Writer's Block: Most memorable concert
Sep. 27th, 2009 04:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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I've been to a handful of concerts, so it's not like I have a vast number of experiences from which to choose. The most memorable, though, would have to be seeing NIN at Providence in 2000 during The Fragile tour. It was the first concert I attended solo for an artist whose music I was actively fawning over (I do think I went with my family to see Janet Jackson at Jones Beach some time in the late 90's but I was never a fan of her music). My freshman year of college was the year I really started branching out from the constant hip-hop/rap/R&B music of my 'hood and I'd had Closer and The Fragile on repeat on my stereo along with Tori Amos's Boys for Pele (and I still regret I didn't get tickets for Tori's Providence concert the following year).
But NIN. I went alone, wearing my vaguely preppy Old Navy red fleece jacket while surrounded by kids draped in black and angst and people with metal strewn through a number of visible body parts. I felt more than a little out of place, but luckily I opted out of the arena standing area so I was able to sit quietly and take things in from a bit of a distance. The opening act was a band I'd not heard of at that time, A Perfect Circle, led by a somewhat peculiar and seemingly nervous bald man who kept going on about how amazing Trent and Co. were in-between songs. I ended up buying APC's debut album after the concert, and then found my way to Tool's stuff and realized that weird lead singer was Maynard Keenan (why was he so nervous?? oy) and he was amazing and I went through a long stretch of time where Aenima would blast from my speakers until late into the night.
When Trent hit the stage my brain officially checked out and I just found myself grooving and singing along. Listening to The Great Below live had me close to tears. Just everything about the concert experience was wonderful and I can't think of any way to encapsulate my feelings. I walked back to my dorm on an endorphin high, humming various bits of song. For 2.5 hours all my worries about classes, my ever-present loneliness and sense of isolation, my despair about not being quite *right* disappeared, and that was so very much worth the money I plunked down.
***
Here's a Cracked article about vampires from around the world. Number seven is the loogaroo a bloodsucker of Caribbean origin. And this is how I first heard about it:
It's been a neat weekend. I'm coasting on happy vibes of indeterminate origin. The only problem that occurs when I'm chipper is that I want to do so many things that I end up getting little to nothing accomplished. But! I'm happy. That's always a good thing. I took in another one of Littlest Bro's football games yesterday, had a very very very very late birthday dinner with two of my aunts, then rode the Staten Island Ferry for the first time into Manhattan on my way back home. Lots of nothing but relaxing planned for today. Not looking forward to going to work tomorrow, but I have a four day weekend planned for next week (alas, we do not get Columbus Day off as a holiday, but I'll make do). Next year's bday plans? More or less set in stone. I'll be nice to get away with my brothers for a couple of days. And I'll be going due north in January sometime to go visit Toronto and hang with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
darker_one for a couple of days - shhh! it's a secret! and January is totally like summer in Canadian, right?
I've been to a handful of concerts, so it's not like I have a vast number of experiences from which to choose. The most memorable, though, would have to be seeing NIN at Providence in 2000 during The Fragile tour. It was the first concert I attended solo for an artist whose music I was actively fawning over (I do think I went with my family to see Janet Jackson at Jones Beach some time in the late 90's but I was never a fan of her music). My freshman year of college was the year I really started branching out from the constant hip-hop/rap/R&B music of my 'hood and I'd had Closer and The Fragile on repeat on my stereo along with Tori Amos's Boys for Pele (and I still regret I didn't get tickets for Tori's Providence concert the following year).
But NIN. I went alone, wearing my vaguely preppy Old Navy red fleece jacket while surrounded by kids draped in black and angst and people with metal strewn through a number of visible body parts. I felt more than a little out of place, but luckily I opted out of the arena standing area so I was able to sit quietly and take things in from a bit of a distance. The opening act was a band I'd not heard of at that time, A Perfect Circle, led by a somewhat peculiar and seemingly nervous bald man who kept going on about how amazing Trent and Co. were in-between songs. I ended up buying APC's debut album after the concert, and then found my way to Tool's stuff and realized that weird lead singer was Maynard Keenan (why was he so nervous?? oy) and he was amazing and I went through a long stretch of time where Aenima would blast from my speakers until late into the night.
When Trent hit the stage my brain officially checked out and I just found myself grooving and singing along. Listening to The Great Below live had me close to tears. Just everything about the concert experience was wonderful and I can't think of any way to encapsulate my feelings. I walked back to my dorm on an endorphin high, humming various bits of song. For 2.5 hours all my worries about classes, my ever-present loneliness and sense of isolation, my despair about not being quite *right* disappeared, and that was so very much worth the money I plunked down.
***
Here's a Cracked article about vampires from around the world. Number seven is the loogaroo a bloodsucker of Caribbean origin. And this is how I first heard about it:
My great-grandmother was recently hospitalized, and my mother, my grandmother, and myself decided to pay her a visit. Four generations of black women sitting in a room just shooting the shit, for lack of a less fun-to-type term. I think my great-grandmother started talking about this woman she knew who would hang outside late at night "counting ants" and would "come for" men and "suck them". My grandmother chimed in with a big, "yes, I remember her, she confessed on her deathbed, everything was true". And I'm thinking to myself "a succubus? I'm listening to my grans talk about devilspawn giving blow jobs??" So I cautiously asked (for peace of mind and sanity's sake) "you mean she sucked them"? And they go "yes, she was a loogaroo, she had a deal with the devil". And I'm still mentally going "gah! sex! and grandparents!" when my mother took in my perplexed expression and clarified that the woman sucked people's blood. And added that it was so very true. As in factual. As in my mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother believed (and "believe", present tense) that a woman sucked people's blood and had a pact with the devil and confessed upon her deathbed in an attempt to avoid eternal damnation. And they took offense when I dared doubt their stories. Fun times.
It's been a neat weekend. I'm coasting on happy vibes of indeterminate origin. The only problem that occurs when I'm chipper is that I want to do so many things that I end up getting little to nothing accomplished. But! I'm happy. That's always a good thing. I took in another one of Littlest Bro's football games yesterday, had a very very very very late birthday dinner with two of my aunts, then rode the Staten Island Ferry for the first time into Manhattan on my way back home. Lots of nothing but relaxing planned for today. Not looking forward to going to work tomorrow, but I have a four day weekend planned for next week (alas, we do not get Columbus Day off as a holiday, but I'll make do). Next year's bday plans? More or less set in stone. I'll be nice to get away with my brothers for a couple of days. And I'll be going due north in January sometime to go visit Toronto and hang with
darker_one for a couple of days - shhh! it's a secret! and January is totally like summer in Canadian, right?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-09-27 10:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-28 02:01 am (UTC)We don't get nearly enough of the white stuff around here in winter anyway. I'm looking forward to trudging around in the drifts.
wow - you have an invisible comment. That's neat. Heh.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-28 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-28 02:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-28 01:11 pm (UTC)I never saw NIN, much to my regret. But I think I'd have to rate seeing Tool in Philly in...2003? (whatever, the Lateralus tour) as the best show I've ever been to. I saw APC later, but it was at an outdoor venue and just didn't have the intensity of an indoor show.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-30 02:25 am (UTC)I keep wondering how Tool's music would translate to a live experience, which is why I hesitated to buy tickets to their recent stint in the City. But apparently they're awesome to the nth degree. Guess I'll have to wait another 5 years or so until they decide to hit the road again.
APC never really *rocked*, you know? The music was definitely intriguing at times, but it was like Pop 40'd Tool, particularly the first album ... and I say that admitting that I liked the heck out of Judith and Three Libras .
no subject
Date: 2009-09-29 04:47 pm (UTC)I saw Black Rebel Motorcycle Club alone the first time. Was a fucking awesome experience.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-30 02:27 am (UTC)Yes, Trent requires solitary rockin' for the magic to go down. :)