land of cave and glory

I knew in advance that this week would be hard. I’ve had tickets for Nick Cave since late summer, and Commencement came unusually early this year, as in the day after. In a 24-hour period I’ve thrashed around to “Dig Lazarus Dig!!!” and walked in procession to “Pomp & Circumstance.” I’m paying the price for two consecutive late nights with a sore throat and a general feeling imminent doom, but I remain proud of myself. It’s like I had to live at least two or three lives this week simultaneously, and the stress of overlap hasn’t killed me. I also feel like it’s been the weekend for three days already, and though you wouldn’t know it from my hours you would know it from my jeans. (And they shall know us by our pants.)

I brought Mason to see the Bad Seeds purely on the hope that he would inevitably enjoy himself. We had an argument going in, a fact only notable because it encouraged us to make up throughout the opening act. The Guvernment is a terrible venue, but I can report with honesty that it’s enormously improved by an extended make-out session.

And from the first moment that Nick stormed out, a balding mustachio’d skeleton in a black suit whanging on a tambourine for all it was worth, to the moment we left mid song because we simply couldn’t stand any longer, it was a glorious night. I knew that as soon as the tambourine went spinning up and then to the stage while he ignored its trajectory and grabbed the mike. I knew that when he made an audience member named Jennifer the keeper of his towel, calling for it between songs. And I knew it when he played two consecutive requests: the Ship Song and the Mercy Seed. I miss the comforting bereted bulk of Blixa Bargeld, but the rest of the Bad Seeds are holding up well.

The next morning wasn’t pretty, but I got through it without crawling under my desk for a nap. By the time Mason & I got to the restaurant for some pre-ceremony dinner, our light-headedness was making everything rather wonderful. The two+ hours positively flew by, thanks to a heady combination of extreme fatigue, drinks with dinner and the proximity of my favourite Art teacher (who made up trivia questions to pass the time, like “which Phys.Ed. award to I find the most amusingly-named?” How could you not enjoy that?) A number of reproving glances were thrown our way by the department heads in our neighbourhood, but I couldn’t stop laughing much of the time. I was even glad to see the returning students, which can be emotionally draining. Best podium party experience ever.

"Love you!!" - Essence, one of my grads

Today also sucked, but today I can at least hope for shepherd's pie and a long long time in bed.

Labels: bat masterson, music

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- Rocketbride's adventure of 10/03/2008 05:44:00 p.m.