going to the Kimya Dawson and friends show at the Black Cat in DC last night was amazing! (thanks to Mel for the heads up) Spoonboy and Angelo Spencer both opened up for her and they were pretty good as well, especially Angelo, who is Kimya's husband.
he was essentially a one man band and rocked the stage (litterally, i was resting against the stage and it was vibrating!). he even gave a little shout out to good ol' West Virginia! (and the five of us ,out of probably a hundred, cheered)...more about the show in a minute.
let me tell you about the adventures leading up to it...
before we headed out of town, we decided to stop at Skyline Coffee Co. (we unanimously agreed that this was now our new favorite place) to grab some hot drinks for the ride cause it was rainy and dreary outside. speaking of the weather, we saw protesters standing out in the rain and cold protesting the war in Iraq, while we were walking to the coffee shop.
what a diligent little group of people!?! after speaking to the owner of Skyline, i found out that they gather there every Thursday to protest, talk about a commitment! ...anyway, we ended up staying there and talking until it was almost too late to head out! on our way back to the car, i was trying to take a picture of this little whole in the wall bar called the Owl's Club that i would like to check out one day (cause if you've ever been to my house, you'll know i'm that crazy owl lady).
but while i was trying to get a good angle, two older men stepped out for a smoke break. one immediately started waving and posing for the camera, which makes for an interesting story, but made me not want to go in there...probably ever!
on the road...as soon as we got on 27o towards Washington, the rain became worse and it was almost impossible to see. (good thing i don't drive) but with J's good driving skills and the lack of traffic on the road, we drove through the "magical circle" (Chevy Chase Circle) and into DC with 45 minutes to spare. that 45 minutes really came in handy when we took a wrong turn and over shot our destination (you know we can never go anywhere out of town without getting lost or one of us getting frustrated) i ended up having to ask three different people for directions. can you imagine J sitting in the driving seat fuming over the fact that i had to ask three other men (that weren't him) for directions? finally, after the third guy, who was the only one at a crowded bus stop nice enough to walk out in the rain and showed us the way, we were pointed towards the right direction. stuck at a traffic light, we suddenly found the same guy knocking at my window and asking for a ride...now, wait a minute! who is sane enough to let some stranger from DC into their car you might ask? if he hadn't given us directions, we would have politely declined, but we looked at each other and felt like that was the right thing to do, plus he was going the same way, so we let him in. the atmosphere in the car changed the moment he sat down behind the passenger seat and started demanding money and belongings.
no, this scenario didn't really happen! the guy turned out to be really nice and helpful and we both felt like we had done a good deed. after finding a parking spot, we crossed the street and made it to a spot in line at five after 8. good timing right? well, the show was supposed to start at 8, but the doors didn't open til 8:30! while we were in line, we met a little girl. i was pretty surprised to learn that she was only four and her mom brought her to the show from Virginia to see her idol, Kimya. how cute was that? she was a ball of energy and even bragged about not having to go to school in the morning.
Spoonboy opened the show and it felt like years before he got off the stage. he even got booed a little at one point, but don't think it was because he sucked or anything, i think it was just because he talked a lot. then Angelo Spencer followed, by that time i had wedged myself into a pretty good spot on the right hand side of the stage near the speakers and Mel and her party showed up. Kimya Dawson's set was really mellow and cool. i think she's a great song writer and i can't wait for her children's album to come out! she played a lot of songs with Matt Tobey in the background and played a few songs from the soundtrack of
Juno, my favorite movie of 2008.
anyway, remember that little girl i mentioned earlier? she was standing to the left of the stage (essentially the VIP section) and rocked out the whole time! (mind you it was probably passed her bedtime)
she almost stole the show and Kimya couldn't stop gushing over how cute she was. what a rad little kid!
by the time the end of the show rolled around it was way late. we got lost again on our way back through the "magical circle." luckily there were tons of signs for 495, so we made it out of that mess without having to ask anyone for directions... you might ask what else can go wrong? once we were about some miles passed Frederick, where gas stations were sparse, we thought we were gonna run out of gas! luckily, we made it into Boonsboro and made a pit stop at Sheetz. while there, i found out that they throw away their donuts at a certain point of the night (i realize a lot of places do this and am shocked). i managed to join another couple in trying to coarse the counter clerk into letting us take the donuts. i mean, we could have given them to a shelter or drove around town to give them out! RJ (the clerk) was not having any of it, and we were defeated at last. disappointed, we went home.
finally home, we had to jump another hurdle. earlier in the day, Remy had gone into heat, so we had to find an effective way to keep her off the furniture and our bed. we decided to keep her in the kitchen for the night and that was hard for me cause she's my little cuddle bug. i'm pretty bad at that and if i wasn't a zombie from the night's shenanigans, i wouldn't have been able to go to sleep...
GEEZ! have i managed to somehow write a book instead of a blog!?! sorry folks! i promise i'll be better at shortening stories. i hope you enjoyed mine today. have a great one!
