I'm done with App Ad (well except for the class we have on Monday). Hurrah for one less class to worry about! Oral argument yesterday went well, I think. I know I could have been a lot better maybe if I actually practiced in front of other people, but I got primarily good comments, so yay! Whatever, it's done.

And I must thank Jeanne, who saved my life...or shoes. For whatever reason, the two pairs of black flats that I rotate between have disappeared except for half of one pair. At 11 on Tuesday night, it seemed like a good idea to just wear my blue shoes and hope no one noticed. When I actually was dressed for the OA, I saw that I made a huge mistake. Fortunately, I actually now have a friend who wears the same shoe size as I do so I was able to borrow one of her shoes. Go that.

In my mind, the week is over because my OA is done. However, I've still got a preemption check/thesis due for journal that I've been working on cranking out.

I've also got four outlines/finals to contend with in my other classes. :(

On a completely unrelated note, I got the new Cave Singers album this weekend when Umma sent us to Rasputin so we wouldn't whine about her trip to Marshalls. I actually like their other album, Invitation Songs, more. However, Mia claims that this band sounds like gargling mermaids. Please confirm/deny this.

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.