alright. the rest of the photos from the two watchers shows this week are up and running. there are some really outrageous ones in there. yeah, click here for monday nite's prodigal son watchers show and click here for last night's miwaukee cactus club photos.



been keeping my mind off stuff...



been listening to:

bryter later--nick drake

s/t--+/-

s/t--flying saucer attack

watermark ep--the weakerthans

navy blue--sloan

odessy & oracle--the zombies

i got news this morning that my grandma in korea passed away. i am numb. i've been numb all day. i was gonna go see my brother, but i couldn't really bear to be with him because it would have made me all emotional and i didn't want to go there...megan's still out of town...so my friend michael kept me company this afternoon--food, coffeeshop, record store--and now i'm on to my next distraction...going to see a movie w/ my long lost recently found friend...



before i got news about my grandma's death, i was going to blog about the watchers' show at the cactus club in milwaukee last night. then i thought it would be inappropriate. but you know, i'm the girl who went to a guided by voices concert 2 days after her father's funeral, so i'm gonna talk about it anyway. another distraction i suppose...whatever floats my boat...anyways, here it is, briefly. i got to milwaukee about a couple songs into the watchers' set. the cactus club is THE venue to play in milwaukee if you're an indie rocker. it was an awesome dive of a place. the dude who'd booked the show and who took my money (i think his name was mitch) was raving about watchers. that made me happy. all the folks there, even though it was a small crowd since it was a wednesday night and rainy on top of that, were really into the show. i don't think they'd ever seen a performance like watchers'. i mean, it is really unique. if you don't know what i'm talking about, you'd have to see it for yourself.



i also got to talk to some of the guys from the portland, OR band called the joggers. the drummer actually works at the blackbird, which is where serene is playing w/ the gloria record on 11/13, and denison will be playing there the very next day. these guys were really sweet, and i don't normally say that about band guys. the lead singer sounds like chris wargo of scientific. watchers really enjoyed their mini 3 show tour w/ them, so i was glad. it's nice to tour w/ people you like.



i also fulfilled my recent life goal of catching michael in the air (on my digital camera i mean), but it wasn't his split leg jump. i'll have to work on that...michael's roommate libor was there w/ his camcorder so i can't WAIT to see what that looks like. i mean, my photos don't do any sort of justice to the energy and fun and exuberant creative juice that is characteristic of a watchers show. if you don't believe me, go see them live yourself. i'll let you know when your chance will be.

the new death cab for cutie album you can play these songs with chords is available now at barsuk. if you've never listened to death cab for cutie, what are you waiting for??? download free mp3s and check them out here. and if you fall in love w/ ben gibbard's voice like i did, then check out all-time quarterback, his little side project. you can download 5 songs off john vanderslice's studio's website here: http://www.tinytelephone.com/html/all.time.qb.html. you must listen to why i cry which is a magnetic fields cover. it's lovely and it'll make you sing not cry or maybe it'll make you cry who knows sometimes i cry when i sing that song but usually i bop my head. while you're there, check out the other bands that john's coerced free mp3s off of. he's got like bright eyes, beulah, spoon, of montreal and jeremy enigk (of sunny day real estate). oh, check out john's mp3s too. i just bought one of his albums on saturday, and he's pretty good.



speaking of the magnetic fields, future bible heros (stephin merritt main man and claudia gonson pianist of the magnetic fields) are coming to schubas on wed. nov 6th. buy your tickets online and save enough mula for half a bottle of beer.



to go to milwaukee or not to go to milwaukee...hmmmm...



recent listenings--

via satellite--ian moore action company

69 love songs vol. 3--the magnetic fields

s/t--hidari mae

control--pedro the lion

winners never quit--pedro the lion

from the nest of ideas--scientific

odessy & oracle--the zombies

october mix--various artists

just got back from meeting w/ my long lost now recently found friend. she lives like practically in my neighborhood. how crazy is that. it was good to catch up and talk and just share what's been up in my life, which is a lot i guess considering it's been years since i saw her last...i love hooking up with old friends...especially the ones that you were friends w/ when both of you were totally different people and then finding out now years later that you can probably be even better friends than you were way back then. friendship is an amazing phenomenon, don't you think? i do...



yeah, so watchers put on a "secret show" at the prodigal son last night, which means they appeared as michael makeout & the bedfellowes and didn't advertise too widely. michael called me around 6pm and told me about the show. so i dragged myself away from my 5 minute nap and got ready and went to the show. it was my first time at the prodigal, which is a pretty small venue. funny thing was that as i was paying the cover, i looked up and there on the wall was a poster for the band saxon shore who was going to play there on saturday. that's josh tillman's band, one of the dudes who stayed at my apartment when jesse & ryan were moving crosscountry from dansville, ny to seattle. it was so weird seeing that poster there. i didn't even know he was touring. i have to see pedro the lion sat. night, an early show, so maybe i'll stop in for saxon shores afterwards, maybe not...waiting on word from ryan to see if they're a good band to check out.



so my next goal in life is to get a picture of michael when he's performing doing one of his split leg jumps. that would be really cool. i need to work out some system of cues with him so i know what move he'll do next so i can be ready to shoot the cool ones. i hope their st. paul show went well. they'll be in milwaukee tomorrow...i haven't been to milwaukee since before mikey left for boston...i kind of wanna go and shoot some photos...i haven't really been happy with the lighting at the 3 watchers shows i've been at...i wish everyone had lights like the metro. they have frickin' awesome lights in the most delicious colors. they have this purple and this blue and this white that are sooooooooo gorgeous...so much cooler than the standard red you get at all the other venues. the prodigal uses the red light too, but i didn't like it and michael hates the red light, so he had the sound guy just keep the white lights on for their performance.



my friend steve elliott from high school is in town from san francisco this weekend on a book tour. he'll be at the evanston barnes & noble @ 7pm on friday for a reading, and then at quimby's in wicker park @ 7pm saturday. he's promoting his new novel what it means to love you. i hope i can make one of those readings...i'd probably get to see some old friends from high school.

so yesterday when i was checking my calls on my caller id, i recognized a name from way back of a friend from high school. she didn't leave a message so i called the number and left her a message and she called me back today. technology...it's crazy how people have hooked up because of it. look at me & josh. and that led to me and connolly & olarn. and then there's caleb. and then tim which led to me and megan. crazy crazy crazy...



michael & the watchers are doing a show at big v's in st. paul. they did a secret show at the prodigal son bar yesterday which i found out about 3 hours before the show. didn't get to sleep until 3am. they'll be playing in milwaukee at the cactus club. i'm thinking about going...idlewild's played there! well, michael's already played w/ idlewild before they were idlewild, so he probably doesn't think it's a big deal, but i LOVE IDLEWILD!!! and i'm gonna see 'em. with caleb. in new york. like that is so right on super rad...ok. gotta go.