Daniel Johnston

Mr. Johnston played at the 930 Club on October 13th. I knew of him from only one song, "To Go Home". And to be fair, I only knew his rendition because M Ward covered it on Post War.

When I first listened to his version, I thought for sure it must have been a shitty cover by some kid who didn't know how to use his mic. Reading about Daniel, though, I realized that it must be the right version. And it really, really grew on me. I've had Daniel in the back of my mind since.

It ended up being the night I got back from Boston, and I bought a ticket rather last minute, so I just went by myself and sat in the balcony with a tasty beverage.

The opener (and, it turned out, the backing band) was The Capitol Years. I don't know what it was, considering that Pitchfork and the guys next to me seem to think they're great, but I was very unimpressed. I'll give it a listen and see if they do better in the studio. During the dozen songs they did with Daniel they were fine enough, still nothing too exciting. I also wish that bands could try to think of something other than skinny jeans to wear.

When Daniel played his little basic guitar, using little basic frenetic strums, staring at the ground or at his sheet music, it was really interesting. He was incredibly nervous despite having decades of performing experience. He apologized numerous times and the crowd always shouted back words of ardent support. When he was just singing, he'd grip the mic stand with both trembling hands, I think both out of passion and out of nervousness.



Some of the original songs were really on, some were a little less inspired to me. He did a handful of Beatles covers (apparently he's a huge fan), which were fun. Most of his originals, sung in his high-pitched, nasal voice, were about loneliness and confusion.

His performance was very inspiring in an unexpected way. Something about having such ability and passion combined with such hurdles in the way of a professional music career. It probably also helped to know that I could easily play anything he had written.

Overall, a pretty interesting guy. I'd like to get my hands on the documentary, The Devil and Daniel Johnston. At the very least, he's the only musician/songwriter for whom I've paid $35 to see based on one song.

Boston

Columbus Day weekend meant going up to Tufts for Homecoming, which was a nice excuse to visit the great Northeast and great lady. Taking off a day on either end made the trip all the more enticing. It was a great time.

There was lots of eating, running, sleeping, and some drinking at times as well. As opposed to last year, we had a nice and sunny Homecoming, which made tailgating both fun and actually happen.

The parents came down as Johanna was checking out colleges, including Tufts, so I got to see them for a couple hours and get a bag of stuff for the new place (if I was going to carry a small rug on my back across Xinjiang, I certainly was going to have it in the room. That's just common sense).



Sunday, after some searching, was very successful apple picking. There's no better way to celebrate the fall.



If only the leaves had been a little further along. If only everywhere were like Maine...

A New Home

This weekend I started what will become an eventual move into the city itself. I'll be on Park Rd between 14th and 16th in Columbia Heights, right near its border with Mount Pleasant.



Columbia Heights is a pretty sweet area. I discovered that it's originally named after Columbian College, the school that would become George Washington University (through this discovery I also learned that the city of Washington only became contiguous with the District of Columbia in 1871, thereby eliminating Washington County DC and Georgetown as a separate entity), which originally existed in this area before moving downtown.

The area is in various forms of gentrification, which means that rubbing shoulders are people of a wide racial and socioeconomic background. Strong Hispanic presence, mostly Salvadoran I think. About half the time while moving in there was at least one Spanish radio station wafting through the windows from somewhere down the street.



Such a cultural mix also works well in terms of what the area has to offer. A block away is Tivoli Square (Tivoli Theater pictured above) and the metro is one block south after that. It's an area that's constantly buzzing with activity.

Within a five minute walk is everything we could need in terms of box stores with a good smattering of Salvadoran groceries and hole-in-the-wall little eateries. Being able to walk to a Giant, Target, CVS, Best Buy, and a couple liquor stores takes care of most apartment needs right there, and the area still feels city-residential. That's a huge perk.



Behind the apartment are some sports fields presumably used by the adjacent Columbia Heights Education Center, but also by a myriad assortment of soccer and kickball groups, organized and un-. We're a few doors down from a big Catholic church too, but no bells on Sunday mornings yet.



The house itself is newly renovated with lots of common space and a nice back deck that's just begging for a grill. There's four of us there, all '08 graduates (me, Doug of Tufts, David of CSIS and Bowdoin, and Rachel of Northwestern). My room is pretty modest but big enough for what I need. I won't actually be living in it for another week or so due to taking a long Columbus Day weekend to go up to Boston, then house/petsitting for the host parents after that, but it feels good to have some stuff moved in at least.

It'll also be nice to have my commute into the middle of the city cut in half, by metro or bus. This will also mean that I won't have to factor in an hour+ to get back to a bed on nights out. I'm looking forward to that.

So yeah, there was a good amount of lugging heavy stuff over the weekend, mostly kind donations from the people David has been staying with. Once the place is all set and we have them over, they'll feel right at home among their old furniture. This has been my first need to use craigslist and it's made me realize what a great resource it is.

Living up across the border in Maryland has been a great time and a huge help, but I'm definitely looking forward to the new place, even if it's still a couple weeks away for me. I haven't lived with people my own age since college, which is frighteningly over a year ago, so it's feeling about time.

This also means I can finally check off "get an apartment" from my gmail to-do list. Your time will come, "get a real job" check box, it will come.