Peter Bjorn & John @ The Paradise

Saw one of our very own Planetary peeps last night at the Paradise in Boston, one of my favorite venues. PB&J were playing and had opener Chairlift coming out before them. We arrived thinking we'd missed Chairlift's set but apparently they got there late so we saw half of what can only be described as a very sleepy performance. They played their iTunes famed single "Bruises" which stirred up some emotion in the crowd, but I think everyone was pretty happy when PB&J were about to come on.

Minus poor choice of opening songs "Just the Past" and "Start to Melt", which didn't exactly get the energy in the room warmed up, the show as a whole was delightful. I was not sure what to expect with their live performance since the new album Living Thing is mostly electronic and the SXSW reviews of their performance were not exactly stellar. I was indeed pleasantly surprised though; Bjorn's mustached sex appeal, plus Peter's leprechaun-like antics and jumping around like crazy really made their live show worth while. Of course the crowd went crazy with pleasers "Young Folks" and "Nothing to Worry About", but highlights for me were "Objects of My Affection" and encore closer, 15 minute long "Up Against the Wall."

It was a great show, a little bit of a struggle to see (everywhere I tried to move, super tall people were in front of me), but I finally made my way to the front just in time to have Bjorn and Peter come and play right in front of me.

The Sounds - T.T. The Bears 04/27

Last night I ventured over to T.T. The Bear's place in Cambridge to see The Sounds. I wasn't sure what to expect to be honest, since the last time I saw the band, it was at a sold-out show at the now-defunct Avalon (now House of Blues) in 2006, right after Dying To Say This To You came out. When I think about that day, I chuckle because it was a few months in to my job here at Planetary and The Sounds came in to our super-tiny office and we had a pizza party with them and for all intents and purposes, it was super awkward, but I digress...

So anyways, I wasn't sure what to expect because TT's is considerably smaller than Avalon and it has been 3 years since their last album came out, so I wasn't sure what the turn out would be. The venue was BEYOND packed and just about everyone in the room was singing along, word for word, to every song. To the band's credit, I have to admit that their songs are really catchy and that to this day, Dying To Say This To You is one of those albums I probably know every word to every song by heart.

Last night wasn't their tightest performance but it has been a while since they've been on the road here and what they lacked in technical tightness they made up with an outpouring of amazing energy. No one can ever fault this band on their enthusiasm and showmanship.

The new songs they played seemed pretty good but it is always hard to judge these things live, so I'm looking forward to checking out their new album, Crossing The Rubicon, soon.

Can't Wait To Go See This!

And....I'm Back!

Well, I'm back from my much-needed vacation and have albums upon albums of fun tourist-style pictures. Of all of the places I visited while traveling on The Adventure of the Seas, I think St. Maarten was my favorite. I was lucky enough to get a taste of both the Dutch and French sides and best of all, got to meet Nick Maley, a.k.a. "That Yoda Guy." If you're ever in St. Maarten, check out his store in the main shopping district, he's got a ton of neat art he's created of the island, and if you buy something, he lets you nose through his collection of artifacts from working on Star Wars and other movies like Krull etc. I even got to take a picture with him!

Upon boarding a cruise ship, you must learn to muster:


Being on the cruise ship itself was quite the experience. Having never been on a cruise, I didn't really know what to expect but to be honest, it was exactly like you'd imagine it to be from all of those commercials - there is a ton of stuff to do and some of it is corny as hell but so awesome at the same time. Props to my main man, our cruise director Casey (a find Canadian gentlemen with his own theme music) because he really brought the fun, including a special performance from Charo!



They also had a bunch of neat adult only activities, like the game show The Quest, which as you can see here, got a little wild....



I even got to get in a quick game of basketball!



And not to mention, everyone who worked on the ship were super helpful and friendly, especially Edwin, our stateroom attendant, who like a ninja would come in while we were gone and leave us towel animals. My favorite was the bat.



You also meet some nice people on the cruise ship and certain people become almost like celebrities. After the Love and Marriage game show, newlyweds Ryan and Bianca became the most famous people on the ship for sure. Sometimes you even meet people just like you, like on formal night when I met this woman, who as you can see, is clearly my doppleganger or me from the future. We had a long convo about Guinness and how we both had our first pint of it in Ireland. Go figure!


Will the real Jess Pye please stand up?

And of course, it was great to see so many different ports of call. Whether it was snorkeling in Aruba, touring Curacao by bus, ziplining in St. Maaten, sightseeing in San Juan or beach going in St. Thomas, there was no lack of things to do. Everywhere we went, the water was so clear and blue.

St. Thomas




Aruba:


San Juan:


I even discovered some new things in my travels like Amstel Bright, a beer that Amstel makes and sells in the Caribbean. You can pick one up just about anywhere for like $2.



I also discovered Continental Airlines gives you perhaps the grossest airline food known to man. This, supposedly, was a cheeseburger.



All in all, I had a great time and it was hard for me to come back, because honestly, how can you come back to cold and rainy Boston after waking up to this everyday?



And, if you happen to find yourself at El Batey in San Juan, look for my card!

Just Because It's Friday

The Books @ ICA

Last Friday night a friend and I went to go see one of our favorite bands, The Books, play at the Institute of Contemporary Art. After freaking out and realizing that the show was at 7:00 and not 7:30, like previously suspected, we ran a great distance, quickly hailed a cab, and made perfect timing, arriving shortly before the show began (the $20 dollar cab ride was a slight downer but well worth it).

It was a small theater, which was nice, and the seats were set up stadium style. Although we were close to the back we could still see perfectly. Besides two chairs and microphones set up on the floor, there was a huge video screen on the back wall. Nick and Paul came out with cello and guitar in hand and proceeded to play live while being accompanied by prerecorded electronic samples and a synchronized video. There music is a blissful combination of electronic and acoustic music and is topped off by recorded speech samples from various things like self-help therapy tapes and children's videos. They often venture to thrift stores and salvation army stores to find old tapes with peculiar recordings.

The concert although only lasting about an hour was phenomenal. The music is extremely consuming of all the senses and the videos really added to the experience. Some songs were funny, some were sad, some really made you think but they were all amazing. Some highlights were my favorite songs "That Right Ain't Shit", "Take Time", "Meditation", and their contribution to the Dark Was The Night compilation "Cello Song". All in all it was a fantastic night and even though it was a little rainy when the concert got out my friend and I went for a wonderful walk along the harbor. Oh Boston is so beautiful at night!

Here's the video that went along with the song "Take Time", one of my favorite from the night.

Dmetri Martin @ The Wilbur

Oh yeah, and I forgot about this too - Dmetri Martin last night at The Comedy Connection/Wilbur Theatre, super funny! Go here to see what else is coming up!

And....I'm Out

So, as of 4pm today, I am on vacation. By tomorrow morning, I'll be here:

Royal Condado Plaza Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico




And then I'm going to get on this:


and travel here....

Aruba


St. Martin


St. Thomas


Curacao


I know...

In all fairness, I do have to travel through these places to get there:

Houston


and...

ugh, Newark.


More posts when I get back on 04/20!

It's Passover

I'm not a Jew but I went to an orthodox passover last night. Sooooo interesting. First we went to the temple (Young Israel) by Coolidge Corner in Boston. Women and men are separated during the service, women upstairs, men downstairs, and all of it is done in Hebrew (very hard to follow). My roommate and I got invited to a Seder dinner and went to a family's house near by. There were only 6 of us at the dinner, which was good because I was the only non-Jew and didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of everyone. The extent of the dinner is crazy, there are I think 15 different parts and a lot of blessing and matzah and delicious food. Because me and my roommate were so interested in asking questions and learning about the orthodox faith (like women and men usually can't touch until they are married, after women are married they have to cover their hair when in public) we ended up eating dinner at 12:30 at night and the Seder didn't end until 3! Definitely worth waking up late and rushing to work in the morning. Hopfully I'll be invited back next year.

The secret....

Just when you thought chimp research wouldn't lead us to any breakthroughs, we hit the goldmine. Hard earned dollars have led us to this now undeniable fact: meat = sex.

From News Post Online:

"Washington, Apr 8 (ANI): Even in forests, sex sells. A new study has found that male chimpanzees that share meat with females double their chances of having sex with them.
The study led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany has been published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE April 8.

In the study conducted in the Ta National Park, Cte d”Ivoire, Cristina M. Gomes and Christophe Boesch have shown that females copulate more frequently with males who share meat with them on at least one occasion, compared with males who never share meat with them, indicating that sharing meat with females improves a males” mating success."

New Eminem Video?

Who doesn't have a soft spot for Slim Shady?

Even if you think he's not a very credible hip hop artist, you have to admit, he makes some pretty funny videos and likes to poke fun of people you know.

Apparently, he has a new track (which, I admit, is pretty bad) but I find the video to be funny. I think my favorite part is him wearing the pink Alf T-Shirt. Ah, childhood....

Check out the video here.

Kumar for President?

So, I haven't actively watched this season of House (even though I love the show) so I'm a little behind in the plot but I discovered this article today about Kal Penn, the man who plays Kutner on the show and more importantly Kumar in the Harold and Kumar franchise, and his decision to leave the show in order to work in...wait for it, wait for it...the Obama administration?

Good for him I say. Only hope this means Neil Patrick Harris (from now on to be referred to as NPH) will be joining Team Obama sometime soon.

Cold War Kids, Wilbur Theatre

So the manfriend works at the Wilbur Theatre here in town so when he asked me if I wanted to go see the Cold War Kids I said sure, why not? I've seen the band a few times before and loved their first album but never really spent time with this last one because I heard the single on the radio and didn't like it and sort of wrote it off (oooh, I'm so indie snobby today!) Anywho, here are some pictures from the backstage area, because I'm just that cool I don't need a seat. And good thing too, knowing my luck, I would have been the one to get thrown up on in the balcony.

This is gonna be good

It's pouring rain in NYC, but at least there's something to look forward to.

Oh Yeah, There's This Too

No One Said It Would Be Easy - Trailer


Can't Wait!!!!!

you got me!

I literally almost cried, and then someone pointed out that I'm a big dumb idiot. happy april fool's day, dumb useless "holiday"