Kathleen and I went to see Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks on Wednesday night. Even though I was extremely tired, we had a good time. We had ridden our bikes to dinner at Across The Street, and my bike tire’s went flat on the way back, so that sucked. And then the ATM broke in Little 5. Oh well…

It was great to finally see someone who’ve I’ve liked for so long, although they didn’t play any Pavement songs. They actually played mostly stuff off the new album, so I didn’t really know a lot of it. But it was still good.

So I called up comcast today to scale down some of my cable, then I realize I’m paying about $17 extra per month for basically one channel. So I got rid of everything except basic cable and HD, and I subscribed to netflix. Which means I will be watching lots of movies now, and having a weekly movie night. I’m not sure what night I’m going to do it on yet, but if you’re interested in coming, leave a suggestion.

Also, Kathleen and I finally watched Amelie the other night. We may be two of the last people to see it… We both liked it of course. However, last night we went with Liz and Matthew to a free screening of Penelope, which wasn’t quite as good.

Then we watched the eclipse. I took a couple pictures, but I don’t think they’re going to come out. I’ll post em if they do.

Tonight Kathleen and I went to the Fox Theatre to see The Drowsy Chaperone, as she had gotten free tickets from an acquaintance through work.

I actually enjoyed it, and found it to be a pretty unique play (at least to someone who doesn’t attend musicals all too often). The story was supposed to be an old 1920’s play being told through a character that existed outside of the story and yet was on the stage at all times, and we were being shown the play by way of a double vinyl album playing on his record player (which could be paused to explain or discuss things, and could skip ahead or replay scenes). Also it had the mother of the girlfriend of Ray Romano’s brother on the show Everybody Loves Raymond in it too, for what it’s worth.

Although, we were in front of a middle aged (or older) couple who could’ve been mistaken for middle school students in a movie theater. If I had actually paid for those tickets, I may have given the full turn with the eye roll in addition to the half turns…

A mix between a Q&A and a very loosely defined set list, this was a completely different experience from the last time I saw Yo La Tengo five or six years ago. It was very stripped down and mellow as opposed to more orchestrated, and mellow. And this time, they only played one song that had been released in the last ten years, a track from “I am not afraid of you…,” and only one song that Kathleen knew, Sugarcube. But that’s not surprising seeing as though they’ve been a band for basically as long as I’ve been alive. So it was a very interesting set, featuring a lot of b-sides, covers, and other rarities. The following clip was taken by kathleen:

The audience interaction wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Last time they hardly talked between songs, but this time they answered questions and told a lot of stories, which were both enlightening and hilarious.

Kurt Wagner opened for them, and for another veteran group, I’m only familiar with a handful of Lambchop songs, but I really enjoyed his set as well.

Here is my list of the Best Albums of 2007. It’s the first time I’ve done a “Best ____ of ____” list, and it wasn’t as easy as I thought it’d be. I thought of it today… I whittled the list down today…. These are the albums I could think of today:

St Vincent – Marry Me
Sambassadeur – Migration
The Stars – In Our Bedroom After the War
Ladybug Transistor – Can’t Wait Another Day
Madeline – The Slow Bang
Jens Lekman – Night Falls Over Kortedala
Magic Apron – Orphan Harmony
Fiest – The Reminder
Andrew Bird – Armchair Apocrypha
Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
Maria Taylor – Lynn Teeter Flower
Loney, Dear – Loney, Noir (I’m still counting it even though it was a re-release)
Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
Tullycraft – Every Scene Needs a Center
Au Revoir Simone – Bird of Music
New Pornagraphers – Challengers
The Rosebuds – Night of the Furies
Blonde Redhead – 23

Albums of Notable Mention (read: stuff I like, but I just never really got around to listening to much) :

The Shins – Wincing The Night Away
Rilo Kiley – Under The Blacklight
Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
The Clientele – God Save The Clientele
Architecture in Helsinki – Places Like This
Kate Tucker and The Sons of Sweden – Self Titled
Voxtrot – Self Titled