tenth new thing...

woo hoo! it's my birthday week! i easily could have done a "my new thing for the week is turning 29", but instead of taking the easy way out, i actually decided to do something new as part of my 52 new things. thanks to the lovely k dub, *shout out*, we had tickets to see james blunt and the oh-so-adorable-possible-love-of-my-life sara bareilles at the tabernacle. now, i have already sung on stage with a major band (twice actually), so i couldn't do that as a new thing. but as for making requests, that is something new. so for my tenth new thing, i made a sign requesting a song at a concert.

we were a little late getting to the show (poster making and all) and there was a minor issue between my beloved laurel and another car in the parking garage. i had never hit a parked car before. moving cars? yes. inanimate objects, like concrete mailboxes? sure. but all of those incidences were in sally. and all over 8 years ago (no car accidents in 8 years! holler!), so i think under the circumstances, i handled it pretty well. no tears were shed. just simple disbelief of what i had done. and the fact that there was no real damage.

this was my first trip to the tabernacle, a venue that can best be described as a trashy cross between the ryman (music mecca, if you ask me) and an over-sized house of blues. it was interesting. seating in the balcony but general admissions craziness in the main level. a little something for everyone. the crowd was a decent size though it was apparent that most of the people there came to see james blunt. that's cool. more love for me to shower on ms. bareilles.

sara was amazing. you may be familiar with her uber-ubiquitous hit "love song" but i am proud to say i discovered her before almost anyone had ever heard of her (a song called "gravity" played on my pandora radio station one day and i started crying. so beautiful.) her album little voice accompanied me on my ipod to my first day of work at my new job in may of '07 and onto the buses and subways of nyc during my fourth of july visit later that year. i heart her. i didn't get many good pictures at the show for a couple of reasons. mostly, because i was too busy holding up my hot pink poster that said: hey sara b.! play a song for me. it's my b-day! (it wasn't big enough to put the name of the song "many the miles" but she played it anyway!). also, i was so excited most of the pictures were too blurry from my shaking hands and incessant jumping up and down. again, i heart her.

as for mr. blunt, he made a believer out of me. i must admit that when i first heard about the show i was disappointed that she would be playing with him. i mean, "you're beautiful" and "good-bye, my lover" are not the most uplifting songs in the history of music and i have some history attached to each (as, i am sure, many do). so the idea of having to stand there and listen to over an hour of melancholia made me want to poke my eyeballs out. and then he started playing. the boy is phat. political musings. upbeat selections. mad piano and guitar skills. honestly, i would totally see him again, even without sara b. on the bill. i left the show kinda sad i had missed the james blunt train back in the day. all in all, a stellar show.

*ps* i would be remiss if i did not mention curly haired gargantua standing in front of us at the show. she was quite possibly the most ridiculous sober concert goer i have ever had to deal with in my long concert going life. first of all, chick had no rhythm. literally none. it wasn't even like she was clapping on the 1 and the 3 when every one else was clapping on the 4 and the 8. bitch was clapping on the 5 1/2 and the 2 3/4. my musicology professor would have been pulling her hair out. (and we wouldn't want that, melanie.) second, she took her bra off ala flashdance about 5 minutes in to the show and proceeded to throw it on the stage at the only time james blunt had his back turned to us. he never saw it! and the rest of us had to listen to her yell between songs the whole rest of the night: "my bra! my BRA!" it was ridiculous. and mildly amusing. thankfully no one came to blows, though i feared for her life if she smacked kendra in the face with her nasty mane one more time.

*pps* here is a picture of the sign k dub made for trent of pink is the new blog. it didn't get featured the week i went to the show, but i thought it could stand in proxy for my other poster....which i forgot to get a picture of. dammit!