Back in Pittsburgh, after three weeks away in various corners in and outside of our nation.

In a meeting with my project team yesterday, Liya told us she had a hard out at 6:30 because she needed to get a good spot for the They Might Be Giants concert.

"Oh, where are they playing?" I asked, miffed that I wasn't aware back when tickets must have gone on sale.

"They're playing on the Cut [one of the two lawns that form the backbone of the CMU campus]. It's free. Why, do you know them?"

Hah. Know them... Am I living in a bubble? In Kevinland, everybody knows TMBG.

So off I went. Rachel had a play to go to at 8, but was going to try and come for the beginning of the 7pm concert. As it turned out, they moved the stage indoors, into the gym, for fear of rain, so there were lines and such, with enrolled students getting priority, though I think everyone got in. As it turned out, Rachel didn't go because by the time all was said and done it was almost time for her to leave for the play anyhow, and as it turned out there was a warm-up band that played for an hour first, so TMBG didn't hit the stage until 8:30 anyhow.

Oh, and when I say gym, I don't mean Pauley Pavilion or Haas Stadium, with seating for 12,000. I mean three basketball courts side by side. No bleachers, no terraces, just a big honkin' stage that took up one corner of a building where acoustics, if they were considered at all during the design process, were made extra-echoey, as if to pump up the spirits of a practicing basketball team by making them sound like five teams.

TMBG was the perfect band to play this gig. And we were the perfect crowd to see it. People in front of me and in back of me, waiting in line to get in, were practicing their bouncing. If you love TMBG, then you know what I mean.

Okay, so I was bad and bootlegged a little. First off, so you know I'm not kidding about the acoustics (though admittedly I was using my camera's audio record, so high fidelity isn't its primary feature either).

The show was a lot of fun, though I had to leave about 2/3rds of the way through. I was about 40 feet from the band, which I had to remind myself would be absolutely amazing if they were playing, for example, at Shoreline, or any mainstream venue. At 40 feet they're just some talented guys from New York, which is exactly the kind of image they want to express, so that all works.

Nostalgia pang, wishing I was in San Francisco, when they burst in to their first song: Istanbul (not Constantinople). Oh how I wished I had seven of my Irish friends in the room. There was plenty of room in the back for a polka (oh, a whole 200 feet from the stage) and it was all I could do to not ghost seven partners right then and there. Considering the aforementioned bouncing audience, I don't think anyone would have noticed. Ammy, you were missed.

Oh, set list... I don't remember the order, except for the first song, but they played:

• Istanbul
• Birdhouse in Your Soul
• Older
• Doctor Worm
• Particle Man (yay!!)
• Cyclops Rock
• Why Does The Sun Shine?
• Bangs
• James K. Polk
• Fingertips (yay!)
• She's Actual Size (thought of Benjy)
• SuperTaster (hadn't heard that one before)
• Obligatory Drum Solo Requests
• ...and more

Which reminds me... while waiting in line for the show, I was IMing Benjy (from the sidekick), telling him (the biggest TMBG fan I know) about the surprise free concert. He told me about how TBMG was coming to the Bay Area and he bought three tickets for $90 and change. Then he told me about how TMBG promised that each of their bay area concerts would be different. It didn't dawn in me for a few minutes that he bought three tickets for himself for the three different shows. Truly a big fan. I'm sure he won't be disappointed.

Anyhow, I've got work to keep my up all night for the next four days, so I should get back to it. So much for a 'micro-review.'

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Kudos to How Stuff Works for a timely, useful, and informative article about Digital Satellite Radio (aka XM-band radio).

Just like the net is starting to move from the ever-weakening advertising model into subscription services (Salon, Yahoo! and Slashdot are prime examples), mainstream media is following suit. HBO is a purveyor of fine serial content instead of just movies, people pay monthly fees to ditch commercials via TiVo, and streaming ad-free audio in your car is available now, and will probably be everywhere in the next 18 months, with low hardware costs, designed to lure you into the $9.95 monthly fees.

Anyhow, an interesting article. Hope you enjoy it, and that your Thanksgivings are going well!

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You know those days when nothing goes right, where bad thing after bad thing happens until you feel like you're dying the death of a thousand cuts?

Today wasn't like that at all, but it was worse anyhow.

You know, (and you do know, if you've been reading this weblog for a while) I could go on and on on almost any topic, the more personal, the more verbose, but this one's going to be short, because there's just no way I could convey it.

The day started great. I got to have brunch at Hobee's with Liz, Josh, Ammy, Rick, and Emily, down in Fremont. I got back from brunch around 1:00, and it started as feeling sleepy with a gentle throbbing...

Twenty minutes later I was almost staggering in pain. Pop a few Advil, drink a liter of water and another liter of juice, and try to rest. (my headaches tend to be caused by dehydration). I try to lie down but I can't get comfortable. The pillow under my head feels like it's constricting bloodflow to my brain. Resting on my hands only makes it worse, no matter where I put them.

I'm trying to get comfortable, while the headache gets worse, in spite of the Advil.

Then the drumming starts.

Now those of you who haven't been to my home probably think I'm speaking figuratively, drumming in my head, and all that.

Not quite.

Street vendors on Telegraph Ave, just outside my window and a few stories down, selling bongo drums, starting a drum circle showing how loud they can get between two tall buildings.

I break out the earplugs.

They let me hear the rushing in my head, and they ease the drumming, but not a lot.

I try to sleep, waking up a few hours later feeling ickier than before.

The drumming continues...

More advil, more water, I try to drown out the drums with music of my own but, while this sometimes works when it's just the drums that bother me, trying it with the headache is like trying to smother a fire with gasoline.

I went down to talk with them, very understanding, willing to compromise, using only half the drums they were using before.

Hah.

Anyhow, now they're gone, which means I can actually start to think coherently again, and can write a simple account, but I have a paper that I tried to write today (take-home quiz) that I haven't got a hope of doing well. Headache's still here, being fought to a standstill by the aforementioned ibuprofen. Who even knows if it'll be gone tomorrow. I'm not sure if this one was triggered by sunlight, dehydration, or something else...

ouchouchouchouch.

Ever see Pi? It's like that bit at the end.

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All I've got to say is that when you've got a good blog, you have to be extra careful what you ask for, becuase you just might get it.

Four months ago megnut mentioned the idea of combining eminem and enya (eminenya). Now one reader's creation is apparently getting a fair amount of airplay, and rightly so.

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I'm a huge BNL fan, so when I saw the headline, I was really disappointed. The last thing I'd want to do is bucket BNL in with the likes of Metallica and Dr. Dre.

But, after reading the article, I admire them even more. This is a proportional response.

I'm going to see the show with a bunch of friends in three weeks at the Shoreline (where hopefully they've discovered a way to turn their amps to 11 since the Sting concert) and I encourage everyone to see them whenever and wherever you can. They play a great show.

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Today's soundbyte comes from Babylon 5. Only Ivanova can sound optimistic about pessimism...

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So I was walking through campus about an hour ago when the Campanile started its noon music, an intricate piece you wouldn't think to hear played on giant bells in the sky, and I was thinking again about how I wish I kept an audio recorder on hand to capture moments like this. If for no other reason than to see how much of the moment could be captured and conveyed in sound alone (or sound with a log entry). At that moment my friend Ammy calls my cell and says "Campanile?" when she hears. She's been gone from Berkeley for five years, but memories stick.

Not two minutes later I was walking through Sproul Plaza, listening to Earth Day devotees and dot-com hawkers, when I heard a distinctive beat coming from Lower Sproul. It was a small band brought in by Superb called Shrinking Violet (NOT to be confused with Shrinking Violets). Anyhow, walking into Lower Sproul, it sounded like I was walking into the Bronze (I am not ashamed to make Buffy references). Very cool music, and even with three guitars, you can still hear the words. They're in the Bay Area for the rest of the week, so look 'em up, or see them when they're back home in Thousand Oaks (Los Angeles).

On an unrelated note, I saw my CS project partner there and we were discussing Japanese culture, and how they love to import all things that represent the 50s in the U.S. I used to be scared of the time when they would move on and start idealizing the 60s, but now I realize it's happened. Now I'm appropriately scared of what the 70s may bring to the land of the rising sun...

Seeing Cirque du Soleil tonight. I'll check in tomorrow.

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