What’s Good for the Goose, is Murder on my Body

Yesterday I went to a music festival called Vegoose. It’s the 2nd year they have hosted it. It’s on the far east side of town near the UNLV football stadium. I found out about it when I was out on MySpace and saw a bulletin about Ben Folds coming to town. I saw him perform here last summer and thought it would be great to see him again. So as I investigated I found out that he was one of the performers for this 2-day event. After looking at the line up for both days, I made the decision to stick with just the first day. Unfortunately, that meant not seeing Ben, but I’m sure he will forgive me.

My Favorite Mistakes

Since this was my first time going, I knew that this was the year I was going to make the biggest mistakes, so I was prepared for that. Mistake number one was deciding to not bring a chair or blanket. The Vegoose web site was pretty thorough regarding the items you could or couldn’t bring inside with you. I had a stadium cushion that I was going to take, and then decided not to. No blanket either. I just didn’t want to worry about hauling a backpack around all day. This was a very bad idea. I stood around for hours before finally sitting down. This was going to hurt me later, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Mistake number two was clothing. I was good about shoes, which is really saying something if you know me well. I didn’t go with sneakers, but I was wearing comfortable, flat shoes and I was well armed with band-aids and I even threw in some arch and heel supports, just in case. Sounds good, but the mistakes here were more related to temperature. It’s still pretty warm here for this time of year. Yesterday it was sunny and upper 70’s. Even though I brought sunscreen with me, I never bothered to use it. So, no one to blame but me about the sunburn I received. And of course, it’s mostly on one side of me. Lovely. The other bad clothing choice was the very thin, lightweight windbreaker I had with me. After the sun went down, I was freezing. I kept expecting to see my breath appear. I stood in outrageously long lines for hot coffee so I could have something warm to hold. When I finally got back to my car at the end of the night and saw the temperature read out, what do you think it said? 62 degrees. I groaned. Well, I guess my blood has finally thinned out. How embarrassing. So next year, I should also stuff a sweatshirt in the backpack I will now carry. And put sunscreen on before I leave if I’m not going to bother with it before going.

Let the Music Play

So now on to more important things like the music. I got there right around noon. Parking was fine and I counted rows and streetlights and all sorts of things I would need to use to find my car that night. After I got inside, I could see that there were 4 stages set up. I thought they were too close together, but they ended up staggering the acts out enough, that it worked out fine. There was a band playing when I got there called Toubab Krewe. They were awesome. It was instrumental stuff with lots of drums and reggae. I made a note to look for a CD. It’s good to listen to that kind of thing when I’m typing. I decided to wander around and have a look at the place and figure out where everything was.

In the center of the grounds were 2 different tents. One was called the Cabaret Clubs Tent. I read from the program that this was the tent where the Yard Dogs Road Show was going to be performing. I’m so glad they handed out programs with descriptions of these things, because if I had to go on name alone, I probably would have skipped this one. Instead, I read that it was a variety show with vaudeville acts and burlesque dancers. They played 3 shows that day and another 3 shows today. I caught one of their shows and it was really terrific. Maybe I’m getting used to the place, but seeing a cabaret act with topless girls at a music festival didn’t seem to phase me too much. Oddly enough, it didn’t seem to be too out of place here. The second tent was stranger. It was called the Impersonator’s Café. As you can guess, it was a bar that was set up and staffed with local impersonators. I saw Ozzie, Jay Leno, Willie Nelson, Bill Clinton, and Alice Cooper. I didn’t see Elvis, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t there. Across from these tents was a wedding chapel. I’m not even kidding. They performed fake weddings. Beyond weird.

But back to the music. I saw a band called Gomez that I had never heard before. They are from Britain and have been together for almost 10 years. They were really good too and I made another note to look them up as well. They have an album out called How We Operate that is supposed to be very good. After that, it was a group called Cat Power and the Memphis Rhythm Band. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was surprised when I saw the singer. Cat Power is a woman named Chan Marshall. Her voice is strange. I wish I had written down who she reminded me of, because I can’t seem to remember right now. Anyway, the music was kind of trippy and lazy. I don’t think I could listen to her for very long.

Finally, right before 4pm, the Raconteurs took the stage. Oh. My. God. They were fantastic. I like the White Stripes and I was already familiar with Brendan Benson (he opened for Keane a couple of times last year), so I was excited to see them together. I have the CD and I really like it, but their live show was really amazing. To look at them or to listen to their individual music contributions, you might not think to put them together. Jack White looked good, although he did make a reference to the heat and called himself an “old Goth” before putting some sunscreen on his arms. He might be a bit pasty, but he sure is built. I guess I never really paid much attention. Brendan on the other hand is a blonde surfer- dude looking kind of guy with a nice smile. Together they rocked the place. They seemed to not only compliment each other when it came to singing and playing, but they looked so relaxed and like they were having a lot of fun. That is such a huge difference with professional acts, don’t you think? I like the groups that make things look effortless and can express a genuine appreciation for the other people on the stage.

Meanwhile, there were some changes taking place in the crowd during this performance. First, the crowd was starting to get a lot bigger. This group was the first really big name appearing, so it made sense, but I never realized how many people were going to end up here. All I can say is it’s a good thing I’m not claustrophobic. The other change taking place was the overwhelming appearance of Pot. I was amazed at how many people were smoking. They weren’t subtle about it either. I thought maybe I just had some bad luck with where I happened to be standing and that would be the end of it. Uh, no. It was the beginning of a very long evening. I don’t like the smell of it. I don’t care that they were smoking, but I just don’t like the smell of that stuff. As it turned out, I’m sure I came home reeking of the stuff because it was everywhere. You would have thought I had stumbled into a hemp grower’s conference. Right after the Raconteurs left, Damian Marley was taking the stage next to us. Damian, being the son of Bob Marley, was of course performing reggae music. I like reggae, but I knew it also meant I was going to be surrounded by an even bigger cloud of smoke, so I skipped it. I was also thinking to myself that if these idiots were going to be on the road with me later, then I might need to think about leaving early so I could avoid them.

As the sun went down and I started to freeze, I wandered through the remaining performances. The Mars Volta had a huge crowd. I knew after they started playing their first song that I didn’t like them. An hour later, when the first song ended, I had to get out of there. Okay, so it was only 5 or 6 minutes, but it felt like forever. I have never seen so many white people with dreads. So I left Mars behind me and went to the opposite side of the field where the Black Crowes were getting ready to perform. I was much more excited about seeing them. They came out and the first 2 songs were songs I didn’t know. Chris Robinson has a terrific voice, but he was singing these really mournful, sad gospel-sounding songs. I just wasn’t feeling it. The third song was from the Shake Your Money Maker album, but it was Seeing Things for the First Time. Really? That's the song you want to go with? Man, I'm sorry your wife is leaving you, but could you try and cheer up? As much as I like the Black Crowes, I was rapidly running out of energy and patience. There were so many people there. I could hardly see the stages and I was getting tired of people bumping into me. The lines for food were incredibly long, although this was hardly surprising after all the pot usage going on. I killed some time waiting in line for coffee and then trying to get anywhere near the area where the Killers were getting ready to perform. This was clearly the biggest draw since they are a local band. There was a lot of energy with the crowd and it was a good performance, at least what I could see of it.

By now I had been on my feet for almost 10 hours. I don’t care how old I am, I think anyone would have been tired standing for that long. My knees hurt, my back hurt, I was cold, and Tom Petty was still a good hour away from performing. As much as I wanted to see him perform, there was no way I was going to make it. I started thinking about the number of people here and what kind of hell getting out of the parking lot was going to be like with a bunch of drunk, baked college kids. It was really an easy decision after that. I left. It may not sound like it, but I did have a good time in general and I would consider doing it again next year. It will depend on the bands though. I also would like to add one other item to my list of things to bring: someone else.

Finally, it would seem that the hippy, trippy vibe affected me more than I realized. Driving home last night as well as driving around today, I have had the overwhelming desire to listen to Robert Plant. Here then are my top 5 Robert Plant songs:

1. Tie Dye on the Highway
2. Heaven Knows
3. Ship of Fools
4. Tall Cool One
5. Little by Little
   

What Happens to One

I keep thinking about a painting. It’s called The Son of Man by a Belgian artist named Rene Magritte. You have probably seen it before. Here is a picture of it.

I read a little about this painting and what the artist was trying to capture. From what I can tell, it is supposed to represent the idea that you can never really know another person’s true identity. That everyone has secrets and layers. Obstacles, like the apple, make you curious to know what’s behind it so you can better know the person. And yet, do you really know them? Moving past one layer or obstacle will likely only reveal another and then another. It’s not exactly a trust-inspired message, is it? There are a number of religious overtones to it that I saw discussed, but I decided not to go down that path for the moment.

To me, the painting makes me think about my job. The person in the painting represents an anonymous/every man sort of feeling I get sometimes. My job title is rather broad. It is one that any number of companies use, and no one knows exactly what it means because it means different things to different people. I look at this painting like it was a template for my job. Just copy and paste your face there. Does that mean I think I am interchangeable with everyone else? No. It means that I am feeling like I’m in a bit of a rut right now and the sameness of the days and projects is wearing on me. I am also thinking about something that happened today to one of my coworkers and feeling sad about not knowing more about her than her job title.

It’s easy to feel a bond with people that perform the same job you do. Even if you don’t know them that well personally, there is still common ground based on work experience that cuts through what might otherwise be awkward small talk. You can commiserate on bad experiences, share stories about outrageous client demands, strange travel experiences, and the absolute BEST (hotel, restaurant, store, etc) to see/do when you are in a certain city. In good times, it’s being a part of something that feels special and something that no one else might understand the same way. In bad times, luckily, it does the same thing. I don’t know if the people I work with feel the same, but there are certainly times when I feel like what happens to one of us, affects all of us.

Today is one of those times. Today our group got a little smaller. I didn’t know her well on a personal basis, but I knew her. We had the same job, essentially. Over the years, our paths crossed infrequently and we both went on to specialize in different areas based on our strengths and interests, but that commonality was still there. We would still have been able to share “war stories” about coming up through the trenches of bizarre employees, multiple reorganizations, plummeting stock prices, and new certifications that popped up only to be tossed aside a year later. To hear about her today made me sad. I was sad that she was away from home and her family. And after all these years, it was only today that I learned she has a son.

Somebody Needs a Nap

So I was watching the Today show last week and they had a story about a company that lets their employees take power naps during the day. It’s part of their schedule. Then Meredith was interviewing this doctor and he was talking about how sleep deprived we all are and that we are basically walking zombies. I thought this was pretty timely since I had been awake since about 4:30 am that morning for no good reason. Right then, a nap was sounding like a great idea. I think that George Costanza was on to something.

Productivity and the Power Nap

The doctor was saying that if people could power nap during the day, maybe 15 to 20 minutes, they would feel more refreshed, alert, productive, etc. This reminds me of one of my multi-tasking errands. I used to go to the tanning bed and sleep. I was never in there very long and the bed shutting off would wake me up and I would wake up tan. Nice!

Girl Maintenance

The more I think about it, the more issues I have with actually seeing it happen. What are you supposed to do about your make up? Sleeping in it is a bad idea. What about your clothes? Can you imagine going into some afternoon meeting with wrinkled clothes and bed head from your power nap? So what happens then? Corporate pajamas? Between changing clothes and removing and reapplying make up, that 15-minute power nap just became a lot longer.

Sleepless in? Where am I, anyway?

Any troubles I have sleeping are generally the first night in a hotel. There are new noises to deal with, lights coming from windows and under doors, different time zones, different bed, etc. You name it and I’ll have trouble sleeping the first night. One of the things I have to do is unplug the hair dryer. That may sound weird, but a lot of them have this weird orange power light that shines when they are plugged in. It never fails to remind me of the movie, Flatliners. Do you know what I mean? Julia Roberts keeps seeing her dead father in the bathroom and there is always this weird red-orange light that goes with it. Creepy. I don’t need to be reminded of dead people hanging out in my bathroom. Then there is the matter of the alarm clock. Generally, they are pretty reliable, but I always have to test them. I almost never rely on a wake up call; too much room for human error. By the second night, I’m so exhausted that nothing is going to keep me awake. I’m lucky to make it past dinner.

At home, I like to keep my room very tomb-like. It’s always dark and I don’t watch TV in there at night. I’ll watch it in the morning when I am getting ready or I may have it on while I am packing for a trip, but that’s it. I think there should be as few distractions in there as possible. I used to sleep with the radio on, but I can’t do it now. I almost never read in there either. I think if you condition yourself to thinking that your bedroom is for sleep and not for watching TV or catching up on work or surfing the Internet from your laptop, or anything else besides bed-related activities, then you should be fine. Obviously there are those times when your brain just won’t shut down, but if I can’t sleep, I’ll just get up and go into another room until I’m tired enough to sleep. Is that weird? I don’t know. It works for me.

I'm a Player

Do you like playing games? I do. Board games, card games, trivia games, and all kinds of puzzles. One of the things we used to do a lot of when we were growing up was play games. Board games like Monopoly and Life were ok, but they tended to go on too long and Dad never let us win. Games like Tri-Ominos, Connect Four and Othello were good for recognizing patterns, and Rummikub was good for math. No Candyland in our house; think Mastermind instead. Man, I was terrible at that game as a kid.

We didn’t have any video games around, but Dad did manage an arcade for a while. We used to go in on Sundays and play games for hours. I remember playing some fire engine game with one of my sisters. We had a pool table, so I learned some of the basics for that pretty early too. Other than that, we played a lot of card games. Sure, we might have started off with the usual games of Go Fish and Old Maid, but it wasn’t long before we all started learning to play Euchre. Hearts came after that and eventually games like Oh Hell and a really fun version of solitaire. I can’t remember what we called it, but it was really something to see when all 5 of us would be spread out on the living room floor with our decks of cards and trying to play off each others build piles. Shanghi Rummy is fun too. Uno and Skip Bo are fun, but not as challenging.

Dad has been recording movies and TV shows for about as long as I can remember. He has hundreds of movies. From a pop culture trivia standpoint, it means I can hold my own when it comes to naming movies and actors. It depends on the genre, of course. I don’t care much for Westerns, although I have seen a good number of them. I also really don’t like horror movies. My sister sent me a web address to a puzzle that asks you to name 50 horror movies based on the images in the picture. Here is the link. I did what I could, but this area isn’t my strong suit, so it wasn’t long before I had to ask for help. If you decide to try it, good luck to you.

When Trivial Pursuit came along, it gave me a whole new way to feel equally smart (pink) or ignorant (brown). I thought that making the different editions of the game was a great idea. I have a movie trivia game that I love, although I don’t get to play it very often. My family also liked to play Pictionary. I think that game reveals a lot about another person. You really start to get a feel for the level of another person’s creativity and whether they are an in-the-box or out-of-the-box kind of thinker. I have also found that there is a difference between genders when playing this game. The short version is that girls rule. (Maybe we can just leave it with the short version.) Cranium is a fantastic extension of Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit (plus charades and the creative use of Play Doh).

I have some great websites for board games if you are interested. And with Christmas right around the corner, you need to start thinking of something, right? I think there is something weird about people that don’t like to play games. I mean it’s one thing to have a preference for a certain card game or board game, but to not play anything at all? Weird. One of the things I miss the most since moving is not being able to sit around someone’s kitchen table (even if it was mine) and play cards and have some wine and just chill (while winning).

These days I am basically limited to Sudoku. Once again I was sitting in an airport terminal waiting for my plane to show up and I ended up teaching a couple of people how to do one of the puzzles. It’s funny the way it happens. Someone near me will make some remark about how they always wanted to know how to do it, but it looked complicated. Once I start to show them how to do it, it always seems to capture the attention of other people around us. Not much to do that’s interesting while sitting in the boarding area, so I guess almost anything counts as entertainment.

Rain boots!!!

I woke up at 6:19 am this morning to the sound of pouring rain. I thought about rolling over and going back to sleep, but then it hit me. I had the perfect opportunity to wear my rain boots today. They have been sitting in my closet for almost 2 years. I was starting to contemplate giving them up. I had mentioned my rain boots to Heidi at her house party a couple of weeks ago. She was one of the people telling me it was time to give them up.

Well, I sent her a nice little text message this morning. Oh, I’d say it was about 7:30am. I headed out and went to breakfast. It was going to be awhile before the stores opened, so I needed to kill some time. It was still pouring when I left and I was so happy about it. Sometimes you can only take so much sunshine. Of course, there is something to be said about the driving conditions on dry roads vs. wet roads in the desert. Even a little bit of rain and suddenly we are all living in Lake Las Vegas. It’s amazing how so little can cause so much flooding. Good thing I had boots on!

So I made it to breakfast in one piece and seriously on top of the world. Didn’t stop me from ordering the same thing, but I did go crazy and put jelly on my english muffin: blackberry on one half (not bad) and orange marmalade on the other (never again). AND, the lady in the booth next to mine stopped to tell me that she liked my boots. Was this a good day so far, or what? Heidi responded to my message and told me to have a nice day and to take pictures of my boots. Duh.

After breakfast I headed out to find some rain puddles. Ok, I went to Target. Sorry Dad, I love Target. And Oh My God, I had a good day there today. Apparently, Target has put out their own brand of CD mixes. Well, I managed to find songs that I have not been able to get from iTunes. Yes, they are 80’s songs. I finally have The Promise by When in Rome that isn’t some extended remix nightmare. I also have Major Tom by Peter Schilling and it ISN’T in German. It also had Promises, Promises by Naked Eyes and Hyperactive! by Thomas Dolby. I swear the only thing that would have made it perfect would be finding Crazy by Icehouse. The tradeoff for these little jewels is yet another copy of Tainted Love and Cars. Seriously, do they have to be on every CD?

So that was a good find. They had a whole range of CDs under their brand. Anyhoo, off I went to focus on getting the stuff I was actually there to buy. So there I am wandering down the aisle that has deodorant. Can you believe how many different types and brands there are now? I went to grab mine and I started reading some of these new scents they have out now. Why in the world would I want my armpits to smell like a tropical breeze? And what does Glacier Mist even mean in terms of smell? Then there are the fruits and flowers. I think someone in some Marketing department is sneaking into a conference room or broom closet to let loose a big laugh over getting girls to wear peach scented deodorant. Peach pits? Are you telling me they didn’t think of that?

I mentioned this to Notlob when I talked to her today and she had a very funny observation. What is going on with those Secret commercials and ads? You know, the ones with the weird nostalgia theme to them. They have these pretty designs on them showing women from each decade. What’s up with that? Since when was it cool to smell like 1950? They almost had me when I saw they had something that was rose scented. I am completely nuts about the scent of roses. However, having now said that, I will say that not every rose smells the same; I don’t care what the poets say. And the rose scented deodorant they had was awful. Hell, even tropical breeze smelled better.

So that led me on to other cleaning things. I picked up some cleaning supplies and I have to say, the weird scented stuff just doesn’t smell “clean” to me. Especially when we are talking about the bathroom. I picked up some toilet bowl cleaner and there were several types with different scents available. Do I really need my toilet to smell like a country orchard? No, no. I like the smell of bleach in the bathroom. I save all the scented stuff for the laundry. And I went nuts today. As I just mentioned, I like roses. Well, it would appear as though there is now a rose (and violet) scented detergent and fabric softener by Downey. Well, that was an easy sell.

I finally got out of there and I could see that the skies were clearing up. I didn’t think we would have rain all day. Ah well. One last stop to pick up some office supplies for my printer and I headed home again. I got home well before noon and it already looked like it had never rained. So, rain boot day was more like rain boot morning. That’s ok since I became consumed with another project for the rest of the day.

I am working on my Mom’s Christmas present. Aren’t I a good kid? Yeah well, I’m doing it for my own peace of mind, I assure you. I am making an address book for her. Actually, it’s a photo album that I am using as an address book for her. I’m just sticking index cards in some of the slots to actually hold an address. If this seems like a strange thing to have to provide for your mother, well you’re right. I think it’s strange that she doesn’t have one. Anyway, I’ve been playing around with my new photo printer and I think I may finally be done with her book. That left me some time to play.

Here is a picture of my mom as well as me and my sisters. What do you think? Are we related, or what?

I Know a Guy

It was a dark and stormy night. (Well, actually no, it was early morning and sunny.) It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. (True enough I suppose since I am working from home but working with a client that is burying me in paper.) Oh alright! It was Tuesday. I’ve spent the day dealing with bulleted lists in a PowerPoint presentation. I need a little whimsy, a little creativity, something not in 12 point Arial font!

I was taking a break from all my presentation fun and went to the Keane website. There was an announcement there that said they were working with their record company to record their upcoming UK shows and offering up a limited number of copies of each show for sale. Great, right? One little snag is that this offer is only available to people with UK mailing addresses. Well, I wasn’t going to let a pesky little detail like that stop me, now was I? You see, I know this guy…

Now I don’t know how many of you use eBay, but I only started using it within the last 2 years. The only things I have ever purchased from eBay have all been Keane related. It’s interesting, really. Me, born without the sale gene, on a website that takes price haggling to a new level. My favorite things to see on eBay are the words Buy it Now next to an item. I love it. Anyway, there is this one seller who I've purchased a couple of things from within the last 6 months or so. He has now just started emailing me directly when he is getting ready to post things. Oh, and he lives in England.

So as soon as I read about the live CD thing, I immediately got on email and sent my “Keane enabler” a note. I told him about the offer, sent him the link with all the information, and basically told him to take advantage of this. Translation: Buy it for me!!! (You know these things are going to end up on eBay anyway.) I was hoping that by giving him some notice that he might see his way of buying one for me without forcing me to wait for it to show up on eBay. The last thing I want to happen is to get in some bidding war over this.

So he emails me back and says he’d be happy to order the CD for me. He is already sending me something at the end of the month, so he offered to add this to it and just send the one package. Saves me on outrageous shipping costs, so I suppose I can be patient. He also sent out an email to his regular purchasers (I’m on the distribution list) letting them know about it as well. Can’t fault him for that; business is business. But how happy am I? I am hoping to get the package around Thanksgiving.

Finally, something new to go with my Keane refrigerator magnets.

Jet

Another weekend, another concert. I think The Joint at The Hard Rock is becoming one of my favorite places to see a concert here. This was supposed to be the weekend I went on my road trip to California to see back-to-back Keane shows. Instead, it was Jet at the Hard Rock. Their new album came out this week, called Shine On. It’s not bad. In some instances it’s different from their first album. It sounds a lot like Oasis, actually. The other thing I realized after seeing them perform live is that they also remind me of The Black Crowes from the Shake Your Moneymaker era (think Hard to Handle).

The opening band was pretty interesting. It was a group from New Zealand called Bloodcat Love. They had a female drummer who was totally awesome. I love watching drummers. To me, they are easily the most interesting people in the band. This was a pretty girl in a pretty dress named Claire. And then she sat down to play the drums. There was nothing pretty about her then. She rocked. The band was good, the music was good, and if you closed your eyes, the lead singer sounded a lot like Michael Hutchence. And, like everyone else these days, Bloodcat Love has a page on MySpace if you want to check them out.

I’ll be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about Jet. I have the first album (and now the second) but I couldn’t tell you how many people are in the band, the names of any of them, or even what any of them looked like. And whether you realize it or not, you know at least one if not more of their songs. Their first album, Get Born, was great because it sounded like a back to basics Rock n Roll album. The first single, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?” was very catchy and therefore got over played. Having iPod use it in their commercials didn’t hurt. Seeing it performed live though, was worth hearing it one more time. I love hearing that guy scream. I now know “that guy’s” name is Nick. His brother Chris is the drummer.

The other big single for them you may know (and a telling premonition of the second album) was the single, “Look what you’ve done.” More of a ballad, it had that weird video that was animated and made me think of what Bambi on crack might be like. The second album has a lot more of these ballads. Listening to the CD this week, I wondered what the show was going to be like if this was what they were going to play.

I shouldn’t have worried. Actually, as a relatively new fan, I feel pretty lucky. They ended up playing a good number of songs from the first album as well as the faster songs from the new one. I felt like I was getting a 2 for 1 deal. As the concert went on, I realized they played everything the crowd knew from the radio. Normally you think the band is going to hold something big back for the encore, but they had played everything I thought qualified. So when it came time for the encore, out came Oasis. They played a couple of songs from the new album which were a bit slower than the rest of the show. I don’t refer to them as Oasis as a bad comparison; it just seems a bit obvious. And it seemed like a strange way to end such a high-energy show.

Overall, it was a great show. It was also the largest crowd I have seen at The Joint so far. (I totally rocked in my purple glitter eyeliner and black combat boots.) I don’t know that I can flat out recommend buying the second album, but there are some songs that are probably worth the download. One of the best is called “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is.” It has the scream. I love the scream. “Bring It On Back” is pretty good and so is “Rip It Up.”

Time Capsule

I was reading a blog entry on a Duran Duran site and someone had come up with a fun challenge for the band to create a music time capsule. The rules were simple: one song from each studio album, one song could be a B-side or stand alone single, and then one song could be anything from their catalogue including remixes. I think Nick responded back with his list. I suppose if any of them were going to do it, that’s who I would have guessed. Then the fans all weighed in with their choices. I won’t bore you with my list, especially since I didn’t create one. I did think about it, though.

The site said that DD has 11 Studio albums. I guess I didn’t realize they had that many. I had to go and see how many I owned. (Can I count cassettes?) If so, then I am only missing 3. I don’t have Liberty, Pop Trash or their very first album. I do have Decade and Arena, which aren’t studio albums, but have enough on them so I don’t really need the first album. As for the other 2…not real high on my list. They have some box sets out now with remixes and B-sides, but I don’t think I’m going for that either.

After seeing how many albums I owned by these guys, I wondered who else put out at least this many albums that I owned. The one group that jumped out at me right away was the Indigo Girls. I went and counted and sure enough, I have 13 now with the new CD that came out this week. I am only missing the live album Back on the Bus, Y’All. I think that’s pretty amazing that they have put out so many records over the last 20 years. So I thought maybe I should do the time capsule exercise with them instead. I’ll use the same rules I listed above, so that would eliminate the albums Back on the Bus, 1200 Curfews, and Rarities from the first part (not studio albums). Also, Retrospective is a greatest hits album, but it does have some original material on it, so I am going to include it. Here goes:

1. You Left it Up to Me- Strange Fire
2. Blood and Fire- Indigo Girls
3. Hammer and a Nail- Nomads, Indians, Saints
4. Chickenman- Rite of Passage
5. Fare Thee Well- Swamp Ophelia
6. Everything In It’s Own Time- Shaming of the Sun
7. Cold Beer and Remote Control- Come on Now Social
8. Leaving- Retrospective
9. Become You- Become You
10. Free In You- All that We Let In
11. Little Perennials- Despite Our Differences
12. Shed Your Skin (Tom Morello Remix)- Rarities
13. Romeo and Juliet – Rite of Passage

The rest of my music collection after that seems to drop off considerably. With all the greatest hit albums and iTunes available, owning music isn’t the same. You have to really like an artist to want to go out and buy an album, never mind all their albums. I made some guesses about which artists I thought I owned the most music. I was wrong in a lot of cases. It seems that 3 is the average number of albums I own for a particular artist.

Here are the next 5 artists that I own at least 4 albums not including a greatest hits album:

1. The Beatles- I have 7 albums and then 2 out of 3 of the Anthology CDs.
2. Prince- I would have been hurting here if not for my cassettes. They don’t still need to be functional, do they? I have 6 albums and then The Hits CD compilation including the B-sides.
3. Madonna- I have 4 albums plus the Immaculate Collection CD.
4. George Michael- I have 4 albums by the skin of my teeth. His CD Songs from the Last Century is awful and is sitting in the pile to toss. I also have his greatest hits. And no, I’m not counting anything with Wham!
5. Tracy Chapman, Garbage, and Rufus Wainwright- I own 4 albums each.

All My Ex’s Named Gym

Gym and me have never been what you might call close friends, or even exclusive. (He kind of smells.) Throughout the years I have been involved with a number of gyms and all of them have essentially been the same. I keep thinking I can make it work, but I’m wrong every time. I get bored, I get busy with “other things”, or I just get lazy and stop making an effort. Whatever my excuse is, I am always the one that walks away. And every reaction is the same; there is no finger pointing, no name-calling, just a question why I left, a plea to come back, and then nothing. I don’t generally go back. There is always another gym and another idea that maybe this one will work out better.

I’ve been going through this cycle for years. As of today, there is a new gym in my life. And, as I’ve often thought, this time could be different. Not because this gym is different, but because I’m different. This time I have decided to get beyond the surface and invest a little more time and energy. I am making myself more accountable. In fact, to help start off this new romance with this new gym in my life, I have my very own Juliet to guide me. True, Juliet is historically associated with tragedy, but I have decided not accept any drinks from her and to keep an eye out for sharp objects. Aside from that, she has agreed to help gym and me get to know each other a little better.

It’s around here that my clever (or not so clever) metaphors are really going to start to go downhill, so I’ll quit. I tried to keep going, but it got weird. Anyway, I have a series of meetings with my new trainer over the next 2 weeks. She is going to set up some different routines for me, which is good since I get bored so easily. Plus, she doesn’t want to spend a lot of time focusing on a lot of the really fancy machines since I am not as likely to find them in the hotels when I travel. In order to make this fit into a schedule that I will keep even for these first 2 weeks, I am meeting her every other day at 6am. Getting it done so early in the day is good for me. Even if I revert to slug-like behavior the rest of the day, I will have started the day off right.

We’ll see how it goes. My goals are relatively simple. I want to strengthen my back because of all the heavy lifting I do with suitcases and laptop bags and because my posture is total crap. I also need to work on my lungs so I don’t wheeze like an 80-year-old woman when I exercise for more than 10 minutes. Aside from that, if other good things happen, so be it. My doctor will be thrilled with anything, I assure you. If he isn’t, I’ll just beat him down until he is.

Par-tay

Saturday night I went to a house party. It was my first one since moving here. My friend Heidi invited some friends and family over to her house. It was mostly people from the spa and their spouses. I never even thought about it before going, but once I was there it was a real Bridget Jones moment for me. Add that to the general atmosphere of “shared history and inside jokes” and you can start to get a picture of my first hour. Everyone was super nice, but I was in wallflower observation mode. If I was going to have fun, it was going to take time and a drink.

That’s when one of the wheels fell off my wagon. Heidi smokes and says she is getting ready to quit. I decided to help her quit by making her cigarettes disappear a bit faster. It was disappointing to slip, but I decided not to beat myself up over it. It was one night and now it’s over. When I woke up this morning I felt awful, so it was a good reminder of why I quit in the first place. Anyway, back to the party…

Vegas Cornhole- Game On!!
Someone brought a game with them to the party. I still don’t know what it was called. It was really weird. It was similar in concept to horseshoes, I suppose. There were a couple of tall plastic ladder looking things and about 12 sets of balls connected with string. The idea is to stand at one end and toss a set of the balls at the ladder and try to get them to hang from one of the rungs. As you might imagine, the game was filled with all kinds of talk and innuendo about ball handling and t bagging and even a disgusting reference to something called a “dirty Sanchez” which I am NOT going to describe. I am just amazed no one’s car was hit. Personally, I thought it was more similar to the game cornhole.

Madonna was right!
At some point I was sitting outside and ended up talking to a couple of sisters, separately and then together about all kinds of things. They’re born and raised here in Vegas, which makes them a bit of an oddity as far as I can tell. So I talked to them about where they would want to live if they ever decided to move, more doctor referrals, and things like that. Ultimately, we all ended up talking about music. I listened to them talk about the different venues around town and where the best and worst places were to see a show. They were a lot of fun. Even though we listened to different bands (one of them was a huge Dave Mathews fan) we still found plenty to talk about. Music DOES make the people come together. Huh.

7$ Pyramid
Heidi was really good about taking pictures. She ended up taking a bunch. Everyone moaned and groaned about them after a while, but I decided to have a little fun with it. At one point I had gone inside to get something to drink and some of the people in the house had gotten to the point where they were singing along to the music that was playing. When I came back outside, I mentioned it to the girls and we talked about drunken people and the silly things they end up doing. I made some comment about getting them to build a pyramid for a picture. One of the girls bet me $5 that I couldn’t get them to do it.

I went inside and put this really pained look on my face. Someone looked at me and asked what was wrong. (Remember, I am the stranger here among these people.) I said, “You guys aren’t going to believe this, but Heidi wants another picture. She wants a pyramid.” The guys were ready. No hesitation at all. Their wives were a little more reluctant. I said that Heidi wasn’t going to give up until she got the picture (I don’t even know where Heidi was at the time.) Anyway, they decided to do it. Heidi shows up, finds out what we’re doing and decides she wants to do the splits in front of the pyramid. Cool! I opened the front door and stuck my head out and said “Get your money out cause we’re building a pyramid and Heidi is going to do the splits in front.” She was impressed enough that I pulled it off that she threw in an extra couple of dollars for the splits. I hope she sends me a copy of the pictures. They turned out well.

After the pyramid scheme, there were other feats of strength. One of the girls there was a cheerleader and a wee bit competitive. I’m not sure how the arm wrestling competition started; all I know is that I didn’t let her beat me on my left side. It was basically a draw. On the right side it wasn’t even close. Southpaw that I am, my right arm is useless. Then she and Heidi started talking about Karate and finally the karate competition video came out when Heidi totally screwed up her knee. At that point in the evening, you knew things were winding down.

I had a great time and I think I am finally on my way to widening my little circle of friends.