(no subject)
So some friends and I sallied forth to see beautiful downtown Sacramento. Haha. As if. All sallying was actually to see/hear/experience Ghost of the Robot in their first concert in two years. oanimation, ghostgirl13, seapealsh and I, drove up from L.A. on Jan 5th, saw the concert at Shenanigans that night, and drove back to L.A. the next day.
How was it, you ask? It was fantastic! Goes on my list of top GotR gigs. OK, James was a little subdued. But he was smiley, and did a great job singing.
Father and son, rocking the house.
Not too common these last few years to see James singing without his guitar. But for most of this concert, he was without it.
Blast from the past, amirite? When James doesn't have a guitar to keep his hands busy, this is what he very often does with them. Got me all nostalgic seeing that.
Get this look from James at a photo op booth near you.
Sullivan rocking the ukulele.
Proof that he did play his guitar. I think for a couple of songs.
Charlie singing one of his songs. He's playing his late brother Steve Seller's, guitar. There's Kevin playing bass. And their new drummer, Jordan.
As much as I complain about the lighting at places like this, they really do make for some interesting pics. A flash would have killed this shot.
I got James' set list. It's got fold marks from being in his back pocket. I was maybe three feet away, and when they went off stage at the end, I bent over and got it. Then the girl next to me, who had swiped Charlie's set list, told me that they had an encore. Ooops, premature set list swiping! So I put the second page back where James had been standing, seeing as how I wanted him to know what songs he was singing. ;) So they come back, and Charlie's all, "Who stole my set list?" lol The girl next to me is waving her hand, confessing her dastardly deed. But she didn't give it back. Haha. So James took his and put it in front of Charlie, and they shared during the encore.
Turns out that on his set list, James had written the first line of each song. Helpful notes, if I ever saw any. My favorite is "I'm through with pastry." I still remember the first time I heard James sing those immortal lyrics, and I wasn't sure I had heard right. I leaned over to a friend and said, "Is he really singing about pastry?" o.O
And Charlie (who I assume is the person who typed the list) had put helpful notes too. For Blocking Brainwaves, they were to "drop d". Guess that means James got to sing a lower note than what was sung originally. And oooh, looks like Bad, All That She Wanted, Three, and Katie are all going on their new record! How about that?! (No news on the Over Now front. But I'm hopeful.)
Hey, there's an "American Style" for German.Jewish. Who'da thunk it? And they were to sing Go Luck Yourself seriously. Perhaps viewing this video of James' head banging GO LUCK YOURSELF, MAN explains that note.
Holy time warp, Batman. They sang It's Nothing! Last time they sang that, James was rocking the blond hair. Observe this clip from the Sharon Osbourne Show: It's Nothing. (I was in the audience watching that performance live. And no, they didn't share any of the cake with us. :-P)
The last song they sang was Queen's Another One Bites The Dust! Oh man, they should end each gig with that song. Awesome!
ETA: They put the encore up on YouTube! Another One Bites The Dust (No clue about Super Mario Brothers. But apparently that's in there too.)
Eventually, we should expect this gig and perhaps future gigs to end up on DVD. Hopefully.
I decided that I'd like to get all the guys to sign the set list. First up was Sullivan. Oh he's adorable, isn't he? When he saw my list, he very excitedly said, "My dad wrote on this!" Hee. I said, "I know!" :-D Next, I got Charlie and Kevin to sign. As it was very loud, and I was still wearing earplugs, it wasn't easy to talk to each other, but I did express to them how great I thought they did. But woe. James was nowhere to be seen. How odd, I thought. Usually he's out there talking to the fans, signing stuff and posing for pics after a gig. And since they were selling a bunch o' new merchandise, I thought for sure he'd be out there signing it. But no such luck. I went back to Sullivan and asked him if his dad was still there. I told him I hadn't been able to get James to sign my set list. He took it and the Sharpie and said he'd get him to sign in. Aw, how sweet of him! And sure enough, he came back a few minutes later, with set list all signed. I didn't realize until later that I was the only one to get an autograph from James that night. When he finally came out later to leave (my friends and I had already gone) he didn't talk to fans or sign anything. He just left. Perhaps the update on Facebook was a clue as to why. Someone in the group was dealing with Sciatic nerve damage. Aack. That's painful. If James is dealing with that, I feel for the guy.
ETA: Unfortunately it's Charlie who's suffering with sciatic nerve damage. Let's all keep good thoughts for him.
ETA again: I've since found out why James didn't come out to talk with fans after the gig. Before the gig, some fans were let in early (I was also let in early, but these fans were already there when I got there) and they apparently went up to James, trying to engage him, and listening in on his conversations with others. James did not like that at all, so he went backstage and the only time he came out was to do the set. So thanks a lot, fans who were let in early! Let's have some boundaries and not piss James off, kthxbai.
But as I said, it was so loud in there after the gig, if I had a chance to talk with James, who knows how it might have gone down. Perhaps something like this:
Me: [shouting over the music] YOU GUYS ROCKED IT!
James: [also shouting] THANKS, MY THIGHS DO ROCK!
Me: I SAID "YOU GUYS", NOT "YOUR THIGHS"!
James: I'VE BEEN WORKING OUT!
Me: [giving up] THEY'RE LOVELY THIGHS!
James: SO HOW DID YOU THINK WE DID?
Me: I DON'T KNOW. ALL I WAS THINKING ABOUT WAS YOUR THIGHS!
James: I HEAR YA!
It was *that* loud. ;-D
Some merchandise I got. Notice the back of the album cover. Roast of the Goatbot. Haha! Got some guitar picks too, yay! I'm learning to play, so those will come in handy. Cool t-shirt.
Got the Ghost of the Robot necklace, and added my own guitar, camera, and robot charms.
Beautiful downtown Sacramento from our hotel window. We stayed at the historic Citizen hotel.
On the way to Sacramento, snowy mountains in the background. Condolences are always expressed when saying that you're taking the 5 freeway there. It's not the most picturesque route. But the fastest.
And that's it! I hope you enjoyed. Any comments, remarks and/or observations are welcome! Many thanks to my roomies, Angela (who also drove, what a trouper), Yani and Wendy! Great also seeing so many friends, some from 10 years ago. This was a big reunion for us. Waves to seapealsh jaesha, _sharvie_, Sara Ann, and spikes_cj. Also great seeing jacobs_muse again, and meeting Elizabeth for the first time!
Tomorrow, don't forget to watch James appearing on The Wedding Band where he's playing (what else?) a rock star! What a way to spend my birthday! :-D
How was it, you ask? It was fantastic! Goes on my list of top GotR gigs. OK, James was a little subdued. But he was smiley, and did a great job singing.
Father and son, rocking the house.
Not too common these last few years to see James singing without his guitar. But for most of this concert, he was without it.
Blast from the past, amirite? When James doesn't have a guitar to keep his hands busy, this is what he very often does with them. Got me all nostalgic seeing that.
Get this look from James at a photo op booth near you.
Sullivan rocking the ukulele.
Proof that he did play his guitar. I think for a couple of songs.
Charlie singing one of his songs. He's playing his late brother Steve Seller's, guitar. There's Kevin playing bass. And their new drummer, Jordan.
As much as I complain about the lighting at places like this, they really do make for some interesting pics. A flash would have killed this shot.
I got James' set list. It's got fold marks from being in his back pocket. I was maybe three feet away, and when they went off stage at the end, I bent over and got it. Then the girl next to me, who had swiped Charlie's set list, told me that they had an encore. Ooops, premature set list swiping! So I put the second page back where James had been standing, seeing as how I wanted him to know what songs he was singing. ;) So they come back, and Charlie's all, "Who stole my set list?" lol The girl next to me is waving her hand, confessing her dastardly deed. But she didn't give it back. Haha. So James took his and put it in front of Charlie, and they shared during the encore.
Turns out that on his set list, James had written the first line of each song. Helpful notes, if I ever saw any. My favorite is "I'm through with pastry." I still remember the first time I heard James sing those immortal lyrics, and I wasn't sure I had heard right. I leaned over to a friend and said, "Is he really singing about pastry?" o.O
And Charlie (who I assume is the person who typed the list) had put helpful notes too. For Blocking Brainwaves, they were to "drop d". Guess that means James got to sing a lower note than what was sung originally. And oooh, looks like Bad, All That She Wanted, Three, and Katie are all going on their new record! How about that?! (No news on the Over Now front. But I'm hopeful.)
Hey, there's an "American Style" for German.Jewish. Who'da thunk it? And they were to sing Go Luck Yourself seriously. Perhaps viewing this video of James' head banging GO LUCK YOURSELF, MAN explains that note.
Holy time warp, Batman. They sang It's Nothing! Last time they sang that, James was rocking the blond hair. Observe this clip from the Sharon Osbourne Show: It's Nothing. (I was in the audience watching that performance live. And no, they didn't share any of the cake with us. :-P)
The last song they sang was Queen's Another One Bites The Dust! Oh man, they should end each gig with that song. Awesome!
ETA: They put the encore up on YouTube! Another One Bites The Dust (No clue about Super Mario Brothers. But apparently that's in there too.)
Eventually, we should expect this gig and perhaps future gigs to end up on DVD. Hopefully.
I decided that I'd like to get all the guys to sign the set list. First up was Sullivan. Oh he's adorable, isn't he? When he saw my list, he very excitedly said, "My dad wrote on this!" Hee. I said, "I know!" :-D Next, I got Charlie and Kevin to sign. As it was very loud, and I was still wearing earplugs, it wasn't easy to talk to each other, but I did express to them how great I thought they did. But woe. James was nowhere to be seen. How odd, I thought. Usually he's out there talking to the fans, signing stuff and posing for pics after a gig. And since they were selling a bunch o' new merchandise, I thought for sure he'd be out there signing it. But no such luck. I went back to Sullivan and asked him if his dad was still there. I told him I hadn't been able to get James to sign my set list. He took it and the Sharpie and said he'd get him to sign in. Aw, how sweet of him! And sure enough, he came back a few minutes later, with set list all signed. I didn't realize until later that I was the only one to get an autograph from James that night. When he finally came out later to leave (my friends and I had already gone) he didn't talk to fans or sign anything. He just left. Perhaps the update on Facebook was a clue as to why. Someone in the group was dealing with Sciatic nerve damage. Aack. That's painful. If James is dealing with that, I feel for the guy.
ETA: Unfortunately it's Charlie who's suffering with sciatic nerve damage. Let's all keep good thoughts for him.
ETA again: I've since found out why James didn't come out to talk with fans after the gig. Before the gig, some fans were let in early (I was also let in early, but these fans were already there when I got there) and they apparently went up to James, trying to engage him, and listening in on his conversations with others. James did not like that at all, so he went backstage and the only time he came out was to do the set. So thanks a lot, fans who were let in early! Let's have some boundaries and not piss James off, kthxbai.
But as I said, it was so loud in there after the gig, if I had a chance to talk with James, who knows how it might have gone down. Perhaps something like this:
Me: [shouting over the music] YOU GUYS ROCKED IT!
James: [also shouting] THANKS, MY THIGHS DO ROCK!
Me: I SAID "YOU GUYS", NOT "YOUR THIGHS"!
James: I'VE BEEN WORKING OUT!
Me: [giving up] THEY'RE LOVELY THIGHS!
James: SO HOW DID YOU THINK WE DID?
Me: I DON'T KNOW. ALL I WAS THINKING ABOUT WAS YOUR THIGHS!
James: I HEAR YA!
It was *that* loud. ;-D
Some merchandise I got. Notice the back of the album cover. Roast of the Goatbot. Haha! Got some guitar picks too, yay! I'm learning to play, so those will come in handy. Cool t-shirt.
Got the Ghost of the Robot necklace, and added my own guitar, camera, and robot charms.
Beautiful downtown Sacramento from our hotel window. We stayed at the historic Citizen hotel.
On the way to Sacramento, snowy mountains in the background. Condolences are always expressed when saying that you're taking the 5 freeway there. It's not the most picturesque route. But the fastest.
And that's it! I hope you enjoyed. Any comments, remarks and/or observations are welcome! Many thanks to my roomies, Angela (who also drove, what a trouper), Yani and Wendy! Great also seeing so many friends, some from 10 years ago. This was a big reunion for us. Waves to seapealsh jaesha, _sharvie_, Sara Ann, and spikes_cj. Also great seeing jacobs_muse again, and meeting Elizabeth for the first time!
Tomorrow, don't forget to watch James appearing on The Wedding Band where he's playing (what else?) a rock star! What a way to spend my birthday! :-D