wordstock #2
We left town and I didn't think another thing about it until my sister called and asked if I was interested in hearing Wesley Stace (aka John Wesley Harding) read from his new book and also hear Colin Meloy from the Decemberists. My answer = YES! Then she told me it was part of a radio show called LiveWire!. That sounded a little shady to me (I don't know why. Maybe it was Fresno where everything interesting sounds shady.), but she said ten dollars so I said "hell yes!" I am so glad that she and M. found this because it kicked off a whole weekend of loveliness and blisters. I had emailed Leslita and told her we were going to LiveWire!, which turned out to be the very same radio show she had told me about MONTHS ago - we should sit together! excellent.
We got home from Fresno on Wednesday - the drive home seemed faster than the drive down, but it is still a long way for one day (750 miles). Here I avoid going into a long boring list of everything I did until it was time for the show. It involved laundry and whining, is all I will say.
We got to the Aladdin theater about ten minutes before the doors open. There were two long lines, one in front of the box office, and one in front of the door for those with tickets already. We took our tickets and headed out into the rain to wait in line. What had begun as a brilliantly sunny day had turned into freak thunder/lightning showers and then into the more familiar soft rain. The crowd was chatty and happy. Everything had a little extra frisson and giddy charge - maybe some left over electricity in the atmosphere. A guy with a video camera starts walking the line. Followed shortly by a guy with a sign saying, basically, that this taping of LiveWire! was being filmed in addition to being recorded, and if you didn't like that then perhaps you shouldn't go in. I am sure I will be immortalized looking entirely stupid, but I don't really care. Witness the tremendous power of Wordstock!
The LiveWire! Show was my favorite part of the whole event. It was buzzing with crazy fizzy energy from the time we got there till the very end. LiveWire! bills itself as being a little bit vaudeville, a little bit radio play, a whole lot of fun, and they live up to it. The signs and logos were all done in that old-timey vaudeville/circus font. There was a guy in a spangled cape and a t-shirt that read 'danger'. There was a girl in a quasi-equestrian red feathered headdress. There was another girl in a red wig and giant red-feather boa. These be-feathered and be-spangled souls were handing out 'haiku cards' which is something LiveWire! apparently does every show. The audience is encouraged to write poetry which may be chosen to be read on the air. Fun! That kind of low-pressure audience participation is just the right kind in my estimation. I did not write a poem, but maybe I will next time. to be continued...
This is cool. I think it's interesting that we both wrote about this, but wrote such different things. Funny how people can take away such different impressions. I have to say that I loved the red, feathered headgear, but then you know how I feel about headgear. I would definitely go again!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of going to things, I bought zoo tickets to Pink Martini for my mom's birthday in August. They were really cheap - $15, I think, if you guys want to go too!
I feel like I should be hit in the head with the brevity stick since this is only the first or second part. I am procrastinating on a sticky part of my nano thing, so I am spending my time writing up long and editing loooong descriptions of things that most people would probably only find marginally interesting at best. But, the weird thing is for me it really was one of those singular-type experiences. The combination of books, music, friends and old-time radio show was TOO MUCH stimulation for my poor little soul to take quietly.
ReplyDeleteWoo Hoo about Pink Martini!! I just about fainted when I saw that Chris Isaak (whom we were only just talking about! Does he have Bec's car bugged?) will be playing the Zoo for my Birthday!!! It's always been near my b-day, but never right on it before. If he does have the car bugged, I hope he heard the part about how a Christmas album doesn't really count and how maybe he should abandon the sort of crappy adult-contemporary smooth-paved road he seems drawn to and go back down that twisty rockabilly/raunchy/ surfer/tormented (but beautiful) ballad/stuff-I-like road again.
I don't think it's weird at all. I felt that way about Wordstock. It made me realize how much I miss being around people who are interested in things - books, ideas, etc. Of course you and Bec are that way and some of my other friends too, but I mean at work. I miss being surrounded by it all the time (or at least a lot of the time).
ReplyDeleteI'm excited about Pink Martini. I almost bought Chris Isaak tickets whne I bought them, but didn't want to make other plans for your birthday if you weren't planning on going too! Perhaps someone will buy you a ticket for your birthday...