Friday, May 16, 2008

Radiohead: Rain or Storm

Some firsts you never forget (for better or worse)...


This past Sunday I experienced a few firsts...my first time attending a concert at the Nissan Pavillion, my first time seeing Radiohead perform live, and my first time weathering not just rain, but an outright storm to see a performance.

As far as the Nissan Pavillion goes, I've only been to a small handful of venues here in the DC area, but it is so far my least favorite one. The drive out there is no fun, not even for me starting in Virginia. To be honest, I didn't get to see much of the venue--traffic there was so bad that by the time we parked Radiohead had already started, and we ran right to our seats. So, in all honesty, I didn't get a chance to look around the venue itself or admire the surrounding sights. Still, I know that leaving the venue meant far worse than the usual after-concert traffic. After we finally got out of the parking lot almost two hours after we pulled out of our space, I couldn't even tell where we were being routed. I got home in the end, at least.

As far as Radiohead goes, they were AWESOME live. Their musicianship is even more amazing live than on their albums, and they put on a good show. I'm no music critic, so I'll leave that to the experts. From a purely novice point of view, though, I was plenty entertained, and certainly excited for the two more opportunities I'll get to see them perform this summer.


When it comes to weathering a storm for a performance, I know I was one of the "lucky" ones in so far as I was able to get into the venue and see the show at all. I've never seen such loyal fans, but they definitely made the experience a memorable one--to see their joy and ecstacy in the midst of the storm and deluge is a testament to their respect of Radiohead.

I may be learning to appreciate Radiohead a bit late, but better late than never, right?


PS. Kudos to Radiohead, too, for their work with MTV to raise awareness about and move towards ending human explitation and trafficking for labor and sex slavery. See more at www.mtvexit.org

Thursday, May 15, 2008

From Queer as Folk

A quotation I had taken note of. Maybe some context later...

It's not lying if they make you lie, if the only truth they can accept is their own.