Chatting It Up: Arcade Fire, Spiderman, Ben Gibbard

I recently discovered that it is fun to repurpose IM/GChat conversations on blogs. Maybe not if you aren't involved in the chat. But observe this nine-person chat about The Arcade Fire show in Atlanta, and the one about how Evil Spider-man looks like Conor Oberst.

I'll continue this trend by posting a typical Caren-Carlyn conversation, saved from last week and now posted on the night of the Ben Gibbard concert in DC. Appropriate given the context. This is why we are our favorite GChatters.

Caren: I saw a guy with a hulk hogan-type mustache that rivals Brandon Flowers' as coolest
Carlyn: I love mustaches!
Caren: i know! u'd love this guy!
Carlyn: probably would, not too many mustaches in dc. which is sad
Carlyn: fyi - you know the black cat has hit it big when it's mentioned on GILMORE GIRLS
Caren: WHAT?!?
Carlyn: yes my friend. as i was watching gilmore girls last night (shh, don't tell paste)
Caren: we watch too. our editors LOVE it. and they're dudes. what was the context of it?
Carlyn: the husband of the asian chick is going on tour with a band named Vaporub, or something like that and they're going to hit NYC and DC, places like ___, the 9:30 club and the Black Cat. and sheelu and i were like... waaah?
Caren: hah! love it!


Death Cab for Cutie as legos

Carlyn: Dear Paste Magazine,
A friend and I scored tickets to Ben Gibbard's solo tour.
What are we supposed to expect?
Does he have his own songs he's going to sing? Is he breaking away from the two projects?
Am I going to have to put up with 14 year olds making out? Or do we hope they only know death cab, and not ben gibbard?
Caren: Dear Death Cab Cutie,
Ben Gibbard leads up The Postal Service side project, with Jenny Lewis. It is very techno and he may sing songs from that, including "Such Great Heights," which Iron & Wine made famous in Garden State
With David Bazan of Pedro the Lion opening, you have two lead singers on their own, so the likelihood of 14 year olds is slim to none. However, you may see other people making out, particularly when Gibbard sings "I'll Follow You Into the Dark."
Carlyn: good call
Caren: Enjoy, and who knows -- maybe you'll find a special someone to makeout with, too. Love, Paste Magazine
Carlyn: That was amazing
Caren: good. David Bazan is cool too
Carlyn: i love pedro the lion. i saw him in 2001. oh jesus
Caren: Johnathan Rice is also opening. he is A-MAZ-ING. born in the DC area, but grew up Scottish I think?
Carlyn: i don't know anything about him, so i'm excited to see him
Caren: he is actually dating Jenny Lewis i think
Carlyn: i thought you said jerry lewis, and i was like. whoa now.

Enjoy the concert tonight, Carlyn and Flaxy. I'm jealous.

Too Many Concerts = Exhaustion + Good Stories

Two weeks ago I went to 5 concerts in 5 days. I don't so much remember a lot of that week because I was exhausted. Here's a recap:

Concert 1: Manchester Orchestra, with Kevin Devine and Brand New
Concert 2: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah(Carlyn, I still think that they're really Icelandic...)
Concert 3: Brandi Carlile
Concert 4: Sweetwater 420 Fest
Concert 5: Atlanta Film Festival After-Party, with Ari Hest and Tin Cup Prophette, hosted by Paste

The AFF party was awesome... who knew our office was such a cool concert venue? I'll have pictures soon.

Then I went to NYC and hoped to take a concert break... but The Frames were in town. I was disappointed that The Frames didn't make it to SXSW (they were gonna play our party, too...) but this made up for it. They played all of my favorite old songs and new material, including songs from the soundtrack to Glen's movie, Once. My favorite is "Leave." Irish men normally dance around their feelings, especially sensitive subjects. So to hear Glen belt out this raw song was especially moving.

Last night was The Arcade Freakin Fire.

When I first saw The Arcade Fire in 2005, I didn't like them too much. Not because of anything they did, but because I hadn't really gotten into their debut album, Funeral. But my buddy Nate made me go see them at ACL Festival with him. Good call, Nate. It was 115 degrees in Austin, and the band members were in sweaters and suits. They played until they collapsed on stage... even then one band member was hitting a cymbal while flat on his back. On the bus ride back to the parking lot, one fan started chanting the words to "Neighborhood #2" -- "Alexander... older brother!" -- and the whole bus joined in.

This show was just as good, but indoors where it was air conditioned. Adam and I rushed the stage when Win Butler said it was okay to do so. I jumped around and danced as long as I could stand it, but it was too crowded down there and I got a little panicked. I watched the rest of the show from the safety of my Row P seat.

Here are some pictures (all by Christiano Prado).







No other concerts planned for awhile... what's a girl to do?

CK