3.02.2007

Shows #3 & 4


I've been busy this week. Soccer started and my writing sample for the doctoral program I'm applying to was due, plus Green Options stuff, so I haven't had a change to talk about the badass concerts I went to last week.
Thursday, Chris and I, along with our friend Josh, had a few drinks at the Fox and the Hound, and then went to the Creepy Crawl to see the New Amsterdams and State Radio. The Fox and the Hound and the Creepy are basically polar opposites other than they both sell beer, but it's a good place to have a pint and sit on comfortable couches and talk about how Josh once wrote Bill O'Reilly a hate mail letter and O'Reilly read it on the air. The show was bizarre. During the New Amsterdam's some hippie-ass dude yelled out a request to the lead singer, who then replied, "That's not our song" or something like that. Then the hippie guy wigs out and starts yelling at the guy, "Naw, bro, that's not cool. You just disrespected me. Fuck you." The crowd goes silent and the lead singer, a fairly affable dude, is totally blindside by this guy's rude behavior. They go back and forth, with the singer apologizing, although he doesn't really know what he's apologizing for, and finally buys the hippie dude and his (oddly) Jersey-mall chick girlfriend a beer, which the bartender slammed on the bar and said something to the effect of, "You're an asshole" to the hippie guy. Five minutes later, the hippie guy leans over to me and says, "You have beautiful hair." Five minutes after that, Jersey-mall chick drops her State Radio merch on the ground, and Chris picks it up and hands it back to her. Then Hippie-Dude says, "Thanks, bro, that's so awesome. Let me buy you a beer." Um, like the one you just snaked off the band? Thanks, Bra!

State Radio, however, was unbelievable and wonderful and it was such a dance-worthy, fro-shaking good time. Hippie-Dude even tried to crowd surf. Is this 1996 Lollapalooza? My bad, I didn't get the memo. Anyway, the show was so powerful. I love a band with a progressive message. Lead singer/guitarist Chad Urmston (from Dispatch) is my long-lost hair twin, and he was nice neough to a picture with me.

The next night, we went to Guster at the Pageant. We had great balcony seats, but I kinda wish I had the energy to be on the floor, because the energy at Guster shows is awesome, as is Guster themselves. They have crazy-devoted fans, many armed with ping-pong balls. The bullshit of the Guster show was that a guy I work with invited Chris and I to a fish fry before the show. I said yes, but then Chris didn't want to go and I took a nap and we ate burritos instead. The guy I work with, I should probably mention, is brother-in-law to the drummer of Guster. Who ended up being at the fish fry. That we didn't go to. BUNK CITY! The drummer from Guster, Brian Rosenworcel, is totally awesome. He drums WITH HIS HANDS. Cymbals and all. It's one of the coolest musical things I've experienced at a show.

More this weekend--We have Babel and Jesus Camp from Netflix, which I'm excited about.

1 comment:

...Banter said...

The New Ams' label sent us their newest cd for review... not bad.

Those cowboys over backporch... were just some randoms we met at this bar called Cowboys, if you can believe that. Super rad time. I still have bruises from the mechanical bull.

Workin' on landing a house right by my parents' house, just off Holly Hills. Will keep ya posted.