Show Review: Grey Ghost, Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses, Swim Party, The New Archaic @ Casbah, 01/27/2009

Last Tuesday night I made it out to the Casbah for what was my third show in a week. When I get back into something, I really jump headfirst, huh?

I made sure to get there early to hear The New Archaic, who Tim Pyles had been raving about. And for being as young as they are, they sure deserved it. What was I doing when I was 19? Okay, maybe I did have a co-authorship on a Science paper, but that's nowhere near as cool as rocking out on the stage at the Casbah.

The New Archaic @ Casbah

Which these kids did. The first song had hints of Broken Social Scene in it, and from there, they touched on a number of styles - something I might fault a more established band for, but I'm giving them leeway to let them figure out what they want to sound like.

I didn't take too many photos at the show overall, and I took absolutely zero of Swim Party. Because, well, I've shot them plenty of times before, and this time I just wanted to rock out - especially since I wasn't playing with them.

After Swim Party was Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses, who brought some roadhouse music to the Casbah. They sounded great, but unfortunately, I had left my cowboy hat at home, so I spent most of their set catching up with folks out on the smoking patio.

Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses @ Casbah


Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses @ Casbah

Last up was Grey Ghost, a new-ish band comprised of members of Kite Flying Society and the Ex-Friends. Despite a few missteps, they played a great version of harmony-infused pop music - even incorporating violin and flute at times. Definitely keep an eye out for these guys in the future!

Grey Ghost @ Casbah


Grey Ghost @ Casbah


Grey Ghost @ Casbah

As an aside, I sure hope their names comes from the character voiced by Adam West on Batman: The Animated Series...

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/30/2009

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Sometimes you come home from work on a Friday and your shoulder really hurts, so you take some medicine and fall asleep on your couch at 9PM. And then sleep until 8:30AM.

Because you're a rock star like that.

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/29/2009

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The place that taught me to love skee ball. And ball pits (no matter how gross you say they are).

Coachella 2009 Lineup Announced!

For real this time. Check it out here.

I'm already set to shoot it for Pitchfork, and oh boy am I excited. Paul McCartney, Morrissey, The Cure, My Bloody Valentine? Yeah, it begs the question of WTF year is it, but still.

Although I'm not holding out any hope of being allowed to shoot The Killers, unless Ray can hook something up...

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/28/2009

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This might possibly be the best thing I currently own.

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/27/2009

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Apparently yesterday was "Down the Rabbit Hole" day (also Lewis Carroll's birthday), "wherein bloggers and journallers change their blogging style for 24h."

Well, I didn't blog anything, which isn't really a change from my normal style. However, this photo serves as a pretty literal take on the theme, as well as probably differing a bit from my normal photography style. I like it quite a bit. Props to Kelly, who actually pointed it out to me while we were traipsing through Geisel Library for her own Rabbit Hole project. Sometimes it takes another person to point out what's right in front of you...

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/26/2009

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While cleaning out my car the other day, I found my Rose Bowl tickets. And then realized I never posted the photos I took that day with my point and shoot camera. I finally did, and you can see them here.

Show Review: Tapes 'n Tapes, Wild Light, Theresa Andersson @ Casbah, 01/25/2009

Photos: Tapes 'n Tapes, Wild Light, Theresa Anderson @ Casbah

The last time I saw Tapes 'n Tapes, it was a really good set, so I didn't have a problem convincing myself to go see them again. However, I was glad I got there early in the evening. Because the best set of the night, hands down, belonged to Theresa Andersson. Also the best photos, in my opinion.

Theresa Andersson @ Casbah


Theresa Andersson @ Casbah

Not only was she full of spunk and vigor on stage, but girl's got TALENT. And about 8 million pedals. She was looping everything - violin, guitar, drum parts, drum samples off a record, even her voice in order to obtain some incredible vocal harmonies. And oh yeah? Her voice is killer too. Add to that a few bucketloads of charisma, and you've got an absolute showstopper.

Theresa Andersson @ Casbah


Theresa Andersson @ Casbah

At one point, she explained that she was going to play a song that involved some slide violin. But because she had dropped her slide earlier and broken it, she was going to do it the old-fashioned way - using the neck of a beer bottle instead. Gotta give props to that.

Theresa Andersson @ Casbah

She got probably the best response to an opening act that I've ever seen at the Casbah. If people hadn't already been on their feet, it would have amounted to a standing ovation. A well-deserved one, for sure.

Theresa Andersson @ Casbah

An act like that is tough to follow, but Wild Light did well enough. They got the crowd moving, and the "too cool" gap in front of the stage narrowed considerably.

Wild Light @ Casbah


Wild Light @ Casbah


Wild Light @ Casbah

By the time Tapes 'n Tapes played, the room was jam-packed with fans. They played a pretty rocking set, which even instigated some hipster moshing - complete with sharp elbows (ouch).

Tapes 'n Tapes @ Casbah


Tapes 'n Tapes @ Casbah


Tapes 'n Tapes @ Casbah (love the shirt!)

I somehow still don't have their most recent album, but I'll have to rectify that soon. It was a tiring night, but I went to bed with my ears still ringing with good music.

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/25/2009

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I finally got around to buying new windshield wiper blades today. It's only been on my to-do list for about two years.

My dad suggested going somewhere and having someone install them for me. But with a little internet research on what size to get for my car (verified by the guy in the auto parts store), and then a little instruction-reading, I managed to do it myself. I mean, I've changed car batteries myself, so what's so hard about windshield wiper blades? Nothing.

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/24/2009

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There was about 2 seconds of decent rain this morning. I think this might have been the cloud responsible? More, please.

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/23/2009

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Taken on the way to Livewire. It's a good thing too, because once there, I lost track of several hours, emerged rather drunk, and then wanted to stop at every single fast food place on the way home. Yeah...

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/22/2009

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I've been eating a lot more cereal since I started buying soy milk. And a lot of it has been honey nut cheerios. Yum.

Show Photos: Writer, Republic of Letters, Publicist, Stripes and Lines @ House of Blues, 01/21/2009

Photos: Writer, Republic of Letters, Publicist, Stripes and Lines @ HOB

I was really there for Republic of Letters and Writer, two bands I've written about here before. The other bands didn't leave much of an impression on me, maybe because I was somewhat tired and out of it, maybe because House of Blues always irks me, but either way, here are the photos.

Stripes and Lines:

Publicist:

Republic of Letters:

Writer:

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/21/2009

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Writer, at House of Blues. I had major issues getting decent photos of them, but I'm not sure why - I think I'm just rusty. Need to get out and shoot some more shows.

What we talk about when we talk about weather

me: oh hai rain
Lucas: fucking great
me: i can't tell if it's actually still raining
but it did
recently
Lucas: heh
well it's supposed to
intermittently
me: yeah
i'm okay with that
hmmm someone is walking with an umbrella
but that means nothing here
it could still not actually be raining right now
Lucas: totally
it's wet here

San Diego has more unnecessary umbrella users than any other place I've ever been. If you see someone walking with an umbrella up, it doesn't actually mean that there is water coming out of the sky currently - just that there was, maybe, a few droplets, sometime in the past 3 hours.

I'm behind in my photo posting for the first time this new year. Sorry about that - shot a show Wednesday night and I haven't found the time to work through the photos yet. I'll try my best to get up to speed soon.

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/20/2009

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Tried to go to the W tonight to try something different, but the line was around the block, and the hell with trying to park downtown. So we bailed and went to The Office instead, which is way different from when it used to be Scolari's. Took this long exposure shot with the camera resting on my bag on the bar. Pretty happy with the result.

Not so happy with the band that was playing there, so we bailed and went to Bar Pink (Elephant), where the drinks were cheaper and the band was more conducive to conversation. Also, much less crowded, which meant open booth. Woo.

"...your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy."

Finally. A president that inspires hope and change through his words. It feels so...refreshing.

I don't have the words to describe what I felt during his speech - all I can say is, it feels like the entire world just breathed a sigh of relief. It really does feel different.

The entire text of his inaugural address is up on Slate, and there is much in there that will be remembered for ages to come. It's weird hearing something the first time it's ever been uttered and knowing that it will be repeated forever and ever, echoing in the halls of history for future generations.

The only two changes I would have made, if I was in charge of the inauguration:

1. Rick Warren. I sneered the entire way through his speech, and imagined him ending each sentence with "except the gays." E.g. "Freedom and justice for all...except the gays." Hypocritical asshole.

2. If any John Williams song had to be played, it should have been the Cantina Song from Star Wars. I'm just sayin'.

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/19/2009

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Spent some time at Balboa Park today, trying to get more familiar with the Lensbaby and make it work in my hands. It's still a bit frustrating to me, in that I think the effect looks kind of hokey a lot of the time, and I'm still fighting to basically make it look like a Holga lens. Also, I feel like the lens itself is a little cold? Anyway, I got some ones that I did like. The rest of the set is here.

What Can Obama Do to Keep Women in Science?

NY Times: In 'Geek Chic' and Obama, New Hope for Lifting Women in Science

To be fair, the article doesn't really mention much that can be done to fix things (other than appointing a woman to the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology), but points out that something needs to be done. I just love that they brought Darwin into it:

From a purely Darwinian point of view, expecting a young woman to sacrifice her reproductive fitness for the sake of career advancement is simply too much, and yet the structure of academic research, in which one must spend one’s 20s and early 30s as a poorly compensated and minimally empowered graduate student and postdoctoral fellow, and the remainder of one’s 30s and into the low 40s working madly to earn tenure, can demand exactly that.

...In a new survey of 19,000 doctoral students at the University of California, Dr. Mason and her colleagues found that while two-thirds of the respondents either had or planned to have children, 84 percent of the women and 74 percent of the men expressed worry about the family-unfriendliness of their intended profession, and many had changed their plans accordingly. While 40 percent of the male science graduate students and 31 percent of the women said they had begun their Ph.D. programs intent on pursuing an academic career — still considered the premier path to science glory — a year or more into their studies, only 28 percent of the men and 20 percent of the women still hoped to become research scientists at a university.

That's approximately the same thing that happened to me, although it's not necessarily due to family concerns. I just don't want to be a "poorly compensated and minimally empowered graduate student/post-doc" until I'm 35, and then have to scramble for job security/tenure until I'm 40. It just doesn't make sense anymore.

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/18/2009

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My new glasses came in the mail yesterday. I'm pretty sure that I like them a lot, but I still have to get used to them. To that end, I spent all day wearing them today. I try to wear my contacts as little as possible when the weather is this dry, because my eyes get irritated really quickly.

Grasping at straws?

I changed the bench paper on my lab bench yesterday. Somehow, I hope that this has some bearing on the experiment I'm doing today.

It's silly, I know, but then I feel like some of the most superstitious people I know are scientists. We hate straying from protocols, even if it probably won't make much of a difference (2 washes for 10 minutes each, or 3 washes for 5 minutes each? etc.). Once we've got a protocol worked out, we're very hesitant to change it. A lot of it has to do with the fact that most experiments are multi-day investments, so to change one step and then have the whole thing not work is akin to losing an entire week sometimes.

And yes, there's a certain amount of obsessive-compulsion built into the job. Or the job attracts people that are naturally a little OCD. Either way, it amounts to the same thing.

So every time that things are consistently failing, I'm driven to clean up my bench area, which usually looks something like this. Doesn't hurt to keep my fingers crossed, either.

Update: Well, I guess you could say the experiment worked, in that I know where my protein is - it's just not exactly where I would like it to be for the next round of purification. Blerg.

01/17/2009

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A really awesome sign for a lab eye wash station - you know, in case you get chemicals in your eyes. I've seen these signs down in the mouse room, and always wanted to take a photo, but didn't really want to take my camera down there. Fortunately, I stumbled upon one today in the stem cell core facilities, which are currently undergoing renovations.

I guess sometimes there are perks to working in lab on a Saturday?

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/16/2009

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So, umm, can I just ask - where the heck is January going? Because we're half-way through already. And at least for me, personally, this first half has been mostly a wash. Trying to turn that train-wreck around though. Here's to hoping that all the good things have been holding off until the 20th...

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/15/2009

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Somehow, this day has been the closest I've felt to normal in at least a week. But it's also been really WEIRD.

While at work today, where I managed to be for a respectable number of hours for the first time this week, I received this IM.

Lucas: hmmm
you may want to be around somewhere when I get out of work
me: ok
why's that?
Lucas: because I may well be your hero at approximately that time
so you'll want to be involved
me: hmm
how do you plan on being my hero?
Lucas: what fun would it be to tell you now?
me: not cool
Lucas: fine then
i can find something to do with a gross of bouncy balls without you

Long story short, I had told Lucas a few days earlier about how in junior year of college, my boyfriend and his roommates bought a gross of bouncy balls, and unleashed them on unsuspecting party-goers from the top of the spiral staircase in their apartment. Mass amusement ensued.

And I mean, really, who doesn't enjoy having 144 bouncy balls lying around? So post-work, I headed over to his place, where we proceeded to fling bouncy balls at each other for AT LEAST 30 minutes. I'm guessing they'll be finding bouncy balls in that apartment up until the day they move out. "It's kinda like Easter eggs!"

Then I grabbed some pizza at Sicilian Thing on my way to D's for movie night, noting that there was a hooker out on 30th and El Cajon already (it was only about 8PM at this point). We watched Shoot 'Em Up, which was fantastic in a terrible/awesome sort of way. I got yelled at for almost falling asleep about a million times - keep in mind this says nothing about the movie, I just think I have movie-induced narcolepsy. D's actually taken to yelling "Hey!" at me when he sees me nodding off, which makes me jump about a foot in the air. And stay awake for maybe 10 more minutes.

After the movie, I headed home down 32nd Street. While approaching the light at El Cajon, an SUV going the opposite direction cuts me off to park haphazardly in the driveway of an apartment building. I was a bit peeved. And then I saw a hooker, no wait, the same hooker I saw 2.5 hours earlier on the way to get pizza, running towards the vehicle. And I just had to laugh.

I love this neighborhood. I really do. And I love that my life is so freaking random that there is room for bouncy balls fights. Because really, the only thing I'm looking for out of life is something like this:

Bouncy ball update:
Lucas: bouncy ball fight in the garage

with the door closed

welcome to the thunderdome coltrane

me: OMG

I WANT TO GO TO THERE

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/14/2009

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I shot this photo hand held at 1/8th of a second, with the 20mm lens on. I'm pretty proud of that. Something about the empty space and the lighting just appealed to me. I think I might try to pull together some focus for a project on empty spaces at some point. It seems to be what I gravitate towards anyway.

New Bon Iver: Blood Bank

"Well I met you at the blood bank
We were looking at the bags
Wondering if any of the colors
Matched any of the names we knew on the tags."

This new Bon Iver song "Blood Bank" has been around for a few weeks, but I've somehow neglected to mention it here. It is gorgeous - as are most things that Justin Vernon touches. And this whole past week it's been running in a loop around my brain, maybe spurred by the fact that my dad is in the hospital, or maybe because it just matches my mood exactly. At any rate, be sure to take a listen.

Bon Iver - Blood Bank

You can stream the entirety of their new EP on their myspace page, and be sure to pick up a copy when it's released on the 20th.

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/13/2009

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I took the day off of work today, in an attempt to get some things done at home and to try to sort out where my thesis project is going, or where this new (proposed) side project might end up. Unfortunately, that didn't really happen, for a variety of reasons that I won't go into here.

But let's talk about last night. What an adventure.

My very generous partner-in-crime and I started out with some much needed loosening up at Sarah's Smash Shack. And oh-my-god. If you've ever been pissed or frustrated about something that you're powerless to change, that is the place you need to go. Because sometimes, throwing fancy plates and vases at the universe lifts the weight off your shoulders like nothing else can. I even got complimented on my shattering skills. Not too shabby.

From there, it was an obvious short walk to the Chee Chee Club, which sits on a block downtown that the partner-in-crime deemed "responsible for our entire friendship." I guess I can't really argue with that. Nor could I argue with the drunk older woman who made friends with us before our drinks were even poured. Hell, I couldn't get a word in edgewise, other than telling her my name more than a few times, as well as my birth date.

"Taurus, huh? Are you a bull, or are you a bloody moo cow?"

To the partner-in-crime: "You look like a genius."

After ascertaining that yes, I am a bull, and that yes, he is a genius - but before we could determine whether she was British or just that drunk - we finished our drinks and split.

From there it was on to Hamilton's, where The Black Keys greeted us and then handed things off to good ole Bobby Dylan. Just what I needed. We actually managed to have a semi-serious conversation there, where I got something off my chest that I've been pondering for awhile.

"Is there any specific point in your life, a single moment in time, that you can look back on and see how your life just veered down an entirely different path from there? Because of a decision you made? A moment that you've maybe been paying for karmically ever since?"

The short answer, for both of us, is yes. Not that there's anything either of us can do to change things, and not that either of us would. It's just a weird feeling.

After refueling at Sicilian Thing, it was off to the suspension bridge. To hang out with Shredder. Okay, maybe not really, but definitely some person wearing a black hoodie with the hood pulled up and a face mask. We walked past him and all I could think of was "That guy had NO FACE!" Creepy and not very awesome. So we hung for a little while, until the creepiness factor increased enough that I just wanted to go home. Also, hiccups.

So we split and headed back to my place for some hot chocolate. Made with soy milk. I don't think it was quite the same, and after some joking about how my "boyfriend" was waiting for me in bed (really, the boyfriend pillow that Angela made me that lives on the left side of my bed), the partner-in-crime headed home. And I rejected the pillow boyfriend for a few more hours while catching some Zzz's on my couch. Because my couch is damn comfortable.

365 Days, 365 Photos: 01/12/2009

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My dad's been in the hospital since Saturday night, due to chest pain and shortness of breath. I found out this morning that he's having open heart surgery either tomorrow or Wednesday.

And fuck. I'm on the wrong fucking coast.

I don't deal well with things I don't have control over or can't do anything to fix. I get that from him. At this point, I think I'm just going to hang tight out here and hope for the best. He should come through okay, it's just a matter of changing his diet and exercise habits, as well as his attitude, once he's on the other end of this.

And me? Well, I'm gonna go break some shit. No, really. Because if you're powerless to fix something, you might as well go break something yourself.