On Friday we went with some friends to see The Decemberists at the Avalon, a club near Fenway park. Fantastic! The theatricality of their music comes out even more on stage. I’m not generally a fan of “indie rock” as a genre (not sure the Decemberists even fit into that category), but these guys are really good and fun.

Also saw Casino Royale this weekend. Meh. I guess, despite my best efforts, I’ve never been able to become a real fan of the Bond series. The character has always struck me as fundamentally uninteresting. CR was certainly far better than most of the recent Bond movies, but still not as good, qua spy thriller, as something like, say, The Bourne Identity. Took itself a bit too seriously too.

Oh, and speaking of indie rockers – Arcade Fire, what’s up with these guys? I’ve only listened to a few songs, but what I get is fairly well-crafted Springsteen-esque pop. OK, but nothing to justify the preposterous amount of hype surrounding this band. Can anyone ‘splain this to me?