CourtneyP

Funny how a good cup of coffee can make you feel mellow, despite its ill reputation for causing nervousness. Maybe it’s something about the ritual that makes you feel calm and centered. Actually, I’m ninety percent sure that this is the case. I think that it was Mark (who I dearly owe an email or three, I know) that introduced me to the zen of coffee through his at least daily postings on his moblog (seemingly offline at the moment). His rituals were very alluring to me… a well-crafted coffee drink or two, a good book and a calming environment. My additions to this ritual are to load up the iPod and head outside, although I admit I have not been too good at doing such lately. Now that I am here sipping my fresh cup of Mexican Chiapas from Barefoot, my mind recalls all those calm moments I shared with the sacred bean over the last couple of years.

It’s time for the ritual to return. Autumn is the perfect time for it.

Thanks to K, I was re-introduced to my home-brewing ritual. He gifted me with a shiny brand new Solis Maestro coffee grinder which I’ve been considering for literally years, but didn’t want to plunk down the cash.

It’s good stuff, I tell you. I became too much of a snot to use the blade grinder that I received many years ago, and pretty much stopped my home brewing process a year ago. The expense of purchasing a drink almost daily from (albeit wonderful) places like Barefoot or Coffee Society was gaining on me.

So anyway, regarding the mellow thing… music is a big component of this ritual. Here’s a selection of the artists on my current mellow playlist(s):

• Nick Drake
• Elliott Smith
• Death Cab for Cutie
• The Shins
• Dashboard Confessional
• Fiona Apple
• Jeff Buckley
• Belle & Sebastian
• Keane
• Ben Folds
• Gavin DeGraw
• Snow Patrol
• Joshua Radin
• Rachel Yamagata
• All Time Quarterback
• Her Space Holiday
• Vienna Teng
• Badly Drawn Boy
• The Postal Service
• Iron & Wine
• heck, the entire Garden State Soundtrack

I am also accepting suggestions for additions to these lists… do let me know if I’m missing anything essential, and I’ll add them!

The TMBG show on Saturday was flippin’ sweet. We got there a bit early to enjoy some okonomiyaki at Izumi-ya, and arrived at the Fillmore around 7. We ran into Nicole and Brandon while in line, and we pretty much hung out together for the entire show. I was recruited by the TMBG Street Team to collect e-mail addresses for the mailing list (sign up if you haven’t… free MP3s!), and got an autographed copy of The Spine for my efforts. Sweet!

It was a great show, with a good balance between old and new material… although, as a lifetime fan, I am a bit partial to when they “go way back”, as Linnell says. Of course, their trademark witty banter peppered the performance (including Flansy comparing Dan Miller to Lon Chaney, heh).

They did not do a lot of their unique show bits, like bringing out The Stick, the Glockenspiel, and doing the Conga… although they did fire the Confetti Cannon during Polk there were also new bits, like doing the Wave during Violin, and Dan Miller’s playing of the Flexatone on Stalk of Wheat. As a matter of fact, it was really fun to see Dan Miller participating more and more in the show, with his multiple-instrument playing, his own mic, and his working of the crowd. Danny Weinkauf was very much in the shadows and did not bring attention to himself. New drummer Marty Beller did a stellar job and exuded a lot of energy.

Below is the setlist from the Fillmore show:
1. Intro/Fillmore
2. Thunderbird
3. The Spine/Memo to Human Resources
4. Experimental Film
5. Robot Parade
6. Birdhouse in Your Soul
7. James K. Polk
8. The Spine Surfs Alone
9. Bastard Wants to Hit Me
10. Stalk of Wheat
11. Drink!
12. Dallas Theme/Particle Man
13. Dr. Worm
14. Clap Your Hands
15. Don’t Lets Start
16. Mammal
17. The Wave
18. Violin
19. New York City
20. It’s Kicking In
21. Fingertips
22. Older
23. Damn Good Times
24. Jazz in C
25. End of the Tour

ENCORES (there were two!)
26. John Lee Supertaster
27. I Palindrone I
28. Doom/Spin the Dial
29. Twistin’
30. Sleepwalkers

MP3s of the Fillmore show are also available for download at their website, which is pretty sweet. They’ve been posting all of their live shows from this tour within days of each show.

After the show, I excitedly picked up an advance copy of the Future Soundtrack For America (Flansy’s project with MoveOn.org) and picked up an Orange Dream, Banana Malt and Curly Fries at Mel’s before heading home.

It was a good night.

I forgot where else I saw this being done, but I thought it was an interesting idea. I fired up iTunes to see what my most played songs were for the past year (although, it’s not entirely accurate since I got my PowerBook in August). Here are the results starting with the highest play count:

1. Move Your Feet: Junior Senior
2. Big Time: Peter Gabriel
3. Boyz n’ the Hood: Dynamite Hack
4. Hardware Store: Weird Al Yankovic
5. The Beer Song: Matt Stone & Trey Parker
6. Goody Two Shoes: Adam Ant
7. Pac Man Power Pill: Aphex Twin
8. Know Your Chicken: Cibo Matto
9. Everyday I Write the Book: Elvis Costello
10. Hate to Say I Told You So: The Hives

I realize that this list is largely influenced by my usage of iTunes during our regular poker nights, during which we play a particular “Poker Mix” playlist.

I was then inspired, out of sheer curiousity, to tweak the Smart Playlist to see what results I would get if I asked for my highest rated songs that I played the least…
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Yay! Rambling fangirl post! Ye have been warned.

Last night, I managed to drag my brother Brendon to The City to see my favorite twin quasars of rock (They Might Be Giants to the common peoples). They are currently promoting their new book, Bed, Bed, Bed, so they were in town to give an in-store performance at A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books on Geary.

We arrived about an hour before the scheduled appearance, to be confronted with a big crowd already milling about inside the store. A table was set up right near the store entrance, stacked with shiny new copies of Bed, Bed, Bed, so I snatched one up before braving the crowd. We managed to find a spot to stand, kinda behind some book displays, but it sufficed.

Brendon made me feel old by commenting, “Hmm, this is an… older crowd.”

Gawd. I’m old.
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I finally got around to starting my assault on eMusic. For those of you living under a rock or some similar heavy object, eMusic sent out an email to their members a couple of weeks ago, informing us of some changes… from being an unlimited legit MP3 download service, to restricting us to 40 downloads a month. That’s BS. The big thud you hear is thousands, if not millions eMusic subscribers dropping the service like a hot potato.

I’m among said group of people, but first, I must download a crapload of MP3s while the getting’s good. Seems like this time of night is just fine for downloading… I’ve hear many reports of stalled downloads during the day, but it’s smooth sailin’ at this moment.

350MB so far tonight and counting. Fare thee well, eMusic.