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32 New Moons Shining in 32 Skies
Nov. 19th, 2009 12:13 pmYesterday was my birthday. I hung one more year on the line. Seriously, though, it was mostly uneventful, as I expected. I did get a lot of cool presents from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bethje, though. I'm now the proud owner of Terry Pratchett's Nation, Talking Heads' True Stories, Cracker's Low EP, The Annotated Brothers Grimm, and a GPS. Her Uncle John gave me the first part of Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze: Betrayal and the Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas special. I guess it's about time to clean up the old wishlist. And my brother gave me an Amazon gift card, so maybe I can get something for myself, too. I miss doing that. Not that I don't still do that occasionally, but I really miss having a steady income and being able to buy a book or a CD without thinking about it first.
That evening, we went to see Amanda Palmer at the TLA in Philadelphia. It was obviously just a coincidence that she was in our area on my birthday, but I like to pretend it was intentional. {g} She's been touring with a group called the Nervous Cabaret, and while I can't say I was a huge fan of their own opening set, they added quite a bit to Amanda's own songs. They include horns and everything, which meant more complex arrangements for familiar tunes. I can't remember everything she played, but I know "Missed Me," "Coin-Operated Boy," "Mrs. O," [1] "Ampersand," "Astronaut," "Guitar Hero," "Runs in the Family," and "Oasis" (with "Twist and Shout" improvised during the bridge) were all included, as was a new song that I think was called "Trout Heart Replica," and covers of "House of the Rising Sun" and the Ting Tings' "That's Not My Name." For the beginning of the encore, Amanda sat on the balcony (right next to us at first, although she moved around a bit) and played "Makin' Whoopie" [2] on the ukelele. [3] During her Ask Amanda segment, she ended up auctioning off a kiss, which someone paid either $300 or $400 for. Amanda had originally said the kiss would be during the encore, but it ended up being after the show. This was the only picture I got, and it was actually after the kiss itself. Before we left, Beth bought me a copy of the Who Killed Amanda Palmer? book, and we waited for some time to get both Amanda and photographer Kyle Cassidy to sign it. I overcame my shyness enough to tell Amanda it was my birthday, and she drew a cake next to one of the pictures in the book. I also hugged her, which puts her in an exclusive category with Carolyn Mark. {g} But I think Amanda kissed me as well, and Carolyn never did. It was worth the wait for me, but I'm not sure Beth would agree.
On our way home, we stopped by Denny's for my birthday dinner, because we know how to eat in style. {g} Seriously, though, what else would have been open at that time of night? And I like Denny's, not to mention that it's referred to by name in a Dresden Dolls song. Also a Rilo Kiley one. And when Tori Amos mentions a restaurant that serves "breakfast every hour" in "Purple People," maybe that's what she's talking about. Someone needs to arrange a meet-up of musicians at Denny's. {g}
So, yeah, I'm thirty-two now. Isn't that crazy? Well, probably not to many of you, since you've already been there and done that, but it's new to me.
[1] I just realized that Yes, Virginia apparently isn't on my computer, even though it's on my MP3 player. What's up with that?
[2] I've been listening to Allan Sherman quite a bit recently, and he actually did two parodies of this song. "Taking Lessons" was on his live LP recorded in Nevada, and "Makin' Coffee" was on an EP that he did for the Scott Paper Company. Yeah, I know I'm a dork.
[3] The Firefox spell check doesn't recognize the word "ukelele." What's up with that?
bethje, though. I'm now the proud owner of Terry Pratchett's Nation, Talking Heads' True Stories, Cracker's Low EP, The Annotated Brothers Grimm, and a GPS. Her Uncle John gave me the first part of Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze: Betrayal and the Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas special. I guess it's about time to clean up the old wishlist. And my brother gave me an Amazon gift card, so maybe I can get something for myself, too. I miss doing that. Not that I don't still do that occasionally, but I really miss having a steady income and being able to buy a book or a CD without thinking about it first.That evening, we went to see Amanda Palmer at the TLA in Philadelphia. It was obviously just a coincidence that she was in our area on my birthday, but I like to pretend it was intentional. {g} She's been touring with a group called the Nervous Cabaret, and while I can't say I was a huge fan of their own opening set, they added quite a bit to Amanda's own songs. They include horns and everything, which meant more complex arrangements for familiar tunes. I can't remember everything she played, but I know "Missed Me," "Coin-Operated Boy," "Mrs. O," [1] "Ampersand," "Astronaut," "Guitar Hero," "Runs in the Family," and "Oasis" (with "Twist and Shout" improvised during the bridge) were all included, as was a new song that I think was called "Trout Heart Replica," and covers of "House of the Rising Sun" and the Ting Tings' "That's Not My Name." For the beginning of the encore, Amanda sat on the balcony (right next to us at first, although she moved around a bit) and played "Makin' Whoopie" [2] on the ukelele. [3] During her Ask Amanda segment, she ended up auctioning off a kiss, which someone paid either $300 or $400 for. Amanda had originally said the kiss would be during the encore, but it ended up being after the show. This was the only picture I got, and it was actually after the kiss itself. Before we left, Beth bought me a copy of the Who Killed Amanda Palmer? book, and we waited for some time to get both Amanda and photographer Kyle Cassidy to sign it. I overcame my shyness enough to tell Amanda it was my birthday, and she drew a cake next to one of the pictures in the book. I also hugged her, which puts her in an exclusive category with Carolyn Mark. {g} But I think Amanda kissed me as well, and Carolyn never did. It was worth the wait for me, but I'm not sure Beth would agree.
On our way home, we stopped by Denny's for my birthday dinner, because we know how to eat in style. {g} Seriously, though, what else would have been open at that time of night? And I like Denny's, not to mention that it's referred to by name in a Dresden Dolls song. Also a Rilo Kiley one. And when Tori Amos mentions a restaurant that serves "breakfast every hour" in "Purple People," maybe that's what she's talking about. Someone needs to arrange a meet-up of musicians at Denny's. {g}
So, yeah, I'm thirty-two now. Isn't that crazy? Well, probably not to many of you, since you've already been there and done that, but it's new to me.
[1] I just realized that Yes, Virginia apparently isn't on my computer, even though it's on my MP3 player. What's up with that?
[2] I've been listening to Allan Sherman quite a bit recently, and he actually did two parodies of this song. "Taking Lessons" was on his live LP recorded in Nevada, and "Makin' Coffee" was on an EP that he did for the Scott Paper Company. Yeah, I know I'm a dork.
[3] The Firefox spell check doesn't recognize the word "ukelele." What's up with that?
