Valentines tonight, Christmas tomorrow
So, yeah, we're a little too busy catching up on past holidays to celebrate Easter this year. And ever since I quit even pretending to be a practicing Catholic, I feel guilty about celebrating a religion-less Easter anyway (see, no church and all the guilt -- what a deal!).
This evening we went to see Rickie Lee Jones, which tickets we bought on the spur of the moment (read: after a couple beers) early last month. Valentines Day was coming and neither of us had thought about it one bit. We'd gone out for dinner, then wandered over to the record store for some drunken debit-carding. As we were on our way out, we passed a poster for RLJ, solo acoustic -- at the local high school. So we turned ourselves around, charged the $70 and marched back to the car.
We got there a little late tonight, after a fabulous dinner at the local Thai place with F. and S., and sat in the back row of the high school auditorium, which has incredible acoustics. And wouldn't you know it, the last two seats were right next to several extras from the movie Deliverance. I suspect that RLJ has a significant biker following, and these folks must have been part of it. They're the classic concert bores -- hooting wildly at the first notes of every song they recognize, then singing off-key or, worse, chatting throughout it about how much they love this song. I shushed them, despite my better instincts, and had the pleasure of them shushing me back several times through the night.
As for Rickie, she is an odd bird with an amazing voice. She did all the hits -- "Chuck E.'s in Love," "Easy Money," "Last Chance Texaco" and a bunch of the more recent stuff -- plus at least one selection from her latest album, which apparently was inspired by anti-Bush sentiment.
Now I'm as liberal as the next over-educated New Englander, but I have about had it with the crappy art being created by legitimate (and previously somewhat apolitical) musicians as a form of protest against this administration. As if Bush himself weren't bad enough, now I've got to listen to clumsy peans to the fact that he's ugly and his dad was, too? Please. Musicians of the world, if you write a song about him, you are letting the terrorists win. Please go back to your regularly scheduled songwriting. A grateful nation thanks you.
[end of tirade]
As for Christmas -- that comes tomorrow. Darren bought me tickets to see George Carlin for Christmas. The show was scheduled for January, but then ol' George checked himself into rehab and the show was postponed. It's on again (as far as we know) for tomorrow. I don't know if you've ever heard him interviewed, but he's a whipsmart guy with an intense curiosity -- and a wealth of knowledge -- about language. And besides that, he's been in a couple of Kevin Smith's movies, which makes me like him all the more.
Will rehab have taken the funny out of Carlin? I'll let you know. In the meantime, merry Christmas!
This evening we went to see Rickie Lee Jones, which tickets we bought on the spur of the moment (read: after a couple beers) early last month. Valentines Day was coming and neither of us had thought about it one bit. We'd gone out for dinner, then wandered over to the record store for some drunken debit-carding. As we were on our way out, we passed a poster for RLJ, solo acoustic -- at the local high school. So we turned ourselves around, charged the $70 and marched back to the car.
We got there a little late tonight, after a fabulous dinner at the local Thai place with F. and S., and sat in the back row of the high school auditorium, which has incredible acoustics. And wouldn't you know it, the last two seats were right next to several extras from the movie Deliverance. I suspect that RLJ has a significant biker following, and these folks must have been part of it. They're the classic concert bores -- hooting wildly at the first notes of every song they recognize, then singing off-key or, worse, chatting throughout it about how much they love this song. I shushed them, despite my better instincts, and had the pleasure of them shushing me back several times through the night.
As for Rickie, she is an odd bird with an amazing voice. She did all the hits -- "Chuck E.'s in Love," "Easy Money," "Last Chance Texaco" and a bunch of the more recent stuff -- plus at least one selection from her latest album, which apparently was inspired by anti-Bush sentiment.
Now I'm as liberal as the next over-educated New Englander, but I have about had it with the crappy art being created by legitimate (and previously somewhat apolitical) musicians as a form of protest against this administration. As if Bush himself weren't bad enough, now I've got to listen to clumsy peans to the fact that he's ugly and his dad was, too? Please. Musicians of the world, if you write a song about him, you are letting the terrorists win. Please go back to your regularly scheduled songwriting. A grateful nation thanks you.
[end of tirade]
As for Christmas -- that comes tomorrow. Darren bought me tickets to see George Carlin for Christmas. The show was scheduled for January, but then ol' George checked himself into rehab and the show was postponed. It's on again (as far as we know) for tomorrow. I don't know if you've ever heard him interviewed, but he's a whipsmart guy with an intense curiosity -- and a wealth of knowledge -- about language. And besides that, he's been in a couple of Kevin Smith's movies, which makes me like him all the more.
Will rehab have taken the funny out of Carlin? I'll let you know. In the meantime, merry Christmas!
posted by mc at 11:03 PM
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