vovat | From Amos to Noone

I actually have quite a bit to write about today, so I guess I'll get to it. On Thursday,

bethje and I went to see Tori Amos at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.

She was backed by a string quartet, but they didn't play on every song. I suppose it would have been way too much work to come up with string arrangements for all the material in her back catalog. Good mix of songs, including stuff from throughout her career (even a song from Y Kant Tori Read, specifically "Cool on Your Island"). For what it's worth, I've noticed a tendency for her audiences to get rather overly excited. Hey, I was glad to hear "Mr. Zebra" too (hey, it's probably the closest thing Tori has to a novelty song, so why WOULDN'T I like it?), but I didn't feel the need to scream like (as Beth put it) a cartoon character whose butt had caught on fire. I also have to wonder what Tori is like in her private life, because even when she's answering routine questions and such, she still seems like she's in her own world. Then again, maybe that's how I come across, too. I don't know. I know she's friends with Neil Gaiman, who seems to be a pretty normal guy, but I'm only going by public images here. Perhaps in their everyday lives, Tori is really down-to-earth and Neil really bizarre. Why else would he marry Amanda Palmer? Nah, I'm just kidding. I love Amanda.

On Sunday, we made the trek up to New York City. We had planned to leave in the morning, but Beth was sick and I was just downright tired, so we ended up leaving much later than we had planned. We met

not_glimmer for dinner, and lost track of time, so we ended up getting to our concert late. This time, it was Herman's Hermits at B.B. King's Blues Grill in Times Square. I don't know if the band has any of the original members other than Peter Noone, but he's the draw anyway, so I guess it doesn't really matter.

He was in good form, making a lot of jokes. Some were exactly the same as when we saw him in Atlantic City, including when he held a record sleeve up to his head while singing "Leaning on the Lamp Post," but that's okay.

They played their hits plus a selection of covers, many of them from fellow British Invasion bands. Perhaps most interesting, however, was hearing Peter sing Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire." There were plenty of weird fans at this show as well, but a very different sort of weird.

I'm not entirely sure what I thought of the most recent Simpsons episode, starring Joan Rivers as Krusty's original agent. There were some good moments, and I think Krusty is a character who's still generally amusing even when the plots aren't. He's a good example of a character who's funny because he's not funny. The spoof on the current wave of nostalgia was pretty good, too. It just didn't seem like the story really went anywhere, and the ending was pretty abrupt. It didn't really resolve anything, either, especially because we all know Krusty will be back doing his regular show the next time a plot or joke calls for it. Speaking of which, is Krusty still in Congress?

In Dragon Quest IX, I beat Sir Sternivus Swinedimple, and it looks like I only have only fygg left to retrieve. I guess it has something to do with the antisocial town of Wormwood Village, but I haven't figured out what yet. I have some other games I want to start playing, but my obsessive-compulsive nature won't let me unless I can figure out a systematic way to do so. Also, after my Sims 2 dream last night, I now want to play that as well, although I don't know that I will.