monday december 10 2001    |    3:34 a.m.

oh why not.

( on making an entry just now. )

the show friday was ridiculous. incredible. outstanding. too much of a good thing -- by the time trans am went on stage, i was too pooped even to stand, so i went and sat by the soundboard and watched.

the first act isn't worth mentioning, just a bunch of self-indulgent wanking and noodling with a keyboard and a mic. number two. i hadn't seen see venus live until that night, and they were lovely. really lovely.

but oxes was the heart and soul of the show. good lord what a live act. if you have the chance to see them ( they're touring with trans am right now ), please, do yourself a favor and go. first there was a pseudo-soundcheck in which the drummer took his pants off and hung out on stage in his undies. and suddenly guitarist and bass player jumped up on amps on opposite sides of the stage and positively lashed the crowd with a barrage of fucking beautiful noise. the guitarist ( i really have no clue what their names are ), who bore a strange resemblance to mr. bean crossed with lots of indie boys around columbus ohio, would leap from his amp into the crowd and prance around while playing. until suddenly i found him straddling my leg on one of his floor ventures. very disconcerting. but great of course. i was dancing, everybody was dancing, and everybody in that sort of effervescent communitas mode. in other words, getting down.

( i feel like i'm channeling m. doughty right now. hmm. )

i didn't have much of a chance to get into of montreal, since i sat on some water and was mortified because, you know, there's the seat of my pants with a big wet spot on it. so i spent most of the set with my back against the wall on the side of the stage by the merch table, talking to aramis, who is the slickest networker i think i've ever seen in these circles. i like him. he's got vision.

so the bourbon did me in, and also by the end of the night i'd had too much concert goodness. ( four amazing bands in one night is too much. ) and i slipped into my post-show funk, which lasted a day. ( i've had worse. ) it's hard to go back to your parents and your retail job after something like that, you know? sometimes. don't get me wrong, it all has its charm: but i get too excited about things and oh, just got lou barlow in my head, set up for the letdown . . . know what i mean?

today work was good. this man, white hair and blue eyes and tattoo sleeves, came back looking for me: a couple of weeks ago he promised he'd bring me a book that had changed his life ( and then told me to lend it to chicagoboy, who was there then, and was there again today ). and he did, and it made my day.

chicagoboy rocks. we have the same sense of humor, deceptively caustic and easily bruised. i don't know, we get along for some reason. he's actually been to spain twice, so we talked about that for a while, mainly madrid, and we talked about that instrument you were telling me about on friday, which was fortuitous. also he was magazine-slave today, so i had him dig me up some outdated-thus-free goodies: a copy of a manchester magazine and a dvorák cd. not bad.

also i got my paycheck cashed and took my mom to do some much-needed grocery shopping, and it is so good to finally be able to help out rather than just consume my parents' finances and energies.

then home and dinner and these back-to-back sappy-ass meg ryan movies that i apparently needed as desperately as i did al green.

thank you, by the way. we got the crowd on their feet. don't be too much of a stranger, ok?