"When we got to SF, we knew we'd missed a turn..."
Ahh! Today is Nifer and Bowie! Bowie and Nifer! Nifer and Bowie! I could go on...
But yesterday was OKGo Day. Yes. Oh god, yes.
Opening bands Laguardia, average with a left handed bassist, and Wheat, not bad... From Boston. Last song had a nice hook to it. Bassist had a Hey Mercedes shirt. Lead singer looked creepy but was funny. Went into a long spiel about the girls in the front who were... dancing. Kind of.
"Thank you all for being so nice to us. I know you are just here to see the OKGo guys. 'I love OKGo!' I know, I know. I LOVE THE OKGO GUYS, TOO!" He pretended freak out like girl, then pointed to the girls who had been dancing. "Are you the OK Girls? Do you want the OK Boys? You want the OK Boys don't you? But what if, what if the OK Boy you want already has someone, a girlfriend? Then... then..." He went on a bit more and then launched into their last song about "there's a girl I'd like to know better, but I'm already with someone." He interrupted the end of the song to mention one more thing. "I'm sure the OK Guys all want an OK Girl. Or... maybe an OK Boy. Well, then all you girls are shit out of luck." That one got a big laugh.
And then finally it was OKGo. I've been waiting a year and a half (or more!) to catch them live. Did they live up to expectations? Surely. They were charming, amazing, and crazyfun. I mean, really, so fun. They played "Don't Ask Me," "There's a Fire," "Bye Bye Baby," "Unrequited Orchestra of Locomotion," "Hello, My Treacherous Friends," "The Fix Is In," "Get Over It," "You're So Damn Hot," "Tough to Have a Crush," a cover of "Pretty in Pink," and about five new songs that I don't know the names of. There was trumpet playing for some songs! I wish I had had a piece of paper so I could have copied the setlist from one of the girls in front of me.
During "Tough..." Damian asked if anyone was in love tonight, I don't know if they were the only people that raised their hands, but they got this couple to come onstage and slow dance. Tim and Damian explained how to ask a girl to dance and how to dance with her, with Tim being the guy and Damian as the girl. "Hey, don't put your hand there!" in Damian's girl voice. Hilarious. I need to drag a boy to my next OKGo show. This couple were dancing sweetly together, and Damian would occasionally remind them how they should be grinding (not actually saying that but demonstrating with his hips) and then pretended to be annoyed when adding, "I have to hope that you guys are doing that, because I can't turn around. I can't SEE you and make sure." I need to get a brave boy so we can be completely over the top and dance like fools with OKGo, ballroom-style.
Before "Pretty in Pink," Damian announced that this was the point where they would usually be democratic and ask us what we wanted to hear. But instead... "How many of you know Jon Cryer?" he asked. "No, I mean, how many of you KNOW Jon Cryer?" Apparently a friend of Duckie's had emailed the band about how tomorrow, when they play LA, not only would Jon Cryer be there but it was also his birthday. So OKGo are like, "When else are we going to be able to meet Duckie?" And they needed to practice this song so they could... impress him? haha.
They played all of my favorites, except "What to Do." Damian changed the lyrics of "The Fix Is In." All the "Boston"s in the song became "SF"s. I cringed a little at this; it just didn't sound right. I would have preferred the original line. They came out for what I thought was the encore, but after the cheering when down, Damian said, "No, we are not going to play any more songs for you." Sighs and exclamations. "'Oooohneeeehyaahhhlsidhgl.' You know we could just leave again! Do you want us to leave? Now. We are going to be preforming a choreographed boy band dance."
OKGo. Dancing. Or rather, "dancing." I made a minute long clip of it on the digital camera. Too bad "C-C-C-Cinammon Lips" is over three minutes long, haha, but my sister and I also took nearly a roll of the spectacle. Nearly two rolls total of OKGo that night. So amazing. Not many pictures of Tim since we were on the wrong side for that and were in the second row of people. Oh well. DANCING. HELLO.
Oh yeah, the music after their set was the "Get Over It" muzak from the ping pong video and then all the little songs from the Truth in Music skits. Clever, clever.
Afterward, I got to talk to my idol, the Kulash himself. Okay, the history: After I saw the "Get Over It" video and heard my first OKGo songs, I realized that in another life, I could have been Damian Kulash. If I had masterminded my perfect band, OKGo would have been exactly it. BUT DAMIAN KULASH BEAT ME TO IT. And was much, much better at it than I ever could have hoped to be. So I was bitter and bemoaned the fact that I had the bad luck to NOT be born Damian Kulash for about a week or so. Then I came to the logical conclusion that when I got to see OKGo I would kidnap Damian, learn from him, and take over his band.
Well, that went flying out the window after I met him because Damian is just too adorkable and I couldn't do something so mean as stealing his band from him. Instead, there is a new plan. But I can't tell. It's not a secret as so much a conspiracy, and the only people I am letting in on it are the ones whom I need to be a part of it over the next few years. No one will be harmed! In fact, this conspiracy may or may not be endorsed by someone himself. But I have already said too much. Although, I might be more or less delusional, so this could never pan out and thus it doesn't matter how much I said. I'm rambling. Let's forget this entire paragraph, okay?
My first immortal words to my idol/future me/whatever: "Hey, Kulash." I surprisingly did not make a fool of myself. Damian, as brilliant as I think he is, is not intimidating at all. Because he is a complete dork. He's a doll, and certainly on the handsome side, but damn I don't think he got many girls in high school. He has a very boyish, bubbling personality, along with features a bit too large for his face and biggish hands. He wasn't nearly as tall as I thought he'd be. That was the first thought I had when I saw him. And that his hair was short again and the cut wasn't that flattering. Despite my worries and others' predictions, I did not fall in love with him. ha! Developing a crush on someone I want to emulate would have made things incredibly awkward. And weird. And would have generally sucked. So thank goodness he's so dorky.
Do you know what's funny? For a long time, even while I was jealous of how good they were, OKGo wasn't really one of my favorite bands at all. I liked them very much but not nearly as much as various other bands. It's only recently that I've started liking them more on a fan level and now that I've seen them live, they could be counted as a favorite. They certainly put on a show.
I showed Damian the clip of zee dahnzing. There were two pictures my dad took of the CHEESECAKE he baked (yeah, I don't get it either) and I had to skip past those. "I'm looking at... those are cakes." Asked him about zee dahnzing. They didn't do it before but have been a lot recently. It took them a long time to figure it out because it wasn't something that came naturally to them. Two weeks with ten hour days. I'm not sure if he was exaggerating. Mentioned how I thought that they would go well with the Deathray Davies and if he had heard of them. He had, well enough to know they were from Austin, but he said he hadn't ever seen them live though I'm assuming he's heard their music. We might have talked about some other stuff. Ahem. I didn't mention the whole idol/future me stuff because that would have certainly made things weird and I was (for once!) too smart for that. I couldn't help but ask for a hug though. I am a nerd, too.
I watched him draw on the back of an OKGo t-shirt a guy had just bought. "What's your favorite number?" He made it into a "rock jersey." It reminded me a lot of that time when I drew a YC jersey type thing on the back of Nickola's shirt and further confirmed that the Kulash was my better half or a kindred spirit or something. By the way, mine was better, but I also spent more time on it.
Kalinda and I were pretty much the last fans there. Eek. After we got a pic with Damian, I ran over and finally bought some merch. The two EPs, the Chic-a-Go-Go video, and some buttons. Then we went outside to find the other guys, without much luck. We did get Dan and Andy to sign our CDs. And a picture with Andy before he shouted to their tour manager or everyone in general that he and his friend were headed off to check out a strip club. I like Andy. He's so awkward in his movements and his eyes are so big and what the hell with his hair nowadays?! It makes him look like one of those crazy guys who would yell at you from the street. I love it. I am so glad he doesn't have that creepy mustache anymore, too. We missed out on Tim, but whatever, it was really all about Damian for me anyway.
My dad took forever getting there (when my sister is in tow, they are willing to offer a ride), and everyone, and I really do mean nearly everyone, left in the 30-40 minutes it took for him to get there. A random guy started talking to us, Damian saw that and, like the nice guy he is, rescued us. When he found out we were waiting for our ride, he asked if we wanted company until it came. We talked about touring, the new album, who was producing it, and yada yada for a few minutes until my dad showed up. Oh, I want Damian to be my best friend. He kind of reminds me of Stacy except sweeter and less of a GUY-guy.
Kalinda and I watched the Chic-a-Go-Go video today. So bizarre. But it'll certainly cheer me up whenever I'm down.
I finally got the new SC album yesterday. It was $11.99. I had told myself that if it was more than $9.99 I wouldn't buy it. But I did. I was worried because I had heard mixed reviews from people who had downloaded it and I had liked but not loved the acoustic version of "Memory." I hadn't quite felt that thing the last time I saw them. I haven't had time to listen to the album yet, but that's not what this is about.
I saw the video for "Memory" for the first time this morning (online, of course) and I was reminded of how much I really love/loved Sugarcult. I got Start Static and saw them live just over two years ago. I saw them four times that year and that was a big deal for me because that was the first year I went to a lot of concerts. Before that I only went to one concert every few months. And I hadn't had the experience of seeing the same band on a repeated basis. It was also the year that I first saw the Get Up Kids and Yellowcard for the first times, too.
Anyway, all this reminded me of what it was like to be one of those really dedicated fans. Showing up hours ahead of time just so you can be right up front and hopefully talk to the band while you were waiting. The line actually used to be fun. You'd chatter about this and that and make friends with all the other big fans who were as crazy as you. Being so internally thrilled when one of the band members actually says something more than "hi" or "thanks." Having all these people you didn't really know matter SO MUCH to you because they happened to make the music you really, really liked.
I have to say I rather miss that even though a lot of it seems so silly in hindsight. I'd love to not feel embarrassed for waiting for long periods of time to meet whatever band I came to see. I'd love to not feel stupid for having nothing better to say than "really good show, man." I don't learn about the background or trivial facts about the bands I like anymore. I don't check out the music of the other bands that are playing. I don't show up hours in advance, and the line seems more like a chore for when I want to be able to take good photos. I don't talk to the other fans unless they talk to me. What do I have to say? "Yeah, I like this band, too"?
There are very few bands where I have that good fan-band relationship with anymore. EVE6, though I guess that doesn't work anymore. :/ And the last times I saw them it was in a huge venue, so I didn't get to talk to all of them and completely dork it up. I wish I could see them at the Fillmore one last time. Hi-Fi, though they haven't toured here in forever and thus I haven't seen them in forever. I love Hi-Fi. They are some of my favorite people. Yellowcard <3, though they are getting awfully big now and sometimes I feel I get lost in the shuffle. I've seen them so many times so I always let other fans talk to them and wait for them to be done and sometimes that doesn't work well. Death on Wednesday, but then they went and broke up. The Get Up Kids, maybe, if I hadn't developed that thing for Robbie. There was possibility with Phantom Planet if Jason hadn't left and they hadn't started SUCKING and if they hadn't had so many HARDCORE fans already. Crazy. Actually, a lot of the bands that I saw that year (SoCo, Mest) had the possibility of me being a really big fan because that was just a formative time.
And ahh Sugarcult. Two years ago they were one of my very favorite bands. Right after Hi-Fi. I don't know exactly where my love for them started waning. I just didn't listen to them as much as that first year. And then Ben left. And then I started really disliking Tim a lot, and it's hard to like a band when its biggest member is a jerk. The music is all still really good, but I didn't seem to care about them as a band as much.
I was actually considering not going to the SC show again because I am so broke. But I'll go in debt. I want to see them again. I really do. And I want be that silly fangirl again for just a bit. I'll even pretend a little that Tim isn't such a jerk. Pretend that Marko is one of the greatest people ever. Make friends with people in line. Even if it's all for old time's sake and I'm too old to really believe in all that anymore.
And hey, there's OKGo. They have such a sense of humor and are so good natured that I don't think I'd mind coming off like an idiot in front of them. And there's still Hi-Fi (minus Brian) and Yellowcard (minus Alex). I think some of this has to do with the fact that I go to most shows alone now. If I had a friend with me who liked the band(s) as much as I do, it probably wouldn't seem so lame waiting in line or after the show or whatever. But a lot of it is simply because I know that these musicians are just people and thus in some ways have lost that sway over me that they had just two years ago. Of course there are exceptions, like Maja from the Sounds just has that rockstar aura.
Yeah, I wrote a whole lot. Lemme alone.
But yesterday was OKGo Day. Yes. Oh god, yes.
Opening bands Laguardia, average with a left handed bassist, and Wheat, not bad... From Boston. Last song had a nice hook to it. Bassist had a Hey Mercedes shirt. Lead singer looked creepy but was funny. Went into a long spiel about the girls in the front who were... dancing. Kind of.
"Thank you all for being so nice to us. I know you are just here to see the OKGo guys. 'I love OKGo!' I know, I know. I LOVE THE OKGO GUYS, TOO!" He pretended freak out like girl, then pointed to the girls who had been dancing. "Are you the OK Girls? Do you want the OK Boys? You want the OK Boys don't you? But what if, what if the OK Boy you want already has someone, a girlfriend? Then... then..." He went on a bit more and then launched into their last song about "there's a girl I'd like to know better, but I'm already with someone." He interrupted the end of the song to mention one more thing. "I'm sure the OK Guys all want an OK Girl. Or... maybe an OK Boy. Well, then all you girls are shit out of luck." That one got a big laugh.
And then finally it was OKGo. I've been waiting a year and a half (or more!) to catch them live. Did they live up to expectations? Surely. They were charming, amazing, and crazyfun. I mean, really, so fun. They played "Don't Ask Me," "There's a Fire," "Bye Bye Baby," "Unrequited Orchestra of Locomotion," "Hello, My Treacherous Friends," "The Fix Is In," "Get Over It," "You're So Damn Hot," "Tough to Have a Crush," a cover of "Pretty in Pink," and about five new songs that I don't know the names of. There was trumpet playing for some songs! I wish I had had a piece of paper so I could have copied the setlist from one of the girls in front of me.
During "Tough..." Damian asked if anyone was in love tonight, I don't know if they were the only people that raised their hands, but they got this couple to come onstage and slow dance. Tim and Damian explained how to ask a girl to dance and how to dance with her, with Tim being the guy and Damian as the girl. "Hey, don't put your hand there!" in Damian's girl voice. Hilarious. I need to drag a boy to my next OKGo show. This couple were dancing sweetly together, and Damian would occasionally remind them how they should be grinding (not actually saying that but demonstrating with his hips) and then pretended to be annoyed when adding, "I have to hope that you guys are doing that, because I can't turn around. I can't SEE you and make sure." I need to get a brave boy so we can be completely over the top and dance like fools with OKGo, ballroom-style.
Before "Pretty in Pink," Damian announced that this was the point where they would usually be democratic and ask us what we wanted to hear. But instead... "How many of you know Jon Cryer?" he asked. "No, I mean, how many of you KNOW Jon Cryer?" Apparently a friend of Duckie's had emailed the band about how tomorrow, when they play LA, not only would Jon Cryer be there but it was also his birthday. So OKGo are like, "When else are we going to be able to meet Duckie?" And they needed to practice this song so they could... impress him? haha.
They played all of my favorites, except "What to Do." Damian changed the lyrics of "The Fix Is In." All the "Boston"s in the song became "SF"s. I cringed a little at this; it just didn't sound right. I would have preferred the original line. They came out for what I thought was the encore, but after the cheering when down, Damian said, "No, we are not going to play any more songs for you." Sighs and exclamations. "'Oooohneeeehyaahhhlsidhgl.' You know we could just leave again! Do you want us to leave? Now. We are going to be preforming a choreographed boy band dance."
OKGo. Dancing. Or rather, "dancing." I made a minute long clip of it on the digital camera. Too bad "C-C-C-Cinammon Lips" is over three minutes long, haha, but my sister and I also took nearly a roll of the spectacle. Nearly two rolls total of OKGo that night. So amazing. Not many pictures of Tim since we were on the wrong side for that and were in the second row of people. Oh well. DANCING. HELLO.
Oh yeah, the music after their set was the "Get Over It" muzak from the ping pong video and then all the little songs from the Truth in Music skits. Clever, clever.
Afterward, I got to talk to my idol, the Kulash himself. Okay, the history: After I saw the "Get Over It" video and heard my first OKGo songs, I realized that in another life, I could have been Damian Kulash. If I had masterminded my perfect band, OKGo would have been exactly it. BUT DAMIAN KULASH BEAT ME TO IT. And was much, much better at it than I ever could have hoped to be. So I was bitter and bemoaned the fact that I had the bad luck to NOT be born Damian Kulash for about a week or so. Then I came to the logical conclusion that when I got to see OKGo I would kidnap Damian, learn from him, and take over his band.
Well, that went flying out the window after I met him because Damian is just too adorkable and I couldn't do something so mean as stealing his band from him. Instead, there is a new plan. But I can't tell. It's not a secret as so much a conspiracy, and the only people I am letting in on it are the ones whom I need to be a part of it over the next few years. No one will be harmed! In fact, this conspiracy may or may not be endorsed by someone himself. But I have already said too much. Although, I might be more or less delusional, so this could never pan out and thus it doesn't matter how much I said. I'm rambling. Let's forget this entire paragraph, okay?
My first immortal words to my idol/future me/whatever: "Hey, Kulash." I surprisingly did not make a fool of myself. Damian, as brilliant as I think he is, is not intimidating at all. Because he is a complete dork. He's a doll, and certainly on the handsome side, but damn I don't think he got many girls in high school. He has a very boyish, bubbling personality, along with features a bit too large for his face and biggish hands. He wasn't nearly as tall as I thought he'd be. That was the first thought I had when I saw him. And that his hair was short again and the cut wasn't that flattering. Despite my worries and others' predictions, I did not fall in love with him. ha! Developing a crush on someone I want to emulate would have made things incredibly awkward. And weird. And would have generally sucked. So thank goodness he's so dorky.
Do you know what's funny? For a long time, even while I was jealous of how good they were, OKGo wasn't really one of my favorite bands at all. I liked them very much but not nearly as much as various other bands. It's only recently that I've started liking them more on a fan level and now that I've seen them live, they could be counted as a favorite. They certainly put on a show.
I showed Damian the clip of zee dahnzing. There were two pictures my dad took of the CHEESECAKE he baked (yeah, I don't get it either) and I had to skip past those. "I'm looking at... those are cakes." Asked him about zee dahnzing. They didn't do it before but have been a lot recently. It took them a long time to figure it out because it wasn't something that came naturally to them. Two weeks with ten hour days. I'm not sure if he was exaggerating. Mentioned how I thought that they would go well with the Deathray Davies and if he had heard of them. He had, well enough to know they were from Austin, but he said he hadn't ever seen them live though I'm assuming he's heard their music. We might have talked about some other stuff. Ahem. I didn't mention the whole idol/future me stuff because that would have certainly made things weird and I was (for once!) too smart for that. I couldn't help but ask for a hug though. I am a nerd, too.
I watched him draw on the back of an OKGo t-shirt a guy had just bought. "What's your favorite number?" He made it into a "rock jersey." It reminded me a lot of that time when I drew a YC jersey type thing on the back of Nickola's shirt and further confirmed that the Kulash was my better half or a kindred spirit or something. By the way, mine was better, but I also spent more time on it.
Kalinda and I were pretty much the last fans there. Eek. After we got a pic with Damian, I ran over and finally bought some merch. The two EPs, the Chic-a-Go-Go video, and some buttons. Then we went outside to find the other guys, without much luck. We did get Dan and Andy to sign our CDs. And a picture with Andy before he shouted to their tour manager or everyone in general that he and his friend were headed off to check out a strip club. I like Andy. He's so awkward in his movements and his eyes are so big and what the hell with his hair nowadays?! It makes him look like one of those crazy guys who would yell at you from the street. I love it. I am so glad he doesn't have that creepy mustache anymore, too. We missed out on Tim, but whatever, it was really all about Damian for me anyway.
My dad took forever getting there (when my sister is in tow, they are willing to offer a ride), and everyone, and I really do mean nearly everyone, left in the 30-40 minutes it took for him to get there. A random guy started talking to us, Damian saw that and, like the nice guy he is, rescued us. When he found out we were waiting for our ride, he asked if we wanted company until it came. We talked about touring, the new album, who was producing it, and yada yada for a few minutes until my dad showed up. Oh, I want Damian to be my best friend. He kind of reminds me of Stacy except sweeter and less of a GUY-guy.
Kalinda and I watched the Chic-a-Go-Go video today. So bizarre. But it'll certainly cheer me up whenever I'm down.
I finally got the new SC album yesterday. It was $11.99. I had told myself that if it was more than $9.99 I wouldn't buy it. But I did. I was worried because I had heard mixed reviews from people who had downloaded it and I had liked but not loved the acoustic version of "Memory." I hadn't quite felt that thing the last time I saw them. I haven't had time to listen to the album yet, but that's not what this is about.
I saw the video for "Memory" for the first time this morning (online, of course) and I was reminded of how much I really love/loved Sugarcult. I got Start Static and saw them live just over two years ago. I saw them four times that year and that was a big deal for me because that was the first year I went to a lot of concerts. Before that I only went to one concert every few months. And I hadn't had the experience of seeing the same band on a repeated basis. It was also the year that I first saw the Get Up Kids and Yellowcard for the first times, too.
Anyway, all this reminded me of what it was like to be one of those really dedicated fans. Showing up hours ahead of time just so you can be right up front and hopefully talk to the band while you were waiting. The line actually used to be fun. You'd chatter about this and that and make friends with all the other big fans who were as crazy as you. Being so internally thrilled when one of the band members actually says something more than "hi" or "thanks." Having all these people you didn't really know matter SO MUCH to you because they happened to make the music you really, really liked.
I have to say I rather miss that even though a lot of it seems so silly in hindsight. I'd love to not feel embarrassed for waiting for long periods of time to meet whatever band I came to see. I'd love to not feel stupid for having nothing better to say than "really good show, man." I don't learn about the background or trivial facts about the bands I like anymore. I don't check out the music of the other bands that are playing. I don't show up hours in advance, and the line seems more like a chore for when I want to be able to take good photos. I don't talk to the other fans unless they talk to me. What do I have to say? "Yeah, I like this band, too"?
There are very few bands where I have that good fan-band relationship with anymore. EVE6, though I guess that doesn't work anymore. :/ And the last times I saw them it was in a huge venue, so I didn't get to talk to all of them and completely dork it up. I wish I could see them at the Fillmore one last time. Hi-Fi, though they haven't toured here in forever and thus I haven't seen them in forever. I love Hi-Fi. They are some of my favorite people. Yellowcard <3, though they are getting awfully big now and sometimes I feel I get lost in the shuffle. I've seen them so many times so I always let other fans talk to them and wait for them to be done and sometimes that doesn't work well. Death on Wednesday, but then they went and broke up. The Get Up Kids, maybe, if I hadn't developed that thing for Robbie. There was possibility with Phantom Planet if Jason hadn't left and they hadn't started SUCKING and if they hadn't had so many HARDCORE fans already. Crazy. Actually, a lot of the bands that I saw that year (SoCo, Mest) had the possibility of me being a really big fan because that was just a formative time.
And ahh Sugarcult. Two years ago they were one of my very favorite bands. Right after Hi-Fi. I don't know exactly where my love for them started waning. I just didn't listen to them as much as that first year. And then Ben left. And then I started really disliking Tim a lot, and it's hard to like a band when its biggest member is a jerk. The music is all still really good, but I didn't seem to care about them as a band as much.
I was actually considering not going to the SC show again because I am so broke. But I'll go in debt. I want to see them again. I really do. And I want be that silly fangirl again for just a bit. I'll even pretend a little that Tim isn't such a jerk. Pretend that Marko is one of the greatest people ever. Make friends with people in line. Even if it's all for old time's sake and I'm too old to really believe in all that anymore.
And hey, there's OKGo. They have such a sense of humor and are so good natured that I don't think I'd mind coming off like an idiot in front of them. And there's still Hi-Fi (minus Brian) and Yellowcard (minus Alex). I think some of this has to do with the fact that I go to most shows alone now. If I had a friend with me who liked the band(s) as much as I do, it probably wouldn't seem so lame waiting in line or after the show or whatever. But a lot of it is simply because I know that these musicians are just people and thus in some ways have lost that sway over me that they had just two years ago. Of course there are exceptions, like Maja from the Sounds just has that rockstar aura.
Yeah, I wrote a whole lot. Lemme alone.