The Boys Are Back In Town - as if you hadn't heard... and last night Carole and I attended their first sold out Vancouver performance.
You'd have to live under a rock to not have heard all the U2 hype that Vancouver has been building up since February... first there was the rumor that U2 was going to rent GM Place exclusively for a whole month, as their own private rehearsal site, to gear up for the world tour. Then they actually showed up in our city, and were spotted all over the place for weeks on end - From fancy restaurants, to Irish Pubs (St. Patricks Day at the Irish Heather must've been a blast!), to walks on the Sea Wall, it seemed the boys from U2 were becoming a permanent fixture in our proud city.
But as soon as it started, it was over. They had to start that wold tour, after all!
Then, last week, they were back. A week early? Why? The concerts weren't scheduled until the 28th and 29th... why were they setting up their show so early? It turns out that in March, the boys were doing more than just rehearsing their songs, light show, and rock star moves... Bono was busy scouting locations for their next video City of Blinding Lights. It turns out, Vancouver was going to be that city!
So after a few days of stock footage, and a day of shooting scripted audience/crowd footage (by the way, the 4000 fans that got to be in the video for free, also got an impromptu mini-concert out of U2 for free), last night they got plenty of "real" concert footage as 17,000+ of us packed GM Place for their first of two full shows.
Okay - so before I go too far, I want it to be clear that I'm not the biggest U2 fan in the world... anybody who knows me, knows that I'd rather be watching Metallica, Godsmack, Korn, Mudvayne, heck - even Ozzy or Kiss or Alice Cooper would excite me... but U2? Carole has already dragged me kicking and screaming to see U2 not once, but twice - so what compelled me to go a third time? Well, the hype for one... I've never heard of a show selling out in 180 seconds... not to mention TWO sold-out shows in 180 seconds! As Carole kept reminding me last night, "these are tickets to covet! They're going for $500 on e.Bay!" - so the prestige thing certainly came in to play. It seems the whole city wanted to be at that concert, and we were two of the lucky few that had the chance. Other than that, I wasn't nearly as excited as Carole was... I mean, with nearly 400 concerts under my belt already, it takes a lot to excite/surprise/entertain me these days. But last night, U2 did NOT let me down. There's a reason why they're on top of the world right now, and they proved it to all of us last night. THAT has got to be respected, and dare-I-say 'admired', no matter WHAT kind of music you prefer. I already had plenty of respect for U2 before last night, but waking up today, I can safely say I admire them a whole lot more.
So back to the concert! The opening band was "Kings of Leon" - four brothers (yes, real brothers) from the U.K., who have risen from absolute obscurity in 2003, to "World Tour with U2" status in less than 18 months. Wow guys, can I have your manager/promoter/booking agent's phone number? I think I'd like to be his friend!
The band was good, entertaining, and polite... the singer at one point thanked the cheering crowd for "being respectful"... I can't even imagine what kind of crowds they've played for in the past if you're grateful for a 'respectful' crowd! Musta been some rough stuff???
But undoubtably, the most entertaining part of the band (for me, anyway) was the drummer - who I have now officially dubbed "Bubblegum Jesus". Don't even think about stealing that by the way, I think it's an amazing name for a song, or maybe even a band... and i'm gonna use it one day! So anwway, this guy's got long flowing hair, and a big beard, and while he's crazily pounding away on a (pink!) drumkit, he's casually chewing gum and blowing bubbles, right through the whole show... it was hillarious - kinda surreal, but I love the unexpected - and that was certainly something I've never seem before. Yeah, I know... it's the small things that amuse me... but Bubblegum Jesus did just that. I also thought it was amazing that he could drum and chew gum at the same time... as lame as that sounds, he was lazily chawin' away while drumming franetically. Pretty cool multitasking if you ask me! I just wish I had a picture.
I had forgotten that GM Place stops selling beer after the first band is done, so I ended up standing in line between bands for nothing, but that's okay - my first three beers rang in at a whopping $23 anyway, so my wallet thanked me for sparing it. I got back to my seat just in time to see the riggers hauling ass up the ladders and being raised by cables into their positions five stories above the stage. Most people probably never even notice those guys hanging out in the rafters above every stadium show, but since my buddy BobDog is one of the main riggers at GM Place, and had been working with U2 during all their rehearsals and video shoots, I was looking out for him. Tonight, he was supposed to be manning Adam Clayton's personal spotlight. Check here to see Bob on the job, and read through the thousands of concerts he's worked on... pretty cool job if you're not afraid of heights! (and you have a really strong bladder). Bob had told me some stories about how the rehearsals were going, and about the more human side of these rock gawds (yes, they do actually flub lyrics and forget their bass lines, just like mortal musicians!) so throughout the concert I was half keeping an ear out for flubs, and Carole and I both cought quite a few! I'm sure 99% of the crowd had no idea though, as the gig was POLISHED. The light show was spectacular - the set was powerful, and the guys were primed and in shape. It's hard to believe that these 45 years olds can get up there and play for over 140 minutes straight... my legs are usually trembling after a 60 minute set! And my fingers just don't wanna work after that point either, but these guys had it goin' on!
The only "Booos" of the evening were when Bono paused for a minute and said "I want to talk to you about your prime minister, Paul Martin" - The crowd didn't like that at all... (Read the National Post Article: Martin Booed at U2 Concert)
But Bono said "now hold on a minute, this is an unfortunate turn of events of late, but I like Paul Martin. I know he's a good man, and I know we can get past this. Canada is leading the fight to end world poverty, and that's because of men like Mr. Martin." - and then the crowd's boos magically turned to cheers - simultaniously, a messages starts streaming across the video screens that says "Call Paul on 613-992-4211 or visit www.makepovertyhistory.ca " and the cheers turned to a ROAR of deafening cheers. "If you people believe in it, I believe Paul Martin is the kind of person who will listen to you. Let him know. Get out your phones. Dangerous little devices, these cell phones are. We want to make poverty history," Bono encouraged... "This is the year!"
And then the coolest thing happened - the entire stadium turned a pale blue-green glow as thousands and thousands of cell phones came out... I had no idea THAT many people had cell phones, and I suppose I completely underestimated the luminescent candlepower of 3,000 cellphones, cause those puppies were bright! The song "One" continued, and in place of the traditional (and debatably more dangerous?) lighters, cell phones were held high, and swayed back and forth to the music - I couldn't help but wonder how much radiation that was causing - lol.
Bono pulled various kids with "One" T-shirts up on stage to dance with him, and continued that generosity by pulling extatic teenie boppers up on stage with him another three or four times throughout the show - making their LIVES complete, I'm sure. Seriously - for those kids, life's gotta be all downhill from here ... how do you top that?
One particularly greatful girl had been holding up a massive cardboard sign that read "I just ditched my wheelchair - will you dance with me?" Bono went over to her, exclaimed in his thick Irish accent "It pays to advertise!", and had the bouncers bring her up on stage. Very touching indeed.
well, two encores (of three songs each) later, it was finally over... or was it? They left the crowd singing "How long, how long to sing this song" as they left the stage. I "got the joke" immediately, but Carole wasn't convinced. "Seriously," I said, "They're gone - look..." - I pointed to the back of the stage (which we could see perfectly from our vantage point) where the band was removing their in-ear monitors, just in time to see them all exist through the back doors. "Don't you get the joke???" - Carole had a blank stare for a millisecond, then a big grin spread across her face and she clued in to the very clever trick U2 had just played. As we exited the building, ten thousand fans were still in their seats, chanting "How long, how long to sing this song". We got a good chuckle out of that. I wonder if they're still there...
Well, the world certainly didn't take a break this week, and neither did I...
We've got a new pope, a B.C. election has been called, a Federal election call is being threatened, more Canadians have been 'accidentally' killed by American gunships in Iraq, the world's largest airplane began regular flights, he had a killer train wreck in Japan, the Michael Jackson trial is wrapping up with some twisted developments, the Millenium Bomber may actually "get off" after helping the feds with other terror invistigations???, and some crazy old Thai guy complaining to his doctor of an 'itch' had over 50 maggots removed from his ear. Yum.
Yup, quite a week for news - and I'm not even mentioning the half of it...
As for me, I've worked four 12 hour days in the last week, with many, many more to come... hopefully I'll get paid for it... apparently my job has been deemed 'essential service', and during troubling times (I'm prohibited from talking about it) I can be ordered to work with no promise of compensation. My peers and I are optimistic that our next paycheque will be a doozy though, even though we have'nt been told if we'll get paid yet.
Other than that, I've had a pretty nice weekend - the weather has been absolutely stellar - Friday and Saturday were 27 degrees, and every day since has been at least 22. Friday night the band had a party at our rehearsal spot for our drummer's wife's birthday, and we ended up playing an awesome set, including a couple of brand new songs. I've only had a couple rehearsals since my recovery, but, we pulled the whole thing off really well - especially considering all the alcohol consumption!
Carole had gone to the Island for the weekend, so I was left to my own devices. Saturday I got up early and went for a long walk/hike. By 10AM it was already close to 20 degrees, so I packed it in after an hour and a half, but spend the remainder of the day working in the back yard, weeding, gardening, etc. It was nice and relaxing, and felt great to finally get out there.
Saturday night I had a poker tourney, and I did terribly. Out of the 20 people there, I was the 7th out (13th place?) terrible... but I just couldn't catch a break, and, well, them's the breaks.
Sunday was nice again, and I was sure to get a little tanning done - also made sure to cleanup any mess before Carole got home! Mostly a down day though, as I prepared psycologically for the intense work week ahead of me. I couldn't even sleep at all that night... all that went through my head was "gotta be up at five, gotta be at work at 6. Working six am to six pm for the forseable future. Need my rest, gotta sleep, gotta sleep, gotta sleep..." But by 5AM I was still just staring at the clock, thinking "gotta sleep..."
As it turns out though, it hasn't been all that bad yet... of course, today is only day three... and the savng grace is the weather. I had initially thought that I wouldn't see the light of day this summer (I work indoors) but with a 12 hour shift, you get three breaks, plus a lunch, so I get out three or four times a day and go for a 20 minute walk. Sure, It's a total farmer's tan, but with an hour of mid-day exposure every day, I'm actually getttin' some good colour! lol.
I ordered a poker table from eBay a week ago, and UPS tried to deliver it yesterday, but of course, nobody was home, so I didn't get it. I called 'em, and said I'd come pick it up at their Annasis Island distribution centre. They said "That's great, it'll be waiting anytime between 2pm and 8pm today" - so after my long shift, I drive all the way through rush hour traffic, and what do they say? "It's still on the truck, we've paged the driver and she can be back here in 45 minutes. Would you like to wait?" - Geez, 45 minutes is about all the time I get to spare in a day now, after getting home, making dinner and watching 1/2 hour of TV, I'd be lucky to have 45 minutes of free time before cashing out for the night... so I said "no, I can't wait. Can you deliver it to my work tomorrow?" - "Oh, sure! Of course we can! So, hopefully I'll get that today. That'll be fun - having a real life poker table, now I can hold my own real-life poker tournaments! That is, if I ever get a day off...
Well, anyway, I've wasted enough company time workin' on Da Blog, I've gotta split - but talk to y'all soon!
Nobody in the world is going to get that title joke, except Carole. But anyway...
Yesterday afternoon, I drove down town in the sweltering 23 degree heat (74 Yankee degrees) to meet Carole and her co-workers at The Atlantic Trap and Gill (It's a bar. An 'east coast' style bar.) for a few pints before heading over to The Commodore to see "The Tea Party" (That's a band. A big Canadian band.). Yes, it was pretty hot yesterday. I had to turn on the air conditioning for the first time this year. I even got a bit of a sunburn from sitting outeating my lunch in the sun, but that's another topic... back to the Trap and Gill. Pints. Yummy pints. And hot wings and crab stuffed jalapeno poppers. Decadent. Yum.
I'd had three pints before leaving the house, so another four at the Trap had me primed perfectly for the concert. As we aproached the Comodore, we saw that the lineup was right around the block... groan... I hate lineups - so we walked right to the front, and there were a couple of old friends - Amy and Shayne! We acted like we had been looking all over for them, and the thousands of people lined up behind them didn't seem to mind when we budged in, saving ourselves a good half an hour of the sheep-herd-shuffle. That was cool. We got right in - BUT, we were both cashless, and the Comodore's dang cash machine was on the fritz... what to do, what to do??? I ended up having to leave a credit card at the bar for a drink tab, and another card with the waitress for a food tab. Carole was still hungry, so we bought some gyoza and some cajun chicken strips to go with the five additional pints I would consume over the next few hours. Ah, it's so great to be able to eat and drink without fear of consequence!
The opening band was called "Project Orange". Nobody had heard of them, but they were okay. Kind of a cross between Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins.
Between bands, we got to sit back and watch the obligatory display of roadies rushing around, tearing down the first band and setting up the headliner's stage. Mister "mic check" dude got me thinking... and chuckling... it's so funny how when there's a big crowd of kids eagerly awaiting the band, and some dude with a backstage pass dangling from his neck smoothly walks on stage, goes methodically, purposefully, from microphone to microphone and says "check, check - one two, one two" into each one, the crowd invariably breaks into a roar of applause. This phenomenon is infalable. It happens every time, at every concert - regardless of who's playing. It doesn't matter who's in the crowd, or who the stoner/roadie dude is that walks on stage. He'll always get a roaring applause for saying "check one, check two".
So I was thinking, if you were one of those really self-abasing, desperate for attention and in constant need of gratification and validation types, and you figured the only way to know that anybody loves you is if they cheer for you, BUT, you're so lacking in talent that you can't actually play any instruments, and can't sing a note, and can't do standup comedy, or hate public speaking, or hell, maybe you only have a 10 word vocabulary... well, "Mic Check Dude" would be the ULTIMATE job for you, wouldn't it? I mean, if you were really good at it, like, NOBODY can count to two as well as you can, and you were in such high demand, bouncing from venue to venue every night, checking their mics, going on the road, like your OWN tour, to check the mics in all the venues in all the cities in North America, being "that guy" that night after night, show after show, no matter HOW bad the band was, YOU always get a roaring applause... well, hell... wouldn't that be just as cool as being a rock star? I'd think it would start to go to your head after a while, wouldn't it? You'd probably start to think (and rightly so, I suppose...) that people just LOVE you... who knows, maybe that guy even has hold and cold running chicks in his private dressing room after each mic check... that would be cool. What a job.
But anyway, I digress...
Tea Party rawked. I used to like them a lot, back ten/fifteen years ago, but kinda stopped listening after a while. I've seen them in concert at least once before, and wasn't superkeen to see them again, especially with Motorhead, Steve Vai, Strapping Yound Lad, Joe Satriani, and Black Label Society all having concerts in the same 2 week period, BUT, all those other concerts sold out, I missed the boat on tix, and well, found myself at The Tea Party concert. Having said that, when sufficiently juiced, I'll rock out to anything, and, it's fair to say that with a dozen pints in me, I was sufficiently juiced.
I went out onto the floor with Amy and Carole, and tried to make out way to the front. Unfortunately, the floor was a minefield of broken glass, and with Carole wearing sandals, edging through the undulating crowd wasn't the best move - so I left the girls (lol! They were fine!) and worked my way to the very front of the stage, and back to them, in less than the space of one song - just to prove how easily it could be done. Carole wasn't impressed, pointed out that the broken glass hadn't gone anywhere in the past 60 seconds, and resolved to stand fast where she was. And with the exception of one other time, when I felt the urge to make it to the front of the crowd and back again in the space of one song, I stayed in that spot with Carole.
So, Jeff Martin is looking a little older, a little pudgier, but they've got all the energy and talent that they've ever had. The show was, as I mentioned previously, 'rawkin'. They pulled a couple of cheezy moved by breaking into cover songs during the bridges of two of their hits (once the swung into All Along the Watch Tower, and the other time it was Paint it Black), only to return to the original tune a few phrases into the cover, but, the crowd dug it - so I guess it was fun.
For the finale, Todd Kerns joined them on stage dressed like Brian Johnson of AC/DC, and they pulled off an impressively accurate rendition of "Back in Black".
All in all, it was a great time. We got home shortly before two, and I was up for work at six... argh.
Oh, yes... of COURSE Carole drove home. What-ya-think... I'm crazy?
I made a lot of resolutions last New Years. I swore I'd keep a real budget this year, and I actually did really well at that for the entire month of January. I swore I'd cut my beer consumption in half, and as long as I was having gallbladder problems, that one wasn't too hard to handle. I swore we'd get away more often this year, planning at least one long-weekend getaway every six to eight weeks, but pre-surgery, being away far from hospitals (or worse, being in the U.S!) made that resolution impossible to keep.
The one resolution that was important to me was to be more social- both at work, and at home. With coworkers, friends, everyone. I know that I was a bit of a hermit last year, and compounded with my health problems, I was a pretty crabby hermit (or is that a hermit crab?) - so I resolved to not only be 'friendlier' day to day, but to also entertain more. That meant having people over more often. We had always had our annual summer BBQ but we've even skipped that twice in the last five years... so THIS year, I swore that we'd have a different group of friends and/or family over for dinner once a month. I resolved to throw twelve dinner parties in 2005, and within the first week of January we had already planned the first three meals... but then, reality set back in, and I was hit with the "what the heck are you thinking? All you've been able to eat for the last three months is broiled fish, rice, and steamed vegetables... who's going to want to come over for THAT?"
So, my resolution became slightly modified. I now resolved to get the dinner parties happening AFTER I had recovered from the surgery. January, February, March, now April... a third of the year gone already, and not a single dinner party? Something had to be done!
I called Wayne and Patty last week and said "Hey guys, remember that time about six months ago when I said I wanted to invite you over for
a traditional British Sunday Roast dinner? Well, let's do it!"
It was great timing too - had just bottled a batch of U-Brew the day before (part of my 'spend-less-on-beer' resolution) so we had fresh Cream Ale to go with our Sunday Roast. A made a big hunk or roast beef, with Yorkshire Pudding, horseradish, traditional roasted potatoes, peas and broccoli, and covered it all with the most amazing "from scratch" gravy I've ever made. It was absolutely perfect. Sure, I'm really into making exotic, worldly dishes and this meat-n-potatoes standard seemed pretty dull compared to some of my past culinary masterpieces, but it was GOOD old fashioned cooking, and everybody loved it. I was really happy with how everything turned out - especially the gravy! Desert was the not-so-traditional combination of ice cream and apple pie.
Dinner party number one, the Traditional British Sunday Roast, was a smashing success. It's hard to believe that a month ago, having all that gravy would have sent me straight to the emergency room. So formost, thank the heavens for my newfound health. And Thanks Wayne and Patty for your company, we were really happy to have you over!
Now it's on to dinner party number two ... oh yeah, did I mention? We've got four months of missed dinners to make up! We've having my aunts over next week, so now I've got to think of a new masterpiece!
I was going to write an entry yesterday morning that started like this: "It's hard to believe that exactly one week ago, I woke up hearing 'Calvin, Calvin, it's time to wake up'"... but I didn't get around to it. I went to work for a few hours yesterday, but couldn'r make it past 1PM, and promptly crashed on the couch for three hours as soon as I got home... lucky the phone rang, or I probably would have slept straight through 'till Carole got home at 6:30. Yeah, just driving to work and sitting up for a few hours was exhausting - it took a lot out of me. But today, I got to work on time (7AM) and am still here now (12:30), though I'm starting to get tired again.
I've got four holes in my belly, but they've healed really quickly - at least on the outside... I think the scarring is going to be really minimal - I'm really happy with how well that's coming along - allthough it's really how it's healing on the INSIDE that matters...
I've still got my abs cut open in four spots, which is making it difficult to get in and out of a chair or bed (though It's getting easier everyday), but the hardest (most painful) things to do are sneazing, hiccupping, coughing, laughing, etc. Ouch!
The hospital gave me lots of painkillers to take home, and I've probably still got about 8 T3's and 4 percacets left, but I stopped taking the painkillers after about the 5th day. I figured, "if it doesn't hurt when I don't move, and if I can sleep through the whole night without waking up in pain, then I don't need to be taking perscription painkillers!" - I took a couple ibuprofen's before work yesterday and today just so that I don't have to worry about being startled by a deep breath or cough, but other than that, I'm pretty much pain free.
About the worst thing right now is that I appear to be allergic to the adhesive on my dressings. I've got a bad 'bandage shaped' rash oround each of my incisions which are really itchy, and make me want to scratch, but of course I can't even touch it for fear of ripping my stiches...
I'm down to just butterfly bandages now, so hopefully this'll go away soon, and I'll be one step closer to normal. am I boring y'all to tears yet? Sorry - but this is my first surgery, and I wanna document what I went through so that later in life I will remember how it really wasn't a very big deal at all!
I'm pretty much able to eat anything now, which is awesome! It's funny though, even when I'm being good with my diet, I still feel guilty, after going so long worrying about everything I ate... for instance, for lunch today, the cafeteria gave me a daily special choice of 'bacon cheese burger', 'beef burrito', or 'chicken stirfry on pasta' - I still didn't dare got for either of the former, and ended up ordering the stirfry... BUT, I bought a COKE instead of a mint tea, which made me feel really bad... but hey, I may blimp out over the next couple months, but I am SOOOO looking forward to eating things like burgers and fries again! Actually, to be honest, I went to McDonalds on Sunday afternoon (my first venture out of the house) but chickened out before getting a burger... instead, I had a crispy chicken sandwhich, which I figured wouldn't hurt me, but would still be a great first step towards 'pushing my limits' and seing what I can eat. Well, to make a long story short, it didn't hurt me at all, but it tasted so gross! It was fatty and greasy and disgusting! Or at least, that's how it tasted to me, after going seven months without any fast food worse than a Subway sandwhich...
so who knows, I'll probably be having a real-life burger and fries soon, (my "goal" after recovery was to go to White Spot for a Spot Burger with Bottomless Fries and Triple-O dipping sauce... it was the most decadent burger I could think of) but I'm willing to wager my prolonged period of health living will make that burger taste just as revolting as the crispy chicken. That would be cool if I could stay fit, but the big prize is that I won't ever have to WORRY about eating something again. Freedom!
I even had three beers yesterday - yup, it didn't even take me a week to sink into old habits, but these are my golden days - I'm taking advantage of 'em! The morning of surgery I weighed myself, and I was 193 lbs. That was down 32 lbs from my previous high, New Years Day, 2004. The past week that I've spend lying around sucking popcicles and eating bowls of ice cream has bumped me up to 198 already, but I'm sure that once I'm active again, that'll stabalize.
Anyway, I've still got to take it pretty easy - that means no holding a guitar around my neck yet - but other that that, it has been an amazingly quick recovery thus far. I'm looking forward to writing blog entries about stuff like the Pope dying, or the Michael Jackson trial really soon! (Kidding - I'm not looking forward to writing about the Jackson trial...)