New Beginnings

• First and foremost I must thank the folks responsible for my successful move from Saint Paul to Chicago (in chronological order): 1) my mother for discovering my apartment 2) Kevin for providing me with transportation to my bullshit U-Haul pick-up location in Coon Rapids and helping to load my new couch from my grandparents’ apartment into the truck 3) Josh, Erin, and Emily for helping with the massive task of loading the truck 4) Dad, Nick, and Andrew for unloading my possessions from the truck into my apartment. One area in which I need to improve is my willingness to ask others for help. I asked the aforementioned people for help once if at all, and they rushed to my aid. I am not exaggerating when I write that without them I would not have arrived in Chicago in one piece. Thanks guys.

• I am reasonable well settled in to my new apartment. Below are some snapshots of my living space. The apartment is not huge by any means but provides plenty of space for a one person. I discovered that – much to my relief – there is enough room to utilize the pullout bed, meaning that I have enough room to house three guests comfortably. I hope those of you who live outside the city will find a time to visit in the near future.

• Orientation was surprisingly overwhelming. I have not been in a position where I have needed to make new friends since my first year of college five years ago. Furthermore, eight to nine hour days and the confirmation that law school is in fact an unforgiving and time consuming experience seems enough to give most people an ulcer.

• As promised (you can stop pestering me now Jaaker) below are the concerts I am considering attending in the next few months. I became considerably depressed last week when I discovered that the city offers far more shows than I will be able to attend considering my disposable income and free time. I am currently attempting to devise a point system of some sort to determine which shows I will attend. The only shows I have already purchased tickets for are the Okkervil River dates at Schubas. Kevin will be driving down with my car to attend and we are quite excited. Shows with a low price that take place during the weekend (i.e. Forget Cassettes and Pretty Girls Make Graves) are more or less a slam dunk at this point.

09/05 - Band Of Horses - Metro - $16 - Tuesday

09/07 - Rogue Wave - Logan Square Auditorium - $12/15 - Thursday

09/07 - The Dears - Schubas - $14 - Thursday

09/09 - Forget Cassettes - The Note - $? - Saturday

09/10 - The Smoking Popes - Empty Bottle - $15 - Sunday

09/10 - Shearwater - Subterranean - $8 - Sunday

09/13 - Cat Power - The Vic - $25.50 - Wednesday

09/15 - Built to Spill - Metro - $19/21 - Friday

09/16 - Built to Spill - Metro - $19/21 - Saturday

09/22 - The Mars Volta - The Aragon - $35 - Friday

09/22 - The Bound Stems (Record Release) - Schubas - $10 - Friday - 7 PM w/ Metal Hearts, 10 PM opening for Asobi Seksu

09/25 - Cursive - The Metro - $17/19 - Monday

09/26 - Sufjan Stevens - The Riviera - $24 - Tuesday - Sold Out

10/06 - The Long Winters - Subterranean - $10/12 - Friday

10/06 - Sunset Rubdown - Logan Square Auditorium - $12/14 - Friday

10/07 - Okkervil River - Schubas - $12/14 - Saturday

10/08 - Okkervil River - Schubas - $12/14 - Sunday

10/09 - Secret Machines - Park West - $20 - Monday

10/12 - Art Brut w/ We Are Scientists - The Metro - $18 - Thursday

10/13 - Say Hi To Your Mom - Schubas - $10 - Friday

10/14 - Juana Molina w/ Adem - Lakeshore Theater (3175 N. Broadway) - $15/18 - Saturday

10/17 - Cold War Kids - Schubas - $10 - Tuesday

10/19 - Maritime w/ Bound Stems - Subterranean - $10 - Thursday

10/26 - The Hold Steady - The Metro - $16 - Thursday

10/27 - Xiu Xiu - Logan Square Auditorium - Friday

10/31 - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - House of Blues - $17.50 - Tuesday

11/10 - Geoff Farina (Karate) - Schubas - $10 - Friday

11/03 - Pretty Girls Make Graves - The Empty Bottle - $10 - Friday

11/14 - Thursday w/ Rise Against - Congress Theatre - $18.50 - Tuesday

11/16 - Say Anything w/ Piebald - Metro - $13/15 - Thursday

The first person who can identify the joke from Kingpin referenced in the title to this entry wins a prize.

Top 25 Songs Of The Month

Three weeks without an update? Let's be honest here, this blog is on life support. I thought it might be a good idea to start a blog detailing my relocation from Saint Paul to Chicago but the obvious problem is that moving takes up a lot of fucking time. Furthermore, it seems unreasonable to expect that I will have substantial free time with which to write in this space once I become a full time law school student in a few weeks. In retrospect I wish I had created this blog last summer, since from that period up until I few weeks ago, I actually had the time to sit down for three hours at a time and author epic blog entries. As it stands, it seems doubtful that I will find the time to write a blow by blow account of Lollapalooza 2006 or my take the season two finale of Hell's Kitchen. This disappoints me greatly, but I promise to soldier on and create some sort of material to fill this space from time to time. As long as a handful of my readers are willing to stay aboard despite increasingly infrequent updates, I will uphold my end of the bargain and author a new entry every month or so.

It suddenly dawned on me at one point last evening that I could painlessly write an entry about the fifteen songs I have enjoyed the most this month as an homage to my good friend Tom who has been battling his ass off in the World Series of Poker. When push came to shove I ran into massive problems whittling the list down to fifteen songs. In preparation for Lollapalooza, I have listened to far more albums during the past month than during any other period in my life and found myself unable to go any further once the list was narrowed down to twenty two songs. I ultimately copped out and just expanded the list to twenty five songs. I could go on for some time throwing out caveats, explaining my methodology, and describing biases which came into play but it's far easier and more enjoyable to just hit you with the list:

25. Common - Testify

- One of the better hooks I've heard in a rap song in recent memory.

24. The Hold Steady - Killer Parties

- I am still attempting to decide which Hold Steady lyric(s) to put on a t-shirt that I will wear during the final day of Lollapalooza.

23. Jens Lekman - Julie Rmx

- Previously one of my least favorite songs on "Oh You're So Silent Jens", the song provided an incredible feel good moment at the end of the Jens show at Triple Rock on Friday.

22. Sonic Youth - Jams Run Free

- Attempting to get into a band with over fifteen studio albums sure is intimidating.

21. Jens Lekman - Jens Lekman's Farewell Song To Rocky Dennis

- "All those things you're supposed to do /I could have done them if I had you." A disappointing omission from the Triple Rock set, I decided this is the best song on "Oh You're So Silent Jens" in the days leading up to the show.

20. Wilco - Radio Cure

- I cannot even begin to offer an explanation for how I slept on Yankee Hotel Foxtrot for so long.

19. Wilco - Reservations

- The end of this song more successfully accomplishes what the conclusion of Radiohead's "Motion Picture Soundtrack" (one of my favorite songs of all time) strives to do.

18. Wilco - I'm The Man Who Loves You

- The horns get me every single time.

17. Ben Kweller - I Need You Back

- I heard the "I'm so lost without you" backing vocals for the first time last night while out on a run and my mind was completely blown.

16. Kanye West - Spaceship

- There's something really cathartic about the line "If my manager insults me again / I will be assaulting him".

15. The Shins - Gone For Good

- I imagine there is a case to be made that this is the most underrated Shins song.

14. The Subways - With You

- In many ways, Young For Eternity is the most hit or miss album I have ever heard.

13. Ben Kweller - Wasted & Ready

- It is impossible to hear this song more than a few times without singing along.

12. Mates Of State - Running Out

- I find melodically shouted back up vocals (see "Leave (Get Out)" by JoJo) to be completely irresistible.

11. Sonic Youth - Reena

- I suppose that selecting this song as the opener to Rather Ripped is the type of masterstroke that becomes commonplace once a band has been together for nearly twenty years.

10. The Shins - Saint Simon

- Oh my god the xylophone.

9. Cursive - Bad Sects

- No song about a homosexual affair between a young seminary student and a sexually repressed priest has ever been this good.

8. Ben Kweller - Hear Me Out

- Surprisingly, this turned out be the ultimate accompaniment to a Sunday afternoon trip to Target marred by a hangover resulting more from time spent in the presence of a girl the night before than from all the drinks I consumed.

7. The Shins - Kissing The Lipless

- I cannot even begin to offer an explanation for how I slept on the Shins for so long.

6. Cursive - Into The Fold

- I am still trying to process the fact that the two best songs on the new Cursive album are both ballads.

5. The Subways - No Goodbyes

- The best Noel Gallagher song I've heard in years.

4. Sleater-Kinney - Modern Girl

- Quite possibly the most gorgeous song on the list.

3. Ben Kweller - In Other Words

- There is an 83 post debate over the merit of the lyric "The butterfly are passive aggressive and put their problems on the shelf / but they're beautiful" over at SongMeanings.net. I promise I am not making this up.

2. Ben Kweller - Harriet's Got A Song

- Rivers Cuomo would trade the entirety of the last three Weezer albums (how sad is it that I needed to check AllMusic to see how many Weezer albums have been released since Pinkerton?) just for the "Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Do Dooooooooooooo" part of this song.

1. Wilco - I Am Trying To Break Your Heart

- "I'd always thought that if I held you tightly / You'd always love me like you did back then / Then I fell asleep and the city kept blinking / What was I thinking when I let you back in?"