Modest Mouse 2-22-09

Dear  Modest Mouse,

I have been listening to you guys since my sophomore year of college, right around the time when all the hipsters were getting over you due to newfound pop appeal of indie rock. Your albums make me feel things.  Building Nothing Out of Something makes me more melancholy and wistful than some of the best Radiohead.  The Moon and Antarctica makes me want to take an everlasting autumn roadtrip to the Northwest.  I defended you for years and put you up on the same impossible-to-sell-out pedestal as the Red Hot Chili Peppers who still rock after all these years of fame and fortune.  Despite all of this, you disappointed me last night.  Now, boys, before you reach for that whiskey, let me explain.  (Actually, fuck it. Grab the whiskey).

Opening with 3rd Planet was awesome.  You were on, you were energetic, you warmed up the crowd.  By the next song people were already moshing up front.  Then something happened and you slipped into comfortable, leveled, practiced rock.  The one song that excited me in the middle was Baby Blue Sedan, but even that didn't create that much of an atmosphere.  I will say that Alone Down There was a great way to leave on an intense note.

Perhaps I've been listening to too much Phish, but you sound over-rehearsed.  You knew almost every note that you were going to play and where your solos were going to go.  Almost every song you played was upbeat, and while I realize that it is a live show with a very young crowd, if I want to jump around all night long, I'll go see Franz Ferdinand.  Where did your downer songs go? Where are the bloodcurling screams?  There were some, but they felt so planned.

I bought your awesome $10 t-shirt and I will wear it proudly to promote your albums, but I don't think I'll pay any more than $15-20 to see you live again.  Thanks for a fun night anyway.

Love,

Rena Ragimova

Dear Fox Theatre,

You are a gorgeous venue and I'm glad that you are in my town, stumbling distance away from a couple of friends' houses as well as bars at which I can continue drinking after your shows.  Having said that, please do something about the garbled sound on the main floor in front of the stage!  You didn't do anything to make the run of the mill Modest Mouse show (to which I was psyched to get tickets) any better.  kthnxbye.

Sincerely,

Rena Ragimova

meow

One of the first things that struck me about wine a couple of years ago while still in college was just how much letting wine breathe changes it.  This 2006 Big House Petit Sirah from Bonny Doon was like a new feral kitten (excuse the domesticated animal metaphor - I've been craving a pet) when I opened it 5 hours ago.  Clawing and scratching with all that acidity and alcohol.  Now it's gently purring next to me on my desk.  Now it's showing more of the fruit that was hiding behind the tannins.  I pointed out so many different fruits while drinking it that I'm starting to think that it's mostly marketers who make up the labels on wine.  Each palate will taste different fruit, so it's really learning to connect the sensations you feel to past experiences and taste memories.  Wine is so chemically complex and varied that each person has an enormous playground of flavor molecules from which to choose from in each bottle.

2007 Stonehedge Sauvignon Blanc, Lodi, CA

I'm drinking some very yummy and complex Stonehenge Sauvignion Blanc.  It's very true what they say about not drinking whites too cold.  They should be just nearly touching room temperature.  After a half our or so all this citrus rind came through the "it's just white wine" taste I get a lot with whites.  Then after a few hours in the bottle, melon.  Then after an hour in the glass oak just sprung up.  I think I'm starting to see the complexity of whites as well.

Having said that, this wine is $5.99 at your local Trader Joe's, so don't expect a mindblowing experience.  As for myself, I'm simply exploring the only white varietal that hasn't completely disappointed or bored me yet.  

why all of this rocks

Alright, so I guess I'm late to the party.  I finally got myself on twitter two days ago thinking that I'm going to find most of my facebook friends on there, we'd tweet around for a while and then the whole thing is gonna die off.  What I didn't realize is that most of my friends don't even know what twitter is.  Just as they wouldn't know what an RSS feed is.  Those things seem like strange, confusing fads to them and I have to say that I'm sick and tired of defending myself.  No longer!  So those of you that find yourselves in that group, and read this blog only because it is mine, read on.  Everyone else too.

The last internet revelation that I had was about facebook turning your friends into celebrity tabloids, hence it's popularity. My Twitter revelation is rooted in that it equalizes everyone.  For example, I'm following Farai Chideya, who is a serious NPR journalist, a Burner and quite an active tweeter.  I look at her tweets and I feel like she's letting me into her personal, random, individual mind a couple of times a day.  I'm also following my favorite wine blogger Alder Yarrow of Vinography who goes to most Bay Area public tastings and tweets from them in real time.  I hear a lot of people complain about how facebook compels people to announce to everyone every time they go to dinner, get out of class, or get hungover.  (In my college days especially, I was guilty, guilty and guitly.)  Sometimes, I still admit, Twitter is partly that, but the nature of it makes it so text-like, that the 140 character limit puts pressure on the wit and presentability of the sentence, phrase, quote or link.  The brain gets involved a bit more and voila!  Entertainment value as well as interesting insights into awesome people's lives get derived.  The simple genius of it is stunning to a geek.  The layout and organization will probably keep changing a little bit in the next couple of years, but the general feel of it is very open and friendly.  As is the feature that automatically accepts those who want to follow you if you allow it.  It was nice being instantly friended... ahem, I mean followed back by the wine blogger guy whose writing I admire quite a bit.  Speaking of wine blogging...

atheism

This article almost made me tear up from joy just now.  Since I was around 9-10 years old I have been embracing atheism more and more tightly.  I am what you might call a naturalist, and evolution inspires me more than any religion ever did or could.  I'm tempted to say that this discussion is too long for a simple blog post, but lately what I realize more and more is that it's not really that long.  For me there is simply no wonder in the divine.  God is magic, plain and simple.  I don't mean magic in the slight of hand sort of way.  I mean true magic. The stuff of dreams and miracles.  If anything is possible, then, well, anything is possible and to me that makes the world kind of boring.  The fact that the human mind, the animal body, the blades of grass, the pebble on the beach have all taken their shape by a completely random, aimless process is incredible.  Just stop and look around at the incredibly well fitting puzzle that is the life in front of you.  It's all already there.  God is unnecessary.

hoop de doop

I may be going a little post happy (enjoy it while it lasts), but I just looked through the Inhabitat Shop and found these beautiful earrings.  Now first of all, you should all be reading the Inhabitat blog because it is spreading the sustainability word around and it's incredibly stylish and pleasant to look at.  The shop is a bit pricey, but has some really nice things.  Take that and Etsy shops and there go my money saving resolutions.

Also, what do you guys think of my new mint chip ice cream color scheme?

This is a wine one.

I'm having a shiraz revelation.

Last night I was arguing with a particular someone about the merits and failings of shiraz.  He kept insisting that it "tastes like fruit punch" which, while lacking tact, is a legitimate point - there is a lot of fruit in it.  The fruit punch just tasted so good, there had to be more to it.

Tonight, either it opened up, my mind opened up, or I'm tasting something I missed last night, but I think I've figured it out.  Shiraz takes you through the anatomy of a blackberry, a plum or a cherry.  From the texture of the skin, through the fleshiness of the meat, to the tannic pit - this varietal is like fruit pornography.  And perhaps it's not the most artful of nudes.  It's a bit tart.  A little saucy.  Always over the top.  Definitely very female, but not in the "weaker sex" sort of way.  Not spineless at all and very directly lustful.  She's very joyful and leaves you thinking about her for a few minutes after she's gone.  At least these are my initial thoughts.