~ September 10, 2003 - 12:29 p.m. ~
Viva La Musica
::Cough::::Hack::
Went out to NorthSix again the other night, despite still getting over this stupid cold. Tim directed me to get out there a little too early, so I ended up under a lamp post reading the Nibelungenlied for forty-five minutes while I waited for him to show up with Neverly and Red. We were there to see Q and not U, but as usual there was a whole load of semi-crappy openers to sit through, including some guys doing "rhythm" saxophone, a band called El Guapo, and another group (that surprisingly didn't suck) called Black Eyes. Q and not U was a little disappointing, a) because Red had talked them up so much that I was almost expecting some kind of life-changing epiphany. b) the sound quality at NorthSix blew chunk. c) I found their use of little-kid-dollar-bin instruments (like the train whistle and the PlaySchool piano whistle) sort of pretentious. Actually, especially pretentious because the event was miced (miked?) so poorly that we couldn't hear those instruments at all, and it was just like they got up on stage to wave them around at us.
Additionally, this tall skinny shit danced his way right in front of me two songs into their set, and then proceeded to step on my feet (hard) twice, elbow me in the stomach, ect. ad nausium. Finally, as the crowd was thinning just before the encore, he manages somehow to hit me upside the head and elbow me in the jaw. Now, I had been trying to bring all this physical abuse to his attention in a calm, non-confrontational manner, but he was ignoring me. So when this happened, I screamed at him "You stupid shit! That's the fifth fucking time you hit me, ass-eyes!" Naturally, he didn't hear me, although his friend did, and brought my screaming self to his attention (it was a loud venue). He shrugged and moved on.
As we exited NorthSix after the show, surprise surprise! The dumb shit slams into me again. I was *this* close to drop kicking him into next Thursday (being out when I'm sick makes me very feisty and irritable) when he kind of locked eyes with me and suddenly stammered an apology. Though tall, he was so skinny I could have snapped him like a fucking twig. . .
Anyway, Tim and Red got into it afterwards because she grabbed him by the shoulders after the show and screamed: "They ruled, they fucking ruled! Admit it!"
To which Tim replied that he didn't have to admit it because he didn't think they ruled, which opened up another whole exciting can of worms. I was just ready to pounce on anybody for anything at that point, so I start raving to Neverly about them raving . . . well, it was a very silent cab ride home.
Funny thing is, I knew this shit was going to happen. I never like the opening acts of shows I go to (no luck, I guess), but I've been hauling myself to everything Red could possibly get us tickets to (with the sole exception of Bjork because we couldn't afford it). I have been trying very hard to expand my musical interests lately. I realized that I can't really go see any of my favorite bands except two, mostly because they've all split up, or the lead singer is dead or god knows what else. I mean, I'm very musically confused right now. I know that sounds odd, but I always used to have a song in my head, like my own little personal soundtrack on life. Now it's just whatever gets stuck in there. Really, lets take a look at what I've listed as my favorite music on diaryland, shall we?
Ani difranco. OK, love Ani. Have from the first moment I heard her play. Instant addict. I love her lyrics, I love her voice, I love her melody. Her words just inspired me from the moment I heard them.
Bruce Springsteen. I am probably the world's oldest Bruce Springsteen fan. Or longest. Or something. Not because I was into him before everyone else or some shit, because I simply wasn't alive when he started playing. But my mom was a huge fan of him, from his first album on. When she was pregnant with me, she would press her belly up to the radio so I could hear him. My uncles, all huge fans as well, used to make me sit on their laps and sing Springsteen from the time I could speak. I don't remember I time when I wasn't completely into the Boss. My mother saw to that in utero.
Bob Dylan. Ok, he's not dead, but he hasn't really produced any new meaningful work in a while. He's really sort of resting on his laurels, and he can't really sing anymore. I've heard him in concert (sort of). It's depressing, and I feel awful for the guy. But he needs to retire before he kills himself. For real.
The Doors. OK, they broke up while my mother was still in high school. Jim Morrison was dead by her freshman year of college. I never had even the remotest chance of seeing them play. Ever. Tim and I jointly own their whole repertoire (OK, Tim owns, I've stolen . . .) and there's never going to be anything else. Talk about stagnating tastes.
Dashboard Confessional. Right, just to clear things up, I have only heard their latest album, and I wouldn't normally be attracted to a band like them. Except for the fact that I knew Chris Carrabba as a kid. His family and mine were exceptionally close. We always had holidays and stuff together. Granted, Chris was not the one I was really close with. I was practically raised alongside his cousin S. Mostly, I just remember him and his brother and his two other cousins telling me and their OTHER cousin C we couldn't play with them because we were too young (by about a year!) and we were girls. Anyway, our families are still close, even if I haven't seen Chris since I was twelve.
Moving on to more of Gina's favorite bands.
The Beatles. So half of them are dead. They broke up again while my mother was in college. I never had a chance to hear them in concert. Again, I own all their stuff, and again they won't ever produce anything new, and there's another band I love that has stopped and stagnated.
Bob Marley. Dead as well. See above statements on while this rains on my parade.
Simon and Garfunkle. I heard they are going on tour but, surprise! They announced that they aren't doing any new stuff, just rehashing all their old favorites.
Jewel. I'm actually not crazy about her as a pop singer, but I really respect her as a poet. Really, she should kind of stick to that, but she doesn't tell me how to live my life, so I won't tell her how to live hers. Her books of poetry are much better than her albums, though. It's better when there's no melody.
The Cranberries. I was insane about them in high school. Their concert was one of the greatest performances I've ever seen. But after three albums, they kind of lost it. A lot.
Counting Crows. Again, nuts about them when they first came out. Loved "August and Everything After." Really enjoyed "Recovering the Satellites." Can barely stomach "This Desert Life." And the rest is virtually unlistenable. Great.
So I realized that I needed to broaden my musical horizons. And I don't know why I was so hesitant to do it before. I had to hit musical rock bottom before I realized I had nothing in my CD wallet I wanted to listen to that wasn't already in the stereo. So I've been experimenting, mostly on Tim and Red's collective advice. Mates of State, Django Rhinhartd, Deerhoof, Lightning Bolt, JChurch, and countless bands I know only from the mix CDs Red keeps sending over. Only the first three have really appealed to me at all so far. It's crazy. I'm just scraping the bottom of the barrel on so many things in my life right now. I never expected music to be one of them.
