Don't you understand that what I say is true? I just want you to know that I am so in love with you.

[wastedspacejm]

So I just got back from the Ataris acoustic show in Covington. It was a Sunday night and I had a headache, but I love the Ataris and love acoustic music, so I went anyway. 'Twas definitely worth it. The Junior Revolution, Ellison and Bottom Line opened (I bought TJR and Ellison's records), and they all played acoustic as well. To my surprise, a LOT of people left after those three bands, and there were only about 40 people there by the time The Ataris came on. The Ataris (rather, Kris and John from the Ataris) were amazing. They played a lot of songs off of their new album (coming out in April, Kris said) and a bunch of my favorites from the past: The Hero Dies in This One, IOU One Galaxy, So Long Astoria, San Dimas High School Football Rules, Unopened Letter to the World, My Hotel Year, and Road Signs and Rock Songs (and I'm sure there's one or two I'm forgetting). I think it's awesome how a band can get as big as they have, and then the two founding members go and tour the country in a Dodge Neon, playing acoustic shows to 40-50 people. It's cool that they care enough about their fans to do that, and to make it as personal as it was. The kid in front of me shouted out for them to play "The Hero Dies in This One" and Kris basically said fuck the set list and they played it. A few other kids called out requests and they played most of them. I shouted for them to play "The Last Song I Will Ever Write About a Girl" (the movie intro song, Reyan) but Kris said they were running short on time and would try to fit it in, but they didn't. Oh well. After the show Kris sold homemade cd's that were him and John doing acoustic cover songs, so I picked that up. He told me they were doing a full band tour in the spring and most likely stopping in Cincinnati (yay!). Interesting thing I found out: why every time I try to play an Ataris song on the guitar it doesn't sound like the original at all. It's because Kris is left-handed but instead of playing a left-handed guitar, he just takes a right-handed one and flips it upside down, so the high strings are at the top and vice versa. So the chords he plays are different from normal power chords which you would expect from a pop-punk band. I think he uses a slightly different tuning too, and more open strings, and it really makes the songs sound better than they would otherwise, I'm sure. One final thing: their new stuff. I love it, from what I could tell (obviously it won't be acoustic on the album). I've been noticing my musical tastes changing a bit lately (or rather, expanding) to more "mature" music as opposed to the high-schoolish stuff (such as that on the Ataris older albums, although I still love those dearly), and their new stuff is definitely a step in that direction. I'm not talking "maturity" like everyone said about blink-182, where they changed their entire sound, but the songs have a more serious tone to them. It's still obvious that it's the same band, but the songs have changed, and I think it'll rock. Especially the last song they played, which Kris said would be the last song on the new album. The name escapes me, but it was awesome.

Ok end of story, I need to get some sleep.