I walked past a classmate as Michael and I grabbed a seat on the B43 bus to Northampton. He turned around and upon recognising started chatting about the assessment due on Thursday. I told him I had spent most of Sunday and Monday reading, so that I would have all Wednesday to complete it when he interjected, "I think it's due tomorrow." "Oh shit," I replied, "that's going to make for a long night."
No matter, after jay-walking in front of some cops (ooooooohhhhh, rebel) we made it to the Pearl St ballroom to see Ra Ra Riot. The first band had a bass player who looked just like Australia's finest cricketer, Simon Katich, but with a ridiculous hipster haircut. They were followed up by a Mexican band with a look-alike Jason Schwartzman on falsetto vocals.
Ra Ra Riot were the reason we were there, and when they all took the stage it was astonishing to see how young they all are. It's remarkable that they've taken indie tunes and added a mini string section to their sound and a sign of their maturity. Better yet, the string section is hot, like off the scoville scale type of hot. The cellist was sporting a nose ring (not a stud) and had a brilliant voice when she was allowed to sing.
After a cliche'd encore, the band came out and sang the appropriately titled 'Massachusetts', though it wasn't as strong as the album. They ended on my favourite, 'Run My Mouth', and despite the rain and impending essay, I was chuffed with their set.
On the way back from the concert I saw my first skunk, who was polite enough to stink up the joint. Once back I checked my syllabus, saw the essay was due the next day, grabbed my stuff and set up for a long night. With a Dr Pepper accompanying me, I managed to churn out the majority of an essay within a few hours. It's amazing what a bit of pressure will do to you, as I have never written anything academic so quickly. The quality may have been debatable, but the quantity was all there.
Exhausted, I pushed through the next day. I relapsed into Football Manager again, and after a few hours I was ready for bed. That was all until I received a text message saying Bob Dylan was playing UMass for $29. From then on I was frantic, searching for as much information as possible. I could barely contain my enthusiasm and was anything but idle until 2AM. Finally, once my head hit the pillow, the exhaustion of the last few days caught up and I fell into a deep sleep.
I was buzzing for most of today, not only was Bob playing a show in a theatre I can walk to, but one of my other loves, Rangers FC won today. I also received my visa paperwork, so I am now allowed to roam between the US and other countries (woo, the land of the free). It was all coming up Milhouse until I tried to pay my phone bill. American red tape caused some cancelled credit card payments, or so I was told. My card had been billed 3 times, leaving me overdrawn and with no source of cash. Well played Boost Mobile. So long as it is fixed by Friday morning 10AM (Dylan tickets!), this Bob buzz will keep me going.
***Song
Bruce Springsteen - I Want You
Here's the boss singing one of my favourite Dylan songs. It's something special and American's would value this piece of culture higher than their constitution if they knew what was good for them.
No comments:
Post a Comment