I got back from Department of Eagles show at the Cafe Du Nord about thirty minutes ago. It's very rare that I get back from shows this early. Part of the reason is that I don't have to make that drive back from LA to Irvine, which at 12-3 am feels like it takes forever. The other reason was that it was an early show. Yeah, the band is playing two shows tonight, one that was scheduled to start at 7 and another that was scheduled to start at 10. That must be tiring. I'm not going to lie, though. It is nice to be done early and to (in theory) be able to actually get work done after. That's the theory. It also meant that I didn't have to brave the Tenderloin that late. Surprisingly, though, the UN Plaza is empty at night. Who knew?

Dinah got into the city around 6:30-ish. I met her at the Civic Center Station and we took Muni over to the Cafe du Nord. I'm so happy that I've finally managed to make it to that venue, by the way. Not only is it absolutely adorable (it kind of reminded me of the Hotel Cafe), but I have missed so many Miggs shows that happened to have been at this venue. Granted, I was in Southern California for many of those shows, but still. A lot of their big shows happened there. It's also incredibly easy to get there by MUNI. The Church station drops you off about a half of a block away. Good to know for future reference.

There was a line in front of the venue. Since it was almost seven by the time that we got there and the show started at seven, we assumed that the line was for the late show. Turns out it wasn't. In good concert fashion, the show had not started yet. We got in. The guy at the front fumbled through the chart for a while when Dinah showed him the slip that she was on the guest list. Almost thought it was a hoax for a second and we'd be left out in the cold without Department of Eagles tickets. We got it, though. No ticket stubs, unfort., but whatever. It wasn't that crowded when we got in. We were actually able to get semi-decent spots (maybe 5-6 people back). We waited around for about 30 minutes and the first band went up.

You're going to have to excuse the few photos I took. The venue doesn't seem to take well to flash photography, so when one person takes a picture with flash, it blinds everyone. Combine that with the fact that I'm already semi-self conscious when it comes to using flash at shows, and you get uber blurry pictures. Some of them are actually quite a trip, but everyone still turns out to be giant red blobs.




The first band was called The Cave Singers. I don't know what I was expecting from them, but they turned out to be amazing. I think I was almost more impressed by their performance than by Department of Eagles (not that I didn't like their performance). I really liked the lead singer's voice. They even used a keytar-like instrument, a tamborine (I LOVE it when bands bring out tamborines), and a washboard. Yeah, a washboard. I really liked these guys. They didn't sell any albums at the table, but I liked them so much that instead of buying the Coconut Records album that I had just decided I was going to buy tonight, I bought their album. It does not disappoint.

They finished their set a little after 8 and the Department of Eagles started setting up. That process took a lot less time than I had expected. I think it just felt long because I was dying of thirst and stuffiness by that time.



They eventually got up and started performing. The lead singer, whose name I do not know, started alone and played a song on the banjo. Now I've got this sudden urge to learn how to play the banjo. The first song that the band played together was "In Ear Park." I actually don't know many of the titles of their songs. I don't know many of the titles of a lot of songs now because I have the music playing in the background and don't pay attention to the track names. Where was I even going with that? Oh, I think it was that I only knew the name of this song and "No One Does It Like You." Beyond that, it was "hey it's that song I like from the album!"

Their set was pretty good. Very mellow. The audience was also mellow. Apart from some random pushy people, there weren't any especially obnoxious people in the crowd. I like it that way. There were a lot of awkward moments between songs. They reminded us of this comic, actually.



I also really liked the lead singer's voice live. It was so good.

All in all, it was a great show. Hopefully this is going to be a good kick start to my efforts to get out more this semester. Not that I'm going to stop studying, but I think I spent an excessive amount of time locked up in my room last semester. I need to get out of the Tenderloin every once in a while, that's for sure.

I am hoping to see the Lovemakers in San Jose in a couple of weeks, but that's not confirmed yet. If I don't go home that week and see them, I kind of want to see The Bird and the Bee at the Independent. There are a handful of other bands that I'm hoping to see this semester. One is confirmed. I'm going to see the Fleet Foxes in April! Dinah got the tickets. Going to the Filmore show because the Palace of the Fine Arts one apparently sold out. I don't care. I'm going to see the Fleet Foxes!! I'm beyond excited.

That's it. Back to homework.

The last few days have been pretty gloomy-looking after the beautiful weather that we had over MLK weekend. It's even been raining. As much as I grumble about it when I'm outside, I'm glad it's raining. We're in a drought. We need the water. Because it's raining and because I'm a busy law student who's trying to keep up with an intense workload this semester, I've spent the better part of the last couple of days couped up in this building. At some point today, I decided that I wanted to get out of the Tower for a while. Packed up my baby laptop, my moot court research binder, and locked myself up in library for an hour and a half. Exciting, my life is. The plus is that I'm slowly making my way through all this homework. I'm almost done with Tuesday's assignments and hope to finish half of Wednesday's tonight (hope being the key word here).

I did watch my two Netflix movies. Chinatown and Pan's Labyrinth. As you might see, the initial weekend plan to watch one Oscar nominated movie this weekend kind of fell through. I got caught up in my work this morning my plan was to catch a matinee so it would be cheaper. Anyway, what really made me scratch this plan is that Dinah ended up winning tickets to that Department of Eagles show tomorrow night at the Cafe du Nord. I can stop sulking about being unable to go. I'm trying to be extra productive right now to make up for that. Anyway, I thought Chinatown was pretty good. I got kind of confused because I wasn't paying attention since I was way into the Enviro Law reading at the time (kind of fitting in a way). Watched Pans Labyrinth this morning and loved it, except I did not expect the movie to be so depressing. The music was so pretty. I don't know why they didn't win the Oscar for Original Score that year. I want to see the Hellboy movies now.

That's about it for now. After I finish briefing this case for Contracts I might go to the gym. It depends. I went four days so far this week and if I don't go today, I'll go tomorrow for sure. If I'm good, I might end up trying to see a movie this weekend after all, but I doubt it. Also, the weather right now calls for some ramen, but I've got to weed through leftovers and stuff first. Maybe tomorrow.