citizen of the planet

Just another lazy Sunday today.  Back on Thursday, at the end of the work day I emailed a document I was working on to myself in hopes that I’d work on it some point between Friday and today.  Well…at least I had good intentions.  Thing is, I know very well that I was unlikely to spend time at home working on it.  It would have been a different story if I was far from being finished, but no, the document has decent progress on it.  There are also some open questions against the project that need to be answered before I write about them, so I would have been stalled anyway

Funny how I seem to be attempting to justify it.

Anyway, since I’ve got nothing much I figure I’d pick a picture that showed up in the “Random from Viewport” widget on the right and give a few words on it.  I ended up choosing a picture from my trip to Japan in June 2006.  On one of my first days in Tokyo, me and a couple of travel companions headed over to the beautiful Meiji Shrine complex on the west side of the city.  If I recall, it’s pretty much adjacent to Harajuku station and a short walk to Takeshita-dōri which is that fashion forward place that Gwen was going on about in her pop albums. It’s accessible from the JR Yamanote line via Harajuku station, or the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda line from Meiji-Jingūmae station, which can be translated as “in front of Meiji Shrine.”  How descriptive.

Anyway, Meiji Shrine is a Shinto shrine.  This is where you would go to pay respects to Emperor Meiji and Empress Shōken.  What’s pictured here is a part of the complex where there are a huge number of these wooden plaques.  These are called ema.  You would buy these ema prayer boards and then write a prayer or a wish or some form of thanks on them.  You then hang these boards on a designated rack.  Now, what’s pictured here is just one rack, but at the Shrine there are many more racks right next to this one.  These are meant to communicate with the spirits.  Now, when you consider the fact that these boards hold what amount to the hopes, dreams, and wishes of thousands of people, it’s an extremely powerful symbol.

I’m not planning on heading back to Tokyo anytime soon.  However, if I somehow found myself there again at the big Meiji Shrine I would buy an ema.  What would I write on it?  I would pray for peace.  I would wish for someone to come into my life to change my life for the better.  Most of all, I would give thanks for all of the blessings I have in my life: family, a place of my own, a job, and nice things.  I wonder if that’d all fit.  Guess I’d just have to write smaller.

Hey, so what would you write on an ema prayer board?

Seriously…where do I begin? Well, after the soy milk debacle and taking a ridiculous detour to get to the Air Canada Centre we arrived about half an hour later than the listed start time. Getting through security was a little bit interesting. My friend’s camera got confiscated, but you’d expect that if you drag in a big honkin’ SLR to the show, right? When we got to our seat Bedouin Soundclash had already come and gone, which I kind of regret because I enjoyed Street Gospels. Third-hand accounts though seemed to indicate that they left something to be desired. Too bad. Our seats were located at the side of the stage. From our vantage point it was easy to tell that we wouldn’t get a completely clear view of Paramore. There was a black curtain kind of obscuring about 15% of the stage. Thing is, we could see that behind the curtain was most definitely No Doubt’s set. We knew that once the curtain came down we’d have very decent seats.

It wasn’t long after we arrived that Paramore came on stage. I have a copy of their CD Riot!, and it’s been on my iPod for a while. So, I have a good sense of what their sound was like. I figured it was a good match for No Doubt because of that whole female-fronted band thing. When they came out one of my first thoughts was about how young Hayley looked. When they started playing, I immediately felt that they were totally a cohesive unit. There were many moments where they were jumping or head banging in unison. They put in a great set with a decent amount of energy. Almost everything came off of Riot! with a few songs from their new album. I can see how most of their songs could be a bit of a blur where they sound very alike. However, since I was familiar with most of the set it wasn’t bad at all. Familiarity has that effect doesn’t it? Now, due to my ridiculously limited concert experience the only immediate comparison I could make was to seeing Avril from 5 years ago. I felt that there was a huge difference. God. While they both seemed young, there was something a hell of a lot more respectable about Paramore. I don’t know…it’s something hard to qualify.

I sat down for most of their set with me bobbing my head to the beats now and then. They did get me out of my seat at their request at one point but as soon as the song was done most of us were back down. Most of the crowd was really there for No Doubt. It was a valiant effort, but…I guess it was to be expected. No matter what, I think they did a very respectable job at getting people a bit warmed up.

As soon as they finished, the crew was out there prepping everything. The coverings were slowly peeled back or added and before you knew it the stage was stark white. The seats in the arena were filling up fast. The crowd was buzzing with anticipation. Then…darkness, and the roar of the crowd filled the place as a white curtain came down. Projected on the curtain were the shadows of the band members. Aaaaaand then down it came and the band began. They started out with Spiderwebs. It was loud and raucous, and oh so very magical. From that point forward I did not sit back down. I was there bouncing and waving my arms with everyone.

Now, back in the late 90′s and early 00′s I was sort of familiar with their music, but didn’t follow them all that much. I think I was just too immersed in my studies to really pay much attention to music. It really wasn’t until I picked up the compilation The Singles 1992–2003 that I became a fan. I realized that, God, they had a lot of strong singles. This concert has reinforced the fact that, yeah, I really like this band. I’m happy to see them back. I mean, we went to see Gwen’s solo stint two years ago in the same building. As much as she put on a good show, thinking back I almost think there was a missing dimension to the whole experience. Seeing her again this time around with the guys is just so different. It’s like the whole family is back together–she was back with her brothers. They were feeding off of each other’s energy. There was a level of true confidence there that I just didn’t get from her solo show. There was a level of joy there that was palpable. During a costume change, I saw Kingston and Zuma being carried by nannies at the side of the stage waving at everyone in the band. So cute!

There was no point in the show where I felt there was a lull. Just about everything was familiar and full of energy. If I said Paramore had a high energy set, No Doubt just about blew the roof off of the place. I have never cheered so loudly for a group before. Holy crap. See, back then when we were still considering whether we wanted tickets, we were kind of questioning whether we were willing to shell out the big bucks for “limited view” seats. Coming out of it there was absolutely “No Doubt” (sorry, that was bound to happen) that it was worth every single dollar. Heck, even though were were at the side they all knew how to work the stage. They frequently came over to make sure we saw them. I didn’t feel like I missed anything at all. Love, love, love. Next time they’re in town I have to see them again. YES.

Yes, this blog is a bit of a cheat. I have my reasons though. I just came back from the No Doubt concert downtown. Holy crap, that was worth every penny. I’ll write more about it tomorrow.

Sorry, I’m not home right now; I’m walking into spiderwebs. So, leave a message and I’ll call you back.

I don’t plan on writing a synopsis of last night. I don’t have the patience to do that. Ill just post some thoughts I had through the night.

• The seats we got were probably the farthest from the main stage. We were directly opposite, facing the stage, on the top level, at the very top row. Yeah, central, but so distant. I took a picture of the view with my phone. See what we were up against?
  
• We were right by the concrete walls, so we expected the acoustics to be wretched. They were. They did Lady Sovereign absolutely no favours. Her punk numbers sounded all mushed together into one big cacophonic mess. The sound for Akon’s set wasn’t all that much better. When the little girlies screamed, I went deaf from the echo. It was like everything was focused and amplified by the time it got to where we were. I think for Gwen’s set, we tolerated it. We knew the tunes and were able to makes sense of things.
• What the hell…is he managing to get all of these pubescent teens to sing “I wanna fuck you” in unison? Kind of unreal.
• Come to think of it, much of the audience in the ACC that night was female (duh). I was slightly surprised at just how trampy most of them were dressing. Underage. Underage. Underage.
• Gwen knows how to make an entrance, holy.
• The video screens on stage present great visuals. On some of the songs, it really helps to contribute to the atmosphere.
• Speaking of visuals, the ones shown during her performance of Yummy reminded me so much of something that Terry Gilliam might have come up with when he was creating those animation bits for the Flying Circus.
• I think, when she got into the upbeat songs off of her first dance album, the energy of the crowd started climbing.
• At one point, she ran out into the crowd and performed amongst the people. She actually went close to the back of the place and immersed herself. My friend and I were thinking that that alone would have provided great memories for the lucky folks that got near her. It would’ve been totally unexpected.
• While she was in the crowd, I noticed that even from the distance I was looking at her, you could still make out her abdominal definition. She’s fit.
• It was hot in there. The vendors were going around pimping water bottles. I inquired about the price and refused to buy when I found out it was $3.75. The vendor told me: “You’ll get thirsty eventually!” How ominous.
• This shit is BANANAS.
• 3/4 of her Harajuku girls are from Japan. Who knew?
• She likes to sort of pander to the audience. Of course, many performers are good at doing that. I thought it was kind of cute, so maybe I was succumbing to her? Yeah…no.
• In the end, you don’t go to her performances to hear her sing. It’s all about the fact that she can bring high entertainment value.

So, I went out to see the Gwen concert last night.  It was what I imagined it would be, but I found myself having more fun there than I expected.   I’ll probably share some more concert specific thoughts later, but for now a small story.

At some point between Akon and Gwen, two girls in the row in front of my friend and I, one brunette, one blond, turned around to chat with us.  The brunette and asked “how old are you?”  My friend responded.  She then asked if we could do her a favour.  She said that her ID had expired and the people at the bar wouldn’t take it even though she’s of age.  We asked how old she was and she said she was 27 years old.  27!  Years!  Old!  Uh-huh.  I said, “no” and asked her when her birth year was.  It took her a few moments before she correctly answered 1980.  I looked at her friend, and she looked like she was 18, and dolled up to look older.  The brunette pulled out a worn-out drivers license which expired in 2002.  It just didn’t look right.

I had enough of this and was content enough to leave them alone, but my friend decided he was going to be nice, and said that he’d buy her drinks, as long as she’d pay him back.  I was in shock that he was even entertaining the request.  He got up and left, expecting her to follow.  She went out, but after a few moments she came back into the seating area asking me where my friend went.  I thought: “Honestly, how the hell would I know?”  I told her that he went out to by her drinks, and that he’d be back.  I don’t know whether she was satisfied, but she left on what I assumed was a chase to find him.  I thought nothing of it.

A few minutes later, she came back with two beers in hand, telling her friend that got them on her own.  She didn’t find my friend.  Upon seeing that, I started trying to call my friend’s cell to get him to not buy anything.  I tried a few times, but I couldn’t contact him.  I wasn’t too happy.  The blond turned around, and saw the look on my face.  She told her friend, “OMG, look, he’s angry at us!”  I told them, “my friend is out there buying you girls drinks.”  Yeah, he’s out there spending his time and energy.  The brunette seemed a bit apologetic, and said she’d pay for the drinks if they came back.

Sick of the play, I attempted to point out the stupidity of it all.  I told her “you know, if you’re going to lie about your age, you should pick something a bit lower.”  Seriously.  I didn’t believe she was 27.  It wasn’t too much about the looks, but more about the lack of responsibility in:

1. having a valid license
2. having a valid license to buy drinks
3. having a valid license to perhaps gain entry to a club
4. having a valid license to go to a casino

At my remark, she said drunkly “oh wow!  You’re so sweet!”  The two girls conferred amongst each other.  The blond whispered loudly: “OMG!  He didn’t believe you?  You should take it as a compliment!  You so look 18!”  God, that was not intended as a compliment.  The blond was entirely amused.  The brunette insisted that she was 27.  She whipped out her worn out license.  I didn’t really care, but pretended to examine it.  She then whipped out what seemed to be a worn out birth certificate.  I waved it off, like I didn’t care anymore.  And I didn’t.  This charade was just weird.

My friend soon came back empty handed.  He told them that the line was just too long.  In truth though, he got the missed calls on his cell and figured out not to buy.

That was about it for that event.  Up until the blond’s mother apparently dropped by.  They asked her to confirm: “tell them how old I am!!!”  She said incredulously, “uh…27.”  I just smiled at how fucked up this was getting.  The mother left after asking them where they got the drinks.  I was going to apologize, but then I remembered how silly it all was.   The brunette did turn around and drunkly speak with us during various parts of the Gwen portion of the evening to comment on set design and costumes and such.  So, she didn’t seem insulted at all.

Was I wrong?  Did I care?  I guess I didn’t.  Part of me asks, “was this a missed opportunity?”  Another part of me then replies, “for what?”  For what, indeed?