12.12.2010

Hey Marseilles

Last night I went out with the redhead. For pho. Nothing more.

Of course, with us, it can never be just that... which is why I love her so.

After our third bar, and that infamous switch from p.m. to a.m., we thought it wise to call it quits. On our walk back to my car we passed by the front of the Wild Buffalo, and the marquis read "Hey Marseilles." We had never heard of them, and didn't necessarily want to see a show that night, but the redhead looked at me with a mischievous look in her eye and asked me, "if we can get in for free, wanna dance?"

"Hell yes."

We eyeballed the doorman and apprehensively stalled... we didn't know him. Despite this minor setback, we bravely charged forward. We had just arrived at his stamping station, without much of a plan, when a local promoter friend, who shall remain nameless, spotted us and waved us in. We were stamped and drinking Jameson before we could even ask.

Our friend turned to us and said, "Alright you're in, but you have to take those drinks right to the very front, right now."

"Deal."

We charged onwards, got there, and actually had our minds blown wide open right there on the spot... even more than if we had seen a double rainbow all the way across the stage. Continually. Throughout the night. Hey Marseilles had us asking, "what does it all mean?"

Bellingham has an amazing ability to bring in bands that, when you see them, you know you will be seeing them five years later in a huge venue with thousands of people for ten times the current ticket price, if there was a ticket price. (This band just graduated from playing free gigs in coffee houses not that long ago... not to mention a few members probably graduated from high school not that long ago.) It happened with the Black Keys (the first time I saw them I paid $5, that last time I saw them I paid $250), and I would put money on the fact that it will happen with this band too. (Speaking of money... if you ever get into a show for free and end up liking the band you are obligated to go to the merch table. You don't have to buy the whole table... which I guess I didn't realize until after I walked away last night with their cd, vinyl, t shirt, and coasters... that's right... coasters... but something is good. And speaking of the Black Keys... another band played here recently called Hillstomp... they were like watching the early Black Keys if the Black Keys had been scuzzy hillbillies... check them out too!)

See Hey Marseilles as soon as you can... before they blow up (literally any second now.) They're beyond lovely.



(shit... it's already happening...) !


P.S. You should really buy their entire album but you can get the Rio single for free right now at their website... http://www.heymarseilles.com/

12.07.2010

My Favorite Paragraph - Forgiveness


I haven't finished this book yet but, so far, this is my favorite:

What characterises the human race more, Karla once asked me, cruelty, or the capacity to feel shame for it? I thought the question acutely clever then, when I first heard it, but I'm lonelier and wiser now, and I know it isn't cruelty or shame that characterises the human race. It's forgiveness that makes us what we are. Without forgiveness, our species would've annihilated itself in endless retributions. Without forgiveness, there would be no history. Without that hope, there would be no art, for every work of art is in some way an act of forgiveness. Without that dream, there would be no love, for every act of love is in some way a promise to forgive. We live on because we can love, and we love because we can forgive.

- Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram

I highly recommend this reading.