2003-10-30 - 10:19 a.m.
last night i fully intended to go home after work and finally hang up all my clothes and clean my bedroom and stuff my bra, but as i was pulling into my driveway, my phone rang. it was mj and she said, "what are you doing tonight?" i was like, "nothing, why?" and she said, "wanna go to see WEEN?" and i said, "yeah, but i don't have money for the ticket." and then she said the magic words, "no, we have a free extra ticket!" so with my clothes all over the floor, my bed unmade, and my bra unstuffed, i headed out to WEEN...
let's start by saying, i like WEEN. i don't love or live for WEEN, but i have plenty of friends who worship WEEN. i own "pure guava" and have "chocolate and cheese" somewhere on tape. it was pretty much a given that at my guy friends' house in college during one of their parties, we would be dancing in the living room to "voodoo lady" at some point. being that some of the people i was going to the show with last night were guys from this house, i figured the show would be a blast. i was right.
WEEN is sophmoric and likes to hear themselves say fucky words (see "piss up a rope"), but at the same time, they're really good musicians and incredible mimics. WEEN has a pretty big catalogue so i was pretty sure i wouldn't hear anything i knew or liked, imagine my surprise when i found myself singing along with half of the songs (and truth be told, some of the lyrics are so easy you know the words by the end. case in point: "bananas and blow".) they played an s-load of "chocolate and cheese" which made me incredibly happy. most impressive was their encore which featured note-for-note faithful renditions of "ohio" (yes, csny) and "all of my love" (with gene ween doing a mightily impressive robert plant, sans trouser snake). and their song, "dr. rock", kinda made me want to go out and get my Ph.D. in rocknroll. it was that much fun.
when we arrived at the show, the smell of maryjane filled the air, mixed with an overpowering incense, patchouli, and b.o.-ish smell. i have to admit i was surprised that 1/3 of the crowd resembled deadheads. the other 1/3 were fratboys that like to hear people sing about "poop". the final 1/3 were hipster types who smile bemusedly at ween's ironic interpretations of every genre of music. of course, i got momentarily trapped by a closeted fratboy who tried to hit on me, i think to excite his fratboy lover. he smelled like puke and was drinking what he called "a martini...a midori martini." that's when i looked heavenward and thought, "iggy, why me?" honestly, the combination of the smell of puke and midori emanating from this guy was enough to make me sick myself. i just kept sidling away from him and not speaking until he got the hint and surreptitiously tried to grind on his fratboy lover. it was an odd moment or two.
WEEN reminds me of smoking pot and laughing in college. so it's fitting that when i walked in, i ran into a guy i haven't seen since 1996 (when i graduated undergrad, i'm fucking old). it was lovely and he kept putting his arm around me and saying, "i always wanted to know what happened to you, we had so much fun together in school!" and then he'd turn us (arm still around me) towards the friend he was with and say, "this girl and i used to smoke so much pot and be so drunk all the time. she's so much fun!" ah, memory lane!
[on tomorrow's episode: iggy, manny, chloe, albie, and anyone else whose name ends in an "e" sound.]
