Number One:
I went to a FREE Mae show at Wanda's school. Beforehand we ate dinner at one of her friends' apartments. It was really yummy - rice, fish, curry (which I couldn't have because it had chicken in it), and an eggy-tomatoey thing that was absolutely heavenly. Dinner took a lot longer than we thought and we were sure we wouldn't get to the venue in time, but the doors opened later than they were supposed to and we got there in plenty of time.
The place was TINY; it was a Starbucks with a little stage area toward the back - not a whole lot bigger than your average coffee shop. We were right on top of the stage the whole show, quite literally - I had one foot resting on the stage and was leaning on the speakers.
Me sitting on the stage with Jacob's shmexy drum set in the background.
I got a very pleasant surprise when I saw that Mark, the bassist who left the band in summer '07 because he got married, had returned!! He was always sort of my favorite. He was so pretty, but mysterious. He played his bass in the shadows and didn't show up in the podcasts. If he did, it was with the whole group and he never said anything. In fact, I don't know if I'd ever heard his voice until that night. But surprisingly, he was grinning the whole show, clearly having the time of his life as he cracked jokes on stage and slapped Zach (guitar)'s butt while Zach was adjusting equipment. I figured he must have been really happy with his marriage and thought, 'good for him.'
Mark, Jacob, and Zach
The show was good times. They played a ton of songs off their first album, Destination: Beautiful, including "Soundtrack to our Movie," "All Deliberate Speed," and one I never expected to hear live, "Skyline Drive." They also played "Countdown," which was my first favorite song off The Everglow because it reminded me of wanting to get the heck out of my podunk little town. AND they played the totally-adorable "Just Let Go" off Singularity, their newest album. It's a falling-in-love song so naturally I'm a sucker for it.
Zach, Dave, and New Rob
When the show ended, Mark was getting off the stage and he steadied himself on my arm, so I seized the opportunity and stopped him for a second to ask when he'd joined back up. "I'm not here," he told me conspiratorially. "I'm a ghost." Grinning the whole time. And smelling of alcohol. Dag, that explained a lot, I guess. I said I would like to take a picture with him even though he was only a ghost.
Me with Mark, and new Rob being a goof in the background.
Then Mark was talking about how he was exhausted beyond all reason, and anything we said, he'd probably be like "yeahh! Good idea!" So, jokingly, since I knew he was already married, I nudged him and said, "Hey Mark, wanna get married sometime?" He was like, "There's only one problem with that idea..." and made a big show of pulling out his wedding ring.
Then he went on to show us how he'd burned off a bunch of hair on his arm with an accidental fireball he caused while repairing equipment (ADD much?), and the topic would've been dropped, except that as I went around talking to the other guys and getting pictures with them, he kept coming up to me and saying random stuff. He was one of those people who can't just, like, come up and talk to you; he's got to get your attention by touching your arm or your shoulder or like putting his arm around you. Maybe that was the booze talking, or maybe I just got hit on by a rock star. XD
He kept telling me my glasses were cool. The second time, he was wearing glasses too, so I made him switch with me and then he made fun of how blind I was.
Me with New Rob, who replaced Old-Asian-Rob on keys.
Everyone with Zach (guitar)
Me with Dave (vocals and guitar)
I talked to Jacob (drums) for a really long time. He remembered some discs I gave them of pictures of Mark and Rob when both left the band last summer. He also remembered my story about missing Relient K and then seeing Mae at the Warped Tour in '05 and how their set made it all worthwhile.
Mark came over again after that and Jacob went to pack up his gear. Then I realized I'd forgotten to ask about the whole "multi-sensory aesthetic experience" theory their name comes from. I knew one of the guys in the band had come up with the theory, but I didn't know which one. Mark told me I should ask Jacob about it, so I jumped up on stage and talked to him about it for a really long time.
Turns out the idea derives from the two years of intense research he did on my favorite condition ever, synaesthesia. He told me the idea of the band was to recreate a synaesthetic experience for non-synaesthetes, hence the random videos they had playing behind them during the set. I think they should find a way to incorporate smell into shows, too. That'd be REALLY multi-sensory.
When we were done talking, I was walking back over to where Wanda and Fran were waiting for me to stop being a groupie when Mark bounded over to me yet again, saying, "Hey! Look at that guy. Don't you think he's a pretty foxy guy?" I laughed but I couldn't figure out whether he was talking about Jacob or the crew guy, both of whom were in the vicinity of where he pointed. Then he randomly asked how old I was (I couldn't help thinking of Adventure Time: "how old ARE you?" "I'm twelve years old!" "I'm twenty-eight!") He got all wistful thinking about when he was nineteen and told me it's a good age and I should squeeze as much goodness out of it as possible.
Which I guess I've been doing this week. I keep thinking about an away message one of my friends had up a couple years ago - something to the effect of, in twenty years, you won't remember the homework, but the fast times in between. And yeah, the TAI spin on that statement WAS necessary.
I'm off to class for now. But don't think this is the end. The end is not the end.
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Currently listening: Kiros - A Single Strand
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