year. It’s hard to believe we’re almost done with the first decade of the 21st century!

What a great time to be a music fan though.  The pseudo-mainstreaming of indie rock has catapulted non-bubble gum pop/rock to the forefront of MTV time and time again. TV dramady writers love to showcase songs by their favorite indie bands on their shows, and of course Garden State made one band change the lives of millions.

I want to share a couple things here: first, my adoration of what I’ve dubbed Pastoral (Indie)Rock. New-ish bands in this subgenre consists of, but is not limited to:

• Shearwater
• Grizzly Bear
• My Morning Jacket
• Midlake
• Fields of Industry
• Iron & Wine 
• Bon Iver
• Fleet Foxes (Currently the 24th highest selling Amazon.com music download!)

Each of these bands or musicians share a penchant for singing or playing about earthy things, or taking more modern thoughts and spinning them in a hymn-like web, in a very beautiful way. The instrumentation is always so intricate, and often includes banjos. I’m a big fan. There are more bands (Wilco, M. Ward for instance), but these are the ones taking it on now.

Secondly, I’d like to highlight my favorite releases this year so far. You can vote for yours at All Songs Considered.

•  My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges: I cannot stop thinking about this music! As I Twitted, to me, much of it sounds like a lost collaboration between Paul McCartney and George Harrison from 1976. I normally can’t stand music from the 1970s, but MMJ are making me change my mind.
• Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes: Although not as strong of the “Sun Giant” EP, this album is full of engaging melodies and delicate playing. Pastoral indie rock at its best.
• She & Him - Volume 1: This is almost Pastoral Rock because it features one of its inventors, M. Ward. However, at least one member is required to have a bushy beard, and Zooey’s huge hair doesn’t count.
• Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend: I ain’t too proud to say I still like ‘em.
• Magnetic Fields - Distortion: I hope this doesn’t get lost because it was released so early in the year.

There are other albums (Shearwater, Stephen Malkmus, R.E.M.) that are really good, but haven’t really stuck to me. I’ve been listening to an interesting mix of old and new this year. My favorite album for the past three weeks has been Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue Live 1975 (Bootleg Series Vol. 5). So passionate.
That’s enough!

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Last night I had the pleasure of seeing a show at Patrick’s Cabaret in Minneapolis. I had been there before, a couple times. I had thought that these mishmash performances with a wide-ranging bill were anomalies. I went because I had friends performing, and just figured these evenings were one-offs.

The cabarets include artists ranging from poets to belly dancers. One evening I saw a poet from northern Minnesota, a female vocalist of the local cable show ilk, and then a sexy “Rocky Horror Picture Show”-type mini play that included a drag queen and a topless woman. The variety was amazing.

Turns out this is a regular thing. At least monthly, Patrick puts together a conglomerate of artists for an evening or two of total weirdness one could not find anywhere else in the Twin Cities. Last night’s show included the drag queen (dancer/singer/writer Justin Leaf) from the mini play from last time (though this play is not nearly as well thought-out), a gay Japanese man singing the blues for conservative listeners, belly dancing to a Harvey Milk tribute, and a woman with a spectacular old-timey voice doing beautiful accapela songs.

But the highlight was “Happy Imposter”, which is also appearing in the Bedlam 10-minute Play Festival. The piece is a monologue times two: a lesbian character named Melissa has different conversations with a video projection of herself. They’re always talking about different Melissas: “Oh, you ran into Melissa. Are you guys getting back together?” “Damnit, Melissa is calling. Should I pick up?” It’s difficult to convey, but trust me that it was absolutely brilliant. Her timing was nearly perfect and the writing and acting were superb. I can’t figure out if Molly Van Avery, the director, is the actor in the piece. I don’t think it is. Either way, each part was notable.
The best is that I’ll be seeing her piece again on Sunday because she’s in the same group at Bedlam I’m seeing on Sunday. One of my friends is directing a play her boyfriend wrote, so Molly’s piece is icing on the cake. Hooray for local art!

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Hey everyone, I’m on Twitter now. So, if you’re interested in seeing my adventurous life as it unfolds, follow me.

By the way, does anyone know of a bug in Firefox for Mac where you can’t save images by right-clicking?

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I’ve been busy with little to show for it, except this list.

Music

• M83 - Saturdays = Youth: An album I wouldn’t like by its definition (new wave), but I absolutely adore it. The female voice is so pristine and even the last 11-minute long track based on like four notes is intriguing. Along similar lines, the new Portishead doesn’t suck, thank God.
• 10,000 Maniacs - Our Time in Eden: I was really into this album in high school, based mostly off the lower-top 40 hit and its video, “Candy Everybody Wants“. I have fond memories of mowing lawn to this album. I think “Noah’s Dove” is the best song on the album. I lurve pianos in pop/rock, and this delicate riff puts in a trance every time. Which leads me to the last album I purchased…
• Elton John - Honky Chateau: What a great album! It’s the one with “Rocketman” and of course “Honky Cat”. It lives up to its name — all the songs have a country twinge, which I’m a major sucker for. Elton’s voice is at its best — he’s got a great range here. My favorite song right now is “I Think I’m Gonna Kill Myself” (very funny live vid on the link so take a look). It’s a get-up-and-dance kind of song, but there’s no irony. Loves it.
• Anton Dvorak - The New World Symphony: Another “album” I was obsessed with in high school coming back in rotation. We heard it in a General Music class and a bunch of us got really into it, so much so that we insisted that the 4th movement be played during our graduation. The version on Rhapsody sucks, but there’s a nice video of a performance of the 4th movement (my fave) on YouTube that actually looks like a modern music video in some ways. That opening may sound familiar…yeah, John Williams couldn’t think of a melody himself if it came out of the water and bit off his head.

My other primary distraction from the world has been Mario Kart. One word: SUPERFUN! I love that

there’s old courses on this one, though the only ones I know are the N64 ones. Using the steering wheel is far easier than a joystick. I’m winning most of my Gran Prix races, so I haven’t lost my touch apparently. Then

again, I haven’t started on 150cc yet. I’m a little scared. I’m excited to play online with friends who live far away with their Wiis. Weeeee!!!

I wanted to get another Wii Wheel for guests, but the Target and Best Buy in Eden Prairie were sold out. The Target guy said that more Mario Kart games were made and sent out than wheels. That’s another strike against Nintendo in my book. Hello - that’s simple math! There’s four possible controllers for every Wii, so naturally you need at least four Wii Wheels per copy of the game. I finally found one tonight at Circuit City, though I think it was $5 more there than at Best Buy. Whatever.

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This year’s Voltage Fashion Amplified was bittersweet. It was my friend Nathan’s (aka George Moskal to the rest of the city) second and final time showing at this prestigious event in Minneapolis. He’s moving to Portland, which I’m sad about but I cannot wait to go visit him all the time. I adore Portland.

We were hoping this year would be better than last year in a few ways. One was that the First Ave staff stupidly refused to let to let others go into the VIP Lounge after the show to help the designers (or anyone) get their shit packed up. Last year I whisked past the security dude somehow, but this year he stopped us cold and wouldn’t let us in. Tell me, First Ave, what is the point? Don’t you want those people out of there as quickly as possible, especially when you know there’s an afterparty everyone wants to go to? It’s not like you’re going to sell tons of drinks after the show. To top it off, and to show First Ave’s hypocrisy, a friend of a friend got into Voltage for free by simply holding up his hand and walking through the front doors. He didn’t have a stamp to show off, but he played it like he did, and got in.

We took all of Nathan’s stuff to their car in the Target Center ramp, then proceeded to Sound Bar for the afterparty. None of us had heard of it, and with good reason. Last year’s party was fairly lame, and again I barely got let in because the Voltage crew were only allowed one +1. This year though, anyone could get in with a $3 cover. Or at least that’s what we were told.

We got a little lost, and as we walked up we noticed a small crowd and a velvet rope. I was fumbling for my ID when I heard a little commotion. Greg (Nathan’s S.O.) was trying to hand over his ID for inspection to one of the two bouncers. Nathan was getting his Voltage tag out. He said that we’re here for the Voltage party. The bouncer was unresponsive. Greg noticed that he was starting at Nathan’s feet. The bouncer, noticeably Easter European, turned to his buddy and whispered something. Nathan waved his Designer tag in front of him again and the bouncer replied, “We don’t allow white shoes.”

I began to cackle. Greg huffed and Nathan simply said, “Seriously? Well fuck this!” with his best diva hand action. We walked off, me still cackling. The party was partly for Nathan, yet he’s not allowed inside this ridiculously pretentious Minneapolis bar because of his super cute, uber hip, off-white Keds. Ummm, yeah. Well, better him than me in my super cute retro Nike slip-ons.

We returned to the Target Center ramp where Greg and Nathan took off long before me because my car was a little farther away. It took me a bit to find my way off the top floor (there was a Timberwolves game), but when I finally reach the exit, Greg and Nathan were still at the toll booth thingy. I could see Nathan’s siloutte obviously shouting at the toll guy, and Greg trying to hand the toll guy money. The toll guy had a ticket in his hand, but got out and wrote down their plate number. Meanwhile, I’m thinking the toll guy must not be honoring the tickets we already paid for ($10, thank you very much) due to some stupid post-midnight rule or something.

Finally Greg and Nathan pulled away, after much more shouting from Nathan. I pull up to the booth and said to the guy, “So you’re not honoring these tickets?” The guy replied, “They lost their ticket. They had to pay for lost ticket charge.” The money and lost ticket ticket (yes, he generates a ticket for a lost ticket) is still in his hand. I get a little flustered and apologize. Pretending I didn’t know the trouble-makers, I offer the possibility that the men had a bad day. I talked with the toll booth guy for a good couple of minutes, trying to make him feel better. He was near tears, and appreciated my concern.

Nathan called after I pulled out and he said that they had no idea that they needed to take a ticket when they entered, which was obviously the toll guy’s fault. *Sigh*.

We’re all rude and pretentious sometimes, but Minneapolis was full of it last night.

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I finished reading Charlie Chaplin’s autobiography late last week, and I am now officially obsessed. After I was done, I missed reading it before bed. Luckily I had queued up a bunch of his films on Netflix. I watched “City Lights” early on Sunday and basically never stopped watching or reading Chaplin-related stuff the whole day (turns out there’s tons of obsessed fans who create YouTube mashups or compilations. Today has felt incomplete without being inundated with the Tramp.

One of the YouTube compilation vids featured what appeared to be Chaplin in drag. The author kindly sent me all her pics of Charlie dressed in high flapper gear. Here’s a couple.

I think the biggest reason (beyond his pure genius) I love him is because of his politics. The fact that he was driven from America shortly after he began his talking pictures proved what a powerful political voice he could have become. In some ways I feel like he was born slightly too early. That if he’d been born 10 or 20 years later, he could have been the old guy amongst the hippies chanting for peace. But he certainly wouldn’t have the comic talent he had if he was born later. He was very old-fashioned, and lagged behind the times in Hollywood in many ways. He was more innovative in his politics and comedy than in his directing films.

He reminds me a lot of John Lennon. Both are English, spent much of their adult lives in America, slept around and didn’t really settle down until late in life, followed by the FBI because of their strong leftist leanings, led their field in terms of talent and popularity, and made daring art for their time.

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Two technological advances have recently been added to my apartment.

Number one is a Wii. After searching several spots in Eau Claire, Wisconsin last Saturday, I finally found one of seven available at SuperTarget the next day. So I “worked out” with WiiSports all week, and it seems to be working. I’m no longer sore for two days after playing baseball.

Yesterday I purchased Mario Galaxy, which has proven to be as much of a time suck as I expected. However, I think it gave me a migraine today. After getting hung up on a couple levels, I decided to google solutions to killing the bosses. Turns out, some dude has recorded his plays with perfect quality and uploaded them to, what else, YouTube. Mario Galaxy is a really good game. The storyline is actually really good and could easily be a children’s fantasy cartoon or picture book. And every level is so visually creative. I don’t know how those Japanese do it. No wonder it’s the top rated Wii game thusfar, according to Metacritic.

The number two technical advance in my apartment is the Le Bistro automatic pet feeder. My cat has been causing me a lot of trouble, waking me up between 5:00 and 6:30 to feed her. I’m hoping the feeder will solve that issue, but it hasn’t after five days. We’ll see. Like everyone else who has purchased Le Bistro, I thought it was a bitch to program. There’s only three buttons, but it’s impossible to keep what they do straight with every level within the menu. Somehow I accidentally changed the actual time and added lunch (normally Amelia is only fed breakfast and dinner) so she may have been getting four meals for two days.

Yay for crap the middle class wastes money on!

Non-tech-P.S. I met Alan Sparhawk from Low last night! He’s friends with my friend Chad. I tried to keep the convo as normal as possible, and it seemed to work. We discussed SXSW, trail mix, and some other stuff I’ve already forgotten. I didn’t say anything gushy, which I sort of regret. Super nice guy.

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1. Admittedly, I screamed like a little girl when I heard about the new Fox show, The Return of Jezebel James. Umm, how is it even possible for two of the coolest women on earth to be on the same show together? Will the world implode after it premieres tomorrow night? Of course, it’s a bit suspicious for Parker Posey, Queen of Indie, and Lauren Ambrose, who many thought would be Princess of Indie after “Starting Out in the Evening” last year, to suddenly be on a laugh-track laden Fox sitcom. But we take the cool where we can get it.
2. Yeah, so I really like Charlie Chaplin. I’ve been reading his autobiography and although I don’t know who he’s talking about half the time, I hear the names of his friends brought up now. Like today “Lady Astor” was a Jeopardy clue, and she was a friend of Charlie. There’s something positively magnetic about him. It sounds weird, but I feel a connection to him. I could take or leave his really old films, but he sort of reminds me of Alan Alda in his preachiness-meets-dramady take on filmmaking and acting in his later films. Tonight I purchased mp3s (from Amazon — it’s a pretty slick little app) of some cello/violin and piano recordings of some of his compositions. They’re so passionate! What I can’t find out for sure is whether it’s Charlie playing. A review makes it sound like he is, but the quality sounds too good. I hope it is though.
3. I’ve got a couple shows coming up. The Raveonettes on Monday and Retribution Gospel Choir next Saturday. But Wednesday is Stephen Malkmus, and if I’m up to going alone and there’s still tickets, I may go to that as well. He’s another artist that I just feel a weird connection with. Oddly enough, I could take or leave Pavement recordings, but I really love his solo stuff. I know — flog me now, Pitchfork sheep.
4. IT’S FINALLY SPRING!!!!!!!!1111!!!!1

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So I went to Stereogum today because a friend recommended this cover of Radiohead’s “Just”. I wanted to watch this clever and jumpy adaptation, but I was distracted by the ad to the right side of the page.

Louie Anderson? Really? It’s a local ad, too. For Treasure Island near Rochester, Minnesota. Yeah, that’s some fancy ad targeting in terms of geography, but WTF was it doing on STEREOGUM, the music blog for the kids who are so cool they diss Pitchfork openly?

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I present to you, dear reader, my take on the leading presidential candidates’s websites. Although I’ve been scoffed by one for this idea, I think we will discover some interesting insight into these people who may lead the free world for the next four years.

Please note that I viewed all sites with Firefox on my Mac, and with IE7 on my XP machine.

John McCain

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