Archive for March, 2008

Mute Math

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

We went to see a concert a few weeks ago. Alanis Morrisette opened up for Matchbox 20. We happen to be fans of both. At least we were. I realized that I only liked Alanis’ Jagged Little Pill album.

Matchbox 20 put on a pretty good show. They played most of their faster paced songs and made an effort to get the fans up and dancing a few times. The video and light show was interesting as well. They were a little weak between songs though. There was a lot of dead air as they setup for the next song each time.

The true gem of the show was the opening opening act, Mute Math. The most adequate way I can describe Mute Math is by saying that they are more enjoyable to watch than to listen too. They really put on a wild show.

The drummer for Mute Math was unlike any other drummer I had ever seen. His style was clearly influenced by Animal from the muppets. Where most drummers use a lot of wrist and forearm power and movement to drum, this guy drummed with wide, energetic swings. He seemed to have almost limitless energy.

Initially when the started playing you would never expect to see the show turn into what it eventually does. They move a little and play enthusiastically, as any band starting out does; but then it just goes crazy.

The lead singer was running all over the stage, spring boarding over the piano, slamming himself into the keys making a perfect sound for the song. Over and over he just three himself into the keys on the piano, and it all sounded right.

After that things calmed down a bit until the end of the final song they played. At that point, the show went berserk. The drummer ran around drumming on everything in sight until his sticks broke, then he’d pull out another set and go drum on something else. At one point he stacked the drum on top of the piano, then climbed onto the drum and started clapping his hands. The place went nuts!

Then he hopped down and ran back to the drumset, dumped some water on the drums, and drummed away as the lights strobed. It was a fantastic effect. I’m not sure if their part of the show ended because they ran out of time, or because they had broken all of their instruments, either way; it was great!

As soon as their set ended, Holly ran out and bought the album :)

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Back From Vacation

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

I just got back from a great vacation. Okay, maybe it has actually been a few days, but I’ve been getting used to working again and having to sleep on an inflexible schedule.

The vacation was wonderful. 2200 km of driving. Cool elk sightings. Great gastronomic sampling at a good smattering of Tom Douglas restaurants. Any one who comes to visit us out here, we will treat you to a wonderful dinner at Dahlia Lounge.

We kicked it all of with a night in Seattle, which is exactly how we ended it. We love that city. The last morning we were there we were discussing, over doughnuts and octopus ,how we would buy the place across the street if we won the lottery.

On the first full day down in Oregon we headed to the Newport Seafood and Wine Festival. I ate something called a Crab Melt there. I thought it was going to be horrible, but it tasted so great that I convinced Holly to try them and ate a second one myself. Holly tried out several different wines. I stayed away from the wine, as to me, it all tastes something like I imagine filthy, smelly, rotting socks.

The rest of the days are a blur. We drove far north and south of where we were staying. We visited two cheese factories in Tillamook. One of them had a petting zoo filled with interesting animals. Holly and I talked each other into feeding the animals. While at one of the cheese places we discovered some very tasty sugar free jams!

We also swung by a smoker outlet facility and bought beef jerky in bulk. It was just as weird as it sounds; and just as good.

There was a day spent at the outlet mall shopping, shopping, shopping. I truly understand the meaning of the phrase “Shop until you drop” now. Somehow I think I ended up with more clothes than Holly. I’m still not sure how it happened.

Of course we also saw the aforementioned Elk. It was pretty cool to see a herd of elk lazing in the sun. On the drive back we drove up a very twisty 1 1/2 lane road into the mountains to find a closed campground at a lake. We decided to wander in to the lake and a have a look at the whole situation. It was a fun little adventure. Unfortunately, we were sharing that 1 1/2 lane road with several logging trucks…

One of the afternoons was spent on the beach. We had quite a time finding actual beach access though. It was nice to walk along the beach arm in arm.

We took a lot of pictures and some of them will make their way here. Others might find their way to Facebook.

I also finally got to go to a Fry’s. I know that might not sound like much to most, but it was a lot of fun for me being such a technophile. We even toyed with the idea of buying a new TV, but it wouldn’t fit in the car…

As wonderful as the trip was, it feels good to be home. I could stand not being back at work yet, but it is great to be back in my own bed.

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