if you're down with Gregg, then you're down with me

wow. this weekend was something else. i couldn't have put together a better music weekend. Girl Talk and Philip Glass. unbelievable.



Saturday we just took it easy and hung around the apartment since it was snowing out like CRAZY. seriously, it wasn't sticking, but it was snowing like i hadnt seen here in a long time. i love watching it snow. so i actually sat around and scrapbooked (i dont usually get to work on that). and then that night we went to the Cannery Ballroom to hear Gregg Gillis mix it up.



that guy was a total nerd and danced almost (ALMOST) as bad as me. i loved it. he was really cool and extremely genuine. after the show he just hung around the front of the stage and talked to anybody that walked up; he just talked to them until they left; until THEY decided they were done talking. it was quite admirable. so we got our picture made with him and thanked him for the wonderful show.





we walked off for a minute and i remembered that i wanted to try and get a tshirt and cd (up to this point i had only had a downloaded copy (but i listened to it like crazy). i was waiting for the right moment to support his craft!). anyway, we walked back over to find him still there and i asked if he had any tshirts and CDs with him. he said he normally didnt sell merch at his shows and instead just gave stuff to whoever was there last. ...seriously. okay so, whoever hangs out with gregg gillis the longest gets a free shirt. yeah, i think i can handle that. so we went "backstage" with him and he gave us both sweet shirts (i'll post that as soon as i wash it) and we bought CDs and talked to him for 10 min or so (scott and jess were not so happy about our lagging around, but that's another story altogether). it was incredible. it really was like you'd just a good friend perform and you were backstage congratulating him. i really hope we can catch up with him at Bonnaroo. (and i can't wait to wear my tshirt.)





(here are the rest of the videos.)



for more Gregg, please visit Todd's Account.

then on Sunday night we went to see the Philip Glass Ensemble play at the Schermerhorn (compliments of my wife's searchery and findingness)! i thought it was just going to be the symphony playing his music but it wasn't! oh no. Philip Glass was freaking there. i was thrilled. so we went up to our $20 seats and enjoyed (most of) the first half. i say most because my love Glass's music is kind of black and white. there are a lot of his songs i just cant stand. i was telling jess i dont need much of a chord change in an 11min song, but i do have to have A chord change. i can't handle the 15min variations on one chord and various rhythms. conversely, when it's a 15min song of chord changes i DO like, i'm in heaven. anyway, during "halftime" we decided to see if we could find a seat in the lower balcony because there were many open. well, in the process of looking for it an usher asked if we needed help. well, i couldn't think of anything to say (i had already been asked not to take pictures by another usher, so i wasn't feeling the schermerhorn love), so i just told her the truth; we'd seen some open seats and were trying to find that balcony. much to my surprise one of the ushers was like, "well, i have a few boxes open if you'd like one of those instead." ...well, that was a freebie. so we went and sat in a box. it was WAY cool.



as if that weren't already enough, we walked around afterward and tried to find Mr. Glass. it seemed like a slightly ridiculous concept to me, but jess was very encouraging. we eventually wandered upon the green room. after some very timid knocking (on the door) on my part, jess decided to ask some kitchen staff where Philip Glass was. they said he was in there, did we have an RSVP? we were like, "no." and their reply? "ah just go on in." ...unbelievable. so we walked in like we too had donated a large sum of money to be there. i felt a bit out of place, but pressed on towards Mr. Glass. they had champagne and brownies and sprite and everything in there, but i couldnt let anything distract me from the mission at hand. i could be discovered a fraud at any moment. nah not really, everyone was cool and i'm cool so i blended right in. i waited in a small line and finally got to shake his hand and get an autograph. i would've loved to have talked to him for a bit but he seemed... well, old. he was turning 70 this week, i think. so he wasn't the easiest to converse with; seemed to have other things on his mind. so i told him 'thanks' and got my picture made with him and moved on. it wasn't how i had envisioned, but such is life. (he kept talking while jess was taking the picture so he looks kind of silly. nonetheless, i still felt extremely honored to have met him.)





yesterday i spent some time looking for a gig poster from saturday night's show. for some reason there had been 2 at the show. with some help i tracked down both of their creators and figured out how to get one. well, last night i decided at the last minute to stop by grimeys and catch this Christian band playing an instore (which is fairly rare). while i was there i decided to ask if they had any extra gig posters. the girl i asked turned around and grabbed one right behind her. "here you go." sweet sassy molassy! the only thing was, it was the more "sex oriented" of the 2:



while i think it's a really cool designed poster, i can fully understand my wife not wanting it up. so, i waited for the performance to end and asked a different employee if i could have that one (too). "sure, why not." my goodness. this is too good to be true. so i accepted it and quietly shuffled out the door. i was excited. here's the other one:



anyway, what a tremendous weekend. it was just... really something.