Angry Amy Talks Music
It's been a while since I have been worked up about pop culture. I've actually been pretty calm about it lately. I've had great movie experiences, great concert experiences, and Hollyweird is finally full of slutty teens again. All is right in the world. Or at least it was until last night. I sense an ANGRY AMY coming on...get comfy, cause it's a two-parter this week.
You know what makes me angry?!!!
1) BSS Bro's
It makes me really angry when you're at a great concert with talented musicians and an excellent opener but the venue is completely packed with "bro's!" You know the kind. I'm talking about the 30-something frat boys in button-down dress shirts and jeans, holding a can of PBR in one hand and making the "rock" sign in the other. The kind who get wasted at every concert they go to and spit while talking by the end of the night. The kind who nudge their way in front of you even though they are twice your height and weight and then end up elbowing you in the ribs all evening like the balcony is a mosh pit. On Monday night, I had the pleasure of navigating through a sea of such "bro's" at First Ave while taking in a concert by Broken Social Scene, an indie rock staple, with fellow blogger, Chris. I came in with the expectation that the show would be crowded, but as with all bigger concerts that I go to, I didn't predict the doucheyness. I ALWAYS forget about the doucheyness! I probably should have guessed by the fact that The Current (long, gangly, college rock - but with money, arm of MPR) was putting it on that I would run into such fine young gentlemen. At one point, I tried to squeeze by someone to sit in a vacant chair. I said, "excuse me" five times before he moved slightly and he never so much as glanced in my direction.
Aside from the crowd, the concert was pretty fantastic. Rising stars Land of Talk opened with a powerful performance, and singer Liz even joined BSS for the female parts on a few of their hits. It was nice that just the two bands were on the bill too because things moved along fairly quickly. By the time the headliner took the stage, I was still rarin' to go. Broken Social Scene did play an unusually long set - (could have made me angry if I'd stayed through all four of their encores) - but fortunately they blew their wad within the first 45 minutes and played almost all of their hits before the sleepy train came to pick me up and send me home.
2) Baby Language
It makes me angry when artists say crap like "I'm creating a baby" or other artsy and/or pretentious ways of saying what they really mean!!! I thought it was a little odd that M.I.A. announced her retirement right after her album Kala and hit single, "Paper Planes," took off. But recent reports confirm my initial suspicions that this was merely a freakout. Pitchfork reported this weekend that Maya found out she was pregnant at the same time that "Paper Planes" was making it big. It didn't sound like she was trying to have a baby, though her quote certainly would make it seem so. I think what she really meant to say was, "Oh, crap - I made a baby!" I guess if you can rock a skin tight, low cut spandex and leather shirt, you get to say whatever the hell you want.
...and that's what makes me angry!!
You know what makes me angry?!!!1) BSS Bro's
It makes me really angry when you're at a great concert with talented musicians and an excellent opener but the venue is completely packed with "bro's!" You know the kind. I'm talking about the 30-something frat boys in button-down dress shirts and jeans, holding a can of PBR in one hand and making the "rock" sign in the other. The kind who get wasted at every concert they go to and spit while talking by the end of the night. The kind who nudge their way in front of you even though they are twice your height and weight and then end up elbowing you in the ribs all evening like the balcony is a mosh pit. On Monday night, I had the pleasure of navigating through a sea of such "bro's" at First Ave while taking in a concert by Broken Social Scene, an indie rock staple, with fellow blogger, Chris. I came in with the expectation that the show would be crowded, but as with all bigger concerts that I go to, I didn't predict the doucheyness. I ALWAYS forget about the doucheyness! I probably should have guessed by the fact that The Current (long, gangly, college rock - but with money, arm of MPR) was putting it on that I would run into such fine young gentlemen. At one point, I tried to squeeze by someone to sit in a vacant chair. I said, "excuse me" five times before he moved slightly and he never so much as glanced in my direction.
Aside from the crowd, the concert was pretty fantastic. Rising stars Land of Talk opened with a powerful performance, and singer Liz even joined BSS for the female parts on a few of their hits. It was nice that just the two bands were on the bill too because things moved along fairly quickly. By the time the headliner took the stage, I was still rarin' to go. Broken Social Scene did play an unusually long set - (could have made me angry if I'd stayed through all four of their encores) - but fortunately they blew their wad within the first 45 minutes and played almost all of their hits before the sleepy train came to pick me up and send me home.
2) Baby LanguageIt makes me angry when artists say crap like "I'm creating a baby" or other artsy and/or pretentious ways of saying what they really mean!!! I thought it was a little odd that M.I.A. announced her retirement right after her album Kala and hit single, "Paper Planes," took off. But recent reports confirm my initial suspicions that this was merely a freakout. Pitchfork reported this weekend that Maya found out she was pregnant at the same time that "Paper Planes" was making it big. It didn't sound like she was trying to have a baby, though her quote certainly would make it seem so. I think what she really meant to say was, "Oh, crap - I made a baby!" I guess if you can rock a skin tight, low cut spandex and leather shirt, you get to say whatever the hell you want.
...and that's what makes me angry!!
Labels: Angry Amy, Lady Amy, music
This entry was posted by Lady Amy, on
Tuesday, October 14, 2008.
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Oh man I HATE the douches! They can be anywhere these days -- not even an indie rock concert is safe anymore. It makes me angry, too, but also a little sad.
welcome back, angry amy! i've missed you! and i, too, hate the douches.
One of the "bros" said to me as we left (after Kevin Drew just said "we got tons more songs to play" after already having played for over 80 minutes), "don't give up now!"
I wanted to slug him and say, "Listen human gel-stain, I just waited through a 10-minute hippie calypso jam so I could finally hear 'Cause = Time' so I'm going to go home, go to sleep and get up at 6:30. Got it?!" but instead I just said, "That's all I've been waiting for," which I meant to imply all of the aforementioned, but I realize now probably didn't make any sense to him. Oh well.
In sum, the BSS classics (and a couple choice cuts off the Drew and Canning records) are still worth going to see even if you have to sit through the half-tempo jammy stuff, but any band that plays more than 80-90 minutes on a weeknight is going to get walked out on at some point in their set (not to mention going to attract douches and hippies alike).
Haha, I have similarly awkward conversations with douches as well. At a Twins-Brewers game this summer that the Brewers won, the Brewers fans sitting behind us, who kept heckling us (at our own stadium no less!) ended by saying something like "We're awesome!!" to which I responded "...we'll get you guys tomorrow..." kind of quietly to myself, and he responded by saying "No, you have to say 'You beat us two out of three' at Milwaukee!" to which I replied "....." and walked away. This was after inning after inning of them asking if they could have one of my french fries (I ate them all, douchebags!!!!!!!)
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