Jason Mraz's Music, Magic & Make Peace Tour @ The Fillmore, San francisco 4/5

Toca's little guy.

I drop some notes on Ptt in Chinese, you can check here.

First time to The Fillmore, it's a good venue. Great sound and nice people. Tickets for popular Fillmore shows are always hard to get. There are too many scalpers in bay area. I was lucky to buy the ticket through Jason's fan club, which doesn't need to pay member fee at all. Good job, Jason.

Before the show, Jason and Bushwalla sing funny songs through the crowd.


Make Peace Brothers took the stage first.


Bushwalla did a very groovy, funky set. Jason and Toca were also on stage.





This guy can really sing. Comparing to John Mayer, I think Jason still do better on vocal performing. But the setlist wasn't satisfied with me. He did not sing The Remedy, Rand McNally, Curbside Prophet or other old songs that I really want to hear. Hopefully, The great live musician cover his bad ass. Still a great show, just to dark to steal photos with my camera phone, though.



The very last song was You and I Both, finally. The show lasted from 9:00pm to 12:40am. Great show on the weekend. Hope next time he will sing more interesting songs like before.

Curbside Prophet ft. Bushwalla
I want to see this next time!!

Matchbox Twenty/Alanis Morissette/Mute Math@HP Pavilion, San Jose 3/12

Three great sets, one awesome show.


其實對我來說，這場完全是懷舊心情參予的演出。當然啦，開場只表演了四首歌的Mute Math不算。Matchbox20 和 Alanis都是高中時非常喜愛的藝人，好多歌曲上了大學的日子，不管是玩團還是吉他社表演都copy過。如今，小碎藥丸和火柴盒的unwell聽來仍然悅耳，但若非是要抓歌，說真的也好久沒拿出來好好聽了。所以更不要說新作品，我全部都不熟 -.- 只是，衝著近年來最喜歡的新團Mute Math，難得可以親臨現場，加上合理票價的好位子，以及沒去過San Jose的HP Pavilion，還是來去瞧瞧好了(貪玩)。

以一個arena來說，HP Pavilion很小。可能是平常是hockey用場館的關係。不過安檢很鬆，但是裡頭的紀念品超貴，每件Tee都是35塊起跳，天哪官網都才20元上下而已真的賺很大。而且Mute Math相關商品超少，殘念。沒適合紀念品又買不下手的情況下只好亂晃。球館很新，很漂亮，不過比起來覺得好像少了些什麼，說不太上來。

Mute Math七點準時豋場，帶來短短四首歌曲Chaos, Typical, You are Mine(這首很意外)以及傳說中的Break the Same。觀眾稀稀落落(很多好位子的票還在外頭黃牛叫賣中)，不過四個大男孩仍然賣力演出。特別是Break the Same果然跟網路上看到的一模一樣! Paul的騰空彈琴真的超酷! 後來四個人賣力的即興jam也贏得全場觀眾的叫好。這幾個過動兒最後果然又是毀了幾張鼓皮，而且效果器和cymbal都亂摔 -.- 扣除掉全場幾乎都不太認識他們，我認為現階段的他們仍然較適合中小型的venue。在哪裡演出沒有絕對的好壞，通常是個人偏好罷了(像是我覺得聽陳綺貞最適合的地方是書店或女巫店)。對的音樂放在最適合的地方，自己覺得似乎還是有相當的加乘效果。


Typical

沒等多久Alanis快速完成setting登台，她大姐燙了頭金髮，加上那個煙燻粧說真的遠看還頗像大屁股的發福的Avril，不過歌聲仍然一樣美好，實在是太會唱。雖然中間仍穿插幾首我沒有太大感覺的曲子，但還好該唱的經典曲目都有唱。特別是You Oughta Know一開場鼓手那個輕重音的打點馬上被我識破，哈哈。直得一提的是她大姐包辦全部歌曲harmonica的部份，還用了一把和Dave Grol在All My Life的MV中看似一樣的透明吉他。此外找來伴奏的樂手都很強，非常厲害，幾首名曲在重新編曲之後動聽極了! 而且個個都是舞台魅力極佳的session player，穿著打扮則是和前一團Mute Math完全相同style，超帥。高個的黑人貝斯手非常搶眼，鼓手雖然胖胖遠看有點的像呆伯特，但是他打的真的相當好，看他打鼓非常爽快超可愛的。中間某首我沒聽過的歌-.-還有行動劇演出，四個樂手輪流被Alanis痛毆一頓orz 這樣被帥哥環繞女王般的女主唱應該是很多玩團女生的夢想吧!


唱到you learn得時候想起以前小時候看這首歌的mv，裡面被Taylor拿派砸臉的那一幕印象深刻，同時也發現那真的是快十年前的事了嗎? 動人的歌聲配上充滿共鳴的歌詞，不禁濕了眼框。最後一首當然是Ironic，全場從頭到尾大合唱，一直覺得小碎藥丸最打動人心的地方不只是音樂，歌詞也佔了很大一部分，淺顯易懂，而且深刻無比，打動人心。

Mathcbox20畢竟是今晚主秀，所以想也知道他們的setting一定頗費時。趁這個機會趕緊衝去section 116旁，剛剛Paul唱最後一首歌之前廣告的地方。結果賺死了!!! 好加在英文有聽懂! 這就是所謂的演唱會附加價值嘛!!? 他們正在幫歌迷簽名，而且因為今晚不是他們的場子，排隊的人根本不到三十個! 真是難得大好機會，身為迷弟豈可錯過。趕緊跟旁邊叫賣的阿姨買了一張紙盒版的self-titled debut加入排隊(我最愛的包裝就是紙盒! 而且裡面加收了reset這張ep三首歌) 盼阿盼，隊伍進行相當緩慢，想必是簽名哈拉合照來者不拒，這時候我根本快忘記要回去看Matchbox20了 XD 當下決定錯過一兩首也沒差，拜託妳們給我簽完阿阿 (先前銀杏BOYZ差點沒簽到名的陰影?)


幸好最後終於還是給我排到了!!我一看到吉他手Greg和主唱Paul就很興奮的和他們握手，難掩興奮之情的說finally meet you guys!! 跟他們說亞洲也有很多歌迷(?) 然後妳們今年要去日本(Summer Sonic)對吧? 超酷!! Paul還很興奮的和我說:"Yeah! It's our very first time!!(雙手握拳)" 還興沖沖問我會去嗎? 可惜我回答不會，因為我會在美國 orz 他們聽到之後還噢你搞屁阿這樣的反應 XD 之後還問了我叫啥名字，以及聊到之後我可能要去南加州唸研究所，希望她們一定要去LA(這個似乎不用拜託...) 我也有跟鼓手Darren握手，跟他說我也是一個drummer(雖然弱很多->這個當然沒講)跟他說你打的很好，很有個人風格。最後是大鬍子貝斯，我跟他說我還有去過他個人網站上看過他的彈琴自拍 XD他們一夥人都超nice的! 真的覺得自己很幸運! 畢竟要是今天是他們的場子應該早就被包圍到死了吧，根本沒有這樣子的機會。我一定要去幫他們多宣傳一下，今年要去夏日音速的朋友千萬不要錯過Mute Math阿!!!他們的現場真的超棒超嗨保證玩的開心!!



回到場內Matchbox20正好開始第一首歌，不意外果然是精選第一主打。我實在對這種太過pop的曲子沒有太多興趣，感覺沒有了早期火柴盒的感覺，好像變成一個樂隊在幫Rob Thomas做單飛專輯的宣傳，幸好幾首老歌出來喚回了小時後的回憶。雖然芭樂但現場還是好聽，Rob真的是超會唱，而且真的是超俊美的米國帥哥，健壯的身材保持超好。我附近有個年約35的師奶一直在對他吹口哨，超級吵的。不過她真的是高潮般超忘我的投入音樂，有horny到。回到音樂上，除了主唱之外現在只剩四個團員，比較帥的吉他手閃人了，看了現場只能說少了他很可惜，因為他不但彈不錯，更重要的是他編的東西其他人彈總是有違和感。而且影響最大的是超極愛現的小個子鼓手跑到前面彈吉他了。雖然其實彈的不過不失...但是巡迴代打的鼓手相當不及格，比前兩個set的鼓手低了一個等級不只，而且一個晚上光過門就出現了至少兩次失誤。小個子太愛現(很多首歌你都會懷疑他的表現好像以為自己是lead guitar orz) 沒想到站到前面彈吉他卻沒找個好代打，把整個現場強度減弱了不少，不然我覺得整體來說應該會更好才對。


當然Rob的歌聲完全的毫無缺點，不愧是專業的主流唱將。最有感覺得還是安可的unwell和push(這兩首都放安可實在排不好)有唱第一張最後一首hang倒是頗意外，而且這首附歌完全交由原本的節奏吉他手來唱，唱的可圈可點呢! 不夠帥所以一直沒受到重視真是可惜他了

美國人真的是把音樂當成生活的一部份，看這麼多的人在音樂中陶醉忘我(特別是那些慾望師奶們)，真的很羨慕。希望有一天，台灣的音樂場影也能如此。大家周末不只是看電影唱KTV，親臨隨身聽中不斷被重複、那久違的現場，保證絕對值回票價。


最後，說是場我的過氣藝人大集合演唱會也不為過。但是回首上一個十年，對這些音樂還是充滿感激。謝謝你們一路陪伴著我，度過無數失眠的夜晚，以及練團抓歌、吉他社馬不停蹄接表演，那些屬於我的回憶。



Thank you, guys.

Admission

Dear Wei-Lun,

On behalf of CSE's graduate admissions committee, I am pleased to inform you that we plan to recommend you to the Graduate Division for admission into our M.Sc. in the fall of 2008 without financial aid.

The final decision on the offer will be made by the Graduate Division, but history shows that they usually follow our recommendation. The offer is also contingent on submission of all required documents. You should hear from the Graduate Division by email in a few weeks.

Congratulations! We have received more than 450 applications this year but could only make a limited number of admission offers. I'd highly encourage you to consider our department seriously, visit our homepage at www.cs.ucr.edu to see the exciting activities in the department. We are a young but fast-growing department with diverse and dynamic research areas. FYI, the department has about 120 graduate students. Many of our M.Sc. and Ph.D graduates have found faculty jobs in academia (including UC Irvine, University of Arizona, Case Western Reserve University, North Eastern University, George Mason University, University of Massachusetts, etc.) and RD jobs in well-known IT companies (including IBM Research, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Yahoo!, CISCO, Qualcomm, Oracle, etc.). Many of our faculty members and students have won the best paper awards at international conferences and various prestigious awards and fellowships such as the NSF Career Award, Air Force Young Investigator Award, ACM Fellowship, and IEEE Fellowship. Our faculty is highly visible in research communities (many of us serve on the editorial boards of multiple leading journals in our research areas) and very successful in winning research grants (our new research grants in 2007 were about $5M). Moreover, Riverside is a small, vibrant city close to Los Angeles (60 miles west), San Diego (90 miles south), the pacific beaches (70 miles west), high mountains with multiple ski resorts (4 within 60 miles), and the desert (Palm Springs; 45 miles east).

Please feel free to email me at any time if you have any questions. I'd also be appreciated if you could keep us promptly updated on any change of your status. In particular, should you decide not to accept our offer for any reason, please let us know ASAP so we can consider the next person on the waiting list.

I look forward to seeing you in Riverside.


Tao Jiang
Professor and Chair of the CSE Graduate Admissions Committee


Also, the hard ticket just arrived.



The tickets sold out in just few minutes. Seats in orchestra cost more than $200 per ticket. I feel so lucky that I can buy it with face value.


Welcome to bay area, Eddie!!

Foo Fighters @ Oracle Arena, Oakland 2/2

I wrote some notes on the ModernRock forum of Ptt BBS(Bulletin Board System). Check the following links:


﹝1﹞The Warm Up Bands

﹝2﹞Incredible Foo Fighters


Here are some pics I took that day. Since I do not have a camera, these pics were taken by my cellphone (I really should change my camera phone).

People were waiting in line to get in under drizzle.

I was way too early!! :D

Against me!. The second warm-up band.


More people showed up, everybody was waiting for Foo Fighters.

Foo Fighters!!!

Dave Grohl were running back and forth, so energetic!


A back2back guitar solo before Stacked Actors.

Dave nailed it, he was just standing in fornt of me!!!!

Taylor Hawkins! Amazing punch!

Best of You! Kurt can you hear me now?

been dirty and exhausted, but I was soooo contented as never before.



Wonderful live. Thank you, Dave.

You are my hero.


Bonus Feature：video clips from Youtube, thank you guys.


Opening：Let It Die


Break Out!(High Quality)


Back2Back guitar Solo


Back2Back guitar Solo Up&Close


"The glue that keeps them together"


Marigold$My Hero(High Quality)


Everlong


Everlong 2


Best of You(High Quality)

Coming Events

Sia with Har Mar Superstar
The Fillmore , San Francisco, CA
Mon, Feb 18, 2008

Marilyn Manson
The Warfield , San Francisco, CA
Wed, Feb 20, 2008

KASKADE
Ruby Skye , San Francisco, CA
Sat, Mar 1, 2008

Lifehouse
The Warfield , San Francisco, CA
Wed, Mar 5, 2008

Serj Tankian
The Warfield , San Francisco, CA
Sat, Mar 8, 2008

Matchbox Twenty with Alanis Morissette and Mute Math
HP Pavilion , San Jose, CA
Wed, Mar 12, 2008

Myspace Music Tour 2008 Featuring Justice
Concourse Design Center , San Francisco, CA
Thu, Mar 27, 2008

Bon Jovi
HP Pavilion , San Jose, CA
Wed, Apr 2, 2008

My Chemical Romance
The Warfield , San Francisco, CA
Thu, Apr 3, 2008

Jason Mraz's 'Music, Magic & Make Peace Tour'
with Bushwalla, the Makepeace Brothers and Justin Kredible
The Fillmore , San Francisco, CA
Sat, Apr 5, 2008

Eddie Vedder with Liam Finn
Zellerbach Hall , Berkeley, CA
Mon, Apr 7, 2008

Anti-Flag with Street Dogs, The Briggs, Fake Problems
The Fillmore , San Francisco, CA
Mon, Apr 7, 2008

Jimmy Eat World & Paramore
San Jose State Event Center Arena , San Jose, CA
Tue, Apr 8, 2008

Ani DiFranco
The Fillmore , San Francisco, CA
Tue, Apr 8, 2008

Mae
Slim's , San Francisco, CA
Tue, Apr 8, 2008

2008 Honda Civic Tour Featuring Panic At The Disco
with Motion City Soundtrack, The Hush Sound, Phantom Planet
The Warfield , San Francisco, CA
Fri, Apr 11, 2008

Rascal Flatts
HP Pavilion , San Jose, CA
Fri, Apr 11, 2008

Rockstar Taste of Chaos: Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu, & More...
San Jose State Event Center Arena , San Jose, CA
Sat, Apr 12, 2008

Cat Power with Appaloosa
The Warfield , San Francisco, CA
Tue, Apr 15, 2008

Rilo Kiley with Michael Runion and Whispertown
Concourse at SF Design Center , San Francisco, CA
Thu, Apr 17, 2008

Kanye West Glow In the Dark Tour
HP Pavilion , San Jose, CA
Sat, Apr 19, 2008

Death Cab for Cutie with The Cave Singers
The Fillmore , San Francisco, CA
Wed, Apr, 23 2008

The Verve
The Warfield , San Francisco, CA
Wed, Apr 23, 2008

Sasha & John Digweed
The Warfield , San Francisco, CA
Fri, Apr 25, 2008

Goldfrapp
The Warfield , San Francisco, CA
Sat, Apr 26, 2008

Victor Wooten
Slim's , San Francisco, CA
Mon, Apr 28, 2008

The Breeders
Slim's , San Francisco, CA
Wed, Apr 30, 2008

Avril Lavigne
HP Pavilion , San Jose, CA
Wed, May 7, 2008

Beth Orton
Cowell Theater At Fort Mason , San Francisco, CA
Mon, Mar 24, 2008

Ladytron with Datarock, Delta Fiasco
The Fillmore , San Francisco, CA
Tue, May 27, 2008

The Cure with 65daysofstatic
HP Pavilion At San Jose , San Jose, CA
Wed, May 28, 2008

R.E.M. with Modest Mouse plus The National
Greek Theatre-U.C. Berkeley , Berkeley, CA
Sat, May 31, 2008

The Police with special guest Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Shoreline Amphitheatre , Mountain View, CA
Mon, Jul 14, 2008


Plus:

Rothbury Festival

Rothbury's current confirmed lineup:

The Dave Matthews Band
Widespread Panic
John Mayer
311
Primus
Thievery Corporation
Snoop Dogg
Modest Mouse
...and more to be announced.


All Points West Music & Art Festival

The ALL POINTS WEST MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL LINE-UP (as of 2/21) is as follows: Radiohead, Jack Johnson, Underworld, Kings of Leon, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Cat Power, The Roots, The New Pornographers, Youssou N'Dour, Animal Collective, Andrew Bird, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Metric, CSS, Girl Talk, Chromeo, The Go! Team, Amadou & Mariam, The Black Angels, Sia, The Felice Brothers, K'Naan, Jason Isbell, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Alberta Cross, The Virgins, Black Kids, Mates of State, Duffy, Forro in the Dark, Nicole Atkins, Juana Molina, Little Brother, Rogue Wave, Neil Halstead and Your Vegas.



and the just announced Outside Lands Festival


Radiohead
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Jack Johnson
Beck
Wilco
Manu Chao
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals
Widespread Panic
Primus
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Steve Winwood
Café Tacvba
Broken Social Scene
...and more to be announced.

米國第一發！

Hard ticket in hand!!!




經過craiglist上數度周旋以及尋找，終於找到一個不算太扯的scalper，約在Mountain View面交。這位開著紅色FordExplorer的大叔本人也頗nice(電話中覺得頗恐怖的)，還問我喜不喜歡Marilyn Manson，說這場也是sold out但他手中還有票噢，我回說因為初到貴寶地交通不便唱太晚的只得割愛 blahblahblah...

Foo Fighters也算是高中以來就一直都滿喜歡的團。特別是前Nirvana的鼓手，現在的主唱兼吉他Dave Grohl，根本就是熱血搖滾的代名詞，an excellent frontman。大學時也和朋友應邀在新光三越和某個中壢文化祭表演過他們的My Hero，當時就是看了這段影片(當然不是在youtube, 那時候還沒有哩)然後抓歌copy



值得一提的是貝斯手先前的團Sunny Day Real Estate（晴天不動產）也很好聽。此外我也很喜歡鼓手Taylor Hawkins，陽光金髮加州帥哥，punch很夠力，打起鼓來氣勢十足，渾身帥勁。可以看看他和Dave兩人合作的Stairway to Heaven：



看了這兩段影片覺得年輕的Dave真是青澀...


Foo Fighters的MV常充滿詼諧(Long Road to Ruin)，有時也有著自省對話式的片段(Everlong, Times Like These)，不過都會保持著正面積極面對人生的感覺，實在很喜歡他們的作品。這次終於能夠親臨現場，也算一償宿願。


See you next weekend, Dave!

這位太太加蛋不加價 @ The Wall, 台北 10/25

前天晚上去了The Wall看這位太太菜籃巡迴最終場。

方Q要當兵了，所以這好像是一次精心準備的暫別演出。之前在新竹誠品看過他們一次不插電，感覺相當好，所以就順道拉了論文寫道悶悶不樂的瓶一起去。到了The Wall還再排隊買票就有一個擦肩的路人叫住我。原來是小虎，好久沒見了到他了。不過今天晚上人不算很多(禮拜四)，所以遇到太太親友應援團也不意外。

第一個set是一個叫做Veraqueen的實驗電民搖團體，之前好像有聽過(?)，吉他手還是kBN的成員。結果聽下來果然跟猜想的差不多。簡單來說，就是那種其實歌沒很好聽編曲也一般，可是網路上的照片宣傳文字還有舞台動作都很酷帥美麗的那種。可能是我對於實驗性質的聲響領悟力有待加強吧。對了瘦瘦高高的吉他手的鼻子比我還挺，可惡輸了。

由於他們的音樂實在不怎麼動聽，所以我幾乎都在發呆或是和小虎聊天。等了很久，這位太太終於粉墨豋場。很好聽，完整的編制聽起來感覺相當滿足。花俏的方Q人高馬大晃來晃去去彈琴很酷，兩個女主唱合聲的線條實在很喜歡，而且終於聽到他們唱I force myself to think in English。中場還有MV拍攝的幕後花絮，他們真是個有趣的樂團。

算一算總共唱了當晚的演出總共分成三段。兩位女主唱相親相愛的對話著，搭配三個低調男生，完全表現了這個樂團的音樂性格。不過最經典的就是最後一段的演出，把他們專輯其中幾首歌的混音師蛋老師和他的midi器材請上台，終於聽到了帶電又充滿獨特復古風味的而我!這首歌是我心目中，台灣音樂史上有vocal的電子舞曲前五名阿。說真的在應該稍微整理一下丟給王菲唱，一定會紅的！而今天的bonus還不只如此，其他的樂手也沒閒著。不只在附歌加入了有如斧頭幫的惡搞舞蹈。方Q還扮演演奏小鼓的機器人，搭配著percussion和主唱的機械舞步，和迷離超現實的歌曲超搭的。真的是很用心，個人認為這已經超出取悅觀眾的層次，而是另外一種表達音樂整體感的新鮮方式。

回家之後仍然不停的repeat著她們的音樂。一個樂團最難得的就是態度和完整性，這位太太兩者都具備了。希望他們能繼續把玩不同的音樂元素，寫出更多好聽的歌曲。


PS：不得不說，樂手實力+有魅力的主唱，畢竟還是一個成功樂團的必備條件阿！

照片來源：MKWiz、Elisee和bearpa的Flickr相簿。