Non-Sequiturs

Papa Cowboy.

Cutie bear.

Meaty.

Nice chesticles.

Is it the shirt or the body?  Or both?

Intense.

Lovely fur and beard.

Love how the silver daddy chest hair becomes darker on his stomach.

Nice tight body.

Wife beater sexiness.

Heavenly fur.

Gorgeous beard.

Yes Daddy, please.

Ripped to hell.

Haaaay!

Handsome.

Hotness foreground, Warhol background.

Damn nice view.

Yes, my beard rules the world.

Ripped to shreds.

Fuzzy view.

Grrrr.

Adorkabear.

Sweet Baby Jebus, yes!

Woof.

Cute!

Thumbs up!

So handsome.

I would love to have his body.

Slab o' Beef!

Likewise.

Beautiful body and skin tone.

Sleeping bear.

I would lick all that fur off.

Beautiful.

Sexy smirk.

Sort of looks like a younger, more bearish George Clooney.

Damn, damn, damn.

I'd follow those gutters down.

Sexy selfie.

Corn rows don't look good on anyone.

I dislike people who only deal in absolutes.

College Magazine has voted The University of Georgia, my alma mater, as having the hottest guys. I will attest that during my tenure there, you could barely walk ten feet without walking into some country-bred fine ass piece of man meat; which I think is the technical term.

Just because you haven't heard of something doesn't make it "weird." Open your mind and see/hear/smell/feel something different for a change.

Too much?

Is it really necessary to walk down the hallway responding to an email on your iPhone? Why is it so difficult for people to put away their phones for 2 minutes. Nothing is going to change dramatically in that time.

You know you had a killer leg workout when you can't even move your legs while sitting down.

It has to be awkward having to constantly see pictures of you and your ex being reblogged all over Tumblr every day.

I like that on Tumblr that when you "like" a pic, a little heart flutters away.

I was willing to listen to your argument until you led with "As a Marxist...." Really?

Duurrrrrr.

The Atlanta Braves are going to leave their current stadium in downtown Atlanta and build a facility up in Cobb county. I rarely went to a Braves' game as it is, and lord knows I certainly won't go to one way up there. And if anyone thinks the Braves aren't moving because of money and control, you are kidding yourselves.

I love it when Andrew makes my lunch.  Except when he forgets my apple.

American Horror Story: Coven is deliciously over the top.

Remind me never to go to Starbucks near my office during lunchtime.

Scruff now has an Insights page where you can see someone's statistics and know whether or not you have a good or bad chance of them chatting with you based on your stats. Of course, this is just another thing for people to ignore and bother you anyway. And apparently I am now officially a Daddy, as the majority of guys that hit me up are south of age 25.

LOL.

Blaming your neanderthal behavior on "locker room" culture is a completely asinine defense.

Coy is not a personality trait I admire in anyone.

The parking lot at the 14th Street Starbucks is like the seventh layer of hell.

I honestly think I am over and done with M83.

The universe seems to take perverse pleasure in letting me get my debt down then deciding to throw a wrench in my job security.

I think we will do this next year.

I used to love Azealia Banks. Now, I just want her to STFU and go away.

I feel like I have run out of adjectives to use.

While I enjoy going out and being social, I most enjoy staying in and having a quiet evening.

Whether or not a store stays open or closed on Thanksgiving is not a huge deal to me (I would never think to leave friends and family to go bargain shopping with the unwashed masses), I do like hearing about stores that are staying closed that day, like Costco. It's not always about the bottom line.

We all have that one (or in some cases, multiple) friend on FB that always has a snide comment on your posts.

Took me a moment to get it.

Karaoke is lost on me.

Some people just don't get my sense of humor.

What if the most random events are not random at all.

I long for Paris.

Probably?  More like definitely.

If you don't read, I cannot date you.

I can't stand clutter.

It used to be that whenever I heard a new U2 album was coming out I would get excited. Now, it is a resolute meh.

A really dear friend of mine passed away in his sleep this week. He was the type of guy who immediately lit up the room with his big smile and booming voice. While I wasn't able to see him quite as much as we both wanted, I always knew he was there for me. Rest in peace Tyler. The world is a little less bright without you in it.

Your cute for the day.

Lyrics Rattling Through My Brain

"Scatter you, sweep your feet.
Pick you up, and drag you in.
Stubbing things to schemes and places.
And someone, cracks down.

Watching you watch others move.
And sometimes, someone

Flatter you, sweep your feet.
Pick you up, and drag you in.
Stick to you playing with fire.
And it's so good that you scream.
And someone, sometimes, cracks down.
Someone, sometimes, cracks down.

A bell rings, you jump a place,
Making moves to the right spot.
And someone, somewhere, cracks down.
Flatter you, sweep your feet.
Pick you up, and drag you in.
Stubbing things to schemes and places.
Pick a place.
Watching you watch others move.
Then sometimes, someone, cracks down.
Cracks down."

Cabaret Voltaire
"Crackdown"

"I traveled from Dublin, you said you'd change the world
You sing like Sinatra, always
You pulled 'em for miles now, like Garbo in Berlin
You played 'em for zeroes, just like always
Tonight, some bitch is hassling me
And tonight, it feels so good feeling cheap

I can only disappoint you cause I always let you down
I can only disappoint you cause I always let you down

You turned a man cuckoo, half animal, half grace
The chick was a teaser, always
Tonight, their hips will swivel and turn
So we drove, to the place where we first met

I can only disappoint you cause I always let you down
I can only disappoint you, always

The queens they all loved you, the tall, the short, the fair
The sailors, the psychos, always
And here, I faltered, gun in my hand
And you, with "piggies" scrawled on your wall
And tonight, her note said "better off dead"
And the earth has never moved for me since

I can only disappoint you cause I always let you down
I can only disappoint you, always
I can only disappoint you cause I always let you down
I can only disappoint you cause I always let you down
Cause I always let you down
Cause I always let you down."

Mansun
"I Can Only Disappoint You"

"Waking with a dream out of focus
wracking your brain for the details
accidently elbowing an ashtray
sifting through the real and the unreal
fast motion scenes under your eyelids
searching for the place and exact date
colored landscapes echoing vivid blue
and a brilliant red
colored landscapes echoing vivid blue
and a brilliant red
travel unrelated to faces
high on the rooftop over cowboys
colored landscapes echoing vivid blue
and a brilliant red
colored landscapes echoing vivid blue
and a brilliant red
waking with a dream out of focus."

Hugo Largo
"Country"

Appealing Things

Garden City Movement
Jack3d
The Buckhead Theater
Zoe's Kitchen
Blood Orange
Pearson Sound
Grossing women out at the gym with my manscented pits
Cabaret Voltaire reissues

Annoying Things

The fact that The Buckhead Theater is in Buckhead
Gym creepers
Old man ass
Waking up to temperatures below freezing
Forgetting my coffee and having to drink the swill here at the office

Dresden Dolls

Fall 2010 Concert Insanity continues on.  This time it was The Dresden Dolls at the Buckhead Theater with Kurt, Dan, Mikey, Janis, Ian, and Jeremy.  We met early at Woofs for a few drinks and orders of disgustingly good fried food, then headed over to the theater, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues.  It used to be The Roxy and it was a grubby pit.  Now it is shiny and new looking, with a more open and inviting atmosphere.  Once we got to the theater, we realized the doors had not opened yet, and we had to walk to the end of the line, which happened to take us well out of our way.  I wasn't expecting them to draw that large of a crowd, considering they weren't even touring behind a new album.

We finally got in and had some more drinks before the show.  A local band Lille opened, but they were slightly on the sleepy side, so we spent the rest of their set either on the smoking balcony or in the lobby.  The crowd was an eclectic one, with lots of people in costumes and other get-ups.  I hate to admit that I hadn't heard any of Dresden Dolls' music prior to the show.  I had heard of them, basically as a band that Trent Reznor liked and had open for Nine Inch Nails on a prior tour.  I knew they were a cabaret-esque sort of act with piano and drums and a female singer.  That was the extent of my knowledge going into it.

And it's always fun to not really know much about a band and to be really excited about what you hear.  Same thing happened several times at Coachella when I saw Major Lazer and Bassnectar and was blown away by what I heard and saw.  The show started off with a simple acoustic number with the drummer Brian Viglione on guitar and Amanda Palmer on vocals.  Then they kicked it into high gear with Amanda on piano and vocals and Brian showing what an amazingly versatile drummer he is. 

The songs veered from upbeat (and frequently profane) singalongs to delicate ballads.  Dresden Dolls's sound brings to mind everyone from Kurt Weill, Marlene Dietrich, the movie and musical Cabaret, PJ Harvey, Tori Amos, and Siouxsie Sioux.  The crowd was really into the show and frequently overpowered Amanda's voice with their singing along.  Thankfully it was more endearing that annoying.  At one point, Amanda claimed she was having difficulty remembering the words to a song and brought a fan out from the audience to sing it.  And she sang it very well, even considering the lyrics were sung at breakneck pace.



One of the highlights was the fan favorite "Coin Operated Boy"



I was also able to find a clip of one of Brian's drum solos:



Both of them had such amazing energy and really kept the flow of the show going very well.  I barely even noticed that they played over 2 hours and that I enjoyed almost every song they played.  I can rarely say that at a show for a band I really like.

So needless to say, I really had a great time seeing them and enjoyed hanging out with the gang.  I even went home and downloaded everything by them I could find.  Unfortunately, the one song I liked the most ("Colorblind") is off an old EP that is apparently out of print so I haven't been able to find it.  If anyone can direct me to somewhere I can get it, it would be most appreciated.

Robyn

The Fall concert juggernaut continued with Robyn last night at the Buckhead Theater. Kurt has been a good sport over the last few weeks going to shows with me that I know he really doesn't want to go to. Not that he dislikes Robyn, but I don't think she is his favorite. Indeed, before we left for the show he was very quiet, more quiet than he usually is, and finally I asked him if he didn't want to go, and he sort of sighed and said no. Of course, being the trooper he is, he went anyway. And by the end of the show, I think even he was impressed by Robyn's boundless energy and showmanship.

The newly remodeled Buckhead Theater (formerly The Roxy) was really beautiful. You can tell they really put a lot of thought into it. The venue has nice wide hallways and places to view the bands. We went upstairs and they had nice comfortable seats, with a good grade between them, so you always had a good vantage point. The only thing bad I have to say was that between acts, they were playing the music way too loud. To the point where I had a horrific headache before Robyn came on stage. Also, the mix for the two openers was horrifically muddy.

There were two opening bands, or artists as I should say, neither of which I had heard of prior. First up was Natalia Kills, which at first seemed like it was going to be a female DJ. Instead, it turned out to be a female singer with a DJ and two backup dancers. Kurt thought that with better production she could be good, but I didn't really hear anything other than a rather tepid mishmash of Lady Gaga/Ke$ha, etc. Plus, they looked like a tranny hooker version of Vanity 6. Mercifully, they only played about 5 songs.



The second act was Maluca. Again, at first, I thought it was merely a DJ. For about 15 minutes it was a male DJ playing a lot of Diplo-esque baile funk inspired dance music. It was fun and loud, and then a statuesque black woman with a 15 foot dreadlock ponytail came out and started singing, rapping, toasting, and daggering. Funny, a quick Google search on my iPhone showed that she is actually a Diplo protege, in the manner of M.I.A. and Santigold. I wasn't that impressed with her side of things, though I really enjoyed the music. She just doesn't have a standout persona like M.I.A. or Santigold. Perhaps with some more honing, she can be really good.

And this began the annoyingly long wait for the headlining act. Why it takes them 10 minutes between openers and then almost 45 minutes for Robyn I have no idea.

Once Robyn came out though it was a non-stop party. She played almost all her hits off of Robyn and Body Talk, and barely stopped to catch her breath. She had boundless energy and amazing showmanship. You can definitely tell she loves performing and really feeds off the energy of the crowd. There were almost too many highlights from the show, but here are a few that I could find on Youtube.

One of my favorite songs is her cover of the Teddybears' "Cobrastyle." Her performance got the crowd pumped and dancing.



Another crowd fave was "Dancing On My Own," which you could barely hear her over the crowd singing along.



And her classic dance track "With Every Heartbeat" nearly brought the house down.



But she saved her best surprise for last, coming out for the final encore and singing a medley/mashup of ABBA's "Dancing Queen" and her original hit song "Show Me Love." It was a perfect ending to an amazing show.



Unfortunately, this was the only clip of it I could find from Atlanta. Hopefully someone will post another more complete clip and I will substitute it later.

One thing I loved about the show last night was that it proved you don't need a bunch of ridiculous costume changes, back-up dancers, or any other type of spectacle to put on a great show. Robyn gave her all up on stage and in turn it fed the anticipation of the crowd. All these new singers need to check her out and take notes, understanding that it is about songcraft and dedication to performing. It was one of the best concerts I have seen in awhile, and one I will not soon forget.