meandering: Blog

Review: Alkaline Trio - Agony & Irony (2008)

meandering — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:51:56 +0000

Opening the sleeve of Agony & Irony (Epic Records, 2008), you pull out a rather simple, but elaborate disc with the retro font logo of Epic Records. Alkaline Trio's first release with this label isn't the pinnacle, nor the penultimate in their catalog, but is the strongest effort since From Here To Infirmary (Vagrant Records, 2001). It's as polished as Good Mourning (Vagrant, 2003) and Crimson (Vagrant, 2005), however their creative needles of songwriting rediscovered their grooves in this recording.

It's easy to disregard the album, as the previous ones quickly faded from favor, since the similarities endure: clever wordplay on the title and common themes encapsulating darkness and death. Yet Help Me was the wedge prying open apathetic stereotypes (same ole songs) deeply rooted. Admittedly, one can only examine a theme so much before it withers away. Yet the essence of Agony & Irony is refreshing due to the changes in tone, which feel more akin to Maybe I'll Catch Fire (Asian Man Records, 2000) than the past two.

Love Love, Kiss Kiss comes across as a confused "anti-love" anthem, bemoaning those who quietly decry. Confused in that the chorus sounds distractingly immature, coupled with similarly sarcastic musical support that takes away from the lyrics. Thankfully Dan Adriano's efforts are redeemed with his other efforts, particularly Do You Want To Know?. "My heart is ticking like a box sent to me by anonymous, and now I'm scared to open it."

Agony heavily favors Matt Skiba, as he leads all but four songs. I Found Away is a distinctive "dance" tilted towards Say Anything's Baby Girl, I'm A Blur in styling than Blaqk Audio's new wave Stiff Kittens. Highlighting Derek Grant, the track holds tighter beats than a drum machine could ever replicate. While Over And Out, dedicated to the National Hopeline Network, uses the Trio symbology of knives, razor blades, and candles interspersed with contemplations of hopelessness from various characters. Yet two-thirds through, a bridge leads the listener to the brighter side as Skiba calls out, "Run for cover and you'll find us there, to take on the anger, make it disappear when razor blades were softly serenading you..." Over And Out is representative of the album.

It's easy to spotlight the blood, wine, and flames and dismiss the album as repetitive, but a positive aura surrounds Agony & Irony. Although Alkaline Trio has been distinctively dark since leaving Asian Man, this effort holds a refreshing hidden hope. The album comes in standard and deluxe, with deluxe featuring a 28-page hard-bound booklet and a second disc with 6 extra tracks.

Taken from Méandre, my music blog. For more reviews, music recommendations, click here:
http://meanderingmindset.blogspot.com
July 7, 2008

Dr. Manhattan Concert Review + Photography

meandering — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 01:22:55 +0000

Dr. Manhattan Record Release Show Photos (taken by John Brunner)

March 8th, 2008

Dr. Manhattan (Vagrant Records) just released their self-titled debut album last night, although it doesn't hit stores until this Tuesday, March 11th. I'll throw a review together soon, but I've been eating this album up ever since hearing their Are You Bald?EP (iTunes link) that was released in December. Last night was their record release at Just For Fun Roller Rink in McHenry, Illinois with Flowers For Dorian and Truman & His Trophy.

Dr Manhattan heralds from Wauconda, about 20 minutes away from McHenry, so the Just For Fun is a perfect venue for them to kick off this new phase in their music career. Just For Fun has been hosting local shows since at least 2000, usually carrying with it around 30-40 people (this one had at least 150-200). Seeing how this was the most hyped show there since First Grade Crush came years ago, the atmosphere was electric. The show kicked off after the little ones left with their parents after a night of youthful roller skating (I'm serious, it's a full on roller rink à la 1950s).

At the end of the show, I went up to Nick (drummer) and Matt (vocals/guitar) and promptly declared that they had just performed the best local show I had ever seen-topping The Felix Culpa, Duvall, and...dare I muse this...The Lawrence Arms(wait...nope, Lake Villa's Lawrence Arms show topped this one). It says something, as northern Illinois holds massive musical talent (Alkaline Trio, Smoking Popes). The opener featured two people with their faces painted black and white; one playing trumpet marching towards the other drumming Skittles left and right off of the snare. It pinnacled with both standing on a home-made pair of stairs, announcing the band's entrance amid raining candy. Before you could even breathe, the announcement was over and the band was cutting straight into Big Chomper, Big Chomper. The next hour or so, the hundred plus attendees saw the band unwavering, displaying more energy than France's nuclear network. Important aspect? They never, never lost a beat, missed a note, or dropped the tempo even while leaping onto the stairs overlooking the audience. Only a few bands I've seen could ever pull that off, and none so young (perhaps 1997).

Faced with a time crunch named curfew, the band attempted to draw out all the sonic punches from their debut. Notably Baton Rouge possessed everyone with its hypnotic guitar/drum dance beat (it holds up on the album, as well, though is more energetic live). It handily beats Pete Wentz in songwriting pop punk hooks intertwined with a solid, consistent beat and capped with backup chorus. Tracey's Buns became the night's campfire highlight with its poignant lyrics, akin to awkward high school love from some guy who can't write a song, but does anyway for a girlfriend's birthday. "Hi there Tracey, I miss you more than Thursday. But I am with you now, oh thank God for your birthday." The band is hitting up part of Warped Tour this year and, honestly, once this song spreads to all those teenagers, they'll swoon because of something other than 90° heat and dehydration.

Chicago: The Liveliest Place In My Corner of the World

meandering — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:10:03 +0000

Photography: The Decemberists with the Grant Park Orchestra at Millennium Park, Chicago

After spending half a year in Europe, delving headfirst into the wonders of living among utterly different cultures and mindsets living back here has been boring-or would be if I didn’t live so close to Chicago. Thank god, cause if I didn’t I’d probably be mad with travel anxiety. Getting back into the swing of things is going gradually, but the past week gave me a boost for sure with attending the Cubs/Houston Astros game at Wrigley Field Sunday afternoon and a free concert in Millennium Park last night featuring one of the most heralded independent bands in America The Decemberists backed up by the entire Grant Park Orchestra. The latter will feature more than two photographs, for sure, at the end of the post.

Wrigley Field, thank you for being the gem you are. It’s really one of the most unique sports venues in the world and one of the most beautiful architecturally with its red brick and iconic upper deck stands. Situated among one of Chicago’s liveliest neighborhoods, entitled Wrigleyville, it’s a perfect place to spend an afternoon or evening on the weekend. One can spend the day at the ballpark then the evening or night at one of the local restaurants or bars that run all along Clark Street, Addison, and down Belmont. If you want a cheap quick pizza, I recommend Bacci’s, which rests between the park and the Addison L platform. Sunday’s game was between the Houston Astros and the Cubs; one of the many rivalries of the Cubs, namely due to that they’re in the same division in the league for those who don’t know (outside the U.S.). Baseball games can be notoriously boring to those who haven’t seen a game before (I’d liken it to soccer games for Americans) but thankfully it was quick starting with a 5-6 score by the end of the second inning. We ended up routing them in the end, winning 7-6. It was my and my friend Missy’s first game when we could actually order beer to go along with a game and experience a baseball tradition withheld from us up until a year ago-a sunny, near cloudless afternoon at the ballpark with Old Style and hot dogs.

Wednesday night Millennium Park held one of the few unique concerts in its short new history featuring indie rockstars The Decemberists backed by the Grant Park Orchestra as part of the Millennium Park summer concert series. The Chicago Tribune stated that over 15,000 people showed up yet walking through the park after arriving the numbers had to be higher, it seemed, as people overflowed the lawn onto the sidewalks surrounding the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, peered over the side walls, and filtered back into nearly every available spot of grass in Millennium. It seemed like every indie kid in the Midwest was sucked to that peeled pavilion that evening there were so many. The show was part of the 25th anniversary of the Metro, the iconic club just a block north of Wrigley where the Smashing Pumpkins and countless other Chicago acts spent a good portion of their music careers. It’s the closest thing you can pilgrimage to if you’re a music-lover in the city, now that the Fireside has been closed for years.

I’ll leave the heavy-duty music reviews to music blogsters, but in my opinion the show was an extravagant version of The Decemberists. The orchestra fit well with the band, yet they were restrained by their own professionalism from easily flowing organically with the band. At parts, the band would have a twinge of an urge to go off and lavish some parts of a song but couldn’t because the orchestra (I’d assume) would be lost to Lake Michigan if they had. When they did embellish parts, it sounded a little disjointed despite the aid of the conductor to control the orchestra. Thankfully these were kept to a minimum, although they were painfully noticeable. But hey-I’ll give the orchestra the benefit of ‘It’s not everyday you play with a rock band when you normally play classical.’ The band really took flight when they were on their own, which they were once to give the orchestra a break and a second time for the encore. You really couldn’t get much better than 16 Military Wives being sung by thousands in the center of Chicago (mostly cause anyone probably never would’ve expected it to happen-ever). Nor the entire audience screaming in desperation as they mimic getting eaten by a giant whale, to The Mariner’s Revenge Song. Lord knows what pedestrians on Michigan Avenue were thinking.

I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time, being the right side of the stage just when they opened up the unclaimed seats to only a small number of people there. With chances of finding a place to sit dimming quickly, it was nice to find myself among others walk/running to empty seats in the front of the pavilion (normally you’d be paying quite a lot for those seats). A fantastic location that allowed me to get up against the stage during the encore-perfect for photography (especially with the stable, brighter lighting). But also I was able to see staples of the orchestra series, the people, and their reactions to this unorthodox show. A meager trickle of older people (60s and up) left during the beginning few songs of the show with disappointment at the change to the bill, perhaps not expecting to see a rock band with an orchestra. However a good half of that demographic stuck around for the entire main show to enjoy the variety and experience one of the quirkier musical acts our generation has produced. It was a great relief to see the huge spread of music lovers that attended the show, something that was more than just seeing a favorite band play in the middle of a city park with an orchestra.

Véliberation!

meandering — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 22:08:56 +0000

The Christian Science Monitor recently ran an article detailing the upcoming Vélib program in Paris. Starting July 15th, people will be able to rent out bicycles and use them throughout the entire city as an alternative mode of transportation. According to them, roughly 1,400 stations will be available throughout the city with more to come as demand increases and time passes. It’s modeled after the system currently in place in Lyon, France. Riders are not charged for the first thirty minutes of use, but then it increases by a euro. For example if you have it for 35 minutes, you get charged for 1€ (1h20 is 3€). It’s relatively simple on a progressive scale. There are two options available for registering to the system; short term and a yearlong subscription. Both require a backup of 150€ linked to a bank account. The short term runs either one day (1€) or a week (5€) that would be perfect for short trips in the city. However only those who have the following cards can use the system: AMEX or JCB, Ticket Vélib or Passe Navigo, or any banking card associated to GIE or EMV. The bikes are all outfitted with the necessary reflectors and lights for night travel and to be easily visible in the city streets (although bike helmets are rarely if ever seen in France). Also equipped to the bikes are locks and a front basket, all in all the same as those in Lyon. Although baskets on bikes aren’t in vogue here in America, they do serve a great purpose. While walking the streets of Lyon, you occasionally see girlfriends riding balanced on the front with boyfriends biking. It’s one of those “Oh, c’est France” things. After seeing the system in Lyon while studying there, I can give a few insights into what I saw. I didn’t have a subscription because doing so would require me to open up a Carte Bancaire account with a French bank, but Vélo’v is Lyon. The program is heavily successful with students but also with everyone else between the ages of 16 on up. Stations are located usually within a short five minute bike ride of one another with new ones added every other week it seemed, so stumbling upon a full station to drop off a bike wasn’t the end of everything in the center of the city. The news article states that 1,000 bikes were initially disappeared or were damaged in the first year, but I didn’t see any negative side effects even with the general public. It’s not like bikes are flying off bridges left and right. It does state that they’re being used 20,000 times in a day, which is definitely true. The only problem that persists is one that can’t be easily solved. People living up on the hills of Croix Rousse or of Fourvière use the bikes to go down to the city but don’t take them back uphill. It’s too much of a hassle to bike uphill than to take a bus. But to help alleviate the problem there are trucks that ship the bikes up to the stations whenever they’re empty. Oh yeah, another problem is accidentally getting the wheels caught in tram tracks-as anyone from Amsterdam could attest to being pretty painful. As an alternative to busses, metro systems or trams, the bike system really cuts down on traffic and congestion. It’s definitely the most ecological of all modes of transportation and the healthiest. Physically bikes only take up a fraction of the space that cars do and, given the necessary road adjustments to fit the bikers, could cut traffic significantly. In Paris, this is a must as friends always say how difficult it is to get anywhere in the city by car. Next time anyone’s in Paris, keep an eye out for these stations. Hopefully it starts to spread and becomes more widely accepted as a new public transportation mode.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070706/wl_csm/obicyclette_1 - French Revolution: Rentable Bikes Every 900 Feet http://www.velov.grandlyon.com/ - Vélo’V (Lyon)
http://www.velib.paris.fr/ - Vélib' (Paris)

Blog for July 1, 2007

meandering — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 23:20:22 +0000

June 19th, 2007
Somewhere close to Greenland over the Atlantic Ocean on British Airways

So I’ll say it now. I wish I could stay in Europe much longer than the six months I’ve had. It’s been unbelievable and much more than ever expected. But nevertheless I’ll press on about London, which was my destination after Stockholm.

I arrived late Thursday night on a British Airways flight from Stockholm Arlanda. For roughly $14, a high-speed shuttle train drops you off at the airport that lies twenty minutes outside of the city. Heathrow was, for sure, farther from the center of London as it took roughly an hour and some scraps to get in via the Underground. Now that I was in the world of the pound, I wasn’t glad to see the receipt for my trip from the center. At the airport, I was told to hop on the metro and pay at the destination and thankfully the destination just waved me by for a free trip. I met my Lyonnaise friend Guillemette outside of the metro stop. She went to London to find a job and was currently working at Itsu, a sushi chain throughout. It’s similar to Starbucks or an upscale, contemporary atmospheric fastaurant (not quite a restaurant, but better than fast food). Being close to midnight, we promptly left back to her boyfriend, Arjan’s flat to spend the night.

The following morning we dropped my luggage off at the flat she shares with another Lyonnaise, Ingrid, who’s lived in London for a bit longer than she. It’s one of the nicest flats I’ve seen during my travels with contemporary furniture all around-I guess I liked it as it was closest to my tastes. I learned later that a flat is an apartment in the U.S., and an apartment is far more posh and upscale. Donc, it was a bit amusing to think that I lived in some posh apartment in Milwaukee (although I admit, it was nice). They lived off to the southeast of London-a quick trip via the regional metro trains from London Bridge train station. As she had an interview and appointment that day, she led me off to that aforementioned station and gave me bearings to where I should spend the day. She had a superb route set up for my first day running out of London Bridge, along the Thames River to Tower Bridge where you cross, down to Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern Museum.

London’s huge-bigger than Paris and far more diverse. The architecture spans all centuries from the turn of the last millennia of the White Tower in the Tower of London to contemporary steel and glass prominently featured in the financial wharf district. With row houses everywhere and a banking district near the Tower of London that exudes a feeling of strength in its marble pillars or quarried stone, it’s just as architecturally interesting as when I was in Amsterdam admiring the varied rooftops. On particular clash I love is the contrast between Leandenhall Market and a reverse metal, modern building akin to the Centre Pompidou in Paris named the Lloyd's Building. The Leadenhall Market, featured in the first Harry Potter film just before they enter the dingy bar for the first time, is a Victorian-esque market hall. It used to be far more affordable, however entering and seeing nothing but finely tailored suits of bankers says it’s anything but now. A pub near the entrance is dominated by this sight of businessmen enjoying a drink during lunchtime. It definitely contrasted my Marks & Spencer’s sandwich and generic Cola. The market hall is gorgeous and intricate all around with sculpted and painted iron figures woven into the décor. As stated earlier, it’s contrasted with a shockingly modern building. Exposed entirely, it catches the eye when glass elevators on the outside of the building grapple and launch upwards. A silver metal staircase winds around like a ribbon upward nearby before another exposed staircase challenges the Leadenhall next to it. It’s this contrast that is emphasized in downtown with the famous Egg skyscraper that rises like some gigantic Faberge monument.

Returning to the daytrip, I left London Bridge and walked along the Thames from London Bridge (a disappointment given the famous rhyme) toTower Bridge. The modern architecture was something I hadn’t expected when I arrived in downtown since previously most of the European cities have been either 90% old architecture from before the twentieth century or half and half. On the corner of the Thames and London Bridge (yep, someone added ‘is falling down’ to the sign) is a modern square building with a space geometrically carved out of one corner leading to the riverside walkway. A few buildings down one finds an old, enclosed wharf that three masted ships would come in and unload goods. All that remains is a small covered shopping and restaurant area with a modern sculpture devoted to its old past as a wharf. The iron and glass roof reminded me of art nouveau, but a step away from its elegance. Farther down, tipped on a side seemingly, is the new city hall; a modern building that looks like a space pod that slammed into the ground and stayed there in front of the famous Tower Bridge. Painted in British colors, the bridge gives the same feeling as seeing the Tour Eiffel, Anne Frank’s House, Venus de Milo, or the Vasa. Photos of London will reveal this, when I add the London folio. Across from Tower Bridge on the opposite side of city hall is the Tower of London, the famous castle of those to be beheaded (see Anne Boleyn). More later. From here I walked to the aforementioned Leadenhall Market before seeking out St. Paul’s Cathedral roughly ten minutes away by foot. St. Paul’s, built between 1675-1710 (thank you Mr. Painter) by an architect Wren, is the premier Baroque church-at least the largest. With two arcades of columns at the front and a truly massive dome, as impressive as the Duomo’s height in Florence, St. Paul’s definitely exudes the excess of the Baroque. Currently half of the Cathedral was washed clean of decades of dirt leaving a clean white surface while the back, away from the Thames, has the reminders of the years of pollution. The interior of the Cathedral is as impressive as Westminster, but in size and architecture instead of history and historic figures. Costing around 9,50£ unless you’re a student, it’s worth it given the context and view you can receive if you dare climb up the three-hundred plus steps to the top of the dome. There are three floors you can climb up with the final being a cramped walkway surrounding the cupola. The view is absolutely fantastic with views of Big Ben, Westminster, Tower Bridge, and the Eye of London sprawled out before you. An important Cathedral with an impressive view is worth every pence.

Extending from St. Paul’s is a walkway leading towards the Millennium Bridge. Similar to the bridge in Grant Park in Chicago, the Millennium Bridge was built for an obvious date. Unlike the pedestrian bridges of Lyon, the cables are connected very low for a cable-based bridge. It’s the second most impressive bridge to Tower. On the opposite bank lies the Tate Modern museum that houses some of the greatest art of the past century. With a blank-faced brick tower rising to an aged bronze top,, the structure fits the more minimalist nature of the century’s art. Aside the Tate lies the Shakespeare Globe (Experience). Built ten years ago, it’s the first building constructed in the city with a thatch roof since the London Fire (thatch has been banned since and still is). Reconstructed by the aid of an American in seeing a mere plaque signifying the theater of the greatest English playwright, the Globe is the third reconstruction of the theater. A roughly hour long guided tour teaches you the history and construction in the theater that smells lie freshly cut wood. The Merchant of Venice was currently being performed and the stage was being set up with props. For 5£, one can be a groundling and just stand for the entire performance as people used to in Shakespeare’s time. For its price and newness, the Globe is worth the cost although I wish I could have seen a performance. Mostly they are done during the day as matinees, as in the past, however they mimic daylight for night performances in which the actors and actresses can view the public.

After the walk I met Guillemette off the South Quay in the financial district. It’s the former quays where the East India Trading Company used to ship their spices from the orient in the 1800s, but now the ultra-modern financial district dominated purely by glass and steel skyscrapers marked by HSBC, Bank of America and other prominent financial institutions. It’s like downtown Chicago, but super clean and with canals running everywhere. She had an interview there moments earlier to work logistics and, happily, she received the job the following day. Talk about efficiency! We strolled around that evening, admiring the modern architecture and her (then) potential district. It’s a far cry from Oxford Circus’ busy shopping hub to a calm, more relaxed business atmosphere. I’m definitely jealous of her new digs!

That night I met her roommate Ingrid who’s lived in London for some time. She studied English in college and has a perfect British accent. Honestly if I hadn’t known beforehand that she was from Lyon, I wouldn’t have known! That night we just rested a bit before dinner and I took in a little of the British version of Big Brother. (Coincidentally the big news story in Britain was the dumping of one participant for using a racial slur-in between news on Beckham and Posh Spice.) It’s oddly entertaining to watch a bunch of Brits stuck in a home, far more than Americans-cause we’re always stuck there (or at work). Ingrid and Guillemette made some fantastic crêpes for us that evening (her boyfriend I met the previous night came) with some ingredients to put in it like ham, a bit of cheese, and bacon (if I remember correctly). I usually have sweet crêpes, so it was a welcome change for something as simple as those. For desert a bit of Nutella and bananas with a little bit of ice cream at the end. All that was washed down with three liters of cider between us. Yup, a three liter bottle! Sainsbury only had that size, but I’m fine with it as cider here is fantastic. The next night I had my first real sushi experience. One of the big developments with coming to Europe has been a greater acceptance of fish in my diet-now I’ll consider it instead of being repulsed. The sushi was better than I expected, particularly the crab. Actually, I think I have a craving right now for some (but I don’t trust airline food that much).

The next day while everyone was at work I headed to the Portobello Market over off the Notting Hill Gate Tube stop. I went on the basis that a photographer podcast creator had an episode there and since I couldn’t visit major stops until my sister arrives the following day I wanted to check it out. Notting Hill is a great, picturesque place with pastel-painted houses. It’s like Vieux Lyon but newer. I haven’t seen the movie, but I may consider watching it after visiting to say I was there. The Portobello Market is a huge open-air street market that extends for block after block. All sorts of goods are sold there including antiques, food, second-hand clothing and cheap consumer goods you’d never need but people tend to buy. There’s a splattering of restaurants and cafés, bars and knickknack shops along the road catering to a more relaxed university and young adult lifestyle. Along with the row houses and colored buildings, it’s a trendy clean neighborhood akin to Belmont and Clark in Chicago (but with a mammoth emphasis on clean). Anyone who loves second hand clothing would be in heaven at the market as it leads to a good amount of racks of clothing once you cross underneath a bridge about half a mile or so down. Before that you have fruits, vegetables, meat and cheese, but these can’t hold a candle to the Lyon market along the Saône in France (bien sûr), but it’s great nevertheless.

There’s a rule in dining I found out and will attest to. If you’re ever hungry in Europe, go into the place with a line out the door of customers. After entering The Grain Shop (Portobello Road W.11) any doubt of that rule faded entirely. It’s a small take away, prêt à manger vegetarian and vegan place where you choose the size of your meal box then from a selection of six or more dishes to combine into it. All of the food is fresh and ready and all is delicious. My box combined cooked mushrooms, a tomato-kidney bean combination, vegetable rice, ratatouille, and two kids of salad (one with Roquefort). Topped off with a ginger beer from Fentiman’s, I set off for my lunch on the fence of someone’s row home and proceeded to be in gastronomical heaven. Vegan friendly and vegetarian food usually has a bad wrap, but hey-this place could be huge since it’s so diverse, so fresh, and so damn good. The ginger beer? Christ, I haven’t had anything better! I liked it so much I decided to be a foodie and take a shot of it (with, humorously to me, a black Porsche in the background for effect contrasting the whole idea and philosophy of these kinds of meals and places).

The rest of my day was spent wandering around to St. James’s Park, Buckingham Palace, then Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. St. James’s is just at the foot of Buckingham with Hyde Park serving as Buckingham’s front yard. To the east are the grounds for the Horse Guards and to the west lies the palace, connecting the two by The Mall. The park follows all the other visited European parks in that it’s a pleasant, quiet walk away from the city bustle. Numerous trails lead through around a main lake or pond in the center where families and the elderly feed ducks, geese, and other birds. Buckingham Palace is accessible to the public only during a short time in August and September unfortunately, so my extent of a visit was walking around the roundabout in front to the gates and back. If Trafalgar Square doesn’t ring a bell, it’s the square with the tall monument and a roundabout famously in the movie 28 Days Later when the main actor awakens to find London completely deserted. One end leads to Buckingham Palace, one towards the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, and the other to the National Gallery.

Akin with other national galleries of art in the United Kingdom, theNational Gallery is completely free to the public and one can comfortably view the entire complex in an hour and a half. Housed within are pieces covering the medieval ages to Seurat’s pointillism and Post-Impressionism. Effectively it spans one main building and a wing with 17th-19th Century art being to the right of the entrance and everything else to the left. Some of the more famous pieces housed there include Seurat’s Bathers at Asnières, The Virgin of the Rocks by da Vinci, The Ambassadors from Holbein the Younger, and The Arnolfini Portrait (or Marriage) by Jan Van Eyck. The Ambassadors is particularly intriguing as it was one of the first paintings ever to encourage the observer to move to see two aspects of the painting. The first is the painting itself, normally observed, but the second lays to either the bottom left, or standing from the right and looking down very close to the painting. This angle gives you the perspective to correctly see a painted distorted human skull in a normal perspective. It’s particularly unique.

July 1, 2007
Obviously with no post between the time I wrote this and today, I’ve been rather busy readjusting back home. I intercede here because I was to write about a particular experience I had with Guillemette and her friends, but recent events changed what I was to write about. We went, one night, to Piccadilly Circus and the Tiger Tiger nightclub on Haymarket. What’s changed is that Thursday an ambulance worker found a car packed with petrol and nails at that nightclub’s entrance intended to tear into the club and street. It shocked me a bit in the sense that I had a feeling upon reading the headline that it was found near where I had been. Honestly, if that had gone off it would have created havoc as the night I was there a few weeks ago the club had 1405 people inside by midnight. All I’ve been thinking of what if it had gone off, and what if my friends were there that night.

C’est un petit monde.

London photos to come.
Cheers.

Stumbling around Stockholm (Figuratively)

meandering — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:16:15 +0000

Currently Spinning:

Black Mask by The (International) Noise Conspiracy

June 6, 2007

Happy National Sweden Day! I’ll celebrate in my own special way by listening to one of the two bands that led me to where I am right now-Stockholm! Seriously, I only came here because of them and their former band Refused’s incredibly creative, innovative music. The (International) Noise Conspiracy or T(I)NC for short as we hipsters say play a straightforward soul-full rock with a punk twinge to it. Every album has been as catchy as a bear in salmon season with tremendous guitar work and vocals that demand you to sing along at the pinnacle of your voice. Check out The Way I Feel About You for a good idea with its underlying keyboards with simple guitar work melding into a fantabulous aural experience. It’s like Ted Leo, but from Stockholm. The Refused came and went in the mid to late 1990s with, in my opinion, the best punk album of the entire decade. Sure, Green Day and the Offspring came and went but they more or less followed the trends that were going at the time with pop punk beginning to replace more straightforward Operation Ivy and Bad Religion punk. The Shape of Punk to Come is something extraordinary in punk. About eight years ahead of its time, they infused screaming vocals interspersed with harmonious interludes while adding elements of jazz’s improvisational freedom of time signatures. Honestly they took punk music and freed it from any previous restraint it had in song structure. Only on that album can you hear European electronica on one track, and swing bass on the following-all with a political intention. This is my Graceland, so to say. Was I disappointed?

Hell no.

Stockholm is the Chicago to my Europe. Any night of the week it seems you can do whatever you want. I found this out on the first evening when I found two jazz clubs, Glenn Miller Café and another in Gamla Stan. The culture here is far more cutting edge, in my opinion, than London or Paris could ever hope. It’s got a culturally independent, progressive thinking everywhere-I mean, what European city would authorize demolishing whole ancient city blocks to modernize itself? The people all share that mentality; it seems, with a fashion unlike the rest of Europe. It’s like Belmont & Clark in Chicago, but encompassing an entire city. Maybe it’s just that I like the lack of preppy, jet set attitudes that were far less than other cities. (Note to self: I feel like I’m generalizing, but I haven’t gotten anything the contrary in all of my experience.) Some of the bars had age limits of 23 to which was a bit disappointing as I’m three months away from attending these DJ-spinning, outdoor bar slash clubs. But we did attend one bar that had such a laid back, more independent air to it in that people were there to be social instead of get drunk-believe it or not, bars are supposed to be social. Everyone was mingling with an upstairs that held couches, tables, and the like. It’s honestly my type of place instead of drunken Irish pubs where the focus is on where you can find a perfectly poured pint of Guinness.

The rest of the city is just like Helsinki except larger and a little more European in my mind. It has a good, healthy mix of both continents-but the churches and buildings are more in European style than the more geometric North American style. The geography is a collection of islands more varied than those around Helsinki in height. I stayed on Långholmen, which is a massive park with my hostel, hotel, and convention center of a former prison on it. Old downtown, Gamla Stan, also rests on an island in the center of city just south of the newer modern downtown. All is easily accessible by a wonderful metro system featuring longer than average train cars. The only negative is that you can’t really surf the metro, as the floors are pretty slippery for metros (yep, I found that out). They have flat metal pieces for wheelchair access and strollers on the sides of stairs and, if you’re lucky, you can easily slide down them standing up (see Gamla Stan’s). It’s a blast! The modern downtown is interspersed with a few old buildings, but the majority is modern architecture of the past century. Bridges connect numerous streets above others akin to Edinburgh. It’s all easily accessible. One particular instance of modern architecture I thought was ingenious was how skylights unlike any other light the underground access to Galleria shopping center. The skylights rest at the bottom of the main fountain in the center of a roundabout so the reflected light is filtered through water.

Another plus are the bathrooms-no joke. Nordiskamuseet (the Nordic Museum) has individual stalls that each have their own sink and mirror. Galleria tops it though, from the ones I saw, as for 5 crowns (roughly 0,65€) entry you first see red and green LCD lit handles indicating which stall is taken or not! Talk about ingenuity and functionality. The particular bathroom doesn’t distinguish between men or women as it’s just one in the same which, after being here for so long, I don’t mind at all. The sink is a slanted piece of black marble that catches the water, different than what I’ve seen anywhere in the world-another thing I liked. But hey, if you can rave about the restrooms, there’s nothing else to say…but there is, so let’s continue.

One absolute must-see is the Vasamuseet. The Vasa is the only 17^th-century ship in the world and happens to be in near perfect condition. It’s no little rowboat, but a massive vessel with over sixty guns. The ship sank soon after its maiden voyage and ended up being caked over with mud, aiding the natural preservation. When it was raised in 1961, they even managed to save the majority of the sails. The sight itself is utterly impressive to see a ship that old before you. You can’t walk on it, however they built a series of levels that allow you to explore the ship entirely. The wood sculpture and ornaments are practically complete, especially the intricately carved end of the ship. Enclosed in the upcoming gallery are a couple photos of the museum.

A few events marked my brief time in Stockholm. The first was one that permeated the town with kids on tractors and commercial trucks making dance parties to celebrate graduation. They wear the same sailors caps as those in Finland so it’s easy to distinguish. Basically you rent a truck or car, get a bunch of friends together (preferably one with a massive speaker system), go to downtown and just drive around for hours on end celebrating your freedom from the school system. The second one was Taste of Stockholm (Smaka på Stockholm) that was going on in the Kungsträdgården, a large open public space across a canal from the parliament building in the new downtown district. From June 1 to June 6, it’s Taste of Chicago-but in Stockholm-ified. Among the numerous aisles of food booths set up, there’s also a stage set up featuring various musical acts and other events-including a cooking demonstration. It was very entertaining and honestly I didn’t know where to begin. I ended up having a wonderful variation of a hamburger in which the patty was wrapped in a tortilla with more simplified ingredients of a purple onion, yellow pepper, chopped tomatoes and feta cheese. Perfectly tasty.

The last event caught me by surprise entirely-National Day in Sweden. Unlike our Independence Day, the Swedish National Day isn’t based on gaining independence but when Gustav Vasa, a king, was crowned and when their constitution was adopted a few centuries later. Swedish flags were everywhere and I managed to get one of the free ones at Smaka på Stockholm, woo! I asked the hotel reception what they recommended to see on this day and their suggestion was to visit the open-air museum, park, zoo combination called Skansen on the Djurgården island to the east of Gamla Stan. Most of the Swedes head there on this day to enjoy the oldest open-air museum in the world. It’s a definite must. For less than 10€, you can visit over a hundred historical buildings that were moved from throughout Sweden with some occupied by interpreters who act the part. It’s like the towns some Americans go to when they’re young to see how people lived in colonial times but the buildings are really from that era. The zoo, contrasting Lyon’s in Parc de la Tête d’Or, actually has large areas for the animals in a more natural, less fake setting. The wolves have an acre of forested land, as their environment is. The bears have just as much as well to accommodate their size. Honestly I enjoyed the zoo there and was appreciative that Skansen gives their animals a good amount of truly natural space.

Stockholm is a modern city that is rooted in Scandinavian flair. Ikea gives a good impression of that attitude of simplicity and enjoyment. You see it in Helsinki, but also Stockholm. I’ve yet to see Oslo but I hope to eventually-during the summer. In my opinion, Scandinavia is one place that gives more contemporary culture than continental Europe. There’s a lot more there than snow, cold, and dark winters for sure.