Vampire Weekend 4/3/10

First show of the year at DAR Constitution Hall and it was with the excellent Vampire Weekend. Probably the most hyped band out there, this side of American Idolesque crap, I was fortunate to get tickets as Ticketmaster sold these high priced seats real fast. On a warm DC Brooke and I trekked to the show and took our seats against the wall nearly behind the stage and waited for the magic to begin. And then it happened, Vampire Weekend played nearly all the tracks from their two excellent releases for over an hour and got the crowd into it effortlessly. The best part for me was when they rocked "Campus" right into "Oxford Comma" to close the place down. For the seats we had the sound was amazing. These preppy rage against the preppy nerds can play!

Foreign Born/Free Energy 3/14

Once I heard Foreign Born's single "Winter Games", I knew I'd like this LA band. I actually came late to the show from a prior arrangement but was able to catch their show but also Free Energy's opening set due to them starting late. First off Free Energy had way more fans than Foreign Born and it came as no surprise after that first note. They have a Rolling Stones early 70s lead singer with some excellent guitar and drum work going. It was a pleasant surprise to find out this Philly band's record was produced by none other than LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy. Their energy was great and the jams were excellent and I was ecstatic to have made both shows. Foreign Born had a different vibe altogether. They had percussionists and smoke pouring out of DC9 and the mood was incredible. They put on a fantastic show and I even bought their last cd titled "Person to Person". Great show with two great bands and you'll be hearing more about them soon enough!

Mayer Hawthorne 3/10/10

There is a new funky Motown soul thing going on right now and it's pretty good. I got to check out the excellent live set from Mayer Hawthorne at the Rock And Roll Hotel after missing him last October. To place his sound I would say he's a white John Legend with a serious 60s fetish. He and his band played most of his album "A Strange Arrangement" while getting the crowd pumped for his uptempo jams and his slow standards. While a soul artist would normally run you into the mid $50 range this new comer was a modest twelve bucks, making the price as nostalgic as the sound.

St. Vincent 2/24/10

I don't know why St. Vincent caught my attention but I got early tickets cheap and gave her a shot. This wild eyed chick can sing and the beats on "Marrow" are pretty intense. She had a really good set that was a good mix of loud and soft. She sort of reminds me of Bat For Lashes (another great show). Good night although it would've been better if I was able to get into the sold out Surfer Blood show across the street. Oh well!

2 Skinnee J's 2/12/10

Talk about a great Valentine's Day present! One of my favorite bands in college made their way up to Alexandria's Birchmere for an "Acoustic Tell All Show". I felt instantly old when I realized that 1. a band I like is playing the Birchmere and 2. it was going to be a vh1 style remembrance show. It was amazing except that J Guevara didn't show up. The band, led by Special J, played all their greatest hits and filled the night with funny old tour stories. It was a very intimate show setting that was highlighted by a casual meet and greet after the show. I even got to trade stories with band members when I bought a cd of a Norfolk concert I was at!

Getting All Caught Up for 2010! RJD2/The Constellations 1/9/10

Way back in January I got to see this incredible dj play the 930 club with a live band. I saw RJD2 once before and this show was just as impressive. He alternated between turntable sets of many of his classics and then got up his guitar(!) and the live band to bring out some fuller sound to his tracks. It was a great surprise to hear the "Ghostwriter" acoustic riff played the way it should be. Prior to his performance I caught a glimpse of The Constellations play "I'm on Way Up". Brooke really liked them and as I admitted earlier I was really blown away when I saw them much later.

Free tunes, etc

Just wanted to let the general public know of some great spots to get great new free music. Go to spin.com and they always have first listens of albums, videos, and even downloadable tracks. Even better they have released an album of tracks from Bamboozle Fest, South By Southwest, and Bonnaroo just to name a few. Next, if you got itunes and facebook become a fan of itunes on facebook! go to their free section and get redeemable codes (similar to that of starbucks Tuesday release). Lastly I just found free music from urban outfitters blog. Not a bad though I've had multiple instances of tracks from these three sites. Know of anymore places, let me know. Until then enjoy!
www.spin.com
www.facebook.com/freeonitunes
www.blog.urbanoutfitters.com

Taste of Arlington 5/16/10 part 2

After the race I had brunch with Brooke and Nolan (pictures soon) and soon after it was time to head to Ballston Mall for the Taste of Arlington. I don't recommend getting brunch beforehand but I just had a race and was up way to early anyway. The food was off the chain in Ballston. I can remember seeing crabcakes from Carlyle and good portioned small plates from everyone else too. Since I wasn't hungry I used my tickets for beer (Bud Light and Spring Bok Hefenwizen!) and spent my time signing up for free schwag. Most of the free gear was pens and cups but I did get a koozie so success on that front. And best of all my favorite news station, WJLA, was on hand (The Pacers Running Festival kicked off from their front step). That not being enough I got to meet a get a photo (two, actually) with my favorite anchor Alison Starling! Great weather, food, and success!

Capitol Hill Classic 10K 5/16/10

Sorry for the delay (and no pictures, on their way!) but I gotta update my kick ass Sunday. First off Sunday morning started with the running of the 31st annual Capitol Hill Classic 10K in you guessed it Capitol Hill. It was a well organized race, I only saw one bum prior to the start! This race is billed as it is the only race run entirely in Capitol Hill. It was nice to see the old row homes and RFK Stadium but the descent down the actaul hill the Capitol sits on was not cool. I mean sure going down was great but that uphill death march was a total bummer. I even saw a guy (non bum) puking on the side! But all in all fantastic race. I'm looking to do one more timed trot before the off road half marathon. Hooray nature!

Pacers Running Festival

Well at the start of this blog I was going to Blah Blah about what I like to do, shows and running. Mostly it's been shows but I got in a race yesterday morning. The Pacers Running Festival was held in Rosslyn and ran to the Pentagon and back. Did I mention it was a quarter and half marathon?? Yeah, I got there at the start of the race to register and then the start happened. At least the weather was nice. Anyway, the people at Pacers put some good races together however, unlike the Crystal City Twilighter there was no post race beers! And that my friends is why I ran in the first place.

Future Shows!

Yooooooooooooooooo summer is almost upon us which means that it's offically concert season! So far I got lined up to see in the DC area the following:
Free Energy (Rock And Roll Hotel) 5/30
-these guys kick ass and I saw them play with Foreign Born, album produced by LCD Soundsystem!
Broken Bells (930 Club) 6/7
-I mean Danger Mouse + The Shins? How awesome does that sound??
Dead Meadow (Black Cat) 6/15
-Great local band, very old school Black Sabbathy metal and obviously not for everybody! Haha
Surfer Blood (Black Cat) 6/16
-Missed them last time they were here and I'm so glad they're back, very new school Weezerish
Dead Weather (930) 7/13
-Super group that is super, I hear their new album is pretty good. Jack White on drums!
The Black Keys (DAR Constitution Hall) 7/26
-Saw them before and was blown away! Scalp these if you must!
MGMT (Merriweather Post Pavilion) 8/14
-strange, funky, whatever you call it. Should be a pschedelic party in the haunted woods of the MPP!

The Constellations

Sorry for the delay, been a busy week. We went out Monday night to the great small DC club DC 9 to see Atlanta band The Constellations. I'm not going to lie, I didn't have high expectations due to the mellow single "I'm On My Up" that was on my girlfriend's Ipod. Hell, earlier in the year I caught them play that song before RJD2 and still didn't like it! But when the huge band rocked out to their more funky and even danceable tracks I was an instant fan. These guys (and two girls) play with some intensity which made the venue that much better. My girlfriend can sure pick 'em!

DC Challenege!

This weekend I took part in the very cool DC Challenege event (www.dcchallenge.org). This event was to be a "5K scavenger hunt" and it did not disappoint. Without ruining the surprise to any future challengers I won't say where we went but I will say that where we went were places that I didn't much pay attention to in my 18 plus years of living here. Between racing through mueseums and hidden monuments it was definitely worth the admission price (that my girlfriend got for half off on goldstar.com!) To make an eventful day even better was the food and beer tent that was held on the National Mall. That is what I call a great Saturday.