Nickel Creek at Loeb Playhouse

The no-camera policy last night was insane, but I'm quite the ninja.

For reasons unimportant to the story, I got to see the show for free, and because it was free, I skipped the opening act which wasn't very good (who the f is Tiff Merritt? I mean, she's not even on wikipedia.) and went to the Stewart computer lab to finish some stuff up instead.

As a big country music fan, I was pretty psyched for the show. The audience was about 70% middle-age or elderly while the rest was comprised of college students. I encountered a few drunks here and there but they were pretty tame. I think I might have been the only minority in the entire auditorium.

The applause that Nickel Creek received upon their entrance was rather weak. However, the show was stunning. From the manic playing by Chris Thile on his mandolin to the soft croonings of Sara Watkins, I was left in complete awe by their talent. They occasionally broke into dialogue between songs and it was during their free exchanges that I saw what chemistry the band members have with each other. I kept imagining how fun it must be on their tour bus. Sean Watkins broke one of his guitar strings at the beginning of one of their songs and the music immediately stopped. That is how you know they were doing their own thing (it would be a grave insult to accuse them of otherwise). Bass-playing Mark Schatz broke into a clog dance which was surprise enough in and of itself but even more so when Chris joined him. The cover of Britney Spear's Toxic was also quite wonderful.

Amazingly talented group. All the members came out afterwards (save for Sara) to give autographs. I was fourth in line, w00t! However, I was so nervous to talk to Chris the prodigy that I forgot to shake his hand. His cup looked like (and kind of smelled like) hard liquor (it was yellowish-orangy-brownish so maybe tequila?). I had a nice little exchange with Sean about John Frizzell though.

I have tons of respect for this group now. Too bad they're breaking up indefinitely after their tour ends in 2007.

From outside Stanley Coulter - a touch of fall.

From inside Stanley Coulter.

Diversity Coming Soon

Should there be a question mark?

Best of Tippecanoe Craigslist

Best of Tippecanoe Craigslist (as chosen by me):

11/26/06 - Seeking Milk Maid - M4W

Wilco tickets still available; what’s your problem, Purdue?

I cannot understand why there are still tickets available for this show. Wilco is probably one of the best bands of my generation. If this show doesn’t sell well, it’ll just add more fuel to the argument the Lafayette is lame. And I think I will finally believe it if that’s what happens. There are still a couple weeks to get tickets before the October 4th show date, but I’ve heard rumors of cancellation. I will personally kick every student/faculty/staff’s ass if that happens. This time, it’s personal.

In addition, Bloomington’s Early Day Miners will be opening the show. I had heard about them opening for the Michigan and Louisville shows, but not about the show here until a few days ago. So, really, you get to support great independent Indiana music and support the bringing of great national acts like Wilco (that rarely come around here).

Get on it Purdue! There are even some discounts on tickets:

Discounted tickets $20
Group tickets $25

Discounted tickets in the back of the first balcony have just been released. These tickets are $20 and can be purchased at campus box offices or through Ticketmaster.

Groups of 10 or more qualify for the group discount on the best available seats in the theater. Groups will receive one free ticket for every 20 tickets purchased. Group tickets can be purchased through the Convocations office at 494-9071.

Make it happen! Or else!

Information Sign Pt 1

Information Sign Pt 1
Originally uploaded by bloggingpurdue.

Something to make the alumni proud during Homecoming weekend, the info sign got smashed sometime over last weekend.

Information Sign Pt 2

Information Sign Pt 2
Originally uploaded by bloggingpurdue.

Great job of fixing it by the university.(as seen tonight)

Fall

Fall has arrived! Weather wise that is. I couldn't be happier, either. It's so refreshing. If you don't like this weather...well, you're wrong. College weather is fall. Track jackets and sweaters for everyone! I will try and take some pictures today. I will post them if I do, but I'm not promising anything. Go outside and enjoy!

Industrial Roundtable

The Industrial Roundtable today was kind of frustrating mostly because it was rainy and wet outside and completely humid and burning hot inside the Armory. Companies came out to show off their wares and storehouses of free pens. Rolls-Royce easily had the longest line all day, and even though I didn't talk to them, I took one of their business cards because they were the coolest-looking ones (shiny lettering!). A few such as Wal-Mart and Tate & Lyle seemed a bit lonely in comparison to their neighbors. Target, Frito Lay, P&G, Clorox, and Lockheed-Martin were some of the more popular ones as well with lines of 3-4 people most of the time.

Pretty much everybody sweated half their body weight in sweat while trying to look sleek and professional in their business attire. I saw a few girls commit fashion faux paus; flip flops with dress pants (unmatching, even!) and untucked button-up shirts were the most common. I gave them the benefit of the doubt; maybe they came from really far away and forgot their dress shoes. Some guys did not wear ties, but I'm not sure how serious that offense is seeing as how I'm not a guy. At any given time, about 10% of the people in the Armory were casual students who wandered in wanting free stuff and/or a visual experience.



Towards the end of the fair, I saw Halliburton and internally snickered. I was going to ninja a hat just for kicks, but then I figured they would start talking to me and that would have been awkward seeing as how all I wanted was a free hat. You know. Just to own a part of things they financed with their dirty money.

Your last opportunity to visit the Industrial Roundtable is tomorrow at the Armory from 9:30 am - 4 pm. The SMEF company presentations are 10:30 am - 5:30 pm and the actual fair is Thursday from 9 am - 4 pm.

EAS NCAA'07 Challenge over by the Union

Spend much on books lately?

CampusProgress.org has an interesting article up explaining “[w]hy you’re being forced to spend so much on textbooks.”

A Government Accountability Office study found the average was $900 per year for the 2003-2004 academic year. The report also found that between 1986 and 2004 textbooks prices increased an average of six percent per year, well above the rate of inflation.

What are your money saving techniques? Me, I just buy the books, but I try to get used ones if they&rsquo're in nice shape. I also tend to keep my book... the ones I don&rsquo't want to keep are usually never worth anything anyhowways.

Finally, some nice weather!

Here's a shot of me actually doing my ITAL 105 homework on Wednesday. Surprising what nice weather can inspire in someone. Today's weather is no less inspiring. Skateboarding, anyone?

StalkerBook.Com (FaceBook) has become even more stalker friendly with the addition of Mini Feed which provides a convenient place for anyone to catch up on all of your latest FaceBook happenings. Users can go in and manually delete everything from their own min-feed on their profile to hide it from other's views. Guess it's time to eliminate those friends that we don't even know?? This could be a case of FaceBook going too far... guess we will have to wait and see.

Dan on Bike has a shot of today's Breakfast Club More links to pics surely to come.

The game was OK- the season could be good or bad. Today's game wasn't to reassuring. The weather was PERFECT. The band's routine was weird- it makes you appreciate what they do now a lot more.


World's Largest Drum "shot out of cannon" at halftime.

Exponent Hot Non-coupon Deal Alert: 40% off Purdue apparel @ University Bookstore on Monday!

Purdue beat Division I-AA Indiana State today by 8 touchdowns, so the magical Touchdown Monday sale at University Bookstore advertised in Friday's Tailgate Guide kicks in with a massive 40% discount on Purduewear. If it's anything like the last time I tried to shop this sale, you better get there early.

Exponential: OMG throwback issue LOL

If you haven't seen it yet, dodge all the drunk football fans tomorrow and find a copy of Friday's dead-tree Exponent. SO MUCH HELVETICA FUTURA! I don't know how the page design crew replicated the 1966 design using modern technology, but they deserve major propz for pulling it off.

EDIT 16:25 9/2: Willmore pointed out that the headline font used is actually Futura. I regret not obsessively knowing my old-school newspaper fonts.

From Wednesday's free Chipotle. The big floating Burrito in Foil is where Chipotle is. This pic was taken at around noon.

More pics of the BIG EVENT can be found on Push Through The Burn. By the way- Moe's was way busy today... and OH SO GOOD! Sorry Chipotle, I won't be going back and getting sick at your restaurant ever again (perhaps by the end of Span 101 I will know how to tell the crew that myself).