City of New Haven!

Well, I found out who won that contest in a rather odd turn of events. I noticed I was getting a bunch of hits (yep, it's that sitemeter once again) from a myspace profile that belonged to a person that I wrongly assumed I knew. When I went to check it out I found a comment that read:

"im stoked to read your review and all, but i kinda wish sethcohen had won instead. i mean, c'mon. he is clearly dying a virgin and and think how epically a date with ben would have slid into that spankbank."

Yeah, thanks a lot. Really boosted my self-esteem bunches right there. A little harsh, no?

So apparently it's this girl, Eliz, who won the contest. This girl was far from the top of who I though were legit competitors for this thing. She came off as one of the dozens of other cynical fucks who mocked other fans more than instead saying why she herself should win:

"pick me because i refuse to spend the $45 or whatever the fuck it is to get in. pick me because i have a useless photojournalism degree and would take better pictures there than these 16 year olds with their new christmas-gift canon powershots. i can also use semicolons correctly, and i have an actual vocabulary, so you'll get a dandy little write-up. pick me because i've already met and hung out with ben and don't really give a fuck about doing it again but i'd like to hear what he and nick've got to say to the undoubtedly retarded questions that will spew forth from the masses."

Wow.

On the bright side, I did manage to be front row, right at the stage for Ben Gibbard's solo set at Bowery Ballroom last night - a great spot for blocking out and ignoring the drunks that apparently filled a healthy portion of the crowd, besides this one girl who stood right next to me and got the wrong rhythm for "Sounds of Settling" making Ben start the song over (which actually came off as flawed and wonderful, much like his botched ending of "Why You'd Want To Live Here"), and she also kept requesting or possibly just declaring "The City of New Haven." WTF. She was cool in my book, though. She bought drinks for my friends for saving her spot before the show began.

Andrew Kenny (of American Analog Set) opened. He came off as sort of a poor man's Elliott Smith. Matthew Caws (of Nada Surf) was next, and he showed a great sense of humor, and played some fantastic upbeat songs, along with some new stuff. Ben said people must've been wondering why he was playing this show, and said that they were in town for SNL at the end of the week, and just sort of threw the show together at the last minute. He declined most requests - including mine for "We Will Become Silhouettes" and "Earth Angel" (which Death Cab covered for the Stubbs the Zombie sountrack) - and played what he wanted to play, which really made for a superb set list:

Brand New Colony
Photobooth
Title and Registration
You Remind Me Of Home (from the Home Volume V EP)
(This Is) The Dream Of Evan And Chan (Dntel)
Why You'd Want To Live Here
It'll Be A Breeze (Long Winters cover)
Recycled Air
Crooked Teeth
405
Title Track
I Hate To See You Cry (Alan "real geeky stuff" Hull cover)
Farmer Chords (from the Home Volume V EP)
Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow (Monkees/Neil Diamond cover)
The Sound Of Settling
Such Great Heights
ENCORE:
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
A Lack Of Color
Hold On (Spiritualized cover)

Melissa hasn't sent me the photos from last night yet, but minaka's flickr has some great ones of Gibbard and Kenny. More pictures along with other accounts of the show are at Stereogum, Central Village, Brooklyn Vegan, and thegoodlife_863's LiveJournal. Looks like Central Village and Stereogum were right behind me, and minaka right next to me, or they have awesome cameras.

Here's Death Cab's cover of "Earth Angel" and them doing "Photobooth" from the live John Byrd EP:
M4A: Death Cab for Cutie - Earth Angel
M4A: Death Cab for Cutie - Photobooth


Jidiots: Part Deux
On another note, Kelsey Flynn gave me my requested call while I was out to lunch and more or less told me that there was nothing to talk about. It was a brief conversation she didn't really seem like she wanted to have. She's also blogged about it some more. Still no apology to me, though, only to Susannah and Liz, who e-mailed her after she was concerned the relationship between the Jidiots and Mission: IMPROVable might've been damaged. No pressure, Kelsey. Let's just stop keeping score, everyone. Please.