what i did this weekend, by bennett

when we left our protagonist, Bennett Everyman, he was a disheartened sleepless wreck with an inescapable ringing in his ears and some inexplicable burns on his arm.

well, i am proud to report that my faith in the universe has been restored.

After the unpleasantness on Wednesday night, I skipped out of work early on Thursday with some coworkers to catch Revenge Of The Sith. Over a lively discussion at the Outback after seeing the movie, someone posited the question- Was it a good movie, or a good Star Wars movie? I wasn't sure how to answer. I certainly enjoyed it, but I also enjoyed Episodes I and II. I won't rehash what everyone's said about Lucas' inability to write dialog, but there was some pretty neat Buddhist-talk in some discussions about The Force, and the political parallels between the movie and real life are pretty crazy. And pregnant or bald or whatever, I still want to have coffee with Natalie Portman.

Then on my way home, I swung by my favorite record store and picked up the new System of a Down and Nine Inch Nails albums. Both are awesome and you should pick them up immediately. I don't know why I'm liking things with a hefty injection of politics lately, but SoAD's schizophrenic delivery and clever plays on words and Rik Rubin's infallible production... delicious.

The Lucky Dog in Worcester is a great club. Unlike the more stuck-up clubs closer to Boston, there was a definitely more laid back vibe about The Lucky Dog. Even though my band was under a lot of pressure to sell 40 tickets to the show or lose money on the gig (and lose money, we did), the staff was a bunch of cool weirdos, the sound was great, we could unload our gear through the emergency exits (the middle east will shoot you if you do that), and- always the sign of a cool club in my book- they had an awesome and reasonably priced beer selection. Not only did they have Rogue Dead Guy Ale for $3.25 a bottle (I don't know about the going rate for that beer in Oregon, but that's a damn good price for a bar over here) but they had a beer I'd never tried before-- Lagunitas Censored-- for the same low, low, delicious price. And they had Flying Dog Tire Bite Ale on tap too. Damn.

We were told when we got there that the schedule for the evening had changed- apparently the first band pulled out at the last minute. Oh well, we still didn't have to start until 10. So we load our gear on stage and notice there's a stray amp and guitar (with a Spongebob sticker on the case-- whoever owned it must be cool) sitting around. It wasn't ours nor the headlining band's. Hmm.

After our soundcheck, Goss was out back smoking with the sound guys when a guy shows up and asks about his sound check. Someone asked "oh, you're in Mad Hatter?" to which the guy responded "Mad Hatter is no more." It turns out that the guy's band had broken up the night before, but he decided to press on anyway and play the gig. Biggie ups to him.

So Mr. Hatter (I have no idea what his name was) plays a set mostly of Bob Dylan and Jimi songs-- just him and his Strat. Gotta respect the guy, though. And he definitely won me over by covering "Breaking The Girl". We went on and played our set to the ever-increasing crowd... it was a pretty good set, even if the crowd didn't know how to handle original music and didn't respond to my puerile humor. The crowd was a strange mix-- some of the typical our-age-ish people you'd expect at a rock show, but a good handful of people well into their 40s. Some may have been parents of the Joshua Tree, but there were definitely some who were there for the music... some mullets, some scarf-belts and other soccer mom wear...

The Joshua Tree did a respectable U2. I've never seen the real thing aside from on DVD (as opposed to Glen, who is seeing ALL THREE of their shows @ the Fleet Center this week), but the musicians nailed all their parts, and even played a few songs with the correct sampled parts in the background (like "Beautiful Day", with the synth drums at the beginning and big choruses). Their singer came about as close as a mortal can come to Bono's voice. Good for him. I'll rant about tribute bands vs. original bands another time, I'm sure. Anyhow, all in all it was a grand night and somehow I made my way home by 3. I met Glen's new, cool, and hot girlfriend (luckyyy!) and found out that Mark the bassist has a little of the ol' Yellow Fever as well. Can I type that?

Saturday I saw the Snow Patrol at Avalon. Buy their album. Actually, buy the DualDisc version of their album so I can hear the 5.1 mixes of the songs. And buy tickets to see their show when they come to town. The opening act, Athlete, was pretty damn cool, too. It just reminded me of how far I really have to go if I am ever to become a rock star.

And Sunday around 1pm Winnie got a call from her cousin James... apparently his sister and parents had flown in from Hong Kong because his sister, a police investigator, was to attend an international symposium on Asian terrorism at Mohegan Sun. Not bad. So I dusted off my old Canto-skills and W and I headed down 395 to spend some quality time with her cousin's family. The parents didn't really speak any English aside from 'byebye' and 'thank you', and we spent a good deal of our time looking for the tables that cater to the Asian population. James tricked his mom into thinking she'd won a slot machine by putting a $10 bill in the machine and cashing out... giving the satisfying plunk of 39 quarters (she didn't win the one hand she played, but what did she know?) Baccarat, Pai Gow poker, and some other game whose name I forget but I think it translated to something like 'low / high' were found. Mediocre buffet was consumed-- we were hoping for a free trip to Michael Jordan's steakhouse or Summer Shack or that Todd English restaurant in the cave, but I certainly ain't complainin' about no free dinner.

As we parted ways with the extended family, Uncle patted me on the back and said 'byebye, fei tsai'-- Winnie's little nickname for me that she decided to share w/ the family over dinner. Translation: fat boy.

sorry about the boring summary of my weekend. i'll shoot for some life-changing insights next time. gotta go, ice cream truck's here! ding ding ding!