The Daily Procrastinator

Welcome, procrastinators. Here’s hoping you came through the swine flu “crisis” unscathed. We here at The Daily Procrastinator are absolutely shocked at the events of the past couple weeks. Who would have thought that the media would blow something out of proportion? Who would have believed that Americans would swallow such an exaggeration hook, line, and sinker, and react with irrational panic? Who could have forseen that it was all really no big deal? It was truly a week of unexpected events. Lucky for you, it was also another week of fantastic content on TDP. Unless you’re quarantined with the imaginary flu, you should make SURE you don’t miss a thing.

Monday: For reasons that will soon be obvious, the 4th of May is an unofficial but widely recognized holiday–a holiday celebrated by movie fans and word-nerds alike.

Tuesday: According to wikipedia, Cinco de Mayo commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Each year, Americans honor the brave Mexican soldiers by blissfully munching nachos and sipping margaritas. The holiday has passed, but TallGirl’s Cinco de Mayo party guide included recipes for margaritas and dip that will be favorites all summer long.

Cats amuse me. Zombies amuse me. This picture is extremely amusing.

Wednesday: TallGirl revealed that she truly deserves to be a zillionaire. After all, she thought up dance-based fitness programs before Zumba before was a nation-wide fitness craze!

Thursday: BigRedPoet gave a review of the Dave Matthews Band show on May 1 at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Woodlands, TX. Check out the setlist, thoughts on the performance, and notes on recording the show.

Friday: Continuing the string of wildly unlikely happenings I mentioned in the intro to this weekly wrap-up, TallGirl noted that baseball players use steriods. Can you believe it? Baseball players use steriods! Neither she nor I is amused by this revelation.

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The Daily Procrastinator: Contributing to the Dramatic Reduction of Your Personal Productivity

On May 1, The Dave Matthews Band played before a packed Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in Woodlands, TX. Among the concert-goers were Pre, who you may remember from St. Patrick’s Day, Mrs. Pre, NewGuy, NewGirl, Eggroll, and yours truly, BigRedPoet. I’m not a big DMB fan. In fact, I don’t own a single one of their albums. I am, however, an avid fan of well-played live music. Everyone I know who has seen DMB in concert has always told me that they put on an exciting, tight, improvisational, and musically outstanding performance. With that in mind, when Pre asked me if I wanted to go to the show, I didn’t hesitate.

This is not my photo, but it's pretty much exactly the stage setup the band used in The Woodlands.

After venturing to The Woodlands in a mini-van, we arrived early and met some of Pre’s friends, who had been saving us a great spot in the lawn seats. We were located at the corner where the sidewalk down out of the lawn meets the fence that divides the lawn from the walkway below. In other words, we had front-row seats in the grass. Almost immediately upon getting settled in our spot, I noticed two things…

First, the opening act, The Avett Brothers, was fantastic! Although I didn’t know a single song, they performed with a laid-back, bluegrass-influenced sound and interestingly constructed vocal arrangements that I truly enjoyed.

Second, beer prices ranged from $8 to $9.25, depending upon the brand of beer. $8.00! $9.25! I’m not above spending money on beer, but the roving vendors accepted only cash, which I wasn’t carrying. The concession stands, located at the edges of the amphitheater, accepted credit cards, but I wasn’t about to give up any part of my listening experience to spend 30 minutes walking over there, waiting in line, and walking back. The end result of all this is simple: I saw DMB stone-cold sober.

Once Dave Matthews Band took the stage, they stayed there for close to two and a half hours. Although I know exactly one of the following songs, I’m told it’s an outstanding setlist.

• Don’t Drink The Water
• Stay Or Leave
• Funny The Way It Is
• Spaceman
• Cornbread
• Raven
• Why I Am
• Jimi Thing
• Beach Ball
• Where Are You Going
• Two Step
• Rye Whiskey (Tex Ritter cover)
• Pig
• #41
• Anyone Seen The Bridge
• Too Much <tease>
• Grey Street

Encores:

• Everyday
• Pantala Naga Pampa
• Rapunzel

I didn’t get to sing along much, except when I could pick up the words to a chorus, but I still had a fantastic time. Every musician on the stage played outstandingly. I vividly recall fantastic performances on drums, saxophone (including one guy playing two saxophones at once!), trumpet, guitar, bass, and electric violin. The high point of the show was a song called “Space Man,” which is apparently brand new and will be released on the band’s upcoming album. I predict that the line “Doesn’t everybody deserve to have the good life?” will be all over the radio in the near future.

This is Carter Beauford. He is a beast. He can drum faster than you can drive.

As you may or may not know, The Dave Matthews Band is taper-friendly. Basically, they allow fans to record their concerts, as long as they don’t sell the recordings afterward. Those of you who have been reading The Daily Procrastinator since the beginning will recall that I own an Edirol R-09HR recorder, which is useful for just such an application. Coupled with a directional shotgun microphone, which I borrowed from WrongFoot, I was able to make a pretty good audience recording of the show. This was my first chance to tape a “big” show, and I’m quite pleased with the results!

It pains me that I can’t give a more detailed review of the show, but without a more thorough knowledge of DMB, I’m afraid it’s difficult to speak in specifics. Simply put, this band is good. Really good. Take it from a guy who doesn’t really know their music but still had a blast at the show: DMB is well worth checking out in concert.