Suzanne suggested I write something about music, and then I stumbled upon a music meme at mo’omana’o (which I hope doesn’t mean anything offensive). Serendipity-doo-dah!
Which bands/artist do you own the most albums by?
The syntax of this question makes my brain hurt. “From which artist do you own the most albums,” perhaps? I don’t know. Regardless: I’m pretty sure the answer is Wilco. It usually is.
“AM” “Being There” “Mermaid Avenue” “Summerteeth” “Mermaid Avenue Vol. II” “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” “A Ghost is Born” “Sky Blue Sky” “Wilco: The Album” “The Whole Love” and Number 11, “Alpha Mike Foxtrot,” will be here soon!
What was the last song you listened to?
Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off.”
What was the last show you attended?
The New Pornographers, whom I’m positive would be more popular if it weren’t for that name.
The members of the band aren’t exactly spring chickens, so the concert was just like that movie where the evil new dean wants to cut the English department in order to fund a new training facility for the football team, so the professors band together to do a benefit concert to save the department and it’s totally awesome and the new dean falls into a bucket of Gatorade at the end.[ref]Why doesn’t that movie exist?[/ref]
It was an excellent show.
What’s the most musically involved you have ever been?
I played the saxophone in high school. Not particularly well, though.
Who is one band/artist you’ve never seen live but have always wanted to see?
I’ve always wanted to see Paul Simon in concert.
How many concerts have you been to?
The short answer? Somewhere around 56.
The long answer:
The first one was either Crystal Bernard or Bush & No Doubt. Crystal Bernard — who played Helen in “Wings,” the greatest-ever sitcom set in a small regional airport — was opening for another country musician, but I can’t remember who it was. (Rockford says it was somebody named Gary Allen, but I don’t know who that is and he wasn’t even there.) I was at my dad’s house, where they were all country music fans. I’m not a country fan, and I’m pretty sure I was a brat about going. (Sorry, Dad.) I don’t think it was as bad as I’d expected it to be, though. The Bush show was in February 1996, just a few months after No Doubt released “Tragic Kingdom.” Bush was pretty good; Gwen Stefani was dynamic. No Doubt’s performance remains one of the most fun, energetic shows I’ve seen.
Since those two concerts, there’ve been a lot of others. Including:
- Wilco (19 times)
- Neko Case (4)
- Ben Folds (1, which I wrote about at “My one-and-only VIP experience“)
- The Black Keys with the Flaming Lips (1)
- G. Love (1, not long before Poppy was born; my friend Amy had an extra ticket)
- My Morning Jacket (3, I think, the first of which was not long before Pete was born)
- Son Volt (1)
- Beth Orton (2)
- The Wallflowers (1)
- Robert Plant & Allison Kraus (1)
- Neil Young (1)
- Steely Dan (1)
- Alejandro Escovedo (1)
- Mumford & Sons (1)
- They Might Be Giants (1)
- Yo La Tengo (1)
- The Pixies (1)
- Blue Oyster Cult (1, at a county fair in Missouri)
- Tori Amos (1)
- The Gin Blossoms and the Spin Doctors (1; the Gin Blossoms were great)
- The Indigo Girls (1; at a free anti-nuclear rally thing)
- Jordan Knight (1; also with Amy)
- Bon Iver (1, opening for Wilco)
- Jonathon Richman (1, opening for Wilco)
- Soundtrack of Our Lives (2, one at a festival and the other with roughly a dozen people in Missouri)
- Blitzen Trapper (2, I think)
- Iron & Wine (1)
- Jimmy Buffet (1)
- Dave Matthews Band (1; Perry Mason and Mrs. Perry Mason had an extra ticket)
I’m not sure how to quantify music festivals. Rockford and I have seen a lot of artists at festivals — Wilco, Ryan Adams, Calexico, Howie Day, Modest Mouse, Jack Johnson, the Blind Boys of Alabama and The Killers (among others) at the Austin City Limits festival in 2004; Bob Dylan with My Morning Jacket and Wilco at the Americanarama Fest a few years ago; and Beck, 311, The Replacements and others at the 99X Big Day Out in Atlanta a lot of years ago.
How about you? Any great concert memories?
