Lots to Blog About
There are a lot of topics to chose from for this blog posting. For example, I could write about the 4th of July barbecue that was held at my house and how the grill ran out of gas, but not a second before the food finished cooking. Or I could write about the incredibly late night that I had on Saturday, in which I hung out in Saratoga and watched Phil Drum, Dave Scheffel, and Bob Redmond and their band, Bluesology, play an intensely rocking show for a huge crowd as part of Bands on Broadway.
But, I'm not.
Instead, I'm going to write about my Thursday at the open mic. Actually, I must start with before the open mic, in which I went to SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center) with my dad to see the Doobie Brothers. You know how you may have a few favorite bands for various reasons, but there is always that one band that no matter what and for whatever reason, you just love and probably will always love? For my dad, that band is the Doobie Brothers. He asked me to get him tickets a few months ago and I nabbed 5th row pit seats. It was very exciting.
Before the Doobie Brothers played, Miko (or Meeco, or Meikoh, etc) was announced. Miko (or whatever) was the opening performer who was not listed on the ticket or website or anywhere else and who sucked horribly. The first indication of how much he sucked was that he was announced. What band gets announced at a concert? The announcer stated that this was his first American tour and that he was from Italy. The second indication that he sucked was the fact that he made "looks" and poses when he sang. Let me try to illustrate what I mean: think Ricky Martin, but from Italy. (If you disagree with the idea that Ricky Martin sucks, how did you find this blog?) The third indication was that he only played two of his own songs and three covers. Fourthly, he rhymed the word love with from above. (If you disagree with the idea that rhyming love with from above is an indication of sucking, how did you find this blog?) And, finally, he kept making "looks" and poses at his backing "band" (a dude on acoustic guitar and a dude on a keyboard, both of whom looked like they were in a band while Miko (or whatever) looked like he was at a dinner party with the suit he had on -- oooh, is this the sixth indication?) and his backing "band" looked at him like he was nuts.
And, I feel slightly bad that I listed six things that made this guy suck... I really didn't intend to brutally flame the guy on my blog... but -- in all things holy -- why the f*ck would the Italian Ricky Martin open up for a rock band like the Doobie Brothers? If this guy had opened up for Ricky Martin, I wouldn't have anything bad to say about him, would I? Nope -- cause I wouldn't have been anywhere near the concert.
The Doobie Brothers rocked. I was quite impressed by this because... well, they are really old. By the end of their set, they had the entire SPAC standing, which is a feat for a band when the average age of your collective audience is 55. Previously, people kept standing to clap; then, they sat down.
I took some pictures. Here are a few of the better ones:
After the Doobie Brothers played, we left. The next band was Chicago and my dad deeply dislikes Chicago. The only song that I can think of by Chicago is You're the meaning in my life, you're the ins-pir-a-tion! Which causes me to understand my dad's feelings for the band.
I got dropped at Caffé Lena where I interviewed Phil Drum for Inside the Open Mic:
I played Road to Nowhere and Saving the World and I think I did a good job on both of them.
Back at SPAC, I noticed they have a lot of signs now that list what you can and can't bring in. One sign listed the items that you can bring in (I took a picture of it with my cell phone camera, but the process of making the picture move from the phone camera to the blogger page is a huge pain in the ass and I can do a pretty acceptable job of describing it to you, which will save time but will not display the picture on this page.) Some of the items were: Lawn chairs, blankets, Factory sealed water bottles. In the place where the first item on the list should have been, there was blue duct tape (the sign itself was blue). Thus, the first item on the list was removed. Which makes you wonder, what item was originally thought to be okay for being in SPAC, but was later deemed not okay? Some ideas that we came up with: Fireworks. Nuclear weapons. Shot guns. Ninja Turtles. Ninja Gorillas. Regular, every day, run-of-the-mill Ninjas. Aliens. Hugh Jackman (if you watch Scrubs you'll understand the reference). Circus Clowns. Republicans. (and now that I think about it: Ricky Martin).
Maybe someone, some day will rip down that blue duct tape and we'll get to see if any of my guesses were correct.
But, I'm not.
Instead, I'm going to write about my Thursday at the open mic. Actually, I must start with before the open mic, in which I went to SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center) with my dad to see the Doobie Brothers. You know how you may have a few favorite bands for various reasons, but there is always that one band that no matter what and for whatever reason, you just love and probably will always love? For my dad, that band is the Doobie Brothers. He asked me to get him tickets a few months ago and I nabbed 5th row pit seats. It was very exciting.
Before the Doobie Brothers played, Miko (or Meeco, or Meikoh, etc) was announced. Miko (or whatever) was the opening performer who was not listed on the ticket or website or anywhere else and who sucked horribly. The first indication of how much he sucked was that he was announced. What band gets announced at a concert? The announcer stated that this was his first American tour and that he was from Italy. The second indication that he sucked was the fact that he made "looks" and poses when he sang. Let me try to illustrate what I mean: think Ricky Martin, but from Italy. (If you disagree with the idea that Ricky Martin sucks, how did you find this blog?) The third indication was that he only played two of his own songs and three covers. Fourthly, he rhymed the word love with from above. (If you disagree with the idea that rhyming love with from above is an indication of sucking, how did you find this blog?) And, finally, he kept making "looks" and poses at his backing "band" (a dude on acoustic guitar and a dude on a keyboard, both of whom looked like they were in a band while Miko (or whatever) looked like he was at a dinner party with the suit he had on -- oooh, is this the sixth indication?) and his backing "band" looked at him like he was nuts.
And, I feel slightly bad that I listed six things that made this guy suck... I really didn't intend to brutally flame the guy on my blog... but -- in all things holy -- why the f*ck would the Italian Ricky Martin open up for a rock band like the Doobie Brothers? If this guy had opened up for Ricky Martin, I wouldn't have anything bad to say about him, would I? Nope -- cause I wouldn't have been anywhere near the concert.
The Doobie Brothers rocked. I was quite impressed by this because... well, they are really old. By the end of their set, they had the entire SPAC standing, which is a feat for a band when the average age of your collective audience is 55. Previously, people kept standing to clap; then, they sat down.
I took some pictures. Here are a few of the better ones:
After the Doobie Brothers played, we left. The next band was Chicago and my dad deeply dislikes Chicago. The only song that I can think of by Chicago is You're the meaning in my life, you're the ins-pir-a-tion! Which causes me to understand my dad's feelings for the band.
I got dropped at Caffé Lena where I interviewed Phil Drum for Inside the Open Mic:
I played Road to Nowhere and Saving the World and I think I did a good job on both of them.
Back at SPAC, I noticed they have a lot of signs now that list what you can and can't bring in. One sign listed the items that you can bring in (I took a picture of it with my cell phone camera, but the process of making the picture move from the phone camera to the blogger page is a huge pain in the ass and I can do a pretty acceptable job of describing it to you, which will save time but will not display the picture on this page.) Some of the items were: Lawn chairs, blankets, Factory sealed water bottles. In the place where the first item on the list should have been, there was blue duct tape (the sign itself was blue). Thus, the first item on the list was removed. Which makes you wonder, what item was originally thought to be okay for being in SPAC, but was later deemed not okay? Some ideas that we came up with: Fireworks. Nuclear weapons. Shot guns. Ninja Turtles. Ninja Gorillas. Regular, every day, run-of-the-mill Ninjas. Aliens. Hugh Jackman (if you watch Scrubs you'll understand the reference). Circus Clowns. Republicans. (and now that I think about it: Ricky Martin).
Maybe someone, some day will rip down that blue duct tape and we'll get to see if any of my guesses were correct.