Music Review: Lord Huron

I was lucky enough to score some sweet tickets to a Lord Huron concert a couple weeks ago. And by “score” tickets I mean that my husband bought them for us. I was also lucky because the concert took us out of our tired hometown setting and brought us into Seattle for a weekend trip. I’m really living the life of Riley these days.

Held at the city’s Showbox theater, the concert took on a dark, cavernous vibe. It was a pretty crowded show, an all ages event, making it tough to meander around. When the group came on stage they opened with a couple of their most popular tunes, made familiar from commercials and episodes of MTV’s Catfish.

Their set wasn’t painfully long, on the contrary, it was the perfect length. They played their most recent album, Lonesome Dreams, in it’s entirety and threw in some covers for good measure. I personally feel that their music sounds like a countrified cross of Mumford and Sons and some other indie flavor that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Their look, as a whole, was practically perfect in every way. You know when a band dresses the same as how they sound and it makes the concert feel like a show? That’s what occurred in Seattle. They were dressed like hipster cowboys. Bolo ties and skinny jeans, cowboy boots and suit vests.

They ended with their biggest hit, “Time to Run” which caused everyone to tap their toes. This was my favorite part of the concert because I was down in front, a midst the families, couples, and singles, watching the smiles spread across their faces when they recognized the first chords of the song.

Seattle Memories

When my friend and I judged everyone that walked past us:

Talking about girls from high school:

During every Starbucks trip:

Trying to figure out what to do every day:

After realizing that I’d have to wake up at 6:15 to catch my ferry:

Daring each other to talk to random people:

Calling my husband at home:

When I asked my friend if she liked the Nutella crepe:

When some tour guide got mad at me for moving his sign:

After climbing up the steep streets and running through the rain:

My Trip to Seattle

I’ve been sitting here for a while trying to figure out what to write. I kind of hate writing about trips I’ve taken because I’m really bad at describing events. At least I think so. My friend decided to meet me in Seattle this weekend. Let’s call her Natalie, since that’s her name. We had a great time eating, shopping, and sight-seeing. But mostly eating. Here is the full account of our trip. Hopefully you’ll feel like you were there in spirit.

The first day we ventured out towards the Space Needle. Buildings that distinguish cities are always the first stop. Paris = Eiffel Tower, NY = Empire State Building, Chicago = Sears Tower, etc. And by “etc” I mean that I can’t think of any more examples.  We walked along the waterfront for a while. There are lots of souvenir stores and seafood stands which made for a fun walk. We got to look at all of the piers with the ships lined up. As well as the new Ferris Wheel that was erected (heh) during July.

The Space Needle was made for the 1962 world’s fair to demonstrate what buildings would look like in the 21st century. Hmm nice try architects.

I had been to the top of the Space Needle during my previous visit, but only to the rotating restaurant. Natalie and I went to the observation deck. We weren’t expecting much, but we were pleasantly surprised when we got to the top. Tourists are able to walk around the entire 360 degree crown of the Space Needle. We took some good pictures. There was also a Starbucks and plenty of places to sit. Sitting is definitely one of my hobbies. Bonus points!

Later that day we did some shopping and then ate at this cute little Italian restaurant called Luigi’s Little Italy. It would’ve been super romantic if Natalie and I were a lesbian couple, but alas, we were not. The food was super good and put us into a carb-coma for the remainder of the night.

Mmmm yum!

On day two we went to Pike’s Place and the Original Starbucks which are both next door to each other. There’s not a whole lot that distinguishes the Original Starbucks from any other except the sign out front is brown with the first drawing of the Mermaid instead of the green, modernized one we see today. Other than that, just a regular old Starbucks.

I can’t remember if she’s a siren or a mermaid. I wonder if she can walk on those two tails of hers….?

Pike’s Place is basically just one big market. People sell things from leather goods to flowers to mini doughnuts. There’s a huge fish stand there that is famous for their workers who throw and catch any fish that’s ordered. They sing and yell–it’s a fun watch. I managed to find a creperie and ordered one Crepe au Chocolat (Crepe covered in Nutella). Natalie, not having ever had a crepe or Nutella, finally tasted heaven.

After that (I hope no one is still reading this…) we went to Seattle’s Underground tour. It was cool because we actually got to go underground (weird, right?) and see where Seattle’s original streets were. Apparently the city was 15 feet lower than it is today. They had to raise the city streets because the ocean kept eroding the land and making the streets muddy and stuff. I don’t know, I zoned out half way through.

At night we went to a really good sushi restaurant called Nijo. We had something called Dancing Shrimp and omigosh it was amazing.

On our last day we went to the Seattle Art Museum. It had some good stuff, but it wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be. They had some Georgia O’Keefe, John Singer Sargent, and Robert Reid so it was definitely worthwhile.

Love me some Georgia.

After that we went on a boat tour of the bay which was fun. It was nice to see the city from afar. I like city-scapes. But I don’t like them enough to go on the deck of the boat when it’s cold out. So I stayed inside the boat for most of the ride and observed from the windows.

Overall it was a great trip full of fun memories and lots of food. My deepest apologies for this long post. I hate myself for writing this much.

The Worst Excuse

I had never lived on the west coast before I moved to Victoria, B.C. I never even paid attention to the west coast. Actually, I never even paid attention to anywhere outside of Illinois. Living on an island above Seattle, we get Seattle-like weather here. Not as rainy, but still occasional gloominess.

My new favorite thing is when people say that they have SAD or Seasonal Affective Disorder. I agree that rain and snow are depressing and can cause people to feel tired and depressed. Totally understandable. But isn’t that just part of how the seasons work? Shouldn’t you be used to rain and winter since, I don’t know, birth? Seasonal affective disorder = being human.

What I really love is when people use this as an excuse not to do things. I am the queen of unnecessary excuses. I cancel on people but I usually just tell them I’m too lazy to do something that takes little to no effort. But when you have to come up with an excuse like, “Sorry I can’t make it, my SAD is really kicking in today” then you should just consider ending your life. Buy a full spectrum light and get over it.

I also like how it’s called a “disorder” as if only certain people have it. I’m pretty sure everyone I have ever met feels gross and lazy when it’s rainy and feels awesome when it’s sunny. That’s not a disorder, that’s just life. Kind of like when parents claim that their children have ADD when they really just gave them too much juice.

I would respect people so much more if they just said how they were feeling instead of making excuses. Everything you’re feeling doesn’t need a title in order for it to be considered an actual complaint. Just say, “I feel depressed” instead of “I have seasonal affective disorder so that’s why I’m so depressed.”  Groan. Just leave the complaining to me, okay?