Thats Why I Hold You

I've Got A Friend Whos A Genius, No One Listens To Him.

I will be off this site for the next week or so. I have the Boston Marathon happening. Not that I'm running it, I should be so lucky. Its expo set up, expo itself, and the aftermath, feeling down, taking a day or 2 to recover, and getting back into routine. Its all so predictable. I am taking it very easy this year, although I'm sure I'll have a good go of it one of the nights. I wonder why the good times at these events maintain considering its the same people at every one. Then I think about good times in general, its usually always with the same people. I could go out every weekend with my mates back on the old sod like I did for many years and still hurt from laughing so much. To prepare I rocked some training this weekend. 3.5 hours on Saturday, and 2.5 hours Sunday over hilly loops around Northern Rhode Island. I am very unfit and overweight but a lot of this work will put me straight.

Canadians Stars released a new song from their forthcoming album The Five Ghosts which is expected in June. The lyrics are sung by Amy and she sounds fantastic. I do enjoy this band and love their melancholic lyrics fused with uplifting synths. This track is called Fixed

Love Kel

Sum Up Three Days

In Three Songs. I ended a 3 night concert tour and I am refreshed. I rode an hour on the trainer and ran 15 minutes with Frankie and Kim. I am lost and questioning after the last three nights. Worrying about pain in my knees because I can't run the way I want and yet I can travel and see/hear performances like I was fortunate enough to over the last week. What have I to really worry about when their is beauty like this? Three vids from each show. Look, listen, cry, sing, dance, be inspired.

Love Kel

Cymbal Rush from Roseland Ballroom, NYC


New Song by Wolf Parade, Toronto. Its silly how good the track is.



Present Tense, Thom Yorke, Citi-Wang Theater Boston. Epic.

Atoms For Peace

Unreal show last night at the Roseland Ballroom. They played the eraser album from start to finish and then Thom broke into 3 solo songs including "All For The Best", "Fog", and "Everything In Its Right Place". They followed that up with another obscure Radiohead song from the Com Lag EP called "Paperbag Writer". Thom is on a completely different level right now. His energy and passion when performing the Eraser songs infected the crowd and created a unique atmosphere. It was like a sweaty Rave from 1995. Uncontrolled dancing, people bouncing off each other with a smile, and no negative attitudes (although one dude stood by me and tried to light a cigarette, I got angry for a minute) I am now in Toronto having coffee with Frankie and tonight we will bow down at the alter of Wolf Parade! Awesome.

Check out All For The Best below,

Love Kel

Sing Me To Sleep

AM: 2 Hours Bike Ride
PM: 15 Minutes Run

I took part in the Providence Bike morning ride today. Lovely group of people and very enthusiastic, however a little too slow unfortunately. I am not a bike rider, nor do I claim to be but I have a big engine and the pace was too slow. We set off at a slow pace and at times we would get going only to regroup at every intersection. Its all very cool and friendly but I wanted to keep pushing and get a good ride in so after 40 minutes I had to break away and bid the group best wishes before riding a 20 minute tempo ride over hills. My HR was very high and the hills were like mountains. I'm fat and slow and horribly unfit but lots of this work will swiftly whip me into shape.

I was pretty tired when it was all done, clearly pushing too hard on the hills. I spent the day cleaning more stuff from the basement and after watching an epic Tour Of Flanders I went out and cruised 15 minutes around the street. My calf was like a rock after the run but my knee didn't hurt too much, only when I landed too much on my forefoot. I'm trying to avoid heel striking by landing more mid-foot and under my center of gravity. Whatever it takes to protect these old man knees.

I have a bit of a crazy week ahead so tomorrow I will do another solid run and short bike session. It will set up my concert tour and allow me the pleasure of a few days off to let the knee settle down and the enjoyment of some good beer and food. Tomorrow night I am going to a Tour Of Flanders party (even though I watched tonight) so it will be a nice start to a mental week.

Wolf Parade have announced that they will call their new album Expo 86 and it should drop sometime in June. It may even be a double album. They are playing 6 or 7 new songs on the mini tour and I am very eager to hear them. I have a little Thom Yorke action before that however so the emotion will be running high!

Love Kel

Spend Boring Hours In The Office Tower

AM: 1:50 Bike Ride, 7 Minutes Run PM: 13 Minutes Run

What a fantastic morning for a bike ride. 65 degrees, light wind, little traffic, lots of energy. I hit the bike path and saw the minor damage from the flood. It wasn't that bad considering the rest of the state. I didn't stay long mind you because the path was jammers with families enjoying the first really warm Saturday of the year. It was nice to see the turn off to Rt. 116 so I could bang out hard miles on the hills. I realized how unfit I was when after the first climb (basic hill) had me reeling and holding back vomit. I provided my body with ample rest, food, and drink over the last few months. You'd think it would give me back some business rather than debt. After the third hill on the road I was cooked and my lap of Log road was really just riding at hard running pace. When I got back I decided to do my 8 minute running loop and ended up coming through the mile at sub 6 minute pace (my first since March 2009). Not realizing I was running so fast there was a little shock when I saw the watch. Clearly getting off the bike, triathlon style, and running soon after leads to higher cadence and thus pace. The legs are dead either way.

I went for a solid 13 minutes with Kim in the afternoon at the more reasonable 7 minute pace that I should be running at. It was pretty nice and I felt like I could go further and hit the 20 minute mark but I exercised caution and swung by the house after 13 mins. No ill effects at all. Went grabbed dinner and a beer, and now I feel like I haven't done any running at all. Amazing.
Tomorrow is more riding and a run in the second half of the day. I'll bump it up to 15 minutes I think.

Since I'm seeing them on Wednesday and because I love them so much, heres a bit of Wolf Parade,

Love Kel

A Punctured Bicycle On A Hillside Desolate

AM: 8 Minutes
PM: 8 Minutes, 30 Minutes Trainer

Its not really worth taking about my training from today. 2 loops around the usual streets and a quick 30 minutes on the trainer. I told Kim I needed to do a quick ride but she was to force me off the bike (not sure how she would do that) if I chose to stay on. It all worked out in the end and the basic training was followed by comfortable Thai food. Pat arrived on the scene late and the day of clean up ended with some good laughs and the Premier Preview show.

We have most of the basement dried out and all my stuff is scattered around the back garden. I am going to salvage some items and some will go to the salvation army. Most will get thrown out. Life simplified and less clutter. Tomorrow I do some real training. My first real training of the year. I'm very fired up about it and to usher in some dreams I'll continue listening to Letting Up Despite Great Faults

All lovely in 41 Rome,

Kel

Rain Down On Me

I've heard all the stories about flooded basements. What happened in RI this week was beyond a simple flooding of basements. The whole state was flooded. However in my little world all that matters is the 200-300 destroyed records that soaked up the water and all its contaminants(if there are any, I'm not holding on to them to find out) and I feel pretty depressed about it.

I was on the road for work when I got the call from Kim that the basement had 3-5 inches of water in it. Its never flooded before, but RI never had flooding like it did last week. Because of the history of a perfectly dry basement I stored all my stuff, music, pics/posters/framed stuff, documents, and clothes in a corner of the room. All on the ground. I was really pissed off when I heard but we had some important meetings. I stayed on the road but couldn't focus so jumped on a plane and came back.

While in Chicago it was great to catch up with my good friend Derek Holland but I missed out on coffee with Mike D (plans were to meet on Friday morning) So what lies ahead is a lot of Wet Vac and a lot of seeing what I can salvage. The situation in the State and in Southern Mass is dire and I feel so sorry for the people who's homes are destroyed. I heard about peoples cars, motorbikes, garages etc, all wrecked. Brutal.

Completely wired right now. No desire to sleep and I'm under no illusions that it will happen before 3 or 4 am. Kim did a great Job cleaning up so I'll have to pull my weight in the morning.

Speaking of tomorrow, its going to be beautiful. Chicago was alive with the energy of spring, the summer temps heating up the streets. I think it hit 86 degrees today. Hopefully its like that tomorrow. And since spring is most definitely upon us its time for the first summer video I've seen this year. Letting Up Despite Great Faults is a wonderful shoegaze band from LA. I just discovered them and their breezy melody. The music is very charming and the perfect blend of New Order, M83, and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. This is the soundtrack to walking through a lush, green park with coffee in hand and cares far away.

Love Kel

Letting Up Despite Great Faults: "Our Younger Noise" from Christopher j Ewing on Vimeo.