Hard-Fi's Performance Sucked

I want google blog search to find this post and to inform as many would-be concert goers just how bad Hard-Fi is in concert. Blame for yesterday's miserable concert falls squarely on the shoulders of their lead singer. HIs voice was atrocious. He was off key, he air-balled all of the high notes, and he substituted shouting for singing for roughly half of the concert. And despite the quality of his performance, he kept lecturing the croud about how they weren't applauding enough for him. He had no idea how bad he was. It did not occur to him that shouting is no substitute for singing. It did not occur to him that not even trying to stick to the melody was a bad thing. It did not occur to him how disappointed his audience was.

If he reads this, (I doubt he could), he will deny to himself how bad his performance was.

I love their album. They opened with the second track -- Middle Eastern Holliday -- and their singer belted out the first few words, I was in shock. "WTF? Why aren't you singing it right?". I was sad because this was the song I was most looking forward to, and at the time, I thought the singer was going to improve as he warmed up. Since they opened with it, I was not going to get the chance to hear it sung right.

By their third song, I knew there would be no improvement. The rest of the concert was to suck just as much.

Pant's and I have a few thought-bites of the concert.

* It's like they weren't trying
* We just watched a bad Hard-Fi cover band
* Very karaoke
* Mad props to whoever produced their album; they made someone with little tallent sound good.
* Half the audience followed them here from Britain.
* The rest of the band did fine -- didn't matter, the vocals ruined everything.
* Learn to play the harmonica and put down that Wind Piano, you loser.

Hard Fi

Hard Fi is playing the cradle tonight.

I've been listening to their recent album, "Stars of CCTV" over and over again. It's good stuff. I think the 2nd track is my favorite, though the lyrics aren't inspiring. That's fine. It's not always about lyrics.

In contrast, the Jenny Lewis CD I just bought has plenty of good lyrics. I think I'm gonna start collecting some of the lyrics I like on this blog; I like lyrics and this blog is for me not you, so stop your complaining.

"Didn't I see you in Vegas? It wasn't pretty, but she was ... (not your wife)" -- Jenny Lewis, (echoed by the Watson Twins).

Crackin' heads

Club Sandwich

Not our friend

Putin is not our friend. Time and again, he takes anti-democratic stances. He's rolled back democratic advances in his own country; governers are no longer elected, they're appointed by the Kremlin. He's stuck his nose into the elections in the Ukrane and Belarus. Cover story on today's Post: Russia delivered to Iraq US troop movement data during the invasion. How is that the act of an ally? It's one thing to make diplomatic protestations; it's another thing entirely to subvert troops on the ground.

Putin is using his "friendship" with Bush for his advantage in crushing rebellious groups in his country; after the USSR fragmented, Russia is using all its strength to prevent further loss of territory. So in the immediate aftermath of the Beslan seige, Putin makes it look like radical Islam was involved. That way he can use Bush's anti-terrorism rhetoric to justify brutal repression. Lessons from Chechnya are then taken to Georgia.

What Putin will not do, though, is acknowledge the democratic motives that Bush has. Putin is all about his own power. Why hasn't our foreign policy shown signs of reacting?

Putin

I don't like Putin.

During Ukrane's orange revolution, he took the "fradulent elections should not be overturned" stand.

Belarus is up for sanctions before the UN over their recent presidential election. All international monitors have ruled the election was neither free nor fair. What's Putin's stand? "Congrats Lukashenko! Great job crackin' heads."

Post article

Sex Symbol

From the A.V. Club:

"But who deserves to go? Unquestionably Mr. Covais, whose talents as a singer, a dancer, and a stage presence have escaped me entirely. And here's the thing that's most disturbing about him: Thanks to Paula Abdul, he's constantly referred to now as a "sex symbol." Okay, I'm confused: When you call this kid a sex symbol, are we still talking about the sex that involves fucking and whatnot? Or is there some other kind of sex that's possibly presaged by a choirboy singing "Starry Starry Night" in an angelic voice?"

Workahol

I had lunch with TJ yesterday at Patio Loco. I'd just discovered a bug in some code I released a long time ago. A big one. One to make a lot of Croquetta players unhappy. I drifted off in the middle of conversation with TJ to think about the reaction that I'd get. My absence from the converstaion was quite noticable. At least if there are three of us at lunch, and I drift off, the other two people can continue talking by themselves. Not so if it's just me and one other person.

I've been so wrapped up in my work for the past couple of years in an attempt to graduate. I have trouble not thinking about work. It really sucks. I mean, I love my work, but I don't want it to be my life. Even now while I'm typing this blog entry, my mind keeps drifting back to work. Of course, I'm at my desk in my office and it's between the hours of 8 and 5...

Job

Woot.

So I'm sorry everyone for leaving this blog so neglected for so long. I've been workin' some long hours. About mid January, I scheduled a job interview in Seattle for a post-doc. I was out there from Monday to Wednesday of this past week. I spent the week before that preparing a talk for the job interview. I talked about the flexible gates and the grassa extensions I'd made to Croquetta. It went over really well. I got the job.

That means I'm scheduled to move out to Seattle in August '07. A while from now, yes, but I've got lots of work to do between now and then. Coleman has offered me a job here as a post-doc. I'll stay here and work in his lab for a year after I graduate. I've got my fingers crossed, but I'm hoping for August. While the post-doc with Coleman will definately be a great experience, there was no interview process -- he just offered one day -- and so there was no build up of tension and then a release. So, I guess I feel more excited about landing the position in Seattle, but still, the work I'll be doing with Coleman will be really exciting.

I'm gonna have to make up a whole slew of new nicknames to protect the innocent.