Catching up

Today's been a day of catching up with old friends. Actually not just today. This whole week has been about that. It is true what they say - the older you get the more you need the people you knew when you were younger. Sometimes you don't even know you needed it until after the fact. So next time you feel like something's missing, not quite right, whatever, try giving an old friend a call. It just might leave you with a smile. I know I'm smiling today.

This one goes out to all my friends:



P.S.: I always thought I'd be one of those (most interesting) 40-year-olds who still don't know what to do with their lives. Now I'm well and truly on my way to that. Except I'm probably only interesting to myself. But hey, that's all that matters at the end of the day.

When I grow up

I think I've finally hit on something I'd like to do for a living that perfectly matches my interests and abilities. I want to either start a record label or run a record store.

I love discovering and, more importantly, sharing new and interesting music. I am reasonably good at judging the sort of music someone would be open to based on their current interests and recommending something along those lines. I've done this in the past with tolerable success. While I'm generally not a people person, I am not exactly socially awkward either. So that shouldn't be a hurdle.

Yeah, the more I think about it, the surer I am that this is what I want to do - what I ought to do - when I grow up. The only question is when will I grow up? Or should it be will I ever grow up? Perhaps this is just another one of my daydreams. Well, I like dreaming. And who knows, maybe one of my dreams will come true one day...

Atonement

As a peace offering for whoever had the misfortune to read the rant I posted earlier, here's some amazing music I just came across (Twitter ftw yet again - thank you, Brett Naucke!)



Looks like the whole album is up on youtube. It is so so very unfortunate that this man is no more. I'm going to try and listen to everything he ever created.

Warning: Acerbic Rant Ahead

I haven't posted in a while for a combination of reasons. Primarily because I haven't had the time. But also because I wasn't feeling like writing. Been in a curiously dissatisfied frame of mind. Made a bit of a bad social blunder that I think I was led on to because of impatience. Either way it made me feel terribly ashamed of myself and resolve to not bother trying to reach out to humans again. Until the next time anyway.

So the reason I didn't have time was because I went to a music fest. It was a bit of a let down tbh. The highlights were seeing Wolf Eyes, Shabazz Palaces and Gary Numan. The first two I was especially looking forward to, and while they did not disappoint in themselves, the venue left something to be desired. The sound wasn't the best, and a patio in the cold wasn't the ideal place on some rather chilly nights.

The Shabazz Palaces show was almost ruined by a couple of really annoying drunk chicks who drove me up the wall. These idiots somehow managed to get spots right at the front and instead of enjoying the music spent almost the entire time either chattering loudly and taking selfies or taking a video of the performance on their phone with the flash on the entire time. I came -this- close to grabbing their phones and smashing them on the ground. It was so very distracting. They had some nice lights and stuff set up on stage but all we got to see for a large chunk was the infuriating white light from their phones. Just thinking about it makes me want to @&*$^*&!#^^&!#%

I'm adding drunk self-absorbed people more interested in themselves than the show ruining it for everyone else to my list of most FSSR (Fist Shaking Saber Rattling) inducing things ever. It may even surpass people who cruise at or below the speed limit on the passing lane and make it to the top of the list. These are not "pet peeves", mind you. These are the things that make me shudder with extreme repulsion when new-agey people talk about how we're all one mind or whatever. I do not want to have anything to do with inconsiderate jerks like these on any level.

These two women were extreme cases but I came across many such during the course of this music fest. Why oh why do people go to a concert and spend their time there talking, nay yelling loudly over the music, to each other? Couldn't they go elsewhere where they can talk without being disturbed by music and without paying the price of admission? Sigh.

Earth and Expo '70

Saw this awesome double bill tonight. I've seen both bands before multiple times so I knew what to expect. And neither of them disappointed.

I missed a bit of Expo '70 since the movie I was at earlier in the evening (the widely acclaimed Queen which I will write about tomorrow) ran a little later than I expected. I think the song I missed half of was the promised new one too. But no sweat, I'll be setting them again twice later in the month.

Earth was just what I need to soothe my ruffled feathers. Ruffled because I got stood up. Sort of. This dude I'm friends with on last.fm said he'd look out for me and say hi. We go to a lot of the same shows but have never actually met up. His taste in music is so close to my own that I actually use his upcoming shows list to pick the ones I want to go to. Would've been nice to actually have a friend irl with similar interests. Oh well.

But going back to the show itself, Earth, as I said, was the perfect music to make peace with the world. They alternates between tracks from their upcoming album and older material. The new stuff held up great, so I'm liking forward to that album which comes out in July apparently.

I get a day of tomorrow (not from work sadly) and then it's back to plenty of live music again on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at a music fest. I should get some rest now. Early and busy day awaits tomorrow. Think I'll play my favorite Earth album to sleep to. Here's a song from said album:

Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman

Watched the first movie in the series - Tale of Zatoichi. All the movies are available for free streaming on Hulu this week courtesy of Criterion. It was really good. Perfectly paced and quite captivating. I want to look up the actor who played Zatoichi. He was so good. I want to watch all the films now. Maybe I'll try and sneak in a couple more before the week is up. Highly recommended.

Here's the link to the first one on Hulu. Only annoyance is that they have stupid ads breaking up the movie. I guess it's no worse than watching a movie on TV. At least they don't pull a Spotify on you and not let you mute the ads. I hate Spotify so much for that shit. But that's a rant for another day. Go watch Zatoichi be badass. Gogogo.