Louden Swain @ The Mint - God Is of the Indie-Rock Persuasion
Blogspot Z: The Last Place to Go for News
Hanging with the beautiful people.
The LA portion of Blogspot Z made its way to Louden Swain’s latest concert, once again held at The Mint. It was a final farewell to their bandfellows City Museum, and if God himself appears to say goodbye to a band, then it’s probably a good idea to show up. I’m just thankful the Christian rock groupies were wrong and God isn’t, in fact, a Jonas Brother.
As pippinlove was off on some retreat with (or without, I was unclear) her husband, that left anya, gilligan and me to forge our way into the hearts and minds of Louden Swain…or at least a cushy booth and some alcoholic beverages.
The night started off with me fearing for my life because we were running late, and anya looked as if she wanted to kill someone. As I was sitting shotgun, that left me at a disadvantage, as I was within her reach. Fortunately, “Pop Tart Heart” came on the iPod at the moment, and my sure death was forestalled for a little while longer.
We arrived at The Mint, and with the secret password (exhibit!) we got in for a discount. Facebook, apparently, has its uses. Valet parking was only $5, so I highly approve of The Mint and its rates of pecuniary compensation. They stamped our forearms with a D, and it only took me until the following morning to realize that it represented the Federal Reserve Bank responsible for issuing that particular bill. D = Cleveland, according to Wikipedia.
Clever, clever Mint.
But back to our original story. glendaglamazon was gracing us with her presence on this outing, and we managed to find the last booth in the place. It was in the very back by the musicians’ entrance to the side of the stage and a tiny bit behind. It wasn’t ideal, but it worked, and it got us some face-to-face God time, so yay back booth!
Plus, we saw a lot of musician ass, so if that works for you, then it was a great seat. We - ok, I, whatever - termed in Borja’s Eye View, since we saw everything from his side of the stage.
Does ogling God’s ass guarantee you a seat in the handbasket to Hell?
We cheered loudly for the band when they introduced themselves, and got a wink and a smile from Rob, as well as a promise not to forget us in the back. Alas, the only truly bad thing about our seat was that we could not see anya’s imaginary boyfriend Steve, the drummer.
"Better"
There is no need for me to remind you all as you should already be aware of this fact, but this band is AWESOME. They have an endlessly entertaining live show because their personalities and their enjoyment in what they are doing totally come through. They hit all the favorites from the new album, such as the aforementioned “Pop Tart Heart" - which is destined to become the love song for the movie based upon Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, mark my words! - and even pulled out some of their beloved oldies.
"All I Need"
When the band began to put away their instruments after their show, I am proud to say our table is responsible for the encore. gilligan started shouting encore first because they hadn’t sung her favorite song, so the rest of us joined in, and then these two gals from Sacramento started the chant from the front. Since the band was surrounded on two sides by rabid fangirls, Louden Swain agreed to do one more song - “Prom".
After their rocking out had come to an end, as the band dismantled their equipment to make way for City Museum, anya managed to get another smile and wave from Rob with what looked like a mouthful of guitar picks.
[video lost in space]
During much of the time following, anya and Glenda learned how to use their doodle apps on the fancy phones, which comes into play later.
"Kind of Guy"
Later, during a break mid-City Museum, Rob came over and hugged glenda WHICH WAS TOTALLY UNFAIR AS I WAS SITTING WITHIN HUGGING DISTANCE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE. *sigh* My compatriots assured me I would have received a hug had I shown some cleavage, but the girls were covered as they were still recuperating from the horrible sunburn they received at anya’s ½ marathon. We (the group, not me and my boobs) chatted as well as you could with all of the noise, which amounted to a lot of smiling and nodding.
He must think we’re a very agreeable bunch of ladies.
"Mrs. Vance"
City Museum, as it was their farewell performance, was on for a long, long while. Toward the end of their set, we made our way to the door and ran into the band outside, where they may or may not have been smoking. anya immediately hightailed it over to where her imaginary boyfriend was talking to the two girls from Sacramento to stake her claim and ask him out - no news yet if he’s contacted her as promised - while glenda asked me to escort her over to get a Rob doodle on her phone. It took him a moment to figure it out, but he doodled a stick man and signed it in a manner that looked much like Rob Roy. Perhaps his stick man should have been wearing a kilt. Billy then asked to take our picture with them all, so glenda and I are now officially gracing Louden Swain’s webpage with our gorgeous selves (and Rob and Billy). I am the one without the cleavage, hence the lack of hugs!
While glenda continued to show Billy the wonders of phone doodles, I wandered back over to where anya was (successfully? We’ll see!) wrapping up her man. Rob, Billy and glenda also wandered their way over, and we chatted about the possibility of our showing up in their “Something to Say” video, and when they are finally going to play the Viper Room.
The Magic 8 Ball states All signs point to yes and Maybe in the next two months.
GO SEE LOUDEN SWAIN AT THE VIPER ROOM.
"Rock Song"
I know I’ve said that before and it’s turned out to be a big lie, but what can I say? The band’s a huge tease - they show a little leg and we follow. anya thinks Rob is wary of our SPN connection - cause show and us are like this (X), of course…and how does he know? It must be that we are that awesomely memorable, and have nothing at all to do with the restraining orders - while the rest of the band is just happy to have fans. I pointed out to anya that there is no way Ackles would show up to a Louden Swain concert, as the music is too fast-paced for his old man stylings, so what is Rob worried about, as that obviously is not the allure?
"Everybody Wants You"
WE LEGITIMATELY LOVE YOUR BAND, MR. BENEDICT. You (and your bandmates) are invited to ride with us in the car as we squee (and sing along) on the way to and from your shows, if you don’t believe us. I made my guitar teacher attempt to teach me “Pop Tart Heart”, but I suck so you couldn’t tell what it was if I tried to play it for you, anyway.
"Alright"
On the way to the car, glenda again got the initial band hugs (damn boobs!), but we all manage to get Swained as we left.
Alas, I did not get my Rob Benedict beer bottle for him to autograph at a future date, to keep my Richard Speight, Jr. bottle company. But I shall prevail!
[Thanks to anya for the videos. They are all linked on her YouTube page.]