It's been an exhausting week and a half or so now, mentally and physically. There's much to update, but I think I'll just focus on a few things here and there, because that's what I'm feelin'.
Last Sunday (as in, a week ago from two days ago) I met up with a friend from UT named Raquel. We bought ice cream cones and wandered off into Central Park, chatting about our big plans for our futures and what we wanted to get out of New York. Raquel had only been in New York for a week, so she was still deciding how she felt about the city. I was in total New York-lovefest mode, so I chatted her up about that. We found a place to sit in the park, and it smelled vividly of my Grandma's lavender soap or perfume that she would use at her and my Grandpa's farm in Kansas. It was a comforting, new summer smell, and matched the magic of the lightning bugs scattered around in front of us. I had forgotten lightning bugs. . .anyway, it was incredibly pleasant and we promised to meet up again for free concerts. Tuesday I headed to work, and last work week was rough, because I felt a cold coming on as early as Tuesday that progressed into full-out sick mode by Thursday. Luckily (I guess?) I needed to do some homework, so I used Thursday evening and Friday to be productive. Still, I was very, very worried that I wouldn't be feeling very good for the 4th of July celebration I had planned since the second I knew I'd be in NYC this summer - the River to River festival was hosting a free concert by Jenny Lewis and Conor Oberst - as in, love-of-my-life Conor Oberst. Happily, though I still felt weak when I woke up Saturday morning, I knew I could soldier it out. I took the morning very slowly; I had a delicious breakfast of a bagel and yogurt, and then threw sunscreen in my purse and headed out into the world. I hit up CVS on my way to the show and bought a deck of playing cards plus three bottles of water. I was in line at Battery Park on the very edge of Manhattan by 11:30AM - the show started at 3:30PM, but I was absolutely convinced that I MUST be there early to be close. It was true, and we did end up with great spots, dead center and only about 15 or fewer feet from the stage. My work pal Caroline joined me at about 11:45, and we played a game of war (she kicked my butt) and chatted about work and folks. The line started to move at around 1:00PM, and I was worried because I was still expecting two friends to show up. Luckily, Raquel showed up right around 1, and managed to get to us in line. Apparently some of the other folks in line were grouchy, but she was our savior because she brought us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, without which we probably would have starved. Jessica from Connecticut still wasn't there, and I was very concerned she would have to watch the show from far away, but happily we were able to secure her a spot in the grass up close with us by stretching out a little bit wider than was completely necessary. She joined us as we finished up our first game of "Go Fish!" and we included her in the second round. A small group in front of us broke out some bubbles, and there was just a general feeling of summertime sitting in the grass on blankets and towels and (in our case) jackets and plastic bags. At 3:30, a blonde woman goofily introduced Jenny Lewis, and the band popped onstage to start the opening drumbeat of "See Fernando." The blonde guitarist dude in her band said, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, presenting the daughter of the revolution, Ms. Jenny Lewis!!" and out ran Jenny, vintage American flag flapping at her back (she wore it as a cape.) Her set was fantastic; she was impressive and completely sure of herself, which completely attracted me to her (she was everything I wanted to be). She played a few songs that really tugged at my heartstrings, but in particular, "Acid Tongue" and "Silver Lining" really got to me. It made me want to grab my guitar and start writing again, so hopefully that vibe will still exist when I get back home in August to my beautiful acoustic. Also, I loved when she invited out Oberst and Nik Freitas from the Mystic Valley Band to sing "Handle Me With Care." I am currently discovering that in the recording, she has Ben Gibbard and M. Ward sing with her (as well as Conor). Nice one, Jenny!
After Lewis left the stage, there was about a half hour wait (which I totally called), during which we chatted about various things we saw in the crowd, like a random Longhorns cap and other silliness. At 5 after 5, out marched the boys of the Mystic Valley Band. They all looked adorable - Macy Taylor has FINALLY cut that shnasty hair, so he looked downright good (he was Caroline's favorite; she's always going for the underdogs, haha!) and Taylor Hollingsworth is just always gorgeous. In fact, Conor joked near the very end of their set (when he was doing band introductions, as he always does) that he told Hollingsworth he had to scar his face if he was going to join the band. "He didn't listen to me - so I guess I'm out of luck," Oberst said. Hilarious. Anyway, they opened with the oh-so-appropriate "NYC - Gone, Gone," and I jumped around and pumped my fist and generally forgot that I had been sick the five days before. They broke out "Souled Out!!!" after that, which was great because Conor got to break out his growly-voice pretty much straight away. Oh, how I LOVE that growly-voice. Then it was on to "Sausalito," and then "Nikorette" - kind of a "hits" list from the solo albums, and I certainly wasn't going to complain. Hollingsworth got to stretch his vocal chords after that on the incredibly nasally but also incredibly catchy "Air Mattress." Conor's version of "Eagle on a Pole" was completely entrancing; his voice echoed around the park, all chill-giving and haunting and whatnot. Just beautiful. The next one is this one that reminds me of Paul Simon every time, called "Spoiled" which Conor said was "about being a spoiled brat." There's a verse in there that gets me every time; you'll have to ask me about it if you want to know:) Then was "Ten Woman," which is apparently about "overcompensating, because you have no self-confidence." I feel like every time I see Oberst perform, he lets the audience a little bit closer to him all of the time. I like that. He picked up the pace again after that with "Slowly (Oh So Slowly)" which I felt like had a significant amount of people singing along. Then was poor Macy's track, "Worldwide." The man's voice is just too damn icky, I'm sorry. He sounds so timid!!! It's like, if you have a weird voice (a la Hollingsworth), you have to OWN it (a la Hollingsworth). If you sing all apologetically, you're gonna make folks uncomfortable. Ah, well. Then Oberst dedicated "Moab" to Jenny, which solidified the notion in my heart that she's been going through hard times recently (she said something before "Silver Lining" about have a "crazy couple of years.") I though. . .why can't Conor be MY friend and dedicate songs about the healing power of the road to ME?! Anyway. Then "Cape Canaveral" went over much like "Eagle..." and I called Edward for it because I remembered he loved the line, "I watch your face age backwards, changing shape in my memory." Again, it was just beautiful. My favorite line: "And you don't judge me/That's not your style." The twangy "Get-Well-Cards" was next, but only after some digression about the day. "Do y'all have some sparklers or something?" Oberst asked. "Let's get festive, for fuck's sake!" LOVED it. Then, after Freitas' Mystic Valley Band best-of chanting tune "Big Black Nothing," Oberst had to tune his guitar.
"I don't know if you know this," Oberst said, "but it's really, really hard to tune your gutiar in the sun. Hollingsworth. . .say something to the people."
"[pause]
It's really hard. You get the sun in your eyes, and you can't see, and it's hot. . .
[pause]
What statue is that, it's huge! [referring to the Statue of Liberty]
[audience laughter]
This city is so big. I'm from Alabama, I'm just - it's so big here!"
ADORABLE. Love, love, love these guys. Then they played the one song I don't have in my iPod, "One of My Kind" (the title was used for the documentary about them). Fantastic, I can't wait until they release it!! Then I heard the tinkling guitar sounds that suggested they were about to play my current favorite, and my heart skipped a beat - when Oberst said, "This is about having a reason to get out of bed every morning," I squealed audibly (people who have been to a concert with me, you know what I do) and they broke into "I Got the Reason #2." I mouthed along hard to this one, pumped my fist at all the right places, and was utterly thrilled to get this one. For "In the glass houses, in the pages of the Rolling Stone..." I sang the lines to Caroline, and she smiled really big and laughed. It was just wonderful, basically. The band left the stage after that one, but Oberst and keyboardist Nathanial Walcott returned pretty promptly to do an acoustic, heart-enveloping version of "Lenders In The Temple." The line in this one that gets me every time is, "That circus tiger's gonna break your heart/Something so wild turned into paper/If I loved you, well that's my fault." Every time. Conor announced they would do a couple slow ones, and then pick it back up at the end, so they followed that up with the snoozer "Difference is Time" by drummer Jason Boesel (who, incidentally, plays the drums in Rilo Kiley with Jenny Lewis, too). I feel bad, but Boesel's voice just doesn't do it for me. It's too blah. Still, maybe this song will grow on me with time. I still sing along to the chorus, because it's super catchy. Then they broke into "Danny Callahan," which seemed to be a crowd pleaser to a big, big extent, which surprised me for some reason. It's a great song, but I didn't expect everyone to sing along to the extent that they did. Then came the band introductions, so I knew the end was nigh, but right at this moment Caroline looked at me like she was going to hurl, and so she had to sit down on the ground and try to pull it together. Poor lady; I wasn't sure what she needed from me, but I was prepared to do it, whatever it might be. Luckily, she felt tons better after sitting, so that was good. Then the band broke into the raucous, romping country swing tune, "I Don't Wanna Die (In a Hospital)," a modern look at mortality. Love that one. Then, my heart got to swell one last time for the last song - I knew what it was the second Conor introduced it. He said, "This is the most patriotic song we have, so we saved it for last," and I automatically knew it was "Roosevelt Room." He ripped into the opening guitar riff seconds later, and my head did not stop banging until the very last notes were played. He really growled out the lines with passion and meaning and it was just perfect. It was exactly how I imagined it would go down (minus the fact that I was never asked up onstage to guest with the band - ahem:P)
Raquel, her friend Angelique, Jessica, Caroline and I wandered off to find food (and bathrooms!!) afterward, and then we (minus Jessica, who had to get home) headed to a spot near the Hudson so we could watch the fireworks go off. We could just see the highest ones over the top of a building in the spot we chose, but it was beautiful and fun nonetheless. The rest of the weekend was spent working on homework and resting more (still a little sick, even now) which was good, but also has made me incredibly restless, and very body-conscious and other things. I've been incredibly stressed and grumpy these past few days, and the condition doesn't seem to be improving, which just makes it worse. I did force myself out of the house yesterday to travel to the NYU area of New York. I checked out a famous indie music store there, Other Music, which was cool, but honestly - Waterloo kicks its ass in terms of selection. Still, it was fun, and there were also quite a few vintage clothes shops in the area that I might have to check out again in the future, who knows.
I think that's a good enough update for now. This week, I'm trying to get as much homework done as I possibly can so I can finish up these history courses by the end of the week, if at all possible. I also have plans to try to see Shakespeare in the Park (Anne Hatthaway is one of the stars in their production right now), as well as possible free concerts on Friday and Sunday. I want to get a little more homework, so I'll end this here and try to check back again soon!
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