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Warmer Than Fire

Songs in my heads:
"Warmer Than Fire" by Ash
"The Sweetness Of Death By The Obsidian Knife" by Ash

Very eventful weekend:
Friday night was Red Animal War at the Gypsy Tea Room. This was a very special set that included the band's two former bassists, a second drummer, percussionist and even a saxophone cameo (for the rarely played, "Straight Lines for Construction Workers"). Jeff is off to Miami to drums to play with these guys and the other guys have other projects going on. I'm not sure if this was the band's final show, but it was a very cool set. I have pictures and the setlist to prove it . . . .

Saturday morning, I took Miss Juliet for another hour-long walk and got a little sun. The weather was warm (but not humid) and the sun was out in full effect, so the day was beautiful. After my shift, I opted to chill out at home and work on a two-disc Ash anthology. I put all my favorite album tracks, singles and b-sides onto two full CDs, all in chronological order. Shall be some good listening on my way down to Austin this week.

Sunday, an early kickball game gave me even more sun, but the experience was tons of fun. Some of the highlights were: Josh answering his cell phone and catching a pop-fly at the same time, two young kids playing a few innings with us while their parents played softball, Jason from the Happy Bullets caught two bobbled catches that bounced off the first baseman, and I scored a few runs.

Following the game, we had a big birthday party for my cousin. Since he turned 18, I figured I should give him something more than just a gift certificate, so I gave him Sparta's Porcelain and Ash's Meltdown. I prefaced my gift-giving by saying something along the lines of, "You may or may not have heard these bands late at the night on the Edge, but I think you'll like these bands." He appreciated them and believed he heard Porcelain a few nights before. Sometimes the effort is just putting the music into the people's hands . . .

Thanks to Torr's post about six Doves acoustic tracks, I know of another cool blog to check out on a regular basis.

Rolling Stone lists ten artists that currently have a lot of promotional dollars behind them.

Bob posted some news about the final Hey Mercedes show and the artwork for the final EP. Maybe "That's Right, I Said It" will be the live track . . .

I shall be in Austin this weekend for SxSW. This is my first time and I have no idea what's in store. More info next week . . .

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