So for the first time since college when I went with the Dybbyk to see some Grateful Dead shows I made a road trip to see a band, a performer, a musician, a magician.
I have many things about this show that really made this special. One being the people at the show sitting around me. Rob and Jen from San Diego were terrific. They had seen the show the night before and were so excited to see Mr. Tom Waits again that night. The couple in the bar line downstairs from Chandler who were so nice and said if we had time we could drive out to see their house and hang out at their pool if we wanted. The gal behind me who gave me her business card to email her the pictures that I took. Getting the opportunity to talk with the road manager who was just the nicest and kindest guy that I have met out of all the road managers that I have come across (seriously Stuart... you so rule for so many reasons, you ran that ship tight).
I have only seen Tom Waits once before and was enthralled then but Wednesday's show was amazing. There of course were some songs that I would have LOVED to have heard, but its situational and what is really great is maybe in a couple of weeks there will be an opportunity.
Walked into the venue, which was gorgeous. Many of the other bloggers out there can do a better job describing it. My take on the architecture was seeing the gold leafed muses surrounding the stage was so incredible fitting for what was to come.
Mr. Tom Waits came out and was just amazing. Held me in his grasp for 2 hours that felt like 10 minutes. I cried. Yep. I cried and seriously got emotional during the second song "Falling Down". It was hardly recognizable and so amazing I just lost it. It touched me. Geekie to say but I know I am emotional as it is, I am just really glad I was able to sit in my chair and take it all in.
I was constantly paranoid about my camera since the ushers were really watching people. F had a photo pass so I was able to bring my camera in with his equipment, I just didn't want my camera taken away. But I was able to largely cover all my lcds with my hands to cover the tell tale signs I was doing what I was doing.
Some non Tom Waits highlights, Vincent Henry playing two saxophones at one time ala Roland Kirk (who F pointed me to... loved knowing what that was all about), the lighting was amazing, the sound was great, you could literally here almost every breath. It was a treat to sing "everybody row" but I didn't get the feeling the audience was ready to go the distance like he wanted. Seeing Hoist that Rag blew my everliving mind and perhaps that was another son? Seems to be the belief.
The man is a showman and pulled me in from the first dusty stomp to the slow burn turn of the mirror ball bowler during Eyeball Kid. Every moment was magic. And I get to do it again in a couple weeks. I can't break it down like so many of the other bloggers and bigger appreciators out there can. I can't even try. I thought I would but I won't do it justice at all. There are also some videos of course some better than others, but from the first night.
I do have to get a tshirt for the tour from this site and then perhaps a couple other things, there was merchandise at the show which was interesting and the prices were actually affordable. 25 bucks for a tour tshirt isn't bad at all. And it is so interesting what they were of. Subtle and something only fans will understand and appreciate. I think they are beautiful.
The rest of the trip goes like this: lunch at Postino with F and my Bro. Yummy reisling (kung fu girl if you must know, which was fitting since F just went and saw Kung Fu Fest at the Oriental and it was delicious), fantastic salad and bruscetta. A very average hotel for what we paid, it should have been spectacular and the Mondrian should have stepped up and kept their promises, but whatever they had really good ice, I guess I am really spoiled by the fact that I have top notch service when I go to hotels usually, this was just meh. The room was dinged up a little bit too. But really sexy. Comfy and I might just have to steal some decorating ideas from Phillipe Stark that designed the rooms, no frilly dangly shit though, that was weird. I kept banging my leg on the foot of the bed, so the bruise is a reminder of the awkward cloistered feeling of the room, which did take some getting used to, the room was about the size of my bedroom F said. Kinda true. But the bed was comfy which was weird for me since I don't usually think that right away. But the company made it all ok. After the show we went to an Irish bar near the venue which was really fun. Nice nice people. Breakfast was at Matt's Big Breakfast. Seriously that was a yummy breakfast. Dare I even say the best salami and eggs I have had? Dare I mention that the Sausage Benedict special was OUTSTANDING. We went to find wifi so F could work, and ended up at Town and Country the Bookstar had wifi, but no place to sit inside, just outside, weird, it was 112 degrees out. I jammie jammed over to Trader Joes, they were out of some of the things I would have picked up, but no worries. Then went over to Mervyns...yeah what about it.... they have great cotton underthings. It was so hot out all we could do was think about where we could go for air conditioning. Ended up at the movie theater across from the Biltmore and saw Don't Mess with the Zohan (I ended up taking a little bit of a nap I have to admit, it was delicious). Didn't get over to my Bros house like I wanted to in order to see Cody but I couldn't force anyone to do anything he didn't want to. Went to the airport and came home. It was a fantastic trip and I really look forward to doing it in a couple of weeks.
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