Friday, October 15, 2010

The Flaming Lips Experience: House of Blues Orlando 10/14/2010


When a show begins with a band entering the stage through a doorway in a psychedelic vagina, it's probably gonna be good.

The Flaming Lips entered and a warm, positive energy filled the room. Giant balloons flew through the air as confetti exploded and fog machines billowed blankets of fog accross the stage. Wayne Coyne made his monumental entrance in his big plastic bubble and we all got a chance to push him around the crowd as he surfed in style.

The show gradually got better and better. Song two and Wayne is singing seated on the shoulders of a costumed bear. Fantastic. Why haven't I seen them live before?!

And let's talk about the light shows that occured through out the night that included giant laser hands, disco balls, mucho fog, and gigantic strobe lights. Probs to the technical crew, well done.

I have only one complaint. To the elderly gentleman with a dragon breath and ear hair portuding from your glow in the dark ear plugs: you continued to back into my personal space and looked genuinely dissatisfied. Thank you for eventually moving. It greatly improved the 2nd half of the show for me :)

The show was a full fledged experience. Wayne has this amazing genuineness to his speech, as if he means everything he says, and everything he says comes straight from his heart. They closed with 'Do you Realize' and it was so beautiful I can finally disassociate the song from the crappy movie, Garden State. Thank G for that.

Two giant thumbs up.




Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Thank G it's Concert Season!

There's a slight breeze that breathes cool air on my shoulders as I walk out the door every morning. The feeling of fall is in the air, the changes are evident: store fronts spew pumpkins and colored leaves at us as excited Floridians wear sweaters and boots in 70 degree temps, and thank G it's concert season!


I kicked it off with the Electric Six show at The Social last Thursday. Love that it was at my favorite venue...the $2 PBR's were flowing and the bands were rockin'. I got there in time to see The Constellation's open and had no expectations because I hadn't seen them before. But damn! They were good. The lead singer spit lyrics in a rhythmic old school style and had some crazy back up from his keyboard/tambourine player. Most imppressive was the bass player who rocked the beat so hard you couldn't take your ears off him. I would definitely see them again.


Next up Electric Six.


I always look forward to a wild and wacky performance from Dick Valentin, and he sort of disappointed when it came to losing it in the music. I wanted to see him jump off a speaker, or freak out with some superfly dance moves, say something weirdly inappropriate, come on! Then again, he did bang on the wall with his fist a little bit which delivered some satisfaction...There performance was still fantastic, and thank G they hit up some old records because I can't get enough of 'Mcdonallz".


The Flaming Lips with Le Bucherettes are at House of Blues, Orlando tomorrow 10/14, and my MGMT tix are burning a hole in my pocket for their show 10/25 at Hard Rock Orlando.


Don't forget to support your locals as well y'all. Filled with the need for live musical entertainment I decided to check out Austin's Cafe in Winter park on Monday for a hip hop open mic night. Fun, free entertainment. You see a mix of good, better, best MC's (and a few guys who might have just lost their open mic V card). But it's the kind of place where the crowd is so unintimidating and supportive it makes you feel like, 'Shoot! I'm gunna' get up there and spit some lyrics too!'


If musical satisfaction payed my bills, I'd be debt free by December.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Disadvantages of Being a Giant. Oh, and I fell Over In a Theatre Yesterday.

I fell over in a theatre yesterday.

Not the first time and I'm sure not the last, but generally speaking, when one falls in a theatre it is through a trap door, or off of a moving stage trolley, perhaps one trips over a wire taped over backstage. Impressive falls, really.

Me? I was a volunteer usher.

The show ended, and my duty as program picker upper comes into effect. This is the second most important part of being an usher. The first of course, is helping people find their seats. I stepped up on a platform, picked up some programs and then forgot about said platform and someone should have yelled “Timmmmberrrr!” because when a six foot tall Norwegian in 4inch heels takes a fall, it's monumental.

I scurried to my feet as quickly as possible, but standing was quite awkward as a 60 something year old volunteer usher had my head in his large heroic hand. He grabbed hold somewhere between my forehead and ear, and he had a tight grip I'll tell you.

If I forgot to say thank you, then sir, I apologize, and I thank you for rescuing me with your large sturdy hand. You sir, may have saved my from a minor concussion, as my forehead surely would have made contact with seat F5's wooden armrest.

This trip made me think of the many disadvantages of being a giant:

1.Shoe size embarrassment. I will buy shoes that I like, specifically if they are on sale, AT ANY COST. Mostly its my comfort that I sacrifice. As it is quite embarrassing to not be able to squeeze into a size 10. “Ow, I mean, Oh, they're perfect. I'll have these.”
2. The “Timber Factor”. As described in the above theatre fall. No fall is small when you're six feet tall.
3.The Angry Flyer. Unless I am in an exit row, I am generally unhappy during the duration of a flight due to my knees being pressed into the plastic seat back in front of me. This is only exacerbated by the person in front of me reclining their seat. Which brings me to disadvantage number 4.
4.The Drunk Flyer. To offset discomfort I have to drink cocktails on a plane. Sorrry.
5.Car Shopping is Mostly about Headroom. I'm young, I like sporty cars, but lets face it, they are not made for giants like me. I can usually slide the seat back far enough to fit my legs, but then, I can't sit up straight, so...
6.The Grocery Assistant. I do not go to the grocery store during peak hours anymore. I end up helping so many people get things from the top shelf, that I forget what I'm there for. They should probably just staff tall people to be personal shoppers.

I'd keep listing disadvantages but really I just wanted to let you know that I fell in a theatre yesterday.

Being tall is coolsies in more ways than not, but I'd hate to make the shorties out there jealous. You're welcome.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

With Sorrow and Love

My grandmother is in the hospital. As my last surviving Grandparent and beautiful soul I am feeling worry that I haven't felt in years. Not since my freshman year of college when my mother's mother passed away have I experienced heart wrench like this.

We all feel worry. Worry about making a deadline. Worry about paying our bills. Worry about fitting into our jeans. But the worry that you feel when the life of someone you love is in danger is incomparable to any other worry in the world. It feels like I a piece of you is on a thread and slowly, someone is unraveling you. Your soul is exposed with each pull. Hopefully, there's a cross stitch that will stop it from coming completely undone. Hopefully, you won't fall apart when the thread pulls away. And maybe, you will get the chance to mend the loss with a small variation in texture, that few would notice unless you point it out.

We are blessed with love in humanity.

We are privileged to have the love of our friends and family every day. And we are also ticking clocks whose time on earth will not last forever. Remember to love more than you hate, smile more than you frown, and take the time to be more thankful for the things you have than spiteful for the things you want.

To my friends and family, I love you all and am so thankful to share my life with you. I ask for your prayers for Bestamor, my beautiful grandmother, as she passes from this life.