Heaneyland!

In case you wish that the guys next to you hadn't felt like showing up

Rose and I went to see the Posies last night. Opening bands were nothing special -- the Deathray Davies (great name) and Oranger -- both of them competent, pleasant enough, and having a decent ability to write a hook, but that was about it. But the Posies put on an excellent show, jumping off the stage in mid-set to play particularly loud versions of two songs ("Grant Hart" and "Dream All Day") in the audience. Ken Stringfellow in particular brought the rock-star attitude, eventually going so far as to remove his shirt during "I Finally Found a Jungle I Like!!!" (after inviting twenty or so people to dance onstage -- including the guy who I will now forever think of as "the dork who kept making a big show about waving a towel around for some reason" -- and talking about how he had an erection, although he used the word "boner"). Before he took off the shirt, his matching shirt and pants and general ranginess gave him a very Todd-Rundgren-in-jump-suit look.

Anyway, clearly the man likes to rock. I would not have expected quite so much throwing-of-the-self-around-the-stage from him, especially since his recent solo material has been so mellow and orchestrated (and, incidentally, I notice that his excellent solo album, "Touched", is available used at Amazon for, like, three bucks).

The concert was slightly marred by the stoned guys in their 50s who squeezed in right next to our seats upstairs just as the Posies were starting their set, getting way too close to Rose's personal space (one of them was poking her in the butt with his knee for a while), talking loudly through songs right next to Rose's ear (until Rose told them to please for God's sake shush and could you stop elbowing me EVERY TIME you take a drink of water?), and spending an ungodly amount of time arranging and rearranging the pile of bags and jackets and I don't know what that they had piled on the table we were sitting at (and putting on jackets and taking off jackets and Jesus Christ, could you people STOP??). And thus our hit/miss ratio of attending concerts that do not involve fellow audience members behaving badly right next to us goes down once again.