Motivational March? Hardly. Awesome April? So far!

Yeah, so Katie and I thought we'd finally take the X-Mas tree down in March. No...it turns out. Still there, with decorations and all. I thought I would finally take care of my random basement clutter composed of old college papers and elementary school nostalgia. Not even close. Katie prepped and packed for Ireland, while I...well, loafed around, sluffed off. Bought new music (Editors, The Appleseed Cast are gems), went to a couple shows, had a rad St. Patrick's Day Party, etc.

Oh well. While Katie was gone, however, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I saw A Whisper In the Noise and Arab Strap on March 31st, and for April Fool's...fucking, Wagner and the Zombiemen! Not only that...but at their house! It was an April Fool's Day party, complete with some acoustic stuff, and Chad Zigweid's unnamed band that featured himself and another female on vocals, and guys on drums and bass and guitar. The music was very good, very folk-like with a nice rock-tinge. Heavy drums, and beautifully blended vocals.

Then afterwards...the beauty and awe that is Wagner and the Zombiemen! They last counted around 70 people at the party, not bad at all! Of course, not everyone was watching them play in the living room, but they should have been. There was Paul; brilliant drummer and one-half visionary of Wagner, who devised a super-sweet sound system. There was Chad; the intense mandolin player and spoken word visionary. They performed their 2 stories awesomely, and even teased us with a 3rd story. What was it about? Well, it will not be explained here, as they had some minor difficulties, and again, you'll just have to see it for yourself. Let's just say they've found yet another genre to build their sound upon. They always leave you wanting more, which isn't always a bad thing....

Other things I did while Katie enjoyed Ireland:
- wrote some new poems and finally rewrote some old ones while listening to Explosions In The Sky, Dredg, Mono, and Sigur Ros on headphones.
- journaled the night of my 25th B-Day, expressing pure gratitude for all those whom I love
- softball practice with my friend's team...I'm excited for the season.
- got my car's oil changed for $12! Thanks mail-obtained coupon; you're the best!
- righteous BBQ, convo and viewing of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report at friend's place
- biked to and from work most days, with gorgeous weather and magnificant tunes playing
- saw Thank You For Smoking...if you haven't seen it, go already!
- walked around the lake, ordered pizza and watched The Life of Brian (VHS) with Tricia
- celebrated my 25th B-Day by my friends taking me to the Shrine Circus! Seeing a guy get shot out of a cannonball is something I wanna see again, and again, and again, and again....
- cleaned up the place quite awesomely, even dusting electronics with these great dusting wipes I bought at the dollar store, oh yeah!
- received a phone call and a ride home from work on my b-day from my biological father, or "bio-dad," as is the term my friends find absolutely hilarious. I hadn't seen him since I graduated from the U of M back in May 2004, so that was kind of crazy. But it's cool.
- went with Tricia to pick up Katie from the airport, and gave my fiancee a big hug and kiss once we got back. Hey, there had to be some mushiness/romance mentioned! I am engaged, you know!
Also, I got an awesome Irish/Celtic necklace from her. So all in all, a great time was had by all!

Now it's time to enjoy the outdoors and spring again. Cheers to that.

Strapped By a Whisper

I began March with a show, Film School, and ended it with one. Quite a good way if you ask me. To end March, I attended my friend's art being displayed, and afterwards, saw A Whisper In The Noise (AWITN) and Arab Strap at the Entry. What an incredible show! AWITN beefed-up their older songs, and chilled us to the bone (in a good way) with their newer stuff. Wes Thorson, the singer and mastermind, displayed incredibly emotional theatrics onstage. He'd croon with eyes shut, head down on the keyboard at times, and then violently snap his head up and scream his head off! It's a powerful scream, though; not annoying to the ears at all. It was a great dichotomy, one that works well with this band. The drummer is so loose, so fluid, he doesn't seem human at all. Their set refreshed my pure enjoyment for them. Their newest CD will be out April 18th, and I'll definitely be picking it up.

Then Arab Strap came on, and I couldn't believe it. The large, bearded, nicely-dressed Scot sang a melodic opener that felt almost as if I was watching a modern-rock singer hold and move his microphone about very passionately. Definitely nothing wrong with that; I just haven't seen that done in quite a while. Their music alternates between sounding bright and dark, which is great since their lyrics are very sexual and depressing. Quite a combo, and they execute it flawlessly. They had great crowd banter, even with the occasional yelling rant about something Scottish in origin. But that was to be expected. Their newest album, Last Romance, is strikingly beautiful to say the least. I highly recommend it.