Saturday, July 15, 2006

Up....UpUpUp!!

Things have been so much better this week, compared to last week, especially the last couple of days. Yesterday was so great!! It was a long day, but fun of fun.

It started off great when we had an animal expert on our morning show from Busch Gardens. She had all kinds of cool animals including my favorites, a couple of penguins and a lemur. They were so cool. The show was insanely chaotic and stressful, but I had a blast.

At 10am, tickets for Tom Waits's show in Asheville went on sale. It took several minutes of Ticketmaster telling me it was sold out, but I was able to get them. Unbelievable. Tom Waits is one of those concerts I have to see before I die, and I'm still in shock that I'll be there in a couple of weeks.

After work (and a nap) I left for Charlottesville to meet up with my sister, her husband, and my nephew for a nice dinner. My sister's is expecting again and it was wild to see how far she's come along since I saw her last....I guess that was almost four months ago, so duh.

Then it was off to the Danielson show just down the street at Satellite Ballroom. It was a blast.

First up was stand-up, Neil Hamburger. If you haven't seen this guy, you're really missing out. He's a train wreck. King of one-liners.....yeah the worst one-liners ever. I saw him on Kimmel a while back and loved him. The crowd was so confused, but that's why he's so funny. Last night he started off with several lame jokes and spent the next half-hour berating the crowd. He really let one heckler have it and threw a drink in his face....the same drink he had been spitting up his throat goo in. "Why don't the Sanders daughters eat KFC's extra crispy chicken? It reminds them of their father's wrinkled old foreskin."

Vetiver was next. Pretty boring. Some nice moments, but I wasn't too interested throughout. It was tough to top Neil Hamburger, but a droning Grateful Dead act is impossible. All I kept thinking was, "Man that lead singer looks like Mitch from Dazed and Confused all grown up."

Okay, now Danielson. I can say this show is in that list of best shows I've ever seen. Ever. They were incredible. The band was insanely entertaining. Br. Daniel was so serious as the leader of the Famile. The Famile played off his every move, nodding and shaking their heads with everything he said. When the crowd deserved punishment, he gave it. With every clap-along or snap-along or sing-along we had to practice before the song began, and we practiced until we got it right. Of course, playing along with Danielson is about an impossible task, but that was the fun in trying. Short set, but incredible performance. They played mostly songs from Ships. Brilliantly, too. The live versions of "Kids Pushing Kids" and especially "Two Sitting Ducks" were just incredible.

I picked up Brother is to Son for the ride home (Megan Smith sold it to me personally!!). However, once I woke up this morning Ships went right back into my stereo. I can't burn out on Danielson.

See? Things are nice now. Plus I'm just getting started. I'm off work until Wednesday. If things go right, I'll be partying it up in the Fan tonight. Tomorrow it's off to Busch Gardens, although roller coasters don't sound nice with a hangover. Another party Monday night for my birthday. Oh and Tuesday is the new Golden Smog! Hooray!!
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