Easily Distracted

But actually, he really, really doesn’t.

I’ve been using the alarm clock plugin for Rhythmbox to wake up, recently. But I had it set to play on my “Added Today” automatic playlist…. Can you guess the problem with that? … By the time I was supposed to get up, my playlist was empty! Doh! >.<

Jesse and I went to the Commodore Ballroom and saw Brian Jonestown Massacre, Saturday night. Doors opened at 8. I think we entered around 8:30, grabbed a drink and settled at a table at the front. We chatted while waiting for the opening band to come out. I think they came out around 9:30 or 9:45. The Hugs: a group of energetic kids that looked like they were still in highschool (which would make them younger than everyone in the audience) – but they were pretty decent. They finished around 10:30 maybe. We had got up for the last couple songs and decided to stay and secure a good spot for the main attraction. BJM should be coming out soon.

Some bodies meandered about the stage setting up equipment, towels, water, and a mighty stock of beer. Looked good. Any time now. Any moment… Oh wait, gotta move the guitar a little… pluck a few keys on the organ. Adjust the mic stand. Move the guitar again, maybe give it another tune. Wow, they were certainly in no rush it seemed, and most probably stoned. Finally, the lights dimmed, and almost immediately, a large portion of the audience lit up. A spooky loop (must be their entry music) was playing for what seemed forever…. and eventually, they finally came out. At this point, I’m guessing it was 11:30.

Anton, the lead singer (it’s basically his band), took a little while longer… and looked like he really didn’t want to be there. Clearly intoxicated, the first thing he said was something along the lines of, “Don’t throw anything at me. That’s the quickest way to get kicked out. We’ve hired a hundred skin heads that will kick the shit out of anyone that fucks with us. …We’re gonna play for you tonight because you really deserve it, don’t you? So just… enjoy the show.” The crowd, of course, loved them, and this behaviour is what’s expected from Anton. The music was awesome when they were playing, and I have to admit, the lead singer telling off members of the crowd and even his own band were particularly entertaining.

At one point, Frankie, one of the guitarists, started to say “You guys are the best audience we’ve ever had in Vancouver…” but he was cut off by Anton: “Frankie, sit down and shut the fuck up! I’m tuning my guitar!” I think that was the only thing any of the other band members ever said.

Requests were not being taken. People would yell out the names of their favourite song, and Anton would say, “We’re not taking requests, so fuck you.” or “I already told you we’re not doing requests! I request you shut the fuck up!”

The show was very entertaining, to say the least. It ended at 1:00. By the end, somebody from the audience did throw a bottle. I didn’t see what it hit or where it landed or what, but it’s safe to say Anton went on a bit of a rant, calling whoever threw the bottle to come up on stage so he could kick their ass. He did have a very valid point, though: “Don’t throw bottles.” Seriously people, don’t pay for tickets to see someone and throw bottles at them on stage. That’s dangerous and a good way to ruin the rest of the show for everyone else.

• All of Brian Jonestown Massacre’s albums are available for free download on their website. I thought that was pretty damn cool and that’s one reason I decided to go when Jesse made the suggestion.
• There’s an interview with Anton Newcombe that provides a little background and is a pretty interesting read.
• A poor quality video on youtube of some clips from the night. At about 3:50 is some dialogue between Anton and the crowd that must have been after Jesse and I had left. In the description, it says the band was held up at the border. Shame. I’m sure some better quality videos will appear later.
• A review in the Georgia Straight of a previous show in Vancouver. Sounds similar…. The “holy wall of noise” happened a couple times, where the band was just banging out the same piece of music letting it grow in loudness and intensity. This lasted for minutes at a time. It was very trance-like and very awesome.

Listening to both bands has reassured me of one thing: I should acquire a drum set when I obtain the means. For some reason, I think I’d really enjoy them. Maybe I just like the idea hitting things….

This post brought to you by #2 Orchestra. Have a listen while you read:

I rarely dream. Or, at least, I rarely remember them.

I fell asleep with my music playing. So I had really vivid (and random) music playin in my dream… and I’m sure the shuffle had something to do with what was happening in my dream. I was staying in some kind of dormitory thing that resembled the SANYO dormitory I stayed at in Japan. Except, this one included a church… o.O At times, I found it uncomfortable to use my computer in my room, so I would go to these hideous multi-purpose rooms that looked like bathrooms (tiles, and kind of stained, but clean) where there was a counter I could use. I brought in chairs… cheap plastic chairs that I recall from elementary and high school…. not sure where I would get them. Anyway, I went to church (I know, I know!) and we were singing. I hear that’s what people do in church. I have lots of church choir and monk chanting music in my classical collection, so this was obviously playing during this time. Then we stopped singing, and the priest whistled, then everybody else whistled… This strange simon-says-like event carried on for a while, followed by some applause.

After leaving the church, I was going to watch a movie on my computer in one of these multi-purpose rooms. The priest was concerned about me, and said he wanted to watch it with me. I’m not sure what the movie was, but it had a ‘3’ in it and I’m pretty sure it was a horror movie or something. I told the priest, “Okay, but I’m sure you won’t like it.” figuring it would probably just validate his concern for me – in his mind. So while I was setting up my laptop, I had this vivid drum and base music playing. Someone else, who is a familiar face from elementary and high school, walked by outside and told me the music was a little too loud. He closed the door, grabbed one of those cheap plastic chairs (from somewhere) and joined us. About here, I woke up with Rebound by Spark from The Robotic Girl Next Door playing on my computer.

What a nightmare! First, I went to church… THEN, a priest followed me into a small tiled, windowless room. o.O Anyway, it was a weird random-play music induced dream, to say the least. If you want weird dreams, hit shuffle on your music library and go to sleep. Leaving the window open for a draft probably helps. Drugs probably help too… though I wasn’t taking any.

This post is brought to you by mellow French Folk/Rock.

Social networks. Shirley made a post about social networking sites and web2.0. I got one for you: Mugshot. Mugshot allows you wrap a bunch of these sites’ capabilities (facebook, google reader shared items, blogs, amazon, last.fm, etc) into one convenient profile. Get your friends to sign up and any time they update something registered on their profile, you will be notified. Create groups of friends, etc. So come on, friends. Sign the hell up! 🙂

I got some interesting suggestions when looking for Ubuntu groups.

Ubuntu’s so sleezy

My mugshot.

Rhythmbox is becoming more awesome

The new version of Rhythmbox included in Feisty, version 0.10.0, is very nice! I’m totally impressed with the enhancements since the last version I was using.

Jamendo integration: it will download the catalogue of artists and songs on Jamendo, and you can browse or play it just as if it was all on your computer, with the regular interface. If you like something, there’s a handy “Download Album” button. Music by donation. Awesome. Kinda like open-source for music. 🙂

Last.fm integration: I can now play my neighbour radio within Rhythmbox! Oh joy of joys! Seriously, that’s awesome. The last-exit client is still cool, but I think I’ll be using this most of the time now.

Magnatune integration: Just like Jamendo, except downloading an album requires purchase.

Here’s some screenshots of Rhythmbox:

Feisty and Wacom

Still not there. I’ve been waiting and waiting for the day I can plug in my tablet when I need it and start using it, without having to restart the X server. Apparently, however, that day is not far off.

From https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wacom:

With the version of the Linux Wacom driver (0.7.2) in Ubuntu 6.06, 6.10 and 7.04, if you unplug you tablet, it won’t function when you plug it back in and you will have to restart X. For this reason, it is best to leave the tablet plugged in. This limitation will be removed when the 0.7.4 version of the driver is included in Ubuntu.

I can’t wait for that.