SW Recommends: SNL 3/8

Methinks the music coordinator for SNL is a faithful reader of Pitchfork.

Saturday Night Live 3/8 Vampire Weekend

Bobby and David's Excellent Adventure: Ciao

Well it's been a couple days since my last email, but we finally made it to Italy!

We slept for about 2 hours on the hard wood floor in the girls' room. They had to leave for the airport a 6:30 am, so we headed downstairs and parked ourselves in the computer lab for the day. It wasnt too bad because it drizzled for much of the day, and we had unlimitd internet. Unfortunately, it was the middle of the night back home, so there wasn't much news popping up on espn.com which I was checking every 10 min. We finally headed to the train station and were a little worried about the sleeping cars because they are incredibly small, and we didn't know who our bunk mates would be. We lucked out. Bobby and I shared a cabin with 4 American girls. They were very nice, and it made for a very pleasant trip.

We arrived in Florence on Tuesday morning at about 8 am and set out for the Duomo where we were meeting my friend Matt. After walking a couple blocks we discovered that we didn't recognize any street names and then realized that we were at the wrong station. It turns out the night trains arrive at smaller station. But, we again lucked out when we found that there is a free train to the main station. We met up with Matt, dropped our stuff, and took a walk around Florence. The city is very nice. It is smaller than I expected, but we really haven't explored much of it yet.

One thing I do know is that the food is delicious. I had some great ravioli for lunch, and some tasty pizza for dinner.

One of our coworkers Rachel is also in Florence, and she lives right around the corner from Matt. They have become good friends. She lives with 5 girls, all from SDSU. It's been nice hanging out with familiar faces. Tuesday night we went to a bar that is very popular with the Americans. It was packed. Every other place in the city was quiet, because this place had one huge advantage. BEER PONG. On Tuesday nights they set out cups and balls, and the Americans go crazy. We spent the night there with Matt and Rachel's roommates and had a grand ol' time.

But we paid for it today. Well Bobby did anyways. I woke up bright and early at noon, talked with Rachel's roommates, did my laundry, and tried to clean up their kitchen. Bobby woke up around 3 and made a few grumbles. The day was shot, but we have 4 days here and tomorrow will be our sightseeing day. Tonight we are probably headed to a place called Tijuanas for some nice "authentic" Mexican cuisine..

OK, now for the downside of this email. I'm kinda ready to come home. It's a combination of being worn out from 2 weeks of travel, realizing we still have 2 more weeks to go, and that I am way out of my comfort zone here. Luckily, I have all these people from back home to hang out with for a couple more days.

Next, it's off to Rome which should be good.

David

Field Trip: Jay Farrar

I don't think I'll go see Jay Farrar/Son Volt again. He's a terrific song writer, and I really like his records. But, he's just not a very good performer. A couple of thank yous for coming were the extent of his interaction with the crowd. And, his vocals lack range, so after a few songs everything sounds the same.

I'll keep buying his records (mp3s) though.

SW Recommends: SNL on 3/1

SNL didn't suck (high praise I know) last week, and this week Wilco is the musical guest.

David and Bobby's Excellent Adventure: Italy ...Oops Paris

So, we are stuck in Paris another day. The train was full, and so is the hostel. We are now scrambling to find a place.. The girls we met have a private room, and if we're lucky we'll crash on their floor.

Update: The girls are letting us camp on their floor, so we won't be stuck in the cold tonight.

Bobby and David's Excellent Adventure: Paris Deux

Well, last night Bobby and I felt adventurous and headed out to a real Parisian cafe and ordered off a French menu by pointing at what was hopefully steak. It turned out the waiter spoke perfect English and saved us from further embarassment.

We were pretty tired, so last night was spent hanging out and checking the net. The hostel while very nice is still working the kinks out. They doubled booked a lot of beds and had some very angry people standing at reception till the wee hours of the morning. I think a couple of them slept in the lounge. When I went to bed I found someone sleeping in my bed. It turned out they had switched Bobby and me to the girls' beds (they had to switch rooms) but failed to tell us. After a little scare all was well.

This morning we got up, got a nutella crepe, and headed to the Arc. It is a gigantic structure, but that's all I can really say about it. We looked at it for about 10 min, strolled down the Champ de Elysees, and split.

We were going to go on the free tour of Monmarte in the evening, but on our way back we ran into our old roommates who were headed there. We decided to tag along with them. The girls know a little French, which made the excursion a lot easier. We went to a cafe next to the Moulin Rouge and had delicious toasted ham and cheese sandwiches. We then checked out the cafe from Amelie and headed to Sacre Couer. It definitely has the best view of the city. We sat on the steps and listened to an impromptu concert by guys who played everything from La Bamba to Hotel California. Around sunset we headed down and decided to stop at a cafe for champagne and an assorted cheese plate. Very chic of us. After a couple additional glasses we got our bill and were hurt to the tune of 80 euros for the 4 of us. Very expensive, but it was fun.

Tomorrow we check out, but our train doesn't leave until night. So, we are going down to Versailles with the girls for the day. Then it's off to Italy where we are imposing on a couple friends studying abroad. We'll crash on their couches to save some money.

Ciao,
David

Dedicated To Annie and Carly

I believe MySpace's original mission was to provide a place and tools on the internet for musicians to build an audience. In my mind that is still best use of MySpace.

I've been surfing around MySpace a lot lately looking for new music. I've found and friended a couple hundred bands and singer songwriters that have peeked my interest. (For those interested, check out my friend list on MySpace. There are a lot of talented people out there.)

Which brings me to my latest find, a kid in LA out of Biola University named Amy Kuney. She has a little bit of Jenny Owen Youngs and Brandi Carlile (a couple of my current favorites) in her, so I went to YouTube looking for some concert footage, and I found this:



Did someone see an image consultant?

Anyway, here's the Annie/Carly connection. In my YouTube search I made the discovery that AK was in a very memorable scene in the Gilmore Girls.



Amy Kuney has an EP coming out soon. I hope she does well.

David and Bobby's Excellent Adventure: Royale With Cheese

February 22, 2008

Royale Witth Cheese

I know what you're thinking, how could you eat at McDonalds while in one of the food capitals of the world. We simply had to pay homage to Pulp Fiction by ordering the royale with cheese. The burger was crap, but I think Vincent Vega would be proud.

Today has been rough. It all started last night. We were sitting at the bar looking for the Aussies, when Bobby went to the restroom. He returned with 2 very attractive ladies. It turns out that they are staying in our room and are on a short break from from their studies at Oxford. We ended up talking and drinking with them for the rest of the night and were the last people in the bar. I thought that was going to be it. But, we then hung out in the computer lounge and didn't get to bed until 4 am. This explains why I feel like crap today.

Today's agenda included The Louvre and Notre Dame. The church was interesting, and being the religious men we are we sat down and prayed for awhile. And of course, by pray I mean we were just trying to find the energy to walk over to The Louvre. They say it would take 3 months for you to see everything in the Louvre. Bobby and I did it in 2 hours. One thing I know for sure is that I would never enter that building with Annie because we would probably be in there for 6 hours. We made a bee line for the Mona Lisa and boy is it unspecial. Well we walked through the whole place, pretty much because we paid 9 euros. We can now check it off our list.

Tonight we will be hanging out with the roommates again, and tomorrow is the Arc de Triumphe and the free Montemarte tour which goes to the Sacre Couer, Moulin Rouge, and the cafe in Amelie.

Oh I forgot to mention that in Amsterdam we wasted 10 bucks on the Van Gogh museum. They have his big paintings right up front and have a whole floor dedicated to his scribbles. They looked like preschool drawings. To entertain ourselves Bobby and I tried to guess the name of his paintings. We usually got them right, because he named them things like Head of an Old Woman( there were 10 of these), and Man Farming. The place was crap.

OK I'm off.

David

Bobby and David's Excellent Adventure

So, since nothing cool happened in Amsterdam worth mentioning, other than gawking at suprisingly attractive hookers, I'll move on to Paris.

We arrived yesterday evening after taking the high speed train from Amsterdam, and it was a little overwhelming. The train station was flooded with people, and we had to figure out the metro system on the fly and get to our hostel. Turns out the metro is very easy to navigate, and we made it to the hostel without any problem.

The hostel is amazing. Let's just say Bobby and I extended our stay to 4 nights within 30 min of arriving. It is the St. Christopher's Inn and they have a bunch of hostels primarily in England. This place just opened a month ago and the big difference is that the place was built for specifically to be a hostel. It is decked out. Our room has six bunks, but they are sectioned off, layed end to end, and each has a privacy curtain. They could have easily squeezed in 6 more bunks on the opposite wall but they left the room open.

Downstairs they have a restaurant /bar, Belushi's, which they have at all the other locations. Bobby and I have spent time there drinking some delicious beer, while trying to figure out the rules of cricket. They also have a club downstairs that is supposed to be open tonight so we'll probably check it out.

OK, I'm done gushing about our diggs - onto the city itself. We took the free tour once again and had a great guide that showed us the highlights of the city. We finally met some people which gave us a chance to talk and hang out with other backpackers. I met two girls. One of them unfortunately looked like either Janice from the Sopranos or Marla Hooch (aka Rosie O'Donnel in A League of Their Own), but the other girl was attractive. Anyways, they're studying in Germany, but they go to school in Connecticut. Turns out they are friends with a friend of ours, Scott Ricci, who also works for the Padres. Scott goes to school in Connecticut with them. So, we had that to bond over.

After the tour, we went to the Eiffel Tower with them. I overcame my fear of heights and hiked up the steps to the 2nd level. There was no way in hell Bobby was getting me to go to the top. 680 steps was enough for me.

After that we parted ways with the girls, with maybe plans on joining them on the pub crawl. On the tour Bobby met a couple of Australian girls who are staying in our hostel. Bobby is now in love. I half expect him to trade in his plane ticket and jet off to Australia when we get to Frankfurt. We're probably going to be hanging out with them in the hostel bar/ club tonight. I'll be playing the part of wingman.

Since they didn't give me an extra 4 hours of internet like the last place I'm gonna wrap this up.

Lewd, Crude, and Rude

But really funny.

A Joke

What did the 0 say to the 8?

Nice belt.

David and Bobby's Excellent Adventure II

February 18

Well, Amsterdam has been somewhat of a let down. Contrary to popular belief Bobby and I aren't big into the drug scene so much of the allure for the city doesnt do it for us.

The city started off on a bad foot, literally. Because of our lack of knowledge of local transportation we have pretty much walked everywhere we've gone and because of this our feet and ankles are very sore. In a city where walking is a must this didn't help. Then on top of that the Heineken brewery is closed for renovations, so no tour and free beer for us. As payback Bobby is boycotting Heinekin beer while we're here, which for Bobby is very tough to do.

Bobby also came down with a cold and I felt a little under the weather as well. The city isn't like anything i imagined. I pictured smaller buildings wider roads and a lot more open and green space, maybe it is because I knew bikes were everywhere I had parks pictured in my head. Instead the city is cramped with winding streets that decide to turn every which way. This combined with the lack of street signage caused us to walk about 10 miles last night on what should have been a couple mile walk. These streets are surrounded by old 7 story buildings that all look the same. The narrow aisles and the billions of bikes and tourists cause the streets to turn into giant cluster f****, for lack of a better term. Not my cup of tea. So Mom you don't need to worry about me moving out here to open my own coffeeshop.

It hasnt been all bad. We ate at one of the Netherlands 2, 5 star eateries...... It may have been a french fry stand but it was 5 stars nonetheless. (Dad, dont worry we made sure to get ketchup with ours to avoid the horrors of your trip).

We also took another one of the free tours and it was another good investment. The tour guide was a student from Boston who is out here studying for a few months, and she told us everything we needed to know about the city. It wasnt as interesting as the Berlin tour but still very enjoyable.

Tonight we went an improv comedy show. Lucky for us the cast is all American and the show is entirely in English. It was hit and miss and we didn't get all the inside Netherlands jokes but overall it was very enjoyable. The highlight of the night was when they came up to Bobby and asked him his name, where he's from and his occupation (bat boy).. after some he beat around the bush I had to yell out that he was the bat boy. Then one of the cast members had to figure out who he was. It turns out to guess his name they gave the guy hints about the other Bobby Brown, not knowing that is also his last name. There were several jokes made about his profession, or lack there of, but i definitely enjoyed it.

Well, we were planning on staying 4 days here, but we'll probably pack up and leave after three and head to Paris.

On a side note I've decided that I am going to introduce Europe to a new invention called the hot dog bun! They may make the best brats in the world, but when they all use the same 3 inch roll it drives me nuts!! I guess this trip is just reaffirming what I already knew... that I belong in Southern California.

Ryan Adams and Elton John

About 8 years ago Ryan Adams and Elton John did a Crossroads special for CMT. Somebody posted it (albeit in pieces) on YouTube a couple weeks ago. I'm not sure how long it will be there as Viacom frowns on this sorta stuff.

Here's the finale, Rocketman.



For your iPods: Tiny Dancer

David and Bobby's Excellent Adventure

I thought I'd provide a parking place for David and Bobby's European emails.

February 13

We are in Frankfurt after what seemed like the longest flight ever recorded. Neither of us slept, so we are both a little tired right now. However, despite this lack of sleep, we managed to come to this conclusion...it would really be beneficial if we knew how to speak German. The language barrier is kicking our asses. Thankfully, once we made it to the hostel, we were able to speak English without receiving any dirty looks. This keyboard is insanely difficult to type on, so we will make this short. But we just wanted to let you all know we made it here safe and sound. Once we buy a phone card, you'll be hearing the soothing sound of our voices...until then, guttentag.

February 14

After waking up this morning at 4am we decided to get out of Frankfurt and head to Berlin.

Validating our ticket and reserving a seat was very easy since the lady spoke English and was very helpful in pointing out the correct platform. The trains in Germany are very nice. 2nd class has about twice the legroom as our plane ride. However a bottle of water cost 3 Euro, so thats where they get ya.

Speaking of water, evidently Europeans drink nothing but sparkling water. We got the first hint on the plane when they kept asking if we wanted still or sparkling water. We need to find the German word for still water because every bottle we buy is carbonated.

We are in Berlin for three days and tomorrow we are taking a free walking tour that takes us to all the major sightseeing areas. We are staying is a hostel that has 32 beds in the room but other than that it is great, especially for 10 Euro each.. we'ĺl use the saved money on a private room for at least one night in Amsterdam.

February 15

Well, today we finally got to see what Berlin is all about.

Bobby woke up at about 4 am and I woke up at 5 partly because of the time change but mostly because of a middle aged German man who snores louder than all the Clark men combined. He had woken everyone in the 32 person room at one point or another, and I'm pretty sure he was cursed in at least 4 different languages. Here's hoping he is not staying again tonight.

After the early start we set out to catch the free tour that happens twice a day and 365 days a year. It's a company called New Europe and they provide free tours in about 6 locations and after our experience today we plan on making them our first order of business in Amsterdam, Paris, and Munich. At 1st we were a little skeptical about the tour and wondered if we would be the only ones that would show up. After all it was about 35 degrees and the middle of February. All the pictures on the flyers were taken in the summer. Nevertheless we set out for Brandenburg Gate to meet in front of the historical Starbucks. While waiting we peeked into the Kennedy Museum. Evidently the Kennedys are wildly popular in Berlin and they just opened up a museum devoted to the family. As for the tour, by 11 o clock when the tour started there were 100 plus people waiting. So I guess it is a popular event. There were another 60 or so people there for the Spanish version and the concentration camp tours. The tour was amazing to say the least, we were split into groups of 30 and our lady was very knowledgeable and entertaining. The 3 1/2 hr walking tour covered everything from Hitler's bunker to the TV tower and everything in between. It was worth it just for the fact that we got to spend a day with fellow Americans and Aussies that the guides said packed the hostels but we had yet to see.

Now that the weekend has arrived I've noticed a lot of kids studying abroad that have come out for the weekend. Anyways, tomorrow we plan on doing the concentration camp tour for 12 bucks and then their infamous pub crawl that they constantly promote. Will report back in a couple days probably from Amsterdam.


February 17

After a long day on the trains we finally arrived in Amsterdam. Our hostel is kinda on the outskirts, but we just went and walked around the town and it is definitely like no where else. Both of us aren't feeling too hot after a few days of walking around for hours in 30 degree weather, so we are taking it easy tonight and plan on doing the free tour tomorrow.

We had quite the day yesterday in Berlin. After another sleepless night we went to the the tour of the concentration camp. It a pretty depressing afternoon, but it was a good experience. After that we went to an Irish pub to eat dinner and watch the Manchester United vs Arsenal game. That was a lot of fun as the bar was packed with rowdy Man U fans. We were planning on heading out on the pub crawl after but both of us were beat and we went to bed instead.

And the Winner Is ........ Blue Ray

It looks like a tipping point has been reached in the Blue Ray vs. HD DVD competition.

Toshiba Gives Up On HD DVD

23

I saw Amber Rubarth open for Brett Dennen a couple months ago at the BellyUp and she performed a snappy little tune dedicated to being 23 years old. Given the fact that there are several 23 olds who read this blog I thought it would be appropriate to provide a link to AR's page so they can give it a listen.

Amber Rubarth's MySpace page

John Cleese Is a Funny Dude

John Cleese’s “Letter to America”

Dear Citizens of America,

In view of your failure to elect a competent President and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy), as from Monday next.

Your new prime minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a governor for America without the need for further elections. Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up “revocation” in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up “aluminium,” and check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

2. The letter ‘U’ will be reinstated in words such as ‘colour’, ‘favour’ and ‘neighbour.’ Likewise, you will learn to spell ‘doughnut’ without skipping half the letters, and the suffix “ize” will be replaced by the suffix “ise.”

3. You will learn that the suffix ‘burgh’ is pronounced ‘burra’; you may elect to spell Pittsburgh as ‘Pittsberg’ if you find you simply can’t cope with correct pronunciation.

4. Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels (look up “vocabulary”). Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as “like” and “you know” is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

5. There is no such thing as “US English.” We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter ‘u’ and the elimination of “-ize.”

6. You will relearn your original national anthem, “God Save The Queen”,
but only after fully carrying out Task #1 (see above).

7. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday. November 2nd will
be a new national holiday, but to be celebrated only in England. It will be called “Come-Uppance Day.”

8. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you’re not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you’re not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist then you’re not grown up enough to handle a gun.

9. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. A permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

10. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap and this is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

11. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric immediately and without the benefit of conversion tables… Both roundabouts and metrification will help you understand the British sense of humour.

12. The Former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling “gasoline”) - roughly $8/US per gallon. Get used to it.

13. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call french fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called “crisps.” Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with malt vinegar.

14. Waiters and waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers.

15. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as “beer,” and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as “Lager.” American brands will be referred to as “Near-Frozen Gnat’s Urine,” so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion.

16. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors as English characters. Watching Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” was an experience akin to having one’s ear removed with a cheese grater.

17. You will cease playing American “football.” There is only one kind of proper football; you call it “soccer”. Those of you brave enough, in time, will be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American “football”, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a
bunch of Jessies - English slang for “Big Girls Blouse”).

18. Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the “World Series” for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable and forgiven.

19. You must tell us who killed JFK. It’s been driving us mad.

20. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty’s Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due, backdated to 1776.

Thank you for your co-operation.
John Cleese

Yes We Can (the McCain version)

This didn't take long.

Cayamo

Eth and her friend Ann returned last night from the Cayamo Caribbean cruise that featured dozens of performers like Lyle Lovett, EmmyLou Harris, Brandi Carlile, ....

She reports that the ambiance of Carnival Cruise Lines is everything she thought it would it would be (tacky) but the entertainment was heckuva a lot better than the Royal Caribbean Singer and dancers.

F**king Hilarious

On Radar: Meiko

I seem to be on a female singer songwriter kick lately. Meiko's the latest.

For your listening pleasure:How Lucky We Are

An Obama Supporter

The story (I hope it's true) is that the interviewer was looking to expose Obama supporters as no nothing members of a cult of personality. If the story is true they picked the wrong guy.

Clinton vs. Obama

Seemingly, Obama and Clinton each have their own rock solid constituencies, and given the proportionate way delegates are determined, can either pull away?

It doesn't look like it.

Al Gore just might the difference maker. He's going to be under tremendous pressure to endorse a candidate. But I wonder if he's secretly wishing for a hopelessly deadlocked race, and yearning for a desperate Democratic party to come begging him to be their savior.

Civics

Here's a video by Lawrence Lessig a Stanford law professor who specializes in technology and more recently political corruption issues. This thing runs about 20 minutes and makes the case for an Obama presidency. Its reasoned approach is the flip side of the emotional appeal of the Yes We Can video.

On Radar: Mike Birbiglia

Not much happening so here's a vid of Mike Birbiglia. He's pretty funny and has a new Comedy Central special this weekend.

A Little Too Close To Home

Cool Video of the Day

Yes We Can

The celebrity images are over the top, but this is very well done.

Steve Poltz Jewel Mexico Pictures

I have been getting a lot of hits on this site from people on the west coast using a Google search for Steve Poltz.Jewel.Mexico. It dawned on me this morning that Steve must be on tour and telling his hilarious Mexican federale story featured in the YouTubes I posted in November. And, after the show his fans are searching for pictorial proof

Since I think SP pulled the pics from his photo gallery, here's the proof:

On Radar: The Whigs

I really want to see this band.

They absolutely killed on Letterman this week.



For your iPods: Right Hand On My Heart

Indie Music in Commercials for $200 Alex