2007
he’s not ironic, he’s devoted to rock and roll
maura @ 6:38 pm
The popfest is here! I’m going to two shows. Tomorrow is Bunnygrunt at Coney Island. Jonathan and Gus are coming too! Though they will likely spend more time on the rides than rocking out. Whatever am I going to wear? I am fretting like a high school prom date, it is silly. It doesn’t help that it’s going to be 8 zillion degrees and the show is outside. Will my floppy old lady hat look stupid? Has it been so long since I’ve been to Williamsburg that I’ll need to study the subway map to get to the Pipas show on Sunday night? Probably the better question for Sunday is will I be able to stay awake til 11pm (when the show ends and the young folk head off to an aftershow party and I head home to sleep)?
Music and concerts have been swirling around my head lots recently. In 2 of my internships I’ve been making podcasts of library tutorials, which has activated an advanced case of college radio DJ nostalgia. It was so much fun to be a DJ, even if I usually had the 3-5am shift. There is no good way to sleep if you have to do something from 3-5am. If you try to sleep beforehand you will feel like a big pile of crap when you wake up. And then if you try to sleep afterwards it’s all light out soon and everyone else starting their days wakes you up.
The record library was unreal, it seemed like every record in the world was there (and could be borrowed!). And sometimes there was good swag, like comps to shows. I am pretty sure that Jonathan was the only person that ever listened to the show, though occasionally a call would come in. I have some tapes of the show that I made for posterity but I’ve been too embarrassed to listen to them. I’d been pretty shy in high school: it was oddly liberating to sit in a small room talking to no one at all yet potentially everyone.
When we came to New York for grad school I tried to get a radio show, but that university has a real communications department and thus filled their station with actual aspiring DJs rather than (academic) nerds who happened to be (music) geeks + old South Side blues and jazz guys. Probably just as well — I couldn’t have continued the early morning shifts for long after college without disintegrating into a krabby patty.
2 comments on “he’s not ironic, he’s devoted to rock and roll”
He actually really liked it, which is funny since he never wants to listen to music (his *or* mine) either at home or in the car. But he was mildly interested in Scary Monster (who were great!), then he + J went to the beach. They came back during Best Fwends and Gus was entranced: “Mommy, what band is that? I like them!” Which is funny because they were my favorite new (to me) band of the popfest too! G+J left before Cars Can Be Blue.*
That show was perfect for kids, since there were tons of other things to do besides music. Dan Zanes (who we all like) plays here about every other weekend and we have yet to see him because I’m just not sure I want to shell out the ca$h for something that might not be all that interesting to Gus after a few songs, you know?
* EDITED TO ADD: not that it matters, because the blue language Gus hears on the subway from the middle schoolers could blow CCBB away :)
how did gus like the music? i have to assume you kept him away from cars can be blue. ;)
esther still has yet to attend her first concert. but then, she’s not even 3 yet – she has time.