The bitch is back

[vovat]

Yesterday, I went to Atlantic City to see an Elton John concert with bethje. I'm not a huge Elton John fan, but I like him pretty well, and Beth introduced me to some of his more obscure but really cool songs, like she did with the Monkees. For instance, I think "Bitter Fingers" is a great song. Of course, he didn't play anything like that at the concert. He did, however, do "Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters," which is a song I quite enjoy. One thing we were talking about after the concert was how there were probably a lot more people at that show who only knew the Big Hits than there are at concerts for more obscure artists. It kind of makes sense, but you have to consider that the tickets for Big-Name Artists are a lot more expensive than for smaller-name artists. It would hardly break the bank to go to most of the concerts I attend, yet I would imagine a greater percentage of those audiences know pretty much everything that the band plays. I guess a large part of it is that an artist like Elton John is going to attract a lot of rich old people, who are perfectly willing to pay upwards of $100 for tickets. Overall, I'm glad that most of the artists I like don't attract enormous crowds (although they often have plenty of obnoxious fans).

Anyway, as you can imagine, our seats weren't great, but the screen wasn't too hard to see. The weird thing was that we were seeing it from the back, so everything was reversed. One thing that sucked was that we were surrounded by people who insisted on yakking while Elton was talking, so we ended up missing a lot of what he said. Come on, why would you pay to go to a concert, and then not listen to the performer? It's an all too common and utterly baffling phenomenon.

Before the concert, we went into the upscale mall on the Boardwalk, which has a lot of overpriced stores. There are also fancy fountains that are occasionally synched up to music. Getting back to the overpriced stores, though, I have to say that High Fashion is something I've never understood. You could argue that it's because I'm male, but some guys are into that kind of thing, and I don't think I'd suddenly understand it if I were pumped full of estrogen. I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but are $500 designer label coats, purses, and shoes really any better than the equivalents that you can get for much less money? Yet I'll occasionally come across people who talk about how they'll only shop at expensive big-name stores, and would NEVER set foot in a Kmart. I'm largely convinced that, compared to the shepherds of fashion, Karl Rove and his ilk are rank amateurs.

And AFTER the concert, we had dinner at Johnny Rockets. The last time I went there, all I had was dessert. This time, I had a Nathan's hot dog, fries, and an orange soda. It was a really tasty hot dog, and it's always nice to find a restaurant that has orange soda. Lemon-lime sodas apparently just aren't sickeningly sweet enough for me. :P

Comments

[gizmohigh69.livejournal.com]

there was something i wanted to tell you about a show but i forgot it so maybe if i rember later ill tell you but have you heard about the tmnt movie that they are remaking oh um just in case teenage mutant ninja turtles but ya its suppost to be in around jan or feb

[gizmohigh69.livejournal.com]

i rember now you know george lucas correct right well you know about the cartoon clone wars serries he made hes makeing them a cartoon seriess now which i think is pretty cool

[gizmohigh69.livejournal.com]

like saturday morning every week type of thing

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I LOVE "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" ... of course I think I love it even more because it's used REALLY effectively in the soundtrack of one of my favorite movies, Almost Famous, just this one scene that is absolutely perfect for it (although the song actually isn't on The Soundtrack CD, oddly enough)... but my favorite Elton John song is the slightly-rare-but-you-still-occasionally-hear-it-on-the-COOL-radio-stations "Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding," which, when Jason, who would never claim to like any Elton John song ever, heard it for the first time, not knowing it was Elton John, he even said, "That was cool, let's listen to it again!" There's also "This Song Has No Title," which I've never heard anywhere but the album it's from, which I also just LOVE. I also love "Tiny Dancer," though, so must give in to the big hits occasionally. But Elton John is one of those people whose music was significantly cooler early on-- he started sucking in the 80s.

I just want to slap people who buy expensive designer stuff.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

"This Song Has No Title" is one that Beth put on a mix CD for me, and it's a cool song. Both that and "Bitter Fingers" have the cool quiet-verses-building-up-to-a-big-chorus thing going for them.

In the car on the way back from Atlantic City, I was asking Beth when certain Elton songs were from, and we came to the conclusion that his seventies stuff sounds much less dated than his eighties stuff.

[3x1minus1.livejournal.com]

i don't get the super expensive clothes either. i kind of think of it as a tax on the stupid. i really hate when they'll get someone on "what not to wear" and give them all this money to go shopping, and they'll blow hundreds/thousands? of dollars on one outfit. ugh.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

i kind of think of it as a tax on the stupid.

And yet many of these people are probably the same ones who vote based solely on whether a candidate says they'll lower taxes. Oh, the irony! :P

[l8erngr8er.livejournal.com]

You are lucky on three counts!

1. Elton John concert
2. Atlantic City
3. Johnny Rockets

That would have made my life. :) But it sounds like you had a nice time and I'm glad!

[kristenjarrod.livejournal.com]

I think the biggest offender of the super expensive clothes/accessories is the Prada Wallet. They look so cheap! I got a wallet at wal mart a few weeks ago that looks better than those!

[loz]

I love Elton John, but I do have to admit that since I only own three albums, I would be more likely to only know his big hits - but if I had anywhere near the cash, I'd still fork it out to see him, simply because he's a fantastic singer/pianist/songwriter (that last one along with Bernie :D).

And as for it being because you're male --- uh, yeah, no. I'm female and I don't "get" it either. The only fashionista thingymajig I consume is GoFugYourself and that's mostly just because it indulges my darker side.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I don't own any of his albums, but Beth has quite a few. I'm glad I got to see him live, even though I'm sure I never would have gone if it weren't for Beth.

[k1cup.livejournal.com]

What contributes to the whole fashionista thing is how so many people are able to "afford" this stuff. I put "afford" in quotes since most of them who carry around designer items are carrying around a hefty credit card debt as well. I think if there were some regulation about how credit card companies issue cards, there wouldn't be such a big market since most of those people would then have to worry about using their money to pay the rent instead.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but since the credit card companies make more money in the long run from people who only pay the minimum every month, I don't think that kind of regulation is likely to be instituted.

I don't necessarily object to people living somewhat outside their means, because some people's means aren't that much, and I'm inclined to think everyone should be able to indulge themselves with fun purchases occasionally. But that's more of an issue of wage disparity than of fahsion idiocy.

Even if I were a millionaire, I'd probably still buy cheap clothes. Part of it is that I prefer not to waste money, but perhaps an even larger part is that I'm just not very interested in clothes shopping. Going to Kmart and picking out a few shirts and pairs of pants that I like is a lot easier than trying to navigate the big brand-name stores, you know?

[k1cup.livejournal.com]

people living somewhat outside their means

Which is a whole lot different than $10,000 in debt, which people I know have admitted to. And they're the people who are always with the designer handbags and Jaguar vehicles.

I'm not sure whether those same people would behave differently if their credit limits were less. It may be that they would still spend instead of save. It just seems that there's something very screwy about throwing money away on silly stuff like that, when it could be put towards something that's more of an investment like a house.

It could be a problem. In 2005, the US personal savings rate was 0%. This year, the rate dropped to -.5%, the first time since the Great Depression. What does all this have to do with fashion-fawning? I'm not sure, but I believe it's all tied up in how the economy might eventually crash and burn if folks aren't concerned about the really important things in life.

Uh, sorry for the soapboxing.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure whether those same people would behave differently if their credit limits were less. It may be that they would still spend instead of save.

Well, they'd certainly have less to spend. There seem to be a fair number of people who think they can keep things without paying for them if they hide from the landlord and the repo men, though.

And the soapboxing is okay. Hey, what else is LJ for? Well, aside from memes and media reviews, that is. {g}