from the desk of stinkpot

about 2 weeks ago, i was elated to hear that one my favorite bands – wolf parade – was coming to boston. i was subsequently crushed to find out that their one tour date here was also sold out.

luckily, christina had the fantastic idea of catching their april 8th show down in providence. tickets were still available and rhode island is less than an hour drive from here. it would also be a good opportunity to take a break from all the housing stuff and get out of town (the last time i left boston was near christmas – depressing.)

april 8th came yesterday and we hit the road. we decided to make a day trip of things and do touristy things around providence. extensive googling, however, revealed that providence is remarkably bereft of tourist attractions. the best we could manage was the rhode island school of design’s modern art museum.

the museum was fantastic, especially given our low expectations of providence. it was cheap ($3 – such a rarity to find non-exhorbinantly priced museums) and well-stocked with pieces from just about every major western artist of the 20th and late 19th centuries. i had a great time taking photos; oddly enough, i learned that i couldn’t snap pictures of the more modern art, since it was still under copywrite protection. you’d think that a museum is sorta like public space and therefore, whatever’s on display should be fair game for photography …

in any case, some of the photos turned out ok. i’m still learning about focusing and aperture, but i’m getting there.

(the rest of the photos live here.)

the museum kicked us out around 5 and we still had a couple of hours to kill until the concert. we killed the remaining time in a delightful bookstore called “cellar stories.” ironically, it was located on the second floor of a building. in any case, the bookstore was one of those you wish you could just live in – almost strand-like in abundunce and eclecticism, but much cheaper. i think we showed good resolve by walking away with only 4 books. (the reader’s digest bible of home repair looks like it’s going to be indispensible as christina and i start building out the loft.)

after dumping the books in the car and eating in a restaurant for the first time since new year’s, christina and i showed up to lupo’s heartbreak hotel about half an hour after the doors opened. since we got there a bit early, we were able to stake out some choice standing room on an elevated platform only about 10 feet from center-stage. (having endured up to 8-hour roadside stakeouts along tour de france routes, we fancy ourselves experts at the art of spectator positioning.)

the concert itself was a blast – the best i’ve ever been to by far (not that i’ve been to that many.) things started out a bit auspiciously though, as an electronica band named Holy Fuck opened. they certainly earned an A for enthusiasm. but, the beats weren’t too interesting and at times, seemed to try and make up for it by raising the volume to cataclysmic levels. i thought the eardrum i punctured in undergrad was going to start bleeding.

wolf parade though, was beyond awesome. of course, i’m biased, since i’ve listened to their album about a dozen times in the last 2 weeks. regardless, when they played “you are a runner and i am my father’s son” accompanied by 12 members of the university of rhode island marching band, i just about lost it. wolf parade, the marching band, the audience – it’s hard to explain what it was like. just pure joy.

needless to say, christina and i were both glad that we ended up missing the boston show. the performance definitely merited snagging some sweet wolf parade swag from the theatre:

[update]:

here’s a photo from chop-chop the chimp, member of “the what cheer? band” (see comment below) that performed at the wolf parade concert. if you look hard, you can see christina and i in the picture.

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