2006 Puyallup Fair
Don't ask me how but Amy managed to drag me to the Puyallup Fair today on the last weekend under great (what most people think is great excluding me) weather. We went to this fair before back in 2001 and in memory, that was a much better time, probably because we went on a weekday though.
After taking almost 2 1/2 hours to get there and parking (which cost $20) about 3/4 of a mile away from the gate, we began the time honored tradition of standing in line for overpriced and crappy tasting food. I was miserable. First off, it was crazy crowded, and I mean crazy. You couldn't walk anywhere without bumping into someone or getting a baby stroller jammed into your achilles tendon. I did my best to keep my mouth shut but Amy had to get me some Cowchip cookies (which I just discovered and would be willing to sell my soul for) to calm the beast.
After that, we spent about an hour looking at what we she came for, the livestock. Baby piglets spooning, Nigerian Dwarf Pygmy Goats and Zedonks among others. I love animals too, but it always makes me sad because I know most of them are going to the butcher right after the show and I can see the stress in their eyes from having 25,000 people a day oogle over them in their reidiculously small pens. But I'll save that rant for later.
When we walked out of one of the barns, I found a Funnel Cake vendor which satisfied my goals in attending. Yum. I can't believe how much crap I ate today but I think that was the only way I could cope with the chaos. I felt really bad though because I know Amy didn't enjoy it because she knew I wasn't but I'm not really a county fair kinda guy because I don't love Nascar, have more than a high school education, don't have a mullet and don't have a jacked up pickup truck with a gun rack and naked lady mudflaps. Not that there's anything wrong with those traits, it's just I have a hard time relating ;)
Note to self: Don't go next year :)
A $3 Coke barely larger than a double shot glass...
New Music- The Reindeer Section
Ok, it's not really new, the last album they released was in 2002 but it's new to me and probably new to you.
So after the incredible Snow Patrol concert on Wednesday and my near binge the week leading up to it, I decided to listen to something else. My new boss had uploaded some tunes to her mp3tunes locker (my review on that service coming later this weekend) and I saw a group whose name, The Reindeer Section looked really interesting. So I checked it out and liked it, a lot. I thought "Damn, this is good writing!" and thought the music sounded great too. It was relatively mellow and allowed me to concentrate at work. But the melodies raced in my head for hours on end listening or not. So as is the norm for me, I decided to do some obsessive investigative work.
My findings? Turns out those great lyrics and voice were that of Gary Lightbody who we all know is the lead singer of Snow Patrol! Lol. Fine Gary. You have all my attention right now so I might as well just get your music out of my system.
If your curious, check out their last album, Son of Evil Reindeer, and specifically, Grand Parade, Budapest, Cartwheels and You Are My Joy. But really, the whole album is great to listen to. It's mixed well and is just, well, awesome. I think everyone in my audience would appreciate it, including my parents ;)
The band has/had 27! members and according to Wikipedia,
The Reindeer Section arose - according to Lightbody - out of a chance get-together of musicians at a Lou Barlow gig in Glasgow in 2001, at which Lightbody drunkenly laid down the challenge to others to "make an album together", to which everyone said "yeah yeah". Lightbody "went home and next day wrote the album" and later convinced Johnny Davies of Bright Star Recordings to fund a recording session and release the proposed album. The group met over three days of rehearsal and ten days of recording to produce the first album. The album was released with a mini tour, the first venue of which was Belfast's The Limelight venue.
So check 'em out on I-Tunes, your favorite files haring application (but be sure to buy the album if you like to support the artists) or drop me an e-mail and I'll hook you up ;)
A Religous Experience- The Snow Patrol Concert
They started with "Spitting Games" a song that rocks (and with lyrics that could have come from my personal experiences), but they made it rock more. I've been to quite a few concerts in my life and this one takes the cake. An unbelieveable cap to a pretty good day. The weather was perfect (misty rain with low clouds which Gary likened to the band's hometown of Glasgow, Scotland) and the day went pretty smoothly at work.
Gary seemed to be REALLY into it tonight. He sang with incredible passion and the excellent acoustics of the Moore Theatre really enhanced the songs (as if they even needed that). Every. Single. Song. Rocked. It was nice to see the show with people who are into the music as much as I was and singin' every word to every song right along with me. Run, my all time favorite, was a religious experience that I didn't want to end. The crowd sang most of the song along with the band and I'll never forget it. I took the long way home and rocked out to my favorite tunes a few more times. My tinnitus will last well into tomorrow I'm sure. Who cares.
I'll publish the setlist once the high wears off and I've gotten some sleep. Thank you Snow Patrol and the others who made tonight happen.
[UPDATE]:
If my memory serves me right, here was the setlist:
Splitting Games
Wow
Chocolate
Beginning To Get To Me
Headlights
Grazed Knees
Chasing Cars
Shut Your Eyes
How To Be Dead
Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking
Set Fire to the Third Bar
Make This Go On Forever
Ways And Means
Run
You're All I Have
---encore---
Open Your Eyes
Tiny Little Fractures
I thought they played Hands Open, somewhere before How To Be Dead but I'm not entirely positive. If anyone knows the playlist for sure, please leave it in the comments.
Snow Patrol Concert
Yep, goin' to the sold out Snow Patrol show on Wednesday night at the Moore Theatre in downtown Seattle. A friend at work was able to score some last minute tix and I'm pretty excited. I've been listening to the group since before their album Final Straw was released in the U.S in 2004 and been loving them ever since. I highly recommend picking up either one of their albums as there is not a bad song on them.
Here is a music video from their second release Open Eyes called Chasing Cars.
