Friday was a good day at work for me. Several things that I have been trying to get to work suddenly decided to – however, as always, that insured that I was busier than expected. Good news is that it appears I have another BAC (bacterial artificial chromosome) containing the gene I am studying linked to the tag that will allow me to study it. So that’s two down, two to go.
At any rate, I got home around 7 with the slight ambition to go to the South Park walkabout. It quickly became apparent that I was kidding myself, though, as I surveyed the dirty dishes and general mess in my apartment. So I made food, did the dishes, and ignored the rest of the mess in favor of a short nap before Rosey came to pick me up on her way to the Whistlestop.
We got there around 9:15-9:30, and Kite Flying Society was already playing. The Whistlestop already had a decent amount of people in it, probably due to a) the walkabout; b) Friday night; and c) no cover charge. A fair amount of people were paying attention to the band, which is always nice to see. After we got there, the band had some minor technical issues (guitar?), but once they got them solved, they carried on with their melodic indie pop. I really liked their sound when I checked them out online – the vocals sort of reminded me of The Clientele in a way. Live, the harmonies didn’t come across quite as well, but that could be due to the challenge of playing in a “venue” like the Whistlestop. I love it as a bar, but it’s not really my top choice of venue to see a live band. At any rate, the crowd got into them by the end of their set, with quite a number of people dancing up front and just generally having a good time.
In between bands, I happened to run into some random people I know from school, and Pete finally showed up from his after-work multiple-hour residency at the pub on campus.
By the time Red Pony Clock played, the bar was really crowded and I couldn’t really see them from my vantage point close to the bar. From what I could hear of them, they sounded like a blend of circus-carnival music and some sort of neo-ska. Good, but not really something I could get into at that moment. Friday nights are always rough for me – having been up since 6:30AM and usually not having a nap break before going out, it’s hard for me to pay attention to both friends and bands while out. I also ran into Stephanie and the guys from Republic of Letters, who I haven’t seen in awhile, so we ended up chatting through part of the set.
After Red Pony Clock finished, Pete, Derek, and I made our way to Hamilton’s to enjoy it’s conversation-friendly jukebox environment. As soon as I walked in the door, I got flagged down by CatDirt, who introduced me to CDW and some other friends that were there with him. Ended up talking about some blogger-type things for a bit, then returned to hanging out with Pete and Derek. All in all, it was a good night, and I’m glad I was able to muster up the energy to go out, even though I had to be up early the next day to get myself to Chula Vista and MTV’s Scarred: Live event.
No photos from the Whistlestop because, well, I think there are two lights over the bands and they’re both red. I’m becoming a lighting snob, I think.