Thursday, September 16, 2010

Monday, September 13, 2010

{sleep}

on september eleventh, i saw the band sleep at the roseland theartre in portland oregon. this is my revue of the concert:
"highs"
1. extreme hearing loss. it felt like being hit in the skull with a hammer for 2 hours. i had tinnitus for like 2 days straight. it was awesome.

2. fans. there was one in particular that i wanted to give the nobel prize. he was gigantic, and had a great big mustache. among many other totally sweet moves, he did super slow motion punches and ballerina spins through the pit and guarded people from being crushed when they fell down. he also yelled at people to shut up when sleep was playing a short instrumental piece. then i found out he was from olympia. i want to meet him and shake his hand.

3. memorial. as the encore was about to begin, scott kelly (shrinebuilder) took the mic, and asked the audience to join him in a moment of silence for our fallen hero...and paused. for moment, i was like, "oh yeah, it's 9/11, i was wondering if they were going to mention that." but then he continued and said "ronnie james dio." and of course, everyone just screamed in appreciation, instead of being silent, which was probably more appropriate. (side note: voodoo doughnuts did have a 9/11 themed doughnut with white frosting, red and blue sprinkles, and two pretzel sticks sticking up out of it.)

4. facial hair extravaganza. there were soooo many great mustaches and beards, i had to be careful not to stare though because many of the owners looked kind of scary. but it was one of the best unofficial gatherings of facial hair aficionados i have ever seen.

lows
1. illness. i have a cold, and i was maybe a little too tired to fully engage myself in 2 hours of doom metal.

2. fans. there were some real freak maleeks in the crowd. at one point, this dude was creeping me out and getting way to close to me, and i wanted to destroy him, but i just moved back a few rows. another guy hit me in the balls in the pit. i also helped pick someone up who fell, and i got his armpit sweat all over my hands.

3. what now? i think the worst part was knowing that i will never rock that hard or loud ever. it seemed to be impossibly loud, and impossibly doom-y. i'm starting a stoner/doom/drone metal band with my friend, and i'm feeling like there is no way to top sleep, so i'm gonna have to get really creative.

4. lack of documentation. besides the fact that i went to the show alone, i also didn't bring a camera, so i'll have to suffice with my cell phone pictures.

i didn't take this video, but this is from the encore
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btz76OTAuTo