One for the Vault
So I wasn't aware this was going to happen, but this has apparently turned into the summer of concerts for me. I think the biggest factor in this was the fact that I was in Milwaukee for Summerfest, could get to Summerfest, and cared about music, things that have never managed to overlap before in my life.
We saw Cage the Elephant, but that was lame and we left after two songs. It might have just been that one concert, or maybe they're just not good live. The lead singer was on some sort of drug that did not agree with him, I think.
We also saw Weird Al, though we had to leave early and were maneuvering the whole time to get somewhere we could both hear the music and see the stage (or at least the screen). It was awesome and ridiculous. He changed costumes a zillion times. More than DEVO (so many costume changes). It made me really excited for his new album. Also: polka version of Poker Face was so so great.
One night, we saw the B-52s. They put on an excellent show, and we were sixth row, so we could see the cute patterns on the women's dresses, and the lovely suit on the guitarist, and the kick-ass sparkly red boots on the male singer (along with his Star Trek "set phasers to FUN" shirt!). Everyone was dancing and carrying on and it was excellent. A guy a few rows ahead of us (Cutie is his nickname now) was dancing like a maniac and encouraging those around him to stand up. He got like twelve people around him up and dancing. He also took his shirt off and was eyeing our group for several songs, but then he left. It was still a great concert, and even though I didn't know as many of their songs as I would like to (brb downloading whole discography only jk because I am not on my computer), I knew more than I thought I would. And it was great fun dancing. We started to leave, and when they came back on, we climbed on the seats nearest us (which were a good deal further away, but we could hear and dance fine). Then again, we started to leave (we wanted to catch Joan Jett), but they started playing "Rock Lobster" and we had to stay for that. We dropped our stuff on the ground and proceeded to make fools of ourselves dancing. Apparently "us crazy bitches" made some drunk lady's night, because she asked to take pictures with us.
(Oh right, this was the day Sophie dressed as Death and I dressed as Delirium from The Sandman. We are Neil Gaiman approved:
But I digress.)
After us crazy bitches finished making drunk lady's night, we rushed to Joan Jett, where the only seats we could find were either too far to hear but with sight, or on the other side of a wall so we could hear but not see. We opted for hearing. There was dancing on the picnic tables.
And then. And then. We went to see DEVO. We camped out at the stage all day in the front row so we'd have nice seats. I read my book of Neil Gaiman short stories and started writing some nonsense about a were-deer. The first band we sat through waiting was Three Beers 'til Dubuque, and they were awesome, mostly covers, but well done. They went through swingy stuff to funk to old school rock, a couple of original songs...they had a whole brass section. It was nice. Then there was a terrible (awful, horrendous, crime against my ears and all music) hip-hop-flavored-pop cover band. To be fair, the musicians were pretty good. Their bassist was a girl, and their guitarist was super into playing, and their drummer had some skill. The singers, though...there were two, a guy and a girl. The guy thought he was the shit. The girl thought she was Fergie or Shakira or something but had the most nasally, trilly voice I have ever heard. It was tortuous. They played the longest set. Our whole group resorted to Twittering our hatred (because they had the sound up so loud we couldn't hear anything at all, as though volume compensates for quality). The band after that, and the last band before DEVO, was Katzenjammer, and they were amazing. They were so good. I don't think I've ever decided so soon into a live show that I needed to get all of their music ever and own it for the rest of my life. Four Norwegian girls, all adorable, all wearing cute costumes and cool shoes, playing an assortment of like seventeen instruments, most of them stringed--all of them could play all of them. It was like musical chairs on stage. Fantastic show.
And then, of course, DEVO, which was the last show for us for all of this year's Summerfest, and it was fucking DEVO, okay? What else can I say? They changed costumes a bunch, they threw hats into the crowd, they brought out Booji boy at the end, played ridiculous videos, jumped around...it was a great show, even though it was stifling and crowded and some jackass horned in on our spot at the last minute and did his best to outdouche everyone in the crowd.
So there was Summerfest and all these great shows, and when I head back to Arizona, it will be to see the Barenaked Ladies, so...overall, a good summer for me and concerts, even if I did miss all the Remus Lupins shows I could have gotten to.
Also this summer: books. I've read so many books this summer. It's very nice. I went through Sophie's whole Neil Gaiman collection (two books were short story collections, which make me happier than most things), all of Transmetropolitan, the Ocarina of Time manga, the comic adaption of Neverwhere, the Zombie Survival Guide, the Illustrated Outbreaks comic, several Georgia Nicholson books, The Giver, a short book of captioned illustrations by Edward Gorey, and am currently working my way through Pretty in Punk, about girls' gender resistance in the punk movement.
Also also this summer: markers. Sophie's mom had a bunch of old Prismacolor markers from her school days, and gifted them to Sophie, who has allowed me to use them while I'm here. Most of my Prismacolors are skin tones, and none of hers were, so our two collections combined are very effective for arting, and we have been doing a lot of it.
And finally this summer, video games. I replayed Wind Waker and Twilight Princess (both depressing beyond all reason), Sophie just bought God of War, and I'm going to start in on Final Fantasy IX again (because I love it). This is not to mention our countless combined hours of the Sims 3.
In sum: it is muggy, and my feet have often hurt, but I am very happy and keeping busy. Also there is a cat, which never hurts.
We saw Cage the Elephant, but that was lame and we left after two songs. It might have just been that one concert, or maybe they're just not good live. The lead singer was on some sort of drug that did not agree with him, I think.
We also saw Weird Al, though we had to leave early and were maneuvering the whole time to get somewhere we could both hear the music and see the stage (or at least the screen). It was awesome and ridiculous. He changed costumes a zillion times. More than DEVO (so many costume changes). It made me really excited for his new album. Also: polka version of Poker Face was so so great.
One night, we saw the B-52s. They put on an excellent show, and we were sixth row, so we could see the cute patterns on the women's dresses, and the lovely suit on the guitarist, and the kick-ass sparkly red boots on the male singer (along with his Star Trek "set phasers to FUN" shirt!). Everyone was dancing and carrying on and it was excellent. A guy a few rows ahead of us (Cutie is his nickname now) was dancing like a maniac and encouraging those around him to stand up. He got like twelve people around him up and dancing. He also took his shirt off and was eyeing our group for several songs, but then he left. It was still a great concert, and even though I didn't know as many of their songs as I would like to (brb downloading whole discography only jk because I am not on my computer), I knew more than I thought I would. And it was great fun dancing. We started to leave, and when they came back on, we climbed on the seats nearest us (which were a good deal further away, but we could hear and dance fine). Then again, we started to leave (we wanted to catch Joan Jett), but they started playing "Rock Lobster" and we had to stay for that. We dropped our stuff on the ground and proceeded to make fools of ourselves dancing. Apparently "us crazy bitches" made some drunk lady's night, because she asked to take pictures with us.
(Oh right, this was the day Sophie dressed as Death and I dressed as Delirium from The Sandman. We are Neil Gaiman approved:
But I digress.)
After us crazy bitches finished making drunk lady's night, we rushed to Joan Jett, where the only seats we could find were either too far to hear but with sight, or on the other side of a wall so we could hear but not see. We opted for hearing. There was dancing on the picnic tables.
And then. And then. We went to see DEVO. We camped out at the stage all day in the front row so we'd have nice seats. I read my book of Neil Gaiman short stories and started writing some nonsense about a were-deer. The first band we sat through waiting was Three Beers 'til Dubuque, and they were awesome, mostly covers, but well done. They went through swingy stuff to funk to old school rock, a couple of original songs...they had a whole brass section. It was nice. Then there was a terrible (awful, horrendous, crime against my ears and all music) hip-hop-flavored-pop cover band. To be fair, the musicians were pretty good. Their bassist was a girl, and their guitarist was super into playing, and their drummer had some skill. The singers, though...there were two, a guy and a girl. The guy thought he was the shit. The girl thought she was Fergie or Shakira or something but had the most nasally, trilly voice I have ever heard. It was tortuous. They played the longest set. Our whole group resorted to Twittering our hatred (because they had the sound up so loud we couldn't hear anything at all, as though volume compensates for quality). The band after that, and the last band before DEVO, was Katzenjammer, and they were amazing. They were so good. I don't think I've ever decided so soon into a live show that I needed to get all of their music ever and own it for the rest of my life. Four Norwegian girls, all adorable, all wearing cute costumes and cool shoes, playing an assortment of like seventeen instruments, most of them stringed--all of them could play all of them. It was like musical chairs on stage. Fantastic show.
And then, of course, DEVO, which was the last show for us for all of this year's Summerfest, and it was fucking DEVO, okay? What else can I say? They changed costumes a bunch, they threw hats into the crowd, they brought out Booji boy at the end, played ridiculous videos, jumped around...it was a great show, even though it was stifling and crowded and some jackass horned in on our spot at the last minute and did his best to outdouche everyone in the crowd.
So there was Summerfest and all these great shows, and when I head back to Arizona, it will be to see the Barenaked Ladies, so...overall, a good summer for me and concerts, even if I did miss all the Remus Lupins shows I could have gotten to.
Also this summer: books. I've read so many books this summer. It's very nice. I went through Sophie's whole Neil Gaiman collection (two books were short story collections, which make me happier than most things), all of Transmetropolitan, the Ocarina of Time manga, the comic adaption of Neverwhere, the Zombie Survival Guide, the Illustrated Outbreaks comic, several Georgia Nicholson books, The Giver, a short book of captioned illustrations by Edward Gorey, and am currently working my way through Pretty in Punk, about girls' gender resistance in the punk movement.
Also also this summer: markers. Sophie's mom had a bunch of old Prismacolor markers from her school days, and gifted them to Sophie, who has allowed me to use them while I'm here. Most of my Prismacolors are skin tones, and none of hers were, so our two collections combined are very effective for arting, and we have been doing a lot of it.
And finally this summer, video games. I replayed Wind Waker and Twilight Princess (both depressing beyond all reason), Sophie just bought God of War, and I'm going to start in on Final Fantasy IX again (because I love it). This is not to mention our countless combined hours of the Sims 3.
In sum: it is muggy, and my feet have often hurt, but I am very happy and keeping busy. Also there is a cat, which never hurts.