You Could Surely Try To Be More Alive

So, cool things have been happening, aside from the whole dad's triple bypass thing. (They still haven't found a vein, but I will keep you posted.) Honestly I don't know how much of this entry will be anecdotal or relevant or interesting to read; it's more for me today. Things might get rough soon, so I need to remember how great life actually is at the moment.

Last Sunday, Janet and I went to Mates of State! It was at the Bluebird, which is a cute venue aside from the fact that (a) the stage is too low and (b) there is ZERO AIR CIRCULATION. That was NOT FUN on a 95-degree day, especially when you planned on dancing through the whole show.

The opening bands were cool, especially Gentleman Auction House. I recognized a few members from college. They had two of my favorite ingredients - two drummers and lots of happy shouting. I LOOOOVE bands that have too many people to fit onstage. They were seriously great and I plan on catching them again someday.

I don't remember the second band because this is when it started to get really hot and everyone was like, "Oh crap, another band." I wandered out of the crowd for a while and bumped into Superfun Yeah Yeah Rocketship by the bar. He got a well-deserved high five from me. I never wrote about his show because he is much better when you have no idea what to expect. Seriously, go see him.

So Mates of State were amazing - I had always wondered how if they could pull off that sound live, but they sounded exactly the same. And just as I expected, they made goo goo eyes onstage through most of the show, or at least Jason Hammel did. He also teased his wife for having pit stains from all of the heat. Somehow: still cute. Even though there were a bunch of tall people in front of us, I managed to have a good view of at least one of their faces at all times. They played all of my favs except for "Open Book" and all of the songs were perfect.

About 2/3 through the show it just got too crowded up front and I almost got smushed, so I joined Janet in the back. I was bummed about it at first but then! When the show was over they walked offstage and WALKED RIGHT BY US! Jason Hammel is taller than Pat and he SMILED AT ME AND WE FIST BUMPED. Then I HIGH FIVED KORI GARDNER! Later she moseyed through the crowd and Janet made my year when she pulled a camera out of her purse:





OMG OMG OMG that was so awesome. Big ups to Janet, and big ups to the guy who couldn't figure out her camera, because we got to talk to Kori for a minute.

So now I have seen 4 out my 5 favorite living bands: Beastie Boys, Mates of State, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Polyphonic Spree. That just leaves Gogol Bordello. Who wants to go bananas with me? 

~~~*~~~ 

On Tuesday, they had the screening for Groups 1 & 2 of the 48-Hour Film Festival. I've never been to one of these screenings before and I was super impressed by what people managed to create in such a short amount of time. Overall it was just such a positive atmosphere, like a graduation or something.

The majority of my team (Porkchop Express!) had never even seen the film which also added to the excitement. Katie and Joe did an amazing job with the drawing, animation and editing. It was crazy hearing our voices onscreen at my favorite theater and being surrounded by an audience laughing at our jokes.

~~~*~~~ 

Uuuummm... Friday night I went out to dinner with Jen, Ron and Pat and went to my first Dub Kitchen show. These guys play poker with my friends, and they also perform at this event called The Spot that Ron throws every year at the only place I like to camp.

I thought we were going to see a movie (and again, I dated a hippy for two years which resulted in little-to-no tolerance for reggae) so I was kind of a turd about it but I'm glad I went, if only to see the Venice Cafe. Holy crap! It's like the City Museum and Blueberry Hill had a baby. Definitely one of the coolest places I've ever seen*. The floors and walls were covered in mosaics and kitsch - my home planet for sure.

Dub Kitchen was pretty great and everyone I met seemed really nice. Maybe I will go to The Spot this year. The bigger it gets the more it weirds me out and makes me uncomfortable. Pat and his roommate seem hell-bent on doing security ("The Bash Brothers", natch) so at least I would be safe. We'll see.

 
Sunday was the busiest day I've had in a while. I met baby Ryan for the first time and he is PRECIOUS. He's six weeks old, which I think is the tiniest a baby can be without being all fragile and scary to hold. Baby Ryan's dad is Peter, who was my very first boyfriend a million years ago. CRAZY. It was heartwarming and amazing to see Peter as a dad, and I'm glad I got to give him a hug on Father's Day.

Also? I saw Thoroughly Modern Millie with my grandma which was 8 million times darker than I thought it was going to be. We saw it at Stages and my Grandma was grossed out by how many old people were there.

"I could never live at one of those places... you know, where the old people go?" she told me. "I could never be around that many old people. I hate looking at them and I never want to be one." THEN she told me she has the hots for Mr. Big from Sex and the City. Then I went deaf from weirdness and stopped listening to her.  

All in all, good stuff. I'll try to keep it up.

*Janternet! I told my friends that you had your wedding reception there and everyone thought that was the absolute coooooolest. And, it is.