As anyone working while going to school can tell you, one of the hardest things to do is finding time to have fun. Which is pretty terrible, since the longer you are in grad school, the more you really need fun. So as not to go crazy. Thus, I consider this weekend a huge triumph, as I was able to fit so many of my favorite things into one weekend!
Let's go to Movies! My dear cousin joined my fiancé and I to see the latest Harry Potter movie. I have never read the books (well, actually, I tried to read the first, but felt it was hackneyed and poorly written, and gave up) so I didn’t totally understand everything that happened, but it was still enjoyable. It has every British person ever in it. Don't miss Oliver Cromwell's cameo! Plus, I got to see some ridiculous trailers. (More on that in an upcoming post)
Beer, Glorious Beer! It had been too long - I think 2 weeks, maybe - since our last visit to Dogfish, and to my delight they still had the Punkin Ale on draft. The Punkin has a special place in my heart as it was the first Dogfish beer I ever tried, years ago in the bottle. It (and of course Scott’s invite) was what drew me to the Dogfish Alehouses in the first place. I also enjoyed some Old School Barley Wine, which is fantastic, and tried some of the Dogfish Ale which was new to me. We got to hang out with one of my brothers, sister-in-law, and my super-cool niece over tasty food. It was a pretty nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
It's the Sport of Kings, Better than Diamond Rings, Football! One of the reasons for going to Dogfish was to watch the Cowboys game, which was not being shown locally. To say this season has been rough for us Cowboys fans is an understatement, so it was pretty nice that we won. I was excited, until of course I remembered how sad it is to be worried about beating the Lions, and how indicative that is of the terrible mess this season has been. Now I know how Redskins fans feel. So that’s all I need to say about that. Moving on! Later that night...
If Music be the Food of Love...To celebrate my cousin’s birthday, I bought tickets to The Frames’ 20th anniversary tour at the 9:30 Club. The show was pretty amazing. I love 9:30 because you get to see great bands in a really intimate setting. As always at that venue, there was a pretty eclectic crowd in attendance, which is great for people watching. Unfortunately, we found ourselves standing behind some local college kids who I nicknamed Little Rachel Maddow, Little Janeane Garofalo, and their boring friend. They stood in a little pack doing the same nerd bop (lock hips, bend knees) for every song, and then still doing it when there was no music at all. I’m basically a magnet for freaks.
Of course, no concert would be complete without the requisite terrible opening act. We have all seen some terrible opening acts, but every now and then we endure one so awkwardly unenjoyable that they stick with us forever (I’m looking at you, Detholz!...who I also experienced at 9:30) Sunday night’s emotional scarring came courtesy of one Jake Clemons. When you walk out on stage and declare “We’re gonna play some ROCK to get you warmed up!” you had better at least pretend to rock. After his declaration of Impending Rockdom, he immediately broke into a slow acoustic jam and started singing “I never was enough something something until something something about drinking from our wedding cup.” The three of us stared at each other with a complete look of WhatTheFuck? on our faces. His “music” could best be described as an unfortunate blend of David Gray and Counting Crows, with a sad sprinkling of Chris Martin. His bass player just kind of stood slumped behind him, and at one point I was convinced he was catatonic.
The only thing worse than Jake's music was his attempted banter between EVERY. SINGLE. SONG. He would spend five minutes explaining how deep the next song was, which was never the case. At one point my cousin leaned over to ask “If you have to explain that much, doesn’t that mean your lyrics aren’t good?” Excellent point, cousin! My favorite song set-up had to be when he introduced one as being sad and sooooo emotional because it was about a time when a young guy had to deal with his girlfriend’s unexpected pregnancy. It took all my strength not to scream “Ben Folds already did that, you tool!” I wish they had just played Brick over the P.A. instead of letting Jake sing. [Speaking of Brick, why doesn’t WASH FM play that song in the Christmas rotation? It also occurs around Christmas, it has the word "Christmas" in it, just like the damn Christmas Shoes song. Honestly, if you can justify playing that song just because it happens to take place around December 25, then why not play Brick: “I’ll see your Child Scraping Pennies to buy his Momma Shoes and raise you one Boy Who has to Pawn his Christmas Gifts to Pay for his Girlfriend’s Secret Abortion That Neither of them Really Want her to Have Which Leads to Nothing but Depression for Everyone!”]Anyway, at long last, those magic words came from his lips: “We’ve got just one more song for you," and SweetFancyMoses, it was about time. I was shocked to look at my watch to see that he had only been on thirty minutes.
Still, I can't be too hard on Jake. He did manage to do one good thing- he made The Frames look even better by comparison. (Not that there was any chance they wouldn't) This was exciting for me, as it was my first time seeing them in concert. For those of you not familiar and incapable/too lazy to use Google or Wikipedia, The Frames are an Irish rock band whose lead singer, Glen Hansard has appeared in a few films. A few years ago he won an Oscar for the song Falling Slowly from Once. Like Jeff Buckley, he has one of those voices that can make a song sound both uplifting and tragic at once, defiant yet defeated. I am always scared that when I see someone live for the first time they will disappoint me, and all the love I built up for them over the years will dissipate. The moment Glen walked out on stage I knew I would not be let down. When they finally came out on stage the crowd went absolutely insane.The show was unbelievable. And LOUD. In a good way. I think it was the perfect venue for really being able to hear Glen's voice and to really experience their music. They played a really long set, and were really interactive with the crowd. I am a sucker for accents, which made everything they had to say even more funny.
During the second half of the set they played about five songs in a row with no break at all, just letting the songs bleed into each other, which was really cool. Among the five was Star Star, which was probably my favorite song of the night. In addition to their own songs, they played around a little with covers and random tunes. I am still trying to decide if the best part was when they started singing Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, or when they slipped into Billie Jean. A ginger Irishman singing Billie Jean in a crazy falsetto. Marvelous. He even did a little MJ twirl at the mic after one of the "Oooh-hooos!". The nicest surprise was the violin solos, which you don’t usually anticipate at a rock concert, but were really impressive. Being an Irish band, the violin is part of all of their songs, but in concert the violinist, Colm, really stood out. If you get the opportunity to see The Frames, I recommend it as they put on a great show. If nothing else, you can listen to them for free on Pandora. It was the perfect end to an awesome weekend and a great way to start a short week at work.
