the world is your acorn

I’m freaking exhausted, but The Little Red Haired Girl and I had the best time last night. We had tickets to go see Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile on Jan 27 in Birmingham, AL with our New Little Buddies, but someone was sick and the show was postponed. So the rescheduled show was last night, and even though it was a school night and Bham is wicked far away The Little Red Haired Girl and I went anyway. Man, was it worth it. The theater was TINY, so even though we were in row O we could practically spit on the stage. Not that we did. Or wanted to. But when Brandi played her little no-mic game we could actually hear her and the twins. She played a great set, and I’m pretty sure everyone in the audience who hadn’t heard of her (surprisingly many) bought all of her CDs.

Anyway, Indigo Girls. They were fantastic. They played for about 2 hours, bringing Brandi up for a bunch of songs, which was really fun. They played the perfect mix of new and old stuff, including Romeo and Juliet, Tried to be True, Prince of Darkness, and World Falls. There were lots of good sing-alongs, although sometimes we felt like we had to make up for the slightly dead audience. Maybe it was just from our perspective, but the crowd was not as excited as we were. No standing up and dancing until the last song of the set and the encore, which is the weirdest thing ever. But IG and Brandi seemed to be having fun anyway, and toward the end Amy apologized for playing so long. As if.

I’m glad we went. I wish I’d gotten a better picture, but I’ll remember it in my little head. Our New Little Buddies will be sad to have missed it, I think, but we’ll be sure to rub it in next time we see them. Well, maybe we’ll just thank them for convincing us to buy the tickets in the first place.

Yesterday afternoon The Little Red Haired Girl and I embarked on a three hour journey to Birmingham with our New Little Buddies. We had plans to have dinner at one of the only restaurants in the city open on Sundays, then head over to UAB to see the Indigo Girls and Brandi Carlile. I had never heard them play together live before, so I was pretty excited for the show. And I’ve been a huge Indigo Girls fan for so long that I’m just always excited to see them play.

Anyway, we go to the restaurant, and meet our New Little Buddy’s sister and brother-in-law, who are totally fun. The restaurant was also pretty delicious, although it was literally empty except for us and the service was a little slow and surprisingly unknowledgeable about the menu despite the fanciness of the place.

So, we rushed through dessert to get to the theater with enough time not to miss a minute of Brandi, and were delighted to find a parking space pretty much right in front of the building. Come to find out there was tons of parking available because the concert had been postponed “due to illness.” So freaking disappointed. We drove the 3 hours home, tail between our legs, too sheepish to admit that we were actually glad to get home by 10pm on a Sunday night. But definitely sad about the show.

It has been rescheduled for a Monday in a few weeks. I think we can go, but we’ll be totally exhausted for Tuesday, and we’ll have to drive the 6 hours there and back again. Plus, we are worried that they won’t be playing with Brandi then. They are touring with Michelle Malone the next few weeks, which is super cool, but I’d just really been looking forward to seeing them play with Brandi. I’ve seen them play with Michelle Malone a few times before, although it was years ago. Maybe they’ll feel bad for postponing and all 4 of them will play for the postponed show! Wishful thinking, I know.

Frankly, the whole celebrity phenomenon makes me slightly uncomfortable. At the same time, there are people out there whom I really admire for whatever it is that they do that makes them famous. Generally I think it’s fun to have celebrity sightings and to talk about it. I’m not, however, the kind of person who goes out of her way to meet celebs. That’s why I was so uncomfortable the other night when we were at City Hall for the Brandi Carlile show, and we noticed Amy Ray in the crowd. I’m a huge Indigo Girls Fan, and have been pretty much since I started owning CDs. Their music got me through my brooding in-the-closet angsty teen years (and even many embarrassingly angsty adult years).

Well, one of our New Little Buddies spotted her standing a little in front of us during the concert, but she slipped away through the crowd after a few songs. I figured that she’d gone backstage (and hoped that Brandi would get her to come up and sing), but when the lights came up I saw her walking toward the back of the venue. So she was practically standing right by the door as we walked out, and The Little Red Haired Girl insisted that I go say hello. I didn’t want to, because I knew I’d just feel stupid about it later. At the same time, I knew (as did The Little Red Haired Girl) that I would regrett letting the chance go by. So I went over, waited my turn (at this point there were three or four others who wanted to say hello to her), and shook her hand. I said something totally inane like, “I really love your music,” and walked away. I’m really glad that I approached her, but at the same time I feel a little cringe-y about it. She was totally nice and greeted everyone with a lot of patience and grace, but it is just such a weird thing. Is there ever actually a good way to approach a celebrity?

Anyway, I’m glad The Little Red Haired Girl pushed me to do it. Otherwise this would have been a very different post, wouldn’t it?

The Little Red Haired Girl and I went to Billy Joel last Wednesday. It was pretty amazing. I’ve been a huge Billy Joel fan since I can remember, and I have all but 1 of his albums (mostly on cassette, but I’m upgrading). I’d seen him once before, on his River of Dreams tour. I was in high school, and I’m pretty sure that my friend and I had the worst seats in all of New Haven Coliseum. It didn’t matter of course, he puts on an amazing show and I just felt lucky to be there. This time though, it was different. Not only were we closer up, but Billy was playing old stuff. It wasn’t a tour promoting new music. If anything he was promoting the box set My Lives, which is a collection of rare recordings from throughout his career. Which meant that he played songs that I just didn’t think I’d ever get to hear live. Like Angry Young Man, Ballad of Billy the Kid, and Everybody Loves You Now. He also played a ton of Greatest Hits type stuff, which was fun and meant The Little Red Haired Girl could sing along. I have no idea if he’ll tour again, but I’m in.

For my birthday back in August The Little Red Haired Girl bought me tickets to see the Indigo Girls, and last night was the night. I used to be an Indigo Girls fanatic– I traded boot tapes, bought rare posters and tshirts on ebay, and maintained websites for fan groups. I don’t really know how the obsession died away, but it happened soon after Shaming of the Sun came out. Anyway, I’ve been getting back into their stuff (and music in general) lately, so it was great to get to a live show again.

As expected they played mainly songs from the new album, Despite Our Differences. I counted just 4 songs pre-Shaming of the Sun: Land of Canaan, Galileo, Power of Two, and Closer to Fine. That was a little disappointing, but I guess it’s hard to play a lot of old stuff when they’ve been so immersed in the newer albums. Some highlights for me:

• Amy unplugging herself by accident and sheepishly putting herself back together
• Amy singing harmony with her pick in her mouth
• Mindy Smith’s surprise guest appearance – she sang “Tennessee” from her new album, Long Island Shores. Amazing. The Little Red Haired Girl did note, however, that she wants to feed Mindy a potato or something.
• The audience: it’s been a while since I’ve seen so many lesbians in one place. I was surprised at how many empty seats there were though.
• The quiet in the auditorium during “Dirt and Dead Ends”(can you tell I’m an Amy fan yet?)

The Girls were not as chatty as I remember and they kept futzing with the sound, but overall it was a great show and a fun time. I’m digging out the old albums this morning for a quick listen.