SPONGEBOB!

SQUAREPANTS!

I don't know that song. And yet, I do now.

I walked home again tonight, more like 4 miles this time. Half of it was with prospective students tonight, so I pretty much had to.

We went out to the Essen Haus, the Madison equivalent of Gastof's, kinda. Polka is typical. At the end of the night, we hadn't heard the chicken dance, so someone in our group requested it. The band apparently stayed late to play it. We danced like it was our job.

But then, things got amazing. The band kept playing. I had no idea what was going on. Then I noticed that they were yelling "Spongebob! Squarepants!" at certain times and I tried to yell along with them. Then the guitarist started talking to me. I still think it was one of my favorite conversations ever. He was like "You had no idea what was happening there, did you?" And I was like "No, not really, but I maybe kinda do now." And then he was like "Hey, get up here on the stage." And I was like "Really? OK."

And then they played it again. And I got to yell the "Spongebob! Squarepants!" part. And then I got carried off stage, semi-victoriously.

It was fun.

And then I walked home. Now I'm tired.

This sounds about as awesome as things get these days

Rock the Garden Returns

In general I have no idea where I'll be in June, but I have a pretty good idea of where I plan to be that day.

It's nights like this that make me wish the world wasn't such a terrible place.

I walked home from campus tonight. Or thereabouts. It was about a half hour walk, and aside from a little confusion about getting from point A to point B in a couple instances, it was largely fantastic.

It just saddens me that I can't ever feel completely safe doing that kind of thing. There's always this lingering idea that I'll get robbed or murdered or something. And as much as that's an irrational fear, it's not that irrational. Especially after having to walk through a series of decidedly Resident Evil-esque walkways and staircases.It's honestly too bad, because I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's one of the things I miss about St. Peter. Not that I even felt completely safe there, but there was a point where it seemed reasonable to go for a walk alone at 2 am with headphones on.

I picked up a couple albums today. I got She & Him (M.Ward and Zooey Deschanel)'s Volume One because it seemed like a concept I could get invested in. I think I was right. I haven't really gotten into anything beyond the songs I had already heard on Myspace, and I've been generally disappointed in the covers. But I think there's a good chance I'll really like it.

I also got the new Raconteurs. I'm 7 songs in and largely disappointed. If I were to make an SAT-esque analogy, I'd have to say Broken Boy Soldiers : Consolers of the Lonely :: Get Behind Me Satan : Icky Thump .

I've always been more of a Brendan Benson guy than a Jack White guy, and while I'm sure they both had an influence on the direction of the album, it seems to have taken on a feel that's more reminiscent of Jack's most recent work. I've always been a sucker for a good pop song, and this album seems to have eschewed that idea in favor of something more eclectic. At the very least, I'm disappointed so far. It's ok, but unless it really picks up it runs the risk of getting lost behind Destroyer, Bon Iver, British Sea Power, and She & Him.

TV on the Radio, for instance

Sometimes I'm wrong.

I'm willing to admit that.

This goes back to a mini-discussion I had over spring break. I was reminded of it tonight.

I have yet to feel like I like Vampire Weekend. MGMT is in kinda the same territory. I've come to realize that there's nothing that turns me off to a band as much as hype, deserved or not.

TVOTR is a perfect example. I picked that one up a short while after all the hype had died down. At this point, I think it's a fantastic album. Overhyped, sure, but something had to be. There are a lot of situations where I just find I can't get into a band that's got a lot of hype behind them. I'm still not really sure why. Maybe it's the uidea of discovering things at my own pace. Maybe it's simply the idea that I don't like being told what I should listen to.

Whatever the case, it's kinda bizarre and kinda useless. Not wholly negative, surely, but not really positive either.

Another example: I missed a free Bon Iver concert earlier this spring because everything I had heard up to that point seemed to be baseless hype. I regret that.

I don't know, it's weird. I was honestly kinda pleased to see Chris Riemenschneider say that Vampire Weekend wasn't particularly good at SXSW. For whatever reason, he's the one critic I'm willing to put a little faith in, and we seems to have generally similar opinions. And when I heard his comments I was like "Yeah, that's exactly what I thought" despite the fact that I know little about the band beyond the 5 minutes or so of music I've heard.

Maybe they're good, maybe they're not. At this point, I don't see any way I could make myself get into them. Maybe in the long term I'll regret that, maybe not.

But, ultimately, however it works out, it seems that I appreciate things more if I find them on my own. I probably like Bon Iver more than I would've if I had gone to that show. I know I like TVOTR more than I would've if I had listened to everyone telling me it was the best album of 2006. And whether or not it's for the best, at least I get it right eventually.

I didn't know what time it was at all.

I swear, I'm gonna bring this thing back to life.

Maybe. Kinda.

I'll try anyway.