BLONDIE

this is going to be intense.

blondie has been a favorite of mine since i was a little teenager. debbie harry was always so inspiring. and clem...well, you all know how i feel about him, right?

and i saw blondie last year, in dc, which i wrote about before. but that was the only time.

when i was at the split squad show at the brighton bar, and talking to clem, he mentioned blondie touring and i said i was planning on seeing them in bethelehem. and he said "oh cool, i'll put you on the list. just shoot me an email." and he wrote down his email address for me. WHAT. yes. he did. so a few weeks before the show i emailed clem burke (i'm still getting used to that...) and he was totally cool about it and said he'd put me on the list. what i didn't realize was that i was on the list (plus one - so i took my new show buddy) and we got ALL ACCESS PASSES. oh no he didn't. but he did. and then unfortunately we were denied access to pretty much everywhere we went, until we just happened to see clem coming towards us down the hall. he recognized me and said "hey, you guys get in ok?" uh. yes. "do you want to come with me?" uh. yes. we followed him through the doors and into the backstage area. down the hallway, past the closed door with a sign on it that said "DEBBIE HARRY." and the rest of the band's room; the door to that one was open and freaking chris stein was in there, sitting on the couch. i couldn't believe it. then clem opens up the door marked "CLEM BURKE" and ushers us in, offers us a seat on the couch, and some wine to drink. we made small talk. he asked about my band's show that had just happened the night before (i mentioned it in one of the emails) (also don't ask about it. just don't). i'm not going to write about everything because that will take forever and might be kind of boring. but i'm going to highlight the important stuff from here on out. so clem started going through a stack of records that someone had given him the night before; most of them were jazz drummers but one was the soundtrack to christiane f., which was all david bowie songs. he said "i don't know why they gave this to me...you want this?" and that is how i ended up with a david bowie record at a blondie gig. he showed us the stage area, and said we were welcome to watch the show from there, or go to our seats (tickets were included with the passes). so we watched the show from the side of the stage, because when else are we ever going to get the chance to do that??

BE STILL MY HEART.

seriously. i was freaking out.

when they started to play "dreaming" i could not take my eyes off of clem. i watched him throw his sticks in the air and catch them. every. single. god. damn. time. and watching debbie perform is still really surreal to me; i almost couldn't believe i was standing on the same floor as her, but look! there she is! unreal. the set was good. ok, well, i mean, they sounded amazing. and i like the new songs! i don't want them to stop doing that. but it's the same complaint as the last time i saw them; i would just rather hear "fan mail" than "rapture," or "11:59" instead of "hanging on the telephone" or "union city blue" instead of "call me." you know? but i'm not really complaining. i guess. just an observation, really.

then after the show, clem invited us back into his room, after a quick shower. he walked around, packing stuff up, asking us how the show was. as if there was a chance it was going to be anything less than perfect. then he sat down and said "wanna go see what they're up to in the band room?" i was being extremely squirmy and nervous so i finally just blurted out how blondie have been one of my favorite bands for years and that seeing them was a big deal and if i meet debbie i'll fall over. he just looked at me and said "cool." HAHAHA OH MY GOD I'M THE BIGGEST DORK and he's just like yeah, ok kid, cool. OH MY GOD.

so we go to the band room, and there is chris stein on the couch, just hanging out, texting or whatever on his phone. there were a bunch of people but one by one they all left, even clem, leaving me and my friend alone with chris. he didn't seem to notice. so i said "uh, we can go, if you want, i don't wanna cramp your style or whatever." and he just said it was cool, and we could stay, and also that "joan would eat you for dinner." WHAAAAAAAAAAAT. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH. he said "are you in a band?" "uh. yeah." "what do you do?" "i'm the drummer." "oh! cool." then my friend says "i repair grandfather clocks." and chris is like "wow! really?" and they have this whole conversation about clocks. then clem pokes his head in and says to me, "hey. wanna meet debbie?" huhbuhduhhuhbuhduhwha? yeah sure ok let me just evacuate my bowels first.

i followed him into the room next door and there she is. this woman who has been an inspiration for so much of my life. no i'm not a singer, but if debbie can be a sexy lady in a band of dudes and still be taken seriously than surely there is hope for me, no? that's what i mean, i guess. but of course i didn't say that to her because i'm a FUCKING IDIOT. clem introduced me to her and i said hi and she said "hi, chloe" in that fucking perfect voice she has and OH MY GOD THIS IS MY LIFE I AM SITTING ON A COUCH ACROSS FROM DEBBIE FUCKING HARRY HOW DID THIS HAPPEN. so i sat there like a polite idiot while they talked and stuff and then my friend wandered in even though i was trying to make eyes at him not to, and sure enough, right after that, clem kinda ushered us out. but not before asking debbie to sign my record for me. "should i sign it as david?" UGHGHADFSD SIGN IT HOWEVER YOU WANT YOU PERFECT GODDAMN CREATURE YOU. (she signed it as herself). we hung out with clem for a while after that and he even invited us up to his hotel room to hang out with him and the crew members, since it was the last night before the european tour starts, but i was afraid that he would get sick of me and my cough (yeah i had this horrible phlegmy cough that i had to keep stifling) and decided to just leave at that point. but it was a wonderful night overall and i fucking met debbie harry and if i think about it i'm going to cry so la la la la la la here i go now.

the standells

HOLY SHIT the standells played at the brighton bar. this was may 3. still catching up on shit, as you can see.

so my new friend that i mentioned somewhere before i met at the robyn hitchcock show came with me. he's my new show buddy. and also my friend chrissy came with to this. i love sharing the brighton bar with my friends! we got to long branch kind of early and had time to walk to the beach and get something to eat before the show. so the standells are like...from the 60s. larry tamblyn is the one original member - it's his band, really. also john fleck, who used to be in love (yes, the band love...yeah i know) was also in the standells in the 60s sometime before rejoining the band more recently. the band still sounds fucking GREAT. i was impressed. and larry is so funny! me and chrissy decided to go stand up front because there weren't a ton of people there (FOR SHAME) and we thought it would be nice. well, larry likes to make eye contact and point and sometimes come out into the crowd. but before i get to that - i just want to reiterate that the band is SO GOOD. the guitarist - mark adrian - is out of this world - and a total ham on top of it. he's really into the rock star poses and faces and i fucking love it. they did some songs off their newest album, bump, as well as the old standards everyone was expecting to hear: "sometimes good guys don't wear white," "dirty water..." ok, so yeah, near the end of the show they did "wild thing," and larry jumped down off the stage and said he wanted to hear us. ugh, good job standing in the front row, chloe, now you have to sing into a freaking microphone. my first "wild thing" was really weak because i was the first person he came up to and i wasn't ready and UGH stage fright. so he made me do another one and this time i channeled my inner joan jett and he jumped backwards and looked impressed and moved on to someone else. i turned about 12 shades of red and wanted to just hide in the bathroom, but my inner joan jett was like "FUCK NO YOU DON'T, THAT WAS AWESOME." and it was, really. so, hooray! oh, and i was serenaded at the end with "why did you hurt me?" larry jumped down again and sang it RIGHT AT ME. if chrissy ever wants to watch me blush and stutter about something all she has to do is say "remember that time the guy from the standells sang to you and waved the microphone around like a limp dick?" yeah that happened. and i regret nothing!

right. so after the show, i waited around a bit before going to the table to say hi and have them sign stuff, but when i did walk over they were like "there she is!!!" and signed my poster (one for me and one for gary, who couldn't be there). then mark was like "are you in a band?" (i swear, the band dudes always know....) and i said yeah, and when they found out i'm a drummer they were so impressed, and made me tell greg, their drummer, and we drum nerded out a little bit together. they were really cool and super nice and thanked me and chrissy for being good sports. then i asked for a picture with them and then were totally into it. they dragged me up on stage so we could stand with the bass drum, with the standells logo on it. fucking crazy! here is proof that it happened:

pretty fucking cool. the fucking standells, man. mark was also very persistent that i stay in touch with them and talked about our bands playing together someday. riiiiiight. nice thought, though, isn't it?

split squad

i went to see the split squad on april 28, at the brighton bar. if you've never heard of the split squad, it's ok, all you need to know is that clem burke is the drummer.

that's right. clem freaking burke. i love him.

so, i'm kind of really lucky in that i have hugh cornwell as a friend, who is tight with clem, since they play together when hugh tours over here in the u.s. of a. see, when i told hugh i was going to this show, he emailed clem to tell him to expect me to say hello. who knows what else he said, because i ended up having a lovely evening. ok - i couldn't bring myself to go say hi to him when i first saw him because i get really shy around him still, which is stupid because i've already met him a few times. when i finally did, he was really nice and said hugh told him i would be there, and i blurted out "YEAH AND YOU'RE ONE OF MY FAVORITE DRUMMERS OF ALL TIME" to which there is no proper response, except for what he did which was smile and nod. then he asked if i'd be around after the show, and that we could talk then. phew.

and he actually did!

but first - let me describe the split squad. aside from clem, it's michael giblin (of parallax project) on bass and lead vocals; eddie munoz (of the plimsouls) on guitar; keith streng (of the fleshtones) on guitar; and josh kantor (of the baseball project) on keyboards (oh, and josh totally caught me air-drumming along to "get off of my cloud" before the show started; i'm really good at being embarrassing).

so i guess after seeing what bands these dudes are all in you can maybe kind of guess what they sound like, but in case you can't you can just listen here. it's like power poppy rock and roll deliciousness. plus they covered ac/dc and the who and led zeppelin. my brain almost melted watching clem drumming like keith moon. so cool. the show was fantastic; eddie and keith did a lot of jumping off the stage and running through the crowd, or writhing on the ground (a la nigel tufnel, except they didn't need help getting up). but i was pretty much watching clem the whole time and trying to memorize his movements and learn all of his neat tricks.

after the show, clem's drum tech dude (who heard me shout about clem being my favorite) handed me the sticks clem had just played with. i might have drooled a little bit. he also gave me a fresh pair of unused ones and i was delighted to see that clem and i use the same brand AND size. vic firth 5a. that's my stick. that's clem's stick. that might not mean much to a non drummer,but it's kind of a big deal.

also, i went over and bought the album. michael was manning the merch table, and i asked for a copy on vinyl and he said "oh, and there's a download code in there so you can listen to it...on your...you know..." and i smiled and said "oh, i will be listening to THIS on my turntable" and he smiled back and seemed pretty psyched and told me how it'll sound much better on vinyl. he was super nice.

clem was walking around with a bottle of wine and handing out glasses to his friends, and guess who got the last glass? somehow, it was me. clem shared his wine. with me. what. he sat down at the table where i was sitting, but was talking to other people and signing things and being very humble and nice to everyone who approached him. i told him "WE USE THE SAME SIZE STICK" and he smiled at me but didn't seem to know what to say. ugh. i'm so embarrassing! when we finally did start talking, like for real, it was much better and i was kind of cool. i mean, i think i was anyway. he was watching me twirl one of his sticks around and then started doing it too (better than me, i might add), and was telling me about being left-handed, but he still drums right-handed, which is why he can do all the twirls and throwing/catching, because the left hand does less so he uses that one; i'm right handed and never have time to throw in a twirl or a toss with my right hand because it's too busy. and we talked paradiddles. total drummer nerd shit. i mean, i thought it was so cool he was like "...so i have to end my fills on a paradiddle, so i can start in with the right hand again" and i knew exactly what he was talking about. i was in heaven. and he told me about another band he's in now, so i said "wait, wait, wait. so, you're in that band, you're in this band that played tonight, you're in the international swingers, AND you're in blondie...HOW DO YOU HAVE TIME FOR THAT SHIT?" and he laughed. what a life. all he does is travel around and play the drums in cool bands. then it looked like they were all getting ready to leave, so i asked for a picture with him and of course he said ok. i tried to do it myself but the light wasn't very good and it was too dark.

so then he gave my phone to michael (i think it was him...if my memory is correct) and i turned the flash on so he could get a decent picture of us. awww. and then i said goodbye and he gave me a hug (!!!) and that was that. such a great night.

as an addendum - i got an email from hugh the next day saying that clem had emailed him and said i remind him of joan jett so, uh, you know, FUCK YES.

jonathan richman

wow. i'm still so behind. i have SO MUCH to talk about, too.

so, let's start with jonathan richman! i saw him march 22 in bordentown. there was a meet and greet at randy now's man cave (you should know by now that i love it there and randy is the man). he played a short set of songs which i missed, sadly, even though i tried to get there early this time (leaving work on time always seems to present a problem). oh well. but he was still hanging out and luckily i remembered to grab my vinyl copy of because her beauty is raw and wild before i left in the morning, so he signed it for me. i was trying to come up with something cool to say to him, which never happens when i want it to, so i ended up saying that my favorite song off that particular album is "when we refuse to suffer." and he was like "oh, can i tell you something? that one's my favorite too." HOW CUTE IS HE? i can't stand it. anyway...so he was super nice and everything and then later i asked for a picture with him and LOOK HOW CUTE HE IS:

GAHHHH SO CUTE!!!

anyway. then i bought a bunch of records and hung out with my friend gary. he's cool. there were a few hours between the meet and greet and the actual show, which is at the open arts theatre, just a short drive from the man cave. so we hung out for a bit and then headed over to the theatre. so, when i saw the dickies there, there were some chairs and the front was cleared out. when i saw robyn hitchcock, there were chairs all the way up to the stage. this time, the entire room was cleared of chairs. just a few around the edges of the room. i found out later that jonathan had moved all the chairs himself, didn't want help, just wanted to move the chairs out so we could all stand and watch the show. CUUUUUUTE. ok. so the show starts, and now forgive me because this was a while ago, but i don't quite remember what songs he played. it was good, though. i know he did stuff like "trash on the beach," "lesbian bar," "because her beauty is raw and wild," "no one was like vermeer," "old world," etc. you get the idea. and it's him with his acoustic guitar (no strap; he just holds it) and tommy larkins on drums. tommy is so much fun to watch. i mean, he kinda looks like he's falling asleep as he sits there sometimes but he throws in some really cool shit. i love watching someone play such low fi drums at a show, if that makes sense. so of course after the show i wanted to go say hi to him...i will say that it took me a little while to work up the guts to say something to him. if you've ever seen him play, he looks kind of grumpy and doesn't smile at all. but when i went up and said hello and i enjoyed the show, and could i get a picture, he smiled at me and said of course. this one is really cute too:

see, he even looks mildly disgruntled here, but i assure you he was perfectly friendly and wonderful. we ended up talking for a while. he was impressed i'm a drummer (they always are) and we just talked about crap, like how i work at a record store, which he thinks is really cool. and he said how it was kind of a weird vibe that night. he prefers to look out and see everyone holding a drink out in the crowd. so i said "well, you're in luck tomorrow night then. everyone drinks at the brighton bar." he was curious about it, since i'd obviously been there before, so i told him how awesome that place is, and he wanted to know if i was coming to that show too. well, i wasn't planning on it... but then he offered to put me on the list. he said no obligation, just that i would be on the list if i did decide to go. how cool!

needless to say, guess where i ended up the next night? brighton bar. of course. my new friend (i didn't write about him yet, but i met this dude at the robyn hitchcock show at the sellersville...we sat next to each other by chance and he started talking to me and he's actually cool. he was also at the glen/sylvain shows that i wrote about, but this happened first because my memory went out of order) came with me. he actually kind of talked me into going, but since he'd never seen jonathan before i decided to take him with me. tommy came through and remembered to put me on the list, awww, so we got in for free. saw tommy again and he was happy to see me there. the show was the same but totally different at the same time. like, the songs were basically the same, but the vibe was totally different (just how tommy likes it). everyone was drinking and singing along and jonathan, as a result, whipped out way more dance moves which are my favorite. seriously, you have to go see him and check out the way he dances. it's the best.

i'm really glad i went to see him again. after the show, tommy saw me and said probably the best thing anyone in a band has ever said to me: "keep drumming, and keep selling records. those are two really good things."

TRUTH. thanks tommy ♥

glen matlock & sylvain sylvain

i have A LOT of catching up to do. so i'm starting here. i saw these guys three times on this tour, but i think i can probably sum it all up in one post.

the first night was at asbury lanes in jersey. me and my friend ryan went (he went with me last year to the show at the brighton and we got wasted and hung out with sylvain at the bar after the show...remember?). well, this time he got a little out of control (ie, got kicked out of the bar) but that's a story for another time. or never. anyway i was pretty drunk too so i don't remember much but that's ok because i saw them two more times and also it was very much the same as the shows last year.

so - first - dez cadena and his band opened. that was pretty awesome. i remember that he covered mannequin by wire and i got really excited and i also vaguely recall him saying something about steve marriott and that i shouted "woo! i love that guy!" this is why i shouldn't drink heavily...

anyway, then sylvain went on and did the usual ("teenage news," "trash," "femme fatale," "leaving new york," "pills," etc...) and we got all the same stories as before. i mean, i love hearing the stories and the songs; i knew it was probably going to be the same and i still went because that's how much i love this shit.

then it was glen's turn and it was "god save the queen," "pretty vacant," "burning sounds," "ghosts of princes in towers," "montague terrace" (i WOOOO-ed so hard when he started introducing that one because i knew what was coming...such a dork), and several solo songs but i can't remember which ones anymore. probably "hard work" and "yeah right" among others.

then they performed together and probably did "bang a gong" but other than that i don't know.

after the show i got my picture taken with a slightly less than thrilled sylvain (i think he now associates me with wasted-ryan who can be pretty annoying but in a cute way, if you know him).

then i went over to talk to glen, explained that i still owe him $10 for the cd from last year, to which he replied "use it towards a hotel room." i had already told him about my friend getting kicked out and that he was my ride and i didn't want to drive him home tonight, etc., and so his suggestion was to get a hotel. responsible and helpful, that mr. matlock. anyway, i took a picture of the two of us together and it's pretty much the cutest.

then we took another one, after switching sides, but i couldn't tell you why.

then i saw them again at kung fu necktie later that month. i went with 2 different friends, both of them had never seen them before so that made it really fun for me because it reminded me of the first time i saw them. we were there and hanging out for a while when glen and sylvain walked in and when glen looked over i waved, a really small unsure wave because a) i didn't know if he would remember me and b) i wasn't sure if i wanted him to remember me. i was equal parts relieved and excited when he smiled and waved back. then he actually came over to ask me if i would be his merch girl for the night. i know that kind of stuff is like whatever for some people but i get ridiculously excited about shit like that. i said of course i would and he said he was sorry because he knew i was there to see the show, but it would be a big help for him. um, hi, i've seen this show several times already, it's fine, plus you were a sex pistol and how can i say no to you? impossible.

my friend made me go outside with her so she could bum a cigarette off him ("i don't even smoke! i just want to talk to him!") and he was super cool and friendly and my friend was impressed that he remembered me and everything. so during sylvain's set, i went up and watched part of it then went back to the merch table where glen was sitting with his stuff and tried to talk to him a little bit but that was difficult because of it being loud and all the other people who wanted to talk to him. when syl was finishing up, glen asked again if i minded watching his stuff and i once again assured him it was totally fine, and he went off to get ready, and there i sat, glen freaking matlock's merch girl. i'm the scared looking one, my friend is the hot blonde.

oh, and ryan showed up. hahahahaha. god i love that kid but he is a rowdy little shithead. so, it's impossible to see the stage from where the table was, but i would get up and walk over where i could see, but still be right next to the table. and that was what i did for all of his set, plus the double set, which was fucking great as always. then we got to hang out with him after the show and it was grand, and that was that.

then my friend (who was at the kfn show but not the one who bummed a cigarette off glen) and i decided to go see them again the next night in atlantic city. never mind if they think we're weirdos, let's fucking do it! so i drove to the boneyard, which is a kind of neat little bar, not as dive as i kind of hoped/expected, but it was cool. we hung out for little bit, had a drink or two, and then they showed up. when glen saw me he was like "why didn't you tell me you were coming tonight??! i would have put you on the list!" and i said we had only just decided a few hours ago that we were coming. he seemed bummed out that he didn't know, but still happy to see us. i told him it was fine, and then offered to be merch girl again, and he thanked me and said he had wanted to ask, but felt bad having me do it again. aww. so he gave me all his stuff and we set it up at the table and he sat with us for a while, and offered us some of his french fries. then he bought us a round of drinks and hung out and whatever. it was the same show, pretty much, but it doesn't get much better than sitting at a booth at a bar in atlantic city with a sex pistol. also: freaking hr from bad brains showed up. look.

i know it's not a great picture but that guy in the brown hat is hr, and that is photographic evidence of him watching glen and sylvain on stage. SO COOL.

after the show the two of them hung out for a little bit, and when they left i got a hug and a kiss on the cheek first from glen and then from sylvain (!!!) i guess he still loves me after all. awww. and glen also gave me a bunch of cds to sell in the record store and said not to worry about paying him; he just gave me his email address and said we could work something out. then they were gone and we were left to revel in all of our punk rock glory.

as an addendum, i did email him and he wrote back, and having an email from glen matlock in your inbox...well there's nothing quite like it.

robyn hitchcock, again

i'm fucking MAGIC! i wanted it to not snow so badly, that it didn't snow. you're welcome, everyone.

speaking of magic...robyn was just as magical the second time around. i just saw him at the sellersville theatre tonight. i rushed over right after work to get a ticket and i was fortunate to get the last front row seat left, all the way on the end. it was perfect, because even though they have cabaret seating in front of the rows of seats, no one showed up to claim the table directly in front of me so i had a clear view all evening. i was also pleased to see a handful of people there that i knew, and everyone i spoke to after the show was equally as impressed with his performance. i'm still kind of in awe of his...just...his being. it's kind of hard to explain. but i feel like he's on a whole other plane of existence which explains the absurdity of some of the lyrics in his songs and the things he says on stage. i don't know. it's so hard to look away from him, too. i'm just really glad i saw him twice. it was a different set this night; some of the songs were the same, like he opened with "the abyss" both times, and he did "i often dream of trains" and "my wife and my dead wife" and "adventure rocket ship" and "only the stones remain" on both nights, but he only did "n.y. doll" saturday night and he only did "the wreck of the arthur lee" tonight. which was cool, a tribute to arthur kane one night, and a tribute to arthur lee on another night. he certainly has great taste in music, as witnessed by those two songs, and his cover choices. leonard cohen, dylan, townes van zandt, and bowie all happened tonight. he's a wonderful creature and i hope someone out there reads this and decides to see him sometime because you most definitely will not regret it.

OH YEAH and some amazing human recorded saturday night's performance and you can listen to the whole thing HERE.

robyn hitchcock

i'm really, really glad i decided to go to this show tonight. because i was thinking i would just go to the one that's happening on monday at the sellersville theatre, but if we're getting the snow i keep hearing about, it may not happen. if it's not cancelled i'm totally going to see him again, though. i called the theatre to ask if they knew anything about it and the lady i spoke with said it depends on if robyn is able to get there on monday and kept telling me i'd be reimbursed for my ticket until i said "i didn't buy a ticket yet; i'm just trying to decide if i should see him tonight, in case monday doesn't happen." and she said "oh, i see. yeah, go tonight." so, thanks, lady at sellersville theatre whose name i have already forgotten, because you made my night.

i got there late to the meet and greet at randy now's man cave and apparently missed a short in store performance. balls! but i was able to buy his new record and have him sign it. have you ever seen robyn hitchcock before? i'd seen pictures but never seen him in person. being in his presence is like being around a unicorn or something. i don't know how to explain it, except what i said to my boss via text after meeting him: "he's other worldy. have you ever looked into his eyes? he doesn't look real." to which he replied: "he's magical." so there you have it. he was very sweet but very dry; he's very funny in an understated kind of way. and just lovely to be around.

the show was at the open arts stage, also in bordentown. the opening band was the grip weeds. they were kind of like a 60s pop group, complete with velvet jackets and tight flares. and they were really good too, even though i kind of wish they had played a shorter set. but it was sort of funny to me to watch this band, all guitars and bass and bongos and tambourine, and then have robyn come up with just a guitar and absolutely blow them away within the first few seconds of his set. alright, so honestly, i don't know much about him, and i'm not familiar with much of his work. i know he was in the soft boys and i love underwater moonlight but i knew not to expect any of that. but it didn't matter that i didn't know the songs. actually i think it kind of enhanced it for me. i was hearing the songs for the first time, live, right in front of him. he makes the guitar sound like it has about twenty strings on it and his voice is all over the place and almost trance like. ok, reading back over that, it makes no sense. i apologize. but i told you earlier, he's magical, so it wouldn't be right for him to make sense.

he talked in between some of the songs and the stuff he would say was sort of bizarre, abstract ramblings, but very, very funny. when he started talking about cats and tuna fish and baths (i can't write it all in here because it would lose all funniness) everyone was cracking up. he's so funny but never really laughs himself. except when he accidentally said "misshapen parrots" and then said "parrots? i said that wrong...misshapen parrots? fuck. jesus. what would you even do with a parrot that was the wrong shape? i meant...misshapen pirates." and he was laughing at himself. it was cute. then the encore was a bob dylan song - "visions of johanna." and then he talked about who was britain's bob dylan, and that really it was syd barrett, who had come and gone before the contest had even begun, and that david bowie must have eventually won the title of britain's bob dylan. so he played syd barrett's song "gigolo aunt." and then "you've got to hide your love away," accompanied by the grip weeds. which was kind of cool. oh and also he had left the stage at the beginning of the encore and played it out in the aisles. i love that kind of shit.

but, my favorite part was probably early on, when he was talking about how all great artists have one thing in common - they're dead. and they don't know what an impact they've had and of course they did all of their great work before they were dead. and how jim morrison was the ultimate rock star and then asked if anyone had seen the documentary "new york doll" about arthur kane and i was like OH MY GOD YES I HAVE and he played "n.y. doll" which was a song he wrote about arthur after having seen that and it was really beautiful and i had tears in my eyes.

if the show happens on monday i will be there for sure and i think you should go too, and wish robyn a happy birthday.