Concerts

K so as part of the Twilight Concert Series in wonderful Slat Lake City, The Decemberists performed on Thursday night. They were great. I had a lot of fun being there with my friends and the music quality was really good. You can tell that they've been around for a while and are completely at their leisure on stage. But there was a bit of goofing off on their part. They voiced the fact that its a free concert; therefore, the audience couldn't feel jipped. While this may be true that the audience didn't pay for the concert, the Art Council (aka city government, aka, taxpayers aka us) did. So I did feel a little jipped when they came back for their encore and did a twenty minute jam that was pretty much crap. I felt like I was at one of their rehearsals. But overall, they were entertaining and fun to watch.

On Friday Marie and I went to the Red Butte Gardens for the Fleet Foxes. We didn't have tickets you see, but were told that there was an awesome hillside behind the theater where you could see and hear everything just fine. So we took our chances, brought a picnic and a blanket, and had an incredible evening visiting, eating, and loving the music. These guys are so good live, it's incredible. They were very responsive to the crowd and made several shout outs to the "hill people" (that's where I was sitting). It was a perfect night. It could not have gotten any better.

Summertime!

K, so this is my soundtrack for the summer. Appropriate, no? I love this album. It's short--just like summer. It reminds me of BBQ's, late nights, concerts, hanging with friends, hot days, awesome sunsets, etc. And also it makes me feel a little sad cause it won't be this way forever.

Months afterward and I still can't get enough of this album

Fleet Foxes: Helplessness Blues. This whole album is such a joy to listen to. It makes me feel more deeply, if that makes sense. The harmonies are so tight and eerie and beautiful. And the lyrics are just as beautiful. They hit me right here.

Movies that I've seen before but haven't talked about and if you haven't yet, go watch them!

K so I watched a few movies recently that reminded me how much I love movies. The first is Raising Arizona. For this reason alone. I love Holly Hunter and Nicholas Cage in this movie so so much. Yes, I said Nicholas Cage. You know, he has the ability to act, but for some reason doesn't choose to play those roles. Maybe its cause he tried to buy an island and went bankrupt and so he has to take any job he can get.

The other movie that I love is Inglourious Basterds. It is absolute genius. Quentin Tarantino fans will disagree, but you must understand that this was the first film I watched of his. I am a little hesitant to watch any more of his films. I've heard that this movie is probably the least bloody of all his films, and though blood doesn't really bother me, I do have my breaking points. Plus Quentin usually includes sex and language, which make his films a triple threat and I'm not willing to go there. But Inglourious Basterds is great. If you ever want to watch Hitler die in a more satisfactory way, look no further than this movie.

Ok, so my last movie is True Grit. It's another Coen Brother's film, I know, but it's also genius. Mattie Ross is one of those characters with gumption and I always eat those parts up! Maybe its cause I feel like women always play the helpless type and its really refreshing to see a woman/young lady be strong, independent and not afraid of speaking her mind. And I'm glad that the Coen Brothers did that role justice. Plus the music is great, Matt Damon and Jeff Bridges give outstanding performances and it has everything that a western needs: bad guys die, vengeance is taken, and there's an ultimate shoot-off. What more could you ask for?!

So if you haven't seen these films, go watch them. You'll be glad you did.