The Dresden DollsLive 2006-10-21 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant

I have to admit, I don't like being punctual. I can do it, but it causes unacceptable levels of stress in my life. Honestly, I'd rather just show up fashionably late. When it comes to shows with opening acts, I've seldom regretted this. A local band called Big Fun (probably the same group that did "Suicide - Don't Try It" in the movie Heathers) taught me this almost 20 years ago now, opening up for Men Without Hats at Mississippi Nights. [Date?] Maybe if I'd have even heard of The Red House Painters things would have been different, but "Australian experimental electronic" had entirely to many vowels in it for my taste. If I'd thought things through, however, I'd have known that The Dresden Dolls might very well put together a show worth some punctuality pains. Instead, I realized this as we walked in the door and Amanda Palmer was thanking the pole-dancers and Something Elvis (does anyone remember what she said?) that had just left the stage. We didn't miss much of the main event, at least, as The Dolls were just starting their second song as we took our seats. I can't tell you what they were playing, although I remember it being one of my favorites from the first album. However, I spent those first few songs mesmerized by the girl doing chalk drawings at the farthest point stage right. It wasn't her art, which reminded me entirely too much of the goth-chick drawings from coffee houses past. (I've never been able to appreciate goth-chick art, poetry, music, etc. properly... or at least not properly enough to have closed the deal with many goth-chicks.) It wasn't her dancing, which was a kind of back-turned booty-shake at best. It wasn't even her body, which was nothing to sneeze at unless perhaps she had a cold or something. But the combination of three - the way the drawing took shape as her arm moved with the melody and her hips swayed to the beat - was a pretty impressive performance piece. By the end of the show, she was doing chalk drawings on people's backs, which was substantially less visible but extremely cool nevertheless. The Dresden Dolls were of course amazing as always. This is only the second time I've seen them live, both times at The Pageant, and I was again astounded by the energy that two people on a mostly-empty stage can create. Their shows remind me of the way it felt seeing some classic punk bands waybackwhen, like Black Flag with less anger and more sex. Of course, there's anger as well - with two percussionists on stage, how could there not be - but it's always delivered with a wink and a nod, sometimes literally. I don't know what kind of personal relationship Amanda and Brian have, and perhaps I don't want to. The fantasies speculations inspired by the Backstabber videos are far too much fun to be ruined by mere realities. However, I find it amazing that there can be that much sexual tension between two people on a stage ten yards apart behind musical instruments in front of 1500 people, regardless of the personal dynamics that make it happen. I wish I was the sort of person that could run down the entire set-list from memory, or even find it online, but the best I can do is the few recollections that Topher and I managed to cobble together 24 hours later. I think we may have come in during "Girl Anachronism" - can't be certain, but it was played and I didn't pay much attention, so that makes sense. There was a great version of Missed Me pretty early, which really got the crowd going, and a sing-along "Coin-Operated Boy." Brian repeatedly silenced Amanda during the "I want a..." skip-repeat bit and used his sticks to conduct the audience as a chorus. There's something pretty hot about a few hundred girls singing that over and over again. I had a curious moment of deja vu when they launched into their cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs," both because they had played it when I saw them previously and because I had just seen The Flaming Lips cover it the last time I was at The Pageant. I think my preference for slightly skewed covers leans me towards The Lips' version in a fair fight, but The Dresden Dolls are unsurprisingly more faithful to the original and they tore shit up. They closed with several songs from the new album, including (at least) "Dirty Business" and "First Orgasm," and walked off to a (nigh-guaranteed) thunderous standing ovation. They made us pound on things for four or five minutes before they came back for the (contractually-obligated) encore, but they rewarded us with a guy with a guitar and a green gown. I was a little bit worried when he was introduced as a member (leader?) of the opening band - "guy with guitar and green gown in Australian experiemental electronic outfit" is a lot of alliteration for aspiring anchormen perched in precarious positions - but they totally blew away the rest of the show by breaking out Tears For Fears' "Mad World." I remember buying that album not too much after it came out, 1983 or 1984, probably because I heard Les Aaron play "Mad World" on WMRY. Ah, to be young and have no taste again. There was another song after this, then they closed the encore with "Half-Jack." Or so I'm told, the cover of "Mad World" left me feeling an odd combination of drained and filled. I decided that I needed a quick trip to the restroom so I would at least feel merely drained.

Zombie Hordes Invade St. Louis

I consider myself an ally of The Zombie Squad if not an actual member - nothing against them, I'm just not much of a joiner. I feel that I need to preserve my freedom in case there is ever a need for a lunatic fringe in the zombie awareness community, as I truthfully excel at paranoid conspiracy theories over actual preparation and honest work. This should not be taken to imply, however, that I do not admire their work. For instance, I'm a big fan of orange drink and cookies, which is why I always love a good blood drive. However, I'm not sure that I'll be able to donate on Nov 4; I had my tongue pierced in Februarya and I don't know how long that causes me to be disqualified. For these reasons (and perhaps because one Halloween per year is never enough dress-up for me) I'm planning on joining their Zombie Mob down in The Loop this Saturday. Yes, that's October 21, and yes, we have tickets to The Dresden Dolls show later that evening. But I can always change if I need to, and I'm not sure I don't like the idea of going to a concert dressed as a zombie. There's also going to be a Zombie Pub Crawl later that night, so if I don't feel drunk enough by the end of the show I might try to catch up with that. I've been looking at the Zombie Costume article on Halloween365 and the Zombies Invade San Francisco! Flickr photoset for ideas, and I think I've finally settled on throwing together a "zombie surgeon" costume tomorrow evening/Saturday afternoon. Lauren on Halloween365 was making the point that any clothes could be used:

When the Zompocalypse comes, zombies will be created that were ready for cheerleading practice, attending a business meeting, and especially while working in a medical facility of any kind.

Of course, I love any sentence that starts, "When the Zompocalypse comes," but the last part made me recall the piles of scrubs Alice has brought home on the days that work gets a little messier than usual for her. I don't expect that the make-up and fake blood are going to be very expensive, and I think this part (again from Lauren) sounds fun:

So the first step is to rip up your outfit. Put your entire outfit on as you will wear it (i.e.- if you have multiple layers, don’t wear/rip them separately). Think of how you might have become a zombie to decide where/how to distress your clothing. Come up with a whole storyline to really sell your costume.

If anyone else is interested (or even reads this - see the Quick Quiz last entry) let me know. It would probably be fun - practically an RPG with props - to make a bunch of costumes at once. Of course, it pretty much has to be Friday night or Saturday around noon that we make this happen. Is there any sort of notice besides short? [Ed. Note - I didn't make it, because I'm a lamer, and because I read this "How To Look Like A Zombie" article that Jawbreaker sent me and decided it sounded like more than I could handle by myself. Turns out that Staniel was going, so if I'd cast a wider net I might have ended up there after all. It's a shame I hate bothering people so much with this "communication" bull-shit. I think maybe they should just read my blog more often.]