Ruth Sadelle Alderson

lakeeffectgirl's summary of this show was, "Saw The Sounds last night, and Maja showed everyone her underwear." This is a good summary. Another good way to get the sense of this show is to know that what convinced lakeeffectgirl and I to go was schuyler's insistence that "you can't be a proper lesbian if you haven't seen Maja's thighs in person."

Now, there are people other than Maja in the band. Four of them, to be precise, all Swedish boys, and if The Sounds were a band anyone cared about in a fannish way, there would be a lot of fic about them. Really, though, Maja is the star of the show. For this show, and for many other shows, going by a quick Google Image search, Maja looked like an immodest 40s chanteuse: hair pulled into a chignon with feathers at the top of it, high heels, and a sparkly, knee-length dress with armholes wide enough that we could see her bra and a slit all the way up the front. Because the cut of the dress wasn't good enough, she kept pulling her skirt up, just to make sure we got a good view of her legs and underwear. She also did high kicks. Her thighs, which are basically the fifth and sixth members of the band, are amazing, but I have to say I found her attractive the way I sometimes find men attractive: I understand it intellectually, but she's not really my type.

The audience for the show was interesting. I'm usually completely out of place at shows because I'm (a) too old and (b) not cool enough. This show had a more varied audience where I didn't feel quite so much like the odd one out. The audience was also at least half men. My companions said they'd never seen that many men at a Sounds show before. My favorite was the man with the shaved head in the second row from the stage who was at least a head taller than everyone around him and kept throwing up the horns. Our other favorite people were the person with the cardboard sign that said, "MARRY ME MAJA," and the person who brought Maja a Swedish flag, which she wore as a scarf and signed before returning. At one point, Maja took a sip of a drink offered to her from the audience. My only thought was: "That would be a good way to get DNA from a rock star who won't submit to a paternity test." It's possible that I've watched too many crime shows.

I don't know what else to say about this show. Maja was very high energy. They played the one Sounds song I know ("Something to Die For"). I had a moment where I had to stop moving and breathe very deeply because I thought I might pass out. At the time, I attributed it to the smoke effects, but since I came home and got sick, maybe that was just the beginning of that. We called the venue for set times so we could skip the openers and only saw part of Kids at the Bar's DJ set between acts. I know nothing about DJs and have no opinions on the set, but I liked the energy of one of the guys.

Foxy Shazam is a lot of people, and from what I could see from where I was standing, a lot of weird people. They have some not quite coordinated dance moves that made me see how they fit into a tour with Bad Rabbits. (I still don't understand why The Young Veins were on that tour.) They were entertaining, but I wouldn't see them again unless they were opening for someone I wanted to see.

The second act was Patrick Stump, and when I say "Patrick Stump," what I really mean is "Patrick Malfoy as styled by Flock of Seagulls." ( More about Patrick. )

And then there was Panic!. We moved down to the floor for them because I wouldn't have been able to see Spencer from the bar area we were in for Foxy and Patrick. We kept ending up in the dude sections of the place because idahophoenix is tall and was trying not to be in people's way. But it was fine! We were right at the back of the floor, and for most of the set, I could see right between people to watch Spencer. ( More about Spencer. And those other dudes he plays music with. )

In case you missed it, I spent a long weekend visiting friends in New York. This involved a movie premiere, a concert (the reason I went this particular weekend instead of some other), other fannish delights, and food. Plus a lot of just hanging about with some of my favorite people in the world.

Talihina Sky

Thursday night was adventure number one: Talihina Sky. In case you have never heard of it, it is a documentary about the Kings of Leon. We did not just see this movie; we attended the premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. ( Premiere adventures. )

My Chemical Romance

On Friday night, we went to see MCR. You can read an actual review of the show here. ( My thoughts on the experience. )

Other Fannish Viewing

We watched a bunch of fannish things, as you do when spending a long weekend with fangirls.

( Panic!, AAR, MCR, Community )

Food

One of the promises about this trip was that we would go to BabyCakes, which is a vegan, gluten-free bakery, so on Saturday night we did just that. I bought a cupcake and an apple crumble thing (kind of like a coffee cake). The cake part of the cupcake was fine. The frosting was amazing. It tastes like a cream cheese frosting, but it's vegan. I had the apple crumble as part of my breakfast on Sunday morning, and then promptly started googling vegan, gluten-free apple cake recipes. I may have to buy one of their cookbooks. We also went to Risotteria, a gluten-free Italian place, where we each had a different kind of risotto. I may also have to learn how to make risotto now.

Concluding Note

Fangirl weekends are the best. You should have them if you don't already. ♥

Christian Kane is at the top of a new list: bands I would go to Sacramento to see again. The concert was fucking awesome, and the experience was tons of fun.

The Stoney Inn is a funky place: you come into the small front bar, which has karaoke, stairs to a tiny upstairs area, bathrooms, and the door to the back bar/performance space. In the back bar, there are tables and bar-height seating around the dance floor that's right in front of the stage. (If you paid for either level of expensive tickets, you got a reserved seat. The rest of us stood, which was fine with me and norwich36 hung around the edges and sat when someone either didn't show up or vacated their reserved seat.)

The first opener was a girl named Pammie Lowe. Everything she was wearing sparkled. Her bassist and drummer were about as young as she was (I found an article saying she was 21 as of November 2010). Her two guitarists (she was also playing guitar) and the keyboardist were all old enough to be her dad, or possibly even her grandpa. (If you've seen Country Strong, Pammie Lowe reminded me a bit of the first time we see Chiles on stage, only with less stage presence and no stage fright.) There was a woman on the dance floor trying to get people to dance. I assume it was Pammie Lowe's aunt as mom was probably the woman right in front of the stage taking pictures. There were a few truly skilled couples who did some country swing dancing, and the people who seemed to be Stoney Inn regulars eventually started line dancing. After the first one, I joined in even though I didn't know what I was doing - the regulars were used to this and kept pointing us newbies in the right direction - which was tons of fun.

( Picture )

The second opener was the Brodie Stewart Band. They did a couple of covers that were fun - including Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive," which only made us feel more like we were in a J2 AU - but that's really all there is to say about them. The most notable thing about their set is that there is a teeny tiny balcony area up above the stage, and Steve was up there watching for part of it. (I decided not to be ultra creepy and refrained from taking a picture of him up there.)

Between sets, there was line dancing, and I mean serious line dancing. The dance floor cleared enough space for a large group of people to line dance and then the DJ called each dance and counted everyone in. There were two women I couldn't stop watching.

( Picture )

This is not the best picture of them, but you can get the idea. They spent a lot of time dancing together, which was interesting in that it wasn't quite the girls dancing together for the attention of men thing (although the two drunk guys with cowboy hats - Jared and Jensen in the AU - did come dance with them a bit later, which kind of ruined my enjoyment of them for those brief periods of time), but more that they were just having fun. Both norwich36 and I hope they're actually lesbians and not just friends out having fun together. (In the AU, they're Danneel and Katy Cassidy. Alternately, I now kind of want to read or write a country novel where there's a lesbian couple and a gay couple and they go to shows together because it's less dangerous/more socially acceptable.)

Kane (at the very end, Chris said, "We're Kane," which was awesome since I thought they'd abandoned that as a band name and were doing everything under Christian Kane) finally came on around ten. They were so fucking awesome. I'm an Original Kaniac (as silly as the term is), so obviously I was going to think they were awesome, but they really were totally awesome. I worked my way up so I was in the thick of the crowd (maybe five or six people deep from the stage), and despite being short, I managed to see both Chris and Steve. People, I don't know how to tell you how much I loved this experience, so let me stick to highlights:

( This got long. )

( Pictures! Kane on stage and me with Steve. )

Out of order (but complete, I think) set list: The House Rules; Callin' All Country Women; American Made; Let's Take a Drive; Let Me Go (Chris said this is going to be the next single); Thinking of You; Whiskey In Mind; Seven Days; Middle American Saturday Night; Luckenbach, Texas; something of Jason's that I didn't catch the name of (maybe "Faith"? It was the one song none of us knew); Blaze; and Rattlesnake Smile as the encore.

I should very definitely have gone straight to bed after the show, but I was way too keyed up for that, so instead I stayed up to type my concert report while it was still fresh. Some people liveblog while they're at concerts. I don't have a cell phone so I couldn't quite do that. What I do have, however, are a pen and notecards which I took out mostly between but sometimes during acts.

The short version: it was totally worth the $17, and stevie_roch is awesome for lending me her camera.

( The Long Version + Pictures )

Remember how what I like about Canadian fiddlers is that they dance while fiddling? Well, Natalie MacMaster did that too. While five months pregnant.

Okay, so I could look it up and tell you how long it's been, but that's not as entertaining.

Part 1: Watching

The Classics
I watched The Godfather for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I had the same problem with it that I had with Star Wars and The Silence of the Lambs. All three of those movies are so embedded in our common culture that the original thing just isn't that interesting. Also, it's really dated. There's a sex scene, and I figured they'd fade to black before she got her top off. But no, they let her take of her top. And she has no nipples. I was too startled to even laugh.

I watched Singin' In the Rain for the first time on Saturday. It was pretty good, but the scene with Cyd Charisse in green made no sense. I don't know if I missed the set-up or if it really doesn't make sense.

The Other Kind of Classic
I wasn't paying attention to my queue and ended up with both discs of The Tick at once. I'd forgotten how funny it really is. I had to promptly watch the live-action version. I have to admit that in the long-term, I prefer the live-action version. It's much slashier overall, although you can't deny the Tick/Arthur-ness of "The Tick Vs. Arthur's Bank Account." Even Dot tries to help get them back together!

I also Netflixed some Murphy Brown. It's still hilarious.

At The Movies
I saw the last showing of Flicka. I loved it! I also cried through a lot of it, and I'm pretty sure that wasn't just because I was PMSing. There's a reason I take Kleenex to the movies with me.

The boys and I saw Stranger Than Fiction. I was the only one who'd wanted to see it since we saw trailers, Brad was convinced by the reviews somewhere he reads, and fuseji was skeptical. We all loved it, so much so that I think I've regained some credibility with the boys. I'm amazed by how good an actor Will Ferrell is when he's not totally over the top.

On TV
I'm completely taken with The Class. Between the geeky couple in love, the gay guy and his partner who hate the woman married to the stereotypically gay guy, the guy in love with the woman married to the football player, and Jason Ritter and the tough girl, it's both hilarious and touching.

Name That Show
For some reason, I keep remembering a scene from a TV show, but I can't remember what show. I think it takes place in a bar. There are three guys and a woman. They're all friends, and the guys have made donations so the woman can be artificially inseminated. She comes to tell them the results. One cup had no swimmers. The guy has to admit he's had a vasectomy. One cup was empty. The guy (the young one, I think) says that, these days, he doesn't do anything without a condom. And then it's the third one who has viable sperm. I have no idea why I keep thinking about this, and I have no clue what show it was.

Part 2: Reading

A Real Book
I read Catherine Asaro's The Veiled Web last week. I bought it for $.01 plus shipping from Amazon marketplace; I figured that even if it was a scam and I never got the book, the most I would lose is $3.50.

Anyway, the book is not very good. The main character alternates between being completely stupid and knowing too much. She doesn't get it most of the time, but she can identify machine guns. It makes no sense. There's also an issue with the technology of the world. It was written in 1999 and takes place in 2010. Her projection into the future not only doesn't hold up (very few people in her future use the internet), but the technology is way over-explained. Anyone who's read even a little bit of AI sci fi will catch on way before she even gets halfway through any bit of explanation.

What was interesting enough to keep me reading was the relationship. It wasn't very good either, but interesting as part of Catherine Asaro's oeuvre. It's the same relationship pattern you see in a lot of her work.

Boarding School AUs
I recently read what there is so far of bethynycfics' School!Verse, a Giles/Wesley boarding school AU. I love it!

An AU that must be: Spike/Angel boarding school AU. Please tell me if there is such a thing, and where I might find it.

Part 3: Listening To

Arabic Pop
Remember how I liked the Natacha Atlas song on Arabic Groove? Well, I went back to Tower and bought her Mish Maoul, and I really like it. I discovered as I was in my period of listening to it all the time and left the CD at home that you can listen to the whole album online. "Feen" (track 2) is my current favorite song.

Aubrey Debauchery
I went to see Aubrey on Friday night, at the Coco Caffe, which is itty-bitty. Aubrey's parents were there, sitting near me. Some other people came in, and her mom moved from the couch to sit half on her dad's lap. Aubrey, of course, sings a lot about sex. (In her newest song, she says, "I want to introduce you to my kitchen floor.") When I got home, the neighbors were having sex in their living room with the windows open.

Fiction Like Candy
There were two other bands playing with Aubrey. I stayed through Aubrey's set and two and a half songs into Fiction Like Candy's set. I was sick, and they weren't good enough to sit through. And I burned my tongue on my tea. I think I've burned my tongue every single time I've ever had tea. Anyway, Fiction Like Candy's lead singer sounds like somebody, and it's driving me crazy. If you have a moment to listen, let me know who she sounds like.

Monica Schroeder
At John Scalzi's behest, I started listening to Monica Schroeder at MySpace. I'm trying to decide if I want to buy her CD or if she's just a Sarah McLachlan clone.

Bob
The local Top 40 station switched to the Bob format. "We play anything." I thought it was dumb at first. But then I heard "Ice Ice Baby" three times in the first week. I've heard "The Right Stuff" a couple of times recently. They keep playing "Friends in Low Places." It's growing on me.

Part 4: Doing

Cooking
My current favorite food is pita with hummus. I was not happy with my pita options at S&S, so I've been making my own pita. It's pretty good, and I'm sure it'll be even better now that I actually own a pastry brush and they shouldn't get over-oiled.

I've also attempted to make wheat bread, which isn't going so well. The first time, it didn't rise enough and it was too salty. The second time, it was better, but still not quite right. Now I have an 8-inch loaf pan instead of a 9-inch loaf pan, and I'm hoping that will help.

Shopping - Holiday
I know what I'm getting almost everyone on my list, and I'm ordering most of it online. I keep debating with myself. I could do it now, and get it over with. But I have an issue with doing my holiday shopping before Thanksgiving.

Shopping - Clothes
I'm looking for a dress for my cousin's New Year's Eve wedding reception now. I liked a couple of things at Weekend Wearhouse (warning: their website has a godawful fuchsia background), but the L was too small and the XL was too big. (I think the one I really liked is this one, in burgundy.) I have had no luck anywhere else. Luckily, I have to go to Sacramento for a meeting in two weeks, so I can go shopping there then.

In the process of dress shopping, I discovered that I've gone down yet another size. Like last time, my pants being too big didn't bother me until I noticed it. Now it's driving me crazy. I'm half-tempted to stop exercising and start eating junk food just so I don't have to buy a new wardrobe all over again.

Indigo Girls
My parents and I went to see the Indigo Girls a couple of weeks ago. Their opening band, Three5Human, has what we later found out is a great singer, but their sound mix was off so you couldn't hear her and their sound itself is pretty generic rock.

But after them was the Indigo Girls, and they were awesome. Just awesome. Their whole show is just the two of them with an ever-rotating selection of guitars against a colored background. And they were fantastic and the audience was totally into it.

The audience itself was interesting. We saw Ani DiFranco a couple of years ago, and the place was full of lesbians my age. The audience for Indigo Girls was full of middle-aged lesbians with an additional assortment of families and straight couples.

There was some moment of their performance that made me think of the scene in Arrow's Flight where Dirk and Talia sing "Sun and Shadow." So I went to Barnes & Noble to read that scene and any other good bits of the trilogy. They had Arrows of the Queen and Arrow's Fall, but not Arrow's Flight.

John Cleese
Last week we went to see John Cleese, who, like the Indigo Girls, came to Chico State. I expected him to be a lot better than he was. He was good, but not awesome. The best joke was at the beginning: "This is the first time we've played at a college named after a comedian. On Tuesday we'll be at Harpo and next week we'll be playing Karl." The audience didn't get it.

Guys and Dolls
Last night's cultural experience was the Chico Cabaret production of Guys and Dolls. The chorus was a little weak, but it was a ton of fun. Adelaide was especially good.

I also realized something during "I'll Know." Back in the day, we saw the Chico City Light Opera production twice, and I had a huge crush on the guy playing Sky Masterson. But last night, I realized that I'm really just in love with Sky Masterson. If he were real, I'd go to Havana for dinner with him any day.

History Sneaks Up On Us
One of the things we have to remember as writers is that people are always going to bring their own stuff to our stories. I know this, but I sometimes forget how that applies to things other than writing. I've had a couple of those kinds of experiences recently.

( Experience 1 )

( Experience 2 )

Something New
I went to see Something New last week. ( Spoilers )

Second Sight
I've been watching Second Sight. ( Spoilers )

Computer Maintenance
Today I disassembled and reassembled my computer. (If you got email from me dated July 19, 2001, it's because I didn't realize the clock had reset itself.) This was not just a random thing. I bought a new and prettier case, and a quieter power supply and CPU fan. I also bought a DVD burner, but it remains in the clutches of UPS. I had planned to go buy washers to cushion the hard drive (the hard drive vibrating against the case is one of the big sources of computer noise), but my new case actually came with them. My computer is now much, much quieter, and much more attractive. It also fits under my desk, which means I have more room on either side of the desk to get to my bookshelves and couch.

Complex Chore Chart Dilemma
Note to those of you trying to parse this section heading: it's the chore chart, not the dilemma that's complex.

In an attempt to get into a regular exercise schedule, I've created myself a chore chart. It has various yoga and belly dancing things as well as lifting weights, and I assigned points to everything. My goal is 93 points a week, which I could get by doing each thing on the chart three days a week. (In reality, I'm doing the yoga stuff way more often, doing nothing on days when I have yoga class--class doesn't count for the chart--and catching up on the weekend. I may need to adjust the point values next month.)

Here's my dilemma: Some of the things on the chart could be done while watching TV. On the one hand, that would help me actually do them more often. On the other hand, if I do them while watching TV, I'm not really focussing on my body, and I somewhat think that's part of what I should be doing.

Target
My Target shopping trip was largely successful today--Bewitched on sale for $10, new shower curtain, two-pound weights, and vacuum cleaner--but the hot security guard wasn't there today. Every time I see her, I think, "If I were a different kind of person, I would totally hit on her."

Slightly Better This Year
I've made some Valentine's Day cards, which is better than last year, but I don't actually have the right size envelopes and I didn't make it to the post office today, so very few people will get valentines from me on or before Valentine's Day.