Busy week!
Whew! It's been a busy week for Teeka and I, eh!
On Thursday night, we went to go see Nickel Creek as they performed at the Festival at Sandpoint. I love the band (it's the 4th time I've seen them in concert... and the last time I saw them in concert was when I proposed to my darling wife), but I have to say I was very-much underwhelmed by the venue. Sandpoint, for those who don't know, is kind of a haven for ex-hippies and wannabe-hippy yuppies who've got money. So this festival they throw every summer, trying to be a reflection of the community, is the type where you pay to get in, and the seating is mostly on blankets and lawn chairs on a big field on a first-come-first-serve basis. I can tell that what they were trying for was a close-knit community event, (heck, they don't even have proper parking for the event-- you're supposed to park on the residential streets that surround the venue) but they've vastly outgrown their original intents. Combine this with the fact that they're in it for a profit, which means they're going to oversell the capacity of the place as much as they think they can get away with... Overall, it was like a crappily-planned bumbershoot.
Teeka and I weren't feeling that great when we left for the concert (had to beg her to go, and she agreed, bless her heart), so we got off a bit late. When we got there, we did one drive-by of the place, noticing that we'd have to part about a mile away, and almost wrote the whole thing off right then. We got some food at a local Thai restaurant, and afterward decided we'd give it a go anyway, since we already drove 3 hours to get there (yeah-- all kinds of construction on the highway between Moscow and Sandpoint. :P) When we got in, the only seating available was in the far back left corner on the ground behind an army of hippies sitting in their lawn chairs, sipping the eclectic wines they all brought. Of course, being at the back, we were seated next to the family of 3 screaming kids, and right in front of the rude, beligerent drunks who were talking about three times as loud as the poorly-amplified music, and never ceased talking the entire time they were there. (I mean, really-- who the hell shows up to a concert to have a loud, drawn-out conversation with one of your colleagues about how much you screwed over one of your clients because you sold him an advertising package he obviously didn't understand. You unethical, egotistical prick.)
Nickel Creek took the stage about 45 minutes after they were supposed to and played a lot of their hits from their most recent ("Why should the fire die?") and also their most popular album (their first, self-titled). Thankfully, about half-way through the concert all the hippies around us started to turn into pumpkins and leave (including the assholes shouting their conversation over the music behind us, and the screaming family next to us) (and-- as a side-note-- how rude is it to get up and leave in the middle of a song, half-way through the concert? It's not like they didn't pause to banter with the crowd between every song!), so we actually got to hear the last half of the concert. And it almost made up for the rest of the day-- Nickel Creek is just so awesome. Every one of the songs they played they did a little different than the recorded version; They're so good at musical improv that several times throughout the night we got to hear them transition into different (often pop-music) tunes and lyrics in the middle of one of their own pieces. We got to hear The Fox again, once again different than any previous time I'd heard them do it. And that made me exceedingly happy. :)
So... while I still love my favorite band, and think their performance was good despite the venue, I think it's safe to say that Teeka and I will be avoiding this stupid stinky hippy festival in the future. Had I taken a close look at their tour schedule before buying the tickets, I would have known we could have either gone to Redmond or Boise this weekend to hear them give the same concert, and in a forum that allows one to get guaranteed seating that isn't in the nosebleed "It's OK to be rude because we're far away from the stage" section. (I hate first-come-first-serve seating... especially when I pay $35 a head to get in.)
Stupid... goddamn... hippies...
(And on a side note-- who the hell brings their kids to a musical concert anyway? I realize it's supposed to be a family-friendly environment... where everyone brings vast quantities of various forms of alcohol and imbibes liberally... so much so that the fumes of which are enough to turn the stomach... but really-- I mean... Does anyone else get pissed off at those damned young wannabe-hippy yuppie families who spawned and are in perpetual denial about the fact that child ownership means there are certain events you can go to with your kids, and certain events where you'd be better of hiring a sitter for the night? Who the hell thinks bringing your toddlers to a wailing hippy / bluegrass concert is going to do anything but make the kids bored and cranky, and piss off everyone within earshot?)
Aaanyway. On a whim on Friday night (and also because I promised Teeka we could do anything she wanted this weekend because I'd dragged her to that lousy concert), we decided to head up to Spokane and do... er... stuff. Right now I'm lying next to Teeka in bed in our room in the Red Lion at the Park hotel (which is one of the hotels we're considering for the furry con we're helping to plan for next Spring). It's been a pretty good weekend thus far, if not incredibly eventful. I love spending time with my Teeka... and she's really cute when she's sleeping and snoring quietly. :D
Heh... time to get her up...
On Thursday night, we went to go see Nickel Creek as they performed at the Festival at Sandpoint. I love the band (it's the 4th time I've seen them in concert... and the last time I saw them in concert was when I proposed to my darling wife), but I have to say I was very-much underwhelmed by the venue. Sandpoint, for those who don't know, is kind of a haven for ex-hippies and wannabe-hippy yuppies who've got money. So this festival they throw every summer, trying to be a reflection of the community, is the type where you pay to get in, and the seating is mostly on blankets and lawn chairs on a big field on a first-come-first-serve basis. I can tell that what they were trying for was a close-knit community event, (heck, they don't even have proper parking for the event-- you're supposed to park on the residential streets that surround the venue) but they've vastly outgrown their original intents. Combine this with the fact that they're in it for a profit, which means they're going to oversell the capacity of the place as much as they think they can get away with... Overall, it was like a crappily-planned bumbershoot.
Teeka and I weren't feeling that great when we left for the concert (had to beg her to go, and she agreed, bless her heart), so we got off a bit late. When we got there, we did one drive-by of the place, noticing that we'd have to part about a mile away, and almost wrote the whole thing off right then. We got some food at a local Thai restaurant, and afterward decided we'd give it a go anyway, since we already drove 3 hours to get there (yeah-- all kinds of construction on the highway between Moscow and Sandpoint. :P) When we got in, the only seating available was in the far back left corner on the ground behind an army of hippies sitting in their lawn chairs, sipping the eclectic wines they all brought. Of course, being at the back, we were seated next to the family of 3 screaming kids, and right in front of the rude, beligerent drunks who were talking about three times as loud as the poorly-amplified music, and never ceased talking the entire time they were there. (I mean, really-- who the hell shows up to a concert to have a loud, drawn-out conversation with one of your colleagues about how much you screwed over one of your clients because you sold him an advertising package he obviously didn't understand. You unethical, egotistical prick.)
Nickel Creek took the stage about 45 minutes after they were supposed to and played a lot of their hits from their most recent ("Why should the fire die?") and also their most popular album (their first, self-titled). Thankfully, about half-way through the concert all the hippies around us started to turn into pumpkins and leave (including the assholes shouting their conversation over the music behind us, and the screaming family next to us) (and-- as a side-note-- how rude is it to get up and leave in the middle of a song, half-way through the concert? It's not like they didn't pause to banter with the crowd between every song!), so we actually got to hear the last half of the concert. And it almost made up for the rest of the day-- Nickel Creek is just so awesome. Every one of the songs they played they did a little different than the recorded version; They're so good at musical improv that several times throughout the night we got to hear them transition into different (often pop-music) tunes and lyrics in the middle of one of their own pieces. We got to hear The Fox again, once again different than any previous time I'd heard them do it. And that made me exceedingly happy. :)
So... while I still love my favorite band, and think their performance was good despite the venue, I think it's safe to say that Teeka and I will be avoiding this stupid stinky hippy festival in the future. Had I taken a close look at their tour schedule before buying the tickets, I would have known we could have either gone to Redmond or Boise this weekend to hear them give the same concert, and in a forum that allows one to get guaranteed seating that isn't in the nosebleed "It's OK to be rude because we're far away from the stage" section. (I hate first-come-first-serve seating... especially when I pay $35 a head to get in.)
Stupid... goddamn... hippies...
(And on a side note-- who the hell brings their kids to a musical concert anyway? I realize it's supposed to be a family-friendly environment... where everyone brings vast quantities of various forms of alcohol and imbibes liberally... so much so that the fumes of which are enough to turn the stomach... but really-- I mean... Does anyone else get pissed off at those damned young wannabe-hippy yuppie families who spawned and are in perpetual denial about the fact that child ownership means there are certain events you can go to with your kids, and certain events where you'd be better of hiring a sitter for the night? Who the hell thinks bringing your toddlers to a wailing hippy / bluegrass concert is going to do anything but make the kids bored and cranky, and piss off everyone within earshot?)
Aaanyway. On a whim on Friday night (and also because I promised Teeka we could do anything she wanted this weekend because I'd dragged her to that lousy concert), we decided to head up to Spokane and do... er... stuff. Right now I'm lying next to Teeka in bed in our room in the Red Lion at the Park hotel (which is one of the hotels we're considering for the furry con we're helping to plan for next Spring). It's been a pretty good weekend thus far, if not incredibly eventful. I love spending time with my Teeka... and she's really cute when she's sleeping and snoring quietly. :D
Heh... time to get her up...