License to Breakup

Last night I had an awesome dream where John Krasinski('s character in License to Wed) broke up with Mandy Moore('s character from the same movie) for me. NICE.

What I want to know is why didn't I buy tickets to go see Ben Gibbard at the 9:30 Club a few months ago because if I had, I could have seen the lovely Mr. Krasinski in person singing Wilco songs? I'll just add it to my ever growing pile of regrets.

Best Fest - DC Version

Lindsey came into town. We went to a house show where The Well, Kickball, Clara Clara and Ingrid (yes!) played. Despite every road off Constitution being cut off due to the Planter's Nut Mobile, we had a good time!

I also got a scanner so expect to see more Polaroid 'round here.

Captin, My Captin!

Last night I saw Team Dresch play at the Black Cat. Most of you probably don't know who they are so for your reference, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Dresch.

I discovered Team Dresch in high school through Sarah Yassine. We tried to start a band with my sister, Melissa, on bass and Ian Widman on drums. We called ourselves the Asthmatics and had one practice and one song cleverly titled, "We're the Asthmatics." How Brady Kids of me. Anyways, Sarah told me she had a band she wanted me to listen to that her brother liked called Team Dresch. She brought their first album, Personal Best into our science research class. It took only one listen of the album's first track to realize I was in love.

I have since wore the hell of out my Personal Best CD-R and was too stupid to buy one last night (I did get a rad shirt though). The band's second album, Captin, My Captin is one of my most played vinyls. Team Dresch is one of the few bands along with Nirvana and Elliott Smith I thought I would never get to see perform. However, the band reuinted a few years ago and has been playing shows here and there ever since. The lovely Katy Otto (who also runs my band's label, Exotic Fever Records) asked them to play with her new band, Problems. Luckily for me, the ladies agreed. Apparently the last time they played DC was back in 1994! The only music I listened to back then was Silverchair, Nirvana, and the Dazed and Confused soundtrack (Hi, Daniel Johns!).

To see these four lovely (can we talk about how lovely Kaia Wilson is while we are at it?) play the hell out of their instruments to their badass songs in person was beyond inspiring. Team Dresch is truly an influential band in every sense of the phrase. Almost every punk rock lady will list them as one of her favorite bands, myself included. You know that cliche that you find art/music/books/whatever when you need them most? Well that is how I feel about Team Dresch. I was just starting to write songs and decide that I wanted to do music when Personal Best first graced my ears. I couldn't have seen Team Dresch for the first time at a better time in my life. I'm debating daily if playing music is what I want to do with my life and watching Team Dresch come together over 10 years after they disbanded and as one audience member said "[playing] better than they used to" gave me that extra kick in the ass to realize that yes, I should do music. Especially if I can look as awesome as they do while performing. So please, do yourself a favor and go buy Personal Best right now.

Also, Kaia, if you are reading this, why are you so beautiful?

Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/goodgovernor

The Final Countdown

I spent my last few days of tour in Fredericksburg. We played in Norfolk Monday at Relative Theory Records which is tragically closing at the end of the month! Our friends Macky and Julie just graduated high school! Congrats girls!

Tuesday we played in Richmond at Alley Katz with Zulu Pearls (amazing), Silent Film Star (cool bros!) and Set by Satellite. I'm not one for talking trash but everyone knows the deal with Alley Katz. The show was delayed for a half hour due to a thunderstorm. Two of my favs, Rachel and Abby showed up. They are the only reason I would ever move to Richmond.

Wednesday night Erik and I went out to eat and braced ourselves for an intense night of TV watching. I have to say that despite there being no hot guys on Top Chef 3, I am still going to watch.

Thursday, we played at the Loft - NO COMMENT.

Friday I was quite sick. I suffered from a huge allergy attack Wednesday night that made me feel worse and worse each day. We played at Strangeland Records in Annadale with the Datamines who are probably the catchiest band I've heard in a while.

And our final night of tour was at the Warehouse Next Door in DC for Exotic Fever Fest. We love the staff at the Warehouse, James and Gideon are the coolest people in the world. Gideon said you can tell if someone should be your friend by if they like Prince or David Bowie. I agree with him and LOVE both artists so I guess we are friends!

All in all...tour was a success and I can't wait to go back out in the fall.

Garth, that was a haiku.

In Columbus, we ate at a cute Japanese restaurant called Haiku. They provide you with cute little pieces of paper and pencils. We assumed it was to write haikus on so we did. All poems are unedited and have been transcribed exactly as they are on the paper.

Jon

Your green tea eyes look
so soft and deep in the light.
Let me bathe my spirit.

Erik

I am pumped for soup
I hope it does not make me
poop fart poop fart poop.

Ryan

Noodles on my plate
eat them like firey blaze
I'm not hungry now

Mer

Sitting in the rain
Adjacent to robust khoy
Make me quite hungry

Greetings From Michigan!

Sorry I had to. Anyways, we drove to Grand Rapids, Michigan and stayed with Shawn and Emily Kruger who are probably the nicest people ever and live in the cutest house you have ever seen.

Before our show, we walked around and ate good food. I spend almost 6 dollars on the best chocolate pudding ever (worth it!). On our way to lunch, we saw a station wagon that had been converted in Luke Sykwalker's X-Wing, R2-D2 and all! We then drove to Millennium Park where Erik decided to get a little Asian on us. Luckily for everyone out there, I capture it on film (well a scan disk really).

At the DAAC, someone carved "Gilmore Girls" into the merch table. How timely. After the show, we hung out at Pub 43 where Skylar acted out Prince's hand moves in "I Would Die 4 U." God I love this town!

Me Oh My Oh

Look at us in Ohio!!! We drove up to Ohio Friday night, ate at the Cracker Barrel and watched Wayne's World during the worst thunderstorm ever.

The next day, we got into Columbus and walked around. It was Gallery Hop so we ran into a bad ass high school drum line, the Flaggots (who Erik and I loved) and free food on the street. That night we played at Andyman's Tree House which as you can see actually does have a tree inside. We played with the Receiver who are probably the best band to ever come out of Ohio. If you live in Ohio, watch them on MTV2's On Demand. It is freakin' hilarious. Our next stop...Michigan!