NO SUBJECT. :|
Okay, this entry might be long.
I've been procrastinating this entry for almost a week now. Which, as I've said before, I shouldn't do if only to avoid having to write and bore whoever reads this with a heaping pile of babble. Anyway... ahem.
The Concert
I had it all planned out. Since the drive was ten minutes short of two hours and there is typically a lot of traffic headed upstate, I factored in stop-and-go, food and probably missing an exit or two. Four o'clock sounded like a good hour of departure. The night before was spent at John's dad's place in New Kent with John and Matt Dority. They were picking me up after twelve hours of driving, so they were too sleepy to continue on to Richmond. The next day, due to a few errands that had to be run, we were put back an hour and we instead left at five... which was fine, too, since the doors opened at seven; the actual show due to start at eight.
It was raining all day. So, traffic was slower than usual. Around 6:30 pm, we stopped to eat at a Mexican restaurant with the fastest service I have ever experienced at a sit-down place. We were out at 7:00 with a half hour left on the road. John studied both the mapquest directions and the map. We would have been just in time. 'Would have' being the key words here.
However, John somehow misread the directions and we missed our exit, having to back-track in slow-moving traffic another half an hour or more. Thus, getting us at the DAR Constitution Hall at 9:00. I was beyond pissed. I paid a lot of money to go and I was not about to miss a fucking hour of Tori Amos. I tried to calm down and convince myself that shows almost always start later than the designated time. Chill out. It didn't work well. I was still angry. So, John pulled up to the door, let me out and I went inside while he parked.
I ambled inside with my half-crumpled ticket and handed it to the first usher I came to. "Did the show start on time?" I asked. I could already hear Tori playing and I was rolling around in misery on the inside, thinking about how late I was.
But, to my immense relief, she shook her head. "No. This is probably the second song I've heard."
I almost kissed her, I was so relieved. I was escorted to my (surprisingly good!) seat and enjoyed the last couple of songs on Act I, performed by the white-haired Isabel. I was fairly close to the stage and had a great view. Pretty good for being the cheapest tickets I could find online.
Then, after a short interlude of a "Professional Widow" remix (love), she came out again as herself... wearing the most unexpected of things: a sparkly, star-spangled jumpsuit. It was hilarious. But I figure a woman who can play two pianos simultaneously can wear whatever the hell she wants and wear it fabulously. Anyway, I think I know why she did it: We were literally blocks away from the White House... and I don't think it was because she lurves America.
She played for about two hours and had a great set. I was thrilled to hear "Leather" and "Precious Things." "Bouncing off Clouds" sounded great. I read several reviews from other concert-goers that consisted of nothing but complaints. Maybe it was because I had just seen her live for the first time and I was kind of starry-eyed the whole time that I thought it was fantastic. But aside from getting there late and missing the opening band, I thought the experience was rewarding and I hope that I will have a chance to see her again. (And if I do, I'll make damn sure I'm not late!)
After the show was over, I went to go see what sort of t-shirts there were for sale. First of all, I didn't really like any of them. There wasn't one that even had so much as her name on it. Mostly just bits of song lyrics. I wouldn't have minded that so much either if they weren't forty dollars. I was really hoping on not walking out empty-handed, but the only thing they had other than shirts were fancy little program booklets. The lady at the booth yelled out for the ones who just wanted one of those and I had spied someone else grab one. I must have missed the exchange of money, however, because when I came up with my hand outstretched, I was unpleasantly surprised to hear her say, "Twenty bucks."
I just kind of stood there like an idiot for a second, thinking, "Bwuh?! I bought the new album for less than that!"
So... I left with just my ticket as a souvenir. Le sigh.
There was no meet and greet, either. Le pooh.
I tried to get a crappy cell phone picture during the show, but I couldn't get a good shot at all. Despite how close I was, she still looked like a blob on the screen. So, to make up for that, I'll post a youtube video I found. The quality's not great and it bounces around a lot, but it was pretty much all there was.
Across the Universe
I saw this with John before we left for the concert. (One of the reasons we started out late... the movie was nearly three hours long. Oopsie.) I had wanted to see this for a long time. I remember seeing a random preview for it on a DVD I rented back when I worked at Movie Gallery. The visuals looked stunning and I was dying for it to come out. I talked it up so much, it was borderline ridiculous. It was set in the 1960s, about a young man from Liverpool who jumped ship to America right in the middle of the revolution. It looked beautiful.
So, I was stoked. The movie started... and maybe ten minutes into it, we came to the shocking realization that it was actually a musical. But, being the dweeb that I am, I enjoy a good musical. Plus, it was almost all Beatles covers. Appropriate and clever. But, I was worried because I sat there next to John who seemed rather dismayed. So, I was thinking, "Shit. I forced him to come see this movie with me and he hates it. Great."
But after a few of the really crazy scenes (and there were quite a few) I was utterly in love. I didn't even care anymore if John wanted to put a fork in my face. The movie was great. I strongly recommend it.
(After it was over, though, I discovered that he actually enjoyed it about as much as I did. Bwaha.)
Jacob and Company
I finally got to hang out with Jacob, his girlfriend Serra and her friend Pat. Unfortunately, BJ had to work a double-shift. So I brought my cameras and my tripod along for no reason. For a while we just sat around the apartment and watched music videos. Then Serra offered to model for me so I would have something to do with my cameras. So, she dressed up in this pretty oriental dress, put on eye make-up and a wig… and she was stunning. It was a completely winged photo shoot, but I had plenty of fun doing it. Not to mention, she's a wonderful model. She got really into it and when the model is into it, I'm into it. If there isn't much interest involved from the other party, I usually just want to stop no matter how cool I think the idea is.
I'll have the pictures up after I get those ones of Ben up. I was going to edit them all tonight, but I got distracted by this entry and I've been writing it for a couple of hours now. Stupid.
Nearing the end of the shoot, Jacob came outside and popped into a few of the pictures. I think out of everyone I know, Jacob makes me laugh the most. I hope to see them more often than I have since they moved into their new place. They’re good company.
Wow. I've been holding my bladder in for about twenty minutes. It's making me write horribly and my little pee-pee dance makes me feel like a kindergartener. So, yeah. I had another section I was going to add, but I'll put it in a friends only entry and you're completely entitled to ignore it.
In short, the passed couple of weeks have been pretty nice.
I've been procrastinating this entry for almost a week now. Which, as I've said before, I shouldn't do if only to avoid having to write and bore whoever reads this with a heaping pile of babble. Anyway... ahem.
The Concert
I had it all planned out. Since the drive was ten minutes short of two hours and there is typically a lot of traffic headed upstate, I factored in stop-and-go, food and probably missing an exit or two. Four o'clock sounded like a good hour of departure. The night before was spent at John's dad's place in New Kent with John and Matt Dority. They were picking me up after twelve hours of driving, so they were too sleepy to continue on to Richmond. The next day, due to a few errands that had to be run, we were put back an hour and we instead left at five... which was fine, too, since the doors opened at seven; the actual show due to start at eight.
It was raining all day. So, traffic was slower than usual. Around 6:30 pm, we stopped to eat at a Mexican restaurant with the fastest service I have ever experienced at a sit-down place. We were out at 7:00 with a half hour left on the road. John studied both the mapquest directions and the map. We would have been just in time. 'Would have' being the key words here.
However, John somehow misread the directions and we missed our exit, having to back-track in slow-moving traffic another half an hour or more. Thus, getting us at the DAR Constitution Hall at 9:00. I was beyond pissed. I paid a lot of money to go and I was not about to miss a fucking hour of Tori Amos. I tried to calm down and convince myself that shows almost always start later than the designated time. Chill out. It didn't work well. I was still angry. So, John pulled up to the door, let me out and I went inside while he parked.
I ambled inside with my half-crumpled ticket and handed it to the first usher I came to. "Did the show start on time?" I asked. I could already hear Tori playing and I was rolling around in misery on the inside, thinking about how late I was.
But, to my immense relief, she shook her head. "No. This is probably the second song I've heard."
I almost kissed her, I was so relieved. I was escorted to my (surprisingly good!) seat and enjoyed the last couple of songs on Act I, performed by the white-haired Isabel. I was fairly close to the stage and had a great view. Pretty good for being the cheapest tickets I could find online.
Then, after a short interlude of a "Professional Widow" remix (love), she came out again as herself... wearing the most unexpected of things: a sparkly, star-spangled jumpsuit. It was hilarious. But I figure a woman who can play two pianos simultaneously can wear whatever the hell she wants and wear it fabulously. Anyway, I think I know why she did it: We were literally blocks away from the White House... and I don't think it was because she lurves America.
She played for about two hours and had a great set. I was thrilled to hear "Leather" and "Precious Things." "Bouncing off Clouds" sounded great. I read several reviews from other concert-goers that consisted of nothing but complaints. Maybe it was because I had just seen her live for the first time and I was kind of starry-eyed the whole time that I thought it was fantastic. But aside from getting there late and missing the opening band, I thought the experience was rewarding and I hope that I will have a chance to see her again. (And if I do, I'll make damn sure I'm not late!)
After the show was over, I went to go see what sort of t-shirts there were for sale. First of all, I didn't really like any of them. There wasn't one that even had so much as her name on it. Mostly just bits of song lyrics. I wouldn't have minded that so much either if they weren't forty dollars. I was really hoping on not walking out empty-handed, but the only thing they had other than shirts were fancy little program booklets. The lady at the booth yelled out for the ones who just wanted one of those and I had spied someone else grab one. I must have missed the exchange of money, however, because when I came up with my hand outstretched, I was unpleasantly surprised to hear her say, "Twenty bucks."
I just kind of stood there like an idiot for a second, thinking, "Bwuh?! I bought the new album for less than that!"
So... I left with just my ticket as a souvenir. Le sigh.
There was no meet and greet, either. Le pooh.
I tried to get a crappy cell phone picture during the show, but I couldn't get a good shot at all. Despite how close I was, she still looked like a blob on the screen. So, to make up for that, I'll post a youtube video I found. The quality's not great and it bounces around a lot, but it was pretty much all there was.
Across the Universe
I saw this with John before we left for the concert. (One of the reasons we started out late... the movie was nearly three hours long. Oopsie.) I had wanted to see this for a long time. I remember seeing a random preview for it on a DVD I rented back when I worked at Movie Gallery. The visuals looked stunning and I was dying for it to come out. I talked it up so much, it was borderline ridiculous. It was set in the 1960s, about a young man from Liverpool who jumped ship to America right in the middle of the revolution. It looked beautiful.
So, I was stoked. The movie started... and maybe ten minutes into it, we came to the shocking realization that it was actually a musical. But, being the dweeb that I am, I enjoy a good musical. Plus, it was almost all Beatles covers. Appropriate and clever. But, I was worried because I sat there next to John who seemed rather dismayed. So, I was thinking, "Shit. I forced him to come see this movie with me and he hates it. Great."
But after a few of the really crazy scenes (and there were quite a few) I was utterly in love. I didn't even care anymore if John wanted to put a fork in my face. The movie was great. I strongly recommend it.
(After it was over, though, I discovered that he actually enjoyed it about as much as I did. Bwaha.)
Jacob and Company
I finally got to hang out with Jacob, his girlfriend Serra and her friend Pat. Unfortunately, BJ had to work a double-shift. So I brought my cameras and my tripod along for no reason. For a while we just sat around the apartment and watched music videos. Then Serra offered to model for me so I would have something to do with my cameras. So, she dressed up in this pretty oriental dress, put on eye make-up and a wig… and she was stunning. It was a completely winged photo shoot, but I had plenty of fun doing it. Not to mention, she's a wonderful model. She got really into it and when the model is into it, I'm into it. If there isn't much interest involved from the other party, I usually just want to stop no matter how cool I think the idea is.
I'll have the pictures up after I get those ones of Ben up. I was going to edit them all tonight, but I got distracted by this entry and I've been writing it for a couple of hours now. Stupid.
Nearing the end of the shoot, Jacob came outside and popped into a few of the pictures. I think out of everyone I know, Jacob makes me laugh the most. I hope to see them more often than I have since they moved into their new place. They’re good company.
Wow. I've been holding my bladder in for about twenty minutes. It's making me write horribly and my little pee-pee dance makes me feel like a kindergartener. So, yeah. I had another section I was going to add, but I'll put it in a friends only entry and you're completely entitled to ignore it.
In short, the passed couple of weeks have been pretty nice.