Alex's Top Ten Commandments for Summer Concertgoing
10. Thou shalt not mosh. Seriously, whose brilliant idea was moshing? It's basically a mess of drunks trying to pass each other over each other's heads while hooting and hollering to all of their friends. When the sober person trapped in the moshpit decides not to pass the mosher and he falls, he screams and yells at the sober person. And then none of the moshers remember it the next day. The sober person does, and it has severely damaged his/her concertgoing experience.
9. Thou shalt remember thy deoderant. ENOUGH SAID!!!
8. Thou shalt not grab another concertgoer's butt when passing her. I've had that happen to me, and I am seriously thinking of getting a full-length porcupine dress with a train to wear to the next show. Let's see someone grab that! But seriously, I am not for you to grab! That is why my butt and other parts of me are on me! They're not yours.
7. Thou shalt not go all fangrl/fanboy on an artist that thou dost not know all that well. I'm warnething you! You might as well go bury your head in the sand along with the 98 degrees fans and Y2K alarmists because nothing looks sillier.
6. Thou shalt not wear a dress over thine pants. Look, if dresses were meant to be worn with pants they would be called shirts. And I think there is already something called a shirt.
5. Thou shalt not wear girl's clothes if thou canst not fit into said girl's clothes. Muffintops are never attractive on ANYONE.
4. If thou art staffing the merch table, thou shalt not charge in excess of $25 for a tour shirt. (I don't want to name names, but a little snooping around the merch tables and seeing their prices should make your toes curl.)
3. Thou shalt know at least the hits of the artist/band that thou art seeing.
2. Thou shalt use protection and practice safe sound if thou art seeing a really loud band. To minimize any ringing in the ears, I recomment "foamy" disposable earplugs. Better safe than sorry! And cotton balls just won't do the trick. They don't work.
1. Thou shalt not get so smashed or stoned that thou canst not remember the show the next day. Look, if you're making the voyage and paying to get in, you'll want to remember the experience!
That is all. Alex has spoken.
"A grl can do what she wants to do, and that's all I'm gonna do. So I don't give a damn about my bad reputation. Oh no! Not me!"
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Friday, June 15, 2007
Tales from the Tent
One of the highlights of the summer so far was the summer Women Helping Women social/fundraiser for the local women's shelter. And I, being one of their social committee members, got to help with it! I did everything they needed me for--prepping up the silent auctions, running water to the guest speakers, wrapping up the prizes from the auction (including a fabulous Revel set of jewelry made by my own fair hands) and helping the guests take them to their cars, and disassembling the enormous tent they had rented. It was a good time, and the LaCASA staff really appreciated my efforts. They had gone ALL OUT for the event (trio of musicians including a harp player, fans in the tent, CICADA netting although those bugs haven't come this far north yet, and some uberfancy decorations), and it really paid off. We met capacity for the tent--700 guests and 40-some staffers running in and out to help them. What was especially surprising was the number of men there. I would say that among the 700 guests there were between 200 and 300 men. I was most impressed by the number of men because I feel it's an issue that they should get more involved in. They seemed as though they wanted to be there and help out the cause of aiding domestic violence survivors. The guests were pretty diverse--teens, adults, politicians, a minister, the owners of several local businesses, teachers, and even a local rock band named Avigilante to name a few.
I had arrived when the speakers began. Our speakers were a singer (and incest survivor) and the prosecutor for sex crimes in Queens, NY. The singer was first. She did a terrific acoustic song with an upbeat instrumentation, but some chilling lyrics about her experience. When she began to speak about her father's physical and emotional abuse of her, most of the audience was tearing up. It was heartrending--not just what he did to her but also how few people believed that harrowing story. The prosecutor was intense. She told her stories about the disbelief people have shown towards the survivors, and many people in the audience were crying by this time. It was heartbreaking to say the least, but it was also a good sign that the people cared.
My shift went until the end, so I stayed on to help the guests and dismantle the marquis tent when they had left (yep, I got to dismantle that huge tent in a dress! Yeah!). But seeing the crowds that showed up--all for the same cause--was so inspiring. They were all there because they cared about preventing and helping the survivors of sexual assault. They were there because they wanted to make a difference in their own way (several are now volunteering or working at LaCASA). It was an amazing sight and experience to behold.
I wish I could show this sight to anyone who thinks domestic violence is just the survivor's issue. The throngs of guests from our community and from other towns (not to mention the big staff) show that it is anything but! They really made me aware of the power of everyone's efforts.
I had arrived when the speakers began. Our speakers were a singer (and incest survivor) and the prosecutor for sex crimes in Queens, NY. The singer was first. She did a terrific acoustic song with an upbeat instrumentation, but some chilling lyrics about her experience. When she began to speak about her father's physical and emotional abuse of her, most of the audience was tearing up. It was heartrending--not just what he did to her but also how few people believed that harrowing story. The prosecutor was intense. She told her stories about the disbelief people have shown towards the survivors, and many people in the audience were crying by this time. It was heartbreaking to say the least, but it was also a good sign that the people cared.
My shift went until the end, so I stayed on to help the guests and dismantle the marquis tent when they had left (yep, I got to dismantle that huge tent in a dress! Yeah!). But seeing the crowds that showed up--all for the same cause--was so inspiring. They were all there because they cared about preventing and helping the survivors of sexual assault. They were there because they wanted to make a difference in their own way (several are now volunteering or working at LaCASA). It was an amazing sight and experience to behold.
I wish I could show this sight to anyone who thinks domestic violence is just the survivor's issue. The throngs of guests from our community and from other towns (not to mention the big staff) show that it is anything but! They really made me aware of the power of everyone's efforts.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Pieces of me
All right, I REALLY can't stand the song I used to title this entry, but it was fitting for today. Well, today I've been feeling incredibly good about myself. I just donated a foot of quality Alex-hair to Locks of Love. My stylist just made a footlong ponytail and then practically SAWED it off with a scissors and then styled it to make it presentable. I must say, this is the shortest I've had my hair (aside from when I was a baby) for as long as I can remember. It's actually kind of cute--it's like a shorter page-cut, and it curls up underneath. Didn't know that would happen, but I like the results and think I will get it again this way. Either that or I'll grow it long again to donate another foot of it. It's so much more manageable than the mane was and it doesn't even mess when I headbang! It's kind of funny--I normally don't consider myself to be self-absorbed, but I've been playing with the hair at its new length and flipping it around (and when I got home, I just wanted to show it off!).
I'm not trying to sound self-righteous, but I swear, you've got bits and pieces of Alex going everywhere! I give my blood every three months (although I can't do it until September because of my recent piercing), I've given plasma at the plasma drive, and I've got the organ donor on my drivers license. And now the hair. Guess if I can't be of use to people, then pieces of me should be!
I'm not trying to sound self-righteous, but I swear, you've got bits and pieces of Alex going everywhere! I give my blood every three months (although I can't do it until September because of my recent piercing), I've given plasma at the plasma drive, and I've got the organ donor on my drivers license. And now the hair. Guess if I can't be of use to people, then pieces of me should be!
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Fake your way to the top!
I am viewing my collection of CDs and DVDs and am struck by a revelation.
Why is it that the movies that feature fake bands almost always have better music than most real bands out there? I have the soundtracks and/or the DVDs for these movies:
The Blues Brothers
This is Spinal Tap (don't know how to do the umlaut thingy over the "n")
Josie and the Pussycats
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Dreamgirls
Almost Famous
Edgeplay (well, technically, the band was prefabricated but the grls did have talent--OK, I'm stopping there before I launch into the history of the Runaways)
I swear, all of these soundtracks are on my "most played" list on my computer, and I've probably worn out the DVDs for most of them! Most of the stuff on the soundtracks is pretty basic. Everyone knows "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls because it's a standard, and "Cherry Bomb" (from Edgeplay) is a cult classic. And even I (out of practice and all!) could probably best Rachael Leigh Cook in an axe-off, since the riffs are pretty much all three chords. But seriously, it's still some catchy stuff out there and to me, a lot more fun and catchy than most of the stuff on the radio. Now if only some of these bands (with the exception of the Runaways, which came, sang, and conquered the Japanese market before dissolving) were real ones.
A grl can dream, right?
Why is it that the movies that feature fake bands almost always have better music than most real bands out there? I have the soundtracks and/or the DVDs for these movies:
The Blues Brothers
This is Spinal Tap (don't know how to do the umlaut thingy over the "n")
Josie and the Pussycats
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Dreamgirls
Almost Famous
Edgeplay (well, technically, the band was prefabricated but the grls did have talent--OK, I'm stopping there before I launch into the history of the Runaways)
I swear, all of these soundtracks are on my "most played" list on my computer, and I've probably worn out the DVDs for most of them! Most of the stuff on the soundtracks is pretty basic. Everyone knows "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" from Dreamgirls because it's a standard, and "Cherry Bomb" (from Edgeplay) is a cult classic. And even I (out of practice and all!) could probably best Rachael Leigh Cook in an axe-off, since the riffs are pretty much all three chords. But seriously, it's still some catchy stuff out there and to me, a lot more fun and catchy than most of the stuff on the radio. Now if only some of these bands (with the exception of the Runaways, which came, sang, and conquered the Japanese market before dissolving) were real ones.
A grl can dream, right?
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