A Fool for the Last Living Rock King - Hot Hot Heat, Weezer and the Foo Fighters - 10/13/05

For the last month or so, I've had this weird obsession with the Veruca Salt song "Shutterbug." I've played it almost every day at least once. I'm digging it because of the lyrics and the bass line.

What does this have to do with last night's concert you might ask? Well, it's rumored that the song is about a love triangle between singer Louise Post, Dave Grohl and Winona Ryder (because Winona Ryder really needs to bang more hot rock stars, right?). In the song, Post allegedly refers to Dave Grohl as the last living rock king. This sparked some debate between me and Paul. I've been joking and cynically saying that about Dave ever since I learned about the song's meaning, not totally believing it. But last night, he won me over.

Let's start at the very beginning...

Hot Hot Heat opened and we got there late. We only got to see the last three songs, none of which were "Bandages." I'd love to say that this was the biggest disappointment of my day, but in the big picture it was no big deal. I'm sure I'll get to see them again another time. What I did see was great. I like Hot Hot Heat in that weird kind of way. Our seats were great. We were exactly center to the stage on the other side of the floor, tenth row.

So after that we walked around the concourse. Lots of nerdy geeky types were hanging around. These people have no idea how to walk through a crowd. I had enough and we went back to our seats. The stage had changed by this time and was set for Weezer.

They came out and played a lot of stuff that I knew and liked. Rivers came out to a little platrom right in front of us and sang "Island In the Sun" accoustic. Then they pulled some guy up on stage to play the acoustic part of "The Sweater Song" while Rivers made his way back to the stage. The guy was okay, but he was a little slow. At another point in the show, Rivers said that his father was in the audience and seeing the band play live for the first time ever. They broke into "Say It Ain't So" and I think I blew out my vocal chords. That was the song that got me to like them. I really hadn't liked anything of theirs until that song came out. They covered "Big Me" and Blur's "Song 2." At another point in the show, the stage changed a little and showed these lights that looked like stars. I was a little bummed that they didn't play "The Good Life" but again, not the most disappointing thing about my day. Overall, I'd say not a bad show. Paul said that he wouldn't want to follow that act, but I had every ounce of faith in "the last living rock king."

In between sets, we sat around and watched these people about two rows ahead of us that were stoned on some weak shit (I don't even smoke and I could tell) and kept high fiving excessively. They kept buying these big tubs of popcorn. One chick got a little crazy and tried to throw some at some people several rows back and hit me. I didn't get mad. Afterall, we all get our turn to be the wasted asshole. I'm sure my turn is coming soon.

Then the stage was set. There were these chopped up looking screens, more fiber optic lights (c'est trendy) and a background that just looked like a bunch of speakers. Dave screamed through the first song. I don't know what it was, but I fell in love. The energy was amazing. Then they broke into more familiar stuff and played just about all the songs that you would know. I also finally got one right and predicted that "Monkey Wrench" would be the last song of their encore which also featured CCR's "Born on the Bayou."

Dave also talked to the audience a lot, sometimes referring to us as "idiots." I'll forgive him. He played a song for the people in the nosebleed section and said, "I might seem far away right now, but tonight I'll be in your dreams giving you a big hickey on the side of your neck. Free hickeys for the nosebleed section!" He also had some commentary on the recent issues regarding Philly losing its only alternative music station, which was really cool. He stage dived and crowd surfed to an exit and ran to the platform where Rivers stood during their set and did the dueling guitar thing. There he was, only 10 rows away. *panting* He mentioned that the secret to sreaming like a rock star is a Coors Light and some Crown Royal and that he felt like the guy who sits around at the party, drinking beer and talking too much when really he should just turn up the music. For the last song of the regular set, he played "Everlong" for his wife, starting out slow and soft and then the band kicked in at the end. They put a spotlight on her and a spotlight on him. It was sweet. He also played a song for his mother during the encore and said, "If it wasn't for Mamma Jean, none of us would be here tonight." I love him!

We got out of there and came home relatively late. No bootleg t-shirt guys in the parking lot, unfortunately. I had to get up early today to travel to a different office, leaving me pretty drained today.

But it was all so worth it. The distraction was much needed.

This Deserves Its Own Post

More "house cleaning."

I had a fairly decent road trip to Chicago last weekend. Many of our other road trips have been more eventful, but I've been fucking tired from all the stress.

Anyway, we started driving after work on Friday, stopped somewhere in Ohio and rolled into Chicago Saturday afternoon. We stayed with the other Paul and his roommate Bill. At first we sat around and watched My Super Sweet 16. We all decided that Paul and Bill should have their own MTV show and special Super Sweet 30 episode where they discuss their Simpsons action figures. These guys are so funny.

We then went to the movies to see the Wallace and Gromit movie. It was cute and had some adult humor mixed in. We sat behind the most annoying people in Illinois, but enjoyed it all anyway. Then we grabbed pizza at Barnaby's. It was fun.

Then we were off to see Paul's play. If you happen to be in or near the Chicago area, please check it out. My friend Paul plays Bobby the retarded zombie and he's really funny. Seriously people, go see it. After the show, Paul and I waited for the other Paul at a bar down the street then went back and passed out at Paul's. I was so tired.

The next day we hung around for a little while. Paul made me some cool CDs - some Rollins, some Strongbad stuff and this other CD with some silly stuff. He gave us a t-shirt for the play. He's so nice! We went to the diner down the street from his house and then we went on our way.

We made it back all in the same day. I mostly slept on the way home while Paul listened to football. It was nice to get away for a little while.

I Want to Shout, But I Can Hardly Speak - Stones and Beck at Hershey 10/1/05

Go ahead. Just try to convince me that I spent way too much money on my tickets for last night's show. I won't tell you what I paid, but let's just say that they were good seats, not the best, but about 27 rows from the stage and over to the right. For the last few weeks, some of you have taken your jabs at me for this. But you know what? I had a really good fucking time last night. And you can't put a price on that. I've been listening to the Stones since I was practically still in diapers and I love them like a fat kid loves cake.

We were smart this time. Usually, coming out of a show, I'm really thristy. We brought a cooler this time and stopped at Sheets for Pomegranate Green Tea (I need the antioxidents to prevent the lines under my eyes). Mmmm...yummy. Then it was off to Red Robin for lunch/left overs for after the show and some browsing at the Hershey outlets. I finally found a copy of Dick's Picks Volume 20, so that was kinda cool.

We made our way into the stadium. The stage was freakin' huge! It had levels for seating and fiberoptic beaded curtains similar to what U2 had. I bought a shirt and then we made our way to the seats. We just kept getting closer and closer to the stage. I knew this was going to be good and silently hoped that it wouldn't be another Oasis incident. I kinda figured it wouldn't be since there were actual chairs and a lot of security keeping people out who did not belong there.

We were just taking everything in, people watching and digging the pregame music when suddenly the unmistakenable guitar chords for Beck's "Loser" brought me out of my daze. At first I was thinking, "Oh yeah, this song! When I was a senior in high school, I used to cruise around coal region towns listening to it." And then I realized that Beck was actually on stage performing. We could see fairly well, but for some assistance, there was also a big screen in front of us. I decided then and there that Beck is the coolest person alive. I'm not usually one for little skinny blond guys, but he was actually hot. He also had "his friend Brian" jumping around the stage dressed in a dress shirt and tie. Weird. Very weird. He played a bunch of his songs and then his band sat down at this table on stage and started eating dinner. "We were going to invite the Stones for dinner tonight," he said. "But we figured they had other things to do." Then he broke into "No Expectations" solo. It was great. At the end of the song, the band started banging on glasses of water on the table and they broke into "Clap Hands." When it was all over, I was sorry to see him go.

So, then there was intermission. I considered fighting the crowds to go to the bathroom, but thought better of it. The Stones came out at about 8:45 and played for about two hours. I saw Keith first and couldn't believe how great the view was. It was such a thrill.

Here is their setlist:

Start Me Up, It's Only Rock & Roll, Shes So Cold, Tumblin Dice, Rough Justice, Back Of My Hand, Midnight Rambler, All Down The Line, Night Time Is The Right Time, The Worst, Infamy, Miss You, Oh No, Get Off My Cloud, Honkey Tonk Woman, Sympathy, Paint It Black, Brown Sugar, Jumping Jack Flash, You Can't Always Get What You Want, Satisfaction

I'm a little disappointed because at the show at Pittsburgh, they played "Rocks Off" and since Pearl Jam opened, Eddie
Vedder came out and sang "Wild Horses" with them. But overall, it wasn't so bad. I got to hear "She's So Cold" which made me happy, even though I take a lot of ragging for liking that song. They played a lot of new stuff, which I guess is okay. The new album isn't awful, I guess.

Some other highlights:

~During "Miss You" part of the stage turned into a boat and took them down to the second stage in the middle of the crowd via the catwalk down the middle. There were also catwalks down each side of the stage and when Mick or Keith walked on the one on our side, they were so close! It was really cool.

~During "Honkey Tonk Woman," they were still on the second stage and the roadies inflated this gigantic flowered tongue and lips on the main stage for when they got back. That was kinda cool.

~At another point in the show, Mick Jagger actually said, "I hear we have people from Mechanicsburg in the audience."

~They paid tribute to Ray Charles with "The Night Time is the Right Time" and their gorgeous back up bimbo came out and sang. She was great. But she was teetering around on these necker shoes. I thought she was going to tip over.

~The setlist was posted around Charlie's drums and when they showed him on the big screen, you could almost read it. We knew that the last two songs were going to be "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Satisfaction."

I'm sure there are a lot of other things I'm forgetting. But I assure you it was fantastic. I didn't even mind sitting in the parking lot for an hour before we ever even got on the road to go home.

Anyway, back to reality today. I better get moving on my homework and laundry.

Going Postal

I just want to say that the guy who works the counter at my local post office is a tool. Everytime I'm in there, he's bitching about something. Today it was that one of the mail carriers left something outside last night. Dude, it's so unprofessional to do that in front of me. Really.

Every fucking time I have to send a certified letter, he bitches because the name of my company in the return address corner stretches way out to the middle of the envelope and he has a hard time putting the certified sticker on. Other postal workers have had the same complaint. So typically, I just take the sticker and letter and let them put it on to their own statisfaction. Today I had four letters. You would have thought it was a fucking bag of them.

He was like, "Are you going to help me with these?"

And I felt like saying, "No. You are a public servent. I pay your salary with my taxes. Put the fucking stickers on yourself. I don't ask you to make my collection calls, you fucking lazy asshole"

But I was nice and just got my dig in by saying, "Well, everytime I put them on myself someone complains. I just figured I'd let you do it the way you want." Then he went on to show me where to put it on. Fine. Except he didn't show me that the one part is supposed to fold over the edge of the envelope and he started bitching when I did it wrong. So I said, "Yeah, see, that's why I figured it would be better if you did it."

Jerk.

My Fair Lady

The state's biggest fair is this week. It's in the town where Paul and I went to college. I don't know why, but I always feel obligated to go every year. I have lots of weird stories about going to the fair, some years better than others (Ha! Karen, remember when you jumped out of my car in McAdoo on the way up?).

So yesterday Paul and I took our inlaws to the fair. We split up when we got there. It was ok, I guess. We ate and then we saw some big fat cows. Then we went to look at the animals (Ha! That old gag! Ha ha *cough* yeah). We played the candy wheel then saw the usual stuff that's there every year and made our way to the exhibits, typical quilts and stuff, except for this one.

There was a display made by the Danville Middle School called "Catch the Energy. Release the Potential." I loved this! On the display were a bunch of paper fish...some just taped to the fake ocean, others hanging from mobiles. They all had things written on them. "Be kind to others" "Listen" "Help each other" "Donate." Then, there was a little bucket hanging from the gate around the display. It was full of paper fish. It had a note on it that said to take one if you wanted to catch the energy and then to put it back for others if you want to release the potential. Naturally, I picked a fish. It said, "Play. Hang out with friends. Enjoy life." I kept it thinking I'll release the potential by following through with it. Paul picked one and it said, "Choose your attittude. Don't throw a fit when you don't get your own way." He rolled his eyes, put it back and said, "That one was supposed to be yours." Jerk.

So then we met up with the inlaws and went home. I decided to drive home through Tamaqua. My father inlaw always asks about the Last Chance because one of his old co-workers owns it (for those of you who aren't from the area, the Last Chance is a bar in town conveniently located across the street from the high school). I told him I'd drive by it so he could see it. Then he offered to buy us a beer if we went in. Weeeelll, who am I to turn down a beer, right? But just one little draft. I was driving. So we went in, drank and he talked to his buddy and then we left. My mother in law had a beer, too. I don't believe I've ever seen her drink a beer before. I can honestly say that was the first time I was ever in there as an adult. Thank God hardly anyone was in there because I looked like such a grit.

Today I took my mother in law to the mall to find a dress for a wedding that we're going to next month. Then I bought her lunch at Panera. I'm such a good daughter in law. I tried to find a dress, too, but the only one I liked didn't look right on me. I'm really picky I guess. Then I came home and took a much needed nap. Now I'll be able to stay up later tonight! But I should probably do some homework. Bleh. Better get going...

I'm Outraged Over the Outrage

So the polls are coming out that an astounding majority of America is outraged over the way the president has handled the crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. A little too late now to realize, don't ya think?

Y'know what, America? We tried to warn you. I specifically remember having conversations with many of you regarding my absolute disdain for Bush and how anyone could possibly like him at all. "I just like him. That's all." "He's likable." "He's like an everyday person."

Yeah, he sure looks like one now, doesn't he?

Louisianna, Mississippi, Alabama, you voted this fucker in. Way to go! Look how you're making out. I know I'm being harsh, but maybe if you, oh I don't know, got your Baptist asses away from your 10 hour services and read a book called Origin of the Species by this guy named Charles Darwin you'd see how his words relate to all this. You were dumb and easily mislead. You didn't check your facts and do your homework. Now you fight to hang on while the strong and (although I hate to admit it) clever survive.

Some people say that this whole thing is God's way of punishing the city of New Orleans for its debauchery. I disagree. This is pure Darwinism to me. And I realize that there are excpetions to this and not everyone down there voted for Bush. For those people, I feel truly bad.

With all this said, I have already given to the Red Cross and I will continue to give as I can. I'm saddened to see a city that I enjoyed so much with its fun, food and music completely destroyed. My heart aches to go see the Spotted Cat one more time, have a hurricane from Bourbon St. Liquors and eat some aligator off of a stick at the French Market. I hope someday it's all restored.

And I hope we all learn from this.

He Fought the Law and the Paul Won

Thursday we fought the speeding ticket that we got on the way home from the Pixies concert (see "Talking Sweet About Nothing" blog entry). Paul got off on the technicality that the date was wrong on the ticket. I thought I would help the case, seeing how Paul was giving me a lecture about speeding on the road we were on, but it turns out I hurt his case. The judge said, "I know when I'm in the car having a conversation with my wife, I don't always watch how fast or slow I'm going." He also said that Paul should be thankful that the cop gave him a break by reducing the speed an not giving points. Paul said he understood and would not be fighting it if he didn't truly believe that he was speeding. The judge said that if the date on the ticket had been right, he would have lost. Paul's pissed about that. He really wanted to win on his own terms.

So then we came home, I made the pork cutlets that I was supposed to make Monday and drank a whole bottle of Riesling myself. I guess the food turned out okay. Tommy had two cutlets. But then again, that guy must be starving because we never feed him. (For those of you who don't know, Paul's brother Tommy left his wife and has been staying with us for the last month. It's much better than having a kid. My dishwasher is fixed. He takes the garbage out and he stays up late and drinks with me on the weekends).

School started this week. The first class is in conflict management and looks interesting. The other one, well, eh. There's a group presentation. I hate working in groups. I chose to work with a group of three men, basically based on where they live. But they seem okay, I guess. One of them is originally from Hazleton. The paper is not a group project, which makes me happy. I've had too many disasterous group papers from people who are too comma happy or form these insanely complex sentences that are impossible to follow. I like to write (despite my inability to spell), but I hate having to deal with the bullshit of the incompetent.

Went to the Allentown fair last night and got sick. I don't know what is wrong with me lately, but this has been happening quite a bit. My appetite is dwindling, too.