“You can’t carry it with you if you want to survive. ” Florence and the Machine

This year, was definitely a year. Yenta said it would be my best year,  definitely a transitional one.  Moments were good, moments were bad, and some moments were down right craptastical.  Other than my family and friends, my only other survival tactic was too keep moving and not look back.  I probably lost some stuff along the way.  There were probably a few people that I didn’t keep in touch with.  I was probably less thoughtful than usual.

Last night I sat in bed thinking about what I was going to write as a recap of my year.  I had to mentally recap the stuff that I have chosen not to discuss on the interwebs.  That’s when the tears started.  I am not sure I am ready to write about the dog days of summer (some good, some really bad, all of it extremely emotional).

For those of you who have been reading along, you know I had a plan:

1) Sell my house before the end of summer. 2) Live irresponsibly in someone else’s property (aka apartment) somewhere in the numbered streets. 3) Leave the country.

Well, that didn’t quite happen as I planned. This is what happened as I flew by the seat of my pants.  1)There are people living in my house but I didn’t sell it.  2)I moved (twice).  I live near some numbered streets in the ’04. 3) My friends’ took me to Mexico for their wedding.

Ok, that’s as far as I am going to go now.  Here’s my year in lists.

This year in live music: SXSW 2010 ( City Riots, Best Coast, the DJs from the Hood Internet, Le Loup,  Typefighter, Sondre Lerche, Vivian Girls, Death Set,  :papercutz,  Oh Snap!, Rogue Wave, Miike Snow, Fucked Up, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings,  Hole,  Frightened Rabbit, Minor Mishap Marching Band , Mayer Hawthorn & the Country, Passion Pit (DJ set) , The Pains of Being Pure at Heart,  Broken Bells, Ezra Furman and the Harpoons ,Everybody was in the French Resistance…Now!, and  Diplo.) Miike Snow, Middle East, Mumford and Sons, Passion Pit, Tokyo Police Club, Hood Internet, Flosstradamus, Pixies, Ratatat, Amanda Blank, Sleigh Bells, Interpol, Fun^3 Fest 2010 (Royal Forest (Formerly Loxsly), League of Extraordinary Gz, Butcher Bear and Charlie, Invincible, Devin the Dude, Slick Rick, Dominique Young Unique, Big Freedia, Man Man, Dirty Projectors, RJD2, Magic Kids, Margot and the Nuclear So and Sos, Black Nasty, Toro Y Moi, Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich and Fussible,Jean Grae, Pharoahe Monch, P.O.S., Washed Out, Deerhunter, The Hold Steady, and The Descendants)

This year in non-live music: Here’s to this year’s new albums: Forgiveness Rock Record-Broken Social Scene Miike Snow-Miike Snow, Broken Bells, Wake Up!-John Legend and the Roots, The Suburbs-Arcade Fire, Sidewalks-Matt and Kim, All Day-Girl Talk, Halcyon Digest-Deerhunter, Rubber Factory-Black Keys, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Entanglements-Parenthetical Girls, Mixtape vol 4 and Anatomy Magazine x The Hood Internet- Hood Internet, LP4-Ratatat, Treats-Sleigh Bells, xx-The xx, The Satanic Satanist [Deluxe Edition]-Portugal the Man, The Mountain-Heartless Bastards, Together-New Pornographers.

This year in Sewing: Treasure City Thrift Fashion Show

This year on the interwebs: I got a smart phone.  Here’s to more Twitter updates and Gowalla check-ins.

This year in Movies: This year I watched a lot on Hulu and other peoples Netflix.  I meant to go out but that requires $$. (theater) SXSW (The Runaways, Tiny Furniture, Canal Street Madam, Barry Munday, the Freebie, Kick Ass) the Social Network, Exit Through the Gift Shop.

This year in Books: Sadly not much time for reading this year… Goodreads Tropic of Capricorn, The Tipping Point, Middlesex, Kafka on the Shore.

This year in kicking ass- (New category because I realized I rocked it out this year): SXSW Crew Chief, Volunteer Coordinator for BluesShout!, Natural Disaster Planner, Refashionista, Fun^3 Fest Blogger, and Wedding Stylist.

Plans for 2011 (in no particular order):

1. Leave the continent
2. Quit my job (10 years of state employment is more than a person should endure)
3. Take on a massive design project
4. Read more
5. Spend less money/time on home repair
6. Master Indian Cuisine

Here’s to 2011 and the hopes that the Dog Days really in fact are over.

Pixies- Austin Music Hall 9/22/10 photo by Emily Lim

M and I saw the Pixies this Wednesday.  Once again the universe proves that social media and online credit card payments make things happen.

Sometime in May, I got an email from the Pixies mailing list saying that pre-presale tickets would be available in limited amounts for mailing list subscribers.  I checked in with M and decided to go for it.  I had never seen them live, and the last time that M saw them was at ACL several years ago.  Would it be worth $50 to see them play Doolittle in its entirety?  Hell YES!  You know M and I love the Pixies and would pay to see them inches from the house (unless it involved selling a kidney).

Three days later I can still say the show was amazing (I’ve watched loudQuietloud more times than I would like to admit and I had high levels of expectations.).  Granted, there are a few things I am a little miffed about.  But, having a decent spot just left of the stage, the Pixies’ stage presence and talent outweighed the negatives.

Now for the show… They started with B-sides from Doolittle, then they played the full album.  [Little Readers, I have a confession.  There are several songs that I skip over when I play Doolittle, but hearing them live made me feel a little guilty for doing that.]  They finished out the show with the best of Surfer Rosa.   They gave it 100+% . The crowd was mesmerized and after all these years, we still know all the words to the songs.

For those of you who missed the show (or for those of you who want to relive the end of the show, I have a little clip I found on YouTube.

Now for the complaints:

1) Dear Music Hall, why can’t we bring in descent camera’s to photograph once-ish in a lifetime experiences?  M had to leave the BAC at home and shoot on my tiny camera.  Click here to see them on Flickr.

2) Dear Hipsters, why can’t you bath once and awhile.

3) Dear dudes in front of us.  M is only 3 apples high, yet you feel the need to stand in front of her, and prevent her from seeing the show.

4) Dear Chicks with giant shoulder bags, please pack a smaller bag when you are going to shows.  You are not Mary Poppins, you will not need all of that crap.

5) Dear People responsible for the redesign of the Music Hall, the sound still sucks and the overhangs prevent air circulation.

I spent the majority of the weekend camped out on the couch with unlimited streaming movies.  Why?  Because my place reeks of paint fumes and it is still on the f-ing market. Oh, and technically I was house/cat sitting.

Left to my own devices I managed to plow through 8 movies.   Most of which were total fluff.  One of them may have been considered a film, but I doubt it.  Day 1:American Pie 2, Penelope, Broken English, Carolina,  and 10 Things I Hate About You.   I OD’d on chick flicks.  I told M that I needed some scotch and an action flick or something to undo all of that.  Instead we got wine drunk and walked downtown with 2.0 to dance it off with the Hood Internet.

M <3's Hood Internet- Beauty Bar July 2007

Day 2:  I left M’s around noon-ish and was craving cheese (Note to self, do not order a vegan burger after a night of drinking.  Order the f -ing grilled cheese.  Note to late night establishments, fries should be crisp, salty, greasy and still contain soft potato insides).  I stopped at the Target on the way “home” for milk, Amy’s Organic shells with white cheddar and  managed to consume it all during  the course of three movies… Julie and Julia, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Harold and Maude.

I have to say that the concept of unlimited streaming movies sounds like a good idea.  I am not sure who is out there selecting the movies to be screened. If you know who they are, please inform them that there should be more films, and less crap.

This was year 6 of volunteering my way to platinum. I have been on vacation for the past 2 weeks and living at M’s house.

(You should go back and read the daily recaps. I put this stuff out on the internet for you, little readers)

Total # of bands: ~24  ( City Riots, Best Coast, the DJs from the Hood Internet, Le Loup,  Typefighter, Sondre Lerche, Vivian Girls, Death Set,  :papercutz,  Oh Snap!, Rogue Wave, Miike Snow, Fucked Up, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings,  Hole,  Frightened Rabbit, Minor Mishap Marching Band , Mayer Hawthorn & the Country, Passion Pit (DJ set) , The Pains of Being Pure at Heart,  Broken Bells, Ezra Furman and the Harpoons ,Everybody was in the French Resistance…Now!, and  Diplo.)

Total # of movies: 6 (The Runaways, Tiny Furniture, Canal Street Madam, Barry Munday, the Freebie, Kick Ass)

Total $ spent: ~$115 In comparison to last year, I spent more money and came home with less loot (Recessioned!).

Things that vastly improved this year’s SXSW experience:

• Being a Crewchief: (Thanks to the Real Jew) I worked a ton of pre-conference hours and was done by Sunday afternoon of SXSWi
• New sidekicks
• Nap time

Thursday means “Trick-or-Treating” with Lori.  I realize that we are in a recession, but seriously, we were in a recession last year and I came home with  more loot.  What have people been spending their stimulus money on?

We started the day at the Paste party and grabbed a few izzes.  We hit Clermont (they usually have good shirts), Maggie Maes (Gibson Guitar and Minnesota Music), and came up empty handed.  Lori had some BBQ but the veggie options were few and far between. After that, I stopped by the Spin/Myspace Music loft to pick up pick up the party passes that M won.  Four parties in we finally scored some loot at the GHS Unwound party (beer, bag, and shirt) .   Since it was a nice day out, we decided to go to Cedar Street to see what the line looked like for the Filter party.  It wasn’t good.

I had never been to the IFC house so we decided to stop by to see if there was any breakfast or free swag left (No breakfast, but there was still swag.  Apparently they serve coffee all day and snacks pop up periodically).  Lori was still hungry so we headed back to Maggie Mae’s.

Our next stop was the Day Stage (BTW.  The Day Stage area is a nice place to hang out/nap.  There are bean bag chairs all over) at the Convention Center to see Frightened Rabbit.  Then went through the Trade Show to see if there was anything of interest.  We were also looking for more of the “skip to the front of the American Apparel Party line cards.”  M sent a text reminding me to check out the Banyan Branch party at the wine bar (free wine and snacks!).  we headed back to the Convention Center to use the restrooms and meet up with friends in the Trade Show.  We ended up making friends with a vendor and gave them advice on how to get into the shows at Stubb’s (FYI get in line early and bring a snack).   Pleasant surprise of the day: running into  the Minor Mishap Marching Band outside the Trade Show.

On the way to the Spain party Lori and I managed to score free cupcakes from Mad Cakes (all natural cuppy cakes, no HFCS).  We camped out at the Spain part for an hour or so (they had wine and food).  The plan was to hit the IFC house (for booze, snacks, loot, and cell phone charging stations) and then head to the Paramount for The Runaways (I wanted to see what they hype was all about). [The Runaways movie was not quite worth the hype.  I suggest netflix.  It was also a little weird seeing Dakota Fanning do drugs and get naked.]

I closed out the evening at the Converse Party. I met up with M and the Jew in time to see  Mayer Hawthorn & the Country, Passion Pit (DJ set) and a little bit of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.  Before I got there the Jew informed me that M was drunk and talking to Passion Pit in the DJ booth.  When we got home, I found out that the Jew was the drunk one and M had promised to make dinner for Passion Pit when they came to town in June.

Cost for the day: tips for bartender

Free: 1 beer, 3 glasses of wine, 1 mixed whiskey drink, iphone case, 3 shirts, and a shot glass..

Day 5 was rainy and cold (very much like today).  I decided to bundle up and hide out in the Drafthouse.  I saw Tiny Furniture (Meh) and Canal Street Madam (rent it!) back to back.  I decided to take advantage of the film shuttle and hitched a ride from South Lamar to the ACC.  I met up with TripLittle at the Registrants Lounge for Scotch (I love scotch. Scotch, scotch, scotch…  especially when it is free).   My Yenta joined us and got a free massage.

Yenta had the getaway car ready to go, so I hitched a ride back to the Drafthouse to catch Barry Munday (Awesome!).  It was time for food so we decided to grab dinner during the film.   After the Q&A (by a horrible interviewer), Yenta and I went to her house for wine and a recap of SXSW happenings.  The plan was to drop off a car and head downtown for the film party (free drinks).

Yenta is a connector (Gladwell).  She somehow remembers everyone worth knowing.  She catalogs them by birthday. We made a few new friends at the party.  We happened to see a woman in a great knit dress (fitted, longsleeve, maxi, with horizontal stripes).  Her husband was a film director and she is an event promoter. I have a feeling we will cross paths with these people again.

Cost for the day: $10 for food at the drafthouse

Free: scotch, 3 well shelf beverages, glass of wine

Technically my 1st day of SXSW was on Tuesday  (pre-conference volunteering).  After a few days of making the internet, registration, and the connection centers happen, I was able to have some fun.

Friday night I caught the world premier of Kick Ass.  It was definitely worth standing in line for 1.5 hours (I also scored a bumper sticker and a key chain).  Seriously, a father daughter team of assassins and a classic tale of revenge,  it was a great way to kick off the film festival.

After the movie I stopped at Emo’s on the way home for the Pastries and Pasties party.  By the time I got there, the alcohol was no longer free and there wasn’t a cupcake in sight.

Cost of today : $0

Free: whiskey soda (purchased for me by a friend)

In the last 3 days, M have burned through the SXSW torrent in 2 sittings.

Without the help of an intern or outsourcing the task to India, we have managed to RSVP for EVERYTHING (We have a google calendar of it all.  If you are nice, maybe we will share it with you). The only way to manage this was to check the internet a lot.

Sched.org is live now.  M and I are adding the chosen bands to sched so we can make sure that we don’t miss anything.  Since music doesn’t start to Wednesday, we may table the band selection and start on films/SXSWi parties.

Things have been a wee bit stressful with the SXSW volunteer thing but I promise to recap my days at SXSW as soon as possible.  The netbook fits nicely in my new backpack.

For now I will give you the wrap up for 2009.  I may have some words on the last decade later.

This year in live music: Broken Social Scene, Lymbyc Systym, The Submarines,  SXSW (Flosstradamus, Asobi Seksu, Titus Andronicus, Chairlift, the DJs from the Hood Internet, Kanye West, Big Sean, GLC Consequence, Really Do, Tony Williams, Mr. Hudson, Kid Cudi, Common, Erykah Badu, Buck65, B.Dolan, Sleep, Sage Francis, the Obits, Handsome Furs, American Analog Set, the Rosebuds, Bishop Allen, Au Revoir Simone, These Arms are Snakes, Cursive,  Passion Pit,  the Soft Pack, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Matt and Kim, Amplive, Franki Chan and Curt from Flosstradamus, and Echo and the Bunnymen),  Crystal Castles, Loxsly, the Dears, Great Northern, Passion Pit, Harlem Shakes, Clues, Explosions in the Sky , De La Soul, El Ten Eleven , Free Press Summerfest (Broken Social Scene, Explosions in the Sky, Prince Paul, Voxtrot), Los Campesinos!, Broken Social Scene,   FFF Fest (Royal Bangs, Crystal Antlers, Foot Patrol, Sugar and Gold, Vega, MC Chris, Neon Indian, Yeasayer, Les Savy Fav, Pharcyde, Atlas Sound, Why?, Broadcast, Dj Numark,  Lucero, MIssion of Burma, Buraka Som Sistema, GZA, Kid Sister ) Regina Spektor, Hockey, and Pheonix.

This year in non-live music: I am still having Last.fm iPod scrobbling issues.  Here’s to this year’s new albums that kept me awake at my desk. NASA, Mos Def, Amanda Blank, Del tha Funky Homosapien, Discovery, Walkmen, Headlights, Passion Pit, Yo La Tengo, Heartless Bastards, Animal Collective,…

This year in Sewing: I entered the Little Black Dress Contest and helped a friend who is writing a book on green clothing design.

This year on the interwebs: I am still bad about updating Twitter.  I have fallen in love with hulu and the hood internet.

This year in Movies: (theater) SXSW (RIP: A Remix Manifesto,  500 days of Summer,  Died Young, Stayed Pretty, The Time of Their Lives, Yes Men Fix the World,  Alexander the Last, and  I Love You, Man), Inglorious Basterds, Up in the Air, (dvd)Persepolis,  Thank You for Smoking, Fast Food Nation, The Yes Men.

This year in Books: Goodreads This is what I read: Story of the Eye-Georges, Bataille, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper- Diablo Cody, He’s Just not that into You- Greg Behrendt, Fast Food Nation- Eric Schlosser, The Other Side of Thirty- M.A. Thakor, The Manual- Steve Santagati, Another Roadside Attraction- Tom Robbins, Love is a Mix Tape- Rob Sheffield, Even Cowgirls get the Blues- Tom Robbins, Choke- Chuck Palahniuk, High Fidelity- Nick Hornby,

Here is the list of things I neglected to do in 2009 along with excuses for not doing them:

1. More bike rides (and maybe a bike with gears). No new bikes.  I did go on a few long rides though. I would bike more if I weren’t allergic to outside.
   
2. A jumble of personal goals: tolerance, being a better person, being more trusting, baggage reduction, etc… I haven’t made things worse (At least I don’t think I did).
3. Design for another fashion show.  Hopefully Stitch, when it returns. Stitch did not return this year.
4. Demolish the back porch and fix the fence. Those are still there.  The plan is to ditch the whole house.
5. Road trip. Didn’t happen.  I flew to Seattle instead.

2010 will be my 33rd year.   My Yenta says it should be one of the best.

The topic of baggage has been brought up on several occasions.  I am working on the train case and M is working on the backpack. Neither of us what the 23 piece luggage set from Darjeeling Limited.

I recently saw Up in the Air with my Yenta (yes, I have a Yenta now).  I will save you from the details since I don’t want to clog this post up with spoiler alert warnings.  I will say that the film was brilliant.  But what else would you expect from the man that gave us Juno and Thank You for Smoking.

Back to the backpack…

George Clooney’s character (the lovable asshole), is a motivational speaker.  His pitch is about a backpack (I am still trying to figure out if the backpack speech has anything to do with the book by John Bytheway.)

How much does your life weigh? Imagine for a second that you’re carrying a backpack. I want you to pack it with all the stuff that you have in your life… (more…)