Bolt of Blue

Last night was just what I needed. Though I did end the night with an extremely sore good leg (from relying on it way too much – maybe I need a fancy cane)… I came away with a new crush and a favorite new band. Plus it was nice to see some friends and just soak up a good show.

Icebird were fun… though I don’t know how they managed to play the show in full polyester sasquatch get up. Half way through, Barry tore the mask off. They probably lost 10 pounds.

Then came Scissors For Lefty. They are unsigned here in the States but are signed to Rough Trade overseas. And wow. Fun, dancey, catchy, and just fell hard for their music. The lead singer, Bryan, has a very charming vocal style. A little glammy but then the music is like a mixture of Blur and um… Rapture… and I don’t know. I’m not good at going into depth of influences in music. All I know is I totally dug them. I can’t stop listening to the EP I snagged for 5 bucks.

I’m completely tempted to go down to see them and FK in San Diego Saturday night. They were that good plus… I wouldn’t mind seeing French Kicks again. Their set was a little more laid back compared to the last time I saw them. They played several new songs and cover of a Fleetwood Mac song. The name of which escapes me at the moment. I always enjoy seeing them live and this was no different. Now… so tempted to go to SD…

More news about my knee saga… my mri was clean. The doctor thinks the scar tissue build up is what is causing the pain. Will have to work even harder in PT and he gave me a cortisone shot to help with the healing process and dissolve the scar tissue. It hurt like hell… still throbbing. But it’s another step to getting better. Crosses fingers.

I think I need a break. Not a vacation where you end up planning a bunch of things to do and end up running around. Just a break where I can do all of things that I want like scan a bunch of clippings, make thousands of screen grabs, redesign sites, sort through my books and clothes, toss what I don’t need, finish my taxes, clean up our condo, work on remodeling our bathroom… it’s rather endless.

When I get home from work, we’re usually too tired to do much of anything besides watch a little Animal Planet or the History Channel. Eat. Go to sleep. Start the day all over again. Weekends are a bit better. Fridays we reserve for Monk/Psych fun (sad it’s ending this week). Saturdays we do as much work as we can manage… but some Sundays we just veg and watch Law & Order marathons on USA all day.

And I just want my knee healed already. I went in last Friday for an MRI. That was weird. I’d never done that before. Tomorrow I go in for my results. My doctor ordered it because he didn’t like that I still can’t straighten my leg and it’s been over 2 months since the dislocation. The MRI is to make sure there’s no cartilage floating around in there. I guess it’s good if they find something or don’t. Either way, they’ll know what I need to do to get better.

Tonight I’ll be attempting a show at the Troubadour. French Kicks. I haven’t seen them in what feels like forever. I just hope I can get a seat because I really don’t think I could make it standing for hours. My friend’s band is opening for them. So I’m looking forward to seeing them too. Should be fun. And apart from going with Remi to see Flogging Molly last Friday, I haven’t been to a show in a very long time…

Damn you Blake Lewis for getting me sucked into American Idol again.

And damn you people who were putting on the test screening of Across the Universe! I was going to see this tomorrow evening but they cancelled the screening. I hope when it’s scheduled I’ll be able to go. Want to see so badly.

Lots of cool happenings in the music world.

First up… Ash’s latest album Meltdown is FINALLY getting a release in the US. From Filter:

Record Collection is proud to announce the US release of ASH’s new album Meltdown on March 8th 2005. The album’s release will coincide with a new Lucas Arts Star Wars videogame Republic Commando that features ASH’s single “Clones” as the theme song. This marks the first time Lucas Arts has ever used a band’s song in anything Star Wars related. The US release will feature exclusive bonus tracks and DVD footage not available on the European full length version of Meltdown.

Ash will tour the US in support of Meltdown this Spring.

Such Star Wars geeks. Love it!

Also from Filter:

According to BBC’s Channel 4, the newest album from post-Joy Division legends New Order will be released in February. The scheduled title is No Pain No Gain.

Oh, and I get to see the Hives tomorrow. And Elefant and the French Kicks are doing shows next month. Fun times ahead!

Alright, I was going to write up this whole account of the instore at Amoeba for the French Kicks and how I then ran over to the Troubadour and saw Division of Laura Lee rock the house.

I can only write about half of that since I never made it to the Troubadour due to my needing food and then my legs feeling really wacked. I’ll get to that in a moment. First, let me gush about the French Kicks and recite all the ways I love them.
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Fiddling a bit with the design for this site. It’s still uber boring but I’m out of ideas right now as I work on other design projects and I was tired of the way it was. So spiced it up a tiny bit.

The Tesseract was so amazingly good last night. And Jonny… wow. He was brilliant.

Division of Laura Lee are coming back to LA. Finally! They play the Troubadour on May 12. I’m so there. Even though the French Kicks are doing an instore on the same night. Will just have to go to both.

Madonna is certainly trying to kill me with her new tour. I’m not sweating it. I don’t have tickets to any shows but I’ll figure something out and not break the bank. Saw the recent Showtime Britney special the other night. I couldn’t pay attention. It was so boring. The crowd was asleep. The sound was awful and all the canned vocals didn’t help. The parts where she clearly rips off Madonna were just a pale imitation. She can try all she wants but she’s got nothing on the original boy toy.

Jimmy Eat World is no longer on the Coachella lineup. Why add a band for two days and then remove it? Lame.

What a weekend. And a couple of days. My voice is pretty much gone. Too much screaming, running around, jumping around, and definitely not enough sleep. But I feel excellent! Be forewarned, this post is LONG. Ok.
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You know your boyfriend is the coolest when he gets you The Atlas of Middle Earth, Vicks Vapor Rub, and the Punch Drunk Love DVD for your birthday. I’m one lucky girl.

Hugs to: Zoe, Frannie, Katie, Valerie, Val, and Mishie. Hug and slap to the head to: Jason. Dude I’m not that old. Pssh.

I have no tickets for any of the Radiohead shows next month. They proved almost impossible to nab unless you wanted crap seats in the boonies where Thom and company would be the size of large ants. But I’ve got tickets for both HHH shows (The French Kicks are opening for one show – whoot!). So now I’m all Radio who?