10 years!!

i was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer in the summer 2003. i also had my thyroidectomy late that summer. coincidentally, a band called postal service released their new (and only) album give up earlier that year. for two weeks, after my surgery, that was all i listened to during my recovery.
venue: greek theater in berkeley (sold out)
artist: postal service with baths & divine fits
who: joe & sileena
when: 27 july 2013 (saturday) at 8p

my friend joe came up again with his friend for the show. i decided it would be a good idea for us to stay in berkeley near the greek theater so we could just walk there. it was really convenient.

the last time i was at the greek theater, i saw ben gibbard on his 30th birthday. that was 7 years ago. while i have seen death cab for cutie 3 times, i had never seen rilo kiley live. however, jenny lewis was playing with postal service so it was very exciting for me. she has a great voice. it was super cute how both jenny lewis and ben gibbard danced together. it was an amazing show. being there really brought me back to 2003, in a good way. we didn't stay for the second encore since they'd pretty much played all of their songs including any new songs they might have released with the 10th anniversary album. i would definitely see them again, even if they played the same songs over and over.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ nothing better

death cab birthday

venue: the fillmore
(sold out)
artist: dcfc
who: betty
when: 23 april 2008 (wednesday)
doors open at 7p

since this show was scheduled the day after betty's birthday, it was the perfect birthday gift. so, i woke my ass up on a sunday at 10a (usually i sleep in on sundays) to buy us tix. i was only limited to two otherwise, i would have purchased more. and apparently, the show was sold out by 11a.

whenever we go to shows, even sold out shows, there are always scalpers offering tickets. last night, there were scalpers asking for tickets. it was kinda strange and exciting that we had tix to this sought out show despite them playing another show at the greek in june.

one of the best things about going to the fillmore for a show are the free posters they give out afterwards. they are limited and is an awesome souvenir to take home. i was quite excited about them as we were denied the posters at the beautiful south show back in 2006. wow, that was the last time i was there. towards the end, we waited by the exit to get first dibs on the posters. the staff said they wouldn't give them out until the band stepped off the stage.

death cab always puts on a great show. they sound pretty awesome live. then, there's ben gibbard's trademark sway-with-his-guitar-and-singing which may have been the cause to his slimmer, more toned frame. honestly, this loses some of his charm. the whole nerdy, black frame glasses and chunky demeanor was adorable. but he's lost the weight, the glasses and is sporting longish greasy hair. blegh. clearly, i am not a fan of his new look. despite the disappointment, it doesn't take away from the quality of the show since i could barely see the stage anyway. one more thing about the swaying and i might have mentioned this in previous reviews of death cab shows, it's kinda distracting. and constant! he does it through fast songs, slow songs and almost non-stop for the hour (or so)-long set. i don't think i've ever seen anything like that before.

last but least, i must comment about the crowd. not only we were like the only asians there (that i could see in the dark anyway) but we were easily the most attractive people there. it was really odd. all of sudden, i became aware that i was surrounded by nerds and unattractive people (even in the dark). there were quite a few fatties there. not just slightly overweight but morbidly obese fatties. when cheering for an encore, the ground shook like a 4.0 scale earthquake. i had to move away from under the chandeliers. there were a couple of really old people there too. old like 60 y/o old. there was this kid who brought his dad or granddad. and the white haired man was totally rocking out. it was kinda cute. anyway, i don't remember this at the last two death cab shows... totally bizarro.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ remains constant just like ben gibbard's swaying

dcfc

as mentioned below, here is a picture from the death cab show. a pretty good image considering i took it with my dinky camera phone!

happy 30th ben gibbard!!

venue: the greek theatre in berkeley (sold out)
artist: dcfc
who: betty, cousin lam & nina
when: 11 august 2006 (friday)
show starts at 7p

ok, i'm back dating. i wouldn't really be up this early on a saturday morning but i haven't been online for a while...

the opening bands were spoon and mates of state. i think we missed spoon but made it to mates of state. they seemed a bit 80's rock to me. but i've listened to some of their stuff and it's actually not bad.

i took pictures with my camera so i'll upload them shortly. the stage had props that were really visually appealing which we didn't get at the last show. if you've ever been to the greek in berkeley, you'll know that the acoustics is awesome. anywhere you sit gives you a pretty good view of the stage. there are tall trees surrounding the theatre so it feels really enclosed. they had these two little houses and these trees in the background that almost looked 3-dimensional. with the lights, it gave the impression of being in a forest. kinda.

the great thing about death cab is that they are just awesome live. it's almost flawless. and ben gibbard with his swaying. he really got into it too! he looks like he's shed some pounds. midway through the show, his band mate (don't know their names) announced that they were in the bay area 10 years ago on ben gibbard's birthday, 10 years ago that day. and that it was his 30th birthday! it was really a nice touch and for some strange reason, made the show even better.

lam & nina hadn't seen dcfc before and i know nina loves them. so, it was fun to go with them. great show. great company. awesome time.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

stars and death cab

venue: leavey center @ scu
artists: stars and death cab for cutie
who: ted, alex, andrew, betty, louis, romano, jen & jonathan
when: 15 november 2005 (tuesday)
doors open at 7p

last night we went to santa clara university to their leavey center to see death cab. stars opened for them but sounded terrible! the vocals were so low, we could hardly hear the words in the songs. which was a total bummer for me, i really like them. fortunately, i've seen them live twice and actually met both torquil campbell and amy millan, who were both very nice.

it was quite an adventure to find betty last night sans cell phone. she came solo as well. she called me 20 to 7p saying she was on her way but that she might stop home and that she would look out for us. i hoped she'd be there by the time we got there but not to my surprise, she didn't get there until after 8p. luckily, she ran into louis (avec une cell phone) and was able to contact me. we met up outside after the show.

it was my first time seeing death cab for cutie. they played songs from all albums including moviescript ending which was the first song i heard from them. the sound was a lot better than stars so i'm not sure what exactly it was, the band or the venue that screwed up earlier. ben gibbard truly has a great voice. it was a pretty good show despite the dry refreshments and obnoxious undergraduates...

death cab and muffin spa day @ bliss

on sunday, death cab for cutie tickets went on sale at 10am online. betty and i have been waiting to go to their show for ages. last time they were here, we completely missed out on them. as soon as we heard about the show, they had already sold out. so this year, with the new album, we decided we would definitely go.

after getting tickets, i left for muffin spa day at bliss spa at the w hotel, which had just opened in july. it is on the 4th floor and is oh-so-blissful. there were the four of us, me, muffinslut, murdock muffin, and blueberry muffin. we were there for 3 hours filled with relaxation and pampering. it was lovely. we plan to go back soon!

while still in our very blissful moments, we decided to get a piece of heaven and go to kirala's for sushi. most of our favorite characters including louis the bartender and conrad, one of the sushi chefs. it was an absolute smurftastic day! ;)