Catching Up, Slowing Down

It was John Medeski, I think, who said that jazz doesn't exist on its own, but instead acts as a mirror for what is going on in popular music and strives to interpret those trends. I think that the Ropeadope New Music Seminar was a testament to this proclamation. Having seen the NMS in New Orleans during Jazzfest this year, I was expecting a round robin of artists each showing off their chops. What I got was a more structured succession of Ropeadope bands pushing the edges of what jazz musicians can get away with while still falling under the umbrella. The Duo threw in synth loops to fill out their sound, as did Charlie Hunter and Bobby Previte. Critters Buggin' could just have well been a heavy metal band, and I'm still not sure how Skerik makes his horn sound like Slayer's lead guitarist. The only band that I felt was sort of doing the same ol' thing was Mofro, and as the closer for this show, they seemed out of place. I think JJ gets off on the fact that he's a 'southerner' playing on the west coast, as he accentuated his drawl while addressing the crowd. But lets be honest...he's from Florida. All in all, it was a great way to spend four hours on a Saturday night.

So, its time to slow down a bit. After all these shows, I think it is possible to get a little burnt on going to see music. I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but after walking out of the show last night, I realized that there has got to be more to take advantage of than, well, the best assortment of rock shows on the planet. Sure, there is the SFMOMA, which I've had the pleasure of visiting twice. But, I know there is more out there, and effort must be made to explore. Its just tough, you know, with Pinback, Neko Case, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Steve Kimock, and Charlie Hunter all coming soon...

I've decided also that it is time to get down to brass taxes (is that the expression?) and finish this story. No more procrastination. I've had more than enough time to let the story soak up what is going on here, and after re-reading it a few times, I don't think there should be any major changes. I feel like I have lived in my character's shoes for the past several weeks, and if I don't get this job that I'm interviewing for next week, then I will REALLY feel like my tragic hero. So, I am hopeful that the story will be done ASAP. Both of them.

Looks like a fake backdrop, huh? Nope, that's really Brock, Jenn, me, and Rachel on the coastal walk near Land's End. 

Have you met my roommate, Rachel? Here she is, rockin' the wife-beater beer around four in the morning one Saturday evening. 

This week so far

Wilco at the Paramount was terrific. While I would have preferred to see them in a place where I could drink freely and stamp out cigarette butts on the floor, the sound at the Paramount was outstanding. Nels Cline takes that band in such a different direction, and while I'll always be an alt-country fan at heart, I was pleasantly surprised by what I got on Sunday. Social Distortion at the Warfield, however, left a bit to be desired. The band was great, but being up in the nosebleed seats around people that were actually sitting down for Social D was a drag. I look forward to seeing them when they swing back around here next year, because the rumor is that they will be doing a multiple night run at the Fillmore. Before Rachel and I went into the show, I saw someone standing outside the show who I thought I recognized. Sure enough, it was an old acquaintance from Chapel Hill. Its so nice, even as far out as San Francisco, to run into old faces. He had actually worked at the Cat's Cradle when I first got hired, and I hadn't seen him in years.

So, I'm interviewing for a job on Tuesday, and it makes me unbelievably happy that I might finally start a normal life again. After shunning the 8-5 thing to go back to grad school and continue my extended adolescence as a bartender nearly three years ago, I am so ready to get back into the normal schedule. Unending successions of late nights and afternoon television shows (except for the one that Brock and I were on, of course...) need to be traded in for a steady paycheck and some kind of a career. Its weird to think that. Its weird to come to the conclusion that you might not turn out being Jack Kerouac, or a member of Sonic Youth. That you might not ever actually be on A&E's Biography. That Charlie Rose might never have you on his talk show. That you might end up more like your parents than your idols. Fuck, I don't even want to think about that.

Anyway, Rachel's parents will be in town this weekend, and the Tarheels are playing (and by playing, I mean whipping the tar out of) Santa Clara this Friday. Saturday will be the Ropeadope New Music Seminar at the Independent, and I'm hoping to swing by Borders on Post Street and get a copy of the new Tom Wolfe novel, autographed by none other than the man in white himself. Man, I love this city.

The hardest working man in show business proves once again why he is the reigning guitar king of the scene. 

Warren wears it out!

Two words: Warren Haynes. Tonight was the second of the Mule's two night run here in rainy San Francisco. The rumor on the street was that the first night would be straight Mule, and the second night would be a star-studded performance. Couldn't have been further from the truth. If any night was straight Gov't Mule, it was tonight. I walked out of that show feeling like I'd just been whipped for talking during nap-time. Warren & co. came out on stage with a mission, opening up with Thorazine Shuffle, and following it up with a surprising Soulshine (when's the last time you heard that in the first set when it wasn't a closer?). He followed it up with other greats such as Banks of the Deep End, Bad Little Doggie > Blind Man in the Dark, and Painted Silver Light. New songs? Only two, I think, and one of them was Lola Leave Your Light On. But, as for the always present cover tunes, Warren only pulled out one...but it was Hendrix's Little Wing. ('scuse me!) Right before the second set, everybody was crowding up front, anticipating a Phil Lesh appearance, or really any card that Warren hides up his sleeve. But, we got none. Instead, we got one of the most intense sets I've seen in a good while. Warren stuck with a lot of slower songs, including a peaking Effigy. To be honest, I couldn't tell you the names of most of the songs, but watching him go off was unreal. At one point, he was killing it to such a degree that he had to change guitars in the middle of the song. I told Brock that I thought he'd plain worn the guitar out and needed a new one that could handle him! All and all, it was one of the more inspiring performances I've seen from Mr. Haynes...more inspiring than I've ever seen when he is adding his chops to other bands. At first, I was a little disappointed not to see any guest appearances. But as Brock and I talked over the show on the MUNI ride home, we decided that this was probably Warren letting everyone know that the 'sit-in' party was over, and it was time for the real deal. You come to a Mule show, this is what you get, plain and simple. Of course, if he's able to spill it on stage like that every night, then I pity any guest who attempts to match him!

Get your hands off of my woman!!!....Jenn and Rachel at about 4am over the Halloween weekend.

A New Kind of Junkie

I joked to somebody back in NC that the reason I was moving to San Francisco was really so that I could feed my music jones to its fullest, and that I would be the equivalent of a junkie that lives in an empty room, waiting on the next fix. I don't have any pictures on my walls yet, and I haven't been out since last Saturday. And, I don't plan on going out until Thursday (Gov't Mule @ the Fillmore), then maybe Friday (Robert Randolph @ the Fillmore), and I'm considering Wilco this weekend...

As far as the job hunt goes, I've still got my head up. After attending the BayCHI group meeting, I felt a new enthusiasm for the hunt. I've been knocking my head into the wall searching for tech jobs that I'm almost but not quite qualified for. BayCHI gave me a much better idea of some smaller companies that would hire new workers that didn't have 10 years of prior experience. So, that's encouraging.

Ennui is still waiting on an ending, and I've been neglecting the project completely in order to work on the whole job search thing. But, I'm afraid to work on it because I feel like I'm neglecting what I should be doing to do something like...write. right?

Who's ready to go see Sound Tribe Sector 9 at the Fillmore for the third night in a row? WE ARE!!! Unfortunately, Rachel and her Michael Jackson Thriller eyes did not accompany us to the show. 

Don't ever let the ghost of working stiff mediocrity sneak in and steal your soul!

That's what my very good friend, Levi, told me in a much needed email last week. While most of the time, I feel pretty good about what's going on here, the whole unemployment thing is starting to kill me. I'll probably take the first job that I can get, just to stop feeling worthless. Keeping my head up, but it is getting heavier. I think that I have been doing a good bit of soul searching, as of late. When you aren't in the middle of the social scene, it gives you a lot of time to step back and introspect. Or alternately, when you party hard seeing three nights of Sound Tribe Sector 9 at the Fillmore or even just one night of Medeski, Martin, & Wood at the Grand, gives you a lot of downtime getting through the hangover. Such downtime allows the wheels to turn at an insurmountable rate. Here is how I described it to my friend Maggie in an email:

"Sometimes, you need to be turned upside-down andshaken vigorously to learn about who you are. I know this sounds arrogant and self-absorbed, but living in Chapel Hill I feel like I developed this persona of this hot-shot bartender who was nice to everybody and was sort of this popular man about town. But that really wasn't me---I'm not really that outgoing and Ihonestly didn't like having to be nice to everybody all the fucking time. And everytime I met somebody, they already had an idea of who I was from whoever introduced me (i.e. - "That's DK, the bartender from Linda's, he's {insert description here}") And here in SF, I'm nobody. No one gives a fuck about who I was in Chapel Hill. Its both the most liberating and the most harrowing thing I've experienced. I had thislong talk with my Mom before I left and told her how scared I was of having to start this whole new life, and she said 'David, your problem is that you don't see in yourself the wonderful person that everyone else sees. And when you go to California, you aren't going to have the advantage of everyone already knowing you. You are, for the first time since you moved to Chapel Hill, going to have to learn to project that wonderful person that you are.' Easier said than done, though, right?"

I think that that really sums it up. And once I get a job, I'm sure that I'll look at things differently. But, that's where I'm at right now. And, you know, I'm thinking that maybe its not a completely bad thing. It makes me want to write about it. It makes me want to inject what I feel into the characters of the next batch of stories. I think that it would be perfect for them. So, hopefully something good will come out of it. I'm just ready for my career to get going. I feel like I've worked hard, and I deserve it.

Brock, Moses, DK, and Shelley - This shot was quite exemplary of the entire weekend. Nothing but laughing and joking on each other. 

Me, Shelley, and Brock at the end of the shoot. I could have slept for a week at this point. Instead, I went to dinner with everyone on the set, and stayed up all night drinking with Moses, Shelley, Jenn, and Brock until my flight the next day to San Francisco!

Tiny Celebrities

Finally getting this post up. Been waiting to throw these pictures up for awhile, but wanted the show to air first. So, Brock and I finally got our fifteen minutes last Monday. Overall, I was very pleased with the final cut of A Makeover Story. I was afraid that we were going to look like complete idiots, but we ended up coming out okay. Brock got more good lines than me (probably due to his oft jovial commentary, as opposed to my nervous, nasal delivery), but I liked my clothes better. I was really hoping that they would mention Swimming in Circles, or at least Sorry Ma, but to no avail. Casualty of editing, I suppose. A lot of folks have asked me how I could possibly bring myself to be on a reality show. Honestly, I think everyone should do it. I learned a ton. I mean, we envy celebrities, and we pretend that covers of Rolling Stone = happiness forever. But, just given my extremely limited, fleeting exposure to that life, I have found that the acting doesn't stop on the set. Just as much posturing goes into the delicate handling of the celebrity persona (and its associated 'perfect-ness'). Our director made the comment that celebrity was the drug of choice for the new millennium, what with it being hocked on every magazine, tv show, and now up for grabs with reality programs. But, just like that parcel of land in Florida you blew your savings on, it never turns out quite like you expect. Fortunately, we just got a temporary dose of it.