This wooden nose and upper lip carved from rosewood is one of the best things I’ve purchased in the last year.
It cost me only about nine dollars, and it sits on my bathroom counter. It’s extremely useful, wonderfully space-saving, and – best of all – it appeals mightily to my sense of whimsy.
The nose is actually a stand to hold my glasses when I’m wearing contact lenses. I am amused every single time I set my glasses down on the nose.
I should name it.
I’ve said before on numerous occasions that my resting state is whimsy, and that also applies to silly little purchases that I make for use around my home.
For example, if you’re looking for the next roll of toilet paper in my baa-aa-aathroom, you’ll have to count sheep. He was ewe-nly eight dollars, and that price can’t be bleat.
Heh, sheep puns.
What’s the silliest thing you’ve purchased recently?
I stopped today for a sandwich at a local shop today. I’ve been there countless times, and I’ve ordered food from this man often, but this is the first time he ever said anything to me other than the transaction at hand.
The gentleman behind the counter, whose name I should really know given how often I get lunch there, asks, “Didn’t they go out of business?”
It took me a moment to realize he was referring to my t-shirt – I always forget what shirt I’m wearing, and so I’m always momentarily confused when it sparks a conversation. Today, I was wearing a shirt with the logo of the 9:30 Club, a venerable DC concert venue that has concerts nearly every night.
“Didn’t they go out of business?” I was briefly baffled- Since I moved to the DMV five years ago, I’ve seen more than fifty shows there. It’s a fundamental anchor point for me in this city. I couldn’t in my wildest dreams have ever imagined that someone who lives around here wouldn’t know the 9:30 Club was there.
He continued, “I haven’t seen any commercials for it in a while.” I tried to explain about the giant billboard ads that show up in the Metro with upcoming shows, but maybe he just doesn’t take the Metro into the District very often.
I guess it still confuses me when someone has a reality so different than mine. I have a tendency to think that stuff that I know is just common knowledge to everyone, and I’m frequently completely poleaxed when I find this not to be true.
I suppose this applies to me as well, though. A dear friend of mine likes to say, when I’m cursing at an awful, terrible, very bad, no good driver in gnarly traffic that perhaps the reason they’re driving like that is because they have terrible diarrhea and they’re just trying to get home to a toilet really fast. Basically, it’s just like the old saying, “you never know what someone else is going through,” only with more poop.
My point, I guess, is that as often as I’m surprised when someone doesn’t know things that I know, I really shouldn’t be surprised at my own lack of knowing what other people know.
Or something. The original thread for this post has kind of gotten lost in the weeds, and I don’t remember quite where I was going with this one.
I’ve had the good fortune to work in some really interesting places that might draw famous people out. For a number of years, I worked in a venue that did concerts, an 850 seat space with a little stage which shared a building with a popular comedy club. For a different number of years, I worked in radio. My degree is actually in radio/television, and I’m utilizing it in the fine, fine world of Internet technologies, because radio is a difficult space in which to make a career.
But I digress- this post isn’t about careers in broadcasting, it’s about famous people, and who I may or may not have met. I’ll list some of the fun ones, without getting into the details of where or when I met them. Mostly. And I’ll leave out convention meet-and-greets, because I’d be here all night writing more.
Ben Folds – This was in the early days of his band, Ben Folds Five, and I didn’t know who he was yet. I’m the sort of weirdo who will sometimes talk to people in whatever space I find myself, and he was good natured about idle chit-chat from some random dude in the men’s room. I have more than one story about meeting famous people in rest-rooms, and this was the first one.
Jimmy Buffett – I met this man twice, once when he was just going about his business, and the other time when he was doing a grand opening of one of his restaurants with a requisite live show. I did not find him to be charming or kind, and since it’s generally considered impolite to speak ill of the dead, I’ll just leave it there.
Michael Winslow – You know, the guy who did all the sound effects in the Police Academy movies. In Spaceballs, he lost “the bleeps, the sweeps, and the creeps.” He was in town to do a comedy show, and he was making his noises even while offstage. He’s a very funny man.
BB King – What a nice, nice man. He was meeting people after his concert, sitting in the front seat of the tour bus, and he took the time to chat a bit. Just a really nice guy.
Weird Al Yankovic – Another meet-and-greet after one of his shows. He was exhausted from putting on one of his very frenetic concerts, but nice to everyone who lined up to meet him.
Sugar Ray Leonard – I bumped into him in the hallway. That’s it, that’s the story.
John Hodgman – This is the second “met him in the restroom” story. It was in a pub. In Edinburgh, Scotland. He was much less chill about being talked to in the restroom than Ben Folds, and honestly I don’t blame him. Americans abroad are a risky bunch.
Lisa Loeb – Another one who was also very nice – she talked to the people working the venue for her show and took a genuine interest in them. And she made little abstract doodles on a notepad while she was on the phone.
Marsha Warfield – Also while she was in town to do a comedy show. A lot of the comedians who I met during this gig were really genuinely nice people.
Paulie Shore – He was not genuinely nice. Maybe he is now. Maybe I caught him on a bad night. This was the 1990s, so he was in peak The Weasel fame, so maybe that was a factor. Some people say he’s kind to his fans, but that wasn’t my impression.
Dennis Wolfberg – This one is kind of a deep cut. Dennis is known for playing Dr. Irving “Gooshie” Gushman on the original Quantum Leap series, but he was also a stand-up comedian. And before that, he was a teacher. When Dennis came to town to do comedy, I was sent to pick him up from the hotel and bring him to the venue, and we chatted a little bit on the drive over. At the time, I was thinking I might wind up being a teacher, and he was enthusiastic about me going in that direction. Sadly, he passed away from cancer about two years later, at the age of 48. I hope I didn’t disappoint him too badly.
Three fifths of N’Sync – The year was 1999. It was a special event run by Lucasfilm to do a media preview of the BRAND NEW Star Wars prequel movie, The Phantom Menace. Our tickets had holograms on them. I didn’t know who the individual members of N’Sync were, so I couldn’t even tell you which three members were in the restroom with me. And oh yeah, it was another “famous people in the restroom” story. Just this once, I did NOT try to strike up a conversation.
There have been more than this list contains. I’ve led a fairly weird and interesting life.
I promise that not every post is going to be about music. I will absolutely talk about other things on this blog in the future.
But not yet. Because this one is a direct followup to the last one.
After the previous post with the list of musical artists that Past Steven (2021 Edition) wanted to see, my good and dear friend Jenny pointed out that the entire list was roughly 80% female artists and 20% bands, with no solo male artists. I replied back with a very long list of male artists that I’ve seen in the last few years.
A very large portion of that list was made up of established artists, many from the 1980s. I’ve gone out of my way to see the likes of:
Gary Numan – Most folks know him from Cars, but he’s been making new music for decades and it’s awesome. Samples: Intruder, My Name Is Ruin
Alice Cooper – His live shows are over the top and amazing, just like his music.
Tom Jones – This Welsh crooner has been doing his thing for decades, but did you know he did a collaboration with The Cardigans of Burning Down The House?
Andy Bell – Yes, he’s half of Erasure, but he also has some pretty great solo stuff.
The list goes on and on for the legacy artists from past decades, but I have to admit that Jenny made a good point- the style of music I gravitate toward in newer artists is usually done by female vocalists. There are definitely exceptions, though, so here’s a list of five newer artists I’ve seen and enjoyed since I moved up to the DMV.
Jake Wesley Rogers – Rogers recently opened for Cyndi Lauper on part of her North American tour, but I saw him headline his own show at Union Stage, which holds about 250 people. He’s got a very dramatic style in the same mode as icons like Elton John and Lady Gaga.
Spencer Sutherland – Sutherland opened for Big Time Rush a few years ago, but I also saw him headline his own show at Union Stage. That place books some really great musicians.
Declan McKenna – McKenna is a British singer who first gained recognition for winning the Glastonbury Festival’s “emerging talent” competition with a protest song about the Fifa World Cup, and he makes bops that often have social commentary.
JP Saxe – Saxe is our first Canadian on this list, and his most well known song is a duet with Julia Michaels, but he’s got a few of his own albums out in the world.
Dermot Kennedy – Kennedy is Irish, and he started busking as a teenager, and was even asked to open for Glen Hansard at one point.
And that’s a wrap on five newer artists who have played shows here over the last few years. Because I am indecisive, here are two bonus artists to check out:
Marc Broussard – Broussard sings Bayou soul, which is a sort of funky Southern rock/blues type of music.
Daði Freyr – Finally, say hello to the most well known Icelandic singer who is not named Björk or Laufey. I first became aware of him when I was first learning about Eurovision while living in Germany.
I was looking back at one of the last posts I did in 2021, in which I talked about going to concerts and how the pandemic lock-down had shuttered so many that I had wanted to see. At the time of the post, January of 2021, Covid vaccines were only just starting to be distributed and concert venues had only just barely started to spin back up. In the post, I said,
I went to 28 ticketed shows in 2019. In 2020, I went to seven.
When I wrote the post, I was still five months away from the first new concerts after Covid, but I really went for it.
And when I say I really went for it, I mean I kind of… over-corrected from the lack of music in a massive way.
28 shows in 2019. Seven in 2020. In 2021, as things began to reopen and wake up, and concert venues checked vaccination status before you could go inside, I managed 43 shows.
After that, I really went off the rails. 177 shows in 2022. 179 in 2023. 158 in 2024. This year I’ve been trying to slow it down and be a little more selective, so I’m on track to only see about 125 shows this year.
:cough:
I realize now that in the four and a half year gap between regular posts and now, I probably could have talked a little bit about the music. I’m not a concert reviewer, and I have no desire to be one. There’s still a lot to say, though.
In the 2021 post, I talked about a not-really-very-short-list of artists that I had not managed to see, but really really wanted to. Now seems like as good a time as any to do a quick status check on that musical to-do list.
From the “I had a chance to see them, but circumstances kept me away from the show and I’m still mad about it” file:
• Betty Who – She played downtown Orlando and I was otherwise engaged. • Ciel Gloss – She did a show in New York when I was there in December of 2019 and I couldn’t make it work. • Imagine Dragons – I actually had tickets to this show, and was unable to go at the last minute. • Mindy Gledhill – She played a Northern Virginia venue really close to here. I wasn’t here yet. Timing is everything. • Kesha – This is another tour that was canceled by the pandemic. • Janelle Monae – Another Orlando show that I am KICKING myself for not catching.
I’ve now seen ALL of them. Twice each for Kesha and Janelle Monae. I would still love to see Mindy Gledhill again.
From the “I deeply respect their artistry and I really really really wanna see them live despite all the hype!” file:
• Taylor Swift – Does Taylor Swift really need commentary from me? • Mavis Staples – This woman is a badass and she’s toured vaguely near me a few times and I really should have just made the drive. • P!nk – Pink is one of those shows that I really just should have ponied up the money to see when she played Orlando. • Lorde – I wonder if she’ll ever tour outside of New Zealand again. Damn, I hope so. • Carly Rae Jepsen – I actually saw her once, and the show was so good that I would absolutely see her again. If your opinion of her is based solely on “Call Me Maybe,” you should check out some of the other stuff on her five albums.
I’ve seen every single one of these now, and twice for Lorde. Three times for Carly Rae, because she’s a party.
For Taylor Swift, I took the train up to Philadelphia because that was the closest the Eras tour came to DC. Totally and completely worth it. The entire Amtrak train was full of Swifties, and it emptied out hilariously when we reached 30th Street Station.
From the “I learned about this artist after their last tour concluded and then a pandemic happened and now I want to see them live so badly it probably looks like I have to pee” file:
• Meg Myers – I was introduced to this artist by another friend, right after her tour in support of “Take Me To The Disco” ended. If I had a time machine… • Grendel – This band has been around for 20+ years already, but I was unaware of them until just recently, and I love what I’m hearing. • Marit Larsen – I’m not sure if Marit Larsen ever tours in North America- she’s from Norway and has mostly stuck around Europe and the Nordic countries. Maybe once it’s safe to fly long distances again. • Kelsea Ballerini – She’s a much newer artist with one song that got plastered all over the radio, but I’ve listened to more of her stuff and she’d be a blast to see live. • Ladyhawke – She’s another New Zealander, and I have no idea if she tours the US. • Jackie Venson – I first saw Jackie Venson on Austin City Limits, and she kicks ass.
This list is the first one from the original post that still contains artists I haven’t seen live – the three of them who are based outside of the US: Marit Larsen, Grendel, and Ladyhawke.
From the others-
Jackie Venson was one of my 2021 shows, and the first artist I ever saw at Songbyrd Music Cafe in DC. Jackie came back to DC last month, but it was the same night as Gary Numan and that’s a hard choice.
I saw Meg Myers in DC, and her vocals are amazing but it was just her and a synth. I think she would have been better with a backing band.
Kelsea Ballerini was also a 2021 show and that show was, hilariously, the first of three times I accidentally saw the Jonas Brothers. Yes, I said accidentally. I have never deliberately set out to see the Jonas Brothers, but they keep bringing incredible opening artists who I really want to see, and, well, that’s how you wind up at a Jonas Brothers show without really intending to.
I think I really ought to make a new list of artists that I want to see but haven’t yet. In some cases, it’s really easy- No Doubt is doing a few shows at the Vegas Sphere in the new year, for example, and I’m gonna try to make it out there to see them because I never did in the 90s.
I had more to say about all of this, but I just spent thirty minutes trying to re-learn how to use WordPress block formatting after my four and a half year gap, and I’ve lost my original point in a haze of irritation at how non-intuitive the WordPress editor is. :flail:
I guess I’ll leave you with this, a band that I only just learned about yesterday, but I’ve already bought a ticket to their Spring tour because they’re kitschy and fun and amazing and I love them already. Here’s some Steam Powered Giraffe.
What’s the next concert you’re looking forward to seeing?
Whimsy. Tacos. The DMV. 