dresden dolls

Brainwaves

Posted on by grahams

This weekend was the Brainwaves Festival over in Arlington, which was a ton of fun. Jon really did a great job pulling the whole thing together, and while I wasn’t in to every artist, it was great seeing so many different bands. The highlight for me was The Dresden Dolls turning out a great set (even if they seemed out of place in the midst of the other bands on the lineup). Amanda and Brian brought out Edward Ka-Spel (from The Legendary Pink Dots and The Tear Garden) for “Missed Me”. I’m not the biggest Ka-Spel fan (I actually left before his set, closing out Friday, was over, but I was mostly just exhausted).

After a Kelly’s brunch, I made it back to the theatre on time on Saturday Afternoon. This daytime lineup seemed to be mostly noise artists, which can always be hit-or-miss. Fortunately, none of them seemed to take themselves too seriously, which made it more palatable. came out Saturday night to join me, and it was great seeing him again and catching up. Saturday night was definitely my favorite overall night of the show. It was dedicated to Steven Stapleton, who did a “DJ” set playing some of his favorite records. All of the artists Saturday night were enjoyable, but the stand-out band were also the headliners, Volcano the Bear. They had great energy, and while at times they seemed to be in Schtick Coma, they really rocked it out.

I missed the final day of the festival as I had previously committed to heading over to ‘s place for some Nintendo Wii love. He has preordered his and was having a big party to celebrate (and play). We mostly played Wii Sports, Tennis and Baseball are the standout games, but Bowling is pretty cool too. Golf and Boxing were a bit spottier though. Boxing definitely felt like your actions with the remote had the least correspondence to what happened on screen. That, and Corinna kicked my ass at Boxing, so I can’t like it. :P

We played from like noon until 6pm, when and I had to run off to see “Casino Royale”. I really, really enjoyed it, as did seemingly everyone who showed up to the club this week (17 people!). Definitely removed the crappier aspects of Bond for the past however-many years and stuck to spying and action (Parkour FTW).

The Dresden Dolls

Posted on by grahams

and I caught The Dresden Dolls last night at the Orpheum. It’s crazy to see a local band go from tiny little clubs to (apparently) selling out the Orpheum. We got there just as the second opener, Humanwine was finishing their set… Totally not my thing, and I believe that every one of their songs had the word “bone” in the lyrics, but hey, whatever.

There was some of the usual circus antics between them and the Dolls. Our seats, which looked great on paper, were terrible. Although we were only four rows back from the stage, Amanda was almost completely obscured by the amps, and so we spent the whole show leaning over to try and see both members of the band at once. Brian hit as hard as ever, and Amanda’s voice was about as “on” as it’s ever been. They seemed to play for like 2 hours, playing tons of covers as well as most of their new album, “Yes, Virginia”. It was a fantastic show, even if it went way past Corinna’s bedtime… :)

Hooray for Everything!

Posted on by grahams

This weekend in Dryden at Sean & Kelly’s Halloween Bash was awesome… It was great to see everyone again and actually be able to spend some time with them… We (Me, , , , and ) rolled into town around midnight and there were already a bunch of people there… We hung out until like 4am and then drove down the street to the hotel.. The next few days were filled with tree felling (two this year, although I didn’t participate much as my anxiety took over), WiFi liberating, drunken singing and dancing, and cooking.. It was an awesome time.

Last night I caught The Dresden Dolls at Avalon.. I have been trying to see this band for years now, and every time I have had the opportunity it has been screwed up (one time I forgot about the show, a few times I’ve been travelling, etc). They did open for Nine Inch Nails earlier this year, but the sound was off and the crowd wasn’t that into them.. Plus it was a sit-down show, which was convienient at the time because I was on crutches, but a rock show shouldn’t have chairs.

Anyway, last night’s show was a blast, although I could have done without some of the opening acts…. The Dolls rocked the house, playing old and new material and a bunch of covers. Amanda even played drums while Brian played guitar for a cover of “I Love Rock & Roll” by Joan Jett. The new songs were great, and I’m looking forward to their new album, whenever that comes out. The highlight of the night, however, was their encore, when they came out dressed as The White Stripes.. Amanda was dressed as Jack White and Brian as Meg White and they played “My Doorbell”… It was hysterical… I left before the encores were done as it was getting close to last call on the subway, but it was a great night out..