who is a blabbermouth?

venue: swedish american hall (upstairs from café du nord)
artist: trashcan sinatras
who: ro
when: 23 october 2010 (saturday)
show starts at 8:00p

i thought that if we left at 5p to make a 6:30p dinner reservation, we would be okay. boy, was i wrong. heading to the castro area on a saturday night, parking is always an issue. we didn't make our dinner until closer to 7p. after circling blocks and blocks, i gave up and decided on the $10 parking lot. we ate at l'ardoise and E V E R Y T H I N G was delicious. even the coffee was superb. i would highly recommend this place. except for the part where our waiter asked if everyone here was at least 21 while looking straight at me. will it ever end? i hope so... i'll soon be 40.

we arrived at the swedish american hall sometime after 8p which was early enough to get prime balcony seats. despite the giants game going on, they carried on and played. during their set, frank gave us updates on the game. he said that once the game was over, they would play a proper show. this show was acoustic with requests taken online. ro asked me if i'd ever been to an acoustic trashcans show. i thought about it and couldn't remember. then i did... they played an acoustic show when they played at popscene back in 2004 when they made their comeback.

since the show, i have been listening to a mix i put together. here is my list and the albums they come from:

1. the best man's fall - cake
2. you made me feel - cake
3. earlies (because i ♥ john douglas) - i've seen everything
4. the safecracker (who is a blabbermouth?) - a happy pocket
5. only tongue can tell - zebra of the family (originally from cake)
6. freetime - brel (newest acoustic cd! but originally from weightlifting)
7. how can i apply...? - brel (a happy pocket)
8. i'll get them in - brel (a happy pocket)
9. i hung my harp upon the willows - brel (in the music)
10. i'm immortal - brel (i've seen everything)
11. got carried away - brel (weightlifting)
12. oranges and apples - brel (in the music)
13. i've seen everything - brel (i've seen everything)
14. weightlifting (acoustic) - weightlifting
15. send for henny - live @ slim's may 2005 (i've seen everything)
16. obscurity knocks - live @ slim's may 2005 (cake)
17. bloodrush - live @ slim's may 2005 (i've seen everything)
18. easy read - live @ slim's may 2005 (i've seen everything)
19. the therapist - live @ slim's may 2005 (a happy pocket)

unfortunately, the trashcans no longer end their shows with the therapist, but despite that, i had to end my cd with it.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ time is up

in the music, take 2

venue: slim's
artist: trashcan sinatras & mike viola
who: ro
when: 1 june 2010 (tuesday)

the last time i saw the trashcan sinatras, i think it is safe to say that i didn't really get a chance to hear them play. it's hard to pay attention when a psycho little man is bothering you. it's especially creepy when despite fleeing the scene, he followed us to the bar. at first, i felt cheated and ripped off. then i felt violated and forgot all about being cheated out of the show. i just wanted to get out of there.

this 8th trashcans show made up for the last one. this was a nice break from all the sold out shows i'd been going to. mike viola opened for them. he was folky but poppy. he talked about how he writes a lot of music for films. and how he moved from new york to los angeles. then he started playing that thing you do from the film with the same title. i got really excited and told ro that i heard the "guy" that wrote this song was the one from the band, ivy. ro said that they were from new york. later, mike viola confirmed having been in ivy. this got us really excited about him. he was so down to earth. we both really enjoyed him and his music.

despite how i feel about the lead singer (i think frank ready is a total diva) i still love the trashcans. they still put on really great music. and even though, i think the old stuff is better than the new stuff. its nice to see/hear them change with the times. just like many of the bands i've been seeing lately, i can honestly say that out of the five albums the trashcans have put out, i like every song. they are tremendously talented. the fact that they are still putting out music is fantastic and amazing. i hope they do so for another 10-20 years. i admit that there was some disappointment on my end. one, they didn't play earlies (sang by john douglas). two, they didn't end the show with the therapist so i will in this post. oh, their new bass player (frank divanna joined in 2009) is kinda hot so he makes up for the disappointments.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ tick tock, running over
good-bye now i'll see you later on
tick tock, working all night
time's up, shut up
time is up

in the music x3

venue: ARTiculate @ evergreen valley college
artist: thao nguyen + the get down stay down
who: ro & his library friends
when: 25 september 2009 (friday)

ro told me about thao nguyen before. but only recently, i listened to her last cd, we brave been stings and all and still can't stop listening. the songs are upbeat, fun, and sassy. i am always movin' and shakin' when i am listening to her. in my car. walking around. sitting on the shuttle. in my office. it didn't matter, i couldn't help myself. she is just so cool. so i was extremely excited to see her play live, in san jose. its funny, i have a dear college friend with the same name too.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ i think i am girl-crushing on her.

venue: great american music hall
artist: the pains of being pure at heart, the depreciation guild, and cymbals eat guitar
who: john
when: 18 september 2009 (friday)
doors open at 8:00p

i hadn't planned on going to this show but my good friend mien (in chicago) called me up for a favor, could i show her friend john, around on his first trip to sf? so i said sure, of course!

i wasn't sure what he wanted to do so i gave him options on what i wanted to do. :) he said he was up for anything. we got tickets first, then headed over to tommy's joynt for some grub. it's world famous but the mac & cheese wasn't quite up to par. nothing compares to lisa's mac & cheese. we headed back over around 11p thinking we avoided the openings. but caught the depreciation guild who weren't half bad. and the pains of being pure at heart were quite good.

not only were the bands pretty good but so was the company. john was so nice and fun that he & i stayed out pretty late that night. we ended up at sparky's for pancakes and americanos. m-m-m, good. actually, i spent much of the weekend with him.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

venue: café du nord
artist: trashcan sinatras & brookville
who: cousin nina
when: 31 july 2009 (friday)
doors open at 8:00p

even though this was my 7th trashcans show, this is the first time i am rating them! strange, isn't it? though, due to a very traumatic misadventure (ie little man mccreepy), i can't bear to give them 5 ♥s. the last time i saw them was back in 2005. it's hard to believe it was over 4 years ago. and i'd seen them 6 times within a period of 2 years.

luckily, my dear cousin nina was there to save me and salvage what was left of the night.

rating: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ merci, nina!

trashcans

venue: slim's
band: trashcan sinatras
who: kiki & spike
when: 11 may 2005 (wednesday)
doors open at 7:30p

it was my 6th tcs show, second time at slim's. last night, they recorded the show on a cd that you could pre-purchase and pick up after the show. at first, we didn't really care much about it. but half way through the show and being our obnoxious girlie selves, we decided to get the cd so we can hear ourselves laughing in the background in one of the quiet slow songs.

i finally met up with eddy (aka marie) and her husband john from sacramento. see october 2004 post. betty and i met this couple at our first tcs show at the troubadour in march 2004. betty and eddy bumped into each other and was profusely apologizing to each other. then, i think it was john that said, only at a trashcan sinatras show would people be arguing about apologizing back and forth to each other. that brought on a flutter of emails back and forth on whether they or we would be at the next trashcan show. they are a very lovely couple.

then there was creepy brian. he's at every show creeping around me. he always ends up next to me or in the vicinity of my location, just staring over at me. at the first slim's show, we were downstairs and he was to the left just creeping around me, not saying hello or anything but staring at me as if he were speaking to me in esp. last night was no different. for some reason, he ended up upstairs in the opposite corner to us. he'd lost some weight and betty didn't recognize him but i knew his creepiness. then she heard his rapsy creepy voice and confirmed it was him. again, he didn't say hello but just stared. guys should know that this is NOT okay.

alex made friends with the recording guys and after a brief discussion on hippies, he took it upon himself to give us 2 extra copies of the cd, free! sometimes, it is just so cool to be us... ;)

overall, the show was good. they played freetime so we didn't have to shout it out to request it. after having met frank from the cafe du nord show, i couldn't look at him sing. so i watched john douglas the entire time.

trashcan sinatras

on tuesday at slim's, then on thursday at popscene, and finally on friday at the troubadour. think i'm a fan? john and marie from sacramento will beg to differ. they went to tuesday's show, friday's show, not to mention the show in sac and the in-store show on friday and are following the band down to san diego. i'm feeling a bit incompetent as a loyal fan. i blame my fever.