U.S.E.

I would have loved to see the look on United State of Electronica's faces when they looked inside O'Leavers. I thank them for the patience with the house sound. It didn't sound great, but it sure sounded like a party... like Parliament on a Casio VL-Tone. The band has a couple dozen members, from what I could tell. It was difficult to discern, as the crowd/band lines began to blur, made hazy by the smoke machine. It was fun to see them in a packed, small venue, although I wonder what they would be like in the Underground with the lighted, 3-foot U S E letters high enough that you could see them. In O'Leavers it created a proportion-skewed Wonderland, where giants dance to the neverending kick in the swirl of the octopus light.

After the show I talked them out of the buttoned armband they had been using as a sort of merch display. I should have picked up the t-shirt that read: United State Of Electronica. But in real wing-dings, not the webdings.

Catching Up Haphazardly

I was recently told to update my damn blog. Christian says to me, write about how you got into Built to Spill without a ticket, for the second time while I'm with you. Write about how you left before "My Guitar Gently Weeps." I will not write about those things.

It was a night for the old-timers. Those of us who still listen to vinyl regularly and have our living rooms built around our record collections. The band was very loud, turned past eleven but more like cranking up a pair of good headphones than the earsplitting auditory experience sometimes undergone in the Underground. Exhaustive rocking, that's why I didn't last to the end of this one. I was so tired the next day I passed out after work and slept through Sleater-Kinney. Bust on me.

In our next episode:

Engine Drivers, Chimbley Sweeps and Gigantic Bloodthirsty Aquatic Mammals, Oh My!

or

That Whale Scared Me So Much I Spilled My Beer on My Pants..

Absent

Haven't been to many shows here lately, mostly because I saw a ton of them in Austin and I've been taking it easy.
ACL Fest Rundown on my other blog.

Photo set on Flickr.. small right now, but growing as they get developed.