Porno Stash

Deb and I went to see our first summer concert of the season, The New Pornographers at the Electric Factory.

It was an amazing show-- I was slightly disappointed that Neko Case wasn't there, but nonetheless, a rockin' concert. A perfect mix of the old stuff and the new stuff, and while the opening act was plagued by false starts and sound issues, the New Pornographers put on a flawless, boppin'-in-your-seat show.

Oh, yeah, I had a seat at the Electric Factory. You know you're old when you look at the crowd gathered around the stage and sigh "It's just too crowded. Plus it's such a long walk to the bar. What's that? There are seats up by the bar? Dude, I'm so there."

By chance we met up with my good friend Melissa Raffel and her husband Lawrence and after Deb convinced two nice men to scoot down, we actually got to sit next to them. (Behold the powers of my persuasive girlfriend!) We did have to jealously guard the four seats when one of us got up for a pee break-- those skinny hipsters are like hawks! All together it was an amazing night.

I didn't get a great picture of the actual concert, as there was a strict no-camera rule in effect and Deb was making me paranoid about confiscation of my camera. As it was, I had to smuggle it inside an alternative menstrual product.

Security lady: "What's this?"

Me: (praying she doesn't notice the weight of the camera) "They're like pads. Only, you know, washable."

Security lady: (quickly putting the bag back) ..."Oh. Okay, then. I still have to frisk you"

Me: (relieved) "Oh, SURE!"

After getting over the intial awkwardness of maybe appearing a little too excited about being frisked, I only managed this blurry shot:


But here's a better, more professional picture of the band for you:


After the concert, we stumbled out of the Electric Factory, a little buzzed on our too-expensive beers when we spotted something on fire across the street.

It turns out Shampoo was having a Pirates vs. Ninjas night and to promote it had people playing with fire in the parking lot (I suppose this makes sense in some freaky nightclub world):

This girl kept smiling at me. Which was disconcerting when she was swinging fire all around herself.

This guy reminded me of college:

Miss you, Magic Mike!

It was such a great night. Radiohead is our next concert-- tomorrow night! We're going with Lindsay and Carrie, so debauchery is sure to follow. Lots of pictures and stories to come, I promise.

In the mean time, I leave you with a little New Pornographers... and a huge crush on Neko Case.