Road Trip

On Wednsday I took a trip to Durham with a friend of mine to visit Lee and to see the Decemberists at Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill.

When I got my friend's house my car wouldn't start. It appeared to have a dead battery but when we tried to jump it all it did was turn over. We pushed it into a parking spot and, with the jumper cables disconnected, I tried to start it one more time. It started right up. We decided to take his car instead. He thinks I may have an electrical problem. My radio is connected directly to the battery and the radio has a short in it. I think that may be the problem. I haven't been playing the radio since I had the problem and I have had no problems at all since then. I think that may be the problem. More correctly, I hope that is what the problem was/is.

We arrived in Durham before Lee got off work. We decided to walk across the street and visit the Duke Museum of Art. It was closed for rennovation. Then we got caught in the rain after visiting a book store.

When Lee got home, I showered, Brigham and Lee had a few beers and we headed off to the club. 2/3 of the way there I realized I had forgotten Lee's and my tickets. Brigham wasn't able to print his Etix ticket at his home but he did write down the barcode number. I had to write down my name and email address and hand it too the stressed-out doorman. After a twenty minute wait we got in halfway through the second band's set. No problem, we weren't there to see them anyway.

The club was hot, hot, hot, hot. Way too fucking hot. It was unbelievable. I thought maybe I was just old and fat but after the first song the Decemberists' lead singer, Colin, commented on how hot it was. A few songs later he mentioned it again. Testify, I thought. Jesus, it was hot in there. Water didn't even help that much.

The Decemberists were a lot of fun. They were very playful and even played a new song they were working on. At one point every member that had an instrument he could lift tried to play behind their back. Even the accordion player attempted it. She didn't succeed but Colin did give her props for merely attempting the feat.

Their presentation reminded me a lot of the Flaming Lips in that it wasn'ta rock show but more of a get together or a party. The show had more of a 'let's have fun' vibe rather than a "I'm a rock star, dig what I do" thing. I like bands that present their music in that way.

Just in case James was wondering, yes, they did play The Tain. The whole thing. Man, that was cool. Also, an acoustic version of "Your Red Right Ankle" was very sweet. "Chimbley Sweep" was also a nice highlight.