J'taime Madeline!

Saratoga Mountain Winery 2 times in a row. I must have been born under the lucky star. It was as more subdued atmosphere this time round. It wasn't a sold out show, there was no line at the bar and grill- as me and Rage ordered our burger and salad. This time we were smart- we bought a bottle of wine instead of a glass. It was a beautiful night- the moon was full and you could look up at the sky and dream as you hear the beautiful classic voice of Ms. Peyroux. I've always imagined her more European. I believe she might have spent a portion of her time in Paris. But this time round- i could hear a more bluegrassy tone in her performance.

My Lords and Ladies

So I've never been to a Renaissance Faire and i wasn't sure what to expect. I hear stories of Turkey legs and drunken debauchery but it was rather tame when i was there. I think response must not have been good because the 15 dollar entry fee was apparently lifted and it was just a free for all. Initially i thought that most of the people loitering around in outfits were people involved in the faire but upon closer inspection- i think these folks attend Ren Faire so they can wear the romantic threads and talk in iambic pentameter. What made it hilarious was the food area. Instead of turkey legs- i found this (see pic below). Guess orientals are everywhere eh?

Once

My usual morning ritual- I wake up- I power up my laptop, check emails, turn on mtv/vh1 (whichever channel has the better music on). This morning- right before I was ready to head out for work- a haunting song came on. I was mesmerized- I started to wait around to re-read the credits. The credits came on and in a flash, the names- Falling Slowly- Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova- Soundtrack to.... and the credits disappeared. On the Muni to work- I couldn't understand where i've heard that song before. I couldn't have been that familiar with it after only one listen. I immediately went on amazon, typed in a couple combos of Marketa's name but didn't hit on the right spelling- the next search word was 'Soundtrack' and behold- the soundtrack to the movie 'Once' and i found the song- the next search was to look where it was playing- or whether it was still even playing! Be still my heart it was playing at the Embarcadero. I was so excited!

It's been a while seen i've watched a movie and said- wow! What a beautiful movie. Whether it was short and sweet or dramatic or scary. This was one of them. It bordered on being MTV-esque with the typical boy meets girl story- but slowed down to a pace where it's more real. We all have a past that we haven't quite let go (scenes of watching old home videos of him and his girl). Decisions and responsibilities that we take care of that can't be relinquished for what ifs (family and love). The emotion you hear in their voices will evoke emotions and memories within yourself- it did for me.

When i got home- I still couldn't understand why i had this feeling of deja vu that i've heard a few of these songs- so I looked it up once more and found out Glen was the lead singer of 'The Frames' and he opened for Damien Rice during a performance i caught last year at The Paramount. Catching glimpses of Ireland also adds extra weight to my decision to visit Ireland next year. It does look charmingly beautiful. I could go on and on- but you should go on this beautiful ride yourself and catch this movie- or at least get the soundtrack. Oh! Did i mention The Frames is also touring- unfortunately their gig at GAMH on Sept 5th is sold out. If anyone has an extra ticket laying around- pick me!

Happy Weekend Loves!

I've Gotta Have You (alternate versions)

I'm semi practicing my guitar playing skills once again- and the song i'm currently strumming is The Weepies' I've Gotta Have You. As I was google-ing alternate tabs for this piece, I stumbled upon several renditions of IGTHY on You Tube. Here's one of my favs by Mads Andreas. Perhaps you'll see my post to youtube soon, but don't hold your breath.

New Talent

Beautiful Sunday afternoon at Lake Tahoe where i heard this chap CJ play the Cello. The afternoon was rather surreal- I was surrounded by all this beauty, good food (brie, tomatoes, spinach and prosciutto makes an excellent sandwich) and there was a live soundtrack to it- courtesy of CJ. I have never seen the lake before- I even made a joke and asked whether it was real? This was what my restless soul needed.

Red red wine... literally!

Beautiful Saratoga Mountain Winery- If you're not going for the show, just go for the ambiance. Poor Rage- he only knew 2 songs as the other superfans knew all. I usually like superfans- but now i question. They were singing each and every lyric at the top of their lungs. I'm fine with that if you're standing right up front worshiping the band, but do you have to do it when you're sitting at the bleachers with everyone (meaning me) wanting to try to listen to the actual band sing? But it was surreal to hear Ali sing Kingston Town, Red Red Wine and other familiar tunes. Brought back a lot of memories of times past.

x

Sorry duckie...

Lily Allen apparently has visa issues coming into the states. So her US shows have been postponed thus far. Me mate Rage is dissapointed :( . My count of 26 just went down to 25 ...

Too excited

Since it popped into my head to list all the shows i've been to this year and post them- i got too excited and should have thought about- what happens when i add more? Do I keep reposting? Since then- i've added a side bar page element and i'll make my changes there! Brilliant eh? Latest and greatest to the list- Klaxons- tics go on sale this Sunday loveys... don't forget.

I waited too long!

No!!! I think they still had tics for the 2nd show at The Forum for The Pigeon Detectives when i checked this morn but now they don't have any and i missed out!! I was hoping to be able to catch this show while i'm in London. If they don't get any bigger than they already are from now till November- perhaps i can still buy scalped tickets for a reasonable price. Question is whether the Thursday night gig or the Friday night gig would be better? Or i suppose i could show up for both nights to see whether i can get tics for either. Wait a minute- i just checked seetickets.com and placed an order with them- they're upstairs tics but- no matters right? I hope the transaction goes through. It doesn't work sometimes when it's international. Fingers crossed. I'll keep you updated.

xxx loveys

Plug in Baby!

OMG! OMG! I'm at MSG, NY!!! Naively i thought it was going to be an open stadium- what? it had the word "garden" in it! But it ended up to be indoors and nicely air-conditioned. This is a plus in the heat of a NY summer. First on stage was Cold War Kids. Could they be any more brilliant? They were moving like dancers on the stage with they syncopated (gr?) rhythms.



Must say, as soon as i saw it was an indoor arena- i knew my girl Gigi would not be able to enjoy all the razzmatazz that Muse added to their shows. A big part were those arcrobats being suspended on balloons. Being that this show was numero quatro for me this year, I immediately noticed the set up was right. The set list however was similar as they kicked off the show once again with Knights of Cydonia (sans space suit men). In addition, NY you suck! as Muse fans. SF was definitely more rockin'. There was hardly any moshing!!! However, as Matt closed the first set with Plug in Baby- NY pulled through and the whole stadium was screaming for more. Fingers crossed- I'll manage to catch perhaps one more show this year? They did add an Irvine show...