At the moment the work on JAMWiki is still keeping me really busy, although Audrey has managed to get me out of the house each of the past three nights. Last night we met up with Aaron and Saundra at Phillippes for double-dipped roast beef sandwiches, and in the process discovered that any made-up story becomes vastly more believable when you add insignificant details. Compare:
I spent the day riding around in these weird go-cart things and nearly killed myself.
versus:
I spent the day riding around in these weird go-cart things. They had these giant flags on the back that flapped all over the place, and I nearly killed myself.
Stupid details seem to be the trick – we tried it with about a dozen stories, and everytime the detail is what made the story work. Anyhow, on Friday night Audrey tried to take me somewhere where I could absorb culture, but she’s smarter than to just throw me into a symphony hall or some such. So we went to the Hollywood Bowl to see the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (sidenote: what distinguishes an orchestra from a philharmonic orchestra???), but the catch was that instead of just performing classical music they were performing the music from old Bugs Bunny cartoons, and to make matters better they were projecting the cartoons on huge screens. I saw “Kill da Wabbit” performed live. It rocked.
Thursday night I actually wanted to go out – the Indigo Girls were giving a free concert on the Santa Monica Pier. Yeah, that’s right, I wanted to see the Indigo Girls, and I admit it freely. As one friend once described them, “It’s good music, and plus there are lots of chicks in the crowd making out with each other. What’s not to like?” We had spots less than a hundred feet from the stage and the show was really good – it’s definitely more fun seeing people live when they have actual musical talent. My favorite moment of the concert came at the end when, after performing a song with the singer from Ally McBeal, the blond Indigo Girl made the comment “You folks near the stage can’t see it, but next to the pier down on the beach there are like a thousand more people.” She stepped back from the microphone, paused, and then said “You know, that’s cool as shit.” And she was right – it was.
I think hitchcock had the largest contingency of boy-indigo-girls-lovers than any other group of people I have ever associated with before or since.
(philharmonic just means “music lover” I do believe. so I think the distinguishing factor is simply hate.)
Does that fact that I was listening to Melissa Etheridge all day cause me in any way to stand out from the Hitchcock crowd, or is my love of lesbian singers still within the range of what can be considered normal?
oh. yeah. melissa etheridge is a whole different affair. and don’t you worry, I in no way meant to suggest you were normal. 🙂
the philharmonic just played with belle and sebastian, i think. that would have been really cool, and i was afraid you were going to say you went to that; and then i’d have to be real-ass jealous.