Disgust/Delight

it also didn't help that they selected their worst song to open with. i think it was called, "i would like you to leave the theater." after five songs or so (with mild improvement) the guy behind me became my new hero when he announced for the band, "this is our last song." he was incorrect, but i appreciated his optimism and pluck.

(as an aside, this reminds me of the word i made up a while ago: optomism. that's when you think your vision will get better.)(and pluck. damn good word. let's all say pluck a lot more, huh?)

pluck!

right. anyway. eventually they left the stage and cat power came on. she sort of snuck onto the stage and immediately asked everyone to sit down, which they did. then she began to sing.

oddly enough, i got an email from horsefucker yesterday, in which she says that she's finally got a hold of the raw footage from the iron chef party. stick with me here, the connection is coming. at that party, i was one of the judges. i pretended to be mister noburu roboto and i made many insightful comments about the food in a very very inoffensive faux-japanese accent. one of them, which horsefucker quoted back to me in this email, was:

"I am both disgusted and delighted at the same time"

cat power almost made me cry, her voice was so good. then, in the space of a few seconds, she went from heart wrenchingly beautiful to disgustingly soused.

soused!

it was awful. she played this song at the piano that made me want to melt and then... just began to disintegrate. she got sloppier and sloppier, until (and i'm even embarassed to write it!) she was prancing about the stage like a fourteen-year old in a madonna phase, *lip syncing* to some piece of crap song she may or may not have had anything to do with, the chorus of which consisted of "yo. yo."

then, my other new hero behind us shouted out: "how about some live songs now?"

but no. cat power wandered into the back of the auditorium to scream (with her still devastatingly sorrowful voice) into the mic as the people around her appeared to be unsure whether to applaud or fetch her a bucket. then she wandered back to the stage to stumble off it.

i turned to wildflower and said, "i don't think we're getting an encore."

all in all, it was a damn weird show. on one hand, she was brilliant and on the other she was so pathetic i felt a little besmirched. actually, i just felt like using the word besmirched, 'cause i've got pluck.

i guess i'm glad i went, 'cause i do like cat power. i like the sad songs and boy does she have the blues. and did i mention how much i love her voice? i just wish she wouldn't drink so much when i'm paying her to sing. that's dirty pool.

oh. and when she first came on she made some comment about how her guitarist was "really tired and sleeping in the van." he made it on stage for their last song looking like tired was a poor alias for scotched to the gills. so let us all raise our voices in thanks that we are not a) alcoholic or b) cat power's road manager. although if you're one or both of those things, you have my sympathy and support.

let us also take this moment to join hands to give thanks that we have a three day weekend. oh! mighty god of the business calendar. thank you for pitying your poor servants, humbled here before you, by letting us pretend to celebrate those lost in war by drinking beer in the sun. amen.

it's ten o'clock and no amount of coffee is going to do the trick today. please keep me awake by sending me weird websites to check out. also, i'm hoping to make damian a "come back soon" cd full of san francisco songs. if you have any suggestions/additions, please wander to the back of the auditorium and scream them into the mic before passing out in the van.