I'm not crazy I'm just a little boy. And you're not crazy, you're just a little girl.
I'll go with that.
It's Boxcar by The Rosebuds (w/ photos from their '06 European Tour). I think UITB first introduced me to these guys. Then their songs kept popping up here and there as a soundtrack in the story of my life, so I've started paying them mind. I just realized they're from Raleigh, NC, right next to my hometown of D'ham. Funny how these lyrics remind me of one of my favorite childhood reads, The Boxcar Children. Flashback.
Speak o' the devil (home), last week's 20x200 pick reminds me a bit of it too. This one is in Mississippi ("Cotton Field, Mississippi" by Shuli Hallak), but there are lots of cotton fields in NC. I only ever passed them in my car, but they always fascinated me... how it is that cotton pops out of a plant like that is beyond me. Not quite as beyond me as how it is a plane stays up in the air, but beyond me all the same. I really wanted to buy one of these (and last I checked there were almost 100 left!), but I'm trying to control myself. Isn't it so pretty how the fluff of the cotton mirrors the fluff of the clouds? I shall admire it from afar...
I love that line. I'm not sayin' it's right, but I like it.
The Hideout Block Party did not dissapoint. I heard a Canadian band I'd never heard before, called Black Mountain. They might be a bit too "jammy" for my taste, but the lead singer was bad-ass. She just stood there subtly swaying and nodding her head to the beat, occassionally belting out some gorgeous icey-cool vocals. Cross Janis Joplin with Mazzy Star, and throw in a few warbles. I could do without the warbles, personally, but she earned 'em. My easily-distracted-by-unimportant-things-side also loved that she had no waist yet still wore a waist-cinching dress. But I digress.
Neko Case was the headliner and sounded great once the soundguys got their GeeDee heads out of their arses (not 'til SIX songs in after she'd already played one of my FAVORITES). There's a sound guy out there who needs to be shot. Okay, fine, maybe he just needs to be canned, but the piper needs to be paid. If you've never seen Neko live, you really must. Just like a songbird, she sounds just as beautiful live (when some amateur doesn't fuck it up), and she's a hoot to boot. Here she is at a different concert asking guys to stop wearing girly pants, a sentiment I wholeheartedly share. Stop making us stare at your mooseknuckles, damnit! You know you do it too. Tight pants are man's answer to plunging necklines. They want us to look, I'm sure of it.
Thanks to gg for her fashion commiseration (I ponder if "What Not to Wear" could take on an entire city?) and for reminding me of the deliciousness of a North Carolina hot dog. I had a couple bites despite myself, and boy do slaw and chili do a dog good. Even though I rarely partook back in NC, I had to agree with gg that it tasted like home. Thanks to B for the ticket, and for fearlessly shedding a tear or two at the sound of a pretty voice. I mean, after a few brews. We know, it was just the beer talkin'.
Biking to and fro the show was almost as fun as the show itself.... except for when some assholes shined a flashlight in my face to scream at me that I should be wearing a helmet, and "helmets save lives!" I'm well aware, Brothers Helpful. Thank you kindly, BUT (a) my head is too big. (b) it was hot. and (c) if you're so concerned about my well-being, why are you screaming in my face and blinding me with your flashlight?? Of course I didn't say a word. I just put on my best poker face, pedaled fiercely onward, and pretended not to see or hear a thing (no, not a peep).
