Spoon, man

R and I went into Philly last Friday night to eat dinner at a great neighborhood Italian restaurant and to see the band Spoon in concert. It may have been due to the opening act getting stuck in traffic and not showing up to perform, but the show started off a bit stiff and cold. However, by the time Spoon's font man, Britt Daniel, unraveled a freaked out, distorted guitar solo in "My Mathematical Mind," I believe the crowd was officially won over. The guy can wail, both on guitar and vocally. He can't be accused of lacking passion either. I never really took the time to get into Elvis Costello, but I have a feeling this is what he was like at the height of his powers. Spoon's timing was spot on. They have a way of performing such tight, punchy pop songs that each seem like more of a feat than some overly long, "epic" jam that another band might pull to waste 10 minutes of concert time. Spoon are masters of restraint and minimalism. Never heard of this band? I suggest starting with Girls Can Tell or Kill the Moonlight, but you really can't go wrong with any of their albums (with the possible exception of the less polished Telephono).

The other band I'm really digging right now is The National. I've only heard their latest album, Boxer, but it is currently blowing me away. I'm quite sure this is going to be my favorite album of 2007. Each song on it is chill-inducing and absolutely gripping. By the time a song is done I'm anxious listen to it again, yet I'm too thrilled by the next song to actually go back until I'm through the whole album. The lead singer's vivid descriptions, enhanced by the haunting textures and moods of the music make for a very visual listen. In fact this is the first set of new music I've heard in a while that makes me want to take out the camera and shoot a music video, probably one that takes place in the middle of the night. It's very inspiring like that.

More about the weekend: On Saturday night we attended a Halloween party thrown by a coworker of R's. Do you want to know what we dressed up as? If you can wait until next week, I'll post a photo. On Sunday afternoon we took a fun bike ride. R and I usually try to find paved trails to bike on, but it didn't happen this time. We were with two other couples and they took us biking on what was essentially a hiking trail. It was pretty rough riding, but we didn't mind the challenge for a change.

I'm in Madison once again this week for work. My first two times out here I was so hyped up on adrenaline that I barely slept. This time the work isn't as demanding and the newness and excitement of business travel is wearing off. So now it just feels more like work--work without the promise of going back to the comfort of home and eating dinner with my wife. It's also torture to not be able to edit the latest Bud Light video while I'm here. I still need to put a lot of time into it before the month ends. So far the highlight of this week has been our dinner out at Ruth's Chris Steak House (a national chain, but a good one) last night. I had the filet, and it was cooked to absolute perfection -- totally worth the two hour wait to get our food. Wow, it was good.