Bringing the Drama

Last Wednesday I went to see John Mayer. I’ve seen JM a few times over the past 8 years. I was not really impressed with the latest album, but the main reason I still care about him is that he can still play the guitar live and make me forget that he has stupid songs like “Say”. Maybe he’s gone over the top with this heart throb image he’s trying to project now, and maybe his stage looks like a curtain draped bed, but he can still impress me with the guitar playing.

After having seen Jay-Z at the same arena a couple of weeks before, I noticed and mentioned to friends at the JM show “if Jay-Z was the show where black people get dressed up, John Mayer is the show where white people get dressed up”. It was striking how true that statement was. More tight clothes, more of it all. On the way to get a bloody mary, I stopped off in the restroom. I’m standing at the urinal when I hear a liquid hit the floor behind me, and the cleaning guy on the other side of the room say “what are you doing man? get IN the bathroom!” I completed my task, and turned around to see some dude had thrown up in the doorway of the restroom. He made it all the way from his seat to the doorway and couldn’t make it the extra 10 feet. Pathetic. I went and got my bloody mary thinking “this may be my last John Mayer show, this crowd has changed over the years to something I’m not a part of anymore.”

I took my seat on the front of the upper deck. Michael Franti was still playing, so we watched him. All his songs sounded the same, and I guess I’ve had less patience for opening acts lately. He came out into the crowd to perform a couple of times, including one time where he started playing in the aisle right below us on the lower level, but sadly I lost that picture in the transfer from camera to computer.

John Mayer finally hit the stage and led off with Heartbreak Warfare. It is one of the few songs I like off the new album, partly because of the cool video he did to go along with it. No Such Thing came 2nd, which I thought was weird. They rolled through some good songs, including I Don’t Trust Myself With Loving You. One of the things I liked so much about Continuum, was the guitar solos. They are amazing to hear live. They’re the reason I go to the live shows. This solo did not disappoint. Before the next song stared, there was an electric guitar malfunction, so he called an audible and did two songs acoustic, by himself. The first was Comfortable, which was the favorite song of my friend TH way back when he was telling me about this new guy John Mayer in 2001 or 2002. I had never heard it live, so it was cool to finally hear it. After Neon (another golden oldie), the technical problem was fixed so the band came back out.

Even the songs that I think were stupid before sounded and looked good live, including Who Says. He finished up with his cover version of Crossroads, so he ended up playing the 3 songs on the new album that I think are the only good ones. It was one of the better shows I’ve seen him play. I would go see him again, despite the immature crowds and the stupid marketing. I get it, I get the big production and the fancy band, but at the heart of it is still that guy who I admire playing smooth guitar solos, and that’s enough for me.

I told you a while back about how I was going to see Jay-Z. A couple of weeks ago, that show happened. At work on the day of the show, I listened to three albums on shuffle. I emailed my sister the lyrics to the chorus of Hard Knock Life. I was telling people “Jay-Z is a big deal”. He is, he’s one of the biggest artists on the planet. I’ve seen 50 Cent and Ludacris (not together, and both were at a festival) live and they were HORRIBLE. Jay-Z is AWESOME. I thought this show would be better than any other rap show I’d ever seen.

We got there during the opening act, and he was okay. He had some song with lyrics that sounded like he wanted to sleep with a girl, but not want her to tell anyone, which made me ask “is this song about Tiger Woods?” We saw Mos Def and Spike Lee (really). We saw people dressed up way better than the standard concert, lots of tight dresses and big sunglasses. Then we saw the man himself emerge from below the stage.

One of the things I noticed about the other two artists who performed other than Jay-Z, was that they needed guys on stage who would go “give it up for so and so! Yeah! Make some noise!” Jay-Z did not need that, he’s a big deal. When the lights went down and the clock countdown got closer and closer to 0:00, the crowd knew who was coming. The curtain fell with 20 seconds to go, and the band is out on stage, and then Jay-Z rose from the depths of the stage and had the crowd in the palm of his hand. It was awesome. The entire crowd had their arms up bouncing along to Run This Town. It was everything I had imagined.

I thought the setlist lost some steam when he veered away from the big hits early. The other songs were hits too, but Run This Town and 99 Problems are just bigger songs that everyone can get into. I just thought one or two more of the bigger songs would have been better. The not so good songs weren’t made better live. I did really like the live band though. And his ability to spit out raps with such ease was amazing. I don’t think I could talk that fast and that smooth. I had read something earlier in the week that one of the things that sets him apart is he can command flow. I definitely agree. The midset handoff to Young Jeezy was alright (Jay-Z left the stage, and YJ did a mini-set), but it drained some of the life from the crowd. Though, YJ did manage to encourage us with sayings like “if you can dream it, you can motherf****** do it!” Right on. Jay-Z came back out and finished the show strong.

I thought one of the highlights was the girl that he pulled up on stage who sang a verse of Song Cry. The Unplugged is one of my favorite albums ever, and Song Cry is on there. It is one of my favorites. The chick managed to do really well, so well that I think Jay-Z was impressed, and teamed up with her for a couple of lines. She didn’t get to finish though, some excuses like “we gotta go” or something. Still though, I’m sure that’s one of the highlights of her life.

Overall, I would have made a couple of setlist changes (no Can’t Knock the Hustle or What We Talkin’ About) and eliminated the midset handoff, but other than that the show was one of those “quest realm” types that didn’t disappoint.

Sunday morning I woke up with a lot of nervous energy. The Saints playing in the Super Bowl was finally going to happen later in the day. I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I watched some soccer, the SB pregame, and I played around on the internet. I had taken care of some grad school stuff on Saturday, so I wouldn’t have to worry about getting anything done Sunday morning. Things were moving so slowly, much like the last two weeks since Garrett Hartley’s kick split the uprights to beat the Vikings.

Finally, it was time to leave for my friend Melanie’s house. On the way there, I had a frightening thought the game started an hour earlier than I thought, and we’d miss the teams running onto the field. Thankfully this was not the case. We arrived with our High Life and appetites in plenty of time to see the team introductions, crisis averted. I honestly didn’t know that many people at the party other than the people I came with and the hosts. We all had one thing in common, we were all Who Dats. The setup was having the game projected outside onto a screen hung on the side of the house. Best setup to watch a Super Bowl ever! We all had camping chairs and blankets to keep warm.

Once the game started, it didn’t feel like watching a Super Bowl, it felt like watching a Saints game. That may not make sense, but it was the first time seeing MY team in the Super Bowl, so after the initial shock wore off of the teams running onto the field, and seeing the end zone painted black and gold, it was just like the other 18 games I had watched so far this year. The first half was so nerve-wracking. Peyton Manning seemed to be able to work the ball down the field, and he was making some PERFECT throws. A lot of people I read or saw talk about the game kept building up Manning as this unbeatable Superman of a QB. I knew he was good, but not that much better than Warner or Favre, who the Saints had beaten. The 4th and 1 at the goal line that the Saints did not convert made me really nervous, because the Colts could have come down and made it 13-3 or worse 17-3. Fortunately the defense was able to hold, and the Saints made up for the missed opportunity with another FG. I was encouraged at the half that it was 10-6 Colts, esp considering how sluggish the Saints offense looked, but how they had started to break out of their shell at the end of the first half. Still though, Manning didn’t seem to be too rattled.

After watching the two remaining members of The Who struggle through halftime, the 2nd half was set to begin. Everyone was back in their seats when the onside kick happened. Seriously, an onside kick in the Super Bowl! WHAT?!? The Saints TD that came after made me start thinking “this might actually happen, the Saints might do this.” The rest of the game until the famous INT was a blur. I remember Stover missing the FG (honestly, never thought he was going to make it and wondered why the Colts went for the kick). I was so happy for Jeremy Shockey to get a TD. I follow him on Twitter, and I watched his interview at Media Day. He gets a bum rap IMO, so I was glad he was able to make a big play in the Super Bowl. Lance Moore’s 2 point conversion was good when we watched the replay. I’m glad Sean Payton heard us screaming to challenge it. We also noticed Peyton Manning looking frustrated on the sideline, so maybe the Saints weren’t sacking him or getting INTs, but they were still getting to him in other ways. Advantage Saints!

So here we go, Saints leading by 7 and the Colts have the ball. I thought at worst, they tie the game and we go to OT. What I wanted though was to finally get a turnover and put the game away. I had been yelling for a turnover hoping it would actually happen….and then, it did. Pandemonium ensued when the play happened. I had not been sitting down since the TD to go ahead 24-17, and I started hollering, and I could not yell loud enough. I could not jump around enough. There was so much emotion that I could not express it all. People hugged, cried, and high fived. It was crazy. Fireworks went off in the distance. Two people from a party across the street ended up coming to our party. When the final whistle blew, more fireworks went off, a nearby church was ringing its bells, and the party across the street moved to our party, including their keg. I remember thinking “this moment is perfect.”

I got a phone call from my friend Jim, who I work with. He’s not from NOLA, yet he was excited for everything that had happened. I thought that was cool. I was yelling into the phone. The excitement was just incredible. I talked to my friend Jacob by phone and realized while talking to him, that the Saints, a team I love, a team my family loves, and a team my friends love, won a title. It’s the greatest sporting event ever, in the history of our lives. Nothing could ever top this. I told people it didn’t feel real, like in Back to the Future II, Marty sees that ad for “Cubs Win World Series”. That’s how it felt almost when we saw the headline on the news “Saints Win Super Bowl”.

I might have slept 3 hours on Monday night. I stayed up late watching every video I could, then woke up at 4 am and watched more video and Sportscenter over and over. I ventured out to get a paper at 6 am. It’s incredible. It actually happened. I’ll never forget Sunday night. I’ll never forget that feeling I had when Porter made the INT. The flood of emotion in that moment was incredible. The Saints are Super Bowl Champions! WHO DAT!

After Deke and Bobby went back inside to broadcast on the radio, they announced anyone wanting to enter the Best Dressed or Hairy Legs contest, please come to the right of the stage. I had to fight my way over to the right of the stage. It was still ridiculously packed. I got to the stairs and had the lady see me so she’d pick me out of this throng of guys in dresses.
Once I got on stage, everything seemed a little disorganized. There were about 20 other guys on stage with me, but they didn’t really divide us between the two contests. I pulled my socks down so people would see why I should win. They had people go to the front of the stage because I think they were judging by crowd reaction. One of the ladies in charge looked at me and my legs and told me I’d be a finalist. Guys would go to the front of the stage, then step back. Slowly but surely they were eliminated. They hadn’t asked me to go to the front yet, so I thought the hairy legs competition would be coming up. I was going to stay up there until they asked me to leave.

Finally I got motioned to go to the front to show off my wares. I did, and my friends in the crowd had summoned help from people around them to cheer for me. Unfortunately, I did not make the finals of the Best Dressed, but I was still staying up there until they told me to leave. One of the ladies came up to me and told me she had something inside for me, and to stay up there. They announced the winner of Best Dressed, and the lady came up to me again, and said “follow me inside, we’re going to put you on the radio.” I motioned out to my friends about the greatness that was happening.

The lady told me to grab her hand and stay close. It was still crazy packed. We made our way through the crowd, and since I was with the radio lady, I got past the security guard. They had me wait near the table that was being used for the broadcast. I thought they would eventually give us microphones or something, and ask us a couple of questions.

I was going to thank my dad for the hairy legs. Sadly though, I never got the chance. They took my name, and the name of the guy who won Best Dressed, and said them over the air, so that was cool. My parents heard it. When they said my name, I turned and waved to the people in the restaurant. It was all kinds of awesome. The lady gave me a bag full of stuff from one of the local Saints shops. I wanted the plaque that the other guy got, it even had Hairy Legs on it. I think they only got one plaque though, and it did say Best In Show, so he got that.

We left the restaurant and got a picture at the Andrew Jackson statue to add to my collection. Then we made our way to Fleurty Girl, where I met THE Fleurty Girl. She asked to get a picture with me, and then she tweeted it! She’s like a real celebrity with all the local and national interviews from the cease and desist selling WHO DAT shirts thing. (or so I have learned this week) My sister was able to buy a shirt she’s been wanting. Afterward we went and ate at this BBQ place called Squeal where they had the most amazing corn grits I’ve ever had.

I have told this story over and over since Sunday. I keep thinking how incredible it all was. I was expecting a lot of guys to show up and march and all, but the amount that did blew my mind. The amount of people who turned up to watch was just awesome. The crowd was so happy. Everyone was having such a great time. I’m so glad I did it. I can’t wait till Sunday. WHO DAT!

(I divided the story into 2 parts, both parts will be posted today. Part II later this afternoon)

Last week, Bobby Hebert announced that there would actually be a Dress Parade to honor the late Buddy D and celebrate the Saints going to the Super Bowl. Later on in the week, I called my friend Jacob, who’s probably one of the only friends I have on the same level with the Saints. I asked him if he wanted to do the parade. I thought it’d be fun. We agreed. He called me Saturday, and we nailed down more plans and particulars. It was on.

Saturday night, I went to the local Goodwill to get a dress. I went through the entire rack of dresses and found two black dresses. They were pretty much the same style, so I was just going to try them both on and go with the one that fit the best. The tags were ripped off, so I had no idea what size the dresses were. It was obvious one fit better than the other, so I bought it. When I went up to the counter, the lady said “you must be going to a party”, to which I said “no, I’m going to be in the Dress Parade tomorrow.” The people around the counter laughed and encouraged me to have a good time. The dress was $5.43 total, not bad. I stopped off at the store and got a 12 pack of High Life cans, because I knew we’d need beer and I thought we’d get in trouble for having bottles. I was going to use a couple of the reusable shopping bags to split the beer between me and Jacob.

The next morning I went to early church and listened to another boring sermon. On my way home I stopped off at Academy and got some black soccer socks. I got home and threw on my dress. Since it was going to be cold, I put on my long sleeve compression shirt that I wear for running, and some compression shorts. Then I put on a long underwear shirt on and some boxers. I did not want to have to wear a coat or anything, I wanted to show off the dress!

We got downtown about 11:35 or so, and parked across the street from the Holiday Inn. We were having to wait for Jacob, and I had to go to the bathroom, so we walked across the street to the hotel. I walked into the waiting room type area, and walked past three guys who were just wearing long skirts over pants. LOSERS! That’s when I knew I had done the right thing, and the apprehension I was feeling disappeared. They saw me with everything on and I could tell from the look on their faces that they wished they had gone all out like I had. Yeah, I was working it. My sister nicknamed me Sassy Sally.

We walked over to the Dome to meet up with Jacob. There were so many guys out there, and more impressive was the number of people who came to watch.

We walked down the street doing the Who Dat! Chant, chanting Buddy D, Black and Gold Super Bowl, etc. It was amazing. The first block or so I must have said “this is awesome” 20 times. Everyone was laughing and yelling and waving. There were tons of people on both sides of the street taking video and/or pictures. It was crazy. Some of the guys took the dress wearing a little too far IMO. One guy readily admitted he was wearing a thong underneath. One guy took our picture, and then tells me “if you’d have shaved this morning, I’d be turned on”. I told him “I’m glad I didn’t!” The guys in makeup were also kind of weird.

When we made the turn onto Carondelet, there were still tons of people. It was almost as if the amount of people increased. I high fived a girl for wearing a Scott Fujita jersey. This one guy was filming and says “this is going on youtube”, so I got in the camera shot and yelled “What up! Youtube! Who Dat!” I have no idea if it’s actually anywhere yet, but I’m in a video somewhere for sure.

When we got to the Quarter, it almost became single file because of all the people on the sidewalks. These guys in front of us were just walking in jerseys and jeans, and I spoke loudly that they shouldn’t be in the parade. I don’t think they heard me. But really, we’re in dresses and you’re not, get out of our parade! Most importantly, we made it to the stage at the end of the parade and we had not run out of beer. Also, I wasn’t sure exactly where we were going, all I knew was we were following Bobby Hebert.

I knew there was going to be a hairy legs contest, so I didn’t wear stockings. I wanted to be able to enter the contest. The stage was set up in the street, and it was packed. We were in front of the stage, but it was just wall to wall people. I kept yelling for Bobby Hebert to come out, because he was our leader for the day, and I wanted to see him. I had not seen him all day. I booed a guy who was dancing on stage with a Mic Ultra. Finally, Bobby came out, and he appeared to feel very good. He said some pro Saints stuff, about how awesome it was that we all came out, that the Saints were going to the SB, life is awesome, whatever. Deke, his radio co-hort, was also there, but he didn’t have a dress. In fact, he was wearing a Bobby Hebert jersey. I think Deke’s an idiot, and his costume was just stupid. Fine, maybe you’re not man enough to wear a dress, but for crying out loud, do you have to wear the jersey of your radio partner like that? LAME!

(the exciting conclusion in part II)

Remember when I posted last month about the Andrew Jackson statues? I got a picture with the one in NOLA today. Why am I wearing a dress and what is the story behind it? Today was the parade today where guys honored late local sportscaster Buddy D and wore dresses to celebrate the Saints in the Super Bowl. Buddy always said if the Saints ever made it, he would parade through NOLA in a dress. Today my friend Jacob and I took part. Full story and more pictures to come later this week.

Back in May I typed about how Minnesota should sign Brett Favre. Now as I sit in a world where New Orleans Saints will host the NFC Championship game against the Vikings, I feel a tinge of regret. Little did I know last spring that Brett Favre would become a direct enemy of my Saints. That he and his team would be standing between the Saints and the Super Bowl.

I have been a Favre fan for as long as I can remember. I always wanted to see him do well in Green Bay. Maybe that admiration was helped by the Saints never playing the Packers in a really meaningful game, but I always thought it was cool that a guy from my general area of the country was one of the greatest QBs of all time.

This past Saturday night, I went to a Mardi Gras ball and had a great time. Someone at our table asked me who I wanted the Saints to play in the NFC title game. I told the lady I wanted Favre because of all the talk this season that has highlighted Favre’s play over Drew Brees. Part of me possibly didn’t want the Saints to play Dallas again, but mostly because I wanted the Saints to take down Brett Favre.

Now the game is upon us. The Saints won’t have to travel to a city up north and face a horribly insulting crowd in the snow. They get to play at home. They get to have their defense back and 91% full strength. They get to have the amazing Reggie Bush back at full strength. They also get Brett Favre, who will take away most of the media hype of this game.

As the game approaches, I am reminded of one of my favorite movie quotes from the film Rushmore for what I think the Saints should do: “Take dead aim on the rich boys, get them in the crosshairs, and take them down”. WHO DAT!

The past couple of months I’ve been anticipating seeing Switchfoot again. They came out with their new record earlier this month, and had scheduled some dates for November. When I saw the dates initially I did a double take. They were scheduled to play the Parish Room at the HOB in NOLA. The Parish is pretty tiny, and is usually reserved for lesser known bands. Switchfoot sold out the big room at the HOB in 2007 when I saw them. Then I read that they were purposely scheduling small venues because they were planning on playing their entire new record at each show. This concept is good if the record’s good, but if it sucks, then it’s not good. I was willing to take the chance because when I saw them in 2007 I came away a lot more impressed than I thought I would be. They were GREAT live. Because of this fact I was able to recruit my sister to come along.

Neko Case had scheduled a show in NOLA the same night, but unlike the Dead Weather/Andrew Bird double I was able to pull off, the two shows were going to be overlapping each other. I had to choose between the two, and my friend Brandi was able to validate my desire to see Switchfoot in a small venue, as opposed to seeing Neko Case, someone who I like, but doesn’t trump an alternative like this one. I bought the tickets for Switchfoot the night I went down to the HOB to see Dead Weather and stuck them in the cabinet door where I usually keep my concert tickets. The anticipation built as I heard songs from the new album. This show was going to be good. I was more excited to see Switchfoot than Swell Season or Pete Yorn.

We went downtown on Saturday and parked the car. The doors opened at 8 pm, and the show was sold out, so we got there about 7:35 or so. It was kind of a mistake because it seemed the entire crowd had showed up by then. There was some confusion as to what line was for Switchfoot and what line was for Stephen Marley, but things were figured out quickly. There was also a 40 something year old guy behind us who was by himself and REALLY excited about the show. I thought that was odd. The doors finally opened about 8:10 and we walked upstairs. The place we stood actually wasn’t as far back as I thought we could get, but man, Switchfoot has a lot of tall fans. It was like a line of tall people across the entire room. After getting our spot, I walked over to the merch table to ask about a vinyl copy of the new album. They didn’t have any. NO VINYL! I don’t understand how bands can show up unprepared like that. People want to give you money for vinyl copies of your album. If you’re going to sell it on your site, you should bring it to the show too! I walked back to our spot and we waited.

Switchfoot came out about 9:05 or so. Where we were standing, we could only really see the heads and shoulders of the band. I tried to make sure I could always see the lead singer, Jon Foreman, because really the lead singer is the most important part of a band. They played the new album in order, and it was awesome. I had only heard Mess of Me and The Sound before the show, so every other song was new to me. I loved the opening song’s lyrics “it’s no accident we’re here tonight, we are once in a lifetime.” there was plenty of guitar to go with the lyrics. YES! I know that lyric maybe isn’t that great, but I can explain later this week why now I like those lyrics for rock songs now. And Mess of Me was ridiculous. I liked hearing the stories before the songs, like how Your Love Is A Song is the third song in a trilogy, and how John M Perkins’ daughter was in attendance before The Sound. Early on some kid up front had a sign that said “Do you love me enough to let me play bass on Bullet?” The band saw it and acknowledged that they did love him enough and he had 6 songs to get ready. Now this kid was getting his wish, I hope he doesn’t suck.

Anyway, each song was great. I loved every minute of it. Then it came time for the bass playing fan to get up on stage for Bullet Soul. His name was Brandon, and the band was going to let him come in after the guitar solo. The solo comes and then Tim Foreman (the bass player) hands him the bass, then the band goes back to the solo. The dude was pretty good, the bass was deep and plodding. Not to say Tim was bad, but the kid had skills. I’m sure that was cool for him to do, and I felt happy for him.

This next part is too awesome for me to remember which song this was. So we’re all packed in there wall to wall, and during the song Jon Foreman takes the mic and starts walking back through the middle of the crowd. He was coming right by us! So I bumped my sister for her to touch him. She declines, and he walked past us. People are snapping pictures and patting him on the back, so on his way back I reached out and patted him on the back. I touched him! I touched a rock star! It was really cool. I mean, I know it’s not that cool in the grand scheme of things, but it was part of a great night, and I’m glad I did it. No regrets.

Once they finished playing Hello Hurricane, they went right into the older songs. I was really hoping for Awakening, but they decided not to grace us with it on Saturday night. Awakening is on my running mix, and during the HALF MARATHON it came on 2nd or something, right when I was having to get over the fact that I had 12.5 miles to run and I was really frustrated at all the slow people. It is one of my favorite songs. Anyway, they didn’t play it, but they did play Dare You To Move, among others, so I was okay with no Awakening. NEXT TIME THOUGH SWITCHFOOT! They played about 2 hours, and it was awesome. Seeing them in such a small place (they said NOLA was the smallest venue on the tour, and it almost didn’t happen because it was too small, but they pushed through) was amazing. Word.

So last night I met up with my mom to go to the Hornets game, and then right after that, Jacob to go see Pete Yorn. I ended up being able to go as Jacob’s +1 (ie FREE) since our other friend Jacob had to bail. After the game, which the Hornets WON, I made my way down to Republic. I hadn’t been there since seeing Death Cab 3 years ago. I was able to find a parking spot a block away, it was a snap. I walked up about 9:45 and didn’t see Jacob. I did see the tour bus and stood on the sidewalk with the smokers. Some people really should look in the mirror when they smoke to make sure they don’t look completely awkward. This one guy looked very awkward with a cig in his mouth. Not only is he slowly killing himself but he looks like a dumbass doing it.

As I was standing there waiting for Jacob, Pete Yorn got off his tour bus and was talking to a couple of people. I texted Jacob to coax him to hurry up, and luckily we met up a few minutes before PY started. We obviously had missed the opener, who happened to be GIVING AWAY his EP at the merch table. If you’re giving away your EP, it probably sucks. The fact that they were being given away played a factor later in the evening.

The way Republic is set up now, is they have couches near the back, about ¾ of the way back between the stage and the merch table area. People had been sitting in them, so when the show started they stood up. Of course people stood up right in front of where we were standing, so we booed them. One of the guys turned around and Jacob then noticed the guy’s friend had an Iggy Pop shirt, and said we were just kidding, which we were, for the most part. The dude in the Iggy Pop shirt apparently is dating a rather tall girl, so of course she came over to stand with him. Then they started dancing and making out, which was weird. They were standing in front of the couches though, so it wasn’t a big deal view wise. PY must have this crazy dancing/PDA vibe, because there were a few people doing this. Later on in the show all of those people were standing in front of the couch, with Jacob and I standing behind it. During a song a few minutes later, the guy in the black shirt who had turned around, reaches over to his friend in the IP shirt, who is dancing with his chick, and tickles his underarm. Jacob and I looked at each other and telepathically exclaimed WTF? We laughed at what had just happened. I would never tickle a male friend’s underarm and don’t understand the logic behind doing it in a public setting.

We weren’t really paying attention to the songs that were not on musicforthemorningafter, so when PY was playing a new song, we went in search for High Life. There were plenty of people drinking it, and as connoisseurs of the HL, we figured there must be a special. There was a special, it was $2, but when we went to the bar they were out! OUT OF HIGH LIFE! I wanted to give the bartender $3 for a HL and they were out. It was a complete travesty, esp when we were offered Bud Light instead for $4 (not including tip). We declined and went back to standing behind the couch. Then I realized that the other bar on the other side of the room may still have HL. We walked over, because PY was playing another new song, and the other bar did have HL. We toasted on our way back to our spot. The night was going so well!

Upon returning to our spot, some idiot decided he wanted to get a better view of the stage, so he’s standing on the back of the couch, above everyone. I think he was intrigued with the drummer doing something in front of the drum kit. Problem was, he kept standing on the back of the couch and blocking our view. We yelled at him to get off, but he probably didn’t hear us. The next thing I know one of the opener’s free EP’s hits the dude in the back, causing him to turn around, and get off the couch. He looked around as if he didn’t know who threw it, and seemed to ask his friend “what just hit me?” Jacob and I laughed as we judged them, and clinked our bottles of High Life.

The show itself was alright, but like the time I saw PY in 2003, it just wasn’t GREAT. I mean, he comes out and plays his songs, but they’re not that much different than the album really, and he doesn’t talk a lot. The band was good though, and there was a guy whose job it was to only play tambourine. He had a majestic beard, and we both thought he reminded us of David Bazan. When the band came out for the encore, I yelled for Burrito. It got a reaction from some of the people in the crowd, and a group behind me got really excited, but they didn’t yell Burrito too. I yelled it again but then PY started Crystal Village or something. It’s a fine song, but not Burrito. PY did play my favorite song, On Your Side, and played seven songs off musicforthemorningafter, which was fine by Jacob and I.

At the end of the night, we got a picture with the DB look-a-like. I’ll post the picture when I get it emailed to me. We stayed around to try to get a picture with Pete Yorn, but after 15 or 20 minutes, it didn’t seem worth it anymore with it being almost midnight on a Tuesday, so we left. I got home about 12:35. It was surely a late night, but a great night. Word.

In the 2nd half of my college experience, back when I was young and naive, I bought cds like they were going out of style. I probably spent half of my intern money on cds after my first intern semester. I sometimes would drive up to Greenville, SC just to go to the record shop when I was working in Greenwood, SC. Not every visit netted something important, but I did happen to score a vinyl copy of the Pearl Jam live album, which apparently is out of print and worth more than the $12 I paid for it. My 5th year when I had an on-campus job, I probably still spent way too much on cds.

The year I was living in Clemson being a bum, (aka believing a headhunter really did have an ‘in’ for a job for me and was just working things out) I went to the local music store a lot. The owner gave me the inside scoop on new bands, and I was always a sucker for albums that were $6.99 and $7.99, no matter who they were. If someone recommended them, I’d buy them. I found John Mayer this way before ‘No Such Thing’ broke. Yeah, I am that cool. I also found this guy, Pete Yorn. His first album is still one of my favorites. My friend Marika and I called him the mimbo. It used to be ’smoldering mimbo’, but now I think it’s just mimbo. I may be the only person still using the nickname. Anyway, he had a song on his 2nd album called ‘Burrito’ that Marika and I would laugh about. I saw him live in 2003, and he played Burrito that night. It was one of the highlights of the show.

I had seen Pete Yorn listed for a NOLA tour stop a couple of weeks ago, but seeing how it was on a Tuesday was going to make it difficult to find a concert friend. With friends being married and maybe with kids now, they somehow don’t have time anymore for weeknight concerts. Anyway, so I was talking to my friend Jacob last week and he asked me if I wanted to go see Pete Yorn. We’re going Tuesday, and we’ll both have beards because Jacob’s in Whiskerino again and I’m growing mine out again. If time permits, I’ll get a picture. Word.