A comment Kurbiss made on this post about the perceived coolness of everyone else's record collection got me thinking about the single dorkiest show I was ever dragged to in my life. I've seen a lot of shows over the years and that dorky one lives on in my memory now as a gorgeous, magical experience. If I want to talk about that show, though, I'm going to want to talk about other shows I've seen and loved so here's a list of sorts in no particular order (except the last one).
Rusted Root
The band I've seen the most times, from Pittsburgh to Seattle (which seemed to be overrun that night with a bunch of Pitt and Carnegie-Mellon alums). They're still active and put on a great show so if you have a chance to catch them on their current tour do yourself a favor and do it. This should give you an idea of their energy, from Woodstock '99.
Violent Femmes
Wisconsin's finest folk punks. They opened for the B-52's (who put on an awesome show, too; the mosh pit during "Rock Lobster" was epic) but their set is what I most remember. Actually, what I most remember is the mom in the audience with her about 8 year old daughter who was REALLY offended at "Add It Up." My favorite was this one.
Wynton Marsalis
This was one of those occasions where I went by myself because I couldn't find anyone to go with me. Sublime is a word that gets thrown around a lot but, yeah, he totally was. When he played the first notes of this one the audience all sighed at once.
Suzanne Vega
During the show I saw in the mid-90's (after the success of a couple of her dance tracks) she quipped that half her audience came ready to dance and the other half came ready to read.
The Kinks
My crush on Ray Davies is well documented by my real life friends. When he did a spoken word tour and was appearing across the street from where I worked I wrote on my boss's calendar that I would be unavailable during my lunch hour because I would be adoring Ray Davies. I had an indulgent boss, mercifully. I'd seen the band a few years earlier and this one brought down the house.
And the single dorkiest show I've ever seen?
Liberace
Really. I was fourteen so I was dragged kicking and screaming to sit on a bus with a bunch of old people to go see this weird old guy. I hated to admit it but he blew my little mind. This guy? Awesome. Not cool, not by any stretch, but have I said mind blowing yet? Because he was. And fabulous? Oh my yes.
It's the weekend...go see a show! Let me know who you see and we'll talk about it. Have a good one!
Liberace? Really? Did grandma drag you to that one? Not going to a show this weekend and haven't been to very many but I thought I'd share the best one I've been to. I saw Live in Hershey back when they were big and since it was really close to their hometown, they were especially playful. Ed has a set of lungs! So powerful and intense! Love you!
ReplyDeleteLiberace was a really talented pianist -- not so much interpretively, but he had a world class technique. He dressed it up in kitsch and eventually turned himself into a joke, but he did what he had to do to be successful within the bounds of his personality. :)
ReplyDelete@librachick19777...Of course it was a grandma. Who else would do something that diabolical?
ReplyDelete@Kurbiss...see, I love the bling. He didn't need it but it was cool to see.
When I saw your post title, I thought you were recommending songs for ringtones, LOL!
ReplyDeleteSorry, no ringtones here. However, I'd love to hear Liberace's rendition of the Gershwin songbook as a ringtone. A really long one.
ReplyDelete