Been a while since I've done this. Too long probably. Not really much to write about. The holidays came and went. I've been trying to review each book I read on GoodReads and FaceBook as I finish them, but I'm two books behind now. Nothing about family to write about. Just working.
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I had an interesting start to my day. I was going in to have a quiet day in the office and stopped off at
Barney's Beanery in Pasadena to have breakfast. As I was having a nice breakfast and coffee, one of the waitresses came up to me and asked me if I drink alcohol. This was so out of the blue that it took me a bit to make sure I understood. When I answered that I did, she came back with a beer and gave it to me. She was getting a draft beer for another customer and had poured the wrong one by mistake. Rather than just throw it out, I got a free pint of Belgian
Chimay Triple. A $10 value. And a really good beer. Free beer for breakfast, go figure. Going into work on a Sunday was even harder after that.
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Since the boys are out of school tomorrow, I'm thinking about taking them to the Childrens' Garden at the Huntington Library.
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Last month, on December 16th, I went to see Amanda Palmer perform at the Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theatre. This was the final show of her North American tour promoting her new album,
Who Killed Amanda Palmer. Great, great show. She performed with an Australian performance art troupe named The Danger Ensemble. The opening band was The Builders and the Butchers. Then rock (punk) cellist Zoe Keating (formerly of Rasputina). Zoe Keating also performed with Amanda Palmer, as did violinist Lyndon Chester. Steben Mitchell-Wright of The Danger Ensemble acted as the MC for the evening. Right before Amanda Palmer came out, Neil Gaiman took the stage and did a reading of the piece he wrote for the liner notes of the
Who Killed Amanda Palmer album.
I had a great time and managed to stand with a great group of people. Amanda played the songs:
Astronaut
Ampersand
Blake Says
Girl Anachronism
Strength Through Music
I Want You, But I Don't Need You
Oasis
Trout Heart Replica (an completely new song written before the previous day's performance in San Francisco)
Coin Operated Boy
Half Jack
Drive (during which The Danger Ensemble did a great performance piece in the audience)
I Google You
For encores, there was a piece with Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl," a cover of Rihanna's Umbrella (-ella-ella), and Leeds United.
Just a great night. I went by myself. Although it would have been nice to go with somebody (and I had asked a friend to go), it was nice going by myself as I didn't have to worry about whether my companion was enjoying herself. I was able to just focus on enjoying the whole experience.
The show let out at about midnight. I didn't hang around to see Amanda Palmer in the signing line. I was dead-tired and my contact lenses were completely messed up and blurring. I did, however, stop off at the Denny's in Arcadia on the way home to get a late night snack (I'd skipped dinner) and something to drink. As I was finishing up, I saw two girls (maybe 17 - 19 years old) come in and I recognized them from the line before the show. They had probably waited for Amanda Palmer and left after me. After some hemming-and-hawing, I went over and introduced myself by showing them my ticket stub. We talked for a few minutes about the show. They had had a great experience as well. I was probably a bit abrupt when I left, but I claim fatigue as my excuse as it was after half past one by this point. The night was a great experience.
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I made some notes before the concert. Since October, 2006, I've been to nine concerts:
10/10/6 - The Dresden Dolls - The Orpheum Theatre
6/30/7 - The Dresden Dolls (True Colors Tour) - The Greek Theatre
3/25/8 - Abney Park - Bar Sinister
5/21/8 - The Dresden Dolls - The Wiltern Theatre
5/25/8 - Abney Park - The Edison Downtown
6/25/8 - Lucent Dossier - The Edison Downtown (OK, this wasn't really a concert, but it was still a lot of fun.)
8/4/8 - Amanda Palmer - The Troubadour
10/3/8 - Great Big Sea - The House of Blues
12/16/8 - Amanda Palmer - The Music Box at the Henry Fonda Theatre
Not bad. There were a number of other shows in 2008 I would have liked to have gone to, but that I missed. Still, I've probably seen more shows in the last two years than in the preceding decade. I'm not totally sure that's true, but it's a pretty fair estimate.
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I'll leave you with this. I saw Amanda play this at the Music Box and loved it.